Movies that make you cry.

I am a semi-emotional person. I don't always start crying or get teary-eyed in a movie where the final speech is given that really makes an impact. There are some movies, books, and even stories that can really get to me. Today, I have another one to add to my list:

Letters to God. 

Holy moly this movie had me in TEARS more than once! It's the story of an eight-year-old boy named Tyler who is battling cancer. He writes letters to God just about every day. Not just for himself, but for his family members and friends. When a man named Brady, who had his own demons to fight, takes up a route as the post man, he starts getting the letters, and soon develops a relationship with Tyler and his family. (Plus Brady is pretty easy on the eyes.)

I know what you're thinking. Sounds cheesy and probably a bit pushy, but it really wasn't. I've seen those cheesy inspirational films ( I'm looking at you ANGEL network) but this one was really good. AND the mom is played by Robyn Lively. Remember her? She played Louise Miller in TEEN WITCH one of the best films of my childhood! Seriously, I wanted to be just like Louise with her witchy power and her funky clothes. Let's not all forget about one of the best raps ever:

Anyways, I'm completely recommending this movie for anyone who is in for an emotional inspirational type of movie. It was really good, freaking sad, but really good! It got me thinking of all the other movies that have ever made me cry, even when I re-watch them. Here is my list in no particular order:

American History X

Have you seen this movie? I can't even tell you WHY I cry every time I watch it because I would ruin the entire thing for you! 

Tuck Everlasting

When Jesse is on the back of the boogy and he yells out, "I will love you, Winnie Foster, until the day I die!" I am a blubbering idiot.

Stand By Me

I blame the crying on Richard Dreyfuss' amazing narrator skills. 

My Girl

One of the best friendships movies ever made, and when *deep breath* they *another deep breath* Okay, nope. Can't explain it. Just watch it.


Four Brothers
I wouldn't say I bawled, but I always get teary-eyed when a certain scene happens. Sometimes I even shot: PUT SOME PRESSURE ON THOSE HOLES!!

The Notebook

This one is a bittersweet cry. And I still haven't read the book in fear that it will top the movie.

My Sister's Keeper

One of my best friends and I went and saw this movie in theater. BAD IDEA. We did not grab enough napkins, and were crying through the entire thing. I'm sure people thought we were stoned when we walked out of it.

Titanic 

Don't even act like you didn't get a little choked up when Jack's butt went down into that freezing ocean. If I have somehow just gave away a massive spoiler to anyone, I do not regret this. It's TITANIC how could you have NOT watched it?!

What about you? Are there some movies that will always make you choke up no matter how many times you watch them?

I need a name.

Before I go into my spill for those of you who didn't know, I've started a new WIP. It's nickname is Fairy Tale.

Okay, back to the post.

I've been messing around with Fairy Tale, and for the life of me I cannot come up with this one character's name who is going by Nameless Dude at the moment. I went on twitter getting suggestions. Some I loved. Some I did not. Then I bounced around a few names for feedback. My first thought was Keaton. Then I went to Kyler then to Aiden. At one point Adrian, and then for about 10 minutes it was Garren before I decided to go back to Aiden. But none of these sound right.

I don't get it. I'm GOOD with character names. They just hit me like BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Not this time. I think it's my fault too because Nameless Dude is kind of an ass. He's stubborn, mean, and thinks he deserves respect just by walking in the door. I've looked through my baby book. I've looked through countless websites, but no name has struck me. I have major problems with writing him when I can't exactly name him.

So fellow writers, how do you get your character names? Any sites you can suggest? Or just any suggestions in general?

Asking for YOUR help!

In 2008 my friends took their then 6-year-old daughter, Macy, to the hospital because she had became very ill. Three days later, a parents' worse nightmare came to life: Macy had been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL Leukemia).

Over the past two years, Macy has been in and out of hospitals, and doing many rounds of chemotherapy. Both her parents, Brad and Holly, work, but unfortunately their insurance cannot cover all costs of the medical bills. No parent should ever have to go through so much financial stress just to keep their child alive.

Earlier this month, Macy's aunt, Michelle, put together a donation site. Today is the day friends and family have come together to spread the word. We're asking anyone, even if it is just a few dollars, to please donate to help out with Macy's medical bills. (Link to site is that the bottom of the page.)

Macy is now 8-years-old and is in school. She is still undergoing rounds of chemotherapy. She loves to sing and dance! And is full of attitude and love. This girl has been put through the ringer, but she's such a fighter!

Click here for the Donation Site. 

All donations will be to help pay for medical cost.

If you cannot donate any money, I ask you to post this message on your own blog, tweet about it, facebook - anything and everything you can do to get this message out there to help Holly and Brad out. And most of all, I hope you keep Macy and her family in your prayers.

Me and NaNoWriMo just broke up.

I cannot write this story.

My NaNoWriMo was my adult fiction that just wasn't working turned into a young adult novel that apparently just isn't working. I think I've beaten Gus, her family, Memphis, Conner, RaeAnne, Lizzy, and the whole town of Yellow Falls to the ground. I probably should have just left it alone when I broke up with it back in September...or was it October?

Either way, we're definitely splitting up for a while. Maybe one day when we can see eye to eye, we'll get back together, but it's time for this imagination station to move on.  

Since I was dedicated to writing this month, I'm still doing that with an idea that has seriously been on my mind for five days straight. It's insane. I've never tried to write anything like it before - it involves fairy tales and a whole other world. So for the last 10 days and 2 and a half hours of NaNoWriMo, I'm vowing to write 25K so in all I will have written 50K in the month of November....just on two separate stories.

So how is everyone else doing with their novel? Love it? Hate it? Want to burn it yet?

Finding inspiration.

There's this place in my novel called the Cliff. It's where my main character and her friends spend a lot of time at. I based it on a mixture of places I used to hang out at when I was a teen. I was about the only one of my friends who hated swimming in a creek so I spent a lot of times just sitting on top of the cliffs or at the bottom banks. Once in a while I would get brave, wade through the water, pretend there was nothing swimming around my ankles, and climb on a rock.

Each time I place a scene at the Cliff, I keep thinking I should go back to one of those places so I can remember more details about it. One of the places is called Baptist Camp.

Baptist Camp is just right off the same highway I go down twice a week for school. Today I was near the area, and thought why not stop? It was so pretty outside. I was going to try to climb up one of the hills to see if I could get on a cliff, but I wasn't really dressed for it with flats and all. Plus it's deer season and going through the woods doesn't scream safe.

I really wish I had a laptop because I could have done some serious writing out there. Luckily I had my bag in my car so I grabbed my notebook, sat down at one of the tables, and jotted stuff down. I've known my character for years, but now that I'm writing her as a teen, I'm getting to see a whole new side of her. And being out there today, I heard her loud and clear.

What about you? Do you base places in your novel from places you know well? 

Ever went there to find inspiration?

Supernatural Sunday

Every week (well, when I remember) I do a post on JYTBB giving my thoughts on the best show ever: Supernatural. I thought why not bring it here as well because if you're a Supernatural fan, that means we are instant friends and we need to discuss this show.

Usually a bit more detailed about my thoughts, but really this week I didn't have tons to say. Besides:

Crowley's a dick.

Sammy needs his soul back.

Bring on the faeries!!

What about you? What did you think of Friday's episode or what do you think of the season so far? I'm liking it way better than last season.

I just broke 20k.

It's time to break out the happy dance for 20K!!

Have I mentioned I completely love my story? Switching it to the young adult genre was quite possibly the best idea I have ever had. I get my main character. I've been with this chick for two and a half years and I finally get her. All I had to do was kill her best friend.

If you hear me say I hate my novel, and I hate writing in the next 20 days, please remind me of this post.

Tip: Bribe yourself. The other day I told myself for every 10 pages I wrote, I could watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy. Tonight I told myself if I could write 3K in the next two hours I could eat dinner instead of a health shake. I wrote that 3K EXACTLY with 10 minutes to spare!

Other Tip: If you have a friend named Sab who is trying to help you with your weight loss, do not announce on Twitter that you're eating ice cream for dinner as your reward. Because when you do, that's about the time she'll be on Twitter and she will nail your butt for it! And she will do it rightfully so.

So what about you? How are you doing so far in NaNoWriMo?

Day 7 in NaNoWriMo

Seeing how pumped up I was it's a bit surprising that this is my first post talking about NaNoWriMo. I have many reasons.

1. My Monday went to hell super fast about an hour or so into work. It pretty much set the mood for the entire week and killed my writing high.

2. I've been sick. Did you know it's quite possible to take antibiotics for twenty days straight and your ear will still hurt?

3. Work. Sick. Work.

4. Season Six of Grey's Anatomy showed up at my house. Damn you, Netflix, I'm supposed to be writing here!

5. Sick. I hate my ears.

6. Work. School. Work.

Just so we're clear this is not a picture of me.

I finally went back to the doctor (makes a total of $462 that I've spent on my ears - they should be made of gold by now) and found out I no longer had a sinus infection or fluid in my ears but I HAD BUMPS! Think of poison ivy inflamed in your ear because that's what it feels like. She gave me cream, I plopped some on a q-tip, shove it my ears, and suddenly my muse popped out!

True story.

And now on Day 7 as I grumbled at my keyboard this morning then finished off Grey's (did anyone else cry just about every episode leading up to the finale? Does anyone else find McSteamy more attractive now that he's a dad and grandpa? Wait, is that gross to say?) something clicked.  My brain went crazy and I'm now up to a....

wait for it....

14,897 word count!!!!!

I know what you're thinking.  Why not just push yourself those 103 more words to reach 15K? Well, I tried, but I just killed off a character and I can no longer write for the night.  So I get to go watch another episode of Grey's from this season (if anyone can point me in the direction where I can find episodes 1 and 2 because they're not on ABC.com or hulu.com I would be forever grateful) as my reward then I'm going to bed.

So how about you? How you are doing with NaNo so far? Ready to pull out your hair? Ready to throw a character off a cliff? Or are you doing pretty freaking awesome and pounding away?

Happy Halloween!!

I've always loved Halloween so this year it was kind of weird that I didn't dress up or do a whole bunch of Halloween stuff, but I swear the holiday just snuck up on me! Plus my niece went to a dance instead of trick-or-treating (something I go with her every year to do) so it just seemed a bit off plus with Halloween being on a Sunday, my town did everything on Saturday. But I did go over to my sisters and help do my niece's makeup. She made an awesome witch!

Pumpkins my niece, her cousin, and I carved....I kind of took the owl's head off on accident!

Since I didn't dress up and have seen a few other bloggers do this, I'll give you a spam of costumes past:

I'm guessing my parents were going for child who ate too much candy for my costume when I was 3.

My sister and I as Muppet Babies!

Scooby Dooby Doo where are you? My mom made this one for me and it's still my all time favorite.

Well until this costume. I loved dressing up as a witch and wore this costume the following year :)

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween! I'm going to go watch some movies and eat left over candy and gear up for NaNoWriMo tomorrow!! Let the word count begin!!

Why I should never be allowed near a glue gun.

I blogged before that I loved the button earrings I had seen on Etsy. I even bought a pair, but sadly they turned out to be huge and they don't look too cute on my ears. So I went to this sew shop in town and bought a few bags of buttons to make my own.

You know that one friend of yours that somehow manages to get hurt by the most random things? Well, that friend is me. So I really shouldn't have been surprised that I got injured trying to make earrings while watching Hocus Pocus.

Right around the time when Max was delivering the line, "Well, in case Jimi Hendrix shows up tonight, here's my number." - which by the way is the best pick up line ever and I totally would have called Max if he said that to me -  I noticed there wasn't much glue coming out of my gun anymore so I pumped it a few times then grabbed another stick to push in. I shove it in, stare back at the TV, and suddenly there is something incredibly FREAKING HOT ON MY FOOT!

A huge glob of glue was chillin' on my foot! My first reaction of course was get it off! get it off! so I swipe it with my thumb....yeah, not a good idea. So not only did I have this nice blister on my thumb, but when I got the glue off, my skin came off with it. Observe:

But the plus side to this is that I have tons of cute button earrings like this so I say it's a win-win situation.

Wannabe Writers #39

Wannabe Writers is an Internet writing group. Everyone is welcome to join. It's a place to meet other writers, ask questions, and get feedback. Click here to find more about how it works.

Where I am in the writing process: Unpublished and have been writing since I was 10. Earlier this month I made the bold step (bold to me at least) to dump my adult WIP and turn it into a YA novel for NaNoWriMo.

My current problem(s): Strangely enough, I'm not really having any. Besides maybe not brainstorming enough to gear up for November 1st, I'm having a lot of fun just discovering more and more about my characters. I think turning this into a YA was quite possibly the best decision to make. One of my book blogging friends, Kim from And Anything Bookish made me this awesome banner to use:



My question this week: In middle school, I used to write all my stories in these big wide rule notebooks. I would carry them with me everywhere. Take them to a friend's house and always pass them around to see what they all thought of my new chapters. In some stories, I would make them look a bit more snazzy by adding cut out pictures from magazines. Like this one:

(Please don't judge me by that super cheese-tastic title. I was like thirteen when I put this together!)




(Poe was my favorite. Yes, she was named after the singer. Gotta love the 90's.)

(Those were the 'mean girls' in the story. And see, they've always came in a pair of three!)

My first ever full notebook story was called Joni's Unperfect/Perfect Life. It was about a teenage girl who lived with her mom and her older brother named Sean. He was in a grunge band trying to be the next Kurt Cobain. Joni had a kick butt set of friends, one was girl named Sammy who was influenced by one of my friends. (I even wrote a spin off called: Sammy's In Love. She played soccer and met her crush at a game. I don't think it had an ending though.) Anyways, Joni had this major thing for the new boy and a bunch of drama happened between her and the popular girl at school. I think Joni broke her nose in a fight and blah, blah, blah.

I only remember bits and pieces because I have long since lost that notebook. It makes me sad because I would love to read it again. Flipping through all my other stories, it's like the ultimate set of cheese. I'm perfectly fine with that because when I went through all these notebooks again, I remembered how much making these stories up even back then meant to me. Even though I've taken my writing way more seriously and want to pull my hair out, at the end of the day, I still love it.

So my question this week is:

What was the first story or book you wrote? How old were you and what was it about?

It's just a jump to the left!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been an all time favorite of mine since I was little. I used to do the time warp in my parents' living room and get in trouble when I sang along to Damn It, Janet. Because as my dad informed me, you couldn't say damn until you were eighteen. Yes, I realize I was probably entirely way too young to watch it, but eh oh well.

Ever since then I've always wanted to go to dress up as Magenta and go to a show. So when I heard there was going to be a full fledge play this month I texted my sister and said let's go! So on Sunday we headed up to Springfield to the Vandivort Center Theatre, bought a prop box, and settled in our seats.

I really had no idea what to expect, but I was blown away. The show was insane, hilarious, crazy, demented, and such an experience! The cast was perfect! The dancing the singing - holy moly! I couldn't even pick a favorite they all did such a wonderful job.

My sister & I. We ended up not dressing up - maybe next time

There were a lot of people in the audience who weren't 'virgins' like my sister and I. (Though we did NOT raise our hands when the director asked the audience who were virgins. I've seen documentaries, I know what can happen to those virgins.) There were a few people who shouted out stuff, and I even shouted out an asshole to Brad with everyone. My favorite was definitely the prop box. To go to a play where you can actually participate and have the cast interact with you was something you don't see often. We threw confetti, toilet paper, had newspapers over our heads while the Transylvanians squirted us with water guns from above, snapped gloves and ummm other things, rang bells - it was all just a crazy fun ride. When it was over, they even did an encore of the time warp and you better believe I along with most of the audience busted it out.

So if you live in the Springfield area then what are you waiting for?! There are still two more weeks of the show left SO GO GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!!

*First picture was snagged from the Vandivort Center Theatre's facebook page.

Getting some hobbies.

I've become a bit obsessed with Etsy.com. I spend hours just looking and looking at things. There is SO MUCH STUFF THERE! I'll admit, some stuff is beyond ridiculous. Or maybe it's just ridiculous to me because I'm a bit of a cheap wad. But there are some things I've fallen in love with.



Button earrings. I ended up ordering a pair. (Not the ones pictured but I think they're super freaking cute - You can get those from Hannah Earrings' shop.)




Don't you just want that on your head?! I love wearing beanies and so glad that it's Fall (!!) so I can wear them more often. You can purchase the one in the picture from Love Fuzz's shop.

Before I went crazy on buying things, it hit me that I may be able to make some of this stuff. When I put effort towards it, I can be quite the crafty person. I've been wanting to get a couple more hobbies so what the heck! I'm going to start making earrings and learn how to crotchet! And I pretty much have no clue what I'm doing, but I'm going to Hobby Lobby on Wednesday to get some stuff so let's all cross our fingers that something pretty comes out of it.

What about you? Have you recently picked up any hobbies or maybe have some already? Do share!

Wannabe Writers #37

Where I am in the writing process: Unpublished. Never fully finished a story unless you count one I wrote in middle school and a fanfiction.

My current problem(s): Getting some balls. Yep. Balls. And I might even need some Jumbo Coconut Balls (points for you if you can guess what movie that saying came out of) if I'm really going to turn my old WIP into a YA novel. I have a lot of things outlined. A lot of ideas, and some missing plot holes that seem to make more sense when the story is now being told through a seventeen year old rather than a twenty-four year old. But I dunno. I'm afraid that I might just crap this story all over the place and end up hating it. Yes, I know I am over analyzing the hell out of this. Welcome to my neurotic writing life.

My question this week: How do you outline? I usually give myself big points like what I want to happen at the beginning, middle, or end. I know it will change at some point, but I'm curious how other people do it.

NaNoWriMo - Are you signing up this year?

I'm sure everyone and their mother knows by now that the NaNoWriMo boards have opened up. I plan on joining up this year, and tackling my first ever Young Adult novel. I haven't written YA since I was probably 19. Kind of funny seeing that's about all I read, but when I write, I write about people in their twenties. I'm excited to see what's going to happen. Details of my story coming up later when I can actually sum it up without writing a million paragraphs that go "Well then this will happen...."

If you're doing NaNoWriMo this year feel free to add me. I'd love to have many writing partners especially for encouragement! Just click here to buddy me on the site.

Wannabe Writers #36

Wannabee Writers is an Internet writing group I created. Everyone is welcome to join. It's a place to meet other writers, ask questions, and get feedback. Click here to find out more about how it works.

Where I am in the writing process: Oh lord. Don't even ask me this week.

My current problem(s): Deciding on what to freaking write. I haven't written in almost three weeks since I made the decision to finally pull the plug on That Damn Novel. I had been working on That Damn Novel for two and a half years. Had four different beginning drafts, over 100 pages of notes, but yet somehow could never really meet a middle and an end. I kept thinking WHY CAN'T I TELL THIS STORY?! Finally. I went over it, really looked into, and realized all I had was this back story. This whole story of who my character used to be when she was a teenager. How her family used to be before she ran away. All of her friends and relationships and how they were when she was a teenager. So I decided no more, and maybe just maybe one day I would just write the backstory because that's obviously where the story was at.

So after dumping That Damn Novel off in the desert, I decided to take a spin at my old WIP, The Unexpected Clash of Strangers. That story is fun. Gracie is the type of girl who should have to wear a helmet every time she ventures out into the street. I worked on it for two days before I decided to just take a break from it all. Last week, ideas starts brewing and I decided ya know what - I am going to tackle that YA novel and I'm going to do it for NaNoWriMo. So in the between time when I'm not mapping out ideas for what shall be called That Damn YA Novel (no, not really it has a title: Just Call Me Gus but I just like saying damn. It fits my mood this week) I'm also going to work here and there on The Unexpected Clash of Strangers just to see where it'll take me before I dump it off in the desert too.

My question this week: What have you done when a story just wasn't working right? Did you change the plot? Change your characters? Knock off a character? Give up? Or decide that maybe switching genres would be the best bet?

Wannabe Writers #34

Wannabe Writers is an internet writing group. Everyone is welcome to join. It's a place to meet other writers, ask questions, and get feedback. Click here to find out more about how it works.

Where I am in the writing process: Unpublished. Currently working on a novel I've been on and off again with for two and a half years. It will see the light at the end of the tunnel one day. I'm sure of it!

My current problem(s): Self-doubt. I having one of those self loathing I'M THE WORST WRITER IN THE WORLD weeks. I know my story. I know what I want to happen, and sure I've started it over 4 different times, but half way through it I realize what doesn't work. It's not a complex story, but when it's right - it's right and when it doesn't work - it stops you dead in your tracks. This whole week I've tried writing out scenes and they always end with..."what the crap is this? gah!"

Then on the other hand, I've been running on tired for the past 3 weeks trying to get used to this whole new life of balancing school, work, family, friends, writing, book blog, and trying to loose weight (shootmenow!) is just making my head jello.

........If it's not, can we just say it is? Please?

Question of the week: What are you thoughts on e-publishing? Everyone wants to get published through a major publishing house and see that final hard-copy in their hands and top the best-seller charts. But what if that's just not in the stars for you---would you ever go the e-publishing route? I mean e-readers are starting to pick up popularity...

Okay...this is soley my opinion so please do not take offense if you have done e-publishing or self-publishing. As of right now where I stand as a writer (and a dreamer), I feel if I took that route, I would be cheating my dream and the 10 year old girl who told herself she would one day have a book of hers in a store.

I'm not saying those that do it are - not at all. But I've also never shopped a book yet. I've never fully went back, revised, edited, critiqued a full length novel before, wrote a query letter, scouted agents, cried over rejects - you get my point here. So who knows down the road, I could give it a shot. I know the world of reading is turning into e-book and I don't like it. I'm one of those people who aren't a big fan of all this wonderful! new! shiny! everything in the world will soon be all electronic! things...but that's a whole other post for a day I doubt will ever happen.

I love this.

I spotted this over at Babbling Flow's blog, and I had to share it because this poster is oh so very, very true!

So today was the day I was supposed to have my novel done.

About three and a half months ago (or maybe it was four? I dunno - my memory sucks) I gave myself a deadline. I thought this deadline would lit a fire under my writing butt so much that I would stay up all night clicking away at the keyboard trying to give my character her ending that she's been dying to have for the past two and a half years. That's right people - two and a half years I've been messing around with this story. Changing the character's past, changing the plot lines, changing just about every single thing you can think of.

I'm not one to brag, but I'm a pro at writing beginnings. Beginnings are my things. I can write a damn good beginning but get me to the middle and the end - holy moly I've never really fully reached that unless you count fanfiction which you probably don't. This book though. Oh my. This book has had a total of 12 beginnings. 12! That might not seem like a lot to some, but this is unheard of from me. It's also had about four complete 100 page starts. That's 400 pages I've written in the past two and a half years that never even really reached the good middle. INSANITY!

I failed. I didn't meet my deadline today. After starting over completely three and half (or maybe four? who the heck knows by now) I wrote 100 new pages of stuff. And you know what I did two weeks ago? I started all over again. After changing this plot to that plot and trying to make my main character's damn boyfriend fit into everything (seriously this guy was a fiance then went to a boyfriend back to a fiance then I just made him break her heart at the beginning cause I had to have a reason why she's so damn angry), coming up with a few reasons of what happened the night that made my character leave town in the first place it ALL CAME TO ME! You know what those ideas were? The whole idea I had when I first started this story two and a half years ago.

So what does all this rambling mean? It means that sometimes when your story is frustrating you and driving you bonkers don't give up on that grand awesome epic idea you had that made you want to write it. Sure you should venture out into other ideas. Sometimes when you think a plot isn't working you just need to look through it all. Don't just drop it like a hot potato. Charge through it. Don't be like me and have about 4 huge main files, 8 random beginnings, and 2 files filled with notes that equal about oh 100 pages (holy crap that makes 500! pages!). Don't stray away from your story just because SHINY! NEW! FUN! ideas come along. Just write the damn thing already!

But in case you're wondering according to my little word counter I am 57% with my novel and on the right track at least I think for today.

I have no clue if this post made sense. I was supposed to be in bed over an hour ago.

I'm leaving on a jet plane....

On Wednesday morning I will be heading to the airport ready for the vacation I've been desperately needing for the past two years. The one thing I will not be thinking about as I hit up Sea World, Daytona, and where ever else my friend and I find ourselves is my novel.

Oh and work of course. Yeah, definitely will not be missing that place. (And if my boss is reading this I still heart you.)

When I get back from this epic vacation, my head will be cleared and the big portion of my novel (I only have 24K - I had way more, but then I decided to go back to my original storyline and everything changed) will be ready and willing for me to tackle it so I can meet that dumb fake deadline I gave myself - August 28th.

BUT before I head out Wednesday morning, I do want to try and squeeze in 10K. I don't know if this will be possible, but I'm going to give it a spin. Let's face it. Even though I say I won't be thinking about my novel, I still packed a notebook in my suitcase just in case an idea or two or twenty pop into my head.

I also added a few songs to my ever growing playlist:



When I heard the lyrics:

You always did kind of drive me crazy and pissed me off ‘cause I let it faze me
But I never wanted my time with you to end

I knew this was a Memphis song.



This complicated song of letting go but not wanting to let go is so.Augustus (better known as Gus in her hometown and YES she's a girl with a dude's name)



It's come to my attention any Gaslight Anthem song lately reminds me of Kaden. This one for some reason just keeps catching my ear.



Driving down the road, this song came on, and an idea for Conner just popped in my head.

That's all folks! Have a great week and hopefully my next post will be me bragging at my huge bump in word count.

Wannabe Writers #26

Wannabe Writers is a writing group for the un-published and anyone is welcome to join. It's a place where future authors can ask questions, share stories, and get feedback. Click ( here) to find more about how it works.

Where I am in the writing process: Working on my WIP that I started about 2 years ago. I'm in the 4th beginning draft. Meaning it's never had a full middle or end, but it's been started over many upon many times.

My current problem(s): No time to write! Between family being down, a wedding coming up - not mine, my best friend's - , stalking out twitter/Garrett Minds board for Comic Con updates, and now trying to plan my niece's 11th birthday in an Alice in Wonderland theme (WHY OH WHY DON'T THEY HAVE PARTY SUPPLIES FOR THIS!) I haven't touched my story in a week and a half. God help me hit that deadline!

This week's question: Character Flaws. Okay, I know I need those to make my characters realistic, but I also know the flaws shouldn't make the reader hate your character. So what are some good, hero-worthy, none-hateable, character flaws?

My answer: I think having self doubt is a good character flaw. I'm always for characters that aren't doormats, can kick some ass, but at the same time they can't be assure of themselves all the time. Most people, like myself, second guess themselves. Not just tiny things, but choices I've made in life, where this relationship is going, etc. I think a character having moments of doubt (please don't get that confused with whiny pity parties. I cannot stand characters that are boo-hooing all the time), make them more realistic and more relatable.

Wannabe Writers #24

Wannabe Writers is a writing group for the un-published and anyone is welcome to join. It's a place where future authors can ask questions, share stories, and get feedback. Click ( here) to find more about how it works.

Where I am in the writing process: Unpublished. Been writing since I was ten. Been serious about writing since 2007.

My current problem(s): Pushing through the block. I get stuck easily sometimes. I'm always wanting to find that perfect word or perfect action or perfect plot point. I forget that my story is at a raw rough draft, and it's okay to write crap. Instead in my mind I think it's the final draft and it has to be perfect.

This week's question: Quantity vs. Quality. Do you believe it is best to write/write fast, get it all out, and edit later? Or is it better to go slow, editing in the process? Is forcing myself to write 1,000 words per day really the best option?

My answer: This week's question completely goes with one of my main problems. It's okay to write crap. I tell my other writing friends this all the time, but for some reason I cannot see it. I used to write until my wrists were killing me and my butt was so numb that it hurt to stand. Now I get so frustrated on making things the exact way that I click out of my WORD document entirely way too early. So basically - write crap. You can go back and change crap.

50K in 50 Days? I'm in!

A while back I saw the 50K in 50 Days on Confessions of the Un-Published and thought it was great. The only downfall for me was that my fake deadline was August 11th, and it runs from July 12-August 30th.

But now my fake deadline is August 28th due to having a whole bunch of stuff going on at the end of this month giving me hardly any writing time, my lovely co-workers who are apart of my fake deadline let me push it back a couple weeks. (Well, except my boss. She told me tough crap, but she was out voted on this one.)

Anyhoo I decided to join up! I'm already about 43K into my novel, but most of that has to be cut and changed because I changed my plot and how my character needs to act about well everything.  I think about 50 more K will probably finish it so I'm pretty much game if you haven't caught that from this crazy rambling.

I'll be bringing this blog alive with writing updates, and I encourage everyone to go sign up and join in on the fun!

Yes, I'm still alive.

As of right now, I'm pretty sure no one reads this writing blog. Just in case any of my 15 followers might be wondering why I haven't updated when I said I would update last month (well technically two months ago since it's officially July), well...here is it. An update. I'm alive. I'm working a lot. I'm reading somewhat. I'm being entirely way too lazy with writing which is now kicking me in my rear. And that is really NOT a good thing.

I gave myself a fake deadline which was probably the Worst. Idea. Ever. Why? Because I was dumb enough to tell my co-workers about it. Now they are reminding of my deadline. One even circled the date on the calendar:

So what happens when I meet my deadline? I get to keep my story. What happens if I don't? I have to throw it away.

I announced that if my first draft was not done by August 10th then I would completely forget about Augustus and her crazy family and the crazy town of Yellow Falls. Not to mention I would store away hot boy Memphis Jack forever.Why? Because this story has been floating around in my head for two years and it MUST come out.

Yeah, I'm so screwed.

What's a writer to do? Well kick herself off the net again. Not just for writing but for the fact that my sister had to get a hold of me not once, but TWO different times via twitter to call her for important family stuff. How sad is that she had to tweet me to get a hold of me? Hopefully next month I can come back with an announcement that my novel is done, I'm 15 pounds lighter, and that I had an awesome time vacationing in Florida.

Expert from my novel - Babel Fish style

I just saw this on Mindi Scott's (2010 debut author - I am so excited about her book) blog. You can read her entry here.

Basically the idea is to take an expert from your book, go to Babel Fish, translate it to another language then translate it back to English, and see what happens!

I took the last part I wrote last night / this morning and threw it on Babel Fish, hit English to French then French to English. This is what I got:


“Sorry kid,” He said, spreading his legacy out. “I' ve made my decision one this. When the garlic smelling mannequin walks in thesis doors, the only show she is going to get is my underwear being ripped off.”

My jaw dropped. He wouldn' T.

Wait.

Off race He would.

“Fine,” I said, shoving myself off the desk. I walked next to him, took has deep breath, and thanked the Lord we didn' T cuts cameras in young stag. I kicked off my heels, undid my short prop, and slipped my slacks right off.

“A-Augustus…” Thomas stuttered. “Is that has….?”

“Yes,” I replied, feeling my entire body blush. “That would Be has thong.”

Here's what it actually says:

“Sorry kid,” he said, spreading his legs out. “I’ve made my decision on this. When the garlic smelling mannequin walks in these doors, the only show she is going to get is my underwear being ripped off.”

My jaw dropped. He wouldn’t.

Wait.

Of course he would.

“Fine,” I said, shoving myself off the desk. I walked next to him, took a deep breath, and thanked the Lord we didn’t have cameras in here. I kicked off my heels, undid my button, and slipped my slacks right off.

“A-Augustus…” Thomas stuttered. “Is that a….?”

“Yes,” I replied, feeling my entire body blush. “That would be a thong.”

And when you're not even looking - it happens

So this week I started doing some changes in my novel.

It first started with a major event that sent my character packing in the first place. Then a slight change of how my character left. After that idea came, I had to tweak a few key point relationships. When I did that, I had to switch a few things up, add a character in this scene, take one of out out of that one....

Then I just couldn't stop myself! It was suddenly making sense except for the one really awesome idea I had from the get go - the one that keeps my character there, but sometimes really awesome great ideas that you love still won't work. So that got vetoed too.

And now it all makes sense. Yay!

Also here is a snippet of my playlist for this novel. I say snippet because I couldn't find a lot of the songs on the site.

Let's bring this blog back to life, shall we?

Once upon a time I decided this was going to be the blog I talked about all my writing then well, it didn't happen.

*hangs head in shame*

So here's what's going on. I'm starting over from scratch and making sure this sucker gets used for what it was meant to be used for: WRITING!

I've been working on a novel that I will be calling UNTITLED. (I have a name for it, but more in likely it will change. It's only had 5 different names by now.) I've worked on this story for almost 2 years. I know my characters like the back of my hand, and finally, FINALLY I think I've got. Really got the drive to finish this novel for once and for all. I started over from scratch which was crazy, yet crazy good idea. I even gave myself a fake deadline - August 10th. (My co-worker even circled it on the calender at work.) So what's the story that I've been trying to get out about? Well, I'll give you a half arse snyposis:

Augustus Brooks hasn't been home in over seven years. It would have been longer, but her grandmother decided to drop dead on her, and her mother guilt tripped her into coming back home for the funeral. (Plus there was the fear of her grandmother haunting her if she didn't attend the service.) Little did Augustus know that this was just one piece of the crazy scheme puzzle her parents had created for her. Now she's stuck in Yellow Falls. For how long? She has no idea, but one thing she does know is that having to face everyone she left behind, the one major regret, and an ex boyfriend she never really broke up with was never in her plans.

So that's it so far. I'll be frequently updating this blog with my journey of writing, rambles, and whatever seems to tickle my fancy.