(This was supposed to post in the morning. Sorry about the unplanned change in schedule.) Earlier tonight I joined an already-in-progress Spanish class, where I met a group of very nice people and got to practice my Spanish! I’ve been worried that I’ll lose my fluency the longer I’m away from Spanish speakers, and while …
writing / editing
Fracture and Fissure are Born!
How was your weekend? Did you do anything exciting? Aside from enjoying a leisurely four-day weekend that included a yummy dinner with my family, shopping and watching Black Swan with my sister, and lots of play time with Owen, I also Skyped with Erica for an hour and a half and plotted the rest of …
Birthday Post at Ermas!
To mark my birthday yesterday I wrote a post called It’s Not Easy Being Green for An Army of Ermas. The post should be up mid-morning — go check it out! ETA: Link is live. There’s a picture!
Synopsizing
Synopsis [si-nop-sis] a brief or condensed statement giving a general view of some subject. Apparently Webster hasn’t met me. Let’s go with this one instead: Synopsis [si-nop-sis] a brief summary of the plot of a novel, motion picture, play, etc. That’s more like it. ***** An interesting tidbit I picked up during my Weekend of …
Finding My Voice
Don’t forget to leave a comment on Friday’s post to be entered to win a $25 gift card! Comments close Thursday night. I had dinner with a friend last week that I hadn’t seen in quite awhile, and he asked me about my writing. When I told him I’m working on a young adult novel, …
New Beginnings
Thursday will mark one year since I left stepped off a plane from Mexico, introduced my Mexican puppy to snow, and pressed restart on my life. But that’s not what this post is about (that’ll be Wednesday). The new beginning I’d like to talk about today is for my latest novel. I’ve received wonderful feedback …
Don’t Give Me That Look
Raised eyebrow. Snarling lip. Clenched jaw. Trembling chin. Wide eyes. Flushed cheeks. … A lot can be said with a shift in expression. A change in mood, a sudden thought, a devious plan. As writers we know what our characters are feeling, but showing those emotions is often easier said than done. It’s easy to …
Total Ellipse of the Heart
Get ready. This post might be a bit of a stretch. Last weekend I bought something I’ve coveted for nearly ten years: It’s an elliptical machine! Good for the heart, good for the knees, and no annoying aerobics instructor telling you to give her eight more! And, um… it’s in a box. Yes, I bought …
Find and Replace
Ahh… technological devices designed to make our lives easier. When will I ever learn? One of the comments from my first beta reader pointed out that I had a lot of extra spaces in the document, as well as some wonky apostrophes. (I blame the PC, as usual.) I hit Control F, plugged in the …
Wheeeeeeeee!
I got my first comments back from my first beta reader and I’m so relieved someone likes my story! Since this was my very first reader there were lots of silly things to fix, but by later today my very first TEENAGER will be reading it. Eek! Another benefit of my wonderful network of writing …