Stylish Blog Award

Next week (May 2, 2011) I will be posting an interview with Author, Rebecca Besser.  Rebecca is on an amazing journey and making a bit of headway in the writing world.  Be sure to stop by and check it out. 

Surprise!  I am the winner of the Stylish Blogger Award.  Thank you so very much Kelly Hashway of: http://www.kellyhashway.com for giving me this award.  Its such a pretty one too.

For this award I have to share 7 things about myself:

1. I have a fruit orchard that consists of nine trees:  Two peach, two pears, two cherries, and three plums.  I would have apples too, but the deer just wont let me.  I keep buying the trees and the deer keep eating them to death. 
2. I used to be afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.  As a child, I swore he lived in my house and was just waiting to eat me, like he did the three little pigs. 
3. I married my high school sweetheart.  Not right away of course, we had to do a bit of growing up first.
4. I get annoyed when my teenager’s friends ask if I am her sister.  Seriously, it gets under my skin.  I’m sure there are some people that think this is a great ego thing, but I like being a mom.
5. I am the clumsiest thing you will ever meet.  Don’t stand too close, I may just fall over for no apparent reason and take you down with me. 
6. When I was little, I had white blond hair.  Truly WHITE, like a cotton ball.  I wish I still did, but as you should all know, I am firmly a brunette in my old age. 
7. Family vacations as a child consisted of canoeing down the Muskingum River for 6-7 days, sleeping in tents, cooking over a fire, the works.  When I was about 16, I watched the movie Deliverance… had a hard time with the vacation after that. 

Okay, so it's time to pass on the award. Here are the Stylish Bloggers I'm awarding:

1. http://denise-roomtowrite.blogspot.com/
2. http://taliajager.blogspot.com
3. http://tyrasbookaddiction.blogspot.com
4. http://allynstotz.blogspot.com
5. http://brimeetsbooks.com

There you have it. Go check out these stylin blogs, if you aren't already following them. And thanks again, Kelly!

See ya next week.

ctny

What is the best thing about being a writer?

There are many wonderful things about being a writer, but the best thing for me? I don’t have to work with anyone.  No one is my “boss”.  No one tells me what to writer, when to writer, or how to write.  I know that any mistakes made, are mine and mine alone.  I know that if the work doesn’t get done, it’s my fault.  I don’t have to rely on anyone to do any kind of work.  Of course there are drawbacks to that very same perk.  If there is a mistake, I can only blame myself.  There is no scapegoat to pin it on. 

Another great thing about being a writer is that I can do it anywhere.  While waiting in line, I can brainstorm or take down a few notes.  I can write while sitting in the park, soaking up some sun, or at the pool, or in a restaurant while having lunch.  I have been know to whip out a note card at any moment and take down a thought or two.  You know the new trend of paper tablecloths at restaurants…..I have claimed one or two or ten as I swipe my daughters crayon and make a few notes while waiting for our entrée.  I think it embarrasses my teenager (extra perk).

That's why I enjoy writing, but what about you other writers out there?  Why do you write?  What perks do you enjoy?  Are there things about writing that you don’t like?

Have a great week everyone.

ctny

1st School Visit

I survived my very first school visit.   

I know!  It was a shock to me too.  Here I am, obscenely shy me, getting talked into chatting with 60+ children at one time.  But when a sweet little face says, please mommy, you can do it.  What can you really say?  No?  I'm too scared? 

Then there are the people that say, but it’s only children….yeah and?  You never know what’s going to pop up when dealing with kids.  What they will ask, or say, or do. 

So there I was waiting my turn out in the hallway.  I was shaking like a leaf on a tree in a thunderstorm.  I was sweating (big time).  I was wondering if I had remembered deodorant, when I was told, “You're up”.

I took a deep breath, picked up my bag, and walked in.  My daughter was standing out in front saying, "My mom is here to talk about writing stories." 

Okay.....smile....and then I was off.  I had some of my magazines with me, a few of my anthologies, and my book.  I also brought my dictionary, my thesaurus, my market books, and a current work in progress.  I told stories about writing (they laughed), I asked for questions (hands shot up by the tons), and before I knew it, my half hour was up.  I asked if anyone wanted a free bookmark and I was mobbed.  It was lovely.  Then they didn't want to leave (which was even lovelier).  Finally they were herded out and my daughter was all that was left.  I asked how I did, and my sweet girl said I did just fine. 

I had to stop at home on my way back to work to put on more deodorant, but otherwise, I'm good to go.  It was actually, if I am honest and look way down past the fear, fun.  Surprisingly so. 

Will I be doing that again anytime soon?   Nope.  Oh I’m certain, that I will HAVE to do them in the future, but not anytime soon, hopefully.

A writer's work is never done.

Happy Spring!  I don’t know about your part of the world, but it has been a slow start to spring this year for me.  As it snowed on Saturday, I am glad to see the temperatures rise above freezing, even if that means the start of the rainy season, or as I like to call it, mud season.  Which brings me to my point of the week, season/weather affected inspiration.  Now me, I am quite uninspired in the winter.  The cold, the ice, the snow, are not conducive to a good writing environment for me.  It is a true struggle to write something worthwhile.  Now with the start of the warmer air and sun shiny days, I get giddy with inspiration.  But wait, you say, there is so much more work and things to do when the weather is nice, how can anyone find time to write.  Well, yes, that is true….

…want some good, honest, true to me, advice?  Okay, here it is:  If you want to write, and be a writer, there is no “but” to it.  You do it.  You find the time. You stay up late or you get up early, you use your lunch hour, and you sit in the stands at baseball practice for your children with a notebook and pencil scrawling away.  Being a writer is like everything else in the world.  It’s work.  If you want to succeed, you have to work at it.  You have to put in the time and the effort otherwise, you will always be sitting on the sidelines, whining about what you WANT to do and never crowing about what you HAVE already accomplished.  I have my periods of crap just like everyone else (December), but I refuse to it hold me back for long. 

Ummm, so that’s my advice column for the year…..send you letters to Dear Courtney…..LOL!

Have a great week.

ctny

Ebooks

For Christmas this past year I received to my delight a Kindle e-reader.  I wasn’t certain what I thought of e-readers at that time, but since then, I have found that I LOVE my Kindle.  I don’t have to go out to get new books from the bookstore. I don’t have to pay for shipping and wait for it to arrive if I go on-line.  I search, I buy, I have, all within moments, a new book to read right at my greedy fingertips.  I love it.

Of course now that I have had the Kindle for a bit, I have found several things that are a bit hinky if you ask me.  First, unless you really are paying attention you can get gipped in the book department.  I was searching for a good read, and found a nice $.99 book that sounded intriguing.  So I purchased it and began to read.  I flipped from page one to page two and the percentage of the book I had read went from 1% to 8%.  Yep, I just purchased a 12 page book.  Of course I was a bit annoyed, but I learned a valuable lesson:  check to see how big the download is before you buy, otherwise you too can be purchasing a 12 page novel. 

The next thing on the hinky side is the cost of some ebooks.  First as an author myself, I KNOW that ebooks are almost all profit.  There is no printing, there is no cover, there is no shipping, there is no storage.  Aside from the initial set up, it’s just profit. That is one of the reasons print books have become so expensive, all the above.  So, I was recommended a read from one of my followers a few weeks back.  I searched it down and saw that to purchase the print book it was $7.99.  To purchase the ebook, it was $7.49.  To me?  That is a very greedy, horrible deal.  Yes, the author makes more money, but frankly, I am not buying books to make authors money.  I am buying books to be entertained, to learn something new, or for whatever.  So, here me now all you publishers, and self publishing authors out there, if you are going to gouge your readers with that kind of a crappy deal, I will not be buying your books.  Even if I really want to read it, I wont be spending my money on you.  Shame on you.  I’m not saying they need to all be $.99 books.  I don’t expect that at all.  But $.50?  Seriously?    

So the question is am I wrong?  Why?  Ebooks are a wonderful new thing.  But, you can’t share them;  you can’t pass them along to libraries;  you can’t take them to “used” stores to re-sell;  you get it, you read it, that’s it. What do you think?

 ctny

Critiquing

This is a current topic of discussion on several of the writer boards that I frequent.  I personally do quite a bit of review and critique work for other writers.  So much so in the past that I had to cut back on it quite a bit.  I was spending all my free time looking at the work of others and none on my own.  Some people ask how do you do a good review or a good edit or a good critique.  Everyone has different ways that they do it.  I have several rules that I follow.  These are not hard and fast rules for all people, but my own rules that I have set for myself. 

1.                  Remember that you are reviewing someone’s hard work.  It means something to them, and their heart is involved.

2.                  Don’t only focus on the bad stuff.  There has to be good in there somewhere.  Make sure to touch on it as well.  Point it out. 

3.                  Keep it constructive.  Always.

4.                  Be honest, but not hurtful.  If you hate the story, instead of saying that, say what they could do to make it better.

5.                  Remember that it is not your story.  You might have done it differently, but you didn’t write it.  Stick with the edit and the critique. 

6.                  If you aren’t sure about a change make sure to state that you aren’t or even better look it up.

That’s about it, the basics anyway.  Are there any other rules you use that aren’t on my list?  Do you want something in particular when you ask for a review or a critique? 

Ramblings

Yes, I know its not Monday, which is my usual posting day, but I have been swamped lately.  I have finished,  F I N I S H E D my novel, Shadow Warrior.  This is the sequel to my Shadow Dancer novel published last fall.  It is formatted and edited (hopefully) to the best of my ability and is right this very moment, officially in the paws of my publisher.  Woo Hoo!

Now comes the hard part:  The waiting.  Nail biting, worry inducing, stomach aching waiting.  I hate this part.  What if they don’t like it, or worse hate it?  What if what I think is a great story actually sucks?  Most times I would just jump back into another story and get moving writing it, but my brain wont stop the “what if” cycle that spinning and circling around in there. 

My shorter stories I don’t have this type of issue with.  Oh I am invested in their future, but not heartbreakingly if rejected (not that it doesn’t upset me – I wish it didn’t, but alas it does every single time).  My novels though, they have my soul in them.  They have my time, my energy, my frustrations.  A ‘no’ on one of my novel submissions tend to depress me for days.  No, I’m not wailing in the streets, but the weight of that one little word, tends to hang on. 

So to try to combat my neurosis, today I have decided that I am going to read a new book.  Any recommends?

Have a great week everyone.

ctny