Movie quote to reflect upon while reading this post (plus, this is one of my hubby's favorite movies, and I love it when he quotes it, so I had to share :) !!)
"...you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win.” --The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
We have two months left before the deadline to pay for my daughter's pre-school in the fall. But we haven't paid yet.
Why?
Because said stubborn daughter refuses to sit on the potty to go number two. And she can't go to pre-school unless she's completely potty trained, so...we've been forcing the issue lately, trying pretty much everything to get her adjusted to this new way of life before the end of June.
And I gotta tell you, I suck at this. I'm a total push over. My husband can stand there and make her sit while she's screaming and crying, begging to get off the potty, but I just melt and start crying too. I can't handle to see her so upset. I want her to do it on her own without any prodding, but time is running short.
I gotta get mean!
I think I'm having similar problems with my book peeps. My problem with them isn't to coax them to go to the bathroom, of course, but it's forcing them to do things they hate.
A blog I recently read talked about a book the blogger had critiqued. She said it had amazing writing and wonderful characters but the plot was something like "boy meets girl, they have a great time together, fall in love, and life happily every after." Which is great but, yeah, really boring.
Every story need problems, conflict, TORTURE to make it worth our readers' time.
Just like I shouldn't let my kiddo get off the potty to poop, I shouldn't let my characters have anything they want without a huge, uphill, awful, painful, angst-ridden battle. But it's just so hard to keep their happiness away from them. I love them all. I want to give them rainbows and sunshine all the time.
It is a constant struggle for me to torture my book characters. I guess I could be all smug and snooty and say, "I'm just too nice; that's my problem," but in this instance. Nice is bad. Here is where I..."gotta be mean, I mean plumb, mad-dog mean."
And so, that is my goal in my next book: to try to be meaner to my fictional creations!
Have you been mean enough to your characters lately?
New Hobby
Friday, April 26, 2013
So, when I'm not writing stories, watching my never-wants-to-do-anything-by-herself three-year-old, working my full time job, editing, reading other people's stories, up keeping my online networking presence, or occasionally doing a little cooking and cleaning, I know you're just DYING to know what I do in all my free time.
Right?
Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway.
The husband loves it whenever I do something with him that he likes to do, so when I told him I'd absolutely love to go see a play or musical someday, he gave me a dirty look and told me, "good luck with that." Then, a few years later, about a month ago, I told him archery might be kind of cool to learn. So, the very next day, I came home from work to find he'd bought me a new bow!
He even got a bunch of cool purple and pink gadgets to make it look all girly for me, saying "I never thought I'd get into customizing a bow before." But he totally got into it this time! It was like watching my niece go down the fingernail painting aisle at Wal-mart. I call all the pink and purple stuff my bow bling!!
Anyway, I know you're super curious to know...just how good of a shot am I?
Well, I'm no Katniss Everdeen, that's for darn sure.
So far, I pretty much suck. It was really embarrassing when I first tried to pull back the string for the first time. Couldn't even pull it back. So the hubs adjusted the setting until I could pull back forty pounds, since this fancy pants bow (called a Diamond Core, if you're curious) can be adjusted from forty to seventy pounds (whatever that means!).
Eventually, I learned how to pull it back, NOT to dry fire it, to find all my anchor points, and keep my draw firm. The first time I flung and arrow, from ten yards...I totally missed the target. I am now down from five arrows to four, since one has been forever eaten by the field by our house.
I didn't give up though. No, no. I kept shooting. And the husband kept adjusting sights and the peep and all that good stuff to set it up to my specifications. After I became used to drawing back forty pounds, he moved it up to fifty...without telling me (but I can still do it, oh yeah, building up a little arm muscle!).
And now...now...I can shoot at twenty yards. Yesterday, I shot my first decent pattern. I dropped one arrow a little (we'll blame the wind on that one because it WAS really windy).
And now I gotta brag. Just look at that group! Isn't it totally amazing? Well it's the best I've done yet. By looking at all the holes in the target, you can probably tell that I usually don't even get close to the bulls eye.
Right?
Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway.
The husband loves it whenever I do something with him that he likes to do, so when I told him I'd absolutely love to go see a play or musical someday, he gave me a dirty look and told me, "good luck with that." Then, a few years later, about a month ago, I told him archery might be kind of cool to learn. So, the very next day, I came home from work to find he'd bought me a new bow!
He even got a bunch of cool purple and pink gadgets to make it look all girly for me, saying "I never thought I'd get into customizing a bow before." But he totally got into it this time! It was like watching my niece go down the fingernail painting aisle at Wal-mart. I call all the pink and purple stuff my bow bling!!
Anyway, I know you're super curious to know...just how good of a shot am I?
Well, I'm no Katniss Everdeen, that's for darn sure.
So far, I pretty much suck. It was really embarrassing when I first tried to pull back the string for the first time. Couldn't even pull it back. So the hubs adjusted the setting until I could pull back forty pounds, since this fancy pants bow (called a Diamond Core, if you're curious) can be adjusted from forty to seventy pounds (whatever that means!).
Eventually, I learned how to pull it back, NOT to dry fire it, to find all my anchor points, and keep my draw firm. The first time I flung and arrow, from ten yards...I totally missed the target. I am now down from five arrows to four, since one has been forever eaten by the field by our house.
I didn't give up though. No, no. I kept shooting. And the husband kept adjusting sights and the peep and all that good stuff to set it up to my specifications. After I became used to drawing back forty pounds, he moved it up to fifty...without telling me (but I can still do it, oh yeah, building up a little arm muscle!).
And now...now...I can shoot at twenty yards. Yesterday, I shot my first decent pattern. I dropped one arrow a little (we'll blame the wind on that one because it WAS really windy).
And now I gotta brag. Just look at that group! Isn't it totally amazing? Well it's the best I've done yet. By looking at all the holes in the target, you can probably tell that I usually don't even get close to the bulls eye.
What are some things you do when your life is not in a state of total-chaos busy??
New Cover : How to Resist Prince Charming
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
At the end of June, my 2010 story How to Resist Prince Charming will no longer be available through its publisher.
So, I have decided to re-release it in July by myself
once all the publishing rights revert back to me.
There will be new/altered scenes.
It will have a more affordable price.
The genre will be reclassified as Mature New Adult Romance.
It will be available in both ebook (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, AllRomance Ebooks, and Smashwords) and print (CreateSpace).
And even though the cover artist for the current edition has let me use this cover for future publications, I thought with all the other new features it's getting, it needed a new look too.
So, I browsed around and contacted StanzAlone Design for some help. This woman is a saint, I kid you not. I don't know how many times I made her alter things because I got all font picky. But we finally settled on something that made me say, "Oh yeah, I'll take that one!" And life was good.
 |
| CURRENT COVER |
There will be new/altered scenes.
It will have a more affordable price.
The genre will be reclassified as Mature New Adult Romance.
It will be available in both ebook (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, AllRomance Ebooks, and Smashwords) and print (CreateSpace).
And even though the cover artist for the current edition has let me use this cover for future publications, I thought with all the other new features it's getting, it needed a new look too.
So, I browsed around and contacted StanzAlone Design for some help. This woman is a saint, I kid you not. I don't know how many times I made her alter things because I got all font picky. But we finally settled on something that made me say, "Oh yeah, I'll take that one!" And life was good.
So....introducing the future look of HOW TO RESIST PRINCE CHARMING:
 |
| FUTURE COVER |
To resist the perfect man, please follow these simple rules:
Step 1: Never make eye contact.
Step 2: Never smile at him.
Step 3: Never agree to anything he suggests.
Or better yet, just follow Lenna Davenport's example and give in to temptation, sparking a whole tangle of passion, forbidden romance, mounting secrets and deceit. She meets her prince charming at her father’s company Christmas party. Problem is he happens to be her dad’s new boss. Worse problem is, her dad totally hates him.
But what Daddy doesn’t know…
Braxton Farris takes over Farris Industries out of family obligation and expects his new employees might resent his youth and inexperience. What he doesn’t anticipate is the level of contempt Tom Davenport carries for him. Nor does he count on falling for Tom’s daughter. When he and Lenna start a secret affair, a disaster of corporate proportions is bound to follow. But to be together, they must decide if the fallout is worth it.
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