Book Recommendation

I can't believe I forgot to mention the release of a much anticipated book yesterday! (for me anyway)  Goliath by Scott Westerfeld hit the shelf yesterday.  I have complete faith that it will be as great as it's predecessors, Leviathan and Behemoth.  Actually everything I've read of his, which is most everything he's written, has been great... It's a YA steam punk series, so if that's your thing, I definitely recommend you add these to your to-read list.  (* On a side note, I have had the pleasure of meeting the author and he is very cool.)

www.scottwesterfeld.com

Weekend Wrap-Up

Now is the time when I should be bragging about how much I got done over the weekend.  Much to my own dismay because I didn't get ANYTHING written.  Not one.  Single.  Word.  <grumbles in discontent>  But, in an effort to look on the positive side, the weekend wasn't a total loss.  Here are a few non-writing related experiences and lessons I had the pleasure of bearing witness to over a mere two day stretch:

Valuable Experiences:
1)  I convinced a Chuy's employee to let me taze him.
2)  I tried a new type of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory.
3)  I watched the police body slam the newest resident of the neighborhood after he drunkenly decided to stroll door to door introducing himself with a plate of chicken....at 12:30am.


Lessons Learned:
1)  The creamy jalapeno sauce at Chuy's contains a mysterious, highly addictive ingredient.  After careful analysis, my suspicions are that it is some variation of crack.
2)  The effects of a one million volt tazer are intensified if the victim is standing bare footed in wet grass.
3)  Endless hours of entertainment can be achieved if one acquires an $80 scooter held together by gray tape.

Now that I have gotten all of THAT out of my brain, I think I'm off to work on something a little more productive.  I feel a desperate need to reclaim those vital IQ points that I'm sure I misplaced in the past few days.

Status Update

I am happy to report that I seem to have found my mojo again.  (Like I'm really going to pass up the opportunity to use the word "mojo" in a sentence!)  I spent around 5 hours reviewing notes and writing yesterday and managed to get nearly an entire chapter done.  On top of that, I managed to finalize (I hope) my outline for the next chapter I'll be working on.  I've got bits and pieces of outlines and notes and segments written, so I'm working on trying to get them organized and pieced together, which is proving to be quite a challenge!  On the bright side, the more I put together, the further along I see that I really am with what remains.  Looks like a lot of writing connecting pieces more than anything, which is a nice discovery to make.  So, going to stay on the track I'm on for now and hope that soon I'll reach my chapter-per-week goal that I've set for myself.

Currently Reading / Mini Update

Just a quick update to let everyone know what I'm currently reading.  Sapphique, by Catherine Fisher.  It's the follow up book to Incarceron.)  I don't intend to breeze through this one like I often do with other books.  In fact, if it's anything like it's predecessor, it'll be one of those reads that's good to take slow so that you can really thing about what's developing in the story.  I've got some time before the next book I'm anxiously awaiting is released, so it's the perfect time to squeeze this one in.  Will also allow me more time to work on my own writing.

That being said, with yesterday's distraction of college football out of the way, my house semi-cleanish, my child occupied and my husband out for a bit, I'm off to take advantage of the opportunity to get a little work done on my New Orleans chapter.  Hope the remainder of the weekend is good to you all!

Currently Reading

Just a quick update to let everyone know which book I am currently completely engrossed in.  The Power of Six, by Patticus Lore.  It's the second book in the Lorien Legacies series.  If you haven't added these to your to-read lists, I would highly suggest them.  (Although you should probably start with the first book, I Am Number Four, otherwise you're going to be very lost and confused.)  Happy Reading!

Killer Nashville

Clearly, after looking at the picture above, one of two things has happened.  Either 1) I finally took out my frustrations on one of the bozos who cut me off on Hwy 280, or 2) I spent the past weekend at the Killer Nashville Conference.  Luckily for the bozos it was the latter.

My brain is so full of newly found information that I don't even know where to begin.  I got to attend several great mini-seminars led by some very knowledgeable panels of authors, agents, specialist and others deeply submersed and well experienced in all matters literary.  I enjoyed them all, but two really stood out to me in particular that I feel will be extremely beneficial to my continued journey to greatness (ha, ha) in the long run.  One focused on self promotion--basically "getting your name out there."  I'm very grateful to Nancy Naigle as well as the rest of the panel for sharing their experiences and giving me some really good insight on how to get started.

Another, which I fell I probably got the most out of in regards to improving my writing technique, focused on plot development and was led by Randy Rawls and yet another great panel of experts who have already traveled down this path. The short one hour session was packed with some of the specific information I was looking for.  I really feel like I'm going to be able to utilize everything they brought to the table.

Some other highlights of the event included activities and sessions with TBI Special Agents and Guest Speakers Donald Bain and Robert Dugoni.  (And one of the best local food finds I've ever stumbled across called the Mojo Grill.  I would seriously drive back to Nashville just to eat there.)

In summary, it was a GREAT experience and I can't wait to go back next year.  Can't wait to see where I am then.

The Big Easy

About high time for an update, don't you think? Sadly, I have barely had two seconds of peace in the last month--pretty typical these days, I'm afraid. However, I'm happy to report that I did survive my recent trip to New Orleans. As some of you may know, I've got plans for my poor, tortured main character to make a trip to NOLA. What I found in trying to plan for that particular portion of the story is that I've never actually been to New Orleans, which was making it extremely difficult to write. So, that gave me all the excuse I needed to take a mini trip and celebrate my anniversary all at once. I definitely found the inspiration I was looking for and then some. One of my favorite parts of writing is being able to incorporate my own personal experiences into my work. I certainly will be doing that with this chapter. I found so many things that seem to make the city unique that I can way to incorporate into the story in ways that I really don't think would have been possible had I not made the trip. Ever hear about a place and get a mental picture of what it looks like in your head only to discover it's NOTHING like you imagined once you actually see it in person? Well let's just say I think I'll be able to write much more accurate descriptions now that are absolutely nothing like what I'd been planning, but much better in the long run I think. I have lots coming up and lots going on in the near future, so stand by for another update soon!