. . . A Few of My Favorite Things

I thought it would be fun to to a top ten list of my favorite writing things, though it's really hard to organize them in an order that is most important, as I can't imagine writing without any of them, and believe me, I've tried! So, here it is, in random order, the ten most important things to help me write.



#10: All right, I know I said I gave it up, and I've tried, really, really hard, but I am a weak and lowly human and kind of screwed up. Again. I'm not sure what it is, but even a single sip of Pepsi gets the energy and creativity flowing and somehow I write better and get the inspiration I so seriously crave. Which leads me to #9, which is were all inspiration is supposed to come from.




#9: Just pretend this wonderful book represents all scriptures and answers to prayer. I find that when I don't read my scriptures and pray before I write, the inspiration just doesn't flow, and if I try to write anyway, all that comes out is useless drivel I end up deleting.





#8: I have just recently discovered this delicious and nutritious snack. I am a HUGE garlic fan. I use it in almost everything. I'd probably try garlic ice cream if I ever had the opportunity, so to combine my favorite cracker with garlic is just brilliant, in my opinion. Calling me garlic breath would be music to my ears. lol




#7: My wonderful, kind-hearted ex-stepdad gave me the most wonderful Christmas present, thanks to the hinting of my friend and sister-in-law, Jenny. He wanted to get me a camera, and though I do like taking pictures, I don't do it a lot. She told him if he wanted to get me something I could really use that he needed to upgrade my computer. And so he did. He sent a chunk of money to my little brother and his lovely wife and Sean built me the most wicked awesome computer you ever did see. After so many years on a cramped little screen, my poor eyes were screaming. The screen I have now is 24" wide. I can fit two entire pieces of paper side-by-side and still have space between them. I am so very grateful for this gift and for the men who made it happen.





#6:Peanut M&M's. Need I say more???






#5: My Alphasmart Neo I just won from the LDStorymakers Conference. I had purchased a Neo at one point, and loved it, but when the opportunity came to purchase a used Alphasmart Dana, I sold my Neo because I thought the expandability of the Dana would better suit me. I was wrong and had commented to my friend, Shanna, just a few weeks before the LDStorymakers Conference that I wished I hadn't sold mine. She teased me and said "Well, if you win the grand prize you'll have a new one." I totally blew her off and now here I am. How cool is that?




#4: I've been a sunflower seed freak since about 7th grade. I ate them during softball games. I eat them when hiking and camping. I eat them on vacations. And . . . I eat them when I write. The salty / sweet combination of sunflower seeds while drinking pepsi is especially appealing to me, for some reason. I know I'm weird. You can say it, it's okay. I have come to embrace my weirdness. My mom used to call me a squirrel because she used to find little piles of shells around the house and in the corners.


#3: Composition notebooks. I know what you're thinking. why composition? Why not loose-leaf paper or spiral bound notebooks? I'm not sure why exactly, but there's something about the composition notebook that gets me writing and loving the process. I think part of it is that the spirals cut into my hand and I'm always losing loose leaf pages. Whatever the reason, I love composition notebooks and buy them by the dozen.



#2: You can't have notebooks without pens and these are my absolute favorite. I love uni-ball pens in general, especially the Visons and the Vision Elite's, but the 207's are awesome. They glide and if they get wet the ink stays in place. I'm always getting my papers wet. *ahem* I'm a bit of a klutz. *blushing* Writing by hand is sheer bliss.




#1: Of everything on this list, Silicon earplugs are the one item I cannot do without. They are my secret weapon in my writing aresenal. You see, I've got this nasty little thing called ADD and I am hyper-aware of everything going on around me. Every little twitch, chirp, and squeal pulls me out of the story when I'm writing and it takes a while to get back into it. Earplugs solve the problem. I can ignore sight distractions, but not sound. As a matter of fact, I wrote the first draft of my winning chapter in an hour and a half last summer at the BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop. I came to my room determined to write something new, pulled out my Alphasmart, stuck in the earplugs, and pounded out over 2,000 words, just like that. Earplugs are AWESOME!


So there you have it. My top ten list of favorite writing tools. If any of them appeal to you, feel free to steal them. Wait! Don't take mine, silly. Go buy your own!


Quote of the Day: "Ability is nothing without opportunity."

Napoleon Bonaparte

My Head Exploded!

I've been pondering for three days how to talk about the past weekend. Words seem so small in expressing how much my life changed over the course of two simple days. I've been standing in the doorway, waiting for something to change and suddenly I've been shoved into the open and find my feet racing down the path before me.

Friday and Saturday I attended the 6th annual LDStorymakers Conference held at the Marriott in Provo Utah. I couldn't stand to wait for Friday morning, so I sent out a request to my online writing friends at Authors Incognito and asked if anybody had a spare bed Thursday night. Thankfully Kellie opened her door for me. I picked her up from the airport and we spent a wonderful evening visiting with old friends and making new ones. We spent time with Julie Wright and Rachel Ann Nunes. We saw Shirley Bahlman, BJ Rowley, and Tristi Pinkston. I didn't want to go to bed, I was having such a wonderful time, but at long last I drifted off to sleep and got up the next morning ready to rock.

Unfortunately, I didn't get up early enough and was a few minutes late to boot camp. Thankfully my dear friend Shari saved a spot for me at Julie Wright's table. The morning hours with our group were amazing. The different authors presented lessons in ten minute segments, then gave us twenty minutes to critique the work of those at our table, specifically working on the area just presented. Our table was awesome, all very good caliber writers.

The first happy bit of my day came when I read five minutes of my chapter from The Troll Princess. Everybody laughed in all the right spots and when I got done reading somebody said, "I wish I could write humor like that." There weren't many comments on what I could fix. In fact, Julie said "I've got nothing for you." That felt awesome.

I spent more time talking to people than attending classes, but it was where I needed to be, and at 4:50 I had a meeting with agent Amy Jameson to review a part of my manuscript. I was prepared to be hammered, but again . . . nothing. Every page she turned was minus red. She gave me a couple of things to consider but said she liked it, though when I asked if she'd be interested in representing something like it, she had to say no as she is not a reader of high fantasy. I was okay with that.

Not long after that I was told by a certain editor that she is trying to get her publisher to find a place in their schedule for my books. That was jaw dropping for me. I knew she liked my writing, but for her to still be going to bat for me nine months after my phone call rejection blew my mind. It was literally a jaw dropping experience for me.

I switched rooms to stay with my hat sister, Shari, and her daughter, but couldn't sleep that night. My nerves were so jittery knowing what I faced the next day: the contest winners announcement. I had entered two stories: the one I'd reviewed with my boot camp table (the troll princess), and one I'd written last year at the BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young Reader's workshop with Brandon Sanderson (Newtimber). I told myself not to expect anything, but after taking first in fantasy last year and first and second the year before, part of me felt like I had a reputation to maintain. I couldn't help but hope for something, anything, to place, but I knew I couldn't set my heart on it.

The results were announced Saturday at lunch. I could hardly eat, the nerves were making me so sick, but I choked down my food and scoped out my path to the stage--just in case. I was terrified that if I didn't I'd do a faceplant on my way up if I was lucky enough to place. The announcements started and my heart began to pound. My entries were one each in the Youth and Speculative fiction categories, which of course were the most heavily entered and were saved for the final announcements. The longer the announcements went, the harder my heart pounded until I seriously thought it was either going to explode out of my chest or I was going to pass out.

There were five places given in the Youth category. I kept waiting to see my name pop across the screen when they announced each place, but . . . nothing. I took a deep breath and tried to slow my heart. Unfortunately it wasn't listening. When speculative fiction came up I had fingers and toes crossed. Fourth place. No. Third place. Not me. Second place . . . at second place I started praying. Still nothing. First place? I held my breath and waited, but again . . . nothing.

I told myself not to be disappointed. They had 175 entries after all. The competition was just too fierce. I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and hoped my heart would slow down before I had a heart attack.

One more prize and I held little hope. I scanned the floor, looked at the tablecloth, glanced around me, as they began the announcement for the grand prize winner. They drew it out for a long moment and then the name of the chapter flashed on the screen: NEWTIMBER. I buried my face in my hands for a moment, hardly daring to believe, but when I looked back up, my name was beneath the chapter. Newtimber, by Karen Hoover. My heart still pounding, my knees shaking so hard I was sure I'd biff it, I stood and made my way carefully to the stage, only tangling my heel in a bag once. I was in shock. The room was screaming and clapping and I felt like a freakin' rock star as I took my prize and turned around. I seriously considered bowing for a second, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, so I gave a dorky little wave and went back to my table, still reeling from the announcement.

I thought that was the end of it, but no, then they gave a speech about how there were so many amazing entries this year they couldn't help but give one more prize--a SUPER grand prize. What? Yes, a super grand prize of an Amazon Kindle 2. For a moment I felt a surge of jealousy, but then I realized it didn't matter. I had won! It blew my mind like nothing ever had.

My friend Shari said it was like a reception line after that. I spent the next few hours getting hugged by people and getting congratulations and my head continued to spin. All this was happening to little old me? It was the first time I realized I was no longer the person I had been a year ago. Losing Mom and finding such amazing success during this conference had transformed me into something more and it was with great humity and gratitude that I moved throughout the rest of the day.

It wasn't just my success that made me so happy though. My amazing friend Julie Wright got herself an agent! I am so thrilled for her I can hardly stand it. I've never known a more hard-working, deserving person. I have learned many, many things from her over the years we've been friends and my gratitude extends to her possibilities now as well.

There was more that evening, but I won't go into it now--this blog is long enough. Let's just say there are some very real possibilities opening up for me and as soon as I know anything for certain, this will be the first place I share it. For today I am content. I know who I am now. I have found my purpose and the doors are opening. Humbled and content, I'm taking those steps down the path to publication and at last can see the light shining before me.

It's not just going to happen. It's happening now. My head just exploded and I couldn't be happier.

Tag!

Josi Kilpack tagged me on her blog a week ago and I'm just now getting around to responding. After all, I only just got a blog back up the day before yesterday. It's not like I could do it any sooner, right? Riiiight?

So here it is.

Remove the blog from the top, move all the blogs up one, and add yourself to the bottom.

Ennui in the Grocery
Novembrance
The Lyon's Tale
Sundial in the Shade
A Writer's Ramblings

What were you doing ten years ago? 1997 - I'd been married almost 3 years (July 1st!) and was living with my in-laws while hubby went to school and I worked for the Utah Relay Service for the deaf. I'd just started working on The Sapphire Flute.

What were you doing one year ago? End of June 2006, I don't remember much, other than writing. It was just before the kids set the house on fire on independence day. I think the smoke inhallation sucked the memories out of my head.

Five snacks you enjoy: 1) Sunflower seeds, salted, in the shell. 2) Parmesan flavored Goldfish crackers. 3) Ice cream. 4) canteloupe and cottage cheese. 5) corn chips with cream cheese and homemade salsa.

Five songs you know all the lyrics to: 1) Crazy by Icehouse. 2) Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin. 3) The Tide is High by Blondie. 4) Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. 5) Englishman in New York by Sting.

Things you would do if you were a millionaire: 1) GET OUT OF DEBT! (Yes, I did just shout that.) 2) Take my whole family on a cruise. 3) Go to Europe. 4) Build a bigger house so we could adopt more kids and my Mom wouldn't have to do stairs. 5) Save, save, save. You never know what the future might bring.

Five bad habits: Ow, do I have to answer this one??? All right, here goes. 1) Going out to eat. 2) Pepsi. 3) Wasting time on the internet. 4) Not saying "NO". 5) Spending money.

Five things you like to do: 1) Read. 2) Spend time in nature. I love trees and the sound of water. 3) Music, whether it be listening, singing, or playing my flute. 4) Travel. I love seeing new places and enjoying new foods and environments. 5) Play World of Warcraft.

Things you will never wear again: 1) Pink eyeshadow. 2) My wedding dress (it was a rental). 3) A size 6?? 4) Spike heels. Ouch. 5) The last size I dropped from (and NO, I'm not going to tell you what it is!)

Five favorite toys: 1) My digital camera. 2) My Dell XPS laptop. 3) The new program I got that lets me make really cool slideshows with music for my pictures. 4) Motorcycles (though I don't have one right now). 5) My 80 Gigabyte iPod I use to watch Heroes with my video glasses. Super cool.

Where will you be in ten years? I'd like to hope I'll be published multiple times and have enough money to live comfortably. Tin-man will be 19 and heading off on his mission. Birdy will be 18, just out of high school. Hopefully we'll have a couple of daughters added to the family by then. I don't care where I'm living, so long as I've got some of nature's green, I'm happy.

Five people to tag:

Shanna
Gaynell
Jennica
Suzanne Reese
Jennifer

Quote for the Day: "Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing." - Melinda Haynes

If At First You Don't Succeed . . . .

So, my last blog up and disappeared one day with no way to find it again or mine the depths of wisdom I'd posted there. I say that tongue in cheek, of course. I decided that blogging is very therapeutic and it would be well worth the time it took to start a new one. Thankfully, I don't think Blogspot is going anywhere anytime soon. I probably should have come here to begin with. Oh well, thus is life.

I'm a casual writer, much more focused on expressing my voice than on the particulars of the english language, at least in the blogging atmosphere. What you see is what you get here. Some people might take offense at that, and if so, please feel free to vent about it in the comments trail, I don't mind. We're all different, all free to express ourselves in different ways. That's what makes life so interesting, in my opinion.

A little about me - I was born in California, lived in Washington, Oklahoma, Utah, and spent eighteen months as a missionary in Connecticut, Vermont, New York, and Rhode Island. I'm back in small town Utah now, and loving the beauty of the Rocky mountains, though not so much loving all the rocks in my yard. Have you ever tried putting a sprinkler system in ground that produces rocks the size of dinosaur eggs? I wouldn't suggest it. Hire it done. Let the professionals break their tools and backs. Believe me, it's worth the money.

I'm the mother of two very active boys, age 9 and (almost) 8, whom I adore and want to throttle on a regular basis. They've got a lot of challenges from their past that make life a little different for them. We adopted them when they were 3 and 4 after having them for a year in foster care. We also had their baby brother for 7 months, which was wonderful and heartbreaking both. We were able to experience every stage of babyhood, from the sleepless nights with an infant who couldn't even turn over, to a toddler just learning to walk on his own. It was very fulfilling to the mothering part of me, since I'd not been able to give birth, though about broke my heart when his birth father took him away. It was where he needed to be, I felt that very strongly, though it wasn't what I wanted. I needed to have my full attention on my boys, tin-man and Birdy. I'll talk more about them at a later time. They will take up a big chunk of space on this blog over time, I'm sure. I love them dearly, but wow, they're a lot of work! When we were in training for foster parenting the teacher told us that most of these abused kids were just like other kids, they just lived their lives in hi-definition, surround sound stero. Everything's bigger, brighter, and louder. Boy, was she ever right!

I've written two books, both fantasy, and am in the process of shopping them out right now. The Sapphire Flute will be in the mail (as requested) within the next week or two, though it seems I've been saying that forever. The Misadventures of a Teenage Wizard is going to an agent I admire as soon as the other gets in the mail. We'll see what she thinks of it. If it works, awesome, but if not, I'll just continue to send them out and keep writing. Some days I wonder why I still do this, why I torture myself with rejections and work that doesn't pay in spendable rewards, but then remember, I can't help it: I'm a writer. It's not just what I am, it's WHO I am. I'll do it until the day I die, published or not, though I can't help but feel that if I try long and hard enough it will happen. It feels right.

So, that's me in a nutshell. I plan to use this blog better than I did my other. Having it be so casual takes the pressure off to write something profound. I can be myself here and I can't think of anything I'd rather be.

Quote of the Day: "A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit." - Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull