Spread the Love!

No, no. I'm not talking about romance novels and I'm not talking about the 60's either so just pop that thought right back into your pretty head. I'm actually talking about blogging love. I've been overwhelmed with the number of awards I've received of late. You're all so kind because I know my little blogging corner of the world isn't much, but it's home! Sorry, I must be feeling Over the Top, which is the first award I'm happy to present to you. (I am so proud of that transition.) Thank you, Valerie and Tiana!

The rules that go with this are as follows. Answer the following questions with one word. I can do brevity, right? Right...

Your Cell Phone? Eh?
Your Hair? Long
Your Mother? Fantastic
Your Father? Hilarious
Your Favourite Food? Spicy
Your Dream Last Night? Adventurous!
Your Favourite Drink? Water
Your Dream/Goal? WiP (Is that cheating? ;)
What Room Are You In? Computer
Your Hobby? Many
Your Fear? Failure
Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? Happy
Where Were You Last Night? Home (Pinky and the Brain come to mind.)
Something That You Aren't? Evil (See above - Just sayin')
Muffins? Blueberry
Wish List Item? Books!
Where Did You Grow Up? Utah
Last Thing You Did? Answer (Silly question! I just can't resist.)
What Are You Wearing? Clothes!
Your TV? Off
Your Pets? Parent's (As in at their house, not that my parents are pets... haha! Oh come on, that one deserved an explanation. I can be brief. Remember Ten Word Tuesdays, people!)
Friends? Sanity
Your Life? Lovely
Your Mood? Capricious
Missing Someone? Terribly
Vehicle? Van
Something You Aren't Wearing? Shoes
Your Favourite Store? Amazon
Your Favourite Colour? Blue
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? Now
Last Time You Cried? Saturday
Your Best Friend? Many
One Place You Go To Over And Over Again? Go? As in leave the house? Haha!
Facebook? Addicted
Favourite Place To Eat? Like as in out? Again, haha! You're so funny! (I really just can't resist. Were those supposed to be strict instructions?)

I also received the Happy Award from Kelly and Bethany. Double the happiness and double the thanks! I've loved this award since the moment I first laid eyes on it. *cough* Does this mean I should list 20 things that make me happy? So just kidding. Here's my run-on. Literally.

KidsHusbandMusicGospelFriends HumorWritingNaturePerformingChange
Whew! Breathing too. Next time I'll keep that in mind.





And two more for the road! Only because the one I've done before and you can find my answers here (I kind of cheated) and the other had no rules.


The Honest Scrap Award from Yvonne and the Lovely Blog Award Elle and Kimberly.

Thank you, ladies! You are all so sweet and I so enjoy all of your blogs. Thank you for being so kind!

Ten Word Tuesday: Life Series (Part Two)

When life starts throwing stones, put on your heavy armor.

Writers on Resources

Just for the record, I'm keeping my blog posts to a Tuesday/Thursday schedule, which is why I haven't gotten to putting up the awesome list of advice and resource I received from my contest. Today is the day though. I hope this helps you as much as it helped me. It was such a fun contest to host and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing from all of you. Now for some shout-outs and a wealth of information - the only way to really get rich!

Great Advice from Great Writers

What most published authors have in common, is not level of talent, number of connections, interesting books ideas, size of platform. What most published authors have in common is perseverance in the face rejection. Perseverance to keep writing, keep writing, keep writing - Katie Ganshert

Always start and end a chapter with a great line - Aubrie

Write what you know, research what you don't know - Michelle

Have faith that you are where you need to be - Shelli

Write something everyday - KM Wilsher

"When asked, 'How do you write?' I invariably answer, 'One word at a time.'" - Tiana Lei


Love what you write - Eileen

Unplug and focus on the writing - Mercedes

Just do it, believe in yourself, and never give up - Angie

Break any rules you want -- as long as they fit your writing style, story and voice - Elana

Study/Learn as if it all depends on you. Write as if it all depends on God. He is the best Author of all time - Tamika

Just Write. You have to write before you can re-write - Windy

Always follow the BICHOK rule (butt in chair, hands on keyboard - CR Ward

Take ALL feedback into consideration. Readers have a totally different perspective - Lisa and Laura

Write a story that you love. Chances are, others will love it, too - Bethany Wiggins

learn how to use all five senses in big scenes (not just sight) - Christina Lee

The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell. It's FULL of advice! - Jennifer Shirk

Act like a professional writer from the start, and be courteous to other writers, agents, and editors - Sandra

Write every day. That's how you get better. Remember the old saying, "practice makes perfect?" Well it turns out it's true. All this talk about favorite writing resources is great, but you learn by doing. Your writing is your best teacher - Robyn Campbell

Critique partners are wonderful, but don't be afraid to listen to your heart. After all, they're your words - Kat Harris

Favorite Writing Resources: Books and Websites

"The Fire in Fiction", "Writing the Breakout Novel." by Donald Maass

"The first five pages" by Noah Lukeman

"Stein on Writing" by Sol Stein

"The Art of War for Writers" by James Scott Bell

Writer's Digest

Jeff Gerke at Where the map ends

ACFW - American Christian Fiction Writers

WOW - Women on Writing

Nathan Bransford's Site

Duotrope

Orson Scot Card's Site

Absolute Write

QueryTracker

The Blood Red Pencil Site

Holly Black's Writing Resources

The internet - It's an endless source of resources

Ten Word Tuesday: "On Life" Series

When life starts throwing knives, get out your favorite vegetables.

Poetry? Eh?

Shannon is hosting a poetry blogging day! While I write lyrics all the time, I had to go clear back to my high school days to find actual poetry. Yes, I'm subjecting you to high school poetry. Mwahaha!
Okay, now that I've gotten the evil laugh out of my system for the morning, welcome to my younger self.

Damp Reflections

Clutching softness in a changing past
As damp reflections sweep against a childish blush
Bittersweet emotions caress the only comfort
Suppressing emptiness
That gathers like thick clouds before a storm
Falling in circles though standing small and still
Confusion looking forward, staring through the past
Misty spray covers eyes full of memories
Thinking, dreaming, hoping, grasping
Damp reflections fall from troubled, blackened seas
Drowning in a shattered tide against the sharpness
Sacred innocence fading into night
Naive smiles dying with the fire
Bringing no solace, no help
Bearing no light, carrying no star
Nervously reaching out
Seizing endless fears
Watching dreams denied them
Changing seasons, turning tides
Damp reflections - tears lost with every memory

Ten Word Tuesday: On Critiquing

Critiquing is like sharpening a blade. I'm honed as well.

We Have A Winner!

Of course we do, though I didn't get it up first thing this morning because I was feeling miserable, and then when I tried, the internet was having trouble. BUT it's all good now!

I am so excited about the advice given in the comments and I'm so grateful to those who participated. I'm going to compile the advice and resources in a post later this week so that if anyone did catch them in the comments, you'll be able to have an organized list.

So without further adieu, the second place winner is...

Elana!!!

And the first place winner is

Commenter #7 - Eileen!!!

Send me an e-mail at nisa79(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll get you hooked up with your prizes! :)

Happy Monday, everyone!

For the Love of Books!

It's contest time!!!! Contest is somewhat of a loose term it would seem because I'll be using random.org to pick the winners. Yes, winners! Two to be exact! Ooh maybe we should talk about prizes. No, wait. Rules first. Then prizes. Okay, now that that's decided... (I'm tired and I get a little silly when I'm tired. Sorry!)

The Rules:

• Like any good contest, you must be a follower in order to win.
  
• You must comment on this post.
• In that comment, you need to give me your favorite piece of writerly advice and your favorite resource for writing, whether that be a book or a website. Hey, I'm just starting out and I need to learn more! ;)

That's it! Easy, right?

So onto the fun! First prize is a $25 gift certificate at amazon.com! For the love of books! Second prize is a random assortment of books I have in the house. Okay, honesty time. James and I bought each other duplicate copies of some books (we obviously need to coordinate better) so our loss is your gain. It doesn't get better than that!

The books are: Jim Butcher's Captain's Fury and books 1 and 2 of Michael Buckley's The Sisters Grimm series.


I'll keep the contest open through the weekend and announce the winner on Monday! Happy writing, everyone.

For the Love of Contests!

I'm not sure if I picked a good time do a contest or not because they're abundant right now! Wow! Here are a couple more for your pleasure. I hope you enjoy checking them out and entering!

First, Sara has hit 100 followers and is hosting her first contest. Congrats, Sara!

Valerie over at I Should be Writing is also having a fabulous contest!

Not only is there a chance to win some great prizes, but it's a chance to support them and their blogs and the writing community is so great. Who wouldn't want to do that? :D

As for me, I'll be announcing details tomorrow. As for today, well, this has been a long time in coming and I apologize to Kelly for not getting this up sooner, but I am grateful that she thought of me. She awarded me with the Kreativ blogger. How sweet is that! Thanks, Kelly!



I'm honestly not sure what the rules are for this particular award so I'm going to ignore the fact that it might have some and declare that ignorance is bliss! Though I can think of at least a dozen creative blogs that deserve this one, I would guess those bloggers have already received it. Is this a cop-out? Why yes. Yes, it is. Sorry, I'm terrible. Terrible, but grateful! It's a great combo!

Ten Word Tuesday on Revisions

I'm in the eye of the hurricane. Must.Face.Storm.

Go Support!

The awesome girls at Shooting Stars are hosting a contest. Go check it out and support them because they deserve it! ;)

Happy contest going! Plus, I will be hosting a contest of my own in the next week. You have to love the New Year! 2010 is going to rock!

No Kissing? Fun!

Normally, I would never post over the weekend, but this retaliation to kissing day had too much allure for me to resist. Thanks to Frankie for hosting this one!

But first... I hit 50 followers! A fact that has me completely in awe and full of gratitude! So this means celebrating! I'm talking book give-away in the not so distant future! Yea!

Okay, back to my scene. I kept it short and, really, it was a quick modify from my book since I actually don't have an almost kissing scene. I hope you enjoy!



      “So what does your hunger for power have to do with this year’s harvest pouring into the city for Feasting Day?”
      “Everything.” He winked.
      “Mmm… One of your many surprises?”
      “You won’t have too wait very long for this one. I promise.”
      Another gust of wind brought a loose strand of hair across her face. He brushed it behind her ear with one hand while holding the cloak in place with the other. She thought of Dreiyn and a knot formed in her stomach.
      A soft fire roared within Ithon’s eyes as he stared at her. She felt a sudden attraction for him that began an internal battle. She pushed against the emotions just as they tugged, then yanked, at her. It wasn’t the first time she’d experienced the feeling, but she was not about to let herself fall in love with him. It didn’t matter how appealing his lips looked. She felt herself lean forward at the thought and quickly severed it with another. She had one goal in mind. Change. She had every intention of ruling over the guild one day. Once she was in power, the senseless murdering would cease. She stared at Ithon as she pushed aside her feelings. The barrage of emotions ended as abruptly as it had begun.
      “You must have really loved him,” he said.
      “What are you talking about?” She felt panic at the thought of Ithon being able to read her mind. Was that possible?