Monday, November 29, 2010

10 Commandments for a Happy Writing Life

1~ Don't wait for inspiration; establish a writing habit.

2~ Take time off.

3~ Read voraciously.

4~ Shut out the inner critic.

5~ Claim a space.

6~ Claim some time.

7~ Accept rejection.

8~ Expect success.

9~ Live fully.

10~ Wish others well.

from The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Return of the Muse

So I attempted NaNoWriMo and failed miserably. LOL  I'm okay with that. I suffered writers block soon after I began and that really hindered me. I'm back now!! Not working on the project that I started on there, though. I'm going back to work on the 4 seasons projects.....

Friday, October 29, 2010

National Novel Writing Month

So November is National Novel Writing Month and I have decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. I'm excited and just a smidge nervous. The novel that I'm doing is departure from the type of stuff that I usually do. Well kind of. It's still a romance, but it's a young adult romance. It's called Dear Diary,. It's about a 16 year old over weight girl who is in love with this guy at her school and she writes about it in her diary. Her brother finds it and spams it all over the internet and the guy she's crushing on hears about it. Naturally all of the students at her school tease her. In the end though, it turns out that the guy she's been crushing on likes her too! I LOVE a happy ending. Big girls need love, too ya know.
That's not the only project I'm working on going into November. I'm still working on The Four Seasons of Mahogany, and in addition to maintaining this blog, I'm also planning to start a new blog about my journey to natural hair. Right now I'm playing around with some names for it. Hoping to get it up and going soon.
But that's it so far. Going to try to keep it at this for now. Don't know if I can handle any more projects.
Later

Friday, October 22, 2010

Online Writing Jobs

I found a writing job on www.DemandStudios.com and I really want to apply. The only problem is that to be a writer for the site you have to submit a 300 word sample of your work. It has to be ehow type stuff. I could probably write something like that given the opportunity but I've never actually done it. It also asks for a resume. Something else I don't have. At least not for writing. I guess I'll be on Google tonight trying to figure this out b/c I really want to apply for this job!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

NEW PROJECT!!!!!!

So I'm working on a new project. It's a romance novel about an event planner and a marketing executive. So far I've got the outline written and now I'm working on the character profiles(so I'll know my characters as much as possible).  I think tonight, I'm going to attempt to draft chapter 1. I started and then restarted but didn't really like where it was going. That's when I started working on the outline. It really helped me to better understand where I wanted the story to go. It was my first time and I'm most definitely going to make it a habit! I'm not really ready to go into any more detail about the plot but trust me when I say: There will be many more blog posts about it. I really think that this is the book that I am meant to finish! I've started several projects and stopped b/c I didn't like the direction that they were going in. Now I understand that they were all leading me to this project. Yes, it has a title but that is also something that I'm going to withhold until a later blog post.

In other news: My mom knows a romance author by the name of Penny Richards. She happens to know my FAVORITE author Francis Ray. Ms. Richards actually arranged for me to be able to send Ms. Ray one of my favorite books to autograph. You should have heard me on the phone when my mother told me about it! LOL I came just short of screaming OMG into the phone. The book I'm planning to send is Until There Was You. That's the first book in the Graysons of New Mexico series. It's a series about the mother of five strong-willed and attractive(naturally) people and how she plans to get them all married to the perfect person for them. It is a very special book to me. It's the first African American romance novel that I had ever read when I was in junior high school. It was the first book I'd ever read by an African American, period. It made such an impact on me! Ms. Ray is the reason that I started writing. Every time I pick up Until there Was You I look in the back, smile at her picture, and say a silent Thank You!
When I mail it to her and hear back. I will most definitely be posting an update!!
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Monday, September 27, 2010

2011 DFW Writers Conference

I just found out that the 2011 DFW Writers Conference is going to be February 26-27. I really REALLY want to go! There are going to be so many agents and whatnot there. I really want to have a finished manuscript when (if) I'm able to go. We shall see......

Friday, September 24, 2010

Home Office/Gone With the Wind

I FINALLY got my home office setup! It will make writing more comfortable so I'll want to write more often. My desk is absolute awesomeness!! It's glass and has a retractable keyboard stand that I don't really need for that purpose so I'll probably just keep a notebook handy on it or something. It sits right next to my bookcase so any reference I might need is within reach. I share the room with my husband, but that's no big deal. He's not in here much.

I'm working on a new project. It's a romance. I've been working on this erotic piece, but as much as I love it, I can just never make it go anywhere. I've decided to go back to writing what got me started writing in the first place. I've got a little something down that I started the other day. It's about love(of course!), castles, and there's even a Gone With the Wind reference. Stay tuned.....

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

More writing time.....

I quit my job. My last day is Friday. I'm happy and sad about that. I'll be home with the baby again. At least that will give me more time for writing. That's what I have to keep telling myself to make myself feel better. We're also moving into a new apartment next week. Because of that, I haven't really had much time to write. By the beginning of September though, I'll be back in the game! I'm still working on the Panty Sets and the assassins idea and couple of other things. I'm also looking into ways to make money writing while I"m home. Wish me luck.....

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Dear Summer

Dear Summer......
You're coming to an end! That's really sad! It feels like you've only just begun.I feel like I've wasted precious moments of our time together. When we could have been together. Enjoying the sunshine together. Soon Fall will begin. The leaves will turn....the wind will change. It will get colder. Hopefully I won't forget you as Fall turns to Winter. But then Winter will turn to Spring and Spring will lead the way to us being together again. I can't wait! Looking forward to it. While I mourn your departure, I know that we will be reunited once again.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

For the past month or so, I've been working on a story about a set of assassins. Twin assassins to be exact. They're 19 years old and their parents have just died. They've been murdered to be exact. The twins plan to pick up where their parents left off and avenge their deaths......

Monday, July 26, 2010

an excerpt

So after much deliberation I have decided to post a piece of The Panty Sets....the beginning of Lauryn's story to be exact.....


Lauryn-Prostitute Panties

Panty set: red with black lace

            Lauryn sat in the middle of the living room floor of her dingy one bedroom apartment looking at all the bills she had no way of paying. Yesterday she’d lost her job at a small diner around the corner.  She’d walked in and the owner, Clyde, told her that he couldn’t afford to keep her on.  He just had too many waitresses and since she was the last to get hired, she was the first to go. She’d walked home dejectedly thinking that all the ugly things her mama had said about her were true.
            Lauryn Parks had been born and raised in the south.  Her mother had raised her single handedly until Lauryn had turned 18 and decided the south wasn’t the place for her!  All her life she had dreamed of making it big.  She longed to live the glamorous lifestyles of the famous women she grew up watching on T.V.  When she’d graduated from high school, she saw her chance and took it.  Never once looking back.
            Now five years later her she was broke, possibly soon to be homeless, and nowhere close to being an actress.  She’d had no luck at the few agencies she’d gone to when she first got to the city.  Everyone told her to find an agent.  She’d never found one willing to represent her for anything except adult films.  Maybe she should have taken them up on their offers.
  She stared forlornly at the bills once more and then got up and left her apartment thinking maybe a walk might help to clear her head.  She walked along the street in what could easily be considered one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.  She passed women peddling their wares as the Johns stopped to see if the price was right.  A black jag pulled up to the curb and flagged her down. She stopped, although in the back of her mind she knew that she probably shouldn’t have.  The dark tinted window rolled down and she heard a voice, but saw no face.  “How much?” the voice asked.  She shouldn’t have been surprised at the question but she couldn’t help but to be a little offended. She didn’t think she was dressed inappropriately in her simple white tank top, denim shorts cut off at the knees and some white shoes she’d gotten from the Goodwill.  “Um excuse me sir, but I’m not a prostitute.”  Either he didn’t hear her, or he didn’t care because he asked her again. 
“How much?”
“I just said I’m not a prostitute.”
“I’ll give you five hundred dollars.”
That gave Lauryn pause. She hadn’t seen that much money at one time in her entire life. True she wasn’t a prostitute, but she was on the verge of being homeless. Five hundred dollars would give her the time to find another job.  She took a step in his direction, and then stopped. “What am I doing?’ she asked herself.  She’d heard many stories about entrapment by the police from some of the girls that sometimes came into the restaurant.  She stood in indecision.  Her rent was due tomorrow. She only had one hundred of the two fifty that she owed this month.  She took another step toward the jag.  She hadn’t eaten all day. All that was left in her kitchen was half a loaf of bread that was probably moldy and enough rice for maybe one meal. She took another step. The window rolled down some more, and she took another step until she was standing right next to the car.  She caught a whiff of some masculine cologne she couldn’t recognize.  “Did you say five hundred dollars?” she almost whispered.  “Yes”, he said.  “For one hour of your time”.  He then held up five one hundred dollar bills for her to see.   He opened the door and invited her into the leather interior of his luxury car. Against her better judgment, she got in


(no part of this may be copied, published, or used in any way shape or form w/o the permission of the author)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

And so it begins...

I have a new project that I'm starting. Riiiiiiiight...............now!!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Eclipse

Stephenie Meyer's EclipseImage via Wikipedia
So....I am a HUGE Twilight fan!! I finally got to go see Eclipse earlier today. It was definitely worth the $6.50 that I paid for it.  When Edward gets down on one knee and proposes to Bella, I teared up. It was so beautiful to me. Their love is SO beautiful to me! There weren't very many people in the theater. It is Sunday.  It seemed like they may have cut some stuff out. Like the scene in the book where Jacob took Bella to a Quilluete council meeting and they explained the history of the tribe. They made it seem like they descended from wolves originally and really that's not the way it happened at all. I guess when you have to squeeze a lot of stuff into 2 hours and 45 mins, you have to expect something to be cut out. Oh well. I still plan to buy it when it comes out!
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Thursday, July 15, 2010

A Bout of Randomness

Big Heart of Art - 1000 Visual MashupsImage by qthomasbower via Flickr
So I've just spent the last hour or so customizing and updating my blog. Hopefully that will inspire me to write more often. At least once a week. That's going to be hard since I'm planning to move in a couple of months. My job keeps me pretty tired as well as taking care of my son. But that's what this blog is about-A Day in the Life of  Me...and Aspiring Writer. So as long as I stay consistent, I should improve greatly....

One thing I"m learning about myself is that I'm like super scatter-brained. I want to do everything! I want to write romance, erotica, and YA novels. I see no reason why I shouldn't do it all. Currently I'm working on a novel about a set of twin assassins. Their parents were murdered by the person who trained them, and they want to avenge their parents deaths by becoming assassins themselves and hunting down their parents murderer.  I don't know how I'll stay focused on two different novels at once. It'll be a challenge, but I think I'm up to it.  It'll be even easier when we move and I get that nice new spacious office and I won't have to sit the computer on my lap and type at an odd angle.

This blog entry is pretty much random tonight. Just a little update on what's going on, and what's to come. It's my attempt to get the creative juices flowing.

I downloaded Google Chrome the other day. I'm very pleased with it. It really helps the creativity. Plus, the Wikipedia app is super helpful. Wikipedia and Google are my go to sites when it comes to research. Speaking of research: I tried to do a little at the local public library today. They have tons of book, but nothing on hit men. Very frustrating! Guess I'm gonna have to guess, rely on my go to sites, and make some stuff up.

I gotta go to work in the morning though, so peace out! Before I go though.....some inspiration for you.... (It wouldn't let me post it at the bottom. I'm still learning. But I hope the picture above is inspirational to you)


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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

PANTIES

So I'm currently working on a project called The Panty Sets: Because We All Wear Different Panties in Life. It's going to be a series of short stories about women and their lifestyles, and the panties that they wear while they're living it. Yea, I'm a freak! LOL

The first story is about a character named Lauryn and she is a struggling actress. She finds herself in a bad situation and does what she has to do to make it. So far its shaping up to be a pretty good story(in my own opinion). I let a friend/writer read an excerpt and she said that it sounded good. I'm thinking about letting a couple of other friends read it. Not sure though. I think I might wait until I have a bit more. A couple of more chapters maybe.

Even though I'm not done with the first story, I'm still thinking about the story line for the next installment. Maybe a housewife.....or a business woman.......DEF a housewife!! I used to be one and trust me! THEY GETS DOWN!!!! LOL J/K....(or am I)

So as I've mentioned before I'm on Twitter. I follow a lot of writers and publishers, but I also follow several other people who aren't. Currently some of the people that fall into that "aren't" category have started this TRENDING TOPIC called #TwitterAfterDark. Sometimes I participate, and sometimes I just read some of the contributions. In my opinion Twitter After Dark would be better if it was a little more poetic. Mostly, it's pretty much just, "I'll fuck you doggy-style on the hood of my car #TwitterAfterDark". Kinda sad, I know. I have to admit to tweeting some questionable Twitter After Dark stuff, but at least it was clever.

Anyway............

I'm going to bed now. I'll keep you informed on the panties LOL

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wow!! It has been so long since I've been on here. Lots of stuff has been going on. I've moved to a new city in Texas and gotten a job. My job is cool. Makes me really tired so sometimes I don't always want to write. I have to force myself, though. Even if it's just a journal entry. I'm going to need to buy a new journal pretty soon.

Been working on a few things. Nothing that I'm ready to post. Soon though. It' a little short story about long distance love. You're gonna love it!! When I'm completely done, I'm gonna look for some magazines or something that might be interested in publishing it.

I'm working now to pay down my student loans so that I can go back to school. My plan is to major in English and business. Yeah, that's right! A double major!!! Trying to be a New York Times Best Seller/ bookstore owner. Wish me luck!!!!