Okay kiddies. Time to tell me if you think these are wicked lies or true confessions.
I miss my ex-husband, but my aim is improving.
I had to take my ex-husband off my life insurance. I am a smart woman it was only a matter of time until I figured out how to kill him without getting caught.
I don’t make mistakes, I have design revisions.
I am an outcome engineer. I’m sorry you see that as manipulative. If you would just cooperate we will both be much happier, much faster.
I am not snarkey, witchy or nasty. I just happen to always be right and don’t mind instructing you on ways you have failed to emulate my success model.
My mantra is “Unsolicited advise is seldom appreciated.” But hey, people seldom appreciate the truth. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t hear it.
Which of these do I believe and which are wicked lies against my personality. lol… Can’t wait to see what you think.
And for the advanced points….Are these philosophies of one of my characters? if so, who?
I am in the middle of a move across country. It will be another thirty days before I am finished relocating to the mountains. However I have contemplated our fantasy man this week. He should have peeked out on Monday but he was busy. lol. So he is our fantasy man for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday!!!
It’s Wednesday, Hump Day and another opportunity for my version of Lies or Confessions?
What is the biggest lie you ever told?
Face it at some point in our lives….everyone lies. If someone says they have NEVER lied….Well, they are lying.
For two years when I was a teen I told my mother I was going with friends to the teen club in town for chaperoned age appropriate teen-aged activities — no doubt.
There wasn’t a teen club. There certainly weren’t any chaperoned or age appropriate activities going on where my partner in crime and I snuck off to for our allotment of weekly debauchery. What I was doing was, and still is (probably) illegal in 49 states. One never knows about California.
OMG it was so much fun.
My first experience meeting a drag Queen was in Tampa. On weeks the family went to Tampa to visit my grandparents I had a whole new level wickedness to participate in. My cousins and I would hit the road — hitch hiking all over Tampa. We met some fascinating people.
(Disclaimer, don’t do this people….you can be killed).
Sneaking out while everyone slept, we would tie a six pack of coke bottles to the outside handle of the back door to keep it shut and allow us re-entry before dawn. In later years I wondered what would have happened if a sleepless someone in the family had wandered onto the back screened porch late at night to get a soda? Pull open the door and a glass bottled six pack comes flying at your head, cold cocked with coke. We might have returned home to find police tape around the crime scene.
We were picked up about 3a.m. one morning by a couple of guys. We later learned it was a local drag queen and her assistant. Her press photos were amazing. She told us she danced at the Lion’s Den up the Dale Mabry strip. After she dropped us with a caution to be careful the police tagged us. They didn’t believe our story of the “brother” who was making us sit there and wait while he went up the block and dropped his date off in private. I’m guessing the cops thought we were hookers. However, my cousin’s breasts were to be envied by hookers for miles around. God gave her what silicone implants wish they could do. So, yeah, I’m thinking they had us pegged for hookers. We waited them out before hitching on toward home.
Acts like this are further proof that kids in the teenaged years have had their brains sucked out of their heads by aliens. There is no ability for conscious intelligent thought there!
*laughing* So what do you think? Lies or Confessions?
Do you like the catchy title? It’s a great topic for April Fool’s Day. My new friend Jean Cohen Joachim from our Naughty Romance Writers group on Face book popped that comment out there with blog ideas.
I started thinking….. and that could be a dangerous consequence. But here goes. Remember, erotic paranormal romance writer here!!! All that inspiration had to come from somewhere. Okay disclaimer done.
Can you guess which comments below are Confessions and which are Lies? It will be interesting to read your comments and see what you think! And when all is said and done….I can pull the April Fool’s card if I need to. Drum roll please. The sexy six are…….
6. I was taught to swim by a mermaid.
5. I am an international traveler. One of my most amazing memories is making out on the deck of a yacht with a pair of hotties. They were traveling around the world on the boat? ship? and paused for a while near the island where I was living.
4. One of my Lovers had eyes the color of golden amber. Like a lion he was. grrrrreow.
3. I was a finalist in the Miss Guanaja beauty pageant when I was a teen.
2. I have tasted the rainbow and love sucking on skittles. Unabashed, unapologetic, bisexual here.
1. I once pee’d on a missionaries foot after he stepped on poisonous sea life. I saved him a whole lot of pain and infection with my rescue first aid.
Now what do you think? Confessions…..or …..Lies????
Continuing on my story of what it means to have weak, or strong writing and my personal eureka experience. See earlier blog post(s)
In the course of editing I have those cards I told you about that I flip through. There are different words on the cards that, one at a time, I check through my manuscript and edit. It does sound rather laborious. Maybe as time goes on I will find an easier way to do it but this is the process at this point.
The first word on my list is “was”. I try to limit the number of ‘was’ words on the page to three or four. I find when I eliminate the ‘was’, I usually structure a stronger sentence. Too many ‘was’ and I hear a lisping buzzz when I read my pages.
I also look at “ly” words. I strive to minimize the number of words ending in ‘ly’. I find that when I re-write the sentence I am able to use more powerful words that give me greater meaning than an ‘ly’ word would have produced.
I do the same process for “that”. There are many times that is an unnecessary word. The sentence will have equal meaning with or without the ‘that’ word. At times ‘that’ is a meaningless word. For example, in the sentence — He mused aloud, hoping to draw out knowledge that the warrior might not realize that he possessed. Yes, I know there are lots of problems with this sentence. However, Take out the ‘that’ words and the meaning doesn’t really change. You have — He mused aloud, hoping to draw out knowledge the warrior might not realize he possessed. It is still an awkward weak sentence but I think it illustrates the point I was making. It is certainly better without the ‘that’ words muddying it up.
Another word on my card deck, is “it”. I can’t remember who told me that the word ‘it’ was a parasite sucking meaning out of sentences. I examine each usage of ‘it’ and work hard to give a word that has real meaning.
I have another collection of favorite words that I over use because they are convenient. Shrugged, smiled, growled. You know the list of words that you tend to stick in when you are drafting along. Look for those and reduce the echo.
There are more words on my cards. Some help me identify passive writing. Others identify places where I am distancing the reader with un-necessary words like She felt, She thought, etc.
I think as I become more experienced I will write tighter drafts without as many of these common weak writing flaws.
I have had a eureka experience I have to share. I read voraciously. I think it is an essential part of the universe, readers write or perhaps better writers read. I have favorite authors at all levels of the stratosphere from epub to mid-list to NYT best sellers. There are certain qualities I fall in love with that causes their work to be a keeper for me.
Throughout this journey I have pondered good writing. At first I thought perhaps it was a sense of quality plot. All the I’s dotted and T’s crossed that the threads came together at the end with a plausible believable resolution. That became an ingredient to the stew but certainly more was indicated in my recipe for quality writing.
Next I considered character. All my keepers have great characters. People I want to take the journey with. People I grow to care about. People who are believable with their own imperfections and totally multi dimensional. They could be my friends. They exhibit a character growth through the book to become better on their own pathway through life.
Some day I want to meet Judith Ehrlich She was a final round Judge in the Beacon unpublished 2010 and gave my entry a thorough critique. She was detailed and objective. She is also a shrewed insightful woman. In the thirty something pages she critiqued for the contest, she said a lot of wonderful good things. Things that made me laugh and clap my hands like a six year old whose momie liked the rainbow I drew.
However, some very real problematic issues arose. I have a lot to thank her for in taking the time to make that critique and the tone that she used both encouraging yet honest without guile. References to weak writing and that my heroine was a “prop” for the two dynamic heroes. Now before my friends get out their pitchforks and get all up-de-up. Let me say — I understood perfectly what she said and I agree. I love my “boys” I have a wonderful male voice in my writing. My heroes leap off the page. My girls fell flat.
I spent about four months reading strong heroines. I wrote fan fiction for myself playing with a female character I admired. She was strong yet vulnerable and I understood her well. As a result, I acquired a good female voice for my heroines. I recognized character is another essential element to quality. Yet, she said weak writing so there was more.
Along this same line and about the same time my main critique partner and I spent an evening talking about writing. She had received a series of encouraging requests. First for 20 pages, then 20 more, then 20 more. I don’t know why they didn’t just request the whole thing. But that is how it went. I agonized for her each time the agent requested twenty more pages. We just knew this was it. A contract had to be in the works.
Please allow me to digress a little bit and say other than my own writing. I adore my critique partner’s work. Her stories are vivid, the pieces come together at the end and are threaded along the way. I love the people she creates. I mean really love them. I wish they were my people. I want to wrap them up and take them home and hear all about their lives forever and every. I could go on. She is one of the smartest women I know and I am so grateful for her influence in my writing through her excellent critique. Okay, okay so stage set.
So, why on EARTH after sixty pages did they reject her work saying all the right things, all the good things about the Manuscript, the plot, the characters — but….always the but… Something like– the writing just wasn’t consistently strong enough.
WTF? Consistently strong enough? *see the incredulous expression on MY face* It really threw me for a loop. If my C.P’s work wasn’t ‘consistently strong enough’ what did I have to offer. I call myself blessed to creep in her shadow as a minion.
It caused me to do a lot of thinking. I looked over comments I had received from judges in the contests both first round and final round. I suppose I was struggling with what it meant to have weak writing. Don’t think that I just fell off the turnip truck yesterday. I have a deck of cards that I made that I roll through in the editorial phase. I will be talking about those cards in future blogs. Those cards helped me find some of the obviously rookie mistakes writers make. Each card has a little reminder of something to screen the manuscript for. I’m not talking about those superficial things. It is deeper than that. After all the editing was complete and I couldn’t find anything else…. there was still the “weak writing” comments. I didn’t understand how to change or avoid it.
Last night I started reading a writers reference book and “Sokath His eyes uncovered” A little tiny book put understanding to the concepts I’ve been exploring and coming to terms with for a year.
I am going to spend some blog time talking about weak writing. How to recognize it. How to avoid it. My disclaimer is that this is not a lesson mastered. It is a lesson in progress. I yearn for the day when I will be a strong writer.
Okay, so in getting ready for this journey together…. What does it mean to you to be a weak writer or a strong writer? Perhaps you have it all figured out and I’m sitting on the floor of the short bus all alone. Leave a comment about your thoughts on weak writing.
I have friends who have fantastic blogs. So today I want to share a few of them with you. There is no particular order intended here. And No, this is not ALL of the great blogs my friends have. I’ll get around to revealing more as time goes on.
Today however her blog is about how her life is like a junk drawer. I’m with ya Sistah! Her blog struck my heart. Go visit her today and browse around the warriorwriters blog.
Another heart touching, thought provoking blog is by friend Jamie D. It’s called I’m Trying To Do Something. She writes about life from the heart and her family and the things that she thinks about. I love her words and the person that she is. Go visit.
Charlie Allden is a critique friend who gets my voice. She proved she was a smart girl when she created Smart Girls Sci Fi blog.
She started the blog to appeal to sci fi readers with reviews of multi media sci fi entertainment. You go Charlie! She is an awesome writer and has helped me learn things and grow in ways she may never realize. I’m still a little bird, not even quite out of the shell but I value her friendship and wise critique skills.
A collection of other critique friends did a similar thing with something they like thinking and talking about and that’s FOOD! Lisanne Harris and Abigail Sharpe put together a blog all about cooking and food. It is a great resource. Go visit Chicks In The Kitchen and check them out.
And a new friend Adrienne Wilder writes edgy urban romance fiction and you can find her worlds at The Atlanta Dens follow it through to her portrait/character portfolio because she is also an amazingly talented sketch artist.
I’ve decided she might be a kindred sister of separate mothers when I read her blog today about making a back yard water garden pond. She struck my funny bone and I’m still giggling about it. On first read, I laughed so hard and loud that office mates had to come see if I was alright. I guess they might have thought I was having a nervous break down or something. Cause work is so NOT funny right now. Go read it for yourself at her blog.
Posted onMarch 17, 2011|Comments Off on That girl is bad!
One of my favorite TV heroines is Abby on NCIS. The typical goth girl next door!
She is a wonderful three dimensional person. She bowls with the nuns, sleeps in a coffin and loves to main line her caffeine via soda pop.
What is not to love? She is the bomb.
Did I mention she is sexy hot as well?
And the best part she is such a cool science nerd! Bazinga!
I love Abby’s character, smart, witty, vunerable, nice, take no shit kinda girl. Some days she inspires me to be myself, without fear of judgement. And hey, we have the same hair color now!!!!
What do you think? Who is your favorite heroine from cinema or t.v.?
My middle child was born on Ground Hog day 21 years ago today. She is an amazing person. She is talented and gracious. She will graduate with her associates degree this spring. She wants to pursue a career in counseling therapy.
I won’t go on and on because I have the pride in her that every parent has in their off spring. Well, that will be what you tell yourselves. However, I would find her amazing even if she wasn’t my child.
I didn’t say perfect…. I said amazing.
She works summers as camp staff shepherding children between the ages of 8 and 13 and teen Counselors ages 14 to 18 years old. She teaches archery and waterfront safety, swimming…all kinds of stuff.
Wikipedia says of her name:
” ‘Sabra’ (Hebrew: צבר, pronounced tsabar; ṣabra ) is a term used to describe a Jewish person born in Israeli territory; the term is also usually inclusive of Jews born during the period of the establishment of the state of Israel.
[1] The word sabra derived from the Hebrew name for the Indian Fig Opuntia cactus, “tzabar”, and related to the Arabic word sabr which means “aloe” or “cactus” or “patience”.[2] the allusion is to a tenacious, thorny desert plant with a thick hide that conceals a sweet, softer interior, suggesting that even though the Israeli Sabra are rough and masculine on the outside, they are delicate and sensitive on the inside. In the United States, this cactus variety is known as the Prickly Pear.”
Sabra hummus is a real treat. I wish my Sabra owned controlling stock.
My Sabra is single, intelligent and happy. she is self determined and able to handle almost anything. Yes, she can even use power tools. So she is my Wednesday Heroine. She doesn’t need a man to complete her…she is whole and healthy without a man in her life. However, she does boycott Valentines day for obvious reasons.
Yet, I know that she is going to be inspiration for one kick ass heroine someday soon. And, in the end My Heroine will find a man that will value her own unique qualities, love her, cherish her and give her the freedom to continue to be that self determined capable young woman.
I could only hope for a similar happily-ever-after for the real Sabra.
Here we are so quickly back to Monday. Round and Round the days of the week, seasons turn and turn and another year is gone.
I’ve done a lot of soul searching the last few months. It is no secret that I have had my share of medical adventures in the past five years. I some days feel like I am waking up from a deep fog. Sleeping Beauty ain’t got nuthin over on me. lol
As our seasons turn and revolve, I believe Eden will be coming out of her sleep and reaching for her own dreams and ambitions for the future. Query Query Query Here I come.
But for now…Fantasy Man Monday!
This past Saturday night I attended the Golden 29th Birthday Bash for Adam Lambert at LeBuzz in Atlanta.
I have a whole new appreciation for the power of Fandom! There were 63 identified Adam Lambert Fans… “Glamberts” mostly members of his official fan club who organized and attended the gala event. Add that to the regular customers and you have a wild crazy blow out. The place was packed to capacity.
Okay…why Adam on Fantasy Man Monday? Hello people…FANTASY – MAN – Monday! It’s fun, it’s fantasy. It is not REAL.
And yes, well, he is openly gay.
But he is admittedly, “Bi-curious”, and judging from the crowd at LeBuzz he is the Fantasy, heart throb of MANY.
Saturday night at least 53 of the 60 some odd fans were straight women packed into a rockin gay club for the night. The ‘drag queen’ show was AMAZING. I have a whole new level of appreciation for that as a performance “art”. However, that is another blog for another day.
There is a reason Adam’s AMA performance video went viral on U-Tube. It brought fantasy performance art to a whole new level. Yes, I am with the side that says ….”if you are offended by sexuality…then be offended by ALL sexuality.” and “What is your seven year old doing up watching the AMA performances at 11p.m. anyway?”
I would love to post the link for you but it has been removed.
However, check out this video of “For Your Entertainment.” for a thrill. Fantasy Performance with a sexual edge.
Adam Lambert “For Your Entertainment”
(*aside* Am I the only one who finds it intensely amusing that the advertisement tacked to this VEVO video is for the Army? lol Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. *chuckles*)
And yet in the middle of this love and happiness there are still occasions where youth are bullied as they find their own pathway into their lives, sexuality and the people they strive to be.
So, go my friends…Spread the word. Fantasy is healthy, sexuality is healthy. Live, love, laugh and find joy in all that you do. Infuse those around you with positive energy, so that perhaps there will be less room for hate just because someone is different.
And for my erotic writer friends who are worried when they give rein to their fantasies of ‘what would grandma be thinking?’ looking over their shoulder. Go for it baby. Grandma would secretly be thrilled…and so would Grandpa.
Eden Glenn 