Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Halloween, aaaaaaaah!

Happy Halloween!
















What do you have going on for Halloween tonight? I'm looking forward to reading some chapters for Elisabeth, watching scary movies, eating candy, scaring trick or treaters and dressing my puppy up in her princess dress costume (payback for eating my books).

I'm also hoping to get to some of my own editing if the mood strikes. Tomorrow is day one of NaNoWriMo. I'm panicking quite a bit, but once I get in the groove things will go ok. Especially since my writing chapter has a weekend writing retreat. Hopefully I'll pump out a lot of words next weekend.

Well I'm going to go shake my booty to Time Warp and the rest of the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack. "It's just a jump to the left..."

Happy Halloween!

Weed out the fib

I've been tagged by Erin! :-)

Among the 5 items listed below, one is a lie. You get to try to determine which it is, and post your answer in the comments.

1. I once worked at Walt Disney World
2. I have a large collection of yellow things with smiley faces on them
3. I've never been out of the country even though I live only 6 hours from the Canadian border
4. I did calligraphy on my own wedding invitations
5. When I was about 7 years old I laughed so hard I peed my pants

I tag Elisabeth, Piper, Paty, Bethany, Lillian, S William and Princess in Golashes. Muhahahaha!

Monday, October 30, 2006

Ass Flasher R-Us

The weekend was fun. I'll tell the story with pictures.

Saturday morning I headed south to Eugene for the Duck game. There was an accident on I-5 so we sat in traffic for a while. Luckily we were surrounded by Duck fans, and some poor Beaver fans who were going to miss Kick-Off because of the traffic (their game was 3.5 hours earlier than ours).

This guy has a great get-up on his car. As you can see, on the left of the bumper hangs a Beaver and a Husky hangs from the right. Boy, I love college football!

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After the game, we stopped at my house so I could get ready for the Halloween party. I went everywhere the night before to try and find a black short-hair wig, but I only found a pink one. You may be surprised to know I didn't want to wear the pink one. I thought black would have completed the costume better and toned it down a bit. Oh well.

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I would like to report that my push-up bra was a success. My mom took a picture of my cleavage on her camera phone and began sending it around. At that point I had had a good amount of everclear, so I didn't stop her.

The party was a lot of fun. I was happy to two of my favorite men, Chris and Adam (in pics below Chris has the Harley rag and Adam is giving a solid impression of Zoolander's Blue Steel look).

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Unfortunately they didn't have the Everclear jungle juice I had hoped for. So I drank a half dozen Smirnoff Black Cherry drinks before I thought I'd die of over-sweetness. I took a couple swigs of a keg tap filled with Pabst Blue Ribbon, but I went back to Smirnoff. PBR is disgusting. And I should mentioned that there wasn't a keg at the party, a guy showed up in a keg costume and his hat was filled with beer and it had a tap on it. I failed to take a picture. Dammit.

I tried to do a little swing dancing, but I kept yanking my dress down to avoid any Ass Flashing incidents. But in the inebriated state I was in, I yanked much too hard and made numerous tears in my costume (not to mention a couple of incidents of ass flashing when I was swung too hard dancing - thank God for the black tights). When I returned to my parent's house after my dad picking me up (he's so awesome, he drove me so I could drink), my mom said "you look like someone threw you in a haystack and molested you." I should have taken an after-picture with all the holes. It was a sight to see. Hopefully I can patch them up and sell the costume on ebay next year.

My dad drove me back to Salem yesterday (isn't that cute with Roxy sitting in his lap?) and he worked on fixing one side of my fence so my dog can't get between the front and back yard. I want to keep her in the backyard when I'm in the house, otherwise she barks like crazy at the passing cars in the front.

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He patched the gap with chicken wire, but Houdini still almost made it through, as you can see. He had to make it like a prison fence, with wire tilting at an angle to prevent climbing.

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While he was working on that, Roxy drug a branch bigger than her and played in my pile of leaves.

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And I'll leave you with this photo that I find beautiful - an Oregon autumn. It's hard to tell, but each of those trees have leaves of different colors. Red, orange and yellow-orange from left to right. Bea-uuuuu-ti-ful.

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All in all it was a great weekend. How was your weekend?

Friday, October 27, 2006

Wardrobe malfunction

A couple months ago I posted about being excited for my first ever costume Halloween party (my friends in college were anti-costume). And it's already arrived, the schindig is tomorrow night. I bought the pink fairy costume. It's really cute and it's PINK! Yeah, baby.

So I tried it on. The black part around the middle is an over skirt. The pink tulle crap below the black is an under skirt. The over and under skirts are NOT connected. Meaning - the underskirt is see-through since it's tulle, and doesn't start until 4 inches below the bottom of my butt, which is barely covered by the black.

Let me tell you why this is a problem. If I were to sit down or be shakin' my booty (it is a dance party, after all) enough for the black part to shimmy up it's fullness (yeah, I got a ghetto booty) - then my ass is on display. Elisabeth has dubbed me the Ass Flasher.

So I must find a way to cover my bum from any potential ass-flashiness. Particularly since I will be enjoying a healthy amount of jungle juice. Which, by the way, I will spiking my cup with my flask of Everclear because the boys who make this jungle juice are softies and make it weak. They use one bottle of Everclear for an entire Coleman cooler of juice. That's like 1/10 of an ounce per plastic cup. But the fact I could drink those boys under the table is neither here nor there.

I found a pair of knee high boots for $3.25 at a second hand store. Hoorah! I really wanted to wear fishnet stockings. I never have and why not whore it up a little? It's Halloween. But, if the Ass Flashing happens then the fishnets will do nothing to cover. So I may have to get black tights. LAME-O. Ugh. At least if my bum escapes the black pleather while I'm dancing and I'm too inebriated to notice, I won't blind the other party-goers.

But now I have to find tights. Double ugh. And the black and pink wig I got for the costume ain't cuttin' it so I have to try and scour the remaining Halloween costume items in stores, elbow grabby moms in my way and trip annoying kids running around my ankles, to find a solid black wig. Triple ugh. I need to remember to fill my pink 6 oz. flask with Everclear. I better make a list!

And the Duck football game tomorrow (Go Ducks!) got moved from 12:30 to 4pm start time (that games are usually 4 hours). The game is an hour south of me (with football traffic on top of that) and the party is an hour north of me (start time of 9pm). Hopefully I can sleep in the car after the game on the way back to my house then hall balls trying to get ready.

I totally forgot the point of this post because I rambled and whined. Oh well. It's Friday. What do you have going on this weekend? Are you dressing up for Halloween or going to any parties?

And if I don't look like a giant, pink freak - I'll post a picture of me in my get-up.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Thursday Thirteen

I already posted today, but I forgot it's Thursday Thirteen. So I'm posting twice.

Thirteen Things about Lisa Pulliam


13 men on my "list" (you know, the ones who don't count as cheating if you're in a relationship)

1. Johnny Depp (there are no words to describe this man)
2. Gerard Butler (if feels really warm in my office all of a sudden)
3. Howie Dorough (of the Backstreet Boys, he's been on my list since before I knew what sex was)
4. Ethan Embry (the only blonde on my list)
5. Jake Gyllenhaal (he stole my heart in Bubble Boy and has kept it ever since)
6. David Burns (he was in Real World: Seattle - too bad the red eye doesn't show you he has two different colored eyes)
7. Rufus Sewell (he makes such a great bad guy)
8. Criss Angel (his eyes, oh his eyes)
9. Stuart Townsend (he played a good Vampire Lestat, but I loved him as Dorian Gray)
10. Jesse Bradford (he's the inspiration for my WIP hero)
11. Jeffrey Dean Morgan (so scruffy and adorable like a big teddy bear)
12. Zsadist (ok, I know he's in a book but if he were real he'd be this guy)
13. Joaquin Phoenix (I love his lip scar)
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


I have 69 years left

According to three sites that predict your day of death, I have 69 years left. That puts me at 93 years old when I die. That's a long ass time to live. Each site predicted my death within a couple months of each other in the summer of 2075. I've always disliked the summer, it makes sense I would die during one.

That seems like such a long ways away, but yet it creeps up fast. I remember my 13th birthday party like it was last year.

Speaking of birthday parties and traditions. An odd thing happened to me when I was 11 years old (men, stop reading - this story is about a woman's monthly visitor). It was the fall of when I was 11, my 12th birthday was the next spring, in April.

I remember my mom asking me about my birthday party, just idle chit chat to amuse a kid. I told her "mommy, my period is going to start on my birthday." Of course, she thought I was silly. I was only 11! And predicting the Day of Doom? No way.

Well, guess what happened on my 12th birthday party? Yup, the Bleeding Beast arrived. You can ask my mom, she was freaked out. It was fun being the only fifth grader on my period.

What's your death prediction? Gotta be spooky for Halloween :-)

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

My personal Hell

I've seen this on a couple blogs lately, so I decided to join in the fun. Welcome to my Hell.

OSU Beaver fans
Circle I Limbo

General asshats
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

Parents who bring squalling brats to R-rated movies
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

Drivers who go 55 in a 55, but 60 in a 50
Circle IV Rolling Weights

Militant Vegans
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

DMV Employees
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

People on motocycles who drive in the shoulder during traffic jams
Circle VII Burning Sands

Osama bin Laden
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

Saddam Hussein
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell



What would you add? I may steal your ideas and make a new one.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now (Music Video)

Last, but no least. I guess this song speaks to the romantic in me ;-)

The one thing I just realized is that I must really be a child of the 80s. Yikes.

What are your all-time favorite songs?
Escape Club - Wild Wild West

My dad and I used to rock it in the car when this song came on. Isn't the arm/leg thing rad?
Take On Me

My all-time favorite song. How can you not love this?

Video day

I'm blogging at the Mid-Willamette Valley RWA chapter blog today - stop by and say hi. But before you go, I'm going to be sharing my three favorite songs in the whole wide world. Thank GOD for youtube because up until now I've only had these videos in my head.

And honestly, I play these songs in my head. They're kind of the soundtrack to my life. Do I scare you? I think the youtube stuff comes up as seperate posts, sorry for that in advance.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Huge pink pen!

One of my co-workers gave me a gift today. She fully supports my pink habit and I love her for it.

As you can see by looking at my normal-sized hand, this is a giant, pink pen. I think I may write my next novel longhand.

Link

I have some links to brighten up your Monday.

First, courtesy of Michelle Rowen please check out the Cleaning Hunk. I got dibs on Jason in the cowboy hat!

Second, Piper Lee sent me a link to a wonderful video about the smartest dog in the world. I need to get Skidboot to spend some time with my dog...

Third, my dear friend Kelli Matthews sent me a link on 50 Strategies for Making Yourself Work. She's trying to stop the insanity of my watching Laguna Beach. Thank you, Kelli. Thank you.

You'll be happy to know that I redeemed my Laguna Beach watching with a couple hours of Scrubs thanks to my new best friend, scrubsfan26 on YouTube. He has a lot of Scrubs episodes on his site for our viewing pleasure.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Avoidance behavior

As you all know, I'm in editing mode right now. I'm struggling to know at what point I've edited enough. It seems so subjective.

So I've got the day off, all by myself, my parents are taking my dog for a couple of days so I can focus. What am I doing? I watched season 3 of Laguna Beach on MTV. Laguna Beach people! That is a new low for avoidance behavior.

I always thought that show was sooooooooo stupid. So what do I do? Watch 10 episodes of it on my day off. Good lord.

I need to get to work.

P.S. Kyndra and Cami are not nice people. Cameron is so not hot. Alex doesn't know what he's missing with Raquel and Tessa is a doll.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Love story of my generation


Romeo and Juliet. Darcy and Elizabeth. Rhett and Scarlet.

Jim and Pam.













Yes, that's Jim and Pam from NBC's The Office - remake of the British comedy. They love each other. They laugh together. But they can't seem to simply get together.

Pam, o Pam. Don't you see how wonderful Jim is? He's the perfect man! He's kind, sweet, cute, funny. And he really knows how to pull pranks on Dwight.

Jim, don't give up on her. You need to be patient because she just got out of a bad relationship. If you love her, give her time. You deserve the best and she's great for you.

Sigh. We all need a Jim.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Lisa Pulliam


13 places I'd like to visit that I've never been before (in no particular order except for #1)

1. Scotland - all of it. The castles, the Highlands, everything. I'd love to drink a bottle of Catto Whisky (made in Scotland, in my ancestrage) while planting my butt in the middle of Aberdeen (where my family is from).

2. England - lots of places; London, Bath, Stonehenge, Oxford, Whitby (where Bram Stoker wrote most of Dracula) and more.

3. Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. All sorts of cool creepy human body stuff.

4. Transylvania. They're building a Dracula theme park. A DRACULA THEME PARK. How can I not go?

5. Some really cool museum I saw on the travel channel (in Germany or England) with creepy cool stuff in it.

6. Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany

7. Greece. ALL OF IT. All of the ruins.

8. Rome and Venice, Italy

9. British Columbia, Canada

10. Salem, Mass

11. Hershey, PA. Mmmmm, chocolate everywhere.

12. New Orleans

13. Gold Hill, Oregon to the house with the cool magnetic stuff going on.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

More editing

I feel like I've been posting a lot about editing lately. But it has been my main focus so I guess it makes sense.

I'm trying to put together a master checklist for revisions, things I need to remember to look for and fix while I'm editing. Most of this relates to language use and the actual writing mechanics, not the storytelling.


Here is what I have so far:
  • Senses (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting)
  • Showing vs. telling
  • Active vs. passive voice
  • Tighten sentences
  • Eliminate redundancies
  • Info dump/too much backstory
  • Emotion
  • Body language and nonverbal communication
  • Consistent details (hair and eye color, etc)
  • Varied sentence structure (does every sentence in a paragraph start with "he said"?)
  • Word repetition - I downloaded ywriter which gives you a list of the words you used and how often
  • Setting
  • Description
  • Too many "ly," "ing" or adverbs
  • Eliminate most dialogue tags
  • Mixing tenses

Do you have anything to add?

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Dogs rule part 2

A more in depth version of yesterday's story.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (AP) - After a disabled woman's cat started a house fire, her specially trained dog came to the rescue, then died trying to help the cat still in the house. Jamie Hanson said the 13-yearold dog named Jesse brought the phone so she could call 911 and also brought her artificial leg.

"She got me outside and then she heard the cat upstairs and she went up there to get the cat and she wouldn't come back to me," Hanson, 49, said at a news conference Monday at Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center where she was being treated for her injuries.

She received third-degree burns to an arm in the fire Sunday night at her home in the town of Rhine south of Elkhart Lake, the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Department said, adding that both

Hanson, who lost a leg in a car accident three years ago, said she was on the couch watching television when the cat ran over the back of the couch.

"And he jumped onto a table that had a candle on it and tipped it over and lighted the artificial plants on fire," she said. Hanson said she fell off the couch and was unable to get her artificial leg from the table, "so my dog got my leg for me and went and got the phone and brought the phone to me so I could call 911."

She said she tried to put the prosthetic leg on, but it was too hot, and the dog, a golden retriever-German shepherd mix, came to her aid again before going back inside for the cat. When rescuers arrived, the house was fully engulfed in flames, the sheriff's department said.

Hanson was in the doorway and was assisted by a deputy.
She was no longer being treated at the hospital when The Associated Press called Monday evening for further comment.


Did you see that people, the dog DIED while trying to save the CAT. I rest my case. Loyal to the death. I know I've mentioned this before, but I read somewhere that if you died in your house, a cat would eventually turn on you for food, while a dog stands loyally by your side until it too died. Lastly, a good dog/cat joke. Now I rest my case (unless I find something else).

I jest, I like cats. I do. I just LOVE dogs.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Dogs rule

Yet another reason why I am a dog person:


RHINE, Wis. (AP) - After a disabled woman's cat started a house fire, her specially trained dog rescued her by bringing a phone to call for help. Jamie Hanson, 49, received third-degree burns on her arm in the fire that killed both of her pets, Sheboygan County Sheriff's officials said Monday.

The fire started Sunday night when Hanson's cat knocked a candle onto a chair. Hanson's dog then brought her a phone, allowing her to call for help.

Hanson, who lost a leg in a car accident, told the dispatcher she was disabled but would try to leave the house, Lt. Chad Broeren said. Firefighters found her standing in the doorway as flames engulfed the home, he said.


She was taken to Sheboygan Memorial Hospital. Her injuries are not life threatening, Broeren said.

I bet the cat started the fire on purpose (not for suicide, for homicide).

Moving on. I had a pretty good weekend of revisions. I did a lot of color-coded highlighting. Man, that really helps. I recommend that you give Margie Lawson's EDITS system a try. It really helps you see where you have too much internal thinking or description, and where you need more emotion.

How was your weekend?

Friday, October 13, 2006

Stupid utility company

It's noon on a Friday. I should be at work. Am I? No. I'm sitting in my house waiting for the local gas company to come and light my furnace.

The other day I filled out an online form to request service. I filled out all of the required fields marked by an asterisk, not filling out the unrequired ones. I chose an available service date of Wednesday (I filled out the form on Tuesday).

On Wednesday I got a call from said gas company requesting I complete the application. I guess the non-asterisk fields were actually required. Silly me for not being a psychic. Then she informed me that they couldn't come until Friday. Well why do they have a calendar that allows you to choose your service date?

I requested a time window of their visit, as every other utility company I've dealt with will give. She said they don't do that, it will be somewhere between 8 a.m. and midnight. Wow. Thanks. She said since I work, I should just leave a key somewhere for them.

Excuse me? Am I super paranoid or is it odd that it's completely acceptable for a stranger to have free access to my house for 9 hours? I told her that was unacceptable. And I have a dog. She told me I should leave my sweet, 12 pound Angel outside while at work. Umm, no. It's cold outside. She convulses with cold when I make her go to the bathroom outside in the mornings.

So, here I am waiting for the gas company to come. Not able to leave my house in case they come just because I didn't want to leave a key for them. Bastards.

On a brighter note. I just got a MySpace bulletin from the show Dexter. They have posted their second episode online for free! Woohoo! I don't have Showtime so I rely on the kindness of them. Here is a link for the first two episodes, but I'm not sure if you need a MySpace account.

A brief rundown of the show is it's based off a book. The main character is a serial killer who works for a police department studying blood spatter. He only kills other serial killers. Is that a cool concept or what? I'm off to watch episode 2.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Other blog post

I forgot to mention I blogged on our chapter blog today about pitching. Check it out :-)

Editing













This is how I feel right now. I'm editing. Da Da DA (with menacing music in the background.) I have yet to figure out the editing process that works for me, but I think I'm close to that point.

I really like the deep editing EDITS system. But I only feel that is beneficial once my draft is somewhat clean (i.e. all the plot stuff is fine and I'm just making it sound pretty). Getting from my horrid first draft to the point where I can use the EDITS system is what makes me want to rip my hair out.

I feel overwhelmed, like I don't know where to begin. But I've read what a lot of other people do and thought about what works best for me and I think I've figure out something that may work.

Lisa's Ten Steps of Editing Hell©
Step one: Make sure there are no places where I left a comment to myself of "add more description" or things like that. I need to be working from a complete draft for a good edit.

Step two: Make sure each scene has in it what it should. I refer to the list I make for each scene during the plotting proces, which has things like a piece of backstory or moving along the heroine's character arc, or adding another twist to the plot.

Step three: Go through and highlight various components a certain color. That way I can just focus on dialogue or setting on a read-through.

Step four: Try and leave the book alone for at least a week. If you can, don't think about it either. Start thinking about your next book. That way when you return you are looking at it with a fresher mind and sharper eye.

Step five: Read the manuscript line by line, making sure each one is in top shape.

Step six: Read and analyze each paragraph, making sure you are packing a punch with each one.

Step seven: Analyze each page, making sure I get the most from the spacing, etc.

Step eight: Read each chapter, making sure it has everything you want in it and makes you want to continue reading to the next one.

Step nine: Read through the whole book and look for grammar, punctuation, typos, etc. It's best to wait until you're basically done changing text around.

Step ten: Save the book as a new file and format it to print like an actual book. When reading it like it would be in a paperback, you may catch things you didn't before and see spacing problems that you otherwise wouldn't have seen until the copyedits stage. Here is how to print it like a paperback: Open up the page setup menu in Microsoft Word (under the file menu). In the margins tab, make it 0.39" all around. The gutter should be 0.16" and gutter position as "left." Under the paper tab, select "custom" as the paper size and manually put in 4.25" x 6.89". Under the layout tab have the section start at "odd page." Select the box that says "different odd and even." Make the header and footer each 0.2". Click ok.

What is your editing process?

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

NaNoWriMo time already? Holy crapoly batman

There's no way that it's almost November. No effing way. I don't know that I'm 100% ready for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those unfamiliar). But is anyone really ready to buckle down and write at least 50,000 words in a month?

The thing about it is you are supposed to write 50k on a brand new book. Not adding 50k to a current manuscript. But, I don't really care about that. If you are 20k into a single title book and doing NaNoWriMo and suffering through it with millions of people is the only way to get that book done by New Year's - then DO IT!

So what you don't "technically" win. You still have 50k and you were able to take advantage of the forums and other tools made available during that month. The point of this is to buckle down and write. Don't let the "must be a new project" convince you of not joining in the madne...er, fun.

Since I live alone and don't have any children, or hell, a lot of social activities outside of my writing chapters - I think I am going to revise the book I'm working on while starting up a kick booty paranormal idea I've got brewing. If I get stuck on writing, I can switch over to revising. Then back to writing again. On average during the week I think I could devote at least 3 hours to writing, and more on the weekends. I need to get my house in order so I can leave it be for a month :-)

I am issuing a challenge to my blog readers. I challenge each of you to participate in NaNoWriMo. If you are up to the challenge, please leave a comment. I'll contact each of you for an e-mail address, maybe even a snail mail address and I'll send you things to keep you motivated. We can do eeeeet! (could you hear Rob Schneider there?)

You don't have to finish. Hell, if you can't keep going after 20,000 words. So what? You're 20k closer to the end than you were before. Who's with me? (maybe I should give half-time pep talks at football games).

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Romance is NOT porn

When I started blogging, I told myself I wouldn't talk about politics. It's nothing but a way to divide friendships. But I've found something that pushed me over the edge.

Fred Head, candidate for State Comptroller in Texas, is running against a woman who had a romance novel published in 1990. Read the story here. You can click the "back" button at the top to read more about Fred.

Can you believe this guy? I mean, I can. But jeez louise that's an uneducated assumption. I encourage all Texas writers to spend your free time campaigning against this guy.

Emerald City recap

I'm very happy I went to the Emerald City conference. I had a great time, met some wonderful people and got to see some lovely people I'd met before. If it wasn't almost 4 hours from me, I'd sure as hell be joining that chapter too. The people are wonderful!

Friday
I had a fun drive up with Jenna, a fellow Romance Diva and NaNoWriMoer. Let me tell you this woman is a brainstorming GENIUS! We got to the hotel just before 2 p.m. Since we were early enough we grabbed some free books off the goodie table. Gotta love free books. I talked a bit to my roomies (I don't know Betty's Web site).

From 2-3 there was a tea with Cherry Adair. I sat down by myself to look through the workshop list. She approached with disapproval in her eyes, grabbed my scone and water and instructed me to follow her. She plopped me down at a table with three women I had never met. I'm very shy, very very shy and terrible at small talk. But these women were great! Super sweet and they were fun to talk to. I'm very glad Cherry forced my comfort zone to expand (more on the reasons why Cherry Adair is a fantastic person to come).

During dinner we heard from Stella Cameron. She was a hoot! I'll definitely be adding her to my TBR pile.

That evening I went to a pitching workshop where I practiced my pitch. Then to a workshop with agent Nephele Tempest of the Knight Agency. I had an appointment to pitch to her on Saturday (which I was uber happy about). I was highly nervous as I had never pitched a book before. But her workshop calmed me down some. She shared that she hated pitches as much as we did because our writing is what's important (woot! woot!). I really like her style from what she shared in the workshop.

Saturday
My first pitch was with Nephele Tempest (she is not a Mr. or known as Neph). I was nervous as a whore in church. No valid reason, I just was. But she was so personable and friendly, I was instantly at ease. My second pitch was with Kate Seaver of Berkely. She was very friendly too and the editor of Katie MacAlister's first book. Why was I so scared of these people? They are people like me. I know better now. I guess there are just some things that defy logic.

The speaker during lunch was Vicki Lewis Thompson with the nerd series. I just bought some of those a couple of weeks ago and I'm even more excited to read them after hearing her hilarious talk.

I also met Katie MacAlister. A very exciting moment indeed! She was very nice, even in the presence of a psycho happy fan (moi).

Paty and I went to karaoke for a while. That was fun. The guy running the show had some saucy leather pants.

Sunday
During lunch I sat with the Romance Divas. Sha-Shana Crichton of Crichton & Associates was at our table as well. That woman had us in stitches! She was a HOOT! We were laughing so hard that one of the speakers reading names of volunteers looked at us and said "did I mess up her name?" Blushing followed, then more laughing.

Cherry Adair was the speaker for the closing session. Last year she was as well and had everyone in the room write the date they will have their book finished by. She had them put it in a sealed envelope and give them back to her. Cherry kept these envelopes all year long. She brought them back and had everyone who met that goal come up to the front and get a certificate.

She then had them write their names on a post-it note and drew three names. Those women won a trip to the Emerald City conference next year, hotel and registration fee. Out of her own pocket! Then she was going to draw a name for an all-expenses paid trip to Dallas next year for RWA Nationals. Registration, hotel and airfare out of her own pocket. At our table we all had our fingers crossed for Shelli to win. She deserved it so much, working her tail off all weekend for the conference. Not to mention she is such a sweet, kind and giving person. Well, guess whose name Cherry pulled? We all started crying. Cherry started crying. Other people in the room started crying. It was a good cry.

Talk about giving back to the romance writing community. Cherry Adair, you are a gem! And she stayed after the conference to teach us all her plotting method. Which I will blog about soon.

I'm also happy I got to see several of the Romance Divas, women from the Rose City Romance Writers and some wonderful ladies I had met in Atlanta. I with I would have taken pictures with them. Stupid me.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Check out this blog

My local chapter, the Mid-Willamette Valley Romance Writers of America now has a blog! Check out our first post today, by the lovely and talented Elisabeth Naughton. We'll be talking about writing tips and things we've learned, have guest bloggers and more.

I'll post a recap of the Emerald City conference later.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Spiders. Not cool.

Ok, second post today. Sorry. But when I opened my Yahoo homepage, I was greeted by this:









I have a debilatating fear of spiders and did not need to see that on my yahoo homepage. But, for anyone interested in reading about the Brown Widow (cousing of the Black Widow) taking over the world, here 'tis. Bastard spiders. Yeah, yeah. I know they eat other bugs. But that doesn't make them less creepy. My insect vacuum is my secret weapon.

Pitches, bitches

I'm working on my pitch for the Emerald City conference this weekend. Ick. I should be better at pitches, I write them a lot for my day job. I also give them a lot for my day job. But that doesn't make it any easier.

The best guidance I've found for in-person pitches is Diana Peterfreund's "Pitch and Roll" workshop at Romance Divas forums. You can find it in the "AOTM" section of the forums. She breaks down the necessary components that a pitch should have.

It's hard as hell writing one. When someone asks me what I'm writing, I usually respond with a much too long and convoluded response including a lot of "this happens and then this happens and then..." I feel like I'm in that scene from "Dude Where's My Car." (A link for those who think I'm crazy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPjhPLrvUKg)

Anyhoo. I'm trying to find descriptive tags for my characters and it seems that all descriptive words have left my brain. I'm also trying to narrow down the conflict to something interesting and believable. Proving to be difficult as well. But, I'll git 'er done.

Why am I pitching instead of letter querying anyway?

Monday, October 02, 2006

Bring back Jeff!

There is a hole in my heart. The hole can only be filled by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. To some, he's known as Denny on Grey's Anatomy. To others he's known as John (the dad) in Supernatural.













Why, oh why must he be killed off every television show? Why must this rugged, Seattle-born manly man be deprived of his God-given right to grace the fairer sex with his raspy voice? Why can't we still enjoy the kind, positive spirit of Denny or the protective nature of John?

I curse you screenwriters. I curse you for depriving me of my weekly enjoyment. The only thing that will keep me going are the five movies he will appear in during 2007 and 2008.

Thank you Jeffrey. Thank you for providing millions of television watchers with the enjoyment of your alluring smile, your kind eyes, and your endearing dimples.

R.I.P. Denny and John. May you forever be in our fanta...thoughts.

P.S. His birthday is the day after mine. Fate? Yes, I'd like to think so.

Emerald City, here I come

Four days until the Emerald City Writer's Conference in Bellevue, Washington. I'm really excited to attend this. I wanted to last year but wasn't able to. I am fully and completely aware that this is a writer's conference. I'm a writer, I get it.

But I'll tell you a secret. My biggest point of excitement for it is to get to meet Katie MacAlister. As you've probably heard, or read, me say this dozens of times. Her book "A Girl's Guide to Vampires" is what catapulted me into this crazy romance dimension. Thank God it did! I'm so unbelievably happy in what I'm doing it makes my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

Writer's are readers first. And I know I'm going to go totally fan girl when I have a book signed by KatieMac. I still remember the moment when it all clicked for me. When I read that book and realized, this is what I want to write. Not what hadn't been working for me over the previous few years. But funny, romantic books. It was the light bulb moment to end all light bulb moments.

I'm also really excited to see a lot of people I met in Atlanta this summer, and meet new people. It will be great to get to know the Pacific Northwest writers.

I'm also nervous. In Atlanta it was more carefree for me because I wasn't there for a lot of pitching. I was there to learn and meet other writers. But now I have something to pitch and it scares the piss out of me!

I also get nervous in social situations and I'm really bad at remembering people's names. I'm good with faces and all things visual, but names generally elude me. Don't be offended if you catch me eyeing your name tag. I don't expect you to remember my name.

All in all this will be a great weekend. Social fears and fan-girl moments aside, I hope to learn a lot and meet some great people. And on my way there or home I hope to stop by Pike Place and grab a ginormous boquet of gorgeous fresh flowers. And maybe buy out the Yankee Candle store. I wonder if they still sell the gardenia, pineapple and plumeria scents...

So - are you going to Emerald City? I hope to see you there!

Sunday, October 01, 2006

And so it begins

My favorite time of year is upon us. October 1 is a great day. It signifies that the weather is cooling to the crisp, red-nosed, sweater-bearing temperatures that I prefer. The leaves are changing colors and falling in a way that makes Oregon absolutely beautiful.

Only 30 days until Halloween! Then Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas is just a hop, skip and jump from that. I love, Love, LOVE the holidays. December 26 is the most depressing day of the world to me (not including the 50% off Christmas decorations). I've never cared about or really celebrated New Years so the holidays end at Christmas for me.

I guess I should have my furnace lit so I have heat in my house. It's starting to get pretty cold at night and in the morning. Other than cleaning today, I'll be making Halloween decorations. Boy do I love this time of year. I should hide my keys from myself so I'm not tempted to go see School for Scoundrels. Two hours I can't afford to waste :-)

I'm off to dig out my sweaters. Then make pumpkin streamers, lollipop ghosts and egg carton spiders. Oh happy day!