A New Deal From Lulu...

Take advantage of this great offer at my Lulu Bookstore until July 13th, 2012 on these great titles:

Fateful Firsts: A Collection of Poetry


Fateful Firsts is a collection of poetry with subjects ranging from life, love, relationships, pets, animals, and places. Some of the poems included were written in the later 1990s, but I didn't begin writing poems on a regular basis until 2006. It is my honor and privilege to present to you... Fateful Firsts!

Second Thoughts: A Collection of Poetry


You hold in your hands my second collection of poetry. I found after writing Fateful Firsts: A Collection of Poetry, I was having Second Thoughts about relationships, emotions, and other life-altering events happening. What you see within these pages is the authentic me. Enjoy!

 Before you place your order, use the code at my friend's bookstore to get a chance to buy my co-authored fiction novel:

A Candlelit World


In 1899, a group of outsiders uncover a plot to raise an evil entity from the local cemetery. By bearing witness to the ritual that accomplishes this, it effectively signs their death warrant and in order to save themselves they must find out the key to return this Stranger to its grave. Though the evil is eventually banished and everyone is killed as a result, the story does not end there. One hundred years later, an unusual and powerful candle is found in an antique store by a pair of college students doing research for an assignment. Upon lighting it, the same evil is brought back along with the spirits of those who'd died to stop it before, who have much unfinished business among themselves as well.

Event Reminder

If any fellow Oregonians take advantage of this offer and want it autographed, my friend and I will be at Bob's Beach Books in Lincoln City from 11 AM-2 PM on Saturday, August 25th, 2012.  Click here for directions to the location.  I hope to see you there!

An Incomplete Goal, and Other Stuff...

I haven't completed my goal I set last week of getting the fight scene written down in "The Shepherdess Princess," but both sides are preparing for battle!  I also was able to add everything I had in a "splice file" (scenes written for the story to incorporate later) into the last few pages I've been working on.  Some of the additions need to be edited still, but two-thirds of what I added already flows with the rest of the novel.  I am now starting on the tenth chapter, and have 78 pages.  I ended up with a total of 67 pages from a starting point of 76 pages at one point during the editing process, so I hope that gives my readers some grasp of how much I added to the manuscript and I'm far from being done.  The fight scene kicks off the second half of the novel from my point of view.  I hope to have 20 chapters before it's final edit, and sent in for publication.

I've been antsy a little today too because I find out sometime before August 1st if I'm a finalist for the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship.  I was talking to a friend the other day about what we would both do if we both got chosen for $15,000.

• We both said we'd take a trip to NOLA (New Orleans) for inspiration.  We decided she could have the cemetery, and I'd take the French Quarter.
• I'd buy several copies of my published books to distribute to the local bookstores.
• Buy a new laptop, stock up on printer ink, and upgrade my Microsoft Word program.
• Have a book signing/poetry reading somewhere in the community, and
• Rent a cabin in the woods for a week for a writer's retreat with any author friends that might want to tag along.  :)

I just got a letter in the mail today from World Poetry Movement telling me they want to publish one of my poems in a new volume of "Stars in Our Hearts."  I made it to the semi-finalist round again, and should be automatically added as a finalist.  The last time they told me that the semi-finals was as far as I got, so I'm not getting my hopes up this time.

I can't believe within a week my blog has gone up 100 more views.  On July 2nd, I was marking the blog having 1500 views on my Facebook page and I come online this morning to see that I am now at 1600 and still going!  Do people really enjoy reading my ramblings, or do I have a captive audience out there?  :)  Either way, keep on reading and enjoy your day!

Who Do You Write Like?

A friend I'm following on Wordpress came across this page at a friend of her's blog where someone can find out Who I Write Like by analyzing any text they've written in a novel of their choice.  I chose to go poem by poem through "The Trifecta: A Collection of Poetry" to see how I stack up.


Here are my results:


Dan Brown-5
H. P. Lovecraft-4
James Joyce & Stephen King-3
Charles Dickens-2
Raymond Chandler, Vladimir Nabokov, Cory Doctorow, Margaret Atwood, David Foster Wallace, Neil Gaiman, Mary Shelley, L. Frank Baum, & Anne Rice-1


According to the number of poems for each author, Dan Brown is who I write like the most.  I got a kick out of that result, and chuckled when the last poem I pasted into the analyzer came out Anne Rice.  The Anne Rice result poem is titled "An Angel's Promise."  It had nothing to do with vampires at all.  (Yes, I know she wrote more than just The Vampire Chronicles.)  I was also a little surprised I would be paired up with Stephen King and Neil Gaiman at all because I think they write better than I do.

Anyway, click here if you want to take the same "test."  Feel free to post your results in the comments if you'd like.

Tips for Writers on Naming Characters...

I started JulNoWriMo yesterday to see if I could finish "The Shepherdess Princess" this month by finally reaching the 50,000 word goal by July 31st.  Anyway, I came across a link in the webpage's Writers Resources section that directed me to a baby name site with a page dedicated to tips for writers on naming characters.

I haven't had many problems naming my characters, but bookmarked the link for future reference.  I also thought I would share the tips from the baby name webpage here in case any of my fellow writers that visit this blog might need help naming their characters.

Tips for Writers on Naming Characters

Tip 1: Make the name age-appropriate

The biggest mistake we see writers make is choosing a character name that is not age-appropriate. Many authors make the mistake of choosing a name that is popular now for an adult character--a name that would have rarely been used around the time of that character's birth. Decide the age of your character and then calculate the year your character was born. If your character was born in the U.S., browse the Social Security Name Popularity List for that year. You will also want to take into account the character's ethnic background and the ethnic background of his/her parents.

Tip 2: Choose a name by meaning

Many writers give their characters names that have significance in the story. It could reflect major personality traits, or the character's role in the story. You may want to use ouradvanced search to search by literal meaning, or think of ways to incorporate other meanings into your character's name. For example, if your character is a botanist, you may not want to name her Flower (too literal), but you may want to consider the names Linneaor Sage. Even if you choose not to name a character by meaning, you should look up the meaning of all your characters' names—there may be something that inspires you or, on the other hand, conflicts with your message.

Tip 3: Exotic romance names are out

Thirty, forty years ago, you would pick up a romance novel and the characters would have ridiculously exotic names like "Crystal Remington" or "Rod Delaware." Same with daytime soap operas. However we're seeing a shift in the past decade or so: romance and soap writers have modernized their character names so readers can relate to them. Naming a romance character should be no different than naming any other fictional character. If you use all the other good character naming tips, you'll create a genuine player to whom your readers can relate.

Tip 4: Science fiction names don't have to sound alien

It's difficult to predict what names will be popular in the year 3000, however you don't have to make your science fiction characters sound like they are from Mars (unless they are). When a person reads (or watches) your story, you don't want them to stumble over a name. The name Zyxnrid, for example, would be difficult to read or listen to every time the character is referenced—and may detract from your overall story. If you do choose to create your sci-fi name, you may want to:

• Combine two common names to make a less common, but pronounceable name. Example: Donica (Donna and Veronica).
• Use ancient mythological names, or combine two of them. Example: Ceres or Evadne.
• Make it easy to pronounce and spell. Example: Bilbo Baggins from Lord of the Rings.

Tip 5: Terms of Endearment

When writing your story, be aware that people who are close rarely use each other's full names. Couples will use nicknames, terms of endearment (honey, dear, boo). What nickname have your characters come up with for each other? Also, parents rarely call their children by their full names--unless they are admonishing them for bad behavior or testifying in court. If you have loving parent characters that are addressing their kids, use a nick name or term of endearment (sweetie, baby, D.J.). An exception to this would be if you want to show the parent character being cold and distant to their child.

Tip 6: Overused Names

For some reason, every writer loves to name his hero JACK. I know it's a tough-sounding, honest-working name, but naming your hero Jack is like naming your son AIDAN. It's overdone. Be a little more creative, so your reader will remember your particular protagonist as opposed to the umpteen-million other books they've read about Jack. Also, do not give your protagonist the initials J.C. as an allusion to Jesus Christ. That tactic was overused in 60's/70's fiction and is almost laughable by today's standards.

Tip 7: Loaded Names

Watch out for what we call "loaded" names--names that have a popular association. These could be names associated with celebrities, historical or infamous people like Adolf, Oprah, or Kobe. They could also be names of famous literary, tv, or movie characters: Hannibal, Scarlett, Romeo, Bart. If you do choose to use "loaded" names, then you really should make it part of the story, part of the character. Your character's mother was obsessed with Gone With the Wind, so she was named Scarlett--how has it affected her throughout her life? How does it affect her in the story?

Tip 8: Have Fun With Names

Have fun with naming your characters and take time to see what "fits." What was your character's childhood nickname? Is that an embarrassment when his parents address him in front of his friends? Did your character change his name at any point in his/her life? If so, why? Does your female character want to change her surname when she gets married? Why or why not? Names are such an important part of one's identity, don't take it lightly with your story!

Here's the link to the baby names part of the site itself if there's a specific name you want to look up.

For my book "Magic In Their Blood", I found a Native American name website I used to find my characters names because the characters themselves are of Native American descent.  I didn't have much trouble finding my way around this website because I already had an idea of what specific words I wanted their names to mean, and an idea of which Tribe they were apart of.

A Surprise for my Readers, and a New Poem...

I want the suspense to build a little bit, so I'll add my new poem first.  I wrote the poem to go with the picture prompt for the monthly competition I was added to at 21st Century Poets.  Here's the picture:

Here's the poem:

An Angel’s Promise

Don’t worry, little Bambi,

Being alone in the woods can be

Really scary of an experience,

But I’ll protect you while you smell the flowers scents.

When you are done here,

I’ll stay with you so you’ll have nothing to fear

As you make your way back home.

Only then will I leave you alone.

If on the way we meet a hunter,

I’ll distract him as you run for

Cover into the nearby trees.

When it’s safe again, we’ll continue on as you please.

When you’re reunited with your family,

I will leave you happily.

I will watch over you in your time of need,

And be your silent companion when you feed.

I already added "An Angel's Promise" to my poetry book making the page count 37 now.  It's growing slowly, but surely.


SURPRISE!


Usually when I'm writing a novel, I'm pretty private about it's contents until it's ready for publication with the exception of my poetry, and the short stories I write to submit to "Chicken Soup for the Soul."  Anyway, this past weekend I wrote a scene that I read aloud to my brother tonight that left him wanting to read the rest of the story.  After giving it some thought, I decided to add a little teaser from "The Shepherdess Princess" for my readers to see.  The setting of this scene is in a palace in France in 1340:

            The entire nation was mourning the loss of the Royal family when learning about the deaths of Queen Patrice and Prince Philippe upon Prince Edward’s return from England.  The flag of France remained at half-staff for an entire year upon the request of King Edward, who was crowned a couple months after his return with the bodies.

            The coronation was a melancholy event for all in attendance, but behind the palace walls was another story.  Prince Edward was seen by the staff as being rather happy despite the fact he’s supposed to be in mourning.  Everyone tried to ignore his odd behavior for fear of reprimand, but it became difficult to do so for the maids that he would grab as he was walking down the hallway and waltz around with for a few feet before releasing them.  Every now and then throughout the day, he’d be caught whistling a happy tune as he adored himself in the mirror, or just stood there straightening his already impeccable uniform.  The ceremony went off without a hitch, and the people of France embraced their new King.  Little did they know what King Edward was really like, the lengths he had gone to obtain his throne, or that the rightful heir was still alive and well. 

Everyone has my permission to salivate now!  :)  This was one of the scenes I mentioned in my previous blog post about wanting to add something near the beginning of the story to give it more "meat."  I want to make it a goal to get one of the fight scenes written sometime this week.  Once this small battle happens, the second half of the novel should go fairly quickly.  I have 71 total pages so far, but that doesn't include the 20 more pages I have written up to add back into the story at some point.

Lots to Talk About...

What a week it's been already.  I got a call from my mom on Tuesday letting me know that my sister, and her kids were coming down for a surprise visit and were an hour away from where I live.  After visiting with my mom, my sister was too tired to drive an hour back to where she was supposed to be staying the night, so I let her and the kids crash at my place.  The kids enjoyed running around on the beach, and seeing the dock that washed up on it from Japan as a result of the tsunami.

I did get more of the scenes written leading up to the first fight scene in "The Shepherdess Princess" last weekend.  I still have a little more to add leading up to it, but I feel I'm well-informed from my research to do a decent job at the bloodshed part.  I also thought up of another couple scenes to add earlier into the story to give it more "meat."

I submitted my story to "Chicken Soup for the Soul" over the weekend as well.  Here's the story for your viewing pleasure:

“What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?”

            When you’re growing up, adults in your life are constantly asking the age-old question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  My answer to that question never really changed, “I want to be a writer!”  Usually the follow-up question was “What if writing doesn’t work out for you?”  Stubborn child that I was, I answered “I’m going to be a writer anyway.”

I have a couple early memories that stand out which influenced the path I’ve chosen as a writer.  One of the reports cards that were sent home with me in 3^rd grade, my teacher wrote in the comments area “Amanda loves to write unless it’s an assignment.”  That is one of the few report cards from my academia days that I have treasured into my adulthood.  I still take it out of its hiding place once in a while, and reread it.  The words make me chuckle every time because they are still true about me to this day.

The second memory I have is from 9^th grade.  I had three classes that were part of a freshman block group: English, Health, and Science back-to-back.  One day I was given back a writing assignment that I had written about the beach located a couple blocks away from my home.  I was perplexed because the story came back ungraded with a post-it attached asking to see the teacher after class.  I instantly thought I was in trouble.  I sat at my desk dreading the bell to signal the end of the period.  I went up to the teacher’s desk after the other students file out of the classroom, and asked why he wanted to see me.  It turned out that he wanted to ask my permission to keep a copy of my story in a notebook he made up of past student’s assignments that moved him in some way.  I was in shock and awe for several minutes, but I agreed to his request.  The teacher died a couple years later from a blood clot, but I’ve never forgotten this moment in time.  Last I heard, his wife still had the previously-mentioned notebook in her possession.

My stubbornness prevailed as an adult because I now have three self-published books to my credit.  One is a fiction novel entitled “A Candlelit World” that I co-authored with a friend, and two are my own personal volumes of poetry.  Self-publishing works well for me because it’s affordable and I don’t have to worry about a hard deadline.  If I set my own deadline to have a book finished by and am not quite finished with the manuscript when that date arrives, I strive for another date.  It’s no biggie to me because I don’t have a traditional publisher breathing down my neck for the finished product.  Deadlines tend to make me nervous, and bring on a lot of unwanted stress when I’m working on a project and get hit with writer’s block.  It is difficult for me to market my poetry book in local venues because I’ve come across several anti-poetry readers at a local book signing I attend annually.  I know there are some poetry lover’s in my community, but they are few and far between.

Overcoming writer’s block can be quite a chore.  At the moment, I’m not suffering from it.  Thank God!  When I do, there are several different ways I try to overcome it.  If I’ve been writing poetry non-stop and suddenly have the inspiration dry up, I try to take a walk, read a book, take a shower, or take a nap.  Anything to distract me really until inspiration hits, but if doing any of that still doesn’t work I try to move onto another writing project for a while.

I have ten story ideas at the moment that I could decide to work on at any given time.  Lately when I’m not writing poetry, I’m working on a romantic-type fairy tale/Historical fiction book.  My other story ideas consist of fantasy, regular fiction, romance, an autobiography, and a compilation of letters I wrote to Jesus thanking him for his love in the good times and in the bad.  A lot of my story ideas have came to me as a results of dreams that I didn’t automatically forget upon waking up.

I do like to challenge myself once in a while by participating in WriMo’s (months during the year where a person’s goal is to try to write a 50,000 word novel in the span of thirty days).  NaNoWriMo in November has the biggest turnout of aspiring writers because November is officially deemed National Novel Writing Month in the United States.  They have JulNoWriMo coming up in July, and a Camp NaNoWriMo that starts in June, and resumes in August.  For the Camp NaNoWriMo, a person can decide to try to write a book in both months, or just pick one month to participate in.  Every April, the WriMo world takes a break for what’s called ScriptFrenzy where a writer can choose to write a screenplay based on one of the novels they’ve written in WriMo events should the book ever be turned into a movie.  The possibilities are endless.  I usually just participate once a year, but I did try to work on my novel some more in July last year just to see how much further I could get in it.

It’s not too hard for me to tell when a book is done, and ready to be published.  There is a feeling I get of things “winding down” as the book progresses.  My friend and I wrote “A Candlelit World” in nine-and-a-half years mainly because we couldn’t get together everyday to write.  We had a lot of slumber parties on the weekends, though.  When we both felt that we contributed what we could to the story, we discussed how we wanted to end it.  Then we had my friend’s mother proofread it, and did some editing as per her suggestions, and found a way to self-publish it once we had her mother’s approval.  Neither of us really wanted the story to end because our characters became like our children, and we were both saddened a little bit when it was time to “send them out into the world” on their own.  When it came to writing my two volumes of poetry, I set a certain amount of page numbers I wanted to strive for before they were ready for publication.  My first attempt lacked the amount of pages I wanted, but I published it anyway because I was having a hard time with writer’s block and finding inspiration for anything new.  Once I published it and began working on a separate writing project, the inspiration for new poems came back to me.  That’s when I began my second volume of poetry.  I reached my page goal for the second volume of poetry, but it was difficult near the end because my writer’s block was rearing its ugly head again.  I struggled for a couple months to get the page count I wanted.

Writing is hard work, but can be very rewarding.

I'm not sure if it's good enough to add to the book coming up titled "Inspiration for Writers," but I covered all the questions they had for a person to answer.  I'm not certain it's inspiring in any way, but I'll find out when the book is finally published.

I got word from the Literary Arts people that my application for the Oregon Literary Fellowship was received.  They don't send notice of receipt unless the applicant encloses a self-addressed stamped enveloped with the application itself which I did.  I learned working as a grant writer in the past to always get verification of some form when applying for anything because things can get lost in the mail, or disappear from someone's desk.  It was just a precaution I decided to take because it was optional to do so.

Where did the week go?

This week has seemed to fly by for me.  I can't believe Friday is already here, and I'm glad to welcome it.  I get the apartment to myself for a few days, and I can write to my heart's content.  I have about 200 more words to write in my submission for "Chicken Soup for the Soul" before I'm ready to send it into the ether.  If my story is chosen to be published in the "Inspiration for Writers" book, I'll be receiving a check for $200, and some advanced copies of the book.  It would be nice to finally be chosen after making several attempts.

I have been looking repeatedly at the picture prompt for this week's competition at 21st Century Poets with an idea percolating in my head as to the direction I wanted to go with writing a poem about it.

Here's the picture:

Here's the poem I wrote:

Transformation

It was a dark and stormy night,
But I didn't notice as I swam with delight
Beneath the waters foam
As I made my way to my underwater home.

Something magical started taking place,
And a shocked look came upon my face
As my fin was replaced with legs.
I began swimming my fastest to avoid a watery grave.

I was deposited on a foreign shore.
It was definitely not something I've experienced before.
I scared a boy away that was playing with a paper boat.
It lays beside me keeping afloat.

The sand overtook me
As I surveyed as far as my eyes could see.
The opening in the clouds formed
A spotlight all around.

The majestic mountains
Reminded me of the Fountain
of Youth I just left,
And in my nakedness I lay bereft.

I was beginning to think with today's deadline for entries looming that I would end up writing "Transformation" when it was too late to have it count.  I'm also thinking about adding the poem to the beginning of a novel I'm wanting to work on because of it's related subject matter.  I'm still including it into "The Trifecta: A Collection of Poetry" as well.

I got my Literary Fellowship application mailed off on Tuesday.  All of the applicants will be notified of the final results no later than February 15th, 2013.  That's quite a while to wait, but it will be here before I know it.

As for the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship I applied for in March, the finalists will be notified via e-mail by August 1st, and the winners will be announced on September 1st, 2012.  When I first turned in my application for it, I felt like the announcement of winners was a long way off.  Now it's only a little over a month to wait to see if I'm a finalist, or not.  Where did the time go?