Checking In

I'm not sure how to function today. It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I'm not at work. I can count the number of times this has happened in the last couple years on one hand. I don't get Saturdays off. It's weird.

Granted, I have a reason for this Saturday off. A really great reason. I'm going to a concert tonight. Sugarland and Sara Bareilles.

Now, I love Sugarland. Jennifer Nettles is amazing. But I'm super stoked about Sara Bareilles. Anyone who's read my blog knows that. She's incredible and I can't wait to see her live. I just hope she does this song:


In other, non-fangirl news, I got the proof copy of my 2010 NaNoWriMo novel. Even though it's only a trophy for me, it's still so, so exciting to hold a book that I wrote in my hands!

I'll post some pictures of it on Monday. For now...what's wrong with this picture?

Monday Mixtape - NaNo Edition, Wk 2

I can't believe it's the second week of November already. I got a little behind on my wordcount yesterday, so today's post will be brief.

I've mentioned before that I'm a huge SHeDAISY fan. Kristyn Osborn is one of the best songwriters I've had the pleasure of listening to. This song, Mine All Mine, is perfect for the moment my main character realizes that the things that went wrong between her and her ex are all her fault. Favorite lyric: "I drove you to the edge of the map and after that, I pushed you off just to watch you fall."


The next song on my playlist isn't meant to be taken literally. But the bittersweet, melonchaly feel of it, the idea of being "almost honest" is perfect for Tierney's life. After all, she's been "almost honest" with everyone in her life. Plus, Josh Kelley has an amazing voice.


The last song is another by Sara Bareilles. What can I say? The woman has a way with words. This song captures Tierney's desperation for reassurance, that she's not an awful human being. To me, this is her begging the one person she's been totally honest with to stick by her. To make her feel "not alone"


Alright. I need to be at over 13k by the end of the day and I'm sitting at almost 11k. So I've got some work to do!

Monday Mixtape - NaNo Edition + My Writing Space

Happy NaNoWriMo!

As promised yesterday, this is going to be a double entry. First up, my entry for the Writing Space Blogfest:


Here is an overview of my space. I put this desk together all on my own last winter, after NaNo. It's kind of cluttered with various inspiriational bits. The pink and purple blanket on my chair, my mom made for me. I love it.


Here's a shot of my cork board. Various writing quotes and my winner's certificate from last year's NaNo. The blue question mark man is a Jason Mraz sticker for the song Mr. Curiousity, which he wrote about Writer's Block.


A shot of the shelf on my desk. To the left is the plot bunny I found at a thrift store. He's cardboard and hollow inside, but I thought he was pretty cool. I've got a bunny pencil holder and a dinosaur with bunny ears, too. The book is last year's NaNo novel. I am so ridiculously proud of it, even though the cover didn't turn out exactly as I wanted. I promised Dana she could design this year's cover.


A close-up of the other board I keep on my wall. It's filled with various inspirations. As you can see, Audrey Hepburn is a big one. I like to think of her as my muse. Sweet and doe-eyed and soft-spoken, but capable of saying just the right thing to kick your butt into action. Jason Mraz in the upper corner, a sweet note from Dana on the shamrock in the lower right. My grandma is next to that, then a few concert tickets. The lottery ticket is from Dana, too. It's a losing ticket, but she cleared the words NOVEL and MINOR. She handed it to me and said, "Your issues are minor, write the damn novel." Surprisingly, it's pretty great motivation.



And last, but definitely not least, a shot of my bookcase. It's not super organized, but it makes sense to me. Two shelves' worth of writing books and a shelf of the classics. The rest is a mix of my all-time favorites and to-be-reads. Scattered throughout are various bits of inspiration. Again, Audrey. A stuffed pig on top. Snoopy with a typewriter.

And that about sums up my writing space. It's kinda cluttery but I love it! Can't wait to check out everyone else's!


Now onto the Monday Mixtape. Here are a few songs off my NaNo Playlist:

Bon Jovi, because my main character, Tierney, has a thing for 80's hair bands.



The Dixie Chicks - I Can Love You Better. Because Tierney is in love with someone who's in love with someone else. And she really does believe she can love him better!



Sara Bareilles - Between the Lines. This song is so heartbreaking and I think it captures perfectly the moment Tierney finds out her love is marrying someone else.


Now I must be off to crank out a couple thousand words before work. Wish me luck and good luck to all you other Wrimos out there!

Monday Mixtape

Music is my drug of choice. I'm sure I've said that before. A good song fills me up just as well, if not better, than a gourmet, five-course meal. There's always a song in my head and I feel lost when I can't listen to music. Above anything, I adore a strong, beautiful, unique lyric. I've been listening to music all morning and thought I'd share a few songs with you guys. These are my favorites at the moment. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! And maybe they'll make your Monday a little less dreadful!

This one has been one of my favorite songs for years. I love the lyrics. Kristyn Osborn is a wizard with words. My vocabulary has been expanded from the years of listening to her songs.


Again, I'm addicted to Sara Bareilles's new cd. This song makes my heart ache.


Ahh, Jason Mraz. My heart belongs to this man. Not only is he a master of words, his voice is so amazing. And this song just tugs at my heartstrings and makes me smile.


I've got just under thirty minutes before work. Maybe I'll listen to these songs one more time and squeeze a little writing in. Happy Monday, everyone!

Rainy Day

It's a rainy, gloomy day here today. The sound of the rain hitting the roof is soothing and has me longing to crawl into bed and stay there. Sadly, I have to work today. There will be no lying in bed, listening to the rain. Not this morning.

I do, on the other hand, have an hour before I leave. Now, a logical, driven person would use this hour to get something accomplished. Maybe pull out Chapter Three and forge through the messy revisions. Because once Chapter Three is done, I can move on and, I suspect, the rest of the book should be a breeze. Well, maybe not a breeze. But far easier than the first few chapters. Odds are, though, that I'll find a million and one things to do before even looking at my book. And by the time I pull out a pen and notebook, or pull up Word, it'll be ten minutes before I'm set to leave for work. That's just how I work. At least these days, anyway.

In addition to the soothing soundtrack of the rain, I've got the new cd by Sara Bareilles playing. At the moment, this is my favorite:



I love Sara's voice. And, boy, does she have a way with words. Nothing feeds my muse better than good music. It's almost like enjoying the most amazing meal you've ever had -- without the calories.

While I'm in a sharing mood, Dana (who I've mentioned here before) has started her own blog. As a disclaimer, I feel I should mention that what she writes is intense and somewhat graphic. It's sort of a stream-of-conscious, letting-it-all-out kind of writing, an intimate look at a very difficult subject. If you're okay with that kind of thing, hop on over and take a peek -- Broken Illusions

Alright. I've squandered a little too much time on the interwebs for the day. Off I go. Let's hope I get something accomplished!

My Writing Vacation

I am a horrible, horrible blogger.

To be honest, I've been a horrible, horrible writer too.

You remember when I said I was taking a break from my current WiP to work on an old one? Well, it somehow morphed into a plain ole break. I haven't picked up a pen or opened a word document in about a week. For the first few days, I enjoyed the living heck outta it. But now...I kind of miss it. The adrenaline, the frustration, the whole damn process.

I got a confirmation email last Wednesday for my Createspace copy. It's not gonna be perfect. In fact, it's gonna be a downright disaster. No title page, chapters starting on the right AND left sides, the cover not exactly what I had in mind. Oh, not to mention the same scene in Chapters 12 AND 14. BUT! It's mine. A real live copy of something I slaved over for months. So, even if it isn't perfect, I'm just super-excited to hold it in my hands, ya know?

I have been addicted to Sara Bareilles' new song lately.


It's catchy and fun and I sing it all day at work. Much better than having Adam Lambert stuck in my head, let me tell you.

I've been doing some driving lately. A friend of mine took it upon herself to teach me and so once a week, she picks me up and lets me drive around town. Last week, it was just the back country roads while I got comfortable behind the wheel. Yesterday, I drove the busier streets. And I didn't run over any pedestrians or back-end someone or have a panic attack! Next time, we'll probably try the busiest street -- which just so happens to be the street I work on. It's my biggest driving fear. Well, that and the highway. But gradually, I'm conquering these fears. Couldn't be prouder of myself. Isn't it silly that driving has scared me so much?

I finally got to go to the beach yesterday. I love to swim. LOVE to swim. But I rarely get to do it. We've been in the middle of a heat wave 'round here, but I've been stuck at work all day. Wouldn't it figure that my day off is when the heat breaks? It was still plenty warm enough to swim, though I'm sure I would have appreciated it more when the weather was nearing a hundred degrees. Still felt amazing to dive into that cool water. If I could, I'd swim every single day of my life. I think I was a fish in another life.



I have to get ready for work (I hate Saturdays!), but I'll leave you guys with a couple links I thought were super helpful. Well, they would have been if I was actually WRITING right now. Ah well, soon.

201 Ways to Arouse Your Creativity
10 Writing Tips That Can Help Almost Anyone, courtesy of Janet Fitch

I'm hoping to get back to something resembling a blogging routine soon. Wanderlust Wednesdays, book reviews, progress updates. I've got my fingers crossed! In the meantime, Happy Saturday, everyone!