So I signed up for NaNoWriMo with a 40k goal instead of 50k. I wanted the goal to be reasonable for my busy life and my middlegrade book felt like a mid-40k book. I rarely have time to write on the weekends because of the other half of this blog's namesake - riding.
On top of owning 6 horses, I have a horse in for training this month. She's a sweet girl, but someone had been handling her a little roughly, yanking on her mouth and possibly punishing her if she spooked or moved too fast or slow. Working with a horse that someone else has trained is a little like panstering a book.
I might have a rough plan of what I want to do with her, but if she gets stuck or says she's suddenly afraid of a crop, I make a detour and focus on this new thing. And sometimes, fixing that one thing makes everything else fall into place. And it's so cool, so unexpectedly beautiful when it does. Writing or Riding.
I'm glad I signed up for NaNo. I work well with a deadline. Maybe I should aim for that 50k! But I know it needs to be a logical goal. In the past, I've told myself my prime writing hours are from around 9am to noon, or maybe a little longer if I'm on a roll. If I didn't get BIC during those hours, I allowed myself to "write-off" writing for the day.
This month is different. I've written 500 words mid-afternoon sitting in the truck while my husband drilled post holes for a friend. I had a dentist appointment in the morning and wrote 2500 words that afternoon. I don't need a comfort zone. I need a goal! Thank you NaNoWriMo.
And for the record, as of November 13th, I am 1550 words ahead of today's goal.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Thursday, October 31, 2013
NaNoWriMo - National November Writing Month
I'd originally planned to work on book two of my MIGHTY MIKE series in November, just not officially participate in NaNoWriMo. But the excitement has gotten the best of me. Heck, NaNo is how MIGHTY MIKE AND THE INTERSTELLAR CANDY DISPENSER got its start 2 years ago. I didn't "win" because of life and all, but I wrote 20k and then finished up this past February when a critique buddy challenged me to get it done.
I've been editing since March and now its time to start writing again. So, heck yeah, I've signed up, I'm going to post my word count, attempt to post on this blog a little more often, all while enjoying gorgeous fall weather and training two client horses. Sure, there's time to write in there!
Anyone else have NaNo or any writing challenge planned?
I've been editing since March and now its time to start writing again. So, heck yeah, I've signed up, I'm going to post my word count, attempt to post on this blog a little more often, all while enjoying gorgeous fall weather and training two client horses. Sure, there's time to write in there!
Anyone else have NaNo or any writing challenge planned?
Friday, October 11, 2013
What has technology done to my brain?
Over this past week, I've had the opportunity to spend a couple days driving. One was a ten hour trip to pick up my mom (who lives with us) from visiting my sister. The other was transporting a mule from near my home to a ranch near Aspen, CO. The second trip was a nail-biter as my rig is 38 feet long and the limit over Independence Pass is 35 feet. But it was a much shorter route and with a storm moving in (!!) I didn't figure many other people would be on that narrow, twisty road. Not the point of this story, but it was gorgeous with the bright yellow and orange aspen and a dusting of snow. I returned home the long - smart - way.
Anyhow, on the first trip, I planned to meet my mom and sister at a restaurant in Grand Junction, CO, a city I do not know and has roads twisting and angling all over. Yes, I'm a small town girl.
Another backwards thing about me? I do not own, or want to own, a smart phone. I love my flip phone. The batteries stay charged for a week, I can quickly dial when driving, and carry it when riding my horses on long trail rides alone. Normally, for long trips, hubby is along and he can GPS as needed with his phone. So I wrote my directions from MapQuest out on a pink sticky note and stuck it to the dash.
When I get into town, I glance at the post-it for the first road name and then drive blindly along --- wait for it --- expecting that dang pink piece of paper to tell me when to turn. After a bit of panic, having no idea whether I'd missed my first turn or not, I started laughing. I don't even own a smart phone or a mapping system, but I'd gotten so used to hubby's that I didn't think I needed to pay attention. God help me (and other drivers) if I have to find something in a real city like Denver. Yeah, quit laughing, I know you all live in real, real cities and would NEVER go without a mapping system. I like my pink post-it, it worked. Eventually.
Anyhow, on the first trip, I planned to meet my mom and sister at a restaurant in Grand Junction, CO, a city I do not know and has roads twisting and angling all over. Yes, I'm a small town girl.
Another backwards thing about me? I do not own, or want to own, a smart phone. I love my flip phone. The batteries stay charged for a week, I can quickly dial when driving, and carry it when riding my horses on long trail rides alone. Normally, for long trips, hubby is along and he can GPS as needed with his phone. So I wrote my directions from MapQuest out on a pink sticky note and stuck it to the dash.
When I get into town, I glance at the post-it for the first road name and then drive blindly along --- wait for it --- expecting that dang pink piece of paper to tell me when to turn. After a bit of panic, having no idea whether I'd missed my first turn or not, I started laughing. I don't even own a smart phone or a mapping system, but I'd gotten so used to hubby's that I didn't think I needed to pay attention. God help me (and other drivers) if I have to find something in a real city like Denver. Yeah, quit laughing, I know you all live in real, real cities and would NEVER go without a mapping system. I like my pink post-it, it worked. Eventually.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Dueling rain gods
In 13 years of doing the sport of endurance riding, my husband has never been rained on. Maybe a couple sprinkles when it was hot and the few drops were nice and cooling. But that's it. If we can't go to a ride, they have unseasonably weird, wet weather. But if we're there, perfect weather.
My brother-in-law is the opposite. His entire life has been spent dodging deluges, floods, blizzards. I'm quite certain he ended the 2003 drought in Colorado just by driving through the state. Because we'd just finished a trail ride as the sprinkles started, then drove 15 mile loop to get back to our house only 2 miles from the trail and ran into foot deep hail. Yep, my brother-in-law was stuck halfway up our driveway.
You can thank him for the blizzard that buried cars at Dulles a few years ago, too.
He's in the AF and just moved from VA to UT. It looks like he's sucking all that monsoon moisture north in epic proportions and then it curves around and dumps on CO. Normal weather pattern, but geez, we live in the desert and we haven't had 4 dry days in the last 30.
This past weekend, my husband and I went to WY for a 50 mile ride. We heard the storm warnings for Northern Colorado on the radio, learned DIA was closed for tornados, then my mom called and said the neighbors had measured 4" in an hour, but it was still raining! Unheard of for this area.
But up in Wyoming? We watched the pretty clouds roll by after a day of perfect weather. No rain.
Hmm, there's got to be a story in this somewhere. I wonder what would happen if these two men lived in the same area!
My brother-in-law is the opposite. His entire life has been spent dodging deluges, floods, blizzards. I'm quite certain he ended the 2003 drought in Colorado just by driving through the state. Because we'd just finished a trail ride as the sprinkles started, then drove 15 mile loop to get back to our house only 2 miles from the trail and ran into foot deep hail. Yep, my brother-in-law was stuck halfway up our driveway.
You can thank him for the blizzard that buried cars at Dulles a few years ago, too.
He's in the AF and just moved from VA to UT. It looks like he's sucking all that monsoon moisture north in epic proportions and then it curves around and dumps on CO. Normal weather pattern, but geez, we live in the desert and we haven't had 4 dry days in the last 30.
This past weekend, my husband and I went to WY for a 50 mile ride. We heard the storm warnings for Northern Colorado on the radio, learned DIA was closed for tornados, then my mom called and said the neighbors had measured 4" in an hour, but it was still raining! Unheard of for this area.
But up in Wyoming? We watched the pretty clouds roll by after a day of perfect weather. No rain.
Hmm, there's got to be a story in this somewhere. I wonder what would happen if these two men lived in the same area!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Living in a tinderbox!
The past week has been a little exciting. It could have been worse, but sometimes one thing prepares you for another. In our case, our practice with hauling horses and camping made an evacuation a piece of cake.
Last Tuesday, I was sitting at Panera Bread for my weekly critique group meeting. I got a text from my husband that there was a fire near the home of one of our friends. I interrupted the group to call and leave a message offering any assistance needed.
Five minutes later, my mom called wondering why I wasn't on my way home because there was a FIRE! My mom tends to exaggerate and worry, so I said we were almost done and I'd be home soon.
Then someone looked out the window and hollered. No exaggeration, this was a real FIRE. Huge smoke plume billowing over the beautiful Black Forest area north of Colorado Springs. Uh, right where we live. So I ran home and gain a little more perspective. We were about 4 miles away and the wind was blowing away. My mom packed everything she cares about. I walked around and realized there was nothing I cared about any more than the other things and figured there was nothing really to worry about. We hooked the trucks up to both horse trailers (we have 7 horses).
But we did stay up all night watching the non-stop news coverage, just in case the wind changed. The next day, the wind was predicted to change. So I packed some minimal clothes so I wouldn't be doing something unimportant if the worst happened. Then it got dark, the smoke cloud was way high, but right over us. So we packed the hay and grain for the horses. Then the smoke dropped, we couldn't see across our property and all our cell phones started going off with evacuation orders.
We threw the suitcases in the trucks, grabbed some food, loaded the horses way easier than I'd expected and started looking for a place to go. I knew one friend had said we were welcome, but I couldn't reach her. By the time we made it to her place someone else had brought their animals in, so we tried the fairgrounds. No way our crazy arabs were going to be polite to all those nice mannered quarter horses, so we decided to head back to our friend, we could just tie the horses to the trailer if need be. Cuz we do that for fun on our endurance rides.
Then other friends started asking for help evacuating a llama farm. We couldn't help because our trailers were still full and would soon have horses tied to them. So they found somewhere else for us to go to free up our rigs.
We ended up making a whole extended family of new friends (two of them had evacuated as well, with dogs instead of horses though). For us, the whole thing turned into a little vacation. We had limited internet so hubby could work, but really he just watched the news. The horses made new friends, we even went on a trail ride. And we lived in the living quarters of our horse trailer. We made plans in case our property burned. Boy, would our lives be simpler, and much easier to just move anywhere we wanted. There has to be a silver lining in everything. Has to be.
Of course the darkest point was watching the number of homes burned, tracking the addresses as they came in and finding out that some of our friends had lost everything. Not to mention, the beautiful Black Forest becoming truly blackened. So many people have had their lives turned upside down. We're trying to find places for some to live, some temporarily, some permanently. Our property (which was never closer than 1/4 mile to the flames) has room for more horses. We'll all pull together. Everyone has some strength or past experience that will help someone else get through this.
They still don't know what caused this fire, but I sure hope they find out and catch the person if it was man-made. And I'll warn anyone now - do NOT throw a cigarette butt out of your car in front of me because I will make a phone call and then I will follow you. I'll make the rest up as I go.
Be strong everyone, you will get through this. Tomorrow is Tuesday and I haven't done any writing or editing. Where's the silver lining in that? Well, I came up with a great new book idea!
Last Tuesday, I was sitting at Panera Bread for my weekly critique group meeting. I got a text from my husband that there was a fire near the home of one of our friends. I interrupted the group to call and leave a message offering any assistance needed.
Five minutes later, my mom called wondering why I wasn't on my way home because there was a FIRE! My mom tends to exaggerate and worry, so I said we were almost done and I'd be home soon.
Then someone looked out the window and hollered. No exaggeration, this was a real FIRE. Huge smoke plume billowing over the beautiful Black Forest area north of Colorado Springs. Uh, right where we live. So I ran home and gain a little more perspective. We were about 4 miles away and the wind was blowing away. My mom packed everything she cares about. I walked around and realized there was nothing I cared about any more than the other things and figured there was nothing really to worry about. We hooked the trucks up to both horse trailers (we have 7 horses).
But we did stay up all night watching the non-stop news coverage, just in case the wind changed. The next day, the wind was predicted to change. So I packed some minimal clothes so I wouldn't be doing something unimportant if the worst happened. Then it got dark, the smoke cloud was way high, but right over us. So we packed the hay and grain for the horses. Then the smoke dropped, we couldn't see across our property and all our cell phones started going off with evacuation orders.
We threw the suitcases in the trucks, grabbed some food, loaded the horses way easier than I'd expected and started looking for a place to go. I knew one friend had said we were welcome, but I couldn't reach her. By the time we made it to her place someone else had brought their animals in, so we tried the fairgrounds. No way our crazy arabs were going to be polite to all those nice mannered quarter horses, so we decided to head back to our friend, we could just tie the horses to the trailer if need be. Cuz we do that for fun on our endurance rides.
Then other friends started asking for help evacuating a llama farm. We couldn't help because our trailers were still full and would soon have horses tied to them. So they found somewhere else for us to go to free up our rigs.
We ended up making a whole extended family of new friends (two of them had evacuated as well, with dogs instead of horses though). For us, the whole thing turned into a little vacation. We had limited internet so hubby could work, but really he just watched the news. The horses made new friends, we even went on a trail ride. And we lived in the living quarters of our horse trailer. We made plans in case our property burned. Boy, would our lives be simpler, and much easier to just move anywhere we wanted. There has to be a silver lining in everything. Has to be.
Of course the darkest point was watching the number of homes burned, tracking the addresses as they came in and finding out that some of our friends had lost everything. Not to mention, the beautiful Black Forest becoming truly blackened. So many people have had their lives turned upside down. We're trying to find places for some to live, some temporarily, some permanently. Our property (which was never closer than 1/4 mile to the flames) has room for more horses. We'll all pull together. Everyone has some strength or past experience that will help someone else get through this.
They still don't know what caused this fire, but I sure hope they find out and catch the person if it was man-made. And I'll warn anyone now - do NOT throw a cigarette butt out of your car in front of me because I will make a phone call and then I will follow you. I'll make the rest up as I go.
Be strong everyone, you will get through this. Tomorrow is Tuesday and I haven't done any writing or editing. Where's the silver lining in that? Well, I came up with a great new book idea!
Monday, June 3, 2013
Are you ready for some Query Kombat? If you haven't heard of this, check out #QueryKombat or these blogs of our wonderful hosts:
Michelle4Laughs, Writer's OutWorld, and SCWrite.
I made it into Round 1 as alternate when someone had to back out, so I'm a long shot for sure because these are some wonderful entries!
Round 1 is complete - and if I counted right - I made it through to round 2. My entry, along with my Kombatant Wishwell is here. So much wonderful feedback from the judges and other Kombatants.
I've made massive changes to my query and first 250 - which are posted below. I'd love some feedback. Better? Still needs work?
Kombat name: Interstellar Pez
Title: MIGHTY MIKE AND THE ALIEN PEZ DISPENSER
Genre: MG Sci-fi/Adventure
Word count: 43k
Query:
Eleven-year-old Mike daydreams of becoming superhero Mighty Mike, but all that gets him is top billing on The List of Chumps to be Pounded after School.
His love for all things science and science fiction lands him in the middle of a Federal investigation when a badly dressed, blue creature invades his favorite hiding spot and begs for help researching human reactions to alien environments. Candies from a shiny red dispenser will test Mike’s responses to extraterrestrial conditions by triggering temporary super (and not-so-super) powers. Mike figures he’ll be able to blast his name off The List forever.
Speed, strength, and invisibility—awesome. Frog legs and belching zoo-animal noises, not so spectacular. But if Mike wants to become a real hero, he will have to save his friends—and worst enemy—from Feds who aren’t what they seem and a four-armed, snout-faced alien wielding the Interstellar Remote Control of Everything.
First 250:
Mike stuffed his spaceship doodled notes and yesterday’s quiz with a large “A++” into his backpack. The zipper shredded the pages, but he flung the half-closed pack over his shoulder and sprinted from the classroom before the bell finished ringing. He burst through the front doors as the halls filled with fifth and sixth graders. The yellow backpack thudded against his back as he dashed toward the community park.
Chest
heaving, Mike slipped into the woods. He skidded down a bank covered with last
year’s leaves and plunked onto a half-rotted log behind a massive oak tree. Dirt
clods splashed into a puddle.
Mike
stared at the ripples. Hiding like a wimp sucked, but it was safer than being
found by Brutus and his gang. The husky sixth-grader was the keeper of The List
of Chumps to Be Pounded After School. Mike wasn’t the only target, but some
days it felt like his entry was permanent. The List wasn’t limited to boys or
kids either. Girls with glasses, the crossing guard, the town drunk—many felt
Brutus’s twisted idea of fun. Mike’s offense was being too smart.
Michelle4Laughs, Writer's OutWorld, and SCWrite.
I made it into Round 1 as alternate when someone had to back out, so I'm a long shot for sure because these are some wonderful entries!
Round 1 is complete - and if I counted right - I made it through to round 2. My entry, along with my Kombatant Wishwell is here. So much wonderful feedback from the judges and other Kombatants.
I've made massive changes to my query and first 250 - which are posted below. I'd love some feedback. Better? Still needs work?
Kombat name: Interstellar Pez
Title: MIGHTY MIKE AND THE ALIEN PEZ DISPENSER
Genre: MG Sci-fi/Adventure
Word count: 43k
Query:
Eleven-year-old Mike daydreams of becoming superhero Mighty Mike, but all that gets him is top billing on The List of Chumps to be Pounded after School.
His love for all things science and science fiction lands him in the middle of a Federal investigation when a badly dressed, blue creature invades his favorite hiding spot and begs for help researching human reactions to alien environments. Candies from a shiny red dispenser will test Mike’s responses to extraterrestrial conditions by triggering temporary super (and not-so-super) powers. Mike figures he’ll be able to blast his name off The List forever.
Speed, strength, and invisibility—awesome. Frog legs and belching zoo-animal noises, not so spectacular. But if Mike wants to become a real hero, he will have to save his friends—and worst enemy—from Feds who aren’t what they seem and a four-armed, snout-faced alien wielding the Interstellar Remote Control of Everything.
First 250:
Mike stuffed his spaceship doodled notes and yesterday’s quiz with a large “A++” into his backpack. The zipper shredded the pages, but he flung the half-closed pack over his shoulder and sprinted from the classroom before the bell finished ringing. He burst through the front doors as the halls filled with fifth and sixth graders. The yellow backpack thudded against his back as he dashed toward the community park.
After
the science teacher referred to him as the next Einstein, Brutus chanted
Afro-Einstein for weeks. Which totally baffled Mike since his close-cropped
hair didn’t look anything like Einstein’s wild tufts.
The
puddle stilled into a mirror. A shadow loomed over Mike’s watery reflection. He
leapt to his feet—right into the puddle—ready to sling his backpack into
Brutus’ head.
Except
it wasn’t Brutus.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Click here for my "The Writer's Voice" entry
And now to today's main event...
Welcome to a CYOA blog hop to celebrate the release of Eliza Tilton's YA Fantasy, Broken Forest!
If you’ve landed here during your adventure, skip to "Your story continues" below. At the bottom are two Rafflecopter giveaways.
Your story continues:
Lena is right.
You decide to head north. You can play after you find the flower.Howls sound behind you, this time closer. The winter wolves hunt in packs, large white nightmares that can rip a bear in two.
“They shouldn’t be this close to us,” you say. It’s then you notice the red line across Lena’s arm.
Blood.
“Lena, your arm!” You rip off a piece of your tunic and tie it around her arm.
“It must have happened when I fell.”
The wolves can smell blood from a great distance, and once they are locked onto the scent, there’s no escaping them.
You pull out your sword and prepare for an attack. There’s no running, and the tree branches are too high to climb. Lena stands beside you, bow ready.
A pair of sickly yellow eyes peer at you from the dark.
“Prepare yourself,” you say.
She nods, and notches an arrow.
Two wolves spring at you. Lena shoots hers down and you struggle against yours as the blade hacks against its furry skin.
Three more wolves appear.
“Ahh!” You swing your sword in an arc, killing the nearest wolf, then swivel your foot to face the one on your right.
Roole is already there, slamming his gargantuan mace at the wolf. He’s the largest and strongest of your companions, and he is a welcome sight.
“Thank The Creator,” Lena says, a little breathless.
“I saw you two pass the stream.” Roole wipes his mace on the grass, cleaning off the wolf’s blood.
With no more wolves, you can safely search the area. The stream connects to a small pool that funnels under the rock and along the edge of the pool, are bunches of black flowers.
Lena grasps your arm, pointing. “Look!”
While you don’t want to share the discovery, it’s the right thing to do for the village, and Roole did help save you from a pack of wolves. Now you can bring home the healing nectar to your family.
But there is that Jenzi business.
You take Lena in your arms, kissing her. Her hands wrap around your neck, and with your free hand, you snatch your pouch. Before she can realize her mistake, you’ve tagged her.
Roole looks up from the flower he’s collecting to see you splashing red across his tunic and he doesn’t look happy.
END
Buy Broken Forest Here or
B&N or
Kobo or
Amazon
Book goodreads blurb:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17797991-broken-forest
Hopeless he'll never be more than the boy who didn't save his brother, 17-year-old Avikar accepts his life as the family stable boy, trying to forget the past. But when his sister, Jeslyn, is kidnapped, the thought of losing another sibling catapults him on a desperate quest. With his best friend by his side, and using the tracking skills he learned from his father, he discovers Jeslyn has been taken, kidnapped by one Lucino, the young lord of Daath, a mystical place thought only to exist in fables.
And Lucino has plans for Jeslyn.
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Author BIO:
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