NaNo News and Needs

"The Six Golden Rules of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write." - Ernest Gaines

Just in time for NaNoWriMo, I'm finally catching the cold that's been going around my house. Got a wicked sore throat yesterday, and I'm beginning to stuff up now. Ugh. Tried to get to bed early (did -- 8:30!) and sleep (did!) so I could get up early and write, but since DH is getting up at 5 a.m. to hunt, things didn't quite work as planned.

Alarm went off at 4 a.m. -- I shut it off and laid there... until it went off again at 4:15 a.m. at which point I *knew* I needed to get my butt out of bed.

Potty, dog potty, feed the creatures, make coffee, sit down and upload the day's LASR/WC pages.

By now, it's 4:40 a.m. and I have to wake DH up in 20 mins. Ugh.

I opened up my doc and my collage (which I updated with a new Geoff -- the picture I originally used before the cover artist for Liv gave him a receding hairline) and started.

Though I didn't get far before I had to wake up my husband, I did work out the entire first scene in my brain, so after he left I wrote like a crazy person and managed to get 1941 words!

I put the NaNoWriMo Word Count Widget over there on my sidebar so you can keep up to date on my progress. Thing is, I know I won't be able to keep up that pace daily, so I plan on writing more today if possible to get as far ahead as I can. Additionally, I'm actually aiming for 55,000 words, not 50k, because that's the length I need for it to be submitted.

To that end, I'll be appealing to all of you at least once a week with a request for NaNoWriMo ideas. Yep -- I'm going to ask YOU to help me think of wacky, fun, interesting or otherwise useable things I can put into my book.

For those of you who've read "One Love for Liv" -- much of that book was created using NaNoWriMo dares, including the entire character of Frank, the World Record chaser. Where Liv attended college, which is only mentioned briefly, was another dare, as was the ferret, Rett. Ideas that are a little on the unusual side really get my brain working, and I thrive on a challenge.

So ....

Today? Here's my request for help from you:

Give me a word to use in the book. Don't make it easy (though, if it's TOO hard, I may cry and that wouldn't be pretty). Geoff has a pretty amazing vocabulary, and tends to use eight syllable words when a two syllable one will do, and the girls are all just wacky enough to use things out of the ordinary (I've already armed them with a football and a super-soaker water machine gun), so let your imagination run wild.

As I use your suggestions, I'll try to remember to post the lines here.

Thanks!

As an aside, unless I'm on the ball enough to write a post the night before, my blog posts will be late all month, so don't worry if it's not up first thing in the morning.

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You Are Soap Bubbles

You are free spirited and a heck of a lot of fun. You refuse to act your age. You can always find a chance to play a little. You bring whimsy to an otherwise boring day. It drives you crazy to be cooped up inside for too long. You need to be outdoors to be able to breathe. It's likely that you crave a nontraditional life. You have to do things your own way!

What Kind of Bubbles Are You?

This is almost entirely wrong....

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Need a Little Help

He who gives when he is asked has waited too long. ~Sunshine Magazine

Hey all... a new year starts in just a couple of weeks (isn't that amazing?) and I need a new format for my guest blogs. I'm looking for input.

1. Do you even enjoy getting to know other authors?

2. If yes, do you have any questions you'd like me to ask them (and don't worry about being too silly or intrusive -- I've asked about hobbies, food, and even underwear before!). Please, please send me your questions -- you can leave them in comments or email me at authormariannearkins AT gmail DOT com.

3. Would you prefer an actual guest blog from an author instead of an interview (like this one)?

4. Would you prefer having a longer blog on just one topic (i.e. "Where did you get your idea for your book?" or "Tell us about your hobbies") and have the author expand on it?

5. With the exception of Nora Roberts and Jennifer Crusie, are there any authors in particular you'd like to hear from? I'm not shy about emailing anyone and asking for an interview (which is how the LASR site kicked off with an interview from Lori Foster when we started in 2007). They don't even necessarily have to be romance authors.

6. Anything else you'd like to add?

I really am desperate for input, so please, please -- even all you lurkers... yes YOU, you know who you are.... please let me know. THANKS!

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DD went to my SIL's for a little while yesterday to do Christmas stuff: make paper snowflakes (this is a tradition in my in-law's family, and my FIL is truly amazing at it), bake and whatnot.

While she was gone, I pulled out the FOUR boxes of stuff my mom has mailed over the past few weeks and wrapped presents. I'm not really excited about this part of Christmas, but it has to be done (I owe an enormous debt to whomever made gift bags so popular). I left all the gifts for the cat, the dog and my DH for DD to wrap (because SHE enjoys it tremendously) and then popped all her gifts under the tree.

Understand, for the past two weeks we've had two lonely little gifts under the tree and nothing else. When she came home and saw about ten more (and a couple are quite large), her eyes nearly bugged out of her head! It was awesome :-)

Now I just need to wait for the gifts I bought her online to show up. I really love to shop for other people. I remember, many years ago, I was involved in a five-car accident. I was stopped, last in line, at a stoplight and a teenaged girl was too busy ogling a cute guy to brake -- she slammed into me and I hit the car in front and so on.

I was fine with letting our insurance companies hash it out... until the lady in front of me sued me for hitting her. Uh, no. I don't think so. So I had to sue the girl who hit me (GAH, I hate even saying that -- the whole sue-happy legal system makes me crazy).

In any case, at the end of the day, I ended up with a couple thousand dollars ... a fortune to me as I was only 19 y.o. You know what I did with it? I WENT CHRISTMAS SHOPPING. It was the first time in my life that I didn't have to wince at price tags ... I could pretty much buy what I wanted for people, and it was the best time I think I've ever had.

Ah... the good old days when I was young, foolish and had few responsibilities...

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You Are Laundry

You are efficient, speedy, and on top of things. You aren't a very hands on person, and you prefer to delegate as much as possible. You believe the quickest way to get things done is to just do them. You don't procrastinate much. You prevent getting overwhelmed by not taking on more than you can handle. And you're not afraid to do something quickly to get it out of the way. Technology is your friend, and you love gadgets. You'd like a lot more of your life to be automated!

What Household Chore Are You?

Hmmmm 50/50 -- though I'd sure love a robot maid like the one on The Jetsons!

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Agility, Burglary and a Call for Help!

There are so many things that we wish we had done yesterday, so few that we feel like doing today. ~Mignon McLaughlin

Let's see... where to begin?

First off, at the end of agility class last night we were told there was going to be an agility competition for all the dogs who school at the same facility we do -- they are franchised, so there will be several groups of folks vying for the trophy. Apparently, our location lost it last time, and the instructor wants it back! LOL...

In any case, the cool part is that it's a "fun" competition. Yes, we'll be timed, but all level dogs are welcome (and will run against their levels), they don't freak out if you use treats or leashes and if you have a fault, you aren't disqualified (like you would be in a real agility competition), you just have to go do it again -- which counts against your time. It sounds like fun, so I'll probably put Dakota in. And, I'll try to take lots of pix and/or video. It doesn't happen until the end of May, so we have time to train! *G*

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My mom's house and car were broken into yesterday. This upsets me on so many levels. First off: here's a newsflash -- she's a retired person and DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO STEAL. Not even prescription drugs, as she doesn't take any. Secondly: It's my mom. So, yeah, I worry. Lastly: Odds are it was someone she knows.

In other burglary news, there was a daytime break-in in a nearby neigborhood (just a couple streets away). They cleaned out the house -- took anything and everything of value. They must have spent an hour in there. They even took the change from one of the kids piggy banks! The police believe this is only the beginning of a regular burglary routine, and have asked everyone to keep their eyes open. This same thing happened a couple years ago in our neighborhood -- wonder if it's the same guys?

DH, who is a bundle of laughs these days, said, "As long as the economy keeps tanking, these things are only going to get worse."

Thanks, hon.

I'm glad Dakota sounds like a killer, even if she's a wuss.

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Most of you know that Judy and I run the reviews website, The Long and the Short of It. When we started it less than two years ago, we had no idea how huge it would get to be. As wonderful as that is... the fact remains that we need more help with pretty much everything.

Currently, our biggest need is for people to edit reviews. We are in desperate need of a couple of people who have a decent command of the English language to look at all the reviews uploaded by our reviewers to verify whether they are correctly written (we have a few "rules" that we expect to be followed) and whether they need any grammar assistance. This week alone, Judy and I had 13 reviews that needed a little extra help out of the 45 we posted.

If you think you have the time to open and look over about 30 - 40 reviews a week -- and then contact the reviewers who might need to correct something (we actually do the grammar corrections ourselves, but any corrections to the actual content is requested from the reviewer) -- would you let me know? We're desperately hoping to find at least two (maybe three) people: 1 for the non-erotic and 1-2 for the erotic reviews.

We can't pay you for this, but we can compensate you with free books and gift certificates. If you think this might be something you're interested in doing, email me at lasreviews AT gmail DOT com for more information.

Did I mention we were desperate?

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Your Supervillain Name is Diamond Wolf

Muhahahaha!

What's Your Supervillain Name?

Engergized... but I Need Help!

"Change your thoughts and you change the world." — Norman Vincent Peale

I think I've finally remembered my goals for this novel. I looked back into all my prework, not just the scene ideas, and stumbled on all my kooky characters I'd forgotten about! It absolutely energized me, and I've been writing all morning. I'm up almost 1000 words, and hope to double that before anyone wakes up.

But...

I've decided I need to create a fictional town name. I've been using "Fair Play", but that's a real town in California (I know, I used to live a mile away from it, in another little town called Mount Aukum) and I'm messing with the place so much, I don't want to annoy any of the 32 people who might know about it.

So... names.

It's a tiny town in the Sierra Nevada's, about 30 miles from Placerville. It's got the bare minimums: general store, post office, etc., plus a few extras like a hair salon and cafe.

I want the name to mean something, though I'm not sure what. Maybe something about being reborn, or starting over. Maybe believing in oneself or others?

Any thoughts?

Okay... back to writing.... wish me luck!

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