Schedule Changes

I have decided what my schedule changes for this Summer will be. I am going to drop down to two days a week. I know that is a huge jump from posting everyday but My homework level is going to be to high for me to control easily. I will do the best I can to keep up with every one's blogs during the week. Every thing will depend on my classes and my kids.
 I'll have classes every Friday and Saturday, my girls are staying with their dad for the summer, they come home on Sunday-Tuesday so I will spend as much time with them as I can.


 I will only be posting on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please be patient with me as I adjust to my new schedule. You all are an amazing group and I will do the best I can.

It's Just another Monday.

Fairy friends I have been battling in the fight of homework completion. Classes have not even started yet and a Professor has declared no break! I have traveled in a book to India where nothing is as it seems and untouchables have to crawl backwards out of a touchables sight and wipe away their foot prints.


 There is much I have to learn about these strange traditions, yet I find myself strangely curious.
 In case you are wondering the book I have just finished reading is "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy.


 The author has written a fictional story about a family with many problems. The writing in general is by far right up there with amazing prose work. I'm in awe of the authors ability to string so many different ideas into one story and make them work lyrically together. If you have the opportunity, pick up the book.

Friday Riddle

Here is today's riddle.


1)Put your answer in the comments 

2) come back and highlight next to "answer" to find out if you were right.





What can you hold without touching it?



ANSWER:  A Conversation

The power of Tension Blogfest entry

This is my entry for the power of tension blogfest hosted by Rachel Morgan.


From my wip Beyond Words: 296 words long

Every part of her wished this was a horrible nightmare. Tears stung at the corner of her eyes. She clutched the book finding a small form of comfort. She felt the change in the air and awaited the blow she knew would precede her actions.

She didn't have long to wait before his fist collided brutally with her left cheek. White hot pain burst from his welcoming and flooded her eye and jaw.

“I expect an answer,” Jeffrey said.

“I had...” tears sprang down her cheeks as she attempted words. Her whole body shook.

“You had what my dear?”

“Errands.” That was all she could muster as she chocked down her sobs and attempted to breath. She knew he enjoyed seeing her this way. She was below him, a mere woman.

“I see. What's this?” Jeffrey grabbed the book from Shray's hands and her eyes flew open. Pain rushed into her left eye and she felt the pressure of her swelling face.

“Williams dictionary. Wonderful darling. I knew I'd get it eventually. You see, it's the only reason I pretended to be with you for so long. I had to wait around for that piss-ant to die. My grandfather gave him this book. I may not posses his powers, but when I'm done with his greatest treasure it will all be mine.”

Shray stared at him. His grandfather gave William the book? He knew about it? Jeffrey’s eyes locked with hers.

“Don't you dare look at me that way! You kept this from me on purpose, you whore!” Jeffrey’s foot came up faster than Shray could react and collided with her chin. Blinding pain shot out all over her face. She felt her body fall back, her head met the wall. Then nothing, empty black space.

Links

Hey there everyone, thought I'd share a couple links I have found.


*Want to improve your typing skills? Here is a free site with typing word games to help you hone those skills. Click Here


*In this next site you can check a word's Grammar usage.
Click here


*Linkytools/mrlinky is now, as I have found, a paid subscription. So where do we go when we want to create a blogfest with a linky?  I found a blog that dedicated an entire page to where to find free linky services with more than one option click here


Have a fairy great day!

Teaser Tuesday (treat!)

I have a wonderful treat for you provided by the fabulous Wendy Tyler Ryan 
A teaser from her ebook Fire's Daughter


 "He grabbed a handful of her hair with one hand and pulled her around the waist with the other.

A new fear gripped her while her heart pounded with the clarity of his intentions." Ch 8


 Poor Zehdra how will she make it out of this one?

 Buy the print edition here
Or e-book edition here

What No Blogfests?

Me thinks Blogfests are going extinct! Three blogfests sparingly cover my blogfest page there are only two plausible reasons for this:

1) The world is coming to an end  (aww man- if this is the case I better get writing!)


2) Extinction (quick lets start a blogfest wildlife refuge!)

I have searched high and low for the elusive blogfests, creeping in and out of blogger pages careful not to startle the shy creature, but alas have only sighted three.


 Quick check my blogfests tab before they disappear!

and if you have sighted any please feel free to let me know and I'll gladly place them in my blogfest tab so they can be well fed and nurtured.

Friday Riddle

Here is today's riddle. I'm sure with all the writers out here you will get this one piece of cake: 

1)Put your answer in the comments 
2) come back and highlight next to "answer" to find out if you were right.


~~Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white?" or "The yolk of the egg is white?"

ANSWER:  Neither, the Yolks are yellow.

Tag you're it!

Carol @ Under the Tiki Hut tagged me yesterday with a meme. The questions are very interesting and made me smile. There looks to be a few tricky ones I have to do and some fun simple ones.

Do you think you're hot?
I feel like I should be back in high school, LOL. Sure I think I'm hot-

Upload a picture or wall paper you are using at the moment

When was the last time you ate chicken meat?
On Saturday- we had the yard sale and a buddy went for Burger King he traded me two stackers for a chicken sandwich (which I really enjoyed)

The Song(s) you listened to recently?

"You make me smile" By Uncle Cracker
"Bad Romance" By Lady GaGa
(again during the yard sale- there were some heavy metal ones I can't name too on my manly man's itunes- but then the stereo was bought so no more music.)

 What were you thinking as you were doing this?

I think these are some fun questions.


 Do you have nicknames? What are they?
 My mom used to call me "Pooky"
 A friend used to call me "Mighty Mouse"
 On most writing sites I'm known as either "Ladywriter1" or "Microba"


 Tag eight Blogger friends
(You are it!)

Cherie @ Surrounded by Books 
 Nancy @ N.R.Williams
Alex @ Alex J. Cavanaugh 
Leigh @ That's Write 
Laura @ Wavy Lines 
Michael @ In Time... 
 Angela @ My Poetry and Prose Place
Anne @ Piedmant Writer 

Who's listed as number one?
 Cherie has a great blog at Surrounded by Books with flash fiction Fridays and I do so adore her flash fiction.


Say something about number 5.
 Laura @ Wavy Lines does a terrific writing workout every Wednesday.

How did you get to know number 3?
Alex, well I'm pretty sure I found him through blogfests and then, even though I'm not much of a science fiction fan, his blog won me over with it's humor yet hint of seriousness. His blogfests always attract hundreds of people and he makes them really easy and fun to do.


 How about number 4?
Leigh, I have been following her for a long while now I adore how she relates her posts to writing almost always. She rarely makes grammar errors and has patience with me.

Leave a message for number 6.
 The fairies did it  Michael!


Leave a lovey-dovey message for number 2.
Nancy,
The light blues cascade over your blog like wide open skies.
Your "Hump day improvisations"  Linger in my mind for days
Oh how I adore your blog, let my count the ways....
Sincerly,
Summer


Do number 7 and number 8 have any similarities?
 Sure Anne and Angela both have "A" names, are both women, and they are both writers.


Have a fairy great day everyone!

Summer

After four grueling months of nose in old book, hand on page, and eyes glued to a computer screen my grades are in. I managed to make threeA's and one B. 

volunteer work cost 30 plus hours
 home work cost 10 hours a day
 Having a great GPA- timeless.


Summer semester starts June 3rd and goes on for every single weekend through August. I'm taking a study course in Director Steven Spielberg, Non western women writers, and great works of American literature for classes. I have 18 books to read in 2 and a half months.


I plan to camp as much as I can so my blogging schedule might be very different from usual. I will not be posting on weekends most of the time and during the week I'm thinking about cutting it back as well, though I have not decided on which days, I'll see how my schedule runs in June and set it up.


Have a great day everyone.

Sorry

First I owe a huge apology to my dear friend Leigh @ That's Write because-- and I know you all are going to gasp--- but I missed her blogfest! Even I am in shock at my mistake. I signed up for it and had every intention of participating- and life ran away with my mind. Everyone knows I'm a blogfest geek! So Leigh with a sincere heart I apologize, and dear followers if you have a spare second stop by her blog and say hello- she is truly fantastic!

Image source

 The Yard sale went beautifully but it was one of those long days you don't want to have again anytime soon- however I managed to people watch and get some great character ideas as well as a bright red nose because my tinker bell hat didn't quite cover my face.


 Have a great day everyone!

Away-

I will be away for at least one more day- we are having a huge yard sale from 8am-7pm I'm going to be tuckered out. Will catch up with everyone this coming week!

Friday Riddle

Today is my riddle Friday- Remember to
1) post your answer in a comment first
2)Highlight after 'answer' to see if you were right.


There are 3 stoves. A glass stove, a brick stove, and a wood stove. You only have 1 match. Which do you light up first?

ANSWER: you light the match first

Updates

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday. I was finishing up a final paper- which was my very last one for this semester. WooHoo! I'm on free time now! I wont know grades for another one to two weeks though. As soon as I have them I will let you all know how I did.


 I have completed seven stories so far for the Story a day challenge. I took a few days off to get through the loose ends of homework. 

 I also have three stories into submissions, one of them is my nonfiction piece I wrote for my creative nonfiction class. I really liked how it turned out so I submitted it.
I wont know if any of the stories will be accepted until July, so keep your fingers crossed for me.


 Also I have officially been put up as staff at Every Day Fiction Scroll down to the bottom to see my picture and Bio. I was so excited to see it when I checked it two days ago! Being a slush pile reader is not easy though and over the break I intend to get through as many stories as I can before my summer semester starts. I have already read over 150 stories for this online magazine. For me it is a wonderful accomplishment and even greater is the fact that they will keep me on as long as I want the position, so I must be doing something right.


 So Fairy friends how is your writing going? Have you submitted to anywhere?

Come check it out.

Thank you all for the luck yesterday- I don't know how well I did yet, but I think I passed. Today I'm going to tell you about 750 words. But first I have to admit, I'm hard pressed to complete a writing routine everyday. But I have found help! Its called 750words.com.


 This site gives you points for everyday you complete your 750 words- that's a great incentive. There is also little awards you can receive for making yourself do it every day. But these are not even the best parts.


The best parts are the graphs. You can type in a story idea or the start of a story or one completed and it will graph which sensory you used the most inside the story, I found I lean towards "touch" a great deal.
Then as if that wasn't enough it also graphs the mood of the piece based on words you've typed.


Finally you also see a word cloud box that tells you which words you used the most! Brilliant!
But it is a simple design, which I happen to love. I sign in, a blank box comes on my screen. I start typing. When I reach 750 words a green box comes up to let me know, then I can look at all my stats for the piece. And if i want to type more than 750 words- I can.


There is also a lock feature so no one else can see your work-password protected.


I have been using this site for a week now. I have twelve points and it has helped me start my homework papers I needed to do. I really really like this site. Now go check it out for yourself.

Crucial Elements

I realized something the other day about stories. It doesn't matter if you are writing a flash fiction piece, a memoir, a short story, or chapters inside a novel- it goes better if it has a beginning a middle and an end. 

Now I know your thinking well duh- but really when I write chapters I had not thought of each chapter having a beginning, middle and an end- instead I worked on getting to the next chapter. But now that I have been very active with short pieces and flash, I can see how to make each chapter have the crucial elements of a short story or flash fiction piece. I feel like I uncovered a secret even though many before me already knew it.

Today is Final day of the semester- I'm a bit nervous of the test today at 4pm. After that I have a 7 page paper to write and by tomorrow I will be on break. YAY!


 Have a fairy wonderful day!

For Mothers

Here is some thing special for all my followers who are mothers-

Image Source

Links

I am a slush pile reader and I have to admit when I came across this page it took me for a loop as a writer and reader. I think any writer has something to gain from this article: "Slush" by Mike Resnick

Sticking with Slush pile stuff- are you interested in what some slush pile readers look for- take a look at this article: "Panning for Gold in the Slush"


I found a really wonderful photo blog which would just be lovely for anyone who enjoys using pictures as a prompt for writing. The details are wonderful, you wont be disappointed.365 days in pictures

Trying to figure out how to begin a story, or just need to write, look no further here is a site where they give you one word and then a curser to write as much as you can in 60 seconds then they cut you off. Try it out at One Word.com

Have a great Saturday- I will be up to my ears in finals for this weekend, so I will catch up on everybody's posts next week. Monday is my last day of this semester- and today its 77 degrees out- sighs I'm ready for a fun break from school!

Flash fiction blogfest

I'm back! I have a fun, hopefully entertaining, story for you all. I'm participating in Cherie's Flash fiction blogfest today and truly cannot wait to read the other participants.


 The rules:

1. You write a piece of flash fiction 500 words and under. It can be any genre, but it must be prose (sorry, poets).

2. On Friday, May 6, 2011, everyone who joins will post his/her flash fiction piece on his/her blogs. We’ll jump around and read everyone’s fun posts. It gives you almost a month to create something.

3. Over that weekend, I’ll judge everyone flash fiction piece and pick six finalists.

4. Then I’ll announce the six finalists and everyone will have a week to vote for their favorites. The top three will win prizes.

My piece for the blogfest: Coming in at 313 words

The promise

 By Summer Ross

I was trapped in a fairy circle, a contract with the fey pending, and a candle he wouldn’t give me so I could escape. I had to think fast. If I agree to come back at the next full moon, then Toren will let me leave. If I object however, I’ll be stuck here watching Hanna die from toadstool poisoned fairy darts and then taken to Tearden. 

I watched Hanna’s body curl in on itself like a roley-poley then swell with shaky pain. Sweat stuck short strands of her blonde spikes to her forehead like glue. Her curdling screams pierced the circle of toadstools and they shuttered with ecstasy. Their mushroom tops expanding with dark red colors. I wanted to cover my ears.

“Alright Toren. I’ll be back with the next full moon. You have my word. Now give me back the candle.” I watched his miniature face twist with a wicked smile. A word can be broken right?

“It has been a pleasure Layla, but I’ll keep the candle for now.” Toren snapped his fingers and the toadstools sucked into the ground. A wave of air rushed over me, caressing me with grainy fairy dust. I shuttered realizing it was Toren’s way of claiming me. His smile widened as he placed a small bag in the pocket of his black silk shirt. He smoothed a stray white strand of hair back behind his ear and disappeared.

“Hanna!” I ran to her side and the second I touched her, the dust on my body slithered onto hers and the screams silenced.

“Layla, I thought…I would die,” she whispered. “What did you have to do to free me?”

“Don’t worry about it; let’s just get you home and safe.” I helped her to her feet and pushed the promise out of my mind. I can worry about how to get out of that later.

Blasphemy to the online God!

I feel like I can take a deep breath! What A Challenge the A-Z was! I want to give you all a heads up today and a few other things.


First I'd like to say thank you and welcome to my new followers. I greatly appreciate the time you all take to read and comment on my blog.

So much happened this last month, I need a slight break. I will still be working on my writing but I wont be online for a few days. Please forgive my absence but I desperately need some down time. I will be back May 6th for Cherie's Flash fiction blogfest

I am participating in A Story A Day In May, which I think will really be fun even if I do not manage a story everyday this month.


And last- most of you know I have been working on a poetry chapbook that includes fairies, well I have been trying my hand at my own art, granted it takes me a long time to do just one single fairy- but I'm liking how they are turning out and think that I can make it happen on my own- Here are two of the pictures I have done so far- what do you think?  (Please do not copy or save these pictures in anyway- I am the artist and you do not have my permission to use the pictures for anything.)