Overwhelmed

I need to be gone for a while.I have so much going on that something has to give and right now I think the blog must take a back seat to all of my other responsibilities.

 When I have a break from school I'll try to give an update. But for now I need to back off of something.
Thank you for your patience with me. I will be back I just need some time.

Short review of Wyoming Author

Buy it Here

Laura Bell gracefully crafted "Claiming Ground" with vivid western images of open ranges, mountains, and towards the end, people.
The first half of the book relies heavily on the abundance of descriptions to set the readers up for a life away from the city. While the second half of the book concentrates on personal relationships and learning. 

It's a beautiful memoir about hearing an inner calling and acting upon it. Bell includes themes of escapism mixed with experience to try and find her own footing throughout the book. There is a consistent idea of moving, sometimes back and sometimes forward, but always there.

Friday Riddle

Its Friday already! I'm really excited because I'm going out on Saturday to have a little fun with my Manly man and some friends. It's been so very long since I've had a real night out.

Homework is a monster as always- but I'm getting through it. Next week I hope to have some reviews of more Wyoming writers for everyone. 

I submitted another short story- I now have two out and waiting.
I managed to write one new short story this week also. YAY

 Alright now that you are up to speed- here is today's Friday riddle.
Take a guess in the comments then come back and highlight next to "ANSWER" to see if you were right.

A cloud was my mother, the wind is my father, my son is the cool stream, and my daughter is the fruit of the land. A rainbow is my bed, the earth my final resting place, and I'm the torment of man. 

ANSWER: Rain


Happy Writing!

Writer Conference continued

As promised here is more from the Writers conference I attended. 

Pam Houston said "Don't waste the reader's time." Compress your piece as tight as possible. 

Her advice on dialogue (and note this is her own experience and advice) 
* Use dialogue to show character.
* Use Dialogue to create tension.

She said that your agenda should be to engage the reader by keeping dialogue on the verge of understanding. Every relationship has its own dialogue rules. Couples speak differently to each other than they do to family or close friends. 

This distinction should be made in your writing. For example people who have been married for five years will have baggage in their dialogue- hence fighting over toilet paper, when really they are fighting over some underlying meaning- something different than what they say. This is the kind of tension dialogue should strive for. 

Another writing exercise she gave was to create a story that is compromised of a list in some way.

I will be reading one of her books and writing a review on this blog for it in a couple of weeks- be on the watch for it.

Happy writing!

Writing Conference Notes

Here is the great thing I wanted to share with everyone from the writers Conference I took a few weekends ago. 

I took a fiction class with Wyoming Writer Pam Houston. She had some very interesting advice to give and now I will impart this advice and fun upon my readers today and Wednesday.


 Houston gave a couple writing exercises to do. The first is her very own personal way of managing her writing and how she puts things together. Her way is called Glimmers.

Glimmers are short little moments in time taken from real life. You write a few sentences to a paragraph down from something that happened to you giving as much sensory as possible so you capture what has happened.

 The point is to make it condensed as possible (which comes into play later) and to capture something from real life that you can apply to either fiction or nonfiction.

 Here is one of mine for an example.

~ I bent down on 1 knee in the middle of Burger King to ask my boy friend to marry me. My left leg went to sleep and the tingling sensation of hyperventilation followed up my left side straight into the hand with the gold band as I popped the question~

 See very simple and according to Houston, you take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to write them all down. You are not supposed to edit as you go. The point is to catch the moment on paper or word pad- you can edit later when you want to use it in something.


Your assignment- with Houston's permission to use it- is to take 15 minutes and write three of your own glimmers. One from the last 72 hrs, one from 10 years ago, and one from anytime you would like.

 Tell me how it went in the comments as I'm very curious to see all of your reactions to this kind of exercise.


I'll be back on Wednesday to give you more from this conference enjoy!

Friday Riddle

Welcome to today's Friday Riddle!

The rules are easy, read the riddle then go to the comments and make your guess. After you guess, highlight next to "ANSWER" to see if you were right. 

Please note if you see this in google reader it will give you the answer before you have the opportunity to guess.


Friday riddle:

What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?

ANSWER: River

Writers Support group post

If you are looking for the awards you can find them here

Today is the Second Writers Support Group Post hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh 

I don't have much to really worry about at the moment other than homework so I'm making a supportive post instead.


"Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."  ~Les Brown


I believe in you and truly know you can do anything you put your mind to.

You are strong enough to handle whatever a rejection letter holds.


You have worked so hard to revise your piece, to create it out of a blank page, you worried over it, you laughed about it, you were excited by the lovely bits you included, and felt like crying when a scene didn't come together right. But you Created- you put the pen to paper or the fingers to keyboard and wrote. I am proud of you for just doing that. For just being the writer that you are. Be proud of yourself for how far you have come. You deserve to believe in what you can do and who you are.

Awards

I have received a few awards that I'd like to take the time to pass on.

This one came from the lovely Carol Kilgore. Go visit her- I adore her Friday top ten! She is a fantastic blogger.
In addition to picking people to pass this on to, I'm supposed to recommend a book. 

My Book recommendation:
Stone Butch Blues By Leslie Feinberg

The blurb:
"This novel tells the story of Jess Goldberg, a transgendered "butch" growing up in Buffalo, New York. Jess first learns to admit and negotiate her attraction to women and her butch identity. Immediately, she is faced with violence. The police raid the lesbian bars, arrest any woman wearing fewer than three articles of women’s clothing and routinely beat, strip, or rape them. Jess and her friends also face the violence of bashers who attack without cause on dark or well-lighted streets.
Nevertheless, Jess refuses to compromise. From a doctor, she gets a prescription for testosterone, goes to a gym and transforms herself into a bearded, muscular man. Having saved two thousand dollars, she has a mastectomy done. The doctor falsifies a biopsy, performs the surgery and makes her leave. By the end of the novel, Jess is secure in her identity and determines to fight to make the world safe for others like her." ~ Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database.

I'm passing the award on to-

Eagle @ The Eagle's Aerial Perspective 

Christine @ Christina Rains- writer

 Jessica @ Jessica Silva




The second award I have received twice.

This one came from Krista @ I take the pen  She has a lovely weekly writing prompt go check her out.And I received it from another fellow blogger a while back but couldn't find it.


"Here is how it works - the winner has to share 1 of their own blog posts in the seven categories below. And then of course pass the award along to other great bloggers!"




Most Beautiful: Eye Candy
Most Helpful: Word to the writer
Most popular: Top Ten
Most Controversial: (This one is hard to read because I was new to blogging but it talks about the earthquakes and how some believed it was women's faults because of how they dressed) Earthquake guilt trip


Most Underrated: Links
Most Pride Worthy: Why I write

I will pass this award on to:

Shelly @ Writing with Shelly
 Laura @ Wavy Lines

The third award comes from Amy @ The Ramblings of Amy 

The rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.

3. Pass the award on to 5 more blogger friends.

4. Contact and congratulate the blogs you're passing the award on to.

Okay- Random facts:
one: I really like onions.
two: I wear feathers in my hair.
three: I have 3 pairs of the exact same Tinkerbell shoes I found in the kids area- yes they fit.
four: I hate folding laundry
five: I drink mocha's with extra extra chocolate. (yummy)
six: I don't want to write for a living
seven: I enjoy editing other peoples work.


The five bloggers I choose are:
Krista @ I take the pen
Angela @ Angela Felsted
Carolyn @ Checker board squares
Elaine @ Wordsmithing
Alleged @ Alleged author


Check everyone out and have a terrific day!

Places to submit

Hey every one, 
I hope last week went well for you. I have a great deal to catch up on but I'm back, at least until things get crazy at school again.
Today I'm sharing places to submit to and next week comes the great writing thing I want to share from the writers conference, so be on the look out for it. This week I have a riddle and awards to share.

When you submit your work somewhere please read their guidelines carefully- they wouldn't have them if they didn't want you to adhere to them. As always make sure you have gone through several revisions before submitting your piece.


 Links:

Finishing line press


Flashquake


Bardsandsages


Happy writing!