2011 Mission Statement

I recently read a blog post a friend of mine had wrote yesterday (Monday December 20th) which you could find here, where she wrote her own mission statement for the new year. I liked the idea and wanted to write my own 2011 Mission Statement for I could look back on and try to keep the promises I shall make to myself. So here goes it. If it interests you, give it a try. Make sure you link it in the comments below so everyone could check it out!

My name is Mindy Crump and in 2011 I would like nothing more than to be myself again. I have had some pretty rough few years, mostly in silence, and I am beginning to want the old me back. Now I know I cannot possibly have the complete old me, but bits and pieces would suffice.

I would like to grow more comfortable with myself. I promise I will try to not back down from a challenge no matter how embarassing or frightening it might be (as long as it's safe of course). When things are not going well I promise to write about it, even if all I want to do is stay in bed. Critism is not my friend. I do not handle it too well. I promise in 2011 I shall work my tail off at defending myself a little bit more. It's about time I get some backbone.

Most importantly, I promise never to give up on myself or on others. I just want to be happy.

On a side note being published in 2011 would be a great thing too.

Holidays & Goals

Hello everyone!

Hopefully you are all doing well during this December.

Around this time, I begin to think about what I have accomplished throughout this year and begin to think about what I would like to accomplish in the New Year. Lately I have become quite anal about this and have created quite a few lists and charts.

I have three main goals next year to work on which include:

1. Opening my own Web Design Business - In 2011 I want it to be the year I finally make this come true. I have been thinking of having a bit of a niche of creating websites for authors which would tie together both my passions; writing and designing.
2. Sell a Script - I have planned 6 months of the year all devoted to Screenwriting. I would love nothing more than to sell a script but the biggest goal before this is to definitely send queries and pitches out to production companies and/or agents.
3. Publish a Novel/Short Story - This year I took one step closer to achieving this goal of mine when I sent in my short story to a local publisher. Unfortunately it was rejected but I was told by the publisher to try sending that short story to fiction magazines. The other six months are devoted to this goal.

These might seem like big goals to try to accomplish in just one year, but after the year I just had I am starting to have faith in myself that it could be possible to achieve anything I set my sights upon.

Throughout this year I have mentioned challenging oneself over and over again. Next year will be no different as I personally have a few monthly events to try out. Perhaps you might try them out with me:

• FAWM also known as February Album Writing Month. This is where you write 14 songs in a month
• NaNoEdMo also known as National Novel Editing Month. Many people already know about this one where you edit 50 hours in a month
• NEPMo (National Epic Poetry Month) This is where you write 5,000 lines of poetry in a month which is simple enough if you write poetry as it is.
• SoFoBoMo which I just love saying over and over again. This is Solo Photo Book Month. I am very excited to give this a try. This is where you create a 31 page or more photo book with photos you take during the month
• National Blog Posting Month. Perhaps you already know about this. I am definitely going to try it out. This is where a blogger like myself, chooses any month during the year and blogs every single day during that month. Perhaps I might try it twice.

Okay so now I have been dying to ask you all what challenges are you taking on in the New Year? They don't have to pertain to just writing. I know I would like to challenge myself to get over the fear of spiders.

NaNoWriMo, Snow and December

Hello Hello all my peeps out there!

I hope you've been having a great two weeks and I hope you did not miss me too much! Though it has been six days since November and Nano has finished up I wanted to let you know that I fortunately completed this year's National Novel Writing Month! WOOT WOOT!

I am very happy about writing my 50,000 words in a month but have come to the realization that my story is not even half way done yet. So I must reach deep down inside of me for momentum and complete this really rough first draft as soon as I can.

With that I would like to apologize for no post last week. My muse decided she had enough of Hawaii and moved back in with me. We decided to celebrate and have a movie night.

On another note if you done Nanowrimo, I really would love to read any excerpts of yours. If you put it on your blog, feel free to leave a link to it and I'll make sure to give it a read and leave a comment if you like. I find it's nice to have show and tell with other writers, especially when I see how excited or even how disappointed the writer is. It is crazy how much expectations we put on ourselves. We are our own worst enemies when it comes to our own talents, but do we not have those talents for a reason?

On a completely different route, remember I told you about my pitch back in October that I did with Muse It Up Publishing? I finally received an email back from them rejecting my poor short story. That is alright though, they were gracious enough to give me feedback and told me that it would suit a magazine, which I am planning on looking into. I have always been positive that if I ever received my first rejection letter from a publisher that I would be crushed. It really was not that bad at all. It made me want to do better. That's a good thing right?

With all that said I would like to leave you all with a 5 minutes video of it snowing somewhere I do not know. It has been snowing here all day! Gotta love December/winter.

Until next time, have a great week!

NaNoWriMo Update + Excerpt

So sorry for not posting much lately...NaNoWriMo has taken over my soul

UPDATE: I am dramatically behind in my word count but I am slowly trying to catch up little by little. As suspected, I think I'm writing utter crap but I still wanted to share some of my craptacular work with you all. I apologize for any of what I call you grammar-holics. What you're about to read will probably drive you up the wall with bad grammar.

The jist of the story is, an officer is kidnapped along with the only witness by a dangerous gang. I'm tyring to have it be a suspense/thriller type of novel. I know it's vague but my story changes from time to time thanks to the constant fighting I've been having with my characters. I have seven main characters so you could probably imagine the stress they're causing me. Also I would like to mention that I like to write screenplays more than novels, so some of my action is much like how I write a screenplay. Maybe you won't notice.

Exerpt: (I have bleeped out the swear words for the under agers)

CHAPTER 1

A howl echoed through the darken woods. This time it was unlike any other. It was abnormal. Non animalistic. Human so it seemed. A female human.

It was dark. Darker than the eye could see. Darker than dark, yet a small glow lit the only patch of meadow the forest surrounded. A woman, not much older than the legal age of nineteen, stood in the middle with her dirt infested toes resting upon the softness of the grass. Her sight blurred thanks to the swollen layers of skin trapping her blue grape like eyes. Five black figures gazed towards her.

She knew who they all were; Raphael, Gatik, Wolf, and Jadon. Most importantly there was Zaccur. How could she forget the one person she thought she trusted most of all. He was the one who planned the entire ordeal. The flirting, the dinners out, the long talks, the kissing, the sex; it was his plan all along in order to get back at her.

“Why...are....why are you” she tried to stumble out of her puckered bloody lips.

“Shut the $&#* up you whore!”

Life slowed down for her. One of the black figures' arm was approaching. She closed her eyes listening to the swooshing air the arm carried with it.

She landed upon the coldness of the ground. She felt nothing. Her face numb and swollen.

Until next time. Happy Writing Everyone!

It's NaNoWriMo Time eee yah eee yah!

For some strange reason I have the "It's peanut butter jelly time" song stuck in my head. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then please click here to see the YouTube video. This video is from Family Guy.

Now just replace those words with It's Naaano Wri Mo Time and you will get the newish song stuck in my head.

So at the time of writing this post, it is Day 8 of our beloved National Novel Writing Month. How are you all doing so far?

I am behind. WAAAY behind. I need to write at least 5,000 words today in order to almost catch up. My motivation took a holiday though. This morning a note was left upon my computer stating the following:

"Dear Mindy,

For the last seven days, I have worked really hard at keeping you going. You tried, and tried some more but I am seeing you are not cooperating with me. I miss the old times we had, like when we stuck together and wrote four novels last year! Or how about the time we slid down that slide and you fell off. We couldn't stop laughing for hours! I have decided I shall give you a break for a few days as I am taking my holidays now. (You know the ones I kept stashing away on my pay check for the past 22 years).

Call me if there is an emergency, and I don't mean the times you are lonely and want me back. I will be in Hawaii. You have my cell. Have fun writing your novel without me! ALOHA!

Sincerely, Mr. Motivation"

How sad is that? He left to go to a nice warm place without me.

Do any of you have any ideas on how I could get my motivation back? I tried sending him flowers, chocolates. I sent him emails, texts and phone calls, begging him to come back. He sent me a picture of the sunset there. I need him back!

Until next time, have a great writing week everyone!

National Novel Writing Month

As of today (Wednesday October 27) there is only 4 more days left until NaNoWriMo aka National Novel Writing Month. For those who have no clue what NaNoWriMo is about I will sum it up in seven words: One heck of a crazy writing month! This is, what I believe to be, my sixth year doing this event and I still find it crazy!

The jist of this month long event is, you come up with an idea for a novel then, starting on November 1st, you write 50, 000 words by November 30th. Sounds simple right? Haha it's not. However just because it's not simple does not mean you shouldn't try it. I believe I mentioned in an earlier post this year about challenging myself more. This is certainly one challenge I look forward to each year. If you're interested in doing NaNoWrimo click here for more information. You could always leave a comment here as well, and I'll be more than willing to help out.

So, for those who already know what NaNoWriMo is all about I wanted to know what you find to be the most challenging part of this event?

Personally, for me I always find that middle week is the hardest. My sleep deprivation catches up to me at that time yet I know I cannot allow myself to sleep more than I have to or I will waste precious time on my what-I-think-is-a-fantastic-novel-being-written.

I wanted to share a YouTube video with you all, relating to NaNoWriMo. A few people wrote a song about the event and decided to make a video for it. I find the song is very catchy.
Click here to see it.

Until next time, have a fantastic week.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Update

I apologize for no post last week. I was attending the Muse Online Writer's Conference as mentioned before, with that on top of my everyday life it was one heck of a busy week.

With that said, I wanted to update you all on some good news that has happened to me during the conference.

I may or may not have mentioned that I was chosen to pitch my short story to a publisher (Muse It Up Publishing). The entire week I spent many hours working on what my pitch would contain. It is extremely hard, especially when you tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. One day, I believe it was Thursday, I worked on my pitch for 8 hours straight. I still ended that day unhappy with what I wrote. It took me until the hour before the pitch to write one that I was extremely happy with.

Anyways to keep the story short, I pitched my story online while I shook uncontrollably. It was pretty difficult to type. That last minute pitch must have been really good because I was told they liked the originality of it and the emotion that I put into the pitch describing the story. At the end of the pitch they asked me to send my short story in along with a synopsis YAY!

All week I have been doing my happy dance!

I wanted to ask all of you writers out there what was it like for you when you pitched or was interviewed by a publisher for the first time?

Do you have issues writing a pitch and/or query?

Until next time have a good week. Be kind to each other!

The Muse Online Writer's Conference

If you are a writer and haven't heard of The Muse Online Writer's Conference then you are in for a treat this week!

This is my 3rd year attending the FREE conference, yes you read right, it is free unless you register late of course.

This year is also my 2nd year of volunteering which has proven to be quite chaotic to say the least.

The conference is plenty of fun for being completely online. I have met some fantastic people for whom I have befriended and talk to quite often.

The volunteering this year has been CRAZY to say the least. I have never learned so much about spreadsheets in such a short amount of time as I have this year.

With that said, if you are a writer and have no register for this year's conference, registration for next years conference is two weeks away so be sure to register!! Make sure to check the site by clicking the link above!!

If you are already registered and are going to be an attendee or maybe even a presenter, please do me a favour and say thank you to all the moderators, transcribers, techies and of course Lea Schizas for all their hard work this year! Believe me, from experience all these volunteers are working Full Time hourse to ensure this conference runs smoothly!

If you're attending this year let me know what you're username is for I can look out for you!

Basics of Web Design

Back in July I talked about Why a writer should have a website. To reread that post you can click here.

I thought, hey why not help those who want to make their own website by giving them the basics aka HTML.

A site can be made simply in a program you already have on your computer: Notepad.

In this program you can make a basic page using HTML (HyperText Markup Language).

HTML uses tags (ie. such as

) which are simple instructions of where everything is placed and/or what that item should look like.

Now if I were to write a very, very basic page in HTML it would look like this:

PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SPACES BETWEEN BRACKETS AND TAGS! (ie. html> not html >)

<>
<>

<> This is Your Heading < /h1 >

<> This will be your paragraph of information < /p >

< /body >
< /html >

Let me describe to you what each tag does for that particular page.

<> starts your page, letting the program know you are going to use html to build a web site
<> is the beginning of your page and where your HTML will go
<> Heading 1, headings range from 1-6 (ie. <>, <>, <> etc.)
< /h1 > closes the heading tag
<> This is the paragraph tag and the < /p > closes the paragraph... information is typed in between these tags
< /body > closes the page of html codes
< /html > lets everyone and every browser know that html codes are done at this point

Now go try this. Open up Notepad and type in the above code. Save it as a html file (ie. doc.html) and then open it in your internet browser (usually by opening your browser, click on file, open and then find your doc OR press ctrl + o).

Knowing the very basics, you could now incorporate more tags onto the page to elaborate what it looks like.

You could make font bold by using the <> < /b > tags or you could make it italic by using the <> < /i > tags. How about making a list?

For an unordered list ( <>, < /ul >) the code could look like this:

<>

<> Item to be listed < /li >
<> Other item listed < /li >

< /ul >

OR and ordered list:

<>

<> Item #1 < /li >
<> Item #2 < /li >

< /ol >

There are so many tags out there that help form your page. You can make forms, you could have scrolling text, you could change the colour of your text, you could add images, videos, audio... the opportunities are endless!

If you would like to learn more about HTML w3schools is a great website to check out. Now go ahead and try the code up above. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them here and I will be more than happy to answer them!

Until next time, Happy Web Designing!

Screwing Up Your Writing by Christina E. Rundle

I must share with you all an incredibly informative blog post I have just read.

It is called Screwing Up Your Writing Career over on Christina E. Rundle's blog for which I follow.

She gives a nice detailed list of tips for any writer who does not want to screw up his/her writing career. The tips are endless yet the first thing I done once I finished reading them all was print it out.

Thanks Christina for all the wonderful info!

Three Ways to Promote Yourself and Your Writing

I recently wrote an article for Crafting Fiction that I would love for you all to check out and comment if you have time.

The link here will direct you to The Crafting Fiction website.

With that said, I love sharing and learning information with others. It always makes me feel excited when someone says "hey that's a very useful link you gave. Thanks" or "I was able to fix a problem thanks to that article you shared". Being able to share everything with the incredibly huge writer family out there makes me feel like I'm apart of something amazing. So I really have to say thank you for following and making writing even more enjoyable to share.

Banned Books

Can you believe that September is here? I swear the year is going by way too fast for me.

I was reading a blog post over on the Indie Debut 2010 blog (found here) about the challenge to read Banned Books during the month of September.

I wanted to let everyone know about this bit of a challenge, I suppose you can call it, as I know I am going to sign up for it for sure.

I found out after a bit of research, that books have been banned by various people/organizations because the books are controversial or have material in them that offend these people and organizations.

I don't know about you, but I am becoming quite sick of this political correctness in our world with always having to cover the things that offend people. All I will say is that if it offends you, instead of trying to ban books that other people will want to read, don't read it. Don't talk about it. Don't give that book that offended you so much the satisfaction of your anger or any sort of attention. I personally shouldn't have to be told I can't read something because you were offended by the content.

Anyways, near the end of September there is a Banned Book Week, which I will try to write a post about what's happening during that week, closer to that time.

Until then, After hearing a bit of my own opinion on the matter, I would like to hear what you have to say about Banned Books. Good thing or bad?

Until next time, have a good week everyone.

Am Writing/Blogging for Unpublished Writers

So sorry for this blog post being late. I was away on a trip yesterday.

I have a great FAQ article for you to read, especially if you are on Twitter.

It is called Am Writing and is about the Am Writing hashtag on Twitter.

Check it out by clicking here.

If you are not on Twitter I have another link for you to check out.

It is a blog post by Jody Hedlund called How Important is Blogging For Unpublished Writers

You can click here to read it.

Let me know what you think of them!

Until next time have a great week everyone

Interview with Marybeth Smith

Hey everyone!

Before we begin the interview with Marybeth, I wanted to make a sidenote from last weeks post concerning the Crafting Fiction website. It has been brought to my attention that the web design articles on that site are going to be moved to Web Tech Design very soon.



With that said I would like you all to welcome Marybeth Smith to my blog, to talk about her website Ask A Bipolar.



You have a brand new website called Ask a Bipolar. What's the website about and How did it all come together?

Ask a Bipolar is a website where people can come and ask questions about bipolar and get answers from someone who has been there, instead of your typical professional opinion. I came up with the idea after a friend of mine received some comments on her blog (about her son who suffers from a mood disorder) from my fellow AskaBipolaree, Erika. The feed back she gave was so real and the other readers of the blog loved it. They loved hearing what someone else had gone through. So I got in touch with Erika and asked if she might be interested in starting up a website with me. She was all about it! So together we can tackle Early Onset Bipolar (my son has this), adolescent Bipolar (Erika is a teenager) and Adult Bipolar (Me!)

How did you find out you had bipolar?

I found out I had bipolar after suffering from depression for ten years then ending up in a psychiatric hospital during a major breakdown. It took 10 years to get a proper diagnosis!

What is the main purpose for this site?

Everyone has questions, and we don't always want someone's medical opinion. Sometimes we just want to hear from someone that, yeah, i've been there too. That's my goal. I want others to feel that there is somewhere they can come and get answers from a real person without all the medical mumbo jumbo.

What are some important things for people who do not understand Bipolar, should know about?

Wow, that's a hard thing. There are SO MANY things that everyone should know about Bipolar. I think one of the most important things to remember is that it is an illness, just like asthma or diabetes. We don't have control over it. It can be treated, but that doesn't mean the symptoms are going to disappear. If someone you know suffers from Bipolar, learn everything you can about it. There are so many books out there that can help you understand better. And there is no better support than a friend or family member who cares enough to learn about what you are going through.

Your site has been up for a short while now. I was wondering if there has been any questions that have stumped you or something you have learned from your followers? If so could you share please?

We have had a couple questions that neither of us could answer, but we were able to seek out someone who could. One was about ECT treatment, which neither Erika nor I have had experience with. We haven't posted it yet, but the woman doing the post runs a website called www.ect.org and has had much experience with this procedure.

What has been the best advice YOU received from someone?

It's not often that I'm the one getting advice. Usually it's the other way around. I did see on one website that those who suffer from PMDD (Premenstrual Disphoric Disorder...many with Bipolar have this too) that if you are feeling overly irritable you can curve the irritability by doing something that involves logic. (ie Word Puzzles, Math, etc.) Because you are using the logic side of your brain the emotional side somewhat shuts off. I thought that was pretty interesting.

For those who don't know you, you are also a writer. Have you ever wrote a fiction/non-fiction story about Bipolar? Why or why not?

I am currently writing a YA Fiction novel called, 'Taming the Crazies' about a young girl dealing with a mother and brother with Bipolar. I wanted to show what effects this illness can have on those around us. It's an illness that affects the whole family, not just the individual suffering from it.

What's your favourite colour and why?

Green...a few years ago winter was especially long. I was SO sick of seeing all the dull lifeless trees and lawns. We took a trip to North Carolina and the further south we got the more green things were. Just seeing everything so green made me so super happy. It's been my favorite color ever since.

Are you a Twilight fan? if so Edward or Jacob?

I'm kinda burnt out on the whole Twilight thing. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm still went to see the triple feature the night Eclipse opened...and i did wear my Team Edward shirt, but I'm really more of a Team Gryffindor girl (which I have one of those t-shirts too!)

What is one thing NO ONE knows about you?

I'm kind of an open book, so this is a really hard question to answer...And I don't think there is anything about me that my husband doesn't know. Well, actually ... I really have to pee right now. And nobody but you guys knows about it! (It's our secret...don't tell!)

Thank you so much Marybeth for taking time from your busy life to do this interview.

I encourage you all to go check out her website called Ask a Bipolar.

Make sure to follow Ask a Bipolar on:

• Facebook
• Twitter

Website to share

Hey everyone I apologize for not blogging much lately. I've been busy as I always am.

I wanted to give you a link to a web site that has some articles about web design along with plenty of articles for writers as well. It's a very useful site that was created by a friend of mine named Rebecca Laffar-Smith.

Please check it out by clicking: Crafting of Fiction

Next week I am hoping to have a special guest blogger named Marybeth Geer-Smith who will be answering some questions about her new website she has called Ask a Bipolar. Give it a look and if you have any questions yourself for her next week, make sure you post them in the comments section of that blog post for her to answer.

Until next week, have a great rest of the week! Can you believe that as of this Sunday, August will be half over? Geez Louise!!!

Why Should I Have a Website?

So sorry about this post being late. July has been crazy and I'm finding August is going to be just as nuts.

I decided to talk about web sites for the next few weeks as I'm personally finishing some courses for web design.

The first thing I would like to talk about is why should a writer or anyone in particular have a web site at all?

The main answer to that question is marketing! Marketing helps you and/or your product become known world wide. These days web sites help get your information about yourself and your product to people you won't normally be able to reach through other modes of marketing.

These days, more than ever, the internet has become the number one social gathering. People rely on the internet to find information about anything and everything. If you have a web prescence others will be able to find information about you and you never know, maybe they might buy your product (like that novel of yours sitting on the shelf just waiting to be published any moment now).

Also these days it's becoming easier to get a hold of anyone through the internet than by phone anymore. Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to communicate more with your customers/fans and easily too? It's cheaper too. The cost of postage seems to go up every day and email is free. That's something we don't get too often...something that is free.

Okay okay I know I can hear some of you asking, but Mindy that's nice and all but I have no clue how to make a web site for myself or for my business. Well don't fret. Next week I'll have a post about the basics of web design for you and even some information about easy do it yourself sites that are free (as long as you don't mind ads on your site however).

Until next time have a great week everyone!

P.S Why do you think you should or should not have a website? I would love to hear from you all

What the hell!?!?!?

Just when I think I actually might be able to make it in the writing world, I read an article/blog post like this one and I completely lose hope all over again.

I love to write screenplays. They are always going to be my first of things to write. To shorten that blog post up, screenwriters are having a very hard time finding work unless they are A-list writers. The competition now just for a one step deal is crazy! (one step deals for those who don't know are when a production company buys a script but does not hire the writer to work on 2nd, 3rd etc. drafts). There are becoming more times where 11 to 13 writers have to fight for that one job anymore.

Why is this all happening? Oh thank the damn recession.

Everytime I start to go towards a goal of mine, someone or something slams the door in my face. It's annoying but I'm seriously thinking of becoming a lumberjack in order to axe down those doors. I just can't imagine when the teenagers today have to go out on their own. My age (the 20-30 year olds) are having it incredibly tough now.

Writing means everything to me and I would hate to see especially the screenwriting community suffer to the point where it ends.

Eclipse!

I have always loved seeing how novels are turned into movies. Well to be frank, I love movies period, whether they're good or terribly bad. I will always find some sort of love for every movie. I still don't know why I do that but I do.

Anyways I am so excited right now and had no clue what to write for this weeks blog except for me blabbing about Eclipse.

Yes...Yes....I'm a Twilight-a-holice...or a Twilighter....or whatever you call the fans of the ever so popular series. Just a small note though, I'm not one of those CRAZY fans. Sure I have a poster of Edward aka Robert Pattinson in my room (and boy it's a creepy yet yummy poster) and I have the poster for New Moon upon my door. Oh I also have postcards of the cover from each book on the side of my movie shelf and I also made sure the first thing I did when I woke up when The New Moon dvd came out, was head straight to Walmart. I think I went in my pjs too but I'm not obsessed at all. Oh how can I forget about my New Moon collector cards! I should take pictures to share with you all!

Anyways I'm going to the movie tonight at midnight and I'm excited! I'm going with my mother, my neighbour and my neighbour's friend.

As a writer myself I always wondered what it would be like to not only have your entire series on the best seller list, or have crazily devoted fans of your work but also have big time movies being made about your literature which is like a baby growing up for the author. It brings me so much inspiration and I would LOVE to have something I wrote be put into a movie some day in my lifetime.

Anyway I'll let you know what I think of the movie without giving any details at the very end of this post, tomorrow morning.

Edit: Okay so I went to see it and I thought it was pretty good. A little gruesome with some of the fights but still barely managed to keep it's rating of PG here in Canada. The people I went with and I noticed all the wigs all the actors were wearing and yes they were that noticeable. That would've been a great drinking game. Take a swig if someone in the scene is wearing a wig. Of course Robert Pattinson wasn't wearing one but the amount of body hair he's growing else where is almost making him look like a wolf. (Don't get me wrong I love that guy to pieces!!!) The fight scenes with the werewolves were great!

The best part of the night was when I bought my Twilight Saga: Eclipse Collector's Cup!!! I was afraid there weren't going to be any left as there was two theatres sold out and everyone was in line to get one. Here's a picture of it...Ha you can see my bird Rocky staring at it. He thinks I'm crazy.

Distracted....oooh m&m's!

I had no idea what I wanted to write this week so I made an executive decision and decided to be completely random.

So I changed the look of my blog... I love black and white....red is even better though, but I find the look is more me.

Writing wise I have been working diligently at the 2nd draft of my screenplay. It is coming together nicely. It's making more sense and I am so excited to see what the end product will turn out to be like.

Now I really have to talk about something very important. I need to talk about M&M's. I'm sitting here eating them and for some reason they tasted like fruit loops. The taste made me eat two large packages at once....mmm.....mmm

Okay these things are distracting me. I should be doing lots of things like writing, web design, reading......sleeping?

ooooo pretty colours

Ebook Readers

I was just reading a blog post on Lea Schizas Blog about ebooks and it got me thinking about them.

I'm thinking of buying myself one for my 22nd birthday in August but then I started researching all the popular ones and holy smoly with a cow on a stick, my head is spinning!

THERE'S SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM!

The two main ones I know of are:

The Kindle

The Sony E-Reader

I know about the Nook but I don't think I can get that here in Canada.

The only one I've seen in person is The Sony E-Reader at walmart (or Wally World if my father was around. He listens to too much country music I swear.)

I'm just wondering if it's worth the money to buy myself one. I don't have a credit card so I'm pretty sure that's a big uh oh when it comes to buying books for the reader. (I know shocking right? No credit card? At your age?)

Without knowing much about either readers, just from the pictures alone I would buy the Sony one only because it's red hehe. (Yeah I'm addicted to the colour red)

Do any of you out there in the Internet world, own a E-reader?

If so which one and how do you like it so far?

If not how come?

Balancing Your Private and Public Writing Life

I wanted to share with you all an article I recently read.

It's by Marie-Claude Bourque and is about what the title of this blog says.

http://1stturningpoint.com/?p=4151

Let me know what you think.

Until next time, have a great week everyone!

Bitten Series

Have you heard of the Bitten Series by Kelley Armstrong?

I'm not much of a reader (I know weird eh?) but my neighbour's told me I must read this series, especially since they know I love the Twilight books.

I'm only on the second book out of what I believe is 11 soon to be 13 novels in total. (I know big time series right?) So far so good. The first book was well done. Kept me interested which can be hard for a book to do while I'm reading.

Without giving anything away all I will say that the first novel is about the only female werewolf in existance. Then some crazy stuff happens and presto 13 books are made.

If you want to read a few books this summer, and you love the paranormal then I recommend all of you read this series.

I apologize for putting up late posts lately. I've buried myself into these books. Thought I should share just in case I'm caught constantly talking about them on here.

Until next time... I must go back to reading... have to know what's going to happen next before I drive myself insane

American Idol vs. Writing

Right now I am sitting here watching American Idol and one of my favourite songs of all time is being sung by Lee DeWyze. I should be writing right now but holy brown cow! I always knew this song was amazing but geez louise he did that song justice!

I love seeing these young musical artists who were barely doing anything musically make it through each week and then perform something amazing like he did tonight. You can see the passion in their eyes and hear it through their voice. They definitely want the prize ahead of them, ever so badly.

I understand the feeling. Maybe not quite in the same way as the American Idol contestants but I understand it through writing. I have a prize that is just out of my reach. Each week I work as hard as I can to inch towards that prize I so desperately want. My judges are my editors. My voters are my potential readers. My prize is publication.

Watching American Idol gives me hope I guess in a strange way. I see all the time, people who become a Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood in this world. It gives me hope that someday, if I work my behind off, I will achieve my dreams. It makes me realize that every step is going to be a (excuse my language) bitch to take but it will all be worth it....right?

Reading Makes You a Better Writer?

I love opinions. I love hearing other people's opinions (good or bad) and I love giving my opinion. Really who doesn't?

In saying that, I want to know all of your opinions about reading in general.

I have been told, in order to be a better writer I should read. My answer to that is "Do I have to?" (I don't like to read novels much anymore though I am trying to read 50 books in a year)

Do you believe reading a lot makes a writer better? Why or why not?

I just recently finished a book by James Patterson called "I, Alex Cross" which I couldn't put down. The suspense and mystery of the book made me read it so fast and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Though I find there's very few books that are able to make me want to read it in one sitting.

So I must ask, what makes a book so great and not great to you?

Can't wait to hear your answers. Now I have to bury myself into a another book. I have a lot of catching up still to do.

Update.

So sorry about not posting last week. My computer power cord decided to kaput on me.
My battery for my laptop basically ran out too and right around the time Script Frenzy was about to end.

Fortunately I had enough battery power to verify the amount of pages I did have (104 pages I believe) So yay I get to print out my shiney new winners certificate, dance around in celebration then get my butt back in gear to finish those scripts.

So I have to ask you all something.

Have you heard of MuseItUp Publishing?

A fantastic group of people, including the incredibly wonderful Lea Schizas, has recently opened their own publishing company in Canada. I have heard so many fantastic things about this fresh publishing company that I am now motivated, inspired and DETERMINED to write something for them.

If you ever thought about publishing, or are looking for a publishing company that will treat you well I suggest you take a look at their site. If it's run by Lea then it's bound to be fantastic!

Okay until next time everyone! Thanks for reading

A Little Taste of the Funnies

Note: Okay I am going to say right off the bat that I what you're about to read might be funny or it might not be. For Script Frenzy, as mentioned before, I wanted to write four scripts. I have my first one, which is a short, already done. It is supposed to be somewhat of a comedy, something I never have done before. So as a bit of a treat for you all, here is a little taste of that first draft script.

Let me know what you think. Oh and it's not properly formatted on here... again FIRST DRAFT!

Twaddict

EXT. - SIDEWALK - DAY

LATER THAT DAY

JENIS is walking and checking her Tweets at the same time.

REPORTER and CAMERAMAN follow in front of her.

Jenis almost bumps into RANDOM MAN.

RANDOM MAN
Hey! Watch where you’re going!

Jenis doesn’t look up.

JENIS
What ever man.

CAMERA MAN
You sure you’re not addicted to
Twitter? You’ve been on that thing
all day!

Jenis stops walking.

She walks up to the cameraman and punches him.

Cameraman and CAMERA falls to ground.

A Typical Day

It's the middle of the month (ALREADY?) and of course I have been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off..... okay that's a bad visual.

In lieu of Script Frenzy, I have been up to my ears with things I must finish. Finishing something is not always my strong point but my New Years Resolution was to try to finish things more often....Baby steps Mindy....Babysteps.

So for all of you out there whether you're a writer or not I'm wondering how do you handle busy days?

When I mean busy days I mean you wake up early, you go go go go go go go and then realize it's midnight and you literally fall asleep. I find that since the nice weather has arrived and all the snow is finally gone I have been busiest.

If you are a writer reading this, then I would like to ask how are you able to juggle work, home life, sleep and writing into one day AND finish everything?

Any feedback would be great. I love taking advice from others lol.

Update on Script Frenzy:

I don't know if I mentioned that I am writing four scripts; one short and three feature lengths, in one month.

So far my short is almost done and I am about to start my first of three feature lengths. This one is called Crystal Clear. So far it's about a girl's best male friend returning home and the two realize there's something up with each other. Eventually they find out what is up with each other is that their old feelings for each other are beginning to blossom again which neither want. It's going to be a chick flick basically, which is going to be the first romance type of writing I will have tried.

I will keep you updated and tell you about the other two scripts next week. I am definitely trying other genres besides my thriller/drama niche. Hey if you don't try you'll never know if you're any good.

Until next week, stay safe and have a wonderful week everyone!

Chit Chat with Jennifer Arzt

Here's the low down on Jennifer Arzt:

• She holds a MFA in Film, Television and Recording Arts
• She has pursued writing, directing and producing
• A few of her films have appeared in festivals in the United States
• She is THE Program Director for Script Frenzy
• She loves coffee and any food that her husband cooks

I would like to say thank you to Jennifer for taking time out of her busy schedule to do an interview with me. I cannot imagine how crazy the Script Frenzy office must be right now so I appreciate this.

How did the idea of Script Frenzy come together?

In 1999, Chris Baty started National Novel Writing Month, which has since grown into the largest writing competition in the world. Chris founded the nonprofit Office of Letters and Light in 2006 to run National Novel Writing Month and launch new events. Script Frenzy was the very first event launched by the newly formed nonprofit. In 2007, the curtains rose on the very first Script Frenzy.

Using each consecutive letter in the words "Script Frenzy", describe what the program is about:

Seeking
Creative
Release
In
Planning
Theatrical

Forays
Regarding
Entertaining
Neanderthals.
Zany?
Yes.

Why should someone signup to do Script Frenzy?

It's tough to find time to sit down and write a script without a deadline and no one holding you to it. Not only do we impose a deadline, we offer a huge support group of like-minded writers struggling with the same scriptwriting issues.

If you have a story–and I know you do–Script Frenzy helps you find the time to tell it.

Have you been able to participate writing a 100 page script? If so, how do you manage being the Program Director and trying to accomplish Script Frenzy?

I have! Every year.

It is always a challenge to write a script during Script Frenzy. But, I think that is true for everyone who participates! No matter what. We all have crazy schedules and when there are a few free nights in a row they feel like such a treat it is hard to convince yourself to keep at it and not just relax.

I always attempt to outline and be as prepared as possible before April. It hasn't happened yet, but somehow I always find a way to get to page 100.

What is a typical day in April like for you during Script Frenzy?

There is so much that gets packed into a day, I hardly know where to start. Before Script Frenzy starts I try to be as prepared for it as possible. There are the improvements to the website, new content development, soliciting of Cameos and sponsors, outreach, the planning and managing of the current year's design, pep talk writing, bug finding, coffee drinking, and if I'm lucky, I find time in the evenings for outlining and writing.

What is the most rewarding part of being the Program Director?

Helping people reach their goals. Even writers who don't hit 100 pages get something out of Script Frenzy. It is always so nice to hear how Script Frenzy had a positive impact on someone's life.

Script Frenzy, like NaNoWriMo, is run by donations. If someone is unable to donate but still wanted to help what could they do?

I think that first, I'd like to say that every donation means the world to us. Even $10. There is no donation that is too small.

That being said, we run on a lot of love and elbow grease. Folks can:

• Use GoodSearch.com and pick the Office of Letters and Light as their charity
  Get sponsored by friends and family
• Spread the word about Script Frenzy (We have flier to help)

Every little bit helps!

What is some advice you could give to new participants or people thinking about participating?

Keep writing. No matter what. After you finish the first draft you'll have an amazing understanding of process. Leave in bad dialogue and don't get hung up on a plot hole. Write past, over, and around story stumbling blocks. Often, after you've passed them, the answer becomes clear.

Remember, writing is rewriting. Use Script Frenzy to get to the end of your first draft. It is much easier to start draft two if you have draft one.

If you could be the main character in any movie, who would you be and why?

Edward from Big Fish because he lead a full, wild, and interesting life.

Patience

Hey everyone!

I am just letting you all know that my interview with Jennifer Artz is a bit delayed right now. Script Frenzy starts tomorrow and the poor girl is busier than a bee shall every be. So while we all wait I wanted to ask a question for you all:

Have you ever wrote a script or even thought about writing a script?

If so how did you do? If not, how come you haven't?

Chit Chat with Tavia Stewart-Streit

Here's the low down on Tavia Stewart-Streit:

• She attended the University of Southern California and graduated with a degree in Creative Writing


• Ever heard of Watchword Press? It is a Berkley-based literary organization where Tavia spends her spare time editing and curating.


• In her own words, she can't live without "The support I get from my insanely talented writer friends and coworkers...The high saturation of creative friends combined with my current job here at the Office of Letters and Light makes it nearly impossible for me to slack as a writer"


• She is the Young Writers Program Director for Script Frenzy

I recently had the chance to ask Tavia some questions about the Youth Program and Script Frenzy in general. Before you all read our interview, I would like to say thank you to Tavia for taking time out of her busy day, to answer a few questions of mine. It means a lot to me and I am grateful for this opportunity.

How did the Young Writers Program come together?

The Young Writers Program was created in 2004 after we were inundated with requests for a youth-focused version of National Novel Writing Month from participants who were also educators. After experiencing the benefits of our program first-hand, teachers wanted to share the triumph of writing an entire novel in a month with their students.
We started with a Young Writers Program page on NaNoWriMo’s main site, and due to its immediate success, we moved the YWP to its own website in 2005. In 2007, we built Script Frenzy’s Young Writers Program website in conjunction with the main Script Frenzy site. Both YWP sites offer kids and teens a safe and encouraging place to explore their imaginations, and provide educators with free classroom incentive kits and downloadable curricula including creative-writing lesson plans and workbooks. Script Frenzy’s curriculum is available in the teacher lounge here: http://ywp.scriptfrenzy.org/leaderslounge. 　

How many students/schools have signed up to do Script Frenzy this year and in previous years?

We’ve consistently doubled our participant numbers each year. In 2008, we had around 250 students in 24 classrooms. Last year, we had 480 students in 54 classrooms. This year, we’re expecting over 3,500 students to participate in over 100 classrooms! 　

This is, I believe the fourth year Script Frenzy has been around. What has the reaction of students and teachers been like from the beginning to now?

We’ve only heard positive feedback so far! Educators have found teaching scriptwriting to be much easier and more rewarding than they imagined, and students find themselves actually having fun writing…in school no less. I think teacher Luke Perry describes his experience best in this article on The Writing Teacher blog: http://www.thewritingteacher.org/writing-blog-home/2009/4/1/script-frenzy.html. 　

How could someone, like a parent or teacher, get the program into their school?

Great question! The best way to convince parents and administration to add Script Frenzy to their Language Arts curriculum is by downloading and presenting our newly standardized lesson plans and student workbooks. Sharing testimonials, articles from the press, and statistics is also helpful (http://ywp.scriptfrenzy.org/media). We even have a letter for parents that educators can send home with their students (http://ywp.scriptfrenzy.org/lettertoparents).

Does this program have to be in school or could children do this at home?

Any kid or teen who is 17 or younger can sign up to write a script with us on the Young Writers Program website. Teens 13 or older are allowed to sign up on the main site as well, but will have to write 100 pages of script in order to win. The YWP site allows young writers to set their own page-count goals.

Do you participate in Script Frenzy and if so how are you able to manage the Youth Program and write a 100-page script?

My writing partner and I have written scripts together for the past three events, mainly during my lunch break. It’s amazing what two heads, when put together, can get accomplished in just one hour. That said, it’s easy for me to balance my work life, writing life, and personal life during April.

In five words or less, what makes this program so awesome to participate in?

Writing is better than watching. 　

What does the future hold for The Young Writers Program?

A lot. We’re planning a Young Writers Program Advisory Board Meeting in the next month to discuss curriculum improvements, website feature development, and outreach strategies! We’re hoping to edit our curriculum so it meets even more state Language Arts standards this year, and we’re excited to start developing virtual classrooms on our website so educators can communicate and track students’ writing progress with ease. 　

If you had 100 Monkeys, which Screenplay would you make them rewrite and why?

Wow, this question made me stare out the window for way too long. My co-worker Lindsey would disagree with me on this one, but I would have to say the 1995 Noah Baumbach film Kicking and Screaming. Though the story was entertaining and hilarious, the dialogue was way, way too Juno-clever. Real people aren’t anywhere near as clever and quick witted all the time. I’d love to see that movie re-written with more realistic dialogue.

SCRIPT FRENZY!!

Okay I am so excited because in about three weeks Script Frenzy is about to begin and boy do I have some pretty neat posts for you all relating to Script writing. It is all going to begin next week, where my first of two interviews will be posted. The first interview is with a lovely gal named Tavia Stewart-Streit who is the Director of the Youth Program for Script Frenzy. The second interview will be on the 29th and will be with Jennifer Arzt who is the Program Director of Script Frenzy. These gals are very important people when it comes to running the program.

Now I know what you all must be thinking. You're probably thinking "Mindy, what the hell is Script Frenzy?" Well for those who have absolutely no clue, Script Frenzy (aka the little sister of NaNoWriMo) is an event where a gigantic group of writers from around the world, decide to write a full 100 page screenplay, stage play, T.V shows, short films, and graphic novels during the month of April.

As a writer who is willing to try almost anything, I hopped on board as a participant when this program started about 3 or 4 years ago. Ever since then I look forward to April each year. It is absolutely fun and I urge all of you to try it out. Even if you never wrote anything all. Just TRY it and you'll love it! I'm sure of it.

For more information click Script Frenzy

Article (More like Website) of the Month

I'm a few days late with this post and I apologize for that.... we finally have received some beautiful warm weather which means more time outside!! YAY

For this Month's article of the month I wanted to send you to a website about an author named Ronald Kelly. In December I won an advanced copy of his new novel called Hell Hollow which I will be reviewing hopefully next week.

Ronald Kelly

Without revealing anything, all I will say is that it's a pretty entertaining novel thus far and is definitely my type of genre! The cover is quite creepy too and has scared a few of the kids I take care of.

Look for that review next week and until next time, have a great week everyone!

Picture of Words

I took this picture in my backyard last month. I thought it was pretty with the snow upon the branches and while I was looking at it this morning I wanted to see if anyone could come up with a poem or a one line story to go with the photo. I thought this could get some of you writer's juices flowing in your mind.

Can't wait to hear what you come up with!

Blog-erific Writing

When it comes to reading anything at all I have a very hard time keeping focus. If the first few sentences don't grab my attention 90% of the time I won't finish reading it. As mentioned before I have challenged myself to read 50 books in a year (turning to be a tough one for me). On top of that I have followed many blogs and wanted to mention a few that have kept me entertained, and made me want to read the entire post from start to finish. These are the Blog-erific Blogs!

1) Desperately Searching for my Inner currently Marybeth is fasting off of facebook and twitter for Lent and blogging about it. Her posts are humourous and have a homey feel to them. Everytime I read a post of her's I feel as if I known her for years. She is quite the entertainer!

2)Rachelle Gardner If you are a writer then I recommend reading this Literary Agent's blog. There is so much information about the writing world that she reveals it's hard to catch up. Whether you are a newbie or an old pro, all of the information is clear and useful.

3) Sharing with Writers and Readers Carolyn Howard-Johnson has a pretty neat blog you should all check out. I attended an online conference where she talked about frugal marketing strategies which made me extremely excited to market my own novel someday soon. Each post is something different, full of information and tips for us all.

Question for you: What's your favourite blog to read?

Until next time, have a great week everyone!

NEED HELP!

I apologize for a late blog post everyone!

I have to admit something to you all. I have Olympic Fever! I have been watching the olympics all afternoon and well into the night each day. I really think I am enjoying them more than ever because they're in my home country of Canada.

With that said, I have completely forgot to do anything and everything that I usually do.... like writing..... My motivation is totally gone. I tried and I mean I sat in front of my computer thinking very hard about what to write. After about an hour I had to take an advil from the severe headache I received from thinking so hard.

Okay I am going to admit something else. During that hour I was thinking about what was going on with the olympics, who was winning and who was going to perform for the victory ceremonies that night. Shame on me!

In short I really have no writing news for you all. I am close to putting up Wanted signs to get my motivation back.

I NEED HELP FROM YOU!

How should I get my motivation back? Have any quirky ways of motivating yourself? Please share

Okay until next time yall!

Traditional Publishing vs Self Publishing

On a personal level I have argued with myself on whether I wanted to self publish (as I like the possibility to do everything myself) or go the traditional publishing route (which would give me more credibility in the long run). These days, self publishing is becoming more popular but are still seen as uncredible.

I have found an article done by a lady I met at The Muse Online Writers Conference named Stephanie Chandler for my Article of the Month. (I'm doing the article of the month a bit early, hoping for a book I'm awaiting to arrive in the mail for me to review for you by the end of the month) Here's her bio for you could get to know her and the link to the article will be at the very bottom.

Stephanie Chandler is an author of several business and marketing books including From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money with Books, eBooks and Information Products (John Wiley & Sons) and The Author’s Guide to Building an Online Platform: Leveraging the Internet to Sell More Books (Quill Driver).

Stephanie is also founder and CEO of Authority Publishing, which provides custom book publishing, content marketing and internet marketing solutions. A frequent speaker at business events and on the radio, she has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, BusinessWeek, Inc.com and many other media outlets. For author and speaker details visit StephanieChandler.com.

Click here for Traditional versus Self Publishing

Until next time, enjoy the article!

Happy GroundHog's Day!

Howdy everyone!

It's groundhog day and so far I heard that up here in Canada we're supposed to get another 6 weeks of winter, or however long we're supposed to have. Doesn't surprise me as our winters up here always seem to be too long in my view lol.

I cannot believe that it is February already! I have a feeling that this is going to be yet another incredibly fast year. Maybe I'll be able to hold onto something along the way to slow it down.

In about 12 days will be Valentine's Day! I already found my Valentine who is a two year old I babysit quite a bit. We're probably going to spend our day listening to Michael Buble and making crafts lol. The whole on coming of Valentine's Day has got me thinking about writing. Then again when do I not think about writing?

My niche is thriller/drama types of writing and since this is the year I have been challenging myself I thought about writing a very short romance story for you all just to see if I can do it. So, just in time for Valentine's Day, I shall post that short story next week hoping to hear from you about what you thought.... this is going to be quite the challenge in deed for me lol!

Speaking of Valentine's Day, have any of you seen the trailer for the movie called Valentine's Day? It has a major all star cast which worries me a bit as not too many all star movies do so well in Hollywood. The cast includes; Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates (amazing actress), Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane (known as McSteamy on Grey's Anatomy), Patrick Dempsey (the ever so hot McDreamy), Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher (Mr. Demi Moore), Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner (howls), Taylor Swift, George Lopez, Julia Roberts etc.

I am hoping to go see the movie and will let you all know what it's like. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be good.

Okay so really quick, I wanted to update you on some of my challenges. I am proud to say I am almost right on target with my reading for my 50 books in a year challenge. I managed to read a 300 page biography in 3 hours. I was utterly surprised with myself. WriYe is well I am trying to get back on track with that one. I only wrote about 2000 words in January so February is definitely a catch up month...

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week and for some strange reason I still want to find ONE more challenge for me to do this year....any suggestions or am I just nuts?

Article of the Month

For those who know me, know that I am an informational-holic. I can spend hours upon hours searching for anything on google. I sometimes call myself the Google Princess as most of the time I can find just about anything. With that said, I have come across thousands of articles all about the different aspects of writing. I am one who loves to share information (and music) with anyone who would love to listen. So here's my vow to you, my wonderful readers.

During the final week of each month I am going to post an Article of the Month containing an article that I found interesting, that I would like to share with you. Most of the time it will be about writing unless I find an article that is just too funny not to share.

For the first Article of the Month, a person I met from The Muse Writer's Conference tweeted the link to this article. Her name is Karina Fabian http://www.fabianspace.com and this article is called Tips to Cut the Clutter. It's a great article to help tweek those pesky sentences that seem okay but are not quite right.

You can click Cut the Clutter to read it now.

Also if you have a favourite article that you would like to share leave a comment.

Until next time, have a great week and take care!

Review: The Lovely Bones (Movie)

I promised myself to try to write more reviews this year. I recently finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold just in time for me to see the movie. I wanted to give my first review a try with comparing the movie and the novel. So I apologize for a not so good review. It is my first.....and I strongly believe practice makes perfect. (Hopefully by December they'll be great hehe) Enjoy!

The Lovely Bones Movie

* * * out of 5

When I went to the movies to see this particular movie I wasn't sure about how the movie would turn out. As the movie began I was immediately drawn into the fictional story of a 14 year old girl, Susie Salmon, who was murdered by her neighbour on December 6 1973. Though a few tears fell upon my face as Susie Salmon was lured by a monsterous murderer named George Harvey into homemade contraption in the middle of a cornfield, the images and the storyline blended beautifully. The portrayal of Susie's heaven were beyond remarkable.

However I found the movie did not stay true to the essence of the book, which is acceptable in my view as movies and books are completely different. There were many plot holes in the second part of the movie in which I will not mention as I do not want to give anything away. Though I will be the first to admit that I went to the movie to see Mark Wahlberg (I just adore him for no known reason...okay he's hot) the acting was a bit stale in some parts among all the characters, including him. I found there just wasn't enough of all the characters and found that the story line seemed to be rushed.

On a high note, there was one character/actor who blew me away. Stanley Tucci did an incredible job in my view, of playing George Harvey. I am used to seeing this actor in more light hearted roles and was surprised to find out he was to play this character. Reading the book, I always found the character of Mr. Harvey to be a dark creepy fellow. In the movie I personally believed Stanley Tucci did a wonderful job with that particular character making George Harvey come alive and become more creepy than ever. He was rightfully nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture during the Golden Globes. If you ever get to see the movie you will definitely see why. There are just no words to describe his performance.

Challenge Yourself

This year I decided to challenge myself more than ever before. For the past few years I noticed I had a never ending decline heading towards hating to read. (I know shocking!)This year I wanted to end that hatred for reading by signing up for a reading challenge. I shall read 50 novels in a year! So far I have read one novel (The Host by Stephanie Meyer) and I'm in the middle of reading a second (The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold which I'm trying to finish before the movie comes out this Friday) which means so far so good. I am hoping to gain some experience with writing reviews for books so throughout the year I am going to try to post at least one review per month for all you wonderful people!

Another challenge I have signed up for is called WriYe or Writing Year (http://www.wriye.webs.com/) I have challenged myself to write 200 000 words during the entire year. I believe it shall be easy to accomplish (I hope) as I have NaNoWriMo, Editing/Rewrites, finishing a few novels and maybe a random novel in the middle of the year. I love to write so I am excited about this challenge for sure.

If I could not get any busier than that I have challenged myself to finish my Web Design Course by June. For those who do not know me well enough yet, I am a part time child care giver, part time writer and student who is taking at home courses for Web Design. I am hoping to get involved with a Youth Business Program run by the government, during the summer, and hopefully begin the process of opening my own web design business by the end of the year. In order to open that business of mine I have to finish that darn course! I hope mentioning it here will motivate me enough to finish it sooner hehe.

This is going to be one heck of a year and I will make sure to keep you all posted with the process and outcomes of each. It is so amazing how far anyone can go with a few challenges along the way.

So I must ask, what are you doing to challenge yourself this year?

Have a great week everyone! Until Next Time!

Writing Advice/Tips

Since a the age of about six, I began writing stories for fun. One of my most vivid memories of my very young writing life was writing my first puppet play, to be performed in front of my grade three class. I was never so proud to accomplish such a big writing task than at that moment. Throughout the many years since I have grown to love writing more than anything and have worked hard at perfecting my babies to the best of my ability. I might be only twenty one but I have learned plenty from some amazing people along the way. With their writing tips and guidance I am finding I am slowly getting better with each word I write.

With that, I would love to share with you some writing tips and advice I have received from those wonderful people along the way. I hope that they will be as useful to you as they have been for me.

1. I have a really good friend I met on www.writing.com a few years back. She goes by Tirzah and when you need a laugh or in my opinion, motivation, she is the girl to go to. She recently started her own blog called A Clever Whatever Blog (http://acleverwhatever.blogspot.com/) and in a recent funny post she brings up a great point and an obvious tip for all writers in my view. No matter how badly you think your novel is at the time of writing it, never give up on your novel. It might suck. It might be horrendous, but the best thing for that novel of yours is to finish it and finish it NOW!
2. When I was in high school, I was fortunate to have a wonderful English teacher who encouraged me to keep going with my writing dreams. She even set up a group for the school to help aspiring teen writers to hone their craft. The main thing I learned from being in that Writers Group for four years was how to keep the muse going by using prompts. There are many days in my own life where going to my desk to write seems like the worst chore, especially if your brain turned to mush. Random and fun prompts can be found anywhere online, and could help your mind have a mini vacation from what you are currently working on.

3. Back in October of 2009 I attended a really cool writers conference online (and for free ). It is called The Muse Online Writers Conference (www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com). The creator, Lea Schizas, did a wonderful workshop called Assaulting a Writer’s Thinking. She mentioned how Determination and Perseverance are two things a writer must have, which I personally find is true. Determination drives you forward and makes you want to accomplish the goal you have in mind. I personally do not know what to do without it. Perseverance helps you through all the critics, rejections and so forth. It is not always easy to hear the negative aspects when it comes to your writing baby, but after that workshop Lea had done, I still feel as if I could burst through those barriers and be proud of what I have done.

4. Most importantly I have learned a lot from one in particular person....or animal you might say. *Sings: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming* Sound familiar to you? Being a child caregiver on the side, I have watched Finding Nemo too many times to count. The movie is fantastic and Dory is definitely my favourite character. She taught me something incredibly important. Just keep swimming. Just keep going. Just move forward. Hard times will come and go but I promise you if you take five minutes and keep singing that song it will brighten your day. Heck, you might even get motivated to write while singing it.

I hope you enjoyed my small list of tips/advice that have helped me thus far in my little writing world.

I would love to hear from you all and have a question to ask of you:

What advice has been given to you during your life that you live by?

Until next time, Happy New Year to you all and be safe!