Friday's Red Dress

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Take those shoes off and let the butterflies chase you through the mud. 

It is Friday. Feel it in your toes.  The squish of it tickles.

Date night, please. 

I'll take the laptop on my sofa in front of a well worn movie.

Let's skip the red dress, pumps and spend some time together doing what we always do. 

Nothing. 

Poetry...light hop

Turn the light off. 

You are ruining my darkness. 

Little flowers illuminate your path.

See if I follow. 

Fog, why are you holding the shimmer?

Little light you aren't mine. 

I don't think.

Maybe?

Or do you belong to the tree? 

It is those damn bees.  

Haven't written any poetry in a while.  John Chapman, over at A Vested Interest,  kicked off his first blog hop.  I know how sad it is to see a blog hop fall apart.  So thought I would throw some support that way. 

Gotta throw some good karma out there after yesterdays post.  :)

Random rant...and the line in the sand

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I work with a man that has a very bushy beard.  It looks like he is eating a squirrel and can't finish the tail.  He has the same lunch period as me. Ever see a billy goat eat?  Pretty sure I know what it looks like.

Now, I am not ranting against all facial hair on a man.  There is that line though, once crossed a sexy stubble turns into obscene mess.

I am sure there is this same line with women's leg hair. Maybe there is a sexy stubble...alright maybe not so much.  Is there something a woman has that a little is not too bad but a whole lot is oh my God call the circus?  You don't have to answer...pretty sure before I finished typing that I thought of 5.  I'm gonna put myself to bed...I'm crazy talking.  I blame all the writing I did this weekend and my wacky sleep schedule being off.

Hope you guys had a great Monday. Hollar at chatcha later.

Shout out Sunday-Beginning, middle and end

Not to be all braggie but this is week two and I didn't forget.  I know stop you're swooning.  The twitterverse has introduced me to a huge group of fellow writers and I would feel remiss if I didn't share my findings with everyone.

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Karl with a K posted 25 tips on building characters. I had to write an entire manuscript to get to know my characters...and then a pre-story.  Hudson Grey was a stuff nut to crack. (Hee, hee I wrote "nut.")

C.S. Lakin came up with an interesting check list...you know I like a list.  Check out her list of where all stories must begin.

Patricia at Publishing a book is an Adventure has interesting advice on steps of how to start a blog tour.

Critique my Manuscript has a pretty comprehensive check list of questions to answer when asking your beta readers and editor friends for help.  I know some shy away from list, but for those of us who love something to check off this is amazing and would have been so helpful to me last year and will help me this year.

The Guardian published an interesting article, 20 Things You Need to Know Before You Self Publish. It looks at the stigma that goes with self publishing what you can do to not be a stereotype.  

Martin Luther's day

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I don't have any great traditions to mark this great man's day. I wish I did. Maybe a special menu, toast, or place to gather with family that would give this day the value it deserves.

My sister used to love Dr. King because his day meant we got her birthday as a school free day.  It made the family feel extra connected to him. (That reminds me I need to get her a card.)

I wonder sometimes as a history teacher, maybe as a writer...what if he still was alive?  How would his cause have changed?  What would he say about the state of racial equality today? What great speeches or books would he have produced?

I wonder what his dream would be today?

Shout out Sunday...for the writer

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This week all of shares are a result of the Twitter gold I have dug up.  Not really dug up...it is interesting that when you follow those in the writing industry that they all have blogs and those blogs have some crazy good advice.  Take a look:

• R.S. Hunter posted a I think my most favorite post of the week.  "Naming your characters," it seems like it would be so stinking simple.  But I absolutely hate it. I am so joyful that now I have a handful of links to help me come up with character name gold!
• Saundra Mitchell has an interesting blog post on creating your own press kits.  As Indie authors take the bull by the horns we have to educate ourselves on all of the nuances of the process of marketing your own book. 
• Wendy L. Young has great advice and suggestion on how to leverage your time on Goodreads as a writer.  She gives tips to turning your time on there into money.  
• Mike Wells bestselling writer of suspense, thriller fiction posted the most amazing post on, "How to write a two sentence synopsis." If you are an old timer here you remember the months I spent writing and rewriting that stupid sentence. If only I had his advice...to think of the time I would have saved.  

• A to Z Challenge is coming soon to a blog near you. This challenge last year helped my readership explode from 25 to 120.  It was freaking awesome the amazing people that I met and that have become the community that I regularly talk with and visit.  If you have never done a challenge like this than be on the look out and think in terms of the alphabet post titles.  It is fun and you will love it.

Enjoy having a look around.  I sure did. 

Week in review: twitter, awkward moments and First

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I have had a very exciting week. Might be strange since this is semester exams and it has been rainy and dark out all week. What could possibly ratchet up my enthusiasm for this nondescript week in this dreary part of the month?

1. While the little darlings test, I get to sit and play on the computer.  Any day I get to do that is an awesome day.
2. I was struck by some of my latest antics with an absolutely brilliant idea for the next unit I teach. The unit is about the boom and bust cycle of industries in Texas.  I know sounds thrilling...every year I try to jazz this puppy up.  Some are a little better than others but none are just ringing my bell.  Well, after watching a days worth of documentaries I thought..."Why couldn't my kids do this?" So I have devised a wild plan to have each class take on one industry and write/film/edit a movie of their own.  This could be super amazing or disaster.  I am really hoping we get amazing. I will keep you guys updated. 
3. Do you ever have one of those "Office" moments at work and smile to yourself as you watch it unfold?  I love and look forward to these lovely little awkward times.  They bring nothing but joy and happiness...to me.  One of these very moments was building all last week and finally ended on Friday. I have to say the build up to the moment made me feel like Christmas was coming.  I was giddy all week...and so thrilled on Friday when I could finally share all the fun antics that led up to this awkward celebration with everyone.  Fantastic!
4. Another exciting thing was I ran my first blog hop.  It had pretty limited involvement.  Apparently the linky thing app is not so bueno for the nube. I will have to chalk that away as experience learned for next time.  It was fun to try to host a mixer...and a bit of a let down that it was about as well attended as most of my house parties. At least I am consistent. 
5. I have been in complete Twitter nirvana. I have had a Twitter forever but didn't get it and was a wee bit scared of saying anything.  I had 200ish followers and was shocked because I never got on. That all changed two weeks ago.  I jumped on there and lucked into a #writerschat.  Where I bumped into some great writers with some pretty amazing and helpful advice. Not only did they have interesting things to say but they were so stinking friendly.  I was hooked. Then last week I had a full conversation with Janet Reid. (Top ten New York literary agent extraordinaire)  I had sent her a querry letter a year an a half ago and never heard back.  I probably deserved that.  She is super funny and sassy on Twitter. And she replies to her replies, kind of rare with some of the super famous twits. She and I had a fun sassy conversation.  She didn't ask to see my book nor did she remember me.  But super encouraging anyway. 
6. And this week I was nominated/volunteered to write for the state social studies journal.  I am super hyped!  But the due date is next week....nice. I better get to writing.  Don't want to mess up my first due date. :0) Hope you guys have a great Saturday.