Happy Anniversary Harry Potter: a blogging retrospective

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (know in the US as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone because publishers assume American readers are too dumb to pick up anything with philosopher in the title, or know anything about medieval history or alchemy...but I digress).

Dumbledore's costume, WB studio tour, London (my photo)

I was first introduced to the series shortly after the first two books became available through Scholastic in the US. A reading specialist in my book group felt we just had to give them a try. She reads heaps of kidlit and knew these books were something special, bringing together tropes from fantasy, mythology, coming of age, and boarding school stories. They're fun and smart and got reluctant readers willing to work through their reading struggles to find out what happens next.

Having my husband read the series aloud to me, so we could enjoy the books together, became one of the defining bonding experiences of my early married years. He has gone on to develop college courses that suss out philosophical themes in the books, and has given a number of conference talks and published books chapters on epistemology and ethics in Rowling's work.

My contribution to Harry Potter fandom has been largely connected with this blog. I've participated in some blog hops, did a series of thematic character analyses, and eventually spun off a short-lived online fan 'zine.

So for your enjoyment, I offer links to my many Harry Potter-themed offerings.

Literary analyses

The Slow Growing Hero (Neville Longbottom)
What Makes a Villain? Part 1: The Dursleys and Malfoys
What Makes a Villain? Part 2: Umbridge and Voldemort
What Makes a Villain? Part 3: A Hero in Villain's Clothing (Severus Snape)

Thestral Gazette

I created this fan-fiction "underground newspaper" with a team, to provide muckraker-style "yellow journalism" pieces about "hidden Hogwarts revealed by those in the know." Pieces are cross-posted HERE.

Mrs. Norris's Secret Identity Revealed
Gilderoy Lockhart's Exciting New Book Release!
Snape's Secret Admirer
Fast, Loose, and Aria-Belting: Professors After Hours
Viktor Krum Reuintes with Former Girlfriend
Discovery: Mer-mating
Umbridge Unmasked
Ask Abby Gabby: Advice for Wizards and Witches (first feature)
Advice for Wizards and Witches (second feature)
Being Bullied? Weasel Your Way Out
Elves Gone Wild
Cauldron Chatter: Cloaked Items (gossip column)
Special Report from Hogwarts Florida Campus

Blog Hop posts

The Benefit of Books First (guest post by the hubs)
Wrock on! About the fandom creation "wizard rock"
Quidditch anyone? About collegiate "muggle quidditch" teams
Spinning New Yarns: Fan Fiction and Fan Art
Ravenclaw Heaven: Harry Potter meets Academia
Who Would Be Your Mates? Create a friend trio with two Hogwarts students

Miscellany

Harry Potter themed party ideas part I and part II
My photos from the Harry Potter WB Studio Tour near London and Hogwarts meme

And for fun, a quick list of my favorites:

Book in series: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Film: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Male character: Neville Longbottom
Female character: Hermione Granger
Professor: Remus Lupin
Scene: Escape from Gringott's in Deathly Hallows
Spell: Accio (summoning spell)
Method of transit: aparation
Magical creature: House elves
Magical event: Yule Ball

How long have you been a Harry Potter fan? What are your favorites from the list above?

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Mystery blogger: nine things about me

When I first started this blog in 2009, blog "awards" were all the rage. I think 2010-11 was a peak period, in which I received and passed along more than a dozen. By 2013 no one was doing them any more, and it made me a little sad. I can see how they might seem like public chain letters, but by golly they are fun. They give you something entertaining to blog about when all your creativity has gone into finishing a fantastic chapter the night before.

So I will not be joining the anti-blog-award brigade. Nope. I'll be having some fun. So here goes....

There are rules to this award, of course…
Rule 1: Put the award logo/image on your blog.

Rule 2: List the rules.

Rule 3: Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

Big thanks for the nomination to awesome A-Z Blogging challenge co-host J. Lenni Dorner, who I knew on Twitter for some time before becoming blog buddies.

Rule 4: Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
About the creator: Okoto Enigma’s blog 
The creator’s name, Enigma, means mystery, thus the title of the award.

Rule 5: Tell your readers three things about yourself.

1) I can identify nearly any early 1980s pop song within five measures or less. I was obsessed with America's Top 40 in my misspent youth. (I could have been memorizing Pi to the 400th decimal place or all the world capitals or something a little less frivolous). My husband sometimes makes me demonstrate my skill for guests.

2) I did props management and set decoration for about a dozen college productions, as well as for some community theatre shows. Once I'm an empty nester, I will likely take it up again. It is so much fun to build the material culture for a play.

3) I'm convinced that one of my childhood homes was haunted. We often heard movement in distant rooms, and one of the bedrooms had a distinct cold spot. I sensed the presence of our ghost more than once, particularly in the daytime when playing alone. My sense was that it was a young woman who'd perhaps died in childbirth and continued going about the business of taking care of her family, as if unaware she was dead.

Rule 6: Nominate other bloggers. (I'm going to cheat a little on this one. Twenty is a bit much).

Faith Hough
Jean Davis
Nick Wilford
Samantha Dunaway Bryant
Tyrean Martinson

Rule 7: Notify those people.

Rule 8: Ask your nominee any five questions of your choice, plus one weird or funny question.

The questions I have for my nominees are:
1) What are three things on your "bucket list"?
2) Which authors have influenced you in terms of genre, style, or theme?
3) What book's milieu (place, time, culture) would you most like to live in?
4) What are your favorite writing resources?
5) What's the best book you've read recently?
Fun/weird bonus:  Have you ever developed a "book crush" on a fictional character? Who and why?


I was asked
1) What is the most memorable trait or visual oddity of a fictional book character you’ve read?

Anne Shirley's intense flights of fancy into imaginary worlds (Anne of Green Gables series). I didn't read the books until post-college and felt like L.M. Montgomery could have been writing my girlhood (minus the orphan thing, and living in the 1880s, obvs).

2) What most motivates you to buy a new book to read?

New printed books are a purchase I have to justify because of the space issue and the expense. I have to be convinced I will read it more than once, use it as a resource or model text, or will likely share it. A great sale might also convince me. I'm freer about picking up used books and ebooks--the former aren't as big an expense, the latter less a clutter creator.

3) How do YOU make an educated guess as to if a book by an author you haven’t read before will be “good” BEFORE you read any of it?

The description has to grab me. I can more quickly get past an ugly cover than this. And I never buy or download stuff--even freebies--without reading a sample. Because a great cover blurb of an interesting premise sometimes doesn't translate into style that draws me in. I'm a voice-driven writer and tend to be a voice-driven reader also.

4) What’s your favorite comfort food?

Mashed potatoes. My husband has a killer technique of boiling garlic cloves with the potatoes, then hand-mashing the cooked garlic into the cooked potatoes, along with sour cream, butter, and white pepper.

5) Where do you look for blogging inspiration?

My monthly critique group meetings often provide fodder, as does Twitter--sometimes a random post will catch my eye, sometimes a grammar or spelling error in a tweet will inspire an editing topic.

Weird/funny question: Do you have a celebrity encounter story you can share?

I am almost phobic about rubbing elbows with someone famous and doing something stupid, so I tend to go out of my way to avoid contact, even when given special access, like at comic conventions. So if there's a celebrity around, I will be trying to quietly creep away.


Rule 9: Share a link to my blog’s best post.
Rebel that I am, I'll share two. :-)

One of my analyses of Harry Potter characters continues to get the most hits. It's third in a series

What makes a villain? Part 3: Hero in Villain's Clothing

A newer post with nearly as many page views is this one on my revision process:

How I Do It: Identifying Story Weaknesses

Q4U: Do you miss the "good old days" of writing blogs (before 2012)? 
Answer any (or all) of my six questions listed under "rule 8."

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Roundup of best links for the year

Photo credit: DanielaTurcanu from morguefile.com

Another year is ending, which naturally tends to make us stop and take stock of where we've been and where we are hoping to go next. I've done well with some goals, less well with others.

Reflecting on what worked, I realized there were some influential articles and blog posts that were especially helpful to me. As my year-end gift to you, here they are:

Most helpful posts of the year

The procrastination doom loop, and how to break it via @TheAtlantic
It's very easy to become slave to your moods when you're doing creative work. This is one of the best explanations about how to overcome this. Truly a game-changer for me.

The Redemptive Arc via @DavidCorbett_CA
Really helpful discussion on how guilt and shame operate in a person's life, and how to harness these powerful emotional forces to build stories that resonate.

Five tips for making writing a daily habit via @premieressay
Some of the advice here will seem like old hat--goal setting, accountability. Other tips are unique to creative writing, like being always prepared to capture ideas when they come. Not putting parameters on what "counts" as output for the day is great too. Check it out.

Discovering our writing process via @JamiGold
Whatever gets you to "the end" is worth trying. Don't let the plethora of advice online paralyze you, or worse, make you waste your creative life chasing the Holy Grail of  "a perfect writing process." If the thought "I must be doing this writing thing wrong" ever crossed your mind, check out this post.

More than one adjective--Comma or no comma? via @CathleenTowns
This is my favorite editorial discovery of the year. I've never before heard the rules of how to order adjectives, even in graduate-level editing courses. If commas drive you batty, go check this out!

How POV can solve your writing troubles via @Janice_Hardy
This one crossed my Twitter feed when I was struggling to ensure my denouement would remain dynamic and dramatic, not devolve into a dull info-dump. It helped me with with more than this--I was able to revise several other scenes I knew weren't quite working yet.

"Can you make this worse?" Thoughts on rituals of self-care when the writing is hard via @gingermoran
Are you genuinely taking risks in your writing, daring to go deep when it would be easier not to? This post discusses teasing out the deep emotions that are difficult to access, and also how to not lose your mind while doing so.

The unfair truth about how creative people really succeed via @JeffGoins
A look at why networking is important, and helpfully gives tips on how to do it better. For the reticent and shy, this is good stuff. It's all about being supportive and trustworthy, not flashy.

My favorite writing books from 2015 

Story Trumps Structure: How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules by Steven James
At last! A writing craft book for pantsers that doesn't try to force you to become a plotter. James's approach is to help you develop more deeply what you do well--follow your instinct toward the most compelling direction a story can go. His chapter on "status" in character interactions is worth the purchase price. Pure gold.

Around the Writer's Block: Using Brain Science to Solve Writer's Resistance by Roseanne Bane
A great all-around resource for building better work habits while gaining a deep sense of satisfaction and creative joy. This book isn't just about routine and schedule, but caring for and feeding your muse. Her most powerful concept is the importance to entering a relaxed state in order to create. If you struggle a lot with writer's resistance (fear-based procrastination), you MUST read this book. It is hugely helpful. A great follow up to Pressfield's The War of Art.


Any powerful lessons you learned this year? Favorite links you'd like to share?

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Three tricks to sharpen your proofreading eye

photo by Alvimann, morguefile.com

I edit for a living, and yet when it comes to cleaning up my own work, I often blithely pass over simple errors.  Why is that?

Brain science says our minds are sense-making machines. Our minds will interpret what's in front of us as what we expect to see, mentally filling in omitted words, for example, or seeing expected end punctuation that isn't actually there.

So how does one trick the mind to stop making sense (and assumptions)? Here are a few tricks I use at work to ensure I catch everything.

Change the text's appearance

If you're accustomed to always reading a manuscript in letter size (8.5" x 11"), temporarily change your page size to A5, which is roughly the size of a paperback page. (In the "page layout" menu, select A5.) The shorter lines will make the text flow differently, thus making it unfamiliar. Your brain will approach the text afresh. You'll be better able to see what's actually there rather than what your brain assumes is there.

Changing the typeface and font size can also help. Make all three changes if necessary.

Expect to find errors

Remember how the brain sees what it expects to see? Expect errors and you will find errors.

When you do a first pass, focus on syntax and vocabulary. Question everything.

Word is pretty good at helping you find blatant typos, like "teh" for "the," as well as accidental repetitions and some punctuation errors. It's not so good at finding some kinds of accidental omissions or misused vocabulary.

You might find it helpful to search for each of the words on this list of most common homophone errors (misuse of sound-alike words) and check to be sure you've got the right term for the context. More homophones are listed here. The most extensive list is here (though the collector mistakenly uses the term "homonym" which means "same-name" and refers to terms with one spelling and multiple meanings, like bat).

Do a second pass, focusing on punctuation. Again, assume there are errors. Keep a style book at the ready. If you're not sure whether to add a comma or delete one, look it up.

Slow down

Silent reading allows one to breeze through a text quickly. In fact, it encourages skimming.

To make sure you catch everything rather than zip past errors, take chapters out of order (again, to make them fresh and unfamiliar) and read them aloud. Slowly. Make sure to say only what is actually on the page.

What is your most common missed error? Do you have any additional tricks to help you proofread? 

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Three dozen day 12/12/12

I'm calling today "three dozen day," in honor of the date 12/12/12. It will be a long while until we have another symmetrical date like today's . We'll of course have 1/3/13 and a palindrome, 3/1/13 next year, but that's not quite as pretty as the date patterns we've had going for the past eleven years, starting with 01/01/01.

To celebrate, here are three sets of a dozen goodies for you:

A dozen quotes (from yours truly)

"...truth is beautiful, no matter where you find it."
(From a guest post for Tricia O'Brien, "Make your stories sing")

"If you wait for inspiration to strike or writing conditions to be optimal, you’ll never finish anything. You have to keep chipping away at projects on good days and bad."
(From my interview on Read Review Smile)

"Gratitude is light in the darkness, friends. It is a powerful weapon against despair, a powerful creator of joy." (From "Thanks and Joy")

"A funny thing about listening to fear--it takes away your power to contradict it."
(From "Leaving Fear, Grasping Hope")

"Hope comes from being like the Magi--keeping an eye on the far horizon, watching for something good. We lose hope when unhappy things in the immediate environment consume our vision and we stop regularly scanning the horizon." (From "Following Your Star")

"...the stuff of creativity--joy, life energy, what have you--is like manna in the wilderness. It is a gift that must be gathered fresh daily." (From "Living Forward")

"The past doesn't stay in the past. It always has implications for the present and future."
(From "I've Got a History")

"Remember that where you come from shapes who you are."
(From an interview with Melissa Sarno, "Let Setting Emerge from Character")

"Real attraction, real magnetism is more deeply layered than finding someone hot. It grows out of finding something admirable in another person that resonates with who you are and want to be."
(From a guest post for Laura Pauling: "Romance is more than 'hotness'")

"The writers who do non-preachy well...succeed because the way faith deeply shapes how the characters think...around the idea of rescue and redemption, of deeply needing help themselves."
(From interview with Karen Akins, "Edgy? Clean? Writing across genre divides")

"Despite the eye-rolling, daughters know they’re valued when their dads don’t let just any guy get close to them."
(From a guest post for Tyrean Martinson, "Why Dads Matter")

"One of the most lovely things about literature is how it opens a window into other worlds, gives us a chance to understand other perspectives by living inside them for just a little while."
(from guest post for Leigh T. Moore, "Getting Real About Faith...and Doubt")

A dozen albums that inspired Never Gone

The Hurting, by Tears for Fears
Requiem, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Disintigration, by The Cure
Once Upon a Time, by Simple Minds
Macalla, by Clannad
Avalon, by Roxy Music
Mercury Falling, by Sting
Fields of Gold, by Sting
Hey Jude, by The Beatles
Optical Race, by Tangerine Dream
Thirtysomething Soundtrack
The Best of Simon and Garfunkel, by Simon and Garfunkel

A dozen British slang terms from Never Gone

barking mad / barmy / blimey / bollocks / crikey / fancy / gadding about / Geordie / git / hobgoblin / nutter / peaky

More chances to win

I also have a few giveaways going on. If you'd been hoping to win a copy of Never Gone and haven't yet, check out Read Review Smile (2 copies up for grabs) and Day 6 of  Fifteen Days of Christmas giveaway at Ramblings of a Book Junkie!

How will you celebrate Three Dozen Day? 

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Lookie here...

Fellow Rabble Writer Madeline Sharples invited me to take part in The Look Challenge for writers. The premise is simple: find a passage in your manuscript or book that contains the word “look,” post it on your blog, and tag five other blogging writers to do the same.

Here's my excerpt, from Chapter 2 of my debut:

As I head toward the bathroom, a flash of blue by the front door catches my eye. Dad’s terry robe. And Dad, straightening frames. He frowns, probably deciding whether to swap some photos. When he gets to the second row, he turns and motions to me. Come.

My hands shake so badly I almost drop my makeup case. He’s still here. Right here. Maybe the phone call, the hospital, the surgeries weren’t real. Just a very vivid nightmare. My feet carry the rest of me, like a sleepwalker, toward him.

When I get there, he’s gone. Before me is the magic photo: the one split second in my short life that I look incredible. It’s not a coiffed, polished glamour shot. No, I’m sweaty and my clothes are rumpled. But I’m floating four feet in the air, my gawky tallness curved like a curlicue C around the high jump bar. My leading arm is like a ballerina’s, legs steely and lean, face full of happy peace. A swan moment.

I tag the following friends:
Deniz Bevan
Faith Elizabeth Hough
Connie Keller
Melissa Pearl
Melanie Schulz

I was surprised that "look" didn't appear more frequently in my story, which has as a theme "good vision" or seeing things correctly, rather than filtered through prejudices and pre-jududgments.

How much "look" ing happens in your work? Is vision the primary sense, or are your stories more strongly auditory and sound-centered?

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Celebrating A Spy Like Me

In celebration of the official release of A Spy Like Me, Laura Pauling is hosting a three-week blog series: A Spies, Murder and Mystery Marathon.



Authors galore, guest posts and book giveaways almost every day!

Gemma Halliday, Cindy M. Hogan, Elizabeth Spann Craig,
Nova Ren Suma, Elisa Ludwig, and Anne R. Allen....Just to name a few!

And here's why she's celebrating!



Stripping your date down to his underwear has never been so dangerous.

After dodging bullets on a first date, Savvy must sneak, deceive and spy to save her family and friends and figure out if Malcolm is one of the bad guys before she completely falls for him.

Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ Smashwords

Head on over to Laura’s blog for the start of the Spies, Murder and Mystery Marathon. You won’t want to miss this sizzling series as we head into summer. Stock up on some great thrilling reads! If you dare…

I read an ARC of A Spy Like Me and really enjoyed it. Here's my short review:

This complexly-plotted story is sure to please teen readers. Savvy's narrative voice draws you in immediately. I like the fact that she has moments of both competent self-assurance and bumbling insecurity like any teen. She's not so perfect you can't relate or so flawed you stop rooting for her. Pauling makes her exotic locale work hard for its keep, not only making use of well-loved Parisian tourist sites, but also gently poking fun at icons of French culture including mimes and chefs. The mysterious love interest keeps you guessing as much as the carefully woven threads of clues in this fast-paced spy romp.

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It's a gift to be published

My latest accepted poem, "Storm Shelter," was published today at the e-zine Daily Love. You can read this fiction-in-verse piece HERE.

Sometimes when I'm drafting, I find it helpful to try out a scene in verse format as a way of getting to the emotional core of the action. This is one such experiment with a scene from my second novel.

Happy Holidays, all! I'll be back in the new year.

Do you even rearrange or play with material you've already written, just to try it out?

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Well, I Never...

Today is Vicki Rocho's "Well, I Never" blogfest. She invited us to share something we'd never done, never thought we'd do (but did) or something that simply puzzles us. Go swing by Rambles and Randomness to see the other participants. Rather than a list, I'll share one quick story...

I never went to the prom. It wasn't because I wasn't asked. No, it was largely because I didn't want to go with the guy who asked me. We had a history, one I didn't care to repeat.

I briefly considered asking a friend who went to another school, but as fun and cool as he was, the fact he was a freshman and I was a senior gave me pause. Too much potential to get really awkward. I was also kind-of-sort-of seeing someone at the time, a junior from my own school. Our daily walking-home-from-school flirtation would really go nowhere if I asked someone else to the prom--someone even younger than he. I had a real knack for relationship muddles like this at 17. Is it any wonder I write YA?

From what I could tell, the prom would be just like the school cafeteria but with formalwear--every clique keeping to themselves, everyone carefully guarding his or her established image. Honestly, why bother? So I decided to throw an anti-prom party instead. I had a fantastic night watching movies and hanging out with my favorite underclassman and a senior or two, who, like me, decided the prom was one of the "high school necessities" we could happily live without.

Funnily enough, my friends who did go to the prom ditched early and came to my house instead. Apparently, annoying classmates become even more so under the influence of cheap beer and Jack Daniels. More genuine fun was to be had with us sober, soda-sipping geeks.

====

In other news, there's a wonderful new e-zine now accepting submissions: Vine Leaves Literary Journal. This publication features vignette writing--short pieces that deeply explore character, setting or description rather than being a traditionally plotted story. You can read more about the editors' vision and submission guidelines HERE.

Vine Leaves Literary Journal is the brainchild of Jessica Bell (author of String Bridge) and her critique partner Dawn Ius, a Canadian writer and marketing/communications pro. They felt this subgenre of literary writing deserved a venue of its own.

I'm thrilled to have a piece accepted to the premiere issue (January 2012). I'll post a link when the issue goes live.

Did you go to the prom? Tell me your story!

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Winners!

Oh, happy day! I am pleased to announce the winners of my Triplicity celebration and contest.

I'll begin with the skills portion of the contest. This was a fun one to judge, though I think I may have pulled a muscle busting a gut too many times.

The World's Worst Metaphors and Similes winners are (in alpha order by author):

Kayeleen Hamblin of Kayeleen's Creation Corner

The water fell like the tinkling of a grown man with bladder incontinence.

PK Hrezo of My Fiction Addiction

He persistence was like that of a dog returning time and again with a slobbery rope toy no one wants to play with.

Janet Johnson of Musings of a Children's Writer

His suitcase was as heavy as Grandma's pudding and twice as tasty.


Okay, funny gals, you may choose any one of the following:
~a 10-page detailed critique
~10 pages of copy editing
~an editorial overview of up to 50 pages, outlining areas for growth
~a character naming consultation. I'll help you research and find/create up to three character names, any genre.

Please drop me a line at laurels (dot) leaves (at) gmail (dot) com to arrange your prize of my time/expertise.


And now for the lucky one, the winner of a $30 Amazon gift certificate!

Who do you suppose came up as my random drawing winner?

. . .

Wait for it...


Who will get an Amazon shopping spree?


Who, oh, who?

Seriously, who?

Are you tingling with anticipation yet?


How cruel can I be?


Tell us already!


Okay, okay, don't get violent, friends.

According to RANDOM.ORG,

who so efficiently scrambled my long, long list of entrants,

the winner is...

Jenna Wallace!
of Writing in the Dreamstate

Congrats, Jenna! Drop me a line at laurels (dot) leaves (at) gmail (dot) com with your preferred e-mail address and I'll arrange delivery of your $30 Amazon.com gift certificate. Happy shopping!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Thestral Thursday. That's right, it's another issue of our Hogwarts underground newspaper, the Thestral Gazette. The lovely Lisa Galek of Read. Write. Repeat. will bring us a batch of juicy school gossip gathered by her alter ego, Belicia Babble.

Which of the winning similes struck you as funniest? Why?

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We interrupt our regular schedule...

This week, I'll be straying from my usual Tuesday, Thursday, Friday routine to participate in some blogfests.

Would you like to join me? Here are the details (and my schedule):

Wednesday, March 30
Harry Potter Blogfest:
Who would be your mates?

Hosted my Michael DiGesu at In Time...

Click HERE for the sign-up widget.

Post a maximum of 350 words based on this prompt: If you were a student at Hogwarts, who would you choose for your two best friends? Describe what kind of trio you would be.


Saturday, April 2
Memory Lane Blogfest

Hosted by Vicki Rocho at Rambles and Randomness

Click HERE for the sign-up widget

Vicki has posted a set of six memory-related questions for you to answer. Easy-peasy!


Blogfests are a great way to get to know people and stretch your creativity.

Have you joined any blogfests? What did you enjoy most? If not, what's holding you back?

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Stylish Friday

Fellow poet/fiction writer Alberta Ross was so kind as to pass along the Stylish Blogger Award to me. Thanks, Alberta!

The rules of this one are to share seven things about myself and pass along the award to some other worthy bloggers. Here goes.

1. My black cat, Keats, looks just like Toothless in How to Train Your Dragon. Seriously. He even lost all his fangs due to gum disease, so we've taken to calling him Toothless, too.

2. Whenever I walk with someone, I'll usually be in step with them. It's one of those deep-seated marching band things.

3. Music that changes time signatures frequently makes me extremely anxious and agitated. Sufian Steven's latest album, for example, which my hubby adores, has this affect for this reason. After years in a drum line, you start to feel personally responsible for rhythms around you being "right." Weird, I know.

4. I like to read psychology books, style manuals and my rhyming dictionary for fun.

5. My favorite chore is doing the laundry, especially if I can dry things on my clothesline. Nothing is quite so soothing as sheets flapping in the breeze.

6. I have never broken my teenage habit of listening to the same album over and over all day long.

7. I know more about cars than my hubby does. He didn't have to take two years of classroom driver's ed. in which we learned why tire pressure is important, took written tests on engine parts and watched many grisly movies demonstrating what happens when you don't wear a seat belt or maintain your car or you drive too tired or tipsy.

I pass this one along to the following bloggers:

Bethany at Aspirations.
Karen at Novels During Naptime.
Perri at Lesser Apricots.
Saumya at Left and Right Brained.

What odd habits do you still have that you acquired in your teen years?

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Win-win: read great lit for charity!

The fine folks at The Literary Lab have released a new anthology this week, entitled Notes from Underground, including work by one of my CPs, Simon Larter, and blog followers Anne Gallagher and Summer Ross. Way to go, writer friends!

All proceeds from the sale of this anthology go to the American Society of Journalists and Authors Writers Emergency Assistance Fund.

Here's how to get your hands on a copy:

PRINT COPIES through CreateSpace Store
$10 each (If you subscribe to The Literary Lab mailing list, you will receive a 15% discount code to use in the Create Space store. They will email the code by the end of each day to new subscribers until March 8, when the discount expires.)
click here

A larger precentage of profits go the the ASJA Writers Emergency Assistance Fund from the Create Space site, verus other outlets.

PRINT COPIES through Amazon
$10 each
click here

KINDLE COPIES through Amazon
$4.99 each
click here

Have a great weekend, friends! Any fun plans? Anyone else slogging through tax forms? Any tips for surviving the annual agony?

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Poet of the Month Finale

Today is my final guest posting as February "poet of the month" at Angela Felsted's blog, My Poetry and Prose Place. Today's piece is called "Graham at St. Stephens." If you can spare a moment, stop by to take a peek.

It's another of my novel cutting-room floor experiments. You, too, could have fun reworking excised bits of larger works as poems or short stories. See my post "Giving Life to Peripheral Stories" for more details on doing just that.

Last day to vote!
Don't forget to visit the Republic of Pemberley to vote on stories in their short story contest. Click HERE to read the stories and vote for your top three favorites.

Jenna Wallace, who was one of my writing contest winners last year, has a wonderful entry, #74 "Intent and Intensity." It's a clever, well-written updating of Sense and Sensibility. I hope you can join me in supporting a gifted fellow blogger.

How was your weekend, friends?

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What if words could dance?

The blogosphere has been buzzing about the e-book phenomenon for some time. One question that publishers are thinking about--but writers may not be--is how might we harness technology to make books something MORE?

At a conference I attended last fall, a panelist discussed the "enhanced e-book" model publishers hope will make children's books "value-added." By this, they mean embedding added features--glossary links to difficult vocabulary, pop-ups that provide educational information on the history or science of a story, illustrations that can be explored in three dimensions.

The possibilities of marrying story worlds with technology are frankly mind-boggling. An essay I recently edited at work led me to discover how even poets are exploring techie enhancements. Think of it as "concrete poetry gets its groove on."

The piece I read looked at work by poet Oni Buchanan. Some of her poetry is created using Flash animation so that the poem morphs and evolves, the letters exploding and reforming into new phrases and forms. It's one of the most astonishingly cool things I have seen in some time.

Take a look at her poem series "The Mandrake Vehicles," which Buchanan calls "installations"--a term performance artists use. Prepared to be amazed. It's freaking brilliant.

What enhancements would you love to see in e-books of the future?

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Guest posting at My Poetry and Prose Place

I've been selected as one of Angela Felsted's Poets of the Month after placing in her poetry contest. Today she posted my poem "Moving On" at My Poetry and Prose Place. I'll be doing another guest post on 2/21 and a second poem, "Graham at St. Stephens" will be featured on 2/28. If you get a chance, swing on by to say hello.

I fell hard for poetry while taking a contemporary poetry course as an undergrad. The prof began the class by lining us around the perimeter of the room and having us shout random portions of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" at one another. This was a universe away from the precious ponderings of Wordsworth and a game changer for me creatively. Many scenarios I would've previously thought unpoetical became grist for the mill--my janitorial work-study job, memories of Dad slaughtering chickens, a weedy patch in a slum--because truth is beautiful, no matter where you find it.

The pieces I entered in Angela's contest are both built from my novel notes--pieces of backstory that never made it into the book. I'll be posting tomorrow (my regular day) about getting more mileage from your character studies.

What authors have been game-changers for your creatively? Have you ever found a beautiful truth in an ugly place?

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Wise and smiling

I am so thankful to be part of a community that supports and celebrates one another and even gives virtual pats on the back. Yes, friends, I'm talking blog awards.

Wise Writer

The effervescent Shannon at Book Dreaming gave me this flattering award eons ago. The two rules are to name one (or more) favorite writing resources and pass the award along to other bloggers who've stimulated your thinking and whose wisdom has helped you along the way.

These are some of the titles most thumbed through and scribbled in among my collection:

The Scene Book by Sandra Scofield
Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
Beginnings, Middles and Ends by Nancy Kress
Actually, all Nancy Kress writing books are gold. She's my hero.

I pass this one along to the following sage ladies (no offense to the gentlemen, I just liked the assonance):

Angela at My Poetry and Prose Place
Faith at Faith Elizabeth Hough
Mary at Play off the Page
Laura P. at Exercising the Right to Ramble
Saumya at Left and Write Brained


Making Smiles

The "Making Smiles on Faces Award" is all about happy (and a smidge wordy, but if there's one thing happiness makes us do, it's gush, right?) This one came from the lovely Lisa at Read. Write. Repeat.

I pass this one along to the following cheer bringers:

E. Elle at The Writer's Funhouse
Janet at Musings of a Children's Writer
JEM at Can I get a side of reality with that?
Laura M. at Wavy Lines
Lynn at Place to Create

What are your favorite writing resources? What made you smile today?

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Friday fun day

My hubby and I have been geeking out big time on the latest season of Dr. Who, which at last became available on Netflix in November.

How badly are we geeking out? Check out the themed snowflakes hubby created (from scratch, I might add, using an exacto knife and a hole punch). He is the awesomest!


































Can you recognize the iconic Dr. Who images in each?

Posts of Note
Talli Roland, who's e-book version of her first novel The Hating Game released December 1, has two amazing posts with how-tos on marketing your work:

The Web Splash: How I Organised It explains how to harness social media in a launch.
The Behemoth explains how to work with amazon.com.

Think I'll keep it short and sweet today. We're in full-on holiday hustle at my place.

Any other Whovians out there?
Have you ever made fan art? Ever tried cut paper creations?
Does marketing your work excite or scare you? Why?

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Feature Friday

So many of my lovely blog pals keep a nice, consistent schedule. I haven't yet found one that works 100% for me, but I'm leaning towards T, Th, F. My Tuesday, Thursday posts would be the more practical and meaty ones you all keep coming back for, and the Friday posts would be lighter.

So today I'm going to share some linkage and wish you all a splendid weekend.

Posts of Note
In the querying dumps? I urge you to go read Sherrie Petersen's latest post at Write About Now, Sometimes You Just Give Up. It has an amazing twist ending sure to delight.

At Roxane Salonen's blog Peace Garden Writer, she discusses the very essential work of being dreamy and giving your mind space to develop ideas deeply in Let the Tortoise Have His Way.

Michelle Gregory at Beautiful Chaos encourages us to walk away from the "shoulds" that don't fit our lives in true to who i am.

And just for fun, see Diana Paz's Ten Signs You *May* Be Procrastinating on Revisions.

Friday Follow
If you write PB, MG or YA, your should be following Casey McCormick's very awesome blog Literary Rambles. Her site will help you tremendously with agent research. Tremendously! She has two new agent spotlights up this week alone. And the information is beautifully organized and cogent. She also offers a forum to have your query and/or opening pages critiqued.

Contest alerts
C.A. Marshall is offering a free manuscript edit, up to 100K words, to one lucky winner!

Lisa Galek at Read. Write. Repeat. is giving away a copy of Dirty Little Secrets.

Jessica Bell at The Alliterative Allomorph is giving away a signed copy of Someone to Blame.

Warm up your flash fiction muscles--Hairnets and Hopes is hosting a blogfest and contest December 15 on the theme "Truth is Stranger Than Fiction."

Do you blog on a set schedule? How did you decide? What has worked or not worked for you?

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Win Amazon gift cards!

The Alliterative Allomorph Jessica Bell, everyone's favorite Aussie ex-pat, is having a big, shiny giveaway of amazon.com gift cards. This one's open to international entries--good thing since Jessica lives in Greece.

Click HERE to learn more and enter. Go check it out!

And don't you love her theme?

What little things do you want to celebrate?

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