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A Writer’s Pursuit…

June 12, 2008 by in category Archives tagged as

Of Feeling Good

So what do you do to stay in a positive frame of mind? Not just when you struggle with your writing, but when Life springs at you from around the corner bashes you on the head with a cast-iron griddle.

For example, some of you already know that my 23-year-old brother-in-law has been in the hospital for the past five weeks, fighting a scary battle for his health, and will most likely be in there a bit longer. My family and I haunted the halls of the ICU for nearly two weeks and held his hand, encouraged him, and even now when he’s in a regular hospital room, he still needs our support, encouragement, and good cheer as he faces complication after complication.

All of us go through tough times like this (I’m certainly not alone in this), so here’s my question for you: What helps you stand back up, dust yourself off, and straighten your spine, ready to face the battle(s) ahead?

Here are a couple things that have put me in my “happy” place over the past month. And in turn, they’ve helped me stay positive.

* Laughing helps quite a bit. Do you like to watch comedies? Listen to comedians?

We saw Flight of the Conchords live at the Orpheum a few weeks ago, and damn, for a few hours, it just felt good to let go of that 25-pound stone that seemed to be lodged in my chest. We also own their first season DVD from their HBO series, which my DH and I watch often, and listen to their musical comedy album on iTunes. Obviously, we’re fans of this New Zealand band.

Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clements put me in my happy place.

* How about listening to a favorite song before you begin your day or when things get stressful?

One of my favorite bands, MUSE, covers the song “Feeling Good” and I love to play this a couple of times in the morning. Below, is a live version from their concert at Wembley Stadium in 2007 that MUSE posted on YouTube (they also post videos for embedding on their MySpace page). Be sure to turn up the volume… 🙂

If you already read my personal blog, then you know I’m obsessed with this British band. LOL

MUSE definitely puts me in my happy place.

So what about you? What helps you? Do you read a favorite book or series again? Listen to music? Watch a favorite movie? Get together with friends and laugh?

Take Care,

Michele

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Video Podcasting Madness: Part 3

June 11, 2008 by in category Archives tagged as

by Jina Bacarr

Can you believe RWA San Francisco is just around the corner? Time to think about all those great parties coming up…

…but who can forget the Harlequin party last year at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas ? Not OCC!!

Here are two videos from the Harlequin party!

Enjoy,

Jina

Jina Bacarr is the author of The Blonde Geisha , Naughty Paris, Tokyo Rendezvous, a Spice Brief, and her new erotic spy thriller, Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs.

Coming in April 2009: Cleopatra’s Perfume, a WWII spy thriller.

“Get Caught in the Act!”

Harlequin Party: Part ONE: Meet Kelly Mortimer, eHarlequin’s Lorie Hartt and Harlequin Series VP, Randall Toye.

Harlequin Party Part TWO: Meet Tracy Wolff and the OCC Gang!!

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Dreams and Reality

June 10, 2008 by in category Archives

Lessons from Lifeby Nancy Farrier

Not long ago, my seven-year-old grandson, who lives in Southern Arizona, went to his mother with a request for a pet of his own. The conversation went something like this:

“What kind of pet do you want?”

“I want an Arctic Fox,” my grandson said.

“An Arctic Fox? Why?”

“Because they’re white and they’re cute, and I’d like one.”

“But an Arctic Fox lives where it’s very cold. We live in the desert. I think an Arctic Fox would get too hot here,” his mother said.

“I could keep him in the freezer,” my grandson said.

“Well, the arctic is a long ways to go for a pet,” his mother said.

“No, it’s only five miles. You can drive there,” my grandson said.

Needless to say, my grandson hasn’t gotten the pet he wants. His dilemma reminds me of my writing life and the obstacles I come up against. Too many times there are distractions or discouragements that face me at every turn. My great story idea, the one that will impact many, doesn’t sound as good to an editor. Even a passing remark from a friend, that isn’t intended to discourage, can make me wonder why I even write.

Yet, I can’t give up. Just like my grandson and his enthusiasm for a pet that won’t fit with his lifestyle, or isn’t practical, I have to run with my ideas with all the abandon of a seven-year-old. Yes, there are times when reality rears its head, and I have to settle for a prairie dog instead of an arctic fox. When that happens, I’ve learned to get enthused about the prairie dog. At least I won’t have to look at it every time I open the freezer.

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It’s Worth It

June 9, 2008 by in category Archives tagged as

TRAINING FOR DISTANCE

By Kitty Bucholtz

I told you that John and I started training to run a marathon. After ten weeks, on Memorial Day weekend, we ran our first 5K race (3.1 miles)! John started out too fast and had to walk for a couple minutes in the middle to catch his breath, but he still finished in less than 29 minutes. I started out slow to make sure I could make it the whole way, then I sprinted at the end, finishing in just under 45 minutes. But our training had paid off and we finished our race.

Only two weeks later, I ran five miles in 70 minutes, a longer distance and shorter time per mile. I could hardly believe my progress. However, less than a week after that, we tried another five-mile run and couldn’t even make it three miles. It seemed to us that the wisest course of action at that point was to stretch well, make sure we got hydrated and ate well, and give it a rest till after the weekend. We fully expect the next run to go well. But if it doesn’t, we’ll just run a little slower or a little shorter distance and work our way back up again.

There are a lot of similarities between the marathon training and writing for publication. I can’t compare my progress to other people’s progress. (John is nearly 8 inches taller than me – one of many reasons he’ll always run faster than me.) Trying something new is often more difficult than you expect, but not giving up has its rewards. (I often think of how I would’ve missed out on the exhilaration of learning and accomplishing something new if I had given in and quit after that first 60-second run.) Achieving smaller goals, like our 5K and soon our 10K, help motivate you to keep trying for the bigger goals, like running a full marathon. (It’s hard to imagine running 13 or 26 miles straight, but not that long ago I didn’t think I could run 3 or 5 miles either.)

If you have a minute, read this again and compare what I’m saying about running to what you’re thinking and feeling about writing. Where do you see parallels? Training for distance, for the long haul, is hard work, but I say it’s worth it.


Kitty Bucholtz writes romantic comedies because, well, she lives one! She wrote her first book in the NBC cafeteria, the second snowed in at a Reno hotel, and the third from a tiny apartment in Sydney. Even though she loves talking about, writing about, and teaching about writing, she’s pretty sure she knows at least three people who aren’t writers.

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Five Favorite Ways to Read a Book

June 8, 2008 by in category Writing tagged as

by Abby Gaines
www.abbygaines.com

If you’re reading this blog, you already know you love to read, and you probably know what you love to read (though hopefully you’re open to some new reading experiences!). But do you know how you most love to read?

Let’s say there’s a book that you’ve been wanting to read for months, and now at last you’ve bought it. It’s not always easy to decide how to read it.

Do you want to drive home from the store, curl up in your favorite chair and start reading right away (are you an Instant Gratification Reader)? Or will you wait, saint-like, until you’ve made dinner and put the kids to bed, all the while knowing your precious book is sitting there (if you listen hard, you can hear it calling, faintly, “Read me…read me…”). You wait because it’s better to have at least a couple of hours to read without interruption.

How about reading for half an hour in bed every night, just before you fall asleep? The upside is, it’s a lovely way to end the day. The downside: it takes a long time to finish the book.

Maybe you’ll choose to make the commute to work more bearable (or waiting for an appointment, or even sitting at a red light), by cramming in pages at every opportunity over the next few days. The reading experience might not be the most relaxed, but it’ll brighten other parts of your life and it keeps the story alive and pulsing in your head.

Or maybe you’ll wait until you can truly savor the book without fear of daily life intruding—you’ll save it until you go on vacation. Reading on the sand can be a gritty experience, but there’s something about having the sun warming you as you read that’s incredibly relaxing….

I love all of the above ways of reading, for different reasons. If I had to choose just one…hmm, I think it involves a window-seat, with the sun streaming through it. It involves a stretch of time—chunks of an hour or two, at least—and several cups of hot tea…or if it’s later in the day a glass of wine. I’m happy to have people around me, but hopefully they’re not expecting me to do things for them—I’m thinking more of a companionable feeling than a busy feeling.

Tell me your favorite way to read a book…maybe I’ll learn something new!

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