Recent Reads: A Couple More!

Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

Book Count: 19

Most teenagers think their parents are embarrassing, but Hannah knows hers take the cake. Her mom is a sometimes employed TV starlet who runs her own website while in her underwear. Her dad is rich, old, manipulative and is always surrounded by girls with fake boobs for his reality show. When Hannah is finally noticed by her longtime crush, it turns out being in love with someone and being in love with the idea of them is totally different.

I was cracking up through the whole thing. While some of the characters were a little extreme, the emotions felt so real. This was an awesome read!

The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Scott

Book Count: 20

So I bought this book a while back and couldn't get into it. I'm not sure what it was about it, but it just wasn't for me. However, with the recent stories of a group in Florida trying to get this book banned, it piqued my curiosity. So I forced myself through the same pages I could barely make it past and once through those, I actually did enjoy the story.

Three girl friends, one goes away on a summer education trip, the other two stay back, getting summer jobs and end up falling for each other.

There's a lot of self discovery in this story and once I finished the book I thought to myself, why on Earth is that stupid group in Florida trying to ban this book? There's absolutely no reason for it at all. Unless they're homophobic, but that's a whole other topic. So, yeah. Maybe not one of my faves of all time, but it was an enjoyable read once I was able to get a bit more into it.

Side note:

So now I'm 1/5 of the way through my 100 books to read by the end of the year goal and we're halfway through the year. I have a few other books on my to read pile already, but I'm definitely taking suggestions. The ones I've had have been awesome to date!

I still think I can totally get to my goal for the year, but I need your help finding some more "research" material to pick up. Any recommendations?

Keep Going and Going

This week's quote is all about finding your way to accomplishing your goals. The thing Mr. Thoreau does not tell you, is that there is no map to getting there. Everyone seems to pass mostly the same landmarks, but no two people truly follow the same map, same paths, same steps.

All of us have heard the success stories out there of never-before-published-writers who made it big their first time out, but that's not the path that everyone gets to take.

Another thought to consider, is the speed at which one races to those goals. There are people who move at a constant break-neck, fighter-jet pace, while others are more deliberate and checking before re-checking that all is well before they move on. To each his own, there is something to be said about pace, but when it comes down to it, we're all trying to get to the same place. And one of the hardest things to remember is that no matter how discouraged you may get, you have to just keep going.

So whichever direction you may be going, just keep going.

Recent Reads: Wicked Lovely (Series to date)

Yep, another multi-book update! Mostly because this was yet another series I got into and had to stay up 3 nights in a row to finish all of them.
I love it when I get AWESOME book recommendations from friends! The only issue here: the series isn't finished **sigh** but at least I KNOW there is some good reading coming. Eventually.

Book: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Book Count: 16
Aislinn sees faeries, and these aren't the Disney Tinkerbell sort of faeries. These are the ones that are beautiful, powerful and dangerous. So long as Aislinn followed the Rules she was raised with having the Sight hasn't been a problem really, but when the faeries change the Rules, Aislinn's left trying to figure out how to hold onto everything and everyone she holds close, especially her best friend Seth.

Okay, loved this book. So much, I immediately had to go out and get the others that were out. Just enough darkness in the storytelling to make the light of the story really shine.



Book: Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
Book Count: 17
Second in the series, but told from the perspective of one of Aislinn's friends, Leslie. She doesn't have any clue as to the existance of faeries or anything about their parallel worlds, but when she sees a strange and eerie tattoo, she finds herself completely drawn to it and ends up in the midst of the faery world.

I understand the additional darkness in this book, as it revolved around the faery Dark Court, and maybe that was what made me like it just a little less. Still was a great story and a great lead in to the third book.


Book: Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
Book Count: 18
The actual sequel to Wicked Lovely this is a continuation of Aislinn's story and the changes that have transpired in her life and with her relationship with Seth. There are power struggles and loves and loss and a deeper understanding of every word a faery speaks.

Wow, is about all I can say. Melissa Marr continues to pull me further into this alternate universe she has created. I couldn't put this one down and I loved getting even further into Seth's head.

Overall, if you haven't read these books, go get them. Read them. Soon. Even if it is an indefinite wait on the next ones (Ms. Marr's blog/website have stated there will be 5 books in the series) it will be a worthwhile wait.

P.S. Yeah, I'm a total sucker for hot guys in books and I'm totally crushing on Seth Morgan... ;-P

Quote of the Week

"Go confidently in the

direction of your dreams."

- Henry David Thoreau

WiP Wednesday: Research

That's right, I said it. But what does it mean? Well, I did a little research here too ;-)

Wikipedia has 3 different definitions based on what type of research you're trying to do, but the relevant one here, I think, is the basic one, the first one wiki gives: "human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter . . . purpose . . . is discovering, interpreting . . ."

It's a bit lengthy of a definition, but there it is in a nutshell, sort of. As much as you can despise research, to make anything more real, you have to learn more about it. Even if you live it and go through certain experiences within it, sometimes an objective perspective is really important to help you see things in a way that will help convey your story.

Like so many out there, I'm not a fan of research. It makes me think of assignments in high school and college. Delving into the dusty shelves of the library because heaven forbid any of the research I needed to do at that time was actually available online.

I knew my newly "finished" (using the term loosely here) project needed something. That's probably why I couldn't close the file and let it sit for a few days. So off to research I go.

All the topics I need to learn more about I find really interesting, so I anticipate this may turn into more books to add to my list of Recent Reads . . . speaking of which I need to post one of those . . . Will do soon! Anyway, some of the topics are folklore and legends, others are more around human psychology and I'm all about finding out how people tick.

Anyone else out there riding the research train? How's it going?

Getting Started

Following the theme of the Quote of the Week, I wanted to throw out some thoughts around getting started on a new project.

As many of you know, I recently completed my 4th YA Contemporary Fic, 4 Letter Word. It's hanging out right now, revisions recently started, additional layers being added as I begin researching agents to query for my other project, Just Maybe.

On the flip side, there's this other project: Grace that I've had my head swimming in for a while now. Usually I work on multiple projects at once, but this one feels different. I feel like I need to pour all - well, at least most - of my energy into this and as such, I haven't made much progress on it in the last couple of weeks. I've laid down thoughts, some additional words (I've got about 9,500 to date) and am still working through an outline, but honestly, I can't figure out a good way to really dive in and get started.

I have a friend who's recently started working on a project, similar genre, and she's been swimming in research, something I've detested since I began writing fiction, and I'm wondering if that's really where I need to begin now. I already know this new project will require some amount of research, the actual quantity TBD, but I'm going to have to suck it up and do it. So should I start now? Will it help put some thoughts in order? Or will it only throw me off base even more? I don't know.

This definitely made me think of this week's quote because in this case, for me anyway, getting started is the hardest part.

So when you have a new project, how do you get started? Page 1? Chapter 6? Research? Outline? I'm interested to see what you guys do to get things going!

Quote of the Week

"In creating, the only hard thing's

to begin; a grass-blade's no easier

to make than an oak."

-James Russell Lowell

Thursday Thought: A 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, 5th...) Opinion

I've spent some time over the last few months trying get more involved with the online writing community. De-lurk, as it were. I no longer just read blogs, tweets and forums, I comment, rally and conversate. My "circle o' writing peeps" I know has grown and I am grateful for that, though I've found my one lacking point.

This is where I am reaching out to you out there for suggestions / direction, whatever that may be.

I don't even know where to start beyond asking you guys for help. I'm looking for crit buddies/beta readers. I know there are a lot of websites out there and I've been poking around and trying to see if there is anything that looks worth trying out. (Have signed up for Critique Circle, etc.)

So how did you guys end up in your crit groups? With your crit buddies? Any advice?

WiP Wednesday: Seriously, How Many Words?

I haven't exactly had the kind of time I thought I would to work on the wip, but it turned out to be no matter. The time I did have was enough. And the first draft of my wip (4 Letter Word) is done! Yes, that's right. The End. Complete. Done. Finished.

Now comes the hard parts: layers and revisions.

My first draft estimate was around 70,000 words. I was off by a bit there. I'm closer to 62,000. This could be because I'm a bit wordy: I think I talk way too much, so therefore, my characters do too. In case you need a refresher, here's some info dating back to when I started writing (again):

It's Complicated: 135,000 - yes, that's right . . . it gets better

The Lucky One: 156,000 - hahahaha, I laugh at myself when I think about this now, and you're welcome to laugh at me too!

Just Maybe: 85,000 - much more reasonable

4 Letter Word: 61,608 - yeah, I know, right?

All four of these projects are YA contemporary fiction. That's right. Remember? I said I tend to be a bit wordy sometimes. But it's okay. As I kept writing, I figured out that the first 2 (IC and TLO) are actually just backstories to JM and 4LW.

I'm very proud of myself, though, to have been able to come in at such a low word count (for me anyway) and still feel like I've told the story. Again, it is just the first draft, so chances are the word count will shift some, but I don't foresee anything drastic. Unless I decide we need to have gremlins thrown into the mix or something ;)

Now, here's one of my favorite quotes.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" Thank you, Semisonic. It's a line from their song Closing Time.

So with the end of 4LW (sort of), comes a new beginning: my first ever attempt into the Fantasy/Paranormal world. YA, of course, because for whatever reason I can't quite leave teenagerdom behind. Thanks to Michelle McLean for sharing the knowledge of Fantasy, Urban Fantasy & Paranormal genre definitions. It helped me figure out what I was writing, genre-wise anyway.

Grace is the working title of this project and yes, I did start it before now. It's one of those things that has been toying around in my head, throwing out ideas every now and then, making every note I've jotted for a few weeks now only about this world, these characters and their story, but not quite giving me enough to go beyond what I already had down. But I've also made it a point not to completely focus on this while I still had 4LW to finish. Yes, I know, I have writer's A-D-D sometimes. If someone has a cure, I'd love to try it out.

So current status for this week:

Just Maybe - Curing while I work on a query letter

4 Letter Word - 1st Draft complete! Setting aside for a few days to clear my head before I dig back into it

Grace - 9,000 words, basic outline complete

What about you? What have you guys been up to this week?

Quote of the Week

"It's not so much how busy you are,

but why you are busy. The bee is praised;

the mosquito is swatted."

-Marie O'Conner

Twitter, Words and Seth Morgan

Some highlights of the week in regards to reading, writing and random other stuff.

Started the week in San Diego: a city I love.

But I was there for less than 24 hours. :( No time to enjoy views like this.

Anyway, while there was given a car that smelled like an ash tray. Maybe 25 hours is the pivotal time frame to be in a place before pitching a fit for a different car, but I've decided, if it smell like that when you get there, it will only get worse. Demand a new car ASAP! Because no new car was demanded, all the windows were rolled down for every drive. As such, it appeared that driving at 75 MPH down the freeway with all the windows rolled down was purely for ocean breeze enjoyment. No matter that oxygen flies so fast at that speed, there's no way to breathe.

Tuesday was a highly productive day (and the highlight of my week, so I have to bring it up again): my birthday, I wrote over 6,000 new words and I picked up a couple books from the bookstore. Sushi for dinner and received fantabulous prezes... GCs to the bookstore. yeah. Awesome day.

On a Twitter #askagent session, two very "profound" statements came from the agents who were participating.

@ColleenLindsay - "Don't write to trend; write the best goddamned book you can and start your own trend."

@literaticat made 2 tweets that I thought should be noted: The first - "YA is trending toward WRITE SOMETHING ORIGINAL for god's sake." and the second - "There is always a market for AWESOME."

Another link to highlight: on Nathan Bransford blog yesterday he compiled a Writing Advice Database of all his previous blog posts in regards to the before/during/after & other stuff of writing. Go check it out if you haven't yet. Tons of great stuff in there!

I also finished reading some books I was recommended and now the series isn't over and I'm totally left hanging and I don't know when the next one is coming out and I'm feeling a bit traumatized by this whole situation. (I blame @christinef - but in a good way, because she did introduce me to Seth Morgan and what's not to like there, right? hehehehe.)
Baby E is currently on antibiotics for the ear infection from Hell that will not go away (she's on week 3 of it now, I believe. That is, week 3 that we know of. She's on her 2nd type of antibiotic and broke out in horrible hives late Wednesday. Benadryl helped, but we're still working through it with the doc's office. Hopefully all will be well soon.

Have to go outside and get the yard organized for the Slip 'n Slide. Tomorrow's P's 4th birthday party. She's so excited. She has a list of all the things we're going to do after she's 4 and it's a really long list. But somewhere in there we're looking forward to a fantabulous lunch on Monday with an online writer friend and her 4-yo daughter.

Me thinks that about covers it. Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Recent Reads: L & K, I<3U, Glass

Yes, yes, yet another, let's play catch up, post. I read far faster than I can put up RR posts, so I'm just going to keep doing my best to keep up with these and sometimes the posts will be multiples.

I can't help it. There are way too many good books out there that I want to share about!

Book: Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Book Count: 13

The story of a girl who finds out what home and love really are.

In Lock and Key Ruby is discovered living in a house where her mother abandoned her. She's still underage, so instead of finding herself in foster care, Ruby is sent to live with her much older estranged sister and her husband.

Once Ruby's moved in, she befriends the cute neighbor guy, works on rebuilding a relationship with her sister and finds out that one of the hardest parts of letting people in, is letting people go.

Great book. Great Read. Go get it! It's Sarah Dessen. You can't really go wrong here.

Book: I Heart You You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

Book Count: 14

Boy and girl meet. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy dies. Girl can't let go. Neither can boy.

Yep, that's about it. Yanno, with some more detail and stuff. Her dead boyfriend's ghost comes back to be with her because she can't let go of the guilt, blaming herself for his death, so she can't let him go. But how do you have a "real" relationship with a ghost?

I really thought the premise of this was great, but the execution was a bit off for me. It just felt like there wasn't enough. For a book written in free pose, much like Ellen Hopkins's novels, this book felt a thin. The characters were not developed enough for me. For me, I guess the easiest way to put it is: I didn't feel what she was feeling.

If it didn't only take me about 45 minutes to read, I probably wouldn't have finished it. The premise got me. The actual story lost me.

Book: Glass

Book Count: 15

Ahh, yes, another Ellen Hopkins book. Issues galore. This is the sequel to Crank and what a sequel it is. As usual, written lyrically and in free pose, Glass sucks you back into Kristina's world. Now seventeen with a baby, the lure of an even stronger form of meth calls out to her.

In this sequel Ellen Hopkins deals even more with the ramifications of an addicts actions on their families and it is heartwrenching. Especially when there are children involved. She doesn't gloss over the story, which makes it more real and more difficult to read. The difficulty does not lie in the writing, but in the actual story and how harsh reality is.

This is the second part in a based on real life story that Ms. Hopkins's family has faced. As you read this book, you can tell there's more to the words than in some of her other works. There's more behind the story and it breaks your heart just a little bit more.

Maybe not something to read if you're having a downer day, but definitely a good book.

That's it for now. Happy Reading!

WiP Wednesday: Beans & Brews and Lotsa Words

Well, it was my birthday yesterday and after much deliberation, I opted to take the day off from "real work" (you know, the one that pays the bills and such). Thanks to my dear husband (S) who took on the day's kid duty.

I had a chance to spend some time at the bookstore and pick out a couple new reads. And then I spent the rest of the day at the Beans & Brews, a local coffee shop, near my house working on my latest wip. It is amazing how productive a few hours out of the house can be.

B & B is mellow, open, has phenomenal coffee and free wi-fi. What's not to like?

My recent primary focus has been on 4 Letter Word, while I let Just Maybe cure for a bit.

As of last week I was right around 46,000 words on my first draft of 4LW. I haven't had a whole lot of opportunity to work on it, as one of the kiddies has been sick and we've had some family obligations arise, but after yesterday I am now at just over 56,000 words! Uh, 6,000 of those are from yesterday! Yes, I was just as amazed.

All it took was a some coffee. Okay, lot's of coffee, but with 6,000 new words in the span of 5 hours, I think I deserved it! So thanks, B & B!

I feel like it is getting really close. I have said in the past, I don't write in chronological order, but I've also absorbed a lot of the "layering" I've learned from other writers. My goal for this is still running somewhere between 70-75,000 words, at least for the first draft, but significant progress has been made. I guess I just need to take a few more days off, hide out at the coffee shop, and I'll be all done! If only it were that easy ;D

Now onward and upward! Happy Wednesday everyone!

Older and Wiser

I'm another year older today. Not sure how I feel about being this close to 30 yet (I'm 29 today), but as of 8:35 AM I'm still feeling pretty much the same.

No big plans, just looking forward to a lax day. Took the day off work, gonna do some writing, some reading, make a stop at the bookstore. And then dinner out tonight. I'd do some of this writing outside, but tut-tut looks like rain. :(

Will be back tomorrow with a WIP Wednesday and some Recent Reads.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Quote of the Week

"The greatest mistake you can make in

life is to be continually fearing

you will make one."

-Elbert Hubbard

My Very First Fan

My older daughter will be starting school soon and we’re looking at getting her into one of the local public charter schools that is being built near our house. In seeking more information, I went to the school district website and started digging.

This is where I stumbled across a familiar name: my 8th grade English teacher. But his name could be common, so I sent him an email, asking if this gentleman was one in the same. In a reply later that evening, he confirmed, indeed, he was.

Mind you, I don’t remember a whole heckuva lot from middle school: I rode the bus along with 95% of the other kids, the school was really old and I swear it was haunted, we all had our own lockers and I actually fit inside of mine, and 8th grade English.

You see, I had this dream, I still sort of remember it, about some famous dude (he was at the time anyway) and it was one of those typical girl-has-a-celebrity-crush sorta dreams, so dude always fell into my dreams, but this one was long. And it had a whole plot and all this stuff happened and was so vivid I had to write it down. Hence, the first time I ever really really wrote. And boy, did I write. Notebooks upon notebooks upon notebooks. People passed them around school, I became “the girl who is always writing” (and only slightly am I embellishing), but you get the idea. And in all this, there was 1 person who did not think I had gone completely crazy: Mr. G, my 8th grade English teacher.

Mr. G was the 1 person who was 100% supportive of my writing (as lame as I realize the story was now), he never said anything derogatory about my sudden passion. He never hindered my creativity. He even gave me extra time to write in class when everyone else had to read their “free reading” book of the week.

Because of Mr. G, I discovered something about myself I never knew before: There was a reason I had such an overactive imagination, a reason I had such a love for books and the written word. My parents immigrated to the United States just before I was born, so they were not exactly great with the English language (and it is a really hard language to learn as an adult), but my father especially, always supported my love of books. But I was relegated to reading them to myself because of my parents’ limited abilities at the time. If it weren’t for Mr. G, I probably never would have figured out that the written word is part of who I am.

It has been a lot of years and a lot of things have changed. The words were put aside for a long time, but with their rediscovery, I am taking it as a sign that I have found myself an opportunity to reach out to my first supporter, my very first “fan.”

So basically, what I’m saying is: Thanks, Mr. G – you have no idea how much you changed my life.

WiP Wednesday and a BIG FAT Thank You

A few weeks back (I believe we're at 7 now) ElanaJ over at Mindless Musings threw down the gauntlet, challenging writers to accomplish their goals in regards to ongoing projects. These goals ranged anywhere from writing 500 new words per day to revising a chapter a week. At first it was simply a 30 day challenge, but the community that's been built from that throw down has been amazing.

So today, instead of just focusing on my wips today, I wanted to throw something else out there:

A BIG FAT

For your encouragement and your kudos. For you kind words and continued motivation. And simply for letting me know I'm not alone in my frustrations or inspirations. Simply put, Thank You!

Now that I've had my emotional moment out of the way, let's get on to a WiP Wednesday update.

Just Maybe:

Finishing final revisions now and hope to begin querying soon. Maybe. You know, after I've coached myself mentally to prepare for the worst and accept that rejection is part of life. I know, think positive, but I'm too pragmatic for that.

4LW:

With much support and encouragement I'm currently just over 45,000 words. I'm thinking this ms should be closer to 60,000, so I'm almost there. That is about a 20K word gain in the last 7 weeks.

Grace:

This is the newest/latest project that was resurrected from the vast beyond of my "Things I've Started But Couldn't Figure Out Where They're Going So They Are Going To Live Here For A While Until They Find Some Direction" folder. I had a very exciting revelation on this towards the end of my day at work yesterday that culminated in a stack of post-it notes that have since turned into a psuedo-outline. I don't normally work from an outline until I'm about 40-60K words in depending on how long the project may end up being, but this one just came at me. Initial inspiration? A certain scene in the movie 30 Days of Night. Mind you, movie is not exactly Oscar-worthy material, but it does have Josh Hartnett and he is cute. But from this specific scene, I've been trying to figure out what to do with it, it just wouldn't leave my head. As of yesterday afternoon, I now know what to do with it. And I'm super excited!

So again, thank you for listening, er, reading my rants and updates. I appreciate each and every one of you!

P.S. I hope I haven't sounded too cheesy-peasy, but with my new inspiration, I just thought I'd reach out to some of those who have helped me get to this awesome new place in my writing. You all rock!

I Love Getting Packages in the Mail!

About 2 weeks ago I received an email from a friend letting me know of a $1 online makeup sale. Uh, hello, yeah I was all about it!

Apparently I wasn't the only one as the site took FOREVER to load and I had to go through and re-add things to my shopping cart over and over again. But then, it went through. . . hoorah!

So I waited and waited and waited. Then I received an email that my order had been processed! Processed, yay! (Little did I know.)

Then I waited and waited and waited. And finally I received an email my order was being shipped. The next day.

These people, they really like to draw out the process.

So then I've waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and then my dear husband went to get the mail (because I hate to get the mail because we have one of those lock box things and I always forget the key. . . ) and came back with a BIG GIANT BOX.

With my name on it!

And this was what was inside!

Recent Reads: The Mortal Instruments Trilogy

I did a full Recent Reads on City of Bones and you can check it out here. But a few days later, when I finished the series, I thought I should have waited and done all 3 together.

Book: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Count: 10

As I've already said in my in detail posting .... LOVED it! Clary gets pretty kick-A. Toss her in with some memorable, endearing and beautiful killers and you get demon-hunting fighters who know how to throwdown and kick some ass. And so my infatuation with Jace Wayland begins.




Book: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
Count: 11

Ahh, the return of Clary, Jace and their band of merry demon-killing Shadowhunter friends. Throw in a few Downworlders (yanno, werewolves, vampires, warlocks and faeries) and you've got yourself a boat full of trouble!

For the 2nd book in a series, this was great. In many cases, I have found the second or middle books in series tend to move a little slow and be my not-so-faves (i.e. New Moon) but this did not fall onto that shelf!

P.S. Yeah, still completely enthralled with Jace, though I do find Simon very lovable in his own goofy way

Book: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Count: 12

The oftenmentioned in the previous books land of Idris and the beautiful City of Glass, Alicante. Homeland of Shadowhunters, Idris is beautiful, Alicante is magnificent. And finally the pieces of the life Clary's mother has hidden from her fall into place.

A fantabulous end to an awesome trilogy. Left me wanting more, yet I think I'd rather imagine what comes next then be told and left with disappointment. Again, if I haven't said it enough about all of these books: There is some awesomeness to be experienced here.

Oh, and by the way, did I mention that I've completely fallen for Jace? ; P

Mirror, Mirror Part 2 - Seriously this time

I've been thinking about this a lot lately: what do characters look like.

A brief Twitter conversation during the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night helped put some more depth around this. I know, I know, you're going, seriously? A Twitter conversation? But please, just follow me here.

For those of you who may have been living under a rock for the last 8 months or so, Twilight was big. The movie. Well, the books too, but we're not talking about those right now. So here's how the conversation went down:

My Tweet:
Is it just me or is Robert Pattinson not nearly as articulate as we'd all like him to be? Either that or he's REALLY good @ being awkward...

ElanaJ:
@windyaphayrath I concur. Eloquent, he is not.

AmandaBonilla:
@windyaphayrath RP is not articulate at all! Maybe it's a chemically induced stupor ;)

Me:
@ElanaJ appreciate the support on that. Now must duck and cover from Team Edward, as they hunt down all those w/negative R.Patt thoughts.

ElanaJ:
@windyaphayrath I'm on Team Edward. Just not Team Pattinson. Team book. Not Team movie. Yanno?

AmandaBonilla:
@ElanaJ Team book all the way!

Me:
@ElanaJ I'm glad you can separate Edward from Rob, cuz a lot of peeps out there can't and those are the scary ones.

And yes, those are the scary ones, but I digress.

The point of this post: how do you see your characters, and I don't mean their personality.
How many of us, while reading Twilight, saw Rob Pattinson-yanno, Cedric Diggory from Harry Potter? Probably not many of us.
With that, how to convey what you see in your head to your readers?

Okay, so this may be part 2 of the post, but I'm no where closer to an answer than I was in part 1 or part 1.5.

Just throwing out my thoughts, I guess. Feedback welcome. Encouraged. Begged for.

Have a great Tuesday!