Quote of the Week

"There are times when quantity is at least as important as quality in learning an art."

--Lawrence Watt-Evans

How to Get Unstuck (with a Side of Cupcakes!)

The auto-tweet for this blog post is my 2000th Tweet! I know, I know, I'm a total dork for celebrating such an event, but every now and then, a girl just needs a reason a for some cupcakes!

Moving on... Here is some general "getting unstuck" advice:

1. It seriously stinks, but nail polish remover with Acetone will almost always work if you've mistakenly superglued somethings together. Like fingertips together. Or a butt in a chair. You know who you are!
2. Peanut butter will get chewing gum out of hair. (Gum? In hair? You better have a good story to go with this one...)
3. Freezing will get gum out of clothes. (Which one of you didn't empty your pockets before we started the laundry???)

But what about getting words out of your brain?

I think everyone has a different answer for this. As I've been poking about in other blogs, I noticed I wasn't alone in my sudden feeling of stickiness. Not that I was sticky, but I had hit a wall. I was stuck. (So maybe I should've said feeling stuckiness?)

Anyway, as I was saying, I was stuck. I knew there were words I wanted to get out, but I just couldn't find them. Every time I sat down to write, I just stared at the computer screen. At the notebook. At the pen. And everything stayed blank. This lasted for days. Days grew to weeks.

Then a friend said "take a break."

Lightbulb! Duh. Why didn't I think of that?

I don't know what made me think I had to write everyday forever. But that was what was going through my head. I felt like I had to keep running, running, running. Swimming, swimming, swimming. How on Earth was I going to keep up with all the other aspiring authors out there trying to write the next NYT Bestseller, trying to find an agent, trying to get published if I didn't keep writing?

So I decided a break was what I was going to do. I had enough written to last me for a while in both my online and live crit groups. I would just focus on reading (research!) and maybe the fog would clear. Less than 24 hours after I decided this, my muse returned. And I've been scribbling notes relentlessly since then.

So when you get stuck (wordage wise), apparently one of the best things you can do is NOTHING! Who would've thought? Oh, and jamming to Evanescence doesn't hurt either.

Oh, but wait. You guys didn't come to hear about me doing nothing. You wanted cupcakes, right? I know, sorry. I got distracted. But here. See, aren't these worth the wait? Wasn't sure what you guys would like. Go ahead, help yourselves!

Thursday Thought: Conjunction Junction

So we have a 4-year-old who has recently started preschool. We will call her Phephe (as in Fifi. Don't ask.). Anyway, as with most children of a certain age, they say some pretty interesting things. Here are a few notable quotes from Phephe:

"Mommy, I think you and I need to sit down and have a conversation."

"Actually, I think we should go to the zoo instead."

"Uncle Andrew makes me so frustrated because he eats so many hamburgers!"

I know, kinda random. I was just amazed she knew words like conversation, actually and frustrated and understood their meanings enough to use them in the proper context!

So when we sat down to eat dinner the other day and she decided she didn't want to eat a certain dish that was made she said, "Momma, I amn't going to eat that."

Yes. Amn't.

The husband and I just looked at each other for a moment, stunned.

Just for some background information, my parents came to this country speaking very little English. I grew up in a household speaking 2 languages simultaneously. Even now, we speak both languages, switching seamlessly between the two. When my parents were learning English they were always told it is one of the hardest languages to learn, because there are so many quirks in it.

Phephe has apparently found another. My husband and I tried to explain that amn't is not a proper contraction and gave her "I'm not" to use instead. She nodded and smiled and we continued on our merry dinner-eating way.

So now I'm waiting for the moment when she turns back to me and asks if

IS + NOT = Isn't
ARE + NOT = Aren't
DO + NOT = Don't
etc.

Then why does AM + NOT not equal Amn't?

I think I amn't sure what to say.

WiP Wednesday: . . . And Cupcakes For All

The Husband has asked politely if I would start today's post with a big fat: GO UTES!! (even if the game isn't until Saturday)
So there you go. Moving on.

I've been in a rut lately. Stuck in the mud. Or quick sand. Or drying concrete or something. I haven't written anything in weeks. Weeks I tell you!

For all these many days I've loitered about the house. Mostly I spent time with the family, which has been really good, and then after they all went to sleep, I read this and that (I probably wouldn't have finished TTW if I was writing), worked on my crits, did laundry, pretended I knew how to cook and just generally putted about.

I have to say holy huge THANKS! to the gang on Rallystorm Throwdown and my Twitter Critter buddies for all the words of encouragement, sympathy, and just because you guys let me whine without making me feel lame! You guys ROCK! You kept me just this side of drowning myself in Jalapeno Kettle Chips--a recent new MUST.

So after all this many days of dinking around, I had to go to live crit group. The last meeting was 6 weeks ago and we've gone through a "management change" so I did have a chance to submit something back then. It was a good meeting and I got some insightful feedback.

On the drive home, as I was jamming to my Fallen CD because I <3 Evanescence and can't listen to it when the kids are in the car. (Phephe calls it my scary songs, yeah, I guess I can see that.) And then IT struck me.

I pondered IT some more overnight. When I woke up still thinking about IT I knew I was on to something. So I dropped a quick note to one of my BFFs with a 1-liner thought on the whole thing and got the most AWESOME positive response from her. She's even going to help me with research and everything!

So YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY! Adorable Hello Kitty Cupcakes for ALL!

Recent Reads: The Time Traveler's Wife

Book: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenberger

Book Count: 31

Okay. Lot's of hype. Even a movie. Everyone's talking about and . . . I am not sure what the big deal is. The book was just okay for me. It jumps around a lot (well, duh, because he's time traveling, yeah, I know) and that made it hard for me to get a grasp on the characters. It was very difficult for me to care, I guess.

I LOVE it when I pick up a book and lose sleep reading it because I am so emotionally vested with the lives of the people in the story. I didn't have that here. It was waaaaayyy too all over the place for me. Keep in mind, this is totally just MY opinion. I did like the story as a whole. The premise is still very compelling and does keep me thinking about living life out of order and such, but the book itself. Yeah, well, at least now I can say I've read it.

Plus, as I mentioned in my last Recent Reads post, if you haven't gone back to check out the link I added to see where you can go buy Elana Johnson's From the Query to the Call, here it is: Click HERE and it will take you to Elana's blog where you can buy the book!

Recent Reads: From the Query to the Call

Book: From the Query to the Call by Elana Johnson
Book Count: 30

Last week I mentioned a new e-book coming out and I'd already received my preview copy, but I hadn't had a chance to read it yet. But I have now and it is available to everyone TODAY!!!

**UPDATE: Click >>>>HERE<<<< to go get your copy!**
Okay, so you've written a book. Maybe a couple. Or four or eight or thirty-two. But you've finally finished that one. The one you feel really has a chance at getting published. If only you could get it into the right hands. What now? What next? How do you even do that??

Well, here's some help!

Firstly, I have to be honest. I have a very short attention span when it comes to instructional "how-to" guides about anything besides home improvement projects or cooking (because I'm just that sad in the kitchen). So, at first, I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean, the title is pretty clear, but you just never know, right?

There are a lot of "how to get published" books out there. There probably is some valuable information in them too. Somewhere. You may need to don a wetsuit and oxygen tank before you dive in. No idea how long it could take to find what you're looking for.

I was concerned needlessly. Elana Johnson's e-book is 63 pages of valuable info that every aspiring author should read. It's what I think totally fits into the description of "Short, Sweet and Straight To The Point."

This is not a book about how to write a book. It is not a book about how to edit a book. It is about what to do after you've written your book, gone through 30 iterations of editing it and hashing it out with your beta readers / crit group(s), etc and have mentally and emotionally (to some degree anyway) braced yourself for the inevitable rejections that will come.

From the Query to the Call is just that. It takes you on a journey from writing a "Killer Query" through the what happens after you send it out, all the way through what happens when you get THE CALL!

Elana addresses questions with sound advice and real world examples. There are points made around what NOT to do when you get a rejection. What a simple cover letter responding to a request could be. Suggestions on what to do while you're waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Some of my fave parts:

• Interviews with agented authors.
• Tips on researching agents.
• Sample query letters. (A must read!)
• Links. Links. Links. **

**Because this is an e-book, there are links EVERYWHERE so you don't have to try to figure out which article Elana is referring to, or which blogs she referenced. Soooo helpful and such a time saver!

I have to be honest, this is the FIRST writer's guide-ish book I have ever FINISHED. And it was probably because the book is concise and written clearly with the end reader in mind. I was finished reading it before I even realized I was done and I've already been able to use it as a reference!

If you're an aspiring author sitting in that limbo of having just finished your wip and are now considering seeking representation, research is key. Take a look. Read a book. Might I suggest this one? And seriously, it's 63 pages of some of the best information that will take you From the Query to the Call.

Sorry, that last line is oozing of cheddar, but it made me giggle when I typed it. So I had to keep it. :D