So you know how I promised I would write more on this blog?

I didn't lie.

I made 3 different posts, and livejournal lost them all. You would think after the second time I would save the post, but I'm not that smart. I did however, decide after loads of spamming and overall crashing to move to blogger. I also set up this livejournal as a way to track getting married, writing a book, and buying a house. Well, I've accomplished two out of three, and I want to change the focus of my blog to just writing, and that's what the blogger account will be about.

I've met a lot of fantastic people through livejournal, and I really hope I'll see you guys on the blogger...blog. I will be coming over here time to time to check on my LJ pals, but I hope you guys check out and follow the new blog! So for now I'm signing off. Hope to see you all on...

THE NEW BLOG: http://icountwords.blogspot.com/

 I know what you're all thinking. I promised I'd be back, and I fooled you again! Once again, I'm painfully sorry. This month I'll be back on the ball (trust me this time!) 

In the meantime, my last post was about a contest on Shelly Walters blog where you posted your "Twitter Pitch" and were critiqued  by others before submitting it to the judges. So after a great deal of teeth gnashing my pitch has come down to this (without a character to spare)

"The coat that changes Cass into a seal is gone, and she can never return to the sea. Until John washes up wearing what she needs to go home."


This was super hard. 140 characters??? I cut it down from:

"Ever since the magic fabric which changes her into her true form, a seal, was destroyed, Cassie has long given up hope of ever returning to the sea. That is until John washes up, bloody and bruised wearing exactly what she needs to go home." 

Pretty skinny now, eh? I still feel like the tone is missing, if you have any suggestions leave them in the comments. 

If you're out and about querying you might want to check out this contest on YAtopia where you can pitch the awesome Ammi-Joan Paquette who is currently closed to submission. The rules are pretty easy but it's only until the first 150 entries so you'd better do it now! 

http://yatopia.blogspot.com/2011/03/agent-pitch-contest.html

I'm alive truly I am. I've been meaning to do this post on research and it just hasn't happen and that's because...

1. I've been cleaning! Not just dusting and the what not. The omg what is that in the back of the closet? Oh good, it's just a cat toy - kind of cleaning. For those of you who have not done this kind of cleaning, for a while it looks like your apartment internally threw up. OCD Husband is not happy.
2. Speaking of OCD Husband. He's been sick all week. Poor guy. 
3. New computer, new computer! New computer, new computer, new computer! Do do do (see below if you don't get what I'm doing here).
4. I'm researching a new book! Yes, yes, I know I just started querying The Lighthouse - what am I, some kind of workaholic? Yes.
5. The new book (no title yet), takes place in medieval times. Oooooo. So I'm going to start providing a fun fact each blog post about that time period.

Fun Fact - If your horse was killed in battle, the king or lord was obligated to pay the cost of the horse. Not just the cost of a  replacement (like car insurance) but for the cost you incurred while owning the horse. So if your horse was five - that's five years of oats, stables, and care - all back in your pocket. Bam. 

Guess who's alive! That's right, it's me!

I realized the other day I haven't posted in about two weeks. Er...but I have a good reason! After going to NYC I was working my bum off on The Lighthouse pretty much non stop. This blog isn't the only thing I've neglected. My family, The Husband, my poor cat that has taken to pawing at my face while working, etc. But the lighthouse is out! In the world! And this is the first time I've pulled myself out of the fetal position and my eyes away from my e-mail to blog. 

So whilst querying and sending out requests here are a few things you shouldn't do because they will dive you crazy. Look at my hair. Look at my eyes. Believe me, this is a list of experience.

1 - Query Tracker. While this is a great service for finding agents they also have this thing where people can submit how long it took to hear from agents. What you shouldn't do - use these response times to mark your calendar. 

2 - Twitter. Don't talk about querying, don't tweet your rejections (this is just a general rule) and don't follow the agents reading your work hoping they'll post "Wow! Just got this great book about hamsters! Can't wait to sign!"

3 - Blogs. Same rules as Twitter

This list will probably expand during my ongoing query process. And I promise to post more often! Happy Monday!

Some of you might remember my post about needing something to write down the ideas I get while in the shower. Well I was told of Aqua Notes and I quickly asked everyone I knew for them. It was a good Christmas.

Now, a month later I'm ready to post a review of this writer product. At first I was a little skeptical. Paper and pencil that write under water? I saw the video, but still I wasn't a believer. Plus it was mounted on suction cups. Several times in my life I have mistakenly bought shelves and the what not with suction cups for my shower, and they all fail. Probably because I overload them with leave-in conditioner and half full bottles of body wash, but that's beside the point. So first let me say, I was plensently surprised that the suction cups on the back of the notepad and pencil holder worked really well, and I haven't had a problem. Which leads me to the actual paper.

AMAZING. Really. They totally work, and are really fantastic. The website says that they're a soy based product, but I truly believe there's some fairy dust sprinkled in there. You can write on the note literally underwater, like on the bottom of a full tub underwater, and the paper stays intact. Perhaps the best thing is how quickly the paper dries. By the time I'm out of the shower and dressed I return with a fully dried paper with no curled edges. What I really like to do is storyboard with these things. If they're wet they stick to the walls of my shower so I can take old notes into the shower with me, stick them to the wall, and then add new ones. Yes, my water bill has gone up. So has my word count.

All in all, if your muse visits you while you're showering then these are really a good investment. And they truly work. Here's the video from their website if you don't believe me. (Alas I don't have a camera to show you my experience, you'll just have to take my word for it).

This morning, while I was making the largest pot of coffee anyone has ever seen, I realized that our apartment is the perfect representation of our life right now. I recently graduated from college, and The Husband left grad school a few years back and since then we've been working at establishing ourselves in our given career (though mine changed somewhat drastically about a year back). We moved to a new city at about the same time, which like most places in California, is really expensive to live in. Because we're looking at houses, and not planning on staying in our apartment for very long, many of our belongings are still in boxes. We haven't bought any new furniture because we figured we'll be moving shortly, and for anyone who's moved, it's not a nice thing to do to your shiny, new coffee table. At the same time we started making actual money (not the kind I made while working at SeaWorld - when I bought the Ikea couch) and have started upgrading some appliances and the what not.

Just like us, our apartment feels stuck. Stuck between the futon and fluffy blankets, stuck between the messenger bags and briefcases, stuck between college and adulthood. Do you know where I'm going with this?

No? That's fair.

As I've been polishing up The Lighthouse I've really been trying to work on some symbolism and location issues. How to make the character's surroundings from the beach to the walls reflect the protagonist's mood, traits, and the ultimate arc. As I sat down on our futon covered with a blue bed sheet it hit me. When you look at my current surroundings you get an exact idea of the main hold up in my life right. I'm stuck in transition, waiting to take that step forward, and so my surroundings are stuck with me, waiting to either be taken out of their boxes, or pushed even further in the back of the closet.

Look around your own house, bedroom, workspace - what does it say about you and your life currently? What would your character's bedroom or office say about the period of their life they're currently in and what they're going through? Anyone experiencing some breakthroughs like I did?

Happy Writing!

(You can take this example into "show don't tell" territory as well, but that's a post for another time.)

I know I haven't done a book review in a long time, and believe me I haven't stopped reading (Skin Hunger/Sacred Scars by Kathleen Duey anyone? AMAZING) but I've decided I need to spend some time catching up on critique partners' manuscripts. I'm hoping to get everyone's back within the next two weeks, so until then there won't be any BRMs. To make up for that I did a word cloud with Wordle for my current WIP - The Lighthouse. Oddly enough, Collins is not one of the POVs in this story, but boy do they talk about him!