Everyone's Got a Story

Have you ever people watched? Just sat and stared at strangers and imagined what their life is like?

Today being the day before Halloween at work, I got to do a lot of awesome people watching :). I realized as I was watching a lady from the call center walk by as a Klingon that there might just be some great story material here!

1) The lady in accounting who is mean all year long, and then does the best decorating and puts out the most candy on Halloween.

2) The shy guy who puts on a mask and runs around scaring the HR ladies because he feels free when he's in disguise.

3) The loud guy pretending to be Billy Mays while everyone raises and eyebrow and says "Whoa, dude. Too soon."

4) The tiny Spiderman grabbing a candy out of the dish, dropping it on the floor, and then unable to pick it up because his foam muscles make it hard to move his arms. Awwww. Little help there, Spidey? :)

The great thing about people is that everyone has a story. People have eccentricities you just can't make up, and some have that kind of golden heart that make you want to be a better person. There are heroes, villians, adorable babies dressed up like chickens--the whole gamut!

So next time you're stuck on a character trait, go to Walmart or sit on a park bench to people watch. Just remember to take your notebook with you!

*Halloween costume picks coming soon ;).

Work In Progress Wednesday: Halloween Costume!

This week, my only work in progress is my Halloween costume (okay, okay.. and some editing.)

I'm going this year as Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica! It will be awesome. SO SAY WE ALL!

I have a short blonde wig, pants, boots, bottom tank top, and the beginnings of a huge "Top Gun" beer stein that I'll be carrying around. I'm going to be authentic down to the anger issues (well, as authentic as one can be on a budget.)

The funny thing is, I'm not even going anywhere. I'm going to work this way, and then answering the door and traumatizing young children all night long. I just wouldn't feel right doing it without a costume. This is definitely one of my all time favorite holidays.

So, I ask you, gentle readers:

What are you being/doing for Halloween??

Bonus points for showing us pictures of your costume!

Tell the Truth Tuesday!

I'm stealing this idea, once again, from fabulous bloggers, Lisa & Laura! They entertain me beyond belief all week long, and I think this idea of confessing things on Tuesday is both morbidly fascinating, and a great idea.

So here goes!

My weekly confession:

1) I'm adding Fear of Surgery While Awake to my list of irrational phobias. A friend told me today about a surgery where they gave her a spinal anesthetic and then just went to town. WHILE SHE WAS AWAKE. She said she could feel "pressure." I almost screamed just hearing about it.

2) This Baby Readiness Quiz from JennyMac's blog made me sterile. I've always wanted kids, but after reading that, I'm considering buying a few more cats and calling it good :).

3) Whenever my mom is reading over my novel and says "EW! This part is gross. What is wrong with you?" I know I've done something right. It's my goal in life to have portions of my books disturb people. Is that wrong? I think then you know you've written something powerful, and that is awesome.

4) I am becoming addicted to Stat Counter. You can see where people are from who visit your blog, what keywords they used to find you, etc. It's hours of fun! :D I love the funky google searches that lead to me. Recently, it's been the great Star Wars--is it Fantasy? debate that brought people my way. Who knew?

5) I am becoming addicted to the blog Secret Office Confessions! It's British, it's about the goings-on in a publishing house, and it's like a cross between The Office and Bridget Jones. One word: Fabulous! I can't get enough of the drama. Fingers crossed that it's all true :).

6) I'm starting to feel very smug now that I've learned how to create fancypants Hyperlinks! Can you tell? This is my smug face.

So how about you?

Anything you'd like to get off your chest? ;)

Blog Chain: Facing Your Fears!

It's blog chain time again!

The devious Kat started us off this round with the following topic:

What are the primary fears that drive your characters? Do they battle aliens of gangsters or monsters? Or do they battle unreconciled issues in their lives? Which do you prefer writing about? What do you fear?

Wow! Love the topic, and not just because it's almost Halloween... Mwahahaha!

In my book, Legacy of the Empress, my characters have issues. Astrid, my heroine, spent the last ten years of her childhood locked away in a tower room. Her mother imprisoned her when she was eight after murdering her courtiers and usurping the throne using dark magic (what a bitch, right?). When Astrid escapes and finds the magic consuming the land and its people, she fears two things:

1) Being locked up again
2) Her mother killing more innocents before she can stop her.

Torin, the boy who joins her quest to find an ancient Empress and defeat the dark magic, has his own set of fears:

1) Living an unremarkable life
2) Letting Astrid down.

He longs to be something more, a hero, and sees himself as Astrid's protector on her journey. When he is weakened (no spoilers!), he struggles with feeling useless--a burden instead of a warrior.

I prefer writing about internal fears because those are the ones that haunt us the longest. We all have them: those tapes in our heads that tell us things we wish we didn't believe, but struggle with on a daily basis. We long to realize these fears and rise above them, to change the tapes to say what we want them to say. Instead of hearing "I'm not good enough," we want to hear "I'm good enough the way that I am!" It takes a journey to get there, though, and we're afraid of failing ourselves the most of all.

I read this quote the other day, and it really spoke to me:

"Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive — the risk to be alive and express what we really are."– Don Miguel Ruiz

We want to change, to better ourselves, but that requires a journey, and sometimes, a painful sacrifice. That conflict makes for some great storytelling, don't you think? :)

As for myself, some of my greatest fears include:

1) Losing loved ones before I'm ready to
2) Sliding down mountains (a weird phobia)
3) Living a fearful life and dying with regrets

The first one I can't control, the second is odd and means I don't like skiing, and the third is up to me. Regrets are for pussies! I can choose to follow my dreams, even if it means risking failure, and dammit all, I'm going to!

What about you? What fears do you characters face? What fears do you face in your everyday life?

Please check out the remarkable Cole answered before me, and the fearless Kate answers tomorrow! Don't miss it!

Query Letter Etiquette Translated

... into dating scenarios!

If you haven't seen this post yet, you should TOTALLY go check it out :).

Go.

Now.

I'll wait here.

Happy Friday, Everyone!

Work In Progress Thursday!

Okay, okay. I know I'm late for Work In Progress Wednesday, but I don't care.

Know why?

Despite having kind of a crazy week, I've actually made progress! AWESOME progress!

Here is a list of progressy goodness for you to feast your eyes upon:

1) I edited a lot of LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS. There's still a ways to go, but I'm okay with that. I want it to be so shiny when I send it out to agents that at least one of them goes temporarily blind.

2) I finished a short story that I've been ignoring for far too long. You know what I'm talking about. That short story I swore I'd finish and polish 100 times but never got around to touching. Well, baby, I finished that mofo!

3) I wrote a whole other short story! BOOSH! I've read it several times, and I'm still proud of it. Now it's percolating before I edit it again.

How have your weeks been going? :)

Thank you for all of the support along my journey, blog readers and friends! I hope this little community here has been a support for all of you as well.

I'd love to hear what projects you have going on!

Them's the Breaks!

So, in case you didn't know, there's a reason all of those great writers were alcoholics.

Check out this post over at author Nicola Morgan's blog. In the post (and later the comments) are real stories of authors out there sorely dissapointed after being published. It got me thinking.

We writers have big dreams, don't we? :) We have Never Say Die attitudes, enormous goals, and lofty expectations. Well, what happens if when we meet those goals, we're not met at Barnes N' Noble with fanfare and hugs?

What if no one cares at all?

Not even our moms... ? :(

Will we still consider ourselves successful? Will reaching our goal of *sparkle* PUBLICATION *sparkle* still be enough?

And if not enough, what the hell are we gonna do about it?

As Nathan Bransford pointed out today, writers are sensitive, emotional freakazoids. We know this about ourselves, and we embrace it :). However, this means we have to not only think about what we're going to do if our books tank, but cope with that idea before it happens. Expect the worst, but hope for the best!

After all, what is the fun of inflating your expectations so much that you're disappointed after you've achieved your dream? THAT'S depressing, people: not the other way around! If someone expected Disneyland to be full of real giant mice dancing about in human clothing, they'd be disappointed, too. And it's freaking DISNEYLAND.

We have to make sure we are prepared emotionally, ready to deal with whatever comes our way.

What are you going to do if you face disappointment?

A) Give up and go get your real estate license?

B) Whine about it on your blog?

C) Get hugs from friends/family and then get back to Kicking Ass? :)

I'm on board for Option C.

Writing is not only a dream for me, it's my favorite passtime. I'm proud to do it, kudos or not! I fully expect the road to be difficult, but I remember one thing: God does not play dice with the universe (I <3 you, Einstein). If it's going to happen, it will happen. I just have to be ready for it when the time comes.

What about you?