Ozlem has devised an interesting game. I really love the idea. Take a situation, setting, and two characters and write a short dialogue to go along with it. A few of us bloggers signed up to play the game. Each of us had to write a short profile of the characters and short dialogue to go with it. Next we got to see how our characters played out with different authors. Unfortunately life happens and the game has not been able to continue. Until now.
Please hop on over to Ozlem's site to catch up on the rules, since she is better at explaining them than I am.
to hop over.
I am also posting my short shorty below for your enjoyment, put please in order to get the full effect hop over to Ozlem too see what other people wrote and then come back and let me know what you think. It's really cool!
Katie knows more about why she was left at the festival them she is saying.Ted looks down at a half empty bag of popcorn on the ground. He was getting to old for this job. As grounds keeper for the festival and hitting 75 in a few months he knew his years of bending down picking up other peoples crap was limited.
“Damn kids. Why can’t they ever use the garbage can?” Ted says as he bends down to pick it up. In the corner of his eye he sees a small glossy red shoe sticking out from behind something in the barn a few feet away. Ted limped, entered the barn and yanked at the shoe. Attached to the shoe is a leg, a long skinny leg, attached to a young girl wearing a blue and white checkered skirt.
“Well, I’ll be damned. What are you doing here after hours?”
“I got lost. I was in the bathroom. I didn’t hear the last call.”
“Oh, come on. You can do better then that. Come on there’s nothing hear to see after closing. Get going.” Ted pointed towards the exit.
“I…I can’t. My ride left.”
Ted put his hands on his hips annoyed. He didn’t have time for this. He needed to clear the grounds of garbage for the continued festivities tomorrow, and he didn’t have all night.
“How old are you, twelve, thirteen?”
“I’m twelve.”
“There’s no way your ride left without you. Go on get going.”
“But I can’t. I don’t know where she is.”
“Who is, your ride?” The girl just nodded.
“Well go to the exit and look around.” Ted said starting to walk away. The girl grabbed his harm. He was surprised by her strength.
“She’s not there. I know because I….”
“You what?” Ted stared at the girl, but the girl wouldn’t answer.
“What’s your name?” Ted sighed.
“Katie.” Ted looked down at Katie’s hand still clenching his arm. Katie let go and dropped her hand to her sides.
“Katie, tell you what, I walk you to the office. You can use the phone there to call someone to pick you up.” Ted turned and started to walk away.
“There is no one to call.” Katie mumbled.
Ted sighed. He didn’t like kids, he liked them even less when he had to deal with them. It didn’t seem this one was going to go away.
“Why?”
“Because there’s no on
Yes, this is a question I have been asking myself lately. You see my boys are getting bigger. They are no longer little boys when they are almost as tall as their mother. Which I might add is a good thing at their age because I am not a very tall person.
My oldest is 10 and my youngest is turning 9 in another week or two and I have noticed something about birthday parties this year. People aren't having them. I know for a fact that one of my friends decided to stop having the kids party. Now, I can't speak for parents everywhere, but around here for some reason parents don't RSVP even when asked on the invitation. I'm I guilty of this? Sure once in a while I have slipped, but every time? No. That was one of the reason why my friend stopped having kid parties for her boys. People don't RSVP and she had no idea no one was going to show. At other times, which has happened to me people didn't RSVP then they would show up. It's very frustrating.
This year my son couldn't even decide who he wanted to invite. Go figure. I finally got a few names out of him and decided to have it at home instead of out. More work, but less money. Needless to say my husband and I decided this is the last year for kids parties. Parties are expensive. Part of me thinks this is one of the reason why people aren't having them. Then I got to thinking, they are older now at what age did you stop having parties for kids? I guess my age is showing because I can't remember.
How about you? What age are your kids and do you have kids parties for them?
I wasn't planning on making a Part II to this post, but I was so interested in the comments from this post that I had to make another post on it.
I have to say I was really surprised to hear that some of you have not been inspired by your teachers. It honestly felt me feeling sad. I feel so forunite that I have had many teachers in my life who have inspired me growing up.
Through out my school career math has been my down fall. I'm horrible at it, ask my husband I still am. (I've a posted about my and my horrors, if you are interested). Anyway, even though math isn't my favorite, and I'm not the best math student one of my teachers who I looked up to was a math teacher. She was understanding and compassionate. She understood that not everyone loves and is a good at it as she is and she tried to make it fun, if not barable for those who struggled.
Another teacher who at the time I didn't appreciate was my expository writing teacher in college. I hated this woman. Every paper I turned in the hacked. For homework I had to redo it an was given another assignment. Before I knew it I have at least five papers for homework from her alone, and that didn't count my other sudjects. Looking back now while writing my novels, my query, and synopsis I wish I had her back. I didn't realize what a favor she was doing me.
Could it be that we just don't realize how much these teachers are helping us but us are just not ready to receive and be open to what is offered us at the time? I wonder.
What are your thoughts? Do you think if you had these teachers now it would have made a difference, like with my college professor?
(Note this post was originally scheduled before Christmas)
Tonight I had the pleasure of heading back to school after a long day of work. It was a special occasion. Tonight was the elementary school's holiday concert. For my husband and I we were especially lucky because we got to stick around for the whole thing. You see one son is in the band, while the other is in the chorus.
The usual Christmas songs were sung, and I have to say for kids ages 7 through 10 they were good. I was totally impressed with the band. If you closed your eyes you never would have guessed the students were only in elementary school and the chorus was great!
I'm am most impressed with the music teachers though. For one they are dedicated people who think of the students first and foremost. The band teacher was professional and likable. I could tell the students really look up to him and take music seriously. The chorus teacher is A-okay in my book too. The student's really support him and give their all. I'll tell you it must be hard to teach a music class while being blind, but Mr. Z does. The teachers and students love him and it shows. After tonight's performance I can see why.
He's the type of person who knows his short comings, and he never lets them stop him. He is there every Tuesday before school for the chorus club, teaches chorus and the recorder to the third through fifth grades. What I loved most is I got to hear him play the piano for the kids during the concert. (Their last teacher just played a CD it's music class for crying out loud. I want to hear a live instrument!)
How does this pertain to writing?
Short comings. We all have them. For some of us it is that we are just starting out and could learn more . It could be that we struggle with tag lines, settings, POV, grammar, the list goes on. My point?
Don't give up. Work, work harder then you have ever worked before.
Somethings come easy for people, others it's hard, but if we give up we will never hear that beautiful music we all can create. Mr. Z never gave up and look at him now. He's playing music and sharing his love for music with the kids, but he is also teaching them something much more important.
Never give up your dream, no matter how far a reach it may seem. And that is a powerful message.
What teacher inspir
So today, (December 30th) my husband and I took the kids to see the new Muppet movie. Now even though I love the Muppet's, this movie was not on the top of my list to go see. I'd much rather go see Sherlock Holmes or the new Mission Impossible movie, but my youngest won and off we were to go see the new Muppet movies written by Jason Segal.
Anyway I just want to say thank you Jason! Not only did he do a great job of re-introducing the Muppet's to a new generation, but he reminded us "old timers" why we love them so much. Honestly this world needs more movies and characters like these. (I've posted about this need before-search for it in my cloud below).
I don't know if anyone has seen the movie yet, so I won't give too much away, but basically the story involves a die hard fan helping to get the Muppet's back together after a long time of being separated. Oh, and the deed to the theater and studio is in jeopardy.
(Walter: the die hard fan)
I know everyone has memories of the Muppet's. One of my first memories was while camping with my family. It was a rainy day. Not much fun for camping, so my mom and my aunt took all the kids to the movies to see the Muppet's. It was their first movie. We had seen them on TV and we were really looking forward to it. So my three cousins, my sister and I piled in two cars with my mom and my aunt and off we went. One of my younger cousins fell asleep just as the movie started. We wanted to wake him up, but my aunt said no, boy was he pissed when he woke up. I can't blame him. I actually saw those cousins this past weekend for Christmas Eve. Boy how times have changed.
Anyway, that was one of the memories that came back to me while watching the movie today with my boys. Happy tears came to my eyes and I found myself crying, literally crying. Yes, I'm one of those people who cry for happy reasons as well as sad. It's call an emotion, you don't like it, too bad.
Anyway lets talk about characters, my favorite? I can't decide, I love them all. Although I have say Gonzo and the Critics have a special place in my heart. I love how when ever Gonzo blows that trumpet the wrong sound comes out, and the critics can be very funny for the older crowd. Oh, no I'm the older crowd now. When did that happen? LOL I guess it happened around the same time the Muppet's slowly drifted out of the lime light. Well, I'm glad they are back. What no Kermit you ask? Oh, now that is a given! I'll always love Kermit. Doesn't everyone?!
Now it's your turn: share with me your memories. What are your favorite memories of the Muppet's? Who are your favorite characters?
It's the time of year when everyone starts the count down. Christmas is over and New Years Eve is only days away. It's a time when people get together, party the night away, and sleep late the next day. I have to admit to the world that I am not one of these people.
It's not that I don't like New Years. I enjoy getting together with my friends and family. I enjoy the food and the drink, although one drink can last me the entire night, okay two drinks tops, and that's pushing it. The point is, I am not a party person. I never was, never will be.
My favor New Year celebrations have been the quite ones. Small dinner parties, watching a movie, or talking the night away, and if I'm really lucky, I'm awake long enough to watch the ball drop. I know I sound boring, but I'm not good without sleep. For one I get sick to my stomach, cold, and nervous. Trust me it really isn't a good mix for me.
Don't get me wrong, I've suffered through it many times, and it's worth it, some times. Notice I never said drunk, just lack of sleep. In the last few years of my life though my kids have been young, so someone had to function in the morning for them. The older they get though, I'm starting to wonder if my excuse for not partying on New Years Eve will last.
I think it will, even if and when my husband and I do go to the parties. Why? Because we have a rule. If I drive, the driver decides when it's time to go and if the driver is tired, the party is over. Yeah, safety first people.
This year we don't have a babysitter, which is fine by me, New Years has gotten fun staying home with the boys. A night filled with board games, card games, movies, music, and watching the ball drop- if Mommy can stay awake. :-)
What are your plans for New Years? Share with me, I'll be planning a nice home meal, with popcorn, board games, and legos.
It's the day after Christmas and I'm on my way home from NY. We left on Saturday morning and are stopping off in CT to celebrate Christmas with my husbands family today so I won't be blogging today.
I'll be back on Thursday. I hope everyone has had a great Christmas!
These days with so many people out of work, looking for better work, in school, and the economy just in the muck, I've noticed a change this year so far in holiday cards. There are many people in my family who love to send cards for every holiday. Me? I'm not one of them. I usually don't even attached a birthday card to the gift. No, I'm not cheap. I just rather spend the money on the gift then three dollars and fifty cents on a card the person is going to throw out anyway.
I will recant that thought and feeling when it comes to Christmas, and Hanuka cards though. I am a firm believer in those cards being sent. I find it is the only time you hear from most people these days and it's nice to know that a little effort was put into it. It is December 22, and I haven't even received half of the amount of cards I usually get. Now, are people like me and just late? Or are they going to free E-cards? I think E-cards, because I am getting more and more of them lately.
I really can't blame people for going that route, especially since cards and stamps are costing so much more today, and I have just found out that starting in January stamps are going up to .45 cents, but it doesn't seem fair. Since I have young kids people have come to expect the picture holiday card. Don't they realize that they are just as expensive for me as it is for them, maybe even more so since I have small kids? Okay they aren't so small anymore, but hey they are still young enough to need a babysitter, so in my eyes they are young in my eyes.
I don't mean this post to sound like I'm complaining, I actually not. I just received another E-card and it got me thinking about what direction holiday cards are going in these days? What do you think? What is your take on this? Do you see yourself going the way of E-cards for your holiday cards? I'd love to know.
It's Monday again and unfortunately I don't have any synopsis or query entries for you to critique. So instead I have searched the web for information and tips I can post here for you to reference. Today I'm concentrating on
Synopsis. If you google the word
synopsis you'll be amazed at the amount of information out there. Listed are the obvious places and our all time favorites:
Nathan Bransford always has wonderful information
as does Query Shark.
But did you know
Readers Digest has tons of articles out there as well?
But did you know that:
Query Tracker is a great site with help on synopsis as well.
And
Lisa Gardner has a great article called
Conquering That Dreaded Synopsis: A Series of Ten Lectureswhich is very helpful.
Gabrielle Luthy has a blog and a website I stumbled upon in my search that has tons of information on it Click over and check her out.
So there you have it, some homework to check out while you are away finishing up those query and synopsis getting them ready me for. Don't forget to leave a comment letting me know what you think of the sites I have found. I'd love to know if they were useful to you.
No, not that kind of Tank. The Tank I'm talking about is the new video that is making it's way around Youtube. I first saw the video at work. One of the girls checked her Facebook account and noticed someone had posted it on their wall and had to show everyone.
I thought this was the funny video. If you are a lover of animals you will enjoy this. If you have animals whom you don't trust to be left alone on their own you will enjoy this even more.
With out further ado, I present you with Tank: I promise you'll love this:
I'm so excited! Today Laura has agreed to critque my blog. I have noticed many people in the blog world have decided ask for help professional in this area, and I have decided I could use the help too.
Laura is posting her thoughts on her blog so why don't you do see what she has to say? You can swing over by clicking Here.
I know I'll be there taking notes and putting her advice into action!
What are your thoughts on updating your blog? How often do you spice things up?
I was reading one of my own posts. You know looking it over, making sure I spelled everything correctly, making those needed edits when something hit me.
Do agents ever see our post? There are so many of us who write and blog in the hopes of one day writing that one novel that will land us an agent. We query our hearts out and we mention our blogs as our pride and joy. They say an agent will be more interested if he/she sees you have followers. The more followers the better, it shows them that we have people out there that will buy our books, because they all ready want to know what we have to say. But....
Do you ever wonder how many of those agents click over to see your blog that you mentioned in your query letter? Seriously I'm curious. Has an agent ever click over to check you out? Did they leave a comment and let you know? I'm in the throws of querying now, and I'd love to know what agents think of our blogs. If anyone has ever heard from an agent saying they have checked out your blog, I'd love to hear about it.
because I haven't been in the blog world lately. I've been busy, very busy with my current finished manuscript. After sending out a small batch to selective agents I have decided to slow down and take another look at my work again.
I am so glad I did. These past few weeks I have been in contact with my critique partners, found a new one and have been busy as a bee writing, re-writing, and perfecting my query and synopsis. I'm feeling very good about both of them now. I can honestly say I really don't think there is much, if any room for improvement at this point of the game. But before I send my baby out to the wolves again, you can be sure I am reading over my ms again to make sure everything is tightened and polished.
I don't believe in making the same mistake twice, and I don't want to take any chances. So if I've been quite, it's not that I don't love you all, it's that I'm working hard so hopefully I'll have good news, no make that great news to share with you down the road.
Happy Thursday Everyone, and Happy Writing!
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I hear you! I think I'm going to kick back to a few or just once a week for my blog also. I've been posting almost every weekday for 2 1/2 years, and while my ideas never stop, neither does life and all the other things I have to do. See you next Tuesday.
Ha, you and I are so on the same page! I'm refocusing my blog, too. Blogging should be fun and stress-free! Good luck!