Six Sentence Sunday 9

Welcome first timer and repeaters!  This historic ninth #sixsunday offering is below, while the previous contributions are easily accessible by clicking here.  This is historic cause this wonderful September 25th post below is a bunch of awesomesauce, and that it is my birthday.  I realize I did not give anyone an advanced notice, but feel free for next year, same day, to send gifts.  For this six setup, we previously met the MC, Erica, and the current traveling companions of Cindy and dog named Crystal.  They met the first other living people in three months since the majority of the population dropped dead before rising up.

“How old are you?”  I said nineteen the same time Cindy said eighteen.  I moved the bat to my left hand before reaching in my back pocket.  I handed my ID over to the nicest looking man left on the world.  He looked it over before glancing at his watch, and handing the card back to me.  “Happy birthday, Erica Wilkerson,” he said.

Ironic I know....total coincidence that the birthday clip occurred on my, well, birthday.   

Six Sentence Sunday 8

Welcome first timer and repeaters!  My eight #sixsunday offering is below, while the previous contributions are easily accessible by clicking here.  We previously met the MC, Erica, and the current traveling companions of Cindy and dog named Crystal.  Last week, they met up with the first group of other living people, finding they were just fourteen people in their group.  They are cautious seeing a dog with Erica, though happy to find the pooch would eat real food and not flesh.

He nodded before kneeling down, holding one hand to Crystal with the other on the rifle.  Cindy began to blab about how much of a downer I was to the moral.  I do not know what she thought.  Shit, I am not sure what I was thinking would happen.  Would we find a group and magically find that all-powerful place that is zombie free up north?  I wish this were a movie with a guaranteed happy-ending.

I know there is no dialogue in this one, but I wanted to finish this section of the book.  I've been breaking from writing and keeping my mind off the zombies before going into mad woman editing mode.  My mind has been kicking me for not writing.  It has forced me to rethink my first completed book and how to rewrite it in a new and exciting way.  Soon I shall reach the breaking point of "omg I haven't opened Word in...um...can't remember when" and will bust a move to write again :D.  

Six Sentence Sunday 7

Welcome first time and repeat readers!  My seventh #sixsunday offering is below, while the previous contributions are easily accessible by clicking here.  We previously met the MC, Erica, and the current traveling companions of Cindy and dog named Crystal.  Last week, they met up with the first group of other living people.

I just shook my head, “There are only eleven of you.  Is that it after three months?”

“Three more men are scouting ahead.  Add in the two of you we have sixteen.”

“And a dog,” I said.

He nodded before kneeling down, holding one hand to Crystal with the other on the rifle.  

I love the comments and look forward to your thoughts.

Six Sentence Sunday 6

Welcome first time and repeat readers!  My sixth #sixsunday contribution is below, while the previous contributions are here: first, second, third, fourth and fifth. To set up this YA Zombie apocalypse, the two individuals and dog are having their first meeting with some new people.

“What is that?”

Ouch, the dude just called me a ‘that’.

“That,” Cindy turned to look at me, “shit that’s just Erica.  Are you stupid?  Take off that hoodie and stop walking slow before they shoot you.”

I pulled the black hood off my face, temporarily blinded by the sunshine, “Sorry, just wanted to be cautious unlike the yapper there.”

I love the comments and look forward to your thoughts.

Breakage

Nope, I didn't break anything (this time).  What I am doing is backing away from my YA Zombie Apocalypse book to work on the ?3rd? rewrite of my Paranormal Romance novel.  Taking a different stance with the book, though the same characters are in there with the same traits I've learned to love over the past 19 months.  I'm terrified to look back at the beginning attempts, knowing how much suckage must be on the pages.  This was the only book I queried out to agents, and out of the minimal group, I got zero request for more.

Here's to hoping this breakage will detach me from the zombies, so when I do go back I'll be fresh and ready to fight...er edit.  I also hope I can turn some tricks (giggidy) and all the posts, articles, books I've read since starting writing will pay off.

Writers on Writing

http://www.imranwrites.com/ Imran takes us through several things on his blog, from the recent 'Are Beta/Critiques Worth Having?' and then to the editing process he is going through.  You can jump to his post http://www.imranwrites.com/2011/07/24/so-what-is-here/ for a list of useful writing tips he has posted.

http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/forty-five-more-flaws-that-expose-your-lack-of-storytelling-experience-part-1  Yes the site lists editing and prices, however I first reached this blog via a tweet on the post linked.  Click on the blog though, http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog and you won't be upset with the info there.

http://romanceuniversity.org/ I know, not everyone is into the whole romance thing.  However, good articles are there, and a bonus, they show upcoming posts titles.

http://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/ Listing this one a few times.  They do an agent spotlight, and then the helpful posts link on the right, from queries, agents do's and don'ts, and writing tips.

http://marewolf.blogspot.com/   Yeah, great mix of humor as she writes about writing while she's writing.

Agents 2.0

http://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/  spotlights agents (YA, MG, PB)

http://www.1000literaryagents.com/  another list of agents to view.  Basic membership is free.

http://www.authoradvance.com/ a nice large catch all site - lists agents, articles, a blog...free to register.

http://aaronline.org/Find  Association of Authors' Representatives.  A listing of 466 agents

Critique

Critique Partners
http://notaneditor.blogspot.com/p/looking-for-critique-partner.html

Query Critique

http://queryshark.blogspot.com/

http://misssnark.blogspot.com/ (not active since 2007, however still listed are the critiques and a must read)

Six Sentence Sunday 5

Welcome first time and repeat readers!  My fifth #sixsunday contribution is below, with the stories previous first, second, third and fourth stored safely. 

“Crystal,” I announced to the car.

“You’re talking to yourself again, kid.”

I pet the dog at my feet, “I want to call her Crystal.  Ok girl, you are Crystal.”  Cindy did not ask why since she heard my story already.  Crystal was my sister.

I love the comments and look forward to your thoughts.

What would you do?

On Twitter today, a message catches my eye.  It was an agent saying they witnessed a 5 year old girl steal a candy bar.  What would you do?  Many responses mention saying something to the child or the mother there, possibly even paying for the bar after the girl left.  My response...

Go home, figure out some paranormal romance aspect to bring the mother of the child and the store owner together and write it out

I know that is not the girl scout answer I would give ten to thirteen years ago.  I believe my writing evolution is corrupting me to think of the world as a story.  I take what I see, twist it around as needed for a plot that will fit my desire.  And yes, I'm totally creating a new document file and putting the ideas that came to mind after thinking about that plot.  Story Idea #15.

Am I the only one?

Six Sentence Sunday 4

Welcome back to my WIP I’m now editing: A Girl, Her Dog, and the Zombies. You can find my #sixsunday samples here for the first, second, third posts and below is the fourth...

As the crackers fell to the ground, the dog sprung into action and ate every crumb.

Tears welled in my eyes, “She’s eating it.” I kept the bat on my shoulder and used my left hand to drop the rest of the crackers. As the dog ate, I walked around her. There was some dirt and mud, but no wounds. “Damn girl, where are all your brothers and sisters?”

Ok everyone, comment away!

What?

Character Accents

http://www.soyouwanna.com/soyouwanna-speak-irish-accent-1632.html  It is as it says, trying to help one speak with an Irish accent.


Dialogue
http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/2009/04/she-said-he-said.html A blog of example - written in dialogue format to prove its point.


The Ten Commandments of Dialogue - Part One & Ten Commandments of Dialogue - Part Two Marewolf's blog on conversations.

Secret Squirrel Writers Club

General Writer Hangouts

http://www.writerspace.com/ I will admit, this site is on my to-do list for more time.  It has chatrooms, blogs, contests, reviews, newsletters, and authors with spotlights.

http://querytracker.net/index.php Yes it is a query site, but there are forums (groups) with good info

http://writeoncon.com/ a Forum writer's conference focused on picture book, middle grade and YA writers.

https://plus.google.com/  lots of writers are popping up on Goggle+ each day

http://www.rwa.org/  for you romantics out there Romance Writers of America

http://www.sfwa.org/ Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America

http://www.mysterywriters.org/  Mystery Writers of America - Wonder how many answers you would get at a meeting when asking who done it.

http://www.horror.org/  Horror Writers Association

http://absolutewrite.com/ seems like a good site, haven't spent much time here yet, but I will.

Helpful Literary Agent Websites

http://www.lizadawsonassociates.com/faqs.html The FAQ has some great info about queries & other general questions

http://www.knightagency.net/ Two places I enjoy on their website – the Manuscript Submissions page and at the very bottom, you will find several links for approaching an agent, what to look for, writing a query, FAQ, etc.  They also have a newsletter and while that is filled with their authors’ interview, new books, they also have an agent roundtable, and the watercooler that is good to keep an eye on.

Agents & Agency Blog sites

http://knightagency.blogspot.com/  some good posts, some contests and links to three of their agent’s blogs.

http://nepheletempest.wordpress.com/ Home to Nephele Tempest from The Knight Agency

http://luciennediverauthor.wordpress.com/  Home to Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/ Bookends, LLC Literary Agency - good posts & helpful info

Query Helpers

http://queryshark.blogspot.com/ Read and love.

http://querytracker.net/index.php Let’s see, a free site where I can log in, keep track of all my queries, find up to date information, and be able to see what other people find about the individual?  Sign me up!  Oh wait, already there ;)

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/ Bookends, LLC blog and each Wednesday they take at random a query - project is called Workshop Wednesday.

Stuck?

Reference

http://dictionary.reference.com/ Goes without saying since I’m not the best spellerer out there :D (yeah, that one was on purpose).

http://thesaurus.com/ Same site as the one above, just a direct link to the thesaurus part.  Don’t bother to look up undead – no results found.

http://fantasyparanormalthesaurus.blogspot.com/ An un-shameful plug for the other blog site I started with Jynnipher thanks to the above thesaurus not having undead.  It will be a constant work in progress so send any comments to have words added.

http://random-name-generator.info/ No clue who made this site, but I like it.  There are several other sites similar out there but this one just stuck with me.  I like the lists of male & female first names.  It is helpful when you realize you want a name with a particular first letter.

http://www.darkerotica.net/EroticThesaurus.html You know it - Erotic Thesaurus, though it has words that will not make you blush unless you are already in that mindset.

http://www.literotica.com/s/erotic-synonyms For when the clinical term just won’t do.

http://www.sex-lexis.com/ Do not let the name fool you, this is a ‘Dictionary of Sexual Terms and Expressions’.  Have fun my romance peeps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superhuman_features_and_abilities_in_fiction Yes, it is wiki and I do have this list saved.  Not a bad list of powers that can be used for paranormal, sci fi and fantasy types.

Make Yourself Known

Sharing your information

https://docs.google.com  Sure most people won’t think about this, but if you have a group of trusted peeps you want to offer them your book to read, but do not want to send an actual file, you can use the lovely Google docs to share.

http://twitter.com/ Lots of people on here, and many that send out multiple helpful links.  Take with a grain of salt and refer HERE to my twitter post.

http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/ Yes it has not been updated in a while, yet it has great hints and tips for code.  It saved my arse when I could not remember.

http://www.sixsunday.com/  Check out the FAX and About section before or after you click on the list of participants.  An idea by a writer with three other participants went into for a quick sample of their work.  Each Sunday head here after 9am and you will find a list of participants and links to their six (I’ll be listed under Laura the Jane if I have a post that week).

Word Count

http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-word-counts-and-novel-length.html Awesome with a side of awesomesauce.  Colleen Lindsay's blog and a general info listing different genre's and 'usual' word count. I refer to this site often, though the numbers don't change.

Here & not Gone, Back Again for now

Whoopsie, my blood pressure was too high and they cancelled my surgery.  Oops?  lol.  Best part was when the hospital's auto bp machine wigged out...got red marks on my right arm which are not going away after 13 hours.  The track marks on both arms combined with my overweight body must make me look like a broke ass junky who spent her money on mac & cheese instead of her 8ball.

Once my bp is stabilized (yeah meds), then we'll go attempt 2 on the surgery.  Until that time, it shall be #amwriting time.