Eenie Meenie Miney No Way

I challenge you to pick the BEST picture below.

I've just asked the impossible. It feels like a crime to place Monet, Rivera, Kandinsky, Matisse, Dali, Van Gogh, or Parrish in first place and leave the rest of these masterpieces to be also rans.

There is no such thing as THE BEST in art. 

This week the Academy Awards will choose a best picture. The concept boggles my mind. 

How do you choose between:

Going back in a time machine to watch LINCOLN shape our nation.

A beloved musical combined with the grit of the original novel in LES MISERABLES.

The heart pumping escape wrapped in a Hollywood lie in ARGO.

The triumph of the human spirit over mental illness in SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. 

A shameless reality that exists a breath away from our comfortable lives in BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD.

The transcendental journey in THE LIFE OF PI.

I regret I haven't seen ZERO DARK THIRTY, AMOUR, or DJANGO UNCHAINED, but I have no doubt each would leave its indelible imprint on me.

A masterpiece is a masterpiece. We are all the better for them.

The Long and Short Story of It

At the beginning of 2012, I decided to mix it up a bit in my writer's journey. I've been on the 

draft

revise-revise-revise

query

revise-revise-revise

query again

revise-revise-revise 

hamster wheel with manuscripts for a few years now. 

I've faithfully gone to conferences, latched onto amazing critique partners, blogged, and been a reading fiend to polish my skills. All my energies were focused on novels until...

Last January when I sold my first short story, a paranormal Hansel and Gretel extension called The Shimmer in the Woods that will be released any minute from Cliffhanger Books. Ironically I wrote it in an "I wonder if I can pull off a short story," moment. 

What followed was a year of writing and working with whip cracking editors on three more short stories that have seen the light of day in the Journeys of Wonder anthology series (check out the sidebar).

Had I become a traitor to my manuscripts?

Not at all.

My short story work has honed and sharpened multiple aspects of my craft by forcing me to:

• Create a compelling story arc in a compacted space
• Develop characters that matter right off the bat
• Drop right into the middle of high stakes
• Agonize over word choice to get maximum bang for my buck
• World build in the blink of an eye
• Add immediacy to every beat
• Write in present tense instead of my beloved past tense

I've taken these mad short story skills and applied them to my existing manuscripts. It's been a great ride revisiting my darlings with a fresh set of eyes and making them the better for it.

What have you done to shake up your writing pattern?

If you want a brilliant "how to" on short story writing, run don't walk to get a copy of:
Ron Carlson Writes a Story

Love Letter

Once Upon a Time...

There was girl who was New York City phobic. No matter how many episodes of Sex and the City she watched, she was still intimidated by the intensity of such a place.

Until...

She walked through Central Park in the winter. 

She was wowed by one Broadway show and

then another.

She was dazzled by the lights of Time Square.

She hung out with an Avenger at FAO Scwartz.

She inhaled pickles, pastrami, and cheesecake while sugary snow sprinkled outside, and

She fell in love with New York City.

*********************************

Free - Free - Free

Sunday, February 10th through Tuesday, February 11th, JOURNEYS OF WONDER Volumes 1 and 2 are free downloads from Amazon. Click on the covers in the sidebar to hop over and grab your copies.

Hypnagogia

Thank you all for your patience at my impromtu blog vanishing act over the last month.  

Have you ever been awakened by a deafening noise? 

Or did you just imagine you'd been awakened by a deafening noise? When you embrace consciousness, the house is dead silent. Your middle of the night investigation fails to reveal any mass destruction.

You've been visited by the specter of HYPNAGOGIA.

It's the freaky transitional state between sleeping and waking where the real and unreal inhabit the same space. Yes, there may be unicorns.

I woke up in a panic last week POSITIVE a mouse ran across my foot under my covers. I've never leapt to my feet faster in my life. My blankets were whipped off that bed so fast I created a wind chill factor in my bedroom.

I had two more "twilight zone" encounter with the mystery mouse. Alas, I have yet to prove its existence. 

Finally I unleashed my cat, Padme, who is a huntress extraordinaire, into my room. All she did was look bored. No scent at all. 

It's time to admit my mousey nemesis lives in the ether between sawing zzzzz's and being conscious.

At least it wasn't a snake.

No Freudian comments please.

Have you ever had an oddball twilight vision?

I feel a Hypnagogia Club coming on.

View From the 5th Grade Trenches: December 2012: Heartbroken

I am shocked and heartbroken by the unthinkable sorrow the families at Sandy Hook Elementary are going through. I know you are as well. 

I found a post on Facebook passed along from teacher to teacher that I've never met. It puts into words what my teacher's heart is feeling. I paraphrase a bit, but the sentiment remains the same.

Five days a week, we teach your kids. That means we

 Educate your kids

Play with your kids

Discipline your kids

Joke with your kids

Console your kids

Praise your kids

Question your kids

Beat our heads against a wall about your kids

Laugh with your kids

Worry about your kids

Keep an eye on your kids

Learn about your kids

Invest in your kids

Protect your kids

and yes

Love your kids

WE WOULD ALL TAKE A BULLET FOR YOUR KIDS

It's nowhere in our job description. It isn't covered in the employee handbook. It isn't cited in our contracts, but we would all do it.

Hug your kids tonight, really really tight and know they are always in our hearts as well.

The truth is, in this day and age, we do practice lockdown drills at school and teach the kids what to do in the event of a malicious intruder. It's tragic that we have to train our students for a potential outcome such as that, but it is a necessary precaution to keep our precious children safe.

Fangirl Heaven

Prologue: Monday and Tuesday - December 10th and 11th - the Kindle version of Journeys of Wonder Volume 2 can be downloaded for free. GO FOR IT.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Yes, I'm a fangirl. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Comic Con, Dr. Who, Firefly, The Avengers...

This weekend my daughter (Yes, I've raised a second generation fangirl) and I reveled in a Lord of the Rings marathon - all extended versions - at the Arclight movie theatre as we gear up for The Hobbit. Total Middle Earth immersion. There really is nothing like seeing films on the big screen.

Today, on his birthday I want to salute the person who awakened my fangirl self, lo those many years ago:

Donny Osmond

I have no proof, but I'm fairly certain he was singing Puppy Love to me. I was in hog heaven back on March 15, 1972 when D.J., Robert W. Morgan, played Puppy Love for 90 minutes straight on KHJ radio in Los Angeles. 

A lifelong dream came true this week when I FINALLY got to see Donny Osmond perform live on stage in:

It was AMAZING. I sang, I swooned, I was inspired. The performances by both Donny and Marie were stellar. So many times we build idols up in our minds to a place impossible to live up to. Not so in this case. Donny surpassed my wildest expectations. I hereby nominate him for national treasure.

Happy Birthday, Donny.

Who makes your fangirl/fanboy heart go pitter patter? Any stories to share?

Make Believe Anthology Featuring Lynda R. Young

Exciting news!

Lynda R. Young’s short story, Birthright has been published by

J. Taylor Publishing in the 

Make Believe anthology 

launching on  

December 3, 2012! 

 

Virtual cake for everyone!! 

Make Believe is currently available in e-book format and includes Paranormal Romance and Fantasy stories inspired by the image on the cover. This will make great holiday reading by the fire while you wear your fuzzy socks.

Blurbs from all the stories included in Make Believe can be found on the J. Taylor Publishing website HERE. 

Hop HERE to grab your copy. 

  Birthright by Lynda R. Young Christa can mask the pain and hide the scars, but running from a birthright is impossible. She’s tried to escape her grief by fleeing to a small town in Florida. Much to her frustration, the locals think they recognize her even though she's never been there before. To make things worse, a man named Jack spouts outrageous theories about her. Both spur Christa to bolt, to start fresh yet again, but there’s something about Jack that intrigues her enough to stay. The only problem? Someone else wants her to leave, and they won’t stop until she’s dead.  

About Lynda R. Young: Lynda R. Young lives in Sydney, Australia, with her sweetheart of a husband who is her rock, and a cat who believes world domination starts in the home. She writes speculative short stories and is currently writing novels for young adults. In her spare time she also dabbles in photography and all things creative. You can find her here: Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear by M. Pax

I'm a HUGE fan of M. Pax's Sci-Fi The Backworlds series and now that I've met Hetty, I'm hooked again. Mary Pax's versatility and creativity will grab you and not let go.

The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear

A New Adult Urban Fantasy, The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear is the first book in a new series. And it’s now out! The main character, Hetty, is a twenty-two-year-old, stumbling about in an effort to become a full-fledged adult. She struggles with self-esteem, weight, relationships, and making the transition between college and the real world.

Graduation from community college isn’t the magic elixir Hetty Locklear counts on for becoming an adult. Her parents, who work the Renaissance fair circuit, insist she spend part of the summer with them. Hetty doubts pretending to live in the Middle Ages will help her find her way.

 To make it worse, an entity haunts her at her dead-end job, warning her of a dangerous man she doesn’t know. The ghost leads her to a lover who has a lot of secrets. He pulls her farther into peril and into a strange, hidden world of genetic experimentation.

New Adult Urban Fantasy with a contemporary sci-fi twist. Mature content. 

Available as an ebook at Amazon / Amazon UK / Smashwords / iTunes / Kobo

Visit www.mpaxauthor.com for more links.

M. Pax is celebrating her latest release with a jousting tournament and contest at www.mpaxauthor.com. Cheer for the knights to help them win the grand prize, and you’ll be put in a drawing to win an ebook copy of The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear. Five will be given away. Huzzah!

The Hidden Blessing by Melissa Buell

Do you fancy a world where princesses joust and fairies have your back? And yes, there be dragons.

Then pack your bags for Gymandrol, the fantastical world created by Melissa Buell in her Tales of Gymnadrol series.

Melissa's love of fairy tales comes across beautifully in the stories she weaves. Her characters are multi-faceted with dreams and quests that make you want to hop on your steed and join them on their adventures.

If you haven't crossed the border into Gymandrol yet - grab a copy of The Seventh Blessing and prepare to be charmed.

And now the story continues with The Hidden Blessing...

THE HIDDEN BLESSING

How do you test for happily ever after?

Nine years ago, Emma became orphaned as a result of the Zynachnean-Mittra War. Although her memories are gone and she has no idea who she is or where she came from, she’s kindly adopted by a fairy and raised inthe small village of Weymouth.

Now eighteen, Emma has come to love the life she’s made with her fairy mother. But tragedy strikes Emma’s home just as Prince Will and his sister, Princess Allessia, travel incognito through Weymouth on their way to Mittra. Allessia offers to hire Emma as her lady’s maid, despite Will’s reluctance.

Once they arrive at the home of Queen Samantha and Prince Nolan in Mittra, Emma’s life rapidly becomes entwined with the lives of the royal family. There are rumors that Princess Emmalyn Meredith, tragically found dead when she was eight years old, did not really die. As a result, girls swarm to Mittra to try and prove they are the missing princess. The idea is presented to hold a series of tests to see if any of the girls are indeed Princess Emmalyn.

Talia, Samantha’s fairy godmother, puts together a series of “princess tests” in order to discover the true identity of the long lost princess. Emma volunteers to help with the tests, which creates more opportunities for her to interact with Prince Will. But emotions run high as Emma tries to decipher her own feelings for Will, who has offered to help her find a proper suitor when it is discovered that she is suddenly heir to a large fortune.

Can Emma discover the truth about her past and attempt to plan her future while navigating the stormy waters of courtly intrigue?

Links:

Facebook

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The Little Things (TLT) Publishing Co.

(Pre-order from TLT with discount code: thb12mb2 for 30% off until 12/31/12.)

A Conversation About Helping

Today I am linking to Julie Musil's blog which has great information on how to be part of the conversation about helping those who had to endure Hurricane Sandy.