Category Archives: Senseless Ranting

It’s been all about memes lately. Whatsa Meme anyway? AKA Another Lesson in Writing Without Looking — Oh! And we have a winner!

Posted on October 7, 2012 | 17 comments

Well let’s start out with the winner of the Make Believe Anthology.

Of course, we can only have one winner, but for everyone else, the Make Believe Anthology releases December third, and you may be able to pick up another free copy during the MASSIVE blog tour in December.

Drumroll Please!

By YOUR VOTES The winner is:   Vanessa Chapman

Congratulations!  And Thanks for everyone who pleaded with the Little Blue Lady to set me free.

Do you think we’ve seen the last of her yet?  I don’t know… She sais she’s sorry, but still seems to want an interview.

Anyway…

It’s been all about memes lately.  I keep getting slapped with one meme or another.  It got me thinking… What the frig is a meme anyway?  (Except being something like a blog chain letter)

Definition time (Off Wikki):

A Meme (pronounced Meem, as in dream), is generally defined as anything that can be transferred from one mind to another. Glenn Grant defines a meme as “A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds…

Ummm… Okay…  Anyway…  In the blog world, a Meme is something you have to do, and then tag others to do it also.  I have to pass on a lot of these, unless I think they are valuable.  The one I was tagged in today was a good one that every author should do anyway.  Soooo… here we go!

This is the “Look” Meme.

The rules are to run a search on your current work in progress, and count how many times “Look” appears.  Why look?  Well, Look is one of those nasty telly words that get editor’s britches all in a bother, and (even worse) can get your manuscript rejected by a publisher or agent.

I’d like to pass a special thanks to ultra-cool author Claire Gillian (From “The Pure” fame (Yes!  She actually remembers me!)) For tagging me with a constructive meme.

So, the WIP I have chosen is my Single Short Romance, A Test of Faith.  It is 5,902 words.

Searching for…. “look”

There we have it.  “Look” appears 13 times.  Hmmm.  That’s not so bad.  Now, what I need to do, is show a few examples.  Let me page through them.

Okay… so, it seems that out of the thirteen, eight of them are “good looks”, which means they are in dialog, as in:  “Don’t look at me like that!”  Those don’t count.  They are legal.

Here are the five that remain (Hey, only five?  Statistically, that’s pretty good!)

Anyway… here they are:

1.       She ran up the steps, stopped mid-way, and looked down toward us.

2.       I looked up into the warmth of his eyes.

3.       He ran his finger under my chin. I looked away self-consciously.

4.       The redness in his face cut a hole into my heart, severing the arteries and forcing it into my throat. I looked away.

5.       He looked to the side, pursed his lips and walked into the kitchen.

Now, you are supposed to give a little bit of the paragraphs around the “look” as well, but I want these to really stick out.  ERRRRR.  They don’t look as good here as they do in the manuscript.  My inner editor is screaming.

So, what do you think?  Are these too telly?  How would you change them to Write Without Looking?

I’m gonna tag EVERYBODY on this one, because I think it’s a great exercise.  If you don’t strive to make your writing better, ignore it.  If you want to be the best writer you can be, give it a try.   Wether or not you post it is up to you.  🙂

Related articles

17 Comments

Posted in Blog Awards, Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Oh No! I’m Fat! And, Umm, too skinny too? Huh?

Posted on September 30, 2012 | 36 comments

My company recently acquired this nifty little machine that analyzes your body in a whole lot of different ways.

It sends an electrical pulse through your body on several different frequencies, and measures not only BMI, but the amount of water in your cells, outside your cells, how much muscle is in each leg, each arm, and oodles of other stuff.

After getting my report I slipped into the “Huh?” factor and needed to talk to the company health coach about it, because the report told me I need to lose 22.6 pounds.

Now, If you take a look at the pictures of me on my site, you will be in “huh” mode with me… those were taken earlier this year. Do I look like I need to lose 22 pounds?  A few maybe, but not 22.

What she explained to me is that my body is mis-proportioned.  My arms both only have about 85-86% of the muscle they should have to fall into the “normal range” and proportionally, I should only have between 18-23 percent body fat….. [**GACK**] I have 36.

Honestly, I totally believe this percentage part because let’s face it… writing is sedentary.  My thighs are a little thicker than they used to be… okay maybe 36 percent thicker… but I’m glad this little machine told me… because now I have a goal.

No, don’t worry, I am not going to try to lose 22.6 pounds… I’d have to starve myself for that.  What I am going to try to do is get down to my high-school weight… back when I was still a “babe”.  That’s losing sixteen pounds from where I am now.

Luckily for me, my husband in the last year or so has lost 65 pounds… and he’s offered to be my personal trainer.  I am going to try to lose as much fat in my legs and tummy as possible, while building muscle in my arms.

I need to get in the best shape I can in the next two weeks, and then I will jump on that nifty little machine again.

My goal is to push all my “underweight” areas into the “normal” zone by gaining muscle, and bring down that high fat percentage.

Hubbs said the chances of losing 16 pounds in two weeks is slim… but I probably consume that much in chocolate and ice cream alone in two week’s time.  I need to make healthier choices.

Diet and exercise.  Yep, I can do this…

What about my writing routing?  Yeah, I can’t possibly cut more time out of my sleep, so the writing and marketing time is going to suffer.  Social networking?  Erghhhh…. Might be a problem too… but this is something I need to do for my health.

Hubbs has been complaining we don’t spend time together… now we will.  And I WILL be a babe again, dernit!

Have you gained weight since you started writing?

If not, how do you make time for exercise, along with the laundry, dishes, taking kids to sports, dog training, and all the other normal things people do?

Related articles

36 Comments

Posted in Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m sorry. I like you, I just didn’t like your book.

Posted on September 22, 2012 | 34 comments

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  I read a book by a friend of mine, and I just didn’t like it.

Was there anything wrong with her writing?  No, not really.  It was just a disappointing read for me. So, what did I do?  I finished it, and I moved on to something else, kept my mouth shut, and I didn’t do a book review.

At one point, in a forum we are both on, she said, referring to me finishing her novel:  “I guess no news is good news, yikes”.  Well, there was no actual question asked in the statement, so again, I kept my mouth shut.  I thought I had ducked the bullet.

Today she sent me a private message. (Almost a month later) She asked me if I hated it.  My heart sank.  What the heck do you say?  I don’t want to lie. It’s not that it’s a bad book.  It was traditionally published, so someone had to think it was good, and it had a few good reviews.  I just happened to agree with the bad ones.  I would have given the book three stars if I’d reviewed it, but in doing this, I felt like I would have to list the things that I didn’t like.

I have a policy not to review books I don’t like at all.  (Although some would say I’m lethal even when I do like a book 🙂 )

The way I figure it —  It doesn’t help the author any to bring their rating down because I didn’t care for it.  That’s why you have only seen four star reviews so far.  The stuff that I haven’t liked, I’ve set aside (except for that one I reviewed without giving the author’s name or book title)

So now, I’m stewing, and writing a blog post about it.  I need to say something to her by tonight.

Whattya do?

Related articles

34 Comments

Posted in Author Advice, Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Chocolate! How do I love thee. How do I need thee!

Posted on September 10, 2012 | 60 comments

Sorry.  I cannot resist anything having to do with Chocolate.  Yes, this is a chocolate blog hop.  What’s a chocolate blog hop?  Well, it’s about chocolate, silly!

Chocolate is just the most wonderful thing in the world.  And I am one of the lucky few who gets chocolate prescribed by my doctor!  Yay!  Feeling sick? Bring on the Godiva!

Yeah, unfortunately, a good old cheap Hershey bar just doesn’t cut it.  It’s gotta be dark.  The darker the better…. with all its melty yummy goodness.

Ahhhhhh.  Who needs a freaking romance novel when you can just dive in to a box of delectable goodness.

I was going to describe eating chocolate as if I were writing for a romance novel, but I came across this fantastic poem and decided to post this instead.

 

This poem is by the lovely and talented Julie Catherine.  (Apparently, a fellow chocoholic)  Enjoy!

 

Do You Dream in Chocolate

Do you dream in chocolate

When stardust kisses your eyes

And the fondant veil descends

Caressing night with velvet sighs

Does its fullness brush your tongue

With ganache swirls upon your lips

And linger on your sweetened buds

On sumptuous, creamy tips

Or burst upon your silken throat

Entice with earthy, bold intent

And tickling notes of berry wine

Play butter curves’ lament

Does its bouquet tempt your palate

With cocoa sheen upon the rose

Cocoon you in mahogany sheets

Milky pillows for sweet repose

Do you dream in chocolate

When moonlight paints your eyes

And nectar from ambrosial liqueur

Embalms your trembling thighs

© Julie Catherine Vigna, 2011

You know what?  I’m just going to sit back and do nothing but eat chocolate tomorrow.  That sounds good, right?  It’s a chocolate vacation for me!  Yay!

Wanna hijack my blog in honor of chocolate day?  Be the first to email me and ask Really Really nice  🙂  I can be bribed with free goodies, too. Oh!  How about free goodies for my readers?  Yeah, that’s a good idea.  Bribe me and you get a post on my blog tomorrow.  (I never said I couldn’t be bought)

Related articles

60 Comments

Posted in Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , ,

T.G.I. Friday’s Restaurant: Shame on you. A.K.A. Have you ever found something in your food that wasn’t supposed to be there?

Posted on September 8, 2012 | 28 comments

Thursday was the first day of school for my three boys.  My husband decided it would be fun to celebrate by bringing the family out to dinner.  We don’t often go to T.G.I. Friday’s because there are other restaurants closer.  Well, now we have a new reason not to go there.

Okay, I’m not going to say there was a rat on my plate or anything.  This isn’t a gruesome story.  Rather, it is a testimonial on lack of customer service at T.G.I Friday’s.

While enjoying my dinner, I took a stab of my vegetable medley (which was zucchini and yellow squash with a few red peppers) and I spied something odd-colored mixed in with my veggies.

I picked up a sizable date-tag.  It looked a lot like a price tag you see sometimes in a store, only larger.

Okay, so someone made a mistake.  No biggie.  I’m not the kind of person to create a scene.  My husband said I should say something, so when the waitress came over I said “You should ask the people in the kitchen to be more careful.”

She said she would tell the manager, and she took the tag away.  I should have taken a picture of it as evidence.

My kids, at that point, started dreaming about free dessert.  I didn’t really want that.  The more I thought about it though; there was ink on that tag.  Did any come off into my food?

Now, let’s talk about customer service… Again, I didn’t necessarily want anything free.  I wanted them to be careful.  After all, I’m not dumping $85 for a meal to have trash on my plate, right?

We waited, finished our meals, got the check, paid and left.

Nothing.

We never saw a manager.  No one apologized. (Not even the waitress).

I left thinking, Huh? My husband asked if I wanted him so say something.  I thought… no, the price of the meal was not worth getting everyone’s blood pressure up.  I figured I can do something better.

Sorry T.G.I. Friday’s… despite the mistake, you had a chance to shine.  A simple stroll out of the manager’s office and an “I’m sorry” would have made me a happy, understanding customer.

Instead, I am writing an article about my experience, tagging it, and shooting it off to 650 or so people.  And now we’re gonna chat about it.

Bag press stinks, doesn’t it?

So, I am sure there are much worse stories out there.  Bring it on!

What have you found on your plate at a restaurant that was not supposed to be there?

What kind of bad customer service have you experienced that made you not want to go back?

(This should be an interesting conversation)

Related articles

28 Comments

Posted in Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , , ,

What makes you comment in reply to an article on a Blog?

Posted on September 6, 2012 | 119 comments

I’ve been wondering about this a lot.  What makes you stop and comment on a blog article your read?  There are some people who comment all the time.

My top commenters are pretty much the same people.  Three of them switch back and forth duking it out for the “Top Commenter” honors on a daily basis.

Then a new name pops up, and they hang out for a while.  Some disappear.  Are they still reading?  I don’t know.

I don’t know why there is a Shakespeare guy next to this post, either.

I think maybe some people comment for the social-networking aspect, and some people are just looking for information.

Stop, read, and go.  I guess that’s okay too.

Does anyone else mull over this?  I guess I’m weird, but when I visit another blog, I usually like the person to know that I’ve been there.

It’s kind of like poking them with a sword, or leaving a message on someone’s desk.

“Hi!  I stopped by, and wanted to let you know I was here.  Catch ya later”.

According to my stats, I average 150 people visiting this blog every day.  (Crazy, isn’t it?)  I run an average of six to twelve comments per post, give or take a few here and there.  (Yes, a few have gone as high as 50 comments, but that’s not the norm)

That means 90% of people read, but don’t comment.  I’ve seen some people create Gravitar accounts just to comment.  That’s cool.  You don’t need to be a blogger to join in the fun.

So… If you are a commenter, what makes you comment?

If you don’t comment, are you just shy? 

Now, I am completely aware that the people who don’t comment probably still won’t.  But if a few of you do, it would be great!  If you are shy, and think “I don’t have anything to say” just type “Hi, I was here.”

Consider it your first step into the madness of Social Networking.

Related articles

119 Comments

Posted in Marketing Madness, Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Digging through the monotony of writer’s block. Yes! It can be done!

Posted on August 29, 2012 | 11 comments

I was recently a ROW 80 sponsor.  This is a re-blog of the post I did for Row 80, in case some of you didn’t bop over there.  Enjoy!

So, how are we all doing?  Having trouble getting started?  Ugh!  I hate that too.

Personally, I don’t believe in writer’s block.  What you need is just a little inspiration.  Where do you find inspiration?  Well, anywhere.

A good solid writer can make a story out of anything.  You just need to take that first step forward.

But how do you take that step?

Did you see a billboard or magazine advertisement this morning?  Take the person in that picture and write about them.  Are you stuck in the middle of your novel and don’t know where to go?  Read on, my friend, read on…

Here is my method of getting started.  It has never failed me.  You need to start with a character or a setting.  Who or where does not matter.  Just start.

If it is a character, have them take a step.  If it is a scene, just show your reader where they are.  I am going to grab a name out of the air, and see what happens.  Okay?  John is the name.  Here we go:

“John shivered as the cool breeze slapped at his cheeks.  The walk ahead was long and hard, but he needed to make this journey.  More than anything else, he needed to find Geraldine.”

Now, I had no pre-conceived idea in my head when I started.  I just grabbed the name “John” out of the air, and added a setting element.  Within a few seconds, he was looking for someone named Geraldine… and that was completely unplanned.

Now, I just need to let the story “happen”.  The seeds have been planted.  John has to walk in the cold.  Where is he going?  Dunno, but I know it leads to Geraldine.  Isn’t that exciting?

The way I’ve use this method in the middle of a novel, is I take a character, have him sit outside a door, and actually write his thoughts as he figures out what he needs to do.  He doesn’t know what’s going to happen… you don’t know what’s going to happen either.  Just work it out together.

Now, you might not actually be able to use that 2-3 paragraphs that you write in that character’s POV, but just writing and “getting into their head” will start the creative juices flowing.

The important thing is to get words on the page.  Once they start flowing, you might be surprised how hard they are to stop.

Unfortunately, now I’m DYING to know more about John and Geraldine.  Ugh.  Another story begging to be written.

Good luck!

Related articles

11 Comments

Posted in Row 80, Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Anyone interested in critiquing my first page live?

Posted on August 25, 2012 | 16 comments

Sorry for posting two times in one day, but I just found out that the first page of my WIP novel Fire in the Woods will be featured Sunday Night on Writer’s Chatroom for live critique.  **GACK**

I’ve never done anything like this before, and I’m not sure what to expect.  I think my first page will pop up on the screen, people will be able to read it, and then BAM they get the chance to start ripping away.

Nervous?  Maybe a little.  It sounds like a neat opportunity to have multiple critiques on the most important page of my novel, though.

Want to check it out?  Tune in Sunday at 7:00 Eastern.  My first page will be the sixth work featured.

Here are the details:

WHEN?

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Eastern USA Time…..7 PM

Not sure what time that is wherever in the world you are?  http://www.worldtimeserver.com

WHERE?

The Writers Chatroom at:  http://www.writerschatroom.com/Enter.htm

Scroll down to the Java box. It may take a moment to load. Type in the name you wish to be known by, and click Login. No password needed.

See you there!

Related articles

16 Comments

Posted in Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

When your novel comes up short

Posted on August 18, 2012 | 36 comments

I just finished my latest novel.

Yay!  Right?

Umm, well not really.

For the first time in my life … My novel came up short.

I normally write huge, sweeping epic novels.  The last one I had to hack up into five novels.  The one before had three parts.  My mind just thinks “big”.

This time, I tried to center my mind on a one-week timeframe.  I carefully plotted it out, and assigned word counts.  I thought it would be close, but I didn’t expect to be WAY OFF my target word count.

Do I have stuff to add?  Well, yes, thank goodness.  There are a few things that I found I needed at the end that will need to be introduced earlier on.  The problem is, I need about 12,000 words, and I imagine the additions will only total to about 1,000 words.  11,000 more to go.

Yikes again.

I’ve edited 23 pages, and have added 230 words.  I figure the total added for general editing will be about 2000 words.  That’s 9,000 to go.

I don’t want to write unnecessary scenes just to make word count.  I wrote tightly.  Everything is spot-on.

Maybe a little too spot on.

Has anyone else ever had this problem?

 Well I don’t like it.  Nope. Not at all.

Related articles

36 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips, Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , ,

Scoping out locations for your novel #3: Road Trip! (Contes Farm)

Posted on August 11, 2012 | 23 comments

In scoping out locations in South Jersey for my new Novel, I needed a farm that was between point A and an airport.  Last week, we visited the airport, and it was perfect.  Would the farm be that good?

I clicked on the GPS and started driving.  First problem:  It’s too far away.  I need it far away, but not this far.  There is another farm option, but that one is actually too close to its local airport.

Erghhh!  The woes of real-life locations.

As I’m driving though, I figure out a way to make it work.  I just need to tweak something just a little bit.  Yeah, I decided, it will work, and it will be much easier than trying to make the one that’s too close to the airport “fit” into the story.

We headed out into farm country, and I kept repeating:  “Please be surrounded by woods… please be surrounded by woods.”

We turned onto a road, and pulled up to the small farm-stand building. Conte’s Farm.  Hmmm… not as grand as I had expected, but the building is not important.  I dragged all the kids out of the car, and announced we were going out into the fields to pick our own fruit.  Boy, did their faces light up!

It’s funny, with all the things they were guessing as we were driving, I was afraid they would be disappointed.  Wow, were they excited.

We went to the back and got our baskets.  “So, how does this work?” I asked.

“He’ll be there in a minute to bring you out,” she said.

Much to my joy, and my kid’s excitement, a tractor pulled up with a big trailer attached with seats on it.

Perfect, since I’d already written this scene, and there was a tractor in it.  We loaded up and he pulled us out into the fields which were HUGE.  Much bigger than I had written, but that’s fine.  An easy fix.

I shielded my eyes, and scanned the far reaches of the fields.  They were surrounded on three sides with a very thick forest.  Wahooo!  And the woods were even on the correct side, heading toward the airport.

Happiness abounding, we set out to pick our strawberries and had a blast.  “Nice tractor guy” picked us up a while later and dropped us off at the blueberry fields.  The weather was perfect, and we had tons of fun picking fruit.

Note of caution-if everyone in your group has their own buckets, you may be coming home with five pounds of blueberries… Just say’n.

Anyway… next hurdle…

As we checked out, I asked if they have anything fruiting in August (That’s when my novel takes place, and I really didn’t want to change that.)

“Yes, that’s peach season.”

YES!  I’d already written about peaches… and I was worried, because they didn’t mention peaches on their web-site.

Two locations down… the farm and the airport.

Point A would be a little more of a trip… for another day.

My next challenge is to find a hotel within a reasonable distance to this farm.

That, unfortunately, may be the hardest part of all of this.  I might have to make one up.

What do you think of “making up” a location, where all other locations are “real”?  I may be able to fudge it, by being hazy on the address of the hotel.  Whaddya think?

Related articles

23 Comments

Posted in General Writing Tips, Senseless Ranting

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,