And the winner is....Drum roll please...

T. Anne!!!

Yay!!!

Yeah that's about all I got today. (And apparently this week!)

I'm editing still...editing editing editing.

BUT loving the result.

So the winner shall email me the first three chapters or she will get the hose! (Ok not really, but I couldn't pass up the Buffalo Bill moment!)

Let me know if you need my email address!

Until next time!!!

I may or may not be ... offering a free critique!

Losing my mind? Let's go with MAY be!

I realize I say "I may or may not be..." often. Like really often. And usually, it means I may be doing or have done the thing I'm talking about.

BUT

I thought it would be more fun to have you guess some on your own. So here we go ...

I may or may not be ...

1. drawing a blank as to what to write next ...
   
   
2. recovering from a LONG weekend full of cake and parties and cleaning ...
   
3. finished editing my book and super happy with the results ...
   
   
4. in love with my new house ...
   
   
5. excited about cleaning said new house today ...
   
   
6. in need of a shower ...
   
   
7. happy with my shoe wardrobe ...
   
   
8. in need of a few good gnomes ...
   
   
9. having an easy time jumping back into twitter and facebook ...
   
   
10. full of ideas for new books ...

So in the comments section number 1-10 and next to each number write "may" or "may not".

Doesn't that sound fun! (Feel free to write your reasoning after it. That could be fun too!)

I decided for my prize I would offer a free critique of your first three chapters. But beware ... I'm quite honest (in the nicest way possible) and I tell it like it is.

So good luck! May the best gnome loving fan win!

My Orange Pen of Despair

Once again I've fallen into the realms of a major edit. And once again I refuse to use a red pen.

This time I've taken refuge in a tangy little orange pen. (Ok well it's not really little ... and it doesn't actually taste like an orange ...) I will do just about anything to avoid that bloody ink upon my pages.

Unfortunately, my little citric friend is still doing it's job. It's crossing out sentences here and adding scenes there. It's like he's (yes my pen is a he ... anything that nags at a woman should be considered a he ... just sayin) laughing at me and saying, "Ha ha ha you foolish twit. How could you have missed that adverb the first twelve times around? And seriously, haven't you learned anything about show vs. tell!"

Yeah I don't really like him either. Maybe I should return to my pretty pink pen who talked to me with love. She wouldn't laugh at me, she'd gently break the news in a pleasant matter. She'd say, "Oh honey, you can't use that many adjectives to describe his eye brows. Saying fluffy uni-brow gives us a clear enough picture.

Isn't she sweet?

But what do I do? Do I dig her out of my gnome box?

Not a chance.

Why you ask?

Because I'm at that point in my edits where I need a little tough love. I need to hear it like it is.

I think everyone has that point in the revision stage where we finally break down and accept the dirty truth. The truth that there is more we can do to make our manuscripts shine.

So break out your Honest Orange pens my friends. Let them get rude. Let them hurt your feelings. Let them force you to make your manuscript better than you ever dreamed it could be!

(Why yes, I have lost my mind. Why do you ask?)

In which I talk about my opinions of Koolaid and their possible relationship to writing and/or parenting...

OH YEAH!!!!


Sorry I couldn't help myself there.

It never fails, I'm laying in bed last night attempting to sleep and my brain says, "But WAIT! I have some ideas."

And I say, "Um I'm trying to sleep here!"

At which it replies, "But these are really good ideas. You should totally take your daughter to get her hair cut after here First Communion. Isn't it funny that she wants a blue extension. Ha ha ha. OMG do you remember..."

"Yo Brain, I'm getting annoyed...though seriously...it is kinda funny."

"No seriously! Remember that time you died your hair with Kool-Aid when you were 13!"

"Oh yeah! And then the mom at the slumber party we were at got all mad and one of the girls told her it was her shampoo that did it. Good times..."

So I'm kinda laughing at this point...

"Dude! You should write a facebook post about that!"

"Um yeah, I'm trying to sleep here."

I sigh....the brain reminds me that my Crackberry is right next to my bed and convinces me to do a tiny quick little post.

Marybeth Geer-Smith I miss The Great Bluedini. not only was it the best Kool-Aid flavor ever, but it was also an excellent hair dye.

And THEN it has the tenacity to correct me!

"Oh come on Marybeth, you know that Kickin Kiwi Lime was the BEST Kool-Aid flavor ever!!!"

Good point...Kickin Kiwi Lime was totally the most rockin flavor ever.

So um here is the point where I tie this whole Kool-Aid episode into writing and/or parenting.

...

Um...

......

So writing is like Great Bluedini Kool-Aid, you start drinking it and you think it's the best thing ever!!! But THEN someone places a big fat glass of Kickin Kiwi Lime in front of you and says, "Try this, you won't regret it!"

But you say, "No! This Great Bluedini is the best there is!"

And they say, "Just try it!"

So you do ... and you can't help it, it's better. Well not only is it better, it's Fantastic!

It happens. We write something wonderful and think we could never do anything better, but then we do. We scratch it out and write something phenomenal. And that's ok. As long as we aren't afraid to try that new flavor (aka technique).

As for parenting, give your kids Kool-Aid. It builds lasting memories. And it's ok if they die their hair with it. It washes out. I promise!

So every time I pass the Kool-Aid isle I look for Kickin Kiwi Lime, always end up disappointed though. Now they only make flavors like Watermelon Cherry. UM HELLO! Nobody likes Watermelon Cherry! (Ok so I've never tried it ... I suppose I should give it a try.)

The Thing About Long Hair...

I've been growing my hair out for over a year now. (What? This is very important information! Of course you need to know!) This is a good thing, I totally prefer me with long hair. See....


Ok totally horrible picture, but you get the point. It's pretty long. And although I've tried it many times, I'm just not a fan of it short.

But back to my original issue. There is one thing I absolutely dislike about long hair.

Getting out of the shower and taking my hair out of the towel and that wet mop of freezing cold landing on my bare back! BRRRRRR!!!

Ok now that I've gotten that out I feel much better.

Aren't you glad you stuck around for that information? (Oh come on Scott...I totally could have done worse!)

My Character Needs a Talent!!!

So I'm reading Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell (Genius I say! Pure Genius!) and I'm filling out this questionnaire about me. I thought to myself, I should do this for my MC too. Why not see how well I know her! (Considering I invented her!)

I get to the question "What are the things you (or in this case my MC) good at?

Total FAIL moment!

I mean Epic FAIL!!!

I've been working on this book for almost a year now (ok so half that year the book was still in my head and not on paper...but still!) and I cannot for the life of me come up with something my character is good at!

How is this possible?!?!

I went through all the skills and talents a person can have (Google is full of wonderful information) and could not for the life of me choose one that fit her personality.I mean how is being able to do that going to help my plot along??? Has anyone ever had this problem? Should not having a talent just be one of her quirks? Would it be strange to give her a talent that has nothing to do with the overall story?

What are your characters talents? I mean everyone needs to be good at something!

And on a totally unrelated note...
Netflix has the first 5 seasons of Bones in their Instant Que right now...I'm ADDICTED! (And I may or may not have a huge crush on Jack Hodgins....I mean just look at him!)

Did you miss me?

See how I started this post with a totally rhetorical question! Don't ever do that on a query letter...

ANYWAYS....as you can see I'm a bit out of practice on the whole blogging thing. It's even worse on facebook and twitter. I only managed 275K on Bejeweled and have no clue what to say on twitter. This is going to take some time to get back into the swing of things!

So I see that whilst I was away a few of you acquired agents ... YAY!!!!! I'm so proud of you (and possibly jealous...)

Nothing much of excitement happened to me during my absence BUT I did learn some interesting things from my fast. Things I really didn't expect to happen. (I may or may not be slightly naive in some instances.)

So here are the things I learned...

Top 10 Things I Learned While Away from Social Media

10. The Crackberry is not nearly as fun without twitter and facebook

9. When you take away twitter and facebook, the need to read/write blogs and go on other social media sites seems kinda silly. Especially when you can't post your blogs anywhere or follow up with people about them elsewhere. It's not something I can completely explain, but I totally didn't expect for it to happen.

8. When you are not blogging, tweeting, playing Bejeweled Blitz all day ... you have a LOT of time on your hands.

7. When you are not in constant contact with writers, agents, bloggers 24/7, suddenly you feel the need to take a break from your writing as well. I didn't look at my book once. Instead I spent the 40 days helping a dear (super awesome fantastic) friend with editing her book and sending encouragement during her agent search (not to be confused with Star Search...) And oddly...it felt good to step away from my own work for awhile. I needed it.

6. When you have a ton of time on your hands you read ... a LOT. I didn't make it through all the books I wanted to BUT I did read (in no particular order) Impulse, Identical, Crank, The Maze Runner, 13 Reasons Why, Love You, Hate You, Miss You, Wake, Fade, The Bell Jar, Shiver, Stephen King's On Writing, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, and I'm currently reading Gone and Plot and Structure. Again, not as many as I wanted to read, but after the first 8 I kinda got burnt out.

5. Not many people email any more...or using Yahoo Instant Messenger. I had both available the entire 40 days and I really only stayed in touch with about 3 or 4 people. This kinda made me sad. But it's all good, I know people have been busy :)

4. When you aren't reading, writing, on the computer you watch a TON of TV. I have watched the first 5 seasons of Grey's Anatomy via Lifetime Network and DVR and almost all of the first season of Bones via Netflix as well as any episodes of House that I have been able to catch on Saturday nights. My husband would like to take the TV away from me.

3. Moving is a bit easier when not glued to the computer. I was able to get my entire house packed and ready to go to the point where it only took us 3 hours to load the moving truck and 2 to unload. By far the easiest move we have ever had!

2. I spent way more time with my family then I had before. Apparently my husband doesn't like to cuddle 24/7. What's up with that?

1. The most interesting thing about the whole fast was that I didn't miss it as much as I thought I would. The first few days kinda sucked, but after that I just kinda got used to it. I really missed the people, but not the websites themselves. I actually felt kinda strange when I got back on yesterday.

Conclusion...

While Social Media is fun, it's not completely necessary. You miss out on a ton of interaction, but I was able to still feel connected to those who kept in touch via email.

Now what I wonder is will it be harder to get back into the swing of things than it was to get out of them....I shall keep you posted!

And if you didn't get a chance to let me in on what I missed while I was gone, visit yesterdays post and give me the goods!

This is YOUR chance!

So I'm back today. Back on twitter, back on facebook and although I didn't officially fast from it, I am back to Blogger. It was strange how without the other two, the one didn't seem to be needed either. But more on that later...cuz that's about me! We'll get to me tomorrow. After all, I luvs me sum talkin bout me!!! Me Me Me Me Me!!! (this can be sung as well as spoken!)

But today I want to hear about YOU! What have I missed. I need updates. I want to hear every tiny little important detail that I haven't read about. What has been happening on your blogs? It's not that I don't want to read them for myself, but I'm quite positive I don't have the time to catch up on all my favorite blogs from the last month. (Cuz um...well I may or may not read way too many blogs...)

So PLEEEAAAASSSSEEEE tell me what I've missed. I'll be your best friend! Did I miss anything fun on facebook or twitter? (Is asking what I missed on facebook and twitter cheating on my fast? Cuz technically my fast is over so I think it's totally fair to look back...right???)

Oh and by the way, if you are asking what I missed the most ... It was totally all of you!