Thinking about the A to Z Challenge?

Today's the day! Head over to the website and sign up for the Blogging A to Z Challenge! If you haven't heard of it, where have you been! No, seriously. :)

Okay, the challenge is to blog every day in April (except for Sunday) starting with A and ending on Z. Some people do it backwards, but some kind of order helps.

We were asked to give some tips to anyone who might be new this year:

1. plan ahead and schedule your posts so you can visit and enjoy the month
2. pick a theme you will have fun sharing
3. keep it short and simple
4. if possible, ask a question to encourage comments

I've been thinking about this year's A to Z Challenge since May of 2014. Last year I planned on doing X-Files for my theme. Unfortunately, I'm only half way through the show on Netflix. There are still 5 seasons to go and I just can't finish before April. My thought is all or nothing. How can you adequately cover something you haven't watched all of in a long time?

So, I've chosen a new topic.

Science Fiction Movies from the 80s!

Here are my rules for what I'll cover.

1. It has to be science fiction or fantasy from the 1980s 
2. It has to be a movie I've personally watched (most of them in the 80s when they came out)

As I made my list I revisited lots of favorites. Some silly, some scary and a bunch that fell somewhere in the middle. My goal was at least 2 movies per letter. There were some letters that I couldn't find (or remember) a movie from the 80s so I chose one from the 70s or early 90s. Hey, you do what you've got to do.

There are many of my "favorites" that didn't make the list because of the restrictions I set. If I could find 2 movies from the 80s I used them instead of the ones I loved. Rules, sometimes I try to follow them. ;)

(I may throw in a bonus paragraph every once in a while to highlight my new novel FADE INTO ME that was released last week.)

Hope you'll join me in April to revisit some great and some not so great movies. 

What are you blogging about in April?

Is It Time Yet? New Blogging Schedule

There's one week left until school starts for my kids. Am I ready to jump back in to the three day a week blogging schedule?

I'm not sure that I will be. It depends on how often I get a call to substitute teach. And if I'm gone all day, the afternoons will be filled with my second full time job--Domestic Goddess.

Doesn't that sound nice? Makes cooking, cleaning toilets, laundry and dishes sound much more desirable than just homemaker. Anyway, I'm not ready to make any schedule promises, but I will say that if I blog, it will be on M, W and/or F.

Today I can update you on my August goals.

• I've started sending out emails to school principals concerning the short story contest.
• Battle for Sendek and Here There Be Dragons are plotted out on beat sheets. Yay!
• I've reread the last 50 pages of Fade Into Me in preparation for "filling the gaps".

Once I've done the edits on FIM, I can jump back into Search for Knowledge. My big goal for that one is to get it to beta readers no later than October (it needs considerable work!), and then to my publisher as quickly as possible after that. 

This November I'll draft BFS for Nanowrimo. I figure the only way I'm going to finish this series is by setting quicker goals and DOING it. 

Now, here is where I could use your help. Do you have a high school close to you? I bet you do. Would you be willing to print off a flyer about the contest and take it to the front office?

If so...

Here's the link to the Google Doc--

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0yMdIWpv-EGVnhkR3dMX0VqUWc/edit?usp=sharing

Querying, A to Z Who? and Other Stuff

And what a week it was! Sorry I didn't post on my regular schedule, but here's what this week held for me.

• Querying
• Writing A to Z posts
• Spring Break
• High School Short Story Contest

First off, I sent out two query letters on Monday. Originally I planned to wait until after LDStorymakers at the end of April. The plan was to use my pitch session to try out my query letter and get some valuable feedback before jumping in.

I'm not a super patient person. April was taking WAY too long to get here! So, I picked two of my favorite agents--well, honestly they are all my favorite, especially if they say yes. One of those agents requested the full thirty minutes later! I seriously almost fell out of my chair. I don't think anyone ever requested a full of Magic Wakes. Granted, I know who my target audience is with this book and I think it shows in the query and writing.

After spring break I'll send out a few more. :)

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge starts next week and I've only scheduled my posts through the letter K. Originally my kids said they wanted to help write the posts. Well, I've waited, asked, pleaded and begged but they have officially bailed on me. Oh, well. It was worth the try. My topic? Chosen with my children---

Doctor Who

Ten, Eleven, Nine

Our spring break has been sadly very boring. We got caught up on some much needed sleep only  to stay up late watching corny movies like Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid. Yep, we love watching this kind of stuff as a family because its more fun to laugh together.

I did get a dining room table. Almost 18 years of married life and I finally have a formal dining room. Now to plan a party!

The poster for Anacondas fits how I feel every day after only an hour of reading these stories. There hasn't been that AMAZING story yet, but I've still got a lot to wade through. Here are the end of week stats.

Totals:
Pages read--207
Stories read--100
Stores about death/suicide/murder/war--40
1 story about Slender Man
1 Hunger Games Fan Fiction
Yes--10

Biggest pet peeve of the week--someone used "are" for "our" throughout their story.

Goals, Quilting and Editing

A couple of weeks ago, one of the leaders at church issued a 40 Day Challenge. There were not a lot of specific instructions on how to go about doing this. He simply said, "Think of something you or your family need to work on to grow closer to one another and Heavenly Father."

Our family set three types of goals.
1. Personal/Individual
2. Family--we turned off all electronics, turned in phones and played games from 7 PM-8 PM
3. Couple--my hubby and I decided we needed to spend quality time together that didn't include the TV.

It's that couple goal that bring you an editing analogy today.

We started with yards of fabric that we cut into various sizes and shapes before sewing them together into strips, squares, block, lines and finally into a quilt. I won't go into details, but it's starts out looking like this after a few steps.

This can be compared to:

• figuring out who our characters are (picking out the fabrics)
• deciding how they will fit into the block (plotting the story arch)
• creating individual elements that make them likable (strips, triangles, squares)
• drafting scenes to move them along the arc (sewing together to create the block)
• adding transitions and further developing the story so it can flow from scene to scene (sewing the blocks together to create the quilt) 

Now, hubby and I have been sewing together since our first dirt poor year of married life. However, we haven't done it in the last seven years or so. Probably since the last baby quilt we made. Anyway, this means we had to relearn how to work together--great for our 40 day challenge goal!

Last night we sewed all the blocks together and noticed that the pattern was off in one corner. One of us said to leave it. One of us couldn't stand to have it not perfect. Anyone want to guess who was who?

Let's just say, I'm glad I took the time to pick out a few seams and resew the 2 squares that were off. That's right. 2 of the four squares had been sewn in the wrong way and made it look like 4 blocks were wrong. It took me 20 minutes to fix and we ended up with this.

Sometimes when we are revising or editing our stories, we come across one little element that disrupts the entire plot. It might be a scene, it might be one description, it might be a character. 

After working so hard and so long on a story, is it tempting to leave it in simply because its so small there's a chance no one else will notice?

Of course it is. But, if you take the extra time to rework it, you know you will be much prouder of your final accomplishment. 

This quilt isn't finished yet, but at least its ready for the borders.

Last week I worked hard on Fade Into Me. Really hard. Now I'm going back and fixing some of those little squares that are turned slightly the wrong way. Then it will be ready for the borders. In my mind those are the final polishing touches of an editor and publisher. 

Tally ho! and on we go!

50 by 50 or a Bucket List?

I've noticed a trend lately. A lot of my friends turning 40 this year are starting a 50 by 50 list. It's full of the things they'd like to accomplish in the next ten years before they turn 50.

I thought it would be a good idea. Then I tried to think of 50 goals.

It was harder than I thought, and I only came up with 25 34. Well, I can think of lots more, but I was trying to pick things I could realistically see me doing in the next ten years. So maybe I should do a general "bucket list" instead and not give it a time line? Of course deadlines make you work harder to accomplish the goal.

There are a few months before I turn the 40, can you help me out? I'll add the new goals in another color as we go.

Help me think of 25 16 more goals!

Just add them to the comments, please.

Here's what I've got so far.

1. Run a marathon
2. Go to Disney World with my kids
3. Go to Scotland
4. Learn to play the cello
5. Publish the rest of Talia's story (3 novels, 2 novellas)
6. Visit the Sequoia National Forest
7. Make a will
8. Donate blood
9. Go to Napa Valley
10. Write a letter to all the people who are special to me
11. 30 days of Random Acts of Kindness
12. Set up a formal dining room
13. Get floor to ceiling curtains for the living room
14. Make the front landscaping awesome
15. Get Fade Into Me Published
16. Write and publish Last Christmas
17. Take ballroom dance lessons
18. Take a hot air balloon ride
19. Visit volcanoes in Hawaii
20. Visit the Grand Canyon
21. Walk the Inca trail at Macchu Picchu
22. Return to the Smokeys for 20th anniversary
23. Write and publish unnamed Contemporary YA idea
24. Purchase bedroom furniture
25. Launch my own editing business
26. Have my author webpage professionally designed
27. Learn how to design and create webpages--html, css
28. Participate in a play at the local community theater (this could just be helping with costumes or sets--bonus if it's Into The Woods)
29. Take my kids to see a play on Broadway (not picky about which one)
30. Learn how not to yell at my kids
31. Take the whole family on a cruise (snorkeling!)
32. Learn how to scuba dive (because I want to and so my hubby can swim with sharks)
33. Update my grandmother's genealogy book that I put together 10 years ago. (lots of births, deaths, marriages and divorces to record!)
34. Convert front room into a guest room or a really kick butt craft room (depends on what we need the most).