Alex's Wednesday Movie Quote and a few ideas

 Alex J. Cavanaugh is hosting a weekly Wednesday movie quote, and this week's theme/grouping is light fantasy.
I had a tough time choosing just one quote so I'm going to go with my favorite three, all from the same movie:

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

"Why are you smiling?"
"Because I know something you don't know. I am not left-handed."

"As you wish."

And it's hard for me to stop there. I love, love, love this particular movie, and can mostly quote it from beginning to end. The rhyming section on board the ship is tempting . . . but I'll stop now.

If you don't know this movie . . .well, you haven't lived yet. Really. It has one of the best choreographed sword fight scenes in a movie and they had a fencing master teach the actors. The only other movie I know with sword work that excellent is Pirates of the Caribbean. (the first one)

Long pause, while I think/daydream through various fight scenes from various movies . . .I feel an idea for a blogfest coming on, but there's no time now . . .maybe in late May? Would anyone be up for a Favorite Fight Scene Fest in late May? Or is that too violent? Or should I write a series of fight scene blog posts?

Have I mentioned I like sword fight scenes before this, and that a long time ago, in this galaxy, I used to fence foil and sabre?

So, do you know the movie? Are you taking part in Alex's ongoing quote fest? Do you like sword fight scenes? Do you fence?


A fun, upcoming blogfest that I couldn't resist adding into my February blog tour craziness:
Level Up Blogfest brought to you by Allison of Geek Banter and Jamie of Mithril Wisdom invites us to share our favorite games. Check it out! I'm so excited, I already wrote my post. 

Let Me Re-Introduce Myself

Re-Introduce Myself Blogfest brought to you by Mark Koopmans, Elise Fallson, and C.M. Brown, and Stephen Tremp. Warning: I went back and re-read the requirements late and this is way over the word count. I'll bold the stuff that's kind of important.

With an amazing amount of new followers just in the last year, I couldn't pass up this opportunity to re-introduce myself and my blog to you.

I'm Tyrean Martinson. Tyrean is actually pronounced with a hard "e" sound like in the words read, or lean. (there are many examples, you don't want to get me started on it, really). My parents wanted my name to be pronounced that way, but didn't want to put two "e" letters in my name. They thought they were making it up with a little help from a John Wayne movie. (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, character with two lines) It turns out that it's actually Irish, and well, with some research you can find it's even older than that because it can mean "person from the city of Tyre."

Spellchecker doesn't like my name and often wants to replace it with tyrant. My family finds this pretty funny. One of my cousins used to call me "Tiring Tyrean," and some of my childhood neighbors remembered my name by saying "Tire-Swing Tyrean" because I had a tire swing in my yard. (I still do)

I started this blog so I could have a clickable name at on-line publishing sites like Every Day Poets and Every Day Fiction. I had a few poems and a story out at the time, and since I had searched out a few other authors and liked their blogs, I thought it would be fun to have my own. I didn't know what I was doing. (sometimes it's obvious I still don't)

My blog name came from Winnie-the-Pooh's Thoughtful Spot, with my own twist. I like to sit and think, dream, muse, daydream, and imagine "what if?"
My content is based on my writing, my life, and my faith in Jesus. I also happen to like scifi, fantasy, literature, and anything with an adventurous twist. I love to read (but I don't write many book reviews), and I love to watch fun movies.

I've written short stories, poems, devotionals, a few rough draft novels, and one novel that I'm about to self-publish. Champion in the Darkness is YA Christian Fantasy, and if you want to know more, check out the tab above on the right. Just a few more weeks, and it's out! 

Blogging has been a wonderful experience for me, going beyond the "clickable name" and onto finding friends and encouragement, and then onto sharing that encouragement with others.

So, why do you blog? And can you tell me one thing about yourself that I might not already know?
  

 

Celebrate the Small Things: Rejoice in All Circumstances

I'm celebrating some awesome things this week, although I don't think they're small.

1. My oldest daughter turns 14 today! I'm celebrating her life, and being her mom today! I've been so blessed to have her in my life!

2. I saw an "almost done" version of my cover design. My niece wondered what was missing on it . . .we looked and looked with the whole family around us, and finally my mom shouted out from across the room, "your name. You need Tyrean's name." This is the reason that having a supportive family is so important to me. So, soon, I'll have a cover, with my name on it!

3. My kids and my students did an awesome job at our home-school co-op open house. My youngest had a solo Latin recitation, and displayed her jewelry for her beading class. My oldest sang with the worship leadership class, announced another class for her speech class, and performed as Jumping Josephine in a Western Melodrama. My students let me display their stories and essays.  

4. In the midst of trying circumstances, I kept my calm. (Well, I did pray, count to ten, and breathe deeply). The trying circumstances: I lost the last editing changes to my book from the last three weeks. The automatic, wireless back up didn't work. My knight in shining tech armor husband panicked. For some reason, this word popped into my head when I prayed: joy.
Joy? Yeah. Joy.
I have faith in an awesome Savior. I have three other back up copies of my novel. They may not be up to date, but I'm fixing that, and I have time to fix it.
I have an awesome family, a good home, and wonderful friends. I love to write, and I get to do that. A year from now, this will be a funny story.

What are you celebrating today?

It doesn't have to be big. It can be small, like a finished load of laundry, a sentence of writing, anything.

And do you ever come across circumstances that stop you in your tracks and force you to think of the things that bring you joy? (if nothing else, this can be a temper saver, or sanity saver)

Polar Night late cover reveal

Julie Flander'sJulie Flander's cover reveal took place on Monday, but I seem to be late in everything this week. Sorry, Julie. Anyhow, here it is!

And in other news . . .my laptop crashed. My hubs brought it back to life, but I'm missing an important file . . .the one where I kept all my most recent edits. At first, we weren't too worried, but then realized that my laptop hadn't been automatically backing up on an external drive my hubs had set up. So, now my laptop is under serious work by my hubs, and I'm on his . . .which he's taking to work (late because he's been helping me), and I might be able to get on the big old stand alone in the basement today to visit blogs. I hope. It's a little far away from most of the homeschool action in my house and I have to be available for the "Mom, this doesn't make any sense!" yells for help.

If I can, I'll be visiting.

A Day Late for My Favorite Martian

I apologize for the extreme lateness of My Favorite Martian Post. I felt bad missing out on the awesome coolness of other scifi lovers out there. However, I had a reason (see below).

My Favorite Alien: Chewbacca.


Why: Because he's awesome, he's loyal, he's caring, and he's the reason the Millenium Falcon flies. He's willing to put himself in an extremely tough spot (in handcuffs) to help out his friends, and a princess he doesn't even know. He plays a mean game of Dejarik. (As C3P-O says, "I suggest a new strategy, R2, let the wookie win.") Plus I love how he has his own language, and we get to translate his words through the responses of the other characters and his body language.

Plus, he's the first alien I ever really encountered in a movie theatre that I really liked. The jawas were cool and mysterious, but I wasn't sure I liked them. The Sand People were scary (I was 5-6 years old). The rest seemed to just fall under Ben's estimation of Mos Eisley, "a wretched hive of scum and villainy."

Reason for said lateness (you don't have to read all of this):
I didn't realize that the new date and our homeschool co-op open house fell on the same day. I almost threw up a post yesterday morning, then realized I wouldn't be able to visit everyone else, so I decided to wait and be a day late. (I actually thought originally that I could fit in some time yesterday afternoon . . .so silly of me)

A day of our homeschool co-op with open house following looks like this in our household:
I get up, pull together my lesson plans that I've been working on for the last week and realize I'm missing three things. I scramble around and find two of the three. My daughters are doing much of the same. My youngest daughter makes lunches for everyone. My mom comes to my house because she helps out with three classes.

Upon arriving at co-op, my daughters run out of the car with bags bouncing against their legs. My mom goes to help out with a beading class, a cooking class for younger kids, and a story time class. My oldest daughter goes to physicial science, public speaking, performing arts, and spends the lunch period singing with the worship leading class. My youngest daughter goes to beading, Latin, and classic games. I teach creative writing, and incremental writing, and in the midst of it, forget about three things again . . .I plan an e-mail for my students during my "free period" in which I also clean the three girls' bathrooms at the co-op. (It's a co-op for cooperative).

After that, I set up my open house tables with my students papers, notebooks, books, and name "signs." I realize I forgot to make signs for my tables. Oops. Hmm. I drive my mom home, rush to the store, buys supplies, come home, and have a cup of tea for 15 minutes. My in-laws arrive. My parents come over. I clean up the breakfast mess in the kitchen, prepare a snack to take to open house, and get the table ready for dinner. My husband calls and says he'll be late. My niece comes, and we discuss cover art. Then I realize that my class signs aren't done, but instead of asking my art major niece to make them for me, I struggle through a few lines of bubble letters on cardboard, and then she takes over and makes them neat. We eat dinner, and then grab everything forgotten earlier in the day and go back to co-op.

I spend a few minutes with my class signs, and straightening tables, and then I sit and feel awed by an hours worth of performances by different classes from the co-op including my youngest daughter's Latin class recitation and solo Latin recitation, my oldest daughter's worship leading public speaking, and performing arts melodrama. Then I host my tables at the open house for an hour and a half, and then I come home and fall over.

So I'm a day late, but I feel like yesterday was a day well spent. (And another lesson in the need for more lists, better organization, and more preparedness in my household)


Cover Reveal Coming Soon!

Ever have a crazy day like the one above?

18 Things and Celebrate the Small Things Late

This is a Thursday/Friday post. I may be having a few of those in the next several weeks as we ski on Fridays, and I want to be able to visit blog buddies as well as post.

On the earlier version of this post, I forgot to Celebrate the Small Things with VikLit, so here it is late:
I survived Thursday. This is an accomplishment because between 2p.m. and 9:15p.m., my oldest daughter had a science study group, a performance group rehearsal, and my hubster and I had an awards ceremony for his work between from 5:30 on, and both my daughters had to make it to tap class between 8:15-9:15 which meant we left the award ceremony early, picked them up at two different places, and took them to the studio . . .where we sat and talked for an hour (reward!).

Jamie Ayres is hosting an 18 Things Blogfest in celebration of her new book 18 Things and the fest runs from January 17th through the 24th - so go now, and sign up! You still have time to participate!

All you have to do is blog about things on your bucket list.  Anyone who posts on their 18 things between January 17th and January 24th is entered into win some amazing, and fabulous prizes. Seriously, check it out by following the link!

Here are my 18 Things:

Not in order, and you can skim them by reading the bold print:

1. Hug my kids every single day . . .well, until they go to college, and then I'll have to virtually hug them every day.

2. Cuddle with my husband every single day, forever.

3. Go on a mission trip in another country. I'm thinking about going to Kenya sometime in the next five years. My church supports a school there, and the opportunity is there for this summer . . .if I could find the time, the money, and maybe bring my whole family along . . .my oldest daughter is ready, but I'm not sure the rest of the family is, so we are going to wait a bit.

4. Find a way to volunteer in my community in a way that makes a difference in someone's life. I've volunteered at a corrections center, a cat rescue, and my church in the last ten years. After three years of weekly volunteering tat a women's correction center, I felt I needed a break. There had been a series of lockdowns, and there is nothing like being stuck standing in the yard and waiting for the security officers to confirm that you really are a volunteer and not an escaping prisoner. Volunteering at the cat rescue was fun, and a good way to volunteer with my kids, but our schedule got crazy last year and we haven't been back in a while. I've volunteered at my church in worship, Sunday school, and leadership, but I feel like I need to do something different now. Something that makes a difference . . .and I'm praying about that. Maybe something to do with reading or writing with kids and my local library . . .I'll see.

5. Travel. This is a huge one, and could take several pages. I want to go back to places I've been and loved: Hawai'i, Britain, Scotland, Wales, France, Washington, D.C., Alaska, New York, Florida, California, Whistler, B.C., and more. Plus, I want to travel to all sorts of places I haven't been yet: Prague, Istanbul, Italy, Spain, Ireland, maybe Germany, Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Japan, China, the Carribean, New Zealand, Australia, Jerusalem, Peru, Mexico, and more. I once thought I wanted to visit every continent before I died, but I think I can go without Antartica.

6. Write and publish at least a dozen novels, and a few collections of poetry and short stories. Plus, try all three kinds of publishing: self-publishings, small press, and large, traditional press. (that means I have to get at least two books accepted by someone else).

7. Pray deeply and continually.

8. Seek God's guidance daily through study and prayer.

9. Drive a race-car.  (I did say this wasn't in order, didn't I?)

10. Fly a plane, again. I did this once with my Dad when I was 12 in an ercoupe with dual controls. He took off, I flew around and learned how to turn, etc, and then he landed the plane.

11. Skydive or hanglide - at least one of these, or both.

12. Climb a mountain - I used to want to climb Mt. Rainier, but now I'm thinking a wee bit smaller. Experienced climbers I know suggest starting with a smaller mountain and working up to Mt. Rainier.

13. Ride the Seattle To Portland (STP) bike ride at least once.

14. Be an encouraging and loving person.

16. Write down some of my parents stories.

17. Share my faith with another person. Ok, I've done this, but I would like to do it again. Back when I volunteered at the corrections center, I saw some tough, bitter women come to faith, and change their attitude about life. I felt really blessed to be a small part of that change.

18.  Make a movie with my husband. (No, not that kind of movie, people, sheesh.) My husband has been a video guy for dance studio recitals, short films for church, and a video called "Beauty of Movement" that we worked on together using clips of dance and movement under the direction of a friend of ours who is a dance studio owner, director and choreographer. I would like to work with him again on something creative, or something that highlights making a difference in peoples' lives or volunteering in our community or in the world . Or maybe just something on the inner beauty of each individual. (I'm just spewing ideas, here)

 

Can eighteen things save a life?

Olga Gay Worontzoff thinks her biggest problems are an awful name (after her grandmothers of course) and not attending prom with Conner, her best friend and secret crush since kindergarten.
Then Conner is killed in a freak boating accident and Olga feels responsible. When she downs an entire bottle of pills to deal with the emotional pain, her parents force her into counseling. There, her therapist writes a prescription in the form of a life list titled 18 Things. Eighteen quests to complete the year of her eighteenth birthday.
All she has to do is fire-walk, try out for the cheerleading squad, break a world record, and err . . . go on her first date. Good thing Nate, a new hottie in town, enters her life with perfect timing. He brings the fun factor to her list and helps her discover the beauty and strength inside herself, then complicates things by falling in love with her.
Just as she’s finally embracing the joys of living life for the moment, her therapist reveals a terrifying secret and Olga’s world is shaken. In the past year it took eighteen remarkable things to change a life, but nothing she believed about her mission is true.
Now she doesn’t just risk losing her true soul-mate forever, she risks losing her very soul.

What are your 18 things?

Struck by Inspiration and Fun Stuff

A rare vintage photograph of an onna-bugeisha, one of the female warriors of the upper social classes in feudal Japan.

Often mistakenly referred to as “female samurai”, female warriors have a long history in Japan, beginning long before samurai emerged as a warrior class.

Photo trail . . .facebook page to websites all over the internet.

I stumbled across this photo on Sunday afternoon, and it just made me want to pick up a pen, or my keyboard, and start writing. No, I don't have time to pursue a full length story, but I do have time to play a little with my writing for at least ten minutes when inspiration strikes.

Fun Stuff
There are so many awesome blog fests and book releases that it's hard to keep track of them all, but here's a few:

The Back from the Future Blogfest hosted by the amazing MPax with the lovely Suze of Subliminal Coffee, and Nicki Elson, for the Back from the Future Blogfest. Friday, March 1st! Check out the link for all the cool details.


Re-Introduce Myself Blogfest January 28th: (Brought to you by Mark Koopmans, Elise Fallson, and C.M. Brown, and Stephen Tremp).


The A to Z Challenge is coming soon. Are you ready?


And a couple of ongoing offerings:

The Knights of MicroFiction is a bloghop hosted by Kathy Mckendry and Jess on the 15th of every month (except April, becasue the A-Z Challenge makes things crazy!).

The Progressive Book Club, hosted by M.L. Swift on the third Wednesday of each month.

Celebrate the Small Things by Viklit every Friday. I'm looking forward to writing and reading these posts!

Writers4Writers (W4WS)

W4WS will resume in February and take place every third Monday of each month. Next up we spotlight writers Gwen Gardner, YA Fiction Author and Melissa Bradley from Melissa’s Imaginarium. If you’re not familiar with W4Ws, can check out the Writers4Writers Page.

And

Libby Heily's book Tough Girl is out!

So, are you signed up for some of these offerings? All of them? Have your read Tough Girl? and Has inspiration struck you lately?

What's in a Chapter Name?

Do you use chapter names in your novels?

I admit I have a haphazard way of naming chapters in my rough drafts. Some are named, and some remain unnamed. Why? Well, it has to do with that crazy half plotted, half pantsed writing style I use with my rough drafts. Some chapter names from the plot sheet work, and others just don't, so I end up with a mish mash.

However, while formatting and polishing my book for publication, I've had to make a decision.

To name or not to name?

I liked the chapter names I had, but I couldn't decide. So I went to my favorite books.

The Bible - has book names, but not chapter names . . .although modern Bibles have section headings like: The Faith of the Centurion

The Hobbit - has chapter names, like: An Unexpected Party, and Roast Mutton.

Ender's Game - has chapter names, like: Third. (but no Table of Contents aka ToC)

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - has chapter names, like: Lucy Looks into a Wardrobe

Winnie-the-Pooh - has chapter names, like: In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, and the Stories Begin

Much Ado About Nothing (a play by Shakespeare) - no chapter names, but it's a play that's easily sectioned off into acts and scenes.

Family Favorite Books:

Dragon Slippers - has chapter names, like: The Brown Dragon of Carlieff. (but no ToC)

Open Minds - no chapter names.

Ranger's Apprentice - no chapter names.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - has chapter names, like: The Boy Who Lived

The Mark of Athena (by Rick Riordan) - each chapter names the POV character, no ToC

So, my decision hadn't been made for me since some of my favorites had chapter titles, and some didn't. I had to decide if and why I like chapter titles.

I decided that I do because I like being able to go back into a book and find my favorite parts easily. I re-read my favorites regularly, but sometimes I just want a quick fix of my favorite part from one of my favorite books. If I can find that favorite part through the use of a Table of Contents, and/or chapter names it makes my life easier. True, I can leaf through the book and find the part based on where I know it comes in the story as a whole, but again, if I'm short on time, ToCs and chapter names really help.

I don't know if Champion in the Darkness, book one of the Champion Trilogy, will ever be anyone's favorite book. (I can hope.) But I still decided to go with chapter titles and a fully linked, somewhat long, ebook ToC. I hope that this isn't daunting to readers, but helpful instead.

Besides, it's been fun naming the chapters that were unnamed . . .and I usually don't like naming anything.

So, are you for chapter names or against them? What about fully linked ToCs at the front of ebooks?

A Disengage and Some Mentions

I'm either huddled over my pc with my internet connection turned off trying to prepare for the Champion in the Darkness release or I'm ski-boarding at a local mountain pass.
(Or I'm huddled over my pc while my husband drives to the pass, then ski-boarding, then huddling again)

However, before I disengage, I just want to mention:

The Geek Twins changed the date of My Favorite Martian - be sure to follow the link.

Remember to sign up for Nick Wilford's Overcoming Adversity Blog Hop for February 4th-5th.

Mark Koopmans is hosting a Got Green blog hop on March 15th.

Plus, Alex J. Cavanaugh is having his next blog hop on March 18th.

And . . . when I finally get all my promo stuff together (waiting for some art work), I'll activate a link for the release party for Champion in the Darkness, Feb. 11th. Please save the date!

And M.L. Chesney recently released Adversarius. It looks like a great read!

Hope you all have a good Friday and a great weekend!

Beginnings Blog Hop and Overcoming Adversity

Beginnings Blog Hop

L.G. Keltner of Writing off the Edge is hosting the Beginnings blog hop today to celebrate her one year blogaversary. Entries are to be about beginnings . ..any kind of beginnings. I had a tough time deciding on which kind of beginning to write about so . . . here are two entries, 100 words or less each:

The Beginning of my blog started in April 2009. I had seen clickable links at the end of entries at e-zines like Every Day Poets and Every Day Fiction. I had a story published, and then a poem, and I thought, “I would like one of those links.” Voila. I started a blog. I named it after Winnie-The-Pooh’s Thoughtful Spot, and spent a year musing, and felt happy with 9 followers. Nearly four years later, I have gained wonderful blog buddies, and I am thankful for this wonderful place to share, to muse, to dream, and to write. 

The beginning of one of my favorite books begins with a  description of a place and a character who lives there. "In a hole in a the ground there lived a hobbit." When I write I struggle with my beginnings. Do I start with character? Do I start with description? Is it possible to start with action, description, and character all at once? I would love to be able to do that, but I don't think I've mastered it yet. What do you start with in your beginnings?

Thank you L.G. for hosting this blog hop today . . .it had me thinking of many different types of beginnings.

Overcoming Adversity:

Nick Wilford at Scattergun Scribblings is hosting The "Overcoming Adversity" bloghop to raise money for his nephew Andrew to attend a specialist college. I highly recommend joining in on this bloghop. You can get published, and it's a good cause! You can write fiction, non-fiction, or poetry with this theme: overcoming adversity for something you believe in.


So, how do you begin your beginnings? And have you signed up for Overcoming Adversity yet?

Crossing i's and dotting t's

It's a new year, and I find myself trying to stuff new habits into old shoes . . .or something like that.

Up early, I rode the family exercise bike, did some strength and stretching exercises, read my Bible, prayed, and now I'm here . . .for a few minutes. Then I'm off to do some last minute, morning-of, prep for one of my classes that I teach today, and then . . .well, it will be time for breakfast and then running out the door . . .

Sometime this afternoon I'll be back in blogland for a bit, then onto my last month's worth of prep for Champion in the Darkness . . . only 35 days left until the official release. Aah! I mean, Woohoo!!!

I am excited, I just have to dot my t's and cross my i's before I get there. No, wait, scratch that . . . I need to dot my i's and cross my t's.  :-)

My new, better work ethic, habits aren't quite fitting into my old time patterns, but I'll figure it out, eventually.

How are your resolutions/goals working out so far this year?

Does anyone else have a family tradition of turning the "dotting my i's and crossing my t's" saying upside down and saying it backwards?

Reflections on IWSG, Events, and a Birthday

Reflections on IWSG
Whew! After trying to just fill a small part of the Ninja Captain's shoes, I felt mind-boggled. After helping out with IWSG for just a day (well two), I came to the conclusion that Alex J. Cavanaugh is a mad super genius at blogging. He assigned me just a few blogs to visit for IWSG. I visited around 80, and he visited more than I can imagine in one day. How does he do it? Does he skim? No, that can't be, because his comments all make intelligent sense. My comments started getting weary and short after several blogs . . . sorry if I visited your blog and that was the case.

Another thing I learned from co-hosting IWSG - every blogger I visited is an awesome writer, and every awesome writer has a few insecurities. Many posts blew me away with their raw honesty, or their cleverness, or both. At the end of the day (actually two), I just wanted to stop and say, thanks. Thanks for sharing your ups and downs, and thanks for sharing your funny stories, and your encouragement. And thanks for visiting me, and giving me such support. It means a lot to me.

Events
 L.G. Keltner of Writing Off the Edge is hosting the Beginnings Blogfest on January 9th to celebrate her first year blogaversary! As the title suggests, it's all about beginnings, almost any type of beginning - beginning as a writer, beginning life, or the beginning of a favorite book or story that you would like to post about that day.

The Geek Twins are hosting the My Favorite Martian Bloghop on January 14th. Share your favorite martian and why you love them, and make new friends.

 Alex J. Cavanaugh is hosting his next blogfest on March 18th. More details coming. Save the date!

There are probably many more events happening, but these are the ones that caught my eye first, and I'll be sticking with these for the moment. I'm trying to cut down my fest time to one or two a month in the next few months while I prep for the release of Champion in the Darkness. Despite my insecurities, I received awesome feedback from my CP, and from some of my family beta readers (who, trust me, can be totally honest about what they don't like), and they keep telling me to go ahead, get it out there. So. . .in the next six weeks I'll be getting all my guest posts figured out, and making final plans for the release day party. I'm still waiting on my cover . . .but I'm hoping to reveal soon.

A Birthday My amazing, super sweet, awesome husband is turning 46 today! We're celebrating with a family lunch with his parents, my parents, our kids, and his sister and her family, and then  we're going to play laser tag! Last night we warmed up our laser tag skills with a round of family nerf wars.

My husband is a multi-talented guy - a supervising electrical engineer by day, but a snowboarding teacher, video editor, tech expert, sound and light guy on the side . . .in addition to being a wonderful huband and great dad.

He's the kind of guy who makes science experiments not only work, but work in an extreme way. My youngest had an electrical car kit with her science lessons last year and he showed her how to upgrade it with a bigger battery and better wheels so it could go twice as fast. I'm also not sure if he or my oldest daughter had more fun with her ballistics class experiments: giant slingshots, potato guns, and carbide cannons have been fired off in our long gravel driveway and into the wooded area around our house more times that I can count this last year.

He's also the kind of guy who likes to hold hands and snuggle, and isn't embarassed about any of that, which makes me really happy.

This photo is from a few years ago . . . can't seem to upload new ones today . . .blogger and I are having a disagreement.

In his honor, I encourage you to go and hug somebody you love today!

So, are you signed up for awesome blogfests, awed by the Ninja's super blog skills, re-energized by IWSG?

IWSG 2013

Insecure Writers Support Group is an awesome group of encouraging writers, started by the awesome Ninja Captain (no hyperlink needed) Alex J. Cavanaugh. Even Ninja Captains have work to do and busy days, so Alex is sharing his love of IWSG by sharing some of the work. This month, I have the honor to be one of the hosts, along with Jamie from Mithril Wisdom.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.
 


2012 is gone and done, and 2013 is here. It's a time of reflection. A time to ask questions. A time to make goals.

Have we changed, grown, found new hope?

Or are we still stuck in a morass of insecurity?

Yes, and no, I think. When we sit down to write, we hope, we change, and we grow. We defy insecurity.

However, there are those moments, especially for me in the revison process, that I answer yes to that second question.

A few days ago, I was in state of total fear, sure that my novel Champion in the Darkness sucked in a complete and undeniable way . . .and I started OCDing on fixing everything, at once, immediately . . .and chocolate breaks and walking breaks, and whining breaks weren't fixing anything. Thoughts inside my head went like this: What was I thinking setting myself a release date in February? Am I crazy? There's no way this novel will amount to anything good by then, if ever.

And then New Year's Eve, I sat down and decided to just read a section without listening to that insane inner editor, and I found a part I really liked. Thoughts inside my head went like this: "well, if they (the readers) make it this far into the book, this part is mostly good. Releasing this book in February will work. Somehow it will."

So, my writing goal goals for 2013 are:
1. Defy Insecurity. Write. Hope. Dream. Write again.

2. Publish Champion in the Darkness in February.

3. Revise Champion in Flight (sequel to Champion in the Darkness).

4. Decide what do do with Captain Wrath. (I thought I would know by now but I don't.)

5. Finish and Publish Short Stuff - an anthology of poetry and short stories.

6. Write a rough draft of Champion Refined by Fire (working title).


So, what are your goals this year?
Are you ready to defy insecurity?