More Awards!!

Recently on facebook we held a poll for which song from Immortal the Musical should be made into a music video. Here's our winner! (Now go "like" it on facebook!)

On to the real business for today.

Continuing from last week... Thank you Lady Jai for this award! You rock.

The rules for the Stylish Blogger Award:

• Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award


Share things about yourself
Award recently discovered great bloggers
Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

I'm good with all but part 2 there. Things about me...

1. I LOVE CHEESE. That's an easy one. 

2. I have about fifteen nicknames, but the most common are Chicken and Crystal the Pistol. 

3. Unlike my hubby, I vividly remember about 60% of my childhood. (Thus the YA/MG writing angle.) 

4. I learned how to sing by mimicking Sarah Brightman, aided by 4 yrs of voice lessons, and hindered by one of my brothers. (I have 5.) I couldn't open my mouth without him storming, stomping, screaming, threatening. He's probably the reason I persisted--the whole "underdog will conquer" mentality. Incidentally, he's fine with it now.

5. I never had a "clique" or group. My collection of best friends come from very different backgrounds, ethnicities and even countries. (Russia, China, Columbia, and Haiti to name a few.) 

6. My favorite and least favorite place to live was New York City. 

7. Home schooling my 3 kids is the greatest challenge I have yet faced. I waiver on a daily basis, but it's what they need--especially in light of our propensity to move.

8. I quit piano lessons because I was sick of playing other people's music. Six months later (at 13) I wrote down my first composition. Who knew that quitting lessons would one day lead to a FULL BLOWN MUSICAL!!!

Enough about me. Now on to the deserving subjects of today's post!

1. The Lit Express 

2. Eternal Moonshine of a Daydreaming Mind 
3. Ghost Horses Gallop for the Earth!
4. A Writers Work is Never Done
5. Dunhaven Place
6. Girl Unpublished
7. Carole Anne Carr 
8. Freckle Head
9. Dark Angel Fiction
10. Clarissa Draper
11. Damsel in a Dirty Dress
12. Heather Justesen
13. Ink Spells
14. Fabulous Reads
15. Jenni James

Award, Awards, Awards!

(requires quicktime plug in)

But first, a quick share: "Forever" from Immortal the Musical. Like what you hear? Then go "like" it on facebook, please.

I'm REALLY behind on this. Some awesome friends have been kind enough to give me blogging awards...and I negligently let them sit too long. So, I'm fixing that now.

Back in August--when I was MIA Jessie Harrell gave me this award. If you haven't checked out her blog, this is a must. She's so optimistic, fun and supportive. In my writing community she's not just a support beam, but more like a pillar. Thank you Jessie!

Along with that I'm supposed to do 3 things:  

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link. (DONE!)

2. Pay it forward to fifteen other blogs you have newly discovered. (...HOW TO CHOOSE?)

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen. 

1. Leisha Maw: Fun blogger.

2. Just the Cheese: He makes me LAUGH!

3. Goddess of Corn: What a writer! If you haven't checked out her flash fiction, you need to!

4. Involuntary Smiles: Because life is sometimes like that.

5. Pen, Paper, Lots of Coffee: One of my new favorite bloggers.

6. Sharp Pen/Dull Sword: because it's true. 

7. Mary Brebner: Besides having a great couple stories in the cupboard, she's an amazing reviewer

8. The Far Edge of Normal: Jaleta is a total science nerd, which rocks the world of writing. Love it!

9. Elizabeth Mueller: Similar roots. I've "known" Elizabeth for a while, but only recently started following. 

10. .W.I.P. It: Definitely new to this one, but loving what I've read!

11. Buffy's Write Zone: Journalist and great writer.

12. Capricious Existence: For wittiness. 

13. Snippets From My Mind: Lady Jai and I share 2 traits, a love of writing and fairytale romances. 

14. Cheekyness: What can I say more? Title says it all.

15. Kay M Evans: Never met a more encouraging author/friend. 

More awards to come tomorrow!

HELP:

A video studio has expressed interest in producing one of our songs as a music video, and I need help choosing which ONE. Oye. Help please!

These are our options:

MY FIRST

TAKE MY HAND

MY DREAM

FOREVER

NEVER SAY GOODBYE

To vote go to our fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/immortalthemusical?v=app_19827163485&ref=ts

Or leave a comment!

----Thank you-----

P.S. If you can't reach the music here, try http://immortalthemusical.com/index.php/music

Sheesh. All I Want is Your First Born Child

...or for you to listen to this song:

Yup. That's it for this week. No raving. No crazy diatribe. Just listen, then tell me what you think.

And if you really really like it, please "like" it on facebook. http://www.facebook.com/immortalthemusical

Whichever is easier for you. Kid, or music?

Faux and the Inner Fire: Never Giving Up

I recently participated in a facebook discussion on an abundance of “unfinished” works. A fellow writer talked about putting away the works she doesn’t think she’ll ever finish—essentially banishing them from mind and heart.

Ouch.

It got me thinking. See, I’ve got this hang up. After an inspiring dream or a new idea hits, I’m on fire. Can’t stop thinking about the possibilities. Can’t stop planning. Can’t stop the character’s conversations in my head. The computer is my best friend, and the pillow is my outlining board. For a few weeks it’s the only thing I want to do—writing that story. For a few weeks. Eighty pages in my foot gets caught in the web of editing, and it’s all over.

 I recently read an article by David S. Goyer, the screenwriter of The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Blade, and many many other big box shows. He says anyone can write a great first act. To quote Goyer:

“The trick is moving past Act One into the inevitable, sagging Act Two. Many writers bottom out in the middle of their scripts – the point where they actually have to start weaving the various storylines together. They get depressed, they procrastinate, they flounder. I do it as well. Even now, I frequently find myself questioning the merit of any given project when I’m in the middle of it.

“But it’s important to resist the temptation to jump back to Act One and begin endlessly rewriting it. Rewriting Act One before plowing through Act Two is just an elaborate form of procrastination. More often than not, fine-tuning Act One will simply result in further demoralizing you. And honestly, how can you be revising Act One when you haven’t even finished the rest of the draft?”

 Way to go Mr. Goyer.

SO, here I go, back to a story I started in 2005. For the next couple months I’ll be writing 1,000 to 2,000 words a day until I can slam that first draft on the desk and say, “Ha!” My official WIP is:


Faux Pas

Ugly, socially inept Faux (Fox) never hoped for more than a boyfriend by the time her seventeenth birthday rolled around. Alone—abandoned by both career-parents on her special day, she lit the candle. “Make a wish!” She sighed, blew out the cake, and exploded, literally.

Seems there’s one or two things mom and dad hadn’t been telling her—like the freaky way she could imitate the human torch, or the reaper-like creatures on her trail, or the two opposingly steamy misfits working to psychologically win her over. Now uncovering the truth about her past is the only thing that may save her from the monsters on her trail—all of them.



What do you have sitting in the attic, earning dust?