Inspired to Write-Free Writing Workshops

If you live in Utah and you haven't heard about the Orem Library Free Writing and Blogging workshop, then you're seriously missing out on something spectacular. Don't fret though. There is still time left to pop on over and check them out. 

My good friend SOPHISTIMOM (name drop much?) will be presenting on March 29 at 7:00pm

You can check it out below. 

Are there any writing workshops going on in your neck of the woods?
If not, where do you go for inspiration?

Inspired to Write - Change

Today I'm going to change. And not just in some abstract metaphorical, spiritual way. But in the tomorrow-mean-girls-will-call-me-metal-mouth way.

Confused? Here's the deal: 
When I'm not writing, I'm shooting people--mostly brides and grooms. You can check all that out HERE. Alright, enough self-promotion, back to the story. When a particular fabulous bride and groom said, "hey let's workout an awesome brace trade." I said, "Fo' sure!" (Conversation may have been dramatized for artistic purposes.)

Basically, I'm getting braces. 

Up until this morning I was stoked about the whole ordeal. Today, not so much. My insides are fluttery and panicked and disorganized. I'm a scrambled mess that's soon to be a brace face!

To the point: 

I was thinking about my characters and how they deal with change. Sure there's conflict in my book, but sometimes I overlook the physical manifestations that change (particularly stress) can cause in a person. Though I react to stress one way, I found that stress in other people doesn't always look the same. The helpguide.org is a great site for researching nearly anything. Stress reactions can be viewed in three ways:   

• Foot on the gas – An angry or agitated stress response. You’re heated, keyed up, overly emotional, and unable to sit still.
• Foot on the brake – A withdrawn or depressed stress response. You shut down, space out, and show very little energy or emotion.
• Foot on both – A tense and frozen stress response. You “freeze” under pressure and can’t do anything. You look paralyzed, but under the surface you’re extremely agitated.

I'm usually one of the first two responses. But my characters aren't. I'll have to keep these ideas in mind when I'm writing.

What about you? 

How do you're characters deal with stress?

Credits: (http://helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm) 

writing inspiration - editing

A year and a half ago I wrote a book.

Three months ago, I re-wrote the same book.

A month ago, I revised the re-written book.

Now, I'm editing the revision of the re-written book.

And I'm starting to feel like my life is made up of Coke Zero and this:

Tips to stay sane and accomplish quality editing while you're in the throws of editing:

1. Take breaks. The longer you stare at the screen and re-read the same paragraph will only make you crazy. Sometimes a fresh look on a later day will help you see how to clearly clean up your sentences.

2. Don't delete. If you're not using track changes, then make sure you save each edit, so your earlier versions aren't destroyed. Sometimes you'll go back and find you liked your original better.

3. Share it. When you get stumped, pass it onto a friend or a beta-reader to flush out the issues.

4. Read. When you're boggled, pick up a good book. Sometimes reading someone's edited work helps you see where you're work lacks the finesse it needs.

Do you have any editing tips to share?  

I have a friend who is always on time.

I have a friend that is always on-time or ten minutes early wherever he has to go. Ridiculous, right? Who does that?
Not me. No, not by a long shot. I was born with late genes. Something about my make-up has a love hate relationship with PROCRASTINATION.

In December I set a goal to finish my WIP by the end of February. This is kind of how that's going:

So, in other words, I'm not sure if I'm going to meet that deadline.

As Joey from friends would say, "How you doin?"

writing inspiration - M-I-C-K-E-Y MOUSE

I watched the Mickey Mouse Club, my parents took me to Disneyland, I've seen nearly all Disney movies ever made, and for me the ultimate vacation involves a day in one of the Disney parks.

It's no wonder that I think Walt Disney is a genius. If it weren't for the man's tenacity, creativity, and daring, my childhood would've been a sad state of kid affairs.

Disneyland may or may not be your ideal destination get-a-way, but I think we can all agree that the man created a legacy.

Walt believed, and said on many occasions, "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."

I believe this, but sometimes it's easy to forget.

I hope you have a great Tuesday. PURSUE AWAY!

(Read more:http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/walt_disney.html#ixzz1mzqmy4RY)

I have a friend who is a florist.

I have a friend who works part-time as a florist except for the first couple weeks in February. During that time she's full-time or over-time.

When I asked her what she thought boys should buy their sweethearts on Valentine's Day, her response was, "Absolutely nothing."

Her reasoning being that everything is too over-priced. If someone knows you love them, then they'll know you love them the next day when you buy the same bouquet of flowers or box of chocolates for half price.

And if you're asking me, I would want the boy who went with the latter. It shows he's smart, frugal, and still cares. 

Do you agree?

If you don't, that's cool (...or not...whatever, I'm not judging). But I think we can take something more from this. If you disagree with me, than it's safe to say that what some people see as cheap or uncaring, others see as smart, well-planned and reasonable. 

I recently read a novel where the main male character did not hold my interest. I thought he was boring, action-less, and a little too flowery. My friend, however, loved the main character. 

When I first started writing I was too concerned at making my character likable by all readers. But what I've found is that's impossible. If we want to create characters as real as our own friends, than it's safe to assume there are going to be personality conflicts with some readers. Hopefully not all (wink).

What characteristics do you like to see in a main character?

Writing Inspiration - I LOVE James A. Owen

First off, Happy Valentine's Day. May it be filled with chocolate and love.

Today I'm in a LOVEY mood so I'm going to lay on you something that inspired me.

This last weekend I attended LTUE, a symposium for writers, held at Utah Valley University. The keynote speaker was James A. Owen, an American comic book writer, illustrator, and author.  He was brilliant and I absolutely LOVED all that he shared. He spoke about his struggles in life and career, sharing stories that put my small trials to shameful silence. I sat in awe as this man spoke. He was insightful and truly inspiring.

I've found that writing can be a war, complete with battles that leave me feeling tattered and deficient. But hearing James speak about the process of achieving goals made me remember that anything is possible and anything can be attainable.

I walked away from James's lecture with a little more armor to wear during those writing battles. Here's my two favorite pieces of inspiration armor:

1. "If you really, really want to do something, no one can stop you. If you really don’t want to do something then no one can help you.
2. "Never sacrifice what you want the most for what you want the most at that moment." 

Thanks James for the word up! You've inspired me to keep on writing. 

Have you had ups and downs on your road to success? 

How do you fight those battles?

Lets get together. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

I may have been MIA, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been a silent lurker out there on your blog. And the one thing that's got me uber excited is the fact that lots of you are going to LTUE! (Woot Woot...yeah, I'm a geek.)

If you don't know what LTUE is then listen up. It is a supa-awesome writing conference that is held at UVU in Utah County. There's authors and a few traditional presentations, but mostly a lot of panels and some editors. I heard on the down-low that there would be some there. The best part is the conference is crazy cheap. 

(Go to ltue.org for more info.)

Anyway, since I creepily-stalk you all online, I figured it was about time to kick it with you in person...of course, in a non creepy way. Peggy Eddleman and I are going to have lunch in the food court, and would love to have everyone come join us! It'll be a party (except for we won't be doing anything illegal...at least, that's what we'll tell anyone asking. I'm teasing.) 

Mostly I want to see if you look like your picture, or if like me, you support Adobe' by Fotoshop. 

Basically, all the cool people are going. If you don't come you'll regret it for the rest of your life. 

Let me know if you'll be there!

Friday, February 9 at Noon in the food court (on the first floor, but we may eat upstairs).

Saturday, February 10 at Noon (same place).

And I've stolen their map and added a big arrow, for your directional enjoyment.

NOTE: I will be wearing something super cute. That's how you'll recognize me. Oh, and I'm brown because I'm part-Hawaiian. 

I'm getting older Goals.

Today I'm older. I guess that's true everyday, but since I was born on this day 33 25 years ago, it seems like I've aged in a more permanent way. And so I feel compelled to come up with a list of goals.

In the next year I will: 

1. Finish all the revisions on my book.
2. Find a Kick-A Agent
3. Make an effort to write non-crap.
4. Stop drinking Carbonation.
5. Yes, you read that right. That means good bye Coke Zero. Good bye Diet Coke. Good bye life.  (I figured since this life changing goal is so huge it should take up two goal spots on the top ten.)
6. Run two half-marathons so essentially I can say I ran a marathon.
7. Read to my kids every day.
8. Go to Europe.
9. Make a million dollars.
10. Continue to mourn the loss of Michael Jackson.

Of course, I don't know if they'll all happen in that order. But that pretty much sums up my goals for the next year.

What are your 2012 Goals?

Famous. Or something like it.

He he! Today is the coolest day in the world. Chantele Sedgwick interviewed me on her very cool blog. Please head over and check it out:

MY WRITING BUG by Chantele Sedgwick

writing inspiration - quotes

I was reading a blog the other day where the author mentioned she liked to find quotes that summarized her main character. (Please forgive me for forgetting which one. Nano has taken my brain and mashed it and then thrown it in the garbage disposal.) Ingenious, right? 

So I set out to find one for mine, Costa. She's strong. She's a spy. So I thought this worked perfectly:

Then I started thinking, what quote would describe me best. Considering this month, and the writing frustrations I keep slamming into, this quote seemed perfect:

It seems the more I write and stress, the more problems I create. Do you do that too? Are you an over writer or an under writer?
So when I was about to pull out my hair, I came across this quote:

Frankly 50K words in one month is practically impossible. But maybe not. 

Are you doing nano? If so, how's that going for you?

If not, what type of writer are you? 

Opinions needed: first impressions

At first, I was like, that's a weird looking loaf of raisin bread.
I'll come back to the freaky bread in a minute. It ties in to my point for the day.

For me, one of the greatest payoffs for investing time in a novel or series is when there's a discovery in character. Like when you find out Mr. Rogers isn't just a nice old man in a cardigan (Ok, maybe he is . . .bad example). But, think of Snape. Not such a bad guy. Or Noah (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. If you haven't read this yet, drop what you're doing and get to it.)
Of course this isn't something new. Writers have been doing it for ages, creating red herrings to lead the MC (and the reader) astray.

Now back to the bread. If you haven't stared at the picture long enough to figure out why it looks freaky, try again. What do you see now?

It's not a loaf of raisin bread at all. It's a pug (dog).

The point is, first impressions can and sometimes should give false impressions. (Like the bread dog).
As a writer, I do this often. I lead my main character astray by allowing her to believe other characters follow hard and fast rules. When really they don't.

Question of the Day: How often do you use red-herrings. Or characters that are like the bread-dog? When do you reveal their true identity?

Writing Inspiration - quotes

I love a good quote. Sometimes it's just the inspiration I need to push myself forward, or it gives me something to think about concerning the character I'm writing. Inspiration towards writing can come from many forms. Whenever I'm out stalking blogs or spending hours on fb, I make a point of writing down any quote that stands out to me. 

So for Tuesday's inspiration I thought I'd share one of my favorites:

My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.

-Michael Jordan
(Taken from: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/attitude.html#ixzz1d7tdfQXV)

I love his endurance and drive to be more. To fight whatever is holding him back and turn the tables on whoever is bringing him down. My main character has this same sort of determination, and today this quote is exactly what I needed.


Do you have any favorite quotes? Please share! Or at least tell me what inspires you this week?

writing inspiration - queries

Last year I queried a book.

And it didn't go so well. Why? Because I made all the rookie mistakes. ALL of them.

• The query was confusing.
• My book wasn't polished.
• I gushed. A lot. I like to gush at people.
• Basically I sounded like a twit.
• And so on, and so forth . . .

So this year when I'm ready, I'm not going to do that again. Not by a long shot.

But in the mean time, Suzie Townsend of the Nancy Coffey Literary and Media Representation is offering a review of your query. She'll tell you why she'd really reject it. And it's for free! To enter her Query contest, go to: 

 

Confessions of a Wandering Heart

writing inspiration - dialogue

Two nights ago I stayed up till 3:23 in the wee morning reading the new book, Slayers by CJ Hill (aka Janette Rallison). I've been a big fan of her writing for quite some time. Usually it sort of falls under the chick lit category, so I was curious to how well Janette would pull off a fast-paced adventure. Of course, I can't share that now. I gotta keep all of my five blog readers coming back. So I'll post my opinion on Slayers tomorrow. You won't want to miss that.

But I walked away feeling newly inspired to write better dialogue. Janette's dialogue is witty, funny, true to character personality, and never forced. It makes her characters and the story come to life.

Dialogue is often my own challenge, but I've seen a lot of awkward talk in published books. I'm always surprised when I find a little "maid and butler" in something I pull off the new releases at B&N.

In order to write better dialogue, I've developed a system.

Erin's Method to Writing Dialogue

1. I write the conversation as fast as I can as it pops in my head. I don't worry about punctuation, or blocking, or tags.

2. Then later, after a trip to Harts for my Diet Coke, I read through the scene out loud. (Ask Jessie Humphries. She said I'm a mumbler when I'm writing. It's mainly because I'm getting a feel for my dialogue). When I'm reading, I omit anything that sounds awkward or fake to the characters in the scene.

3. Last I add blocking. I have them move, or show expression.

4. Then I read it once more out loud, and adjust anything that feels awkward.

My process is somewhat layered, but it's helped me create better dialogue. Maybe one day I'll be a master like Janette.

What do you do to create witty and natural dialogue? I'm quite curious. 

writing inspiration - faces

I used to be a people watcher. In order to make my characters feel more real, I'd go to the mall and shop a little for shoes, but mostly I'd check people out. I'd listen to their conversations and study they way they move, and look at their features. But honestly speaking, I kind of felt like creeper. Especially when people noticed me watching them.

Now I stay home. Thanks to Pinterest, I find my interesting character faces online without creeping anyone out besides my hubby. Here are the faces of my current WIP that's a contemporary spy novel:

Milla - Kick-A protagonist. Lethal agent that too often listens to her bleeding heart.

Mag - Milla's bestie, just as lethal but not as confident 

Crow - their beloved trainer that looks tough but really has a soft side

Kane - the new trainer who is as mean as he looks . . . most of the time

And the boy. Sigh. 

Of course a lot of my characters are dream cast, but I tried to find pictures that set the scene for me. When I'm finding my character's voice, I'll pull their image onto the screen and start writing scenes. Sometimes those scenes don't end up in the novel, but they help me figure out who the character really is.

Now, the questions of the day:
How do you find your character's voices?
Are you a picture finder? If yes, who is in your dream cast?
Or are you a people watcher? If so, where do you go? 

writing inspiration - do i dare go there?

I am so happy with all the feed back from yesterday. Writing has been on my mind a lot lately because I'm getting my current work in progress (WIP) ready for submission. I was so amazed with your answers and quite inspired. Thank you so much!

In short, my current WIP is a little edgier than other books I've written. People die. And not just by the (duh, duh, dun...) bad guy, but by lots of main characters. Basically my book is killer. (ha ha, sorry I had to put that one in).

So in real life I'm not a killer. And my biggest sin is my frequent use of the "D" word. I'd like to blame my hubby for that, but I'm sure if you met him you'd know I was a big, fat liar. Though I've written a kill-all book, I'm not in any way advocating being an assassin. When my character uses the "D" word, it doesn't mean I use the "D" word in everyday life. (Alright, so not a good example).

What I'm wondering is, when and where do you draw the line?


What if what you really want to write is a bit darker and scarier than your personal morals or religious beliefs?


"D" Word or the "B" Word . . . or the "Sh" word . . . or the (duh, duh, duh . . .) "F" word?


Holy mother, did I just ask that question? Yes I did. 

Please, for the love of all things, let me know. Or I'll be a sad "D"word-dropping girl for the rest of the day.

writing inspiration - working out

When I was seventeen I graduated from high school and went away to college. My freshman year I put on twenty pounds. Ugh. I felt tired and pudgy. After hearing me bemoan the drama of my tummy tire, my roomate convinced me to take an aerobics class with her. Reluctantly, I went.

I hated it.
Every muscle burn, drip of sweat, and labored breath. I loathed aerobics.

I know what you're thinking (well, maybe I know). You're thinking, that's weird because Erin is an aerobic instructor. Yep that's right. I am. See the thing is, when I was seventeen (not so many years ago), I made a deal with myself. I decided I would stick with it until I LOVED working out.

And the funny thing is, now that I love it I don't want to stop. I usually work out five days a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But I've found that consistency is the key. The more I do it, the more my body expects it. And really after awhile all those push-ups and lunges kind of, sort of feel great.

Writing is like working out.

Sometimes you hate it. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes forming a great scene is as hard as doing a hundred one-arm pushups.

But the more you persist in writing every day, the easier it gets. And the easier it gets, the more you love it . . . like aerobics. Right?

How often do you write? 
When do you write?
What time of the day works best for you?
If you don't write, but you just read my ghetto blog for fun, what would you write if you were a writer? 


Please for the love of all things holy, just respond so I don't feel like I'm talking to myself. I'm such a sucker for a comment. 


Luv, erin

friday five.

In Utah, it seems like this is the weekend for writing conferences. Well, at least two that I know of. At UVU, prospective and pubbed writers can attend the Book Academy, or if you want to trek into the cold snowy Utah mountains, there's the Heart of the West conference held at the Canyons Resort. My writing buddies and I have been to both, but this year we're heading up to Park City for the Heart of the West conference. In fact, we got here last night and I'm freezing my toosh off. There's something seriously wrong when it snows during the first week of October. (Silent prayer to move back to Hawaii)

Today I'd like to dedicate this post to Writing Conferences. I'm not a complete conference groupie, but I go to a couple a year. And I've learned a thing or two that may help you.

Five Things To Do At A Writing Conference

1. Shower

How should I put this? Since I'm not one for putting things in a delicate manner, I'll just say it. Sometimes people stink. And sometimes a room can be filled with the stench of dirty head. (I'm not pointing any fingers at the ladies I'm attending the conference with. I'm just saying.) Fifty writers in a room can smell bad. I know I don't shower for days on end when I'm in writing mode. But conference mode is different. For the love of all books, please shower.

2. Keep your bra to yourself

Or better said, don't wear shirts that have buttons. This one really just comes from personal experience. But since I'm back at the same conference, I certainly don't want to flash any hot pink braziers to older, erotica-writing men. You can read about that HERE! 
(Side note: Don't try searching for "pink bras" on google. Big mistake. UGH.)

3. Leave the Wizarding Costume at Home

Well, if you're going to World-Con, go for it. But for any other conference, it's always best to dress your best. Wear something that plays up to your eye-color or hair style. I think setting a good first impression is sometimes more important than showing the world how much you love The Lord of the Rings. Then again, I've seen some fab costumes at conferences so I could be totally wrong about this one.

4. Put on a Happy Face

It may be a year from now when I get published, or ten years from now (heaven forbid). But since I don't know, I think it's best to always be friendly to other prospective writers. I've met some of my best friends at writing conferences. If it wasn't for Jessie Humphries smiling face and charming wit, we wouldn't be friends now. If you're open to making new friends, you can find your greatest writing supports at conferences.

5. Go with me and you'll find an agent

Call it luck, but there's something about attending a conference with me that will snag you an agent faster than you could probably finish your WIP. The last time I came to the HOW conference I attended with three other ladies. Two ended up signing with the agents from the conference. How is it possible I wasn't one of them? Well, my WIP wasn't ready. It's still not ready. The whole photography life of mine sometimes gets in the way. But I don't mind so much. I'm just glad to help another writer along even if it is by strange coincidence.

That's my five! Now keep it alive. I'd love to hear what things you've learned at writing conferences.
What conferences have you been to?
What has been your favorite conference?
What's something you've learned from going to a conference?

i want to thank all the people who made this possible...

I got a BLOG award! Can you believe it? 

I'd like to take a moment to thank the Cherie at Ready.Write.Go for giving me this award. It makes me ridiculously happy. Second I'd like to thank my Mom and Dad who made all this possible. Without their enthusiasm, I would've never been born, let alone given free reign to write whatever I feel like on this here blog of mine. Last I want to thank Al Gore for inventing the Internet. Thanks to him alone, I've been able to put my deepest thoughts out into cyberspace to be read by one or two people. 

Now, this is my first award, so I better play by the rules:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated me. (Check)

2. Share seven random facts about myself. 

3. Pass the award along to 5 newfound blogging buddies

4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.

GO GO GADGET O' 7 RANDOM FACTS:

1. My 4 year old is a parrot. The other day he said, "That guy is a bad guy." He was watching a movie, and yes, the guy was indeed a bad guy. Then Parrot-son added, "If I see him on the road I'm gonna kick him in the crotch." 

Uh, nice. Where did he learn that? Way to go, Mark. 

2. Sometimes my filter doesn't work. I should really watch what I say more. (Thus, the crotch comment.)

3. I don't wear deodorant. This isn't a blog secret, because I mentioned this years ago. But it's still the same. And if you're new to reading my blog, now you know. 

4. I don't stink. Unlike my sister who got B.O. at age 13, I never had the misfortune. I could teach three aerobic classes back to back and be dripping sweat like a 50yr old fat man, and I still wouldn't stink. 

5. I read a book everyday. I don't always finish it, but I still read. It's good for my soul. Not so much for my family. Yet another thing for me to work on.

6. When I write I gain weight. This is because my diet suddenly is reduced to M&Ms and Diet Coke. No matter how many aerobic classes I teach, it won't work off the constant hand-to-bag-to-mouth action. 

7. I own a pair of teal sweats that my Mom gave me when I was 15. I'm not 15 anymore...a mere few years have passed...and I still wear those sweats nearly every day. I love them more than I love M&Ms and Diet Coke. If someone offered me $1000 for those sweats, I wouldn't sell them. That's the honest truth. And if my husband ever threw them out...I would think about divorce. 

Now, that I've been so very blessed with this award, I would like to pass it along to other awesome blogs that I LOVE!

1.  An Alleged Author - I love this blog. The writer has great voice, 
and makes me laugh. And the latest post quiz is hilarious!

2. Angela Orlowski Peart - Does Angela have a rockin' name or what? I hear a name like that and I think she's probably the type to wear J Crew and drive a Range Rover. She just seems uber cool.

3. Alexis Bass Writes About Writing - For one thing Alexis is from Washington. For another, she loves the books that I love! So I know if we knew each other in real life we would be bosom buddies.

4. Myself As Written - I met Charlie a couple years ago in a brief writing group stint. She's pretty cool and she is named Charlie. What could be more intriguing. Right? 

5. Iain's Iainspiration - Iain makes me laugh so hard. When he publishes a book, I'll be the first in line to buy it. 

There you have it! My first blog award makes me feel so warm and squishy...or that could be that I've eaten too many M&Ms today. 

Thank you all!