Happy New Year and What I've Learned

IN THE NEWS: Universal Studios theme parks (in the U.S.) just changed their menu to cut the unhealthy trans fat from many of the junk food favorites served there.
(Ahhh.... My arteries and I thank you)

So for my last post of the year, I wanted to do another "Best Of" list that every blogger and their mother are doing right now. Yeah, yeah, I know I sort of did that already with my "Top Reads" list yesterday, but I felt inspired. The other night, as I watched a show on the Best Commercials of 2006, I thought, "Yes! It can be done. There is room in this world for another stupid cliche 'Best Of' list!"

I thought long and hard (yes, dangerous) and came up with my own personal discoveries of the past year.

So without further blah, blah, blah... my list for The Top Ten Things I've Learned in 2006:

10) Writing is hard. **Huh, I thought once I FINISHED a book, it'd be all gravy from there. This one was a hard lesson learned.

9) Fresh fish is better for you than farm-raised fish. **Okay. I posted this for my mother and her macrobiotic way of eating. She hammered this home all year, and now it is forever tattooed to my brain. Happy, Mom?

8) When a publisher's website says 6-8 months for a manuscript read, tack on an extra 3 months. **This is generally a good measure to go by so you don't end up stalking your mailman too early. (Sorry about that, Chuck.)

7) I've become a lightweight. **What happened to the times when I could go to a "ten wine" wine tasting and feel even better the next day? Well, they're gone and never coming back, I assure you. I found myself more than once this year hugging the toilet after ONE glass of wine. What happened to me? I used to be cool.

6)Keep a list of things you need but would never buy yourself. **Why? Because I go through this every Christmas. I never know what to tell people when they ask, "What would you like?" Then AFTER Christmas I have literally hundreds of ideas that I then forget come the end of the year. Well, I've learned my lesson and have already started a small list. I'll be ready for them next year!

5) My husband is a funny guy. ** Actually, I haven't just learned this. I've known this for YEARS and it's one of the reasons I married him. But I figured I'd mention it anyway. We've known each other over 13 years and he still cracks me up. Besides, this was a nice even spot to cleanse the palate. (If you haven't stopped reading by now)

4) Pick your critique partners carefully. **Another hard lesson. I will never again forget that there are people in this world who maybe can write but couldn't give a critique to save their life, for one reason or another. Listen to your instincts when they slap you upside the head and get out of that group!

3) Don't buy clothes BEFORE you get your hair highlighted. **This one I should have already known, but it's been a while so I forgot. Whoops. Now I have some very nice tops that look wonderful with brown hair but not so hot with blondish hair.

2) My hubby does not like peas. **We've been married for eleven years and for some reason I just couldn't get this notion into my little pea--no pun intended--brain. Until one day this year he finally made it perfectly clear. Got it. No more peas for you, dear. I promise.

1) Organic/natural deodorant doesn't work. ** At least not on me. That lesson is self explanatory... (Grrrr) Thanks a lot, Mom.

Well, now that I've put them into print, I will most assuredly not forget them.

I hope.

Happy New Year and "see" you in 2007!

My Top Reads of 2006

MENTAL STATUS: Stir crazy. I had planned to go out yesterday, but it never materialized. I NEED to get out of the house. Today. I'm starting to have conversations with my daughter's Ariel Talking Salon.

Okay. Let me preface this list with a disclaimer: These books didn't necessarily come out in 2006. I just so happened to have read them this past year. And while I KNOW I had to have read more than just ten, these are the books that stuck out in my mind because I enjoyed them that much.

So without further ado... my Top Reads of 2006:

10) How I Write by Janet Evanovich with Ina Yalof. **Okay, okay. So I'm not quite finished reading this book yet. BUT, I've already gathered tons of useful writing advice thanks to her fun examples. I can't wait to put them into action.

9) You Could Do Better by Stephanie Lehmann. **What can I say? This book was a great beach read--short and amusing, with a nice HEA.

8) The Everything Blogging Book by Aliza Sherman Risdahl. **Hey, if this book could get ME to blog and look like I know what I'm doing, it's a must read.

7) Don't Look Down by Jennie Crusie and Bob Mayer. **Sadly enough this was my first Jennifer Crusie book--and Bob Mayer book for that matter. But not my last!!

6) I Do (But I Don't) by Cara Lockwood. **There is a small part in this book where a groom jumps out of an airplane for his wedding ceremony. Too funny! That scene forever sealed by admiration for this author's wit.

5) Cheating at Solitaire by Ally Carter. **This book was so charming and funny. I had a stupid grin on my face every time I opened it up and started reading. Really. It was almost embarrassing.

4) Killing Time in Ocean City by Jane Kelly. **I read this book almost 6 years ago and decided to dust it off the shelf and read it again because I remembered liking it. Wrong. I loved it!

3) The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. **If you're a Christian--or even if you aren't--this is a must read. Rick Warren has a wonderful way of putting life into perspective--simply and effectively.

2)I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter. **Well, this author snuck up on my list twice--but for good reason. This was my first YA book as... well... a non-young adult, but I'm already looking forward to the next one in the series.

1) Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. **Okay. Technically this is a children's book, but if you have little ones at home, you must--MUST I tell ya--run out to your local bookstore/library and get yourself a copy. This is one of the few books my 4 year old actually quotes lines from.

So that's my list.

Anything else I should have read?

On the second day of my Christmas vacation...

IN THE NEWS: As you all probably know--or maybe you don't?--Gerald Ford, 38th President of the U.S., has died. But did you know he was originally named Leslie Lynch King, Jr. and that while he was at University of Michigan he turned down offers to play football for the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers? (True Story)

Well, mentally and physically I'm still on Christmas vacation. Yes, I know I don't "technically" have a job-job, but I haven't written a word on my new manuscript nor have I cooked dinner for my family since Christmas Eve.

So there.

I have been doing a little reading though. And right now, I'm in the middle of Janet Evanovich's How I Write . Good book so far. She's making me think (I know I know--dangerous) and also is making me realize a few things--which I plan to change in the new year.

In her book, she establishes some rules for successful writing. These are only a few:

1) "Don't fall into the trap of rewriting chapter one until it's perfect." RATS. Okay, I promise I will let it go and move on to the next chapter. After just a few more touch-ups...

2) "Make writing a responsibility. Think of it like a job and show up on time." Ooops. Donald Trump would have fired my sorry butt about 5 months ago. But I'm still on vacation right now.

3) "Never hold anything back for the next book." DOUBLE RATS. I have a folder of choice lines and cool scenes I've been saving--and it's getting larger. Maybe I'll have some sort of cool book made out of all that. NOT.

Well, as you can see, Ms Evanovich blew me right out of the water and I hadn't even gotten to page one yet. But I'm still reading the book. After all, it's all a learning process.

Apparently, I have LOTS to learn.

What are you reading right now?

Merry Christmas

MENTAL STATUS: Excited. Christmas is only days away, and I'm going to my daughter's preschool Christmas party in just a few hours. They're planning a surprise, so I'm charging the video camera as I blog.

Tis the season, so I'm going to post three tidings of cheer:

1) A clip from YouTube (courtesy of my hubby)

Festivus

2) A joke (courtesy of my four-year-old)

Her: Knock, knock

Me: Who's there?

Her: Why did the chicken cross the road?

Me: (already laughing) Why?

Her: To get his sock.

(I'm sorry, but that just cracked me up--especially because the chicken had just one sock. )

3) A special Christmas message of LOVE (courtesy of the Bible)

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son.
1John 4:10 (NIV)

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Which comes first, the story or the character?

IN THE NEWS: On May 1st, China will begin restrictions on Americans who can adopt babies from their country. So apparently you won't be able to be an unmarried American anymore. Oh, and you won't be able to be fat or ugly either. (True story)

So as a writer, what comes first for you, your story idea or your characters?

I attended a writer's workshop a year ago where an author talked about having characters in her head that had to have their story told. Then when she sat down, her characters would just tell what would happen to them and the story would enfold from there.

Neat, huh?

Well, that's not me. Not usually, anyway. I really have to think and work HARD to create a character.

When I wrote A Role of a Lifetime, I started with just a scene in my head. I was at the playground with my daughter. There were kids going down this big tube slide and one of the mothers was having trouble showing her 2 year old how to go down and not to be frightened. So she stuck her legs in (trying to demonstrate), then turned to me and said, "Watch me get stuck."


Well, I laughed, and then I thought it'd be even funnier if a father got stuck in the slide. Even funnier if he was single father, trying to "show off" to a woman. Even funnier if he wasn't a father but a single man, with a large ego, trying to "show off" and got stuck in a slide. Even funnier if--well, you get the idea.

That simple encounter stuck with me. So I begin to work with it. I got out my handy GMC (Goal, Moitvation, Conflict) book and began to play "what if" and came up with Ben Capshaw, my hero.

That's what works for me. If I have an idea, the characters usually fall into place by the situation they're in.

What comes first for you?

Is it snowing in hell?

Mental status: Relieved. My daughter took her swim lesson without tears--and she had fun!

Why do I ask if it's snowing in hell? Not because I'm planning a future ski trip, I assure you, but because I have now joined the ranks of so many published and unpublished writers--and people with too much free time on their hands--and have created a blog.

Heaven help the blogging community.

Actually, all kidding aside, I read blogs and websites on a more daily basis than newspapers or magazines. Then one day, I came upon an author's blog, read it, liked it AND her, and flew over to Amazon and ordered her book. Well, I liked it so much I ordered her other book too.

So I started to think--always dangerous for me, but I threw caution to wind anyway. The internet holds great power. And I want some of that power. Muwahahaha (evil laugh, in case you were wondering what that jibberish was) Okay. What I really want is to throw my name out there into the internet world.

Who knows? Maybe some day--if/when I'm published--some person will manage to stop by my blog and think I'm a nice person and want to buy my book too.

And maybe--just maybe--they'll even enjoy it!