The Star System

I've decided to take up my friend Jillian's star system with regard to my writing. It's nothing innovative mind you. It's the same system that's been used for decades in the school system to commend children for doing their homework or for a job well done, perhaps with some kind of incentive.

So a couple weeks ago, Jillian showed me her star chart she keeps for writing. She gives different colored stars for how much she wrote for that day. No star means no writing. An asteric means the day job kept her from writing.

I hadn't written for about three weeks until she showed me that chart, so I decided I needed to do something to motivate me. That on top of my BF's Be, Do, Have inspiration got me writing again. I started Monday.

As you can see from the picture, I missed a day this week. So now every time I open my calendar, which is often, that glaring white space is staring at me. I don't like that. I get a bigger star for a bigger writing day. Small for 0-10 pages. Middle for over 10 pages. Large for a finished project.

I'm trying to think of an incentive for when I finish a project. Definitely not food. I'd like to not spend money, but I am thinking a massage or pedicure. Maybe just a nothing day where I don't clean, cook, I just do whatever I want.

Do you have an incentive program to keep you on task with your writing? If so, what is it?

F³A: Is this thing on?

I'm wondering, some days on my blog I have a lot of comments, other days I have none. I know people look at my blog daily. How come so few comments? 

I started thinking about what  makes me comment on a blog or not. I mean, in truth, I've not had the time to look at a lot of blogs lately, but when I do, there are specific reasons why I comment.

I want to support my fellow bloggers. To show them that I read them.

Because I have something to add to the conversation.

If I don't comment it's usually just because I don't feel like I have anything useful to say or don't know much about the subject matter.

Sometimes I feel like I lose readers because I'm at times sporadic. Life gets in the way of my blogging and I'll go a few days or even a week without connecting with my audience.  I think that's detrimental to a blog. Maybe it's also because I'm all over the place with the blog. One day I'm talking about writing, then dating, then kids, then exercise...it's a blog about life really. I've decided to kind of keep focused on the writing aspect of my life, but you know, I can't stop myself from ranting if something comes up.

Do you have any insights as to blog trending? Why do you comment or not? Do you try to change things up when people don't comment?

Here's the Friday Scribbles, which I've not done in awhile either.

Next Pandora Song: Missed the Boat by Modest Mouse (The Head & the Heart channel)

Netflix of the Week: To be honest, I can't remember the last thing I watched. Let me think a minute. Oh, yeah, it was a movie called Spork. Think female Napoleon Dynamite. Well, kind of female, she's a hermaphrodite. Very funny.

Book of theWeek: The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats. Think, Medieval girls gone bad, as Jillian says.

Quote of the Week (because of recent events in my life): "Don’t interfere with something that ain’t bothering you none" ~ Old Wild west Talk

Cinder Release Party

Last night was Marissa Meyer's release party for her sci-fi twisted retelling of Cinderella, Cinder. If you've not heard of it, um, you may want to come out from under your rock. Marissa is from MY home town which makes her extra cool to me. She's also an Apocalypsie, so I got to meet her prior to her release (there are about six Apocalypsies in this area alone which is very cool and we try to meet once a month).

She had a grassroots campaign for the ladies to sport red heels (or other red shoes, I wore wedges, my friend Kristin wore red tennis shoes). Many came out to support her and her book, including my publicist (which was awesome) J Anderson Coats (The Wicked and the Just, April 2012, Harcourt Children's Books), Jennifer Wolf (Breaking Beautiful, April 2012, Walker Books for Young Readers), and Danny Marks (Velveteen, Fall 2012, Delacorte).

Marissa's Publicist from NY came all the way for the party!!

Marissa talked a little about her journey (she gave my release party a shout out which was SO sweet of her), had a friend do a reading from the book, then did a signing (the line was soooo long Danny went through three pieces of cake, I had to take off my death shoes, and we were all delirious by the time we reached the head of the line, but it was well worth the wait).

And, um, they gave away wicked swag.

And today? Marissa is on a nationwide tour to promote her book!!!! Here are the dates. If you're in these areas you should check it out.

January 4: Cincinnati, OH
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
7:00 p.m.

January 6: Chapel Hill, NC
Flyleaf Books
7:00 p.m.

January 8: Lynnwood, WA
Barnes & Noble
2:00 p.m.

January 9: Twitter and Facebook!!
Virtual Cinder Launch Party, being hosted with Figment Fiction
More info to come.

January 11: Salt Lake City, UT
The King's English Bookshop
7:00 p.m.

January 12: Provo, UT
Provo City Library
7:00 p.m.

January 23: Naperville, IL
Anderson's Bookshop
7:00 p.m.
Note: Megan Miranda, author of FRACTURE, will also be at this event!

January 24: Petaluma, CA
Copperfield's Books
3:00 p.m.

January 26: San Francisco, cA
Books Inc. “Not Your Mother’s Book Club” at Opera Plaza
7:00 p.m.
Note: Megan Miranda (FRACTURE) and Daisy Whitney (THE RIVALS) will also be at this event!

January 27: Portland, OR
Powell's Books
7:00 p.m.
Note: Megan Miranda, author of FRACTURE, will also be at this event!

February 10-14: Vancouver and Victoria, BC, Canada
Details TBD

February 25: Long Beach, CA
Passion and Prose Convention
http://www.passionandprose.org/


April 14: Houston, TX
TeenBookCon
http://www.teenbookcon.org
(Other Texas events TBD)

I want to congratulate Marissa who's awesome and sweet and adorable. If you missed her release party and would like to meet her, you may catch a glimpse of her at my party January 17 at the Tacoma Library Wheelock branch.

F³A: Things to play with

I went to the darkside.  Yes, by way of the e-reader. *bows to the book gods in apology*.  I bought the Amazon Kindle Fire.  Why you ask?  There are a few reasons.  First and foremost, friends I knew to be good writers were self publishing straight to ebook.  Drat!!!  There is one in particular, his name is Jeff Fielder, I've read his work and I think he's brilliant.  Anyhoo, he published some short stories in his book Voices in the Field and Other Stories.  Then you know what he did?  He put it out in paperback.  I told him he owed me $199 + tax and shipping.

Of course I was kidding because there are other straight to e books I'd like to read.  But that's not the only reason I bought the Fire.  In fact, reading on it is secondary (I still love the feel of a book in my hands and that book smell, yeah, you know what I'm talking about)You know that thing they call the iPad? Well, the Fire does most of what that thing does.  But cheaper.  And smaller (if you like that kind of thing).

The bad thing about my Kindle Fire?  I've had it about two weeks and still not been able to play with it.  Yes, that sucks.  I've pledged to spend some quality time with my Kindle this weekend.

Do you have an e-reader?  If so, what kind did you buy?  If not, what are your hang ups?

Oh, one more thing, Julia Karr, author of XVI (which I LOVED btw) is hosting some of us 2k12ers in her 2k12 Days of Christmas.  Check it out the deets here.

Friday Scribbles:

Christmas song of the week:  The Monkees Riu Chiu.  I saw this on their show and fell in love with it (it was REPEATS people, I'm not that old *cough*)

Movie of the Week: The Ref.  Funniest damn Christmas movie ever with Dennis Leary, Kevin Spacey, and Judy Davis.  If you've not seen this movie, you're not living.

Book of the week:  Still reading (slowly, not because of the book, because of my lack of time) The Wicked and the Just by J Anderson Coats.  Do you like war and cussing and medieval stuff.  Then buy it.  Now.  And I might add, J and I have become friends and she's kick ass awesome.

Quote of the Week: I've got two and they are both from one of my favorite books, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

"Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores."

"There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing."

That is all.  Happy Friday my friends.

F³A: Aaaaah, sleep I have finally found thee

Sleep finally found me.  I'd been running on fumes for the past week at least.  4 to 5 hours each night.  Lack of sleep for me comes down to this:

• Apathy
• Lack of motivation
• Delirium
• Irritation about everything
• Inability to put words together to make a sentence
• Inability to know good from evil
• Lack of brain function
• My alter ego Mrs. McCrankypants emergers
• Moments of complete and utter road rage
• My kids thinking I'm psycho

Last night I got 8.5 hours.  No one will die today.  How did I get through it,  you ask?  Thing one and Thing two, as well as their friends who I love dearly, while driving me nuts from time to time, dealt with me pretty good and made me laugh.  Plus, someone who cares about me enough to come over and deals with my shit and does things for me and basically makes me sit, breathe, and feel sane.

Friday Scribbles

Christmas song of the week: Baby It's Cold Outside.  I like most versions, this one happens to be by Willie Nelson and Norah Jones

Book of the Week: The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats.  Don't usually read historical fiction, but started it this week and so far, it's amazing.

Movie of the Week: Casablanca.  I had never seen it until last night.  It's amazing.  I never really thought Humphrey Bogart was handsome either until I watched in.

Quote of the Week: "I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know? " ~ Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway

Have a good weekend, and get some good sleep.

Monkey Madness Monday

I'm back after a short hiatus from regular blogging.  I'm coming off my exhaustion (I think). I was tested for Anemia and Hypothyroidism, and it's neither of those things.  So I think my doc was right and it's just a case of exhaustion.

I'm still tired, but the last day I had to sleep half the day was last Wednesday, and I've not napped since the week before last.  I'm hoping that I can get back to the exercise and getting healthy.  I'm so tired of being tired.

Enough about that.  Yesterday I was on a panel at Northwest Bookfest with my fellow Harbingers of Doom Marissa Burt (Storybound), J. Anderson Coats (The Wicked and the Just), and Danny Marks (Velveteen).  Our panel was about the Terrible Truth from Conception to Publication.  We had a big crowd and had lots of questions asked.  So, I think it was a success.  The Harbingers had fun looking at the booths and talking to other writers and editors.

It made me excited about revisions again.  I'm really slogging through them, but I'll get them done.

One more thing, I don't know if you guys know I vlog, but I'd love to have more subscribers on my youtube channel.  I've got a couple advice videos, some book reviews, I vlogged my journey to publication, and now I'm vlogging about my middle aged angst.  Click here for my channel.

If you subscribe, I'll send you a signed bookmark.  Just comment below and I'll get your details.

Catch ya later,

Megan