Really? I, the lowly bookseller in one store connected to a much larger mall,  is not going to know the answer to that. Aside from that the mall is closed every Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with special hours on every other major holiday. These folks should have known to call at the very least before journeying in for a day of shopping. And for gosh sakes, don’t blame the shop-girl trying to sell a book or two during the middle of her Easter holiday.

But by far the best parts of my day were in the morning and the afternoon. I woke up at 6:30 am (missing my alarm for 3 am) to put the baskets together, imagining I heard the pitter patter of child feet with every crinkle of plastic. One of my children still believes in the bunny and I didn’t want to spoil that with my sleepiness.

Baskets ready, I spent a couple hours on my laptop before the first child (teen. Does that still count as a child?) made her appearance. Over the next hour, the other three kids gathered around. Then an hour doing Mad Libs and laughing with my children passed before I had to tear myself away to head for work.

After work, egg hunt time.

Finished the day out with dinner, some time researching family genealogy, and of course a new episode of Game of Thrones.

What a wonderful day. How was your Easter.

        

A new year has arrived! (. . . and there will be much rejoicing.) And with it the almighty resolutions and goals post.

You can read my goals from last year here. Let’s find out how I did.

• Finish and polish the novel I started during this year’s NaNoWriMo : Failed—I restarted this novel during NaNo 2010 and the story is much stronger now but still unfinished.
• Submit enough short stories to various markets that I have five pieces circulating at once: Failed, mostly—I had four stories circulating at once. I’ve decided that this goal was too loose and too long term. It allowed my procrastination tendencies to kick in and take over. It left me stranded at the end of the year with very little time due to the holidays and one last story to write.
• Attend RadCon and MisCon. Put my hand out and say “Hi” to at least one author at each. : Success—I attended both of these events and chatted with authors at both. At RadCon it was a narrow success. I said Hi and blushed and stammered and I don’t even remember who I talked with. Though I did spend an hour with Dean Wesley Smith and Darragh Metzger during the writing workshop and learned a lot.  MisCon was much better. I talked with Patricia Briggs, John Dalmas, Harry Turtledove, James Glass and others at various times during those four days. It was totally worth the heated cheeks to talk with these professionals.
• Research into a third con to attend, and if money permits go: Success—I found a third con to go to, SpoCon, but money was too tight to go. However I helped organize and put on a local writing conference, Rivers of Ink, and attended. I even had dinner with Patricia Briggs afterwards. I also attended Write on the River this year, and met and chatted with Terry Brooks, one of the first authors that made me fall in love with the fantasy genre. Before him, I mostly read classics like Little Women and Anne of Green Gables.
• Keep up with this blog, including more fiction pieces and more regular posts: Failed—I actually stopped posting for a while. I didn’t post any more fiction pieces and in general, I let you all down.

Last year is over, done, finished. On to 2011! My goals for this year are as follows:

• Write 5000 words a week for January, February, and March. This goal is much more immediate and set in stone than the above goal of circulating short stories. Some of these words will be on short stories, some on novels. I set the goal for the first three months because I know I can do better than 5000. I just need to get the habits into place first. At the end of March, I’ll reevaluate the word count goal for the next three months based off of children’s activities, work schedule, and how I did in the first three months.
• Finish what I start. This one is so very hard for me. I get these cool shiny new ideas and I whip out a fresh document and start typing. Less than 1000 words in, the shine has worn off and I want to move on to something else. This year, I will not let that happen.
• ePublish what I finish or submit to a traditional publisher. I will continue to fill up my inventory of titles available by yours truly this year.  This goal was the hardest to decide on. I was so tempted to say “Publish a short story every week or every two weeks.” I decided against that though as I want to also work on longer projects and if I fail once, I tend to give up. I didn’t want to leave myself that out. If I stay on target on the first two goals, this goal will be easy. I should also still be finishing enough projects to be self-publishing regularly.
• Continue to make contacts at conventions and writing conferences. As a part of this and expanding on last year’s goal, I will also start promoting my stories at these events. I will print up something to hand out to those interested in my stories and I will suck it up and talk about myself if the opportunity arises. I will be grateful that my complexion is such that only I will know if I am blushing.
• Keep this blog and the new webpage for my publishing self, Kandake Publications, up to date. I’d like to set a regular schedule for entries on the blog but if my schedule comes down to writing on a story or writing on my blog, I want the freedom to choose the story.

Those are my writing goals/resolutions for 2011. I’ll keep you posted on how I’m doing. What are your resolutions/goals for this year?

        

National Novel Writing Month starts in 7 days. A frenzy of word count updates will be posted everywhere. The marathon for all writers and would-be writers will begin and continue on for 30 days.

And I can’t wait!

Last year was the first year I participated and I had so much fun. And more importantly, I generated more words on a single project than I ever had before. No, I didn’t reach the goal of 50,000 words in 30 days. I did reach 25, 000 words in 15 days. I simply wasn’t prepared.

I wasn’t prepared for the time crunch in the second half of the month. Between children’s activities, the Thanksgiving holiday, and a job in retail during the Christmas shopping season, time ran out. These commitments haven’t changed but I am ready for them. I hope to use the first half of the month to get ahead on my word count so I can ease up some during the second half.

I wasn’t prepared for how the story would evolve after 20k words. So much was going on that I became overwhelmed. My story ideas always seem simple enough but I sense there is a much larger picture behind them. I discovered I was correct and had no idea how to handle it. This year I am prepared to keep pushing through no matter how surprised I am by where the story takes me.

NaNoWriMo is coming. Are you ready?

        

Happy Mother’s Day

Today is mother’s day. A day for spending time with your kids and the mothers in your life. My grade school kids have special things they have made for me and my teen daughters will hold in their attitudes long enough to mumble “happy mother’s day, mom”. It is a family day. Hope you enjoy yours.

Reading

This week I read Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris as I promised I would last week. I have to say I enjoyed it. I have heard some people complain that it is slower paced than the previous novels. I agree with this but it felt right for Sookie and Co. to have that breather. To me it feels like the lull before the storm. This book is all about family. Sookie and her brother get close again. Sam is still worried about his family and their reaction to the Great Reveal. Even Eric has some relatives come to town. There is still a lot going on but more of it has to do with relationships. There is even an appearance by Russian nobility. Fun.

I also read The Sweet Scent of Blood by Suzanne McLeod. I can’t rave about this book quite as much. It is the first in the series and all the different things that were introduced in this book were confusing in places. I did enjoy most of it and found it interesting take on vampires and fae. Also the character of Finn is a satyr and you just don’t see many satyrs in fiction these days. I like him. The vampire nobility that involve themselves with Genny’s life are darkly mysterious and their motives remain in the shadows. That said I will be reading the next one in the series. Now that I understand (or think I do) what is going on with Genny and her past, I am ready to dive forward in her world and see where things go.

Movies

I saw Iron Man 2 on Friday with my husband and two boys and I loved it. My 7 year old has dubbed it the third best movie of all time. Tony Stark has more snark than can fit in that suit and Vanko was sufficiently smart and creepy to be a worthy adversary. The action was eye-popping and fun, the way superhero action movies should be. I recommend this movie to comic fans, action fans, and comedy fans. It even has a bit of something for fans of romance.

Writing

I am still working on that “sitting down and writing everyday” thing that I need to progress further in this dream of mine. I have a conference coming up on Saturday where Terry Brooks is the keynote speaker. I have been a fan of his since I was in high school. In particular I have a soft spot for his character Allanon from the first Shannara series. Allanon had that black cloak that obscured his features and his motives wonderfully well. The first time through the books I didn’t know if he was just pretending to be a good guy or not.

 I also will be heading to a convention and participating in a writing workshop May 28th through the 31st. I found out who is critiquing my submission and now my husband is begging to pretend to be me and go. I will share with you who it is after I hear what he has to say. I can say that I am totally looking forward to hearing what he has to say.

How was your week? Are you enjoying your Mother’s Day?

        

Reading

This week I read and adored Patricia Briggs‘ new Mercedes Thompson novel, Silver Borne.  My place of work was even mentioned briefly in it. Pacing and characters and their attitudes make this a fun read.

Writing

To put it bluntly I blew it this week. I do have the excuse of not having a day off but in reality my shifts are pretty short and so it isn’t really valid. I know in my head and my heart what I want to do but the physical act of breaking bad habits and writing regularly is much harder. I have always had issues with self motivation. Working for others, paid or not, I take the extra steps to do the job perfectly but for myself I procrastinate. Let’s see if I can do better this week.

Movies

Saturday we went to see How to Train Your Dragon with our two sons. The movie is very good; pretty to look at, easy to relate to, and laugh-out-loud funny. While it has a good message, it doesn’t beat you over the head with it. As my husband pointed out, the Vikings are very close to fantasy dwarves complete with bushy beards, stout bodies, and a love of bashing things. In the words of my 6 year old, “The best movie ever.”

        

Here are the highlights that I enjoyed about this lavish tribute to the movies.

• The fairytale like dresses. I love the fancy ballgowns. This year they were more traditional–flowing skirts, fitted tops, shimmering and sparkling fabrics–the way I like them. Of course the dresses always look better against the neat, black tuxes. I always think of princesses and princes when I see people dressed up in that way.
• Tribute to John Hughes. Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, Jon Cryer, and Macauley Culkin all together on one stage was a trip back in time to my teen years. It was wonderful to see the montage of some of my favorite films. I have an urge to break out my John Hughes collection of DVDs and rewatch them.
• The Horror Segment. I am not a horror fan but my brother use to make me watch them to “toughen me up.” I had fun playing “guess the movie” with no answer sheet so, of course, I got all of them right.
• The Intro Song with Neil Patrick Harris. The fun and pageantry of that opening number reminds me of the theater scene in the original Annie movie. Full of pomp and fun and pointing out everything that makes folks go to the movies. I watchted it with a grin stretched across my face and wished it went on longer.
• And the Oscar goes to… That moment when the presenter says those 5 little words and everyone in the Kodak Theater holds their breath in anticipation. That moment when the family sitting around the TV shouts out their guess for the winner. It is the moment the whole 3+ hour long show is all about.

Did you watch the Oscars? What parts did you enjoy the most? Did your favorite movie/actor/director of 2009 win any awards?

        

This week I read Caitlin Kittredge‘s Street Magic. I am an avid fan of her Nocturne series and have been wanting to try out this other series for a while and finally broke down and bought a copy.  I tried to be all responsible and read it only at night after I had finished the things I needed to get done but by the third night I was heading to bed earlier for more time with my book and the next morning I finished the book before getting anything else done. It was different but exciting. The central mystery of the story was engaging and well thought out. I really enjoyed it.

Tax Season

We finally filed our taxes this week and I learned a valuable lesson. We have always had H&R Block prepare out taxes and I have always been satisfied with their work. This year, my writing is in the shady area where I might be able to claim some deductions because of it and the tax preparers were not prepared to handle those questions. I learned that I can’t trust professionals to know everything about their fields. A good lesson to know. Hopefully I keep this information in mind when I meet with other professionals in the future.

Dr. Suess

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess. It is such a wonderful thing that children across America celebrate the birth and career of an author every year. I helped with this tradition by reading Green Eggs & Ham and The Foot Book during this week’s storytime. The children never seem to tire of the words of this wonderful writer. A personal thank you to him for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I was reading this book when I was 4 years old. Dr Seuss is the author that launched me into the world of books that I live in today.

Revising/Rewriting

Up to this morning I always thought there was something wrong with me that I never rewrote on as massive a scale as everyone else I have heard of. I touch up grammar and word choice, delete repetitive sentences, and in general only clean up my first draft. I don’t delete huge passages or shift around large blocks of text or any of those other drastic measures revision seems to involve. This morning I read an entry in Dean Westley Smith’s Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing series and am now in the process of letting go of that feeling of wrongness, embracing my method, and working up the confidence to believe in my words despite them being the result of only one or two drafts.

Birthdays

My second child turned 13 this week. That brings the number of teens in the family up to two. I am bracing myself for the fallout of that event. Two teen daughters and only two parents. Things could get wild and crazy around here for a few years. I’ve been told my kids are easy and others are jealous, I have my fingers crossed that that trend continues.

How ’bout your week? Did it go well? Learn anything new?

        

Today is the day for remembering your loved ones, especially those you have romantic feelings for. As always my Valentine’s day is not filled with flowers and chocolates (that is a Mother’s day tradition) but with Magic cards and writing panels. Which leads me to my next topic.

Radcon

Every year since I was a sophomore in high school I attended the local sci-fi convention, RadCon, and this year is no different. I use to go for a mix of panels and gaming, in particular the Delver’s Bash. However for the last few years I go to attend every writing panel I can squeeze into so that I may glean every nugget of knowledge about the craft and business of writing I can.

This year I also participated in a Writing Workshop put together very nicely by Deby Fredericks. As a result of some attendance issues, I had the full attention of both Dean Wesley Smith and Darragh Metzger for the entire hour. And I’d like to thank them for the insights they gave me on my writing and on writing as a career. It is much appreciated and I hope to put your encouragement to good use.

Cavalcade of Authors

The first day of the con, or to be more precise the morning of the first day of con, an event was held for local middle school and high school students. This event had students in workshops with several authors including Patrick Carman, Ben Mikaelson, Suzanne Selfours, and more. My daughter was a participant and had a lot of fun. I helped out with Barnes & Noble, selling books and enjoyed observing the excitement in the kids at the opportunity to speak with and learn from their favorite authors. A very successful event in my opinion.

Reading

This week I reread Transformation by Carol Berg for the third or maybe fourth time. Transformation is the first book in a series of three. I adore the world building in this series of books. So many peoples and cultures are included, some are spotlighted and others fill in all the nooks and crannies around the edges. Even more I love the two main characters, Seyonne and Aleksander. They live and breathe and make mistakes. They have undesirable traits and heroic hearts. A lot is going on in this story but it is presented in such a way I don’t have to slow down my reading to keep track of it all. I highly recommend these books to fantasy or adventure lovers.

My week went well, how was yours?

        

This week’s writing group revolved around storyboarding. One of our members taught a small lesson on it using the first act of Star Wars as an example. This is a technique I’ve heard of before and wanted to try but never actually followed through on. It seemed both easy and hard at the same time–and too much like outlining. Outlining being a technique I despise and just can’t seem to make work for me. After the mini-lesson I am all set to at least give it a try. 

Writing group is about to change its direction. We are changing the open attendance policy to a closed one. We will also be expecting more of the members and hopefully progressing forward as writers.

Reading

Speaking of storyboarding and writing group, I’ve been reading Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell in the Write Great Fiction series. I haven’t finished the book yet but seeing a breakdown on the three acts and what should go into each one is enlightening. It is also helping me understand why some author’s pacing works better than others. I look forward to finishing the book and beginning to use some of what I’m learning in my next story.

Storytime

I do the storytime for the young ones at the store on Tuesdays and for special occasions. This week I had my regular storytime and the Valentine’s Day storytime on Saturday. From my history on the stage I know that different days result in different energy in the children. My approach to storytime is to infuse it with a lot of pep and work the kids up a little bit and then give them a cookie and send them home with their mommies and daddies all sugared up and excited.

Saturday the kids were already so revved up that I was inclined to read them a bedtime story and quiet them down. Don’t get me wrong, I had fun and adore spending a bit of time with the little ones every week but for audience members to have trouble hearing me–me!–is a sign that maybe instead of the cookies and cocoa at the end, I should have given them a blankey and a pillow.

Did your week go as well as mine? Anything new happen you want to share?

        

This past year saw me beginning down the road towards embracing my dream of writing. I attended two cons and participated in my first writing workshop. I took over the infant writing group at the store. I’ve begun to collect a pile of rejection letters. I have started a blog and on two social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter. I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time and while I didn’t finish I finished about 25k words in 17 days and I am proud of that.

My oldest started high school and my youngest 1st grade.  Two more kids began piano lessons and a third started dance. My husband received a promotion and changed companies.

Life is ever changing.

This year I could be making a dozen resolutions but my resolutions never last a month. So instead I am making goals and I am sharing them with y’all to help me keep them.

Writing Goals

• Finish and polish the novel I started during this year’s NaNoWriMo
• Submit enough short stories to various markets that I have five pieces circulating at once
• Attend RadCon and MisCon. Put my hand out and say “Hi” to at least one author at each.
• Research into a third con to attend, and if money permits go
• Keep up with this blog, including more fiction pieces and more regular posts

Non-Writing Goals

• Pay off at least two more credit cards
• Start saving for a family trip to Disney World in 2011
• Finish a cross stitching kit
• Scrapbook more
• Start keeping track of the books I read in my journal
• Have more fun

That’s my list for the new year. What’s on yours?