He sees things in her that others don’t. Maybe that she doesn’t even see in herself. Take my super independent chick from above. Everyone else thinks she cold-hearted, calculating even (because, hey, that’s what our society thinks of women like that–but that’s another post). But he sees that she has a soft side. Maybe he recognizes it in the way she take time to comfort a person because she can relate to them. Maybe, instead of kicking someone when they’re down and climbing on top of their unconscious body to plant a conquering flag in their backside, she offers to help.Read More →

Right?

However, because I am not a rich person who can drop a bundle on a new Kindle (coming this week!) and a bunch of accessories, I have a plan.Read More →

Paper books. Mmm, is there anything like that smell? A little vanilla, a little ducking into the library to read because you don’t really fit anywhere.

But, then, the idea started to grow on me. Never being without a book because I can slip this small, lightweight techno-gadget in my purse. I’m a techie kind of girl.My two favorite things had made a sweet little baby capable of holding a thousand books.Read More →

A word is banned from school? From being learned? Do they think if they don’t write it, no one can grow up to become it? Because terrorists don’t think they’re terrorists. (I am so going on a watch list somewhere.) They think they’re good people, righting wrongs, or punishing the evildoers, or some other naive and fanciful and ridiculous thing. But they don’t think they’re the bad people.Read More →

I’m watching Political Animals right now (because I always choose the show that is or will be cancelled–although I guess that was a miniseries and not the same thing at all) and reading Anne Rice. And making my way back here. I’ve got some ideas about what I want to do here and and what I’ve gotten the most response from in the past. Now, if WordPress would just stop having 6 updates every time I log in, this would go a lot faster.Read More →

Then 09.17.2008 Structural Integrity, Baby When I start a story, I figure out pretty quick what that first turning point is going to be and where the plot (and subplots) will have to get to for it to happen. I’m a pantsy plotter. That also sets me down the road of “What happens next?” Well, the whole world just turned on it’s side–for good or bad, or both–and people (characters) are going to be scrambling to figure out how this new world works, where they fit in it, and how the heck they get to their goal now. Don’t think of it as outlining, whichRead More →

So, it’s anti-bullying month and today is Unity Day, according to the National Bullying Prevention Center. This is an issue I feel strongly about, so I’m blogging today to share my experiences. I don’t specifically remember being bullied in school. I know I had low self-esteem, and I was overweight, and if people were mean to me about that, I guess I sort of believed I deserved it. So, maybe I was and people didn’t talk about it. I remember once a friend of my cousin and a family member (of hers) visiting from out of town rode by me. I was, maybe, eight. WeRead More →

Burn Notice. Love, love, love the characters. I’d watch Bruce Campbell clean out his gutters. And the story arcs like mad. Everything changes. I hate when writers are afraid to make changes because what they have works. In this moment.

But it can’t work forever. The nature of story is to change. Otherwise, it’s just a snapshot in time.

I can’t turn off the writer.Read More →

This show has flaws: writing that serves the needs of the plot rather than the organic growth of the characters, for one. Reversals in feelings and character consistency are another, but those happen more in characters that are, quite frankly, rather flaky. Characters whose moral compass sometimes spins wildly with disastrous results. And all that makes it soapy fun, which–as I’ve established, I’m totally fine with.

But, at the end of the four or five episodes day, I care about the characters.Read More →

You know I posted about watching good TV to become a better writer? This isn’t like that. I had this major day-job thing going on the last few months, and I’ve been relieving stress by watching television. Specifically, soapy drama. Private Practice, the new Dallas. Which led me and my incredibly awesome daughter who enjoys the same odd things I do to old Dallas. We’re on Season 2. And it’s… wow. It’s so bad it’s good. Like how everyone used to love to hate J.R. Amiright? There are these “Oh, no, he did NOT!” moments, and “Disco [dancing] is creepy…” moments, and “They’re playing dramaticRead More →