Friday Fare, Internet Articles, Random, Uncategorized

Friday Fare: March Madness

Friday FareFriday Fare is where I post links to the random articles that have resonated with me during the week. Sometimes they make me smarter, sometimes they make me hungry … sometimes they have to do with writing and sometimes they are just plain random.

This was a post from Criminal Minds that I found earlier this month.  The question is a good one: If you had to name one single book that inspired you to be a writer, what would that be?  It’s hard to limit myself to one single book, but if I had to go back to the very beginning of my reading adventure – Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of the first writers who captured my adoration as a reader and the person who gave root to the idea that I’d someday be an author.  (Honorable mentions go to L.M. Montgomery and Stephen King.  Why yes, that’s an eclectic list.)

This is another blog post that I read a little while back and while it came from a cooking blog that I frequently read, it resonated so much in regards to how I sometimes feel when it comes to progress that I’m making in my writing life.  Basically – feeling jealous on the Internet and 12 ways to make it stop.  There’s a lot of good wisdom out here, but the important one for me is #12 – Gratitude.  At the end of all things, I’m a ridiculously blessed person and while I move at a snail’s pace when it comes to writing fiction, I’m making progress.  And I do this despite all the other wonderful distractions and obligations I have in my life.  I’m also lucky to have found tribe members that share in my struggles and a lot of support amongst my non-writing friends and family.

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Listening to: Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch are still in heavy rotation on my YouTube stream.  I have a sense that it’s going to take me some time before I’m sick of these guys.

Reading: Anne Fraiser is still on my counter.  In the meantime, I read two books from a different Anne:  Anne Bishop’s “The Black Jewels” have been making its way through my Kindle.  I don’t typically read fantasy books (George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien are the exception), but I’ve really been enjoying her books.

Fiction Update: Got my short story submitted for consideration in an upcoming anthology. I was happy to have accomplished this given how hectic work was the past few weeks.

Happy weekend, friends!

Friday Fare, Internet Articles, Random, Uncategorized

Friday Fare: Waitin’ for the weekend

Friday FareFriday Fare is where I post links to the random articles that have resonated with me during the week. Sometimes they make me smarter, sometimes they make me hungry … sometimes they have to do with writing and sometimes they are just plain random.

The Interwebs have been ripe with damn good articles this week:

I’ve made no secret of my adoration of J.T. Ellison.  Her (adopted) hometown paper wrote an awesome article about her path in the writing world and her recent successes.  And so yeah, I’m biased because I’m a fan of Ms. Ellison’s, but considering how the newspaper industry has gutted their editorial staffs and the tendency for “quantity over quality” I was gratified to see that the reporter did their work and contacted more than Ms. Ellison and one other person for a quote.

Brian Freeman is a Minnesota author who has a cultivated quite a following with readers through his Jonathan Stride novels.  While I always joke that I’m usually about 10 years behind when it comes to following trends, I actually hopped on the Stride zeitgeist in 2005/6 when his first novel “Immoral” came out.

If my local writers group, the Rochester Literary Guild, had a patron saint; it would be Bob Dylan.  I think a pilgrimage to Tulsa is in my future …

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Listening to: I’m still kinda obsessed with the Dave Rawlings Machine and I’m going to be damn unapologetic about it.  This song slays me and has been added to the soundtrack list for at least one of my writing projects.

Reading: Read another Alexandra Sokoloff book.  And it was good.

Fiction Update: It’s been a crazy work week with some daunting deadlines.  I did make it to the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime meeting where I got to hang out with some of my tribe members and do burgers and beer with my writer friend Emily.  But for the sake of sanity, I’ve been focusing on work and trying to be a decent family member this week.  I’ll spend some time this weekend working on finalizing my short story for submission.  That deadline’s March 15th and I’m feeling pretty good about my story and the edits I’ve gotten back from fellow writers.

Wherever you’re reading from, I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Fare, Internet Articles, Random, Uncategorized

Friday Fare: Dreaming of spring

Friday FareFriday Fare is where I post links to the random articles that have resonated with me during the week. Sometimes they make me smarter, sometimes they make me hungry … sometimes they have to do with writing and sometimes they are just plain random.

I guess the biggest news of my week is that in August, I’m going to be caravan-ing with some fellow members of the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime and will be attending the Writers Police Academy in Green Bay, WI.  Or, as one of my fellow toddler moms/writers IM’d me: writers + guns + weekend without kids = AWESOME.

Have you written a good short story and want to submit it somewhere?  Check out this article from the Mystery Writers of America – New York Chapter. (While this is from an MWA chapter, there are some listings that aren’t limited to the mystery genre.)

If all goes well today, I plan on visiting this old coot tonight (Friday, 2/26/16) and cheer him on at his latest book signing.

Why yes, Chrissy Teigen’s new cookbook has nothing to do with writing, but this cookbook is going to make its way into my collection soon.  I just love her philosophy on food and her smackdowns on social media typically border on awesome, if not epic.

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Listening to: I’ve become something of a YouTube junkie.  I love to listen to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts and shows from KEXP, a Seattle radio station.  This song from the Dave Rawlings Machine has been in pretty heavy rotation lately.

Reading: I read another J.D. Horn book in a day.  Then I revisited childhood with some a recent Christopher Pike novel.  (I was OBSESSED with him when I was a teenager.  I actually ordered one of my favorite books of his to rediscover why I liked him so much.)

Fiction Update: I finished my short story and I feel pretty good about it.  Even if it doesn’t make it to the anthology I’m pitching it for, I think it has legs and a chance elsewhere.  I really enjoyed the process of discovery with the story and characters.  I also enjoyed the discipline of taking something that started out at 5,700 words and trimming that down to a lean 3,900.  In terms of my larger projects, I ordered this book in preparation to start editing the next draft of AL.  That’s been on the back burner since July – I think it’s past time that I revisited it.