I am having technical difficulties with this blog--bummer! So hold tight until I figure it out! It is maddening and so far a bumpy sort of thing, but I'll unwind it eventually. Thanks for understanding.

Woeful Workshop Wednesday

This is the best advice I have gotten on revising so far. So thanks to http://www.kidlit.com/ for the heads up! So here is the post. Feast your eyes upon it:

This came from brilliant YA author Laurie Halse Anderson’s Twitter yesterday, and I agree wholeheartedly:

Revision means throwing out the boring crap and making what’s left sound natural.

Let’s all mediate on that today!

Tinker With Tools Tuesday

The perfect word for the week condisering Easter is upon us:

Hagiology (n)

"Hint: Hagiology has more in common with with myths and magic than superannuated sylphs or testy troglodytes. To be more specific, it is literature that narrates the lives and legends of saints and venerated holy people or, ephemeral events of a supernatural nature."--squidoo.com-- weird words

Although, some may consider the Christian belief that Christ was resurrected on the third day after his crucifiction to be similar to the supernatural and impossible, me and my family know it truly happened. It is a part of our faith and testimony and not part of a hagiology.

Hagiology- Noun
1. literature narrating the lives (and legends) of the saints
literary composition, literary work - imaginative or creative writing
legend, fable - a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events

Tinker With Tools Tuesday

I am absolutely sorry that I have been away. It has actually been eating at my mind. Lines like these have been filling the corridors of my mind, "You may only have three readers, but that's no excuse.Chop, chop! Get to it. Post away. How could you start a blog and then abandon it? What a waste of space in the blogosphere! Horrible misfit of a blogger!"
Yes, that has been the condition of my bemused mind while I hobbled quietly away from grand tinkerdom thinking I could never accomplish such a wonderful blog. NO MORE! Well at least not on Tinker With Tools Tuesday! So here we arrive.


My birthday was far from uneventful. Despite tummy turbulence that day--I declare something was certainly sloshing about in there--we ventured out. I kid you not! I shall mention, I followed two children along a basketball court that day as they frolicked about the court running this way and that with pure blissful abandon, not a thought in their minds (I'm sure of it) but, "how far can we make mommy run today." It was sheer heaps of fun. We rushed home for a little nap and then on to the movie theatre for a 3D movie, gigantic bug-sized glasses and all, to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland--what a wonderful movie, pure imagination.

I know, I'm stalling with the word of the day here but it will all be worth it. I promise. So anyhoo, afterwards as soon as it was all over and Alice had declared her "6 impossible things before breakfast" speech. I turned to my most wonderful husband beaming with love for the movie.
"Tim Burton sure knows how to spin things wonderfully doesn't he?"
"Yeah, that's because he's crazy." says said spouse.
"No, no, he's a bit eccentric and wonderfully beyond creative." If ever there were a word for that, I'd jump for joy. There would be glee in my eyes. Glee.
My husband then continued explaining that in the movie is a scene with Alice and her father. Alice asks, "Am I crazy." and her father replies "Yes, you may be. But all the good ones are." Isn't that so? I love that line! Don't you? So my point is as clear as the kings (yes, of hearts) response in his own crazy court."So [when you are one of a kind and]the words don't fit you" simply reply as the queen always does:"off with his/her head!" Of course I'm kidding, maybe we'll only awknowledge or refer to you as the wonderful word of the day:(sung to the tune of the cartoon show "We're Animaniacs")

Yes, were bizarre, and unusual
aberrant, and abnormal. Anomalous, beat*, bent*, and bizarre.
Were eccentric. We're animaniacs. Were fun and full of zany weird far out facts. We like to create wondor and pretend to be capricious, characteristic, and cockeyed. Don't let us fool you we crazy, curious, droll, erratic, far out, flaky, and possibly a freakish freak. Absolutely funky*, and definately funny. Now if you want a few more words here is the end of that: idiosyncratic, irregular, kooky, nutty, odd, oddball, off the wall, off-center, offbeat, out in left field, outlandish, peculiar, quaint, queer, quirky, quizzical, singular, strange, uncommon, unconventional, unnatural, way out, weird, whimsical, wild. We're ANIMANIACS!


It's a win win kinda thing, but if you are not happy with any of those, writer, we will simply think of you as they do in Alice in Wonderland: one of Alice's many many "impossible things before breakfast".


I naturally take a bow and exit to the left.




"Then the words don't fit you" said the king

Fanatic Friday

“I have a theory about the human mind. A brain is a lot like a computer. It will only take so many facts, and then it will go on overload and blow up.”
Erma Bombeck quotes (U.S. humorist, 1927-1996)



I am currently in project overload. I'm trying to read three novels, learn the art of making wire jewelry, and the skill of keeping my family wonderfully happy. What more can I add to my list? Ah ha! I've got it, I'll enter the Cheerios "Spoonfuls of Stories" new author contest. Woo, there I said it. The deadline is July 15, 2010 and the winner will be announced in October! The great with this contest is that I can enter as many stories as I want, with no entry fee! I was told by last years winner that many, many, aspiring authors enter this contest because it can put the winner "on the map". So the odds are against me, but I'm not letting that hurl me to a curb, I've got nothing to lose. I wonder where I will fit in with the other authors. Wish me luck!


On another note I came across one more quotes that I love:

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
— Maya Angelou


“I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the word begin to move around. Stressed accents begin to invert. The word abandons its meaning like an overload which is too heavy and prevents dreaming. Then words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young. And the words wander away, looking in the nooks and crannies of vocabulary for new company, bad company.”
Gaston Bachelard quotes (French Philosopher and Poet. 1884-1962)

The end of that sounds so dreary...
What do you think?

"Bloomability" Thursday

We all need reminders of where beautiful writing stems from, of how to endure and hone the craft and how to "accentuate the positive" when we find it impossible to do so. The possibilities to bloom as an author are as endless as the mind itself.

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think."--Lord Byron

"If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I’d type a little faster."--Isaac Asimov

"Work every day. No matter what has happened the day or night before, get up and bite on the nail."--Ernest Hemingway


"All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know."--Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961)

Woeful Workshop Wednesday

Cead Mile Failte! (100,000 welcomes!)
First, a little bit of nonsensical fun on St. Patty's Day:

There once was a young girl age ten
Who wrote with a peculiar, purple pen
She awoke in the night
Something wasn't quite right
To her surprise Pen's limericks were quite zen.

Challenge yourself to some fun today and write a limerick with your little one!
Here is a link to help you with it: http://www.gigglepoetry.com/POETRYCLASS/limerickcontesthelp.html

I found a bit of fantastic advice on writing for young audiences and the mistakes writers make when writing for them. It truly is pretty good advice so don't sweep it under a rug. Hang it right in front of your eyes where it belongs.

"Bad children's writers don't think very highly of children—in a picture book, they go for cute instead of clever; in middle-grade fiction, they over-explain or dramatize a character's emotions so the reader is sure to “get-it”; and in YA, they assume edgy only means sex and drugs, not the tightrope of teenagers’ emotional lives." --Quinlan Lee of Adams Literary Agency

Tinker with Tools Tuesday

Which word will work it's wonder on my mind today?

I do suppose the criteria for this word should be that it is highly titillating and tantamount to a chocolate bar as silky and rich as refined literature itself.

Theatrics aside, it would be quite nice if spondulicks were a reward for this post but because it is not I delight myself in the thick pickings of a crossword where I weeded out only the finest of fine words and soon stumbled upon the most interesting revelation...


Cruciverbalism (): "The art of crossword compilation or the being a fan of crossword puzzles."

"A facetious term for the world of crosswords. A crossword addict is a cruciverbalist."

Masterpiece Monday

This post begins a never ending, hopefully wacky adventure, full of wonderfully crafted kidlit. Be my guest to peruse anything posted here. You won't regret it as it will be well worth your time! This one is a bit contemporary and from the same author that brought Stardust to life and to the movie screen. It is wildly recommended for ages 5+. Enjoy!
I love this description about the author of The Dangerous Alphabet. Thank you Richard Marcus for your clever description of author Neil Gaiman--"But you know, have you ever looked real close at Mr. Gaiman? At the look in his eye and the strange little half smile on his lips? It's the look of a man with a secret, I'd say, of a man who's walked the paths of faerie at some point in his life and drifted around in time; touching down here and there, being a visitor for a while and then moving on." Click o the link below for a sneak peek of the book!


Amazon.com: The Dangerous Alphabet (9780060783334): Neil Gaiman, Gris Grimly: Books

Salud Sunday

This morning my husband and I were discussing the decision of whethor or not to get out of bed like two lazy teenagers who wanted to sleep till noon. With the time change upon us, and having gone to bed so late we were in no mood for an early morning. So here was our ever eloquent exchange:
Hubby: "We have to get up" He pokes me in the shoulder.
Me: "No, we don't have to. We're supposed to."
Hubby: "Oh .Yeah."
Me: "Where are the kids?"
Hubby: "Around. Somewhere."
Me: "What do you mean somewhere?"
Hubby: "I don't know! Just somewhere."
Me: "I'm going to butcher the word supposed to!"
Hubby: "What?"
Me: "Yes, I'm going to butcher it. Kill it off. I'm gonna send it off with the whos-its and whats-its of no where until it can't summon me from my bed anymore. It's the kind of word that leaves you stuck between "Because I have to" and "I should" Why do all my good ideas come early in the morning or really late at night? That is when all the good stuff comes!"
Hubby: "You only think that because your too tired, but really it's not that good. It only sounds good."
Me: Your a horrible critic." I laugh. "A horribly mean one."
With that said, we did get out of bed. My point is, no matter where on the scale of "Because I have to" and "I should" you are stuck, you should always get out of bed; especially before an idea dusts itself off, tip-toes out the door, and leaves.