Because I’ve been AWOL for the past week, I’m just now getting around to checking in with some of my favorite bloggers and guess what I found out?! Last week, my writer-friend, Sara McClung, awarded me my very first blog award (awarded to my blogger blog, Work in Progress)!!

The Best Blog Award–awarded by:

Sara McClung who blogs at The Babbling Flow of a Fledgling Scribbler.

I’m so excited to get this award! Thank you so much, Sara. I’m so honored!

In keeping with the Best Blog Award traditions, it’s my turn to pass on the love. Here are the rules for the BBA:

1. To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.
2. Pass the award to other bloggers that you recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I have so many favorite blogs that its really hard to ONLY select five for the award — but I have to limit myself or this post will be really long. So, here goes. These are five of my must-read bloggers.

• Jemi Fraser at Just Jemi
• J. Koyanagi at J. Koyanagi
• Simon C. Larter at Constant Revisions
• Carolina Valdez Miller at Carol’s Prints
• Mary W. Jensen at Feywriter

Congrats guys! Now its your turn to pass on the love; get to it!

I have to say… Carol, you could be in advertising; you made me look good! I definitely don’t feel nearly as awesome as you made me out to be on your blog! You’ve been such a sweetheart to work with. Thank you for hosting Caleb’s Interview. We both applaud your patience as we struggled to keep ourselves in “interview mode”. What can I say? I’m a writer not an interviewer; I live for descriptions!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Carol AKA Carolina Valdez Miller is currently blogging a series called Totally Sane Interviews with Vampires, Hobbits, and Talking Toads: A Series of Character Interviews. This series is a collection of author/character “interviews” from different writers throughout the writing community. Can I just say, WOW! Talk about funny stuff…seriously. We writers are constantly saying things like, “Man, my poor character is going to hate me when I’m finished with this chapter,” and “I feel bad for what I’m about to do to [insert character name here].” But after these character interviews, you can forget it! The characters (yes, the one’s inside our heads) totally get back at us! They so deserve that broken bone, gunshot wound, or crippling heartache. I don’t even feel bad for the near-death-experience that my MCs are headed into… muahhahaha!

Michael has great posture. He keeps his back perfectly straight. As he walks his pointy-toed boots clack hard on the pavement with every sharp, quick step. His tight pale grey trousers funnel up from the boots to a matching and stylishly tailored jacket. He holds his hand out from one hip, perhaps for balance, perhaps for effect. The other hand clutches the flap of a leather satchel strung over his shoulder. His fingers almost obscure the logo, but not quite. HeauMeau it says.

Assassins are a melee class capable of dealing massive damage to their enemies in a flurry of attacks, it is one of the most selected character in the game because it deals higher damage compared to others. but there are disadvantages of being an assassin although it has higher damage compared to other jobs it has lower physical defense compared to others and assassins doesn’t have their own buffs.

How good is the  Internet ? A few years and a few tears back, I could no more have accessed a public forum for journals, images, music, videos, genealogy than I could have knitted new clothes for my coming grandchild. My father, Bruce Sanders, wanted his 2/3 Pioneer Battalion Story published but we simply didn’t have the resources. Now – here it is! How good is that ? This Particular Blog  of mine is about to hit 10,00 and I thank you all.

The mutual sharing is another dimension that works for me. I am not always able to travel and sometimes I don’t get out much at all. I also have a tendency to be overcome by what I like to call Acedia – in various forms – and NOW – I am no longer locked in at home alone. This is truly the Global Village for me.

Now – as we come into an Australian Summertime. and the closing of 2009 – I shall take a look at 2009- as it has been.

It was the year in which Izzy and I both turned 60 – 1949 children. I think I had best rephrase that. We were born in 1949.  2009 was the year in which we moved from the Tweed to the Clarence, in which my daughter newly turned 30 became pregnant with her first child. My granddaughters  turned 5 and 10. A most interesting time it has been.

	Last Christmas, we, as a family,  were to meet in  Kalang on Boxing Day for Kati B’s 30th birthday and Christmas Day, Izzy and I were to spend alone at Bilambil Cottage where we were living. We were out and about in the morning and received an impromptu invite to Lorraine’s for lunch with a dozen or so guests. Plenty of good foods and good company. A sober affair so it was and I enjoyed it up behind Scenic Drive in Tweed Heads  West. Spent the rest of the day at home with our swimming pool and tennis court.
	The next home for us was already starting to be listed on realestate.com.au.  I didn’t realise then that it would become a place of rather deep emotional and mental impact. 2009 is the last year of my 50s and time seems to have wrapped itself around me and curled into the core of me. Memories of 20 years of Addiction and 20 years of Recovery were waiting for in this 100 year old house as well as the history of my family and my childhood.  I intended entering my 60s  consciously and cautiously, knowing this – IT WILL BE DIFFERENT. And it has been a gentle, explorative time with a good deal of ‘ thinking’ going on.
MT WARNING OVER BILAMBIL. THE TWEED RIVER NEAR TUMBULGUM	Briefly this is my locational history. 1949-1950 – CANTERBURY ROAD HURSLTONE PARK SYDNEY. SANDERS FAMILY HOME. 1950-1970 -  27 PAXTON AVENUE, BELMORE. SYDNEY. HOUSE BUILT BY DAD.   1970 – TUMBARUMBA . TEACHING AT ROSEWOOD.   1971 – QUEANBEYAN SOUTH. TEACHING. 1972 – PAXTON AVE.  TEACHING IN LAKEMBA. 1973 – DRUMMOYNE, BALMAIN , CHISWICK, PORT DOUGLAS – CAMPING ON 4 MILE BEACH – YAHT UTIEKAH III- URUNGA. 1974-1977 – URUNGA IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS, INC WHITE ROSE TRADING COMPANY. 1977 – SYDNEY – GLEBE AND TAYLOR SQUARE. 1978 – 1987 – BELLINGEN AND  URUNGA – MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN. 1987 –1994 – SYDNEY. DRUG REHAB. BONDI. SOUTH COOGEE AND BACK TO TEACHING. 1994 – 2001 – URUNGA AND BELLINGEN. 2001-2009 – TWEED RIVER INC TUMBULGUN, BILAMBIL WITH SHORT TIMES IN TUGUN AND BRISBANE. 2009 – ULMARRA.
	In January of 2009, the Armidale Mob came to Bilambil Cottage for a Summer Holiday. That was a ‘ classic’ summer holiday. I must have had some sweet stars shining on me this year because, despite the transitional turmoil and my own inclination to distress, I have had a goodly share of Sweet Moments, Classically Good Experiences and of events turning out just as I had planned and hoped for. The Summer holiday was one of them as was the 30th birthday of Kati B.
	We took the Poppy to the beach at Pottsville. They have been living in Armidale for years now and she hasn’t been beaching since she was a baby. We also continued our cafe experience which is rather extensive . The EATZ CAFE at Pottsville featured real Beach Food. None of which I can now recall but they had tropical names and strange drinks – a 60s flashback which I enjoyed after one too many trendoid, generic eateries such as the infamous Blue Frog in Toowong, Brisbane.
	I lived in Bilambil Cottage for 4 years and in deciding to leave, we took our time in choosing where we wanted to go and when and why and how etc. The Cottage was tiny but exquisite with a view over the Bilambil Valley and out to the Coral Sea, During the Mob’s Holiday, we sat outside of an evening and watched the bats fly over and the long nose come out to feed from the long grasses.  The Poppy learned to swim and discovered the wonder of being a Mermaid.
	We also visited the beach at Kingscliff. The Mob had lived at Kingscliff before going up the mountain. I thought that when we moved south we might miss the exotic birds and plants of the Tweed. Tweed is on the NSW/ QUEENSLAND border. Are these baobab trees ? I like the word and haven’t checked to see whether these are baobabs or not.
	One thing I knew I wouldn’t miss was the BILAMBIL SPORTS CLUB. I enjoyed it for a goodly length of time but things went amiss and the decor was never a good look. The Club is set in the Valley. A lovely setting with a creek beside it and playing fields, paddocks with horses and the hills rising on either side. The Bilambil Village is tiny and part of a loop drive enjoyed by Many. However, the Club doesn’t open till  3pm, serves food only a couple of nights a week, doesnt cater for vegetarians AT ALL and is decorated as you can see on the left. The music scene which thrived there has shrivelled to nothing. Lots of potential going unused.
	Leaving blue skies and palm trees took some serious decision making.

Here’s a short scene from Chapter Seven. Enjoy.

Virgil smiled weakly. “Let’s get to work,” he said, preferring a different topic. “Why do you keep creating these bugs? They’ll eventually get in by themselves. Then we’ll need to kill ‘em. Why don’t you start on some bigger creatures?” Right as he said it, a small black dog jumped up on his lap and started licking his face.

“Waffles, down!” ordered Iolyn, pointing at the dog. “Stop licking him, Waffles! We don’t know where your- oh, good dog, Waffles!” He said this because the little dog- Waffles, presumably- had jumped up in Iolyn’s lap and was sitting there obediently.

Virgil stared. “Great. Puppies. Just what every new world needs.”

“I thought so!” Iolyn picked up Waffles and held him out to Virgil. “I think he’s calmed down now if you want to hold him.” He smiled. “You know you wanna. His name is Waffles, for Pete’s sake. Waffles.”

Waffles the dog. Just what this story needed.

Chat later. ^^
-Qzie

REAL NAME:
Jack Puma

POWERS:
Enhanced Senses & hyper flight or fight reflex.

HISTORY:
While many rumors surround Cougar; assassin, mercenary, spy, tracker, & hunter the actual facts of who Cougar is and what he does isn’t truly known to anyone. There isn’t a single report concerning Cougar that doesn’t conflict another…

See more of Apollo Cities characters by clicking here.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

REAL NAME:
Unkown

POWERS:
Extreme Angular Control

HISTORY:
In development…

See more of Apollo Cities characters by clicking here.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

REAL NAME:
Unkown

POWERS:
Extreme Data Manipulation

HISTORY:
In development…

See more of Apollo Cities characters by clicking here.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

I’ve been working on coloring my character design for compilation into an artbook. Here are some samples of what I have done so far.

A color version of Thor, the bloodthirsty chipmunk in my story, Zoic

My color rendition of the medical officer, Diana, from my story Zoic

Fatman and Little Boy, ready for action!

Annalisa: the robot with a supermodel's brain!

Sam Lander, looking his usual shy self.

Sam's uncle Crash, looking his usual boisterous self.

Vindalfin is a heretofor unseen character. Well, as Sam and Crash go a-pirateing in that magical world of theirs, they'll need a wizard, enter Vindalfin. I based his look and most of his mannerisms off of George Carlin: a Wizard with an attitude, not some moldy-old greybeard bookworm!

Good friends. I hope that’s one of the most memorable parts of my life — good friends. My favourite friend Jocelyn and her favourite man, Jordie, came over for dinner with me and my other favourite friend, Luke and it was awe-some. I actually can’t say enough about it. I’m always looking for that first moment where Christmas truly begins and coming after the birth of my nephew, last night was the second of those catalysts for me.

There is such a blessing of watching someone bring out the best in another and watching Joce and Jordie be that for each other is so special. Or forever learning more about the person Luke is. And conversation fueled by not seeing each other often, good wine and lots and lots of laughter, makes it hard not to liken the mixture to the sweet taste of eggnog and the coziness of fireplaces and snow buried toes. Christmas is in the air, did you know?

I guess what I mean is that I want to make sure my life is accompanied by good friends, along with everything else that I dream of, live for, desire, or believe in. And I think metaphors that contain anything relating to Christmas rings success in life on a whole other level. Have I ever told you how blessed I am?

(We had lasagna and lava cakes if you were wondering. You can even come next time)

Cheers!

I “won” NaNoWriMo. Winning is defined as crossing the 50,000 word threshold in the thirty days of November. I squeaked across the finish line with 50,182 words.

Along the way to 50,000 words, I learned a few things:

1. writing fast produces surprising material (already knew that)

2. when the inner critic, the inner fear monger gets its claws into my throat, I surf the web (already knew that)

3. an outside force helps me keep to my goals (already knew that)

So really, I learned nothing new, but I had an intensive month of experiencing the truth of those three factors in my writing.

The winners receive a certificate and the image at the upper right to post on blogs and social networking sites. Worth more than the sense of accomplishment or a certificate that will likely remain unprinted, I now have 50,000 words — the start to a new psychological suspense/suburban noir (still liking that label) novel, a moderately fleshed out story-line with a decent arc, two fairly well-rounded characters, two shadowy characters and a few people who have yet to make their voices audible.

I hope those lessons are now in my bloodstream to carry me through the final polish of my current novel. Maybe I’ll print that certificate after all, I need all the reminders I can get.

Writing for children is certainly multi-faceted. There’s probably almost as much to remember not to do as there is to do! Today we’ll look at some of the top things you need to remember whenever you write for children. On my next post, I’ll tackle 5 things you should never do when writing for children.

First, the must-dos:

1. Clearly identify the market and age you are writing for. There are  board books, picture books, activities books, chapter books, young adult novels, graphic novels, and more. It’s critical to keep a clear focus of what exactly you are writing, and therefore, the age you are targeting. Learn the typical word count or page count for what you want to write once you select your market.

2. Read everything you can for the age and market you have selected. Find out what current children’s authors are writing. Learn the style, tone, wording, and topics of what publishers are looking for. Additionally, ask children what they are reading. What works for them and what doesn’t. I guarantee they will not be shy in telling you! Reading what you want to write will help you enormously in the long run.

3. Carefully choose the ages of your characters. It’s best to have your main characters a couple years older than the age of your reader. Children like to read about other kids a little older than they are. Of course, your main characters can have younger siblings, and it’s OK if your main characters are sometimes the same age of your readers. But, never make your main characters younger than your readers. They will lose interest in a hurry!

4. Let your child characters solve their own problems. It’s tempting to have adult characters come to the rescue when your children get into a dilemma in your story, but resist that urge. Kids want to feel empowered when they read your book–whether it’s a picture  book or a graphic novel. They don’t want to feel like an adult always needs to save them. Allow your child characters to be the heroes.

5. Field test your work on appropriately-aged children. Aside from having your writers’ critique group review your work (and you always should; see my blog post on critique groups to learn why), it’s equally as important to have children the same age as your target market read your work. They will find things in your story, characters, and dialogue that you would probably never see. Even if you’re writing a board book or picture book, sit down with a few children at different times and read your story to them. Note their reactions to different parts (Did they laugh when they were supposed to? Did they laugh when they weren’t supposed to? Did a certain part maybe scare them too much?), then ask what they liked and didn’t like. This is the best way to see if you are on track with your writing.

By the way, if picture books is an area of writing for children that you are either currently pursuing or would like to learn more about, I would highly recommend checking out Nancy I. Sanders website. She is an award-winning children’s author who has many picture books under her belt. She’s great at walking authors through the publishing process.

Remember, next post we’ll discuss what you definitely do NOT want to do when writing for children. Some things may surprise you!

Revision update: Nada! I’m away on vacation, but I’m going to get back to it soon.

Anita Nolan posted a link to character questionnaires from the Gotham Writers Workshop. They’re very useful, and I plan to bookmark the page, but it made me think of how we get to know our characters.

I read about using character questionnaires a few years ago. Basically, the questionnaires pose a bunch of questions and you fill in the answers as they pertain to your character(s).

The problem for me, however, is that I learn about my characters as I write the story, often having to go back to earlier chapters and make adjustments because of things I’ve learned in later ones. So, filling out a questionnaire before I’ve started to write is difficult. I don’t know those answers yet, and just making something up seems forced; the character tells me the answers as the story develops through the choices he or she makes.

However, I do think questionnaires can be useful at all parts of your progress:

• Before you start writing: Running through a questionnaire can help you decide what you know about a character so far and help you figure out what you’d like to find out as you write the story. But, don’t be discouraged if you don’t know all the answers yet, and don’t try to force them. This is a time for awareness.
• As you write: Everytime you learn something about your character, write it down somewhere to save and see if it answers any of the questionnaire questions. Remind yourself of the questions you still don’t have answers to, so you can look for the answers as you continue to write.
• When you’re stuck: If you’ve lost track of your character and/or story, you can revisit the questionnaire and the answers you have so far, fill in any new answers you have, and see if any of these point you in the right direction for the next part of the story.
• When you’re finished the first draft: Once the whole story is done, finish the questionnaire as much as you can. If there are still questions you can’t answer, maybe they’re a part of your character’s life that you don’t need for the story, but try to imagine what they would be anyway based on what you know of the character. Write down everything you can, a bible about your character’s needs, wants, feelings, decisions, choices, beliefs, likes, dislikes, etc.
• Before you revise: After you’ve given yourself a break from your manuscript for a while, use the answers for your questionnaire to familiarize yourself with your characters again. Then, as you revise, make sure every action, decision, etc., all match who the character is at that part of the story.

How do you use questionnaires? How do you get to know your characters?

Write On!

Nobody sees him, but they hear him. Early every morning. They wonder if it’s happiness or habit. The front door slam is his cue. His heavy flat feet keep the beat. The tune is nothing recognisable. It suits him perfectly.

Roleplayers (including myself) will always come across a song that we feel best represents our creations.  Some of us may actively look for the song that we feel best fits our character, while others will come across them accidentally—they’re just randomly browsing songs to listen to, and when they really listen to the song and hear the lyrics, something just clicks.  Some songs will just remind us of that character just because of how it sounds.  (Gotta love those instrumentals.) And some may not remind us of a character per say—but a plotline/storyline that they were involved in.

And then, sometimes you’ll come across a song that not only fits the personality of their character, but a song that represents… everything about them.  You’ll find a song that hits the nail on the head that speaks of their struggles, their fears and hopes.

Ever come across a song like that for any of your RP characters?  Funny how it they can suddenly become “that guy” in Roberta Flack’s/The Fugees’ song.  (Depending on your generation. )

I’ve always joked a bit on how I would never be able to find a character song for Ravine because she’s just gone through so much.  But, “It’s The Fear” by Within Temptation hit the nail on the head as far as her major character conflict.  What amazes me more is that lyrics seem to perfectly describe the warlock corruption—the dark side of her—that she fights a never-ending battle with.  This struggle has been more apparent in her recent adventures, but it’s something that’s always plagued her one way or another.

And, I haven’t forgotten my writing prompts!  But,  many of my recent ones have been written with good ol’ fashion pencil and paper and I haven’t had the time to translate it into the word processor yet.  I’ll get around to it this week.

So, I’ve gone over to the dark side. I’ve checked out The Tudors, the steamy Showtime series with Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII and wives draped all over the promos in extremely unlikely lowcut gowns. And I’m going to be fast-forwarding past Henry and the wives to look for the bits with Thomas Cromwell. Thomas Cromwell. This guy:

Even his mentor, Cardinal Wolsey, affectionately refers to him as “rather like one of those square-shaped fighting dogs that low men tow about on ropes.”

Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel is responsible for my unlikely crush on a bulldog-faced Tudor bureaucrat. Wolf Hall follows the events of 1527-1535, when King Henry is harrying lawyers, churchmen, ambassadors, fellow rulers, and the Pope for an annulment of his first marriage and a do-over with Anne Boleyn. Cromwell is our viewpoint character. He comes out of nowhere, a blacksmith’s son with a dodgy past that he rarely talks about, and he builds a reputation as a man who gets things done until he’s King Henry’s right-hand man. And the things that Henry wants done involve moving church and state.

There’s a certain satisfaction in reading about talented people going competently about their jobs, and Cromwell is an admirable multitasker who “can draft a contract, train a falcon, draw a map, stop a street fight, furnish a house and fix a jury,” while safeguarding the futures of his extended household of foundlings and foster children. I can’t speak to the historical veracity of Mantel’s portrayal, except to note that like Josephine Tey’s Daughter of Time, the novel sympathetically rehabilitates a figure frequently depicted as a villain. The character will appeal to readers who enjoyed Dunnett’s House of Niccolo series, about another low-born youth who schemes his way to power.

Prepare to spend some time with this book. It’s long, detailed, subtle, and sometimes has the pacing of a chess game. The prose is clean, the language unadorned, the conversations lifelike and convivial (the law may have changed since the 1500s, but lawyer jokes have not).

All of the characters are well-drawn, from the rival Boleyn siblings to the enigmatic martyr Thomas More. If you like to put faces with names, court painter Hans Holbein sketched or painted many of them. Between his paintings and Mantel’s words, a panorama of long-dead people briefly come to life again.

Check the WRL catalog for Wolf Hall.

Check out the Holbein paintings, too.

P.S. I naively thought Wolf Hall would take us through the life of Thomas Cromwell, or at least to the death of Anne Boleyn, but no! We won’t get Cromwell’s full story until a second volume, The Mirror and the Light, is published some time next year.

I fully intended to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.  I wrote a synopsis and I outlined the entire book and I wrote like crazy for about a week.  And then life got in the way.  And really, I’m kind of glad.  I think back over the work I did and know that the book I was writing is not a book I would ever be proud of.  I love the first couple of chapters, but after that, it really just falls apart.

And I’m cool with that.  Not everything is going to work.

Part of the reason life got in the way this month is that I was trying to do too much.  So like me.  Always the over-achiever.  Throughout the month I stressed myself out with editing Twenty-Five and querying, plus writing for NANO, plus trying to figure out what I’m going to do come January first when I don’t have a job anymore (yes, I officially quit the hair salon, I put in my notice), plus trying to train someone new to pick up some of the shifts I’m leaving behind.  Yeah… I’ve been busy.

So I’m glad December is almost here.  Even though December brings a whole new round of stressors (hello my other company has 3 weddings in December!!!),  I think I’m more prepared to handle them now.  I hope so.

I’ve started a new book.  One that I think better suits me as a “writer” and I’ll be writing that in December. I don’t intend to stress myself out over word count.  I want to write something I can be proud of when I’m finished with the first draft so that I actually want to edit it and create a second!

I’m putting Twenty-Five on a back-burner for now.  I need time to fall in love with my characters again so that the next time I look at my manuscript I don’t kill them off in a fit of panic and fury.  Or something worse.  Like tossing my handwritten first draft into a fireplace.  I know I have it all typed on a computer, but I think it would be like burning my own heart to toss the first pages containing my characters into a fire.

So anyways, that’s what’s going on with me.  How about you?

   Well, the first sixty pages of the compiled races and other materials are done – but that hasn’ t left much time for minor projects. Ergo, today it’s just going to have to be catching up on the crosslinks…

   The Letters from Rudra are an in-character account of the Twilight Isles campaign. While the player wasn’t able to make it to the first few sessions, so far we have Letter One, Letter Two, Letter Three, and Letter Four.

   Fredronon’s Notes are a similar production – the somewhat biased notes on his adventures that Fredronon is willing to share. Currently we have parts Three and Four.

   The Ability Spotlight series is player notes on how he’s designing and developing Fredronon. Here’s Part II

   For the Federation-Apocalypse Campaign we have a writeup of Fern, a Sentient BlackBerry of Battling Business World.