ROW80 check-in #34

Posted on September 16, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

Another round of 80-days is coming to an end. I saw a lot of change in this round and loads of ups and downs. This round saw a ton of editing and not as much writing, but on the weeks I wrote, I put down more words then ever before. The round also had a lot of firsts, first logline, first blurb, first query, first pitch, first request, and first send. Although there is no assurance the publishers will like what they see, I’m moving forward. As I wait to hear and wait for the next round of 80-days, I’ll continue to work on my craft and I will write.

I’ve wrapped up the motivation jars this week too. My brother, who belongs to that other political party, has agreed to take my money and donate it for me. Thanks brother, don’t think I could do it otherwise, lol. Wardrobe jar will be spent, looking forward to it. I’m hoping to get a new pair of jeans and a new pair of shoes this week. Yeah, something new for ME 😀

Motivation Jars (14-goals in all & $7.50 is up for grabs each week): 11-goals had real good progress or are complete. Wardrobe Jar gets $5.89 (total $70.17) and NOT my political party of choice jar gets $1.61 (total $12.33)

The Goals – week-11 results

Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters– done
Pick a title for Voyage Novu #1 & #2- GOAL COMPLETE.
Write 3,000 words each week or 33,000 for the round- 1,006 words, I got back to writing yesterday, yeah. Getting my polish on VN#1 has occupied the majority of my time. Now that I’ve hit send, I’ll let it rest and give VN#2 my full attention, and that means the write day is here again. Happy times.
Spend time editing at least 3 times each week- done. I spent 6-days editing this week, would have been 7, but I hit send on Friday.
Send Voyage Novu #1 to 2nd beta- GOAL COMPLETE.
Finish Editing Voyage Novu #1- GOAL COMPLETE, for now.
Voyage Novu#1 Query/Synopsis: finish, polish, get 2nd opinions, finalize AND send out 1st round- Goal complete.
Finish first draft of Voyage Novu#2 and begin to edit- Goal incomplete. I did get a ton written this round, just not lately, but I’m close to having the first draft finished.
Finish reading current craft book and start another- GOAL COMPLETE.
Workout a minimum of 200-minutes a week and round it out with plenty of water, sleep and my calorie limit- done.
Study one of the Nia 52-moves each week- Elbow Strikes, downward, outward and backward: push with your feet, stay agile, and engage the Core of your body. Imagine that you are puncturing the space around you. Keep your lower jaw relaxed and mouth slightly open. Alternate sides.
Finish the Sanjana bars and start the Opal bars (i.e. studying the song/movement structure)- Goal incomplete. No progress, again this week, but hitting send was my priority. Even though the last few weeks I’ve fallen off the truck here, and I didn’t finish liked I’d hoped, I made a huge dent this round, much improved over Round-2.
Finish needed continuing education, enter all credits on PMI site and save my PMP certification for another 3-years- GOAL COMPLETE! Wahoo, just pulled this one off. My certification is safe for three more years.
Stay on top of my co-op preschool Treasurer responsibilities- deposits made, reports completed and distributed.

SYTYCD – season 9, top 4

We’re coming to the end of the season, queue the tears and sobbing, lol. Lots of tremendous dancing this week and narrowing it down to one is impossible, but I was able to pick two. The first is choreographed by Stacey Tookey with the raw performance by Chehon & Allison makes it the top pick this week.

I had to share this next piece as well, because even though it can’t compete with the raw power of the first performance, it makes a break for it and the quality of the dancing is unreal. Choreographed by Travis Wall with the ueber talented Eliana & Alex. Watch her feet, watch her toes, watch everything. wow.

What you might have missed here this week:

Spotlight: Primal Song by Danica Avet and her writing habits

Spotlight: Heart of the Dragon by Myra Nour and Author Advice

Flash Fiction #23 – Slink into the silk

Links of the week #33

Posted on August 25, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

I had high hopes for this week, thirty-three is one of my favorite numbers. When both of your kids have birthdays in the same week and you’re hosting the huge family/friend party on Sunday, things tend not to go as planned. I got to as many posts as I could and of course I have my fav SYTYCD performance of the week below, but I’d love it if you could help me out.

Tell me, what post was your fav this week?

Grammar

Anne R. Allen : Should You Eliminate “Was” From Your Writing? Why Sometimes “the Rules” are Wrong.

Prose

Jane at QueryTracker Blog : Overtelling, Overshowing, Overselling

Social Media

Meghan Ward at Writerland : Hashtags: How to Use Them Without Abusing Them

SYTYCD

Nigel reminded me of a George Ballanchine quote, “I don’t want dancers who want to dance. I want dancers who have to dance.” I agree with Nigel, this performance captures that statement, plus the lighting is fabulous.

What you might have missed here

Six Sentence Sunday #30 – Seeing is believing

Flash Fiction #21 – He’s smiling now

Links of the week #32

Posted on August 18, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

It’s Saturday and time to review the treats from the week. SYTYCD was back in a Mia Michaels kind of way. I’ve picked a powerful performance for you and you’re not going to want to miss it.

Story

Jami Gold : Michael Hauge’s Workshop: Are These Characters the Perfect Match?

Grammar

Liz Bureman at The Write Practice : Do You Use Quotation Marks or Italics for Song and Album Titles?

Place Descriptions

Sharla Rae at Writers In The Storm : Place Descriptions: Waterways

Body Language / Character Development

Darcy Pattison at Fiction Notes : 10 Body Language Tricks for Deeper Characterization

Fight Scenes

Rayne Hall at Clarion Blog : Writer’s Craft #85 Writing A Great Duel Scene

Editing

Linda Yezak at Writing Fiction Right from novelist Gail Gaymer Martin : Pet Peeves of a Professional Editor

Conferences

Gwen Hernandez at The Edited Life : Workshop takeaways from the 2012 RWA conference

Hook / Query

Mary Keeley at Books & Such Literary Agency : 8 Tips for Writing a Powerful Hook for Your Book Proposal

Images

Sarah Arrow at For Bloggers By Bloggers : Finding Timely Images for Topical Blog Posts

Promotion / Marketing

Jenny Hansen at Writers In The Storm : QR Codes ~ A Sexy Marketing Technique for Your Books

Rachelle Gardner : 8 Tips for Promoting Your Book Online

Cassandra Carr at Hot Blogging with Heart : Thursday Thirteen 8/16/12- 13 promos that worked for me

Writer Business

Amy Sorrells at The Writers Alley : Beyond Sticky Notes: A review of Scrivener for writers

SYTYCD

This week the great dance show was back and all performances were choreographed by Mia Michaels. Oh, bells!! Love Mia’s choreography. But the Top-14 faced a great dancer-challenge. They’d be performing previously performed routines, routines choreographed for past seasons, making it really easy to see where this year’s dancers fall short in direct comparison to past contestants. It may have been a bit cruel, but so is the life of a dancer. One performance stood out. It was not better than the original, but stood on its own. This routine made me cry when Kayla and Kupono performed it in season five, so powerful. I do suggest watching both performances, but please watch Lindsay and Cole first.

Both performances made me cry, how about you?

Lindsay & Cole performing “Addiction” choreographed by Mia Michaels

What you might have missed here:

Six Sentence Sunday #29 – see Janna melt in want

Tantalizing Tuesday #2 – The flick of a cloak

Flash Fiction #20 – She deserves it

Links of the week #25

Posted on June 30, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

Happy weekend folks!! Boom, bang look at all those cool links for writers. Jeff took another week off from picking out great music. Not to worry, SYTYCD had loads of fabulous performance I wanted to share this week, so which one was my favorite?

Mommy Ninja

K.B. Owen via Jenny Hansen’s More Cowbell : A Ninja Mom’s Guide to Limiting Computer Time <–must read for any parent

Pitch Contest

Brenda Drake: Entangle an editor with your pitch!

Dialogue

Lynnette Labelle : The Secrets Behind Buried Dialogue Part 2 take away tip: can can bury narration, but not dialogue…read the post and the tip will make sense 🙂

Descriptions

Stina Lindenblatt over at Seeing Creative provided a cool idea : All In The Details

Character Development

Kristen Lamb : Making Heroes Heroic–Why Flaws are Important

Prose

Joe Bunting over at The Write Practice : 5 Elements of Storytelling

Plot

Darcy Pattison over at Fiction Notes : End of Act I: 5 Functions Determine Plot

Editing

Tiffany Lawson Inman was at Writers In The Storm yesterday 😀 : Worse Than a Cliché

Writer Business

Rick Carufel at Angie’s Diary : Disappearing Reviews at Amazon?

Writer’s Life

Suzanne Rock, Romance on a Budget: Budget Creativity: Using Mini-Goals to Motivate

Michael J. Scott at Author Culture : How To Write More…and More Often

I’ve completely fallen for @smoulderingsea and his #editortips, if you miss the daily tweets you can still catch them on his blog. Here is my fav from yesterday: When editing down backstory and inner monologue, keep only what the reader needs–not what you needed to sort your story.

Dance to inspire

So many great performances this week as SYTYCD season 9 revealed their top 20. This performance was by far my fav, enjoy

What you might have missed here:
Six Sentence Sunday #23
Spotlight: The Wager (Touch of the Gods) by D. X. Luc
Flash Fiction #13

Links of the week #21

Posted on June 2, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

My list is a little short this week, but the links are prime grade A stuff. I’m changing things up this week as well and giving my hubs a break. Please let me know what kind of inspiration the video at the bottom gives you.

There is a theme this week and it’s hitting home with me. How are you sitting in your writing life? Do you need to be reminded of a few of these things too?

Aimee L. Salter at Seeking the Write life: Don’t Compare and Don’t Compete

Jenny Hansen: The Worry of the Artist: Am I Good Enough?

Kristen Lamb: Learning to Drop the Donkey–Is Perfectionism Killing Your Career?

Charlotte Carter was at Writers In The Storm this week: Determination

Ruth Harris at Anne R. Allen’s blog: How Writers Can Learn to Cope: 6 No-Fail Strategies for Achieving Mental Toughness

I’m rounding it out with Jami Gold’s post Are You in This for the Long Haul?

Writer’s Life

Janice Hardy at The Other Side of the Story: Leave Yourself Notes: Ways to be a More Productive Writer, Part 5

Editing

Lynnette Labelle provided a fab list: The Editor’s Dozen: Common Mistakes Writers Make

Plotting/Pacing

Double link for Janice Hardy this week, is anyone surprised 🙂 The Joy of Discovery: Keeping Readers Hooked Through Story Revelations

Kara Lennox was back at Writers In The Storm this week Plot Fixer: Part 3 — A Lack of Goals

Story Telling through Movement

Jeff will be back next week with a new music pick. This week I wanted to celebrate the start of So You Think You Can Dance season 9. It’s going to be another tremendous season, but I wanted to share one of my all time favorites from the show. Chelsie and Mark from season 4 performing NappyTabs “Bleeding Love,” this is their finale performance. Chelsie is now on Dancing with the Stars and Mark is the head dancer for Lady Gaga.

I love many things about dance, but the best part has got to be the story telling. The cross over link for me between my dancing and my writing is the story. NappyTab’s choreography here is superb, but it’s the way Chelsie and Mark feel the story through every cell in their body. The title is Bleeding Love and that’s exactly how I feel by the end.

I hope you enjoy their performance AND I hope it inspires you to write.