The New Barbie and Ken?

I must have been hiding under a rock, because I swear I did not know there were Bella and Edward dolls. I found out a few days ago when I was blog surfing and found this hilarious post. As I was reading, I thought Where can I find these things? My kids would love them.

The next day, I mentioned the doll to my oldest. She proceeded to roll her eyes and tell me how dumb that was. (She's in 6th grade, therefore too cool for dolls). However, the middle child was thrilled. She said that they were going to be added to her Christmas wish list. (Along with the 37 other things already on there.)

Anyway, we went shopping yesterday and had to make the usual stop at Wally World (er, Walmart). Since the kids were behaving relatively well, I let them take me on a stroll through the electronics and toy departments to show me all the things they simply must have this year.

We ended up at the Barbie section, and wouldn't you know it, we found Edward. Bella was sold out, but three Edwards were sitting there. Let me tell you, they were ugly. Really creeped me out just looking at them, and the $25 price tag didn't help either. The oldest child started snickering and picking on the middle child for even liking the doll. Of course, the middle child started whining that it was not ugly and that she wanted the doll. Right Now!

A lady was standing near us and gave me that look. You know the look. It can be interpreted to mean I feel so sorry for you because you have to put up with that crap or I'm so glad that's not MY child acting like that. And when she heard the middle child moan "I want the Edward dollllllllll," she actually started laughing. I just smiled and got out of there as fast as I could.

So that little adventure didn't turn out like I thought it would, but I can say for certain my child won't have the evil little Edward doll. Now if they come out with a Jacob, I may reconsider:)

Oh wait, they did!

Anyone Twitter?

I've heard a lot about Twitter. Some good, some bad. But I've never signed up for it. Why? Well, because I have a lot going on in my life right now. In between taking care of my family, feeding said family, trying to make sure my house doesn't completely fall apart, blogging, critiquing, and writing, I have very little time for anything else. I am sooooo afraid that if I get a Twitter account now, I will want to spend way more time on that than I should.

Now, I'm nowhere near the querying stage right now. But...I found a link to this blog. Go ahead, check it out. I'll wait:)

Now, this blew my mind. I mean, who would ever dream of an agent having interest in your work because of Twitter? Wow!

So, for those of you who do Twitter....what are the benefits? Even if you're like me (remember, I'm still working on the first draft), do you think Twitter is helpful to you now? Or if you don't Twitter, why not? I'm on the fence about getting an account now or waiting until I'm done with my WIP. What do you think?

Writing Through Distractions

I'm the type of person who has to have absolute silence before I can work on my book. The kids have to be tucked in bed, the husband has to be entrenched in front of the T.V. or sound asleep, and no noise can be present. No, not even music. That would be too distracting.

But I'm slowly getting over it. I have three kids. Three kids who actually make noise. Three kids who fight constantly. (Yes, even the baby gets in there with them. She has learned rather quickly how to defend herself.) Three kids and a husband who demand to be fed every night.

If I wait until every single one of them goes to bed, I usually have about two, maybe three hours to myself. But I'm greedy. That's not enough time. I mean, I have to blog! I have to read other blogs. I have chapters to critique. And I have my own book to work on. Two or three hours is just not enough time.

So I have learned to steal time during the day when (gasp!) the kids are awake. You may think No way, that's impossible! But it's not. I actually did it yesterday. Inspiration struck early and I had to write. In between being a referee, homework coach, and chef, I managed to turn out about a thousand words. And I cranked out another thousand last night when everyone was in bed.

Will I be able to do this amazing feat again? I don't know, but I'll try. I've never even attempted to write with them around, but I want to get the first draft finished. At the rate I'm going just working late at night, it'll be well into 2010 until that happens. So no more complaining from me about not having enough writing time! From now on, I'll be stealing bits of time at all hours of the day to get my writing done.

My question: When do you write? Early morning, late at night, or whenever you can? Do you have a set schedule, or do you write whenever you feel like it?

My Husband Has a Big Mouth

First, I want to give a shout out to Diana at Writing Roller Coasters. She is giving away a copy of The Maze Runner by James Dashner. The deadline is to enter is Tuesday, November 24. I've heard this book is awesome, so I'm definitely entering. Also, stick around a while at Diana's. Her blog is so cool!

Now for my post. I love my husband dearly. He has been really understanding when I disappear for hours every night to work on my WIP. He doesn't even complain when the kids have destroyed the house because I've been too distracted trying to figure out some issue that's going on with my characters.

But, he loves to talk. A lot. And last week he outed me in front of a few members of his family. We were eating lunch with his uncle and several of his cousins. I was starving, so I wasn't really paying attention to what they were talking about. All I heard was "Blah, blah, blah. My wife's writing a book."

Instantly, all eyes were on me. I felt my face turn ten shades of red. See, I haven't told anyone except my husband and kids (and all of you guys) that I'm writing.

I wanted to hide under the table because I knew what was coming next. But...it wasn't that bad. His uncle said something like, "Really, that's cool." And that's all. His cousin's wife, who also happens to be one of my friends, was so nice about it. She asked what the book was about, and of course I stumbled over this part. But she said that she thought it was awesome that I was even writing a book and told me that her brother and sister were also writers. That stunned me. I've been thinking I was the only writer within 50 miles, and I suddenly find out there's two more living in the same town. Sweet!

The point is that I've been afraid of sharing a huge part of myself with people. I can't even pinpoint what I'm afraid of. I know they're not going to bite my head off or anything, but the fear is still there.

As writers, we need to learn to be proud of what we're doing. Most people will be really supportive. Sure, there will be jerks who try to bring you down and tell you that writing is a waste of time, but so what? As long as you're doing what you love, that's all that matters.

My husband even shared some wisdom with me that makes a lot of sense. He said "Most people don't even know how to start a book, and you've already done that. That's something to be proud of." And he's absolutely right. I think I'll keep him:)

It's That Time Again!

Yes, folks, it's time to pass on some wonderful awards that I've received. I've been keeping them all to myself for far too long. First up is the Superior Scribbler Award that the lovely Kasie West gave to me way back in the middle of October.

Here are the rules:

1. Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy friends.

2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she received The Award.

3. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to this post, which explains the award.

4. Each blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

5. Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

Now for my nominations:

1. Megan Rebekah at Megan Rebekah Blogs

2. Julie at Diary of an Unpublished Wanna-be Writer

3. Tina Lynn at Sweet Niblets

4. Erica at Laugh. Write. Play.

5. Mariah at Constantly Risking Absurdity

These ladies rock! I promise, you will always find something worthwhile to read when you visit them. Next, up for grabs is the Best Blog Award. The super-fabulous Roni at Fiction Groupie honored me with this award a few weeks ago.

The rules for The Best Blog Award are:

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.

My lovely nominees are:

1. Sara at The Babbling Flow of a Fledgling Scribbler

2. Annissa at Off the Record

3. Morgan at The Fire in Her Eyes

And that's all for now! More awards to come later.

Oh, and for the word count update: 2,697 words since Monday. YAY!!!!

Itching to Edit

Sorry if the title of my post gives you a bad visual, but I want to edit my MS soooooooo bad right now. I've got some great feedback on my first few chapters, and I want to go back and fix them. Right now. But I made a promise to myself....no editing unless I have something major that has to be fixed before I can move on.

My head feels like it could explode. It's that perfectionist personality that I have. The thought of having those pesky little things just sitting there, begging to be tweaked, is driving me insane.

But on the other hand, my characters are starting to whisper to me now. When are you going to finish the story??!! We're waiting....

When I started writing, I had no idea how much I would like the revising part. I just figured I would be so excited to write the story, that the editing would be a pain. And I probably will feel like that when the first draft is done. But a part of me feels that I can't do a good job if I leave a mess behind me. It's like an addiction!

Now, I have made a little progress this weekend. I got 1100 new words in, but I need to do better. I'm thinking of setting a daily word count goal. I resisted doing that before because I figured it would kill all creativity, but I've got to do something. Or else this book may never be finished!

How do you resist the urge to go back and edit your MS to death before it's finished?

Sharing

I'm curious. How many of you read books to help you with the craft of writing? I have a few. Some I've skimmed through, some I've devoured in a few days. My favorite one so far is simply titled Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card. I read it entirely before I started working on my character sketches. Now, many of you may be pros at creating characters, but remember, I'm brand new at this. So, for a beginner, this book is a great resource to have.

This book really got me thinking out of the box. It forces you to dig below the surface with your characters, to really examine what makes them tick. It brought up things I had never considered. The section on constructing characters has great tips to help you on your quest to create a character that everyone will love (or hate if it's the villain). I also liked the fact that Card used examples from books and movies in addition to making up his own examples to help you "see" what he's talking about.

So, do any of you have writing books that are helpful? Please share in the comments!