Friday, December 11, 2009

7 Things & What a Day!

So, today has been officially a good blogger day for me. I came back after a nice day off to find that not only had I been awarded the "Lovely Blog Award," but Candice over at Suffering From Writer's Blogawarded me with the "Honest Scrap Award." From what I've gathered, this award is given to people for their honest and open blogging.



I am very honored to receive this and can't say thank you enough to everyone who has been coming by lately to read what I have to say. I welcome your comments and am blessed by each and every one.

Part of the rules for this award require me to share 7 honest things about myself that you may or may not know. So, here they be:

1. I'm openly in love with Japan and all things Japanese. I spent 3 weeks in Tokyo by myself just to experience it. If I had it my way, I'd be living there right now.

2. I tried to hold a sneeze one time during a math test, while I was sitting next to a girl I had a crush on, and accidentally farted because of the pressure from the sneeze.

3. I'm a big fan of video games, both computer and console. I became hooked when I was a little boy as I watched my father play Final Fantasy 1..... those were the days.

4. I am an Eric Clapton Fan.

5. I am afraid of dark water and most spiders.

6. I am a first degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do

7. I prefer boxers, not briefs (ok, maybe that's a little too honest)

The other requirement for this award is to choose 2 more individuals who deserve it. In this case, I'm nominating the following.

Charles over at Razored Zen
INTERN over at The Intern

Aside from the awards, I also managed to gather up to 21 followers! I can't tell you how excited that makes me. I recall the days where I had none and I was very lonely here by myself. You guys have really made my day.

Day Off




So, yesterday I had a day off. Sorry if I missed anything and for not posting. I was busy trying to catch up on the Christmas shopping and relaxificationing. (I want to coin that word)

In the mean time, it appears that I was given an award. Thanks Diana! (And yes, us boys appreciate blog awards too) I've seen these awards on other bloggers sites and never really knew what they were all about. Ultimately I'm understanding that this blog goes out to people who have, as the award states, one lovely blog. So, per the rules of the award, I'm also supposed to award fellow bloggers. It says 15, but 15 might be a little out of control. So, I'm going to pick 5 people, whos blogs really stand out to me. Here goes my awarding.







1. Lydia @ The Sharp Angle
2. David @ Nephite Blood, Spartan Heart (Cuz, Sword-Slinging can be lovely too)
3. Lynn @ Behler Blog
4. Sophie @ Sophie Playle
5. Natalie @ Natalie Bahm: Wife, Mother, Writer

To all of you who I awarded, thanks for your blogging escapades. I appreciate your advice, quips, tips and quotes. Your blogs inspire me and many others and I hope they will continue to do so for many-a-days to come!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

I Love Tag

Girl With One Eye over at a Squirrel Amongst Lions was playing tag and she ran over and poked me. I'm it, so here's the questionaire that comes with being it along with my answers. Since I'm it now, I'm going to tag 2 more people randomly. CKHB and David. Hope you keep the game going....

1. What's the last thing you wrote? What's the first thing you wrote that you still have?
The last thing I wrote is part of my Work in Progress called Trueborn. It's had to undergo a lot of revisions as the story takes life. I'm hoping to have it finished in the next 4-5 months or so. The first thing I still have would be love poems regarding a girl in my highschool.

2. Write poetry?
See above answer: or YES

3. Angsty poetry?
I have a lot of dark poetry. I found that my writing helped me express myself during some down periods of my teenage life.

4. Favorite genre of writing?
I'm probably more of a Sci-Fi / Fantasy writer. I don't write about super Gung Ho themes in either, but rather, I try to blend reality into those genres by introducing "possible" things. Does that make sense? Probably not LOL.

5. Most annoying character you've ever created?
Annoying like pestering would be Serina. She's a young girl who was turned into a vampire and maintains a bit of her childish nature even though she is several hundred years old.

6. Best Plot you've ever created?
I REALLY love the plot to Trueborn, but it is very much on hold to talk about until I finish and start writing my query letter. Other than that, I have a really awesome plot involving a character dealing with the truth behind deja vu.

7. Coolest Plot twist you've ever created?
Can't tell you yet. You'll have to wait for Trueborn to hit the shelves!

8. How often do you get writer's block?
I can't really say. It comes and goes. Sometimes my ideas are flowing like a faucet and other times I feel like I'm a barren wasteland of thought.

9. Write fan fiction?
No. I'm not sure I could do that without feeling guilty.

10. Do you type or write by hand?
TYPE... My handwriting is wretched.

11. Do you save everything you write?
I try to save any significant amounts of work I produce. I use it to look back on and see how I've grown as a writer.

12. Do you ever go back to an idea after you've abandoned it?
I haven't done that per say, but I have a lot of ideas that I've put on hold till my current project is done. I have about 5 or so full story concepts that I'd love to write, but I am focusing on one at the moment.

13. What's your favorite thing you've ever written?
I began writing a fantasy series based on some role playing that I did in the game Vampire. My friends and I were role playing as vampires with powers and I jotted down info from the sessions then refined it into a 3rd person story. My character was an African American male stuck in the 70's (style-wise) named Spitts. It was a pretty funny story.

14. What's everyone else's favorite story that you've written?
So far, I've gotten more compliments about my current WIP (Trueborn)

15. Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?
No. I attempted to write some romance, but somehow it always comes out tooooo steamy, almost erotica. So, until I read more actual romance for some ideas, then I'll probably avoid it.

16. What's your favorite setting for your characters?
In one of my scenes from Trueborn, they main character and his companions have to breach a vampire coven that also doubles as a prison/torture system called H.Q.P. I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of the facility, based on how it functions.

17. How many writing projects are you working on right now?
I take Trueborn seriously, I fool around with other projects in the mean time

18. Have you ever won an award for your writing?
Not yet, but soon I hope :P

19. What are your five favorite words?
Chagrin, Languid, Lilac, Genesis, Dubious

20. What character have you created that is most like yourself?
A main character of Trueborn. His name is Vallen. He is an emotion driven, punch first ask questions later kinda guy

21. Where do you get ideas for your characters?
My characters aren't necessarily modeled after anyone, but more focused on personality types that I see in others.

22. Do you ever write based on your dreams?
I have written my own dream journal. I started writing down all my dreams and continued to do so until I had 100 dreams written down. I used LuLu self-publishing to print out a copy for myself that I called "Illusions of Grandeur: 100 Nights of Dreaming"

23. Do you favor happy endings?
That sounds like a dirty question?

24. Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
More grammer than spelling. Spell check saves my hide, but grammer is a little more dangerous and ultimately what I think and editor will love or hate me for.

25. Does music help you write?
Yes it does. Depending on the scene, I will play music that mimics my emotion behind that scene.

26. Quote something you've written. Whatever pops into your head.
Anger, love, pain and joy, express the way we feel,
but a fight, a wound, a kiss and tears of joy, those are what make us real.

Having a Little Fun

Not that every one of my posts isn't AMAZINGLY fun to read, but here's something a little less serious for everyone.

I was musing on the generalizations we have surrounding genres and decided to use "Jack" to describe possible titles for said genres. So, here we go.

Romance - Jack and Jill
Sci-Fi - Jack vs. the Zo'orgonauts
Religious - Jack Finds Jesus
Young Adult - Diary of a Teenage Jack
Women's Interest - Jack's Wife
Biography - Jacked Up
Western - Jumpin Jack Jaroo
Action/Adventure - Jack Attack
Horror - Jack-the-Rippa
Children's Fiction - See Jack Run

Ok, I left one blank for you. Any thoughts for "Fantasy" genre? I'm excited to see your titles.

The Write Conditions





So, I'm a mostly-native Phoenician here in Arizona and as most people imagine, it's SUNNY SUNNY SUNNY 24/7. The implication of that would be, I hate the sun... (Ok, hate is a strong word, maybe not hate, but definitely don't enjoy) I get the sun so much that I can easily say I'm sick of it. When we get a nice overcast day out here, I really pep up. I mean, it's like running into a long lost school mate that you used to be best friends with and haven't seen in years.

On to the point:

As I think about it, I imagine what my best conditions would be for writing. If it were up to me, it'd be something like this.

1. It would be overcast and or pouring rain.
2. I would be in my office which would have books from wall to wall around me
3. I'd have a Siberian Husky curled up next to my desk
4. I'd have no children within 800 yards of me
5. I would have breakfast, lunch and dinner served to me via butler or french maid! :P

I'm pretty sure that's my dream writing conditions. What would yours be?