Living the Fictional Dream

In honor of a lovely Friday where I am home and don’t have to even attempt to work, I thought I would post some links for y’all. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

First of all, Kevin has today’s story of the day at Every Day Fiction. It’s called “Krupper and Jons,” and it’s quite a chuckle. When you get the to end, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon this set of posts on author Shanna Swendon’s blog. They’re all about character archetypes. I find character archetypes a fascinating tool for character building. Of course, you can’t cheat and use the archetypes for character. Then your characters turn out flat and boring, predictable and lame. But I find thinking about the archetypes helps me to write characters that are all wildly different, and not based solely on myself. They are a tool to help me broaden and improve my writing. Shanna’s post talks about the archetype constructs based on the hero’s journey.

Tami Cowden, on the other hand, explores different character types based on personality. Each archetype has a male and female equivalent, as well as heroic and villainous incarnations. I’ve read her book, and it’s really interesting. The thumbnail sketches on her website are a great starting place, but to really get the depth out of this idea, you need to read the book. (I’m fairly sure I’ve linked to this before, but how can I not in a discussion of archetypes?)

Now, I’ve never really talked about politics on this blog. I would share my political views with you, if you asked, but this is a writing blog… posting about politics would be way off topic. However, I want to share this post with you, written by my friend, Ms. Eclectic. It’s a really thoughtful post-election post, and I especially thought that it spoke well to people here in Texas. Though, I think anyone who’s dealing with this post-election world might find it interesting.

And, now, for something entirely different, here another friend Kevin’s take on the newest restaurant in downtown Fort Worth, Simply Fondue. I’ve been a fan of this restaurant since it was only in Dallas (now you can eat there in Dallas, Arlington, and Fort Worth), and I’m thrilled that there is a new location close to home. My husband and I ate at the new location once, and it’s top notch. From Kevin’s article, it sounds like they’ve been improving since we ate there. It’s not cheap, but if it’s a special occasion, it is definitely worth the price of admission.

Here’s something that’s a little related to the last link (it’s about food) and also related to this blog (its about books), there is a new site called TasteBook that I’m very intrigued by. On this site, you can make your own cookbooks, either with recipes from their partners or by inputting your own recipes. I haven’t yet ordered a tastebook of my own, but I’m working on compiling the recipes for one. I don’t know that it’s worth the cost unless I can get at least 50 recipes in there! But, so far, it’s been really fun collecting the recipes and choosing my cover images and everything.

And, finally, still on the food theme, I’ll leave you with the link to a new recipe I found during my TasteBook adventures — cheesy tacos. These were a great hit at my last pot luck dinner party. If you’re doing a low carb diet (like my hubby and I are, under advice from our nutritionist), these taco shells made out of cheese are completely awesome! I’m planning to use the same idea to make us some “chips” for dipping. (It wouldn’t be so great, I suppose, if you’re doing a low fat diet, though.)

However, even the guests who weren’t watching their carbs enjoyed the cheesy taco shells — they were that tasty. Once I got the trick down, they worked out really well, but while frying the first few, I dubbed this the most hilarious recipe I’d ever made, because those first taco shells ended up a little malformed. But after I’d done a few, it was easy. (The counter full of a cobbled together drying rack of wooden spoons and cups was hilarious, too.)

And now, I will leave you to enjoy that random collection of links, and I hope that everyone has an awesome weekend. My husband and I are planning to travel to the cabin (the land of no Internet) this weekend, so it may be Sunday or Monday before you hear from me again. Have a great weekend!

Hello, fellow writers and other assorted readers!

Is it just me, or has it been really quiet around the blog-o-sphere lately? Perhaps everyone is madly preparing for NaNoWriMo and too busy for much else? I hope it’s not that everyone else is as work-crazed as I have been of late. I don’t want to get into the work thing too much on this blog, but suffice to say that the fall is our busiest time (gotta get those manuals out by year-end!), and every deadline I meet has another one right behind it.

The nice thing about fall has been the weather these past few weeks. If everyone else has been having the same great weather Fort Worth’s been having, I would highly recommend leaving the computer and enjoying the cool breezes and sunshine. It’s been such a relief after those 100+ tempertures that accompany a Texas summer. This morning was the first one that was positively chilly outside. I pulled my favorite boots and turtleneck out of the closet with glee, as I haven’t been able to wear them since last summer.

My lack of time for writing lately has given me fewer ideas for blog topics lately. I did notice last night that I have stories out at 16 locations on submission. I think that’s a good total. Maybe a few of them will bring home an acceptance! I think the creative part of my brain is taking a rest before NaNo madness — I can’t believe that Saturday will begin the one-week countdown!

Well, I suppose I’d better quit babbling for now. I hope all is well for everyone out there, and that you are enjoying a beautiful autumn thus far!

I’ve been a busy writing beaver lately — sadly, it’s all work writing, not fiction writing. Hopefully, that will change once the big deadline this Friday is met.

I’ve been wishing I could chuck it all right now and whisk my husband and I off for a beach vacation — either S. Padre Island or maybe the Outerbanks in NC. **wistful sigh** Sadly, busy season deadlines wouldn’t allow it. And, even if they did, it would take all my vacation and leave none for Christmas.

I’m getting excited about November. My writing group is planning tons of write-ins, which always rock. Even the year I didn’t write a NaNo novel, I still got tons of writing done in November. It’s a great time to challenge yourself to write more, no matter what you’re writing.

Well, I should stop avoiding those governmental financial statements. The life of a technical writer is such that the day-to-day writing/updating is on boring topics (my particular line is products for CPAs), but it still must be done. At least I’m on the last big update of this product, and this it’s on to the 1065 tax return project. The plus side of the boring subjects is that a gripping plot or witty sentences don’t distract me from doing my job!

I was tagged for this survey by my friend Theresa. I’m a sucker for a survey, so here goes.

The Rules

• Display the award. (There is an “I Love Your Blog” Award associated with this survey. Will try to display it later, when I’m at home.)
• Link back to the person who gave me this award.
• Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
• Put links to those blogs on mine.
• Leave a message on the blogs of the people I’ve nominated. (Ditto for comment on rule 1.)

Answer the Following in One Word

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Artist
5. Your father? Dentist
6. Your favorite thing? Friendship
7. Your dream last night? Nursery
8. Your dream/goal? Author
9. The room you’re in? Office
10. Your hobby? Writing
11. Your fear? Geckos!
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Mommy
13. Where were you last night? Working
14. What you’re not? Outgoing
15. One of your wish-list items? Refrigerator
16. Where you grew up? McGregor
17. The last thing you did? Lunch
18. What are you wearing? Skirt
19. Your TV? DVR
20. Your pet? Tag!
21. Your computer? Mac
22. Your mood? Tired
23. Missing someone? Mimi
24. Your car? Diana
25. Something you’re not wearing? Ring
26. Favorite store? Borders
27. Your summer? Speedy
28. Love someone? Many
29. Your favorite color? Green
30. When is the last time you laughed? Lunch
31. Last time you cried? Movies

Tags (and no pressure if I tagged you and you don’t feel like playing!)

• Donna
• Stephanie
• Alex
• Jens
• Miss Meliss
• Ms. Eclectic
• Shameless

Howdy out there. Just a quick shout out to my friend Meng (also known as my sister’s boyfriend) — the episode of Jeopardy! that he taped this summer is airing today. Much excitement around our house today!

I tell you, I always wondered if I had the skills to be on a game show like that. I’ve always been somewhat of a game show junkie — at least when I’m home in the middle of the day. But, after helping Meng practice for his appearance (OK, well, my “help” basically consisted of letting him DVR episodes at my house and watching them with him), I figured out that I don’t have the trivia chops for it. At least not for Jeopardy! If they still made Win Ben Stein’s Money, I might have a chance there! But, yeah, my obscure trivia factoids are nowhere in his league.

Because of this Jeopardy! madness, I did have the chance to read Ken Jennings’ book, Brainiac. I really enjoyed it. If you like trivia and you like memoir, you’ll enjoy it, too.

So, yes, this post was mostly a break from or regularly scheduled content, but I thought the event was worth the topic shift. And I kinda saved it by talking about a book, right? **grins**

I just finished a huge project at work. I met the deadline (whew!), but it was tricky. Thanks to my previous two huger than huge projects, this one got started late. But, the writing is done (I’m a technical writer by day, if you didn’t know that), so all that’s left is updates and QCs.

Maybe now I will have a few brain cells free to think about creative writing! And possibly even produce something!

Several more projects between now and the end of the year, but they have more flexible timelines. But fall is crazy around this place.

OK… enough rambling. TGIF, everyone!

I was tagged by Kevin over at Shameless Stuff for this meme, and I’m a sucker for a good survey, so here goes!

The Rules

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 6 random things/unspectacular quirks about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

This is going to be a challenge. Usually when I play the random facts game (office ice breakers, etc.), I can talk about my as-yet-unpublished novels, but you guys already know about those!

Random Facts about Erin

1. I’m a Christian. That’s probably not random if you know me, but religion isn’t something I talk about much on the blog, so I think it counts. A world this beautiful and this complex could never have been an accident. I also strongly believe that everyone has the right to believe how they choose. Forcing religion on people through laws or a show of force is just so wrong…
2. My dog, Tag (an eight-year-old golden retriever who is the sweetest puppy in the whole world!), is never going to die. Or, at least she thinks so.

   One day, my husband and I were talking… I don’t remember what about now, but he glanced down at Tag on the couch and said something like, “You know, honey, someday Tag won’t be with us anymore.” Tag’s head popped up (I’d thought she was asleep) and she barked, just once, but with this serious look on her face. I know that was her way of saying either “I’m never going to die, so shut up,” or “I’m never going to die and leave you alone here with Erin!”

3. I get celebrity crushes on little/lesser known actors — Kevin Anderson who played Julia Roberts love interest in Sleeping With the Enemy, Nick Brenden who played Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the guy who plays Junior on Wildfire (even though I just watched the one season!), the guy who plays A.J. in Empire Records… I don’t know why these guys never break out into bigger stars!
4. I hate typos. I always did, but after being a copy editor for several years, the hatred grew. My biggest pet peeve is when people put the apostrophe in the wrong place in “y’all.” Drives me up the wall, and since I live in Texas, I see it all the time — on signs, notes, etc. An apostrophe in a contraction is supposed to go where the missing letters are. “Y’all” is contracting “you” and “all,” so the contraction is taking the place of the “ou.” If we were supposed to spell it “ya’ll” it would be contracting “ya” and “will” … or something else that ends with an “ll.” I guess people get it wrong because they are used to “I’ll” or something? I don’t know, but it drives me crazy!
5. I don’t have the small talk gene. I think I’m physically incapable of making good small talk, especially with strangers. If I’m emailing or chatting with you, I’m fine, but face-to-face… arg! Conversation crashes and dies every time! I never can think of anything interesting to say, and when I do, it feels so forced. Luckily, if people keep hanging out with me despite this lack, we eventually get to know each other well enough that it goes away.
6. According to The Birth Order Book, I’m a first born compliant (as opposed to a first born superstar). I don’t think any psychological grouping is the end-all/be-all of a person, but when I read the description, it was totally me. First born — check. Worrier/mother hen type (as opposed to the type that has to be the best at everything) — check. I’d have to look it up again to remember the rest of it, but that’s totally me.

   That book also told me that I’m a frustrated perfectionist. Apparently, if I’d had my way when I was a kid I would have been a full-on perfectionist — everything totally neat and in it’s place, well organized — but something happened, and I wasn’t able to be neat like that, so I became a slob instead. However, it’s a well organized mess. Even though things are piled haphazardly about, you can ask me for something and I will totally find it wherever it is in whatever random stack of junk. Normally I can go straight to it (assuming no one else “organized” my stuff). I don’t know about the first part — I can’t imagine ever being a neat freak, because I hate to clean — but the second part is right on.

The Tags

I’m not sure I know enough bloggers for this, but here goes. (If you don’t feel like playing, no pressure!)

1. Ms. Eclectic
2. Miss Meliss
3. Jens
4. Stephanie
5. Alex
6. Donna

Whaddya know… I did think of enough. Just barely!

Sweet dreams, y’all!

I can’t believe the upswing in spam comments I’ve gotten in the past couple of weeks! I was marking spam comments today, and I got a little click happy. Two actual comments went into the spam netherspace, and I can’t figure out how to get them back! Grrr!

Anyway, sorry KC and Sylvia (I think it was y’all’s names I saw flash by before the comments disappeared!). Total blunder on my part. I wasn’t trying to make you spam.