Friday Funnies - and Truth Time!

Okay, time to reveal my two hidden truths from last week :) I will go ahead and reprint what I had and put an explanation or two in blue. And no one guessed right!!!! Well, not true - Palindrome guessed one number right :D I think that deserves a prize...I'm thinking something chocolate :D Palindrome, email me!! (Contact button on the sidebar) :)

Here we go!

1. My brother once told me I could get curly hair if I stuck eggbeaters in my hair. He was wrong - eggbeaters turned on high and placed in your hair will cause baldness, not curls. My mom had to cut most of my hair off to get them out.

This is a lie - well, it did happen to my sister, but not to me. And yes, my mom had to cut quite a bit of her hair off in order to get that eggbeater out. We will never let her or my brother live it down :)


2. I have a small Celtic tattoo on my back that not even my mother knows about...unless she's reading this blog :D

Lie - I wanted to get one, but never did :) (Mom, you can relax now!) :D

3. I know how to say "Shut up" "I'm going to spank your butt" and "Watch what you're saying, I speak Samoan" in Samoan...I used to know more, but I've forgotten everything else. But at least I remembered the important stuff :D

True! My first fiance was Samoan and I learned quite a bit...enough to catch the gist of most conversations. I met him at school in Hawaii. Sweetest guy you'll ever meet and he could shimmy up a coconut tree with a machete in his mouth. Those were fun times :D

4. My first fiance used to have entire conversations with me using only his eyebrows. Yes, I speak fluent eyebrow *takes a bow*

True again! Of course, I'm not talking in-depth political discussions or anything, but it really was surprising the amount of information I could get just by the way he moved his eyebrows. When he came to visit my family on summer vacation, we'd do the eyebrow thing and I'd turn and tell whoever else was with us that we had decided to go get dinner or the spectators would be very confused when I'd start answering questions they hadn't heard asked. 

It would sort of go like this: 

Him: eyebrow lift to the left

Me: Yeah, you want to go now?

Him: eyebrow scrunched

Me: Okay. Let me know when you are ready

Him: eyebrow lift aimed at our friends

Me: Yeah, I think they are going, I'll ask

Him: eyebrow shift to the right in the direction of bathroom

Me: K, I'll wait out here

Him: eyebrow wiggle

Me: *smile* Love you too

:D

5. My favorite t.v. show is Yo Gabba Gabba - I lie and say I'm taping it for the kids, but really, I sit up late at night when no one can see me and rock out to their awesome tunes.

Angie, so true - it
Iis a little creepy. My kids, however, love it. I will tolerate anything that keeps them busy but find it odd...that show would have given me nightmares as a kid :)

6. I spent nearly every summer of my childhood at Space Camp, determined to be an astronaut. I enrolled in the aeronautics program at my first college with great expectations. But, since I flunked out of all my math classes, was terrified of heights, and claustrophobic, my guidance counselor suggested I try something a little less...challenging. I should have stuck with the aeronautics program - it would have been easier.

Nope, false. I never went to space camp, never enrolled in any programs. I did, however, love Space Camp, the movie. But, math was not my best subject, I am terrified of heights, and I am claustrophobic. So yeah...writing is a much better profession for me :)

7. As a cheerleader at my high school, I got to the be top of the pyramid at the homecoming game. I fell. I decided not to be a cheerleader anymore. (See #6 regarding my fear of heights - this is where it alll started) :D

Lie - never a cheerleader. I was in the Drama club :D

8. I have a weird obsession with the number 3 - everything in my house is arranged in groups of 3, I buy fruit in multiples of 3, my children have 3 names, I always knock 3 times - I'm not crazy, I swear, I just like threes, so shoot me :D

So false - I'm actually not very fond of odd numbers. I always buy fruit in even numbered groups. Almost always six...four is too few for my family and five is an odd number, so six it usually is :D (I'm not crazy, I swear....well, maybe just a little) ;-D

And there you have it, my lies and truths :) Since this post is huge already, I'll just post one funny picture and next week we'll go back to our regularly scheduled Friday Funnies :D

Thirty Word Thursday - A thought about dealing with rejections

Truman Capote on criticism responses:

Never demean yourself by talking back to a critic...Write those letters to the editor in your head, but don't put them down on paper.

Blog Chain - Differences

Sandra picked our topic for this round on the chain gang - she gave us a choice of topics, but I went with her first question, which was:

Have you ever created a character different from yourself in some significant way, such as (but not limited to) different gender, race, ethnic group, religion, or sexual orientation? If so, what, if any, research did you do to portray these differences? Was this character a main character, secondary character, or walk-on? Did these differences have an impact on the story?

I have characters that are completely unlike me, especially the male jock characters or, of course, the supernatural characters. But when it comes to my female MCs, I generally try to actively make them different from me in some way. I make them more edgy, more courageous, more feisty, smarter, funnier, tougher.

Lately, with my new MC, I find myself giving her qualities and quirks that are completely alien to me. The way she responds to circumstances are the exact opposite of how I would act.

Though, making my characters different from me seems to be a recent development. My first MC was very similar to me in a lot of respects. She acted the way I would act. But as I've written more, I find it sort of liberating to explore aspects of human nature that are alien to me. I find myself wanting to branch out into uncharted territories. Specifically, I've thought a lot about writing about people from different ethnic or religious backgrounds, explore areas I don't know much about. I love to learn - and writing about something or someone who is so different from me is a great way to do this.

For research, I mostly people watch. Observe how people act. Ask questions. Especially when it comes to male characters. Having people read my manuscripts helps a great deal, especially my target audience. Also, when I write historicals, I do quite a bit of research into the attitudes, actions, personality traits, and characteristics that were in vogue and popular during whatever time period I am writing about. Actions that are acceptable in 2010 were probably scandalous in 1810 - stuff like that requires some research time. And if I ever delve into a character who is from an ethnic or religious background that I don't know about (and even if I do know something) I'll research those areas also.

Bottom line, I want my characters to be authentic and believable. The more I know about every aspect of their personality the more "real" they'll be. And I'll research, ask, watch, and experience any and everything I need to in order to make that happen.

Don't forget to check out Laura's blog for her answer to this question, and stop by Shaun's blog tomorrow to find out his thoughts :)

Ten Word Tuesday - on never giving up

Ever tried? Ever failed?...Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

~ Samuel Beckett

Obsession Confession....

I am addicted to books - as in SERIOUSLY addicted. Obsessed. When I'm in the middle of a good book, nothing else gets done. No housework, no writing, no sleeping...it really borders on the ridiculous, but I just can't help it.

I just sent my kindergartener to school with a $20 bill...I'm terrified it won't make it there, but this week is his school Book Fair and I want him to be able to buy anything his little heart desires (though, looking over the prices, it may not be much, even with $20).

Oh my - nostalgic visions of my own school book fairs dancing in my head.... *happy sigh*

I had to refrain from sending the whole $60 I had in my wallet. He gets to go buy BOOKS. I'm all giddy just thinking about it. I could really blow entire paychecks on books. Sure, I'd feel guilty afterward, but the feeling would be muted by the absolute euphoria I experience when I'm eyeball-deep in an awesome story.

In fact, I'm in the middle of reading a book now...which is why this post is later than usual and wasn't set up ahead of time as is normally the case - I was reading all weekend :D

So, how about you? Are there any other crazy, book junkies out there? Can you get sucked into a good book and still function, or does the world shut down as you devour your latest treat?

Please tell me I'm not alone.... :D

Friday Funnies and a Few Awards

Happy Friday!!! First, a couple items of fun business :)

I am guest blogging today on the blog of the fabulous Matthew Rush - so head over to The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment to check out the query for my one of my fiction projects. I ended up shelving the book, but received quite a few requests beforehand :)


Annnd next up, AWARD TIME! I have been blessed to receive two fun awards in the last few weeks. The incredible Amanda Sabourova over at So Many Story Ideas, So Little Time passed the Creative Blogger Award to me.

The rules - post six fabulous lies and two truths about myself. Now, as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, I should be able to come up with six lies and two truths. But I'm telling you, this is harder than writing a query letter LOL Okay, here goes....


1. My brother once told me I could get curly hair if I stuck eggbeaters in my hair. He was wrong - eggbeaters turned on high and placed in your hair will cause baldness, not curls. My mom had to cut most of my hair off to get them out.


2. I have a small Celtic tattoo on my back that not even my mother knows about...unless she's reading this blog :D


3. I know how to say "Shut up" "I'm going to spank your butt" and "Watch what you're saying, I speak Samoan" in Samoan...I used to know more, but I've forgotten everything else. But at least I remembered the important stuff :D


4. My first fiance used to have entire conversations with me using only his eyebrows. Yes, I speak fluent eyebrow *takes a bow*


5. My favorite t.v. show is Yo Gabba Gabba - I lie and say I'm taping it for the kids, but really, I sit up late at night when no one can see me and rock out to their awesome tunes.


6. I spent nearly every summer of my childhood at Space Camp, determined to be an astronaut. I enrolled in the aeronautics program at my first college with great expectations. But, since I flunked out of all my math classes, was terrified of heights, and claustrophobic, my guidance counselor suggested I try something a little less...challenging. I should have stuck with the aeronautics program - it would have been easier.


7. As a cheerleader at my high school, I got to the be top of the pyramid at the homecoming game. I fell. I decided not to be a cheerleader anymore. (See #6 regarding my fear of heights - this is where it alll started) :D


8. I have a weird obsession with the number 3 - everything in my house is arranged in groups of 3, I buy fruit in multiples of 3, my children have 3 names, I always knock 3 times - I'm not crazy, I swear, I just like threes, so shoot me :D


Okay - there you go - I will let you know next Friday which two are true :) You may leave your guesses in the comments. I'm sure you will all guess correctly :D


I think I will pass this one on to:


Stephanie McGee at Chronicles of a Novice Writer
JEM at Can I Get a Side of Reality With That?
Caledonia Lass at Writings, Musings, and Other Such Nonsense
Zoe Courtman at No Letters on My Keyboard


And, the lovely and talented Stina Lindenblatt at Seeing Creative gave me the Awesomesauce Award - thanks so much Stina!!!

And, I think I'll pass this one on to a few awesome people:


Lydia Kang at The word is my oyster
Matthew Rush at The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment
L.T. Elliot at Dreams of Quill and Ink
Bonny Anderson
and the ever awesome Christine Fonseca


And now on to our Friday Funnies!

"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." -Thomas Mann

"After being turned down by numerous publishers, he had decided to write for posterity." -George Ade

Thirty Word Thursday

Most people quit. If you don't...if you rewrite, if you keep publishing...you will understand that, "What's the secret?" is not the question, which is, "Are you having fun?"

~ Robert Lipsyte, on the secret to writing

Also, I am guest blogging today over at the awesome blog of Matthew Rush. The non-fiction query that caught the attention of my agent (and publisher) will be available for your viewing pleasure - so head over to The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment to take a peek :) 

Tomorrow, you can see one of my fiction queries that garnered some interest. The book, however, failed to please, but the query worked well :)

WIP Wednesday

Oh, my WIP.....oye. Okay, I have been enjoying the outlining, and I will continue to work on it. But, I have changed gears and am working on something else :D For two reasons. (We'll call the first project Project A and the new one Project B)

1. While I am really liking the outlining thing, for Project A at least, some of the urgency that I had to write the story seems to have dissipated a bit in the process of getting down all the details for the outline. Now, I say for Project A, because I've written just as many notes for Project B and I haven't come across this problem yet. So, I'm thinking it is the project, not the outlining.

2. There are two very different directions I can take Project A and I can't decide for the life of me where I want to go. I can't decide which side of the fence I want my MC on - which is a pretty big decision as who (or rather, what) she is determines the rest of the storyline. I have actually outlined both scenarios....and I just CAN'T decide. Which leaves me sitting in front of a blank screen pulling my hair out.

And then, while researching for Project A I came across something else that sparked a new story idea, one I am VERY excited about; one that I still feel that urgency to write, even with all the notes and outlining.

So :D Looks like I'll be working on the new idea instead. Though I do still really want to write the other WIP...and if I can ever figure out which way to take the story, I'll jump right on it LOL

Has this ever happened to you? Have you been working on something and had an idea for something else that you just couldn't ignore?

I'm excited, don't get me wrong. But I do feel incredibly guilty about Project A. Maybe I can keep working on a few notes here and there so it won't feel left out ;-)

Ten Word Tuesday

Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion.

~ Raymond Chandler

Happy Monday!

Sorry for my recent lack of response to comments. I generally try to respond either by email or comment, but the last week has been HECTIC. My mom and sister and her family were visiting for most of the week, which was a blast! I haven't seen my sister in about 6 years, so I really enjoyed spending time with her. So, that part was fun, though I stayed off the computer :) But then the flu bug hit and has been making it's tummy-cramping way through my family. The kids are on the mend, but now it's my turn. Oh joy LOL

In any case, please forgive me if I don't respond as much as I have been. Rest assured, I am reading and loving all of your comments, as always :)

And now, I'm going to sign off for a bit and go back to bed :D I'll be back tomorrow! Happy Monday!!!

Friday Funnies

You have the right to not change anything, but don't be a fool. Change things if somebody else is right. But if you do change something because somebody else is right, you must instantly take credit for yourself. That's very important.

~ Edward Albee

Breslin's Rule: Don't trust a brilliant idea unless it survives the hangover.

~ Jimmy Breslin

Thirty Word Thursday

Be daring....Don't labor over...works in which every word is to be perfect. Technique holds a reader from sentence to sentence, but only content will stay in his mind.

~ Joyce Carol Oates

WIP Wednesday

Well, it's been a while, but I actually have a new WIP! Woohoo! I am, of course, still working on polishing up my NF manuscript for publication (I still need to add a couple new chapters, but the book should *fingers crossed* be completed by the end of the month).

So! I have decided to *gulp* outline my new YA. I don't know what's possessed me (maybe the desire to cut my editing time down to six months LOL) but this time around, I am going all out on the whole outline process.

I've set up a cork board with cards on each of my main characters, their characteristics, motivations, etc. The other side of the cork board has a card for each of my chapters. I have my story arc written (the main conflict, two main turning points, the climax and the resolution) AND I have a basic synopsis written.

I have an idea of how long I'd like the book to be so I will try and break down the events in the book by chapter and get those on the cards.

Now - do I think this will work? Not a clue. It's never worked before, though I've never tried to prepare a book to this extent. Then again, I've never had a clear idea before of exactly how the story will be, from beginning to end. Normally, I have a scene or two in my head and I just sit and write, building on those scenes. And then I generally end up cutting half the book and doing major rewrites and spending months filling plot holes and fixing other glaring problems. I am trying to solve a few of those problems before they start.

This time, I know where I want it to start, what I want to happen in the middle, and how I want it to end up.

This may be because I've been thinking about this story since December. I've never given that kind of thought time to a book before. I may have ideas and jot down notes and think of it now and again, but I really have been seriously stewing on this story for months now.

So, hopefully all this careful preparation won't be for naught once I start the story and the characters take over. I will admit that I am enjoying having a specific checklist of points to hit in the book. That must be the OC list maker in my personality, sighing with giddy delight at my mad organizational skills :D

Well, we'll see how this goes.

On a weird and slightly annoying note - I started writing chapter 1 and it came out in present tense. I don't like present tense as a general rule. Not horribly fond of reading it (though I've had my exceptions, and I have read more of it lately, so perhaps that is feeding into the strange and new direction my writing is taking). I've never written in present tense, so this could be interesting :)

How about you? Do you outline? If so, do you do a basic sketch or really dive in?

And have you ever found yourself changing from your preferred tense into something you've never before attempted...or wanted to attempt?

Ten Word Tuesday

A writer's life is not designed to reassure your mother.

~ Rita Mae Brown

Practice Makes Publishable

I've always heard the expression "Practice Makes Perfect," and, being a borderline perfectionist, generally try (and fail) to apply that saying to many aspects of my life.

Over the years, I've had to learn to let that expectation of perfection go. I'm never going to be the perfect wife, or mother, or human being, though I will continue to try my best.

Now, I think I am finally ready to admit that I need to stop trying to apply this to my writing. It's never going to be perfect. Even if my next book hits the NYT Bestseller list and outsells the entire Harry Potter and Twilight series put together....I'm still going to open that book one day and find something I want to change.

It will never be perfect.

And that's okay. It doesn't need to be perfect. It needs to be publishable.

How do I make it publishable?

Practice. Writing more and more. Taking my next WIP and the WIP after that and the WIP after that, and pouring my heart, soul, and sweat into them. Hard work, revisions, more hard work, more revisions, confidence, persistence, faith, more hard work, and more revisions.

Very few people sell the first thing they've ever written. A first novel, maybe. But I bet they've written short stories or poetry or essays or something else before. At the very least, they've rewritten that first novel within an inch of its life. 

I've known people who have let this idea of perfection paralyze them to the point that they refuse to query a wonderful book because they don't think it's ready. They let this unobtainable goal keep them from sharing their incredible stories.

There's no such thing as perfection - especially when it comes to our writing. What one person thinks is perfect, someone else is going to hate. And what we think is perfect now, we may cut without hesitation six months later.

So, should we give up altogether?

NEVAH!!!!! :D

Practice. Keep writing. Shelve it all if you need to, but keep writing.

Practice may not make it perfect. But it will make it publishable.

What are your thoughts? Do you practice to make perfect? Do you still hold on to the dream that someday that book of yours will stand as a shining example of literary perfection? Or have you come to the conclusion that something may be excellent, but there's no such thing as perfect?

Do you strive for perfection, or for publication?

(and a quick personal note: Happy Anniversary Mr. McLean! :) You've bravely put up with being married to a writer for 9 years. Kudos :D  )

Emotionally Intense Friday Funnies

First of all, the very talented and all around fabulous person, Cole Gibsen, is guest posting over on Matthew Rush's blog,The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment,

today. Head on over and take a peek at the query that got Cole an agent! Thanks for the reminder, Matthew! :) 

And now, on to our Friday Funnies!

Shirley Hazzard on the occupational hazards of writing:

It's nervous work. The state you need to write in is the state that others are paying large sums to get rid of.

The only reason for being a professional writer is that you just can't help it.

~ Leo Rosten

Thank you, Christine, for stopping by this week and sharing your thoughts about emotional intensity. It has been very interesting and I had a blast!

For more information on Christine and her work, visit her at:

Her blog

The Growing Up Gifted Blog

Her Website

Her Facebook Page

Her Twitter

Her Facebook Fan Page

Fan Page for Emotionally Intense

Thirty Word Thursday

If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it. 

– Anais Nin

Brought to us by our author of the week, Christine Fonseca.

                                     Links!!

Christine's Blog

Growing Up Gifted Blog

Christine's Website

Intensity and Writing – A Match Made in Heaven…Maybe

As promised, here is the guest post by our fabulous Christine Fonseca :)

“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:

A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.

To him...

a touch is a blow,

a sound is a noise,

a misfortune is a tragedy,

a joy is an ecstasy,

a friend is a lover,

a lover is a god,

and failure is death.”

– Pearl Buck

This is my absolute favorite explanation of what it means to be creative. And intense. I have been immersed in the world of writing for more than a couple of years now, meeting writers in every genre and at every stage in their career. And I can say that pretty much everyone I have met is intense to some degree – they all live the above poem.

I think emotional intensity refers to how a person interacts with their world. At its best, it enables the reader to bring the level of emotion to their stories that creates “voice”, it allows for connections between the reader and writer, between the writer and the world, and it gives the writer the perseverance and drive necessary to make it in this crazy business.

But, at its worst, it becomes the internal turmoil that has the power to consume the writer from time to time – sometimes with highly dysfunctional and disastrous results.

But good – or bad – it is ultimately who were are! The trick, learning to manage it.

Learning to take the good aspects of intensity – the ability to fully suck the marrow from life and pour it onto the page – and manage it against the bad. Learning to balance the demands of a writer’s life – not to mention the crazy roller coaster ride of emotions that happens regardless of emotional intensity.

Learning to harness the intensity into a tool for writing.

Yep, managing emotional intensity is the key!

What are your thoughts? Are you intense? Odds are really good that you are.

 Links!!

Christine's Blog
Growing Up Gifted Blog
Christine's Website

Ten Word Tuesday with Christine Fonseca

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. 

~Ray Bradbury

 Links!!

Christine's Blog

Growing Up Gifted Blog

Christine's Website

Interview with Christine Fonseca

 To start off our Emotionally Intense week, I asked Christine if she'd do an interview so we could introduce the topic and get to know her a little better :)



MM: So, what exactly is emotional intensity?

CF: To Quote my upcoming book, Emotionally Intense, emotional intensity can be described as "strong and intense emotional reactions to various situations." This can range from being really happy, almost to to point of being manic, to being sad to the point of depression. More often it means vacilating between the two - feeling consistently off-balance because of the way in which you respond to the world around you. For the women reading this, it's like extreme PMS 24/7!

I'll talk more about this in my guest post on Wednesday, but that gives you a pretty good working definition.


MM: LOL Yep, "feeling consistently off balance" pretty much describes how I feel when it comes to writing, revising, querying, and just about everything else in my writing world :)

In your book, you discuss emotional intensity in regards to gifted children. I know in my experience, most of the “creative type” people I know are pretty emotionally intense. Are creativity and intensity related? In other words, are all emotionally intense people gifted?


CF: Great question (not to mention a great follow-up book - Hmm...think I need to write that!). I do believe all gifted people are emotionally intense. But I do not think all emotionally intense people are gifted.

Creative people are - I think it is related to the way in which emotionally intense (and creative people) interact with the world. A good friend, Danyelle, calls it "painting in bolds while the rest of the world is painting in pastels". On Wednesday, I'll share my favorite poem describing intensity...In both of these examples, creative people fit the mold as easily as gifted people do.

I read something in an interview with Leah Clifford last week that rang very true - and on-point with this topic. She said "It's not easy being friends with a writer..." - Man, that is an understatement! We are a very angsty lot. Or, in other terms, we are very emotionally intense!


MM: As you said, we’ll get a little further into how writing and intensity relate on Wednesday. For now, can you tell us a little about your book?

CF: Love to. Emotionally Intense: Learning to Cope With Your Gifted Child's Outbursts (Prufrock 2011) was written specifically to help parents navigate the often intense world of gifted children. More than a book of parenting theory, it has strategies to de-escalate kids and give them the greatest gift any parent can bestow - the ability to recognize, monitor, and adjust their OWN behavior. I wrote it in a conversational tone with the hopes that it would be the dog-eared, coffee-stained book parents turn to like they would an old friend - something to help them remember how to cope with their kid's outbursts.

MM: What about you? Besides being a very talented writer and one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met…who is Christine Fonseca?

CF: Holy Cow...kinda open-ended, yeah??? I guess I am an emotionally intense writer! Okay I am more than that too....I am the mom of 2 amazingly intense kids, with an equally amazing and intense husband. I work as a school psychologist by day, and spend most evenings writing. When I am not doing those things, I swim, run, surf, ski, hike, and otherwise try to suck the marrow out of life! I write YA to stay in touch with that part of my soul...and I LOVE it more than I can say!!!

MM: Tell us a little about finding your agent and your road to publication

CF: Well, I really owe you and Elana for that...I was never planning on finding an agent for my NF. The world of publication for books related to giftedness is SMALL (they don't call it a niche market for nothing). But the reality is, I didn't think I could do it all on my own, so I wanted to find an agent.

After querying for a relatively short amount of time, I found Krista Goering of the Krista Goering Literary Agency. I was impressed with her knowledge of the niche I was venturing into (she had done her homework before we spoke), as well as her ideas regarding the agent/writer relationship. We landed the book deal pretty quickly after signing. We have other projects in the works as well, so hopefully more books related to giftedness are in my future.

Now, my world of fiction is different all together. I write YA fiction and am currently seeking representation for my completed ms, A BEAUTIFUL MESS.

Thanks for the interview!

MM: Thanks so much for stopping by this week, Christine!

This topic really fascinates me, especially in how it relates to writers. The quote from Leah's interview is so true - it's NOT easy to be friends (or a significant other of) a writer LOL The term "emotionally intense" just hits the nail right on the head :)

Be sure to stop by the rest of the week for more with Christine Fonseca and Emotional Intensity!

LINKS!!

Christine's Blog
Growing Up Gifted Blog
Christine's Website

Hmmm...Vote?

Do we like this background or the old red one better?

As you can see, I spent my weekend procrastinating all sorts of things ;-D

Author Spotlight Week

First of all, Happy Easter!!!!!

I've had this planned for a couple months now, but it goes along well with last week's authorly journey/pay it forward week that many of my friends participated in. In fact, I had so much fun doing that and preparing for this week that I've decided to make this a regular feature on my blog.

So, the second week of every month will be Author Spotlight Week. We will get to know a new writer every month and have fun discussing a topic that is close to their hearts.

For our first week, I've asked my very good friend, agent buddy, and crit partner, Christine Fonseca, to stop by.

Christine is the author of Emotionally Intense (Prufrock 2011), a book discussing the characteristics and needs of gifted children. While reading this fabulous book, I recognized a lot of my own quirks. Christine and I have spoken a lot about how many of the creative people we know (writers, artists, etc) tend to be a little on the intense side, emotionally.

Our conversations have been so interesting, especially in regards to how emotional intensity relates to writers and the act of writing, that I wanted to share this subject with all my wonderful readers.

Christine, our resident emotionally intense expert, will stop by this week and discuss with us this very interesting topic.

This will be the schedule for the week:

Monday - Interview with the fabulous Christine
Tuesday - 10 Word Tuesday brought to us by our emotionally intense guru
Wednesday - a guest post by Christine - Intensity and Writing – A Match Made in Heaven…Maybe
Thursday - 30 Word Thursday brought to us by Ms. Awesome, Christine :)
Friday - Emotionally Intense Funnies

I hope you all stop by this week and join us :) Christine has come up with some great quotes and you definitely don't want to miss her posts!

Friday Funnies

A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read. 

~ Mark Twain

A good novel tells us the truth about it's hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

-- G. K. Chesterton

Blog Chain: Who Do You Write For?

*first, a tiny confession: I HATE April Fool's Day. Having been the butt of many jokes, a whole day devoted to pranks, lies and practical jokes just isn't my idea of fun* 

*and this ISN'T an April Fool's thing....I hate it* 

*Really :D*

Okay, enough of that - let's get to our blog topic! This time I get to pick the topic and it was really kind of hard for me. Not because I couldn't think of anything, but because I thought of too many things LOL I had a few ideas percolating, and ended up going with one that my awesome agent bud and total BFF Christine shared with me. It's actually something I've been doing a lot of thinking about lately and I'm curious as to how others writers feel. So, here it is. I want to know:

Do you write for the market or for yourself? Why? Are there times you do both? Or times when you've written something specifically because it was "hot" at the moment? If so, how did it turn out?

I'm really curious about this. I've certainly heard trends and thought, "Ooo it would be fun to write something like that and I've got a great idea with a hopefully new twist!"
And followed through on it, writing a book specifically for that particular trend (my last book, for instance).

I've had ideas that I loved, really wanted to write, that also happened to be a hot market item, though that wasn't my motivation (like my current WIP).

And I've had story ideas that have nothing whatsoever to do with any trend or market hot topic (like my first book, or my other current WIP - which was hard for me to start, by the way, because it really is kind of different and I don't think anyone will ever want to see it - but I can't get it out of my head so *shrugs* what's a writer to do?) :)

So how about you? Who or what do you write for? And why?