The WOOHOO I'm Finished Grand Giveaway!!!

First of all, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday

And second of all - I FINISHED THE BOOK!!!!!

Well, mostly LOL I did finish all the chapters and major rewrites. I do still have a medium-sized tweak for chapter 5 to do and a few minor tweaks throughout the book. BUT, all chapters, 1-17, the introduction, and the about the author section have been completed and the little stuff left will be done in a couple days.

So.....I'm feeling the need to celebrate :D

This one will be easy - just make sure you are a follower and leave a comment ON THIS POST. And that's it! You are entered! I will take entries until Saturday night at 11:59 pm.

Now for the prizes!!!

When I finish a project, I generally celebrate by diving into a good book, eating some good chocolate, and buying some gorgeous jewelry from my amazingly talented friend Bonny (who is also doing a giveaway on her blog, so click on her name and go check it out!).

So, I thought I'd share my celebration with you :) The glorious grand prize will include:

A beautiful bracelet from Bonny Lass Jewelry:

Yummy mouth-watering gourmet apples from Mrs. Prindables:

And a $10 gift card to the online book dealer of your choice  :)

Extra Entry Opps:

- Be or become a Follower of my other blog (which I promise I'll start posting more on!) Papers, Prose, and Poetry = +1

and

- Tweet, blog, Facebook, or otherwise share the joy = +1 for each (for a total of 4 extra entries)

So everyone has the opportunity for 6 entries - but you MUST leave a comment on this post to enter, so don't forget! Let me know how many points you have in your comment and I will announce the winner next Monday. 

Good luck and thanks for celebrating with me!!!

Another cool post from the awesome Cole Gibsen :D

Had to take another brief moment to tell you that if you haven't read Cole Gibsen's post on Writing Like an X-Man, then you need to run, not walk, over to her blog. Seriously, one of the best posts EVER. :D

We Interrupt This Unplugged Week for a Quick Update...

Just wanted to toss up a quick update - I'M ALMOST FINISHED!!!! I have about 1.5 new chapters to finish and then a few minor tweaks throughout the book and then I'm D.O.N.E. !!

I'm getting a little giddy - and I'm thinking we might need to celebrate with something like, oh, I don't know, a super cool HOLY COW I FINISHED giveaway or something :D

If I can keep this up, I'll be relaxing and reading amidst a stack of to-be-read books by this weekend. So check back Monday! There may just be an awesome celebration to share in! :D

How is everyone else doing out there?

Unplugged Week

I'm signing off for the week! I really want my book done and out the door before my kids are out of school for the summer. Somehow, I don't think I'll be getting a lot of work done when they are running around all day :D

See you all Monday! May everyone have a happy and productive week :) Oh! And if you haven't headed to Elana's blog yet, go go go!! She's doing some awesome giveaways all week to celebrate the sale of her book, Control Issues. Go enter!

Something Better than Friday Funnies

Okay, I know I said we'd do Friday Funnies today, but something happened that needs to be addressed instead.

After months of waiting to celebrate, I can finally share the amazing, wonderful and ultra-exciting news that my sweet and incredibly talented friend, Ms. Awesome Herself, Elana Johnson

HAS A BOOK DEAL!!!!!

Can I get a WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Here is the announcement from PM:

Elana Johnson's CONTROL ISSUES, set in a brainwashed society where those gifted with mind control best join the powers that be, but one rebel girl tries to beat them at their own game, to Anica Rissi at Simon Pulse, by Michelle Andelman at Lynn Franklin Associates (NA).

Congratulations Elana!!

Last one, I swear :D

Our Friday Funnies will be moved to Saturday as we explore the last of my present issues.

Without further ado - Issue #3:

I get a little intimidated - because I like to read during my down time. And when I'm holding a superbly awesome book in my hands, I'm thinking two things, pretty much simultaneously.

"This book is sooo good, I love it!!!"

and

"I will never write something as good as this, why can't I think of stuff like this, holy cow why do I bother!!?"

So, yeah, not so easy to pick up my own pen when I'm constantly comparing myself to other people.

Solution - lol suck it up, quit being a baby and (as my mother used to say when my siblings and I would be checking out what was going on with the peas and other undesirables in everyone else's dish instead of mind our own bee's wax) - Mind Your Own Plate!

And I found a few bits of awesome to go along with Mama's bit o' wisdom:

(this one comes from the same Richard Rhodes quote from yesterday...I just saved this line for today) ;-)

If you're afraid of what other people will think of your efforts, don't show them until you write your way beyond your fear.

I love this one - LOVE IT. Because I do love what I do, I love what I write. And that generally doesn't change until I send it out for it's first crit and it comes back covered in that lovely shade of red and I realize how much work it really needs :) But when I'm only concerned about what is going on in MY head *sigh* it be grand :)

Another bit o' awesome, from Frank Herbert:

The successful writer listens to himself. You get a writer's block by being aware that you're putting it out there.

He makes a great point. If I focus too much on "putting it out there" and not enough on listening to myself, I will never write anything again. I think listening to yourself, at least in the beginning stages, is essential, and something I need to try a little harder to do.

One last bit of awesome, from P.J. O'Rourke:

Write badly. Bad writing is easier.

LOL This one just made me laugh. It goes along with my own mantra that I'm supposed to be chanting every day "Just suck it up and do it." 

Yeah, so there are books out there that are going to be better than mine. So what? There are books out there that will be worse too. I need to listen to myself and if that proves difficult, suck it up and write anyway, knowing it's crap. Crap is fixable. But you can't fix something that doesn't exist - so just get something down.

Anyone else waiting in line at the Intimidation Station? Climb aboard Michelle's crazy train - we're leaving the station in 5 minutes :D

Welcome to my madness - part 2

Ready for issue #2? Here we go:

I get a little overwhelmed at the thought of all the work ahead. Sure, I get a new idea and I am all gung ho and totally excited to work on it. And then I sit down. And think about what happens after I finish draft one. And after I finish draft 100. And what happens if I can't get even that far because finishing draft 1 is so hard. And (get ready for some more capped one word sentences) it. FREAKS. ME. OUT. I freeze up, I get up, I do something else (see #1 from yesterday) :D

Solution? Awesomeness from Richard Rhodes

If you're afraid you can't write, the answer is to write. Every sentence you construct adds weight to the balance pan...If writing a book is impossible, write a chapter. If writing a chapter is impossible, write a page. If writing a page is impossible, write a paragraph. If writing a paragraph is impossible, write a sentence. If writing even a sentence is impossible, write a word and teach yourself everything there is to know about that word and then write another, connected word and see where their connection leads. A page a day is a book a year.

Anyone ever see What About Bob? (hilarious movie, btw) - Baby Steps. I just need to take baby steps when I get overwhelmed as I tend to do. I need to stop thinking about what's in front of me and focus on what is right in my face, right now. Why worry about the end of a project I haven't yet started? I need to focus on that chapter, that page, that paragraph, that word. 

The rest will come.

And speaking of doing a page a day, there is a Page a Day Challenge going on (I saw it HERE on Christine Fonseca's blog, but there are a ton of people signing up - check it out!)

Does anyone else find themselves overwhelmed by all that lies ahead of a new project? How do you handle it?