Let The Writting Commence!

So, as my friends already know, for the last five weeks I have been buried under mounds of essay writing and enough literary analysis to make you puke. Today, I am proud to say, I not only see the light at the end of the tunnel, I have dug my way free and clear. What does this mean? Why, I now have two glorious days with which to write, silly!


Now, don't take that too literally. I am known to shuffle my feet when I am anything less than inspired. But, sometimes, it is necessary to dive into that murky water in order to find something so elusive as inspiration--the little devil. Last night I sat down and had a long heart to heart with myself. I took a step back and looked at all my started, but never finished, projects and decided on one that called out to me. I reread what I have and was pretty proud of myself I must say. Not too shabby. Thing is, I have to force an outline because I'm tired of getting bogged down by the now what's. This is is going to be difficult since I am a fly by your seat kind of girl. I often don't know what I am writing until I sit down to write it. It's kind of a wonder I have ever finished anything really.

So, that's my plan. Sit down, create some super disorganized, severely marked-up plan, then start writing. I'm hoping to get at least two good pages out of this tonight. Hopefully. Somewhere in between this time I have to find a place to carve out mommy time, slip into my exercise guru persona so I can sweat it out to the oldies, and tend to my wifely duties (i.e. movie night!). As you might imagine, it can be pretty difficult to locate anything remotely inspirational let alone have a fully functional focused mind amid all the chaos. So, wish me luck as I venture into uncharted territory tonight.

Let Operation: Let The Writing Commence, commence........................NOW!

Pondering...

I spent my morning talking with a dear friend. Like always, as we exchanged pleasantries, we got into our talks of writing, family....world domination. We decided, wouldn't it be great if we took the best of our creative genius--her wicked sense of humor and gift of gab and my, well, organized state of mind--and pooled our resources to created mind-blowing works of art? I mean, the kind where some poor sap walks into a book store, sees this beautiful, unassuming cover, smiles, scoops it up and cracks it open and immediately turns pale but he's so hooked already he can't put it down, even if it's to his detriment. Obviously, we have no business marketing to the little tikes perusing the kiddie section.

So, after much discussion, we decide, let's write a children's book!
Needless to say, I can't wait to get started. I mean, I've always wanted to be responsible for shaping the world's future leaders. What better way to do it. Besides, what harm could it do. I've seen this generation of malefactors, I honestly don't think our little bit of mental warping is going be the straw that breaks the camel's back or anything. And really, how much harm can we do, after all we've already survived the Bush Administration (Burn! haha!).

So, back to the kiddies.
This is going to be so much fun! Already my mind is teaming with ideas. We've already decided that our very own children will be the test subjects in this little experiment. Because, as any self--respecting "scientist" knows, you have crack a few eggs to make an omelet. That said, I'm off to check my formulations and hit the drawing boards. Have a beautiful day all!

Brandi

Another One Bites The Dust

Look to the right of the screen. What do you see? A ridiculously gorgeous girl, I know. But what you don't see lurking beneath that deceptively angelic exterior is a fiendish devourer of books. Day after day, week after week, that girl ruthlessly plows through books with an appetite that is no less than voracious. Why am I telling you this you might ask. Well, that's because this girl has found yet another wonderful read that has widened her eyes, her views, and her imagination.

Quite often (about twice a week) I pick up a book and allow myself to get swept away in a world of romance and fantasy. I often pause to ponder what about this one is capturing my attention? What is it that makes this one so special? The answer is, I don't know! It just has that voice, that unique quality that pulls at the strings of my imagination and makes me say, maybe I can write like that. And so, I do. Or at least I try. This is what I am always talking about, for hours on end, about challenging yourself. You will never know what you are capable of if you always stick with the tried and true. You have to expand. Try a different P.O.V., a new technique, a new "voice". Don't be afraid of failure. Honestly, what's the worst that can happen? You realize it stinks and scrap it? Now, to a writer, throwing that love child, no matter how deformed, away may be like cutting off your own arm. I know, but that's what file folders are for! It can sit there, hidden in the cobwebbed attic of your PC, indefinitely, or until you find a use for it. Either way, you tried, right? And now you are better for it.

So, this book that has me feeling so inspired....
Like most books I read (really, I don't seek them out, they find me. Honest!) this one is a vampire novel. Written by Mari Mancussi, Night School had me from its opening line. I realized almost right away that it was the second (at least) in the series, and, normally I would stop there and wait until I could go back and read the first, but that made absolutely no difference in this case. I couldn't put it down! It's a first--person with a deliciously wacky sense of humor. It takes stabs at Twilight (gasp!) and references some pretty famous people in history, rewriting everything we were taught in a fantastic way. The plot is simple enough, but who said a book had to be a brain teaser in order to be good. Point is, with each book I pick up, I take notes. I try to see how it works, why it works, and so on. I try to learn from it and apply that knowledge so I can shape my own voice in my work.

With all that said, I am going to spend the remainder of my morning finishing this book off, ruthlessly!


Brandi

Overloaded

Lately I've been working on getting my story "Faerie Tales: Misfortune of a Teenage Socialite" transferred onto Kindle. It's hard work! Juggling school and family life with the extras like writing and promoting. Thankfully I am a very detail oriented person. The bad thing is I am a bit of a perfectionist. I can't count how many times I've made changes and set myself back another hour, day, week, but I finally blundered my way through it and have it available on Amazon. For now, I wait for my hard work to pay off.

The nice thing about promoting: it gives me a break from the stress of writing. Now, some people scoff at that idea. "Stress! What is she talking about?" I assure you, writing is stressful. Or maybe it's just me. Coming up with an idea is as easy as breathing. It's executing that idea, coming up with the characters, the right names, places, and descriptions, not sounding redundant, making it flow as smoothly on "paper" as my mind sees it without leaving something out in the process of getting it right. And, even now this proves true, keeping my mind focused while my kids scream like banshees and tear apart the house. These are the things that make writing stressful.

In the end, I can't stress how important it is to have support from friends and family. Especially those who share in your passion. When you feel like you've hit a road block, like I often do, those people prove invaluable. Even now, I jump on Facebook and connect with a couple of gals who rock my world with amazing ideas and hysterical commentary until my mind is so full of stuff that I can't help but write. It's truly a blessing. 

Fool Proof Plan For Survival

So my gal pal says, why don't we blog together? She throws out ideas. I pick this one. Why? I say, why not! Everyone needs to know what to do if their neighbor shows up that their door looking to borrow more than a cup of sugar. So here's the plan should the proverbial shit hit the fan.

First, scream. Followed quickly by grabbing all essential items.

1. Backpack- You have to have something to carry it all in!
2. Books- For those lonely night on the run.
3. Matches- I'm no girl scout.
4. Ipod- Theme music for when I'm bashing heads.
5. Full body chain mail suit- I'd like to see them bite through that!
6. Titanium baseball bat- Beats running out of ammo.
7. A can of hairspray and a lighter- For the times when distance is essential.

Now that I have everything, it's time to head out. In this case, I've heard Walmart is a good place to hole up. I choose to hoof it because zombies like shiny things that go vroom! On the way, I pick up a couple friends and a few stragglers-- this is important as you will need some sacrificial lambs if you want to survive.Of course some of these people don't adhere to my warning to stay calm and be quiet, thus calling immediate attention to our group. As leader, I am forced to debilitate them and yell, "Run!" guiding my remaining team to safety. Once at Walmart, I create a rag tag team of misfit warriors. We gather all manner of weaponry available in Hunter's Corner and take to the roof where we proceed to pick off those mindless freaks and save the world...or the greater part of Northwest Ohio as it were.

Now, I'm sure this isn't your typical blog by any means, but zombies is an important topic. With the nuclear reactors melting down in Japan and what not, it's totally feasible that the soldiers in Afghanistan could mutate into flesh eating monsters is it not? And if you've ever seen that old zombie flick with the zombie shark, you know that this condition is sure to spread, and fast. The only question left is, will you survive?