Yeah, how convenient. Jenna with tips for NaNoWriMo. And not participating just because she is editing her book that’s been optioned as a film. oooo muahahahaha Okay. The woman knows of what she speaks. Check. It. Out.
Lately, a lot of people have been asking me if I’m participating in NaNoWriMo this year. The answer, unfortunately, is no. Since I’m in the middle of editing my current WIP, I don’t have the time to join in. However, I wanted to offer up some advice to those of you who have accepted the daunting task of writing 50K words in one month.
Jen’s Top 10 NaNoWriMo Tips
1. Decide why you are participating
“I signed up just because.”
No, no, no! Don’t say this when people ask you why you’re doing NaNoWriMo. Give yourself a valid, reliable, motivating reason to participate:
“I’ve been slacking lately and need a kick in the butt.”
“I have a great idea for a novel.”
“People say NaNo’s impossible. I’m gonna prove them wrong!”
Whatever your personal motive, make sure you have one. Don’t sign up for NaNoWriMo just to sign up. If you do, I can almost guarantee…
“HELLO?! It’s dry in here!” My brain screamed at the top of its . . . whatever it has to scream at the top of with.
“’Sup?” I asked.
“Dude, we got nothin’.”
“What do you mean, nothin‘?”
“Seriously? I’m your brain and you are asking me what that means?” It asked. It sounded ticked.
I waited a moment, gathering my thoughts.
“Dude, I’m your brain, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I mean we have no more ideas up here. You need to get your butt in gear and stimulate us somehow,” it said.
“Okay,” I said. “You got any ideas?”
“You are a freakin’ froo froo. I just told you we’re dried up and you ask if I have any ideas.”
“Oh yeah. Okay . . . wait, then how am I supposed to come up with something if you have no ideas for me to come up with ideas?” I asked, realizing the real dilemma.
“Just figure it out. I’m taking a nap.”
Surviving the Blogging Dry Spell . . . Or How to plan for one.
Yes, the above is a real conversation I’ve had–a few times. Don’t commit judge me!
Remember that feeling when you first created your blog . . . and immediately wanted to change the name of it? And that was after you sat there 20 minutes coming up with the first name. Nah, I’m just kidding about the changing the name part—a little.
We had that giddy feeling of having a presence on the internet. We were now going to take over the world share our thoughts with others.
Then–dun dun dun.
We had to write our first blog post and, yes, we froze.
We were excited but our brains started hurting because we thought this was the be-all-end-all of our blogging career. The future relied on that first post. DOOM was on the horizon and we were freaking out and regretting we ever signed up for the Blog World Life!!!!
Boy, were we wrong. Drama Diva much? I get like that at times. Hey, we all have a touch of diva in us.
But that excitement is something we want to keep going. And wo/man, is it difficult at times. And you know what? It’s okay. It happens, just go with it.
You might look at my blog and wonder how I would know about a lack of excitement in blogging and finding that energy to create something new. All you see is the AMOUNT of articles/posts I have.
Variety is the spice of life, folks.
I do poetry, humor pieces, opinion pieces, post videos, rants, stories and I even interview bloggers and at one point on RonovanWrites I did Author Interviews, I’ve started a new site for that though.
Some sites like to do just one type of thing. If that’s the case, then keep in mind you might run into a dry spell. I said might? You WILL run into a dry spell. Even with variety it WILL happen.
How do you make it through a dry spell and get that excitement back?
Write while you are excited and hold some of those things in reserve. Don’t put everything out like a maniac like I have done. I’ve put out enough for two years worth of posts. In the beginning I would put it out as it came. Because the thought was that you needed content content content. But the habit you start is the habit you keep. Then I came to my senses and began to go ahead and schedule something for each day moving forward until I am done with that creative flow. I also have drafts of things I’ve done and folders on my computer with things to pull from if I need to.
Visit blogs and find inspiration there. I said find inspiration, NOT copy. There are times I will read something and think a few things; 1) That word used, I like that and can do something with it, 2) That turn of a phrase brings a memory to mind, or 3) That is just wrong and I need to write something factual about something along those lines. I don’t take an idea and then make it my own. Never do that. If you do something with an idea, give credit to whoever it was and then go with it.
Have a Reblog day of some of your favorite posts you’ve found and make that part of your regular schedule. Why? It allows you time to actually visit blogs when you might normally be writing because you think it’s all about you. And if you plan to do that, make sure to be someone who reads reblogs as well. Why? I’ve found that reblogs aren’t the biggest traffic inviters on my site. I try, but most times it just doesn’t work. Maybe I don’t present it right. But Reblogging does a lot of things. It helps you rest, and it gives your friends another outlet for their creativity and it shows your enjoyment of what they do. So if you are reading this, expect some reblogs here, and not just from my LitWorldInterviews site.
Be open to anything. Even if you do only blog one type of thing, be open how to interpret things to fit your content type. I created a Wordless Haiku for Photography even though I am not a Photography but I love seeing what people do with it.
Spend a day commenting on blogs. I tell you, having a conversation with your fellow bloggers can be a great stress reliever.
Read your comments on your blog posts. There are ideas waiting there for you.
Take a break. Yes, take a break. Who says you have to post every day? Take a mental break and recharge. Go out into the world and look around, pay attention, and write what you see.
There are a lot more things you can do, but only you know what they are. Just know that a Dry Spell in Blogging does not mean to stop Blogging all together. It happens to everyone. Dry Spell might even be the wrong words to use. You might just be going through a Down Spell, or a Blah Spell in your energy and you THINK it’s a Dry Spell.
Give it some time and then you’ll be fine. Don’t put a time limit on it. Don’t set deadlines for yourself ever. Deadlines are a killer in blogging. Blog because you want to blog and blog when you want to blog.
Well, that’s about it for me this week. My brain has said “stop now before you get into that you are stretching it too thin, Ronovan zone”.
Sit down and stay awhile. Hungry? Let me grab you something. Poetic Parfait is a delicious treat for the mind.
Read poetry, enter discussions about the poetic word, listen to music, and embrace words that intend to inspire.
I beganPoetic Parfait in 2011, and the amount of support it receives on a daily basis humbles me. I began to write poetry at this site as a way to help myself get through a period of depression. As I typed the lines, I found they helped me work through my feelings and darkness that I felt around me.
I first want to thank DazzlingWhimsy for creating this badge for the challenge.
#16
The rules are simple: For how to write a Haiku in English and using the 5/7/5 syllable pattern click here.
No words or numbers of any kind can appear in the images you use. This includes sign language . . . of any kind.
You can use just pictures and not put them in the format I have them here. I was being creative. The point of this is to have fun.
This is an example of one I created.
The Haiku was:
Moon Shadow Dancers
Heartbeats Stumble, falling in
Love Infinity
I know, not the best but it was better then the first one I posted.
Here’s the challenge; You created your own wordless Haiku for Wednesday or any day really, then either post a link in the comments here for everyone that visits to go see and/or ping back (or copy the URL for this post into your Haiku post) to this post in your Haiku post.
I will read it and comment on it. Once I comment come get the badge.
If some of you would like a theme to prompt you what to begin thinking of you can perhaps use. . .
Candy & Fruit
What do the words mean to you, and how can you connect the two words through that second line? You do not have to do the prompt, it is just a prompt to make you start thinking of things.
Something to keep in mind about a Haiku. Usually it is elemental in nature, but I don’t stick to that. There are two things I do like to see and they are; 1) Haiku that can be broken into two sentences with the middle line of the three lines being the commonly used part and 2) Opposite meanings in the first and last sentences.
Before you start!
I have links that will help you out. Remember for Haiku in English the total syllables are 5 for the first line, 7 for the second, and 5 for the last. I don’t really hold people to that for this but if you want to do it in the 5/7/5 manner, the traditional way, then try that. One link I have for you is . . . howmanysyllables.com. Simply type in the word and find out how many syllables it has. Also for synonyms and antonyms go to thesaurus.com, I find it useful for finding a word to fit the meaning when syllables are not working out right.
This weeks two words to use in some form, meaning you can use another word that means the same thing are:
Haunt & Release
My Example
Memories haunt me,
In times of least expecting,
My burdens released.
.
DEADLINE: Noon on Sunday New York Time.
(I hate doing deadlines, but it takes quite a while to complete the rewind.)
There are now things called “A RONOVAN’S CHOICE!” which simply means a Haiku that either touched me or was a stand out Haiku in structure and meaning.
Click the site names to see the Wordless Haiku for each.
The prompts they participants COULD use if they wished to were Green & Red. The prompts are only if you cannot come up with an idea.
Georgia of Through The Eyes of Bastet: I am so envious of the things this lady gets to do. And then she puts it in her Haiku. I think she knows it’s torture for me.
Dianne of Sweeter than Honey: Okay, this was a timely one. Don’t scroll down too far or you see the answer. Try it for yourself. 🙂
Jen of Blog It or Lose It: Love the presentation of this was. Excellent!
Here with the 15th Haiku Prompt Challenge Rewind, Recap, Round up . . . oh whatever you like to call it. It’s going to be a bit free flowing today to get things out to you. I love all the participation these prompts bring. I was told not to be so effusive with my excitement when I write about things, but I’ve decided that’s what is me and that’s what I will do. So let’s get his party started.
The prompt words were Promise & Gift. Both provided by yours truly. I being truly.
NEW To Us This Week!
Steven S. Walsky-Author whose blog is Simplicity Lane. “For Only Him“is what I am calling this one. You will find a few challenges on the page, interesting I thought. But the Haiku is there. I was most interested in the twenty word story. Not only check out the Haiku but also the books he has available. Should I dare say one mentions the word FREE? Oops, I see another one! Hope he doesn’t mind my pointing them out. And like I say on my LitWorldInterview site . . . Read a Book, Write a Review.
In order of appearance:
A.C. Elliott of File Cabinet Ramblings must have some of the quickest synapses in the east or west depending on where you are sitting right now. He gave us His Abundant Gift. The words beautiful, peaceful and lovely were repeated throughout the comments. @elliott_ac
Colleen of Silver Threading is up next with The Agreement. All around one of the most solidly structured Haiku I have come across. She did the making two sentences with the middle line being the end of one and the beginning of the other and she even slipped in a touch of seasonal imagery. Plus the Haiku itself was entertaining and her words were very nicely chosen. A RONOVAN’S CHOICE! @ColleenChesebro
Meredith and Martha of Meredith’s Musings, My Literary Angels provided 2X2 again this week. I chose Thoughts of Love for the title of their offerings as each one dealt with the subject. Someone even suggested the two should think about putting their efforts in a book. They range from humorous to serious. I never know what I’m going to come across from one week to the next. @meredithlbl
Ruth of Mad Meandering Me brought two Haiku this week, Embryo and Unborn. I have to say that I enjoyed and did not enjoy her subject at the same time. One was an aw moment, and the other was a moment of I really don’t know how to explain it. I think that’s why I will say I enjoyed them both in that they brought out those conflicting emotions in me. It wasn’t where I had thought the words would lead anyone but I like to see how minds work.
Cyril Bussiere gave us what I titled “Foolish Thought“. Cyril’s offerings always make my head hurt because they make me think. This week didn’t fail in that area. I’m not certain if he delves deep to find his words or if he just lets them flow. If not delving, I would be frightened how bad head would feel if he did. @cyrilbussiere
T.A. Wyatt of Finale to an Entrance gave us Halloween. I like that, straight forward. Go and see it. It is most definitely Halloween centered. Does that frighten you? Would it help if I said Elizabeth called it a “cutie”?
Kimberly of K.S. Fause gave us Eloquence. Is anyone surprised that she would give us something titled that? But did she deliver? You have to go see to find out, but I will give you a hint. A RONOVAN’S CHOICE! @ksfause
Carolyn of Reviews and Recommendations nailed the Haiku structure amazingly with I Promise You This. I really liked this one a lot. Lovers, read this one. Those who want to be lovers, read this one. Those who failed as lovers, read this one. A RONOVAN’S CHOICE!
Elizabeth of Tea & Paper brought us what I call “Vanishing Gifts“. A enjoyed the Haiku and I love the colors of her blog this week. So festive and cheerful. Much like what I think of her when I see her commenting on people’s Haiku.
Wendy of Wendy Anne Darling certainly delivered a message withIndian Giver. I would so not want to be on the receiving end of that nor do I understand who would ever be that insane with her. I imagine this must be simply a work of fiction. A RONOVAN’S CHOICE! I loved the attitude! @AuthorWDarling
Becca of On Dragonfly Wings with Buttercup Tea came up with Thousand Drops of Blood. Becca gave the two sentence structure and the opposing meaning that is key to a true Haiku. A great meaning in this one and tells a beginning of a story and the end of a story. A RONOVAN’S CHOICE! @rgbickerstaff
Canaf of Faithful Devotions shared Grace this week. A great message, of course. Grace is always a great message. Check out exactly what the message is.
Hugh of Hugh’s Views & News gave his seasonal offering of “Bearing Gifts“. Notice the spelling. We do keep things PG here. But with Hugh I do have to be careful when I click at times. Never know what might pop up. @RobertHughes05
Angie of Angie Does Until She Doesn’t, don’t you just love that blog name? Okay this week she gives us what I titled “Today is Your Gift!” I shouted because I think sometimes we don’t hear it when we remind ourselves of that message. Go give Angie a Virtual Hug with a Like today as she did some serious overcoming at work this week. Show her how proud we are! A RONOVAN’S CHOICE!, and not for the overcoming but the reminder in the Haiku. @mrsreadmorbooks
Kate of Dazzling Whimsy gives her what I call “Gifts of Devotion“. Kate only knows one way to write and that is with her heart. It doesn’t matter if it’s about a recipe or a poem, she’ll write it with heart. @17katelee
Claudette of to search and find happiness in everything returns to us this week with what I call “Dubious Entanglement“. There is humor here but also seriousness. I suppose it depends on which side of the entanglement you are on.
Florence of Rambling On brings what I have named “Denied Honor“. That might not fit exactly but thought about this for a time and thoughts swirled around in this addled mind of mine. A sad Haiku but then again when you read it from a positive side it is not so sad, and then it is both sad and not sad. I am totally confused now so I will stop. A RONOVAN’S CHOICE! @FTThum
Battered Wife Seeking Better Life wrote my named “Resonating“. The reason for the name is partly that the message of the Haiku resonates with you as you look at it’s meaning and word choices. I always look at the words people use in their Haiku because I think those words as opposed to a different word of similar meaning says a lot. @bwseekingbl
What a selection this week. From one end of the spectrum to the other. I think this might have been our most varied take on prompts yet. Kind of puts the pressure on to choose some good ones for #16. I have to put my thinking blanket on for this one.
It’s a rough Sunday morning today. The old body is not cooperating. Got one of them flares going today, well the past few it I am to be honest. I wasn’t going to do my Sunday Thought today but I needed a bit of the Word.
I was hoping God would say something like, “I shall taketh your paineth awayeth righteth noweth.” You know someday I’ll know what his voice really sounds like, as in the actual sound of it. I see his ‘voice’ all around me at work, so to speak.
So what verses did I get today from the websites I like to use to give me a bit of variety to my Bible studies?
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.-2 Corinthians 3:17
At first, if you don’t really read much of the Bible it doesn’t say much to you, but for me it did . . . after a moment. For me the Spirit is inside of me. The Spirit sets us free from a lot of things.
This brings to mind the saying “The Truth shall set you free.” The origin of that is Jesus talking about his being the Truth and those who know him and follow him will be set free. Free of what? Free of the consequences of all we’ve done here on earth when we pass on. Oh sure, we won’t get everything we could have in Heaven, all the rewards set aside for us, but as long as I get there, I’m good.
Maybe a better explanation is that we are free from being under the rule of sin. See, I’m not under that rule any longer. Sure, I will have to answer for things but as Mark Lowry said it “Sure Beats Hell”.
So what does that verse do for me in the middle of a Fribromyalgia Flare? It lets me know that eventually I’ll have a healthy and pain free existence down the line.
Along with this verse I received;
“And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”-1 John 4:21
When you have the Spirit inside of you and you have Jesus, and I mean for real, not just saying you’re a Christian, trust me there are a lot of Play-Christians out there, but when you are for real, then realize it’s easy to love your brother and sister. This doesn’t just mean your relatives. And by loving people it sure does take a lot of that pain of hating off of your body, your heart. The stress of hanging onto that grudge or that whatever goes away.
This even reminds me of something I wrote about where a celebrity said a few things recently about a, well I’ll call us civilians, but anyway, if the celebrity just took a step back then it would have been realized there was no reason for the reaction.
That Spirit frees you up from a lot of things, but you have to be active with it. Don’t just think because you walked an aisle or whatever to get saved one Sunday means you are automatically changed into a better person than you were. It’s the first step.
I was saved for a long time before I think I could really call myself a Christian. Things changed for me after that. Not everything, I still messed up because I was a dumb human. Still am one actually. Still mess up actually. But I at least am aware of what my mess ups are.
Do any of these verses take my pain away or cure me? No. But studying the Word does make one feel better about where we are and the future. You see, I know things may look bad, and I try to help and do the best I can while I am here, but I know that down the line I will be just fine. After all I’m a foreigner here in this land. My home is another place.
Well that’s about it for me today. I know it was a bit disjointed today, but I’m good with it.
Toys “R” Us was selling Breaking Bad action figures, including detachable bags of cash, and get this, bags of meth . . . in the kids section. I don’t think there is a grown up section in Toys “R” Us, but a Florida Mom decided to start a petition to have the figures removed.
The petition reads as follows:
“Toys R Us is well known around the world for their vast selection of toys for children of all ages,” she wrote. “However their decision to sell a Breaking Bad doll, complete with a detachable sack of cash and a bag of meth, alongside children’s toys is a dangerous deviation from their family friendly values.”
The Mom said;
“I thought the show was great,” she said. “It was riveting.”
Her purpose with the petition was to;
“Just to get those taken off the shelf and put them in an appropriate store.”
The petition worked.
Well the stars took to Twitter in response. Bryan Cranston, the star of the show actually responded in a somewhat humorous way;
Florida mom petitions against Toys ‘R Us over Breaking Bad action figures.’ I’m so mad, I’m burning my Florida Mom action figure in protest.
Kind of funny to me. I get the tongue in cheek thing he did there. He obviously, at least to my mind, could almost care less.
Then there was Aaron Paul’s reaction. I’m not going to quote his rants. The other star of the show whose toy got pulled from shelves was not as humorous or mature as Cranston, even referring to the Florida Mom as the ‘B’ word, if perhaps in a sideways manner.
He goes off on Toys “R” Us about violent video games and Barbie then ultimately ends with the ‘B’ word.
Paul, here’s what you don’t get or maybe more accurately don’t care about, games are mostly locked up or at least rated. These action figures were on shelves next to other harmless toys. Sure, it’s a toy, but you know what? Your characters glamorized drug dealing. Sure it didn’t really try to deliver that message but the stars of the show dealt in drugs. So guess what kids think?
Yeah I know it’s not that huge a thing maybe. You got a problem with it, why not petition Toys “R” Us to have a grown up collectors section to sell action figures such as yours where it is monitored to not allow kids in instead of going off on a mom who cares about morals. Yeah, I said morals. Glamorizing drug dealing is amoral. Period.
Toys “R” Us released this statement;
“The products you reference are carried in very limited quantities and the product packaging clearly notes that the items are intended for ages 15 and up. Items from this TV series are located in the adult action figure area of our stores.”
I guess it’s okay for the 15 year old to play with meth toys. And yes the packaging does say 15 and up. That does not mean it is guaranteed in the adult section. Not really getting that myself about meth okay for a 15 year old. Yeah, I know it’s toy meth. If you go to Amazon you will see the manufactured recommended age says 10 years and up. It doesn’t say anywhere the intended ages that are on the packaging nor is there an image of the packing. Wonder why no action there yet.
Anyone reading this might next go off on selling Iron Man or Tony Stark dolls because he drinks or Captain America because serums/drugs and scientific experiments turned him into the physical aspects of Captain America. Really what those characters show is what is inside that counted and work past there problems and move on. Tony Stark? Sorry, he’s not my favorite and never has been.
Captain America? Steve Rogers is what makes Captain America what he is. The guy who jumped on a grenade as a 98 lb weakling not knowing it was a dummy grenade because he wanted to save his platoon members.
Yeah, I know there is more to Breaking Bad than meth and all of that, but the action figures are not depicting that.
So Aaron Paul what if there were Celebrity Men Who Beat Their Wives action figures on the shelf next to Barbie, would you want a little girl seeing that?
The sad part of this is, some of you might not even know who Aaron Paul is and this is the only thing you know about him. But he’s tarnished himself a bit here. Want to know why?
If you, a celebrity, start calling out a Florida Mom on Twitter to, well I imagine millions of followers, guess what that is. Guess what it is when you start calling her the ‘B’ word to all those people, and then it gets in online entertainment sites followed by millions. It’s called Bullying.
Aaron Paul and his wife were part of an anti-bullying drive that raised almost $2,ooo,ooo for the non-profit Kind Campaign.
But you know, it won’t matter. This will be swept away while people who do minor things in life are outcasts forever. Good job Aaron Paul. Maybe someone will use you as a poster boy for an anti-bullying campaign against celebrities using their high horse to bully us common people.
The continuing saga of Ronovan’s search to save his friend Hugh from disappearing at the hands of the Grammar Black Market. Ronovan has joined up with The L. A. W., The League of Awesome Women to find out is happening. We find our hapless Chunk in the middle of the dark streets of Lubbock, TX the Fab Fem Five. If he only knew what had been going on in England with Hugh and Miss Maple and the Royals.
The cast:
AmiraCatElenaJennaKate
Lubbock, TX, population-just under 300,000 and home to three universities, it isn’t surprising we would find a major minor bad guy here, especially one that considers himself an academic.
“Ronovan is with us and we are about to go in,” said Jenna. I wondered who she was talking to on that wrist communicator thing all the L.A.W. members were wearing. I had an idea since her accent had gone all British that it wasn’t Dick Tracy. Knock knock jokes were not my forte. Let’s just say they ain’t in my rep-o-twar-ay. (To find out who Jenna was talking to click here.) I wiped my forehead . . . again. Nights were still hot in Texas, or was it the humidity?
Heat was still rising off the concrete sidewalk even though the sun had set over hours ago. I could smell the old exhaust fumes on the empty street. They burned my nose with each breath.
“Too bad we couldn’t bring the ship all the way,” said Kate. “But we’ll get to work the kinks out of our muscles after that long trip.” I had noticed Kate had a lot of energy or perk or something. I thought perhaps too many chocolate covered espresso beans in the L.A.W. Mobile or a few ‘bad’ mushrooms had found their way into her kitchen, but it turned out she was a fitness freak.
Yes, I said it. When it’s dark and you were walking down a dark, creepy street in Lubbock, TX, yeah, I’m going to call her a fitness freak. Just not to her face . . . or within hearing distance . . . of the planet.
“Slow down, Kate,” said Amira. “We can’t rush into this.” She glanced to her sister. “What do we have on Lubbock?”
Elena tapped the side of her glasses as we walked slowly along the dark street, leaving the safety of the camouflaged L.A.W Mobile farther and farther behind. Elena’s eyes moved back and forth rapidly. “Not much to worry about. There have been some weird reports of ‘zombie parties’ lately. Wish we could check one out. That would be so cool.”
“Not as cool as ours was,” said Amira. “I love that show. Zombies and TV and hit show, who would have thought.”
“Tru dat, home spice . . . nice . . . rice . . . you got that right, sis.” You had to love Elena as she was just so smart and adorable. All I could do was shake my head at the young lady I had come to think of as uber intelligent. Just like with me, stick with what you know, right? Ferizzle my frizzles. Word.
“So I am like so worried about my beta reader not liking my next chapter,” said Jenna, apparently finished with her knock knock jokes. Cheerfulness had a way of lightening even the darkest streets. But it was still creepy and exhaust fumey.
“Someone is reading your fish?” I asked.
“No, you silly. A beta reader is author geek for test reader. But authors couldn’t pass an English test if we tried so we like to call them beta readers or we freeze up at the thought of a test. Talk about humongoso writer’s block.” She flashed a smile.
“Stop that!” Cat growled. I jumped. Foot slipped. Body fell. Noise echoed. I was going to seriously need some new undies after this was over with. “That smile of yours keeps lighting up everything and gives us away.”
I stood up as quickly as possible from the hot concrete, keeping my distance from growly face.
“Oopsies, my bad,” said Jenna as she covered her smile with her hand. Dimples showed on either side. “But as I was saying, my beta reader won’t like that I wrote about an M&M invasion of Cookie Land. It’s not exactly in keeping with the book plot.”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little. I could just imagine the look on someone’s face reading that. I looked up and noticed we had fallen behind slightly. Kate had picked up the pace again and the others had followed along without noticing.
“Well you could always write about some whacked out security detail for the president run by cartoon characters. I bet that would really throw the reader off. But we better catch up to the others,” I said.
We both started walking a little faster when we were suddenly faced with a hit video from the 1980s. And I was not thrilled . . . at all.
“Excuse me,” I said as we tried to go around the party machine.
The bodies moved with us, not allowing us to pass. “Uh, Ronovan, dude, look,” said Jenna. I looked where she was pointing.
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Amira! You’re missing the partyyyyy,” Jenna called out.
All we could see around us were people dressed up like zombies. “You know, you’re a bit old to be doing the zomtusi,” I said to the man who was either 20 years older then I or 20 younger. I had a bad feeling. The makeup was great but I wasn’t sure Hollywood was called in for just a party to make people look this bad this good. “But I am seriously hoping to hear some Vincent Price voice coming through a boom box somewhere and a beat kickin’ it.”
One of them reached out and grabbed Jenna’s arm. She did what any woman would do. Now I don’t know about that whole zombies feeling no pain. But this one felt pain as he dropped to his knees clutching his zombies.
“Well they aren’t the dead kind,” said Jenna. Random one-liners came to mind but before I could do anything she kicked it up a notch.
The next thing I knew all I could see was blonde hair flying all around and the bright light from her smile blinding our attackers. I felt hands grab my neck from behind. I screamed like a . . . high pitched voiced man? Yeah.
That’s when the rest of the L.A.W. arrived. I’m not going to attempt to describe the action that took place next as they all did some serious To Wong Foo Julie Newmar moves on some Crouching Zombies Hidden Aladdins, yeah apparently one of the guys didn’t know the theme of the party and came as Aladdin, and quickly had things under control.
Elena knelt beside one of the unconscious undead or whatever. “These guys are legit. This isn’t makeup,” she said. “Those zombie parties might have been more than reported.” She looked around. “Anyone have any wine?”
“Then what’s with the Arabian Nights guy over there?” I asked.
Amira looked at the guy in a little vest and balloony pants as she handed Elena a flask. Then looked back at me. “Hey, we hit first.”
“I know and ask questions later,” I said.
“No, we just hit first. We usually aren’t around for later,” she said. “Why do people bother with waiting around for asking questions? It just causes law suits and hurt feelings.”
“You think this zombie crap is that powder concoction they use in the islands?” Cat asked.
Amira looked around at the bodies. “If so it would take a lot of it. Not sure where they would get a big batch of puffer fish powder around here.”
Elena passed the flask back to her sister. She had a yuck face on. “Did you guys press that with your feet after a soccer game?” She asked.
Amira turned the shiny metal container upside down. “Apparently you like Chateau le Foot 2012.”
“Texas Tech University Health Services Center is here. They would have just about any chemical or powder you would need, I would think,” said Kate. Thank goodness hew as looking at her wrist communicator. I saw the screen and she was playing Minecraft. “Mandi, don’t do that or I will seriously kick your cheery butt when I get home,” she mumbled.
I nodded slowly and turned. “So someone with a bit of medical background and knows some biology stuff, huh?” I stopped and looked at Amira and Cat. “How do you know about puffer fish and zombies?” I was getting a little creeped out. Okay, I was way past that.
“Do you need to know?” Cat asked as she took a step toward me. A whistling sound echoed through the dark streets. Everyone lifted an ear as if trying to detect where it came from, everyone but me.
“Um, it sounds like you’re right, Ronovan,” said Elena. We were still on the same track.
“Uh, guys,” said Jenna. “Yeah, I think they really want to party with us.”
We all turned and looked up the street the way we had been walking. There were dozens of zombies headed our way. I turned. “They have friends,” I said. There were more behind us. I couldn’t believe it.
“Ladies,” said Amira. “Let’s get ready. Cat, get the attitude on. Kate pump up the perky. And Jenna . . .”
“Yeah?”
Amira’s eyes narrowed. “Lock and load the dimples,” she said. “We got some zombie butt to smack down.”
“Yay, I love butt smacking,” said Jenna.
I just wanted Chinese food, some tacos and a football game. What was I doing in the middle of a zombie butt smack down?
NaNoWriMo
Yes I said it out loud and it sounds awesome. I signed up once but was to shy to actually do it. I hate myself for it to this day but it was write after my accident and I wasn’t really up for it I suppose.
JoRobinson, Author and Goddess of writing and self-publishing gives awesome advice. Go check her new article out on LitWorldInterviews.
I took part in the NaNoWriMo event in 2012, and completing that crazy, epic sprint to the end taught me more than I expected about the job of writing. First and foremost is the daily word quota. The more you fall behind, the less chance you have of catching up, and writing just under 1 700 words a day seems daunting. The thing is, that most of us write more words than that every day without thinking about it. We blog, we interview, we write bits of our works in process. It’s absolutely doable though.
The beauty of the NaNo is that you get to leave chunks out. You just pop over anything you’re not sure of and write on, because editing during NaNo is death. The urge to go back and at least read over what I’d written so far nearly took me out, but I knew that if…
Thom Tate, author of now 5 novellas in the Covert World series is the guest today on Lit World Interviews. Action, Thrills, Dark Ops, Fast Paced. That’s his books not the interview, although the interview is pretty fast paced now that I think of it.
“Great pace, great characters, great plot – a great story. If you like a good dose of James Bond, Jason Bourne or Will Robie – then you’ll love this new Blake Mackay story. You’ll be engaging with the characters, the antagonist ‘Petrovich’ being a personal favourite, while the thought out plot pulls you along without problems to the very end.”-Amazon Review of Red Storm “A great read !. Blake is Hero in every aspect of the word with a fantastic taste in high-tech toys, too!”-Amazon Review
Fast paced action and thrills. I’m talking about the books of my guest today, not necessarily the interview, but hopefully you’ll find that entertaining as well. 5 novellas, one lead character. Seriously, what more could you ask for? Let’s get this things started and have me be quiet. Meet . . .
PS Bartlett is an award winning author who works as part of the team for my Lit World Interviews site. Here she tells how she came to be that award winner and beyond. Great advice. Great story. I took notes as I secretly read it before it published. (It’s good to be the admin on the site 😀 )
Two and half years ago, I was walking on a treadmill at the gym and a memory came to me of how I’d always wanted to write a book.
I’ve been very busy for the past thirty or so years, so I suppose calling myself a late bloomer is appropriate. On this particular night, however, I felt something come over me as if I was possessed. I’m not sure what triggered it or whether the thought came from somewhere internally or I saw or heard something that brought it to the surface. All I knew was I had a story to tell. I didn’t know it then but apparently, I had many stories to tell. Here I am three published stories later with no end in sight—thank goodness.
Here’s how it all started.
In February of 2012, my life was a lot different than it is right now. My son…
Paranormal is her norm, now she’s throwing some romance our way. Great answers, a nice lady. Come over and support her and check out her book. Why do the bad boys grow up to be . . . well, read the book.
“I signed up just because.”
ronovanwrites 