Book Review: Athena

I apologize for having a late blog today.  I went to see Les Miserables with my husband and I was completely blown away.  Hugh Jackman was amazing.  I don't think I've been pulled through a movie with that sort of emotion in a very long time.  I truly loved it.  Then I ran to the store to grab a few more things for our New Year's Eve party and it was a madhouse!  The lines were long, the people were cranky (especially...

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First Page Friday

The last First Page Friday of 2012!  This year has flown by and I've learned so much.  I hope you have found it helpful.  We still have one spot open for January, so if you would like your first page critiqued, please follow the guidelines on the sidebar.Thank you to our editors and authors from the bottom of my heart for all your hard work.  See you next week!The EntryNightmareby Holly KellyPresent Day –Deep in the Mediterranean Sea Jagged rocks twisted, towered over and surrounded Ax, cocooning him a dark, watery prison. The...

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Kinda Thinking About Writing Again & A Cool Thing I Found

With the holidays coming to a close, my attention is turning to my manuscript again.  I even had a few ideas come to me.I did find a cool worksheet (at www.martinaboone.com) with stuff to use in my character bible and I thought I'd share with you.Here's her Character Brainstorming WorksheetI really liked how in-depth it went and it made me stop and think about my characters in a new way.  (Thanks, Ms. Boone!) Not to mention that it's springboarding me in some plot ideas.  Sometimes you just need that as a writer.I hope you find...

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Happy Boxing Day!

I hope all my Canadian friends are enjoying Boxing Day today.  I am snug and cozy in my blanket with a new book I got for Christmas.  It's snowing outside and I'm grateful for a warm home and lots of leftover food from our Christmas celebration.How do you celebrate the day after Christm...

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Merry Christmas!

For all my blog family---I hope you are surrounded by love today as we celebrate our Savior's birth. MERRY CHRISTM...

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Meeting the Browns from Sister Wives

So, I have a confession---I watch Sister Wives.  It's a TV show about a polygamous family, Kody Brown and his four wives.  It's interesting to see how they try to make things work and sometimes it's like a train wreck---you just can't look away.  Overall, though, it's been a show that I've enjoyed watching. On Saturday night I'd had a bit of a stressful day with last minute shopping (for white elephant gifts.)  (I sort of hate those right now) and so my husband took me to my favorite shake shop to unwind.  While we were...

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First Page Friday

In my last minute Christmas shopping, I was at a women's department store and saw a very hairy man wearing a Kermit the Frog knitted hat and a low cut spaghetti strap dress, shimmying his way down the aisle.  The funniest thing was no one seemed to think much of it and went about their shopping.  I really want to put that sort of a character in one of my stories one day.  Maybe that was something on his bucket list, since the world's going to end today and all  Of course, if it is the last day of the world, I think it's important...

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Tension, Suspense, and Surprise! Writing Techniques Offered For Free Today

As an early Christmas gift to all my writing friends, I'm going to tell you about something my critique partner Jordan McCollum is offering today.If any of you know Jordan, you know she is amazing and has a writing blog where she offers PDFs with specific writing techniques.  She's helped fellow writers for a long time.  Well, today, her new PDF Tension, Suspense, and Surprise is available, and all you have to do is use her new Tweet button found here to tweet about it and you will get it for free!  A truly great deal. This...

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Word Count Wednesday

My little girl came into my room at 3 a.m. and I couldn't go back to sleep after that.  I finally just got up at 5:30 because I needed to be to an appointment at a government office (immigration) by 8 a.m.  Let me tell you, that is an experience.  When we approached the room, there were three armed guards, a metal detector, I was wanded and had to show my ankles, and my stuff was searched.  Then I sat in a little room and waited.  While in said room, a guy got on his cell phone, even though it clearly said no cell phones...

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Hawaii Five-O--The Fix I Needed

It was raining/snowing last night and we took our family to look at Christmas lights.  The little kids oohed and aahed, but the big kids were debating the best lines from Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Not exactly conducive to the Christmas spirit, but hey, at least they weren't arguing and/or whining.  I was happy for that.I came home, everyone got ready for bed, and I snuggled in my blanket and turned on the TV for my show.  I needed a Hawaii fix and this was my one chance to get it before Christmas.  Thank you Hawaii Five-O...

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Book Lover's Holiday Hop Winner & Christmas Stories--Got Any Good Ones?

With the Frog Blog Christmas Reunion last week, I'm afraid I didn't announce who won the Book Lover's Holiday hop last week.The winner of the Book Lover's Basket is:  *drum roll*M.R. Buttars!!Congratulations!  I will be contacting you for a snail mail address for your prize package.I have been reading Christmas stories these past two weeks like The Candy Cane Queen by Janice Sperry, (so cute and fun! Really a great read.)  Bah Humbug by Heather Horrocks, (loved the premise of this one, even if the ending might be a little too happy....

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Frog Blog Christmas Reunion---Sariah Wilson

Were this a true Frog Blog reunion, my post would show up sometime in the next few days when I finally got around to blogging.  But since everyone else is being so timely, I will only be a few hours late.In the last eighteen months I went from feeling as if I totally wanted to give up on writing to being thoroughly inspired to get myself back in the game, thanks to indie publishing.  I felt like the writing was on the wall and I could see what was coming (and is happening now) in the publishing industry.  I didn’t want to leave my...

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Frog Blog Christmas Reunion---Kerry Blair

Just for the record, I voted to hold this reunion next week. My thought was that it would make a nicer gift coming that much closer to Christmas, and . . . okay! Hold your comments! I’ll come clean. My actual reasoning was that if we “reunited” next week my day would fall on Friday, December 21 and, with any luck at all, the ancient Mayans would be right, the world would end, and nobody would ever know I missed yet another Friday! (Worst case scenario: the world wouldn’t end, but none of you could expect me to hear that news from my bunker deep...

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Frog Blog Christmas Reunion---Julie Coulter Bellon

I have had so much fun this week seeing a little "Christmas letter" from my frog blog friends.  I miss the old gang sometimes.  But I don't know if I have very much to say that you guys don't already know because, well, I blog pretty much every day.  I'll try to hit the highlights and not bore you.  Back in January I went down in my basement and looked at the thirteen boxes of paper we'd carted around for years.  I had kept every paper my kids had ever worked on in school because I thought it was precious and I'd scrapbook...

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Frog Blog Christmas Reunion---Stephanie Black

Merry Christmas and Hoppy New Year! (Someone had to say it, right?)Thank you to Julie for organizing the Frog Blog Christmas Reunion! It’s an honor to be blogging with my Frog Blog friends again. Like Rob, I’m so grateful for the friends I made on the blog, both among bloggers and readers. Thank you to everyone who supported us in our Froggie years. One of the absolute hugest blessings of being a writer is being part of this incredible community of writers and readers. During the many years when I was writing (and rewriting, ad infinitum—or nearly)...

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The Frog Blog Christmas Reunion---Robison Wells

Getting the Band Back TogetherSo it's been 18 months since the death of the Frog Blog, and much has happened. 18 months ago, I had just started a new job. Well--shocker!--I was laid off from that job. So, if we were still blogging once a week, you would have surely heard me complain about the state of the economy, and then someone would have made anonymous political comments, and discussion would ensue with all the righteous indignation and that an anonymous internet commenter can muster, and then I would probably take the next week off...

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The Frog Blog Christmas Reunion---Jeff Savage

I’m not sure how Julie will introduce this series of posts, so let me just say that as former writers of Six LDS Writers and a Frog, we had a great time, made good friends, and hopefully kept a reader or two entertained. We eventually ended the blog, but have retained the friendships and thought it would be fun to share with all of you who followed us by doing a Christmas reunion. We aren’t bringing back the “Frog Blog.” But it’s fun to get the band back together one last time.For my part, the year plus since we ended the blog has been...

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First Page Friday

I think this is a critique that every author would like to receive from a national editor.  As always, if you would like your first page critiqued, use the submission guidelines in the sidebar. Thank you to the author and to Ms. Shreditor for their efforts.  See you next week!The EntryThe God Complexby S.L. SeeleI step from the bottom rung of the ramp and plant my feet firmly on the powder this planet calls soil. An orange cloud mushrooms up around my calves and coats the neoprene suit I wear with chalky residue. Hanson walks toward the...

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The Six LDS Writers & A Frog Return for Christmas

Many of you know that I was part of the Six LDS Writers and a Frog blog for five years.  (If you've never heard of us, you can go to the archives here)  The Six LDS writers that I was privileged to blog with were:Sariah WilsonJeffrey SavageRobison WellsStephanie BlackKerry BlairSome of those are pretty big names now.  Jeff Savage and Rob Wells are nationally renowned authors.  Stephanie Black is a three (or is it four) time Whitney Award winner.  Kerry Blair is a beloved best-selling author of many many books who just put...

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Finding a New Favorite Author & My Nano Thoughts

There are so many things going on for the blog right now.  Exciting, wonderful things.  Like the fact that my old blogging group, The Six LDS Writers and a Frog bloggers will be having a mini-reunion next week as a Christmas gift to all our fans.  I can't tell you how many people have asked me if we will have a reunion since we ended two years ago (or so) and now we are!  I can't wait.  If you know a Six LDS Writer blog fan,...

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