JumpStartWriMo Starts Tomorrow! And Musings on Motherhood

Okay, you guys, I have decided to do the JumpStartWriMo for the month of June.  I am so excited to share this with all of you.As you know, I have had trouble finishing/editing this story and I have two more I want to dive into.  So, all this month I am going to have us state our goals for the month, provide motivation, guest authors, incentives, sprint writing, and more.  Ms. Shreditor has said she will check in with us and offer help...

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Word Count Wednesday

Well, all of my Canadian relatives are home now.  Sad.  It was a great weekend.I bet you can guess my word count.  Zero.But the good news is, school is out which means I will have more writing time (I provide incentives for older kids to babysit the younger ones for me for writing time.)  I'm excited to get some things going on my writing.I'm also considering doing a sort of Blog-O-WriMo sort of thing on the blog.  Writing a book in a month with a bunch of my bloggy friends sounds fun.  What do you think?  Is...

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Graduation

Today my son graduated from high school and I sat there in the stands, watching this amazing child of mine walk across the stage, ending a chapter in his life and ready to start a new one.  The speeches were all about remembering who you are, blazing new trails and making your own map, and making a difference in the world.I admit it---I cried.This is my child who is always at my right hand laughing with me, helping me, and just being a bright ray of sunshine in my life.  I will miss him when he goes to college, but I am so proud of the...

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Memorial Day and a Book Review: Defenders of Faith

I hope all of you are enjoying your Memorial Day with family and friends.  We're having a big family party at our house today, with over fifty guests, so you can imagine what I've been doing today.As most of you know, my books have a lot of military in them and I've been privileged to meet and get to know real soldiers as I've researched.  I am so grateful for their sacrifice and for what their service to our country means to people around...

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First Page Friday

I planted flowers in my front flowerbed last night.  If you know me, you know that this is a huge accomplishment because I have a black thumb and kill every plant I, well, plant, so I gave up years ago.  This is me turning over a new leaf (teehee) and trying again.  We'll see how it goes.I'm excited for this week's First Page Friday.  Let me know what you think!The EntryDark CoreYA FantasyChapter One              Saekina woke up covered in blood.           ...

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Book Reviews--Love 'Em or Leave 'Em?

I'm playing sad schmoopy music this morning because I killed off a beloved character.  *sniffle*  I haven't written The End yet, but I like where I'm at with this.Hey, you want to see something really cool?  Remember last week when I compared unicycles to writing?  Here's a video of my son and his friend doing street unicycling.  Seriously, some of their tricks make me hold my breath! Anyway, the topic at hand these days seems to be book reviews.  Do they really matter and should I do them?  I think they do matter,...

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Word Count Wednesday and I'm Having a Moment

First of all, if you are a Dancing With the Stars fan, could you believe last night?  Katherine and Mark were robbed.  They totally deserved that trophy.  *sigh*But guess what?  After two months of whining, complaining, wrangling, thinking, and rewriting, I am writing the ENDING of my novel. Like right now.  I'm typing this blog right in the middle of a really cool confrontation of my protag and antag and we're all wondering what's going to happen because there's a bomb and a gun and some serious hate.  Man, I love...

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Open-Ended or All Tied Up--What Kind of Ending Do You Like?

Can I say I'm really missing Castle and Hawaii Five-O?  It's going to be a long summer.  At least we have America's Got Talent to get us through.  I didn't think I'd like Howard Stern replacing Piers Morgan because, well, he's Howard Stern, but surprisingly, I've liked him so far.  He seems witty and genuinely interested in the contestants.  And I thought it was funny when he said he was the first American judge on America's Got Talent.  He really is since Howie is Canadian (love you Howie!) And Sharon and Piers were...

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Book Review: Royal Secrets

I got Royal Secrets for Mother's Day and I was really excited because I'd wanted to read this book since it came out.  I apologize to all the other books on my TBR list because Royal Secrets went to the top of the list, as in, I started reading it immediately and ignored all the other books I'd been reading until Royal Secrets was done. Royal Secrets is the sequel to Royal Target.  In Royal Target we are introduced to the royal family...

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First Page Friday and The Hop Winner!

I had critique group last night so you know what that means---yeah, I didn't get to bed until 1 a.m. and I'm dragging today.  Honestly, I wish I could bring you all along for my crit group.  It is so fun!  We laughed a lot, but we also got a lot of chapters critiqued.  It is so motivating to have that.  I can't wait to dive into my WIP today.We also have an amazing First Page Friday to read, but before we do, here is the winner of my LDS Authors Giveaway Hop (or whatever it was named. The one I started last Friday).*drum...

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Writers and Unicyclists

"Every great success is an accumulation of thousands of ordinary efforts that no one sees or appreciates."  - Brian TracyMy son wants to be a professional unicyclist.  Now, that may sound funny to some, but he can do all kinds of tricks and flips on that unicycle that take my breath away!  Unicycling is a growing sport and you would not believe the time and effort that goes into doing some of the amazing things they do.  (There's even a UniCon coming up this summer and people are coming from all over the world.)My son and I...

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Word Count Wednesday and Unclaimed Prizes

Before we get down to the nitty gritty of Word Count Wednesday, I just wanted to remind a few of the winners from the birthday bash that they need to send me their snail mail address so we can get their prizes out to them.  You can send me your addy at juliecoulterbellon@gmail.com I need addresses from Mindy, Stories from the Cline Clan, Heidi, Char, and Cheri.  I would love for you to claim your prizes after all that hard work!I am very proud of myself this week.  I managed to write 3400 words.  Woohoo!  Sadly, it...

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Hawaii Five-O Season Finale--What Were the Writers Thinking?

Last night's Hawaii Five-O Season Finale was full of a bit of everything.  I have to say the first thirty minutes were full of win.  The team being creepily watched, the fake phone call to Fryer and the scene in the alley.  Wow.  Tense.  Poor Max being shot had been spoiled in the previews, dang it, but it was still awesome to have the McDanno banter in the car while they were chasing the shooter back to . . . the police station.  haha.  Danny's comment, "the better question is why they're going back to HPD" was...

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Book Reviews: Daughters of Jared and Dangerous Favor

Can you believe it's Monday already?  That weekend flew by way too fast.  I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day.  Mine was wonderful---I had all eight kids home with me to enjoy my favorite foods.  And I got some beautiful flowers, chocolates, books, and hand-drawn gifts.  Those are always the best.But today, I have something special for you.  TWO book reviews!  Because I was a very busy girl last week when I...

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First Page Friday

I am so grateful to the authors who are brave enough to submit their work each week to be critiqued.  I find it so helpful to see the corrections in someone else's work so I can learn what not to do in my own.  If you would like to submit your first page for First Page Friday please refer to the instructions in the sidebar.   The EntryBecoming Wildcreekby Joy AllenEngland, 1888Early May “He’s really going to do it!” Jane Carlisle, Duchess of Chatham, hid behind the gnarled trunk of the old Sycamore tree and watched the duel...

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LDS Authors Giveaway Hop

I am excited to be part of the LDS Authors Giveaway Hop starting today and going until May 17th.  It is a way for everyone to get to know LDS writers that they may not have thought of before.For my part of the hop, I am giving away an LDS book readers basket including Lockdown byTraci Hunter Abramson and Rearview Mirror by Stephanie Black---and a yummy dessert for you to eat while you read.All you have to do is be a follower of my blog and leave...

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Plot vs. Character What Do You Think?

I've been thinking a lot about plot vs. character lately.  My most recent example is the Castle over-arc of Beckett's mother's murder.  When I wrote on Tuesday that I loved the step forward we'd taken in Beckett and Castle's relationship and I didn't really care about the mom's murder stuff tacked on at the end, I started to analyze that. Setting aside the fact that I believe the writers have drawn the murder "mystery" out too long and provided such clues as "you don't know who you're dealing with,"  and "this is so much bigger...

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Word Count Wednesday

Well, I haven't made much progress on my novel, as I've been doing a lot of research.  However, I was asked to speak in my church this week and I've been writing that talk.  And stressing over it.  You see, it's Mother's Day on Sunday and there are some people who feel sensitive about that day and since I'll be speaking I want to make sure my message is really what's in my heart.  So, yeah, I'm stressing a bit.But I'm counting the words I've written for that talk and so far we're up to four pages single-spaced.  I know,...

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Castle, Hawaii Five-O, and a Book Review: The Duke's Undoing

Oh man, I am still on a Castle high from last night.  Can I say how much I loved that finale?  Yeah, I really loved that finale.  *le sigh*The highlights for me were Castle's speech to Beckett in her apartment.  "Because I love you."  "Four years I've been right here, waiting for you to open your eyes and see I'm right here."  "Every morning I bring you a cup of coffee just to see a smile on your face." "I think you...

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Announcing The Winners!!

Thank you to everyone who participated in my blog's birthday bash last week.  We really did it up right and I'm so grateful to all of my old friends and my new friends for celebrating with me.Here are the winners . . .(before I announce them, aren't you so excited for Castle and Hawaii Five-O tonight?  I read two amazing spoilers about both shows and honestly, I cannot believe what I heard so I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see how it all plays out.)  *sigh*  I think it's going to be a long day . . .Okay, now here...

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First Page Friday Plus Last Day of the Party and Four Great Prizes to Win!

So as to not mess up our First Page Friday schedule, I am included the piece and the critique in our prize blog.  I hope you don't mind!  Be sure to read to the very end. :)(Oh, if you're new to the blog today, we have a cool feature here where you submit the first page of your manuscript and two incredible editors critique them every week.  More info is on the sidebar.)The EntryUntitledby Gina Denny A stake dance isn’t exactly...

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