Counting My Words #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Can you believe we are in week 23 of the MFRW 52 Week Blog Challenge? We're in the middle of 2017. Today's topic is Word Count.

As a writer, I don't write as often as I should and I'm slow. Some days I average about 300 words. Some days I sit in front of my computer and look at a blank word document because the words won't come.  I'll usually give up then and do a little reading, research or play three-dimensional mahjong.

I promised myself I would change that this year after a friend of mine posted her end of year total. She had enough words for four novels or five novellas or ten short stories before editing.  I have another author friend who writes 3k per day, five days per week no matter what. I've tried to find that kind of dedication for myself. I'm still looking.

I wanted my end of year total to be at least 120,000. Not a lot, but I wanted to start small. So I decided to just write and not count. Write without the pressure of making a goal and you know what? It's working. I still don't write every day, but I write a lot when I do. The year-end goal I set for myself may be reached this year. Maybe not. I won't sweat it. I'll just write.

What about you and word count? How do you handle it? Let's talk about it in the comments.

Laugh Out Loud Funny #MFRWauthor #amwriting

This is week 18 of the Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge. Today's topic--What Makes Me Laugh Out Loud. For more information or to join, click here.

I love humor. I sometimes laugh so hard and loud, I'm doubled over attempting to catch my breath while clutching my stomach and tears run from my eyes. What makes me laugh out loud? Quite a few things actually:

Slapstick Comedy Movies. Watch this video of sample slapstick.

Romantic Comedy Movies like Pretty Woman, Bringing Down the House, The Bird Cage, Coming to America, Sweet Home Alabama and YA movies like What A Girl Wants and The Princess Diaries.

I'm showing my age, but I started with comedy by watching TV variety shows like Red Skelton and Carol Burnett as well as programs like I Love Lucy and the Beverly Hillbillies.

TV shows like 3rd Rock From the Sun. A group of aliens sent to earth, disguised as a human family, to experience life and report back to their home planet. John Lithgow is a comedic genius. I giggle days later thinking about something he did or said.  Watch him in action.


(photo: tvlistings.zap2it.com)

British comedies (remember last Friday, I admitted to being a secret Anglophile) like Keeping Up Appearances starring Patricia Routledge. A snobbish housewife is determined to climb the social ladder, in spite of her family's working class connection and the constant chagrin of her long-suffering husband.  This program, at one time, was part of the comedy line-up on Saturday nights on PBS. I watch episodes on Youtube now. My mother and I have considered pooling our money together to buy the entire collection. Watch this

                                                                                                 (photo:  www.imdb.com)                                                                                                                                                                               

My other favorite British comedy, Coupling. Six best friends talk about all aspects of sex and relationships on their never-ending quest to find true love. When a couple gets together, it's never just the two of them. They also bring baggage in the form of their friends and exes. I bought the DVD collection recently and watch them over and over again. Watch here.






(photo: www.imdb.com)


Romance Novels and Novellas. The funniest so far being Shelly Laurenston/G A Aiken's Magnus Pack & The Pride Series, Dragon Kin Series. Kerrelyn Sparks's The Love at Stake Series. Lynsay Sands's The Argeneau Series. Katie MacAlister's Aisling Gray Guardian, The Dark Ones Series, The Light Dragons Series, The Silver Dragons Series. Each line or scene that have me giggling,  I bookmark and go back over them chuckling again and again.


There you have it. Some movies, books, and TV that have me roaring with laughter. What about you? What makes you laugh out loud? Tell me below in the comments.

Be sure to check out the blogs of the authors listed below. Have a great weekend.

Oh, The Places I'd Go.... #mfrwauthor, #amwriting

 Image: keepcalmandtravel.com

Welcome to week 17 of the MFRW 52-Week Blog Challenge. It's an opportunity for authors to tell a little bit more about themselves. Any author with a blog can participate. Click here to find out more. This week the topic is 'The Top 5 Places I'd Like to Visit.'

New Orleans, LA (French Quarter)

My all time favorite place to visit. Whenever we visit, which is every other summer, we stay in the Quarter. I love riding the trolley from one end of the French Quarter to the other and never tire of the sights. The French Market on N Peters St is a fun place to shop. My family and I never get tired of browsing the shop windows on various streets, touring old buildings such as the St Louis Cathedral on Pere Antoine Alley, U.S. Mint on Esplanade Ave and the above ground vaults of St. Louis cemetery no.1 on N Claiborne Ave. This is the cemetery where the famous voodoo queen, Marie Laveau is buried. (as of March 1, the cemetery is closed to free public access due to vandalism and assaults on visitors, however, you can take a guided tour). The food at little hole-in-the-wall restaurants is to die for as well as coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde. It's relaxing to sit at outdoor eateries and watch the sea of people stroll by. A lively place where people play musical instruments, sing, and dance on the street corners.  

A few of my favorite paranormal authors have stories within their series situated in New Orleans: Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters, Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark, and Jeaniene Frost's characters, Cat and Bones, visit New Orleans a few times.

Hilton Head Island, SC

Another favorite location is Hilton Head Island. While the French Quarter is my lively place, Hilton Head Island is my quiet place number 1. It's relaxing to sit on the beach to watch the waves roll in and out, smell the ocean, listen to the waves crash and feel the sun and the wind on your skin. I usually like laying on the sofa and reading a good book, but for the next trip, I plan to visit a few museums like the Harbour Town Lighthouse and Museum. I have a few story ideas about lighthouses.

Gatlinburg, TN

Quiet place number 2 is Gatlinburg, TN. When asked if I wanted to accompany my parents to Gatlinburg in 2000. My mom had just retired and instead of a retirement party, she chose to invite her family to Tennessee to celebrate. I immediately said no. I'd just ended a long-term relationship and didn't want to go to a city where couples married in little wedding chapels interspersed throughout the city and walked hand in hand up and down the streets all starry eyed.  My folks hounded me until I relented and agreed to travel with them. The Fall Festival was in play and I love it.  The browns, oranges, reds and yellow colors of autumn were everywhere. We toured a small area in the mountains called Cade's Cove. It was peaceful, quiet, breath-taking and I vowed I'd return as many times as I could afford.  We changed seasons from Fall to Christmas in 2011 and try to visit whenever there's a vacancy. (Since the fire in 2016 that destroyed much of the city, we've decided to choose a random destination for Christmas 2017.)

England, UK

England is on my bucket list. I've always loved this place and secretly consider myself an Anglophile. I want to visit Trafalgar Square to see Nelson's Column and the National Gallery. Next, the Tower of London where Anne Boleyn was held and beheaded for treason and her daughter, Elizabeth I, was held because she posed a threat to her half-sister, Queen Mary. (Elizabeth I is my favorite British queen.) Stonehenge, because it's ancient and mysterious and Manchester because my cousin lives there and because of the football club, Manchester United.

Scotland, UK

The second location on my bucket list is Scotland. The land of breath-taking castles, wide sweeping landscapes that resemble the hills of Kentucky, William Wallace and of course, Nessie. The home of two of my favorite fictional drool-worthy heroes--Connor and Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. The home of distant ancestors on my maternal side. I feel the pull of Scotland calling to me. As much as I'd like to one day visit England, I yearn to live in Scotland, at least for a few months.

There are a few authors with Highlander series that I've enjoyed reading: Karen Marie Moning, Julie Johnstone, Eliza Knight and Hildie McQueen.

So...out of my five dream locations, I'd live in French Quarter-New Orleans or Scotland. What places would you love to visit?  Tell me in the comments. 

Don't forget to cruise by the other author blogs listed below to find out the dream locations they'd like to visit.

                                                              

Living My Dream, #MFRWauthor, #amwriting

Image: conniewonnie.com

Week 16 - MFRW 52 Week Challenge. This week 'My Biggest Dream in Life.'

My dream is to be a full-time writer. I've made it! Almost.

In the above comic, Connie says, "Woo Hoo! Livin' the Dream!" and then she days "Not perfectly but I keep at it." This is me. 

During my younger years, I wrote plays that family and friends acted in and wrote stories my parents and teachers liked. They saw potential and encouraged me to continue to write. But as time went by, life got in the way and writing had to take a back seat to everything else and some instances had to be hidden the back of a closet in a locked box.

After thirty years at my day job, I retired. Finally, I can write anytime and not worry about a story snippet scribbled hurriedly during lunch or breaks that may get lost in a paper shuffle. My son is an adult with his own young family. They're happy and healthy. I'm thankful. I'm not old enough for Social Security, though and I'm not published yet.  But I persevere. I study craft books, write and one day soon, I'll be published. 

What about you? What's your biggest dream? Tell me in the comments.

Are You Up to the Challenge? #NaNoWriMo #amwriting

I've never won the NaNoWriMo challenge.  Oh, I try every year, but someway, somehow complications occur and before I know it, the deadline has passed.

A few of the years I've been a hundred words from achieving my objective and at other times when every obstacle imaginable have presented themselves--chauffeuring my grandson to and from work, car repair, picking up those last minute grocery items from the market, and I've missed the target by a few thousand words.

The important thing about this challenge is trying. Never giving up. Persevering. Striving for that obtainable goal because it really is reachable. 50,000 words. And someday I'll be victorious. I'll proudly display my triumphant banner on this blog, my website, and social media.

November 1, the challenge begins anew. My notepad, pen, pencils and laptop are primed.  On your mark. Get ready...

Are you up to the challenge?

Three Days Until Camp #CampNaNoWriMo

I'm taking the plunge and going to camp this April. My cabin has been assigned, and I have the best cabin mates. The camp is called:

There are four more days left before it starts.  If you're interested, you can sign up here.