Five Signs Spring Has Definitely Sprung

Labels: signs spring has sprung, stuck at prom contest

posted by Mo H @ 8:26 AM 4 comments

Spring Break

Labels: New Orleans, Nottoway Plantation, spring break

posted by Mo H @ 9:18 AM 12 comments

Cleaning the Skeleton Closet

I'm a little behind time today. It's Release Day for my spies and smugglers book, SINS OF THE HEART, and I'm preparing a fabulous contest called The Most Beautiful Place on Earth. Come and share your "Most Beautiful Place" with us in comments or photos, and win a fabulous Hawaiian basket, straight from the Islands on my coming trip in June!
http://dellejacobs.blogspot.com

I don't know about you, but over the winter I build up a lot of accumulation in my closets, and when spring comes, I can't wait to get rid of the excess. A lot of it is stuff I've worn out or "out-grown", or maybe I've just lost interest in it. Fortunately I'm aided in having a spare closet in the guest room a.k.a. my office, which catches the overflow from the main master bedroom closet. I can't compete with hubby for closet space- he has a thousand shirts and jackets that all look alike to me and take up 2/3 of the rod space, so my off-season clothes have to be transferred between closets every spring and fall.

Really, that is a good thing. It forces me to look at everything I stored away six months before and once again say to myself, "but do I really want to have this hanging around yet another six months or year?" My inherent laziness prompts me to keep a black trash bag or two handy, and every spring at least two bags full of my clothing closet skeletons head off to Goodwill.

I guess after all these years I just automatically associate chirping birds and cherry blossoms with cleaning all my closets, including the mental ones. Including the writing closet. Yes, I do mean cleaning my hard drive. There's all sorts of clutter there, too.

Mostly, I see it as a time to mentally update myself and my writing. What kinds of attitudes are left over from a "hard winter" (mentally speaking. Winter is never really harsh out here in the Pacific Northwest). It's time to dump out any traces of depression and languishing negativity. This, for me, is the time to make a new plan, not New Years, like most people, because there's a spirit of rejuvenation in the air that infects me now.

This is the time for me to haul out all my old plot ideas and re-evaluate them. Have I let a great plot slip out of sight because of deadlines or duties? Are there some that I haven't written because in truth they don't interest me? Could I possibly look at those from a different perspective? Could something new, innovative be infused that would make them the stories that will inspire me to buckle down to something I can truly love writing? Is there something blocking a great story, perhaps a missing piece, that if I could find it, the story could be written?

I also look at how my writing tastes have changed, over the last year and over several years. It's a time to see how what I want to write fits with the market, and a time also to look at the market for what editor and readers find they want. And most of all, how does all this fit together.

Sometimes this means setting a once-beloved story aside. I have had many ideas that touched my heart, yet I never found the right spark to write them. For whatever reason, I think they will continue to be set aside. It's just true that not all stories will make it, even when we love them as we write them. Maybe later, but then, maybe not.

The one thing I can't seem to do, though, is completely give up on a story. So instead of shoving it in a black garbage bag to send off to a metaphorical Goodwill, I save it to a Skeleton Folder, a sort of file for all the odds and ends and leftovers. And every now and then, an idea comes to me, and I know somewhere in the Skeleton Folder, there will be something that can flesh it out.

SINS OF THE HEART started out in just that way. A contemporary scene I couldn't use was set aside until one day it merged with an abstract idea in a historical setting. Something out of the Skeleton Closet fleshed out. And Merritt and Juliette stepped up and became real.

What do you have in your writing closet that needs cleaning out? Can you re-cycle it? Up-date it? Should you put it in your Skeleton Closet in hopes of using it another day?

posted by Delle Jacobs @ 1:03 PM 5 comments

Spring Cleaning Your Closet? Side-tracked by Renovation

By Debra Holland

When I originally signed up for this blog a month ago, I decided to tackle a Spring cleaning topic. So I picked my closet—definitely in need of cleaning out. I have far more clothes than I need. Because I have a lot of closet space, I don’t have to get rid of garments. I just buy new ones. From time to time, I’ll go through my clothes and get rid of some, but not nearly as much as I should.

Actually, my whole house is in need of cleaning out. I’m the type of person who tends to accumalate STUFF. Between working as a therapist, corporate crisis/grief counselor, and writer of both fiction and nonfiction, I have LOTS of paperwork. Stacks. I believe they multiply during the night.

But it’s not just clothes and papers ... and magazines ... and books. When my parents and grandmother downsized their homes, my house became the family repository. Thus I have a lot of silver (from both mom and grandmother) china (mom and two grandmothers) brass, copper, and pewter (grandmother.) I also have more furniture than I need because both my grandfather and my grandmother made some furniture as a hobby. My talented grandmother also crocheted numerous afghans, doilies, placemats, and made needlepoint coasters, and other things.

I hope my neices and the children of my cousins might appreciate some of these things some day. One is getting married in August, and I’ll ship her my paternal grandmother’s hot chocolate cups and saucers.

Although I’ve never been domestic, my home has become much worse since I started writing. I’m sure other writers may have similar problems. Who has time to clean and sort when you should be writing? An every other week cleaning crew is a great help. At least I don’t have to clean toilets.

I’d hoped having a month to clean out my closet would be enough to provide me with material for this blog. What I didn’t realize was that the long overdue home renovations I’d planned would cause me to do a lot more organizating in other parts of the house—not my closet

My Wet Noodle Posse sister, Jennifer Smith, is living with me while she attends fashion design school. (Which means everything, besides furniture, which is usually in her room and bathroom is elsewhere in the house.) She’d planned to return to her home for two weeks during her school’s break. I wanted to get all my renovations done in the time she was gone.

While she was away, I planned to remove my popcorn ceilings in the entry, living room, office, dining room, and the landing on the top of the stairs. I also wanted to put in can lights in the ceilings of the living room, office, and dinning room. Plus, I wanted to paint the whole downstairs.

The problem came when I was deluged with crisis counseling jobs, leaving me no time to plan for the renovations. At the last minute, I scrambled to get bids and line up the work. Once I selected the contractor, I had two days to pack up everything (and I have a lot of everythings).

I really didn’t realize how much WORK I’d set for myself. And the time I thought I’d have to do this filled up with unexpected crisis counseling, forcing me to work late at night and get up early to pack it all away.

I wrapped and boxed everything, then stashed the boxes and stacks in my library and bedroom, until there was NO space to walk. I didn’t have the time to sort through papers, dust stuff off, or throw things away. Definitely stressful.

My wonderful contractor finished in three and a half days. Somewhere in that period, I decided to replace the chandeliers in the entry/stairwell and in the dining room, too.

Actually, I went to the store for some light bulbs for my old chandelier in the entry because I figured the guys would have to take it down anyway, and I could replace all the burned out blubs I hadn’t been able to reach. I walked into the store, took one look at a chandelier near the doorway, and went on a lamp spree. (It had been fifteen years since I’d last bought lamps.) Two hours later, I left the store with two chandeliers, one hall light, two table lamps for the living room, and two for my bedroom.

The rooms ended up looking wonderful. I love my ceiling lights—so much easier to read and work. The chandeliers look elegant. I still walk into the rooms and admire the new look.

Labels: renovations

posted by Mo H @ 11:00 AM 11 comments

This week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: cleaning closets, five signs of spring, skeletons in closets, spring break

posted by Mo H @ 5:39 PM 0 comments

Q&A Friday

Labels: overcoming obstacles

posted by Mo H @ 7:14 AM 10 comments

Spring DIY—How Not to Decorate

by Lee McKenzie

Last week I was looking for something on the bookshelf in our family room and came across The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement. The book is part of a multi-volume set. We have Volume 1—A to Ame, but none of the rest of the set, and I have no idea where it came from. The inside front cover is inscribed with W. N. Watson, March 3, 1970, which is also the year the book was published, but we don’t know anyone named Watson.

My house is always up for a little improvement and good decorating, so I opened the book and took a look. Fifteen minutes and more than a few belly laughs later, I decided this was too much fun not to share.

Since the book was published in 19070, I’m guessing most of the photographs were taken of homes that were decorated in the '60s.

I remember the ‘60s well, although I don’t remember them being this red.

The table and chairs are fabulous, in a breakfast-with-the-Jetsons kind of way, but this photo is not meant to be an example of good furniture choices. This kitchen, with it’s two red arches (the one on the right appears to be refrigerator), is in the section titled "Accessories and Accents—Flowers and Plants." According to the caption, "There’s really no need ever to do without some sort of table decoration when it’s so simple to compose one with the fruits so readily available in the grocery store."

Until I read that, I hadn’t even noticed the fruit bowl! I think I was too distracted by the gold wall, red arches and purple carpet.

While we're on the subject of red...


This photo is in the section titled "ABC’s of Decorating—Windows." Apparently "instead of unbalancing the room, the windows help round out the color scheme and become an integral part of the color scheme." When they say windows, they're actually referring to the red drapes and the red blinds.

And is it just me, or does color "scheme" imply more than one color, or at least more than one shade of a color?

The jar of cigarettes and the ashtray in the foreground caused one of those belly laughs I mentioned earlier. Times sure change, don’t they? I can’t imagine seeing those in a recently published decorating guide.

Okay, enough red. Let’s move on to green.


I find myself inexplicably captivated by this room. It's as though I’ve wandered onto the set of a Barry Manilow musical. This photo is categorized as "Accessories and Accents—Light fixtures and lighting effects." Once it was pointed out, I could see that the floor-level lighting and the top-lit black cube do add some interest. But once again I was distracted by the "color scheme," and all those containers of cigarettes and ashtrays. In case you can't see them, there are three of each. And then there's the chair that is oddly reminiscent of a toilet seat lid.

These days, the designers on TV decorating shows often say they want to add a "pop" or a "punch" of color to a room. Taken to it’s extreme, here’s what happens. The captions says: "Walls can do much more than stand there and be decorative..."


I love the built-ins and recessed lighting but if I was updating this room, the first thing I'd do is paint the wall to match the cabinets. Let the accessories do the popping. I love the red chair and ottoman, and the television made me laugh. Does anyone remember those pre-remote days when you actually had to get up and go across the room to change channels?

This dining room is in the "Accessories and Accents—Rugs" section. Yes, it’s all about that rug. Feeling crafty? According to the caption, it's made from a piece of indoor-outdoor carpet with fringe glued around the edge.


I really do love the simple, uncluttered lines of mid-century modern furniture, and I think this dining room table and cabinet could easily be brought from the last century into this one. Providing I got rid of the too-short gold drapes and the amber glass light fixture above the table. And the red-fringed green carpet would definitely have to go.

Saving the biggest belly laugh for last...

Speechless, aren't you?

Once again, it’s all about the rug, which "catches the eye and sets the theme."

Theme? The caption insists "The effect is one of harmony," but this poor guest room has been turned into a kaleidoscope! I think I’d have trouble falling asleep, fearing the headboard might fly open and I’d be trampled by a herd of animals.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I did. And may I make one suggestion? If you plan to do a decorating DIY project this spring, you might look to something other than The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement for advice!

They say everything that goes around, comes around. Do you think that's true of '60s home decorating?

Until next time,
Lee

~~~~~

Lee McKenzie is not an interior designer. She writes lighthearted stories for Harlequin American Romance. Her second book, With This Ring is available as an eBook from eHarlequin.com and Amazon.com (Kindle edition). Her next two books (titles and publication dates TBA) are set in San Francisco, and the first book in the series was inspired by the '60s.

Tomorrow, Lee is being interviewed on the Harlequin American Romance Authors, and she'll be giving away an eBook copy of With This Ring. You’re also invited to visit her website and her personal blog, The Writer Side of Life.

Labels: Lee McKenzie, spring DIY

posted by Lee McKenzie @ 1:00 AM 36 comments

Conquering that old evil: Self Doubt

Let me start off by admitting that I am the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. I am a sufferer of self doubt, sometimes masquerading as writer’s block, from time to time. If there’s anyone out there who can honestly say they haven’t, please let me shake your hand & bow at your feet. There are days I am not worthy to be in your presence. Yet, I am proud to say there are days where I feel I am.

Those are the days I want to focus on right now. The days when your character clicks with you. When the plot falls into place. When your character pulls up a chair to have chat about an issue with their story. When you final in a contest. Or win! The times you make your critique partner cry— from laughter or heartfelt emotions. The days you experience the sense of accomplishment when you type the words “The End”, literally or figuratively.

All of these positive, uplifting moments need to be in the forefront of your mind. Little snapshots of what you can and have done— steps leading you to your ultimate destination. Write them down if you need the tangible reminder. Set your winning plaque or certificate on your desk. Display it with pride. And when those doubts start creeping in, use your mementos as reminder to yourself that you can and have succeeded.

Your accomplishments will give you the push you need to get over the speed bump slowing you down. Enough push to have you on your way to success!!

What works for you when you need to push your doubts aside and get your positive energy flowing?

posted by Prisakiss @ 1:52 PM 6 comments

What Makes A Good Read?

For me, it’s all about the characters. If I care about the main characters, I have a hard time putting the book down because I NEED to know what happens to them.

I am reading Lisa Gardner’s HIDE right now and the main character, Annabelle Granger, has been hiding, thanks to her parents, since she was seven-years old. Her father moved her and her mother from city to city, state to state, always changing their identities, never staying in one place for long. Her mother dies and years later her father is hit by a taxi and killed. Annabelle has no idea why her father forced them to run and hide for all those years. No pictures. No relatives. No fond memories. Her father has taught her to be paranoid, prepared, always on guard. She goes by the name of Tanya now. She’s still on guard but she is glad to finally settle down and have a life. She gets a dog and starts a business. She’s still not ready to use her real name, and she’s not sure why…until she sees on the news that the body of Annabelle Granger has been found. How can that be?

The first chapter is in Annabelle’s point of view and right away I feel for her as she’s swept away in the middle of the night time after time, never able to make friends, always told to look over her shoulder and be aware of her surroundings. Poor girl! What is she hiding from? Why is her father doing this to her? Is he crazy? What’s going to happen next?

What makes you read a book late into the night? Is it the story question, the characters, the fast pace, the great dialogue? Look at your own work in progress…what is it about your story that is going to make it difficult for the reader to set your book down? Feel free to share!

Labels: a good read, books, characters

posted by Theresa Ragan @ 2:31 AM 18 comments

Writer’s Block: What does it really mean? by Diane Gaston

You have a deadline. Maybe it is from your publisher, or maybe it is for a contest, or even self-imposed. Whatever the reason, the deadline is important to you, but for some reason you sit at the computer and no words come. You have Writer’s Block and none of the tricks you’ve learned to unblock yourself are working.

Time to analyze why you have writer’s block; what is stopping you from typing away at this story.

1. Are you healthy? Is there any possibility that you are ill? Some possibilities might include thyroid problems or depression or Guillain-Barré syndrome or some other medical problem.
Solution: see a doctor.

2. Maybe it isn’t a medical problem, but it still could be physical. Are you eating lots of junk food? Are you getting enough sleep? A poor diet or lack of sleep can affect how you think.
Solution: Eat in a healthy manner. Get enough sleep.


3. Are you stuck in a plotting problem? Have you written yourself into a hole and you don’t know where to go from here? Getting stuck in the plot stops a writer cold. Solution: Go back to reevaluate your plot. Reread your manuscript from the beginning, if necessary.

4. Have you been working working working and now the words just came to a halt? Maybe you need some distance. It is hard to see the forest when you are merely trying to run past as many trees as possible.
Solution: Take a break, a rejuvenating break. Two hours doing something else may help you make that deadline.

5. None of these fit. You should be writing but you find yourself pining to rearrange your underwear drawer; you pick this time to clean out that closet that’s been cluttered for the last ten years; you spend time playing FreeCell instead of writing. So what’s going on? Has something happened to erode your confidence? Poor contest scores? A bad review? A painful rejection? Have negative thoughts taken over? “I’m no good.” “No one wants to read this drivel.” “I’ll never write another good book.”
Solution: Stop the negative thinking! Do you love to write? Then write. Write a book you’d want to read. Write for yourself, not anyone else.

If the first step to change is recognizing a problem then figuring this out will help you on the way to solve writer’s block. Go to it!

What other factors affect Writer’s Block? Have you experienced any of these? How did you get out of it?


Take a look at my website, all updated for April. A new contest, too.
You can order The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor from eHarlequin right now, a month before it arrives in stores. My estory The Unlacing of Miss Leigh is instantly available from eHarlequin and other ebook vendors.

Labels: Writers Block

posted by Diane Gaston @ 12:20 AM 9 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Please join the noodlers as we continue our exploration of Spring Forward month with the following blogs:


Monday, April 20th: Diane Gaston Writer’s Block: What Does It Really Mean?
Tuesday, April 21st: Theresa Ragan TBA
Wednesday, April 22nd: Priscilla Kissinger Accentuate the Positive to Avoid Writer’s Block
Thursday, April 23rd: Lee McKenzie Spring DIY
Friday, April 24th: Q&A

Labels: Diane Gaston, Lee McKenzie, Priscilla Kissinger, spring DIY, Theresa Ragan, writer's block

posted by Mo H @ 12:22 PM 0 comments

Q&A Friday--Spring Fashion Trends

Labels: spring fashion trends

posted by Mo H @ 7:34 AM 10 comments

Favorite Spring Dessert

What desserts say "Spring" to you?

Labels: favorite spring dessert

posted by Mo H @ 9:18 AM 10 comments

Tax Day - Keeping the Record by Diane Gaston

April 15, the dreaded TAX DAY.

If you are like me, you hate the idea of doing taxes. It's been years since doing taxes was easy and all I had to find were the W2 forms. As life became more complex so did the taxes. A few years ago we decided to use an accountant to do them for us. Expensive, yes, but worth every penny to keep me from having an anxiety attack.

Using an accountant does not prevent my having to keep records, unfortunately. Every year I vow to do better so I don't have to search through five boxes to find everything. This year my first search failed to discover my husband's W2s (panic time....) I did find them, but I didn't find the record of my personal property tax. That required a phone call.

It did occur to me that I could make my life easier next year. Here's how. (and it is so simple)

1. Keep an excel record of my writing income and expenses. I started this a couple of years ago and even though I slacked off in the middle of the year, it saved me so much time.
Here are my writing categories:
Income, Website, Promotion/Advertising, Travel/Meals, Conference Fees, Contests, Dues, Books/Magazines (for research), Books Promotional (my own books purchased to use for promotion), Supplies, Postage
You might have other categories.

2. Keep all your tax records in one place.
I use a clear plastic envelope and this year I vow to put everything I'll need for taxes in it so I don't have to search through several boxes come April 10 next year.

I used to keep organized files of bills and statements in an accordion file, each section nicely labeled. Including one labeled "taxes" but I never actually needed 99% of those records. Now I keep everything in a box and search it only if necessary. I learned my lesson, though. For the few things I need for taxes, file them in one place.

That's it!

Any other tips? I'm open to learn....


You can order The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor from eHarlequin right now and receive it before it hits bookstores. The Unlacing of Miss Leigh is instantly available from eHarlequin and other ebook vendors.

Visit my website and enter my contest for a chance to win Scandalizing the Ton.

Labels: keeping records for taxes, the business side of writing

posted by Diane Gaston @ 12:01 AM 16 comments

Top Ten Tips for Spring Cleaning

Labels: spring cleaning

posted by Mo H @ 8:48 AM 11 comments

Finding Your Way in a New Environment

One of the best things about spring is the flowers. I especially love the azaleas that bloom in the spring. When our house was built, the people who did the landscaping put in an overabundance of azaleas around our front door. If we had left them where they were originally planted, they probably wouldn't be nearly as beautiful. About a year after we moved in, we had all of the azaleas transplanted to another part of the yard because there were too many plants in a small area. We moved them into a row at the back of our house, where we can see them as we look out of the windows in our family room. They form a wonderful hedge between us and the golf green beyond our backyard. The others are planted along the side yard. They have had plenty of room to grow in their new places.

Thinking about these plants brought to mind how people can grow and flourish when they are pushed into a new situation. Sometimes we might have to change jobs or move to a new location. These changes may not be to our liking in the beginning, but often a new environment makes us grow and challenges us to do something that maybe we didn't think we could do.

In my April book from Steeple Hill, HOMECOMING BLESSINGS, both the hero and heroine are thrust into a new and challenging situation when the heroine's father teams them together to run a mission project to repair houses for the elderly and poor folks in north Georgia. Even the writing of this book presented a challenge for me when the editors at Steeple Hill requested a change in the original story. I was thrust into finding a new scenario for these characters. At first I wasn't happy about having to change my idea, but the rewriting made me adapt along with my characters.

Tell us about a time that a change in your life helped you to grow.

Merrillee

Labels: changes, chanllenge, flowers, growth, spring

posted by Merrillee @ 2:21 PM 8 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Diane Gaston, keeping records for taxes, Maureen Hardegree, Merrillee Whren, spring cleaning, spring desserts

posted by Mo H @ 8:52 AM 0 comments

Q&A Friday

Labels: researching editors and agents

posted by Mo H @ 4:40 AM 6 comments

Springtime Idoling

Okay. American Idol used to be my guilty pleasure but now I’ll freely admit that I’m a big fan, and have been for a long time. Every spring you’ll find me glued to the TV two nights a week, critiquing the performances and anticipating who will be eliminated this week.

I probably always say this, but I think this year is one of the best seasons yet. They’ve toned down the animosity between some of the judges, which always seemed too over-the-top to be real, added a fourth judge, and moved away from choosing an inappropriate final contestant.

I’ve never been very good at picking the winner, although I always have a couple of favorites. This year’s favs are Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta and Adam Lambert. These three have "mad skills" as the judges like to say, and their performances are a joy to watch.

Are you an Idol fan? A devoted watcher of another “reality” series, no matter what the season? Who’s your top pick?

Until next time,
Lee
http://thewritersideoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.leemckenzie.com/

Labels: American Idol, Lee McKenzie, reality television

posted by Lee McKenzie @ 9:14 AM 21 comments

Cleaning out the Clutter

I love spring. It makes me fell renewed. Since green (in all it's many shades) is one of my favorite colors I'm happy to be outside communing with nature, and I'm just as happy sitting on the screened porch watching it.

I want (and need) to have some work done on the house this spring, and as preparation I've been reading a lot of decorating books, thinking about colorful walls instead of white and wondering where the junk in my closets came from. Clearly there was some unauthorized breeding going on in there last winter.

Then one day I found a book with a title that really caught my eye--Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? by Peter Walsh. In a breezy and engaging style Walsh talks about the clutter in our homes (and our inability to deal with it) and how it keeps us from moving ahead with other aspects of our lives. Since all my clutter is very neatly arranged I felt immune from the possibility that it was really affecting my life, but Walsh's words did make me yearn for the UN-cluttered life. At one point I was inspired to pick up a garbage bag and move a chair over to the kitchen cabinets, climb up and throw out some items that had been stored on the top shelf that I NEVER used. Bag partially full, I stepped down to the middle shelf where I had a bin for plastic ware that held no less than 20 lids for containers I no longer have (most were destroyed in the microwave and were thrown out). It was a freeing experience to toss those out and empty the bin. Out of date bottles of spices went in the bag, too. I had room to put the new storage containers in the upper cabinet instead of storing them down low, where they were hard to find.

My point (you were probably wondering when I would get to it) is that decluttering--yes, Spring Cleaning--isn't that hard to do in small doses. The day after the cabinets were done I went to the pantry and rearranged, moving the healthier choices to the front of the shelves where I could find them (that's the "Butt Look Fat?" part of Walsh's equation) and realized I actually had room for some healthier snacks. Out came a slip of paper, and a shopping list was born.

I still haven't gotten to the closets yet, but I'm not afraid of them any more. I have a plan now.

How are you planning (or ignoring) your spring cleaning chores?

posted by Karen @ 10:08 AM 6 comments

Springing into style

by Terry McLaughlin

We had our first blast of post-winter warmth here last weekend. Ice jams shattering, snow melting, buds bursting, birds chirping, lambs frolicking, sap flowing, poppies popping, dandelions dandying–all those active verbs in motion.

You'll notice there's no closet cleaning on my list. That's something for which I have the utmost admiration and respect for other people doing at this time of year.

However, there remains one closet conundrum: the wardrobe situation. I'm always tempted to keep my comfy, oversized corduroys and sweatshirts hanging around in the closet for as long as possible, but as March marches on I begin to suspect they've overstayed their welcome. Now that it's April, I'm sure it's time to pack them in. Sniff, sniff. On the other hand, I don't have to rummage through my sock drawer looking for matching items. It's sandals time!

How do you mark this change of seasons? Lighter colors? A pedicure? A new dress? Another stab at that new year's diet?

posted by Terry McLaughlin @ 1:00 AM 11 comments

Taking inspiration from nature

This time of year, I love to take a notebook out to a local park or to an overlook by the lake near my house. It's warm, the sunshine makes me happy, and I get a great wave of writing inspiration from being outdoors after a long, cold winter.

But surrounding myself with Mother Nature isn't just for putting myself in a good frame of mind to write. It's also good for inspiring story aspects. I've probably incorporated the outdoors and nature into every book I've ever written. After visiting particularly beautiful places, I come away with ideas for stories -- whether it's set in the mountains of Tennessee, as is my May release, Her Very Own Family, or the lovely beaches of Florida's Gulf Coast, like my first book, last September's A Firefighter in the Family. Nature can be a character in and of itself, a living, breathing entity. This is something the editor for my young adult books looks for in my YA books. In fact, it was something I had to incorporate even more than normal while revising this month's release, Heartbreak River (written as Tricia Mills), set in the mountains of Colorado. My editor pointed out places to really bring the setting to life, such as giving the river its own personality and having that personality change as my main character's journey progresses.

With the wonders of online research and television documentaries, nature can even inspire stories set in locales I've never visited in person. This was true for my second YA novel, 2010's Ice and Desire. It is set in Alaska, and I had a wonderful time researching all the nuances of Alaska's climate, flora, fauna, and landscape. Through my writing, I hope not only to provide an enjoyable story, but also inspire others to get out and enjoy what Mother Nature has to offer, to really stop and smell the roses (or pines or sea breeze or whatever wonderful scents are riding on the air).

posted by Trish Milburn @ 12:20 AM 6 comments

This Week on the Wet Noodle Posse

Labels: Karen Potter, Lee McKenzie, researching editors and agents, taking inspiration from nature, Terry McLaughlin, Trish Milburn

posted by Mo H @ 4:30 AM 0 comments

Q&A Friday

Labels: Diane Gaston, favorite signs of spring, Merrillee Whren, Tricia Mills, Trish Milburn

posted by Mo H @ 12:59 AM 3 comments

Five Ways to Put a Spring in Your Step

Labels: spring fun

posted by Mo H @ 12:51 AM 15 comments

Spring Forward

Labels: april fool's anecdotes, spring forward

posted by Mo H @ 12:35 AM 2 comments