Should You Go?

With the economy like it is, we all have to be extra thoughtful about how we spend money. Something like a conference might get scratched off your list...but wait!  That may be a bad idea.


Want to know why?


Hop on over to Erin Spock at Hold On To Your Bloomers and take a gander at my article - Get Thee to a Conference!

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***ALSO***

Don't forget to enter the Detective Kit Gift Basket contest!  

<----Just click this badge to go to the form.

Prizes include goodies to eat and drink, gift cards, a cool gadget from Think Geek.com and a copy of Purple Knot!

Contest ends on June 30th ~

Photograph by Chispita.

Purple Prose Blogfest - Early Entry

Erin over at Hold On To Your Bloomers! is having a blogfest that encourages flowery prose. Its called the Paint It Purple Blogfest and it starts on 3/25, but I have a previously scheduled Author Feature tomorrow so I'm posting today.


Alighting my promethium flame to the cylindrical harbinger of death, I inhaled the ethereal fragrance of the Marlboro. The wraith-like tendrils floated effervescently toward the celestial dome of my sleeping chamber. 


I sighed, the deep and throaty groan of woman whose mind is elsewhere...lumbering over the heady musings of life and the fleeting happiness of a love found but not caught. 


A quivering note, high and plaintive, burst from my electronic tether...I looked at the phone on my nightstand. It was him. The Apollo of my heart, scorching an arc of need across the heavens of my psyche. Should I heed his cry?


So basically, she was having a smoke and her boyfriend called.


I hope you enjoyed my entry. Until next time...Go Write!
Photograph by A Magill.

Join In The Fun - Upcoming Blogfests

With March winding down, there are a few blogfests coming up this last week. I wanted to highlight a few that are both fun and challenging.

We start with the Paint It Purple Blogfest over at Hold On To Your Bloomers! Erin is actually encouraging outrageously purple prose in the entries. Should be a hoot to read. And if you're game...there's still time to sign up. The blogfest begins on 3/25/2011.

Hosted by Tessa Conte and Laura B. Diamond, The Nature of Magic blogfest goes live on 3/26/2011. Still open to participants I'm all atwitter over what people will post.

Who doesn't love a Harry Potter blofest? Micahael Di Gesu over at In Time... is hosting one such event on 3/30/2011. Excerpts on who would be your mates sounds like a really fun fest.  Mr. Linky is still accepting blogs to participate.

Vicki Rocho is hosting a Memory Lane blogfest to commemorate the 1 year anniversary of her blog, Rambles & Randomness.  It begins on the weekend of 4/2.  There's still time to sign up.

And who can forget the eagerly anticipated A-Z Blogging Challenge conceived by Arlee Bird? He has several co-hosts this year and the participation has skyrocketed to over 200 bloggers. A great way to meet writers and poets and artists from across the ether, the blogfest goes on for the entire month of April.


I hope to see all of you and read your work in one of these blogfests.  Until next time...Go Write!

What's Your Signature?

Photograph by Liz West

The other day I was having a major nervous breakdown over my WIP. For some reason, I feel like I started the story too far into the story...what I mean to say, is that a significant portion of the plot already occurred BEFORE page one.  I KNOW...right?

Anyway, I called up my friend from our Sunday Morning Romance Writers group and she talked me down from the ledge. One thing she suggested was that I might want to go with flashbacks..."Because that's your signature anyway," she said.

That gave me pause. I have a signature? I hadn't realized that my writing is distinct in a very personal way. She also pointed out that all of my heroines have a first name that starts with an 'R'...huh?  She thought I did that on purpose, because my own name begins with an 'R' and that it was again, a signature. I hadn't noticed. I picked the names because I like the sound of them and they fit the character.

This got me thinking about signatures. I mean, that's how they catch serial killers, right? They have a distinct pattern even if sometimes its subconscious. A certain mental tick or compulsion drives them to repeat something over and over again. As writers, do you have any such quirks?

Do you have to have a certain mug or snack when you write? Are you characters always red-heads or petite or tall?  In what ways are you leaving a mark on your work that is distinctly you...and when did you become aware of it?

I'm forging ahead with my WIP. In fact, I've worked out the kinks after my conversation with Erin (Hold on To Your Bloomers!) and realized what the problem was. The two chapters I wrote since then happened smoothly and without fuss...which is nice.

So tell me what makes your writing unique...Until next time...Go Write!