Secrets Blogfest + Literary Crush Blogfest = Double the Fun

So today is a double dose of fun as Tara over at Midnight Ink is hosting the Secrets Blogfest and Frankie Diane over at Frankie Writes is hosting the Literary Crush Blogfest. (Kristen Yard at Take It As It Comes is hosting the Bickering Blogfest, too but I don't have an appropriate scene for it!) Being the blogfest addict that I am, I had to participate!

Below is my Secrets Blogfest entry. It's from my current sci-fi WIP. The secret in question is that the two main characters don't speak the same language and are trying to communicate without words (for the most part). It's not a secret in the standard sense, but I think it still works. Setup: Jaska inadvertently finds himself on Earth where he runs into Amie who decides to help him. They're in New York heading for a subway but Jaska wants to explore this strange new world. Amie is the redhead to whom Jaska refers.

The door of this particular shop opens and someone walks out with a steaming cup of something and a round bread-like food wrapped in a papery cloth. The aromas flow from the open door and make my stomach growl. I grab the door from the person before it shuts, and I’m ready to go inside when I feel a hand on my arm. When I turn, I find the redhead with an exasperated look on her face. She’s babbling in her language and I can hear the translator buzzing and clicking in my ear, trying to keep up with her. It still doesn’t have enough information to translate, though. I just shrug and turn my back on her and walk inside. She makes a disgusted grunt at me, but follows me inside. I smile. On this planet less than a day and already I’ve got women following me wherever I go.

Inside, this shop apparently sells food and books. The ceiling is low and intimate and the décor is woods and sleek black. The walls are covered in bookshelves. The tables are packed and there’s a line at the counter where I can see a glass case full of foods. I head in that direction, cutting through the line of people so I can inspect the offerings. The redhead is close behind. “Hey!” she says and pulls me around by the shoulder so I’m facing her. Hmm. She must have said that to me enough that the translator figured out what she meant. I point at the glass case of food, then to my stomach. She raises an eyebrow at me and crosses her arms across her chest. It pushes her breasts up so they’re bulging at the vee in her blouse. Nice.

So I’m reduced to ridiculous sign language to communicate. I take a deep, appreciative breath, sniffing the good smelling food. I paste a silly grin on my face, then rub my belly and lick my lips. Think she’ll understand that? Apparently she does because she sighs and rolls her eyes, then goes to the counter, cutting in line, and says something to the guy working there. He looks angry at her, she sounds angry back, but he gets a big bag and I watch with my nose on the glass as he takes one of everything and puts it in the bag. She throws some green paper on the counter, grabs the bag out of the guy’s hand and shoves it into mine, then grips my other hand in hers and pulls me through the line and out the door. I chuckle at her when we’re back outside, but the look on her face is a mood killer. I make like I’m going to inspect the contents of the bag, but she pulls me along. I guess I’ll have to wait.

Jaska shares my obsessive love of pastry. Below is my Literary Crush blogfest entry. It's unconventional. I happen to adore Stephen King's Dark Tower series and my love letter is to Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger himself. (Frankie originally created this blogfest for YA characters, and I crush on some of them too but it felt a little too, um, cradle-robber creepy for a grown woman to be writing love letters to adolescent boy characters). I've got enough adult literary crushes to keep me busy writing love letters for a while.

Dearest Roland,

I know you don't have a lot of time for the frivolity of love given your obsessive quest to find the Tower and put the world right. I mean, clearly you've got your priorities and you don't let anyone get in your way as evidenced by the long line of dead bodies (both friend and foe) strewn along your back trail. But please take a moment to pause and hear me out.

Your nobility and dedication would make any king proud to call you knight. If only you knew the cruelty of the Tower you'd understand that it doesn't matter how many times you find it, there's nothing at the Tower that will put the world right. You keep making the same mistakes over and over and the Tower keeps playing its games with you.

My heart aches for you and I wish I could convince you that there's more to life than that blasted Tower.

I adore your bad boyness, your charisma, and your weathered cowboy good looks. Your quiet contemplation and practical wisdom coupled with the heart you keep so well hidden and protected all fan the flames of my ardor.

If you ever realize the futility of your quest, please remember me. Ka doesn't have to rule everything with an iron fist - you can make your own ka.

All my love,

~Margaret

One Lovely Blog Award - and New Friends

As most of you know, I also blog at CritiqueThisWIP which is the home of my critique group. We originally had five members, but due to other obligations we ended up losing three of them. Courtney and I were so lonely with just the two of us, we ran a contest and found ourselves three awesome new members! They are: Suzie, Tessa, and Jill. Please take a second to visit CritiqueThisWIP and welcome them to the group!

In addition to adding new members to CritiqueThisWIP, we're also adding new features. We're continuing Friday Fiction, which is an ongoing story where each member of the group adds a new scene every week. It's so much fun we decided we had to share it with all of you, and voila! Tuesday Tag is born! It will be a serialized story which will start on Tuesday, July 5th. One of the CritiqueThisWIP members will start the story, then the rest of us will add scenes on consecutive Tuesdays. After that? Every Tuesday we'll be inviting our bestest blog friends to add scenes to the story! If you can't wait to participate, go over to CritiqueThisWIP and let us know so we can get you on the schedule.

We're also going to be doing some book reviews and more author interviews (we've got a great line up of authors to interview, and we're going to interview each other so you can get to know us better!). Oh, and keep an eye out for an awesome contest once we reach 100 followers.

So, on the Lovely Blog Award. Suzie, one of the new members of CTW was sweet enough to pass this award on to me from her personal blog, Writer Junkie. Thanks Suzie! The rules of the award state:

1.Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and her/his blog.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.

3. Contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

First, let me say that Suzie is awesome for passing this along to me, and I humbly accept it. Secondly, I am nothing if not a rebel and a rule breaker, so I'm not going to pass it along to 15 blogs that I've newly discovered. Mainly because there aren't 15 I've newly discovered. Other than Suzie and Tessa, who already have the award. I'm terrible at singling out blogs for award love because I just love them all. So please, help yourself to the award cuz you all deserve it!

Dirty Dozen Movie Bloghop - Correction

On Sunday I participated in the Dirty Dozen Movie Bloghop hosted by Alex Cavanaugh wherein participants list their 12 fave movies and explain why. After further consideration I need to make a correction to my list.

I know this seems somewhat inconsequential, but I'm going to do it anyway. Here is my original list. I need to change number 11. I originally selected Mulan because for some reason I felt compelled to include an animated movie in my list. Don't get me wrong, I still think Mulan is a decent flick, but on further consideration I wouldn't call it one of my favorites.

I am replacing Mulan with Wall-E. I loved this film from the first time I saw it for it's sweetness, humor, and social commentary. I think it works on so many levels but especially as both a cautionary tale and a heart-warmer.

So there you go. In the scheme of things, not an important announcement, especially considering that the dirty dozen bloghop is yesterday's news. But since I've got nothing else to talk about today, and this was inexplicably on my mind, I thought what the heck!

Have a great day! (and be nice to the Earth or you might end up fat, dependent on technology, and at the mercy of a giant megacorporation bent on world domination through consumerism...)

The Dreaded Synopsis

This is going to be super brief (hopefully) as I'm in a frenzy trying to get synopses written for my two current WIPs.

First off, the girls at CritiqueThisWIP (me included) have decided we need to have synopses of the WIPs we're critiquing for each other so that while reading each others' work we'll have some idea where the story is going and can comment on issues we feel might be affecting the story or leading it astray. A good plan, I think.

Secondly, when I go to my MFA residency the first week of August there will be agents visiting the university specifically so that we can meet with them. Of course I want to take advantage of that opportunity! But those of us who wish to meet with agents must have synopses of our WIPs prepared and turned into the program chair by July 12. Yikes.

Anyone who's written a synopsis of their WIP knows it's not as easy as you think it should be, and they're right. And how do you write a synopsis for a pantser WIP? I have no idea what's going to happen in this novel until I sit down and write. This is not going to be an easy exercise. All of a sudden I need to do at least some minimalist plotting. *sigh*

By the way, we've got some new members over at CritiqueThisWIP. You really should go check them out. They're loads of fun and Courtney and I are really excited to have them in our group!

So now I'm off to fret over my synopses. Care to share any of your synopsis-writing experiences? Tips? Advice? Help?!

Movie Dirty Dozen Bloghopping Fest!

This bloghop fest is brought to you by Alex J. Cavenaugh and the idea is to list your 12 fave movies of all time and...er...explain why.So here goes:



1. Galaxy Quest
This is, indeed, my all time fave movie. It makes me laugh every single time I see it and literally every line is quotable in useful ways. ("Yeah, you were giving me the 'we're dead' signal. I was agreeing with you. Like I know where the hold button is.")

2. Twister

I don't know why I love this movie. It's just a fun rollercoaster ride. And I love the Van Halen music.

3. 13 Going on 30

I know. It's fluff. But it's fun fluff.


4-6 Back to the Future 1, 2, and 3

Duh. These go without saying. But I'm going to say it anyway.


7. Stargate

Because like some people are Trekkies (see #8) I'm a Stargate fan (in all its incarnations)

8. Star Trek 2009

Yes, I do like all things Star Trek (except Deep Space Nine which was a heinous mutation unworthy of Star Trekdom). I enjoyed all the series (except DSN which doesn't count as Star Trek), but didn't really enjoy most of the movies until the 2009 version. Love it.

9. Laura Croft: Tomb Raider

I adored the video game and in turn the movie because Laura's a tough smart chick who doesn't take crap from anyone (and I think I secretly want to be her...did I say that out loud?!)

10. Toy Story

Who doesn't like Toy Story?

11. Mulan

I'm kind of on the fence about this one actually. I'm not a big fan of Disney because most of their female characters are wimpy or co-dependent and there's rarely an animated Disney film which doesn't begin or revolve around one of the main characters' parents or family members dying (think about it - Nemo? Mom and thousands of siblings. Snow White? Orphan. Cinderella? Dead father. Belle? Dead mother. Jasmine? No mother. Ariel? No mother. But Mulan has both parents and nobody's dead and she's a tough chick who doesn't take crap from anyone...um sound familiar? See #9. But I don't want to be her.)


12. Reign of Fire

Christian Bale? Matthew McConaughey? Dragons? Need I say more?





So what do you think of my Dirty Dozen? You should definitely go check out everyone else's (see below) and share yours!

Bad Boy Blogfest

Wow! Another blogfest. I love these things. It's fun to share something I've written, then check out everyone else's scenes. Thanks to Tina over at Sweet Niblets for this one. I mean, who can resist a bad boy? It's like chocolate - you know you shouldn't but it's so hard to be good!

This scene is out of the new sci-fi novel I'm working on. It's first draft unedited, so be patient with me. The MC is Jaska. He's a contract slave from another galaxy on a mission to win his freedom but accidentally ends up on Earth where he meets Amie in New York. This is his first meeting with her from his perspective. (And a PTD is a personal translocation device).

I've never seen anyone with hair that color. She ran right into me while I was shaking the lousy PTD trying to get it working so I could get the hell out of wherever this place is. I’ve been to cities bigger than this one, some encompassing entire planets. I’m not intimidated by hordes of people living in such close proximity. It happens everywhere. But it is intimidating to find yourself in a place where the language is foreign. And I speak a lot of languages. A quick glance confirms that this is easily a third or even fourth world planet. No advanced tech and probably no off-world contact. Time to leave.

But then this woman runs into me and I can’t stop staring at the hair. It’s the color of desert sand at sunset. She asks me something in her language, which is harsh-sounding and tongue twisting. I quit staring at her hair and focus on her eyes, which are such a light blue they’re nearly gray. Her face is sprinkled with dainty freckles. She asks me something again.

“Look, lady, I can’t understand you,” I say, pointing at my ears like that’ll help her understand. I give the PTD another shake, then shrug my shoulders. “My translocation device is shot.”

She looks at me funny. I’ve known enough women to recognize the look. She’s attracted. I sigh. Then she grabs my arm and pulls. Not a good idea. It’s bad enough to have a chip implanted in my neck restricting me, but I’m not a fan of being man-handled. Even by a gorgeous woman. She backs off some and says something else. I can’t tell what from the words, but she softens her tone then offers her hand. Well, why not. The blasted PTD is dead and I’m not going to fix it standing here in the middle of all these people. If I’m going to need help it may as well be easy on the eyes.

I roll up the PTD and stuff it in my pack, then pull the translator from my compad and cram it in my ear. I’ve never used it because every kid learns enough languages to get by in the world before he’s ten. I’ve learned even more in my line of work. But I’m going to need the translator now. It’s supposed to be able to learn new languages quickly. Let’s hope. I sling my pack over my shoulder and take her hand. It’s slim and dainty in mine and her skin is cool to the touch. Damn. I’ve gotta be careful.

There you have it. Hope you enjoyed! Now, go over to Tina's place and read the rest!

Breaking The Rules Blogfest

Ah, another blogfest! What could be more fun?! This one is hosted by the lovely Elizabeth Mueller. Participants are supposed to share "writing before you learned the rules," or "WIP just to spite the rules." I'm entering a piece from a current WIP which laughs in the face of the rules.

This selection is the very first bit of a new sci-fi novel I'm writing (um, sorry it's so long) which breaks the rules in these ways:

A) It's written in present tense. I know there's no hard and fast rule against writing in present tense, but it's not so commonly done so I wanted to try it.

B) The story is written in first person POV for both of the main characters. I wanted to write in first person POV but I couldn't decide which character's POV to write from, then I thought, why not both? I've clearly separated sections of POV and made distinct voices and so far it's working beautifully and I love the story. (This selection is the male MC's POV).

C) I'm totally writing this story as a pantser. I have no freaking idea what's going to happen next until I sit down and write. It's awesome fun!

I really should have known better than to accept Magda’s offer of freedom. I should have just served the rest of my sentence, however unpleasant, and been done with it. But no, she dangles sparkly, shiny freedom in my face and like a trained animal I salivate and wag my sorry tail and jump at it. I didn’t even ask what I had to do. I just said yes.

“Jaska, darling,” she says, her voice sultry, as if that will somehow get to me. Which it usually does. “I have a job for you. And if you promise to do it for me I’ll grant you your freedom.”

Her green eyes gauge my reaction and when she sees me perk a satisfied smile slides across her red lips. I curse under my breath. I really need to work on my poker face.

“What do you want me to do?” I ask, knowing it’s going to cost me something big.

She waves a red-nailed finger at me as if I’ve been a bad boy and chuckles in her sex-goddess voice. I can’t help reacting. Gods, I hate her. “Oh no, honey, you have to promise me first.”

“Why should I trust you?”

She steps closer and runs her finger down my chest and I grab her hand, stopping it before she gets any lower. She’s made it clear what she wants since she bought my contract three years ago and dragged me here to this gods-forsaken outworld. I’ve been fighting her ever since. I’m just the next in a long line of contracts she’s bought, but I suspect I’m the first who hasn’t rolled over and jumped in her bed just because she winked. This only makes her more determined. Sure, she’s gorgeous at 5 - 11, long black hair any guy would kill to get his hands in, those come-hither-and-I’ll-make-it-so-worth-your-while green eyes, and curves to die for, but I’ve never heard the truth from her lips once and the fact that she’s so deep into the syndicate is enough for me to keep her at arm’s length.

Don’t get me wrong. A little crime never scared me. How do you think I ended up with a criminal contract in the first place?

“You have to trust me because you don’t have any choice,” she purrs.

“If I don’t have any choice, why offer me my freedom?” I ask. She just smiles and I can see the answer in her eyes. “You don’t really expect me to survive this little mission of yours, do you?”

She suddenly looks all innocent. “I never said that, pet.” She bats her black lashes my way. I cringe inside when she calls me that knowing that as long as she holds my contract that’s essentially what I am. And she knows it.

“Cut the crap, Magda. You wouldn’t offer me my freedom if you thought you’d actually have to pay up. It’s just to sweeten the pot so I’ll be more motivated. That’s it, isn’t it?”

Her smile turns sweet and she turns her back on me and sashays across the room to her desk. Pissed off or not, it’s tough not to appreciate that action. She picks up a scrap of paper then turns and props that fine ass on her desk, crosses her legs then crooks her finger at me, reeling me in like a fish. I don’t go immediately, but damn it she knows I will eventually so I just go to get it over with.

“Mmmm. You know me so well,” she swings her leg casually, her high heel dangling suggestively from her toe. I get just close enough to reach for the paper scrap in her hand where it’s hanging like her shoe between her first and second fingers. But just before I can snag it, she pulls it back. “You promise?” What a tease.

I roll my eyes at her and resist the urge to grab her by the neck and squeeze. “Yes,” I say between gritted teeth.

She extends the note to me again and I rip it from her fingers. It just has a name and planet on it: Gil Hjalmarr, Thyr.

I laugh at her. “Seriously? I don’t even know what you want yet, but it must be worth a lot if you want it from Gil.”

“He has a map I want.”

“A map? That’s it?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“To what?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. Just get me the map.”

“Well, it would make it a mite easier to find if I know what the map’s to.”

“You’ll know it when you see it.”

I scowl at her. She’s not making this easy, as usual. It’s like she wants me to get killed. My punishment for not submitting to her?

“Did you ask him nice? I mean, when you ask nice most guys trip all over themselves to give you what you want.”

“You know as well as I do Gil isn’t most guys,” she says, a grumpy warning in her eyes. “And you haven’t given me everything I want, either."

I laugh at her, genuinely this time. I ignore her blatant hint about giving her what she wants. That’s not going to happen. But I know Gil. He’s leader of the biggest criminal network in the galaxy. He makes Magda’s business dealings look like a sweets stand on the neighborhood corner. He’s humanoid but without all the inconvenient emotional baggage most of us lug around. Basically, he would be immune to Magda’s favorite forms of persuasion.

“So you didn’t even ask at all?”

“Oh, I asked. I needed to make sure he had what I wanted. Which he does. But of course he wouldn’t give it up.” Even her pout is pretty.

I sigh. “So you want me to steal this map from him?”

“Yes, I do.”

“And you give me your word of honor you’ll deactivate my contract once I bring you this map?”

“Indeed I will, darling. You’ll be a free man, two whole years early.”

“If I live.”

“If you live.”

I pretend to consider her offer, even though I know damn well that she knows I’ve already made up my mind. But a man’s gotta have a little pride, even if he is a contract slave to the most notorious vixen in the entire galaxy.

Okay, so there you have it. Now go check out the rest of the entries and enjoy!!