Sell Out

My 'Dream Job'? Sitting in my office, writing. Going on book tours, seeing people holding my book, signing them, maybe even working up nerve to talk to groups if asked...

Yeah, I know. From where I'm sitting now, way far off from my dream office, that's a pretty big day dream. For now I need a little bit of a more 'realistic' job. I've been looking into bookstores and such (right now I'm crossing my fingers for a phone call) but so far no luck.

I'm probably just being weird (no comment) but somehow I think I put it in my mind that if I didn't work somewhere that had something to do with books or writing then that's a sign I'm giving up. Like taking any other job said 'Oh well, I tried'. Finally though, after the hope of the phone ringing for me this time has lowered only slightly, I can see around that.

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You know, it's been a couple days since I wrote that first part. I didn't get called back, but I've had some time to think and I believe I've come to a conclusion. Some big steps have to be taken soon in the direction of building my writing career.

If I got a job at the place I applied at that would've rocked. I mean, it was a bookstore. What more could I have asked for? But even so, I would still have that day dream dangling just over my head. Sure, I would have a stable, dependable cash flow but I shouldn't treat a job somewhere else as my end point when what I really want is for it to be a stepping stone on the way to my real goal.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being naive. I know that I'm not going to send out one query letter then become the next J. K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer. I know I'll need a job to pay the bills if not forever then for at least now. Maybe not something that deals with writing or selling books but hopefully one that I don't wake up dreading. Meanwhile, I have some heavy plans to make. Believe me, the wheels are turning.

I'll let you guys know if anything solid comes up. :)

Challenge!!

I had a thought for a post to day but honestly my brain feels like mush. Lol. So instead I wanted to issue a challenge here that a got at my writer's group.

CHALLENGE: Write a 26 word story where every word starts with a different letter. No repeats and it doesn't have to be in alphabetical order.

So this is the first one I did and let me tell you, it's really hard to make sense using 26 words, much less making sure you're not starting with the same letters.


Alpha bears climb down every frostbitten ghastly hill impaitiently jousting kelp loosely mangling, nearly obliterating, part quails refused suddenly tearing under various winds xeroxing your zenith.


Uhhh... yeah, I don't know how I have bears running down kelp strewn hills trampling things that quials don't even want but it completed the challenge! If you want to give it a try put it in the comments!

Room - Emma Donoghue

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It’s where he was born and where he and his Ma eat and play and learn. At night, Ma puts him safely to sleep in the wardrobe, in case Old Nick comes.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it’s the prison where Old Nick has kept her for seven years, since she was nineteen. Through ingenuity and determination, Ma has created a life for herself and her son, but she knows it’s not enough for either of them. Jack’s curiosity is building alongside Ma’s desperation -- and Room can’t contain either of them for much longer...

Told entirely in the inventive, often funny voice of Jack, Room is a celebration of the resilient bond between parent and child, and a brilliantly executed novel about a journey from one world to another.

-- http://www.harpercollins.ca/books/Room-Emma-Donoghue/


Room was seriously an amazing book. I don't even know what to say about it outside of that. It's told in the the voice of the little five year old, Jack, and was written mostly in the kind of broken grammar that a kid would use.

I got upset, laughed, got scared all in one in this book. I honestly can't rmember the last time I felt genuine fear for a fictional person. Ha! I don't know if it's just when it's a child character that you start to feel more for them, but Jack was able to bring out all those emotions.

Again, it was a great read. Emma Donoghue did an excellent job on building these characters and conveying their emotion. It's a must read.

POETRY SLAM! #7

Built Like a Library

If I were a library all made up of books
You'd think Adult Section, African American by looks
My attitude has pictures, probably written for kids
My brain would be mystery cause who knows where it hid
My face should be comedy for its goofy smiling ways
All my nails are horrors when they've not been cut for days
My hearts probably the thing that's living in a fantasy
All together not too bad of a mixed up little library


What kind of books do you think you'd be made of?

Little Red Riding Hood

In the writer's group I'm in, we do these drabbles where someone chooses a topic or idea that we can write something short about and share it the next week. I think I'll start posting them whenever I do them. When we did this we all took an object out of a bag. Mine was a Little Red Riding Hood Happy Meal toy. :)


She found her in one of the upstairs rooms stroking the dark hair of a doll. The young babysitter knelt down beside her on the floor.

“Who’s this?” She asked.

“This is Red Riding Hood.” The girl said, admiring the doll some more before looking up at her. “You want to play with her?”

The sitter smiled and reached for it but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She jumped then laughed when she saw it was the girl’s mother. She smiled back at her and took the doll from the little girl’s hands.

“I’m sorry I startled you. It’s just that this doll was handed down through generations and I don’t like for it to be played with. This little girl knows this.” She said sternly yet playful and ruffled her daughter’s hair before placing the doll back on the shelf, too high for the girl to reach but right at eye level for the babysitter.

Soon her parents left on their night out and she put the little girl to bed. She just left the bathroom tying her blond hair in a ponytail and was going to watch TV when she passed the doll room again. It was a very beautiful doll. All she wanted to do was look again, but when she found herself in front of it the temptation was too great and it wasn’t long before she had the doll in her hands and was stroking the hair like the girl did.

She lifted the dolls hand with her finger and when she let it go a good amount of the wax came with it. She quickly put it back on the shelf and examined it with her other hand. The doll looked fine but more wax came off the other hand. She tried hard to wipe it off but it seemed that the more she wiped at it the more it spread. She was just going to rush to the bathroom to try and save her babysitting career when she saw that the little girl was in the doorway.

She shook her head with a disapproving yet amused look on her face. “Mommy told you we shouldn’t play with the doll.”

The babysitter would’ve screamed had she felt something was wrong. What she should’ve noticed was that she didn’t feel anything at all. Soon the little girl picked up her new friend off the floor and played with her light haired ponytail while she walked to the back closet that no one seemed to notice, opened it up and placed her gently among the others before shutting it tight and sending herself back to bed.

The End of an Era

Must. Finish. BOOK.

There has only been one book, to my knowledge, that I didn't finish because I didn't like... Until last week when I made it two. These books will remain nameless here because I think it would be a little unfair for me to say something 'bad' about a book I haven't finished all the way.

It's not even that the books were bad. They're published so some one's reading them, they have to be doing something right, but they just weren't for me. There were others that I could tell I wasn't really into but I finished anyways. I can tell the signs: Taking longer with it than usual, not taking it everywhere with me, get easily distracted from it, only reading a few pages at a time as oppose to someone telling me I haven't blinked for seven hours...

I hate it when I realize that I'm not totally into a book. As a writer I know how hard it is to finally let someone else see your work, for me anyways, and one of my worries is that no one will like it. But it makes me realize that I can't write a book that every single person will love. Even some of the most popular books have people that don't like them.

While I would love if every book was fantastic and just not be able to put it down, I have to realize that it's unrealistic if I'm reading from a genre or subject that I don't care for. This can also prepare me for when I finally have a book published. Not everyone will like it. I'll just have to come to terms with that and make it the best I can for those who will.

Anyone else still trying to come to terms with this too? How many books have you just put down before?