Weezer Videos

Okay, so watch this video first:

And then watch this one:

*Snarf*

Smiley Stuff and a Confession

If anyone else out there needs something to make them smile (I've had the flu for almost two weeks), I highly recommend this post, by Laini Taylor.  I already knew Arthur Levine was cool.  He acquired the U.S. rights to the Harry Potter Series and the Chanters of Tremaris Series, and he picked up Laini and Jim's book, Lips Touch (a National Book Award Finalist).  But those pictures are proof that he is the COOLEST EDITOR EVER!

NaNoWriMo Confession:  my word count has been suffering from my need for almost twice as much sleep as usual.  Ugh. I'm halfway there with about a week and a half to go.  I'm still loving my story and characters.  It's funny how my stories never quite turn out the way I think they're going to.

So, I was trying to take a nap with my two-year-old today because we needed one, but every time I said I was going to sleep she giggled and giggled.  She has a contagious giggle, so we spent a half an hour giggling until we were exhausted and went to sleep.

And I realize this is going to date me, but I love the original Star Wars movies.  The Luke interpretation in this video is hilarious.  My kids can sing along with the whole thing.

   

What made you smile today?

Random Publishing Tidbits a la Beaker

I was just reading this post by my favorite literary agent, and I thought I'd share the link with anyone who thinks they might ever want to query an agent.  I have never queried an agent because I don't have any of my novels to that point yet.  But next year, I'm hoping I'll have revised two very different YA novels to perfection (hahaha).  Then, hopefully, reading posts like Nathan's will make me feel less like this: 

  

Moving on, last week, I received a long anticipated letter from Highlights:

Dear Ms. Foster,

We're happy to report that your verse, "A Place on My Bed," is scheduled for the June 2010 issue of Highlights High Five.

ect. 

Hurray!  They sent me a contract for this one in January, and I hadn't heard back from them since they sent my check.  I love what they do with my little poems.  This letter is where they let me know when they're publishing the poem and how they plan to illustrate it.  This is where I have my chance to go over the poem they send me for mistakes (I've never found any at this point) and correct them before the poem is published.  I love, LOVE being a part of this magazine.  All three of my children like to read it, and I like reading it to them.

If any of you are wondering how NaNoWriMo is going, I'm just over 13,000 words.  Yes, I'm a little behind, but I still think I can do it.  The novel is kind of like this:  

Okay.  I'm was just looking for an excuse to throw in a song by Coldplay ;)  There isn't anything "Yellow" or Beaker about my novel.  

I hope you are having a lovely November.      

Crazies

As I was driving home from the grocery store, I realized that, not only was my main character falling for the wrong guy, I've been feeling more sympathetic towards him as well.  Is this what using first person POV does to a writer?  

So I'm driving down my street, scowling and muttering to myself, questioning my character development, when I notice my neighbor waving to me with a strange expression on his face.  I lost the scowl and waved, but he still looked confused.   

This is not the first time I've done something like this.  About five years ago, one of my neighbors (a lovely neighbor who has since moved) stopped me as I was driving by her house and asked if she'd done something to offend me.  I told her she hadn't and asked why she'd think she had.  She mentioned the scowling.  Thank goodness she said something!  I told her I'd been thinking about something else, and that was the end of it.  But how many people would actually approach me about it?  I've tried not thinking about novels while I'm driving, but my mind tends to work on them whenever it isn't working on something else.

I had another friend ask me yesterday if everything was okay.  She said I'd been looking very serious lately.  She's a very polite friend ;)

So the problem is, what do I say?  I know I can't go around talking about voices in my head; I'd just as soon not mention the writing at all, but it comes up because I think about it so often. Do any of the writers reading this have a trick for turning off your story while you're out in public?    

NaNoWriMo

It's going better than I thought it would.  In fact, I'm really enjoying the voice I'm writing in and the story she has to tell.  I had trouble turning it off to sleep when I finally went to bed early this morning.  I won't be on here much this month.  I am a painfully slow writer, and I'm competitive enough that I can't accept a challenge without trying to win.