More from Deb Dixon's Conference

Let's take a look at your character's goals.

The goal, as defined by Deb Dixon, is what your character hopes to achieve.

The goal has to have a sense of urgency. It doesn't have to be a ticking time bomb - it can be a sense of opportunity that won't come along again.

Ask yourself, "Why her (him), why now?"

Love should be a complication, not a goal. Characters should have strong goals that are separate from the relationship.

Don't give your character anywhere to go but forward.

In Writing News...

I wrote a Halloween short story. I love writing short stories and I don't do it often enough, largely because I need a good, solid idea before I start writing. It has to percolate in my brain for awhile. Otherwise, it will turn into a novel! The short story format is also great because you can really practice the writing craft in a limited amount of space. It's also inspired me to get to work on my novel again!

Back at Work

My daughter finally felt well enough to go back to school again, thank goodness. Well, let me rephrase that. She didn't want to go back to school again, but I wanted her to! She slept through the night, no coughing fits, and sounded a lot better this morning. Thank God!

I'm determined to go work out tonight. Hubby's Christmas party is in three weeks and I've got to look better than I do now! I can lose at least six pounds in that amount of time, can't I? If I really watch what I eat, exercise a lot...yeah, I think I can do it.

This is probably the worst time of the year to try and lose weight. But we'll see if I can do it. :)

A Plea for Help!

My friend from work is having trouble with her son not sleeping through the night. And she needs your advice!

Go here to read her post: http://objectofperception.blogspot.com/

Dominant Impression

I'm still at home with my daughter - she woke up at 4 a.m. this morning coughing. Poor thing.

Anyway, as promised, I'm going to start sharing notes about my conference. Today will be short and sweet!

Deb Dixon talked about the "Dominant Impression" for your characters. It's a simple, but very useful concept.

For your characters, think of an adjective and a descriptive noun. The adjective cannot be a physical description - for example, "tall" or "thin" or "blue-eyed." It must be more specific - like "lazy" or "cocky." Then choose your descriptive noun, but it can't be a profession.

Some of Deb's examples come from Star Wars. Han Solo is a "cocky smuggler." Princess Leia is a "royal rebel."

Those who attended the conference also came up with some great ones:

frustrated martyr
lonely rake
impulsive dreamer

This is a great tool to help you really pinpoint who your character is.

More tomorrow!

Oh yes -

I am officially the new president of my local RWA chapter. I'll begin my term in January. :-)

Why I Can't Work At Home

I kept my daughter home from school again today. Her cold seems to all be in her chest, so I'm hoping that the expectorant that I bought will loosen it up and help her feel better. But I'm bound and determined that she's going back to school tomorrow.

Even though I do have some work to do for the office, I feel so unmotivated. And this is the exact feeling I had when I didn't have a job and I stayed home with the kids.

I've come to this conclusion: I need to be around people, I need to be active, and I need to be out of the house to get motivated. Right now, I just want to crawl on the couch and take a nap. And I just might this afternoon. But the house needs cleaned, the dishes need done, and I still need to write that Halloween short story for Rene! :-)

I think the ideal job for me would be to work every morning and have every afternoon off. Or perhaps to work every other day. I get tired of running around and never having enough time at night. But I also know I can't go back to being a full-time SAHM.

Something in the middle...that's what I need. :-)

Tonight is my chapter meeting and I'm anxious to see what everyone's thoughts are on the conference. Ironically, I also have to do a short presentation on motivation!

A Wonderful Success!

Ahhh....big sigh of relief! The conference is over and it was absolutely WONDERFUL. In fact, I lost track of how many people told me how wonderful it was.

Since our president wasn't there for personal reasons, I was the Mistress of Ceremonies. And let me just say right now - Debra Dixon is an AMAZING person. She is full of energy, laughter, and is very down to earth.

The food was great, the place we rented was perfect, and the gals in my chapter just did an amazing job putting everything together. I was so pleased.

I'll gather my thoughts about the conference and try to post them tomorrow. I'm at home with my daughter who apparently has the same nasty cold that I did last week. I'm very fortunate that I can work at home on days like today. :-)

Chapter Conference Time!

We're having our annual Fall Writer's Retreat for my local RWA chapter and I've been quite busy preparing for it. Last night we set up the tables and chairs and tonight we're having our dessert reception for Deb Dixon.

I'm a bit nervous because our chapter president will not be there and since I'm the vice president, the duties fall to me. I wrote my welcome speech last night and I think it turned out pretty good.

Dessert reception tonight (whoops, I already had a donut for breakfast, courtesy of my supervisor - darn it!) and then tomorrow is the full-day conference. We're quite pleased with the number of participants, which includes a few published authors!

Anyway, I discovered last night that I wasn't quite as excited about the actual conference as I have been in the past simply because I have been in charge of organizing a lot of it. And it has taken away from my writing time. But, I really don't mind because it's only once a year and I really enjoy preparing for it.

I'll post some of the highlights from Deb's workshops over the weekend or on Monday.

Hope you all have a terrific weekend!

Need a Laugh?

I had my entire department laughing with this one. A man is witness to a car accident - but it's not a serious one. Check it out: (you need sound)

http://www.chumfm.com/MorningShow/bits/march24.swf

I stayed up late editing my novel last night. I'm making progress!

Whew!

I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief that today is largely over. It wasn't necessarily a bad day, but it was BUSY.

I thought our cold front wasn't moving in until tomorrow, so I walked out the door without a coat and neglected to get one for my daughter, as well. After I'd dropped the kids off, I realized it wasn't going to warm up. Off to the store I went to buy me and my daughter sweatshirts since I didn't have time to run home.

Went to work, then took off to go look at an apartment for my mom. Very pleased with what I found, called mom and told her of my findings, dropped off my daughter's sweatshirt at daycare, then back to work. Off to lunch with my coworkers, then came back and realized I had a flat tire.

Luckily, I work with some really great guys and they put the spare on so I could drive the five blocks to the auto repair shop. A co-worker picked me up, we went to the post office, then back to work. Thirty minutes later I went to go get my car.

In the midst of the entire day, I kept fielding calls from my husband and my mom, filling out her rental application, and trying to get my work done!

After work, went and dropped off the application, picked up my daughter, and headed home.

Sigh...

I did manage to get everything done at work that I needed to, so that was a relief. I thought of tomorrow and how I could just pick up the kids and go straight home from work to relax. But alas, it's not to be! We have to set up for our weekend writing conference tomorrow night and I'll be busy until Saturday night.

Whew!

Writing? What writing?

Fortunately, I'm on the computer right now and it's only 8:09 p.m., plenty of time to get a few minutes of editing in, right? Let's hope so!

Time to Focus...Again

Do you ever lose your focus? I do.

Both my parents came to visit a week ago and I loved it. I didn't worry about my writing or much of anything else, but spent my time enjoying their company.

I also pushed myself a little too hard and thus, the cold.

But even when I'm sick and running my children around, taking care of the house, and making sure the dogs don't eat the new cat, I think about my writing.

And that's when I get excited. Giddy. And I can't wait to regain my focus again. Cleaning my desk is the first step. Making sure I have plenty of chocolate is the next. (Hmm...might not be a good thing!). And the all important third step - sitting down at the computer and writing.

I have to regain my focus every few months. Life just does that to us all, I suppose. But being able to experiene that giddiness, that wanting to write, that absolute excitement, is worth it.

Announcing a New Blog...

Oh, stop your snickering! Another blog? you ask.

Yes. But it's a very GOOD one, I promise.

Find out here:

My New Blog!

House Hunting

My mom just got a job where I live. She's preparing to make the 450 mile trek to this part of the state, and my brother and I have been shopping for her a place to live.

I really can't believe how much people charge for rent, especially when the place is a pile o' crap. Amazing.

It takes so darn much energy to call people up, arrange to go look at the place, be nice and polite and smile even when the place IS a pile o'crap, and then do it all over again fifteen minutes later.

I'm ready to go home and take a nap on the couch! Of course, I didn't do much else this weekend. Well, yes, I did. I actually managed to start working on my edits for POSSESSION, got some laundry done, bought a Keith Urban CD, watched a wonderful movie, The Best Years of Our Lives, and spend some quality time with hubby and the kids. And through it all, I barely got any sleep because of this darn cold I'm fighting. I need to buy stock in Kleenex!