Cool Ambient Music

My good friend Leif creates the coolest Ambient Music. Here is a sample of his latest album which was released September 22nd.
This track makes me think of a 'Film Noire'. A solitary man is standing in the shadows of dark city street, it's rainy. I hear the rain dripping onto the brim of his hat. The cars one street over pass by, splashing through the puddles. He's stands there waiting, watching...

Wordgrove in There...

I'm a member of Wordgrove. This is a sort of writer's colony in the virtual world of There.com. Here we place our poetry or prose in a book and "drop" it by a pretty tree or someplace within this beautiful pastoral setting. Other members and passersby read the books, and in this way we get credits towards being an "author". Wordgrove also has a Newsletter, of which I am a proud Guest Editor.

Wordgrove sponsors contests, quests, writing exercises, and is even hooked into real life events such as the Novel Writing contest going on now.

If you'd like to see Wordgrove, you have to be a member of There.com. But you can also visit the website at www.wordgrove.com

Dialogue Check-up

I am working on my dialogue. Just in chapter one for now. Some of the things my How-to book says to watch out for is unneeded dialogue, too many 'he saids she saids', and also to watch out that the child sounds like a child, not an adult. This is all such good advice!

I am amazed at how much I have changed in just Chapter one! Kinda makes me think I'm writing a pile of crap! Hahaha! But, no, I really think this will be a great children's story....some day. :)

Third Draft, Fourth Draft....

Well, I have finished the third draft of my book. I am now going to start on my Fourth Draft. It's weird, coz I remember when I wrote the First Draft; I thought it was 'all that'. Mmmm, not so much. Haha. I really do appreciate comments from friends and family about my book, and this has led to many changes in my story. I am soooo leery about presenting any part of my book to a Critique Group. Ugh...what if someone steals my idea???

I have also learned a lot from my book, "Writing Children's Books for Dummies." It is well organized and thorough. I highly recommend it to anyone trying to break into this field.

Ok, got my cuppa tea...on to Draft Four!

Jump Starting the Muse

I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator's ( scbwi.org ). They provide online tips and publications to help unpublished as well as published writers and illustrators. They also have an active forum, regional and national conferences, and even grants for aspiring writers!

One of their "Success Stories" involved a woman who read part of her story at a round table meeting at one of the SCBWI conferences. It just so happened that a representative from a publishing company was attending. She loved what the woman wrote...and now her book is published! Wow!

I also have the book, "Writing Children's Books for Dummies". It's a very useful book, and I have drawn so much from it. I do wish it didn't have the word 'Dummies' in the title. Not a good word for peeps to draw self confidence from. I know this is part of an entire series of how-to books, but I wish the author had started this series with a different word. Maybe 'Newbies'. :)

Toe touching the Blog Pool...

I've read lately that in order to get where you want to go in this info/techno age, you gotta have a blog. I'm an aspiring Children's Book writer, an artist and dreamer. So, here I go....one small leap into the Blog Pool! Woo hooooooooo!!!!