Friday Fun

Happy Friday, Everyone!

I thought I'd put a couple of video's on the site today for you. The first one is from Britain's Got Talent and the second is from America's Got Talent. Two totally different types of talent, even though they both sing. Both of these men are amazing in their talents.

I hope you enjoy them! The first, Paul Potts is...well, I sat there stunned as I watched him. Now, I have his CD and I love playing it while I'm writing. :) It still brings tears when I watch it. This is someone who didn't give up on his talent and what within him. He sings, we write, and we don't give up either.



This is Terry from America's Got Talent. Again, if you didn't see this when it was on air I think you'll be quite surprised. I know I was. I totally agreed with the judges when he walked out on stage. My thoughts were, not another one. Then he began and I was wowed by his talent as well.



So, what did you think? I hope you enjoyed them and also came away with a little bit more I can do this attitude for your own talent as well.

Don't forget to check back on Sunday for this week's winner.

Writing Wishes and Plotting Dreams for all of us,
Vicki

My Life From A to Z - in lieu of T13 This Week

I read this over at Pat’s blog, who found it on Gwyneth Bolton’s, who found it on…well, you’ll have to link back to all of them because I’m sure it continues on much like the “Song that will not end”.

Thought it was pretty cool, so instead of the normal T13 this week I’m doing this one. Feel free to use it on your own blog. If you do, link to it in the comments so we’ll know to go check it out.

My Life From A to Z

A - Age: Yeah, right. I’m older that 38 and younger than 60…you’ll have to guess on your own, unless you already know. Hee hee

B - Best Friend: Laurie K. and Willis (aka Dorothy)

C - Choice of Meat: Love a really great Steak but also love, love Fish, and of course chicken. Okay, so I like most meat.

D - Dream Date: Science Guy and I having a nice dinner and then walking on the beach watching the sunset. Really, I love that.

E - Exciting Adventure: Hmmmm…I had to think about this one. Of course I agree with Pat the journey to publication is amazing but one of the things I really want to do is go see the Whales. As far as an EA that I actually done, one of them would be going to New York and Canada. I loved everything about the snow and all the fun I had playing in it. :)

F - Favorite Food: Pizza – nuff said on that one. :)

G - Greatest Accomplishment: My kids would be first and coming back to writing after so many years. There are others but I’ll leave it at that.

H - Happiest Day of Your Life: There are several, of course the birth of my children. What mother wouldn’t say that, unless she’s not right. But seriously, meeting SG was a big one.

I - Interests: Writing, Reading, Painting, Singing, Acting, and hanging out with friends who usually like to talk about Writing. :)

J - Joke: Not on this one. I mean do you want me to tell you a joke or tell you about a joke played on someone?

K - Kool-Aid: Lime or purplesuresrex (I think that one was grape and lemonade mixed together actually) and neither are easy to find.

L - Love: giving of yourself to others. Putting their feelings before you own, being able to be quiet with each other and still know that it’s all good.

M - Most Valued Possession: My grandmothers sweater and homemade quilt, my fathers flag (although I don’t actually have that anymore), Cards my family and friends have given me. Things like that are valued. The rest is stuff. Don’t get me wrong I have stuff that I really like, maybe even love but it’s stuff nonetheless.

N - Name: Vicki, V once in a while from Laurie, Vic from several people, Leon from Willis

O - Outfit You Love: Black dress and the strappy sandals that go with it.

P - Pizza Toppings: Mushrooms, black olives, onions, maybe bacon or pepperoni, but I like the first three the most.

Q - Question Asked To You the Most: Is your book finished? Or how soon will it be on the shelves to buy? I love the thought of the second one, but have to explain to them the process of first being contracted and then how long it can actually take to hit the shelves once that happens.

R - Radio Station: 94.9, which doesn’t really tell you much, but they play a little bit of everything on there.

S - Sport: Nascar! Basketball and baseball. I watch football and hockey with SG sometimes but they’re not my favorite.

T - Television Show: Hero’s and in January 24. I like several others but those are my fav's. The writers on Hero's are amazing!!! So many plots, so many important characters.

U - Umbrella in the rain?: Yes, my hair has natural curl to it when I don’t blow it dry, so I try not to get it wet once I've blown and straightened it.

V - Video: We really don’t watch a lot of video’s so I’m not sure what to put here.

W - Winter: My winter consist of sometimes a chilly and sometimes pull out the shorts days. I would love to have actual seasons; I loved the snow when I was in New York a couple of years ago.

X - X-rays recently?: No

Y - Year Born: Ummm…hello, I may be blonde but this kinda goes back to the letter A and age thing.

Z - Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Your turn, any of these you'd like to tell us or are you going to do this on your blog? Link back to me so we can check it out.

Writing Wishes and Plotting Dreams,
Vicki

Wednesday Fun

Okay, so this won't apply to everyone but I thought it was funny nonetheless. Sit back and enjoy. Oh and if you're not a baby boomer just yet then watch what you have to look forward too. :)

This is one of Walt Handelsman's cartoons. I tried to put the video on the site but it wouldn't let me, so click the link, watch it and then come back to comment. :)

Baby Boomers

Since I'm on major deadline to finish the first draft of my book by December 6th, the posts will be shorter than normal. When I get home from the day job I'm on the computer writing the word count needed to complete the book. I don't open the Internet at all until I've made that word count happen. Talk about control...not so much. It's killing me. I love to spend time on the blogs and so forth. Which is the reason I'm in deadline now. I had too many nights of playing instead of writing.

Looking back at all the nights I put a zero for my daily word count I now realize I would have been done weeks ago. Oh well, such is life and playing in the blog world. :)

So, do blogs, email, and general browsing the net stop you from making your deadlines? What do you do to avoid it?

WW's and PD's,
Vicki

Monday Check In and Contest and Winner (last weeks), Oh My...

Monday, and not only is it the beginning of the week, it’s the Monday after Thanksgiving. Food, maybe buying holiday gifts, and oh yes, eating more food. So what do we do today? We diet, of course. I mean hello, Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanza (please excuse me if I missed one) is right around the corner and then it’s more food. Which means for the next few weeks, Science Guy and I will be dieting, or at least trying too. :)

Truly, I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with family and friends, counting the blessing we have be they small or large.

Last week’s contest winner is Erica!!! Congrats Miss E. I’ve got your info.

My word count for this week is 2142. Which doesn’t sound too bad for a holiday week and since I went out of town for basically five days (including travel). Trust me; this is not a good word count for me. I have to have a little over a 1000 words each day to meet my goal of December 6th.

This week’s contest is a continuation in the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by
JR Ward. Lover Revealed is a marvelous book. Okay, I know what you’re thinking. I say this about each of her books. And it’s true, I do. The thing here is by now I’m hoping you see the pattern. She is an amazing writer.



Here’s the back cover blurb:

Butch O'Neal is a fighter by nature. A hard living, ex-homicide cop, he's the only human ever to be allowed in the inner circle of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. And he wants to go even deeper into the vampire world- to engage in the turf war with the lessers. He's got nothing to lose. His heart belongs to a female vampire, an aristocratic beauty who's way out of his league. If he can't have her, then at least he can fight side by side with the Brothers...

Fate curses him with the very thing he wants. When Butch sacrifices himself to save a civilian vampire from the slayers, he falls prey to the darkest force in the war. Left for dead, found by a miracle, the Brotherhood calls on Marissa to bring him back, though even her love may not be enough to save him...

If you’d like to read the excerpt: Lover Revealed Excerpt

So, how about you, are you meeting your goals? Do you have any deadlines before the end of 2007? How was your Thanksgiving? Did you stay home or travel? Leave your comments through out the week to be entered into this weeks contest.

Oh, I’m trying to get the sidebar slideshow working and then I’ll have pictures, not just flowers. :)

It's working, it's working!!! Whoo Hoo!!

Writing Wishes and Plotting Dreams,
Vicki

Travel Day

Just a quick note to let you know I'll be traveling today so not much on the blog or visiting my online families. :)

Oh, and the plane I'm flying on...it only seats 19!!! I don't like the small planes but in order to not travel all day long and still be in Florida this is the only way to go. My family lives in Destin, Florida and I'm so excited to be going to see them.

In case I don't make it on tomorrow, I hope everyone has a wonderful blessed Thanksgiving. Take a moment to remember the little things you're thankful. Sometimes it those small things in our lives we forget about when they mean the world to us.

WW's and PD's,
Vicki

Frogs and Miracles

Willis sent this to me and I thought I'd share it with you.

Frogs
Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs…who arranged a running competition.

The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants....

The race began....

Honestly:

No one in the crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.

You heard statements such as:

"Oh, WAY too difficult!!" "They will NEVER make it to the top."

or: "Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one....

Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher..

The crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up....

But ONE continued higher and higher and higher....

This one wouldn't give up!

At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?

A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal?

It turned out....

That the winner was DEAF!!!!


The wisdom of this story is:

Never listen to other people's tendencies to be

negative or pessimistic... because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you -- the ones you have in your heart!

Always think of the power words have. (There's life and death in the power of the tongue - Proverbs 18:21.)

Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!

Therefore:

ALWAYS be....

POSITIVE!

And above all:

Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you cannot fulfill your dreams!

If you fall down 10 times,
Stand up 11 times.

In other words if you’re rejected 10 times you may need to submit something new but submit again you must. A great friend once told me never give up today because tomorrow might be your miracle. I realize that the miracle comes from hard work but you can achieve your dreams if you never, ever give up on them.

Funny thing, my Flavia calendar today said: What we've worked and hoped for doesn't show until one morning we wake to se a field of miracles.

One of the major key words there is worked. This writing journey takes work. It's not easy, but if this is your hearts desire never give up and never listen to those who say you can't do it. Be the frog, the deaf frog too them. :)

WW's and PD's,

Vicki

Monday Checking In and Contest - WhooHoo, It's good to be back in the swing of things :)

Ah Monday, time to check in with last weeks count and give the goal for this week. Can anyone say, thank god for Sunday? If I hadn’t written on Sunday the word count would have been very low. It’s not what I know I need to finish the book before the TARA Christmas party, but they’re new words add all the same.

Here you go: word count added – 1773. Sounds like a good year or something. :) Goal for this week is to write everyday even with the holiday. I’m going to Destin to see my family and I’m so excited but I will write.

The contest is back in full swing this week with the third JR Ward book. This weeks it’s Lover Awakened. That link will take you to the excerpt page.



And here’s the back cover blurb:

A former blood slave, the vampire Zsadist still bears the scars from a past filled with suffering and humiliation. Renowned for his unquenchable fury and sinister deeds, he is a savage feared by humans and vampires alike. Anger is his only companion, and terror is his only passion—until he rescues a beautiful aristocrat from the evil Lessening Society.

Bella is instantly entranced by the seething power Zsadist possesses. But even as their desire for one another begins to overtake them both, Zsadist’s thirst for vengeance against Bella’s tormentors drives him to the brink of madness. Now, Bella must help her lover overcome the wounds of his tortured past, and find a future with her…

My thoughts on one of the brothers:
Zsadist is a vamp/man who you will love and feel the fear at the same time. His past dictates who he is and why he’s become that person. Still as you read the books you know there is a man inside who cares deeply for the BDB. There is one thing though – if you’re out at night and see the scared man be careful. Unless he knows you he’ll not want to carry on a conversation or go have drinks. He’ll more than likely scare the crap out of you.

Take some time and visit the site. Get to know him and then jump into his world. I promise once you do you’d fight to the death with any Lesser for him.

So, you all know that I love this series and word up it’s not like any series I’ve ever read before. I know these guys and somehow even though they’re supposed to be characters in a book, coming from JR’s mind I think they know me. They’ll know you too once you begin.

Now it’s your turn. How was your week? Did you write? Meet your goals? What’s your goals for next week? Have you got your own personal deadline for finishing your book? And last, but certainly not least, have you read any of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books? I’d love to hear what you think about them.

Leave your comments to be entered into the contest each day this week.

As always, Writing Wishes and Plotting Dreams,
Vicki

I'm Back...

Hey everyone. Just wanted to let you know that I'll be back in the swing of things on Monday. It's been weird to not be active in the blog world for the past week. Oh, I've visited a few and even left a comment here and there but not the normal spending time with my blog buddies. I've missed you guys. :)

Unless tomorrow proves to be a productive writing day I'm not going to have many words to post on Monday but post them I shall.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and I'll see you Monday morning.


WW's and PD's,
Vicki

Really Late Check In and a few Pics of the B-day Party

Missy and Aaron have went home. The goodbyes at the airport were filled with hugs and tears. When I came back home the house felt empty and it was hard to get back into the swing of things.

But I'm back now. Ready to post last weeks word count and begin working on the book again. I a little less than a month to finish the first draft of this wip so busy I will be. :)

Word count for last week is: 3593 and that's without writing once the family came in town. Needless to say I wrote hard and long for several days prior. Most of it is probably POS but I can fix it later.

Since I said I'd post a few pics of the party here you go. The party was a murder mystery so everyone came in their characters. I'd never done one of these and it turned out to be really fun.













Since it's so late in the week I'm not doing a contest this week. Next week I'll have the next book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

So, how was your week? Did you do anything crazy and fun? How was your writing week? Did you meet your goals?

Writing Wishes and Plotting Dreams,
Vicki

Family, Parties, and Contest Winners - Pics to Follow

I’m having a wonderful time with my daughter and snl. It’s going to be very hard on Tuesday morning when I take them back to the airport. :(

Since they live in Arizona, we see each other once or twice a year and that’s just not enough when you’re as close as we are.

My actual b-day is Monday but they threw a party for me last night. It was so much fun. We did a murder mystery and everyone had a blast. Most came in costume according to their characters. I have to say that Holly and Les (character names) blew me away when they walked in the door. They came in as their characters and stayed that way until the very end. It was great. We laughed, ate, laughed more and just had a wonderful time.

I’ve got pictures to prove it and will post them later today or tomorrow.

The contest winner for this past week is none other than the fab Anne-Marie. I can’t wait for you to read this book. Since you’ve told me that you haven’t really read vampire books you are in for a major treat. JR Ward is definitely one of the best to begin with. I can’t wait to hear what you thought about the book. :)

Today Science Guy and I are taking the kids (they’re not actually kids but to me they probably always will be), to the beach for breakfast. Yummy place and it’s right on the beach. It’s a bit cool though but that’s okay. Jackets, food, beach sand, water hitting the edge, and of course a walk on said beach is in order.

Tomorrow is check in with your word count and a new contest.

So, what’s your weekend been like? Anything exciting or have you relaxed, getting yourself ready for the new workweek?

Writing Wishes and Plotting Dreams,
Vicki

Major Congrats for CL Wilson

The kids are here and we're playing but I couldn't wait till next week for this. CL Wilson, Cheryl, has made the NYT best-sellers list. Whoo-hoo!!! In fact she is #26. Huge party going on right now! Lots of cyber snoopy dancing, chocolate, and wine going around. Of course the real thing is happening as well.

If you haven't read her books then what are you waiting for. They are amazing.

Anyway, I'm off to do things with the family but had too put thisup first.

Hope everyone's weekend is great. I'll announce this weeks winner on Sunday so be sure and check back.

WW's and PD's,
Vicki

Family's Here So Today We Play

Hey everyone, just a quick note to let you know I won't be putting up a T13 this week. Since Melissa and Aaron just came in last night we'll be out playing today.

I'll post tomorrow but in the mean time I thought you might like to post in the comments three of your favorite things to do or places to go. All comments will be added to win the contest this week.

Hope everyone has a great day and yeah, it's weird to not be around my blog family and friends. :)

WW's and PD's,
Vicki

What Do Your Characters Eat?

A friend sent this to me and I loved it. I thought I'd share it with you.



The Two Wolves
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all..

One is Evil.

It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good.
It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.


The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:
"Which wolf wins?"


The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."


Not only does this apply to us it applies to our characters. What are you feeding them? Does your H/H struggle to be good or perhaps your Villain, does he/she feast on evil or struggles to maintain the evil inside?

WW's and PD's,
Vicki

Monday Check In and Contest

I totally forgot to announce last week’s contest winner! One of the girls at work drew the name and everything. So before I go forward, let’s go back in time pretending it’s Friday for a moment. :)

The winner is Anne!! Major congrats!! Email me your snail mail addy at vickilanewrites @ yahoo.com and I’ll mail out your book.

Also, I haven’t heard from Susanhalter, the winner of the weeks before. Please email me your information as well.

Time for check in: Word count for last week is 2552. Not a bad word count but not the amount that I need to finish on time. Which basically means my daily word count goal now becomes a bit higher.

I didn’t write at all yesterday. I read the 4th book in the JR Ward, Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I couldn’t put it down. Her world…hmmmm…really the brotherhoods world is amazing.

In fact, for the next several weeks I’m going to give away her books. Since I’ve already given away Dark Lover, this week we’ll begin with book two.



Lover Eternal is the second in the series. You can read an excerpt at the link above. This is Rhage’s book.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Within the brotherhood, Rhage is the vampire with the strongest appetites. He’s the best fighter, the quickest to act on his impulses, and the most voracious lover—for inside him burns a ferocious curse cast by the Scribe Virgin. Possessed by this dark side, Rhage fears the times when his inner dragon is unleashed, making him a danger to everyone around him.

Mary Luce, a survivor of many hardships, is unwittingly thrown into the vampire world and reliant on Rhage’s protection. With a life-threatening curse of her own, Mary is not looking for love. Her faith in miracles was lost years ago. But when Rhage’s intense animal attraction turns into something more emotional, he knows that he must make Mary his alone. And while their enemies close in, Mary fights desperately to gain life eternal with the one she loves…

If you want to know which of the brothers I like better, I can’t give you that answer. It’s a bonding thing and when you become bonded to the brotherhood you love them all and their Shellans. No, there's not a spicy aroma emitting, that's between a male and his mate. Still you can be sure there is a bonding. That is unless you like the smell of baby powder discharging from your soul. Then the bond thing, not so much.

They each have different strengths and weakness. Ummm…don’t tell Zsadist I said anything about weaknesses. Okay, maybe you shouldn’t tell any of them I said that. They’re not so much down on the weakness thing.

I cannot actually visit the compound and let Wrath, the King, know I’m sharing their world with you, I can only hope he will read this blog. You see as a human once you’ve been there you can’t go back. Just ask Butch. But then, why would you want too? :)

Oh, and one more thing. Actually this is a very important thing. Should you meet the Scribe Virgin remember to keep your head lowered and DO NOT ask her any questions. No matter how badly you'd like to know the answers. None, not a one.

So, it’s your turn. Did any of the above wet your appetite? How did you do this week? Did you meet your goals? Have you read any of the Black Dagger books? Let us know.

Writing Wishes and Plotting Dreams,
Vicki

T13 - Halloween

Before I start the T13 I wanted to remind you one last time to check out the Maven’s blog. The story is over and oh yeah, I want more. The end was incredible. No one saw that twist. :) If you haven’t read them go now and read each one from the beginning. Then vote on the title. They’re listed on today’s blog and let me tell you it will be a hard decision. This has been so much fun. Thank you Mavens for doing it and I can’t wait until the next one happens. Big hint there.

Another Halloween has come and gone. These are just a few of things I enjoy on this day.

1. Decorating the house and the yard. I didn’t decorate this year which is odd for me. There are several homes around me that did though and they went all out. So much so that traffic slows down to look at them. Not that I mind since I’m part of the slow down traffic. It seems each time I see something new.

2. Dressing up. Oh yeah, I still like to dress up. At the ‘day job’ we can come in costume to work. This is always fun since it’s such a large company you see everything from an orange t-shirt w/ jeans to a full all out costume.

3. Candy or chocolate to be exact. All those bags of chocolate to give out to the kids. I love seeing their costumes and their faces as you put candy in their bags. I like to give out the good stuff. The kind that when they get home and their parents look through the bag I know they’ll want to keep it.

4. Apples – candy or caramel. Either one works for me. I don’t give those out but eating them are yummy.

5. Movies – Okay so I can’t really watch the scary movies. It something about my mind that wants to turn them in to reality. I mean I watched the first Jason movie way back in the day and still I can see the mask.

6. The day after Halloween sale – this is for candy, costumes for next year, and new decorations. Gotta love a sale.

7. Seeing the pictures of Leslie Kelly’s house on the Plotmonkeys blog. She really knows how to do a haunted house.

8. HGTV – What can I say? I love this channel and this time of year they show all sorts of homes that decorate for Halloween. It can takes months and months for some of these houses.

9. Fall is finally arriving down in the south. Not to say that it’s much cooler but at least you know it’s here.

10. This one goes along with 9 but for me it signals the time to begin in earnest with the rest of the year’s decorations and buying presents for Christmas. OMG, it’s really less than two months away!!!

11. Parties – friends and family getting together to laugh, eat, drink and relax.

12. Changing the decorations from spooky to turkeys. :) Yep, I have stuff that can be left out for the entire two months (October and November) but I also have some that needs to go back into their Rubbermaid homes and others that come out. (I know, I didn’t decorate for Halloween this year, but I’ll pull out the Thanksgiving stuff this weekend)

13. Friends, and blogs, and emails, Oh MY! I’m sure you’re like me and have friends who you’ve never actually met and this is one of those times of the year were you see pictures, hear about their family’s fun and send pictures back and forth.

So, how was your Halloween? Did you dress up? Do you have lots of candy left over or did you give it all out and have to look for something else to hand out as the last group came to your house?



WW’s and PD’s,
Vicki