Black Holes & Mischievous Elves

After looking at my stats for the first in months, I’ve decided it’s a good thing that I have a sense of humor. No amount of pretty graphics can hide the fact that my numbers are in a coma.

Really?

There is one silver lining in that I’m still receiving lovely comments and likes which tells me the quality of my posts is not in question, (at least I hope it’s not), so the writer in me can’t help but speculate possible reasons for why my numbers are flatlining.

1. My inner critic is getting back at me for ignoring her for most of the last year or so.

2. The subscription thingy is out of whack.

3. My blog is imaginary.

4. Fate is trying to tell me to focus more on refining Novel #2 and finishing my query package.

5. My counter is either malfunctioning or messing with me.  Or mischievous elves are stealing my hit counts and hiding them.

6. My readers want to read my novel more than my posts and this is their way of forcing me to work harder on getting an agent, (if only . . . . Lol!).

7. The internet is broken.

8. There has been a disturbance in the Force.

9. I accidentally jumped into a parallel universe where I am not a writer.

10. The garden rabbit nibbled on my numbers thinking they were a snack.

11. My computer desperately wants to take a vacation and its purposely hiding my posts so people can’t find them.  It’s hoping I’ll get so discouraged that I’ll stop writing and it can rest.

12. Everybody is at the movies or watching TV, (Hmmm . . . Star Trek: Into Darkness is pretty awesome in IMAX/3D).

13. People are reading actual books instead of firing up the computer (which isn’t totally a bad thing).

14. The universe is collapsing and I’m so busy writing, I haven’t noticed.

15. I accidentally set my blog on private.

16. My stats are stuck in a time warp.

17. I’ve lost my mojo.

18. I was inadvertently mean to someone and I’m being punished, (unlikely, but worth investigating).

19. The gods are trying to teach me a lesson for continually breaking the dress code at work (I won’t stop wearing jeans and Converse sneakers).

20. Solar flares and black holes are acting up again.

My muse and I are both scratching our heads for a way to get out of this funk. Meanwhile, many thanks to readers who stop by each day!!

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c.b. 2013

I’m A Guest Blogger!

Today, I am lucky enough to be a guest blogger over on change it up editing. Follow the link below for an in-depth look at my logic and philosophy for writing in first person and present tense for both of my novels. You’ll even get a little peek at the opening lines of Novel #1!

How I Used First Person and Present Tense to Wake Up My Story

While you’re there, take a look around for some great posts about writing and editing!

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c.b.w. 2013

Thank You, Readers!

As I wind down the reflection and celebration of 2012, I’d like to take a little time to thank my readers. When I started this blog back in 2010, I had no idea it would turn into something so meaningful. Thank you so much to everyone who has stopped by for a visit and/or subscribed to my posts. Your support and encouragement is an amazing source of inspiration.

2012 was an incredible year of activity and I have my readers to thank for the following annual report:

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 55,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 13 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

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Thank you to WordPress for putting together such a great overview of my blog!

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As for 2013, I will continue to follow my muse . . .

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c.b.w. 2013

Thanks For The Love!

Many thanks to Matrone Bell at Rambling and Other Nonsence for nomination me for the Leibster Blog Award. It’s been a little bit of a rough week, so it was really nice to receive a some blog love. Be sure to check out her blog as it is full of interesting muse fragments and poetry!

The Rules:

1) Paste the award picture into your blog.

2) Write up 11 NEW questions directed towards your nominees.

3) When you receive the award, you must post 11 random facts about yourself.

4) Pass the award onto 11 other blogs and let them know.

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Questions from Matrone Bell:

1) What accomplishment in your life are you most proud of?

I haven’t sold out for any reason.

2) If you could get away with murder, how would you dispose of the body?

I hope it never comes to that!

3) What’s your biggest pet peeve?

People who use cell phones in the movie theater. Seriously, I did not shell out money to watch your screen light up or listen to your conversation. (Rant over.)

4) Are you a carnivore or a herbivore?

Both

5) What did you want to be as a kid?

Happy.

6) What made you start blogging?

I needed something to do after finishing my first novel. I had a lot of writing time that needed to be filled with more writing.

7) What do you admire most in people?

Compassion. We all have it . . . some just bury it deeper than others.

8) What do you consider your best quality?

My relentless optimism.

9) Name one personality trait you hate about yourself?

I can be a little too competitive.

10) What thing would you like to see me post more about?

Poetry. I love your poetry!

11) How devastated are you that twinkies are gone?

Twinkies were good, but they were never my favorite. However, I am crushed at the loss of the cupcakes with the little white swirly on top.

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11 Random Facts:

1) I have a life-sized Edward Cullen standee in my classroom. He was a gift and I love him.

2) The Mortal Instruments is one of my favorite YA series, along with its prequel The Infernal Devices.

3) I have a large Barbie Doll collection that I’ve been adding to since I was a kid. Among my favorites are the original dolls in the Barbie Fashion Model Collection and an original 1964 bubble cut Barbie.

4) Every year after Black Friday I clean out my closets. There’s no way I can buy that much stuff and keep everything I have at the same time. Goodwill usually gets a carload of clothes and housewares from our house during the last week of November.

5) I love broccoli. Steamed, no butter, no salt, no sauce. Just broccoli. Mmmmmm.

6) I know how to make my own lotion, shampoo, chap stick, etc. Everything is made with all natural ingredients, too!

7) I prefer blue pens over black pens. Pen over pencil. Crayon over marker.

8) I love snow, which makes it ironic that I live in a desert.

9) I love science fiction – Star Trek, Star Wars, or anything else half as cool!

10) Aside from Jane Eyre, The Fierce Bad Rabbit by Beatrix Potter is my favorite book.

11) All of my Christmas shopping is done.

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11 Nominees:

All of these blogs are full of inspiring and creative posts. I look forward to visiting each day and I hope you enjoy them, too.

All the Soft Spaces

Before the Ink Dries

Life Through Blue Eyes

Bag Lady Lulu

The World Poetized

The Writer Within

Lyrical Love

Three Daily Delights

beeseeker

Quirkster

Billie’s Craft Room

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11 New Questions:

1) If you could have one superpower what would it be?

2) What is something you’ve always wanted to learn how to do? (What’s stopping you?)

3) What is your favorite movie?

4) Mac or PC? Why?

5) If your home was one fire and you had time to grab one thing, what would it be?

6) Who do you admire most? Why?

7) What do you think you’ll be doing five years from now?

8) What is your idea of a perfect day?

9) Coffee or tea?

10) If a magazine asked you to write an article about any topic, what would you write about?

11) What charity or organization means the most to you?

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c.b.w. 2012

Into The Writing Cave

To borrow a phrase from Crow River Writer, I’ve decided to retreat into my Writing Cave for the next week.  Three weeks ago, I set the insane goal of finishing my second novel by the end of September. The shocker is I am really close to reaching this goal!

So close!

With only a week remaining, my muse and my imagination are itching to focus entirely on the last scene and the possibility of an epilogue.  So, for the first time in more than a year, I will be taking a week-long break from my blog and the blogosphere as a whole in order to appease my very insistent muse. As luck would have it, I have three days off from work this week, which will allow me to completely immerse myself in the work without the distraction of my day job. It’s like the stars have aligned with the perfect opportunity and I simply can’t ignore the path they’ve laid out.

Before I head into my cave, I thought I’d leave behind a few cryptic morsels from my second novel. I’ve been very vague about the plot, though I’ve shared a little about my main characters, (See What’s In A Name? Everything! and What I Love About My WIP).  I’ll continue to be elusive with concrete details, but I thought it would be fun to give some clues to the story.

The quote is one the first things I scribbled into my notes while doing research and the photograph is taped into the pages of my Novel Notebook.

. . . And into me they breathed a voice divine

to celebrate the future and the past

My orders were to celebrate the gods who live

eternally, but most of all to sing

of them themselves, the Muses, first and last

                        — Hesiod, The Theogony

Dan’s Cave, Abaco Island, Bahamas.
Photo from National Geographic

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Hopefully, these little nuggets will intrigue more than frustrate!

While I won’t be blogging, I will be on my Facebook page with random thoughts as I work my way through the final segment of novel #2.  Visit my sidebar and hit the Like button to follow along.  This is most likely the first place I will be celebrating when I finish the last sentence. Hope to see you there!

I’ll be back with a post for Sunday Abroad on September 30.  Thank you so much to my readers for all of your support and encouragement.  I am very aware that I would not have made it this far without you.

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c.b.w. 2012