If only :) meant, "Gosh, I'm happy today!"

I'm feeling happy today :) and wishing emoticons had an appropriate place in literature. 

I'm not the least :-} when I say I think they're a fabulous way to express emotion!

Instead of saying

 "Joy radiated from her face as she flung her body at him. Six months was way to long." 

Just tell us her thoughts about missing him and plug in a giant smilie! :D 

Then "He held her around the waist twirling them both as other airport travelers scattered. She squealed squeezing him tighter till she landed and stood giggling and swatting at him for his reckless behavior, but he refused to let go."

Do we really need all that, I ask you? It's so much tighter to tell that he twirled her she squealed at him and then show off a nice little :P Then you know exactly how she's feeling! Am I right?

Yes I think I'm ready to bring about this new age and technique in literature. The time has come. 

You might be feeling :-| or :-O but no worries ;) 

Dont be X( or :s There will still be a place for everyone! So no :'( among writers. Write on and we'll see who wins >:) 

If you'd like to join me, here's a link with an immense list of emoticons for your future writing purposes in this brave, new world we can create together!

:^o

Am I a little late for April Fool's?

Hello My Insecure Buddies!

OK I had no idea that this even existed! I'm new to writing and have just started learning about this great and marvelous and terrifying process. I'm a little afraid to get into all my insecurities because that just opens a major can of worms... but whatever I'll try to keep it small for now.

I love writing, and I love my writing friends. Today I want to talk about how terrifying it is to read my writing in front of my lovely sweet and kind friends. 

.

.

.

Well, that's it really.

It's freaking terrifying to open myself up like that. I've only done it a couple of times and my heart falls down in my chest and I notice every minuscule mistake. I usually stop and offer some form of apology when they are noticed. Then I crawl in to a hole hoping nobody laughs or that somebody will. Please, please, please, let there be something positive that can be said about this strange in process piece of literature that I've just laid out before you. 

Aah, that actually is quite nice to say out loud. Much easier than reading my most recent piece of first draft fiction. I've been told we all feel that way but when somebody turns to you and says it looks like it's your turn. Forcing myself to swallow and say "Sure!" Is about the hardest thing I've ever done!

But we do, and we survive, and I've not known anyone to die during this rare form of self inflicted torture. And what do we get of this situation? better. We get better. At reading, at writing, at listening. Submitting to the open minds of our friends who've been there and want nothing more than to help you is one of the best things we can do for those gravel rough pieces of crumbling fiction, that want nothing more than to be cleaned up and discovered. 

I think we can help them with that. 

Fine I'll Read Another Book

So I love reading. Surprise :) 

My girls read and a couple have even been writing as well. (I so love this! When they read their work my chest puffs up and a batter from the world series couldn't knock the smile off my face.) 

Reading allows me to escape but writing swallows me whole. When I start writing I can't escape my story for days. My characters follow me around and every conversation inspires something. Unfortunately that inspiration can be less than focused and I usually get several new book ideas while listening to peoples own epiphanies, but, what's been strange for me, is when reading becomes work. 

I currently have a stack of books to read. Granted, much smaller than an editors, but way larger than I'm used to piling up and my rainy days are seriously lacking! So I've got to knock some of them out. Not to mention the fifteen million other things on my list such as, taxes, kid pick ups, kid drop offs, taxes (April is coming really fast this year), bills, dinner, lunch, breakfast, clean up from the previous three, etc. And, my kids like to imagine that some day I might stop and play with them! How dare they :) 

I don't know what people are talking about when they say that time flies! OK that's a lie, but how else am I supposed to justify sticking my kid in front of a video game or saying "Mommy will be down in a minute!" When I really mean a few hours, if I can escape the computer by then, and not have some other urgent to-do item come up. 

So what to do because the weather has taken a turn for the worse and I'm looking at some rainy days, and frankly I'd like to put the to-do list away, shove the stack of books behind the piano, and just write. 

The picture has no real tie to my post :) I just happen to love old bookstores, old bikes, the architecture. 

Well it looks kinda rainy, so there, I tied it in!