Six-Sentence Saturday - 03/31/2012

One of the best things in the world is a bookstore. I just adore bookstores. There's something about all those pages and pages of stories clustered on bookshelves together.

Now, to continue:

1.) I went down to Barnes and Noble yesterday with all the little girls, and it was absolutely the most fantastic day EVER!

2.) Yogurt bars were one of the best ideas invented.

3.) If you've never tried Fennel and Acorn Squash, try it, because it is SO DARN GOOD!!

4.) I'm starting to really cruise through my revisions. Hurrah!

5.) I now have a new favourite musical: TALE OF TWO CITIES, with James Barbour.

6.) I think I'd like to add INCARCERON and SAPPHIQUE to my book collection.

That's all for now. See youse all later.

God bless.

Cat

Wednesday: about my Workshops

I attended two workshops last week over at Bona Fide Books (Kim Wyatt, Publisher), a small press in South Lake Tahoe. Kristen Schwartz was the host. (Thank you, Kristen and Kim!!!) The first workshop on Thursday was a workshop on writing children's books, with the focus primarily on picture books (amazing!). The other, which was on Saturday, was a four-hour one-on-one workshop on your specific manuscript, and goals you wanted for this manuscript as well as ideas and suggestions to make it better.

The picture book workshop was awesome, because you got like a mini-refresher on age ranges, targeting your audience, and word count. I also got to observe first-hand how a PB dummy looks, and see how one sets up their portfolio. Really, really awesome.

The second workshop was definitely more intensive. We worked on pitches, and coming up with one sentences and one paragraph to describe our manuscript. This was more of an exercise in learning HOW to pitch your manuscript to an agent / editor / publisher when you're at a conference and have that one opportunity when someone says, "What are you working on?" to actually TELL them what you're working on!

Also, the one sentence, one paragraph, two paragraph exercise is really useful in drafting a query letter. I found it nearly impossible to write just one sentence, but once I'd written the one paragraph I found it easier to pare it down and find the one sentence I'd wanted in the first place.

Kristen brought some examples of how to draft queries. My favourite was Nathan Bransford's. It seemed to really help me get the words down, just because I do so much better with a recipe! And that's what it was, a recipe, or formula, on how to draft a query. I hope you find it as helpful as me!

God bless!

Cat

Six-Sentence Saturday 03/24/2012

Happy Saturday! Today is the feast of St. Gabriel the Archangel, so it's a pretty special day for Catholics.

Now, onto the topic of the day:

1.) I went to the Bona Fide Books Workshop with Kristen Schwartz today, and it was AMAZING!!!

2.) I have actually managed to get a query letter fully drafted, which is amazing as well.

3.) I SOOOO want to take art classes!

4.) I also want to take another singing class.

5.) I have now seen an actual PB dummy, and I want to put one together for myself.

6.) I also want to create a portfolio, even though I don't have any artwork worth presenting. One day...


That's all for now, faithful readers! God bless and take care.

Cat

Wednesday Word of the Day

Today's word has to be one of my more favourite words in the history of words. That word is:

conniption \kuh-NIP-shuhn, noun:
A fit of hysterical excitement or anger

"Wah!" says Stella-Rondo. I knew she'd cry. She had a conniption fit right there in the kitchen.
-- Eudora Welty, "Why I Live at the P.O." The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty

When they came home, everybody was having a conniption about a big giant fight in the village over who got whose share of their horrid meat.
-- Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

A day or two later I was going about my business when a voice from above bellowed, ALL HAPPY FAMILIES RESEMBLE ONE ANOTHER, nearly giving me aconniption.
-- Nicole Krauss, The History of Love: A Novel

Did you know? Conniption is an invented word! It first appeared in 1833 in the good old U.S. of A., and is thought to be related to the word corruption, which was used in the sense of "anger" in the early 1800s. Neat, eh?

Also, for your enjoyment, watch these videos. Next time you think you're somethin' else, think of these two geniuses (geniusi?) and know you're not.

Six-Sentence Saturday

St. Patrick driving the snakes
out of Ireland

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here in Lake Tahoe we're mostly WHITE with snow, but I hope where spring is bursting out you have a very GREEN St. Patrick's Day.

1.) I am working with BEADS!! Fun-ness.

2.) I can't wait for corned beef and cabbage tonight.

3.) This is going to be quite the weekend for me... St. Patrick's Day today (feast feast feast!), Sunday tomorrow (feast, feast, feast!), and St. Joseph's Day on Monday (again, feast, feast, feast!). Lent has the impact on me. LOL

4.) I've got six books to go through this week, and I STILL want to go to the library today!

5.) I hate going on to Google, typing in "St. Patrick's Day," and seeing the kind of TRASH people post under images. Why does every holiday have to become some kind of "how indecent can I be?" jamboree?

6.) I love LOLcats... hence, the plethora of pictures beneath this post.

God bless, and have a HAPPY, SAFE (tone down on the drinking, peeps), and HOLY SAINT Patrick's Day.

Cat

Lucky 7 Meme

I was tagged by Kelly Hashway for the Lucky 7 Meme. Thank you, Kelly.

This is a fabulously fun contest, peeps! Here are the rules:

1.) Go to page 77 of your current MS
2.) Go to line 7
3.) Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written
4.) Tag 7 authors
5.) Let them know


Here are my lines from my WIP titled (so far) DRAGON FIRE.

He gave the Brenin Warder the plaingold ticket he had swiped, and said with a shy grin, “I brought ee Chanter a jugful o’ ale this morntide. He was thankful, eh?”

“Eh!” the Brenin Warder agreed with a laugh, and lowered his pike. “Come in and welcome, lad. Enjoy the show, eh?”

“Eh,” Dragon answered, and strutted in.

As soon as he reached the Square he let out a gasp despite himself. 


Here are the authors I'm tagging:

Teresa

Amanda.

Jessie

Debbie

Ruth

Tracey

Okay, have fun! If you could, also post just the seventh line on your seventy-seventh page in the comments below. :)

(And just for fun, this is an interesting article.)