Comfort Zone

My new WIP is a middle grade book set on another planet. Yes you heard me right, another planet. I’m learning how to build worlds. It’s interesting because there are no rules, I can do whatever I want on this planet. I want to make it unique and I decided to have it a little different from earth. It will have two suns and be more desert like. The best part, the people are purple. Yeah I said purple.

When I first saw the trailer for Avatar I almost fell out of my chair. The people were blue. I couldn’t believe it. I called my daughter up because she’s helping me write the story and I said I just saw some blue people. I thought it was a sign from God that my purple people would be OK.

This is a different experience for me because I'm writing in a different genre, different age market, with characters that aren’t human, and I love it.

Sometimes you have to get out your comfort zone.

How have you stepped out of your comfort zone?

photo from iStockPhoto.com

What happens to a dream deferred?

On Saturday night I found out what happens to a dream deferred it sits in your heart waiting on you to open it back up.

As a child I wanted to be a pastry chef. I planned on going to Paris and study with the best of the best. I even took French hoping to learn the language. Instead I joined the Navy and while in the Navy I talked to the cooks who discouraged me on being a chef. Long hours, never see your family and you get fat. I was young and I didn’t realize that sometimes you sacrifice things to become what you want. So I pushed that dream to the back and moved on to something else, my second passion, writing.

My soon to be three year old is crazy about the movie, The Mummy. He’s probably watched it a million times. He said for his birthday he wanted a mummy cake. I went on the hunt online to see if I could find a mummy cake I could duplicate. I found a few pictures and bought all my ingredients for the cake. Most of the pictures used fondant to wrap the mummy, but since I didn’t have any experience with fondant I decided to use icing instead.

As I worked on the cake, those old feeling floated up to the surface. What if I’d studied in France and learned from the masters? Would I be working for the government? Would I have my own cake decorating business? Would I have tons of experience with fondant the new cake sensation?

I hate what if questions because you can’t answer them. I know that the dream is still there and that I can do something about it. I’m going to look into taking some classes in cake decorating and baking. At least I’ll complete the dream and there won’t be any more what ifs.

What dream have you deferred?

The Mummy Cake

My son wanted a mummy cake for his birthday.

Here's how it turned out.

The Mummy Cake Plain



The Mummy Cake crumbed icing


The Mummy Cake with it first mummy stripes

The Mummy Cake with more mummy stripes

The Mummy Cake almost done

The Mummy Cake completed

Happy Customer

Happy Birthday Boy

FLASHBACK: VOWS by Rochelle Alers

FROM THIS DAY FORWARD......

On a well-deserved vacation in exotic Mexico, sensible, pratical accountant Vanessa Blanchard allows a maelstrom of desire to turn her world upside down. She's not sure why she dared to trust gorgeous, mysterious Joshua Kirkland, a man who revealed very little about his past...or their future together. All she knows is that she fell in love with a man who made her his, and then disappeared without a trace. Now Joshua haunts her days with desperate questions and torments her sleepless nights with remembered ecstasy.


But Joshua Kirkland hasn't abandoned the woman he branded with his passion. Though his mission began as a game of seduction fueled by suspicion, it has now turned into a daring race to confront the deadly danger that threatens the love of a lifetime...and the woman he loves.



This book sealed my love for romances. I fell in love with Joshua Kirkland as I read each page and from then on, I judged other heros by him. It was hard to find another hero worthy of him. I will say, Dix Wildhorse gave him a run for his money, but that's another flashback for later.

Did you miss this book? Pick up your copy TODAY.

Which hero did you fall in love with?

Snowed In

Last week St. Louis was hit with it first snow storm. Everything was covered with this beautiful blanket of snow. The best part was no work or school. Four lovely days stuck in the house with my family.

It wasn’t as bad as you would think. We had a wii competition and I enjoyed a lot of my favorite movies. As Good as it Gets, Five Heartbeats, Sleepless in Seattle. I watched a few new movies, 9 an interesting animated movie. 9th District that was a weird movie and the latest Harry Potter which I enjoyed for the second time.

During the storm an irate employee shot up his workplace. It was sad to hear about someone so upset he thought his only choice was to kill those he worked with. My prayers went out to the families who had to deal with this tragedy.

In five days my little one will turn 3 on Thursday evening he shocked us all by announcing he had to go pee. The hubby jumped up and took him to the bathroom. He came out and we all did the pee pee in the potty dance. If you don’t know this dance that means you haven’t been on the potty training adventure.

I’m so proud of this little one because he has been fighting going to the potty for a while and my pocket book has been suffering with all those pampers I have to buy. He hasn’t stopped going to the bathroom, so it looks like he will turn 3 as a potty trained little boy.

Yes I did get some writing in, even though my laptop decided to die. The laptop refuses to acknowledge the adapter plug. Since I don’t have a warranty it will cost 350.00 or more to replace the motherboard. Now if I had 350.00 I’d just go look for a new laptop. I’m just sick because this one is only a year old.

I was able to use my hubby’s computer to work on my middle grade book. It seems to be coming along well. I just might be making my first draft goal.

Now you see what happen to me during my snow in.

What did you do?

Photo supplied by http://freefoto.com

2010 Goals

I’m ready for the new year. I have a new book floating in my head, so I know I’ll be doing a lot of writing this year. I have a book almost done, so I know there will be a lot of revision and I have a book that’s in the final stage of revision, so I’ll finally be able to be DONE.

This year I’m doing things different. I’m writing instead of just talking about it. I’m good at talking about it, but you can’t finish the book talking about it.

Last year was a very stressful year. I let that get in the way of my writing. I didn’t focus on my writing because my mind was in chaos.

This year I’m getting past the chaos and focusing on what’s important to me. Writing is important to me.

Goals

Write First Draft of Middle Grade Book --April 1, 2010

Complete Second Draft of TRUST --February 1, 2010

Complete Final Draft of WAITING --March 1, 2010