You'll Be a Song I'll Sing

The wonderful thing I’ve found about writers is no matter where they are in their writing journey they are helpful to other writers.  Now, one local published writer will tell a completely different tale but that’s his version of events and it’s only hearsay.  My experience has shown no method works exactly the same from one writer to the next.  From time to time though it’s good to review some rules or tips that will make your writing better.

Here is some recent (within the last 3 years) advice from other writers about writing short stories:

JA Konrath on how not to write a story.
Jim C. Hines on workshop wisdom.
C.C. Finlay’s repost of Kelly Link’s advice to writers – be you and be interesting.

What writing rules or advice from other writers have you found helpful?

Mirrored from Amber Stults - Book Reviewer and Author.

It's been a weekend full of movies.  I'm going to make pickles now!

One of our old neighbor's had a black cocker spaniel mix that was Zilla's girlfriend.  These two dogs loved each other.  Zilla would run up to her back and front porch steps on our walks with the hope that she would come out and play.  He did that for a long time after they moved.  I haven't seen her since 2007 when we went out to a movie together right before she moved back to her family home in Canton.  I hope the email address is still valid!

A warm bath... ahhh!

Husband is at home waiting for the plumber to bring over the new water heater and install it! 

We turned the electricity off to the pond because the hose was in the basement.  Amazingly, over a week with no water, the algae on the rocks around the pond dried up.  And after a few days of water, it hasn't come back!  The birds missed the pond but they're happy now.

The last movie I saw was Angel Face starring Jean Simmons and Robert Mitchum. 

The last movie I saw in the theater was Away We Go starring Jim Krasinksi and Maya Rudolph.

The relationships couldn't be more different if I had tried to pick them out on my own.

Isn’t it amazing how adaptable people and plants are?

For twelve days I’ve had no hot water.  We called our home warranty company that first morning.  Plumbers, purchasing departments and so on seem to run on different time tables than the rest of us.  I was surprised to receive a phone call yesterday informing me of our two options to replace our water heater.  Who knew the home warranty company worked on Sundays?  The first option was to have the current plumber install a new water heater and pay the extra money to bring the new system up to code and the second was to give us $500 to take care of the issue ourselves.  Not wanting to delay the replacement we went with the first option.  To adapt, we’ve been heating up water for washing dishes and taking cold showers.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from Amber Stults - Book Reviewer and Author.

Instead of going out to a nice dinner I wanted my Northstar pancakes for breakfast.  Hubby suggested the new crepe/belgian waffle place at the North Market.  We got there around 11am but they didn't open until noon.  So we bought a loaf of day old bread and thought we'd try Warehouse Cafe.  Which no longer has Sunday hours.  I was starving so we went to Surly Girl where we finally got to have their brunch.  It was yummy.  Then I found a long necked watering can for the self-watering hanging baskets on the front porch.

We went home and my in-laws said they'd come by sometime.  After a bunch of miscommunications and weeding of the lawn, we were picked up and taken to Wendy's and Dairy Queen.  Some days fancy or gourmet just isn't in the cards.  Like I told my husband, "Sometimes the company you eat with is more important than what you eat."

Hubby bought me Ratio by Michael Ruhlman and made me two CDs.  I thought Sammy gave me the gift of silence while blow drying my hair but that didn't last.  :)

Went to Comfest yesterday for lunch with coworkers.  There were some healthy choices but I went with fried.  Corn dog, french fries and a funnel cake.  Last year I went with the half slab of ribs and I brought most of it home.  (Sammy at the rest using his Ninja Corgi skills to grab them from the middle of the dining room table.)

I did some weeding this morning but mostly I cut off new branches forming on one of our trees.  Headed to Marysville in a few minutes to have lunch with my parents at Doc Henderson's.

I think it would be "Rock With You" or "Billie Jean".

I had pulled up at Carfagna's when I heard he was given CPR and taken to the hospital.  Later when I got home I saw the headline. 

My supervisor was at work when he found out.  He stood up, walked into the middle of the room and said, "I think I'm going to cry."  Then he left the room so he could.

One of the advantanges/disadvantages to having a tv on all day during work is you hear all the news as it's breaking.
 

The A/C at work started acting up yesterday.  We'd be just right then cold then warm then just right and so on.

Today they brought in a huge turbo fan for our server room.  It had gotten up to 110 degrees.  I thought I'd go out for lunch to escape the heat.  The temperature gauge in the car said it was 96. 

Yikes!

Crossed Genres has opened the polls for their Flash Fiction Contest.  Voting (just one per IP Address) is happening now until June 30th. 

There are 10 entries to choose from and just over 4000 words if you read them in one sitting.  All of the entries are different and by voting you might make a writer very happy.

Crossed Genres Flash Fiction Contest Voting.

Mirrored from Amber Stults - Book Reviewer and Author.

Friday afternoon the plumber came by and confirmed we need a new water heater.  Now we can only hope the new one is ordered lickety-split by the home warranty company.

While removing the shelves from the wall so the plumber can take out the old water heater we discovered a few items.  I'll upload the pictures tonight or tomorrow and let them tell the tale.

Someone very special to me has a birthday today.  According to his fortune in yesterday's lunch he must beware of a surprise I have planned for him.  I only wish I had as much wisdom as the fortune cookie maker.

This morning I went to the basement to empty the dehumidifier.  Not only was it full, there was a bunch of water on the floor.  Apparently the water heater does not want to heat water anymore.  We still have our home warranty for another 2 weeks so it could not have been better timing!  Now if only the warranty company can get someone out here soon.  Washing my hair in cold water this morning was almost painful.

When we looked at the house it had a cool, simple lamp hanging from the basement ceiling directly over the built in work bench.  The previous owner left it and I think it only worked once.  We went to Lowe's tonight and got a chandelier cord set.  It looks like the lamp is really just a cord set with a lamp shade on it.  Let's hope this does the trick!

The ex-pro football player's house is getting some work done.  The garage was completely painted earlier in the week and now there are lamps on each side of the garage door.  All of the berry bushes by the side of the garage (and alley) disappeared today.  Last year nearly all of the fencing was replaced.  I guess this year is more outside work.

We took Sammy to Whetstone Park tonight.  He wanted to mark every lone tree but didn't pay attention to the ones in clumps.  He's tuckered out.

Because of our trip to North Carolina last year I got behind on Season 1 and didn't finish it until a week or so ago.  (No spoilers to follow.)

So I'm halfway through the first episode to Season 2.  One thing I thought for sure happened at the end of Season 1 turned out to not be the case.  I like it when I get surprises!

http://happiestpeopleever.tumblr.com/

Last week we watched the first Conan O'Brien show on the Tonight Show.  He had a skit that was set to Surrender by Cheap Trick.  I've always liked that song so I didn't mind.  This morning, though, I woke up with I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked which I'm not so crazy about.  I must banish it!

Corgis must know where their owners are at all times.  Sammy is no exception.  On Wednesday last week I turned on the tub faucet.  While he was greedily having his morning sip I slipped out downstairs to make lunches.  After a minute or two I could hear him running up and down the upstairs hallway.

I stuck my head between the banister railing as he was running in my direction.  His look of relief and happiness was priceless.  It added an extra bounce in his step.

I hadn't fiddled with the admin stuff on my site for a while.  This is probably old hat but for me it's new news that makes me happy - Wordpress can automatically install plugins now.  Even zip files that have been downloaded!  Finally... I have backup of the site. 

Squee!

SQUEE!!