ROW80: Alive and Kicking!


Today is 3/11…Wait… Isn’t that the name of a Reggae Rock band?
 
“Whoa, amber is the color of your energy.”
 
Oh I’m just being silly!
 
How was your week everyone? I was sick last week, so I didn’t check-in. Did ya miss me? Well I missed all of you! This week flew by fast. Unfortunately we are still dealing with Hubby’s back so that makes things a bit stressful around here, but life goes on.
 

And no I will not break into another song!
 

So are we ready? Okay, here we go…
 

The dreaded check-in
 

Let’s take a look at how I did last week, shall we?…
 
 

Goals for Round 1:
 
 

1- Work on my current WIP.
 
This really could be combined with goal number two. But I am in the process of moving forward with both WIPs and also plotting a new story for my third novel.
 
Yep, still plotting and developing character arcs.
 
 

2- Check in with Donna Newton at WWBC once a week.
 
Check. I did converse with Donna via email this week. As you know, Donna is now reading my number one WIP. She says she is a slow reader. LOL! So she is not finished yet. Hurry up Donna! I’m waiting here! Just sayin’. 🙂
 
 

3- Participate in my online class to help authors balance writing and business with Bob Mayer.
 
All done. 🙂
 
 

4- Blog at least once a week.
 
Yep, posted on Wednesday. I wrote a blog about how a horse can give us inspiration for our writing. Say what? I know it doesn’t any make sense, but go check is out. I guarantee you’ll walk away feeling good about yourself! I have to say that this once a week thing is working for me. I also think that it makes it easier for those who follow my blog to visit and comment. And I can’t thank you enough for all the support and wonderful comments that you leave on my site. You guys are awesome!
 
 

5- Visit and support 5 bloggers per day.
 
I am happy to say that I have read actually more than 5 bloggers per day. I have been reading them until my eyeballs fall out! And since I have now visited everyone from WANA1011, I thought it would be a good goal to try to go visit everyone from WANA112. Although I’m trying to figure out how to get a list of those bloggers. If anyone has a list or knows of a list, please let me know. Thanks!
 
 

6- Tweet at least once per day.
 
Yep, I was able to meet this goal and I’ve been busy all week tweeting to support others. And I would like to take this time to thank these awesome people for all their support and Twitter love!
 

@Angela_Peart @DianeCapri @_FabioBueno_@Judythe2 @DebraKristi @PrudenceMacleod @GeneLempp @DebraEve @jenjensen2 @ElaineSmothers @MarcyKennedy @MDragonwillow @SSchroeder @jenmariepowell @jhansenwrites @MelindaVan @crothhobsen @AugstMcLaughlin @BMcDowellOH @Suesan0814 @RickBylina @GingerCalem @DeborahJHughes @alanasaltz @MikeSchulenberg @RchelFunkHeller @JBLane @StacyGreen26 @MSMillerAU @AprilPlummer @SusieLindau @Ali__Dent @MerryFarmer20 @DebraEve
 

Thank you for your Tweets and Re-Tweets! I’m sending you all a big Hug!!!!
 
 

7- Exercise during the week.
 
Nope, I fell down on this one. I was sick at the beginning of the week and then, well, I just didn’t exercise. I have talked to Ginger Calem about this over at #writersbutt (I know, clever name eh?). Ginger said that she would partner up with me and kick my butt into gear. LOL! 🙂
 
 

So now I’m looking forward to a fresh new start to this week.
 
 

Oh, before you go be sure to check out these awesome blog posts from the past week that caught my eye:
 
 
Even though we all know that breaking up is hard to do, August McLaughlin put a new twist on this particular subject with her post, “Beautiful Breakups: What the Revision Process Can Teach Us.”
 

Rachel Funk Heller takes us all on a ride with her amazing post, “From Reader to Writer: The Driving Metaphor.” Rachel found that learning how to write is a lot like learning how to drive. Let’s just say that she’s giving us the spark that will start our engines so we can really go somewhere when writing our stories.
 

Then across the pond Jennifer Jensen take us for another ride. This time she’s “Driving on Irish Country Roads” with her family and it comes complete with a vlog of those perilous country roads. All I have to say is watch out for sheep and cows Jennifer! It’s all in great fun!
 

Now if you happen to have a techie question then Jenny Hansen’s your girl. She is a wiz on all things technical and last Tuesday she wrote a post on Linked-In called “Social Media Madness.” My sentiments exactly Jenny! It is madness, but thank you for talking some of us off the ledge!
 

And last but not least I want to include Donna Newton’s post “So You Want to be an Author?”—Part Two. In her post Donna helps break down the confusion by educating us on all the different genres that exist so we know where our writing fits in and what the rules are. Rules? I hate rules. But okay Donna, only because you say so. 🙂
 
 

Okay I did it. I got through another week and I’m not alone. There are others that are right beside me to help me along the way. So that I don’t irritate my wonderful supportive subscribers, feel free to delete my ROW80 posts if they start to irritate you. They probably won’t be all that interesting, unless…
 

Unless I can temp you all to join us over at the party at ROW80! Feel free to jump in anytime. See you there! 🙂
 
 

So what do you think? How did I do? I know I can still count on your support, right? Or you have my permission to come and give me a swift kick in the butt! Uh-oh, it looks like Ginger Calem has already beaten you to it! LOL! 🙂
 
 
If you enjoyed this, I encourage you to run right now to the top of the page and hit the follow button to receive future posts!
  

Thanks guys! I knew I could count on you!
Karen.
 
 
 

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Stuck In The Mud!

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
This is what’s commonly known as a paradox, an “Irresistible Force” paradox.
 
No worries, I’m not going there.
 
But as an overview, a paradox is something that can seem self-contradictory or
absurd, but in reality, it expresses a possible truth.

Such was the case last week when a woman named Nicole Graham was riding her horse on the beach at Avalon along the beautiful Australian coastline just south of Melbourne.
 

It had been a sunny hot day and Nicole and her daughter were riding their horses on the beach like they had so many times before during the summer and had decided to ride amongst the water to cool down their horses…
 

Then suddenly, both horses sunk.
 

It seems their horses had stepped into a pit of quicksand-like mud and went straight down and under. There was thick sandy mud everywhere and whenever they moved, it sucked them down even further and wouldn’t let them go.
 

After much prodding, Nicole was able to maneuver her daughter’s horse out of the muck and mire ensuring their safety first before returning to her own horse, Astro. While her daughter ran for help, she prayed that rescuers would arrive in time before the tide had a chance to engulf her 17 year old horse.
 

Nicole said, “I’ve been riding here for 20 years and never had a drama. I’ve never seen any signs and didn’t realize it was so boggy.”
 

She was so relieved when she saw the dust coming from the rescue trucks. It had been nearly a half hour since her daughter had left and she had started to get overwhelmed. Fire crews and a team of veterinarians went to work. They used hoses and a winch, but none of their tactics were successful because it was like working in quicksand.
 

Then a local farmer brought over his tractor and after sedating the horse, rescue workers were able to use a sling to pull him out very slowly from the mud. This gave Nicole much relief after enduring a three and a half hour ordeal and Astro was able to escape with only minor bruising.
 

What possible truth can we derive from this remarkable paradoxical metaphor?
 
What should we do when we’re stuck in the mud by our own sense of reality?
 

When we feel bogged down as if we’re stuck in the mud, we need to harness the ingenuities and sensibilities of our friends when it comes to making improvements in how we view ourselves or perhaps in our writing for that matter.
 

Maybe we need help working through a new plot or writing within the confines of a certain genre. Maybe we feel overwhelmed and find this is preventing us from making further progress. Whatever the case may be, all we need to do is ask for help.
 

You see, we all need a little rescuing from time to time. Whether it’s a mentor or a beta-reader, or someone who will listen or give us some critique; remember—We Are Not Alone. Please don’t allow yourself to get Stuck in the Mud of despair. Just know that the writing community and your WANA friends are always there to support you because they really do care.
 

So what do you think? What do you do when you’ve been stuck? Have you had feelings of being overwhelmed lately? And would you be willing to give a carrot to lend a helping hand or would you be running for some help? Or both? 🙂
 
 

If you enjoyed this, I encourage you to run right now to the top of the page and hit the follow button to receive future posts!
 
 

Thank you for your many thoughts and fine comments everyone!
Karen
 
 
 

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When Life Gives You Lemons…

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. This is a phrase that has pulled at our psyche each time Murphy’s Law is in full swing intending to motivate us as victims. And it is because of this flaw in our nature that it has become one of the best known sayings around the world, with all its variations.
 

But have you ever wondered who invented the phrase?
 

Though it is Joan Collins of “Dynasty” fame that claims the use of the expression, more than likely it was the motivational writer and speaker Dale Carnegie who really said it first since he did live earlier than Ms. Collins.
 

Unfortunately it was never documented when Mr. Carnegie first uttered these words, but the original quote is said to be, “When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade” and it has transformed more recently into a more modern adaptation that is now known by the millions. It is because this phrase fits so seamlessly with the rest of Dale Carnegie’s teachings and philosophies that makes him the most likely candidate as its author.
 

So when we make lemonade out of lemons, it reminds us that almost anything in this world is possible. That if we take an optimistic approach when looking at things, we can expect a more positive result.
 

Take a look at the lemon itself. Though it starts out as sour fruit, its main use can be turned into a positive flavoring agent in foods such as fish, salads and sauces. Actually in Italy you will find that its primary growth is for the consumption of a cold refreshing zesty liqueur called Limoncello. As you drive along the Amalfi coastline there are literally groves upon groves of lemon trees hugging the vast seaside hills that surround the many cliffside villages overlooking the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea.
 

And if we were to travel to an area in the southeastern part of France along the exquisite French Riviera known for its infamous beauty, there is a quaint little town called Menton that makes lemon floats.
 

Lemon floats you say? Is that like a root beer float? Uh, no.
 

It seems the area that encompasses the city of Menton grows so many lemons that they celebrate every year with a “Lemon Festival” featuring floats and displays decorated with lemons and other citrus fruits. It’s similar to the floats made for the Rose Parade only with lemons.
 

Take a look at these lemon-laced exhibits showcased at this year’s festival event.
 





 
So when life hands you a lemon…
 

That is, if something were to happen to you that you don’t like…use the next time to make something out of it that you do like. Such as…
 

Make Lemonade!
 
 

• L – Laughter – it’s the best medicine.
 

• E – Embrace others and surround yourself with those who want you to thrive.
 

• M – Move forward with fixed focus making a tangible difference everyday.
 

• O – Open your mind and your heart.
 

• N – Notice all the things in your life to be grateful for.
 

• A – Adjust your attitude and expectations.
 

• D – Decide to challenge your circumstances and do things for others.
 

• E – Evaluate your actions instead of blaming others avoiding “victim” mode.
 
 

Yes, make lemonade out of the lemons in your life!
 
 

So what do you think? How do you view the many lemons in your life? When life throws you a lemon, what inspires you to make lemonade? And what do you find floats your lemon float?
 
 
If you enjoyed this, I encourage you to run right now to the top of the page and hit the follow button to receive future posts!
 
 
Thank you for your many thoughts and fine comments everyone!
Karen

 
 
 

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ROW80: Alive and Kicking!

 
Is it Sunday already? Wow, where did the week go?
 

How was your week everyone? I have to say that my week went pretty well. Again, a rather peaceful week, although I did seem to pick up some kind of bug so it slowed me down a little, but all in all I have nothing to complain about. I know, can you believe it? Don’t answer that!
 

It feels great to finally be able to move forward and make some progress! 🙂
 
 

Okay, so are we ready? Here we go…
 
The dreaded check-in
 
Let’s take a look at how I did last week, shall we?…
 
 

Goals for Round 1:
 
 
1- Work on my current WIP.
 
This really could be combined with goal number two. But I am in the process of moving forward with both WIPs and also plotting a new story for my third novel.
 
 

2- Check in with Donna Newton at WWBC once a week.
 
Check. I did converse with Donna via email this week. Several times actually. Donna as we speak is now reading my number one WIP. She is all excited about reading it. Well Donna, let’s just see how excited you are after you’ve read it! LOL! Just kidding. I hate this part but I need to put myself out there.
 
 

3- Participate in my online class to help authors balance writing and business with Bob Mayer.
 
This will be the last week of our class. I had a lesson from the end of the previous week on “Command” which talked about taking command of our future as a writer and where the future of publishing is heading. He made some good suggestions for newbie writers and whether or not to self-pub or to publish traditionally and query for an agent. Then on Thursday Bob sent out our last lesson on “Complete” and how we now need to put what we’ve learned into action in order to succeed.
 

So as you can see I’ve now completed this goal and this will leave more time for me to work on my WIPs.
 
 

4- Blog at least once a week.
 
Yep, posted on Wednesday. I have to say that once a week is working for me. I think that it makes it easier for those who follow my blog to visit and comment. And I can’t thank you enough for all the support and wonderful comments that you leave on my site. You guys have been awesome! So awesome that I want to thank:
 

@wayneborean – “The Wana1011 Daily” and @vsandbrook – “The Internet Ready Fiction Standard” for placing an article in their e-magazines about my post this week!
 
 

5- Visit and support 5 bloggers per day.
 
I am happy to say that I have read actually more than 5 bloggers per day. As you know I made it a goal to visit everyone in the WANA1011 class and I accomplished that goal last week. I must say there are some really talented writers out there, so I want to encourage all of you to try to go visit them. And yes I am still trying to finish reading those amazing posts from the “Beauty of a Woman” Blogfest. I’m almost through. You girls are unbelievably honest and beautiful. 🙂
 
 

6- Tweet at least once per day.
 
Yep, I was able to meet this goal and I’ve been busy all week tweeting to support others. And I would like to take this time to thank these awesome people for all their support and Twitter love!
 

@Angela_Peart @JennettePowell @DianeCapri @DianaMurdock @_FabioBueno_ @SerenaDracis @AMckennaJohnson @Judythe2 @NatalieHarford @LenaCorazon @DebraKristi @BryanThomasS @PrudenceMacleod @GeneLempp @DebraEve @LindaAdamsVA @MyndiShafer @lisaHallWilson @jenjensen2 @colin_falconer @barrycrowther @ElaineSmothers @MarcyKennedy @LynetteBurrows
 

Thank you for your Tweets and Re-Tweets! I’m sending you all a big Hug!!!!
 
 

7- Exercise during the week.
 
I did exercise this week. I’m trying to get my husband out there on walks with me. It would seem that I am a social exerciser! I’m sure nobody’s shocked about this one. And so not to discourage him, our walks have been on the short side as his back is still bothering him. I know, not good. But I have to say he’s a good sport. 🙂
 

So now I’m looking forward to a fresh new start to this week.
 
 

Oh, before you go, be sure to check out these blog posts from this week that caught my eye:
 
 
I’m stealing this one from my friend Natalie Hartford because some of you have mentioned that you’ve been floundering as to what to write about on your blogs—myself included. Take a look at Anne R. Allen’s post on “What You Should Blog About”. In it she gives some very helpful suggestions on what to write that will help you build your author platform.
 

I found this post helpful, “25 Ways to Increase Blog Traffic”. Robert Lee Brewer gives some excellent advice on how it wasn’t until he got serious about his blogging efforts that he finally saw more traffic to his site.
 

Emma Burcart wrote a post this week on, “Looks are important, too!” Emma asks the question, “Do you prefer good looking characters, or average looking characters in the books you read?” What do you think? If looks are important to you in your writing, go take a peek!
 

Then last but not least, go take a few minutes and read Louise Behiel’s latest blog, “What Does It Take To Change?” Hmm, good question Louise. How many of us are really satisfied with our lives? Louise is starting a series of blogs addressing not only this, but other issues that will help us to make the needed changes that we all struggle to make.
 
 
Okay I did it. I got through another week and I’m not alone. There are others that are right beside me to help me along the way. So that I don’t irritate my wonderful supportive subscribers, feel free to delete my ROW80 posts if they start to irritate you. They probably won’t be all that interesting, unless…

Unless I can temp you all to join us over at the party at ROW80! Feel free to jump in anytime. See you there! 🙂
 
 

So what do you think? How did I do? I know I can still count on your support, right? Or you have my permission to come and give me a swift kick in the butt! LOL!
 
 
Thanks guys! I knew I could count on you!
Karen.
 
 
 

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Fire Fall—A Marvel of Nature!


 

Isn’t that an amazing picture? What is it? At first glance it looks to be a flow of molten lava, something that you’d expect to see coming from volcanic activity. Perhaps you would expect to see something like this on the big Island of Hawaii, in Indonesia or the Philippine Islands. Why there are a plethora of volcanoes all over the world for that matter.
 

Yet this actually is not a river flowing of magma emission. This is a rare phenomenon that happens for only a two week period during the year. This magnificent marvel of cosmic alignment happens in a small window of time, a flashing moment at sunset if, and only if weather permits it.
 
 

Where is it you ask?
 
 

Each year countless nature photographers converge upon Yosemite National Park to capture the evanescent spectacle of Horsetail Fall, its longest free-falling waterfall with a drop of 1,500 feet along the granite face of El Capitan. They pass the time hoping for clear skies so they may duplicate this manifestation that was first recorded in color back in 1973 by photographer Galen Rowell.
 

Michael Frye who wrote the book, “The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite” said that “Horsetail is so uniquely situated that I don’t know of any other waterfall on earth that gets that kind of light.”
 

For many years before this occurrence was captured, photographers only had to point and shoot to obtain another famous Yosemite firefall which was man-made—a cascade of embers that was pushed from a bonfire on summer nights off Glacier Point.
 

But all this has become a lesson in Physics, Geometry and Astronomy as photographers study the angle measured from north eastward along the horizon where the vertical circle intersects, otherwise known as azimuth, a horizontal angle of bearing.
 
 

A horizontal angle of what? Let’s keep this simple, shall we?
 
 

The azimuth degrees and minutes of the earth’s orbit are relative to the sun that defines the best time of day to encounter it. So they wait patiently looking for the lowest angle of light that will shower Horsetail Fall with a kaleidoscopic sunset while the sun’s rays reflect off the granite directly behind the water which may vary in levels of intensity over the course of the same two weeks of the year, every year.
 

You can imagine all the calculation and timing it takes along with the cooperation with nature to be successful because Horsetail Fall empties into a small area on the eastern summit of El Capitan and only flows during winter and springtime in years with adequate rain and snow, which has been scarce this year, although the experts say it doesn’t have to take a lot of water to light up the fall.
 

But most importantly, the southwestern sky must be clear and February is the peak time of year when storm clouds often obscure the setting sun. So when the environment cooperates and conditions come together, the scrawny Horsetail Fall is the shining star of the park.
 

The Fall lights up like fire around dusk and last for just about two minutes. And with the recent storms and snow, this means the persnickety fall is flowing again and park officials are hopeful that it will last at least through February 24th, which generally is the last day of the year to catch a glimpse of it.
 

“If you hit it at just the right time, it turns this amazing color of gold or red-orange,” said Frye, a photo instructor with the Ansel Adams Gallery in the park.
 

Though the popularity is reminiscent of an actual fiery fall that entertained guests in the park from 1930 to 1968, there’s no comparison to the natural activities and occurrences in Yosemite that are far more amazing and more valuable— everything from a sunset to wildlife to rainbows at Vernal Fall.
 

Yes the majestic Horsetail Fall is a fire fall—a true marvel of nature!
 
 

So what do you think? Have you ever had the opportunity to visit Yosemite National Park? Have you ever seen the likes of such a phenomenon? What volcanoes or waterfalls have you had a chance to visit? What are the things that you enjoy about nature? And how do they inspire you?
 
 

If you enjoyed this I encourage you to run up to the top of the page and hit the follow button for future posts!
 
 

Thank you for your many thoughts and fine comments everyone!

Karen
 
 
 

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