Motivation

25 Nov 2013 6 Comments

NaNo for you, but NoNo for me

by Susan Jeffery in mermaids, Motivation, Susan Jeffery, Writing

Susan-Mermaid-avatarThat’s right.  I didn’t do NaNo this year.  The final days of last November brought on a sly, simmering uneasiness about my health.  It was a feeling I couldn’t quite shake, but knew I ignored it at my own peril.  Yes, nineteen years with the unpredictable and unforgiving disorder of MS have taught me to respect my intuition – if you’ve got the shakes, Susan, for God’s sake slow down.  And, if you know me, I’m an all-in or a who-cares kind of girl, and I felt it unwise to  subject myself to another month of NaNo stress.  Writing is meant to be fun.  Why spoil it with another trip to physical therapy?

Instead, I embarked on an entirely different type of insanity.  One where *I* was making the rules (sort of).  In fact, I have been on a writing hiatus this month in order to preserve my sanity (what little I have).  And do you know what?  It sucks.

I’m…
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08 Oct 2013 5 Comments

Blog Day: I have NOTHING to write about!

by Denny S. Bryce in Denny S. Bryce, mermaids, Motivation, Writing

Denny's MermaidsOh yeah, you’ve been there. Sitting in front of the blank screen, knowing its your day to post and you’ve got absolutely NOTHING to say or you feel that you have nothing to say, or in my case, everything you can think of you’ve said before. It’s like a fog comes over you and all that you think is – I got nothing.

So since I have nothing and have no choice (I hate skipping a day) I decided to research the meaning of nothing…

So I started with the Wikipedia definition – and Jezus – it’s depressing:

Nothing is a pronoun denoting the absence of anything. Nothing is a pronoun associated with nothingness.[1] In nontechnical uses, nothing denotes things lacking importance, interest, value, relevance, or significance.[1] Nothingness is the state of being nothing,[2] the state of nonexistence of anything, or the property of having nothing. (But being a writer, I am gleaming something in the back of my mind…
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07 Aug 2013 5 Comments

Unwind…

by Dana Rodgers in Dana Rodgers, mermaids, Motivation, Writing

Image How can it possibly be August already? Vacations are winding down, and before we know it the kidlets will be back in school. Orientations, school supply shopping, and Back to School nights are right around the corner. As well as soccer/ football/ cheerleading/ field hockey practice/ symphony rehearsals/ robotics and homework. But this year my children aren’t the only ones preparing for a change in schedule and workload… Due to furloughs and the skyrocketing costs of college (I have two teenage daughters) I will be returning to work full time in the very near future. In addition to writing, this summer I have been taking online classes to increase my marketablility in preparation for this eventuality. I don’t mind returning to the workforce. In fact, most writers have a “day job.” But this summer, between the kids, the online classes and certifications, preparing and shopping my resume and trying to…
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06 Aug 2013 6 Comments

Oddball Things I’m In Love With This Summer

by Carlene in Carlene Love Flores, mermaids, Motivation

Happy August! It’s the final stretch of summer and I’m proud to say my entertainment has been that of the unique and charming. I owe a lot of this to the influence of my twelve-year-old son who spends most of his day imitating a young man named Toby Turner. If you have no idea who he is, it is my mission to change that.

Please see my first exhibit and current guilty pleasure–

Cute, Win, Fail on You Tube: Seal Mermaid Dog

 

 

Love TechnicallyNext I have a young man named Sark who’s geeky and he knows it from the smartest, sexiest read of my summer–

Love, Technically by Lynne Silver

Check it out here!

 

 

Sometimes your eyes need a break from all the pint-sized viewing of You Tube videos on iPads and so you take a good, old fashioned, large screen TV break and stumble upon a great indy…
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30 Jul 2013 9 Comments

Who You Calling Crazy?

by Avery Flynn in Avery Flynn, Motivation, Writing

My love for Mary Jo Putney grew exponentially this month when I heard her speak at RWA Nationals. She received the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award and gave one of the best speeches about the writing life that I’ve ever heard. My favorite line? This one:

You don’t have to be crazy to be a writer, but it sure helps.

*Cue lots of knowing laughter.*

Ah, the writing life. It makes us all a bit batty even if we weren’t before. Why? Well for us planners it’s because we work things out in our heads (or our forrest-killing line of Post-It notes) and then this happens:

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If you’re a freak like me that makes you do this:

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But that never gets the job done, so I suck it up and make a new plan. This is what I tell…
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09 Jul 2013 29 Comments

RWA Nationals Road Trip: Are You Prepared for Awesomeness!

by Denny S. Bryce in Denny S. Bryce, mermaids, Motivation, Writing

Denny's MermaidsI’m taking off for Atlanta this weekend to attend the RWA National Conference and I’m super excited. I’m going to spend a week with 2,000 other romance writers – sounds like heaven, right? In a hotel with an entire floor/lobby dedicated to mingling (okay, there is a really big bar at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis), and I guarantee I will be informed, inspired, surprised and exhausted within 30 minutes of checking in. And no, I’m not trying to make anyone who is not going jealous – but I’m excited and want to share.

Speaking of sharing, I volunteered (two years in a row:) to serve as the official Waterworld Mermaid reporter blogging LIVE daily from Hot-Lanta! But expect some of the other Mermaids to pop in, too. A bunch of us will be in town, and will either post here or on our own blogs – so stay tuned.

But I said ROAD TRIP in the headline  – so yeah, I’m…
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26 Jun 2013 5 Comments

My Quirky Inspiration

by Loni Lynne in Loni Lynne, mermaids, Motivation

Sometimes I am amazed by how entertaining and fascinating my family can be. They are a constant source of amusement and even give me ideas for stories that don’t necessarily make sense–but are fun!

One of those inspirations I want to celebrate today. My youngest. 

She is unique in many ways which makes her stand out in a crowd.  She never had a lack of friends in school because of her sense of humor, openness and diversity. Her creativity shown in her writing but mainly her art projects. She’s a ‘gamer’ from “Womb to Tomb” as a sign on her bedroom door reads. She even lets me watch her play some of her RPG (role playing games) with her. Her commentary is uniquely her and can have me in stitches while she’s playing. A few years ago she taught me (a non-gamer) how to play Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls. She’s a fan of Dr. Who and Mystery Science Theater–she’s more of a tomboy at times then I could imagine. But…
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17 Jun 2013 6 Comments

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

by Susan Jeffery in Draft, Health, mermaids, Motivation, Susan Andrews, Writing

Susan MermaidThe joy of being a school librarian:  I’ve made it all the way to summer!  Yippee!  Twelve weeks of nothing!  No commute, no kids, no bells, no bag lunches!  Nothing! What could be better?

What could be worse?  I have twelve weeks of nothing, and I know exactly what can go wrong:

Summer  can be wasted.  On Twitter, Facebook, shopping (especially shopping!), lazing by the pool, etc. Friends call it “the time to relax that you need/want/yearn for.”  I call it “time wasted.” Time can be stolen, even though I agreed to the theft.  I will fly to Saint Louis next week and listen to several days of educational conference material.  But I want to learn something, so that’s good.  And I am happy for the bridal showers, baby showers, weddings, and other celebrations.  Still, it is theft. I will need additional time, once I return, to recover my writing mojo.  So far, I’ve started well, but I’m aware…
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08 Apr 2013 16 Comments

ROMANCE? What if the Hero is Married and in Love with Another Woman (the Heroine)…

by Denny S. Bryce in Denny S. Bryce, mermaids, Motivation, Writing

by Denny S. Bryce

Denny's MermaidsI got up this morning to the sound of chirping birds, geese doing shout outs to other geese, and sunshine bouncing over my lake (okay, it’s the community’s lake, but since I live here now, it’s mine!), but my thoughts kept drifting to SCANDAL.

No, nothing about my personal life here (sadly) – I’m talking about a TV show. Yes, some of you may know my obsession with the ABC series (SCANDAL) from the mind of Sondra Rhimes starring Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn (yes, the actor who killed Patrick Swayze in Ghost).

Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that Sondra Rhimes reads romance novels. Hot, spicy, romance novels, but she reads them and then she twists them into decadent juicy unbelievable (but totally believable) melodrama. And yes, it’s over the top and if you enjoy situations that just don’t fit in the realm of reason but then kind of do, then the show is for…
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20 Feb 2013 11 Comments

Help! My Tush is Getting Bigger–But I Have Deadlines!

by Loni Lynne in Health, Loni Lynne, mermaids, Motivation

Yes–goofy title but I shoot from the hip–which is part of my problem lately *sigh*. My hips have always been in trouble of causing conflicts–I could never do the ‘Bump’ without sending my dance partner into the next county.

And it hasn’t been getting any better sitting at my laptop on a daily basis trying to ‘bump’ out my next novel. 

I’ve read all the ideas from other authors in similar situations–let me see if you’ve heard of them, too:

Get up and move around every 15-20 minutes or so  (great idea if I wasn’t in a 1k1h frame of mind–so I try for after every session). Keep healthy nibbles on hand to curb appetite  (this one from Weight Watchers meetings) –does baked tortilla chips and fresh salsa constitute healthy nibbles, as I sit at my laptop? Go for a walk to clear mind and work out the kinks.  (This I do love to do but dealing with 20 mile an hour wind and cold days makes it difficult to…
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