Crusader Challenge TWO!

Okay, so I'm finally getting around to posting my entry for the 2nd Crusader challenge (click on the picture above for more info!). The instructions were:

"Write a flash fiction story (in any format) in 100 words or less, excluding the title. Begin the story with the words, “The goldfish bowl teetered” These four words will be included in the word count." - Rachael Harrie

And here is my entry, which Word tells me is exactly 100 words!

The goldfish bowl teetered in Ashley’s mind, and she drew a sharp breath and waited.

“What’s with you?” Don frowned, leaning close to peer into her face.

“My life’s about to shatter,” she whispered. “The goldfish bowl is gonna fall, and the goldfish will flop around on the floor. I don’t know if I’ll get to it in time.”

Donald’s eyes widened. “What goldfish bowl?”

“The goldfish bowl of my life.”

After a brief hesitation, Donald got to his feet, backing slowly away. “Hey...on second thoughts, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea...”

And he walked out, ending the date.

Miscellany, Crusading group, the weather, and a short conclusion

I've been busy with blogfests lately, and those are all I've had time for! But I am sneaking this one in before I get around to posting the next lot of blogfests. So, FYI, this entry contains:

• Miscellaneous links!
• A list of my fellows in my Crusading group!
• Some comments on the weather!
• A very short conclusion.

Miscellaneous links!

Before I get started on the actual entry, here is a recap of the blogfests I've participated in very recently, for anyone who's looking for them (the links are to my entries):

1. Race to 200 Blogfest (hosted by J.C. Martin)
2. Gone But Not Forgotten Blogfest (hosted by a bunch of ladies I linked to in that entry!)
3. Super-Snooper Blogfest (hosted by Alison Stevens)

And if you want to check out really old stuff, you can click on my label to look at past blogfest entries, or look at my list on my Blogfests page, which also highlights upcoming blogfests!

That said, now it's time to move onto part 2.

A list of my fellows in my Crusading group!

I have wanted to do this for a while, but I'm only just getting around to it! I'm in the Adult Fiction (Mainstream) Crusading group, and these people are too:

1. Lola Sharp (Sharp Pen/Dull Sword) Adult fiction (mainstream), YA (urban fantasy and dystopian)
2. Ann (Inkpots n' Quills) Adult fiction
3. Charlotte Rains Dixon (Charlotte Rains Dixon) Adult fiction
4. Zan Marie Steadham (In the Shade of the Cherry Tree) Adult fiction (mainstream), women's fiction, science fiction, devotional, non-fiction history
5. Lauri Griffin (Lauri's Blog) Adult fiction (mainstream, literary), short stories
6. Rachel (All the World's Our Page) Historical fiction, historical suspense
7. Susan (All the World's Our Page) Adult fiction
8. [me! (here!) Fantasy, contemporary romance, Science Fiction, MG]
9. Linda Katmarian (Scheherezade's Journal) Mainstream fiction, literary fiction

As you can see, this bunch writes in a few different areas, and to me, Adult Fiction is a pretty broad category. Anyway, I'm excited to be part of this group with such a great bunch of ladies, though I really want to get to know them better throughout this Crusade. I suppose you could call that my mini-Crusade within the big one we're all on. :D

Some comments on the weather!

I live in the Southern hemisphere, pretty far south in it too. But having a fair number of Northern hemisphere pals, I find myself always interjecting when they say things like... "Hey, let's have a Winter celebration party!" or something. I have to interject with, "I wish, but it's the middle of bloody summer here right now!"

I'm not a summer person. I abhor the heat we get in my town. It's just too disgusting. When you feel like your eyeballs have been boiled all day long, you know it's too hot. When you're sitting in your tightly contained living room with the air-con blasting and you're still sweating, you know it's too hot. When you cry to yourself that you don't have a hammock to sleep outside in, you know it's too hot.

But anyway, back on track! I got a comment from Michael Offutt on one of my blog entries a little while back, saying that March has the first day of Spring. And immediately I felt the urge to point out that for us down here, it has the first day of Autumn! Yay! :D I love Autumn, Winter and Spring, by the way.

A short conclusion.

I started an A-Z listening task, and it forces me to listen to some songs I don't entirely adore in my mp3 collection. Right now I'm listening to "Alisha Rules The World" by Alisha's Attic. Sorry, but this song is getting on my nerves. But I will listen to it all the way through! Because them's the rules, man. :)

And now the entry is done!

Bloggers - What should I read!?!

My finger was twitching, it was twitching and stopping and starting to press that "Mark all as read" button, and then it CLICKED the button and I have marked you all as read! But I really do want to actually read your blog entries. I just got way too far behind, and had to start fresh.

So tell me...what should I read? Leave a link to your blog entry so I can read it. ;) And you Chrysalis folk don't count, I'm going to read yours anyway. :D

P.S. Check my Blogfests page!! Heaps of activities are happening in March/April! And let me know of any I missed, I may be interested in those too.

My lying ways (challenge #1 answers)

Okay, so I figure it's time to put everyone out of their misery. Ha.

A lot of people suggested the following claims were untrue:

1. I have an iPod

2. I was going to listen to my iPod at work

3. I clear my driveway of snails

4. I talk to ants before spraying them

5. I use bug spray at all

6. I have a nail-chewing habit

7. My sentences tend to get pretty long (too long).

But all of those things are true. There were a few correct guesses of the real lie, which is:

And I’m not shy at all—no way!

I am in fact shy. I make a very good show of not being shy, and can get along just fine in crowds (even if I hate them a lot of the time; especially at festivals where people keep jostling you. Argh!!). But yeah, I am shy and I think I was born that way!

I do have an iPod, I do listen to it at work, I do clear snails off my driveway (I don't hurt them, in fact the purpose of clearing my drive is so I won't run over them), I talk to ants (and pretty much everything else in the world, including leaves and bits of paper), I do chew my nails (I tend to go through cycles where I leave them alone and they grow, then I will get stressed and get back into that bad habit), and...my sentences are often rather long (for e.g., the one currently drawing to a close).

So there you go! I think we all learned something valuable here, right?

I'm strange in a fair few ways. Hehe.

Consider yourself FOLLOWED! and some other stuff

Guess what?!?! I actually finished following every participant in Rachael Harrie's Writer's Platform-Building Crusade! I hear you gasp in wonder. I see you gape in astonishment. I also see you're lost for words. That's okay though, I've got a few more to share!

There ARE (I will admit) a few people who I have not yet followed. Why? Because there was no apparent way of following them, save developing a psychic ability that will give me mental alerts when they've posted something new...oh, and that will transmit the (psychically divined) URL from my brain into my browser's address field and will automatically refresh said browser so that said URL gets visited. And therefore said blog entry gets visited. Alas, my brain isn't quite that special. So if I left you a comment asking how I can go about following you, you're one of those I'm talking about. Unless I left you a follow-up comment saying "A-ha! I figured it out!"

Other than that...I did really enjoy doing the first challenge, and it's fun seeing what people think I'm lying about. It is indeed a good way of getting to know our fellow Crusaders, and I look forward to hearing what everyone's lies were. Hehe.

But now onto other news...(well, not news for everyone, just for the newcomers :D):

The Chrysalis Experiment is a project my critiquing buddies and I have undertaken this year - the aim is to write one short story per week for all of 2011. Similar to Write1Sub1, it's just a little different because our immediate aim is not publication, but experimentation. Indeed, that's the name of the game.

For more information, check out these links:

• About the Chrysalis Experiment
• Our Test Subjects/Organ Donors
• How to Sign Up! (nope, it's never too late)
• Email

And that about wraps it up, I think. :)

Anyway, to all my new followers - hi! :D

1st Crusader challenge!

Yes indeed, the time has arrived for the first Crusader challenge, and you can read all about it here.

Below is my entry for the challenge, a poem I like to call...

A Blade of Fuliguline Grass Makes For A Bloviate Rabbit

Maybe I was a rabbit once

Or something like a duck

I hopped through blades of glass

Fuliguline in my way

But this time I’m a librarian

And I’m not shy at all—no way!

Yet with words I tend to bloviate

Beyond what I can explain

Yes, indeed, you’ll probably find

My word counts are too high

But I’m the more self-confident type

The voices won’t turn me aside

P.S. I rescue baby rats from my cats

And I clear my driveway of snails

I talk to the ants before I grab the spray

And hope they’ll run away

Sometimes I chew on my nails till they break

And my sentences might stretch very far away...............................

Ahem.

It’s time to finish this poem

And put it on my blog

And then I’m going out into the stacks
And putting my iPod on.

The End

I have revealed something about myself in this poem that isn’t strictly true - can you guess what it is?

This was a lot of fun to write. I have written a lot of poetry in my time, but lately it's been mostly for songs, and it's been a while since I wrote a silly poem. :D Anyway...look forward to reading others' entries for this challenge! :) And I have yet to follow everyone. *sags wearily*

Crusading RSI!

So, one of the tasks for those of us participating in Rachel Harrie's Crusade is to follow every other participant. So far I'm down to number 19 on the list (there are 213 of them!!) and I already have mental RSI!

At least I know some of the other participants are people I was already following! :D

Still, I need a break, some chocolate, and some beer. Sadly, all I have available is the break.

I just wanted to share. ;)

But I also wanted to share that I'm excited, and look forward to this thing starting! Woo!

P.S. Maybe possibly gearing up to editing NAUSICAA. Hang on, wasn't I totally burned out on that? But then I heard about THIS (if you're too lazy or leery to click, it's Angry Robot Books' open door month this March!), and realised that it was a pretty cool (read: awesome) opportunity, and that the only thing I have that's suitable for submission is last year's NaNo. Just one catch: it's in rough draft form. Still, maybe I can do a quick whiz through and fix the most glaring mistakes? Cue hysterical laughter and much caffeine.

Don't know if I'll manage it, but it's worth a shot I think!

The Chrysalis Experiment on Facebook ;)

Yes, we have our own Facebook page now. So far, one person has 'liked' it - me. Hehe. If you're on Facebook and you like what we're doing, feel free to show it! :)

The Chrysalis Experiment on Facebook

Anyway...here are some random things I want to mention:

1. My wordcount for SUNDOWN is at 111,140 - the lowest it's been since before I completed the rough first draft.
2. I was doing a sort of haphazard map of chapters and I realised there are a large number of chapters (like eight or something!) during which the hero and heroine don't speak at all. So I need to do something about condensing that "apart time" down. There's such a thing as keeping readers in too much suspense, after all.
3. I'm all signed up for the Crusade, and can't wait to read about the first challenge on Friday!
4. I need to go and follow a whole lot of people as part of the Crusading effort :)
5. I studied the Crusades at uni, and the main one I remember is the one where Christians killed Christians without knowing they were doing so (or maybe they did know)
   
6. This guy on Last.fm found my music and in the past day or so has racked up 67 listens! For my little page, that is a lot of listening in a little amount of time. ;)
7. I finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird, and posted my review on GoodReads. 6 books down out of my 25-book goal for the year. Now I'm reading The Brutal Art by Jesse Kellerman (it's just one of many books on my entire bookshelf of unread books - yes, I have a whole bookshelf for this).

And I think that's all I can think of for now.

One-sentence mission statements, and Chrysalis

With the Chrysalis Experiment, this week was my turn to post a story for the Friday feature (link here). Before the time came to post my story, I had already written most of it, except the last section. But I already had the ending planned, and as I was comparing notes with other participants, this is what I told them they could expect:

unrequited love, false sympathy, and a stalled execution leading to a suicide

Technically though, we don't actually see that ending happen. It's simply implied.

We also have a running joke about villains called Susan - a few of us have written stories with evil characters named Susan. So this week one of the participants asked me if my villain this time was called Susan too (I didn't name her in the story). My answer was that I don't know her name, but I know it's not Susan. ;)

Anyway...at AW this week I've been getting help with my SUNDOWN synopsis, and I was advised to come up with a one-sentence summary of my novel - a "mission statement" of sorts. I didn't think I could do it easily, and apparently the person who suggested it didn't think I could either. Haha. But here is my first attempt (which actually is the result of many other attempts made prior to posting):

A rocker chick determined never to love again meets her muso kindred spirit, and must choose between risking her heart in the future and staying safely hidden in the past.

So there you go. That about sums up SUNDOWN.

I'm sure I can make it more sparkly and pretty in future, but it's good to at least have a line I can return to when trying to hone my query/synopsis, and even the novel itself, to make sure I'm sticking to the point.

P.S. I want to mention the SECOND WRITERS' PLATFORM-BUILDING CRUSADE, which I am signing up for and which looks pretty cool! If you are interested in getting more active in the writers' blogging community, networking more and having fun, looks like you and I have something in common. And you should sign up too! Hurry though, the deadline is fast approaching! Oh, and Rachael Harrie is the one who came up with this. Cool idea, eh?!