Get a life!

My daughter thinks she obsessed with Barbies. She's 8. How can she know what obsession is?

I wisely told her she wasn't obessed with Barbies.

She asked, "How do you know?"

I said because you don't spend every breathing moment talking about them or playing with them, and you certainly don't spend a fortune on them.

She smiled and said, "I guess I'm not obsessed."

LOL.

I have obsessive moments. When I find things on sale, I just yearn to find another great sale. When I make a new memory book page and it turns our real cute, then I must make a new one to top it. When I finally feel like cleaning, then I don't want to stop until my entire house (including attic) is clean.

Yes, I have OMs (obsessive moments).

Sometimes with writing, I have OMs. If a scene is working, then I don't want to stop writing.

On one of my writer's loops, a thread has been going on about balancing writing and life. One lady basically said she's sacrificed having a life because she wants to become published.

Interesting.

I wonder why she said "to become published" instead of "to write a great story" or "to become a respected writer." Does she seek validation in becoming published?

Hmmm.

If my goal was just to become published, then I'd probably take the easy road and find an e-publisher. Of course, I'd have to toss in some hot sex scenes because most e-publishers publish steamy to sensual to erotic. Hmm. So do I add sex to my story just so I can be published?

I guess if I were obsessed with becoming published and I was willing to sacrific life to achieve my goal.

Call me crazy, but I think I'd rather take the hard road and write a great story that doesn't need sex to sell it. Yep, I'm crazy...an unpublished crazy writer.

It's sure nice to be me.

Besides I don't want to be on my deathbed wishing I'd spent more time with my family and less time trying to become a published author.

Trailing behind again

See, I don't mean to ignore my blog, but I did it again. And today I can't think of anything compelling to write about.

I went shopping with some Christmas money from my MIL. I'm going to a writers' conference in Feb in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Me, I'm comfortable in jeans, but since editors and agents are professional and since I should look professional if I wanted to be treated like one (hmm, what does this say about women who dress slutty?), the I thought I should spend my Christmas money on some dress clothes.

JCPenney was having a sale, so I got a black pin-striped jacket for $9.99 and three skirts to match it for $1.77 each.

So all in all I bought $358 worth of clothes for $42.

Tonight I'm going to have my kids wrap up my presents. So cool. I hope I look like a professional writer.

Gee, I still wish I could wear jeans and a tee-shirt.

Trying Something New

So I decided to actually write a contemporary.

I love historicals. I love researching for historicals. But I got this idea for a story and it's nagging my brain so I just have to write it to get it out of my system.

Here's how it starts:

[i]Hildegard Venus Bohannan not-so-proudly carried the title of Ugliest Female in the entire town of Broomgarden, Texas.

She knew it. Accepted it. Scoffed at it.

Considering in the last thirty years Broomgarden boasted sixteen Miss Texases, nine Junior Miss Americas, two Miss Americas, three Miss Universes, one Pamela Anderson stunt double, and forty-seven miscellaneous other pageant winners, anything less than superficial perfection screamed “ugly.”

And Hilde was too wise to argue with stupidity.[/i]

I'm up to 13 pages, 2500 words. I don't really see expanding this into a short category contemp, nor even a 10-15K novella. So I guess I need to see what the market presents for a short story romance.

Hmmm.

Any suggestions?

How cliched of you!

If we define a cliche as somethings that been done so many times that it's past familiar, then isn't giving Christmas gifts and birthday gifts a cliche?

Okay, I doubt that's going to get me off the hook for going Christmas shopping this week.

I like cliches as long as they fit and have a twist to them.

Just between the two of us, I have this secret idea to write a character who only speaks in cliches. Remember that Star Trek Next Generations episode when Cpt. Picard met that alien who only spoke in metaphors and allegories? Loved it!

One of my all time despised cliches is the concept of soul mates. What if your soul mate died in a car crash when he was 16? Does that doom you to a life all alone...or with some guy who won't be anything more to you than a second-string quarterback?

Or what if your soul mate was stupid (lucky you) and he married the town's #1 exotic dancer? Why do we always assume our (or our characters) soul mates are these hunky hearthrobs with Bill Gates-like brains and fortune? Duh. Realistically we all can't have great soul mates because look at how many hunky hearthrob Bill Gates-smart guys are out there.

Oh, and what happens if you marry the guy who you were 100% certain was your soul mate but then learned he had an affinity for leaving the toothpaste cap off so you KNOW your true soul mate wouldn't be so stupid? Do you divorce the guy and go looking for your true soul mate? Since feelings change as quick as Madonna reinvents herself, how can you really be sure your soul mate is your true soul mate?

My brain is stressing.

Ever notice in romance novels that the characters don't realize they're soul mates until they've had hot wild never-like-it-before sex? What if your soul mate just doesn't have "game"? Why do we assume our soul mates are the ones who have the best bouncing-on-the-matress disco?

Or what if your soul mate dies, leaving you a widow? You're kinda obligated to tell the next guy who proposes, "Sure, I'll marry you, but just know that you only have a percentage of my heart and not a bit of my soul because it is forever linked with my dead husband." He deserves a right to know that you're a Corpse Soul Bride. And that way he can know that he might was to keep looking because he obviously hasn't found his soul mate in you.

See, this is why I think the concept of soul mates is so totally stupid and cliched and takes away personal choice.

Is there only one "right" person for us and our characters? If you believe that, then I can't see how you (or your characters) don't struggle with second-guessing your (their) decision to be with the person you're (they're) with. What if he's not "the one"? What if so-and-so was but he had bad breath so you refused to go out with him again?

And what if your soul mate was a total jerk?

I don't even want to imagine that.

Good thing love is a choice.