Words for Wednesday

It's my week again, and again I have no new book tours scheduled. Sigh. (If you have a book you'd like to promote during the week of April 4th-8th, let me know.) So, this week we're going to explore some reading and writing weekly bloghops.

Looking for a bit more of a challenge? Then you need to join Words for Wednesday. At the moment, it looks like Elephant's Child is the keeper of the words:

Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write.  Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image.   What we do with those prompts is up to us:  a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore...  We can use some or all of the prompts. 

Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog.  I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme.  If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.

So, if you need a bit of a start, or are just looking for a challenge, check out the words, phrases, music, or image and join in.

#15tt Tuesdays

It's my week again, and again I have no new book tours scheduled. Sigh. (If you have a book you'd like to promote during the week of April 4th-8th, let me know.) So, this week we're going to explore some reading and writing weekly bloghops.

A couple years ago, I stumbled across Jocelyn Rish's Twitter feed and discovered #15tt.

Link to Jocelyn Rish's blog

#15tt is short for 15 minute tweet tales. Jocelyn explained:

I’ve mentioned before how much fun I have with the Tweet Me a Story contests run by NYC Midnight. The challenge of creating a complete story in such a small space gives me a writer’s high (which thankfully involves much less sweat than a runner’s high)... Each [week] a new...word will be the prompt for a tale told in less than 140 characters. But since I tend to obsess over and tweak my stories to death, I’m giving myself a time limit for each one. Once I...reveal the new word, I'll only have fifteen minutes to craft my masterpiece, and then I’ll tweet the story, no matter how much it makes me cringe. 

I've been playing along for a couple years. This year, Jocelyn took this from a daily challenge to a weekly one. But it's still fun. Early in the morning (usually) she tweets the new word and its definition, and your challenge is to create a story with that word. In a tweet. 140 characters.

Yes, it can be done.

Some of my attempts are pitiful. And some go in directions I do not expect. But I still do every word. (Well, when it was daily, I would miss the odd day here and there...)

Today's word:

This week's #15tt word is gigil - an extreme urge to squeeze someone/something, usually because it's cute (or maybe irritating). (Filipino)

— Jocelyn Rish (@JocelynRish) February 9, 2016

And my attempt: Bea resisted the gigil impetus, but Ann did not. Bea resisted the urge to laugh hysterically when the baby threw up all over Ann. #15tt

Come on, try it! You can post it here in the comments. I'd love to read them.

Quote-Tastic Mondays

It's my week again, and again I have no new book tours scheduled. Sigh. (If you have a book you'd like to promote during the week of April 4th-8th, let me know.) So, this week we're going to explore some reading and writing weekly bloghops.

On Mondays, Anna from herding cats & burning soup hosts Quote-Tastic...

From the site:

Join us every Monday and share a favorite quote that's grabbed ya for one reason or another.

You can add a review or post just a quote. You can post other days of the week too. Totally flexible.

Everyone's welcome to join in. Authors, bloggers, readers. The more the merrier!

Just grab the button and toss up your post :) No blog? No worries, just leave your favorites in the comment section or in a FB post and link it up.

You know you want to share that wonderful book you've been reading. This is the perfect opportunity to do so.

What have you been reading?

Fairy Tale Genre Wars Blogfest

A couple of years ago I participated in a wonderfully fun blogfest where we chose a favorite fairy tale or nursery rhyme and rewrote it in a different genre. I thought we could do the same here on Unicorn Bell.

So what's your favorite genre to write? Feel up to the challenge?

Pick a story, any story, and rewrite it as steampunk, paranormal, military scifi, horror, cozy mystery, spy novel, whatever--all in 1-1500 words. Sign up in the linky below and post your blogfest piece on May 12th. Spend the week visiting the others in the list and enjoy some great stories.

NOTE: This blogfest is being postponed until we've all recovered from the A to Z Challenge. Stay tuned for the new dates!

Carrots and Blythe Grow Up Together

Thanks to YouTube for providing the clips this week, but more importantly...

THANK YOU 

to all who participated in our first blogfest of 2014.

There were all kinds of different love posts to enjoy. What was your favorite entry? Please tell us in the comments so we can give a shout out to those bloggers one more time. If you missed the list with all the blog participants, click HERE.

I have to end the week with Anne Shirley. She has been my kindred spirit since I was twelve years old. We are alike in so many ways that if she had lived in real life I'd know for a fact I was her reincarnated. One of the things I love about Anne and Gilbert is that they were childhood classmates who grew up to be more.

It sort of reminds me of me and my hubby who met when we were twelve. Friendship to love is always the best kind in my mind. The kind of love with real staying power.

Simply Irresistible!

For the rest of the week, I'll be providing romantic inspiration in the form of some of my favorites. Thanks to YouTube for providing the clips!

To find the linky with all the blog participants, click HERE.

Have you ever heard of the Sarah Michelle Gellar movie Simply Irresistible? I don't think it's well known, but it's a "cute" movie about food, magic and love. I couldn't find a YouTube clip of the scene I wanted to share, but here's the movie trailer for your enjoyment.

 What romantic movies float your boat? Please tell us in the comments!

You Can't Just Go Around Kissing People!

For the rest of the week, I'll be providing romantic inspiration in the form of some of my favorites. Thanks to YouTube for providing the clips!

To find the linky with all the blog participants, click HERE.

Chris Pine. Need I give any other reason for why I adore The Princess Diaries 2?


And another scene...

As You Wish

For the rest of the week, I'll be providing romantic inspiration in the form of some of my favorites. Thanks to YouTube for providing the clips!

To find the linky with all the blog participants, click HERE.

The Princess Bride is perhaps one of the most easily quoted movies in my repertoire. Even my kids know most of the movie by heart. The humor is priceless, and so is the sweetness of true love.




And you can't talk about Princess Bride without shouting, "I'm not a witch, I'm your wife!"

All the Right Words, but the Wrong Guy

For the rest of the week, I'll be providing romantic inspiration in the form of some of my favorites. Thanks to YouTube for providing the clips!

To find the linky with all the blog participants, click HERE.

My daughters and I have watched a lot of chick flicks together. A LOT! Especially when we got to TN to visit my mom and sisters. Hey, don't judge, it's the thing to do! We've watched this one a hundred times, at least.

This scene breaks my heart each time. Masimo is such a sweet kind guy. He's doing everything right, and Mary tries here to go with it. However, he's just not the right guy.

Top 5 Doctor Who Kisses According to Someone

For the rest of the week, I'll be providing romantic inspiration in the form of some of my favorites. Thanks to YouTube for providing the clips!

To find the linky with all the blog participants, click HERE.

Yeah, I'd rearrange these a bit myself, but as a Doctor Who geek, I had to share. Move Amy to #5 because she always sort of bugged me (but I loved Rory!). I'd also move the kiss with Rose to #3. Why? Because I love the Doctor and River. Their story was one of the most bittersweet of the Whoverse in my opinion.

Tension, Some People Got It

For the rest of the week, I'll be providing romantic inspiration in the form of some of my favorites. Thanks to YouTube for providing the clips!

To find the linky with all the blog participants, click HERE.

Those who follow my blog have learned that although I like to complain about the writers getting silly on the TV show Bones, I still love it. I watch because it's got two gorgeous people in it with great romantic tension.

Come on, David Boreanaz? Emily Deschanel?

Love Against His Will

For the rest of the week, I'll be providing romantic inspiration in the form of some of my favorites. Thanks to YouTube for providing the clips!

To find the linky with all the blog participants, click HERE.

Sometimes love is not only awkward but down right "catty". This is one of my all time favorite scenes from the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. The emotions simmer and boil and make everything that comes later all the more wonderful.

Love is in the Air Blogfest

Whoo hoo! It's time for our first blogfest of 2014...in honor of the quickly approaching Valentine's day...

It's a celebration of that little thing called love. Be it steamy or sweet, puppy, kitty, teen, aggravating, first kiss or final goodbye, let your scene tug at our heartstrings. Starting tomorrow, I'll share some of my favorite love scenes from books, TV and movies here.

Do you have a favorite love scene that you think I should mention? Tell us about it in the comments! 

Share your lovey dovey post on your blog today, make sure you're signed up in the linky below, and then visit and comment on the other blogs on the list.

A year of Blogfests and Contest, Starting with Love is In the Air

This year at Unicorn Bell, we are going to have more fun! Yep. We want to enjoy writing again for the sake of writing. Whether it be something serious or silly, we want to write something just to see if we can. No strings or expectations attached.

How are we going to do this you ask?

Blogfests and contests!

We will have several throughout the year and anyone and everyone is invited to play. Here are some of the ideas we're tossing around...

Blogfests
Love is in the Air
Twisted Fairy Tales--genre wars
Breathe More, Talk Less--dive into the senses, little to no dialogue
Critique Partner Pitches--you've got to sell yourself!
Facebook Blog Hop--no strings attached, just a list to browse and find new friends
Action vs. Suspense

Contests (with prizes!)
100 word Drabble--use specific words
1st Paragraphs or Pages
3 line Pitches
Every Which Way the Wind Blows--Themed topic
Dialogue Challenge--Dialogue between two people, no tags. Can you make it work?
QueryCon 2014--Our annual 3 week intensive workshop and agent/editor judged query workshops

We obviously won't get to do all of them, so which ones peak your interest? Anything else you'd love to see as a blogfest? Tell us down in the comments.

Now, for our first blogfest of 2014...in honor of the quickly approaching Valentine's day...

It's a celebration of that little thing called love. Be it steamy or sweet, puppy, kitty, teen, aggravating, first kiss or final goodbye, let your scene tug at our heartstrings.

Share your lovey dovey moment on January 20th and then visit and comment on the other blogs on the list.

What About Blogfests?

Bloghops infest thrive in our blogosphere. We sign up via Linky tools, wait for the day and post according to the theme du jour.

Then visit other blogs. Follow. Comment.

Of what value are they?

Blogfests increase traffic, viewership, and expands our knowledge. Some of my best buds came about in this way.

It’s a chance to do a meet ‘n greet with our fellow ‘net cruisers. In my case preferably writers.

But is it worth it?

I want to post articles that are of interest to our followers. I want to provide a service. But I also want to keep on track with my original goal; 

Writing.

So, why participate in bloghops/fests?

At this time, I am of two minds. The events are fun and whimsical. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy them and meeting new people. But it can be downright taxing. 


I am still recovering from the April 2012 A to Z Challenge.

Cutting to the chase, when I did A to Z, I quit writing. My word count for the entire month of April went to 500 words. Not day, not a week, but my total for the Whole Month.

It blew my previous writing schedule into tiny bits of wind-blown confetti.

My posts were simple for the blogfest. I almost felt guilty as I composed them since most of them were fewer than 80 words. But visiting other blogs, commenting, checking out my best friends and followers, reading their posts, and cheering them on, it all took time that I did not have.

Did I say that I quit writing? Stopped. Abandoned. Deserted.

It's difficult to get back into my routine. Only now is it returning to the way it was. I have my notes and research and will eventually climb back onto that snorty horse. But, dang, will I do another blogfest soon?

*negative*

I feel as though I’ve lost something very important. 

Finding it again means remembering exactly why I wanted it in the first place.

What about you? Was A to Z a problem for you also? 

H is for Hero

In keeping with the blogosphere's biggest thing going right now (that would be the a-z blogfest) I give you the letter H for Hero or Heroine.

That's your main character, whoever he or she may be. You might even have two main characters, or, if you're George R. R. Martin (Song of Ice and Fire), you might have many characters. Whoever they are, they're probably the good guys, the people who will change and be changed by the events in the story. Your readers will be rooting for them, worrying over them, possibly even blogging over them! So you best make them worthy and give them helpful attributes that will aid them on their journey - but not too helpful, because that journey needs to be a challenge. In fact, I suggest giving them at least one hindering characteristics. It doesn't matter what but make sure they're not perfect because no one likes to read about perfect people; they're a bore. And remember, sometimes the most flawed heroes are the most memorable. Like Lestat in Interview with a Vampire and The Vampire Lestat. Anne Rice masterfully gave us a vampire to despise in the first book and then turned him into a hero in the second. Now that's magic.

Who is the hero in your story? Care to share? If so, send me 250 words about your mc from your current wip. I'll post the first four I receive here this week.

And the winner is...

Thank you all for taking the time to visit our wonderful entries and voting. Every one of them went above and beyond anything we hoped for. Why am I surprised?

After three days of voting, you have chosen--

Julie Dao's Fairy Tale over at Silver Lining

Congratulations! You have a choice between a first chapter critique or a $20 Amazon Gift card. Email me at charity.bradford@gmail.com to let me know what you would like.

A Picture Paints 1000 Words Blogfest

Today's the day! I can't wait to make the rounds and see what picture you chose and what story you came up with. Hopefully, I'll get mine up in the next hour. I'm such a procrastinator. :)

Rules:
1. Sign up in Mr. Linky below.
2. Tell your friends any way you want and send them over to sign up for the party.
3. Choose a picture to inspire your short story (the story can be about what you see in the picture, or just something that it sparked in your imagination.)
4. On Monday-Wednesday (March 26-28), post your story of 1000 words or less and go around to visit the other participants. You may want to post early, see below.
5. The four of us at UB will do the same and pick our four favorites to post links to on Wednesday night.
6. On Thursday you get to read the four and vote for your favorite.
7. The winner will be announced on Friday. This winner will have a choice between a first chapter critique from those of us at UB, or a $20 gift card to Amazon (courtesy of me).

And now, the pictures. I found the first half on Fantasy Art Design, the rest were on my computer in the sample pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

CD, Marcy, Jeff and I can play, but will not be in the running for prizes. :)

Gutting a Sentence

“The vole was huddled in frozen terror under the crumbling bark of a fallen tree.”

How would you re-write this sentence composed three years ago in another life?

My snarky answer: Since ‘huddle’ implies fright, why add ‘frozen terror’? Sounds like an echo to me. The same is true of ‘crumbling bark’ and ‘fallen tree’. The tree is down so the bark isn’t in good shape. Why repeat it? And what's with the double verb? Dump 'to be' verbs whenever possible.

Editing version of the above sentence:

The vole huddled under the fallen tree. Silent.

Later, on the same page or paragraph, I’d repeat the ‘beat’ of this sentence followed by a single, fragmented word to increase the tension.

Don’t forget our blogfest:

By the way, every one makes mistakes. Even uber agents.

This agent's blog: "...they will only 'except an' ms or query from an agent..."
*snicker* Okay, I shouldn't laugh. But....
BWHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

A Picture Paints 1000 Words Blogfest

And because this looks like fun and there are lots of intriguing pictures from which to choose from, I hope you'll consider signing up for our first ever blogfest. I'll be posting my entry on my blog on Monday the 26th but it goes without saying I'm not eligible for the grand prize of either a first chapter critique by those of us at Unicorn Bell or a $20 gift certificate to Amazon courtesy of Charity. So go on, sign up, what have you got to lose? Oh, and just in case you were wondering, I chose the above pic to spark my story. Now to cut those last 61 pesky words...