Freewrite Friday - Tired Grain

Once again, I'm posting this on a non-Friday. I missed last one so my plan is to post another tomorrow. We'll see how real life aligns with my plan. Lately they've been on different schedules...

Anyhow, this is Tired Grain. Enjoy!

Truth is More Adorable Than Fiction

Girl writes love letter to fifth grade sweetheart. Boy finds letter in his closet eight years later. Boy reminisces, asks girl to prom. Girl says yes. 'Awww'-ing ensues.

This. Is. Too. Cute.

Check out the full story on The Huffington Post.

Join the conversation: Do you have any mementos from a childhood crush? How did you get it & what did you keep? I'd love to hear your stories!

Stuff For Writers: Manage Your Own Agenda

We all write for a reason, and everything we write has an underlying message.


Romeo & Juliet - Holding grudges leads to death.
Lord of the Rings - Power corrupts.
Hunger Games - Fight the Power!


I'm being facetious, but you get what I mean. Theme is a huge part of story. But please, I beg you, do not let your plot suffer at the hands of your message.

Stuff For Writers: Around the Internets

Random things I like & love, shared with you!

-Hunger Games BARBIE?!? NOOOOOO!

Katniss would melt this thing down, sharpen the end, and turn it into a shank! Although I'm pretty sure Peeta would sleep with it at night... And, ok, if I'm totally honest, a *little* part of me wants one. But it just seems so WRONG!
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/04/09/hunger-games-katniss-everdeen-barbie/

-Double Take Photos

I like looking at pictures for inspiration, and these remind me that sometimes when you're reading a book, what you think you see isn't what's really going on. Those are my favorite stories, where you're completely convinced that one thing is happening, but then you realize that it's something else, and all of the facts still make sense. This first picture made me stare for like two minutes. My brain was so sure something crazy was going on. Then when I finally got it, it was like 'Ohhhhh! DUH!'
http://boingboing.net/2012/05/22/fun-gallery-of-double-take.html

-Will Smith does Fresh Prince Rap on Talk Show

Just because Will Smith is awesome, and the Fresh Prince is awesome, and I love most things nineties and throwback, here's Will Smith rapping the theme to 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' on The Graham Norton Show earlier this week.
http://rapfix.mtv.com/2012/05/21/will-smith-raps-fresh-prince-theme-song/

-Ryan Gosling, Liteary Agent

Totally saved the best for last. Ryan Gosling. As a literary agent. Fictionalized, of course. But hilarious nonetheless. This Twitter account is my new best friend. He says things like "Hey Girl, you write, I'll take the kids to Cold Stone. That chapter: you finish it. Sundaes: we'll bring you one."  &  "Hey Girl, I'm mailing you your line edits. Realized I wrote Ryan + your name in the margins a bunch. Sorry. Sometimes I daydream at work" The hilarity/awesomeness of this page is too much for me to even describe, so go see it for yourself. *internet swoon*
https://twitter.com/#!/goslinglitagent

Indie Spotlight: Hush Money

Susan Bischoff's Hush Money is THE book that finally convinced me indie books were cool. I'd flat-out laughed at the idea/suggestion that I would ever self-publish, because I was a purist, an aspiring author who was going Big Six or Bust. Then I found a little (well, actually, there's nothing little about it) novel called 'Heroes For Hire.'

And it totally blew my mind.

A Wedding At the End of the World

Catching up on some blogging today. Just for fun, I thought I'd post my entry for Jillian Dodd's That Wedding Contest. Which I totally did not win. My entry was...different, to say the least, so that wasn't a big surprise. (See the winners here.) The challenge was to write about your dream wedding, but I've already had my dream wedding in real life, and the thought of writing a traditional wedding scene bored me. So I went waaaay outside of the box. And into the zombie apocalypse.

Before & Ashley (His Side)

The full story is told from more than one perspective, but I've decided to go ahead and post the 1/2 that's finished.  I should warn you, it will probably be more fun to read it all together since this 1/2 has major spoilers for the other side, but it's still a fun read on its own.  In the near future, I'll finish the other and put them together. 

The girl had landed in the grass, face up.

Yemi told himself not to get involved, that he needed to lay low until he found a way home. But no one else was checking to make sure she was okay. And he couldn’t sit still any longer.

He hopped over the side of the wagon and peered down at her still form. She’d been pretty from afar, but up close she was stunning, with high cheekbones, full lips, and copper skin that reflected light like a prism. Then she opened her eyes, and for a moment, he forgot to breathe.

‘Brown’ didn’t do them justice. They were more like molten lava, drizzled with caramel and sprinkled with flecks of gold.

Then she spoke. “Uh. Hi.”