Tag: Blogging

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies! Tonight, I have coffee instead of tea… And lots of it. I am in the home stretch for Beauty’s Tears – only 9 poems left to write. I am hoping to knock out the writing before the first. I likely will not be getting to Layout until December, but it means that Heart Drops will be started with the poems of the PAD challenge.

Fae Corps will be doing another round of daily prompts in November. I will probably be reblogging many of them. The first group got a good reception so we decided to do them for nano/poetry writers in November.

I have been approached by another poet/author about doing a guest blog. Her idea intrigued me! So I will be posting it as soon as she gets it to me for you to read. I enjoy her poetry so I believe that you will enjoy the post.

So… I am facing my fears… And then some. I asked about doing a author signing event yesterday. I also have found a craft fair to try and sell my art and crafts at. This is such a big thing. I have been making art, jewelry, and resin pieces. And due to fear, I have been sticking it all in bins. Anxiety often keeps me from doing. I was called out for my bs. Joe, my boyfriend, told me that if I was not going to do anything to sell or use it then I should stop making it. I hate it when he is right. So I am swallowing the what if I fail fear. The first craft show is a local hot dog sale on the first Saturday in November. I have to get to earning money for books for the signing event. I personally have 19 poetry volumes, 3 kids books, and a memoir. Plus Serena’s 2. And the anthology. That makes it expensive to have even a small amount of copies to sell. Those numbers just make me want to cry.

The beginning of the year will be seeing a lot of new things, from me and from Fae Corps. We have a lot planned. I will be seeing the release of my Beauty’s Tears and the anthology Faery Footprints in December. I am hoping that Serena will have a book ready for release with the new year. I am looking at the release of the audiobook version for the princess lost.

This year is still going to be bringing new challenges. What are you hoping to do before the end of 2019?

Webcomics Wednesday

It’s been a while since I have done this, so I thought that it was time to talk about a new comic. Eventually I plan on covering all of my favorite ones. Last time I talked about Dominic Deegan. Today, I want to talk about a relatively new comic. She has been posting for a couple of years. Geekasaurus is an adorably geeky family of dinosaurs. A fun sense of humor and a very wholesome family feel to it.

The artwork is cute. The writing is inspired. I highly recommend reading through the past comics.

What webcomics are your favorite? And why?

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies. Today I am having a blend of herbs in a tea. Which herbs you ask? Oh dear me… I seem to have forgotten most of them… My boyfriend makes it for me, so I only put them in my 🦉(yes my tea strainer looks like an owl) and drown the owl. I do know that he uses 5 different herbs. It has Lavender, Jasmine, and a small amount of Mandrake. Oh dear, I really have forgotten the other two. Well rest assured that it tastes like a miracle, and aids my pain meds(back and hands are extra sore today.

Well… A week into October… So much going on. My first post for coffee house writers is up. If you missed it, go here. Of course my Saturday post on here was filled with the links for my books, Serena’s books , and other places to find me.

Serena is definitely doing Nano this year. The link to her Nano page is Here. I will be doing the P. A. D. Challenge, as usual. Though I do not always use just the Writer’s Digest prompts, they usually have good ones. For the ones that want to try to follow along, or try the challenge themselves, the link for the section of the site is Writer’s Digest – Poetic Asides. It is a wonderful column regardless.

Serena has two projects to attempt working on. Kingdoms of Sin and Life, Guilt, and undeath. I believe that both are listed as active due to the desire to not allow writer’s block to slow down the momentum.

My craft studio is nearly together. We have moved most of the stuff in there, but I have still to organize and such. I have been considering doing a studio tour video. We have not gotten the electric fixed in it yet. One thing at a time, right?

With all that is going on in November…I don’t know if I can juggle everything. We will see. I may have to do a couple of less days here a week. It will depend upon my dexterity. I will be juggling a bi-weekly deadline for Coffee House Writer’s, a poem a day, an attempt at doing 1667 words in one or the other or both of Serena’s stories, homeschooling my daughter, and housework. Plus the blog and any art I can squeeze in. It is not going to be easy. So, I beg your grace ahead of time for missed posts. I will return to the normally crazy of this blog in December regardless. I am hoping that I will be able to juggle it all in November as well.

If I can I am hoping to get around to the children’s book I am working on in December. It is a middle grade story. Attack of Shoe Mountain. If I do then 2020 will be a huge year of publication for me. Both Serena and I have poetry being published in Fae Corps Publishing Faery Footprints. She is likely to have a story in the Through the Sunshine anthology. I am also hoping that at least one, if not both, of her W. I. P. novels will be published in 2020. I am usually publishing roughly 3 poetry volumes a year. If I can also add Aosm… Yeah 2020 will be a big year for me and mine. Though I might be publishing Beauty’s Tears in 2019 still. Depends upon the poetry muse. 😉

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies. Today I am having a blend of herbs in a tea. Which herbs you ask? Oh dear me… I seem to have forgotten most of them… My boyfriend makes it for me, so I only put them in my 🦉(yes my tea strainer looks like an owl) and drown the owl. I do know that he uses 5 different herbs. It has Lavender, Jasmine, and a small amount of Mandrake. Oh dear, I really have forgotten the other two. Well rest assured that it tastes like a miracle, and aids my pain meds(back and hands are extra sore today.

Well… A week into October… So much going on. My first post for coffee house writers is up. If you missed it, go here. Of course my Saturday post on here was filled with the links for my books, Serena’s books , and other places to find me.

Serena is definitely doing Nano this year. The link to her Nano page is Here. I will be doing the P. A. D. Challenge, as usual. Though I do not always use just the Writer’s Digest prompts, they usually have good ones. For the ones that want to try to follow along, or try the challenge themselves, the link for the section of the site is Writer’s Digest – Poetic Asides. It is a wonderful column regardless.

Serena has two projects to attempt working on. Kingdoms of Sin and Life, Guilt, and undeath. I believe that both are listed as active due to the desire to not allow writer’s block to slow down the momentum.

My craft studio is nearly together. We have moved most of the stuff in there, but I have still to organize and such. I have been considering doing a studio tour video. We have not gotten the electric fixed in it yet. One thing at a time, right?

With all that is going on in November…I don’t know if I can juggle everything. We will see. I may have to do a couple of less days here a week. It will depend upon my dexterity. I will be juggling a bi-weekly deadline for Coffee House Writer’s, a poem a day, an attempt at doing 1667 words in one or the other or both of Serena’s stories, homeschooling my daughter, and housework. Plus the blog and any art I can squeeze in. It is not going to be easy. So, I beg your grace ahead of time for missed posts. I will return to the normally crazy of this blog in December regardless. I am hoping that I will be able to juggle it all in November as well.

If I can I am hoping to get around to the children’s book I am working on in December. It is a middle grade story. Attack of Shoe Mountain. If I do then 2020 will be a huge year of publication for me. Both Serena and I have poetry being published in Fae Corps Publishing Faery Footprints. She is likely to have a story in the Through the Sunshine anthology. I am also hoping that at least one, if not both, of her W. I. P. novels will be published in 2020. I am usually publishing roughly 3 poetry volumes a year. If I can also add Aosm… Yeah 2020 will be a big year for me and mine. Though I might be publishing Beauty’s Tears in 2019 still. Depends upon the poetry muse. 😉

Thursday Tea Party

Hello my loveys! Well what are you drinking today? I am struggling with the idea of awake, so today I have coffee. I use powdered creamer, half of the coffee cup, and 3 splenda packets. Today I chose cinnamon cream. It is my favorite flavor.

So, announcements.

I submitted my first writing for Coffee House writers. It is in their editor’s hands. I really like the poetry department they have. The people there are enormous fun. I think that I will be able to improve my writing with them.

My memoir is out. Inspiration Without A Home grab your copy today. I will be doing the link post this Saturday as usual.

Some sad news… The editors of Creatives Rising Ezine are having technical difficulties and have had to cancel the issue. The editors are working on clearing it up. I, personally, am looking forward to the ezine being up and going again.

I have been enjoying inktober, though it has barely started. I have been exploring art in various mediums.

My studio is coming together. I am hoping to have it set up and ready for a studio tour around the beginning of 2020.

Serena will be doing The Kingdoms of Sin for Nanowrimo this year.

I will be doing the P. A. D. Challenge again this year.

So, that is all of the announcements.

Due to the busy over the next three months…. I have been considering a prompt theme for my Friday blog posts. I will announce the theme and prompt list tomorrow.

Tell me, what is your plans for the last three months of 2019?

Who am I

Writers gather their characters from various places. Some look at people in their own life, some try to create ones opposite of the people they know.

By nature, a writer is a people watcher. It helps to get descriptions and ideas.

Personally, I think that people watching should start with the mirror. Who am I? Look into your own personality traits, character flaws, desires, and fears. That gives you an idea of how to write a character. Practice describing you. Do a “character” sheet for you. In an attempt to show you what I mean… Here is a character sheet for me.

Name : Patricia Lynn Harris

Nickname /preferred name: Patti

Eyes: Chocolate Brown

Hair: natural dark brown /nearly black though she often colors it in shades of purple. Wears it between short and slightly more than shoulder length.

Height 5’2

Weight 290

Body shape pear

{Here is where you decide how in depth you want the sheet to be}

Birthplace – _________

Home – ____________

{Obviously I don’t feel personally I need those}

Strengths: Intelligence, flexibility, resilience, creativity

Flaws: Lazy, chronically ill, sloppy, physical weakness

Fears: severely claustrophobic, mildly Agoraphobia, Acrophobia

Personal descriptors: pacifist, feminist, pansexual, ptsd

Abilities : program in c#, draw, write, paint, resin, jewelry design, digital art, cover design, crotchet, needlepoint, networking, computer literacy, storytelling, sewing, piano, teaching, editing, publishing

Yeah, this is all very dry information. It gives you a skeleton to work with. Then you can take it and create an image of your character. Here’s what I see…

She was not your typical shut in. Patti was creative, and used that creativity to test her boundaries. Her dark eyes sparkled as she made the characters come alive. Running her hand through the lavender hair, she grumbled her frustration about the story not coming easy.

Though she had other projects awaiting her attention, this story was pulling at her. The self imposed deadline gave a reason to avoid doing the housework that she so wanted to avoid.

See how a few dry facts turn into a short and interesting scene? Do that with you and see what you can do. Then expand until you have a good character collection to work from. It will make character development second nature. (Also remember… Villains are characters, too)

Monday musings

I know that I usually post poetry on Monday, but the last week has been a rough one for me and creating. Between a death in the family, that hit rather hard, and general aches and pains… This week has been a lot of “couch time”…basically me and my television have seen more of each other than I ever do.

There is always a little slow down after I publish a new volume. When I wonder if I am foolish and vain for publishing. When I acknowledge that I don’t do well with pushing the books that I already have out. When I wonder who I would be if I didn’t write. When the idea scares me, so I try to force it… And end up scraping a few really bad foced starts. This is the first month after I publish a new volume.

Then, I start actually calming down… Realize that I don’t have to sell it. I have written it. I have put it out into the world so that it can be seen. I have done my part. It is my job to write, not to force anyone to read it. Those who are meant to be be my readers will find it, as long as I keep sharing. Which I have been doing a bit more of. I have been putting my poetry on graphics and putting more on my blog, and Instagram. I have a public album on Facebook and a board on Pinterest. In the meantime what that time of panic and reflection often means is that I have nothing worth sharing today, except for the view of my weirdo neurotic mind. Some like that view though, so I decided to share.

Thursday Tea Party

Morning my lovely friends! What is that? It’s not morning for you? Hmmm well it is morning somewhere… I hesitate to wish you good day, as that seems more like a farewell than a hello.

Either way, welcome to my tea party! Today, I have been having belly issues so I am going with my favourite lemon and ginger tea.

As for the announcements, there is quite a lot going on.

  • Under the Mists is available in Paperback as well as the ebook. Www.books2read.com/underthemists
  • My memoir Inspiration Without a Home is Available for Preorder. https://books2read.com/u/m2rRVG
  • I finished writing Whispers of the Muse. It is in layout and I will announce the link soon.
  • Fae Corps publishing is still taking submissions for Faery Footprints until September 30.
  • For the month of September Fae Corps will be posting a daily prompt for to encourage poetry.
  • I will be doing the sketchtember prompts for my Patreon this year.

Whew, that is a lot of announcements. I am working on doing the abuse playlist on YouTube. I would be glad to provide a link for those who want it, but it is not something that I just want to random post.

Sigh, now I must do the dishes. So I will leave you with a question… What would you like to see upcoming.

Friday Funday

Trying to do a writing based fun day.

Admittedly, some of them are writing tips. Some are word funnies. Hope that you enjoyed, and if you have one feel free to share it with me!

Quicksilver poetry

Something new I am thinking about. Sometimes I want to jam. Just free verse because I have too much on my mind. It will likely be rambling and not the cleanest verse. But… It will be a good look into who I am behind the edited and clean verse I usually post. This will also not necessarily be the way that the poetry ends in the books. This section will not be scheduled. It will be a whim. And I make no promise of quality….