ORDERLY/OPTIMISTIC - A to Z Challenge

It’s the third A to Z Challenge! Blog the letters of the alphabet in order every day except Sundays The participation list is HERE – start with the blog after yours and visit at least five blogs a day. Mostly, make new friends and have fun!

My theme – I have selected a word for each day and will present to you blogger buddies who fit that description, along with movies, music, etc. My theme is to give back, highlight some awesome bloggers, and have fun in the process.

ORDERLY/OPTIMISTIC

Elizabeth Spann Craig at Mystery Writing is Murder
This mystery writer is one of my very first followers. Her blog is so orderly and professional, I have to admit I was very intimidated at first. She founded the Writer’s Knowledge Database, the largest collection of writing information I have ever seen. I’m not sure how she finds and organizes it all, but I am impressed beyond words. She’s also a full time writer, something that is difficult to achieve. If you’re not following her Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers, then you need to get with it!

Ciara Knight
What strikes me first with Ciara is her optimistic attitude. It’s genuine and solid. Her feature “Did I Notice Your Book?” speaks volumes of her feelings towards her fellow authors. I imagine that after time in her presence, one would walk away feeling confident and ready to conquer the world. Ciara, sometimes we wonder if we are making any difference. Well, rest assured – you are making an amazing impact!!

Andie MacDowell as Rita in Groundhog Day
Here was a character of such unfettered optimism that it even prompted Bill Murray to utter the line “Gosh, you’re upbeat.” Anytime I hear someone spout overly optimistic jargon it calls to mind the classic words of Bill Murray and the hilarious movie “Groundhog Day.”

NINJA NEWS!

Laura Pauling signed a contract for How to Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings. Congratulations, Laura!!

Just to highlight another great A to Z theme – Jamie at Mithril Wisdom is highlighting metal and progressive rock bands with a fantasy/horror/science fiction edge. He's Welsh, so Jamie has only stumped me on a few of them.

And just to clarify yesterday’s post – my wife is far hotter than Kate Beckinsale! Yes, I am damned proud of that fact.

Finally, this is for those who never saw Chris Phillips’ post over a year ago. (Which I imagine is most of you.) He’d asked what songs influenced the writing of the author’s book. Most selected three songs, but I went with only one. “Street Spirit” by Stream of Passion was the emotional drive behind a key scene in CassaStar. I wrote revisions to that scene, the most difficult I’ve ever written, while listening to this song. If you don’t have time to listen, I understand. But for those who’ve read CassaStar, you’ll know what scene I mean:



Are you following Elizabeth and Ciara? Watched Groundhog Day? Digging Jamie’s metal A to Z posts? Know what scene “Street Spirit” embodies? Do you have a scene in your book/manuscript that will forever eat at your heart? And who do you know that is orderly or optimistic?

Time for Some Super Powers!

I have the honor of hosting Elizabeth Spann Craig today on her blog tour, and she’s going to discuss super powers today. (And you know how I dig super powers!)

12 Super Powers and Super Tools for Writers—by Elizabeth S. Craig/Riley Adams

It’s not easy being a writer.

There’s a lot we’re carrying on our shoulders—crafting worlds, creating interesting people to populate those worlds, mastering POV, pacing the story—and that’s just the writing part of what we do! On top of it all, we’ve got to steel ourselves against rejection, poor reviews…it’s a rough life.

Why should super heroes be the ones with all the cool powers and tools? I know they’re busy saving the world and all, but writers could use some super powers, too. And I know just the super powers and super tools to help us out:

Super Lair: A lair isn’t a super power, but it’s just as important to superheroes. It’s a place for heroes to recharge their super selves. Batman had the Batcave, Superman had the Fortress of Solitude. What would be the perfect super lair for writers? I’m thinking Office Depot. We’d play with Post-it Notes, notebooks, and Sharpie pens in our spare time. We’d leave our lair energized and ready to attack our next chapter.

Superhuman hearing: Ever been in a coffeehouse or restaurant and wanted to eavesdrop on a fascinating conversation that you know could help your story? With superhuman hearing, we’d never again have to surreptitiously move closer to spy on our unknowing victims!

Magical objects: Doctor Strange had the Eye of Agamotto medallion, the Black Knight had the Ebony Blade. Writers could have the never-depleting cup of Java and the indestructible laptop/hard drive.

Speed writing: For those deadlines that sneak up on us.
Reality warping: For those inconvenient plot holes.

Omnipresence: Omnipresence is a must for all those writers with boring office day jobs. You could be compiling the monthly sales report and be at home, penning the next exciting chapter of your thriller—all at once!

Teleportation/wormhole at our Office Depot lair: Okay, just in case we can’t get omnipresence, we could settle for teleportation or a wormhole so we could instantly apparate from home/Office Depot to our boring day job.

Cool transportation: Invisible jet? Batmobile? No, actually, this might be a super tool that writers don’t need. We just don’t get out all that much.

Mind control: To convince the agent or editor we’ve queried that our manuscript is The One.

Endurance and sleep-snubbing ability: For the writer who needs to burn the candle on both ends, without inconvenient consequences.

Time travel: Could be useful for historical writers. Or heck, even SF/F writers.

Unlimited funds: Batman/Bruce Wayne, Iron Man, Geo-Force, Mr. Fantastic? All incredibly wealthy. I’m thinking writers could use a little of that. Writers and money, of course, don’t often go together. But think of how cool it would be—we could write on location for whatever exotic setting we choose. No day job for us!

But what do you think? Got any other ideas for useful super powers we writers could use? Thanks for hosting me today, Alex! I appreciate it.

Bio: Elizabeth’s latest book, Finger Lickin’ Dead, released June 7th. Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series for Penguin/Berkley (as Riley Adams), the Southern Quilting mysteries (2012) for Penguin/NAL, and the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink. She blogs daily at Mystery Writing is Murder, which was named by Writer’s Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers for 2010 and 2011.
Writer's Knowledge Base--the Search Engine for Writers
Twitter: @elizabethscraig

Thanks, Elizabeth! I'll take teleportation. And a Batmobile!

Today’s Stop - HEL

Not THAT hell - Helen Ginger’s site, Straight From Hel! My guest post is about not underestimating your audience, something I learned from my blogging friends.

And big thanks to my hosts yesterday at Mystery Writing is Murder and The Non-Review

Here’s something else I learned this week. (Yeah, I’m still really new at this promotion stuff.) There are ways to help an author besides buying the book.

Ask your local library to stock it. I guess all it takes is one - three requests. Cool, huh? Then you get to read it for FREE! (And if anyone requests my book, be sure to mention the awesome review in last month’s Library Journal.)

You can post a review on Amazon or another site. (Guess you have to buy it then. Or, get it from the library! Back to free again.) Of course, if you didn’t like the book, a bad review doesn’t really help the author… (Now, that’s a scary thought!)

Any other ways to help an author?

Besides awesome blog posts?

Thanks again - you guys rock!!!

Thanks Beyond Words!

To all my online friends - thanks!! Yesterday was overwhelming.

Special thanks to my hosts yesterday, Hollywood Spy and Speculative Book Review!!

And today's stops are really special! I'm at Mystery Writing is Murder, talking about the importance of test readers, and at The Non-Review reviewing my own book. (Yeah, that was tough!)

Congratulations to Piedmont Writer who won a copy of CassaStar at Scribbler to Scribe. Don't forget my CONTEST runs until the end of the month! Comment on the contest page and one other stop in my virtual tour.

My deepest thanks and appreciation to all who posted my release yesterday and to those who commented on those and my tour host sites. I was overwhelmed!! You guys rock. When you have a book release or other big news, I want to do the same for you. (Talli, got you covered on December 1!)

Thanks everyone for making the day awesome!