Ryshia Kennie's Blog, page 31

A Giveway Blast Over At Beck Valley

So today I tripped on this fantastic giveaway:



Beck Valley Books: $100 Amazon Twitter Blast Giveaway has started !!



Head on over and see how your luck holds today. And me - having stuck my head up for air I'm back to the last words of the last draft.



Any great finds in your day?



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

 Find me on Twitter

Or on Facebook

And Goodreads too

 http://ryshiakennie.com
https://twitter.com/#!/ryshiakennie

A Little Bit Of Lazy Goes A Long Way!

So you've all heard me whine about the doldrums of winter.  Good news - I'm not into any of that today.  Nope, today I've taken the day off.  For two reasons; one it's my wedding anniversary and two, because I don't think I could bear one more predawn alarm call.  I've been at it pretty hard the last few weeks and as a result there's a story that's finally been whipped into shape and a plan for a few manuscripts that may not need to be whipped but possibly a tamer version of a scale down - a Weight Watcher's version.  And I'm only steps away from finishing off that proposal.  New is again on the horizon and I'm excited to dive in.



Sometimes a day off is exactly what you need to put the excitement back into motivation. 



And on a totally different topic, I suspect that Siri may be a Southern Gal.  Now some of you might be asking who the heck Siri is?  She's the voice of the technology that functions as an office assistant as well as answering basic questions posed to Apple's latest iPhone.  So when asked the temperature today, Siri's little electronic voice blurted "brrrr".  I took her word for it and headed out in my completely unfashionable ski pants (hey, what do you expect for ski pants that were never the height of fashion and that if they were human, would be old enough to graduate high school?), toque and industrial mitts.  Let's not say I was turning any heads on this venture, except maybe on the "what is she thinking?" variety.  Anyway, temperature wise - turns out her idea of brrr and mine didn't jive.  It was only -12 C without the usual breeze (that many not from the prairies might call a brisk wind). All in all,  brilliant sunny winter day.  I was hot after a few blocks and sweating after ten.  Oh well, I suppose sweating is good.  Many people pay money at a gym to work up a good sweat.  So thank you Siri - I think.  Speaking of Siri, while there's a few spoofs on the technology - Have you seen this one? 





Tomorrow I'll be back at it and excited again to be there.  What does time  off do for you?  Any planned in your future?  And I don't mean the kind where you're on the whirlwind overseas or even overland excursion but the kind where you shut off the world and just enjoy the day.



Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of the day!



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

Find me on Twitter

Or on Facebook

And Goodreads toohttp://ryshiakennie.com
https://twitter.com/#!/ryshiakennie

My Get Up And Go Got Up And Went

I'm feeling a little lazy or maybe that's just slightly unmotivated.  Still - yes I know - still!  I blame it all, as you already know on winter.  Everything is winter's fault.  Why?  Because everything has to be someone's fault, certainly not mine.  And who better than a non-person, a season.



Okay, silliness aside, my lack of motivation is a result of a combination of things.  The time of year for one - isn't exactly motivational.  The place where I'm at in one book - finishing final draft and wanting so badly to move on, but it's not quite there - yet.  The place where I'm at in my career, published but not where I want to be - yet.  My latest rejection.  Blah blah blah.  But you see where I'm going - straight into a completely uncalled for pity party.



Then motivation ran over me, peeled me off the sidewalk, dusted me off and told me to get a life.  There are worse things then a rejection letter and not enough time for everything you want to write.  Besides, as my agent assured me, there were good things in that letter - and there were.  But it was a friend of mine who sent a text out of the blue to say how much I inspire her that really got my attention.   Me inspire her?



She's a journeyman carpenter chosen as one of a select few to go to Rome for a built heritage conservation course.  It was an opportunity of a lifetime that ran against all odds and I won't go into it - you can check it all out here.  Running in circles to get ready for imminent departure for a three-month move to Rome, she still found time to send me that text.   Now that's motivation.  I don't think I can match that but I'm definitely re-energized and back in the game.  Besides it's the Year of the Dragon - doesn't that mean good things are around the corner?



What re-energizes you in the depths or winter or are you reading this while sipping a margarita and putting on sunscreen?



Here's something to cheer up anyone in need of a little winter lift.  I'm a Reader Not a Writer is holding a thank you give away.  Click anywhere here to head over for the details on how you can win a $50 Amazon Gift Card or $50 in Books from the Book Depository.



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

Find me on Twitter

Or on Facebook

And Goodreads too









http://ryshiakennie.com
https://twitter.com/#!/ryshiakennie

Frankly - It's Not That Interesting

I'm exhausted and frankly, even that isn't all that interesting.  But it's that middle ground of winter and I'm sick of it.  Most especially as this has been a particularly unusual winter.  There aren't many where you can look outside and see no snow on the deck.  Of course all this warm then cold then warm again weather has made the streets rather deadly.  There hasn't been a lot of snow and what there has been should have had Hollywood on speed dial - yes, the fake looking stuff that isn't fake at all.  Let's say my left elbow is getting a workout - wiped out for the second time this month and have the fine art of landing on your elbow and not your head, mastered.  Considering all the patches of ice I've been dancing over on my walks - that's not too bad.  Isn't it?  Shouldn't I be able to shuffle-hop my way over yet another icy, downhill driveway or do the skip-hop recovery on the unexpected rink lying beneath that pretty white fluff of snow cover?  I was beginning to feel like maybe it was just me and I needed more time spent in a yoga tree position but then I saw the dog doing a four-legged dance of his own.



So what else isn't interesting?  Frankly - soggy middles.  Not people, books.  People, not so great either but that's a topic for another post and in mid-winter, a touchy subject for most of us winter clime people.  Nope, what I'm talking about is the literary soggy middle.  The result of a second, third or even what you tentatively called a last draft.  Just because the end was written, once, twice or even three times - doesn't mean the end. 



Seriously, I've never written the end.  Okay, maybe once - the first time round just to see how it looked.  Not that great, it looked better after delete.  The end, spelled out and finalized is about as interesting as a soggy middle.  I'd rather hit the period - one return and save - take a break and on to the next idea.  Or in this case, on to the problem where all the action bogged down.  Action?  Wait, there lies the problem.  There is none.  Not in those middle chapters.  The characters are just hopping from one venue to another seemingly oblivious to any and all around them. 



So it's back to a rewrite, hurl a hurdle or two or even three into that calm little lull my characters were quietly enjoying.  They were quiet about their hiatus - more than likely afraid that if they made any noise I'd be alerted to the situation. So they've enjoyed their reprieve.  But it's time to get their running shoes on and get to work.  You wanted to what?  Enjoy that nice lunch - delete!  Time to what?  Have a conversation about the state of the world - delete?



So while my characters aren't too happy - they'll thank me in the end, when maybe they actually do get a chance to rest, talk and catch up.  Of course they'll have to write their own pages for that, in their own book.



And frankly - in the end - it's going to be a lot more interesting.  Or so I hope.



Meantime, it's time to get out there and walk.  I heard soggy middles are an occupational hazard and I want to head mine off at the pass. 



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

Eat My Exhaust

I didn't mean that literally - really, I like all you people who read my blog.  I'd say love but that may be too strong a word for people with whom I have yet to have a face to face meeting.  It's the weather who "Eat My Exhaust" is really targeting.  Why?  It's just that today it's freezing cold - not scary cold, just bordering on that.  Now for all of you from cold climes you know what I mean.  There's the point where you can see the cold in the air and it's awful uncomfortable to be outside too long and then there's cold that goes one step further into the land of scary cold.  Kind of like strong wind - hurricane. 



The day began at -30 celsius that's -22 for all you farenheit lovers.  Either way it feels like -43 c or so the weather channel assures me.  I'm taking their word for it and the furthest I'm venturing is the visitor side of the departure lounge in the airport.  I'd pay money to be on the other side of that line - the one where I was actually going somewhere.  Wait, that's right!  Eureka all I need to do is fork out some money get a ticket and head out.  Instead I'll be heading home to put on extra layers.  But in the meantime I'm having a virtual trip.



It all started, pre-airport run, with an urgent discussion about a backpack that wouldn't close.  Ah, the horrors of travel, you want to take it all but soon discover that lugging all that stuff through airports, hotels and transport of all sorts; well, it's just not practical.  So with scaled down luggage we headed with said traveler to the airport.



Did I mention I love the airport?  The hustle and bustle - the mystery of trips about to begin and the exhausted yet completed feel of trips that have just ended. 



Then, of course there's the security line and while it's annoying, sometimes I actually like it.  Why?  Well, there's stories hanging out there, yes even amidst the frustrated and disgruntled passengers that have maybe been in line too long and on one flight too many.  There's characters too - I mean really, is that shifty looking man clutching his carry on a little too tightly because he's clutching the evidence of the money he's stolen from the small firm he worked for or because he has an even darker intent?  And if the latter is the case, will security screens catch him or - is he smarter than that.  How far will security go as they strip one more article off that sullen looking teenager?  And what do they suspect? 



Ah - yes, I hear it, the rattling of another story as my outrageous imagination defies logic and trips on ahead of itself.  That's what I love about airports.  There are stories everywhere.  In fact, I'm thinking one day I'll just pack a lunch and hang out for the day.  Okay - or not.  But it wasn't a horrible thought.  Slightly eccentric I admit but I'm betting not boring, not for one minute.



Meantime it's bon voyage to someone who'll be setting foot in Cairo as a new day dawns over here.



And me - well tomorrow I heard the sun will be shining in a brilliant blue sky and the temperature?  I'll get back to you come spring. 





Any trips in your future - or would you like to pack a lunch and join me at the airport?



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

Stark White and Naked - Yikes!

Stark white - glow in the dark.  Isn't that one of the tricks of Halloween - white sheets glowing in the darkness, ghosts reaching quivering hands to frighten little kids.  I know, you're not all into Halloween but it's my thing.  And yes, sheets well positioned may be rough forms of scary fun but they can be effective.





Footprints in the snow
White sheets - brings me to the topic of this post.  Yes, in a round about fashion.  I'm talking about paper not snow, like the only picture I had, but kind of comparable.  Blank paper without even a footprint, a smudge - nothing.  Now I've never been scared of a blank page - in fact they're one of my favourite things.  At least so I thought until this morning.  I discovered something then - blank pages are great if you're just free-form writing.  They're really crappy if you just want to get a start on a novel and not choke on the third page, mid paragraph because you have no idea where to go next.  A blank page can throw a long shadow.





Where was this story going and how many ideas could I incorporate into one story before it became a mish-mash of nothingness or how few before it began going circular mid-stream?



I needed direction - an outline, some logic to coral all the creativeness that was spinning quickly into nowhere.  So I moved to the synopsis.  Did I mention I loathe the synopsis.  Yes, loathe - there is no better word for how I feel about that short little condensed version of a story.  But you know, I've learned that if I skip right over my "beginning hebejeebies", a synopsis can be an awesome thing.  Okay, maybe not awesome, but along with an outline - a big help.



So I went there, to hebejeebie land with a different page, a new tactic, and looked again at another blank page.  Problem was there was still a problem.  I had a house and nothing else, not even a character name.  Yes, you didn't read wrong - a house can be a character, how much of one in this particular story... well even if I make it a female house, I sense that cannot be construed as either romance or woman's fiction.  And that folks, is what I write.  So I suspect the house will only be a small supporting role.  I'm sure not sure if I'll ever want to write about a house, not as a primary character anyway.  That's been done before, mostly in the world of horror - and done well.  No this was a story about people, about a woman.  A woman - now I'm getting somewhere.



So now I need a name - so off to the baby name section of the internet.  Unfortunately, the first one I hit on was something about "The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Naming."  No, that wasn't what I typed in, it's what came up and the names - well they were names that were slightly unusual, they weren't who my character is.  Not that she isn't unusual but I sense she likes to work with her hands and not strictly her head.  Aha - a personality is finally beginning to emerge.  I left that site, checked out another - found a name and went back to the blank page.  This time success.  I began to type - single spaced, just to prove I wasn't yet serious.  Serious means using the correct font and double spacing.  I considered using a chalkboard print but that might be poking the fates so I stuck to publishing industry standard and voila.  One and one-half single spaced pages later I had a story, a character, and a rough-hewn synopsis that would make the writing industry cringe.



I'm pleased with the name of my character.  I think it suits her and I sense she might be happy with it.  I'd mention it here but with only hours into the whole project everything is subject to change.  Onward Christian Soldiers - okay, just onward one little writer sitting on her couch pecking away in the early hours of the morning.



And that's the journey of one story.  The beginnings anyway.  They're all different.



How do you begin a new project - an organized fashion or from every angle possible?



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

The New Years Hop - Shake Out

And the results of The New Years Hop - I wish I could say that you all won!  Alas, there was only one prize.  So by random draw, the winner has been chosen.  Everyone listen for the imaginary drum roll....



 The Winner of a hard cover, first edition copy of "The Tommyknockers" is....



Tiffany!

Congrats Tiffany!!

Ryshiawww.ryshiakennie.com

Missing E-mail - New Years Blog Hop

Lucky1fader - you entered the New Years blog hop without an e-mail.  If you're still interested in signing up for my newsletter "The Walkabout" or, if when I draw in the next hour - you are lucky enough to win the copy of The Tommyknockers, I will need your e-mail.  If you're still in fire an e-mail back to me at ryshia@ryshiakennie.com.



Ryshia

Give Aways Galore - The New Years Hop!

2012 is almost upon us.  I hope you're all as excited for the new year as I am.  I think this year is going to be fantastic.  Call it intuition, call it stepping away from reality - call it whatever you want.  I'm throwing the good vibe out there.  2011 was the year of working hard and putting foundations in place both in my personal life and in my writing.  I'm hoping 2012 will be the year for all of us to enjoy success in whatever our endeavors because - hey, it's  The Year of the Dragon



...And while you're here - let's get to the give away....Enter to win a first edition, hard copy of Stephen King's "The Tommyknockers".  

There are two ways to enter: 1)  A comment on any post on this blog gets you one entry.  Limit one entry via comments.2)  For an additional three entries - Include, at the end of your comment the word newsletter to sign up for my newsletter "The Walkabout" - which only occasionally, 3 or 4 times a year, arrives in your inbox with my author news and some entertaining stories, facts or other contests. 

And if you're already a subscriber - no worries and thanks - enter newsletter along with your comment and you'll get your three entries.  Make sure that if your profile link doesn't have an e-mail address, that you include it!

And when you're done - start hopping to all the blogs listed below that all have a prize of their own.  Hop like crazy from now through January 3 and good luck!



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

Memories of Christmas Passed

The remains of Christmas lay everywhere.  From the half eaten cheese ball that someone forgot to put in the refrigerator that has now hit the garbage bin, to the bag of wrapping paper that needs to head back down to the basement for a twelve-month rest.  The evidence that Christmas has passed on by is everywhere.



But it's on my walk where I see some more interesting remnants of Christmas.



First, there's the nativity scene that decorates a garbage bin.  Now, that alone wouldn't be so interesting except for the fact that the occupants of that house are nuns and their only outside decorations seem to be that garbage bin.



Then there's the sign - freshly put out, I know for there isn't a day I don't walk this route.  I'm more regular than the mail carrier for they at least take Saturday and Sunday off. But the sign - "Found One Large Brown Dog,"that's new and it makes me stop.  Apparently there were some unexpected gifts under someone's tree.  It leaves me to hope that the poor chap - the large brown dog, found his home because he's obviously not in the home of dog people.  For dog people would have had a more accurate description - part lab, all poodle, curly, chestnut colour, appears to love chips - friendly or he's snarling in our back yard or...



And the ending to this year's Christmas, click here if you missed it all.  Well, my niece, in her youthful exuberance, thought that it ended in grand fashion.  Of course, she was not the one sliding through the mess in her Christmas socks.  Instead she was in charge of keeping the too young and the too old out of the mess.  A rather fun job - when all it involved was a cue stick and a game or two or three of pool.  So I think I may pass on her request for another unexpected ending for next year - not unless she's talking about something a little easier to clean up - like fireworks.





So Christmas 2011 - is done.  All that's left are the leftovers - boxes of chocolates at every corner.  And I don't know about you but I'm done too - at least for the next day or two.



It's in the little things - that the kernels for another story slowly arise.  



Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com





The Give Away Hop for New Years 2012 is only days away.  Check back because not only will I have other links to blogs with great prizes - at Once Upon a Time... there will be a chance to win a first edition hard copy of Stephen King's The Tommyknockers.  It all starts December 30!