Mindi Scott's Blog, page 18

5 things on Friday

1.  I'm eating a red pepper stuffed with vegetarian mushroom risotto. OMG is it ever delicious!

2. Every other Friday, I fill in for a coworker at the office.  Every other Friday, I dread having to answer the phone.  And you know what else happens every other Friday?  It all works out just fine.  I'm better at telephone customer service than I like to believe. For last year's "secret shopper" call, I scored an A+.  (Yes, I'm bragging.  I feel like I earned the right to do so because I felt anx...

Stuff Mindi Likes: THE CLONE WARS cartoon.

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I have a crush.

On a cartoon character.

<-------This cartoon character.

I know it's silly and weird and it isn't cool to like anything affiliated with the newer of the STAR WARS trilogy, but I love me some cartoon Anakin Skywalker.

I don't even know how it happened.  I just decided one day that I wanted to watch THE CLONE WARS cartoon series.  I had to harass Dwayne to watch it with me.  (Which makes no sense because he actually rewatches all the STAR WARS movies indiscriminately!)  

And somehow ...

Friday 5

1.  Remember last summer how I was super in shape (well, the best shape that I've ever been in, I mean)?  Yeah, that whole thing sort of fell by the wayside last October when I went on all those trips.  I came back to rain and cold and never quite back into the groove.  For the last month or so, I've been gradually trying to get it back.  Water aerobics once a week.  Some walking.  I'm pretty sore, though.  Why does it have to be so hard?

2.  I wrote a new scene for my current WIP yesterday. ...

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Leah Cypess

Leah Cypess is the author of Mistwood, a YA fantasy novel released by Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins) on April 27, 2010.

Everyone tells Isabel that she is the Shifter – the ancient shape-shifting creature who has protected the kings of Samorna for centuries. They need her to be the Shifter. Prince Rokan risked everything when he rode into the Mistwood to summon her to his side; Ven, the magician's apprentice, has devoted his life to studying her legend; and even Princess Clarisse, who...

The ways in which Goodreads makes (some) authors (specifically me) crazy.

Ever since someone added my book to Goodreads way back whenever it was, it's been a near-daily routine for me to check it out.  I'm always going on there for a few seconds, just to see who else has added FREEFALL to their to-read piles.  It has been very, very fun to see the number increasing and all the people who don't even know me who are interested in reading it! 

About once a week,  I'll fill my husband in on the details.  "Guess how many people on Goodreads say they want to read FREEFALL...

I made a book trailer! Well, sort of.

What a cool idea!  I got this from jessica_shea .  Google/YouTube has an app to make a super-fun SearchStory.  

Here's mine for FREEFALL:

Yard work conversations.

If I had a time machine, I would tell my 23-year-old self NOT to buy a house with a big yard and lots of trees and flower beds and junk like that. 

Because, as I learned shortly after we bought this place, I hate doing yard work, my golf course assistant superintendent husband doesn't like working outside when he isn't getting paid, and ALSO?  We can't afford to pay anyone else to do it for us.

Today I did a stint of work in the front yard at Dwayne's request.  I trimmed the hydrangeas back, r...

Working, working.

I decided today to rework my outline to figure out my next steps with my current project. 

Ten hours later, I was feeling . . . overwhelmed.

I have good scenes.  I know that I do.  I just don't have ALL the scenes I'm going to need.  I'm ripping out an entire subplot, and I think I've found one to replace it, but I don't know how it should all play out.  I don't know how it fits with the rest of what I'm trying to do.

Unrelated (SPOILER! but not really, as it turned out), I decided to pull up t...

Writing inspiration and dreams.

I've always had vivid dreams that I remember with clarity afterward.  Which is fun when I have my very favorite dream where I'm moving into a new house and I get to run around marveling at all the rooms and closets.  (Yes, I really do get that excited about closets in my dreams!)

It's not as much fun when my teeth fall out and my mouth is nothing but blood and gore.  Or when I've sprouted unwanted body/facial hair.  Or when I'm running for life.  And I've always found it particularly upsettin...

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Amy Brecount White

Amy Brecount White is the author of Forget-Her-Nots a magical realism YA novel to be released by Greenwillow/HarperCollins on 3/2/2010.    

Delicious and magical, here is a debut novel about a new (and slightly misunderstood) girl at an exclusive boarding school. Laurel has always loved flowers, but when a class project calls for research into the Victorian language of flowers, she makes a potent discovery. Her affinity for blooming things is actually age-old magic, passed from one...