Jennifer Bray-Weber's Blog, page 60

Hump Day Kick Start – Fire and Rescue Edition

Song of the day: Burn it Down by Linkin Park

Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or just a v isual treat.

 

 

I might need the jaws of life. Can you fellas help?

Today’s prompt: smoke, fire, muscle, and gas-powered tools.

What’s going on here? Riot? Fast spreading wildfire? Arson at the junkyard? An explosive accident at the demolition derby? Did the beautiful, lonely pyromaniac start another fire and the two local heroes have gladly come to the rescue again?

What’s your take on this prompt. Let me hear from you!

Link of the Week – Naughty Girls Writing Naughty NaNoWriMo Event

You may or may not know this, but I have an alter ego. I also write steamy, dangerous sexy stories under the name Harlowe Wilde. Harlowe belongs to a great group of saucy gals called the Nice Girls Writing Naughty. And, yes, we have a blog. This week’s link serves a dual purpose. One, to introduce you to the Nice Girls. Two, to offer you some awesome tips during the Nano season. Tips that can help you along any time of the year.

Nice Girls Writing Naughty is holding a NaNo Event, now through November 26th. Lots of great advice and encouragement for your writing pleasure, as well as daily prizes can be had. To sweeten the pot, there is also a grand prize up for grabs – a $25 gift card to ARe. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 19th is my, or rather, Harlowe’s day. Stop on by to see what awesomeness we can spread.

http://nicegirlswritingnaughty.wordpress.com/

Hump Day Kick Start – Close Shave Edition

Song of the day: Obsession by Animotion

Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or just a v isual treat.

 

Sometimes I come across a photo and I’m just, oh, I don’t know, captivated.

What do you make of today’s prompt? Clearly there is passion and seduction at play. But what is there we don’t see? Infatuation? Fetishism? A test of trust? Clothed in a cocktail dress and suit, where have they been, or where are they going? Are they a couple? Business associates? White collar criminals? Are thy getting in a little foreplay before walking the red carpet or going to a black-tie fundraising gala? He doesn’t look like he needs a shave. Could they be werewolves pre-full moon outing?

What do you think? I’d love to hear your take. Go.

Link Of The Week- Sprints!

 

http://sprintshack.wordpress.com/

 

I know many of you are participating in NaNo and I thought this link would be useful for that. That’s not the end of the story! This site will help you sprint almost anytime, anywhere, and it’s all the time- NOT just during NaNo.

They also have guest bloggers and the current front page article is very good- How To Write in a Less-Than-Ideal Environment.

 

I hope you enjoy this link and may the Sprinting Fairies help you with huge word counts forever and ever. Amen

Friday Fun Facts- Can You Feel My Pain?

Your favorite character is in excruciating pain to the point she’s debilitated and can only lie there praying for it to pass…oh wait, that was me yesterday. My scientific, well educated conclusion on migraines? They suck.

This morning is a new day! Besides having that slight hangover feel, I’m back to my old self. Why do these things happen? Why do some people suffer from them frequently and others only have occasional bouts? I’m lucky- they only come to visit once a month.

Let’s see what we can find out:

- They are related to a higher incidence of suicide. This is true especially if the pain is accompanied with auras or flashes of light. Doctors aren’t sure why they are linked, but depression and migraines seem to be similar in biology. (OK, this does not cheer me up!)

- (Talk about a boomerang effect!) If you use migraine meds too often, it can result in “medication-overuse headaches” and twist down into a vicious cycle. This phenomenon includes over the counter drugs or prescription. Don’t use them more than twice a week.

- The risk of migraines go up if there’s lightning in your area. It also goes up if there’s changes in barometric pressure or humidity. What?!? The scientists can’t explain the humidity aspect, but they’ve concluded that electromagnetic waves or the increased production of ozone and fungus spores accounts for the migraines with lightning.( I think they still have a way to go on these conclusions.)

- Do you think stress brings on migraines? Nope. Apparently they’re more likely to be caused by a let down in stress levels, not by the ramping up. There’s a 20% increase in number when you mood changes from nervous and unhappy to calm and serene. (That just doesn’t seem fair!)

- If you thought that was unfair- SEX can trigger migraines!!!! Noooooooooo…Sex, and sometimes just arousal, can trigger a mother of a headache. It’s more common in younger or mid-life men, but they seem to lessen with age. The obvious solution is to avoid sex…like that’s going to happen! It can be controlled by beta blockers, but you have to be alright with a daily dosage of medication.

- Some migraines come on suddenly and are severe. These are called “thunderclaps” and can warrant a visit to the E.R. Once there, they will give you a shot of some happy medicine and you won’t care about anything, but the pain will be gone!

- You are not alone if you suffer from these. John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Vincent Van Gogh, Ben Affleck, Hugh Jackman, Whoopi Goldberg, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Napoleon Bonaparte, Lewis Carroll, Julius Caesar, and Thomas Jefferson are all there to keep you company as fellow sufferers.

 

 

Hump Day Kick Start – Workbench Edition

Song of the day: Rolling in the Deep by Otherwise

Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or just a v isual treat.

 

Wood, fur, nylon. What else does he feel?

Tell me about today’s prompt. Who are they? A blind sculpture and his generous subject? A scientist checking out his latest prototype? The contractor remodeling the schoolmaster’s classroom? Is she enticing him to build something? Maybe something to hide a valuable, stolen item? Is he victim to her seductions? Or vise versa? Perhaps he is a master woodworker about to give his new, wealthy employer a lesson in bits, chisels,and screwdrivers.

Love to hear your take!

Link of the Week – NaNoWriMo Apps

It’s NANOWRIMO season again. That time when writers worldwide ban together in a collaborative effort to live off little food, water, sleep, and, more importantly spit baths. Write a 50,000 word novel or die trying. Well, maybe not that extreme. But darn close. Especially if the significant other or the kids get too close.

To help those along their merry way to crazyville, here are a few apps for your mobile devices to  help you keep track of your word counts, goals, and progress, and the progress of others.

WordKeeperAlpha – http://wordkeeperalpha.com/

Writeometer – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thinkerers.writeometer&hl=en

My Writing Spot – http://www.mywritingspot.com/

NaNo MoJo – http://netphase.com/nanomojo

WrimoDemon – http://www.appato.com/kristin-n-jacque/wrimodemon/

NaNo Saga – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nano-saga/id399211362?mt=8

Write or Die – http://writeordie.com/#Web+App

Friday Fun Facts- Slip Into My Dreams

Happy Halloween!

Since this is the time of dreams…and nightmares, I thought we’d take a look at things you may not know about when you sleep.

- The people in your dreams are people you’ve actually seen. Our brains can do some amazing things, but it can’t create the image of people. So it calls on the huge cast of characters you’ve bumped into throughout your life to invent the people of your dreams.

- Every single one of us dreams. (Unless you have an EXTREME psychological disorder.) A study was done where each subject was woken up at the beginning of each dream, but allowed to sleep for a full 8 hours. the next day they were cranky, couldn’t concentrate, some had hallucinations and even had signs of psychosis after 3 days!

- You might be able to upload your dreams to YouTube soon.What?!?! The science can be found at U.C. Berkeley- go look it up.

- I don’t think you’ll be shocked by this. The origin of the term “pipe dream” was coined to describe the ideas people came up with while they smoked opium.

- “lucid dreaming” is a technique where you can control your dreams. This is most often used to turn nightmares into something better.

- When you dream, your body is paralyzed.

- Sex. Females dream about it as often as males. They may think about it more while awake, but we catch up at night. :-)

- Salvador Dali would force himself awake just as he had a dream in order to capture the surreal moments. He’d sit in a chair with a metal plate on the floor. He’d hold a spoon over the plate and relaxed. As he’d drop off to sleep, he’d drop the spoon and the noise would awaken him to paint.

 

Sweet dreams tonight! Don’t let the goblins get you.

 

 

Hump Day Kick Start – Sexy Silent Edition

Song of the day: Stay Vicious by The Gaslight Anthem

Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or just a v isual treat.

 

Shhh… I won’t kiss and tell. Maybe.

Today’s prompt wants you quiet. Why?  Who is he? Did you just witness him assassinate someone? Is he the grim reaper come to take you? Maybe he is a vampire slayer tempering your fears. A  beast that morphs into a sexy man and appears when summoned to fulfill wild fantasies at witching hours?

What do you think? Let me hear from you.

Link Of The Week- Keep Track Of Yourself

http://www.wonderapps.se/atracker/

Where did all my time go?

How many hours do you spend writing? Cruising Facebook? Doing errands? I have a vague idea of how my days get carved up, but I know I’m not as productive as I could be. This link brings you to an app called ATracker. At the end of the day, it gives you a pie chart so you can get a quick visual on where all your time went. (Oh dear, did you really spend 3 hours on Facebook?)

It’s easy. It’s effective. What more could you ask from a cool app?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKcLxesdPhQ    A quick video about this product.