Rita’s Comments (group member since Jul 23, 2010)

Rita’s comments from the Unlocking Books group.

So why don't you believe in outlines? I mean, you're allowed not to; I'm just curious.

I think writing depletes your soul because in a lot of ways you are pouring yourself out. All artists have to replenish in order to continue the process.

Dustin, Renee's right. My first novel, I didn't know what I was doing either. Naive? Yes, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If I knew what I was getting into, I never would have started.

After a year and a half on one project, I started studying writing books and practicing the craft using short stories and flash fiction while working on yet another novel. Over three years later, I look back and think how far I've come. Then I look at how far I need to go and know I can get there simply because of the road I've already traveled.

Don't give up on writing just because you're having problems with one manuscript. All of Renee's advice are possibile solutions. Just keep going.

You too, Kyle.

What are your goals in 2011? Writing goals? Personal goals? Reading goals?

Me--I have a novel to finish and two more to edit, and I'm posting my novel Resurrection to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest.

Last year, I read about 60 books. For me, that's probably way to much. It takes away time from other things. So I think I will cut that back to 48 books. That's 4 books a month.

So tell me about what you want to accomplish in 2011.

I'll add it to the list of books for voting.

You can nominate a non-YA that is also appropriate for young adults. Last month, I recommended The Speed of Dark as an older YA pick. It's a great SF novel about an autistic man.

For younger YA, I nominate I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You.

Anyone have recommendations for our monthly read? I'm needing ideas for Older YA and Younger YA.

I'll compile the list for voting.

Wendy wrote: "Rita, is the CEO the one that was asking for the reports or was that someone else? I keep hoping for change for your job."

I'm a direct report to the Director of Quality Assurance. I'm supposed to have a manager between him and me, but he's never assigned one. In fact, he's refused to assign one. And he's the one who is causing all the problems for me.

His boss is the VP of IT, and it was the VP who requested the anonymous survey of the entire department under my boss. We've heard nothing back yet as to the results of that survey.

Then the CEO is right above the VP.

The CEO who gave the main speech. But then he got 30+ minutes to speak and everyone else got 5 minutes each. However, I think he had more you-know's in 1 minute than anyone else did in 5. He also had a lot of um's and okay's.

And I thought, "I'm glad I'm a writer and not a public speaker!" Because I would be just as bad, I'm sure. As writer, I can edit all that out.

I had to attend a end-of-year Christmas award ceremony for work. We got the rah-rah-what-a-wonderful-year speech along with the we're-the-best-company-ever-and-going-to-be-top-of-the-world-next-year speech. I got through it by counting the number of "you know" phrases inserted every half a sentence.

V.E. wrote: "Not really banned it but she told us not to use it any essays or anything we wrote in class"

Your English teacher is right to push you out of your comfort zone by forces you not to use words in your everyday vocabular. If everybody uses the word, "Cool," in their everyday speech, it loses its meaning in writing.

I've looked for them at our library several times, but the audiobook selection starts at book 4. Strange thing is that I always order books I want rather than pick them off the shelf. That way, they can bring them over from any of the 20 or so libraries in the area. But for some reason, I have never done that with the Series of Unfortunate Events books.

We're traveling for New Year's. A 3-hour trip to visit the inlaws. That may be the perfect time to have a book on tape.

I haven't read the Lemony Snicket books, but I did love the movie.

It has been on my to read list for a long time. I've been wanting to get it as an audiobook. I love having audiobooks in the car for my ride to work, but this one, I'd like to put in the van to share with my kids.

My favorite childhood cookie was these pumpkin cookies my mother made with a sugar glaze on top, but the monster cookies with chocoloate chips, M&M's, and carmel were a close second.

Hi, V.E. Would you like some freshly baked cookies? Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin and Monster Cookies with M & M's and bits of carmel.

Honestly, they're not addictive at all.

I did the Spiderwick Chronicles as book on tape (read by Mark Hammill; he did an excellent job) and then shared it with my kids. For children to early teens, I think Spiderwick Chronicles is great.

But I haven't read her other fairy tales. I'm intrigued. Gotta go check those out.

I think you would like Zombies vs. Unicorns, but there's a lot in there to make someone uncomfortable.


My favorite story so far is "How to Raise Your Own Baby Killer Unicorn". It's the one I'm currently reading.

Holly Black, yes. I guess two authors (Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier) had a public, online argument over which was better. The end result was that they put together an anthology, consisting of unicorn and zombie stories. And in between each story the authors argue about how the story supports each side.

Just a warning for anyone with sensibilities: This seems to be written for older YA. There's some sensuality, some strong language, including F-bombs, and some dark scenes.

the icing, leaving the spongy cake, while the pygmies...

Chocolate Mud Frog Pie that was served during the Festival of ...