Contest Ideas Needed!!

In an attempt to boost my followers and increase interest in my blog, I want to run some COOL contests, but I need some ideas.

I want something fun and different.

I've already got some great ideas for prizes and such, but need your help to spark my tiny little creative brain on the contest part of it.

So, my first contest is going to be . . . getting ideas for a contest. Funny, huh?

I will take all the people who make comments suggesting a contest idea and put their names in a hat.
The name I draw . . . THE WINNER . . . will get a
GIANT Symphony Chocolate Bar.

You can't beat that, right?

Well, okay, maybe you could beat that, but since this is a simple contest and I want to save all the really, really great prizes for later, you'll just have to get the silly candy bar.

You know you want it!

So leave me some ideas . . .

Pretty Please!

Deadline is Saturday, February 13th @ Midnight.
Enter as many times as you want, but put them in separate comments.
One entry per comment/idea.
I will post the winner on Valentine's Day
right here on my blog.

Good Luck!!

Tagalong Tuesday

This week I found a whole treasure chest full of wonderful posts--so many that I had a hard time choosing. I didn't even get through them all before I felt I had enough. Sorry if I keep missing some great blogs. If you have a post that you'd like me to share with my followers, just email me at christine at ckbryant dot com.



“Will you please just get out of that hole?” Looking down in the pit of darkness. “But I can’t! I’ve dug down way too far and I forgot a ladder.” Voice echoing through hole. (Carolyn Vawdrey - Talking To Myself Again)

Well, one day, my muse decided to take it a step further and throw a banana in my makings. (Elizabeth Mueler - What Are You Waiting For?)

In case you haven't guessed, I'm feelin' the love and have decided this is a week for giveaways! There will be a giveaway every day this week! (Ali Cross - I Heart Friends)

To compact the true feeling of the story all in a couple sentences that don't even fill a millionth of a page???? Let me commit suicide first! it'd be less painful. (Paulette "Pendragon" - blurbing)

It was one of the stories that Dad actually liked to tell the grandchildren because it showed a positive side of the war, and there wasn't much of that. (Cathy Witbeck - True Story)

How many times do we go the extra mile in our relationships with other writers? How do we give help to those who are beginning their writing journey? When I was a beginner, many people in the writing community went out of their way to guide me through the pitfalls and snares of the world of writing. (Marsha Ward - Going the Extra Mile)

Thanks for letting me quote your blogs today. I have such fun reading them all. Have a great week and don't forget to keep blogging.

Music Monday

I've been in kind of a mellow mood lately and this song has been playing constantly for a week, along with a few others. Just thought I'd share it with you. I also like that it's a love song. Keeping with the whole Valentine theme.

Something To Lift You Up

As I struggle to succeed in the writing world, I'm often faced with thoughts of depression and doubt. I want to know what the future brings and why, when things seemed to be going well for me, it was suddenly cut short and a new path was laid out before me to follow. A path of uncertainty. A path with no time frame or structure. I also find that I'm having to exercise more faith in my Father in Heaven, leaving certain details of my future in his hands. Faith is sometimes the most difficult for me.

As I was looking for a video to put on my blog I found "Come What May and Love It" by Joseph B. Wirthlin. Listen carefully to the "Principle of Compensation." It seemed to ring true to me and filled my heart with the hope that there are yet bigger and better things out there for me. I hope you find comfort in what Elder Wirthlin had to say.


***For some reason, the video embed code wasn't working. Please go HERE to watch this powerful message. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Am I Cheating On My Characters?

For two years I've been working day and night on my book series, Blood Bound. For the past few months, I've lived and breathed along side my characters, Kira and Octavion. I've eaten with them, fought their battles with them, felt their pain and watched them fall in love. Now, after getting a little nibble of what the publishing world is all about, only to see it drift away, I find myself frantically grasping at everything I can to keep ahold. Fighting for that dream. Kicking and screaming my way upstream in a frail attempt to get all that I've lost back. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter. I'm not telling you this to gain sympathy or support, I'm merely saying I've done all I know--all I can--and gotten no results. I'll keep submitting to agents in hopes that one of them will share in my vision and accept my book AND accept me.

But in the meantime . . . I'm starting over.

I've found that my reason to write has changed over the past few months. In the beginning, it was my passion. I wrote to satisfy the need, to fulfill my dreams. I wrote because it was who I was--what I was. Somewhere along the line it became about something else. Whether it was just being published (which we all want) or the money or simply for the validation, I don't know. But it changed for me. I don't like where I am right now--who I am. I'm writing to sell, to impress, to prove to others that I'm not a failure, that I wasn't cast out because I was a bad person or because my book wasn't marketable. This person I've become is NOT me.

A week or so ago, I had a dream. It was so vivid and clear that I jotted it down. Over the days that followed, my muse grabbed hold of it and now it is the beginnings of a book--a series of books actually. So as I sit down to begin this new project, I find myself thinking about Kira and Octavion. Deep down, I know they're okay, sitting on a rock somewhere chatting about whatever, just waiting until I come back and write the next scene. But somehow I feel like I've abandoned them. They've become a part of me--become my friends. Am I cheating on them? And what about my new characters. I'm sure I'll make friends with Tara and Quinton. Their story deserves to be told just as Kira and Octavion's story did, and still does.

So I'm curious. How do you move on? How do you work on a project for weeks or months and then leave it behind to create something new and wonderful? Do you miss your characters, or is leaving them behind easy for you?

If you want to meet Octavion and Kira, go HERE.
And to meet Tara and Quinton, go HERE.

Friendly Friday - Rachelle J. Christensen

Rachelle J. Christensen was born and raised in a small farming town in Idaho. Her creativity developed easily in the rural area as she spent many years working in the fields with only a few weeds to distract her daydreaming.
After graduating from USU, she and her husband moved to Utah County. Rachelle loves spending time with her family and laughing with her silly kids: two girls and one boy. She also enjoys singing and songwriting, playing the piano, running, motivational speaking, and of course reading.
Rachelle hopes that someday she’ll be able to do some research in Hawaii for a novel and then maybe England and Scotland. For now she’s doing research close to home and working on several new story ideas.

Her books include a romantic suspense novel, Wrong Number, and a nonfiction book, Lost Children: Coping with Miscarriage.

As I stared at the blank page on my Word document trying to think what to blog about for my guest post, I thought of something. No, it wasn’t how many loads of laundry I needed to do, or what I should fix for dinner, or that I really need some stronger air freshener for my baby’s latest diaper…

I thought about life and why I love to write—why I need to write.
When I’m in the first stages of writing a new novel, a blank page can be frightening. I want to get it right. I want to develop my characters so that they sing from the pages. I want to write the next best-seller. So it’s a little frightening, but it can also be exciting. The anticipation of how words will fill that blank page and become part of a story, how one sentence might change the whole direction of the story—the power of one word—all these things can make writing quite exciting once you’ve put those first words on the page.

Maybe it’s the writer in me or maybe some of my synapses are just pointing in a different direction, but I feel like so much of my life is like the writing process. Life is much like a blank page. Each day I wake up with a list of things that need doing and I try to plan for life, but it always surprises me.

I think that’s why I like writing, because to me, it feels like a natural extension of life. It’s how I communicate with life. All of those thoughts buzzing through my mind can at times feel overwhelming, but when I’m writing a novel I can pull in stray thoughts from the far reaches of my brain and tie them together with the nagging worries hovering on my cortex and create a story. A story where I can escape the wave of notions going on in my head and organize my thoughts into a novel.

And when I’m finished writing—or more likely when I get interrupted—I’ll go and change that diaper, change that load of laundry, start preparing dinner, and all the while I’ll be smiling, thinking about the conversations my characters are having in my head. My fingers will itch to write down the words bouncing around in my brain and I’ll fill up those blank pages.

I’ll make some mistakes and I’ll have to rewrite, but that’s life—it really is. Every day I make mistakes, but that doesn’t keep me from trying to be the best wife and mother I can. It won’t stop me from trying to show my children every day how much I love them and that I love them enough to try and fix my mistakes and become a better person.
Character flaws are what make a story interesting, but in real life I wish I could be rid of them. So I’ll keep writing, filling up those blank pages, and living, hoping for the day when I can write that perfect page.

You can pre-order Wrong Number online now at

Borders

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

Watch the book trailer below:


Thanks for being my guest, Rachelle. Life does indeed feel like writing sometimes and I'm glad we can edit and rewrite some of our mistakes out of our lives. Can't wait to read this book. Every time I watch the trailer I get more and more anxious to get my copy.

Next week on Friendly Friday, my guess will be Melissa Cunningham.

WHEW! What a Ride!

I was talking to my friend yesterday about how, where my writing career is concerned, I've felt like I'm riding a roller coaster, especially the past few weeks. One day I'll be happy and anxious to start on a new project and the next . . . well . . . this picture pretty much sums it up.

The thing is . . . I used to love the roller coaster. The thrill of the ride. The anticipation as the thick cables and chains pulled the cars to the top of the arc. The way you could see forever while you crest the peek and the sinking feeling as your stomach seemed to rise up in your throat as the coaster plummeted to the deepest valley and then began its ascent to the top again. I loved the way the wind blew through my hair and that you could scream at the top of your lungs and everyone understood. Everyone knew what you were feeling because they were going through the same thing and screamed right along with you. And then when you were done, how you could hardly walk and felt like you wanted to puke, but dang if you didn't get right back on and do it again.

Well, I still like the highs, but that sinking feeling and the desire to scream at the top of my lungs doesn't seem to bring the same thrill that it used to. And to be honest, I'm not too happy with the shaky legs and the urge to vomit the contents of my stomach all over the place. And then there's the feeling of loneliness, like I'm the only one on that coaster and the only one screaming, even though, deep down I know I'm not.

The worst part is I don't seem to be able to get off the ride, not even for a brief rest. When I finally think I'm going into the little station and I'll be able to get off and rest for a while, someone hits the switch and the ride starts all over again. It's getting to the point where I just close my eyes and hold on for dear life, not even enjoying the high points and the view anymore. So how do I get off, or at least learn to enjoy it again? I'd love to hear from you if you've been through something similar or have some great advice. In the meantime, I'll be the one screaming
"GET ME OFF THIS RIDE!"

A New Work In Progress

About two weeks ago I had a very vivid, and LONG dream. Most of my dreams are gone before I wake up and I don't remember them, but this one stuck with me, grabbed hold of my muse and took on a life of its own. Needless to say, it is my current work in progress. I'd like to introduce it to you and see what you think.
It is Young Adult Fantasy. Of course the details are still a little sketchy and I certainly don't want to give away too much, but after searching the image file on google, and finding suitable pictures to help with my story description, I'd like to give it a go. So here it is:

Aquatara

The Water Spirit

Tara has lived by the ocean as long as she can remember. Her grandfather being her only family, she's content with her simple life. But when her grandfather dies a few days before her 18th birthday, leaving her alone to fend for herself, she finds he's been keeping secrets from her. Secrets that will change her life forever.

Tara has always loved swimming in the ocean, sometimes even dreamed of being a mermaid, but kept telling herself there's no such thing, that her uncanny ability to stay under water longer than anyone else she knew, and the speed with which she could swim, was just from years of practice. But after taking a journey across the Nevada desert finds her near death, she starts thinking there's more to her little fantasy than she imagined.

But then comes along Quinton, a 21 year old construction worker from Montana who saves her life and convinces her there's more to her dreams than she thinks. That it's the only explanation for why she can't survive without the revitalizing flow of water over her thirsting skin.



Together they travel across the country searching for answers--but what they find is far more unbelievable than Tara becoming a mermaid. Tara's real name is Aquatara and her existence has been foretold for generations. With the help of those who are like her, she will discover powers that have lain dormant, bring the other "anointed" together and save the world from evil spirits that seek to destroy it--and her. That is if she can stay one step ahead of them.

This is going to be a four book series, the first I hope to have to my critique group before the end of March.

So, what do you think?