A Day with Thomas the Train, a 13 year old, and a 2 year old ready for his nap…

Thomas the Train made of Mega Blocks

Yesterday my family and I had the wonderful idea of taking my nephew to see Thomas the Train, live and in person. The Oklahoma Railway Museum was hosting a special event where kids can meet the life-size blue train.

On a side note, my nephew loves watching Thomas on TV. Before he could even speak, he would make the ‘choo-choo’ sound when the show started. Now that he can speak, he yells out “Thomas”, or the equivalent to it.

In theory taking him to see Thomas was going to be great. And even though he wouldn’t remember it, it was something that we would enjoy as a family.

So, we get to the Oklahoma Railway Museum and have to park in a muddy field. That’s okay. We were lucky and got a spot near the road, so we didn’t have to drive through too much mud.

Grandpa carried him through the gates and right away we saw Thomas the train. My nephew was VERY excited and began making his ‘choo-choo’ sound, which got some chuckles from everyone.

We bought our tickets, which included a twenty-five minute on Thomas (technically it was on one of the passenger carts, which were old school). The train ride was fun, but those old carts were rickety, rocking back and forth.

After the train ride was over, we went through the museum and it’s themed events. As each event passed, my nephew began to get more and more cranky… until we reached the point that we were THAT family -  you know… the one with the screaming kid that you stare at, but try not to get caught staring at.

Oh, and I forgot to add one little detail here. My niece was also there (of course). You all remember my niece, who comes up with the off-the-wall stories? Anyway, yesterday was her birthday. Now, she is a great kid. But spending her 13th birthday with Thomas the Train didn’t go over too well, even though we have a ‘real’ party scheduled for later in the week.

So, by the end of the day this is what we had:
1) A Cranky 2 year old boy who needed a nap
2) A Cranky 13 year old girl who wanted to leave
3) Two Grandparents who wanted to leave
4) One Mom who was trying to keep it all together
5) And one Aunt, who was just laughing (that’s me, by the way)

I can say that we all survived our day out with Thomas the Train, though. And it definitely made memories.

New Story Idea

I've been plugging away on a new story that just wouldn't leave my head. I started out by jotting down an idea. Five thousand words later i knew i couldn't stop. So, dear followers, i am up to 50,000 words and going strong in new story. I'm so excited about it!

When the words won’t come

I am a writer, or I like to think I am. It’s my passion. It’s what I do to express myself. It’s what I love. But, what happens when the words simply won’t come? What happens when I sit down at the computer and stare at the flashing cursor until I want to scream?

If you are reading this and are thinking “Wow, this happens to me sometimes!”, then welcome to the club. It happens to us all at times and sometimes it happens more than we would like to admit.

So, here are a few things that I do to cure the writing blues.

1) Sit down and write- Now, I know this sounds simple and you are probably thinking, “Sarah, this is so obvious.”, but it’s true. Sit down and write. If you know where your story needs to go, then skip ahead. Once you start writing, then you will be surprised how easily the words come back.

2) Listen to a song that inspires me

3) Step back and walk away

4) If I am REALLY having a hard time, I give myself the night off. I only do this if I have worked so long and I feel like I am going to toss my laptop across the room

The main thing is DON’T GIVE UP!!!


PS- I need to blog more often lol!!!

DFWcon 2012 Review

I am back from a fun-filled weekend at DFWcon (a writer’s conference in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area). Last year was my first year to attend, so I was thrilled to return this year.

The night before the conference started, I was lucky enough to meet up with several people at the Tweet-n-Greet event. Obviously, everyone there uses the social media site, Twitter. It was so awesome meeting the people I had been chatting with! Janet did an amazing job setting this up!

DAY ONE:
The keynote speaker was James Rollins. I was lucky enough to sit in on one of his panels, which was ‘The Bestsellers Panel’. Jodi Thomas and Lori Wilde were also on this panel. They were candid and spoke honestly. I couldn’t have asked for more!

I also sat in on Brenna Smith’s ‘How to Network Effectively at a Conference’. This class taught the fine art of networking. Such as, if someone is alone, then approach them. If there are three or more… approach them. BUT… if two people are talking, then don’t approach them. They could be pitching their book or having a private convo.

Leann Harris taught the art of ‘Understanding Your Style of Writing’. Is your book driven by Plot, Character, or Theme? Great information and a fun quiz!

I’m going to get real here… Jodi Thomas’ workshop on ‘Sparking Creativity’ blew my mind. She was such a pleasure to listen to. Her stories had me laughing aloud. She also had us do a little exercise, which was a lot of fun.

Roni Loren taught a class on ‘Writing Love Scenes’. WOW! I loved this class and took about three pages worth of notes!

The Gong Show was great, as always. George (the voice) has a true talent for reading aloud! And it was interesting to see what the agents were or weren’t looking for in a query letter.

I ended the night at the Reception in the ballroom. This is a chance for everyone to mingle, network, and have a few drinks. There was also a silent auction this year, which I think was a nice touch. I won a stay at the Hyatt Regency Hotel - I LOVE this hotel!

DAY TWO:
Day two started with a bang. I took Jenny Martin’s ‘Finding and Strengthening Your Voice’ class. Again, this was a class where I took several pages worth of notes. She was a pleasure to listen to!

I then had a meeting with agent Laurie McLean. I won a contest through DFWcon where Laurie took my (dreaded) Query letter and reviewed it for me. She gave me SO much advice and help. Then she asked for a partial and full synopsis of my manuscript! I had to try so hard not to squeal out loud!!!

After getting my head off cloud nine, I went to another panel, which was ‘The Agent/Author Relationship’. This was the teams of: Rosemary Clement-Moore & Lucienne Diver, A. Lee Martinez and Sally Harding, and Jenny Martin and Sara Crowe. I loved watching the authors and their agents interact.

My next class was ‘The YA Hero’s Journey’ taught by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Or, as she said it should be called ‘The crazy way she plots her books’. I LOVED the graphs she used to show the phases a ‘hero’ travels on during their journey. Using her method, I was able to spot the ‘Herald’ of my own story! Interesting to see it apply to my own work!! J

The last class of the conference that I took was ‘Erotic Romance 101’ taught by Roni Loren. Again, I took so many notes in this one. Roni is very knowledgeable in this genre and had a ton of advice. I also picked up some reading suggestions (yay!)

The Gong Show this time around involved the reading of the First Page of a manuscript. Again, it was interesting to see what the agents liked or disliked.

I ended up leaving before the conference was over so that I could make the long trip home. (Which ended up taking four hours due to road construction!)

I just want to thank the entire DFWcon team for making this such a wonderful experience! And I am already counting down the days until next year’s conference!

5 Things I Learned at DFWcon

I am gearing up for DFWcon, which is a writer’s conference in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area. This will be the second time I have attended and I am very excited. Last year I was a little scared and intimidated to be around so many great writers, but at the end I was pleasantly shocked to find I had made many friends and I hadn’t made a fool of myself.

This year I am going into the conference with a smile on my face. Through Twitter (#DFWcon) I have met several people that are going and we are all meeting up. I am also participating in the Gong Show as well as a Pitch Session. (These are both things that I didn’t do last year due to fear)

I started thinking about the Writers out there who are going to the conference for the first time. Wow. They might be feeling like I did last year. So I came up with this:

The Top 5 Things I Learned Last Year

5. Bring cash- A lot of the vendors only accepted cash, plus it was great to have at the hotel bar ;)

4. Bring Plenty of Business Cards -Yeah, I was totally the girl last year who didn’t bring enough and had to resort to handing out little cards I made using the hotel’s computer and printer. Not exactly how I wanted to be remembered lol.

3. Bring a Notebook and Pen - You wouldn’t believe how many people I saw that didn’t have these two very important items. Pen and Paper go a long way ;)

2. A conference is not the appropriate time to test a new skin product. Sadly, I can say I found this out the hard way. I used a new face wash and had an allergic reaction to it. My face was red and splotchy… and it itched like crazy. Luckily, I was able to take the hotel shuttle and get some medicine. But… Lesson learned lol.

1. Don’t be afraid to Network - Everyone there is in the same boat as you. They are a little nervous or shy or even scared. But the most important thing is they are all Writers. And once you start talking to them, it is like opening a floodgate and you find there are people who truly “GET” writing.

　

I hope this list helps and I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones at DFWcon 2012!

Team "Wrong Guy" All The Way!

I need to confess something and it is kind of embarrassing. Here I go. I ALWAYS like the ‘wrong guy’ in a book. No, no… please don’t laugh. It’s true… and it’s becoming a problem.

Oh, so you want an example? Here are a few that I think you might recognize.

Edward or Jacob? JACOB

Gale or Peeta? GALE

Nash or Tod? TOD

Stefan or Damon? DAMON

The list goes on and on. Whenever the main character has a choice of two guys, I LOVE the guy she doesn’t pick.

Why is this a problem you ask? Oh, I’m so glad you asked.

In my current work in progress, the main character finds herself in a love triangle. I know whom she is supposed to end up with and it makes sense for her to end up with said guy… Nevertheless… I HATE IT!!!

I don’t want her to end up with him! I want her to be a rebel, go for the ‘wrong guy’, and make it work! I want her to tell everyone one that the heart wants what the heart wants! I want…

Okay, okay, we all need to take a deep, calming breath. It will work out; even if she ends up with the guy, I don’t want her to… How do I know? Cause I’m the writer and I see the bigger picture.

But here is another thought. Do I love the ‘wrong guy’ so much because the main character doesn’t choose him? If she did pick him, would I still like him best or would I find myself liking the other guy?

*sighs* These are the things that keep me up at night. I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

　

Please Evacuate the Building...

Since I haven’t done a “Wrestling Wednesday” in a while, I decided to do one today!

One of my all time favorite memories happened on September 25, 2006. My BFF, Terrica, came into town for this one, which is always fun. Terrica, Yousef, and I went to the arena for RAW. A good friend of mine hooked us up with a special package and we were able to go ‘backstage’ for a meet-n-greet with some of the wrestlers as well as a small dinner. It also came with front row seats. We got to hang out with Randy Orton and the Spirit Squad.

The thing that stands out the most about this show, though, was when the opening pyros went off. For any of you reading this blog that has never watched wrestling, the first part of the show is kicked off with a massive pyro show, with exploding things and fireworks.

Unfortunately, the arena didn’t have a good ventilation system… and it set the fire alarms off. The lights dimmed and there was a VERY creepy automated voice saying, “Please evacuate the building.” over and over.

This is all happening live, on TV by the way.

You never know what is going to happen at a live event, so we wondered if it was a part of the show… or maybe a new wrestler debuting. When we saw the camera operators and security guards starting to panic… well, we panicked as well.

Luckily, the arena was able to turn on the fans and get all of the smoke from the pyros to clear out. It was definitely scary for a while, lol. But that is how memories are made!