Wanna Dance with Somebody?

No, I’m not talking about Whitney. Yesterday one of my favorite things came on TV. Cheerleading on ESPN. For those of you who don’t know, I cheered for six years through my high school experience. During that time, I lived to cheer. I was one of the smallest on my squad and I was THE loudest. Being one of the smallest, I was also the flyer (girl thrown up in the air). Lots of the time I was in this position in the air. My bases (girls holding me) were about 6’2” with their arms over their heads

I was completely willing to have my body be at the hands of 3 sometimes 4 girls to toss me up and the air in hopes that I’d be caught. Sometimes the catching part worked out, other times I found myself flat on my back coughing because the sudden impact with the mat/gym floor/ground(yes we often practiced in the grass) knocked the breath out of me. I hacked a little, got me breath, jumped from the ground and said, “Lets do it again!” In all my six years, I came out with bruises galore and a twist to the knee. I don’t think I did too bad considering I once gave my spotter (girl who tries to make sure I get caught) a coconscious. She did her job catching me, but unfortunately the doc later told her it was like a 60lb sledge hammer falling from the sky to land on her head.

Anyway we were pretty freaking awesome. Yes, I’m tooting my own horn here. All that falling was worth it, because…we were pretty freaking awesome. I still have people from my high school that come to me and tell me how great we were, and I should mention I’ve been out of school for six years. And six years later, I find I can still drop in the splits with little stretching, pull up a scorpion or heel stretch
. I still know bits and pieces to dance routines I learned over the years. What I’m getting at, is I’m still in fairly good shape.

Or so I thought.

Remember cheerleading on ESPN? Oh my. Watching that reminded me just how poor of shape I’m in now and how great of shape I was in then. And I’m not talking strength wise, cause I’m still fairly stout. Nor do I mean flexibility, cause I’ve still got that.

I’m talking about stamina. And there’s only one way I know to get it. Yep. Dance. I know I’m bad off when I get out of breath by watching people dance on tv. I’ve got a lot of work to do.

Waving into the Void

Found a new place for me and are checking it out. Seeing who’s and what’s there.

http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/ArkansasCyndi

You know, I’ve decided that there is a whole business in just keeping up blogs, personal webpages, crimespace page, myspace page, etc. How does everyone balance or better, how much time does a professional writer give to such endeavors? And is it really worth all the time, effort and expense?

Realistically, I KNOW that agents and publishers look for authors who are willing to do lots of legwork to get the word out about their books. In fact, I read a interview with one agent who said she LOOKS for new authors who have both a presence in the online world and active participation in the professional writers’ organizations. Who has time to write!

So, I’m here waving into the void and wondering if anyone is really out there. Sigh

Voice

I’m half-way through two different voice classes and no, I still have no idea what my “voice” is. Can you tell I’m frustrated! These ladies I’m in class with are smart and sharp. Their individual insights into themselves as well as the others in the class has been impressive.

So, do you know your own voice? Can you describe it? Put your finger on it? Can someone throw a lifeline explanation?

IT’S A BOY!!!!!

Everybody say hello to Brady Matthew! On Saturday, April 7, 2007 at 3:31pm, our first little bundle of joy entered the world. Brady weighed in at a hefty 6lbs 9oz. and 19 inches long! It looks as though his eyes are leaning toward brown.

In the photo above, Brady’s in the center, the man with the goofy ‘Look what I did’ smile is my hubby Matt, and the rough looking woman is me . We were doing a baby looks like mommy or daddy photo? We can’t tell, but everybody thinks Brady has my nose.

Birth was a breeze. (how often do you hear that?) Course that could have been because of demeroil (sp?) AND epidural (sp?). High blood pressure jumped out of no where on me, and I had to take med’s because we didn’t want to chance the stress of pain upping my blood pressure. I jumped from a big 5cm to 10cm in 45 minutes-which I slept through. And about 10 minutes after that, a handful of pushes later, and he flew into the doc’s arms!

Continuing Education April

How’s your April going? Mine has turned into “continuing education” month. I’m not sure how it came to be, but I am taking three online courses this month!

I was fortunate enough to get into Barbara Samuels’s voice class. I’ve heard about this class for so long that I was anxious to find out what all the hub-bub was about. But honestly, I was also curious about “voice”. I had always equated “voice” with “style”, thinking these two words were interchangeable. Then, one of the first things Barbara said was…think of “voice” as a potato and “style” like French Fries. Well, that one threw me. I’m thinking a lot these days about potatoes and french fries. It’s early in the course. Our week two assignment came out yesterday – three different writing exercises. One is to name your favorite 25 things…not just name them, describe them for the reader…make the reader experience your reaction to these things. Believe it or not, I’m having trouble coming up with 25 things that don’t involve food! LOL

I’m also taking CJ Lyons’ “Chasing the Muse” class through RWA KOD. It’s a voice class also, and strangely, the two classes are complimenting each other well. CJ’s class isn’t as write intensive as Barbara’s voice class, but the information in both has been excellent.

The third online course is “Creating Psychic Characters” by Mary O’Gara. I’ve never written a paranormal or psychic character. I’ve got one beating to get out of my head, but until I get a good handle on her psychic abilities, she has to stay there. This is a fun and interesting class. She has given the class fantastic references for use now and in the future.

At the first of the month (or actually March 31), DSRA member Sheila Covey and I made a quick run down to Dallas to take Margie Lawson’s Empowering Character Emotions. WOW. What a workshop. If anyone gets a chance to take this one, DO. I think I may have taken home more “use immediately” information in that one day than some conferences where I go for two days. I’ve posted some pictures on my website from that day.

So, what have you done lately to improve your craft?

Submiticitis

It’s that time again…

About twice a year I get inspired and start subbing madly to a bunch of agents–pitching my latest work which I’m sure is THE ONE that will finally land me that coveted representation. The query letters stream out, and the rejections stream back in, and in that mix I usually find one or two agents who are willing to look at the first 3 chapters/50 pages/etc.

This is when the submiticitis strikes. I’m suddenly completely sure that the first page of my manuscript needs total revamping, that the entire thing is majorly flawed, and that I probably won’t be able to finish those last two chapters even if there is a minor miracle and I do get a request for a full.

Writerly insecurity…I guess. But agents are scary creatures. I always loathed meeting with them when I was an actor, going in to stand on my head and smile pretty and show them how delightfully marketable and talented I could be. At least now I don’t feel as much like a dancing bear. Now my manuscript does the dancing for me.

Ack! Anyone else ever get this disabling writerly disease?

Anna J. Evans

http://laughoutloudsexy.com