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HOME · BLOG · MEET ERICA · BOOKS · CONTEST · EXTRAS · CONTACT · FOR WRITERS · PRESS KIT · EN ESPANOL October 31, 2007Happy Halloween!I’m off to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters!
P.S. YOUR TURN: Do you celebrate Halloween or any other playing-dress-up holidays? What are some of the funniest or craziest or best costumes you’ve made/seen/worn?  Subscribe in a reader
October 30, 2007Good Karma TuesdayOh, Good Karma Tuesday, how I’ve missed you!!! =) Karma Request: Incoming Karma: Revision Update: Website Update: Writers and Books: Superhero Halloween: YOUR TURN: So, that’s what’s up with me. What’s up with you??? Subscribe in a reader
October 29, 2007Super Hero HalloweenSide Note: Only one more day left in the Manuscript Mavens’ Halloween Choose Your Own Adventure®—Go vote! Win fun prizes!!! I was going to post about how I love Halloween and Halloween costumes and the giant containers I have full of outfits and paraphernalia and how I love theming up to go to Guavaween, the Tampa-style mixture of Halloween and Mardi Gras with beads and parades and two sound stages full of bands ranging from rock to hiphop, but then I recalled the saying about a picture speaking 1000 words, so:
YOUR TURN: Extra points if you not only know which person in the photo is me, but also the name of my comic book character. (I got a lot of wrong guesses, which surprised me. But then, even Wonder Woman was called Super Girl a few times, so maybe it was just all the alcohol in the crowd.) Super-duper extra points if you can name ALL the characters. Correctly identified so far: Subscribe in a reader
October 25, 2007CYOAToday’s Choose Your Own Adventure® installment over at the Manuscript Mavens blog is by one of my fave authors, Elizabeth Hoyt. Go read! And vote–all voters are eligible for the many random prize drawings at Halloween! (I read her books The Raven Prince, The Leopard Prince, and The Serpent Prince earlier this year.) Speaking of reading… this two-week temporary soccer mom thing managed to swallow my reading time whole. In the past 10 days, I’ve read one half of one book. Hm. I may go on a reading binge after Halloween. At least the book I’m reading is funny and entertaining: My French Whore, a romance novel by Gene Wilder. (Thanks, Bill!) YOUR TURN: Read anything lately? Books, authors, or entertaining links to recommend? Clue me in! Subscribe in a reader
October 24, 2007Synopses as Book ReportsThis week, I helped a 9yo write a book report on Barbara O’Connor’s Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia. He had a 2-3 page (handwritten) rough draft, and we ended up striking bits out, adding other bits, and tweaking yet other bits, and ending with a 2.5 page (handwritten) final product. Here are some of the things I found myself repeatedly saying to him as he decided what to include or not to include: * What is her primary goal at the beginning of the story? The one thing that she’s worried about achieving through the whole thing? Okay, great. Let’s mention that in our opening sentence. * That’s obviously a key event/disaster/action, but why did she do that? It doesn’t follow logically from the previous sentence. Is there a missing step? * Hmmm. Are you sure it’s important that the teacher know the heroine said [enter random line of dialogue here] or that the heroine did [enter random act here]? If it doesn’t affect the main plot, you don’t need to include it. * Hmmm. Are you sure it’s important to mention [enter random background character here] or that this action/conversation took place at [enter random scene location here]? If it doesn’t affect the main plot, you don’t need to include it. * Oooh, that’s definitely important to know. But when did it occur? Right after the preceding sentence? If a significant amount of time has passed, let’s indicate that. * You mentioned [enter pivotal subplot element] a while back. Whatever happened with that? * At the very end of the story, does she achieve her primary goal? Why or why not? Okay, let’s put that at the end of our report. * Fabulous job! When he finished, we read the final product aloud. It rocked. He looked at me with big shining eyes, said it was the greatest book report ever, and called me “a real editor.” (Awww.) At the time, however, I was not feeling like a real editor. I felt like a real moron. Because doing the book report was so eeeeaaaasy! Just the main characters! Just the main ideas! Just the causes and effects that affect the primary plot! Nothing else matters! And bam, an entire novel in 2.5 pages. Uhhh, synopsis much? I meet next week with my writer pals Kel and ‘manda, in which our goal is to trade synopses (which we’re all allegedly busy writing this week.) I’d managed to successfully avoid tackling my synop and was feeling pretty smug about my mad avoidance skillz until I helped YB with his Gotta run… I’ve got a synopsis to write! YOUR TURN: Have you written a synopsis? What were the important things you kept in mind? Have you ever written a book report or summarized a movie, etc? What were the important things to keep in mind then? Subscribe in a reader
October 23, 2007Search Engine Keyword AnalysisFrom now until Halloween, the Manuscript Mavens are putting on a Halloween-themed Choose Your Own Adventure® story, where You The Reader get to vote on what happens next, and a different author will continue the story each day based on your feedback. The Mavens are giving away tons of prizes to commenters, including autographed books. Definitely bookmark it!
Although most visitors to my web site and associated blogs follow links or search for the sites by name, a few… do not. Here are some of the weirder ways people have visited me over the past week via various search engines: Erica Writes (this blog) Manuscript Mavens (my group blog) EricaRidley.com (author web site) Search engine results can be such a crapshoot! How do you find the blogs you visit? Via links from elsewhere? Or do you have favorite search engine(s)? Choose Your Own Adventure is a trademark of Chooseco LLC, Waitsfield, Vermont. Check them out at www.cyoa.com. The trademark has been used by permission herein. Thanks, CYOA! Subscribe in a reader
October 22, 2007Tracking ProgressHalfway through my 2 weeks of temporary soccer mom-ing! I managed to nudge the Revise-O-Meter up a little. Yay! During an ultra productive bout of blogcrastonation (*g), I learned about a super-cool widget from Cindy’s blog over at Eclectic Articles. It’s called Don’t Break the Chain, and it’s basically a little calendar. You toggle the days blank or red by clicking them, and you use it to visually mark whether you’ve done your writing goal for the day, whether that’s new words or revision or promotion or reading or researching or what-have-you. Since the revision is coming along fairly well,* I might use it to count down the last 7 days of temporary soccer mom-ing… From now until Halloween, the Manuscript Mavens are putting on a Halloween-themed Choose Your Own Adventure story, where You The Reader get to vote on what happens next, and a different author will continue the story each day based on your feedback. The Mavens are giving away tons of prizes to commenters, including autographed books. Definitely bookmark it!
YOUR TURN: What’s your short-term to do list look like today? And/or for the week in general? Are things shaping up to be more relaxed or more crazycakes than usual? * Heh, at first I typed “fairy” well. Too much Daisy & Trevor! Subscribe in a reader
October 19, 2007Gasparilla & Tinto de VeranoIn yesterday’s comments, Katrina Stonoff asks: Tinto de Verano is a popular summer drink in Spain. Best U.S. equivalent would be to splash wine and Sprite together in a glass. Gasparilla is my all-time favorite Tampa holiday. Gasparilla lasts about 6 weeks, from the last weekend in January to the first weekend in March, and there are several Mardi-Gras style parades, art festivals, marathons, fireworks, and The Invasion, wherein all the pirate ships sail up the bay to the shores of downtown, drinking and fighting and shooting their cannons at the good guys–the Rough Riders, who launch their counter-attack and… fail. Gotta love it!! The pirates win, and storm the shores, and wrest the key to the city away from the mayor, and cannons are blasting and beads are flying and everyone is screaming and jumping around, and it’s an absolute blast! Then the pirates separate into krewes and join the parade, as do the Rough Riders, and a hundred of other themed personages in their own krewes, and the revelers (often also in costume) file into mobs around the parade route (where vendors sell everything from beer to yet more beads) to compete for the best beads. Good times! There’s even a kids parade, which is arguably as long–or even longer–than the Day Parade, as certain kids are eligible to join the route as well. This year, both the kids I’m watching for two weeks (this weekend is the halfway point! made it! *g) will be eligible. And then for the kids parade there are fireworks and other fun stuff. The last parade is the Illuminated Knights parade, which takes place in Ybor at night and is the wildest of all. If you’re ever in my neck of the woods and want to see some crazy local culture, Gasparilla is a great introduction to Tampa! YOUR TURN: Where do you live? What does your town/state/region do that’s unique? Have you been to one-of-a-kind shenanigans in other cities/provinces/countries? Spill all! Subscribe in a reader
October 18, 2007Interviewed in FTHRW (+ Update)*waves at FTHRW chaptermates* Vicki Lane interviewed me in this month’s FTHRW newsletter, and I received my copy last night! If you found my blog from the link below her article, please say hi in the comments and let me know if you have any feedback/questions! UPDATE: Click here to read the interview! Erica P.S. Subscribe in a reader
October 17, 2007Ice Cream, Taxes, and Ah-Ha MomentsThree Thankful Things 1) At YB’s soccer practice last night, there were several large fields with several teams on each field and only one small picnic table served as seating for the entire area. I got there first, and browsed half my RWA 2007 National Conference Handouts. Yay! 2) YB and I went to Publix grocery store for allergy meds, a bag of granola (NOT cereal, straight granola), and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked ice cream. Found all 3 fairly easily and made it out of there without needing to resort to a shopping cart or a shopping basket. w00t. 3) Received my first Evidence Technology Magazine yesterday. Yay! For those who are not in an evidence technology field such as forensics, police, etc, you may not realize that being a person who writes about individuals in that field (ie detective stories, romantic suspense, police procedurals, etc) qualifies you to be able to receive this magazine. Pretty cool! (Also, shout-out to $Jean, the romsus writer who clued me in.) Things That Did Not Go As Planned 1) Due to a wardrobe malfunction, YB missed the school bus today. I dropped him off after taking OG to school for the PSAT. 2) Been meaning to bring my coffee maker to my friend’s house for 3 straight days. Three mornings in a row, I’ve been majorly delayed in coffee. (And my synapses neeeeeed it. *g) Finally remembered today, so tomorrow should start out right! Writing/Work Life 1) This week has been devoted to all things Quarterly Taxes. I overnighted them to my accountant, yay! Maven Lacey suggested I treat myself for finally scratching this item off my to-do list, so I bopped on over to Don Pan where I got me some pan de queso straight from the oven! 2) Had some ah-ha moments last night at the soccer practice, so I have an entire notebook page (front and back) of Things To Incorporate in my current WIP. Yay! Friends in the News 1) my pal Carrie Ryan made her first sale! Details and Publisher’s Marketplace listing over on her blog. I’m sure I’m missing updates, but I gotta run and get OG from the PSAT–she just called to say she’s ready! YOUR TURN: Dish me up a slice of your life! What’s going on? Fill me in! Subscribe in a reader
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