101 Things in 1001 Days!

I am not sure if you heard of the 101 things in 1001 days challenge, but C. Alyson Love blogged about it several weeks ago.  I was definitely up for this challenge.  Now, not everything had to do with writing, I did not have 101 writing goals,  So I have listed them all here on my sidebar. I will post dates when each item is completed.  Check it out and see how much you can accomplish in 1001 days!  Some of my goals seem pretty simplistic, but I have a need to be close to home right now, so they are pretty earthy and domestic.  Some may be considered down right boring, but I am happy with them.  

Macy's Challenge

What  I am reading:  Border Lord's Bride by Bertrice Small

What I am working on:  HFB

Word Count for Today: 0 - but I moved my whole manuscript into Scrivener

Macy at Random Ravings has challenged everyone to a 500 words a day challenge.  I have accepted.  If I am ever going to make it to Nationals I need a finished product.  So, to get my butt back in the swing of things I have accepted her Challenge.  I will post my results here.  She is putting up more details this weekend, so it should be interesting and fun.  I have to have a goal and a pace in mind, or I just meander during my writing time.   So we start tomorrow I presume. I will be ready to go.

Newest Clan member!

Wow!  Where did the past two weeks go to?  I certainly was not using the time for writing.  I have committed to blogging once a day, except Sunday)  on any of my three blogs. (This one, AOTP, and my Run Dirty Girl blog)  Since two are about writing, I really hope I do not run out of things to say!  If nothing else, they will be short.  Not that the two other people who read this blog would mind, but I need to keep with the spirit of "Brevity is the soul of wit".  Hmmm... it's not "Rambling is the soul of wit"?  

How about you?  Were you writing.  I finally came up with a weekly schedule for myself and I sat down to write today, but my computer desk was such a mess, I spent three hours cleaning it off instead of writing.  Damn.  Then I found my RWA renewal and that lead me to my RWA file which contained two flyers for on-line RWA memberships; Celtic Hearts and Hearts through History.  I contemplated joining one or the other over the past year.  Today I joined both.  So now I am a member of three chapters.   As the newest "Clan member"  I do not want to embarrass myself by never finishing HFB.   Well, I guess I better get back to writing before I become a on-line chapter stalker!  

Hopefully, I will have more news and profound insight later this week!

Yours Affectionately,

Cinderwriter

A Quiz to go with Yesterday's Discussion

I know I said that yesterday's post was the final word, but Alyson Love posted this quiz on her Blog, and I gave it a try. I think the results are pretty accurate, and funny...who should I vote for....well, the Libertarian Ron Paul of course! There was a "Should you vote for Ron Paul" quiz, but someone took it down.

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Rambling about the War, the Military, Life in the USA

My father once told me to NEVER discuss religion or politics with my friends, or they would not be my friends anymore. This is a sad and true piece of advise that I should have followed throughout the years. Being a stubborn big-mouth, I did not heed such sage words. For some reason tonight, I will not heed them again. This is the only time you will hear me voice these thoughts.

In 1988, the first presidential election I was eligible to vote for, I created quite a stink being the only person in my dormitory who was NOT voting for Dukakis. You see, I was pretty brainwashed back then. My parents were huge Reagan fans, especially after he rescued the hostages. If you add in the fact that my Dad was a Vietnam vet with severe PTSD, who hates the democrats for the brain fuck they gave to everyone of those poor kids who came out of there dead or alive, or who never came home at all, you can imagine the strangeness of a 18 year old girl at a very liberal NY college wearing "BUSH for pres" buttons.

Since leaving the middle class republican nest, I have found my views wavering back and forth between the democrats and the republicans. For quite a long time I called myself an independent. I would vote strictly the issues. But what I have learned in the past almost 20 years is that these issues do not seem to matter once someone is in office. Or, if they do matter, not much gets accomplished during an administration anyway...except to create scandal and havoc. Quiet frustrating.

For a long time I wondered if I just did not belong here anymore. America was not the country that my ancestors help to build. Where in the world could I go to find a land to be free of tyranny and free of bureaucracy? I began to search in earnest after 9/11, even going so far as to subscribe to a on-line magazine called Escape From America. Quite a bold move for a military wife who also happens to be the daughter of an Army officer, sister of a Marine officer, the granddaughter of a retired Air Force Officer and Retired Army Officer. Not to mention seven of my retired military uncles and many ancestors who have fought in many American conflicts since the Revolutionary War. Was I becoming a traitor, or could I not recognized my country anymore through the government walls surrounding our basic civil liberties? Have we sacrificed millions of lives over the past 232 years for naught?

Then, several days ago, while my daughters and I were watching a movie about children who were living in America during WWII, my heart began to change back to that of it's original form: The Patriot. The children in the film worked hard on their victory gardens. They collected scrap metal on weekends, instead of playing baseball. Whole families gave up holiday cooking and baking so the troops could have the precious sugar and butter. Everyone pitched in to ensure Victory and a safe return of the troops. My daughters turned to me at the end of the film and with very confused looks on their faces and said "But Mommy...I thought America was war now? People don't do any of those things now." "No, they do not, do they?" My children have seen their dad go, our neighbors go, and even their precious Aunt go (twice), and they held their breath waiting for safe returns. While other parents were fighting over Nintendo Wiis for their kids, our friends, neighbors, and family members were trying to stay alive just to get home to the kids. I told them "America is not at war, we are at war. The military is at war."

This morning I sat down with my hubby's December copy of Men's Health and nearly choked on my coffee when I read this brilliant young man's statement: "Contrary to what our president keeps telling us, we're not a country at war. Less that 1 percent of this country is at war. Our military is at war. Our military families are at war. Everyone else is shopping and watching American Idol." Lt. Paul Riekhoff, USARMY, founder of the non-profit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Quoted from Men's Heath Magazine December 2007.

Amen, Lt. Reikhoff. Could you read my mind?

In the coming year you will have many things to weigh in your decision on weather or not to vote, who to vote for, and how you want to shape the future of our country. Whatever decision you make, whoever you decide to vote for, I ask you to please keep our servicemen in your hearts. Please remember that they signed up to defend our nation from all enemies, foreign or domestic - not to be the guardians of oil fields. Remember the families left behind. Especially those of our enlisted troops, who are living off WIC and food stamps while their spouses are dodging roadside bombs, mortars, and bullets. Lets bring our precious brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, nieces, nephews, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, and friends HOME!!!!!

With love and respect to each American who can read this with an open heart and mind,

Yours,

Jacqueline

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

Honestly...I did not cheat on this!!! But the truth is in the Quiz! :o)

You Should Be a Romance Novelist

You see the world as it should be, and this goes double for all matters of the heart. You can find the romance in any situation, and you would make a talented romance story writer... And while you may be a traditional romantic, you're just as likely to be drawn to quirky or dark love stories. As long as it deals with infatuation, heartbreak, and soulmates - you could write it.

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

Back of the Book Blurb

Ok, I better come up with an original blogging idea here pretty soon! Today's Blog is again courtesy of Macy O'Neal, whose friend challenged her to write a "Back of the Book Blurb" for her writing career five years from now. Macy, in turn, challenged her readers to do the same thing.

So, short and sweet, here it is. Oh- BTW- I was not in the mood to brag about my romances, but was feeling much more YA today, so that is what I went with. I plan on using Ann Kimberly for another pen name for YA or Regency, so that is where that came from.

Three-time Newberry Award winning YA writer Ann Kimberly, who also writes Best-Selling Historical Romance as Jacqueline McDermott, has delighted us again with the first of her Middle School trilogy Gulf Breezes. The Times declared it “Funny and Agonizing, bringing us all back to that horrendous period of life, this time making us smile, remembering that it was not all bad”.

Although she used to profess to her Mother that she would: never marry, live alone in a cabin in the woods with a dog and write novels; she now makes her home in Colorado Springs with her husband of 20 years, two angsty teenage daughters, and two cats. Well, at least she is writing. You can read more about her and her books at www.cinderwriter.com (not really my website YET)

Happy Writing everyone....oh, still working on those 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days