First off, the lovely Amy Hatvany will be stopping by the blog tomorrow! I loved Amy’s book, Best Kept Secret, and was thrilled that she is going to stop by to discuss her new book, Outside the Lines. We’ll dish about Amy’s writing style and of course we’ll find out what hair nightmare Amy won’t try again. So make sure to come back tomorrow for a great interview.
My current WIP, is going great I just want to be finished! And not for the usual reasons—tired of the characters, fatigued by the plot, or just plain tired of writing the same story different ways for years—no, I want to be finished because I have another story that’s in the background screaming for attention.
And I love the storyline, you have to if you plan on sticking with something for so long. And these new characters want their turn, in fact if I don’t give them their due, then they’ll start leaking out in my current WIP, and I can’t have that.
So I’m doing what any good writer would do—beat the mess out of those new characters until they shut up.
Ha.
But seriously, what to do when your next book doesn’t want to wait it’s turn?
Well, this may be contrary to what most writers do, but I think writing two books at the same time is a big DON’T. (This does not mean that you can’t edit, and write new material. I’ve done it, and most authors do work on two projects simultaneously. But to actually write two books at once? A NO-NO in my opinion.) But what I do believe that needs to be done is to start taking notes on the next project, maybe not a full outline, but definitely jot down when one of your new character’s says something memorable.
But be careful! Starting new books, even outlining too soon, can make you procrastinate on your current novel. Pretty soon, you’ll have a bunch of inspiring half-finished novels hiding in a file on your laptop.
So while it’s great to have new ideas percolating, I can’t let it distract me from my current WIP. These characters want their story told too. So I’m off to finish their story…
 Lately, every time I get on the phone with my Mama, I’m smacking on something. Chips, crackers, Rice Krispies Treat—my mouth is chewing on something. You guys know my mother pulls no punches, so one day last week she said, “Could you please stop eating on the phone?”
I wiped my greasy hands on my shirt, (classy, I know…) and told her that I was hungry and just eating a little snack.
“You’re always snacking on something. Every time I get on the phone with you, you’re eating something. Why don’t you just sit down and have a real meal if you’re that hungry?”
“I’m not that hungry to eat lunch, I just want to nibble on something.”
“You’re not nibbling—you’re eating. And all those calories you’re inhaling are going to add up. Stop all that snacking!”
She’s right of course. I do snack a lot during the day. Since retiring from hairstyling, I’ve gained probably a good ten, okay fine, fifteen pounds. The funny thing is, I’m actually eating a lot healthier than I did when doing hair. I ate a lot of fast food during my hair days, and drank waaaaayyyy too much soda. But I was active. I rarely sat down and was always moving.
Working from home has definitely slowed me down. Don’t get me wrong for health reasons I had to slow down too, but sitting in a chair all day is not good for anyone. Sure, I walk around my neighborhood a couple days a week, but apparently I’m still doing something wrong.
My culprit? Snacks.
I eat all day. I wake up give my daughter breakfast, get her off to school and then I eat breakfast. Then, I do a bit of work, and eat a snack. Then I do housework, or run errands, and I bring a snack with me. I normally skip lunch—due to all the snacking and by the time I pick up my daughter I’m ravenous and give my daughter her snack, which normally consists of fruit, while I hide in the pantry and eat her Rice Krispies Treats. (Yes, you read correctly Treats is plural. Normally this involves eating more than one…)
When dinner rolls around, I’ll eat and then an hour later it’s time for another snack. I’ll normally eat in my bed, (which of course the Hubby hates…) and call my mother, snacking away on Kettle potato chips. (My fav flavor is Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper. I can just hear me smacking now…delicious and super crunchy!) Meanwhile, my Mama is hollering that she can’t hear a word I’m saying because of my loud smacking.
So. While I love my snacks, I know there has to be a limit. This week I’ve made a conscious effort to slow things down. I eat breakfast, and two hours later I eat a piece of fruit. I make myself eat a hot lunch—normally leftovers from dinner—and I actually sit down and eat it at the table. And at night would you believe that I eat nothing after dinner? Not a bite. (Okay, well last night doesn’t count, the Hubby came in with Chinese take-out and he made me eat an eggroll. Seriously! I was forced to eat it! Not buying it? Can’t blame a girl for trying!)
The point is, I’ve noticed that working from home, the temptation to eat out of sheer boredom is strong. I’m a social person, so talking back to the TV only works for so long. So I make a point of getting out of the house with the sure intention of interacting with people. I try to stay busy, and put food in its place—as a source of fuel for my body, not as entertainment. So far so good. So there, Mama! I’m not snacking anymore. What’s that you say? That crunching sound? Ummm, would you believe me if I told you raisins?
 It can be hard to focus on your own work at times. On Facebook and Twitter I read all the time about how well other authors are doing with their writing.
“Hoping to get 2,000+ written today!”
“Just met my November deadline! Book is off to editor!”
"Wrote 10+ pages this morning. And doing another writing session this evening. Score!”
Reading all that sometimes takes me off focus. Why? Because readng how many words this author writes, or how many pages this one just accomplished, can make me feel—at times—like I have to write faster, to get words down so I can one day type, THE END.
It’s a bad habit to pick up. One thing I never want to do, is to write words just to have a high word-count. I want those words to mean something.
Don’t get me wrong, I love for authors to put their word-count online—it can be so encouraging and actually inspire me to get off the couch and hit my word-count goal for the day. But if you’re not careful, that inspiration can get twisted into something else entirely, and you’ll spend hours upon hours writing…fluff. And I’m not talking about first draft fluff. I’m talking straight-up-trying-to-fill-up-empty-space-fluff. And that’s something I don’t want to be guilty of. So when I read about another author’s word count, I won’t run to my computer and type nonsense just to hit a word goal. I’ll focus on my book and the plot lines I want to cover, and if my characters are flushed out enough. Yes, I want to hit a word goal, but not at the expense of my book. So that’s why I haven’t added the word count at the beginning of the blog anymore. I don’t want that to be the focus, because it takes me off-focus. I still get emails asking when my next book is coming out and all I can say is, “Soon!” I’m trying to give my readers the best book in me right now, in the time and deadline that I’ve set for myself. So here’s hoping I can focus on what’s important…my own writing!
I love to read. Give me a book and I’ll devour it in a day—hours if its really good. Another thing I’ll do if a book is really good—stop reading it to write. Some books are so beautifully written that it just makes me put it down and write my own beautiful words.
The same holds true for badly written books. Sometimes a book is so badly written, just plain awful, that it makes me think, “How did this book get published? My book is nowhere near this bad, let me get my butt off this couch and get back to the computer!”
Books—bad or good—give me the motivation to write. It makes me want to do what the author has done—finish their book. And that’s what I’m doing—finishing my book. Reading does so many great things for writers. Reading good books helps you become a better writer, and reading bad books helps you to see what you don’t want to write. I read widely and often—I think every writer should. Reading teaches me so many things, but mostly, reading teaches me to write.
Naomi Campbell is known for her long hair weaves, but in the 16th issue of Soon International magazine the stunning model poses for the cover completely bald.
How cool are these pics! Contrary to how it may look, photographer Seb Janiak says Naomi’s shiny look was achieved entirely with make-up and creative lighting. You better work! It’s an extreme look, but somehow truly shows just how beautiful Naomi really is. I’m loving it!
When you are in a creative field like writing, people expect you to like certain things. Writers are supposed to love classic literature, be masters at the English language, recite poetry in their sleep and hate all adverbs.
I am a writer. And I don’t read classic literature. (Regularly. I read it, but it’s not my go-to pick for leisurely reading. I pick it up to learn something about different writing styles.)
And I don’t read poetry. (Regularly. I do read it, it’s just I don’t read it often. My deceased sister read it all the time, she loved to write it, and was quite good at it. Sometimes reading it reminds me of her…) *Note to Hubby* Just because I don’t read poetry does not give you reason to stop writing it for me!
And I happen to like adverbs. Sometimes I do walk slowly, or quickly, or anything else that ends with -ly. They are not the devil. I don’t overuse them though, but I do think that like all words they have their place.
My point is, who determines what you should you like or not like? Does your job truly determine what your hobbies and interests should be? Should all postal workers be collectors of stamps? Should sanitation workers be treasure hunters of old, discarded furniture, able to turn an old chair into a work of art? Should hairstylists be collectors of wigs and name their styling tools after their best friends…okay wait a minute…I do that. But you get my point, no one should determine that what you do determines who you are. It’s just what you do. For instance, I have a problem with describing where things are. I’ll ask the Hubby to hand me something and can’t describe where it is.
“It’s over there! There!”
“Over where? You’re a writer! Describe where it is!”
And for the life of me I can’t. I just can’t describe it. I do this all the time, I can’t describe anything well in my real life. If someone asks me how my apple pie tastes, I’ll shrug and say, “Sweet.” But if I was writing how my apple pie tastes, I would say something like, “The warmth and coolness on Katrina’s tongue as she swallowed her apple pie and ice cream reminded her of the first day of fall. When the orange tinted leaves smelled of the rich earth and the whole world tastes like cinnamon and nutmeg…” (Okay, I wrote that in like 30 seconds so no judging!) But you get my point. I should be able to describe it. But I don’t.
We have to stop assuming that people should like this, or like that. We all have different personalities, and I love the surprise that crosses someone’s face when they learn that I love to do embroidery, or collect old teacups. Yes, I love to write but that doesn’t mean that I should love Moby Dick. (Which I don’t.) Or keep a journal. (Which I do.) I’m me. And I like, what I like.
On Sunday, the Hubby and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. My mother and my very good friend got together and threw me a surprise party with 50 of my closest friends. It was a wonderful evening. I’m a crybaby, (seriously, I cried so much that I felt dehydrated) so the night was filled with laughter and tears—the good kind.
But what really touched me, was the Hubby and his poem. When he stood up and said that he wanted to recite a poem that he wrote for me, I lost it. I boo-hooed like a baby. You see, the Hubby HATES to write. (Okay, in our house we are trying to steer away from using the word hate, so I will say he has a strong dislike for writing.) When he gives me cards, they are short and sweet, with maybe two lines of text—normally him saying something about how he isn’t the writer in the family—so just imagine my shock when he said he’d wrote me a poem.
I won’t quote the poem here, but it was beautiful. Beautiful because it was so him and yet so me. It was our relationship in a nutshell and I was so proud that he did that for me, that he took the time and made such an effort because he knew how much it would mean to me.
When he sat down and I told him that was the best gift he ever gave me, he smiled and said, “I know.” (Totally a Hans Solo kind of move. For those of you who are Star Wars fans then you know exactly what I’m talking about. And for those of you who aren’t…well watch the clip below.)
 So I’ve complained once or twice about the lack of good quality television shows. One show I’ve been looking forward to watching is Reed Between the Lines. (To give you the basic plot line, it’s like a 2011 version of The Cosby Show. Tracie Ellis Ross plays Carla Reed, a successful therapist and Malcolm-Jamal Warner is Alex Reed, a NYU professor who teaches online so he can homeschool their youngest child. I do like how they switched things up—this is a blended family, the two oldest teens are Carla’s children from a previous marriage.)
So Tuesday night I watched the show, and all I can say is…eh. It was…okay. Let’s put it this way, it was good enough to watch again—I’m a believer that all new shows deserve at least five episodes to see if they are deemed worthy enough to record. I’ll tune in again, mostly because I’m always complaining about the state of television, and this looks like a show that you can watch with your kids. I like the direction the show is going in—it just needs to hurry up and get there. That being said, I’m not going to give up on the show. Yet.
Tune in on Tuesday nights at 9:00 pm on BET and check it out for yourself!
I’ve been blogging for over two years now, and let me tell you—blogging ain’t easy. I took last week off to refocus my endeavors and to improve the direction of Curl Up and Write.
So yes, the blogging has been slow, but it has a purpose. No, I’m not burned out, (not yet anyway). Blogging is still something that I love, and something that I’ll continue in the future. But I will admit it can be hard finding the energy and time to write blog posts. The funny thing is that I have not run out of topics. Topics and ideas are things I have plenty of, but time is a factor on why the posts have been less and less.
What I’m trying to get at here is that blogging is a lot harder than it looks. One post can take at least an hour—more if you want to add pictures, links, or videos. (I once searched for an hour looking for a video of Bethenny Frankel burning a draft of her book on vacation. It would have brought my point home, but for the life of me I couldn’t find it. It still bugs me…)
So if you like to read blogs from your favorite authors, let them know you appreciate their hard work. And for all the authors out there still blogging? Give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it.
Okay, I don’t know what water these Hollywood celebs have been drinking, but several male celebs have changed their hair recently. First up, A-list star Tom Cruise.
I love his hair short! He’s been wearing his hair in this shaggy shoulder-length style on the right for over a year, but had to cut his hair for a new movie role. I think he looks younger with his hair short, but if you looked at the picture below you might not agree with me…
I personally think this is just a bad shot of him. I still like him with the shorter hair. Moving on now to NFL quarterback Tom Brady. We know he’s been rocking longer locks for about a year now, because his gorgeous supermodel wife won’t let him cut his hair. But now, he’s cut his legendary long hair.
I know, I know, you can’t see much under his hat, but you can definitely see that he cut his hair. This haircut is MUCH improved, did you guys remember his hair before? Big yikes…
And last, but certainly not least, someone has decided not to cut their hair, but this celeb has actually decided to grow more hair. Do you guys remember Jason Alexander, from my fav show Seinfeld? Well those of you that watch the show know that Jason Alexander is…well, bald. And now he’s not.
Pretty Unbeweaveable right? (I had to get that in there! If you haven’t picked up my book yet, buy it now! Okay shameless plug over…)
I can’t believe he had the guts to do this. Jason played George Costanza for years, and George is known for being short, stocky and bald. Granted, George was just a character on Seinfeld, but Jason has always pretty much had a thinning hairline. He was in his 30’s in the picture on the right, wouldn’t it make more sense to get hair when you’re younger, instead of waiting until you’re in your 50’s?
Maybe being bald has always bothered him, but I miss the old George Jason. I like him bald.
If you guys haven’t watched Seinfeld before, check out the funny clip below of George wearing a toupee. I die laughing every time I see this!
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Katrina Spencer 
I’m a Women’s Fiction writer with two novels under my belt, Six O’clock and Unbeweaveable. Curl Up and Write is where I fuse my two loves: hair and writing. You’d be surprised at the similarities! When I’m not writing, I’m watching How’s It Made with my Hubby (and pretending I’m not interested in learning how a tennis racket is built), or I’m reading to my daughter. I also dabble in gardening, love to cook, and watch way too much HGTV.
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