My Say What Blog Archives - Page 49 of 53

Nov 1st NaNoWriMo – A Tale of Fifty Thousand Words in Thirty Days Plus TRR Year End Splash!

NaNoWriMo UPDATE: November 30, 2015

I MADE IT! 50,355 words in thirty days. Whew! A darn good start on another novel – A Wedding For The Holidays.

On December 4th, stop by and read the tale of Christmas Decorating gone way wrong.

Fourth Week of National Novel Writing Month and I’m doing better. Approximately 41,000 words written with 9,ooo more to go before midnight on November 30th. I just might make it. Keep your fingers crossed for me!! LOL

Third week of National Novel Writing Month and I’m going to have to play catch up! Had some other tasked on my radar this weekend. Received and signed new contract from The Wild Rose Press for A Witch’s Journey, a paranormal romance you’re going to Love. I needed to complete the cover info sheets and manuscript sheets. So lost a couple of days writing. But now, nose to the grindstone and making up that word count. See you next week!

The second week of National Novel Writing Month finds me just a wee bit behind. Had a medical situation middle of the week that caused me to get behind. I’m back, fingers flying over the keyboard and headed toward 12000 word mark!

November is an exciting month, and not just for Thanksgiving. First of all, I am a participating author in The Romance Reviews Year End Splash! Great books from over 300 authors/publishers. More than 300 prizes, including an Amazon Kindle Fire HD7, lots of games, FREE books and great reads beginning November 1st continuing the entire month. In week two of the celebration, I’m giving away an electronic copy of A Demon’s Witch to one lucky participant with the right answer (See My Books). You need to be registered & logged in at TRR before playing the games in order to keep track of your points for the game. Registration is free and easy. Check it out. Second…

Along with millions of writers around the world, (ok maybe not millions, but close) I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month.A challenge to write fifty-Thousand words in thirty days. For weeks, our minds have worked out the logistics of the story, our fingers are twitching to tap that keyboard and kick off the race to our latest novel. The National Novel Writing Month challenge is a great confidence builder and something we writers look forward to November 1st every year.

NaNoWriMo as it’s fondly referred to has become somewhat of a tradition for me starting in 2010. I’ve made my goal of at least 50,000 words every year since with the exception of 2013. That year I failed miserably at only 17000 words. My day job was a monster, the hours were long and by the time I arrived home, I was the monster. Anyone know what I mean? But I digress, at 17,000 I still had a working story, plot and characters. Yea! Finished it up in the months that followed, submitted it and publication is pending.

Along with the Pikes Peak Writers group, who gave me the tools, NaNo gave me the confidence needed to stick my toe in the murky waters of the publishing industry. The 50,000 words, approximately 1,667 per day, usually is three-quarters of a pretty darn good novel. Eventually, I submitted one of the manuscripts, received a contract and it released September 25th as the first of a series entitled A Demon’s Witch. Each year I build on what I’ve learned throughout the year and use it to complete the NaNo challenge.

This year, I’ve completed a short story, A Witch’s Protocol, of 7,000 words, which will be on my webpage in segments beginning January of 2016. A novella, Charm Me, 20,000 words, to be released in January or February in time for Valentine’s Day 2016, and a full length novel of 88,000 words, all in less than six months from draft to submission. NaNoWriMo taught me the discipline and determination to get it done. AND it’s not even Novel Writing Month yet! Yes, I am signed up and raring to go for NaNoWriMo 2015. Who’s going to join me?

What does it take to prepare? A story idea, maybe a list of characters, I always complete a character worksheet on each character in the story I plan to write. Some writers do a story outline. I’m a panster, meaning I write by the seat of my pants, no outline, so the character worksheet is it. Let people know, who will keep your feet to the fire, that you are participating in NaNo and have a 50,000 word goal. Some people join groups that are also participating in NaNo for encouragement and camaraderie. READY, SET, WRITE! No whining, no goofing off, no excuses. You got this!

Check back often to see if I’m meeting my goals!

Posted in For Fun, My Say What Blog, Uncategorized by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.

Oct 7th Up, Up and Away – Hot Air Balloon Festival Fun!

Okay, okay, I know I’m late and that the Colorado Springs Balloon Festival was a Labor Day festivity. But the exciting feeling of watching those beautiful balloons lift off is still with me. This morning as yellow and orange spread across the horizon, the whoosh of a patchwork color pink, purple and blue hot air balloon in the clear azure sky above my house reminded me of the festival. I stood in the back yard watching the balloon as my dog stood by my side boofing quietly unsure what to do about the object invading her airspace.

Now, I am not — nor have I ever been a morning person. But the draw of breathing in the crisp, cool morning air and watching the early assent of a cadre of colorful balloons in a variety of different shapes was just too much. So with one eye nearly open and the other squinted my husband and I piled into the truck. We stopped at a favorite fast food restaurant to grab a breakfast sandwich to go with our orange juice and hot chocolate then headed for the park where the festival is every year.
Finding a place to park was a challenge, but finally through the dusky morning we suck in a breath at the scene unfolding before us. Multitudes of brightly colored balloons are spread across the grass, slowly filling with air heated by the flames from their burners. The first one to lift off is bright yellow with multi-colored squares, followed closely by the rest of the group. Then it’s the splash and dash, where the pilots float down and skim the balloon’s basket on the water of a nearby lake then regain altitude.

Wide varieties of venders offer their wares to the throngs of spectators throughout the morning. A beautiful pair of turquoise and coral earrings in the shape of a balloon found their way into my possession. Then we were walking back to our truck and the multitude of projects that awaited our attention at home.

The memories of this once a year festival remain with me throughout the year, especially when I don my beautiful balloon earrings or hear the whoosh of a hot air balloon as it floats over our home.
Have you attended a balloon festival or ridden in a hot air balloon? I ‘d love to hear about it. Leave me a comment.

**Next week check in for part one of a three part series of Haunted Colorado High Country. Until then, have a great week and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!

Posted in My Say What Blog, The Pikes Peak Region, Uncategorized by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.

Sep 14th Camping, Kayaking & Fun in the Sun, Twin Lakes

Our next to the last camping trip took us to Twin Lakes and the White Star Campground on the lake shore. Twin Lakes is in Granite, Colorado, near Leadville. Beautiful country. I hate to admit it, but this is the first time in two years we were able to get out and kayak. You know what they say, life happens while you are making plans. We planned to go Kayaking, but my latest novel, A Demon’s Witch, kept me leashed to the computer, whether at home or camping.
We had a wonderful time at Twin Lakes. Even though it was the end of August, the weather was absolutely gorgeous for our camping and kayaking. The lakes were smooth as glass most the time and others just enough waves and white caps to make it interesting. Our parrot opted to remain in the trailer and watch out the window while our dog, Mystic, happily jumped into my husband’s kayak as I pushed off the shore in mine, for paddle around the lake.
After spending most the afternoon on the water, we decided to drive into Fairplay, where we found the most wonderful Mexican restaurant, Casa Blanca. With our tummies full, we returned to the campsite for a quiet evening relaxing in our camp chairs around a fairly tumultuous campfire. Yes, I piled on the wood until the flames danced and shot toward the sky, safely of course. We roasted, ok, well, kinda singed the marshmallows, but they melted the chocolate perfectly on the sm’ors. The stars twinkled brightly throughout the Milky Way far above our trailer. Something you don’t notice with the light pollution inside a city. You could pick out several of the constellations, I learned as a kid and hadn’t thought about for eons.
The campground was full, but the camp hosts were great people and provided us with passes to park around the lakes’ shores where fees were required. Too soon, Sunday morning arrived we packed up the trailer and hit the road returning home, back to the rat race where the rats are definitely winning!
If you are looking for a quiet place to camp with majestic mountain views and lake access, Twin Lakes is the place.

Next week, I’ll tell you all about the Colorado Springs Balloon Festival.

Posted in My Say What Blog, Uncategorized by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.

Sep 9th Fun At The Colorado State Fair

Though the Colorado State Fair is gone, the memories linger on. After finishing up edits on one project and completing the manuscript for another, I gave myself a day off and went to the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo with my husband. He was working a booth so I was free to wander endlessly through the fairgrounds.

It wasn’t long before Wild About Monkeys caught my attention. According to their trainers, Kevin and Martina Keith, some of these primates have performed in Rock of Ages and Evan Almighty. Mickey the Baboon, Rico the Capuchin Monkey, plus a baby Capuchin were the stars of the show for me. The Baboon poked fun at his trainer every chance he got. There was also a dog whose antics with a little girl from the audience were hilarious. It was a free show and very entertaining.

Aquila the Golden Eagle is a very large and regal bird. She arrived at the center thirty-one years ago via a mail truck from Grand Junction. She’d been struck by a semi-truck while feeding on the side of the road. The driver, bless his heart, stopped and took the eagle to a local rehab center who treated and arranged her transport to Pueblo. Aquila has been a foster mom to eaglets and remains one of the ambassador birds for the center. Founded in 1981, Nature & Raptor Center of Pueblo is happy to provide tours or even bring a raptor to your classroom. For more information, call 719-549-2414.

My final stop for the day was America’s Got Talent winners, Olate Dogs. The dogs’ performances, as well as that of their human trainers, were fantastic! From normal dog tricks to comedic interaction and then a doggie fashion show, the entertainment was fun for all ages.
On the way back, I stopped to get a funnel cake. This should have been uneventful. Right? Oh, no not in my case, things had gone far to smooth all day. As I rounded the corner to the booth, the cooling fan on high, blew all — well ok — most of the powdered sugar off the funnel cake onto me, my clothes, and the black cloths draped over the tables. If that wasn’t bad enough, the couple in the next booth, selling shop tools, roared with laughter and my own husband smirked trying to keep a grin from his face. But the funnel cake was still delicious!