Orange Belts, Sparks, and Campaigns, Oh My!

Lots of news today! First off, I'm officially part of a three-person critique group, which means...ORANGE BELT! That's probably the quickest I'll ever move up in this writing ninja thing, since I think I have to finish revising my current WIP to get my first stripe, which means finishing the first draft of my current WIP, which means...a long wait. Oh well, one step at a time, right?

In other news, SparkFest started today. I'm just going to share a little story with you about the books that got me into reading. Pull up your computer chair, throw pillow, couch cushion, etc! I started reading when I was two and a half. Yes, you read that right. My grandma was very encouraging when it came to reading, and explained the mechanics of it to my tiny 18-month-old self. I figured it out about a year later. My parents also encouraged this great love of reading, my mom being a bookworm herself, so it wasn't that surprising that I caught on quick.

The books that made the hugest difference in sparking my interest? Dr. Seuss of course. :) Hop on Pop was the first book I ever read on my own, and Green Eggs and Ham was the book that proved to my uncles that I wasn't just memorizing (I had never read it before they showed it to me). Those books taught me so many things, from The Lorax and his love of the environment, to Oh, The Places You'll Go and the value of hard work and big dreams. I loved every tongue-twisting story in the Fox in Socks, and giggled like a fool at the antics of Horton and Yertle the Turtle. I think a lot of people are forgetting those books now. They're always on the shelf at the library when I go with F and A (the kids I nanny), which is sad because they're amazing. I recently introduced F to Horton the Elephant, and nothing has made me happier than hearing him giggle, just like I did, at the very same story. I encourage everyone to keep a little love for good old Dr. Seuss in their hearts, and pass his messages on to your own children. :)

To wrap it up, Rachel over at Rach Writes is starting her third Writing Campaign, which allows you to network and make friends within this lovely blogosphere. I'm signing up today, so hopefully I'll see you all there! Happy writing!

J

Writing Ninja!

Wow, this has been a much longer hiatus than I anticipated. I've been so busy, and I'm still not quite finished with Dance with Dragons! Ugh. I'm going to knuckle down and finish it by the weekend, I swear.

In other news, I've been attending WriteOnCon, which (for those of you who haven't heard of it) is an online writers' convention. It's pretty freaking awesome, and I'm looking quite a lot from it. One of the best parts about it has been the critique partner match forum. I'm hoping that I'll finish WriteOnCon with one (or more) critique partners. Fingers crossed!

One of my potential CPs is a writing ninja, and inspired me to become one too. Currently, I'm a yellow belt with two stripes...hopefully it won't take too long to get all the way to a black belt! I've realized in the last couple of days that I really want this life for myself, and the only way it's going to happen is if I make it happen. *sigh* Nothing awesome ever comes along without some seriously hard work.

So here we go! Dance will be finished by Monday, and hopefully I'll have some crit partners to gush about by then too. :) Happy writing!

J

PS If you'd like to join the ranks of writing ninjas, click here. :D