Family Friday

Son #1 is two. He is learning words at a rapid rate but still loves to babble partly because he can talk so much faster when he's babbling.

Yesterday, he walked over to my husband's nightstand, pointed to his father in a picture of the three of us and said hubby's name. I cracked up. I pointed to myself, but he didn't want to  call me or himself anything. He pointed to his father again and again said his name, at which point I tried to get him to say 'daddy' but he promptly ignored me and started to get into things he shouldn't.

Now son #1 loves to call his daddy when daddy's at work. He'll take my cell phone and call him (which only works if hubby is the last person I called, son knows how to redail). When hubby answers, son always says 'Hi, da!' and babbles to his little hearts content. It's so precious. And if he's done, he'll say 'bye' and hang up.

Son #1calls me 'ma' and has a tendncy to only call me that when he feels like I'm spending too much time with his father or brotehr. He'll say 'ma' then babble for awhile. If I dare turn to look at hubby, he'll say 'ma' again to get my attention. He really is adorable.

Now he has said 'Cole' before and sometimes even 'Nicole' but he doesn't seem to associate that with me. Unlike poor hubby. And hubby at first thought it was funny to hear son say his name, but wishes his son would call him 'daddy'. We're still waiting for 'I love you.' I'm sure it won't be too long of a wait.

The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

 Another link post because of Nano. I blame all things on Nano. Makes my life easier.


Anyhow, I adore this list, The The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord. Every time I reread it, I crack up, literally laughing out loud. (How many times do you type lol and not actually laugh? Yeah, I actually laugh. Hubby looked at me like I had three heads. Non-writers just don't get writers sometimes).

Here are a couple of my favorites:

My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.

My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon.

Shooting is not too good for my enemies.

When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought I'll shoot him then say "No."

I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labelled "Danger: Do Not Push". The big red button marked "Do Not Push" will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it. Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will not clearly be labelled as such.

I will see a competent psychiatrist and get cured of all extremely unusual phobias and bizarre compulsive habits which could prove to be a disadvantage.

If I am fighting with the hero atop a moving platform, have disarmed him, and am about to finish him off and he glances behind me and drops flat, I too will drop flat instead of quizzically turning around to find out what he saw.

Hated Literary Characters

We all have favorite literary characters. I love Anne of Green Gables. And Aragorn. And Alanna from the Lioness Quartet. Han Solo (I have an entire shelf devoted to SW books #imadork)

But what about the flip side? What characters do you hate?

It's easy to list villains. Voldemort. Dark Vader. Iago. Bella Swan (not a villain I know but I can't stand her.)

Who do you hate?

Here's a compilation of the 50 most hated characters in- iterary history. Do you agree with the list? Disagree? Who would you add?

What Agents Are Looking For

There's been so great post on agent blogs lately about what exactly they want to see in their slush pile so it's time for some linkage (ahd here's fair warning that I may use a lot of linkage-type post for blog posts during Nano):

Weronika Janczuk's agent wish list

Mandy Hubbard Wishlist

Kathleen Ortiz Expanding what she's looking to sign

Every couple of months, Donald Maass lists on his agency's website what they are looking for. Click here for the link.

Enjoy the linkage!

Loglines and Inspiring Mondays

Today I'm part of a logline blogfest courtsey of Steena.

I'm gonna post two loglines for two different stories. Feel free to comment about one or the other or both!

Logline #1:

Hidden in Shadows
urban fantasy with romance elements

(side note: I've been having some real difficulty with this one. There are three major components to the story: the revenge, the love, and Lorna's discovery of her powers. All three are important and related in the story but I can't quite figure out a way to show how they are connected within the logline. Here's my best try.)

Traumatized by witnessing her father’s brutal murder, Lorna masters her feelings of powerlessness by becoming an assassin. As Lorna grows closer to finding her father’s murderer, she strives to master her newfound shadow power, the ability to create and hide in shadows. When she falls for a new target, Lorna must make a choice – love or revenge.

REVISED based on comments:



Traumatized by witnessing her father’s brutal murder, Lorna masters her feelings of powerlessness by becoming an assassin.  As a paranorm with the ability to create and hide in shadows, shegrows closer to avenging her father's death but when she falls for her latest target, Lorna must make a choice between love and revenge.

One-line:

As a paranorm with the ability to create and hide in shadows, assassin Lorna grows closer to avenging her father's death but is torn between duty and desire when she falls for her latest target.

Logline #2:

Alexia's Pen
fantasy YA

When fifteen-year-old aspiring novelist Alexia is given a mysterious pen that writes of its own accord, she discovers the mystical, but real, Land of Imagining, which is threatened by great evil. To save the inhabitants and her kidnapped family, Alexia must use the pen’s power before the Land of Imagining becomes the Land of Terror.

I also have a one-liner which I agree with everyone is better than the two line logline:

When fifteen-year-old aspiring novelist Alexia is given a mysterious pen that writes of its own accord, she discovers the mystical Land of Imagining, a land only she can save from demons.

Looking forward to reading and helping you all to have awesome loglines! And before I forget, here's today's photo for inspiring Mondays (a female assassin picture in honor of Lorna)