Leigh Preston Layne

Countrified City Girl

2007-06-25T20:48:00.000-05:00

"Yeah, I'm city livin' chillin' but I'm country at heart"
- from My Old Kentucky Home by Nappy Roots, Villebillies, and KD

I totally relate to these lyrics. I love living in the city. When I moved from my tiny hometown at eleven years old, I fell in love with Louisville. It's energetic and fast paced. Most everything is a short drive away. Deep down, I don't think there's anywhere else I'd ever want to live.

I also love the country, though. I miss running around on my grandparents' farm and spending lazy days reading out in the yard. I come from a long line of farmers and I've definitely spent my fair share snapping beans and hulling peas on the back porch with the hot summer sun beating down on me. And I enjoyed every minute of it.

Kentucky is the one place I've lived where I can get the both of best worlds. I've always had an urge to grow my own fruits and veggies, so this spring I decided to finally attempt a container garden. I planted pumpkin, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, tomatoes, lima beans, peas, green peppers, broccoli, and carrots. I'm thinking of expanding next year. *g* The Super Yard
also came quite handy in keeping the squirrels out.

Every day, it's exciting to see what the plants have produced or how tall they've grown. Although, the melon and pumpkin plants are reaching the top of the net now. I'm going to have to train them to grow in a new direction soon or something. I definitely will not be planting the watermelon and cantaloupe in the same container again next year. My poor watermelon barely has any room.

The Roma and Super Boy (I think) tomatoes are getting plump.

And this little guy is a baby watermelon. How cute!

Goodbyes Suck

2007-06-19T16:26:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, the ladies at Squawk Radio announced their decision to discontinue their daily group blog. This afternoon while procrastinating...er, I mean refilling my creative well. Yeah, that sounds better. Anyway...

Now, I have to lose the Literary Chicks too?!

So sad! I will miss their witty and humorous posts. Although the archives will still be there. Some of my favs were during The Care and Feeding of Writers Week.

Go check out the Literary Chicks last week of posts.

Scheduling

2007-06-19T09:52:00.000-05:00

It's BIAW time! Woo hoo! Boy, do I need it.

Recently, I've tried to get the family on a schedule, so that I can write *and* sleep. I love writing at night because I can focus solely on the words instead of a screaming three year old or a helpful husband quizzing me about what to fix for dinner or an inquisitive five year old playing twenty questions. I used to have a separate office to escape into, but now that my desk is in the living room I'm much more accessible to their every need. *g* Unless both kids are asleep and/or watching TV in separate rooms (and that doesn't happen often), it's difficult to focus on revisions.

On the flip side, new pages are a breeze for me to accumulate during the day since they're first draft material. I can plow through those on my Alphie and keep an eye out for hairpulling, biting, and jumping-on-the-furniture infractions. It's just scheduling in time for those darn revisions. In the past, I've revised as I've written so that it's a continual process. However as much as I love working at night, I can't function for long on only three or four hours of sleep. I skip over words thinking that I've already typed them. A lot. *ggg*

Unfortunately, the scheduling plan hasn't been very successful thus far. I'm going to have to schedule in all-nighters every so often and revise in larger chunks than I normally do. So, this week I'm downing caffeine and blasting through my revision pages at night. I'm layering in descriptions and subplots. One for my hero dealing with his insecurities and one for a character that was originally supposed to disappear. This secondary character undergoes a change and I'm setting up the next book for her. I'm really excited about the idea I have for her story and how the next segment of the family drama unfolds. The subplots definitely make the story stronger and more cohesive.

So goal wise, I've revised a total of 44 pages and have 156 left for my BIAW goal.

Awesome Prize Goodies!

2007-06-15T22:56:00.000-05:00

I’ve been a wee bit stressed lately. So when I opened up my mailbox yesterday afternoon, I was psyched to receive the goodies I’d won from Tawny Weber’s online chat. Simply put: she rocks!

Included was her recipe for strawberry margaritas, a magnetic bookmark, a handmade bracelet, and an altered heart-shaped tin filled with personalized Tawny and DOUBLE DARE M&M’s!

How cute are these?!

I DOUBLE DARE you to read her scorching debut release. And watch for DOES SHE DARE? to hit the shelves January 2008. I can't wait!

What Kind of Soul Are You?

2007-05-28T21:59:00.000-05:00

You Are a Newborn Soul

You are tolerant, accepting, and willing to give anyone a chance.
On the flip side, you're easy to read and easily influenced by others.
You have a fresh perspective on life, and you can be very creative.
Noconformist and nontraditional, you've never met anyone who's like you.

Inventive and artistic, you like to be a trendsetter.
You have an upbeat spirit and you like almost everything.
You make friends easily and often have long standing friendships.
Implusive and trusting, you fall in love a little too easily.

Souls you are most compatible with: Bright Star Soul and Dreaming Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Recovering

2007-05-27T22:39:00.000-05:00

I pulled an all nighter last night to get caught up on my BIAW goal. I ended up revising 19 pages! Yea! My goal for the week was to revise 30, but I need sleep.

I did take a break today and listened to the workshop CDs from RWA's national conference in Atlanta last summer. I've heard a couple of agents and editors comment that they don't read the synopsis at all, which I thought was interesting. I'm still going to send it, since the synopsis is included in the instructions for submitting to them, but if they want to toss it, they can go right on ahead. LOL I hate those things.

I really enjoyed Lani Diane Rich's workshop on Finding Your Funky Bird. Of course, I'm a huge fan of the weekly podcast she and Samantha Graves produce, so that's no surprise. LOL Can't wait for the Dallas conference CDs! There's a great line up of workshops that I would love to attend if I were going to nationals this summer.

Have a great Memorial Day!

Catching Up

2007-05-26T10:26:00.001-05:00

This week hasn't been as fun as I wanted. I'm participating in my online chapter's Book In A Week (BIAW) program and I've accumulated...oh, a page and a half. The Little Princess and Mini-Lightening McQueen wore me out. Let's just say there was a lot of couch jumping and thirty minutes time-outs. They had their cute moments, though. So, I have some major catching up to do this weekend. I did manage to dye my hair at 2am and read some of Tawny Weber's awesome debut book, DOUBLE DARE.

Sending a major thank you to all of our vets and those still serving in the armed services.

Thanks NBC

2007-05-14T23:18:00.000-05:00

I guess I'll have more time to write since NBC has decided to cancel Studio 60. I was so excited to hear that it was returning in May and had a shred of hope that they'd pull out a second season. The last episode that aired before their long hiatus was freaking hilarious! Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for a Party of Five turn around once they air the last episodes.

At least I still have Ugly Betty.

Will Write For Wine

2007-05-04T21:19:00.000-05:00

Samantha Graves and Lani Diane Rich are absolutely hilarious! If you haven't listened to their weekly podcast yet, get thy butt over to Will Write For Wine right now. They cover a variety of writing topics in a light humorous way. This week is on character. So, go check it out.

Can I Have a Refill, Please?

2007-05-04T19:41:00.000-05:00

Last week, I took Tawny Weber's awesome Courting the Muse workshop over at Romance Divas. Boy did I need it! It was the excuse I needed to examine why my writing environment wasn't completely working. And I needed to refill my creative well, which is writerly talk for recharging our batteries.

I used to take workshops for fun, but it had been months since the last and I was so busy I really didn't have the time to invest in it. So when I saw Tawny's workshop posted, I jumped at the opportunity, especially because the topic is one of my faves. *g* The past year has been pretty tough on my Muse and while I enjoyed the workshop, I still felt guilty for taking the time to relax and "court my Muse". Like if I'm not writing every free minute, I'm not really focused or serious about writing. I really need to lighten up on myself where that's concerned before my Muse takes a permanent vacay.

Refilling the well is essential to the writer's creative process. If all we do is take from it, pretty soon we're going to hit the bottom and wonder where it all went. Occasionally, you need a refill. So, I'm trying to relax and not worry about missing a day of writing. Maybe I'll start setting aside a certain time frame every day and during that time, I'm not allowed to worry about goals, or revisions, or whether the dishwasher is loaded. Of course, that's easier said than done, but it's worth a shot. Right?

So, my well is about 90% full right now. Over the weekend, I went shopping for inspirational things for my writing area since it was so sterile. The family and I hiked on a trail at one of the local parks. I made amethyst and sodalite power bracelets. I feng shuied my desk. I even started cleaning the fireplace since my desk sits beside it, but that's a whole other blog. I definitely feel ready to tackle a huge chunk of revisions this weekend.

Then I promise to find some way to celebrate afterward. *g*

Thunder Over Louisville

2007-05-03T22:52:00.001-05:00

Two weeks ago I had my first Thunder experience, although it was on TV. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect since I'd already moved to Indiana before they created Thunder. I'd heard all of the hype on the radio stations for weeks but was a little sceptical as to how big the event really was. I mean, all of the firework shows I've seen, have been fun but nothing spectacular.

Until Thunder Over Louisville.

Man, what a way to kick off the Derby festivities! Thirty minutes of non-stop color exploding into the sky over the Ohio River. From what I saw it totally lives up to the name. I can only image what it looked and sounded like on the river banks! They even shot fireworks off of the bridge! It. Was. Awesome.

Check out the clip I found of the beginning.