Craftathon for Critters

Tomorrow is our "Craftathon for Critters"! My mom and I will be buckling down and knitting and crocheting blankets for the homeless puppies and kitties. We're also raising money through sponsorship, so we can give all the blankets and all the money we earn to our local homeless shelter. (you can sponsor us and make a donation at http://www.sandrawickham.com/2010charity.htm if you like!)

For twelve hours we'll be working our little butts off (fingers, actually) on blankets so send us your positive vibes and energetic thoughts! If you knit or crochet, feel free to join in for a bit tomorrow to make a blanket, or you can make a donation to your local animal shelter. I won't be blogging tomorrow (there won't be time!) but I plan on taking lots of pictures to share after. We're looking forward to it. We've got lots of movies and tv shows on DVD lined up, it should be fun! :)

Wish us luck!

Fit4Success Fit Tip #23

I just archived this fit tip over at our network, Fit4Success and I thought I'd share it on my blog(s). :)

Fit4Success Fit Tip #23

Small steps yield big results.


As the new year moves on, work backwards from your larger goals by choosing small steps rather than one huge, overwhelming goal. Smaller goals with shorter timelines are easier to complete. Before you know it, the small ones will add up to your big goal!

Craftathon for Critters

I blogged about this once already, but I think it deserves re-blogging.

I've invented a new charity event..the Craft-athon for Critters.Not only that, I have co-erced my mom into doing it with me.
Here's what we've decided to do.

EVENT DATE: January 31st, 9am to 9pm

OUR GOAL: Raise money for our SPCA while making Snuggles blankets for the homeless cats and dogs.

PLAN: 12 hours of knitting and crocheting cat and dog blankets. We'll do as many blankets as we can in that time, then donate them all to the SPCA, and gather sponsor donations.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: You can help us in our quest to help the homeless cats and dogs by making a charitable donation through the ChipIn button below. You can sponsor us per hour, for example, $1 an hour for $12, or any amount you'd like. Every little bit helps. OR, make a donation to your local animal shleter in honour of our attempt!

If you're a crafty person and would like to join in from your own location, simply email me to let us know! sandrawickham@live.ca. We can encourage and support each other while making some animals very happy!

Just to make sure the blankets we give out are good ones, we have our official quality assurance blanket tester to approve our work. ;)

iGoogle

I have taken the advice I found in the September 2009 Writer's Digest issue (yes, I'm behind!) and have started using an iGoogle page. I've been using it for three days now and have found it extremely helpful! It's a great way to get all your social media in one place, but you can also add whatever other gadgets you like.

It's easy to set up, just sign up for a Google account (for free) and go to the iGoogle link. From there you can begin to add gadgets, and customize the look. I have Twitter, Facebook, hotmail, myspace and Blip.fm all on one page now! I have the Writer's Idea Bank Unblock tool, the Daily Literary Quote (both suggested by Writer's Digest), Inspirational Quotes and Pictures, a to do list and Dr Suess Quotes. You can also add blogs, games and much more. You can even add social gadgets, that can be shared among friends. Currently I'm trying to set up a "To Do List" with a friend, we haven't quite got it working, but will keep you posted. If it does work, it could be very useful!

If you'd like to optimize your time online, I recommend checking it out!


You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go. - Oh' the Places You'll Go!
-Dr Seuss.

Days Off

I just want to send out a sympathetic, warm hug to anyone out there who's feeling under the weather. It's NOT fun and I hope you feel better soon.


I've been down and out with a nasty cold for almost a week and it's been miserable. I was fighting it, then it finally caught up to me (I probably shouldn't have gone to my Monday night writing workshop, but I did!) and I've been in bed for four days straight. No blogging, no emails, no nothin'! (that part was kind of nice, actually!) Now I'm back on my feet, no feeling 100% yet, but at least I'm functioning. I'm now slowly trying to get caught up on things that continued to go on, despite my inability to participate. (don't they know I'm sick and everything needs to STOP?!)

If you're not feeling 100% healthy, rest, take care of yourself and worry about all that other stuff later!! :)

Outlining Your Novel

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Since I got such great response on my livejournal blog about POV and how writers pick which one to use, I thought I'd ask another question to help me along on this new novel. (or maybe more than one question.)

My previous novel, I just sat down and wrote. And wrote and wrote, and daydreamed, and wrote. No outline, no structural planning etc. Hence the need for DRASTIC re-writing when I was finished!!! I ended up having to do the outline AFTER I was done my first draft, and then add about 50,000 words, while ditching a lot of words. I would like to avoid that for this new novel, so I'm going to put some time into an outline this time.

Do you outline your novel? How much outlining do you do?

Do you use a program to help you? Like Scrivener or Storyboard? I was considering Scrivener, but it's only for Mac users.



 I downloaded Storyboard instead and have just started playing around with it. It doesn't have the features of Scrivener, and it's just for outlining, not actually writing the novel.



Any input is greatly appreciated as I attempt to venture into this novel with my eyes wide open.

Point of View

I have another question for the writers...



How do you know what point of view to use when you begin a novel length work? (or do you?)

I ask this, because, as some of you know, my last novel I used the first person, then between the 2nd and 3rd drafts, went through and changed the ENTIRE THING to third person. (in order to add a second story line) I have begun plans for another, unrelated novel, and don't want to go through all of that again!!

Craft-athon

I've invented my own charity event..the Craft-athon for Critters.

Not only that, I have co-erced my mom into doing it with me. Here's what we've decided to do.

EVENT DATE: January 31st, 9am to 9pm 

OUR GOAL: Raise money for our SPCA while making Snuggles blankets for the homeless cats and dogs.

PLAN: 12 hours of knitting and crocheting cat and dog blankets. We'll do as many blankets as we can in that time, then donate them all to the SPCA, and gather sponsor donations.

I've set up a donation button on the Charity page of my website, hint hint...in case anyone would like help us on our quest to help the homeless cats and dogs by making a charitable donation. You know, maybe sponsor us per hour, for example, $1 an hour for $12, or something like that. OR, make a donation to your local animal shleter in honour of our attempt!

If you're a crafty person and would like to join in from your own location, contact me to let us know! We can do it together, encouraging and supporting each other while making some animals very happy!

Here's some pics of some of the blankets I've done in the past for the SPCA and the Chihuahua Rescue foundation...with my blanket tester helping me out, because, you know, you can't send the blankets out until they've been kitteh approved:

Endings

Since my novel is with my readers, I would like to work on some short stories. I got working on one from a writing prompt from a great book I found called the Write Brain Workbook. I've been so focused on my novel, it's strange to now switch back to short stories! I started writing..but don't know where the story is going, so I'm a bit stuck. So I have a few questions for my fellow writers.

Do you always know the ending BEFORE you start writing?
Or do you at least know what kind of ending it's going to be? (happy, sad, weird, shocking etc) 
If you can't write yourself to an ending do you move on to something else?
At what point, if you can't "find" an ending, do you know a story just isn't going to work?


Thanks everyone.

Evolve Website

A new website has just been launched for the Evolve Anthology that I'm in. (I guess the New Year in the time for new websites!!)

You can visit the site here: Vampires Evolve


They are doing three editions, only available through the site. It's astounding, you have to check this out. This is the link, Evolve-Purchase but I'll sum up for you here.

SPECIAL COLLECTOR'S EDITION HARDCOVER

This edition is 6" x 9", signed by all authors, the artist and the editor, limited to just 50 copies! The hardcover book is wrapped in silk and packaged in a sturdy pine coffin. How cool is that??!!

HARDCOVER

This edition is also 6" x 9", but is unsigned. Only 50 copies are available.

SIGNED TRADE PAPERBACK

This is a paperback edition, 5.5" x 8.5", signed by all 24 authors, limited to only 300 numbered copies. , l

It will also be available in stores after March 1, 2010, but only in an unsigned trade paperback format. 

Pretty darn cool, dontchya think?! Also, the launch party is at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, England..in case you happen to be attending, come by and see us! Launch info is also on the site.

New Website

I finally did it!

I finished my new site, combining my fitness and my writing. It took me many hours, but it's up and running! Hooray!
I hope people like it, and that it "works". I didn't want it to be too busy, but still wanted to have both my fitness stuff (which is my "real job") and my writing stuff together.

With any luck, perhaps people who come by for my writing will get inspired by my fitness stuff, and people who come looking for fitness stuff may check out my writing!

Looking Ahead

I didn't have any resolutions or goals set for 2010, but seeing other people blogging their goals has given me the kick in the butt to do so. I don't like calling them "resolutions" because of the social stigma attached to that word..everyone loves to joke about setting resolutions and never following through on them. Instead, I will call them goals. I'm going to take Stephen Covey's idea of breaking your life into priorities, and focusing on them.

These will be broad, long-term goals that I will then break into monthly and weekly goals. Yes, I am that annoying person that loves setting goals and reaching them. I'm a list maker, goal setter, self-motivator and proud of it. (hee hee)

Here we go. Once it's blogged, it's as good as written in stone, isn't it?


Friends and Family
1. Visit my family out east. (it's been more years than I'd like to admit)
2. Keep in touch with writer friends I made in 2009.
3. Continue working on and giving out hand-made gifts
4. Spend lots of quality time with hubby. (that's so easy to do!)

Writing and Related
1. Have my current WIP agent hunt ready
2. Write and submit short stories to the Writers of the Future contest
3. Outline and write a new novel (unrelated to current WIP)
4. Write up lesson's I'm learning from cons, conferences, mentors to share on site and blogs
5. Set monthly reading goals. (# of books, which books)
6. Set daily/weekly study goals. (listening to podcasts about writing, books about writing, sites about writing etc)

Fitness-Work and Personal
1. New combined website (currently have separate writing/fitness ones)
2. Continue training clients, add new programs offered
3. Build up Fit4Success network
4. New Podcast
5. Try some martial arts classes (I've always wanted to do this!)

Charity
1. More Team Wickham events (everyone I train works on a project together)
2. Craft-athon in Jan to make snuggles blankets for homeless cats and dogs and raise money for local SPCA
3. Research WSPA and see how I can help more

Projects (this category is to lump everything else into!)
1. Declutter the house (I say this every year, and work on it, yet the clutter always wins)
2. Start scrapbooks I keep saying I'm going to do

There. It is written. Now it's up to me. ;)