Wednesday, July 3, 2019

A Sizzling First Wednesday in July

It's July, so now we're cooking! 

Temps are up, fall is beginning to look darned good, but we need to take time and celebrate
HOT #IWSG Wednesday.

Thanks Alex!

And it's not too late to visit all of the great July hosts and say hello:

Young Adult Books
The Question of the Month is "What personal traits have you written into your character(s)?" The question is optional, so I'll opt to answer it as best I can. 

There may be a few of my quirks lurking in the Princess of Las Pulgas. Carlie tends to be stand-offish when she's hurting, and I've been told that's my strategy as well.  In Sudden Secrets, one of my friends thought my MC technique for managing stress seemed similar to mine. Cleo ran to escape thinking about her situation; I hike--guess that's close.

I'm not much like Hutch in Double Negative, but Fat Nyla and I share a lot with each other. I wrote one scene to re-enact a moment in my life, but in the book I got it right and punched the jerk in the nose. Score one for Nyla. Score one for me--just a little late.

My snarky self comes out in Sliding on the Edge, I'm afraid. Shawna cops her bad ass attitude to cover up a lot of insecurity. I've been known to do exactly that. I'm better at dealing with those insecurities now that I'm "matured." My mother would be so grateful.


23 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Lee - sizzling here too ... but thankfully cooler, though still dry - it is the tennis season ... the rain it often cometh! I'd hate to think what my characters would be like if I ever wrote one - unlikely ... but I too would write belated about punching someone! I get my grumps out ... by telling people with a huge smile and laughing while I do it - gets everyone joining in ... cheers and have a peaceful summer ... Hilary

Pat Hatt said...

haha yeah, in books we can get it right and punch the pest in the nose. Plus, not go to jail for it.

Karen Baldwin said...

Wouldn't it be great if we could script our lives like our books? I've always heard that we should write what we know...well we all know our quirks well I'm sure all authors put them somewhere in their stories.

Patsy said...

We've got great weather here too. I tend to write less when it's sunny – but I'm having fun and collecting ideas and that's important too.

Natalie Aguirre said...

It's hot here too. Glad you got it right and punched the person in your story. Maybe I should try that in one of my stories.

Liza said...

How can we not dredge through our own lives as we write? Our experiences are true things. "Re-purposing" past emotions and actions make our characters real.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

We like snark!

Rachna Chhabria said...

I enjoy snark!

Lynn La Vita said...

Interesting, I posted this about 6am (3 July), now it seems to be missing. Is the snark was playing games?

Here's what I wrote:
Hey Rock Star, glad you turned your energy and spirit into writing and inspiring others. Nice grove to be: writing to wee hour of the morning.

Special shout-out to Tara and Ellen: Congratulations!
Lynn La Vita @ Writers Supporting Writers

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Punched him in the nose - LOL!

Dihiwi said...

I really appreciate this group - can I say that too many times? I think not! I wrote about five of my favorite all-time authors. What are some of yours? https://www.dianeweidenbenner.com/iwsg-first-wednesday-favorites/

Michael Di Gesu said...

HI Lee,

You certainly are expressing yourself in you characters. Way to go! I believe for a character to be truly "believable," they must come from the author and the author's life experiences. Of course, we writer's embellish, but the essence of who we are come across through our characters and their experiences.

Mary Aalgaard said...

Good examples. I enjoy your writing. Your characters have spirit.

Leslie S. Rose said...

Snark, ahoy! I don't want to live in a world without snark. Keep bringin' it.

Juneta key said...

I like that you finally got it right. I have not tried that but maybe I will one day.

Sandra said...

'in the book I got it right and punched the jerk in the nose' Loved this! Welcome back. Hope your time away was wondrous. We left the light on for ya.

Jemi Fraser said...

I'm glad you got a little payback with the jerk - and you don't even get into trouble this way either! :)

Patricia JL said...

Books are quite nice in how we can reenact things from our past and do the thing we wished we had. ;)

Roland Clarke said...

Like the way that parts of you have sneaked into your characters.I suspect that happens unplanned with many of us writers.

The horse cover pushed me to sample 'Sliding on the Edge' even though the equestrian element is less than what I write/have written.

Fundy Blue said...

Hi, Lee!
I loved the reason you gave for re-enacting a moment in you life ~ the opportunity to get it right! I can see a whole lot of storylines opening up for me with that in mind ~ LOL! Have a great weekend!

cleemckenzie said...

@Hilary why is that as soon as tennis season arrives it starts to rain in your part of the world? I can testify that it's true because I had two overnights--going and coming from my vacation--and I used an umbrella on each occasion. Well, fortunately, I love rain, so I love your weather.

@Pat I loved that scene and I finally felt I'd put that real life incident behind me! Another congrats on your WEP win in June.

@ I @Em-Musing I read a lot of the posts this month and you're right. Authors use many of their own quirks and habits in their characters.

@Patsy sunny weather lures me outside. It's hard to be a writer when the weather beckons.

cleemckenzie said...

@Natalie try it. I guarantee it will be quite satisfying. :-)

@Liza So true. We can't escape who we are even if we deliberately try to.

@Alex So glad you like "snark." That makes it easy to relate. :-)

@Rachna We now have a Snark club, and I'm sure it's quite large.

@Lynn Hmmm. Sorry about your vanishing post, but glad you re-posted.

cleemckenzie said...

@L. Diane Yep! Right on the snout.

@Dihiwi We really appreciate our members! They make this all work. I'll stop in and read about your favorite writers. I guess I have to say I love so many authors that I have a hard time choosing.

Hi @Michael How great to read your comment. Thanks for visiting today.

@Mary Thanks so much.

@Leslie Love the encouragement! Thanks.

@Sandra Always appreciate a welcome home by friends. Thanks so much, and I did appreciate the light.

@Jemi I thought of it as a win-win!

@Patricia You bet. I think a lot of authors grin when they write a scene from real life and make it turn out the way they really wanted it to.

@Roland Horses are close to my heart, so I loved having a chance to include them in a story.

@Fundy Go for it! Then be sure to let us read it. :-)