Werewolves or Vampires?

I am currently reading the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Can that lady tell a story!! I would love to be able to get readers as involved in my story as she has been able to do with me. I get so caught up in the books that I might as well be in a another world. Time just whizzes by unnoticed.

But at the same time there are elements to her stories that I don't think (on the surface) should work - yet she manages to make them work, and work very well. Take for example the hero, Edward. It's not that he's a vampire (I mean he has the ability to feed on humans, but he resists it and sticks to animals), more his physical description. He is icy to touch, very white (remember he's a vampire) and described as 'perfect' by the heroine Bella. As a descriptor not one to get my blood hot.

On the other hand, the werewolves that appear in book 2 are tall, muscly and olive skinned (potraying Native Americans) - if you ignore the fact they are werewolves, definitely more the traditional description of a hero.

With both the werewolves and Edward's family falling within the banner of 'the good guys' it is only Stephenie Meyer's emotional portrayal of Edward and his love for Bella that leaves me weak at the knees for Edward.

The above images are how the vampires and werewolves are cast in the movies. What do you think?

Loglines

Got the link to this blog from Query Shark. It has a fantastic method to write your logline - which leads to your pitch. Definitely worth a read.

Link

Bye Bye Facebook

I'm deleting my facebook account. Getting rid of any little tool that serves to keep me apart from my writing, except this blog of course.

Mind you, I was never a very good facebooker (hmm is that the correct term?) . My facebook friends could attest to that. So, dear friends of facebook, I'm sure you won't notice I'm gone. But I do hope that you will drop by and visit me at my blog from time to time.

New Look Blog

Phew. I think I have done it. I have updated my blog. Having been a newbie to blogging (only starting late last year), my skills at creating a blog left a lot to be desired. Sure, the last blog had posts - but that was about it. Hopefully my new blog has a lot more to offer.

I intend to focuss on all the bits of my life that weave into, get in the way of and prop me up as I try to reach my dream. So watch this space. Hopefully "Anita Joy, Harlequin's latest author" will be a post of the future.

Crazy Lady

I just need to finish my wip, it's driving me crazy. I do everything with Bree and Ashley running around having conversations in my head - I swear that people are starting to think I'm a tad crazy as I can't keep my thoughts straight.

Might just have to forgo sleep to finally get more than 2 minutes of peace and quiet to straighten those two out.

There are too many Anita's

There are so many of me that I think its quite ridiculous.

There is the original me, the one people at my son's school know, the one who does the groceries, who takes the kids to swimming. The one my close family and friends see, sometimes neat and tidy, othertimes a mess. At times in control, at others crumbling under the chaos life can throw. But always one who is doing for someone else, not herself.

But since August last year I decided, with the support of my family, I needed to do something for me, to try to take my writing seriously, to give it a chance - even if, in the immortal words of Harry Zimm (Get Shorty) the writing that pays best is 'ransom notes' - and a new me, the writer me, emerged. This one was full of self doubt but brimming with hope, a secretive me, someone no-one outside the writing community and my immediate family knew about.

To keep this new me a secret, I invented another me, under a pen name, Ellanora Joy, to enable me to be visible, to blog, join facebook, but at the same time stay hidden away.

But something has changed, and that something is bootcamp. To quote one of the most famous of our craft:

I begin already to weigh my words and sentences more than I did, and am looking about for a sentiment, an illustration or a metaphor in every corner of the room. Could my Ideas flow as fast as the rain in the Store closet it would be charming.
Letter, January 24, 1809, to her sister, Cassandra. Jane Austen’s Letters, Oxford University Press (1952).

My self-doubt has lessened, and my confidence grown. I CAN do this! I'm becoming proud of what I write and I need to start trusting that others will like it too. And understand that this writer is just me, Anita, but more honest then the one they knew before. Because this time they know what is on the inside.

So, as my confidence grows I hope the numbers of Anita's reduce, until there is just me left.

My Workspace

Phew, finally got my Valerie Parv Award entry in. As can be seen by the lack of posts over the last 2 weeks, all my time has been devoted to preparing the entry.

While taking a deep breath and catching up on my backlog, I thought I'd share my space. My writing space. The little bit of the house I've claimed.

Of course, it is normally never this tidy, but I tidied up just for the photos - the mess has since returned!