Introducing Vlogs!

So maybe not as much of a big announcement since I’ve already teased this a few times now. But it’s official! Tomorrow will be the first Vlog! Look for it on my YouTube channel (link in the social bar), or on here in place of my usual Blogging Friday post.

What I can tell you right now is that this first Vlog will be a basic rundown of what I have planned over the coming months Vlog-wise. I’ve carefully thought out and planned most of them for the rest of the year. At least for the time being, my plan is to start out with one Vlog a month. Keep it simple and light sort of thing. But, you’ll have to watch my first Vlog tomorrow to get any more info.😉

Excited to start vlogging,

Liz

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Goals for 2016

Well hello there! And welcome to the great blog adventure 2016!

I just finished going through my blog history to see if I've done this before, and as it turns out, I haven't. So I'm changing that now. I don't usually come up with New Years Resolutions-especially the get fit/eat better one since it kinda bugs me-but I believe last year or the year before (probably the latter), I made just one: to write more. And I can't quite remember how that one turned out. But I think at least for a few weeks, I did write more.

For a while now, I've wanted to get to where I can write something every day. It's a hard one to start and keep up. I try to remind myself that it only takes 21 days to start a new habit. So that's what I'm shooting for first: 21 days, then the year. Although, I may actually need to take it a tad bit slower than that, I'm not really sure. Oh well, it'll be an adventure at least. In fact, I think this will be quite an interesting year...I've managed to think up quite a few more resolutions than I thought I would...

• I will write something every day. Even if it's just a sentence. Baby steps here...there will be difficult days.
• I will get back to and keep up Blogging Fridays. More to the point, I'll make it more of a priority.

• I will read more in the genres that I write in.

• I will make time to read period. The time will not present itself.
• I will finish what I didn't read in 2015, and complete the 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge (already updated over there➡).

Well...so much for that...

• The same goes for writing. This is my career, my work, and my business. It's high time I treated it as such. I will make time to write and figure out how to write even when I may not feel like it. I will use that as a tool for something creative.

So there you have it, my goals for 2016! Yes, mostly writing and reading related. I have quite a bit of work to do there. And I have my planner all ready to be filled up to help reign in the madness. Now to figure out how to use it as a blogging planner...

I may add some things to my list as the years goes on and I settle in. I will definitely be printing out this list and putting it up on my wall where I will see it. At any rate, I look forward to seeing what this year will bring and I'm excited to be back to blogging (oh, how I've missed this)!

     Let's make 2016 spectacular...
          Liz

We've got to stop meeting like this...

The last time I blogged was about mid-April, during Camp NaNoWriMo. I wish I could say that I finished out strong and completed my project. Unfortunately, I managed about 2k before I burned out. I plan on completing it some day though. It's a story that interests me as a writer and I can see things playing out very interestingly. It will probably be just a Wattpad novel, but still, it would be nice to have at least one (if not two or three) novels just for Wattpad.
And it's a bit of old-ish news now, but several months ago, I was super excited to finally get my own domain set up with this blog. I had a draft saved and then distractions left and right delayed my posting it:
Squeeeeaaaal!!!! I am so excited to finally be able to see my website address redirect to lizanneglasgow.com! There are a lot more changes coming, so please bear with me on that. :) I'm hoping that very soon there will be some updates coming to the whole layout here.
I'm in the process of checking to see what sort of themes I can find so I can have a more website looking...website. That is to say, I wish to have a more professional looking author website in preparation for when I do get that novel finished and published.
Another thing that I failed to mention as part of the MIA-ness in February was my mom having an emergency appendectomy. Once the craziness of dinner theater was over, things seemed to settle down briefly. I was still staying at home during the day to help take care of my mom since she was sick. Then out of the blue we found out she had early stages of appendicitis. And after an emergency appendectomy, thankfully, she was ok. She bounced back surprisingly fast too; in the next two or three days she was walking around pretty well again. I still stayed with her for most of the next few weeks to make for certain that she was ok. Now she's doing very well and is back to her old self again, with the addition of a small garden just big enough for a few things she's been wanting to grow. I've even picked out some watermelon seeds in hopes of growing some...we'll see how well that goes, lol
Since it's a couple of weeks away, I'm also planning on doing the next Camp NaNoWriMo. Maybe I can finally finish my novel. In fact, I check Twitter nearly every day. So if you're reading this, and you're on there, please...bug me a little lot. Seriously, check in with me, ask how I'm doing. In the past when someone asks how my writing is going during a NaNoWriMo month, it seems to help give me that push to keep going and remind me of why I'm doing this in the first place. I have stories that need to be told, otherwise they wouldn't be pestering me to be finished. Even simply going shopping, it seems like more and more I'll see something that reminds me or somehow inspires with one project or another that I have going.
I think I've decided that this time, along with #CampNaNoWriMo, my personal hashtag for the month will be #FinishThatNovel because I've been working on it for long enough, and it's high time it gets done. It deserves to be done and to be told.
So that's what been going on in my life...here's hoping I can keep up with Blogging Fridays now. I've missed blogging, and I have a lot of ideas for posts saved that I can work off of. And hopefully I can share a surprise soon. It's something I've been working on for a while, trying to get everything just so before I share it. :)

     Gearing up for another crazy month of writing...
          Liz

April Camp NaNoWriMo 2015: Week One (And Two)

Since I'm so far behind on blogging, and life refuses to slow down enough for me to catch my breath lately, I thought why not simply combine my weeks one and two posts this month?

So week one went fair; it definitely could have been better, but here are my stats so far.

My week one stats are as follows:
Day One: 611 total word count
Day Two: 105 total word count
Day Three: 586 total word count
Day Four: 389 total word count
Day Five: 0 total word count
Day Six: 0 total word count
Day Seven: 72 total word count

Week One: 1,763 total word count

Well dearies, there you have it. One thing that I love about Camp NaNoWriMo is the flexibility in your goal. Instead of having to do 50k, no questions, you have the option of having your goal be as little as 10k. Since I decided to dive in head first into this plot with little other knowledge than the bare minimum, (including barely knowing my characters), and figuring that out along the way, I decided to half my normal goal and at least give myself a fighting chance with 25k. Thankfully, a 10k Writathon was hosted this past Saturday and another this coming Saturday by Get Wordies. Unfortunately, I was not able to participate this time. But more on that a little later...


So week two went a little downhill; it definitely could have been better, but here are my stats so far.

My week two stats are as follows:
Day Eight: 0 total word count
Day Nine: 155 total word count
Day Ten: 73 total word count
Day Eleven: 0 total word count
Day Twelve: 0 total word count
Day Thirteen: 0 total word count
Day Fourteen: 0 total word count

Week Two: 1,991 total word count

Wow...did you cringe as much as me reading those numbers? *le sigh* This week was unexpectedly crazy and stressful...and...crazy stressful. As well as crazy busy. If not outwardly busy, I seemed to always be mentally busy. Which is what it seems to be most of the time now. Over the past several weeks, my mind has be going 0 to 60 with everything I need to get done. And half of it is writing related. So even when I don't show as much proof that I am writing, rest assured I am always writing something in my mind, or at the very least doing some ground work for something.
But hopefully this next week will be better and I can get caught up. By now I'm sort of counting on that second 10k Writathon to help me get caught up. I don't really have any excuses not to finish this time. 25k is a lot easier to manage in a hectic life than 50k.
I did manage in this week to discover a life goal and dream of my main character that was cool. Right now I have no idea where in the story it will be revealed, since I'm pretty much writing all out of order. At this point, I still have no idea what my opening chapters will be, but hey, that's what editing is for. In any case, I look forward to uncovering more of my characters and figuring out what makes them tick. It should be interesting considering the polar opposites they are...

     Having fun teasing this plot... ;)
          -Liz

Busy busy bee

So finally, I have a moment to sit down and explain why I've been MIA the past few weeks...as the title indeed suggests, I have been super busy the past couple of weeks. Enough that I can barely hear myself think now and it's a wonder I'm managing to keep up with my own schedule. But hey, I'm finally getting some actual use out of my calendar (both the one in my room and the ones on my phone and tablet)...and the smaller one in my purse, but that's beside the point...anywho...
I know I've mentioned it before a time or two about my college group's mission trip fundraiser which traditionally consists of taking various Broadway songs and performing them. My freshmen year we even had a Disney montage which took up the entire stage-including the baptistery! We started on one end with I See The Light from Tangled; people dressed in black came from the back of the sanctuary holding the various glowing "lanterns" and moved forward until they were surrounding our Rapunzel and Flynn. :) We also had Can You Feel The Love Tonight, from The Lion King. Then there was A Whole New World in the baptistery (complete with a platform "carpet" and looping night sky scenery on the projector). Briar Rose and Prince Phillip made an appearance as they sang Once Upon A Dream. And they had the ballroom dance scene from Beauty And The Beast while someone sang Tale As Old As Time. And finally, one of the girls sang Kiss The Girl to Prince Eric and Ariel (the girl playing Sebastian did so well, my mom thought she was lip-syncing).
Obviously, I could go on and on about dinner theater. It's something that I've admired for a long time. At first, it was generally meant as like a date night getaway for the parents, but eventually, they let us kids come watch too and it became more like a family thing and anyone could come. I think I got to see the last two years when I was in high school and I remember my senior year being so excited because the next year I was going to be able to participate. And so my freshman year, our theme was Dance And Romance Through The Decades. The next year it was country themed, and so there was more sassy things and a swing dance that I was able to be in with one of my guy friends. The girls got to have fun with Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me. We had nerds and cheerleaders. You can probably guess which one I was (::hint:: proud nerd, lol). And now this year, we're doing a movie theme. I'm excited to see what it all looks like when it comes together for dress rehearsal. :)
So I've been super busy with constant rehearsals going on, not to mention everything else going on right now. And with all of the rehearsing, I was told to ice my knees afterward to help with the pain from an old injury-which is what I'm currently doing as I write this. It seems to be working, so that's good.
I know the last thing I said on Twitter a few weeks ago was that it had been an emotional, tiring, and busy week. A lot of it had to do with the craziness of dinner theater rehearsals. What was left over had more to do with my Granny passing away...it still doesn't seem real. And it's all new to me because this is the first time I've ever lost anyone close to me. I know it will be a long process to deal with, but thankfully I have some pretty amazing friends around me right now that even though they don't say anything about it, they still let me know in their own way that they care about what I'm going through. That alone helps more than they will ever know. Plus, I know that she's no longer in pain and she's happy and healthy again. :)
I don't really want to dwell on the sadness a lot, or make this post more about that. But this is what the past few weeks have been like. Mostly the reason for my sudden disappearance has been because of super busy rehearsal schedules and not being able to think straight from that, along with a million and one other things on my mind. Hopefully I can find the time to continue Blogging Fridays this week, but we'll see. Almost two more weeks til showtime (ahh!). I know after all of this is done, I'll be free up again to continue Blogging Fridays, but in the meantime, it's just hard to carve out enough time to focus on blogging. Rest assured though, I haven't forgotten about it. And I do get sad when I miss even one week. I had hoped to start fresh this year and not miss a Friday. But I still have plenty of time left to make that a habit.
Anywho, so that's my life for the time being...looking forward to showtime and having my schedule not be quite so chaotic anymore.

     Thinking in circles...
          Liz

Looking for something to read?

So it's officially 2015, and maybe you want to start off the new year by reading something. Well I think maybe I can help with that a little... ;)
First, I would like to apologize for only now thinking of this, but hey, better late than never. I realize that I haven't ever posted anything else on here about the shorts I post on Wattpad...not anything really detailed anyway. So, I thought why not do that now? Granted, there's only a few stories posted now, but I plan on adding to the small collection very soon. A couple of them have gotten their own spotlight post before. But it's been a while since then too.
So without further adu, a little something from each story currently up on Wattpad, along with links! Enjoy! :)

The Little Mermaid: Modernized
This particular short was originally written for a contest over on Booksie. The idea was to take a familiar fairy tale and then re-write it with a more modern spin on it.
Errik knows it's forbidden to love a human. They're dangerous, and unpredictable. Yet, he still goes up to the surface every year-once a year-to watch her. The human girl he's been watching since he was 15. He knew to wait. It wasn't time yet. But now it was. She finally reached the age of 18, and he could approach her...maybe. If he could ever get up the courage. But what would happen when he finally decided to speak to her. Would she accept him as he was? Or run away screaming, leaving him heartbroken? Only one way to find out...

Clue
This is a novel-in-progress that has been on hold for far too long. But I'm hoping to be able to really get it moving again soon. I'm actually a little sad-ok, so a lot sad-that it's taken the back burner for so long.
When six friends go to a murder mystery show, they discover that it's not so much of a show, and more real than they ever imagined. A fun night has turned into someone's twisted game.

I Just Want To See My Baby (Christmas Short Story)
Is it really ever not the time for a good Christmas love story?
Growing up, Lindsey and Ben were inseparable. Best friends since before they could walk, they did everything together. When both were told the other had cooties, neither ran away. They stuck together through thick and thin. And eventually, Lindsey developed a crush on Ben. Right before graduation and Ben moving off to another college. Now, a year later-and still as head over heels for Ben as ever-Lindsey can’t help but wish to see him for Christmas. The only question now is, will Lindsey get her Christmas wish come true?

NKB Short
This is my scene for the 4th annual No Kiss Blogfest, hosted by Frankie Diane Mallis. It's a blogfest focused on the tension of wanting a kiss so badly, and then something preventing it from happening at the last possible second.
Riley and Jordan are more than mere friends, they're practically family. To say that they were best friends and nothing more would be like an insult to them. They knew they were more like brother and sister and always had been. So what happens when the unthinkable happens and suddenly they don't know what they are to each other anymore?

So yes, this was a shameless self promotion. ;) I have plenty more in the works (more on that later), unfortunately life has been super busy and just crazy in general. But I think I'm going to stick with my New Years Resolution that I had last year and resolve to write more-and to blog more. And since I plan on keeping the Blogging Friday posts, that should definitely help. And I'm already writing a little every day with the Year of Writing thing I have going. I'm excited to see how that turns out.
Be sure to keep a look out for future releases on Wattpad, as well as the continued story of Clue. :)

     Happy reading...
          -Liz

A Year Of Writing

First off, happy New Years Eve to everyone and I hope you have a fabulous year!
I was on Pinterest one day, looking through a ton of different writing related things, mostly writing prompts. I've been trying to keep those creative wheels greased in post NaNoWriMo. And there are a LOT of writing prompts on Pinterest. I highly recommend you go there for creative inspiration.
One of them I found was a very simple one and I think I've decided to use that one over the next year to see what comes from it. I won't put any sort of limit on myself, just let what happens happen. If it's only one sentence that gets done, well hey, that's one more sentence than I had done before. And those words add up. I'm adding these prompts to my calendar so that I'll see it every day and know which one I'm supposed to do. I'm still trying to think how I'm going to share each day's usage (which I think I've worked out now), but I would like to have a way to share my progress and such.
I have started up a group on Google+ for this very thing. I'm not sure that the link works directly, but just search A Year of Writing on Google + or just go to my profile and it should be there. There are boards on there for introducing yourself and for each day's prompt to be shared. You don't have to share how you've used the prompt of the day, but I plan on doing this as a way of keeping my own self accountable so maybe I'll actually write every day. But I would love it if you wanted to join in as well, there's still plenty of time. I'm planning on starting this January first (so...tomorrow...ahh!). :)
The link to the prompts list is here: 365 Writing Prompts for Creative Writing Since some of them repeat, I'll probably be substituting some of those from my own sources. That way it will always be something fresh to inspire everyone.
Have I mentioned how excited I am for this? I really do hope more writers will join me and the others already in the group. The thought sort of hit me somewhere around the middle-end of NaNoWriMo and the beginning of December. I toyed with it for a little bit and finally decided, hey...what the heck and decided to just dive in head first. Besides all that, I simply love writing communities. I've been blessed enough to be a part of several through my own close knit group of writing friends in my personal life, and then constantly meeting new writers through NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo, not to mention Twitter/Facebook also. And if any of you should be reading this, know that I love you all. :) I think really, it's that mutual love of the written word and brainstorming about the impossible worlds we can create with just a few simple words, just hearing the kind of passion one has for writing always gets me excited about writing. Which is great because it always seems to come at the right time. So please, come join in on this adventure. The more, the merrier!

     Feeling inspired...
          -Liz