Five Facts on Friday: Sekrit info on Kiki

So, it's Friday, I'm late on posting (like usual) and I'm feeling random so I'm going to share five things about myself that you would probably never know upon meeting me.  I'm not really big on sharing personal information so maybe if I tell you my five - you'll tell me one about you?

1.  I had a motorcycle when I was 18. I even took it to college and rode it in the snow.  (Not the smartest idea...)

2.  I started learning how to play guitar in my 40's. (still learning.... my advice? Start when you're young!)

3.  I believe in ghosts.  (and crop circles...)

4.  Every few years I'll randomly paint a picture, even though I don't really know how to paint.  Here's one I painted of my daughter:

5.  My koi (I have fifteen of them) like me to pet them.  I think this is exceptionally cool and I think I should post a video on my blog documenting the fact. My daughter thinks it's exceptionally weird and that no one wants to see me petting fish. What say you?

So now it's your turn - tell me one thing about yourself that people wouldn't know meeting you!

Happy Friday!

~Kiki

Friday Five: Keeping the Faith

Sometimes writing is hard.  I've heard it said, I've read it, I've lived it.  It's a fact.  Anybody who has tried to write a novel can attest to the fact that sometimes writing is hard.

It's easy to get discouraged, to think what you're writing is crap, to get stuck in your plot and not know what's going to happen next, to get a rejection letter that feels like a personal sign that you're not meant to be a published author.

How do you drag yourself back to the computer and keep writing?  I'd love to hear what works for you.  For me, there's a number of ways:

1.  Find the part of your story that you love.  That when you read it you can't believe YOU wrote it because it's just THAT good.

2.  I cut out little reminders that encourage me to keep trying and paste them to my computer.  Here's one of my favorites: A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.

3.  Visit your local bookstore and find the spot on the shelf where YOUR book is going to sit.  I started doing this about two years before I sold my book. (I also treat myself to a frappaccino when I go there too. :D) I still do it, every time I go in a book store.  I visualize.  I believe.  I keep trying.

4.  Take classes on writing, read books on writing, read books you love and figure out what the author did that makes the story work so well.  I don't think we ever stop learning how to write better.

5.  Write for the love of writing.  I've had moments when I've thought about quitting.  What's the point? I'll never sell a book...blah blah blah.  But then these ideas pop into my head, stories waiting to be told.  My characters keep whispering things to me and I HAVE to write.  Because I love it.

How do you keep your faith when writing?

Friday Five

Yay for Fridays and feeling like maybe I'm getting over my jet lag! Here are my five things for Friday - what are yours?

1. Just joined a group of authors who all have their debut novels coming out in 2011. I'm so excited to get to know these other writers (several of us have the same agent and others I already know from other writing sites and groups) and share the journey to publication together. As we get closer to our release dates we will have more information on our blog about our books, the stories behind the story, as well as contests and giveaways. Check it out here.

2. Though it seems a little early it's starting to feel like Christmas to me. When my ipod shuffle lands on a Christmas song I start singing along instead of fast-forwarding. I guess all that programming that the retail stores do is starting to sink in. Anyway, I feel the urge to bake and shop. What about you?

3. NaNoWriMo starts Sunday which I'm excited to try for the first time this year. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and the goal is to write 50k words of a novel during the 30 days of November. You register on the NaNo site and log in the number of words you write each day. Lots and lots of people do it and you can buddy up with people you know and encourage each other in your writing. So it sounds pretty fun, (as long as I actually find some time to write and I can keep my plot going). I'm going to write the third book of THE FAERIE RING which is tentatively called THE UNNAMED as a working title. Wish me luck!

4. We're plotting up a great contest and giveaway over at The Enchanted Inkpot which will occur in November and December. But before we give out details on that you should check out some of the great interviews, one of which is with Janice Hardy whose debut novel THE SHIFTER just came out.

5. And finally, saving the best for last, I'm (hopefully) expecting to receive my editorial revision letter for THE FAERIE RING today. I know it may fall into next week, but I'm so excited to dig in and make the story all sparkly and good and to see what my fabulous editor, Susan Chang, has to say. It will be especially fun to re-read TFR since visting the sites in the book in person and being able to even more clearly visualize my setting.

Have a great Friday and a fun Halloween weekend!