JUST NEEDED SOME INSPIRATION

I needed some inspiration today and stumbled upon this article by the wonderful Stephen King and thought I might share it with everyone. Oh, and I am seriously saving to buy me his book on writing.

Here's the link: http://oldsite.greatwriting.co.uk/content/view/312/74

LIEBSTER AWARD AND YOU GUYS ARE GREAT!

I would like to thank all my bloggy friends who took the time to comment on my latest post. Your feedback was very useful and is invaluable. Thank you!

I got another award! They really do make me smile and act all hysterical, but it means a lot to me because it comes from my fellow bloggers. It is called the Sweetheart Blog Award!

1. Thank the person who gave the award to you.

Thank you so much Tonja!

You guys who don’t know Tonja, she is a truly awesome lady with a lot of guts and determination and you guys can find her over at http://tonjasmusings.blogspot.com . Thanks again.

2. Pass on the award to 5 other blogs with less than 200 followers

So now I have to pass it onto 5 other blogger friends with less than 200 followers. I chose the following people because they have less than 100 followers and they could really do with some more followers. Please pay them a visit.

Renee – http://reneesilvana.blogspot.com

Better is possible - http://clpcs-betterispossible.blogspot.com/

John - http://writepirate.blogspot.com

Tanyakschua - http://claustrophobicminds.blogspot.com

Reina - http://reina2000.blogspot.com

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog (check).

YOUR HONESTY IS DESPERATLY NEEDED

I think I might be a little crazy or at least have masochistic tendencies. You know how people always tell you that when one of your W.I.P’s is unsuccessful with agents that you should query another project? Well, I can’t let go of this one. I truly believe that this is my best work to date even though I have written other completed manuscripts as well.

I know it is really stupid to keep querying a manuscript that keeps getting rejected, but my heart is truly invested in this one. It is the first book in a series and that might also be what puts off agents.

I just keep thinking, what if I wrote a bad hook or what if I didn’t do justice to the first chapter, because the hardest part about writing for me is the first chapter. I just can’t seem to get it right.

So I keep rewriting the first chapter and my query letter hoping I will finally get it right and impress an agent. I am aware I am wasting a lot of time with just one manuscript, but isn’t it worth the trouble if you really truly believe in your work? I naively think so.

So to torture myself further, here is the hook from my query letter. Please, do not be afraid to be brutal. Your honesty is what I am yearning for.

What would you do if you were told you had the potential to be an immortal? That was an offer Claire could not refuse. But could everything be so easy? Not if Alex, an Amaranthine, could help it. He constantly makes Claire’s journey into the world of immortals difficult, at times resulting in moments of laughter and tears. But is Alex simply obnoxious or is he trying to prevent Claire from understanding the true meaning of their relationship.

Did you like it? Did you hate it? Please, leave a comment.

FREELANCING NOT FOR ME

I am giving up on freelancing. Firstly, I had two possible employment opportunities. The one guy offered me a job and after I accepted I never heard from him again. The other was a lady, writing 150 word posts for a ridiculous low pay rate, anyway I wrote my first three posts for her and never heard from her again either. She just picked my brain. Luckily for me those three posts were terrible. Hahaha! (Imagine evil laugh).

Secondly, freelancing takes a lot of time for research, querying for jobs and writing. It was hard for me to fit in novel writing as well. I guess it works if you are just a freelancer. Maybe I was just stupid and unable to multi task (Gasp).

I haven't been blogging or writing as much as I would like lately. I have just been feeling really tired and unable to focus.

Still no real job, but I will be temping for the next two days again.

Still no bites from any agents (sigh). But I am persevering and fully intent to keep on querying.

So...what have you guys been up to?

MY BEAN BURGER RECIPE

I worked on this recipe last week and perfected it to my taste. Renee (http://reneesilvana.blogspot.com) asked me to share it with everyone, so here it is...

Bean Burgers

Ingredients

1 Can of beans (The choice of beans is yours)
1 Onion
1 Large carrot
1 Pepper
½ tin of Sweet Corn (optional)
1 tsp of Garlic
½ Cup of pulsed oats
1 Egg (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
30 ml Olive oil

Method

Throw oil into a pan. Add the chopped onion, finely grated carrot and chopped pepper. Fry together till onion is soft. Add the garlic and the salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Throw the oats into a blender and pulse. Remove oats and put to the side. Drain the beans and toss them into the blender. Pulse till smooth. Throw the smooth mix into a bowl. Add the cooled onion, carrot and pepper mix. Also add the oats. Mix together.

Taste for seasoning. You can add more salt and pepper if you need to. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

All that is left to do is to shape them into burgers.

I also use this recipe for my vegetarian cottage pie and vegetarian meatballs as well. I personally like the taste because it has clean flavors and simple seasonings of salt and pepper. Feel free to jazz it up anyway you like.

COOKING TOO? WHAT'S NEXT?

A few weeks ago I started exercising regularly and yesterday I spent two and half hours in the kitchen perfecting my own veggie burger recipe. Now I must admit, I can't really cook so me spending that much time in the kitchen is weird. But I created the perfect veggie burger to replace all those soy products, which I am allergic to. The secret to a great veggie burger is using rolled oats instead of breadcrumbs and getting the seasoning just right, which I did, finally.

Lately I keep surprising myself because yesterday I finished two chapters of the work in progress I told myself I wasn't going to write about any more. So I never know what I am going to be up to next and that is kinda fun.

Also, I applied for a job at a local media business who is looking for freelance writers. You have to write 150 word paragraphs about random topics, which I think I can do. I just hope it is a legitimate thing because there are a lot of people trying to scam freelance writers. That goes for locally and internationally, so be aware.

On another note, I am going to spend most of the day sending out more query letters.

UPDATE YOUR BROWSER

I have been having a problem reading some of your blogs lately and because I am addicted to your blogs (I might not always comment but I do read them) I went in search of a way to fix this problem myself.

What did I come up with? I switched my normal Google browser to Google chrome. Since doing that my problem has been solved and there is not a blog out there that I can't read. If anyone else is having the same problem, then your browser just needs to be updated.