Basically what the article boils down to is that teens who consume five or more sodas per week are more likely to exhibit violent behavior and carry guns and/or knives and significantly more likely to have consumed alcohol or smoked. Unfortunately, they didn’t put a number around the potential for alcohol consumption likelihood, or the smoking, so we’re left to wonder what “significantly” works out to in real-world terms. They did however put a number against the potential for a teen to carry either a knife or a gun. If a teen consumes 14 or more sodas of the sugary variety per week (two per day or more for those who do not like to do the math), then they are 20% more likely to carry a knife or a gun. Actually, the alarming fact in the article to me was not that carrying weapons increases by 20% when someone is a high soda consumer, but that 23% of those polled carry either a knife or a gun on a regular basis. 23%!!!!! I see that I am going to have to rethink some of my characters and start including more who carry weapons.

It is also mentioned in the article that the high consumption of soda (more than five per week) has the same impact on the behavior in teens as alcohol, when it comes to an increase in violent behavior raising the potential from 9%-15% over those who do not consume sodas. Sara J. Solnick and David Hemenway of The University of Vermont and Harvard School of Public Health respectively, concluded that, “The influence of soft drink consumption on violence appears to be a ‘dose-response’ relationship, with effects visible at low levels of consumption and increasing with greater consumption.” Will this lead to pleas in court of “…it wasn’t my fault, Your Honor, I drank soda and couldn’t help myself.”?

Actually, the first thing that came to mind after reading the article was how interesting a study of soda consumption among authors and whether there is a correlation to the amount of suffering they inflict on their characters would be. Followed by the thought that we may need to start including soda consumption as a character trait prior to violent episodes.

When I branched out from #amwritingparty to #amwriting, I found a wonderful writing community and I’m so glad I did. My tweetdeck is never without the #amwriting column so I can see what people are posting, and catch articles of interest, etc. #Amwriting has given me some of my best friends and those bonds will not be broken easily. Help is always only a tweet away.

This is a progressive birthday celebration, so thanks for stopping by and the next stop is at Khyiah Angel’s blog. Go check it out. And for a list of all participants in the party go here.    And…..

Words from Lori This piece was first published March 15, 1998 in the Indianapolis Star. It has been “modified” and “edited” by others and circulated on the Internet, even sent to me several times. Imagine my surprise to see it attributed to some guy named Anonymous. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I take having my work circulated on the web as a compliment.

An Obituary printed in the London Times

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

• Knowing when to come in out of the rain
• Why the early bird gets the worm
• Life isn’t always fair
• and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place–reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now,Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on.. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

The downhill slide is a bittersweet time for me. I’m excited to get to the finish line, yet saddened to be leaving the story behind for awhile. I console myself (yes – console) that revisions lie ahead in a few short weeks and I will be reunited with my characters and have the opportunity to mold and shape the raw clay I have produced. It’s also at this point where I look at what I have to fit into the remainder of the book and look at the dwindling words left to write, and a tiny bit of panic sets in. How will I fit it all in?

Fortunately, I have learned who I am as a writer and always build in a buffer (minimum 10K) because I know I will add more before I cut. Then after I have built the book up to a point where it is longer than it should be, I reach for the scalpel, and start trimming away the fat. This particular project, being a middle grade novel, means I have a little less leeway with the word count than I normally do with a young adult novel, so the hill is looking pretty steep as I make my way to the top. The slide will be steep, and the ride will be fast, but I am ready to hit it at a run.

So while writers are getting geared up, flexing their fingers, making a mad dash through their outlines, notes, and whatever method of preparation they use to help get them through the month, agents and editors are furiously working on getting through their current submissions so they can put up their “Closed to Submissions” sign in January to help stave off the onslaught of submissions which are the result of NaNoWriMo. Let’s face it, while there will be a few commercial products born out of this frenzy of writing, the vast majority will require significant work (much more time than the month of December can provide) to turn into a publishable product. So January submissions are something to be feared. Because the actual purpose of NaNoWriMo is NOT to write great words with much consideration and thought, it is simply to help writers write through blocks and to put works on the page. And it is the time of year when this button could end up being true as writers reach to fill the pages.

Last year I experienced NaNoWriMo through Twitter and there was a wonderful sense of camaraderie as authors communicated about their progress, had online writing sessions, and helped one another through the blocks to keep the words flowing. While I didn’t participate directly in NaNoWriMo, I gained quite a few of my very best online friends during that time. I was hard at work as well in the process of editing two novels I wanted to have revisions complete by the end of November, so we all worked well into the night together. One of my favorite hashes on Twitter was born at that time: #amwritingparty which is where I met so many of my now good friends.

Best of luck to all of the participants this year. I will once again be rooting for everyone from the sidelines as I am once again working on two books, one in the creation phase and the other in the editing phase…so I guess that makes me a NaNo Rebel, and something which will always be the case. For one thing, I am internally driven and put enough pressure on myself to get things done, and I tend to stall with word count pressure. If I simply approach my work and write, without being concerned with how many words I’ve written or revised, I am much happier. BUT for those who like the challenge of the word count pressure, and find themselves stalling on their work in progress, you might want to give Write Or Die a try.

Whether you outline, cluster, or are simply a panster, I wish you the best luck for the month of November, lots of words and hope no one OD’s on too much coffee, twizzlers, or whatever else fuels the writing fires.

Happy Writing!

One of the most dynamic and best utilizations of the Twitter network I have seen is the use of hashtags within the message. By clicking on a hashtag you see in a message it does a search for anything marked with the hash. Instantaneously, you are in the midst of a dynamic, live, ongoing chat with anyone who would like to participate. Some of the hashes are more formalized and there are specific days and times for people to get together and most times there is a moderator and a topic for the discussion. It can still get a little wild. Anyone who knows me well knows that the informal application would appeal to me more than the formalized. Although, on occasion I will participate in #kidlitchat or #yalitchat. But the most fun I have is with a group of writers who are dedicated, enthusiastic, and supportive and the chat, which is ongoing pretty much 24/7, and resembles a combination kegger and writer support group under the hash of #amwritingparty

Struggling with your manuscript and need some help or an understanding ear? No problem, just hop on the net and bring up the #amwritingparty and tweet about your issue. Someone is bound to respond with a suggestion, some words of wisdom, or a cyber hug, depending on what the issue is. They are there for your triumphs, ready to let virtual streamers sail and sparkly confetti fall. When you’re stuck for words, they dispense some magic sparkly wordy dust and the beverage of your choice. *virtual jello shot anyone?* There are also the times when you need a little upbraiding, and someone is there to read the riot act, and console you once its done. And, for whatever reasons, these measures do seem to work. Focus becomes possible, words start to flow and knotty plot problems get resolved. The #amwritingparty hash was started by a sparkly new writer, Sara McClung and she describes how the creation of the hash came about in a blog post on her site: The Babbling Flow of a Fledgling Scribbler.

When I started writing, I went to a writing class which had the format of critiquing everyone’s work each week. I can remember the excitement with which I anticipated each class and how I hated when the class ended for the evening, because that meant I started the waiting cyccle all over again. I thrived so much on being in the presence of other writers, hearing their work, listening to their critiques, learning and soaking up as much as I could during the brief time we spent together each week. That is what makes the online writing communities so wonderful. It is possible to replicate the fueling energy that comes from being around other writers, and it isn’t necessary to wait.

At the beginning, I usually mentally try out some scenarios of simple every day life, to help me get a better understanding of how the characters react and interact with each other and their environment. I want to know them intimately – if I don’t somewhere along the line they will turn into stick figures that I am trying to move through situations rather than full-fledged beings thinking, reacting, and feeling so readers can identify with them. I recently did an interview with Katie McCabe, the main character in my Misfit McCabe series for Carolina Valdez Miller, and have been thinking about having a few more conversations with my characters to get a take on where they might be taking me in the next installment in the series. While this is not another interview, I am amazed that I am still learning things about my characters even though we are going into book 3 together.

I was thinking about Sarah, the cousin Katie is closest to and has the most interaction with, and who is a central character to the series story lines. As thoughts were flitting through my mind, I thought about her getting dressed into the clothes she works around the farm in, and it hit me…I had no idea what brand a jeans she wears. Is she a Levi’s girl or are Wranglers the jean selection of choice? Sarah was a little miffed with me for not knowing, after all, we’ve known each other for quite awhile, and she practically lives in jeans, unless it is a more formal occasion and I hadn’t even noticed what brand she wears?

In my defense, I barely notice what brand I wear let alone anyone else on the planet (or those who inhabit my mind). I am not a fashion maven and never have been. Sarah’s reaction told me that while it is something that had escaped my observation, it is something that is obviously important to her and that she felt the choice says something about her as a character. My initial thought was that she slides into her well worn Levi’s, but the moment the thought was in my mind, she interrupted wanting to know if I had just dressed her in Levi’s. That’s when she got a little irritated with me. I’d like to go on record now as now being aware that Sarah wears Wranglers – no fancy designer jeans, but well worn (and obviously loved) Wrangler jeans. Matt and Mark on the other hand wear Levi’s, which I somehow new because of the little red tag on the back pocket. Draw whatever conclusions you want about that observation.

While it may seem like a small and rather superfluous thing to know whether a character wears Levi’s or Wranglers, it is the sum of all those little details which may or may not make it into the final text which make the characters who they are, and the more you know about them, the more real they will be on the page, and the more your readers will feel like they know them at the end of the book. Which is really the point of the entire exercise.

One thing I have heard from most writers I know, and even some I don’t know, but happened to get a snippet from their blog, is the frustration we experience when being interrupted while working. The absolute worst times are when you are in the writing zone, fingers flying on the keyboard, or pen scratching on the page for you long-handers out there. You are in the world of your characters. You are living their emotions, seeing the action, reacting to the external forces and settings. You are immersed to the point where you hear the dialogue, experience the smells, and the world of your life has ceased to exist. Until it happens. You are yanked out of the story, sometimes by the scream of a child, the sound of the phone, someone knocking on your door, or sometimes it is simply someone saying your name. Any vestige of concentration has just been shattered into a million pieces and you’ll spend the next half hour once you are able to return to working trying to pick the pieces up and put them together again. The results are sometimes fragmented as you may be missing pieces which were in your grasp only moments before.

Things like that make me want to scream. It takes me so long to get back into the place I left, and sometimes I never get there. And the reality of the situation is that non-writers simply do not understand that their thirty-second interruption just cost you thirty minutes, and maybe some vital bits of your story. Of course, if the bits were extremely vital, then they should resurface, but at what cost to the pace and flow of the story. So for you non-writers out there, if sometimes the writer in your life seems especially irritable or touchy, it’s because the interruption is like someone pouring a bucket of ice water on you during your sleep. It’s jarring, pulls you out of the world which held you in thrall, and it is nearly impossible to return to the world you crave quickly.

The picture I used for this post speaks to me of writers. The figure hovering over a little world, searching while ideas, characters, thoughts flow from her.

You’ve just had an epiphany. Some little bit that had been bothering you about your writing just surfaced and you finally know how you’re going to handle it. Maybe it’s a plot point that you couldn’t get your mind around. Maybe a new character surfaces. Maybe it’s a bit of dialogue the provides the perfect end to a scene. Whatever it is, once you have the epiphany, it seems like the creative flood gates open and you are ready to WRITE!

I love when it happens. For a writer it is the ultimate part of the creative process. Sometimes it happens when you are not actively struggling with a concept. It happened for me this morning. I was going along, on my way to work, when BAM it happens. I suddenly know the one thing that will tie Nowhere Feels Like Home together and put a big bow on it. I wasn’t even thinking of the book at the time, and the answer was only one word that floated through my mind, and then suddenly the whole concept was there right in front of me ready to scoop up. Now all I have to do is find the right place in the book to insert a scene or two and make it happen. Sometimes being a writer is very good.