Plot Monkeys

This past weekend, I had the great fortune to attend the Washington Romance Writer’s annual retreat in Harper’s Ferry, WV. This is a little different from the typical chapter conference, as it is less structured, more informal, more fun & intimate. The group essentially takes over this neat old hotel on the cliffs above Harper’s Ferry, and fills every room in it for a couple of days.

There were lots of bigwigs there. Nothing like sitting in a room with Nora Roberts, Pat Gaffney, Julia Quinn, Cathy Maxwell, Donna Kaufman, Lisa Gardener, Mary Jo Putney, Madeline Hunter, etc. etc. etc., to remind you that you’re a flea on the big dog of romance writing.

I was humbled.

I was also educated.

I learned some new stuff that I hadn’t heard before (or hadn’t heard in that way!) Some of the more interesting tidbits…

Nora can’t stand going more than a day or two between books. If she’s not writing, she’s not happy.

Lisa Gardener is just lovely. She sold her first book at age 20 and doesn’t look much older than that now!

Kate Duffy of Kensington is a total hoot and will say exactly what’s on her mind at any time. (She also talked a lot about author Jacqueline Frank who she thinks is fantastic. Anybody read her?)

Madeline Hunter knows a LOT about this business…and much of what she has learned has come from the mistakes she made along the way.

Julia Quinn owes me a dollar. (I lent her a buck to tip the bartender!)

Julia, Lisa and Madeline are all list-makers.

My roommate Sandy Moffett has tremendous basket luck, as do a few other people who won several of the amazingly fabulous raffle baskets. (I, on the other hand, won squat.)

Kathleen Gilles Seidel has brass cajones. Just sayin’…

Fried chicken can be very dry and baked chicken can be very greasy. And fish from Friday night made into fish stew for Saturday is just nasty. (FYI: The place we stayed has character and charm…but it ain’t exactly four star!)

Per Cathy Maxwell, of the 165,000 books published in 2006 (across all genres!) only the top 6% sold in the 5000-50,000 copy range. That meant every published romance author in the breakout session (a good 40 or so) was a member of that elite group, which was way cool!

All the editors except Kate Duffy seem tired of paranormal, and say readers are really tired of vampires. BUT they are interested in witches (Julie!) shapeshifters, water creatures, etc. And those books still sell very well. The theory is that it’s because it’s not “p.c.” anymore to have aggressive, uber alpha heroes, but if that uber alpha hero is a werewolf who just can’t help himself, the reader can just enjoy herself without feeling guilty.

Kate Duffy, however, said paranormals are great and successful because their authors are being wildly imaginative and fresh…and that contemporary romance is flat because their authors are not.

Hmm…

Lucia Macro of Avon talked about Anna Campbell’s book CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, which has appeared on a whole lot of message board discussions lately. That book seems to refute that whole “Avonization of romance” argument because it is very unlike the typical light Regency historical. (FYI: I got the book in my goody bag…mixed feelings on it, though not because of the “controversial” element. ‘Nuff said.)

Diana Peterfreund is especially luminous now that she’s engaged.

Editor Jen Enderlin of St. Martin’s was funny and fabulous and looks far too relaxed to have two babies!

Agent Jenny Bent is utterly adorable pregnant.

The editors all say writing to “trends” is, basically, stupid, because publishers don’t create trends. And that it is not the publishers who are demanding only Regency-era historicals with xyz plotlines, it’s just all the authors are giving them. They say they’re not publishing other things because authors aren’t submitting those types of things. They all sounded like they would love for a fabulous, juicy western to cross their desk.

What’s hot: non-vampire paranormals, romantic suspense—especially if they’re connected in a series, very sexy romance, inspirationals. What’s not: contemporaries. Oh joy.

And finally, a big, exciting announcement was made Sunday morning by the wonderful Michelle Buonfiglio who runs the Romance Buy The Book column & blog. She was approached by the Lifetime Network to bring romance fiction to the attention of Lifetime viewers (and vice versa!) So as of the end of June, Michelle’s column, reviews & blog will be hosted exclusively on the to-be-redesigned Lifetime website. Way cool, huh? The official announcement is being made today on Michelle’s site, so I’m not spilling any secrets. If you want to go congratulate her and the “Bellas”, here’s a link.

That’s about all I can remember. It was lots of fun and was very informative, but I have to say I really did feel like the best-selling, award-winning’est author who nobody’s ever heard of. There really is nothing like being in a room filled with superstars to put you in your place.

And to give you the motivation and drive to work hard to achieve what they have achieved!

The winner of Janelle’s Friday’s Jungle Madness Contest is:

NINA (Comment #22)

Whoo-Hoo!!! Congratulations!!! Be sure to email me with your full name and mailing address (and what book of mine you’d like) at: janelledenison@sbcglobal.net.

And now, a Sunday Funny:

WHY GOD MADE MOMS –Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men’s bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn’t have her thinking cap on.

Who’s the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because dad’s such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What’s the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don’t do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I’d di-et, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I’d get rid of that.
2. I’d make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Couple of weeks ago, I asked if it would be okay with the Plotmonkey readers if we devoted a little time to the writers who join us here on the blog. Since everyone seemed amenable, I’m going to hijack the Saturday Chit-Chat for the next few weeks to present my notes from a workshop I recently did for my TARA chapter called “Plotting With Your Pants On.” Ask questions, comments, request examples and clarifications…hopefully the other monkeys will jump in too with their commentary. (Except Leslie, who is off at a conference this weekend.)

Here it is…I’ll be presenting in parts.

Part One

Plotting with Your Pants On

In recent years, two schools of thought have emerged in terms of how writers plot their books. If you’ve been in RWA long enough, you’ve heard the term “plotter” and “pantster.” The plotter being the writer who carefully and meticulously plans out every key point in the scenes, chapters and “acts” (under screenwriting’s three or four act systems, which I’ll discuss next week), does character interviews, exhaustively researches and for all intents and purposes, comes off as anal and left brained.

The pantster, on the other hand, is so named because this writer works from the seat of their pants, rather than from any definitive plan. The original term for this was “misters,” a term coined, I believe, by Jo Beverly when she gave an RWA keynote address and wrote several articles on “Flying Into the Mist,” which basically outlined her process of sitting at the computer and typing away, letting the story tell itself organically without any definitive plot to guide her. This is all very creative, very right-brained, very…literary.

Over the past few years, there has emerged a sort of factioning that disturbs me as a writer. Assumptions are made about the creativity level of one author over the other…and frankly, about the talent.

I believe very strongly that these arguments are ridiculous. But it’s easy for me because I’m a switch-hitter. I “do it both ways” as it were.

So what I’m going to share with you today is MY WAY of doing things. And the one thing MY WAY will illustrate is that there is more than one way to plot a book.

There is no wrong way or right way. If you plot one way, your books will not be more complicated or intricate than another…nor will they be more creative or organic. No matter HOW you write, the only thing that counts in the end is the FINAL PRODUCT. How you get there is entirely up to you.

One thing I learned when creating my layering technique is that necessity is the mother of invention. After writing twenty-five books, I’ve learned that every book is a different experience for me. Some are a snap while others threaten to kill me. Some I can write without having a single word written in pre-planning–including a synopsis. The Blaze I wrote last year, THE DOMINO EFFECT, was sold on two paragraphs and I never wrote a single other pre-planning note. I sat down and wrote.

The caveat to that is that I did talk the book out with my plotting partners, and I do intend to talk about that process a little later on.

On the other hand, my last Marisela book, DIRTY LITTLE LIES, was not only plotted once, but twice. I had a science project board with post its and pages and pages of notes–one for each version of the book (I’ll show you a picture of my current plotting board next week.) The only thing the process for writing this book had in common with Domino was that I discussed the book, mostly the second version, with my plotting partners before I wrote.

I guess this is a good time to discuss the process of plotting with partners, which of course, is how this blog came to be. Here are a few guidelines you might want to consider if you go this route.

 Have a mix of personalities and strengths–but it is perhaps helpful to work within genre (historical/contemporary.) Helpful, but not essential as I’ve learned from other groups. In our case, Janelle & Carly great with characterization and emotions; Leslie and I are better with plotting and external conflict.

 Only work with people you trust. (Critique with them or know them personally for a long time beforehand so you know that they understand and respect not only your voice, but your body of work).

 Have a plan. (1-1/2 hours per book, with two books per person if what we Plotmonkeys do…and designate a scheduler. In our case, it’s Janelle.)

 Plan for downtime (helps keep up the trust and friendship so essential to the process.)

 Establish rules…if someone says “that’s just not a me story/character/element” then the others have to drop it.

 NO STEALING IDEAS WITHOUT PERMISSION–offering them is best. In other words, if an idea comes up that you don’t want to use, but you know is good…let someone else have it if they want. We’ve never done this, but the offer is out there.

 Generally, we all start off with either character or a plot element or a scene and we build from there. There’s no set way…you have to be flexible.

 GMC–two years ago, we started implementing the GMC portion of our plotting. Before we finished plotting a book, we made sure we had GMC for the hero, heroine and villain (if there is one). This helped the writer down the line when the plot had to develop.

 Don’t always try to plot scene by scene…what you’re looking for is enough information to write a really good synopsis. Everyone is different and will need different information. Janelle doesn’t like having too much information, for me, the more the better.

 TAPE THE SESSIONS! Do not rely on notetaking or memory…it won’t work. Invest in a good digital recorder. After each session, download the files to a laptop…the files are often too big for email. (*Have at least one techno savvy person in the group!)

 Four is probably the max that the group can handle in one weekend. Everyone gets 3 hours…that’s twelve hours and that’s a lot because you’ll end up using more, even if it’s not recorded.

Next week, I’ll talk about standard screenwriting techniques to plotting and how to adapt it to romance novels. Stay tuned!

In just a few weeks it’s going to be Mother’s Day, so I thought I’d offer up a relaxing prize package for all those harried mother’s out there, and even non-mothers who need to destress!

This week Janelle is giving away a gift package from Bath & Body Work’s “Pleasures” collection. You’ll receive Shower Gel, Body Splash and Body Lotion in a yummy exotic coconut scent, along with a candle to light while you’re taking your shower or bath, and a scrubby sponge, all wrapped up in a pretty woven basket! Winner will also receive their choice of autographed book from Janelle’s backlist.

All you have to do to enter is post on today’s blog! That’s it. Then check back on Sunday to see if you’re the lucky winner!

I’ve always been very resistant to change. I think it’s part of my Virgo personality. I like things orderly, predictable, and stable. When something changes, it throws my world all out of whack until I get used to the change and settle back into a routine and then I’m happy again. Just ask Carly – she’s the spontaneous one in our friendship and I’m the practical one who has to think things through (which takes time!), and sometimes we drive each other nuts with that part of our personalities. But, we also balance one another in this aspect, too – I’m sometimes successful in stopping Carly from doing something spontaneous that she might regret later, and she prods me to be adventurous and do things outside of that comfort zone I cling to.

So, today’s topic is about CHANGE. I’m excited to announce that after five years of having the same website design, I’ve finally given myself a new (and very overdue) website look. (Just as a comparison, Carly changes her website design every two years ). It took me a very long time to finally decide on this new look of mine – at least a year of searching for exactly what I wanted because I knew it would probably be another five years before I even thought about changing it again! But, now that I’ve made the change, I’m thrilled with the design and truly couldn’t be happier with what my webmistress and I came up with.

For those of you who didn’t see my website before the change, or maybe have forgotten what it looked like, it was orange and red with flames on the side of the page. And I LOVED that website design, and I still do. It suited the hot Temptation and Blaze books I wrote, and I really did have a hard time giving it up.

But after publishing over 30 Harlequin books, I started writing single titles, and Berkley has given me a gorgeous new look with my Wilde books that is much more sensual and sophisticated than what those flames imply, and I knew that I needed to update my website design to reflect the type of books I’m now writing. In fact, for those of you waiting for Joel Wilde’s story, here’s a peek at his cover:

See what I mean? It’s that just a gorgeous and sensual cover and really captures who the characters are. I really do love it!

Anyway, now back to my old and new website design discussion and making that dreaded change. For those of you who want to check out the old look with the flames to compare, here is a link to the website design. It’s no longer a “working website”, but this link will give you a good idea of what those flames looked like. You can check it out here: OLD DESIGN

And now, the official unveiling of my NEW DESIGN.

Sometimes, change is good. Very good.

While you’re at my new website you can read an excerpt for my story in the BAD BOYS WITH RED ROSES anthology (out next week!), and read an excerpt for Joel’s story in BORN TO BE WILDE. You can check out my “About Janelle” page and read some fun Q&A’s and check out some new pictures I’ve posted. Oh, and you can enter my monthly giveaway contest, too. But be sure to come back here when you’re done so you can tell me what you think of my new look, and answer today’s blog question:

What type of personality do you have when it comes to change? Do you love spontaneity and change (like Carly), or do you prefer things to remain the same and predictable (like me?).

Night before last, my daughter and I were a little off schedule. That tends to happen when Daddy isn’t home because while he is very, um, organized…we are not. So at 8:30pm, she was finishing up her homework while I was taking a shower.

Then I heard it: glub, glub, glub.

I look down at the drain. Nothing. I hear it again: glub, glub, glub. It’s coming from the other side of the shower door. The toilet. It’s…burbling. And not like a brook either. Why I knew this was a bad thing is beyond me, but I did. I got out of the shower quickly.

I dried and dressed and then decided to check out the now glub-less toilet. It won’t flush. Another bad sign. I pull out the plunger. Nuthin. So I do what any rational 42-year old woman does when she has a plumbing problem at 9pm. I called my Dad.

Now, I guess I could have called my husband, but love him as I do, his knowledge of plumbing is about equal to mine. But my dad knows everything. Most dads do, don’t they? He ran me through a few tests then declared, “You need to call the plumber.”

Which I did. We are now way past my daughter’s bedtime, but the toilet noises have distracted her and she’s still not done with her spelling homework. I talk to the plumber, who says he thinks there’s a clog in the main line (which I know enough about plumbing to know ain’t cheap) and he can come around midnight. Maybe. But he’ll waive his service call if I let him come in the morning.

Well, here’s a man who knows how to negotiate.

But there’s no way that two females can live in a house without working plumbing, so instead of tucking my daughter into bed like a good mother, we do a fast evacuation.

Pillows and blankets, check. (Yes, my parents have pillows and blankets, but they are not OUR pillows and blankets.) Clothes for tomorrow, check. Backpack, lunchbox, lunch, school things, check. Julie’s laptop (with files from PC quickly downloaded), check. Dog, check. House locked up, check. Forty-five minutes later, we’re at my mother and father’s house…and they live ten minutes away. Packing quickly takes time!

My father asked if we were staying for a week when he saw us marching toward the front door. My father is a funny man.

I got my daughter into her pajamas and she managed to finish her homework and get into bed by 10 o’clock. The dog, however, was another matter. While she loves visiting my parents house and squeals like a pig for the last two blocks because she figures out where we’re going, she doesn’t like to sleep over. I think it’s the wood floors throughout the house. You can hear EVERYTHING, so the dog hears twice as much. Instead of sleeping at the foot of the guestroom bed, she stands guard. It’s got to be exhausting for a little dog.

Because my parents weren’t expecting company, my daughter and I ended up sharing the same guestroom with the king size bed. I forget what a wiggle worm that child is until I share a bed with her…and the dog.

Of course, I let her sleep in. Luckily, my parents live closer to her school than I do, so we were only 15 minutes late. I called the plumber to verify my appointment time and realized I had two hours to kill. So I went back to my parent’s house (they were both at work) and I remembered why I didn’t move out until I was married.

This is the view from their patio:

These were taken by my cell phone, so the quality isn’t great, but if you click on the pic, you’ll get a larger view. I don’t know if I can explain how peaceful this is first thing in the morning when there are no boats on the lake, when the ducks are just waking up, when the yard guys next door haven’t show up yet. I’d like to say I got a lot of writing done…but reality? I spent a nice hour just communing with me.

Until the plumber called. He was on his way to my house, so I had to book out of paradise and head for home. Not that I don’t love my house, but until the hot Florida mornings start up (we’re still having spring for a few more days) I think I just found my new morning writing spot. It is, of course, close to my daughter’s school after drop off. I have a key. And the view is free…

So, tell me about your “peaceful place.” Do you have one readily available?

Oh…the clog in the line? Red-hair (gulp) and a FROG. Leslie, what are you doing sending your mojo on my house???

I never gave much thought to this question. I’m American. But as we all know, Americans had to come from somewhere. I’m out of contact today. I’m on a class trip with my youngest daughter’s Fifth grade class. I’m at Ellis Island. I’ve never been there before so I am really looking forward to seeing this. I’m a history person so I’m curious.

I went to a class meeting yesterday morning for the moms who are going on the trip. One of the things the teacher said was that she asked the kids: If you were leaving your home forever, what ten things would you take with you? A lot of them said things like: My iPod, a TV, my dog, etc. And she had to remind them – you can only take what you can carry on your back.

Wow. What an “aha” moment! How far we’ve come from the days when our ancestors had to pack up and leave everything they knew behind – and choose what to take with them.

So I’m going to put myself to the test and then while I’m gone for the day, I’ll ask you the same thing.

My List of Ten Things: (I’m going by modern day but only those things I can carry or legitimately care for) and in no particular order:
1. photographs of everyone important to me whose faces I wouldn’t want to forget.
2. My laptop and power cord – so I can write and be connected to the world.
3. My iPod and power cord/charger – for the trip and in case I want to get lost in my own world.
4. My cell phone and charger – for the same reasons above.
5. My wedding rings (do those count?)
6. A USB mini disk with all my books saved
7. My kids (I really don’t think those count and I can’t carry them but I can’t leave them behind – this exercise is really making me think how hard the immigrants had it!)
8. My dog – same thing as above!
9. My husband – Gosh I can’t believe people and pets aren’t supposed to be on this list!
10. My parents.
OK so now I have to accept the fact that the people who are my life can’t count as my ten. Revising my list becomes even more painful:
1. photographs of everyone important to me whose faces I wouldn’t want to forget.
2. My laptop and power cord – so I can write and be connected to the world.
3. My iPod and power cord/charger – for the trip and in case I want to get lost in my own world.
4. My cell phone and charger – so I could contact people and also so that I had a list of all my contacts.
5. My wedding rings (do those count?)
6. A USB mini disk with all my books saved
7. My medicine so that I’ll be sane and headache free for as long as it holds out
8. Wallet with cash, bank cards, and credit cards ( I really see that I’m combining things here and I hope that wouldn’t work against me as I tried to enter the country!)
9. A paper list of emails, snail mails, phone numbers, etc. so I could contact those I love and not lose track.
10. A favorite book to read over and over.

So I have the distinct feeling that the question wasn’t meant to include electronic gadgets. Therefore, here is my real list if I lived way back when:
1. photographs of everyone important to me whose faces I wouldn’t want to forget
2. letters from loved ones to hold close to my heart
3. my wedding rings
4. my medicine so I’d be sane and headache free for as long as it holds out or until I found a doctor wherever I was going
5. a written list of addresses of loved ones so I could write
6. a favorite book to read over and over
7. identification
8. money
9. items to barter or trade for things until I found a job
10. items with sentimental value

This definitely was a hard exercise! What about you? Forget electronics and people. If you were leaving your home forever back in the 1800’s or earlier, what ten things would you take with you?

Whew–it’s over!

As most of you probably remember, my two younger daughters were performing in a musical at the local high school this weekend. The middle one is in 10th grade, the youngest only in 5th (they needed one little girl for the play and asked her to do it.)

Anyway, I have to say, they were both fantastic! Yes, that’s the mother in me speaking, but it’s also the musical-lover. They nailed every word in every bit of dialogue, and every note in every song. Neither exhibited a moment of stage fright, they were confident and entertaining and I loved every single minute of it.

I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t have bigger audiences for their performances, but another local school was doing Cats with a cast of thousands, a local adult company was doing Nunsense this weekend, and it was 80 degrees and glorious outside.

Still, they had decent audiences and everyone who saw them appreciated the talent, guts and hard work all these kids had put into it.

Believe me, I welled up watching my girls up there, but I had almost as much fun standing out in the lobby afterward, eavesdropping on conversations such as:

“Oh, my gosh, could you believe that little girl? Could she really just be in elementary school? What a voice!”

and

“That Kelly girl’s voice was just unbelievable! I never imagined a high school girl could sound that powerful!”

and

“Are they really sisters?”

It was such fun watching them come out and get their kudos and congratulations. The little one, especially, was fussed over because she looked so pretty and sweet up there. (Little do they know…this is the bloodthirsty cannibal/puberty-video/future coroner I’ve talked about so many times on here!)

After the show Saturday night, we hosted the cast party at our place. There were about two dozen fun, loud, energetic, loud, hungry, LOUD teenagers there. They devoured everything that wasn’t nailed down (we hauled out the chocolate fountain.) About 15 of them crammed into the hot tub (which was down 10″ of water afterward!) Then at around 11pm they discovered the karaoke machine and all bets were off! We had to pry those microphones out of their hands and push them out the door at one a.m.

Though there was a matinee performance on Sunday, which we also attended, for me Saturday night’s party was just the cap-off of the entire experience. Because moving here, with a 15 year old who had never had to change schools in her life, seemed like such a heartless thing to do last summer. I hated to do it to her, throw her into a new high school where she knew absolutely no one. And things could have gone very badly–she could have rebelled, met the wrong group of kids, acted out against us, hated us forever.

She hasn’t. Instead, she has just thrived. Saturday night, she was surrounded by tons of new friends who all seem to adore her and my husband and I both truly felt we’d done the right thing. This was the third cast party we’ve had here since the school year started–because the kids keep asking if they can come back! (They’re even doing their end of year drama banquet here next month.)

You know, some kids are athletes and some are brilliant scholastically and some want to be on the debate club and some want to take pictures for the yearbook. All my girls have ever wanted to do was be on stage. Singing, acting, performing. Which makes weekends like this so very special. Maybe they don’t pack in the crowds like the football team or the band, but those kids all performed their hearts out and I was proud to support them.

Proud enough to share.

I don’t usually post pics of my kids and don’t give much personal info about them. (I’m sure you understand!) But I thought I’d post this video of part of their performance.

In this scene, the 15 year old is actually playing the 11 year old’s mother (hence the frumpy dress…for most of the rest of the show, the older one’s in a stunning red velvet, sequined gown–the show is about beauty pageant contestants!) The song is about how mothers push their daughters, and in the 2nd half of it, the little girl and her “older” self (in the red dress) join in to interact with their overbearing mother. (FYI: You can’t really see who’s singing…the 11 year old is the one who comes in 2nd, the one in the red comes in last.)

The song is incredibly difficult–the director & musical director both said it was the hardest number in the show. The harmonies are intense, and there are places where the three of them are singing entirely different melodies. They overlap on occasion, the timing has to be perfect…and 1/3 of this act relies on an 11 year old who’s never done a play before!

Like I said…I am one proud mama today!

Hope you enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The winner of Friday’s Jungle Madness Anniversary Contest is:

Liza (Comment #35)

Whoo-Hoo!!! Congratulations, Liza!!! You have won some awesome ARC’s months before they hit the store shelves! Be sure to email me with your full name and mailing address at: janelledenison@sbcglobal.net so we all can mail you your prizes!

And now, a Sunday Funny:

A six-year-old boy told his father he wanted to marry the little girl across the street.

The father, being modern and well-schooled in handling children, hid his smile behind his hand. “That’s a serious step,” he said. “Have you thought it out completely?”

“Yes,” his young son answered. “We can spend one week in my room and the next in hers. It’s right across the street, so I can run home if I get scared of the dark.”

“How about transportation?” the father asked.

“I have my wagon, and we both have our tricycles,” the little boy answered.

The boy had an answer to every question the father raised.

Finally, in exasperation, his dad asked, “What about babies? When you’re married, you’re liable to have babies, you know.”

“We’ve thought about that, too,” the little boy replied. “We’re not going to have babies. Every time she lays an egg, I’m going to step on it!”

This is a re-release of our very first offical Plotmonkeys post…posted by Leslie on April 17, 2006. It’s great enough to be read twice! And for some of you the first time…thank you all for celebrating our anniversary week with us…what a blast!

Of friends and monkeys…

Hi and welcome to our jungle!

I can’t believe I got singled out to be the first blogger here on our fun new site. That’s what I get for leaving my house for an hour right in the midst of a Plotmonkeys email frenzy.

Anyway, it seemed appropriate, given how this whole thing came about, for the first conversation to be about friendship. Yeah, yeah, gag me. Who wants to get slammed with a saccharine-sweet ode to playing nicey-nice first thing on a Monday morning?

Well, those of you who know me probably know I’m not very sweet. So I promise, I won’t turn this into a Hallmark commercial and make your teeth hurt. But I do have a few things I think are worth saying.

First, to be clear, I’m not talking about our best friends from 8th grade who can still make us crack up over shared memories, even if we haven’t talked in a year. Or our college roommates, or our siblings (I have 5 and adore them all.) And I definitely am not talking about our spouses. Mine genuinely is my best friend in the world.

I’m talking about writer friends…who are also something more.

Let’s face it, writing is a pretty solitary profession. We work alone, we don’t want distractions. There are days when I don’t even want to have to look at somebody much less have to actually smile at them. “Have a nice day!” says the mailman? Well, bite me, I’m not having a nice day because you rang the doorbell right when I’d finally begun to plot my way out of this quagmire. Grrrrr…

Even when we’re out and about in the world, a lot of times we’re not 100% present because we’re never able to “turn-off” that writer living inside us. We eavesdrop on conversations and spin stories about the people having them. We overanalyze movies and drive our sig others crazy by always predicting the plot twist. We frown at the chatty grocery store clerk because her incessant talking is interfering with the important conversation our characters are having in our heads.

In essence, we exist in the worlds we create every bit as much as we live in the real one.

Few people understand…unless they live the very same madness. So is it any wonder many of us count our most important friendships to be with other writers?

But even among our writer friends, there are different levels of friendship. I bet everyone has a bunch of what I’ll call MySpace friends. You’ve heard of MySpace haven’t you? Teens ask other teens if they can be their “friend” so they can get a sneak peek into a closed profile. And parents just pray the next anonymous “friend” isn’t really a twisted, perverted old man pretending to be a 16 year old boy. (By the way, for the parents who are brave, a good way to keep an eye on your MySpace kid is to create your own profile, make sure your kid knows Big Mama is watching, and then watch!)

Back to the point. MySpace friends…we all have them. They’re the familiar initials or first names next to a post on a message board. The ones who can make us laugh on an open loop or blogsite. The ones we feel we know, even if we’ve never met them in person or heard their voice (and probably never will.) Good for a smile. They’re safe, non-judging. A solid foundation. Not someone you’re going to pour your heart out to and maybe not even someone you email with directly, but someone you feel you might very well like a lot if you didn’t live a thousand miles apart. And if you knew them by some name other than RomRdrinCA.

The friendships stack up from there. There are friends on closed author loops–you know them a little better. With the screen of privacy and loop discretion, the gloves sometimes come off and blunt hilarity can commence. You care about each other, you kvetch and joke and share stupid videos and mourn when someone experiences a loss. You email and ask about each other’s kids and pick up and call once in a while when you sense someone is having a tough time.

Then come the conference friends you do meet face to face once or twice a year. I have quite a few of these (and most of them, like the Temptresses, overlap with my closed loop friends.) They’re people who mean a lot to me even though I don’t see them often. Every time I do, it’s like that friend from high school, we pick right up where we left off the last time.

There are chapter friends you see or talk to every month. Critique group friends you see or talk to every week. Writing partners you see or talk to every day.

And then there are friends like the Plotmonkeys.

You do live a thousand miles apart. You did first only become aware of each other as a name on a message board. You perhaps shared some funny exchanges on a closed loop and then via email. You did only meet in person once a year at a conference.

And yet…something was different.

If you go to the FAQ section of this website, you’ll see how we all met. But those little descriptions don’t really touch on how the four of us just seemed to meld effortlessly together.

We complement each other–balance each other–not just in our writing, but in our lives. We’re an incredibly good karmic “fit.”

One of us is the emotional one–thoughtful, caring, sensitive. Incredibly generous. For someone so talented and so successful, she can be easily hurt and unfortunately she has been targeted in the past because of her success. We rally around her, we encourage her, we support her and, when necessary, we try to protect her from the petty jealousies thrown in her direction. After all, attack one monkey and you’re attacking us all…

Another is the sensible one. Despite being wonderfully creative and imaginative in her writing, she can always cut through the nonsense and get right to the core of an issue, and, usually, come up with a solution. She’s a problem solver. She never gives up. She’s a voice of calm and reason but she never backs down from what she believes is right. I think of her as the mother of the group (even though she’s the youngest…)

Then there’s the fighter. She’s fierce, she’s tough, she can dish it out and she can take it. She’s got opinions–usually very good ones–and she’s not afraid to share them. But really, we’ve come to understand, she’s a roasted marshmallow. Hard and crusty on the outside–when necessary–but so soft and sweet in the middle. You’ll never have a more loyal friend. If I ever fly into battle, she’s my wingman and I’m hers.

And there’s the wise-ass. Umm…that’d be me. Smart comments and raunchy jokes come flying out of my mouth at the speed of light but my monkey pals can always see through them and know when I’m trying to cover up my own insecurities or make light of something that truly hurt me. And they feel free to tell me to shut up and get serious if the situation demands it.

See what I mean? We just…fit.

So here’s to the MySpace friends and the loopy ones. To the conference charmers and the chapter buds. To the critiquing saviours and the plotting pals.

And to the monkeys . I hope each of you has a few of them in your life.

Why don’t you pull up a chair and talk about yours…