Novels @ MindSay

Well, my previous blog was mysteriously deleted...just disappeared one day. I had put so much effort into it that I am somewhat overwhelmed by the prospect of re-creating it. So, I think I'll just shorthand it and try and remember the highlights the original had, and we'll take it from here. Life is a mystery. My original username was LadyChalice, but when I signed back on to try and re-use that name I was told it was already taken...so they kept my name but deleted my account: go figure! So, my new username is RedHotChalice. I chose "Red Hot" because of some projects I've been working on that use that tagline. And, also, because...well...not to be immodest, but I really am red hot! I create websites for incredible writers and artists and am passionate about my work. My most recent projects have been the most rewarding and I'd like to share them with you. www.RedHotNovel.com is my most recent work-in-progress. It is for a novelist named Devin O'Branagan and is her latest effort: a novel called RED HOT PROPERTY. It is a serio-comic tale about the real estate industry and is a terrific, amazing book. The website isn't completely done yet, however. We are in the process of filming a YouTube video based on one of the funniest scenes in the novel, and I intend to include a link on the website to it once it is up and running. We are also planning some unique product tie-ins to the book and will have an on-line store. This novel will appeal to gay people, animal lovers, single moms struggling to make a better life for their kids, anyone in or around the real estate industry, Trekkies, and people who just want a good laugh and/or a good cry.  Lots to share about the making of video, but will do that later.  If you want to see this website and learn more about the book go to: www.RedHotNovel.com.  See you there!

Devin O'Branagan's new novel, RED HOT PROPERTY, was released this week!  It is an awesome book.  It is a seriocomic tale of two rookie real estate agents: single mom Molly O'Malley, and a gay man who calls himself "The Queen of Real Estate".  And, of course, there is the office mascot, Talisman DeMitiri, a gorgeous Australian shepherd.  The novel deals with many important issues, including the stance of the Catholic Church on homosexuality and the humane treatment of animals.

Visit the novel's website at www.RedHotNovel.com

While you're there check out the Best Friends Charity Raffle.  The winner of the raffle will have their pet featured in this novel's sequel, RED HOT.  The winning animal's name and likeness will be used as a character in the new book.  The winner will be either Talisman's friend or foe, romantic interest or romantic rival.  It's going to be a lot of fun for all involved, and the animals at Best Friends Sanctuary will benefit the most.

brace yourselves people i have in this post the material that fluffy romances and or smutty erotic novels are made of:P

i still can't believe it happened to me of all people. i seriously am still goo over it, a pile of blissful goo.

but i guess i should start from the begining. yesterday night me and my parents (yeah i know im such a loser spending friday with my parents but you know what...shut up) were on our way to go to my uncles for a bonfire (which was kickass btw) but first we went to get a bite to eat, my dad went in to get us a table while me and my mom just talked outside for a bit (nothing special) and then we went in well what i see renders me, the woman of words completely speechless. my dad is sitting their chatting with a man at the next table over but neither my father or the man took my breath away it was the teenage boy beside him.

ok just for a time out you know in like animes or romance stories how the guys are literally IMPOSSIBLY hot? that's what this guy was. the typical Italian teenage boy with thick black hair that you just itch to play with, the glasses that actually WORK for him and i mean WORK and when he smiled at me i think i might have drooled...

but ANYWAYS so my dad notices me and my mom had come in and he's like "Girls, you remember the (making up the name here umm...) Barbieri's?" (oh yeah good italian surname making up skills fireflower) and then i remember. this family we knew from one of my brother's old hockey teams and the IMPOSSIBLY hot italian guy in front of me was on my brother's team and i remember was NOT this hot five years ago when i had last seen him. and my first thought (stupidly) was the first words that came from my mouth after staring at him.

'you've grown up.' i was starting to mentally slap myself for being so well weird until he looked me over (in the POLITE way all you pervs out there) and smiled. his response still blows my mind.

'so have you.'

i literally almost DIED and you know what at that point i would have been completely happy to ust die right there. isn't it JUST the lines that romance novels are made of 'two friends have to part early on in life but then later they get a second chance but wait is their more than friendship afoot?'.

but sadly i have to leave you now and until next time i'll be lying, in a puddle of goo, in my field of fireflowers.

   As a writer there are many things you must do right to have a sucessful story.  I'm not even talking about being published or famous. I  don't mean that type of sucessful, although we all kind of hope one day we'll see our book sitting on a library shelf, but any writer would agree that to have a successful story, you need good quality characters. 

   I got thinking today about what a character really says about me.  In the story, they have to be engaging.  It doesn't matter if you love them or hate them or wish they had a labadomy.  You just have to write them well.   Now, we've heard it a million times: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW... and that leads me to my experiement.  I wondered how well I really knew my characters.

 I've written three big pieces with very detailed characters and I pulled out all the main characters in those three pieces and that left me with a total of 19 main characters.  Sounds like a lot for three stories, but not really.  Not for an old pro like me.  :)

  Then I started my poll.  I wanted to see how my characters were alike and so on...  but what I found out was what they actually had to say about me.  It was kind of fun.  I recommend doing so, besides if you think you don't have time.  Do it during writers block it might get you back on track. 

Out of 19 Characters: 

15 have lost their virginity

10 are male

9 are female

9 hate their parents

6 were raped by evil creatures (scifi story)

6 were sent away to a special help school

6 are hiding in an abandoned building

4 were raped by someone they knew

3 were raped by complete strangers

4 suffer from depression and hurt themselves by form of cutting or bulimia

2 are prostitutes

2 are above the age of 20

1 is a movie star

fun times!!!  What do you think?

Behold, my summer reading list (FICTION only). Those in bold at the bottom have already been read/re-read or reviewed at some point within this past year. If you have a suggestion, a novel I've overlooked, please feel free to remind me. :) Recommended authors have a * by them! ;)

George Elliot*, Middlemarch - in process

Douglas Adams, The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh

Ted Dekkar*, Thr3e

John Grisham, The Runaway Jury

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw (re-read)

Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

Sandi Layne, Garrison's Girl ;)

Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsong

Toni Morrison, Beloved

Amanda Quick, Mistress (and several others interspersed for comic relief)

Francine Rivers*, The Scarlet Thread

Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony

Frank Peretti*, Visitation; House; This Present Darkness (re-read)

Ayn Rand, Anthem (re-read)

Mildred Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Virginia Woolf , To the Lighthouse (re-read)

Richard Wright, Native Son

Paul Zindel, The Pigman

Already read or reviewed :

Jane Austen*, Emma; Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion; Northanger Abbey

Jeremy Bentham, PANOPTICON

Beowulf

Bruce Brooks, The Moves Make the Man

Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Henrik Ibsen, Doll's House

C.S. Lewis*, The Four Loves; The Great Divorce

Lois Lowry*, The Giver

Arthur Miller, The Crucible

Toni Morrison, Sula

Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

George Orwell, Animal Farm

Gary Paulsen*, Dogsong

Frank Peretti*, Monster

William Shakespeare*, The Tempest

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

J. R. R. Tolkien*, The Hobbit & the Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Thornton Wilder, Our Town

Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Night of the Iguana

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

~ B