On Hitting Thirty

Last week I hit the big 3-0.

A lot of people worry about leaving their twenties and growing older.

Amazingly, I don't.

Being thirty doesn't feel any different than being twenty-nine did, and twenty-nine didn't feel any different than twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

In fact, being 'older' hasn't meant much to me since I hit 21, and even that didn't have a huge affect on me.

This decade though, is going to be different.

I have great plans for my thirties.

* Publish the wonderful stories running through my head.
* Watch, participate, and enjoy my daughter as she grows up.
* Graduate from college.
* Read amazing novels, both YA and Adult.
* Live life to the fullest and love with all of my heart.
* Take each day as it comes and know if the day didn't go the way I planned there is always another day.
* Be young at heart and always learn from the youth around me.

The people I love and hold dear to me, celebrated in my tiny home in the middle of the desert, and it was great. We played Clue, drank rum and coke, and laughed.

We laughed a lot.

That's what turning thirty is to me.

It's life.

It's experiences.

It's beautiful and wonderful.

And it's me.

I am thirty, and I am happy with that.

What age are you looking forward to or dreading? What was your favorite age? I'd love to know.

R.S.

On My Favorite Day of the Year

Happy Halloween, to all my wonderful readers and followers. I love All Hallows Eve as much as I love chocolate, but not as much as I love chocolate ON Halloween. :)

In celebration of this wonderful day, the munchkin dressed up as a pirate princess, the niece went as an 80's flash dancer, the Marine got creative  as a civilian and I channeled my inner dark Muse.

All went well with friends nearby, the munchkin and her best friend Dylan made out on the candy front, and were adorable together. He of course was dressed as a mini- Marine.

As a family we celebrated the wiccan new year tonight, and as I prepare for bed I say a prayer to the spirits on the otherside of the thin veil.

This is a wonderfully magickal night that I look forward to every year. The traditions my family builds each year will be another memory for the niece and munchkin.

As one year ends and another begins I am excited to begin new projects, and make changes.

What did you do for Halloween?

R.S.

On Finding My Niche Part Deux

For a while now I've been following the blog, Glass Cases  (if you're a  writer you must take a look)  and the author, an associate Literary Agent for Curtis Brown wrote an interesting post that caught my attention.

I've been fighting with myself for a month now (or possibly forever) about what genre I want to write. I finally settled on Young Adult, not because I was settling, but because it was what I wanted.

Now, as long as I've been writing I've always worried my characters were 'too old' sounding for their ages. That my seventeen year old protagonist was too mature. Though honestly, I wasn't exactly making fart jokes and watching the Simpsons when I was seventeen, and neither was my niece who is eighteen going on thirty.

Maybe it's a family thing?

I digress.

After reading the post in Glass Cases and this post, it got me thinking. Maybe I'm looking at this wrong. Maybe it's okay to write 18-25 year old protagonists.

 Maybe it's okay to put the Adult into Young Adult.

Maybe I'm using maybe a lot.

It's possible.

When I first started writing I wrote a novel about a 21 year old college student who was a government assassin in her 'spare' time. It didn't fit with YA and it didn't fit with the 'Adult' marketplace because women in the age range of 35-50 didn't relate.

Is it possible then, to write for the actual "Young Adult"?

Granted, when I was in high school I would have loved to read novels of college students, and people in their twenties. For that matter, I still prefer to read about younger protags. I have a difficult time losing myself in books with a protagonist who is in her late 30's. Maybe because after 25 everything seems to stay the same anyway?

What are your thoughts on putting the Adult in Young Adult? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

R.S.

On the Secret Circle

Back in 1992 L.J. Smith wrote the first novel in the Secret Circle series. I only read the first book recently when I rediscovered the series because of the new show on the CW.

I read all four of the novels in two days, and loved every minute of it. About the time Diana was introduced with her sunlight and moonlight hair, I realized I'd read it before.

Then again, I've read so many books I can't remember half the titles, and the descriptions are so generic most of the time I couldn't tell from them either.

Now, am I the only one surprised a series written in the 90's is just now becoming a television series?

Granted, aside from the title, the names and the fact the characters are witches, the show is nothing like the books. (In fact, half of the characters aren't even in the show).

I've come to expect this from Hollywood.

Shows and movies are rarely like the amazing novels they were adapted from.


Okay, those fans of Janet Evanovich and the Stephanie Plum series might point out that the movie rights for One for the Money were purchased in the 90's when the novel first came out, and the movie is just now-- kind of-- coming into 'life'.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know.

R.S, why should it be any different with television shows?

Uh, maybe because it's television?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the show for what it is.

A teen drama full of angst, stupidity, and sex. It is the CW after all. It's like Buffy without the Vampires or the kickass slayer abilities.

** Side note** If you've seen the show, did you notice each episode seems to begin with the same two people in bed together? 


What books or series of books have you read that you'd like turned into movies or shows, or wish hadn't been touched by the hands of Hollywood? When it comes to the screen play, where does creative license end and butchering begin?

R.S.

On Finding My Niche

The other day I posted about branding myself, and you can read that post here.

While branding myself is important, I realized that at some point in the near future I was going to need to decide who my target audience is. 

Would I write for young adults or for women in the 30+ range. 

I enjoy reading both types of novels, so obviously I couldn't make my decision based on what I read, but maybe I could decide to write both. Maybe in a few months or years I'll have an amazing story that needs to be written that won't work for YA. 

So I'll write it, and I'll use a different name, and I'll really be able to work on that multiple personality disorder. 

For right now though, I've come to a decision. 

I'm going to focus on YA, because that is what  I enjoy most. 

*sigh*

Now I feel better. :)

R.S.

On Branding Myself

Before you ask, no I'm not talking about taking a hot poker and burning a design into my skin. I like tattoos--obviously, since I've got several of my own, but I draw the line at burning my flesh. 

What I am talking about is #mywana.

The other day I read We Are Not Alone: The Writer's Guide to Social Media, an amazing little read by the Social Media Maven, Kristen Lamb .

Of course, reading this has caused me nothing but grief.

Okay, maybe not grief.

 It is after all, an amazing book, full of insight and knowledge that anyone looking to make use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and (gasp!) the dinosaur known as Myspace, should purchase, read, and use wisely.

In WANA, Kristen makes sure you know you are never alone during your journey toward social media excellence, and I learned so much from reading her words. 

First, being that I've been going about this blogging thing all wrong.

I've got to brand myself.

Just do it.

Sure, that's been taken already, but I was smart enough to take R.S. Emeline a year ago.

I did that much right at least.

I branded a name. The name that will go on my books, and the name that is attached to my twitter account so everyone who follows me or sees my tweets will associate the awesome words with R.S. Emeline.

Now of course, there is more to do.

I've been blogging daily for a while now, and there have been times where the blogs were good, and others when the posts were only so-so.  I want to change that.

I haven't settled on whether I'm going to be a Young Adult author, or a Romantic Suspense author. Sometimes I think I'd like to be a writer like Meg Cabot, or maybe Nicholas Sparks.

Regardless of what genre I choose or chooses me, one thing Kristen recommends is writing subject focused blog posts. This also means I'll be working on quality, not quantity. It's likely I won't be posting daily anymore, but expect to see posts once or twice a week.

As always, if something happens that I find amusing or interesting, I'll post those tidbits as well, but it's time to focus my writing and my priorities for social media.

I'm a writer.

I'm an author.

Hear my warrior yell.

R.S.

If you're confused by social media, or want to get more bang for your tweet, check out Kristen Lamb's Warrior Writer's Blog. You won't regret it. You'll laugh, you'll smile, and you might realize social media is something you can make work for you. :)

On First Jobs

Today my niece takes the next step in becoming a productive member of society.

She begins her first job.

It got me thinking about my first job, and the long line of employment opportunities that came after it.

I've had...well, let's be honest... a lot.

From my first job the summer of my junior year, to finding myself as a writer, I've done just about everything. Honestly, I had a hard time sticking to any job for longer than a couple of months. I'd get bored, annoyed with the stupidity of my coworkers, or I'd find something better.

There was always something better.

My longest job lasted two years, and I was twenty-three. I was a tech-department and cell phone representative for Circuit City--before it went belly up. I stuck with the job for two reasons. One: I needed the money to pay bills, and Two: I felt like I owed them. Not because they were an amazing company to work for, but because when I was at my lowest, the management and my coworkers, had my back.

When I got married, and my husband and I got transferred to Hawaii, I continued my day job. At least until it came time for his first deployment, and I wanted to actually see him before he left to a war zone for seven months. Who knew that large corporations didn't care about things like that?

Art is subjective, and art school was expensive. 

I've worked as a telemarketer, a pizza maker, a soldier, a pageant princess, a substitute teacher for special needs, a dating service counselor, a make-up artist, a model, and my personal 'favorite'--a housekeeper for a small, low class, hotel chain.

I spent five years as a professional photographer, providing tangible memories of weddings, graduations, births, and military reunions-- only to realize my passion for photography was outmatched by my need to not be a portrait photographer. I loved the art of photography, not the cookie cutter, conveyor belt version most of the population expects. After more and more military wives with their new cameras opened up shop as photographers, I threw in the tripod for the focus of photography as art.

I'll never make it rich that way, and I'm okay with that.

After the birth of my daughter I realized something in my life was missing. Not family, or the love of a good man; I had those. I was missing a part of me I hadn't seen since I was eighteen.

The writer.

I was first published in junior high at the ripe old age of thirteen. Nothing spectacular, just a few dark, angst filled poems about the usual teenage drama--though my prose might have been just a tiny bit darker than average. Once I graduated and got away from the hallowed halls of purgatory, I tried to write my first novel.

It was a colossal vat of failure.

Not because it was rejected by publishers, but because I never finished it. I had the story idea, but not enough know how or understanding to complete it.

I found it recently, and it wasn't half bad.

After the demise of my potential writing career I put the dream away for over a decade until one amazing bundle of joy brought that spark back.

You know what? I learned a lot about books in a decade.

I've written three novels in the last year and a half. One needs extensive work before I'll be willing for it to see the light of day, and two of them are going through editing. Whether or not they get picked up via a traditional publisher or I decide to self publish, I know one day, not too far in the future they'll be available for others to enjoy.

It took a while, but I've finally found something I can stick with, and I'm sure, someday, my niece will find her calling too. Until then, I'm proud of her for taking the first step in figuring it out.

Congrats, T-Dawg, you're an adult now.

R.S.

In Other Words Contest...

          Immortalis

           Genre: Y.A.

Word Count: Approx 40,000 words

          The baby's hair was a soft smattering of auburn silk. Her tiny hand wrapped around his finger; held it in its grip, and he knew that he would live and die for her. There was no question about whether or not he would shirk his duty. Power ran through him, warm and fluid.  

            "She's your responsibility now" The mother gently placed the child in the man's arms. She reflected, with a heart heavy with love, that the man before her was hardly older than a child, but he was the one who would walk through life with her daughter. His Destiny was to accompany her child through every stage of her life. He was the Guardian of the greatest thing she'd ever done.

            "She is mine." His eyes never left the child now sleeping in his arms. The connection was instantaneous. His power knew her, accepted her, covered her, and would protect her. It might be in him, but it belonged to the tiny child he held.  "I will keep her safe. I accept my Destiny." A bright aura of blue surrounded them, and power sizzled through the air, sealing the pact. His eyes never left the face of the child, as he lightly traced her mouth with his thumb. "What is her name?"

            "Deliah." The mother smiled, tired, but happy.

            "Hello, Deliah. My name is Cian, and I give my life to you." 

            The mother reached for her husband's hand, twinning their fingers together. With a smile she looked at

the Guardian in front of them and relaxed back against the pillows of her hospital bed.

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Immortals, and Mat Kearney

Some days just call for you to skip out on anything resembling healthy food, and go straight for things not likely found on the food pyramid.

Then again, my food pyramid is different than others'. 

Today is a chocolate chip cookie and sweet tea kind of day. The kind of day where you want to hide away in a dark cave--far, far, far away from everyone-- and listen to Mat Kearney on repeat. Especially his song, Closer to Love.

Closer to Love

I don't get to hide in a cave, but I have been hiding behind my laptop for most of the day. It could almost be the same thing. If you tip your head to the side and squint a little.

Immortals and their Guardians aren't known for being the patient sort so I haven't been left alone today either. Even while my dog, Caesar, and my daughter were napping.

My first YA novel is almost completed (which could explain why I'm being harassed), and it's coming along great. I'm excited about the series. It was originally planned to be a series of short stories (approx 10k), but it became apparent early on during the writing of this first novel that wasn't going to happen. They'll still be relatively short when it comes to novels, but they'll be closer to novel length than short story length.

Writing this first book has made me extremely happy, and I look forward to writing the rest of the series.

Well, there are some chocolate chip cookies and sweet tea calling my name...and I'm pretty sure I'm being paged by an Immortal and her Guardian...


R.S