Posted: May 16, 2009 | Author: Tracy Beltran | Filed under: Family, Life | Tags: cool off, degrees, fun, hot, pool, summer, sweat |
Summer has arrived.
Technically, it’s only May and summer doesn’t really arrive until June 21 this year, but where I live, summer is in full force.
It’s 102 degrees as I write.
Tommorrow, its supposed to be 106, and the forecast predicts 110 by Tuesday.
It’s only May.
On the plus side, the kids will live in the pool for the next four months. I may get some writing done.
Posted: May 8, 2009 | Author: Tracy Beltran | Filed under: Humor, Life | Tags: addictions, art, author, books, characters, cheerios, Claire collins, diet, fun, funny, Humor, Novels, options, reading, Second wind, smoking, Writing |
On April Fool’s day of this year, I quit smoking. I found the date to be very fitting since I was a smoking fool for over 21 years. Yes, I was barely out of the womb when I started. I was young and stupid. Those were the good ol’ days.
So I traded my nicotine addiction for a new vice.
I’m now addicted to Cheerios.
I’ve tried to quit smoking four times in the last two years. I gained forty pounds trying to quit. This time, I grab cheerios when I get a craving.
I love Cheerios. Do you realize how many kinds of Cheerios there are? Apple cinnamon, strawberry yogurt burst, multi-grain, honey nut… the list goes on and on. http://www.cheerios.com/ourcereals/ourcereals_home.aspx
The worst part of my new addiction is holding the cheerio while I light it on fire and inhale.
Posted: May 5, 2009 | Author: Tracy Beltran | Filed under: Family, Humor, Life | Tags: characters, Claire collins, Family, fun, Humor, kids, Second wind, tattoo, Writing |
I woke up this morning with a tattoo. It’s a fluid , graceful horse head sitting delicately on my right ankle. It’s lovely.
It wasn’t there when I went to bed and I don’t remember going out and getting drunk. If I did go out and get drunk, I would remember some of it – wouldn’t I?
I stumbled out of my room blurry-eyed and headed for the coffee pot. At least my new body art didn’t hurt. Or maybe I was really really drunk. As caffeine coursed through my blood, I became aware of giggling coming from the living room.
There sat my eight year old son and seven year old daughter.
Or at least I think it was them.
It was hard to tell through the tattoos covering them from head to foot, but the giggles sounded familiar. My husband reclined on the couch, his right arm tattooed clear down to the hand holding the remote. I guess I should consider myself lucky that only my foot and ankle were accessible to the tatoo bandits giggling on the living room floor.
When they saw me watching, the little tribal covered beings chased after me , each with a sponge in one hand and slips of plastic coated paper gripped in the other. I barely escaped into my bathroom with my coffee before the sponge slapped wetly against the door and the giggling fiends went in search of another victim.
I think I heard a cat yowl.
Should I tell them I don’t have any rubbing alcohol to remove their decorations?
No more sleeping in for me if it means my husband has to take the kids to the store with him. Who knows what they will come home with next.
Knowing my luck, my husband will decide to let them play doctor and I will wake up strapped to the bed by bandages. And with my luck, the tattooed cat will be in there with me.
Posted: April 18, 2009 | Author: Tracy Beltran | Filed under: Second wind, Writing about Writing | Tags: author, books, Claire collins, fun, love, murder, mystery, Novels, Second wind, suspense, Writing |
I am the featured author at Second Wind this week! That’s pretty cool. It means that they put my face up there and the cover of my book, Images of Betrayal. There’s also a little about the book, and a little about me. And as a bonus, the entire first chapter is posted! There’s even another nice little surprise, a sneak preview of my next book, Seeds of September.
First, go to here, (But make sure you come back to wordpress): Second Wind Publishing Featured Author
See? That’s cool, huh? You can look around a little. I’d really like that. You can buy Images of Betrayal as a book or an ebook. You can pick it up on Amazon for the kindle too. My other book, Fate and Destiny is out there in those formats too. And if you want it for the Iphone, or palm reader, or in a ton of other formats, you can buy the books from Smashwords.
Okay, there’s more. Come talk to me. I hosted a discussion on facebook, too. You don’t have to discuss my topic if you don’t want to. I’d be tickled pink if you would just come say “hi”!
And while you’re on Facebook, I’d love to be your friend, so click on my name and add me and leave some graffiti on my wall. Claire Collins
I have a couple of blogs too. One is for all of the Second Wind Publishing Family, and the other is All Mine.
How about videos? Here’s the trailer for Images of Betrayal.
I think that’s most of it. Thanks for coming to visit and my little tour of the Internet and Images of Betrayal. I’d love to hear from you!
Claire
Posted: March 22, 2009 | Author: Tracy Beltran | Filed under: Humor, Second wind | Tags: animals, author, characters, Claire collins, dog, fun, funny, Humor, Novels, people, Second wind, Writing |
Animals dominate my life. Technically, I guess I shouldn’t call the children animals except for the fact they tend to climb the walls like monkeys, eat like pigs, and fight like lions. They can also be cuddly and sweet like a puppy. They’ve even been known to lick my face on occasion.
Animals of the furry four-legged variety also dominate my life. A dog and two cats share our small living space along with the four children. I’ve noticed that animals play parts in my books as well. The animals in my books have their own distinct personalities. It takes effort to turn a flat doorstop of an animal into a character that readers will enjoy.
Even as I type this, a furry calico critter sits on the couch beside me, her paws tucked under her white chest like a proper little lady. She has a stub where her tail should be, but she wasn’t injured, just born that way. She smiles at me and closes her eyes when I rub the soft fur around her ears and under her chin. She couldn’t be happier, until another two-legged animal comes running over too fast and my little critter leaps from the couch.
All of my four-legged animals were abandoned or feral. They each have unique personalities and their own quirks, just like the two-legged variety. I wouldn’t trade any of them.
Claire Collins is the author of Images of Betrayal and Fate and Destiny
www.secondwindpublishing.com
Posted: November 9, 2008 | Author: Tracy Beltran | Filed under: Humor | Tags: author, Claire collins, fun, impact, jargon, POV, terms, Writing |
As authors, sometimes it seems as though we have our own language. We discuss items such as POV (point of view), show vs. tell, dialogue tags, hooks, and an endless list of writerly terms.
Sometimes, we even confuse ourselves. Here is a snippet of a conversation several of our authors recently had.
Writer A: It started with that “Pow” about three pages of “pow” at that, and then had 100 pages of drivel and boring characters.. .yeah, 100 pages before I gave up.
Writer B: That is to say that I’ve yet to start one with that “pow”. To me personally as a reader and writer that’s not that important to me, but I have found myself moving that “pow” forward in the story.
Writer A: And the “pow” doesn’t have to be a spectacular fight scene or sex on the beach or anything else that might be put in there for shock value so the reader will continue to read. Sometimes all it takes to wow
someone with a “pow” is a clever turn of phrase or a universal question to which they want the answer.
Writer C: Help me out here ladies.. I know POV but haven’t heard POW, well
prisoner of war, but I don’t think that applies here.
Writer D: Pow,, as in impact. momentum. It took me awhile too because it was capitalized lol!
Writer A: That’s why I put it in quotes and made the reference to the old Batman series. You know, when they flashed the words “pow” and such to convey impact, usually a fist to a face, as in a fight.
Writer D: You know we are all dropped into all of the jargon so much that it makes our heads spin. At times, we forget what normal words like POW really are!
Writer A: Sometimes I just forget myself. I never even thought that anyone would misinterpret the word “pow” for an acronym like POV. Must remember not to post these things so early in the morning before the brain is caffeine-induced. On further thought, I realize that I should’ve covered my blunder by making up an acronym. Maybe I should’ve said it stood for something like “Powerful Optical Writing.” Anyone else care to take a crack at it?
So we did, and this is the list we came up with:
Powerfully Observant Witticisms
Push Over Writers
Pull Out Whips
Prolifically Over Written
Please Offer Words
Praise Often Warranted
Promising Optimistic Wisdom
Potentially Oscar Worthy
Probably Often Wrong
Positively Outlaw Whining
Our male publisher spouted off with “Wait a minute–you mean is doesn’t stand for “Power of Women?”
To which the reply was… “… you come face to face with POW–the Power of Women and then go off in a corner no one cares about so long as it is no where near us and POW–Pout or Whine. We simply use POW, the Power of Wisdom, and close and lock the door…
So, what kind of POW can you come up with?
Claire Collins 