My Worst First Date!

This is based upon my memory of an experience. The basic gist of the memory is right. Whether I got all the facts straight still remains a mystery. And yes, Marshall was definitely stuck up. And Yes, I wrote in third person because I'm a dork. It was somewhat easier. Ok? Not sure if Marshall was the guy's name or not. But he definitely came from the expensive side of town and he was driving a sports car. :))

     Back in the day, before Facebook and Twitter, there was a local chat program called "Chat City" and "Gaso-line." There was a lovely young girl named Alexes, who with her friend Sarah, decided to chat and flirt online with guys their own ages. It was all shameless flirting and batting of eyelashes. Sometimes they exchanged phone numbers with the boys, sometimes they didn't. Alexes spotted a guy online that was really pretty cute. His name was Marshall Fields.*  Alexes and Marshall chatted for a while and then one evening, Marshall typed at her: "You wanna go out sometime?"
Alexes quickly typed back her heart thumping wildly. "Sure. Where do you want to go?"
"Movies sound good. And then maybe something to eat. So we can, ya know, talk about the movie."
"Okay. Sounds great. When are you picking me up?"
"Friday night. 7 o' clock."
"Talk to you later then. Marshall."
Alexes giggled. She had already seen a picture of Marshall online. He looked incredible. She was so excited.
Friday night came quickly. Alexes dressed in her favorite jeans and top and opened the front door when the doorbell rang.
"Hi there. I'm Marshall."
"Hi."
After the nervous greetings were out in the open, they walked outside to his car.
"Freak. You have a red sports car?"
"Yeah, that's my ride. Sweet isn't it?"
  
    Alexes got inside the leather interior. The car smelled so nice. Like the new car smell scent. It smelled very nice. And so did Marshall. He managed to wear her favorite cologne--Polo, and he drove Okay.

    The thing that Marshall did the entire night, that bugged Alexes a TON, was talk about himself. Alexes asked all the questions, and Marshall was content to answer them and expound on them. As long as he was talking about his beloved sports car, he was just fine. After the movie and the dinner, Marshall drove Alexes home in silence. She has run out of questions to ask him and quite frankly was starting to feel uncomfortable.
When they arrived at Alexes' house, he asked her if he could see her again.
   Alexes nodded and replied, "Whatever. I'll call you."
And she never did. Who wants to be stuck on another date with a guy who is so stuck on himself?
Not Alexes. :)))

*Marshall may or may not be his name. I'm not sure. But the name sounds conceited to me so that's the name I gave him. :) The picture is just for eye candy. Picture obtained through Google images. Thanks Google!

What books did I get at the Writer's conference?

Just a little video I made while waiting to leave for one of the days at the conference!
Happy writing!!!

I Am NOT a Serial Killer--A review.

Wow. Simply put, Wow.
If you like suspense, if you like horror in any way, you will LOVE this book! This book kept me guessing the whole time.

First off, we have our main character, John Wayne Cleaver, a 15 year old boy, fighting off serial killer urges. He has a therapist, Dr. Neblin that he sees, to talk out his thoughts. John also has a set of rules that he follows, trying to fight off the killing urges.

But it is hard. His mother is a mortician. She prepares dead bodi...more  This review is the same review I posted on Good Reads.

Wow. Simply put, Wow.
If you like suspense, if you like horror in any way, you will LOVE this book! This book kept me guessing the whole time.

First off, we have our main character, John Wayne Cleaver, a 15 year old boy, fighting off serial killer urges. He has a therapist, Dr. Neblin that he sees, to talk out his thoughts. John also has a set of rules that he follows, trying to fight off the killing urges.

But it is hard. His mother is a mortician. She prepares dead bodies all the time. At first, John helped, but not anymore. Mom forbade him to come in.

John shovels snow across the street for his neighbors. Nobody could have guessed. Not even me. Not in my wildest dreams.

I am going to leave you with a quote from the book. (The book is told in first person by John himself.

"Still, speculation was common and the theories grew wilder with time: maybe it was a drifter or a thrill killer;maybe it was a hit man harvesting organs for the black market; maybe it was a devilish cult that used the victims in unspeakable rituals. People wanted the explanation to be as big and flashy as the killings themselves, but the truth was far more terrifying: true terror doesn't come from giant monsters but from small, innocent-looking people. People like Mr. Crowley. People like me. You'll never see us coming."

If that doesn't want make you want to rush out and get the book, I don't know what will. Except it is very very good. All of the sudden, I am glad I don't live in Orem UT, anywhere near the author. Does Dan have a demon that he battles inside himself? Oooh. Crazy. I can't WAIT to get my hands on his second book. Oh, yes, I said it, this book is BOOK one in a trilogy. YES! YES! YES!!!!

Nobody is safe now.

Bwa! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

Added note:  Dan Wells also won an award at the Whitney awards that I attended. I also got to talk to his wife and sister-in-law, Erin.  Every one should ignore their dishes in the sink like I did, and go ahead and read this book. Now if you will excuse me, I have some dishes to wash now. :)

UPDATE: Writer's conference--What I learned!

Image via Wikipedia

I had the opportunity of attending the LDStorymaker's WRITER'S conference this weekend. And just so you are wondering, it's not just for LDS writers. It is for everyone who likes to write. You don't even have to strictly write for LDS people. Just have an insane LOVE for writing.  I actually learned a TON this year.

And you know what? I took my camera, and did not take it out the whole weekend again. I was too busy meeting people,  chatting, and taking notes to worry about a picture. Sorry.

Here is a summary of what I learned: It can be summed up in TWO words.

JUST WRITE.  Okay, I have a bit more to say.

• Keep on practicing your craft. 
• Networking. Very important. You never know who you might meet in the future that might be interested in your writing.
• Don't make excuses for your writing. Just DO it.

There you have it. That's what I learned from this fabulous conference this year! Now I am back to my writing and reading. . .

I might have the workings of a novel here!

Hi friends--It's been roughly *grumbling under my breath*  weeks, months since my last posting. I have gotten quite into the Cluttered Brain blog if you hadn't noticed. But I have also been reading. I recently finished Band Of Sisters by Annette Lyon. My review of her book can be found here. And whenever I read I get inspired to write some more. I swear reading is good for the writer's soul. It is true what they say you know. Every good writer needs to read. And not just romance or just fantasy, but a variety of books. You have to embrace all genres of writing to be able to develop your own style, in my opinion.

With that being said, I have some ideas for my next novel I would like to pursue. I know, who says I have time to write a novel when I have a 2 year old loose in the house? Well, I'm gonna give it a try.

However I have a list of questions that I need some help with. I hope you can help me.

• How much information if any can a husband who works for the FBI disclose to his wife? Or should he disclose anything to his wife?
• How long should one wait when a loved one, say their husband, wait before contacting authority?
• Is it bad that most of the characters you create tend to resemble your own characteristics and hobbies?
• What are some habits and flaws that you find interesting in people? (That would you would like to see in a story.)

That's about it for now. I am in the brainstorming process.
Setting: Present day New York.

 Main character is 34 year old Rachel White-Marshall who does not get along with her mother-in-law at all. Her husband's mother never liked her from the beginning even when they were dating. Anyway, Rachel's husband Mark age 36, is a FBI agent currently involved in a high profile case. The problem comes up when Mark was supposed to be home at a certain time and never showed. He is not answering his cell phone (we find out why later) and Rachel cannot get a hold of him. It has been about 12 hours since Rachel has spoken to her husband. She does not know what to do.

The couple has three children, Tracey age 11, Shane age 9, and Betsy Rose age 2.

The plot thickens as she tries to get answers to where her husband is locates and no one will tell her. Mark's mother does not help at all and keeps criticizing Rachel for being so full of worry and thinks she should just drop the whole problem. Linda Vance-Marshall, Mark's mom, believes Rachel is trying to get media attention and Mark is just doing his job. However, she still works in the FBI and knows some information about the whereabouts of her son. She refuses to discuss with her daughter-in-law because she wants their relationship to end.

Does this sound like a story you would want to read? Does this sound like something you have read before in the past? (I hope NOT!)

Anything you contribute to the working of my novel will be credited in the publishing if the book of course!
Thank YOU in advance for helping a fellow writer out. You are too kind.

If you have any place websites and suggestions of people I can go to for research about the inner-workings of the FBI please let me know. Thanks!