Bo

Now I am pack Alpha to 3 dogs. My dear Hubz finally talked me into getting a puppy for our daughter. So we went yesterday and picked up a little female Pit Lab mix (The same breeds in our other dog, Jasper).

Meet Bo. Named after the SyFy Succubus in Lost Girl. I have a feeling puppy training will drain the life out of me… or the last bit of sanity ;)

So far, everyone loves her. Jasper is happy to have someone to play with (Neon does little more than lay on the couch), and the kids love running with her in the back yard.

Here’s to my future of puppy piddle and chewed up belongings….

Ta!

A.McBay

Wattpad

Following a link from an ol' Inkpopper buddy last night, I found myself cruisin around Wattpad. It's similar to the Inkpop concept where writers can share their stories and get feedback. I suppose several Inkpoppers must have migrated here since the merge of Inkpop and Figment. I wasn't really around for that having quit long before the merge, but I got the e-mail.

Wattpad intrigued me in the fact that it has apps. I downloaded it onto my phone and was reading my friends book just as I would a book from my kindle app. I then went on to add a few Wolfy books to my library and started to read them.

Granted there is a lot of rough material out there, even a bit of fan-fiction for those who like that kind of stuff.

If you enjoy the community stuff there are tons of groups or clubs you can follow.

And of course if your brave, you can add your own writing to see how the masses judge it.

Overall, Wattpad seems like a polished version of both Inkpop and Figment. I think I'll nose around a bit and see what other goodies I can uncover ;)

Ta!

Scrivener : Beauty

I can’t help but gush when I write about Scrivener. I mean, it’s such a gosh darn sexy program! It has the brains of a processor designed for writers, and the beauty to dress it up how you like. I feel comfortable writing with this program.

The above screen shot allows you to see my preferred color scheme and font choices. I love red. My office is a cave of red.

And that’s just how I like it. So, how do I change the look of Scrivener? Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

First, you’re going to go to TOOLS, then OPTIONS. That’s going to open you’r options box on the GENERAL tab. Click on the APPEARANCE tab. From there you get to have all sorts of fun deciding what you want to change. For instance, if you want to change the color of the binder, click BINDER, then right under where it says BINDER BACKGROUND, click the color swatch. It will bring up your color selector.

Pick your color, add it to custom colors for quicker coloring later, and click OK. After that you can click APPLY to see how it looks on your Scrivener, or click OK if you are done selecting colors and are ready to get to work.

You can also change up the fonts if your feeling particularly frisky. It follows the same basic guidelines, so I wont insult your intelligence by going into detail about it.

So there you have it! How to change up the look of Scrivener. I hope you enjoy!

Ta!

Silver Bullet

I've used the same red 4gb USB since 2006. I originally bought it to save art work to. Now, it holds my writing. Scrivener files, Word docs, picture prompts, story ideas, outlines... well, you get the point. It's precious to me.

But, it's OLD! In computer years this thing should have fried out five years ago. Which is why I started my quest to find a new USB to replace it so that I could retired Ol' Red.

I've searched a long time, wanting that special one that screamed out to me. These days you can get a USB in your jewelry, as a figurine, or even a tiny car. They come in ever shape and size. So what does a girl who writes about werewolves buy?

A silver bullet!

I LOLed when I first saw it on Amazon, but cruised on. After not finding anything that else that spoke to me, I went back and checked out the specs. 8gb (Not a ton, but more that my 4gb), Metal (my writing will be safe), and with a keychain (I can make it into a necklace with one of Hubz extra dog tags).

So yeah, I'm a lil' spazy to finally have found Ol'Red's replacement.

What's your ideal USB?


Ta!

A.McBay

Alive

It’s been a little quiet around the blog the past few weeks. It’s been very busy with graphic designs (that I honestly don’t feel up to anymore), Ninja posts (we are doing the A-Z challenge and I got blessed with all the fun letters like D, I, N, and Z, and it’s been a fun challenge), and then revisions which I am happily obsessed with!

My first chapter was cut into two chapters and so much was changed and added. My characters stand out much more clearly than before, and the excitement I feel of finally feeling like I could actually do this, make a life as a writer, it’s a little breathtaking at times. I’m in love with the idea, the reality I am making of it.

I’m adding new pages to the blog. A page of the writing craft books I own, and a page about Scene and Sequel and my before and after first chapter. Hopefully it will help others see how amazing S&S can be for their writing.

Now I’m off to get more writing done! If I don’t update here much this month, consider it a good thing. I’ll be deep in my story world.

Ta!

A.McBay