War Post: 14 March & The Avengers

Sometimes you just see pictures as you are looking for material for a post that is just too awesome not to use.  This was one of those things for me.  I love the advertising campaign for The Avengers, and each of the movies that have lead up to it.  My wife and I are really excited for it to come out.  I think the only thing that really disappoints me about this film is the lack of diversity among the cast.  Every character is an American.  Yeah Nick Fury is black, but seeing as he never rated his own story, it just isn't the same.  Maybe its just me, but the group likely to save the world would have a bit more culture than this.  Cause shouldn't they be representative of the world, and not just America?  Excited about the movie, just wanted to share a minor rant with you.

This Mashup was a big one this week.  I found so much material out there that was good, that I just had to share it all.  I'm sure someone else will post something cool next week.  My wife even suggested a few of these.  Feel free to tell her thank you in the comments.  On to Mashing:

Kristen Lamb shares her story of failure and steel in: "Failure- The Key Ingredient to the Successful Writing Career."

David Powers King reminds us of the awesomeness of the Fool in: "Tuesday Tropes: The Fool."

Lisa Miller of The Washington Post really gets me thinking in: "Feminism's Last Frontier: Religion."

Kana Tyler gives us the business of Freelance Writing in: "A Forum on Freelancing."

Katie Baker of The Daily reminds us of the dangers of bullying in: "Driven to Suicide at 10."

Tom Abbott reveals the secrets of the New Publishing Market in: "Understanding the New Publishing Market."

Ellen Oh shares about the how a book cover leads to racism in: "Why the Pretty White Girl YA Book Cover Trend Needs to End."

Adam Gaylord shows us real monsters in a little thing he calls: "Tips for Creating Believable Fantasy Beasts."

Angela Ackerman helps us understand how to write better characters in: "Character Trait Entry: Affectionate."

Lisa writes about something near and dear to every Latter Day Saint Woman in: "13 Articles of Healthy Chastity."

Jessica Strawser interviewed the big names in publishing to get the real deal in: "Writing Rules: 10 Experts Take on The Writer's Rulebook."

Morgan Dragonwillow still has her writing contest going on!  Read about it and submit something that can help you get another published work in your writing cap at: "Fantasy Fiction Writing Contest I: Day 23."

Chuck Wendig tells us how we need to choose the write–no, rite–no, right word in: "25 Things You Should Know About Word Choice."

Fabio Bueno shares about two weeks of #ROW80 goals (the real reason I chose this is the awesome video at the end) in: "ROW80 Update + Other Updates."

Cat Rambo dies of a case of awful jealousy in: "Transitions and Shifting POV in Fiction."

Julie Glover (My first role model in how to blog right) shares the ugly truth of following bloggers in: "I Know I Should Follow Your Blog But..."

Jane Friedman talks about all the things I wish I knew on Monday when I shared with a writing group about the business of writing in: "A Definition of Author Platform."

Karen Sandler shares about Tankborn Sequels!  Check it out here: "Tankborn Sequels!"

In my search I found this, a great Mashup Trailer by a Avengers Fan.  Enjoy!

As with every Mashup Wednesday I review my past week of goals for ROW80.  I don't think it is any secret I've been struggling with them lately.  But I honestly don't have energy to dwell on that.  For the first time in my life I'm writing regularly and even if it is mostly this blog, I love the feeling.  The story will come, but the writing needs to be my main priority always.  Heres my goals!

1. Finishing Draft Two of "Crimes of the Umbramancer" by the 30th of April.

     I finally made a return to Wordmongering this past week and during my time doing it I finished about 3000 words on my WIP!  I realize I said I would get through 8,000 and that I would take the advice of my friends.  But after spending eight hours with only 3000 words to show for it, I thought it best to trust my gut.  One part of me says to finish the story and the other says to trust my process.  I'm going to be true to both voices.

2. Comment on ten blogs in ROW80:

     I got to four blogs not my normal ten. This week I'm going to make up for that by getting twenty for this upcoming week.   It will be good practice, because I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Sponsor for ROW80.  I'm really excited about it.  Woo!

3. Walking at least a mile five three times a week.

     In the past week I've been out walking three times.  I'm hoping to make three times for this week too.  I think for now this is a more doable goal.  I'll up it again to five times hopefully in the next few weeks.

4. Going back to my writing ritual.
   The ritual is going well somedays, and poorly others.  Frankly this was a poor day.  (The eight hours of writing had both exercise and scripture study which is why I chose to trust my gut.)  Still four out of seven days is pretty solid though.

I'm not going to finish this round with a bang.  I'm going to finish it with conviction.  Since I've joined ROW80, I've been to a writing convention, joined several writing communities, started my own writing group, and written over 40,000 words on my WIP, and another 25,000 in my blog.  I don't talk about all I'm doing cause I don't think all of it is important, but I've made so many strides forward since joining ROW80 my life will not be the same.  Thank you for accompanying me on this journey.  We still have a long ways to go and I plan on having draft two of "Crimes" done by the end of April still.  To make that goal I'm going to keep April's weekends free for massive #wordmongering to reach my WIP goal.  To quote Larry Correia: "People ask how do you become a professional writer?  I just spent 26 hours editing and writing over the last two days."  That was this past weekend as he finished Monster Hunter Legion.  If he can do it, so can I.  It is all about how dedicated you are to it.


Our books of the month remain Tankborn by Karen Sandler and Dhalgren by Samuel Delany.  Both of these are excellent books and I'm giving them away this month to a lucky follower of the blog.  Cause I know that not everyone can follow my blog there are two ways to get entries.  One is to actually follow the blog this will get your name put into my hat three times, and the other is to leave a comment on the blog.  For each comment I receive on my blog during the month of March I'll put your name into the hat once.  I enjoy doing this because it gets me reading different books, supporting authors I love, and it allows me an opportunity to give back to you, my audience.

Next time our discussion will be on the Hypocrisy of Religion.  I'm excited because I've wanted to write this particular blog for several months, but I needed the ideas to brew for a while.  This is Jayrod Garrett, the First OG, with one question for you: What is your favorite science fiction or fantasy movie?