10 Great Secondary Characters

A few years ago, someone in my RWAC chapter did a craft session based on the Donald Maass workshops.  I don't know if you have his workbook, but one of the exercises is about writing down all the things you love in great stories, as well as all the things you hate.  The point, of course, is that in your own writing you should concentrate on the elements you love in other's writing ... thereby making people fall in love with your manuscript.

Spike in full scuba gear.  He says he had nothing to
wear (laundry day) but I think he likes the latex ...

One of the things I love in great stories is letting the secondary characters be the comic relief.  I think you want your hero and heroine to be funny (at least in chick lit) ... that goes without saying ... but the really outlandish stuff can go to your secondary characters ... they are the real heart of really great romantic comedies.

Your secondary characters can do things the main characters can't.  They can make bad choices, behave completely irresponsibly, wear weird clothes, hit on inappropriate men ... and they are often the reason I laugh out loud when I'm reading or watching a movie.

Here are some of my favourites from movies and TV:

10) Betty White - The Proposal

9) The Clergyman - The Princess Bride

8) Scarlett - Four Weddings and A Funeral

7) Ned Ryerson - Groundhog Day

6) Kevin, Creed, Oscar  - The Office

5) Morgan - The Mindy Project

4) Billy Mack - Love Actually

3) Cyn (Joan Cusack) - Working Girl

2) Spike - Notting Hill

1) Schmidt - New Girl

Do you have any faves??

Random Act of Kindness - #3

Okay, I know it's been waaaaaay too long since I blogged ... but let's try to get back to this Random Act of Kindness thing.

This one I did at Christmas time, I just never blogged about it.   I was walking through a shopping mall with my son and my niece and nephew.  It was packed!  As we were leaving I noticed a woman carrying a big tote along with a stroller full of purchases, a baby in the stroller and a small 3year old child beside her.  It looked like they were leaving and she had her hands full so I offered to help her to her car.

She told me she didn't have a car.  She was walking to her apartment.  How she would get there with all that stuff and 2 kids was beyond me!   She looked so tired just trying to get all that stuff through the mall!

I had my sister's beautiful new SUV with lots of room in it so I offered to give her and her kids a ride to her apartment which was only a few blocks away. We loaded in the stroller, the gifts, all the kids and headed over to her apartment. 

Once we arrived, the kids helped unload everything and as we said our goodbyes she thanked me profusely.  And then she did something I'll always remember - she gave me a hug.  

Now, my sister wasn't thrilled that I brought strangers into her car ... but I can say that so far this act of kindness was by far my favourite!

RAOK - #2

Random Act of Kindness - #2

Continuing my pledge to complete 28 random acts of kindness for Newtown victims, I  completed act # 2 yesterday.

I participated in a "Secret Santa" activity with my co-workers, but when I drove into work I forgot my Secret Santa gift at home.  So I went to Wal-Mart and purchased another gift (flash drive ... I work with IT geeks ... it was a big hit). :)

But then I had my original Secret Santa gift at home.  It was Coconut body butter from the Body Shop (my department is 50% women ... Go Estrogen!).   I thought about keeping the Body Butter, but then I realized I could regift it to someone who could use a pick-me-up.

I gave it to our receptionist Amy who is always cheerful and helpful.  I even signed "28 Random Acts of Kindess for Newtown" at the bottom this time (although left my name off of it) so I could spread the word.

Now to think of item #3 ...

28 Random Acts of Kindness

I read about Ann Curry's challenge to perform some random acts of kindness as a way of honouring the lives lost in Newton last week and I thought it was an amazing idea.   Of course, we shouldn't need a tragedy to remind us to be nice to one another on Planet Earth ... it is common sense after all.  But it seems like every once in awhile you need to be reminded to focus on it.

I'm going to try to document my random acts in my blog ... emphasis on 'try'.  I'm also going to try to ensure my random acts don't cost me $$.  Not because I'm averse to paying for things .... but I think it's far more interesting to try to do it without just plunking down money.   Of course, if you want your random act to involve paying for something for me, I am all good.

Random Act #1 - I wrote a thank you note to a co-worker who organized a Christmas toy drive.  I also made it anonymous so he wouldn't know it's me who wrote it.

Now to think of the next random act ...

Top 5 Most Anticipated TV Shows




The short-lived Smith.  Jonny Lee Miller
AND Simon Baker?  I can see why
that wouldn't work ... groan ..





I'm a huge TV fan, and September is always my favourite time of the year.  New shows!!  New shows that will probably be cancelled in a few weeks .. but new shows!

I actually stopped watching TV the last few years since the networks were so quick to cancel them.  I didn't want to get too invested only to have my hopes for greatness dashed (Smith, anyone???).  Unfortunately, by not watching  new shows, all it did was make me rewatch past favourites in order to get my fix.  So this year I bought a DVR and have decided to give a lot of new shows a chance. 




He's like the Channing Tatum
of crime-fighters ... and those scars\

are all kinds of sexy ...





Although it's still a little early to figure out which ones are going to be great, and which ones are going to be this year's "Whitney" ... I'm at least excited about them!  I missed that ...

#5  The Last Resort

Scott Speedman is a fave, but a show on a submarine/island seems like a tough sell.  Word on the street is the first episode is of Lost-like quality though, so I'll give this one a chance.  But he'd better be shirtless in a vampire coven at some point ...

#4 The Mindy Project

Is it wrong to fantasize about his socks?
My crush is getting Creepytown isn't it ...

I'm so-so on Mindy Kaling, but love the Bridget Jones' Diary in America kind of concept.  First episode was okay ... loved her drunk on a bike yelling "I'm Sandra Bullock" ... but I'll wait to see how it pans out.  I remember I didn't like the first episode of New Girl, and look how that turned out ...

#3 Arrow

Just started watching the Vampire Diaries last year and kicked myself for missing it when it originally aired. Do you know how many months I was unaware of The Damon?  Too many ... Not going to make that mistake with the CW this time.  And this guy has serious Damon potential.

#2 Ben and Kate

I had no desire to see this show until I saw the trailer last week, and then was hooked!!   And Dakota Johnson (Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson's daughter) can actually act!!  It's one of those shows you're either going to love or you're going to hate .. and I loved it! 

#1 Elementary

Jonny Lee Miller.  That's all I need to say.  I don't care if this is the worst show on TV ... I'm in no matter what.  But please don't let it suck.

What new shows are you  planning on watching this year?



Friday Check In

Well, I said I would check-in regularly and this week was pretty disappointing ... but now that I have to own it publicly hopefully that will make next week a little more productive.  I only wrote Tuesday night and only 357 words.  That's not awesome.

But onto next week!

Building a Habit ... The Redux

Hopping back on the bandwagon ... but will
resist asking Amanda Bynes for any
driving tips.

Okay, so about a month ago I said I was building a new habit.  And then managed it for about 7 days and then stopped reporting on it altogether.

What happened?

I could blame it on the new television schedule but since I've got my new, shiny DVR taping all my soon-to-be favourite shows, this would be an all-out lie (side note - have decided Elementary will be my favourite new show - Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes??  Drooling as I type this ...)

The truth?  I stopped spending time on the habit ... and even worse ... started to hide away when I realized I wasn't keeping on track.    If I don't report on my failures then they can't be failures, right???

As someone who's a Project Manager in real life, I can tell you that the absolute worst thing you can do when stuff is falling off the track is stop reporting on it.  Once you stop keeping track of how you're doing, it's very easy to ignore the problem indefinitely.   Even if you have to report fail after fail after fail, it's better than not showing up at all ... and as I've seen on most of my projects, once the failures start adding up it often spurs you into action!

So, I 'm jumping back into it and will vow to report on my progress ... no matter how terrible.  No one said this writing stuff would be easy ....