Chances are you started to follow me for one of two reasons…

1- You saw my music posts and enjoy listening to my playlists (a great reason to be friends by the way)

2- You found me through my writing, and likely one of those writing-related topics was a hashtag game. Which, was more fun than I thought it would be, so there will be more of these posts in the future.

I participated in 3 games, this past month, and pulled my answered together in one place now.

First up is one that quickly became a favorite, even if I was a latecomer to it…

#characterstell, hosted and credited to @m_arbanassi, not only set one of my favorite characters loose on Twitter, but it also made me think more about some of the other faceless faces in my crowd. It also holds the honor of being the first post I had retweeted, not once but twice. I can not tell you how much Sly’s introduction, and it’s retweets meant to me. After all, it is very easy to just like and keep going, I do it often enough, but to retweet a post about a name? Sometimes the little things make a difference to someone else, and in this case, it was like being heard even a tiny bit in my new little fresh grass patch of Twitter. All because of a character with a name I researched quite a bit to strike the perfect balance, in what is essentially just an Easter Egg type of inside joke between myself and the real Sly.

#CharactersTell

15/1- Out of all the chars, spotlight falls on “Ballentine Rajneesh Siyamak, but you can call me Sly for short.” In an old-school fashion, Sly bent at the waist. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, and welcome to this fascinating club. Are you here for a milkshake?”

16/1- (Sly) “I strive to be neutral, and my own person. I may have learned some of the finer arts of socializing from Miss Tweety, MC to you, but I prefer to be my own man.” #lonewolf is an insult to *someone’s* sense of self. Prefers #observer or maybe #batman

17- As host with a persona to upkeep, I find inclusion with all patrons. Gus was a mentor, Malta and Frost for dialect or brogue, Deej’s comedic antics (thunderous stampede interruption of Bebe, caught by Nira) 👈 they keep us lithe and in need of disinfectant.

18/1- I like big books and can not lie… You don’t get a moniker of “Dictionary” for being a music catalog. I have had some spirited debates about lyrics and… (Mechanical bat draws focus, #dancing on jukebox to play @tapefive #BadBoyGoodMan) #themesong        

19- I have been informed that I used to flirt poorly, where the person of interest was not even aware I was trying. Former covert coquet, now I woo those in low spirits, but I am not looking for any attachments. Might still be bad at knowing when I am courted…

20/1- Hotheaded? That is never me. I do not antagonize easily, nor can one ruffle my feathers as they say. If you are looking for argumentative types, talk to Nira about a duck. Or make fun of Frost’s kilt. Who goes looking for that sort of trouble anyway?

21/1- If by weapons you mean a sharp wit, brilliant wordsmith talent, and the ability to make some mean drinks with a well-received boozy milkshake? Then consider me #always #armed and #dangerous

22/1- You saw me as the big lug the wee lasses took pity on, and danced with. They loved how I could toss them in the air, and I loved the respect getting the attention of Tweety, whom my snobby friend couldn’t, got me. More admirers didn’t hurt either 😉

23/1- hobbies? I have a girlfriend now, thanks to that one bar night, but I fix cars and love that. #classiccar fan right here.

24/1- My parents are like any other really, mom and dad are great, had a bunch of kids, some have made them grandparents. Nieces and nephews are adorable…

25/1- Yes! I’m the second youngest, with 2 brothers and 2 sisters. We’re all old enough to start our own families now, and I can’t wait to either!

26/1- is a story about an under confident guy (with a slick self important friend), who gets the attention of an influential woman, who opens up his love life from there worth telling?

27/1- if you asked my social status months before, I would have said absolutely not, but now? Yes, most definitely yes. 😁

28/1- broken the law? No. I may have been seen as a nobody, but I’m a good hearted nobody thru and thru!

29/1- MC: I have never said anything nasty about her as a person; I just disagreed with the business practices…

Ant: She… looks… less yellow…, and I hate you now too for making me do that.

30/1- I didn’t have a story when you met me the first time, but my story continued, and I could very well be a confidante. It’s not like I’m single therefore threatening to MC sensibilities…

31/1- Are we not all Main Characters in our own lives? If you act with confidence and charisma, you become important to someone else. A MC in their eyes.

Next up is #authorconfession, from  @-jm-sullivan and @jjulien25

This one was full of challenging questions, like the one about playing cards, or famous paintings? Who thinks about their work in progress that way? Super helpful, and worth the researching to play along…

1- Hello, I am a #library worker by day, #writer by night, simply putting the stories inside me out on paper. Goal is always to finish books and see about publishing them.

2- Resolutions? 1- To stop letting bestie embarrass me so 2- have the cupcake, enjoy the cupcake. 3- Not spend as much on clothing and shoe- *giggles* nope, scratch that one.

3- My @goodreads goal is 5 books, but I am always reading when I am not writing, I just don’t always finish a book.

4- I just started my platform efforts barely a month ago, so actually having one is the start of my improving it. The dream is finding like minded souls who like my work…

5- Improving my writing means I have to improve my editing, but like my writing got better with practice, so too shall my editing…

6- Proud of in my writing? That there are scenes that move me, also that my test readers find emotional connections to the works.

7- If Tink were Tweet? I’d have to admit to #magic, but height, and possibly attitudes are similar. Tink would have an amazing wardrobe though. #fashionista wannabe MC anyone?

8- Diversity? I think that I have each character standing out with their culture, or wisdom, the one thing that makes them unique.

9- Ooh good one. The antagonist hits a few rungs on the sin ladder, even with henchmen. But her driving sin? Pride.

10- Weirdest place… Airplane? My hand? Oh how about when I am the adult watching library study hall? Best is when the kids don’t come in, but you have to stay in case they do…

11- Mucky middle, and possibly needing to rewrite already, to shore up a big plot bunny that will only get worse if I don’t fix it now.

12- Victory has to be doing #NaNo and making my 50k. Proved to myself I can do it, now I must keep up the momentum to keep #winning

13- 💃💃🕺 +  🥃🍸🍹👙🎉  = 😊😘😜🤔😳😮🤯🙄😎😇

14- So many choices! Tweety of course, because she is how I started really writing… but I have loved chars from @Lynsay_Sands, @JennAllyson, and Adrienne Basso

15- Two day #wordcount since midnight is only a clock setting…. #amediting- 5786 #amwriting- 378 plus many uncounted blog or Twitter post prepping.

17- T is totally Sweet, like the cheerleader next door, but she can be so sassy!

18- Can you measure love? Because my chars are important to me and so I honor them the best I can by trying to be present for them and their scenes.

19- This is a great question! I’m not sure, but I know Tweet would be a classics woman. #Casablanca… with #BreakfastAtTiffany’s being a runner up film.

20- Tweety, Bebe, and Malta of course! They are known as triple trouble for a reason… Just bring the Cockney/English translator and you’ll be fine.

21- The honesty in the memories; that was the only reason he couldn’t stop reading. #spoilers if I kept going, but it’s so good…

22- Famous painting? #Nighthawks by Edward Hopper is more her life, but #MadameX by John Singer Sargent is more how she feels about herself.

23- Fear GIF? Something like this… https://giphy.com/gifs/CAfSQXZj9JLQA/html5

24- Only if it’s life threatening… My gals are #tinybutmighty and figure out how to get out of most things, together or apart. No woman is ever that helpless… unheard and unheeded maybe, but not helpless.

25- I have to say Tweet is the King of Hearts, doesn’t matter that she’s female, she rules the roost with love. Also thanks to @thecardsoflife for helping me figure that one out on their website. Going back to define a few more chars that way now…

26- My SO knows he’s Nira, and already has an understanding about my relationship with fictional Woods or maybe Sly, because what writer doesn’t want a dictionary brain to talk to?

27- Karaoke? Most likely find her singing #BeautifulGoodbye by Jennifer Hanson.

28- My #WIP has been with me for a long time now, and I am always impressed with its growth into its own established setting with cast of chars…

29- Transporting myself somewhere else? Or just giving a voice to the ideas and chars I love in my head.

30- Writing progress in this new year? None, other than starting social media… But in 2017, I finally finished writing book 1! January is rough to balance #work and #writing.

31- #SparkleOn to quote #AldousHuxley from my advice wall “A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one; it comes as sincerely from the author’s soul.” So just write good, bad, and ugly words. Only practicing will help you find your way of doing you.

Finally, we have that which might have been my first hashtag game find… #WIPjoy from @simmeringmind

1- Naomi aka Tweety lives and works in a bar/nightclub trying to keep a business running among a cast of strange characters, all while trying to find her self and maybe a little love too.

2- 5 things I value? Family, #music, my lessons from #librarylife, my hubs and the support we share, and of course, being able to express myself by #writing.

3- Only the legendary myths remain, sharing the stories in the Red Letters series…

4- To finish writing my books and edit them as well, to hopefully query by summer… #fingerscrossed #hardworkahead.

5- Switching to the sort of Male MC for this one. To be a #famous #rockgod of course. Maybe with the #muse of his dreams too? #spoilers?

6- (stained glass pic) Something that helped inspired depth in my bar #setting

7- The big one of 2017? Finally #finished writing the first #book! Only took more years than I would have liked… Still proud it’s finished too.

8- My #strength as a #writer? The feels or #emotions you get from my characters, and my occasional bouts of #wisdom

9- “A giant Scot and a tiny Cockney drinking beyond the point of drunk? Really? So far the only thing that I can relate to is being drawn to a fine musician’s arse in jeans.”

10- T and B for the win here. Who doesn’t have that sort of extreme friend that pushes you out of your comfort zone? Especially loves to make you blush when you’re chatting with something cute.

11- Cry? Yes… a little death and heartbreak can do that to you. After all, if you don’t move yourself, how can you move anyone else?

12- 1- Character growths from first book, 2- More grown upvibe, no G rating 3- Multiple stories intersecting 4- The pool scene #waitandsee 5- The direction it’s taking me on it’s own.

13- Without sharing #spoilers, in the first book, there is a description of the bar that feels pretty magical, any of the parts alluding to olden days really.

14- Unfortunately, my poetry days are behind me, been a long time since I wrote angst-y rhyming couplets. Yes I know that’s not all poetry, but the reminders… *shivers* nope, no more cutesy dark things, unless it’s music, men, or clothes…

15- I beat the #writersblock with #music… It sets the mood, first by taking me out of mine, and then transporting me to the mood I need to #write in.

16a- If someone is going to try to own me, they can and will try, simply because I seem like the ownable sort. But they never will, not entirely, because they will never be able to take away my memories. #daring #note not yet in WIP L

16b- other creative outlets? #cooking, and I like to take pictures, but do not like being in them… creative in ideas, less in execution lol

17- #WIP as food- something that looks soft, fluffy, and too sweet, like cotton candy, but in tasting it, there is depth, balance and richness to the sweetness. So… savory cotton candy?

18- too many to choose, going today’s currently repeating list… @awakeatlastrock #purgatorium, Ocean Eyes @billieeilish, and @jakeowen If He Ain’t Gonna Love You  

20- It’s brave because under all the fluff, at it’s core, it’s a story about a woman overcoming obstacles meant to break her spirits and still coming out on top… somewhat

21- Halloween of course! The costumes, the candy, *shivers and rubs a spot on neck, blushing softly* the memories are the best part…

22- Goals? Is it really wrong to want a nice looking bar façade that lets the girls make all my money for me? I sing to keep the customers coming, and to show off 😉

23- Frost aka “Ach Lass” “Ah drank wi’ th’ wee Malta, ‘n’ efter ye left lest time, th’ ither lass cam in. Git cried Tweety doo, ‘n’ she stuck wi’ it. Glad tae ken a’mnaeth’ ainlie yin wha sees trouble wi’ her. Gettin an ulcer fae her ideas…” #badaccents maybe?

24- Dress for successful day, deal with kitty carrying #coffee, why is there always soapy water near the sink? Put out cupcakes, chat, flirt, dance, avoid overzealous types, have a deep chat while #writing, barely make it to bed to do it all over again. #barlife #businessowner

25- Malta- “A day ‘ha’ changed me life? Da day I me’ duck an’ Fros’ ov course. ’ah can you no’ remember ’he day you mee’ a bloke ‘ha’ doesn’ lose in ’he game ov drink? so wha’ if ‘e’s a Sco’.. cuppa?”-handed tea before memories become another Cockney/Scottish debate…

26- Relate to her? Once I got arrested because of her, and had to use my blackmail to get off, I walked away to start over. Don’t care about her, and don’t mention her to me again.

27- Family? Why the staff here is my family now, and there are more memories every day. I’m sure we’ve forgotten far too many stories, but I will always remember the Handcuffs Halloween… It all started with this band performance in the club….

28- Try to go trad, or at least chat with a #literary #agent first, got to check the iffy legal issues are only in my head… Self pub is not off the table, just got to get ducks in rows. Still understanding it being #Women’sFiction now… bye YARomance, maybe next time?

29- Write for? Myself, the friends I have made that inspired this story, just found out a family friend’s youth is into writing, so more reason to test the waters first… #experience that can be taught to the next gen writers.

30- Another line from my inspiring quote boards- “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

31- Twitter @ladyofmind721, Tumblr- ladyofmind.tumblr.com/ and Instagram @ladytweet721 If you think I should be anywhere else, let me know! Still debating/working up courage for Facebook…

So I had a great month, putting myself and my work out there for you guys, let’s see where February’s games will take us…. Happy Writing!!