The next mind style I want to address is Abstract Random.

Flakes: In layman's terms this one word sums up the Abstract Random personality type. Gregore says when they are at their best they are like beautiful snow flakes, each one incredibly unique and together they cover the world with a dazzling art display. they are the emotional, heart centered, sensitive point that establishes rapport with other points in a spirit of good will.

Priorities include:
Emotional, Personal, Empathy, Flexible, Sensitive, Sociable, Vivid Imagination, Go with the flow, Bright and colorful.

Favorite Sayings:
"If it feels good, do it." "Take time to smell the roses." "The heart has reasons, that rason has no knowledge of." (In a strange way I understand that)

Partial List of strengths:
Establishes quality relationships
Accurate "gut feelings"
Celebrate music, art, nature and literature
Enthusiasm and passion
Warm fuzzy people

Partial List of Annoyances to other mind types;
Can be an off the wall flake
Operates on "ish" time when others don't
Extreme moodiness due to an inability to balance the extremes of their emotions
Overly sensitive to correction

Personal Preferences:
Must have freedom of movement, expression of thought, and emotional exercise
Need a place to which they can retreat to recollect, recharge, and reorganize
Want to work and share with others
"all for one and one for all" non-competitive.

New Review: Dakota's Bride


Dakota’s Bride is a remarkable story. I love the description of Dakota; he is a man who oozes charm and lots of chemistry, especially when he and Emma are bonded together. This incredible romance is one I positively fell in love with and is good enough to read again and again. Christine Young sketches characters and landscapes that this reader could visualize. I particularly enjoyed sharing the journey that Dakota and Emma endured. The supporting cast blended well in this unforgettable read that I loved.

Cherokee Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

To read the complete review: http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/dakotasbridechristineyoung.html

Mind Styles to help build character profiles:

How well do you know your character? How can you develop conflict just with a character profile? Dr. Anthony Gregore published The Style Delineator in 1982 culminating twelve years of study and research.

This resource guide can give writers a way to enhance conflict and humor as well as bring the hero and heroine to a deeper understanding of each others personality. We all understand that characters must undergo change and growth if they are to find true happiness. We understand too that the conflicts must be resolved before the end of the manuscript. Conflicts are not always on the physical level. Sometimes the problems that separate the characters are on a psychological level.

Gregore defines four personality types: Concrete Sequential, Abstract Random, Concrete Random, and Abstract Sequential.

One mind style at a time:
Concrete Sequential--These are the "recipe kids." They want to know the who, what, when, where, and why of every task encountered, with the what receiving the major emphasis. Being Concrete and Sequential the view is always so clear…to them. They wonder "will the rest of the world ever be so precise and to the point?
Favorite sayings--"If it's worth doing do it well." "I'm from Missouri, show me." "If it isn't in writing, it doesn't exist." "What you start, you finish." "As it is written, so shall it be."

Priorities:
Orderly, Persistent, Structured, Diligent, Direct, Organized, Detailed, Practical, Concrete, Product Oriented, Realist, and Conscientious.

Partial list of strengths:
1. Solid as the "Rock of Gibraltar"
2. Makes, gathers, appropriates, names, and labels
3. Honest and straightforward
4. Reliabel and trustworthy
5. Excellent at providing structure
6. Accurate, precise, and particular

Partial list of annoyances - to other points:
1. Perfectionistic, one way demands
2. Can be inflexible and rigid
3. Do not like change
4. Viewpoint of an external materialistic world
5. Sometimes they lack sympathy and compassion
6. No nonsense approach to work

Personal Preferences:
1. Quiet with minimal activity
2. Informed on the correct way to do things
3. Quiet, stable, ordered, and predictable
4. Dependable, trustworthy, co-workers
5. High qualitative and quantitative standard
6. Concrete rewards for meritous service

More mind styles coming...
Are you a Concrete Sequential or CS? Do you write characters who seem to have these traits?

Book Tasting:

I just ran across a promotional tool that actually makes some sense. The idea is based on the concept of Wine Tasting or Food Tasting. The author gives the reader a taste of his/her book without ramming it down their throat.

Tastes: free reads, a chapter excerpt, a taste of the dialogue, or an exciting taste of a scene.

When I was able to write every day, I would post a taste of whatever I was working on or post a quesiton about several different ways the scene would/could play out.

With so many authors crying out "read my book!" new, different, and creative ways for promos are always necesarry.

Always looking for ideas.

I actually wrote last week, well kind of sort of, I plotted and I read my part of the anthology. It was fun to get back to my characters and the detailed scenes which I was able to outline will creat a quick write. I also discovered that I was in need of plotting the fae folk scenes. I knew they had become a bit redundant. So quadruple scene plotting for each chapter is just what the writing doctor ordered.

Klarissa said:
"Highland Honor is an exciting historical with lots of passion and danger. I felt drawn to Callie and Colin's lives and wanted to learn about them. With some questions unanswered Ms. Young leaves it open for more stories with these great characters. If you love Highlanders, you'll love Highland Honor."
Read the entire review.
Buy Highland Honor from Awe-Struck Publishing.
http://awe-struckreviews.blogspot.com/

The readers luncheon in Portland yesterday was a great experience. Jane Porter's speach was wonderful, a little funny, poignant and eye opening. Every time I hear anyone speak of their experiences growing up and the difficulties they had to live through I am grateful. I wonder how there are so many disfunctional families and people in the world. Yet I teach. And I see the children and it is so hard for me to understand how people can be so cruel and unfeeling. Is there a way to fix this? I wonder. Our wonderful politicians seem to think that all families have money and live the way they do. Yet we see time and again how disfunctional they are. Are we all so flawed?

Title: Dakota's Bride

Authors: Christine Young

Genres: Historical, Romance

Available: Feb 18, 2010Online Link:

http://www.nightowlreviews.com/nightowlromance/reviews/Review.aspx?daoid=5969Score:

4.25 / 5

Review:

Emma St. John is on the run from a very dangerous and evil man, her stepfather. Upon her mother's mysterious death after a long illness, Emma overhears her stepfather discussing how he systematically poisoned her mother until she died. After hearing this devastating news, as well as hearing her stepfather's horrible plan for her, Emma decides to run away taking her younger sister Clare with her. They are both now on the run and Emma's stepfather has accused her of murdering her own mother, kidnapping her younger sister and stealing her own inheritance money.

Emma has an older brother, Jacob, who left years before their mother died, to make a life of his own away from their stepfather. The only resource Emma has is to follow the instructions left by her own brother in a letter on the day he left, telling her that if she should ever need help to seek out Dakota Barringer for assistance. Paying for passage on the paddle wheeler boat owned by Dakota, Emma and her sister have a room aboard the ship; however, Emma is expected to work as a serving girl to the many men on board. By the turn of luck she ends up assigned to serve at Dakota's table, but before she has the time to let him know who she is and what she needs, their chemistry for each other, and a little wine, do the trick to bring these two together in other enticing ways.

Betrayals, hidden agendas, dangerous Pinkertons looking to collect on the reward offered for Emma's capture and an endearing love story outline this unforgettable tale. I followed along the trails with Emma and Dakota eagerly awaiting the resolution of their story. This is definitely a page-turner you will not want to put down.

Purchase ebook or print at: http://www.roguephoenixpress.com/

Sunshine Award Paty Jager

gave my blog a Sunshine Award.

Thanks Paty!

According to the guidelines, now that I picked your blog you need to:

Put the logo on your blog in a post.

Pass the award onto 12 bloggers. Link the nominees within this post.

Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blogs. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award. So here are my twelve Sunshine

Award nominees:

Rogue's Angels

Genene Valleau

Alice Sharpe

Anne Patrick

K.J. Dahlen

Kevin Voglino

Melody Tink

Nickie Flemming

Preston Sexton

G.L. Loyd

G.L Didadelusky

Clay Renick

Scene writing 101:

Even if you are a panster, like me, plotting each scene is way too important to forego. I go through many steps when I decide what will happen in my scenes.

First: I make sure I know whose POV I'm in.

Second: I write the first sentence and try to write the last sentence. Knowing how the scene will end and making it a cliff hangar sot the reader will keep turning the pages is important.

Third: the scene has to be set.

I always include the internal and external conflict. The hurdle that has to be jumped as well as the character change. Every scene must move the characters forward on their journey.

Knowing who your characters are and how they will react to everything is of ultimate importance. Your characters cannot grow through the story unless the author knows where they came from. Their past will create their future.

Have fun writing scenes but if you're a panster like me, you should still take a real look at plotting your scenes if not the entire book.

Dakota's Bride,

I'm celebrating the rerelease of Dakota's Bride. Twelve years ago in December, Dakota's Bride was released by Kensington. It was my first published book and I had the great honor of Kate Duffy editing my book. Kate was a legend in the field of publishing. She passed away this last fall and the writing world mourned her loss. She was great fun and had a fantastic sense of humor.

Dakota's Bride is the first published book in the series that began with a book called Ghost Dance. Other books in the series include: My Angel, The Locket, The Talisman, and Forevr His.

www.roguephoenixpress.com

Trends in Romance,

Mind boggling doesn't come close to trying to figure out the trends in romance writing created single-handedly by the big publishing houses. When I first began to read romance, my favorite historicals were centered around the War Between the States. Suddenly this was taboo. The houses were not accepting these stories. "Write something else they would say." Then as an after thought they would mention that the author had to be passionate about thier story, "Write from the heart" LOL. As I progressed in my writing skills and publish a western romance, I discovered that now they (the big pub houses in New York) wanted highland sories. So, I picked up my pen--keyboard--and wrote three highland stories. They sold well, but they were turned down by my previous house and picked up by an epub. But the epub wanted regencies. So, once again, I tried my hand at this time period. I went to London, bought numerous books, and studied them. I'm not sure how these books will do. I have one at awe-struck and another one about to be published. Time will tell :0).

Oh, and I forgot to mention loving pirate stories. And they to have seen thier time. It has come and gone--but I think they may have come back. By the time I write them they will probably no longer be a trend. Thank goodness for epubs. One can truly write from the heart and be passionate about the story.

January 20th, high school swimming is over for the year. And what a rewarding year. The girls team did a great job! I am so proud of them. As a team we finished 4th. My wonderful year round swimmer finished her high school career with an unprecedented 8 state championships swims. Our relays finished 3rd and 4th. I am so proud of them.

Last night while they were all shopping I was able to work on my St Patty's day anthology. I revisted my characters and started developing the bad guy. I love my bad guys as all my readers will know. They are my favorite to write because I don't have to be PC. I can pull out all the stops and make them just as bad as their evil hearts.

What fun. Now I have several months to decide if I will do this all over again, (coach swimming). Ah... it is so much fun when all goes well. And I have such a hard time thinking about giving up the team I built from the ground up.

Book signing was a success.

On Valentines Day the Angels had their first booksigning at the humane society, donating a dollar a book. We had a lot of fun with friends, family and new friends. Libby, a black lab, drew names for the door prizes. We will be planning our next signing for the year 2011 on St. Patty's day.

The Angels: Allana, Cinnamon, Sable and Amber.

District swim meet.

Prelims at districts were awesome. Cascade girls and boys swam great. Lots of personal records. The girls are hoping to win the meet tomorrow. If they do, I'll get wet. Wouldn't have it any other way though. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they will all swim as well tomorrow as they did today. After tomorrow we are all looking forward to State.

Then more time for writing and publishing. I am so looking forward to the spring, sunshine, free time, Annaheim and the next Young to come on the scene sometime in June.

Writing today and trying to figure out how to put the time machine into play. Can I send the villain back to the future? Perhaps. I may have to see what my other anthology partners think about that.

Busy day, Super Bowl Sunday, a Bridal Shower, a Rogues Angels meeting, Sunday Dinner, and we were supposed to have Brian and Kari for lunch/brunch but she had to work. It must be tax season. Who has to work on Sunday?

Hoping to see them soon, maybe we'll treck down to Eugene for a dinner with them.

New Goal:

My villain is waiting to be heard. I have had his scene in my head for over a week and have had virtually no time to write. This weekend he will be put on paper as well as the pagan fairy godfather who is directing the poor young man's misdeeds. Oh how I love to write the villains story. I can do anything that pops into my head. What fun awaits.

The covers--

I wanted to thank everyone for helping me by advice and opinions. I believe we, Genene and I, have decided which cover we want. Of course there will always be a few tweaks to the covers. The heart cover popped. But it seemed, as Jenee and a few others said, a bit of a cliche. But the book is historical romance. As Alice said, maybe all we needed on the other cover was to bring the hero and heroine more into focus. With that done, I believe we have a cover. I can hardly wait to have Dakota's Bride re-published. It will be fun to have the book out again.

The heart cover? or the cover with the bracelet of bells?
Or one of the new ones?

I have a cover for the second release of Dakota's Bride. I am looking for input and would like to know your opinion. Dakota's Bride will be released by Rogue Phoenix Press March 1st. Please take the time to vote. All votes will be put in a drawing for a POD of Dakota's Bride. Be the lucky winner.

Casey and Kelly have taken one more step forward. Kelly realizes he is in love with Casey and wants to spend his life with her. He is awe-struck gazing into her eyes. The fae folk feel victorious. Unfortunately they also realize there are two huge stumbling blocks the star-crossed couple must climb over before they can marry. The feud and thier religion stand in their way. If it isn't enogh for the families to hate each other, one is catholic and the other protestant. With the help of Moya and Oran their faierie godmother and godfather I am sure they will over come every obstacle put in their way.

I have set a writing goal for myself. I fully intend to do my best to keep these goals. I am sitting down now at the computer and will read another ten pages of the new anthology. Hopefully I will start writing on the anthology by the end of this week. Setting goals are so important to me. I have always set goals and I don't understand why I stopped. I achieve so much more. My goals are tiny ones. I'm taking baby steps.

I am also intrigued by the story. Last night is the first time I've visited Casey and Kelly and the family feud that may keep them apart. Are they star crossed lovers? Will they end thier lives as Romeo and Juliet did. I don't think so since I have always been a fan of happy endings. But these two lovers will find it difficult to convince their families that theirs is a strong and true love, one that will survive through time.

I want to write, I want to write, I want to write. And I would love to teach if there weren't so many obstacles standing in the way. Why can't everyone love to learn? Learning is fun! And exciting! I think most writers love to learn, they love to research and create new lives through thier imagination. I love to learn everything. It doesn't matter if it is how to do a new type of math problem, something historical, or just something I can take home and tell my husband. Learning keeps the brain cells alive. That and fish. I guess that is why my family loves trivial pursit. We pursue all kinds of knowledge even if to most it is trivia. Why don't people care enough about themselves to try? Some psychologists might say it is because of low self esteeem. How does one have this condition when there are so many people who insist there are no consequenses for actions? I know the answers are convoluted, it is just that I have a burning need to vent today. After two horrendous days when the moon isn't even full, I am trying very hard to stay positive. If anyone is out there listening, thank you.

My daughter doesn't like my background. What does everyone out there think. Obviously, I really liked it. But she thinks it's scary. Where does one find backgrounds for blogs? As far as my resolutions have gone, I haven't done anything. I did ask my husband to find Ghost Dance on one of our archaic computers but he has been so busy with taxes that I think he probably forgot. I'll ask him in a couple of weeks. I have thought about my St. Patrick's Day story but I haven't looked at it. I need to read it again. It shouldn't take too long to get into the swing of things.

Crazy, crazy and it's not even a full moon, but I walked into swim practice today and got yelled at for absolutely no reason. I'm still not sure why. I'm a nice person. I don't try to take advantage of situations. And I always, well almost always, follow the rules because I'm always the one that gets caught if I don't. But this lady lit into me for no reason at all. And then when she called the mangager of the pool she found out I was right. So did I deserve an apology? Of course I did. Did I get one? Of course not. And to top it off she raked me over the coals for talking to my swimmers wrong. I just told them we could only swim for an hour today instead of an hour and 5 minutes. Go figure. I don't thin it is any of her business what I say to my swimmers. I guess I'm still ........