Lisa Writing Wild

1. I walked around three stores and the library today with the second toe on my left foot sticking through a hole in my sock. It felt weird. 2. Whenever I use a public restroom and there are people in there, I have to plug my ears to pee. Otherwise I think they're just listening to me and waiting for me to go. 3. I have a girl-crush on Taylor Swift. 4. When I was a teenager, more than anything in the world, I wanted to be a cop. 5. I ate most of Joey's Reeses Peanut Butter cups he got for Halloween. When he asked where they were, I told him daddy ate them. 6. I hate Star Wars because I can't follow it.

I don't have to cook dinner or clean up because, ::cough, cough:: I'm sick (insert weak voice here). I get to hang out in pjs all day long. I get to watch bad tv or read all day because no one wants to be around me. (Except for my four year old who keeps trying to kiss me). I can crawl in bed at 8:30 and read for hours under the guise that I'm resting. My husband keeps asking if he can get me anything. (And I always try to come up with something .)

I've had two different people ask me this in the past week, and I was curious what other parents did. Growing up my brother and I were spanked, quiet often as I remember (but I'm sure I deserved it). We got hit with anything from a hand, a wooden spoon, a switch (thin stick), and a ping-pong paddle. (By the way, it's never a good idea to put a hard cover book in your pants before getting hit by your mom's hand. That only results in her sending your dad in.) Before I became a parent I never had a doubt that I would spank my kids. I figured I turned out reasonably okay, so what was the harm? But I changed my mind once we had kids. As a foster parent, we're not allowed to spank foster kids, so that settled that. But once we adopted our now four year old son and we could (legally) spank him if we wanted, I just couldn't do it. I don't think I could bring myself to ever hurt him physically, no matter how angry he made me...especially when I'm angry. Tha

Most of the time I make my characters up out of thin air. But when I get stuck I like to think of people I know. What's even better is to mix and match odd quirks from different people and put them into one character. Do you use real people when making characters?

I'd like to think I'm green. But I don't really think I am. I bought all the recycable bags for groceries, but leave them in the car (or at home, or wherever they are) every single time. I try to keep the heat low in the winter, but I have a husband who likes to walk around the house in shorts then say he's freezing and crank the heat up. I intend to take three minute showers, but once my four year old bursts in the bathroom then leaves the door open, I'm too cold to get out so I stay in a little longer. Considering I clean houses, I can't really bike to work. I would gladly eat less or no meat, if it weren't for the disappointed look in his eyes my husband gets whenever I suggest a no-meat meal. I'm not good at all about recycling batteries or ink cartridges. I'm not even sure what to do with them. I DO, however, drink lots of water from my aluminum Yankees water bottle. So, maybe I'm a little green....like guacamole or algae.

Eileen Loveman is a freelance writer, author of four books, stand up comedian, radio show host, key note speaker and weekly columnist under her byline STORIES FROM THE LAKE. From her backyard of Lake Ontario, Eileen offers her unique perspective of life on the lake, sharing thoughts about family, raising children and anything else that floats her way. 1) What was the hardest part about writing this book? The easiest? "Stories From The Lake" is a compilation of columns I've written over the years for the Democrat and Chronicle and smaller newspapers in Wayne County, so it was relatively easy to put the book together - but the hardest part was picking the columns to put in the book. I decided to put them in categories such as 'kids' 'family' 'spiritual' and 'funny'. Towards the end of the book I put them in order of holidays, starting with Halloween. 2) What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel (or writing in

Last week I started a pot holder on fire while trying to scramble an egg. Three months ago I started the toaster cord on fire when it was on the stove, and I lit the pilot to boil water. I only learned how to make Mac and Cheese in the past few years, since I have a four year old. I tried it once and added all the ingrediants at once and ruined it. I gave myself food poisoning from undercooked chicken. Twice. Last night I made over two dozen peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and burned every single one. Actually, only the bottoms were burned. The tops were still raw. I could go on, but, hey, the title only says 5! Have any of your own kitchen disasters?

What is your favorite fall memory? How old were you when it happened? My favorite fall memory would have to be a recent one with my husband and son. Last fall we went to Letchworth State Park and took a ton of photos.  We'd drive a little, get out of the car and take pictures, then drive some more and do it again. We ran around, hiked and visited the gift shop. It was a perfect day!

I have this weird thing that happens to me all the time. And I've been paying close attention to it the last few years. I'll be talking to someone about something, and make an off-hand comment about how I'd like something (table, something for the house, etc.), and usually not too long after that, I end up getting it somehow. Here are a few examples of this happening in the past week: 1. One of our cleaning customers went into great detail telling me about his microwave convection oven. To be honest, I'd never even heard of it. I had no idea the dozens of microwaves I clean every week also act as ovens. I told  him that it sounded cool and I wish we could get one since we're remodeling our kitchen. He even printed out a bunch of them for me to show me prices (which were too much for us!). Two days later while my husband was helping my brother move some stuff at his shop, my brother gave us a beautiful microwave convection oven. A stainless steel one. For free.

I first came across Jessica Brody on accident. I was Googling Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! book, looking for writers who have used it to write novels (it was written for screenplays). I was delighted to find Jessica's guest blog on the subject on Blake's web site. After reading her blog, I went straight to the library and checked out her first YA novel, The Karma Club. I read it within a few days and loved it! Tonight I just went and got The Fidelity Files, and look forward to the follow-up, Love Under Cover. 1) What was the hardest part about writing The Karma Club? The easiest? Believe it or not, the hardest part of the story was actually coming up with the various revenge schemes that the girls do when they “take Karma into their own hands.” I thought it would be the easiest thing in the world but it was actually very challenging. I guess revenge is not really my strong suit. The easiest part of the story was the beginning—the storyline for setting up the K