Local Goings-on - Rooftop 1 West Las Olas

You'd think I haven't eaten in a year! Facebook suggested I'd enjoy Rooftop 1WLO in Fort Lauderdale. They were correct!

This place rocks. Given my oddball work hours, I get to go on off nights, like Wednesday at 8:00pm when they offer movie night for only $10. That's one thing, but for that $10, you also get free rosé and a miniature kettle of popcorn (cheesy, salty, buttery popcorn).

The views are spectacular!

Bar at Rooftop 1WLO, Fort Lauderdale
Credit: Mackenzie Littledale

Braised ribs grilled cheese, Rooftop 1WLO
Credit: Mackenzie Littledale

Rooftop 1WLO Fort Lauderdale
Credit: Mackenzie Littledale

Rooftop 1WLO Fort Lauderdale
Credit: Mackenzie Littledale

View up Las Olas from 1 WLO Fort Lauderdale
Credit: Mackenzie Littledale

View of Nova Southeastern University & Museum Plaza from 1 WLO Fort Lauderdale
Credit: Mackenzie Littledale

Last night they played The Proposal with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. We didn't get to hear all of it, but we had so much fun, it didn't matter too much.

I can vouch for the buffalo chicken empanadas and braised ribs grilled cheese.

Full bar, but they don't have a blender, so no frozen cocktails 😢
Valet parking is $27, unless you get the front desk to validate your ticket, then it's only $7.

Thursday evening is Ladies' Night - ladies drink free from 4:00pm - 7:00pm.

Facebook: @rooftop1WLO
Website: http://rooftop1wlo.com/

Go have some fun and take friends!

Have a magical day!
Mackenzie

On Writing - next WIP ideas

While This Darkness is Mine is being queried in hopes of landing a contract with a literary agent, I have a couple ideas for future novels.

Before that though, finding potential readers who would have a keen interest in This Darkness is Mine will be foremost in my mind. Since the novel is semi-autobiographical, I decided to take a few cues from Michelle, the lead.

A support group isn't the worst idea in the world, so I'm planning on visiting one in Hollywood - DBSA (Depression Bipolar Support Alliance). I've been to support groups before and felt ill-at-ease, but since #EndTheStigma is important, it's time I stop looking down my nose at people who have the same struggles I do. Maybe they're not the same, but worse or less. The fact remains, we're in this together and bipolar manifests in myriad ways in different people. It's incredibly difficult to know what's real when the mind itself is malfunctioning.

To say I'm fortunate that my meds work so well is an understatement.

Having gone off on that tangent - the next ideas for novels are:

1) a doctor and her patient who get entangled in a massive corporate lobbying effort
2) a young woman who develops peripheral neuropathy after becoming a widow, and the only time she can feel anything at all is when she heals others' pain
3) an historical fiction novel based on the life of an ancestor in early 1800s San Vincent


Make someone else's day magical!

Mackenzie

Facebook

As of November, you can find me on Facebook. I've tried to find the necessary time to document my journey towards getting published, and it's an ongoing thing still.

If you've been following this blog for awhile or enjoy the writing, please visit my author page and leave a review so others know there's more to me than This Darkness is Mine.

https://www.facebook.com/MackenzieLittledaleWriter/

The REVIEW button is on the left side of the screen.

Appreciate ya!

Make someone else's day magical!

Mackenzie

On Writing - FUCK YEAH

I'm not known for clean language, particularly, so let me start off by saying

FUCKING-A

(c) Deposit Photos

The adult fiction writers who were mentored in Pitchwars 2019 made fucking HISTORY. Every single entry got at least one agent interested enough to request more. Getting an agent's attention is hard. Getting them to take action is even harder. I wrote 17 pitch drafts before my mentor and I said, "Yeah, that one."

It's an absolute honor to be included with such ferocious talent. Determined writers who won't listen to anyone telling them they're not good enough, even when they're telling themselves that.

Not good enough? Keep writing.
Not talented? Keep writing.
No one is going to read my shit? Keep writing.

Because we are good enough for the here and now. Right here, right now.
We are talented. We don't have to be the most talented, we have to go the distance.
We take the scrapes, the bruises, the critiques, the bad weather, the naysayers. We blow past the whiners, the quitters, and the ones who won't try.

Fuck it, I'm going for it.


My day is perfect.

Make someone else's day magical!
Mackenzie

On writing - What is the dream?

When I sat down for the first time to start my manuscript, it didn't have a title or a plot. I knew the beginning, some of the middle, but wasn't sure where to end the story.

I watched a tutorial on writers digest.com.
The beginning changed.

I read.
The middle changed.

I watched more tutorials.
The ending didn't change much.

A busy period loomed at work and I feverishly got the manuscript to a ready state and sent it off to beta readers, giving them a full two months to read and make notes.
They all said the story kind of dragged around the same place. Good to know.

Then came pitchwars. I didn't know what it was, but I entered, figuring I'd get the right guidance for that slow spot. I didn't expect the second half to change much, because beta readers loved it.

I think I posted about this already, so I'll cut to the chase.

This Darkness is Mine has a soundtrack in mind. I wrote it out, chapter by chapter what music I think would be appropriate if it were ever made into a motion picture.

I wrote out a list of people who I'd like to send ARCs (Advance Reviewer Copies) in hopes they'd post reviews on B&N, amazon and goodreads.

Why stop there?

I looked up to see if it's common or out of the question for fiction to have a foreword. Forewords can be included in any genre (good to know!)

Reedsy has a blog and YouTube video for how to get endorsements, so I have a few names of celebrities and mental health advocates whose endorsements I crave.

So in it to win it!

My dream expanded even more after receiving feedback from reader and writer friends after the manuscript went through the pitchwars revisions.

"Holy fuck! This is blowing me away!"

"It's a masterful display of imagery that's sucking me in...I'm over 100 pages in and don't wanna stop."

"Mack...I'm shaking it's seriously good."

"I finished all you sent me of This Darkness Is Mine. I think I enjoyed this part even better than the first! You write so well, Mack."

"This is an important story."

"Maybe five or six books I've read in my life really stuck with me, and yours is now with them. Michelle's ambulance ride - what a hoot! Michelle's attitude at the support group. You know, you've really given people a glimpse into a mind that they'd never get."

"This is riveting. I couldn't stop reading it! A star is born, Wonderful!!!"

And, I mean wow! https://www.screencast.com/t/5NrFbjUWu A full length review that I'll just tuck away and peek at whenever I need a pick me up and reason to crush writers block and self doubt.

Pitchwars showcase is literally a couple days away. Wish me luck!

Make someone else's day magical!!

Mackenzie