Looking Back

I'm not very traditional about the whole resolution thing.  Why make a resolution that you are going to break within a few days.  Eh, not my style.

I needed help with my story, yes, it is STILL fighting me, and I thought I'd review the Revision Class I took from Lani Diane Rich last January.  It was during the download process that I had an aha moment.   It was a full class and she had three session each week to accommodate all the participants.  I wanted to download the class I had attended, but I couldn't find my face.  It dawned on me that last January I was one of the blank heads.

So much has changed over this past year.

• I am no longer a blank head, my face is out there.
• I use my name, not a clever rendition of it.
• I actually got married. I was not a fan of marriage after two epic fails. But the sun, the moon and I suspect Venus aligned and the moment was just right.  I could not be happier.
• I wear a wedding ring.  Something else I never saw me doing as I'd always viewed such things as a sign of possession and I am not a possession. I always said it was the guys way of peeing on you. Marking his territory as it were.  But again, it seemed right.
• I made some very scary choices.  Walking away from my job and taking the leap of faith that one would be there when I got back from a summer in the Bahama's. It worked out. Not in the way I'd expected, but I am so much more happy with the job I have.  I am still in the industry, but the non-pressure end. I love it.
• I drove in Florida, on the freeway, all by myself. I am not an adventurous driver.
• I actively participated in the writer's conference this year, and in Lani's Discovery Class. Just writing and putting it out there. In the past I'd be so critical of myself that I'd freeze and not do anything.  Then the moment would pass, everyone had moved on and I would have to catch up, only to freeze again.
• I started two blogs, Adventures in Life. (Life is the name of our boat. I so clever.) Random observations that chronicled our summer. But it was part of the process of learning to put it out there. When we got home I started Miss Steps and Milestones.
• I've joined a writer's group and their first session is in less than a week. 

I am not the person I was a year ago.
I am excited to see what changes the new year holds for me.

Taco Salad

When I think of a taco salad I think of lettuce, meat, tomatoes, cheese, salsa, some guac and sour cream, all lovingly placed in a flour tortilla shell that has been deep fried to resemble a bowl.  That's what I think of...

My first clue should have been when she asked me if I wanted it ala cart.  I was a bit puzzled as I thought taco salad was a bit of a stand alone...but hey, what do I know. 

When she brought me my plate there was one taco.  Now I have to admit it was a DELICIOUS looking taco. It was in a soft shell that was puffy.  The meat looked tantalizing.  It really looked good.  But it was not a taco salad.  My husband asked the gal, does this look like a taco salad to you?

She apologized and whisked away the taco and returned with a hard shell taco.

Hey, all the ingredients were there right?

Awwww

Dance of the BonkBonkBonkBonk-Plum Fairy (Scottish Fold Kitten)

Okay, it's still the season and I've been a major slacker in writing so I thought I'd share some cuteness. Enjoy.

Happy Merry Christmas Eve

I hit the stores early this morning and this song sprang to mind.
Sung to the tune of O Holy Night

Oh holy crap, it is the last day shoping.
What was I thinking? Nobody knows.

Long was the time that I could have been buying.
But was it so? I tell you, no!

The stores are packed.
There are no carts for hauling.
Was that my toy, you took, I say my dear.

Fall on your face
Oh hear the angel voices
Get out of my way.
Or you will die, those are your choices.

Get out of my way.
Or you will die,  'fore Christmas day.

Okay, not so cheery, but it was honestly the song that I was huming as I fought my way through the store.

Do I Look Amused?

My husband in his oh so sweet way reminded me that for the next six months I am older than he is.  He said, "So I guess you'll be a cougar for the next six months."
I say, "Do I look amused?"

Live and Learn

I it has been the week for me to get schooled.
First with the panic over the potential loss of my story.
And now this.

I saw this dancing icon down in the bar and hovered over it.  There's an update. It said.
I didn't think much of it at the time.  Okay, an update. I'll eventually get it.
Oh NO.  You will take your update NOW and you will like it.

Because I just hibernated my story last night and because I had not saved this morning I lost about two hours worth of writing.

Lessons learned this week:
1) Back up your story.
2) Dancing Icon means business.  Your computer is going down.
3) Hibernation is for bears. Even if you are in a hurry 'cause your hubbie is home, take the two seconds needed to save your story.
4) When the screen pops up that says, "Do you want to save?"  Don't look at the screen and think: Save? What button have I hit now? Do NOT think.
Just say:  YES.  YES, I DO WANT TO SAVE!!

Ramblings

Strangest Workman's Comp claim ever...

"How did you hurt your knee?"

"It was the curtsy. Well a cross between a bow and a curtsy really."

"What?"

"You know, the thing actors do at the end of the play. When the main dudette comes forward and accepts the applause."

At work I was told what a smashing job I'd done on a project.  I did my curtsy thing and as I was standing there my 'bad' knee started making strange cracking sounds. Kind of like the sound the cable threads on an elevator makes in the movies as they are snapping one by one. Yep, kind of like that.

Strangest phone call ever...

"Good Morning, this is Judie."

The voice says, "Um, yeah, no. I already talked to you."

hmmm should I take this personally?

Edited to add another odd call.

Good Morning, this is Judie."
"I'm sorry."

That was it. I'm sorry and then nothing? He didn't hang up. I hadn't had a fight with anyone. Didn't sound like a voice I knew.  Possible scenarios ran though my head.

I could envision this man smirking at his glaring wife.  See you crazy #%#$% I can say the words!! Just not to you!!
OR
There's some crazed serial killer out there who has remorse about what he does and calls random numbers just to apologize, make peace with himself.
OR
Some crazy serial killer who calls and says "I'm sorry." and if the intended victim says "That's okay, I understand."  That's it they are the next target.  Dude's already been absolved of his crime.

You can bet your sweet bippy I didn't say a thing.  Not one word.  I just waited to see where this call would go.  Now I find it funny that I write fantasy but none of my possible scenarios dealt with any magic reason for this silly phone call.  Maybe at work I'm more grounded to this universe. ;)

FiMo

I only have a few more words left before I get my swashbuckler dude for the week 2 challenge  I'm not sure why I'm procrastinating, but I am

How to blow a turkey call.

Or Not!!

It's a wonderful life...

Think you are not important?
Think that no one would miss you if you just disappeared?
I beg to differ. If they didn't notice YOU were missing they sure as heck would notice that your best friend had gone bonkers.  I present Garfield without Garfield.







And on that note, I'll start my Monday.
= )

What's important to you?

I had an interesting moment the other night. We were heading out when we discovered that my husband's car had been broken into and the stereo stolen. My mind went immediately to my vehicle where I'd left my little computer. I didn't care about the computer as much as I cared about the fact that my story is now allowing itself to be told and I had NOT backed it up.

If they took my computer sure I could rewrite the story, but it wouldn't be the same story.  The insights that I had would not be the same, all would be lost. A story is like your family.  For a span of time these people allow you into their world, relationships are formed, they are a part of you.  I would have been crushed had I lost that.

So what is important to you?







Maison, please forgive me that the old title is on the picture.I promise I will not change the name if you will continue to tell your story. ;)

Wii aka Wheeeee, Yippi

The kids hooked the Wii up in the living room and I think that my life will never be the same again.

My daughter and I have dutifully exercised to a DVD Monday through Friday for about two years now.  There were high points and low points. Biggest Loser "Bob" kicking our ass points and the settling for "Leslie" points.

At some point we began doing the same Leslie Sansone DVD daily.  The time fit perfectly with what we were willing to offer the exercise gods and since it was repetitive we use the time to talk. We knew all the moves and other than a random leg flail or two, it was good.

That is until I discovered the Wii.Fit Plus.
It is awesome.  In the past if my daughter wanted to opt out of exercising I was more than willing to take a day off.  Not with the Wii, there are so many fun things to try that I look forward to it.  On many things I am an epic fail and my obese gray haired Mini Wii shakes her head sadly.  But some things I do well.

I think the most awesome change of mindset is this:
My daughter was playing some sort of sword game where all these people are trying to kill you and you have to hack your way to safety or something.  She was complaining about how her arm muscles hurt.  A visual of of  my own jiggly arms came to mind and I thought: Hey, I want my arms to hurt. Can I play that game? Can I? Pleeease?

We don't chat as much as we once did. But we are laughing, cheering and totally enjoying our morning time together.

Sonoma Academy: I Will Derive!!!

                                                      If I wasn't married to a brainiac I would never, ever, ever have seen this.  However now that it is stuck in my head I will share it so it can be stuck in yours as well.  Enjoy ;)

As Fate Would Have It

I will have to change the picture, but I'll cross that bridge this weekend.  I decided that my working title needed to be changed.  It seemed appropriate to have it be As Fate Would Have it. I could say As Maison Would Have It, but that is just not as catchy ;)

The dictionary says it means:
A colloquial way of saying "as it turned out," or "as it happens."
It refers to a coincidence.

Well, as it happens my main character did not like the title I'd chosen for the story and as it turned out she had definate ideas about how the story should go and basically bullied me into the story she thought should be written. 
Is it a coincidence?  I think not.

NaNoFiMo

After 30 days of hibernation NaNoWriMo came to a close. I wrote my husband a note, not only to thank him for his support, but to reintroduce myself and remind him he still had a wife. Remember me?? I'm back.

And then I found NaNoFiMo.

(National Novel Finishing Month)

It is a community of writers who are taking the month of December to finish.  Some will be finishing other projects that they have put on the back burner.  I will be finishing my NaNo novel.  

First Challenge:  10K by December 10th.  

Finally

Got down to the last day before Nano ends and the story I SHOULD have been writing FINALLY comes to me.

I got caught up in the discovery process and was trying to force what I THOUGHT the story should be, not writing what the story was.  Finally on Sunday night I asked my freaking MC what SHE thought and she flat out told me that I had it all wrong. "It's not in the cards, it's in me," was all she would say.

Well, I had KNOWN that all along, but I kept focusing on the cards.  I spent a lot of time on the freaking cards I was going to use them damn it!! Oh, they are still a part, but only a small part and because I am not focusing on them I was able to focus on other things, other beginnings and finally last night the story began to flow.  If it were not month end I would have called in sick.

The excitment I use to feel for Nano returned. I suddenly was looking at where I stood in the word war and wanted to do better.  Everything that had always been Nano to me, came to me on the last freaking day.

What have I learned?  The discovery process was awesome, but for me I need to also include discovery writing and outlining while I'm in the process of discovering.  I put so much effort into the discovery process that I was unwilling to bend when I needed to bend.  I loved my 3D collage, my magical shelf, and all that I'd done so much I wasn't willing to throw it all away and start over.

When I finally let go what I discovered was that I didn't need to start over.  I just needed to stop being so rigid and trying to force the story into the mold I had determined for it.  All I can say is, YaY!!

Nano was a war this year, a war I won if you look at word count. But more importantly it was a learning experience that I hope I never forget.

I IS PURPLE

I officially crossed over and became purple today on Nano.
On the Nano site the purple bar denotes that I made the 50K in word count.  It was like pulling teeth this year. A total struggle. But that is okay. It's good to fight for a story that has potential, even when that story keeps bitch slapping you.

"How DARE you write me as a Nano novel.  I've heard what drivel comes out of Nano," the story screamed at the author, shaking its type and threatening to delete the whole thing.

"But good things come out of Nano too.  Novels have been published that started out as a Nano. Won't you just work with me?" the author begged.

"Fine!  Here's your 50,000 words.  Now what do you intend to do with it?" The story asked. A tear slid down the monitor kind of freaking the author out.

"I have five days left of Nano.  I intend to start at the very beginning and finally write the story I wanted to write all along.  That is if you'll be so kind and allow this story to be written," the author replied.  "It will help SLC's word count in the word war.  You know that this year I have not been very helpful on that front."

When the novel didn't respond the author decided that it had acquiesced by its silence and wandered off to a clean white screen where she could begin a new.

In Honor of SNOMAGEDON!!

Perfect for a Winter Day

Awesome Time Waster.

I'm just having one of those...

Days, lives, November's... fill in the blank.

0 words in 1 minutes... not sure how that happened exactly but it was so awesome I had to post it.

"What you been doing Jude?"
"I've been doing 0 words in 1 minutes.  What you been doing?"

Okay off to write.
= )

Windows, Halloween & Banana Phone

The boys got my new windows in, and of course nothing is every easy on this house.
But they are great kids and gave up an entire Sunday to make these bad boys work.
Yep, I said an ENTIRE Sunday...told you nothing is every easy on this house.









Yea I know it's almost Thanksgiving, but here is Jess' Halloween photo.  

Arrrgh, but she be a cute pirate.

And last but not least the freaking Banana Phone song.
This song was one of the 'tormentations' on Write or Die.
I couldn't get it out of my head and I couldn't stop singing it.

Imagine being a boss walking up behind an employee hearing her singing and bouncing around in her chair dancing to THIS song.
(Of course given the characters at my work... I'm the NORMAL one.  Be afraid, be very afraid. ;)

She Did It!!

Jess fought for and won the job she's been longing to have.

That girl is amazing, without doubt.

Stavo decorated the house and as she walked though the door confetti poppers filled the air with streamers.

Of course no celebration would be complete without flowers, sparkling cider and chocolate.

This is totally awesome.
You go Jess!!

What the ???

I don't know what happened earlier this week, but it was as if the whole universe exploded into a mash of needy chaos.  It was nuts.  It made me nuts.  Things seemed to have sorted themselves out...thank you Jebus...but it was really crazy and really intense for a few days.

Nano is sucking this year.
No, I am sucking at Nano this year.
I came into it with lovely pictures, a wonderful 3-D collage and that was about it.
The Discovery process.
In some ways it has helped.  The lovely pictures keep me going.
In some ways it has been a pain in my backside. I had no outline and am still wobbling about for a plot.  I think I have it and then it disappears.

I think that I just need to take a day.  Throw together a hasty outline and start the freak over.  I can mash the word count together at the end of Nano,but for now, every time I open the document I just feel like TOTAL failure.

I'll ponder what will be best to do.

Mostly, I just needed to post something and I figured why not whine ;)

Oh Dear Spirits

In the process of using Write or Die to bolster my word count I set it on 1,500 words for 30 minutes.  I've proven that I can do that.

Then I wanted to beat my old record and I knew I needed at least 1,700.  I saw the possibility for 1,800 words and I went for it.  The problem was at the end I got stress and tightened up and couldn't think and I couldn't type. When I saw what I'd written it sounded like my story was Meg Ryan at the restaurant when she faked an orgasm. I was trying to think what to write and it came out Oh, oh, oh, oh, I, I, I, Oh, oh, oh.

I laughed so hard I cried.

Hey, all words count in Nano.

And for the record it was 30 minutes, not 31. I hit 1,800 words and tried to stop the clock. I couldn't find the freaking mouse to click on DONE before it rolled to the 31.  I wasn't typing, I was looking for the mouse.  YES, it was right there on the desk, but the pointer thingy wasn't playing nice.  HONEST!!

Do you realize that it is only 60 wpm.
My mother could type over 100 wpm on a MANUAL typewriter.
I bet she's up there thinking I'm a dorf for being all proud of 1,800 words.
Of course it is not just typing copy, but thinking it up as you go along.

Wow, now that I know I could maybe type faster, this is awesome.
Next time Bob is not allowed to sit on my arm as I type, that will help.
I'm so freaking competitive during Nano.  It's disgusting.

Write or Die

My new best friend.

It MAKES you type fast or the screen turns colors.  The first of which is PINK! Gods no!! Not pink!!

I guess it can also make sounds, a baby crying and what not.  I will have to play further with this wonderful invention.

Back to Nano.

How's NaNo going? Kind of like this...

I'm baaack

At least I think I am.

I has no fever.  I can breathe. Most importantly my mind seems to be working.
I tried to write yesterday, but nothing came.  I even considered quiting Nano.  For reals, it was that bad.

This morning I woke up and actually felt like waking up and not crawling back under the covers.  While walking the dog all kinds of potential for my story began to open up.  I got home plunked my arse in my chair and wrote almost 3,500 words.  Then I e-mailed Doug and now I'm blogging and I STILL have ten minutes before the girl gets up and we exercise.

Praise Jebus.  I think I could have taken being sick, but having no desire whatsoever to write, we are talking zero desire, that was hell right there, or at least one of the seven levels.  A pretty bad one if you ask me.

Word Wars

Word war I have joined
I am sick and do not care.
Word count abysmal

Needed to post something why not a Haiku

IHMAWTD

Zombie Kid Likes Turtles

Some days are just kind of like that... I think today might be one of them.

Day Two - She got sick

Day One of Nano went well.  I woke up at 12:20 am and thought of getting out of bed and writing, but my gut froze. I lay there for three hours before getting the party started.  ahaha this does not bode well for this year. However, I did make my word count plus a few 2,057.

Day Two
What I thought were allergies turned into a full blown sore throat and snoggely cold. Or the snoggely cold is still the allergies and the sore throat is just a bonus feature. I now suspect cold more than allergies as I am also freezing and can't get enough layers on to warm my bones.  I would turn on the furnace, but it is still broken.
I know, I AM a major wha baby today, just back off about it or I'll sneeze on you.
Just say'n.

I made word count by two words.  It took a little fourth wall breakage to get there, but hey, a girl's gotta do...

While walking the dog this morning I saw something that totally shocked me.  One of the houses in our neighborhood has their Christmas tree up and proudly displayed in their bay window. WHAT? It is November 2. They must do the 54 days of Christmas.  I'm thinking these people even beat WalMart with the Christmas displays.

I Am The Very Model Of A Wrimo Individual

Oh my gosh, I think I figured this out. YAY!!

Nano Fever Begins

I don't know how to make the picture appear but the links will take you to a couple of You Tube videos that are awesome.

Nano - it's almost here

I am the very model of a Wrimo individual.

Last year Nan got me all fired up, I think it was late September and I thought I'd burst before November got here.  This year, I had the writing class, I had the conference, I started a new job and I just hadn't caught the fever. I even wondered if I should do Nano.

Something happened yesterday.  

I said the word that made it all real.

Doug will be signing at my office on Monday and he changed the time from 4:30 to 4:00 so I wouldn't be sitting around for a half hour waiting for him. 

I gave him an incredulous look and said, "NANO".  

I have to admit that I felt a bit guilty as his face fell and he said, "Well, I thought you might like to see me?"

The guilt is still haunting me just a tad, but hey...NaNo.

That one little word started the Nano addiction coursing through my veins.

Maybe now my brain will take me seriously and give me a FREAKING plot!!

Nano, Snow and Not the Moon

Nano is only days away and I have no plot.  I keep telling myself that it will gel if I stop stressing about it.  When I finally complained about my opening scene things finally fell together.  So I'm whining about my plot to see if we can get something going.

Speaking of whining:

Have I mentioned that I hate snow!!

Man, I thought Monday's snow storm was an UGH! Yesterday's had me in full blown panic attack.  I reminded myself that I live in a pocket that loves to get snowed on and turned on the news to see the weather cams. Things looked drivable and I calmed down.  Whew.  I am a snow woozie, it's true.

That was the beginning of the most interesting day. I won't elaborate, but suffice it to say that the full moon has passed so we can't blame it on that.  I guess some people are just ass hats.  Just say'n.

Snow - Ugh!!

While I lay in bed listening to the rain pelt the window, I try to convince the dog that it was not morning yet. 2:00 is NOT morning. Not really.  I was hoping to go back to sleep for just a few more minutes. That didn't happen but I did find my opening scene. It's not back story, it has the shark fin, it introduces and or mentions the key players. I HAS IT!! YaY!  The other thing I realized was that the rain had stopped.  AWESOME.  So I decided to call it morning and walk the dog between the rain storms.  The rain had turned to snow.  Curse that vile white stuff.

I had heard rain-ow in the valley and snow in the benches.  I can assure you that I don't live in the benches.  This is not rain-ow this is flat out snow. Ugh, now I have to leave for work early, find a snow route, dodge the other idiots who can't drive in the first snow storm (me included)... oh lament.

Doug is a snow freak, loves the white stuff.  I generally accuse him of dancing naked under the moon when the white stuff flies, but this time I'm blaming Warren Miller. That's right, you heard me.  Saturday night they had a film showing down town. You can not get that many snow loving bodies gathered together dreaming of the all that snowy goodness and not have the heavens do something about it.  Well, I hope it gets it out of its system and leaves us be for a while.  Or as always, I'm fine with snow in the mountains, rain in the valley. I don't think that it is too much to ask, but apparently it is.

Nano is coming

*hangs head and sobs, But I'm not ready.*

I just finished a Discovery Class and I have  a magical shelf, a 3D collage of my characters, another of my settings, but Nano is looming and I have NOTHING.

I wanted to give the Discovery Class its full due.  What good taking a class if I continue to do what I've always done.  I feel the story all around me, but don't have my usual trappings and I'm feeling vulnerable. Part of the discovery class was writing our back story to get it out of our system.  The last assignment was to write our opening scene, which the Nano-ers couldn't do. But we can be thinking about it at least.  I am frozen.  I think I have a good starting point but then it feels like back story.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that when the starting bell chimes at midnight, November 1, my brain take this swirling mass of 'visual' and words will come shooting out my finger tips.

Fairy Friday

Where does one begin to write about fairies? I decided to get scientific with the process. I used the open encyclopedia, close eyes, flip through the pages and point method. Imagine my surprise when I was pointing to King of the Cats. That's a fairy?  Who knew.Well, I guess I do now.

King of the Cats
According to The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Fairies by Anna Franklin  King of the Cats is often referred to in Celtic folklore.  He dwells as an ordinary cat by day and travels the country at night as a royal fairy cat to avenge any slights given to him during the day.

Poking around on the internet and looking through my other fairy books, I'm not seeing King of the Cats as being sited anywhere. It is an interesting thought though, better be nice to all the little kitties 'cause you don't know which one might come back and kick your ass!!

And why does he only avenge slights. What about the nice lady that takes in the strays and feeds them, gives them attention and a home. Why can't the fairy by night cat be nice to them, do nice things for them. I guess in writing an avenging cat is more intriguing.

Witchy Wednesday

In One Small Step I used a modified version of a spell that I learned from our receptionist at work.

Original Spell:

• Write the name of a person you don't want to come around on a piece of paper.
• Put it in the freezer.

The person coming into the office or your home will feel the chill and it will not be a place s/he wants to be.

My Spell:

• Take a clean white sheet of paper.
• Write the persons name three times.
• Fold the paper three times.
• Place the paper in a zip lock baggie.
• Fill with enough water to cover the paper.
• Place in freezer.

The girls in my story used this spell to help a friend and co-worker get rid of a bad habit.  It was a 'habit' she'd acquired by modifying a spell. Why the girls in my story thought that they too could modify a spell and have it work out is beyond me. Guess some people never learn.

If you are interested in reading One Small Step please comment below, including e-mail address or e-mail me at jaileenq@gmail.com and I would be happy to forward it to you.

It's Over

The Muse Writers Conference is over and Chester couldn't be more happy.
It appears I give the dog more 'sniff' time if I am not RUSHING through our walk.  I hadn't even realized that I'd been doing that until this morning.

Note to self:  Even when we are busy, we must take time to smell the ... hmmm
I'll go with posies since roses are not my favorite.
We'll let Chester smell what ever he wants!! ;)))

Happy Sunday

This is a test.

At the conference they stress that it is important to blog consistently. What if you are out of town or have a busy week or... There is a little button that allows you to write your blog and post it when you tell it to post.  I think this is an awesome feature and wish to test it out.

This is my test.  Did it work?
= )
J.

My brain has gone bye-bye.

It has been a crazy week between starting a new job and trying to keep up with the conference. My brain is going Wha happ'n??? I was convinced at one point my brain would just squirt out my ears. Combine that with sleep deprivation and it makes for some pretty goofy times. If it was November I'd call 'em living Nanoisms.

I was driving home from work and didn't realize that my brain was on auto-pilot until I tried to clutch, could NOT find the clutch and panicked.

Um, Jude? Don't you drive an automatic??

Indeed I do.

I was walking Chester and some stupid cat jumped out of the tree right in front of us. To Chester it was manna from the gods, to me it was annoying. Cats should know better, damn it.  So in the wee hours of the morning I yell at the cat, "Who is your mama?" I suppose I thought I was going to go have a talk with her about proper cat in tree behavior.

It is a good thing it is the weekend I need some serious veg time.

Autumn in Utah

 

We took the G-kids up to Silver Lake for a 'hike'.  It is mostly paved and basically flat so small legs don't get too tired.

There was a skiff of snow and we spent a lot of time finding alien tracks, swishing sticks in the lake, or beating on tree trunks to send the aliens a message.

Doug's brother Craig is into Geo-caching and we searched for alien treasure. We found it. YaY!  The girls took magical rocks from the stash. James took a purple skeleton that, oddly enough, looked just a bit like an alien. ;)

Could I get any busier??

Wait, don't ask!!!

I've been ignoring my class because of the writers conference.  I knew I needed to give it some attention and so tonight I put my efforts into my Discovery Class.

This week we are working on setting.  We are supposed to write about our settings, logical as it is a writing course, but I have not taken the time.  I have thought about it but my brain is fried, more on that in another post. I decided to go with a visual setting thing, at least for now.

I think that this will be very helpful.  I write fantasy and so the places my characters visit are not the norm, at least not in this universe.

Epic Fail... Or not ;)

I slept in...

Hangs head in shame. I have a GET UP NOW alarm set and I almost slept in until that time, so I'm two hours short of where I'd hoped to be.  Oh well, you can only do what you can do.

What a crazy week it has been. Between The Muse On-Line Writers Conference and starting a new job my head is full to bursting.

I am back in the title industry, yeah!! And on my first day they are telling me that I HAVE to take a half-hour lunch.  HAVE TO. Only in Escrow would your boss tell you that you WILL take your lunch, damn it!!  Only in Escrow will assistants stay at there desks frantically working up a closing while the fire alarm is shrieking in distress.  Ah Escrow...glad to be back!

I will be very brief today. I was in changing the layout. One of my classes is specifically on blogging and she says that left side bar is better than right.  So I switched that up.  Not entirely, I still like who I am standing out so I put me on the right.  I will probably change that too in time, I'm just trying it on to see how it feels.

She also said that white writing on black was BAD.  I really like it with the green background.  I may or may not keep it.  I'll ask young eyes and old eyes to see what the consensus is and go from there.  I used a half hour trying to remember how to change the freaking width so everything would lay right.  Argh!!

Okay, back to class.
I am major busy, but I am happy.
= )

OMG I didn't catch her name, but she was WEIRD!!

World's Strangest Hair Cut 
Didn't your mama never teach you: "If you don't have nothing nice to say, keep yer yap shut!"

I'd say that this goes double if you are working in the public eye.  The snotty comments and superior attitude should be reserved for the lunch room at least.

After a brief word battle between two stylists I was slack jawed shocked. When I saw the look that one of the co-worker's shot the snotty hair stylist, I thought please don't let that be my stylist, please o please o please.

I got the snotty one.  First off she says, "Oh, I love your hair."
"Um, thanks," I reply wondering if I really need a hair cut.  I was going to wait, but after seeing how wild and woolly it got on the hike...

Then she goes on and on about the silver in my hair.  I'm thinking that this could be a sensitive subject...but maybe not, if it bothered me I guess I would color it. They don't color hair so it wasn't a ploy to get more business. But after the way she treated the co-worker I was not 100% convinced of her sincerity.

The whole time she is chopping my hair she is whisper-talking the words to every song. Either belt it out or hum, but this whisper-talking is creepy. AND she didn't get the words right, now that was kind of funny.  I didn't correct her as she was holding a pair of scissors at the time, but...

Did I mention she dances too?  Yep, I got a whisper-talking, shoulder bobbing, hip swaying, scissor wielding hair stylist.

The co-worker got even, and it was AWESOME!!  I was out of the chair, thank you Jebus, and heading up to pay when the co-worker said, "Oh could you check them in please?"  The lobby had filled up while I was getting my hair cut.  I didn't look back, but you could almost feel the heat of the stylist as she seethed over the fact that her EXTRAORDINARY skills were being wasted checking people in.  I bet they did it just to stop her creepy whisper-talking.  Can't do that at the front desk, you have to get them stuck in a chair with a pair of scissors whirling about their head first so they can't run away. ;)

How's the cut?
Eh.
One of the first thing I mentioned was that I wanted wash and wear hair, and that my bangs were too long.  The last thing she did was cut my bangs and while they were wet they seemed as if they might be short enough.  But I washed my hair today just to see what it would do.  My bangs are too long and I still don't have wash and wear hair.

Call of the Wild

The kids are going a hunt'n.  Not only does Bambi have to fear for its life, the the elk do as well.

Last night the kids got home and began terrorizing all the creatures.  Stavo had an elk call. Chester went nuts and was running all over the yard.  Bob stormed into my room demanding answers as to why I'd allowed some new creature to roam about the house.

All in all it was very funny.

In Morgan's Defense

In Discovery Class we are doing back story writing.  The things an author needs to know but the readers don't.

I started with Morgan, I really do need to name my characters and not use the place holder names.  I began with him because I had an epiphany while putting my second board together. He is the father of my MC. As part of my 'homework' I decide to write a scene when he sees her for the first time and realizes that she is his daughter.

While writing the scene I came to the realization that Morgan was a selfish bastard that got The Maiden pregers and left her to pursue his higher calling. I was outraged.  In the scene he sees his daughter as a means to an end. He's been in the Gods disfavor since he deflowered The Maiden (like duh, dude).  When he sees his daughter he realizes that a Maiden has been restored to the world.  He starts plotting ways to use his daughter to get back in the Gods good graces.  Made me realize why his card is The Broken Gate.

On  my way across the valley for a visit with the G-kids I was so angry. THAT'S not what I had planned for him, how dare he take advantage of The Maiden and just leave? How did he know he had a daughter? Did he see it in the cards or scrying bowl?  None of that matters, he KNEW he had a daughter and had done nothing to acknowledge her or even help her mother through the trying times.  I was not happy.

Last night I had the oddest dream.  I was about to give birth.  Morgan came and lovingly guided me from the birthing bed to safety.  Seems the bad people were looking for me and there would be no mother or daughter had Morgan not done what he did.  He still LEFT them to their own devises, but he's not totally heartless.

So, I am sorry Morgan, you are only a semi-heartless bastard.  Maybe you really did love The Maiden, in your own twisted way.  I'm still having issues with you using your daughter to get back in good favor with the Gods.

So Many Good Things

What a day!!!
I accepted a job offer with an AWESOME person.

On the way home I stopped by a Honks.  My board haunts me...not done, not done. I found AWESOME things.

Okay, I know that this board is the same, but more busy.. and yet it so does it for me.
I never knew that Morgan was sleeping with the mom and produced my protag. 
Morgan??? I love it!!

My son called to congratulate me and I'm blathering on about FINALLY getting my board right.  
*rolls eyes, Rocky punches YET again and smiles*

The Magical Shelf

Really more of a magical wall.  There are a few things that I need to finish, change.

I do NOT like the title, I need to fix that.  I want to print out and maybe laminate the 'cards' that represent the main players and I can put those on the shelf.  But I am calling it done for now as I have other things to do in my life... things that have been ignored because I was nuts about this crazy shelf.

When I was out trying to get vibes from items for the shelf I really wondered why some of the items called to me. However, as I was putting it together things became more clear.  The pictures were chosen early on when I was making my cards, choosing my players.  When I came home with a dream catcher, I thought I was on crack, but there is a definite 'wheel' theme going on.  The wooden flowers by the fence...again, I was thinking crack, but one of the pictures that I'd chosen early on was a quilted version of a similar flower.

On the left side of the shelf, by the framed picture is a star that followed me home. There was this lone star at the store, it had obviously fallen out of a bag of a bunch of them, but I'd be damned if I could find the bag of stars and the other bags of rocks and sea shells did not sing to me and so I gave up. When I cleaned out my pockets there was the star.  I probably owe Dollar Days a nickel,  but if it FOLLOWS you home, is it REALLY theft??

My Magical, Magical

My little corner of the universe if filled with all kinds of magical items.

I have two fairies who will NOT talk to one another.  Does not matter how often I turn them, they will find a way to put their backs to each other.

My bitchy fairies.  They refuse to acknowledge the others existence.

I have stone heads from Easter Island, that do much the same.  For a while one of them kept trying to commit suicide and would jump to his doom.  I always found him and eventually he gave up and stays put.  Well stays mostly put, they move and are social or not social...guess we all have those days.

I have migrating lady bugs.  Really!  They seem to have settled down now, but I had six lady bugs that all started in one place and over time they moved to where they wanted to be.  I was going to be clever and put them together in pairs, but they wanted none of that.  Hey, who am I to impose my will on my magical, magical.

It is fun to let it do its thing.

You can see the lady bugs in each container. The wishing well is for my fortune cookie slips. The good ones ;)

In Discovery Class we are making collages and one suggestion was to make a magical shelf.  I was all over that, but it has done nothing but fight me. Jaker is going to help me put it up today and I need to BACK AWAY from the magic and let it happen.  I spent one day perusing stores, Dollar Days, Honks, Big Lots, Michaels and just bought items that spoke to me.  Once I have the shelf, I'm just going to spend the afternoon and allow the magic to happen.  I don't need to be so freaking in charge of this thing.  Lani said it's like trying to get a cat out from under a bed, ain't gonna happen 'til the cat is good and ready. By ignoring the cat, you get what you want and the cat keeps his pride.  This is not the way she said it exactly, but...

So I'm going to ignore the cat and see what happens.

I will let you know.

Chester's Library

When we walk at the park we can spend a lot of time at this corner.  It dawned on me the other day that it was Chester's library.

Okay, so it's a lame entry, but it is something.

My Bad

I had no idea people actually read this.  I have been throughly chastised and will try to post daily.  It is my goal.

I haven't been idle.  I've been working on the cards for my story.  I wanted to be kind of like Tarot Cards, but I didn't want to use tarot cards.  I can't figure out how to link within the site, but if you'll go to the Cards page, you can see what I've been working on.

I am currently reading Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen and loving it.

I need to get out more.

The whole blog thing can be a bit tough.  Over the summer it was easy, there was just so much material to work with.  Since I've been back, what's to tell, my life is boring.  My daughter suggested that I get out and people watch. She assured me that it is out there.  

Oh, is it EVER out there.

Talk to the hand.

I went to the library yesterday and this guy was pacing back and forth talking to his hand. Upon closer inspection you could see that he was holding a phone.  I came to the conclusion that smart phones make people look dumb.  

I'm not as think as you drunk I am.

• Okay, they got the car off the street. Barely. This is s good thing.
• They are going totally opposite to the stripe direction.
• None of the above really matters as this is a no parking zone. 
• Did I mention at least they got the car off the street?

I just got an interesting letter from the Homeowners Asso's

Wow, I just got a letter from the Homeowners Association that basically said if I did not get my broken windows fixed in the next 10 days they'd have someone come and board them up at my expense.  Really?

Do I have a cracked window? Well yes, but that's not the point.
Check out the photo below and tell me.  Do you REALLY  want to board up my windows???

Discovery Class - Cast of Characters

I have finally cast my characters.  Of course I still need to name them and figure out what they are doing. You know, the little things.  But in the mean time I at least have my place holders and that is helping the whole process to gel.

I decided to go with Keira Knightly for my protagonist.

I struggled with casting Angelica Huston as the antagonist as I didn't want to type cast her. But damn girl, if you're evil, you're evil and you are now my place holder.  I chose the picture from Ever After where she is the perfect wicked step mom.

The Supporting Cast:
Beaded Dragon - Every girl needs a familiar.
These are amazing social little critters.  I really would love to have one to add to my menagerie.  I won't, but I would really like one.
Morgan Freeman - He's going to be the wise one, druid kind of player.  Still working out his dynamics.
Herb Woman and Crazy Aunt are just pictures I found for place holders. I haven't found any living representations yet.  There are still movies to watch so there still may be time.

I think the most frightening thing in this process was google imaging 'Crazy Aunt' and I had to look twice.  I thought I saw my photo, sad but true.

Discovery Class

Place Holders

This week we are choosing 'place holders' for our characters.  I've spent a lot of time trying to find the right fit for my MC (Main Character) and have boiled it down to two; Keira Knightly and Juliana Margulies.


I am leaning towards Keira.  I like the fact that I've only ever seen her play spunky women.  I wanted my MC to be darkish, dark hair, dark eyes.  It seems so many characters with the gift tend towards the light, blue eyes and blonde hair or red hair with green eyes, unless of course they are the evil antagonist.  Is my MC goodness and light; the child of the prophecy born again to restore the universe to order?  Probably not, but then again... I just knew that she could not be a 'light' character.


I've got about a zillion movies with Keira in them, but the one I'm choosing for her audition tape will be King Arthur.  I think she is the most bad ass Gwen EV-ER.  I know that poor Juliana doesn't stand much of a chance, but I adored her in MIsts of Avalon and she is a contender.


Other Contenders were:  Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeny Todd.  I liked the look of darkness and while she was a murderess, if I recall the story correctly, she also had a heart.  Jennifer Gardner, kind of fit the mold, but her wide eyed innocence came through even when she was playing a bad ass roll and that look just was not quite right.  I'm not trying to fool the world into thinking my MC is innocient.  I don't think she is.  Michelle Rodriguez was a contender.  She always plays bad ass women, but it always feels to me as if she wished she'd been born a man and so she's a bad ass; not that she's comfortable in her own skin and can still kick your ass, kid of bad ass.


Yep, this Discovery Class is a bitch.  Eating popcorn and watching movies. These tough assignments are killing me.  Once I decide on my MC, then I have to cast the rest of my main players, guess that will mean more movies. 

Dreams Do Come True and Nightmares

Dreams Do Come True

Walking the dog this morning it was a dream come true for Chester. Anyone who knows my dog knows that a motionless state is next to impossible for him, but it happened this morning. He stopped, stared down the street and did not move a muscle, I'm thinking he was even holding his breath.  It was every dogs dream come true.  A big fluffy white kitty was making a bee line straight for us.  It veered at the last moment and Chester was back to his perpetual motion self.  But for one brief moment my dog and I stood in slack jawed awe.

Nightmares

It is every mother's nightmare to look out the window and see her daughter perched atop a motorcycle learning the art of 'making it go'.  

Nightmare 1

Where's the helmet?  Solid shoes, long pants, long-ish sleeves, but something's missing children!!

Nightmare 2

After a couple of false starts my daughter roars off down the street and I hear this being yelled above the din of the bike, "Don't forget the breaks."

WHAT?

That had me out of my seat.  The helmet thing had me twitching on the couch rocking rhythmically to the mantra, they are adults, they are adults, if they didn't live here you wouldn't know about this, they have to live their lives, they are no longer babies, step away from the motherhood and let them grow up.

Don't forget the breaks? I was out the door like a shot.  

Okay, so I guess it is fairly common in the excitement of the moment to forget that basic lesson.  He had actually taught her where the breaks were located and how to use them.  It was just a heart stopping moment for me, just say'n.

Writing Nightmares

Or maybe I should say Blogging Nightmares.  I have spent two weeks over on yola working up a web page.  Last year at the Muse Writers Conference it was pointed out that authors need to have a web page and I decided to work on mine while I'm waiting for Kyle to call, Kyle is my future boss. 

I was really glad that I'd gotten a jump start when I got a note from one of my instructors at this years Muse Conference.  She wanted to see our websites and she'd critic them.  This is awesome. The conference is not for another month and we had our first assignment.

Needless to say her comments on my website were OUCH. After two frustrating weeks fighting yola (they had been recommended at last years conference) I discover that yola can't give me what I want.

First comment:  Index...should be HOME.  (I tried, the gods know I did)

Your website is ... yawn... a little boring.  You have all the right ideas, you just need to ZIP them up a bit... here's how.

BIGGER pictures! (I went as big as humanly possible)

No links to Twitter and Facebook.  (Shame on me, I'll work on that.)

Widgets (WTF?  Yes, I'll google it. They have gadgets here, will that work?;)

I need more color and action or my ADHD crowd will drift away.

AND

My animals are cute, but that's not what I'm writing about.

Basically, I am in need of a do-over.

Since Yola was not giving me what I needed it was time to move on. In my quest for blog ideas I notice that a lot of people used blogger, and since it did us in good stead this summer, once we figured out the picture thing, it seemed like a logical next step.

So, here we go again.