I has award

Jolie Du Pre from Precious Monsters has nominated me for the Liebster Award. 
Thank you

Liebster Award Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who presented you with the Liebster Award, and link back to his or her blog.

2. Answer the 11 questions from the nominator; list 11 random facts about yourself, and create 11 questions for your nominees.

3. Present the Liebster Award to 11 bloggers, who have blogs with 200 followers or less, whom you feel deserve to be noticed. Leave a comment on the blogs letting the owners know they have been chosen. (No tag backs.)

4. Upload the Liebster Award image to your blog.

 

 

Eleven Questions

1. What is the top item on your bucket list?

Finish a novel.  Really finish it. 

Not a Nano, beginning, middle and end kind of finish.

2. What do some people do that bugs you the most? 

This is really petty, but, if you are the first one into work turn on the lights. 

I'm not sure why you think that it is my responsibility.  I am certain you are capable.

Demonstration provided upon request.

3. What do some people do that you love the most? 

Random acts of kindness.  I just love it when someone says or does something nice for no reason.

4. If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be? 

The ability to actually do something with my hair.  It has always had a mind of its own.

5. Do you believe in Astrology? 

I do.  Don't tell my husband he will mock me ;)

6. Do you believe in monsters? 

I do.  Don't go out in the woods tonight.   No, really.  Don't do it.

7. Who is your favorite male celebrity? 

Is it sad to say I don't have one?  {{sighs}}

8. Who is your favorite female celebrity? 

Oh noes.  I don't have one of these either.

9. Are you doing your dream job? 

No.  But it is not bad as far as jobs go - most days.

10. What do you want people to say about you when you die? 

That I made them laugh or brightened their day.

11. Do you want to live forever? 

It would depend.  Would I continually get older and older and older?

And then there would be the whole discussion about at what age would you want to stop aging? 

 

Eleven Random Facts

 

1.  I remember useless facts. 

     Ask me how to cure a middle ear infection with home remedies.  I'm your gal.

     Ask me where I work or my phone number and I'll forget.

    

2. I enjoy sailing.

     Exotic locations and beach time is not bad either

 

3. I love animals. 

   

4.  I think I have tried every diet that has ever been devised.

     I'm still fat,  thank you for asking.  But some day...some day I will find the magical diet. 

     Preferably one that involves eating anything you want and no exercise. 

     I might be picky, but that is what I would like.

 

5.  I will try the strangest things because 'someone' said it would work.

     Did you know that vinegar sprayed on your car window will keep frost from forming?

     It doesn't - And your car will smell like a pickle for about a week.

 

6.  I have coffee with my son every Saturday.  Sometimes the other kids join in too.

    

7.  I have one G-Kid and 5 G-Kids by marriage.

 

8.  I love reading all kinds of books but my favorite genre is fantasy.

 

9.  I ran a marathon once a long time ago. 

     By the end it looked more like a zombie crawl, but I finished.

 

10.  I have gephyrophobia.  Fear of bridges. 

       Technically it is fear of only one bridge. 

       I fell off it and broke my arm.  I try to avoid it when possible.

 

11.  I like LOL kitties. 

       Don't judge me.

 

 

The  blogs I've chosen are:

 

 Sharon Himsl's Shells, Tales and Sails
Click's Clan
Daily Drama of an Aspiring Writer
Beth Camp
KS Collier
Pamela Kelt and her Book
A Daydreamer's Musings
The Nook
Ramblings by Rebecka
Rambling Thoughts

I always squee when I get a new follower but I hadn't noticed the number of followers for the blogs I follow until now.  Most were well over the 200 mark.  I spent most of yesterday combing over the A-Z Challenge blogs to fill in the rest. 
 

 

Eleven Questions from me:

 

1.  If you could have a super power what would it be?

2.  Coffee or Tea?

3.  Favorite color?

4.  Why did you start blogging?

5.  Who was your favorite teacher and why.

6.  Who is your favorite author?

7.  What kind of music do you enjoy?

8.  Do you have a favorite movie?

9.  What would be your dream vacation?

10.  What is your favorite healthy food?

11.  What is your guilty pleasure?

 

 To my eleven nominees, I hope you'll participate, but take your time. I know we are all busy and it takes a bit of time.  But it is fun too. 
(But please notify me when you're post is up!)
 

I think I scared the dog...

I had another night where I awoke at 11:30 pm and was awake.  At 2:00 I gave up and walked the dog.  I showered, drank tea and read.  At 4:00 I snuggled under the blankets and sleep finally took me.  But as it happens more times than not, these dreams are nightmares.

I won't bore you with my dreams, just this one little part. 

I was in my room and it was filled with ghosts. There was a Great Dane with a human face.  There was a Southern Belle, a surfer dude among others. The room was pretty crowded.  All were in my room because of my dog. These were people he'd known in other lives.  I was fine with the ghosts but the dog with a human face was my undoing.

I tried to call out to my dog but I couldn't make my voice work.  I was really freaked out and I kept trying until I finally was able to call his name.  It came out sounding as if it were spoken through molasses, thick and hard to understand.

I tried three times to call him.  He didn't come. In my frustration I managed a kind of argh sound trying to dispel the ghosts from my room.  The dream shattered and I was awake.  I found my pup on the other side of the house.  He was looking at me like I was something from the Zombie Apocalypse. Yep, I think I scared the dog.

Happy Monday

 

(Credit)

I think I've said enough.  Don't you??

Things that go bump in the night...

I love a book that can scare me. However, I was not ready for this:

I had finished my current book and there on my carousel waiting for me was the book by Cherie Reich Once Upon a December Nightmare.  In the wee hours of the morning she gave me a very good scare.

It didn't help that Chester and Bob were in the room with me and the dog door kept thumping as if something was using it.  Not a someone. A some thing.  Bob's alert at the foot of my bed.  He heard it too.  Goosebumps jump out on my skin. 

Once my imagination went into overdrive there was no help for me. 

I'm not a book reviewer.  But Wayne L. White did a marvelous job of reviewing it.  I'll let you jump over to his blog.

I so enjoyed the story that I immediately bought Nightmare Ever After. I look forward to a chillingly good time tonight.

Amazon Kindle

I can do what?

I am going to do the A-Z Challenge this April.  I still have no clue what I'm going to write about, but when I read this on the A-Z Blog it made me do the happy dance.

Preschedule your posts now, so you can focus on comment love in April. Even if you can't be online during some of April, that's no reason to be discouraged.

Blogging, as you know, takes a lot of time. Even my little ramblings can take an hour or so.  I write it.  Think about it. Preview. Change it.  Think some more. Preview.  Change it again.  Preview. Decide it is final.  Preview. Spell check.  Publish.  View blog.  Find a mistake. Fix it. View blog. 

Blogging 26 days in April seemed daunting.  It is also a blog hop with a chance to make new friends and find new blogs. Reading blogs also takes a lot of time.  I wondered how I was going to be able to do it. I know, I know, I signed up for a Challenge not the A-Z Piece of Cake, but I was starting to get worried.  Being able to get the posts done before April is totally awesome.

Now I just need to think of something to write about.

Happy Valentine's Day

and for all of you who hate Valentine's Day here's something totally random.

 

 

Sooooo whoever out there is dreaming about me, knock it off.  I need some sleep.  Please and Thank you.

 

I fall asleep VERY early in the evening.  I'm exhausted from lack of sleep the night before.  A couple of hours later ('bout the time normal people are going to bed) I wake up and that is generally it for the night.  Now I know the reason.  ; )

I'm unbalanced

Anyone who knows me would not contest that statement.

The Plot Whisperer arrived on my door step. Squee!!

In the first pages it suggests that you identify your strengths and weaknesses.  Are you linear or circular in your thought process.

A linear thinker is left brained and can easily create dialogue and action packed scenes.

Circular thinkers are known to fall in love with the characters and ponder themes and meanings. They are right brained.

The left brain struggles with right brained activities and the right brain struggles with the left.

A balanced brain can deal with all of the above.

In my pursuit of all things write it makes sense to me how utilizing the whole brain would be a good thing.  I do struggle with linear and the logical.  It is a part of me that I will work on.

A passage that I liked from the book that I wanted to share. Doesn't have to do with left or right but I liked it.  The book came very highly recommended and though I'm in the early stages of reading it, I can see why.

"When you move from talking about writing a book, a screenplay, or your memoir to actually doing it, you join your destiny.  Once you begin, there is no turning back.  The act of writing changes you. The transformation has already begun." 
The Plot Whisperer

Cheers to transformation

The price of gas.

 Every week I fill up my car. I know roughly what the cost is going to be and don't give it much thought beyond that.  Gas prices are high.  They have been higher.  I am not complaining.  I just never really thought about it.

Yesterday I had an eye opener.

I was at the pump and a young man came up to me and asked if I could spare a dollar so he could buy some gas.  I didn't have any cash on me and said sorry I just have my card.  After asking someone else he went back and sat in his car.

Wait a minute, I thought.  I have my card. 

I went to the young man and told him I could slide my card. Would $5.00 be okay?
He told me he had forgotten his wallet at home and $5.00 would be wonderful. 
Standing at the pump I realized just how very little $5.00 buys.  Just to be safe I had him add a few dollars more.  I didn't want him stranded at another gas station a few miles down the road.

When I got my first car my dad gave me a $2.00 bill to keep in my purse.  It was emergency money.   If I got too low on gas I didn't need to be stranded.  I'm dating myself, but back then you could get a gallon of gas... wait for it....  for 60 cents. 

He figured a two dollar bill was novel enough that I'd think twice about spending it on something frivolous.  It is a lovely tradition but I don't know how you'd manage to do it these days.  A roll of Susan B. Anthony's in the glove box perhaps?

Every day is Friday.

It has been one of those weeks where every day is Friday. 

At some point the realization that I will have to come into work the next day jars me back to the reality of what day it actually is.

Today's reality check came when I was thinking about the up coming weekend.  I ordered The Plot Whisperer and it will be delivered today. Squee.  My brain cleared its throat, so to speak, and let me know that I'd jumped the gun, again.

If I wake up and tomorrow isn't Friday.  I'm going to rent Groundhog Day and stay home.

Picture acquired at IMDB

IWSG

 

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG).

They meet the first Wednesday of every mont to encourage each other, share doubts and insecurities.

Thank you Alex J. Cavanaugh

You can go here to encourage other participants.

 

 

"Hi my name is Jai and this is my first time.  It's been about five seconds since I was last insecure about my writing." 

 

This support group is such a wonderful idea.  Last month I struggled with my Nano monstrosity and yesterday decided to throw in the towel and begin on something new.

 

My thanks to Cherie Reich for commenting on my blog yesterday. I really appreciate your kind words.  They helped me feel better about putting the story to bed.

 

In February I look forward beginning a new story.  This time I'm going to try the plotster approach.  Eventually I will find what works best for me.

 

 



Struggling

I completed Nano this last year with just a little over 100,000 words.  I wasn't sure what to do with this unwieldy mass so I took a class from the Savvy Group. 
You've Nano'd Now What?

Now what indeed.

As I worked through the class assignments I got stuck somewhere in week two.  Filling out the scene cards made me realize that I had a serious problem. 

The story that I was quite pleased with at the end of Nano suddenly didn't seem as wonderful.  The basic premise of the entire story is a GIANT plot hole.  The sad part, I knew it during Nano. I kept telling myself that the story had issues.  But I wouldn't listen to myself instead I said, "No, you figured it out. Remember?  When you go back you'll see how this will all work out. Everything will be fine."

I lied!

For the last three weeks I've fought it.  I've looked at the story from every angle and every time I think I've found a way to fix the problem it leads to another ginormous hole that was created by the change. Three weeks is enough.  I think it is time to put this baby in the drawer and move on.

Lesson to be learned from this?
Next time I'm telling myself that something is wrong I'm gonna listen. 

O.o

My boys were at the mall where a sales person wrangled them into the store to try a sample of the stores product. 

The sales lady commented that they must be brothers and proceeded to chit chat while trying the product.
Later in the conversation the sales lady asked, "Are you married?"
My son said, "No, we're brothers."

(They won't say what the product was so I am assuming it will be a Valentine's gift). 

When hoar frost twinkles on the trees

A.A. Milne.
Who does not love Whinnie the Pooh

Lines written by a Bear With Very Little Brain

by A. A. Milne

On Monday, when the sun is hot

I wonder to myself a lot:

Now is it true, or is it not,

That what is which and which is what?

 

On Tuesday, when it hails and snows

The feeling on me grows and grows

That hardly anybody knows

If those are these or these are those.

 

On Wednesday, when the sky is blue,

And I have nothing else to do,

I sometimes wonder if it’s true

That who is what and what is who.

 

On Thursday, when it starts to freeze

And hoar-frost twinkles on the trees,

How very readily one sees

That these are whose- but whose are these?

 

I love hoar-frost. It is so beautiful.

And then...

When the kids were little we were always making up stories.  One of us would say, "And then..." 

From there the story would unfold with each of us taking part and adding our own flair.   

As I embark on this quest to do the 'writty' thing it seemed like a good place to begin.