Redefining extraordinary

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This post began its humble life as a comment on my friend Tricia’s blog post “Extraordinary.”  It was late and I began writing, suddenly wide awake.  Pretty soon, I realized that my comment could easily become as long as her actual post if I wasn’t careful.

I first read Tricia’s post on Griffin’s Quill and I found it absolutely amazing because I’ve been dealing with so many of the feelings she mentions in her post myself lately.  So much of my life is one long, monotonous march toward the end – the end of the laundry, the end of the dishes, the endless cries of, “Don’t do that!” and “Don’t hit your brother!” and “Play nice!” and “Stay in bed, for the love of God!”  It’s dreary and dreadful and mind-numbingly boring some days.  I feel like I’m living in a fog.

But then, I open a book.

I’m sunshiney!

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This morning I awoke to the news that the lovely Kina Diaz DeLeon has nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award.  Needless to say, I was beyond flattered (as I am every time someone nominates me for something like this).  As with all things, there are some rules involved, and here they are: Continue reading →

Are you extraordinary?

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Photo by Kay Kauffman

We can be the heroes and heroines in our own lives.  We can set out upon a quest.  We can write our own stories, and within those tales, discover something extraordinary.  We can have an extraordinary life.  -Tricia Drammeh

I read that about an hour ago and was inspired.  This post almost didn’t get published today, but I’ve still got ten more minutes to go before the weekend is officially here and I think I can make it!  Anyway, Tricia is a wonderful lady and I highly recommend visiting her blog, where you can find the rest of the post that I quoted above.

Anyway, it’s late, I’m tired, I’ve got boatloads of work to do, and I’ve recently become addicted to Pottermore.  If you’re there, let’s be friends!  I’m SkyKey6037 and just got sorted into Hufflepuff tonight, so that was pretty cool, although I have to admit I was hoping for either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.  Oh, well.

And now, to the writing cave!  Happy weekend, y’all!

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

International Zombie Day

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Today is Friday the 13th, day of terror and superstition and scary movie marathons.  It’s also International Zombie Day (or so I’ve been told) and in celebration of the ooey and gooey, I’m here to tell you about a new book just released by Taylor Street Publishing.

I’ve Been Deader, a near-perfect blend of comedy and horror by Adam Sifre (also known lovingly as Splinker to his adoring fans), is a story about Fred, a zombie in love with a girl.  The chapters read like flash fiction, and when it comes to the undead, you gotta read about Fred.  Splinker is quite insistent about that.   So without further ado, behold the first chapter, entitled…

Warning: Whining ahead

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I am sooo not a morning person. I’m even worse when I’m sleep-deprived and required to be up early. Take this morning, for instance. This morning we had to be up at 5:00 a.m., but we didn’t get to bed till almost midnight and I’m pretty sure it was after that by the time I fell asleep.

I was already exhausted after the weekend. Now I’m more exhausted. And I get to drive two hours home. Yaaay. But it could be a whole lot worse. And I finally finished the edits on chapter five, so there’s that. 🙂

I’d love to just go home, take a nap, and spend the rest of the evening working on revisions, but I know that won’t happen. I wonder if I’ll ever have free time to myself again, like I did when I was a “crazy busy” teenager.

(c)2012. All rights reserved.

Caffeine system failure in three…two…one…

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After a weekend spent mostly offline, I have finally almost caught up with everything that happened online over the weekend.  I still have a ton of reading to catch up on, but other than that, I think I’ve managed to update myself on all things social.  Maybe.

Zzzz.

I seem to be suffering from some serious sleep deprivation, though, as I can barely keep my eyes open.  I barricaded myself in my room over the weekend with the a/c, my writing supplies, no internet, and plenty of caffeine so that I could get some work done on The Lokana Chronicles.  My wonderful Seymour kindly took care of Cricket and Thumper and left me alone for the better part of 48 hours, but sadly, I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I wanted.  I made lots of progress, I just didn’t meet my goal, which was admittedly steep.

But!  I feel like the progress I did make will vastly improve the story and it really felt wonderful to be writing again.  Aside from blogging, I haven’t done much writing lately and I’ve missed it.  It was mentally exhausting trying to figure out how to flesh out my story without making it seem like I was just throwing in a lot of filler, but the results are worth it, in my humble opinion (at least, I hope so).

And now, I must be getting back to the grindstone.  My posts may be a bit more sporadic over the next couple of weeks; between revising The Lokana Chronicles and preparing for our next family camping adventure (coming this weekend to a campground near you!), I will be offline quite a bit for the next little while.  But don’t worry – I’ll make sure to fill you in on all the adventures we have, as I’m sure there will be plenty!

Have a great week!

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

Friends

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Oh, Gretchen, how we miss you!

Make new friends,
But keep the old,
One is silver
And the other gold.

I learned that song as a Brownie, I think, and I’ve loved it ever since.  The trouble is, though, that I’ve always had trouble making new friends.  All of my friends (except for you, lovely internet friends, and I love you all so very, very much ♥) are friends that I’ve had since childhood – my oldest friend and I go back…um…*counts on fingers*…23 years now. Holy crap, we go back 23 years?! That’s kind of a scary thought!

Excitement abounds!

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You know, I’ve had something brewing in the back of my mind for quite a while now as a blog topic and some of the posts I’ve been reading lately on T.L. Tyson’s blog have more or less cemented the idea in my head.  However, I’m not sure it’s fully fermented yet and at any rate, I received an email over my lunch break that pretty much blew said idea sky-high.  Any thoughts I might have otherwise entertained posting about today were blown to smithereens when I read the following words:

…I’d love to see the whole thing…

Squee!

Happy birthday, America!

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Today is the Fourth of July.  Independence Day.  America’s birthday.  And on this day, I’ve got something to share with you.

All gave some. Some gave all. Some stood through for the red, white and blue, and some had to fall. And if you ever think of me, think of all your liberties and recall some gave all.
Photo by Kay Kauffman

The lyrics in the caption are from the Billy Ray Cyrus song, “Some Gave All.”  I’ve always loved that song and on a day like today, when we honor those who fought and died for our independence, I find those words especially fitting.

The picture is from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.