What’s in a name?

August 5, 20132 Comments

Names are stories, and in those stories are a person’s identity and culture. -Icess Fernandez Rojas

I love that! It’s so true, too, at least for my stories, anyway. Think of it: a whole story, a saga, if you will, all summed up in a single word. Now that’s mind-boggling.

Have a ‘tough’ name that Starbucks can’t handle? Welcome to my world | Icess Fernandez Rojas (theguardian.com)
Spoken Word Poetry: My name, my identity (theafricanstreetwriter.com)
From a name to individuals to legacies (seesano.com)

We are the champions, my friends!

July 29, 201311 Comments

campnano

I did it! I crossed the 50k line tonight! Well, I probably actually crossed it sometime this noon, but I typed across the 50k line tonight and validated everything tonight and holy crap, you guys! Fifty thousand words is a lot of freaking words!

Okay, so that’s my excitement for the night then. I know I can write another 50k because I’ve done it before (The Lokana Chronicles is roughly 100k) and that it will probably take that many more before my story is all done, but I’m just trying to focus on one thing at a time right now, especially since I was hoping to have this story nearing completion by this point in time. I can’t believe I’ve been working on it for almost a year now and I’m only half done. I had hoped to be so much further along than this! But I suppose that’s just the way it goes, huh? That that’s all part of being a mother/wife/friend/office drone/writer. There are only so many hours in the day and I only get one of them, sometimes two, to write.

But I’m greedy – I want more.

Luckily, my work schedule is about to get a lot less hectic, so that should help. Naptime will once again be writing time! And with school starting back up in just a few short weeks, perhaps homework time can be writing time, too? I guess we’ll see.

In the meantime, I’m going to celebrate my Camp Nano win by going to bed early tonight. I could definitely use the sleep. How has everyone else done with their Nano goals? If you haven’t done Nano, why not try it come November?

Dazed and Confused: How a Troll Review Improved my Writing (Part 2 of the ‘Labyrinth’ Series) (droppedpebbles.wordpress.com)

Things I love

July 28, 2013July 28, 20132 Comments

Look at that sky! It just makes you feel good to be alive, doesn’t it? 🙂

The sound of laughter in the morning.
Long talks with old friends.
Cuddle time.
Sunshine streaming through my window.
Bright blue skies dotted with fluffy clouds.
Crisp fall air.
Lazy weekends.
The smiles elicited by a bedtime story.
Impending visits with distant friends. 😀

Speaking of impending visits, I am beyond excited for August 8! One of my oldest friends will be flying out from sunny Californ-I-A to visit dear old Mom and Dad and guess who’s couch she’ll be crashing on? That’s right, mine! 🙂

All sorts of fun things are in the works for that weekend. Of course, fun for me would be staying up all night with a boatload of pop and watching movies till dawn. But I’m sure other things will be involved, too. Some major catching up is in order.

But for now…to the writing cave! My boys (all of them) are down for naps and I’ve got a word count to hit. Enjoy your Sunday, my lovelies! How will you be spending it?

Down for the count: My reaction to the recent authonomy kerfuffle

July 23, 2013July 24, 201338 Comments

That’s right, I’m feeling a bit let down tonight. See, I’ve taken my work down from authonomy. The fit hit the shan late this afternoon (or at least that’s when it hit my attention, anyway) and after much reading and much soul-searching, I decided that this was the right thing for me to do.

What could have prompted such a decision? The story of Carl Ashmore, author of The Time Hunters. The book was up on authonomy a few years ago and reached the Editor’s Desk (if you’re unfamiliar with authonomy, the top five books each month make the desk and receive a review from a HarperCollins editor). The review was good, stating that the book had “…terrific potential.

You can read all about it here and here. Suffice it to say, Mr. Ashmore published his novel and it began to sell well and now all of a sudden, there’s a new series called Time Hunters being released by HarperCollins that is eerily similar to Mr. Ashmore’s work. Anyway, check out the links above for the full scoop.

Sneak peek Thursday

July 18, 2013July 18, 20136 Comments

I’ve been hard at work on Remnants again lately for Camp Nano. I have a small word count goal – just 5,000 words, give or take – and I have no idea how close I am to hitting it. But I inadvertantly skipped over a major portion of the story during a writing spree a few months ago, and now I have to go back and fix it, so if I can at least get that accomplished, then I’ll consider camp a success.

Meanwhile, here’s a little taste of what all that fixing has wrought…

Yay Friday! :)

June 28, 201316 Comments

Multitasking: I found the portal to Lokana while hiking at Pine Lake on a family vacation. Family time + research FTW! 🙂

So, it’s Friday. Woohoo! It’s been a week of big, exciting things around the country, and it’s been a week of big exciting things right here in my own backyard. It’s going to be a super busy weekend, too. So what am I doing to prepare?

I’M WRITING, Y’ALL!

I’ve been working on Remnants again the last couple of days, and it feels great, but I can’t get my inner editor to shut up, which is irritating. I have a buttload of revisions left to do on The Lokana Chronicles, but I really need a week or so of peace, quiet, and no internet to get them done. 🙂

Still, it feels wonderful to be enjoying my passions again. I’ve missed playing with my camera and visiting imaginary worlds and the people that populate them. And since I’m starting a new job next week, it’s nice that at least a little bit of the change going on in my life is change that I enjoy (not that I’m not excited about the new job – I totally am).

So for now, it’s back to writing. Big things are in the works and I need time to prepare. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Catching up with Andrea Baker

June 24, 201318 Comments

Today, I’m interviewing Andrea Baker, a fabulous friend whose book, Worlds Apart – Leah, is well worth checking out. So grab a nice cup of tea, get comfy, and settle in to learn more about this wonderful author!

AB: Hi, Kay, and thank you for inviting me onto your blog – I love the title of this blog; it always makes me smile.

KK: You’re most welcome! I’m always tickled when people tell me how much they like my blog’s title – titles are really hard for me, so it’s nice to know I picked a good one for my blog. So, tell us a little about yourself.

AB: I’m pretty ordinary really – daughter, sister, wife and mother to a gorgeous and cheeky little nine-year-old girl.

I work full-time as an Interim Manager. This means that I tend to have short term (usually at least 3 months) contracts with different clients, covering projects, service transformation and that sort of thing.

I’ve always loved the paranormal genre – I’ve always referred to my favourites as being the “edge of reality” stories, where they are based in the real world, but unreal happens. Because it is my favourite genre to both read and watch, it was natural for me to write it too.

KK: Write what you know, eh? Have you always written, or is it a recently discovered passion?

Keep reaching

June 20, 2013Leave a comment

When we’re little, we … dream big. We look up at the stars and we imagine that we only have to grow up in order to reach them. Most of the time, we grow up and never look at the stars again. –Cristian Mihai

Cassiopeia Star trails (Photo credit: weatherphotography.co.uk)

I read that quote earlier this evening. If you don’t follow Cristian’s blog, you should. He writes the most amazing posts. Anyway, as I was reading the post I linked to above, it got me thinking about all the ways in which I used to look up at the stars as a kid. I remember studying them in Girl Scouts and learning all the myths that went with the different constellations. It was fascinating stuff, but eventually, I, too, stopped looking up at the stars. My eyes had turned to the heavens of my own making instead.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to do great things. I’ve always wanted to be a famous author; I can’t remember a time when that was not what I wanted to do with my life. And I’m frustrated right now because as I’ve gotten older, other aspirations have crept in around the edges of my one burning desire, fighting for room to live and grown on their own, leaving less and less time for my passion. It’s not that I’m not passionate about the rest of my life – I am – it’s just that, right or wrong, I feel my time growing small. I feel I’ve not done what I was sent here to do. And I feel like I’m suddenly ill-equipped to pursue my most cherished lifelong dream.

All that said, I’m not giving up. They don’t make ’em much more stubborn than me (except for maybe my kids, but that’s another story :)). Recently I’ve been looking up at those same stars I used to gaze upon as a little girl and I’ve found my zest for this writing life renewed; the drive I thought was flagging has suddenly dropped into a whole new gear I’d never before been aware of. So here’s hoping that somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight, the right agent and publisher are ready and waiting to take The Lokana Chronicles and me under their wing. Mentor me! And help me whip my story into shape, no matter how much I might whine, please. 😀

Keep reaching for those stars, people, whatever your particular star might be.

Cristian Mihai (artandmindofcariann.wordpress.com)
A Quick Reminder That There Is So Much More Than Life On Earth (buzzfeed.com)
I have loved the stars too fondly…by Cristian Mihai (Reblogged) (shatteredandshining.wordpress.com)

To Mars!

June 12, 2013June 12, 201330 Comments

Mars (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today’s post is brought to you by Thursday’s Children, a weekly blog hop about the things that inspire people to write. I meant to get a post up for last week’s hop, but that didn’t happen. Must…be…better…blogger…

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen my brain explode the other day. This happens on a fairly regular basis, but not always in a public forum. I was working away on my short story, the one that I’ve been trying to get posted for close to a month (I think – too lazy to go look), and it suddenly decided that it needed to become a full-fledged novel instead of a simple short story. Does this sound familiar to anyone out there? I think I might have had one slice too many of the Dark Lord’s cake…

I’ve got sunshine

June 11, 201315 Comments

It’s another beautiful day here in Central Iowa! We’re still dealing with some flooding, but at least the rain has stopped coming every darn day. Unfortunately, that happened a little too late for a lot of people, some of my family among them. I’ve been adding pictures to my Flood of 2013 Pinterest board – the water levels are just amazing. Even now that the constant rain has stopped, more or less, the rivers and creeks are still awfully high. A lot of fields still have standing water in them.

But that’s not what this post is about. My brain is currently being pulled in three different directions, so today’s post is going to be light and pretty. That’s right, it’s another photo post! After all, who doesn’t love pictures?

“What? Haven’t you ever seen a guy eat cake before?”

A little bit of sunshine on a cloudy day. 🙂

No, it’s not blood. Someone had fun with the ketchup while Mommy’s back was turned.

And Cricket’s frown got turned upside down…literally! 🙂

Gotta love silly father-daughter pictures. She makes the best faces. 🙂

I don’t know why my face is in focus and Thumper’s face isn’t, but it’s still super cute.

So that’s a brief look at what we’ve been up to lately – eating cake, playing in ketchup, and making faces (and writing like mad when I can find a few minutes of silence). This weekend we leave for our first camping trip of the season and I’m looking forward to family togetherness and more camera fun. And my Tomcat will be returning from two weeks with his dad, which will make it extra special. So if I’m even more absent than normal in the coming days, zat’s why, my lovelies. I promise to return with pictures a-plenty and perhaps even a fish tale or two!