Scenes from home

May 10, 20125 Comments

Apparently my kids need to be educated. The following conversation took place this morning as we were about to walk out the door:

• M: Tom, why are you only wearing one glove?
•T: Because I lent the other one to RaShaun.
•M: Okay, well, either you need to wear both gloves or neither of them. Michael Jackson couldn’t pull off the one-glove look and neither can you.
•T: Who’s Michael Jackson?
•R: Didn’t we look him up at your First Communion?
•M: *facepalm* No, that was Michael Jordan. Different guy. Do you know the song “Thriller?”
•T: No.
•M: *epic facepalm*

Clearly tonight’s soundtrack must feature Michael Jackson. I’m not even all that wild about his music, but at least I know who he is. And while I realize that for the course of their lives he hasn’t been the most popular singer, I still can’t believe they don’t know who he is. It reminds me of another aspect of their education that is sadly lacking: the ability to alphabetize.

•M: Rachael, will you get out [random movie whose title I can’t recall]?
•R: It’s not here.
•M: Yes, it is. All the movies are in alphabetical order; just look under [appropriate letter – I think it was L or M].
•R: It’s not here, I’m telling you.
•M: I know we have it. *pulls movie off of shelf* See? It’s right where I said it was!
•G: Hold on a minute. Maybe they don’t know how to alphabetize.
•M: Do you kids know how to alphabetize?
•K: (in unison)No!
•M: *facepalm*

Evidently they don’t teach kids how to alphabetize things in school anymore. This useful skill must have fallen by the wayside when they did away with media center as a class. Now that everything is available online, who needs to know about the Dewey Decimal System or how to use a card catalog? (Please to note the sarcasm.) Alphabetizing is for the ancients, much like legible cursive or heck, even legible printing. My kids’ inability to alphabetize was quickly remedied. I’ve not tested it yet, but I do hope they were paying attention. After all, stranger things have happened.

Dickens

May 5, 2012May 5, 20125 Comments

I write like
Charles Dickens

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

So I entered the text of my story into I Write Like the other day. Evidently I write like Charles Dickens. I find that flattering, because Dickens was a genius, but I really don’t think I write like him. Then again, I do love the classics… 🙂

So, here we are again…

March 29, 201218 Comments

…Yep, that’s right, I’m back in black. Piano Black, that is. I loved the Bouquet theme I’d been using, but I didn’t love the way it made images in my sidebar so big. I spent last night playing around with themes, unable to find one that truly made me happy (Chateau? Pilcrow? Maybe Vertigo?). So now I’m back to Piano Black, but I wanted something lighter. Trouble is, without purchasing a CSS upgrade that I would be sorely confused by, there’s no way to change the font color and the background I picked for use here that actually looked really nice with the black transparent overlay was just too light for the font to be truly readable. *sigh* Back to the drawing board…

I may continue to play around with this for some time. Apologies in advance if something you liked disappears for a bit.

Midnight ramblings

March 20, 2012Leave a comment

Since my late-night rambling appears to be so popular, I thought I’d share a couple other random late-night scrawlings for your reading amusement. These are a bit dated, but I happened to run across them late last night (or early this morning, however you want to look at it) during my bout of insomnia. And now, my sleep-deprived thoughts on a couple of my writing projects:

2/20

It’s late, nearly midnight, and I have to work in the morning. Everyone else is sleeping, warm and content in their beds, but not me. I’m sitting here, alone in the living room, wrapped up in my favorite blanket and wishing I hadn’t had that second liter of Dr. Pepper earlier. I’m wide awake, despite taking two muscle relaxers. Usually they knock me out, but not tonight. Tonight I feel compelled to write. I feel strangely adrift…

Someday…

March 20, 2012March 20, 2012Leave a comment

I can’t sleep and it’s driving me bonkers. Also, the pen I’ve been using doesn’t glide very well; it makes my writing look stilted and amateur. The nib keeps digging into the paper, which I find quite annoying because I don’t think I press that hard. Grip, yes. But then I always grip pens hard, so that’s nothing new.

Hmm.

Well, I guess I should try to get some sleep now as it’s after midnight and I do have to work in the morning. *sigh* If only I could pack the kids off to daycare so I could stay home and write. But then, that’s the dream.

Someday…

Writer talk

March 16, 2012March 16, 20125 Comments

Easy reading is damn hard writing. -Nathaniel Hawthorn

I hadn’t really intended to post three times today – heck, I hadn’t really intended to post twice today! – but then I read a post by S.Z. Wordsmith and I just had to share it. She talks about her difficulty coming up with things to say in conversation, while she has no problem writing awesomely witty things. That’s what I took away from it, anyway, and it reminded me so much of myself that it was a bit scary. I can’t tell a story to save my soul, but I can write them like nobody’s business (or at least I like to think I can :)). Anyway, I hope you’ll pop on over and give the post a read. Show some blog love, guys!

Happy Friday! 🙂

Save the Hobbit and other odds and ends

March 16, 20125 Comments

Once again, America’s overly-litigious nature has reared its ugly head. The target this time is a small pub in Southampton called The Hobbit.

Lawyers representing the filmmakers in charge of the movie The Hobbit are suing a pub in Southampton that has been known as The Hobbit for the last two decades. Evidently they’re concerned that said pub will infringe on their rights or something. I think it’s ridiculous that they’re trying to force the pub to change its name. For the full story, check out the pub’s Facebook page, Save the Hobbit, Southampton, and show your support of the pub by liking the page.

In other news, my good friend Lisa Wiedmeier wrote a guest post over at Aaron Patterson’s blog about the recent Amazon success of her novel, Cheyenne. It’s a great article and one I highly recommend checking out if you’re interested in self-publishing. Her next book, Promises, is due out in May and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

And finally, if you’re looking for a bit of fun on this lovely Friday afternoon, head on over to Rachelle Gardner’s blog and check out her St. Patrick’s Day haiku contest. You can find my entry in her comments section.

That’s all for me today! Time to call it quits and enjoy the afternoon. 🙂

Friends don’t let friends eat literary puffer butt

February 22, 2012March 8, 2012Leave a comment

Yes, you read that right: Friends don’t let friends eat literary puffer butt. I’ve been reading Kristen Lamb’s lovely blog the last couple of days and have found quite a few useful tidbits there, not to mention a couple of laughs that nearly caused me to snort my milk. I had planned this awesome, thought-provoking post about things from her blog that I agreed with, as well as things I disagreed with, but this stupid cold I have is kicking the crap out of me. I feel like I’m stuck in a never-ending cage match with…um…well, anyone who’s in better shape than me, to be honest. The Rock. Yeah, he’ll do. He could probably beat the crap out of me with his pinky. I mean, naturally I hope he doesn’t hit women, but my brain isn’t functioning so well right now, so just take whatever I say with a grain of salt. Except for that first sentence. And the second one. And the next paragraph. It should be funny. Seriously, just keep reading, okay? Okay.

I also enjoy reading Chuck “Writing is when I make the words. Editing is when I make them not shitty.” Wendig’s blog, especially his “25 Things…” series and his “Transmissions from Baby-Town” series. The latest transmission from Baby-Town was seriously funny. Parts of it reminded me of my own kids. Go. Check it out. Unless you are vehemently opposed to creative combinations of profane words, you will probably find it laugh-out-loud funny (yes, I’m old-school like that).

Okay, I should probably get back to editing now. I’ve been throwing myself upon the Word altar and begging the gods of Microsoft to save my work with obsessive abandon over the last couple of weeks as I try to finish my massive revision project by the end of the month. I’d love to be done by the end of the week, but I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, why the rush when I’ve been trying to edit the beast for the last year? (God, I can’t believe I’ve been editing (or rather, not editing but procrastinating) for a year already.) Because entries for the Dundee International Book Prize close March 1 and I’ve decided to enter. Apparently it was just the thing I needed to get my lazy butt motivated because I’ve gotten 24 of my 30 chapters edited since the first of the month. Now if only I can get the last few chapters done by the weekend, I think I’ll be all set. I’m not holding my breath on winning, but I’ll never know if I don’t try, and I’m determined to prove the hubby wrong (he who believes I can make a career of writing but probably won’t because I fear failure). I’m a stubborn one, after all.

So, to recap: Must find more caffeine. Must edit. Y’all must read. Go. Read. Report back here. Or don’t. Actually, don’t. Then I won’t be tempted to further procrastinate my editing. Or do. Yes, do report back here. Be my enablers. Who needs sleep, anyway? I can edit after the kids are asleep, right? Right? Zzzzz…

Day is done

February 13, 2012March 8, 2012Leave a comment

Thank goodness today is done! It was definitely a Monday round these parts and I am glad to be done and moving on with the rest of the week. Here’s hoping it’s better than today was.

Let’s go to the movies!

January 26, 2012March 8, 2012Leave a comment

So I saw this on LiveJournal and decided to steal it because I was bored.

1. What was the last movie you watched in a theater?
I wanna say it was the last Harry Potter movie, but I’m sure I’ve seen something in a theater since then. I just can’t remember what it was.

2. What was the first movie you ever remember watching in a theater?
The Little Mermaid, though it could also have been Pippi Longstocking. If memory serves, I saw both of them when I was five, so it could have been either one. More exciting movie Q&A this-a-way!