like a bad penny

Not long ago, Pete mentioned an article he’d read about forming habits. How you needed to do something so many days in a row before it became a true habit. The idea was that you write daily, or excercise, or perform some sort of task on a daily basis, without fail, until it became engrained and part of your daily routine.

They didn’t mention the bad stuff. Like how I enjoy lying down on the couch after work, before I have to get dinner ready, and falling asleep for thirty minutes with Scrubs on in the background.

It’s a terrible habit. It adds no words to my novel, it fails to wash the dishes or clean the kitchen, and while napping, for some reason, my clothes don’t iron themselves. I justify the little nap with things like “I’m going to contemplate the next scene” or “If I nap now, I can write a few pages later.” It’s all crap. I just want to take a nap.

The thing about taking naps, though, is that annoying bit where you have to wake up. Not only wake up, but wake up, shake yourself into awareness, and get dinner started in the hopes that no one realizes you’ve just been drooling on the faux fur pillow. As much as I enjoy sleeping, I abhore waking up. So much so, I refuse to ever use a snooze alarm.

If waking up is such a pain, why should I want to sleep another 9 minutes then do it again? And then there’s the math involved with trying to figure out how many times you can hit the snooze and still make it to work on time.

So tonight’s the night I break that habit. I’ve broken it before, by forcing myself to do chores when I get home, and not even SIT on the couch until after dinner. When I’m out of that habit, things get done around the house. I come home from work, get stuff taken care of, then sit without guilt to work on the novel, surf the ‘net or watch some TV. And even though, right this very minute, I’m craving a nap – tonight when I get home, it’s the dishes !

Give me dishes or give me death! Or, er, something like that.

the end – not

So I had it in my head this was going to be the last chapter today. I haven’t been paying close attention, but I knew in the old heady days of no-idea-what-I-was-doing, my chapters ran really really long. Thinking today was The End, I went out and Googled the proper lyrics to The Doors tune: The End – and damn if they’re not completely whacked.

But then I realized, Chapter 21 isn’t the last one, so it was all moot anyway. Here’s the Second To Last chapter, then. And I can’t think of a Doors tune to match that – so consider yourselves lucky 😀

Continue reading “the end – not”

it’s high time!

for Spring!

muti-hued-tulips.jpg

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are – and I admit, it’s warmer here than most places – but I for one have grown weary of this Winter Blah and I’m ready for Spring!   I want to see color other than green and grey.  (okay, I don’t wanna mow my lawn, but there ya go)  I’ve been able to put away my heavy coat, but it’s still blustery outside, and really cold in the mornings.

I’m ready for more sunlight – this “daylight saving time” thing always drags me down for the first few weeks because it’s so dark in the early hours again.

I’m ready for tulips, daffodils, and the crocus I can’t spell right (is that right?)   Here in the Pacific Northwet, we’re done with snow.  We won’t see freezing temps again until maybe November, but it’s not Spring yet.  The cherry trees don’t have their buds yet, my apple tree still looks dead. I don’t see the daffodils someone scattered along the side of the highway coming up yet, and the tulips in my neighbor’s yard aren’t up.

I Want Spring! darnit!

How’s about you?

i’m a purist

For the most part. I don’t like colorized movies. If something was filmed in black and white, I want to see it in black and white. I’ve seened old movies colorized before and they stink.But when I say I’m a purist, I’m usually refering to music, which I believe was made for the ears, not the eyes. The ears, and the imagination. Music speaks to all of us, but it has something completely different to say to each person who hears it. You and I might both love the same song, but the mental picture we get when listening to it – the feelings it evokes – the things that music says to us are going to be as different as night and day.

That’s just how it works.

And that’s why I don’t like music videos. It’s fine that the artist, or as in most cases, the video producer, want to show us what that song said to THEM – but it’s not what that song says to me. So seeing a music video often frustrates me and can, in extreme cases, ruin a song. If the image in my head is vastly different than the video, every time I hear that song I’ll be frustrated. It won’t hold the same allure, because my vision and the music video are so completely different.

And you’ve all see it – videos that basically had nothing to do with the song, but damn, they sure looked fine! The artist wanted to fulfill an acting fantasy, or the director had “vision”. I remember when Queen finally got talked into making videos, they were saddled with a director who didn’t even know their music, and the subsequent videos were horrid. (Yes, this was back in the olden days, kiddies).

I love music, like most of us do. And I had a friend who loved music videos, and never understood my distaste for them. But really this isn’t about pro or con music videos – purist or forward-thinking. Newfangled or old fashioned.

No, this is just about a cool song, that’s happily and currently stuck in my head, but I couldn’t share it with you without linking to one of those dreaded music videos – so if you’re like me, and don’t really care for visuals that have little or nothing to do with the lyrics or the message – check this out with the volume up, and your eyes closed:

Psycho

If you like quirky videos and cute little homages to slasher flicks, go ahead and watch while you listen. And if you just plain don’t like Puddle of Mudd, well phoey with you 😀

tgi. . . t?

I know it’s Thursday, but I’m not here today – so I’m not around to comment on blogs or post anything interesting, so I thought I’d schedule this to pop up while I spend my Thursday at a funeral in Kent. At least it’ll be sunny, like it has been all Wednesday. Sunny and warm, for a change. It’s going to be an odd day, really. Attend a funeral, then rush home to meet with the landscapers to get an estimate on an apple tree issue, then my sister heads off to a doctor’s appointment (taking guilty advantage of a day off) while I sit on the kitchen floor and carve up plastic computer keyboard keys. Then, in the late afternoon, I get the honor of handing Parr Volkswagen a massive chunk of change for my car’s 80,000 mile tuneup. That’s the one where they replace something called a Timing Belt that, if left unreplaced, can snap in two and completely demolish your vehicle.

Or something.

I remember having a whiny, knee-jerk reaction to the price of this tune up. It’s “the biggie”, and up until now this car has cost me a quarter of the maintence prices drivers of gas-engine cars pay. So when they said “This next one is going to be approximately $950.00” I, perhaps understandibly, panicked. I even started convincing myself it was time to turn this baby in and get a brand new one.

Okay, yeah, that was stupid. Especially coming from someone who so often preaches about people wasting money, buying things they don’t need or charging stuff they shouldn’t be charging. So after calming down and coming to my senses, and realizing I could actually go ahead and afford this more than I should afford a brand new car – I made the appointment. Now I have to make more stoneage keyboards to make up for the loss of funds!

Meanwhile, here is what happens to be the next-to-last chapter. Next week sees The End !

Continue reading “tgi. . . t?”

to trunk or not to trunk

Actually it’s not a question. There comes a time in every unsold novel’s life when the fact that it’s not selling means it’s time for the trunk. Or drawer. Or Tupperware container shoved under the bed. Or special file folder on the hard drive.

In other words, it’s Dead In The Water.gd_copper_steamer_trunk_mailbox-255.gif

The series I’ve been shopping for the past two years, the one that sits so near and dear to my heart, ain’t goin’ nowhere. It’s had requests for partials, even a request for a full, all with politely worded form rejections months later. And while there are still 4 agents who may still return my SASE, and another 3 who may, or may not, reply via email – and one publisher in the UK that might, maybe, still let me know – I think it’s safe at this point in time to open up that trunk and drop this baby in.

Am I bummed? Sure, who wouldn’t be? I loved this series, and these characters. It took up a big chunk of my life writing, then completely rewriting it. Though I can’t say it wasn’t a fun task. I certainly wouldn’t have done that if I wasn’t enjoying myself. But now I can accept failure. And I can accept that it probably just wasn’t appealing enough for the current market.

But that’s how it goes.volkswagen_newbeetle_25l_2007_other_trunk_640x480.jpg

I’d be more upset if it weren’t for my current novel Ether coming along so nicely. I’m a better writer now than I was last year, and next year I’ll be even better still. So if Ether doesn’t make it to the big time, maybe the next one will. Or the one after that. Thing is, there’s no way to tell. No way to guess what’s going to happen. Much of publishing really is a crap shoot, after you’ve written a fantastic novel, but it all has to start with a fantastic novel, well written and carefully crafted.

So into the trunk it goes. And maybe, someday when I’m agented, published and famous, it can come out again and see the light of the big wide world.

Or not. That’s just the way of it.520px-asian_elephant_trunk.jpg

when free is expensive

For the record, I don’t lease cars. I buy them. But just now I was listening to the radio and one of those commercials came on, where a dealership is telling you that you could lease one of their brand new cars for NO MONEY DOWN! Yes, that’s right, just sign on the dotted line and they’ll had you the keys. Then it’s just monthly payments for however many months you keep it.

Oh, but hang on, you’ll have to pay tax. And licensing. And dealer fees. And a few thousand more things. So your FREE lease agreement is going to be free, after you give them $2,640.00.

That makes about as much sense as finding a sweater on sale, from $100.00 to $60.00, buying it, and claiming you’ve just saved $40.00 ! No, you didn’t just save $40, you spent $60. And it’s probably a sweater you didn’t need, and wouldn’t have bought if you hadn’t seen this big red Sale sign. I once had this conversation with a clerk at The Body Shop:

“Did you know that if you spend another $15.00 on products today, you’ll save $5.00 on your entire purchase?”

“No, thank you.”

“But, you’re just buying Banana Conditioner. If you spend another $15.00 today, you’ll get $5.00 in savings on your whole purchase price.”

“I don’t want anything else, thanks.”

“Are you sure there isn’t something else you’d like? Some shampoo, or scented oils, or a loofa?”

“Listen, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but you’re asking me to spend another $10.00, and there’s nothing else I need today.”

“No, you misunderstood. If you spend another $15.00, you’ll get $5.00 off the whole price. That’s five dollars OFF your entire purchase.”

“Yes, but that means I’d be spending $10.00 more than I want. So instead of saving me five dollars, you’re asking me to spend ten more.”

The blank look on her face was a sad reminder that my property taxes paid for her education.

This next chapter, however is completely free, and worth every penny!

Continue reading “when free is expensive”

what’s up with that?

So I was at Best Buy on Saturday, after taking Mom out for birthday dinner at Red Lobster, my sister and I took her shopping to buy presents, and one of those trips was to Best Buy to grab a couple of movies she wanted. There I am, standing in their version of the Disneyland line, with 4 tellers working.

Each of the tellers were occupied, and there was a gentleman in front of me, so I’m patiently waiting my turn. I was in no hurry, I’d had a drink, there was grilled Talapia in my tummy – life was good.

Then a teller opens up. I walk toward her, smiling, and hear – spoken so quickly I couldn’t understand her until she repeated it: checkdebitorcredit? I had to ask what in he hell she’d just said (by the way, don’t they teach teenagers in public school anymore, how to speak slowly and clearly? Why, back in my day . . .)

Anywho, when I told her I was paying with Cash – she said I coudn’t.

Seems she wasn’t prepared to handle cash, and there was only 1 of the 4 tellers there able to handle cash, so I would have to wait.

Yeah, that’s what I said. So I backed up, and she fired off the same rushed question to the man behind me, who – as it turns out – also wanted to use cash and had to wait behind me, for the ONE teller allowed to touch the green stuff. I’m trying to resist another lecture on the evils of using plastic, but I’ll be a good girl and stop now 🙂

don’t try this at home

And now it’s Friday. If you only read this blog for the Friday posts, you’ve missed a chapter. One note about Chapter 18 – remember again this was a million years ago, and I was falling for all the usual newbie mistakes, like inventing an alien language. Gah! Never try this at home, kids. It’s lame. But it’s a common new writer mistake, so I didn’t bother to edit it out or pretend I didn’t fall into that rut. I’ve been airing my dirty little newbie laundry here because 1) it’s not a bad story, if I do say so myself. 2) there’s some good stuff peppered in amongst the flubbers, and 3) it’s helpful, I think, so show growth. When the lot of you run out to Barnes & Noble and purchase Ether, or whichever of my novels ends up being the first to finally MAKE IT 😀 you’ll be amazed to see the difference in my writing. And maybe, just maybe, it’ll give some newbies insight.

If not, then blame Lori – she talked me in to posting this story! (I’m kidding, sort of. Not really. Kinda, in a way).

Oh, but if this chapter doesn’t wow you, head over to Primordial Ink and gaze at my latest keyboard. It’s in the Ice Age, called Frost Byte, and it’s kinda pretty.

 

Continue reading “don’t try this at home”

’cause Tori asked

so nice 😀

Well, and I’m bored, sitting here waiting for the repair man “between 8am and noon” to fix my hot water tank.  Gah, since Sunday morning it’s been like camping here in my own house, having to boil water to wash in.  Never underestimate the luxury of hot running water.

So, while I make tea and wash the dishes with the boiling water, here’s Chapter 17

Continue reading “’cause Tori asked”