SnowBound!

This is probably the second biggest snow that I remember in my 43 years.  Pretty to look at, but I'll be glad for spring.

The girls were out of school all week.  Except for a couple of doctor appointments, I've stayed close to the house. I was born in Alabama.  I don't drive in this stuff!  I got the truck stuck in my daughter's friend's yard.  That was mortifying! I'm over it now and I learned to appreciate my car's front wheel drive.

Writing?  Well, not until yesterday.  I messed around with my YA talk radio story some.  I think it has potential.  In the light of the terrible knews from last weekend's shooting, I think it might even be relevant.  but I won't try to ride a tragedy's coat tails to success.  I had my idea long before the shootings in Arizona and all the hoopla will be over before I ever finish my story.  Just to set the record straight, here.

Anyway.  I'm sorry I let the blog languish for so long.  Not sure if anybody missed me, but there you go.  You're caught up on my life right now.  Hey! I didn't promise you excitement.  :-)

New Year's Day

If you came here looking for Resolutions, you've come to the wrong place. I mean it's not like I don't want to improve myself, drop a few pounds, join back up with karate and achieve my blue belt, write the next best seller and read at least 100 books this year. Really.  But I'm not going to write up a list and then cringe when I look at it again this time next year.

So I had the burning desire to join the Polar Bear Club.  You know - those crazy folks who jump into a huge natural body of water on January 1st. Unfortunately I decided this a little too late to joing the group in Decatur.  Did that change my mind about the crazy thing I'd set my heart on?  Of course not!  And I'm evil enough to drag my poor teens with me. <insert evil laugh here>

So, and you can verify this on Facebook if you so desire, I called out the challenge to meet at Talucah Landing at 1 pm this afternoon. One crazy person morphed into six crazy people.  Only one of us was of legal age.  And off we ran into the freezing Tennessee River.

IT WAS COLD!!!

Yes.  Well, now I can cross that off my to-do list.  And I might even do it again next year - we'll see. Meanwhile, I wonder if that will be the craziest thing I do this year.  Who knows?  2011 is young yet.

I'm a polar bear!

Joe, Alex, Tyler and Natalie.  Nyssa was on the shore already!

Natalie hurrying to shore.

Writer's Envy

I get to read incoming manuscripts for my friend the Editor.  Lots of times I'm terribly disappointed.  This last day and a half I was entranced, fascinated, totally in to somebody else's world.  My poor kitchen was a wreck when I went to bed last night because I had to stay up and finish reading the story.

This author, in my humble opinion, has written a great story.  Her main character was believable and I followed him through his adventures from page 1 to page 316 and 80K words.  Her characters' antics made me smile and a couple of times I even laughed out loud. No raw manuscript is perfect.  This one had a flaw or two.  But all in all, the book deserves a second and third look.

I find myself hoping that someday my characters will hold a reader's attention and keep them turning pages into the night.

NEWS FLASH

**cue the official sounding music**

I have just completed my first draft of Clara's Story. 
Hurray!
Break out the Diet Coke!
Break out the chocolate!
Break out the Snoopy music!

Tuesday blues

There was too much housework and too little play. 
I'm sad to report I did not write today.
The floors all got mopped and I bit the dust
but my poor chapter ten was a bust.


Okay.  I'll admit that the smell of cleaning fluids messes with my brain.  Don't hate me for the bad poetry.  It's the most creative thing I've done all day!

Monday's writing

The good news is: I finished chapter nine of the aforementioned "Clara's Story". 
The bad news is: uhm, I kinda, sorta know what's next, but not really sure....

Yep.  My daring heroine gathered up her courage to search in the cemetery, pinning all her hopes on finding the key to her dream.  The search turned up empty.  Very sad for her.  Now she's back to square one and time is running out before the big race and the scavenger hunt grand prize.  Kind of reminds me of Charlie when it was announced that the last golden ticket had been found.

I hope I can manage to surprise and delight Clara as much as Roald Dahl did Charlie.  I can dream, can't I?!  So what's your dream?

Addendum to the day

Do you know how hard it is to write a scene happening in a graveyard while Christmas music blares away in the background?!  But chapter nine is almost finished, anyway!

Hey Natalie and Tyler -- see! I blogged about it!