It's almost time. . .

Okay chickadees. It's almost that time of year. The time when a whole group of writers jump off the deep end and pledge to write 50,000 words from 12:01 am on November 1st through midnight on November 30. It's a daunting task that requires you write 1,677 words every day for 30 days. Any many do it. They write 50,000 words and then some. Yours truly has never finished, but I've gotten half way. . . and I keep going back. It's gotten me writing, even if I haven't finished, and that's the purpose, isn't it? To write and write and write instead of killing every word you put on paper. I have a habit of over-editing instead of finishing writing first. I keep thinking that this year will be different, and maybe it will, but if I don't finish, at least I'm writing.

If you live in the Shreveport/Bossier area, feel free to stop in at our write-ins this year, so far it looks like the Barnes and Nobles on Youree or the Cupcake Gallery on Youree. And sign up and put your pen to the paper. If you want to follow my adventures this year, stay tuned to my blog for the link. I think I'll start a new blog for this year's story, like I did a few years back.

As always, keep on writing!

I shouldn't have kept you waiting...

Okay, I know, I know, I haven't written much lately at all, and it's wrong of me. I've been super busy at work the last couple of weeks, with my part time boss in from California and having to get all of his stuff done before he leaves again. Plus, my full-time boss took a trip and some vacation, so she put all of the stuff that has been piling up in her office for over a month on my desk so that it wouldn’t be in her office when she got back. I still haven’t finished sorting through all of it and I have the stuff I’m supposed to do on a daily basis that’s adding to the stack while I try to finish the “boss man’s” dictations. All in all, I’m exhausted and it gives me a headache. I’m actually typing this at the bottom of a dictation at the moment to rest my brain before I write about another pregnant woman with a baby problem or another sick baby with a bigger problem. And I know I’ll have a bunch more to do tomorrow and I still have two to finish today for him to sign.

On happier notes, I’ve finished the front side of Aaron’s scarf and about 1/3 of the back side. I would have probably finished it, but I ran out of yarn and need to go get some more, unless I make it strip-y and I don’t think Aaron would go for that. I even offered to do a design or two on the back, but he said he didn’t want it any more complex than it is. I was going to do the items that make the Marios on the back, but he said it was too much. Oh, well, I guess that means I’ll finish faster. Until I can get the yarn, I’m working on a baby kimono for Emily in the complex office because she’s having a baby girl in September. I’ll do another one after for Aaron’s niece or nephew. I think I’ll do one in lime and one in turquoise because neither color is really gender specific – and if she doesn’t like them, I’ll sell it on E-bay or something. I think I might do a stuffed toy too – or some baby booties. I’ve just been in a knit and not a write mood lately. I still have to do the quilled white rooster and the scrapbook for Disney last year and start this year and the trip we took to the Caldwell Zoo.

Oh well – I better get back to work. I’ll try to write more about my new fav band later!

Here's the pictures of the scarf.

Why I Write

I was reading Miss Snark's blog on agents -- I highly suggest it, even though she's retiring it, it's got great "snarkives." And one of the posters in the comments posted this bit from Dylan Thomas. I like his stuff, but this one just struck me. Writers should heed this when we write and write for us and because we can not do anything but write. I don't write to publish otherwise I would have finished more stuff and actually query my work. I write because I have to get the voices out. I have to give them breath and life and growth. I write because I have to.

In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labor by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.

Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art. --Dylan Thomas


Why do you write?

On Second Thought

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Research on Senator

With blogger introducing mobile blogging and email blogging, maybe I’ll get the chance to update this page a little more often . . . then again, maybe not. It’s not that I don’t really have time to write, which is the case sometimes, but rather that I don’t have much to write here. I’ve been trying to work on my characterization for Senator, but I’m unsure on Antoinette’s looks. I’m pretty sure I want auburn hair and green eyes, but as far as length or style, I thought about longer hair so that I could have her in a ponytail cleaning the villa or in a short choppy Victoria Beckham look so that it’s not the classic Southern debutante that her mom is pushing for. M is helping me think about it, but she’s rather partial to long hair from years of having to have short hair from her mom. I’ve had both, and although I want to grow it out for my wedding, I’m okay with the short styles as well. It really depends on the facial structures of the person I think. I think I’ll have to do some more research on pictures and write some more to see what it feels natural for her to be doing. Chase on the other hand will be a bit easier since he has to be the height of fashion. It’s a little different having a female character that doesn’t care about fashion and a male that responds more to the society. Most of the novels I read – especially the Regencies – have men that have hair that’s a little longer than fashionable and does exactly what they want because they are high enough in society to ignore most of the rules. It will be a little different doing a more modern piece as well, where society shapes a lot, but is not as strict on what happens before or after marriage. I won’t have to pay as much attention to the ton since it isn’t England and they won’t be in a normal society too much since I want to base most of the story in Greece – I’m leaning a lot toward Kythria. I started with San Padre, but I think that’s a little too populated and touristy for her “confinement.” I haven’t decided yet if I want her to have the baby in Greece or not. She’s only 4, maybe 5 months when the story opens, so I have a few months to play with.

On another note, I've been looking for a good primer for my eyeshadow -- blame it on too many vlogs and youtube subscriptions on makeup (I especially love panacea81) since I have that huge manly 120 eyeshadow palette, I've been wanting it to come out right. I found one at Target, but it was awful-expensive, so back on the shelf it went. I tried vaseline -- Lauren promotes that if you can't get a good primer -- and I would love to have hers, but I did find these neat little cream shadows from Victoria's Secret (yes, I am biased since I used to work there). They're part of the Beauty Rush collection and although they're a little shiny, they work great as a primer for pigment powder shadows. I got three (Bronze Medal - kinda a bronzish brown, What a Blush - a light pink color, and Glampagne - a neutral cream) and I love them. Smooth, and they stay put! I was already addicted to the lipglosses (still use my Cupquake, Buttersgotcha, and Gimme Smore) but it looks like they have a lot of new flavors out. The mascara in that line seems really good too (I picked up a navy one and a purple one). More after I've played more with that or checked out the new makeup from VerySexy.

I don’t know if anyone is reading this blog, but if you are, leave me a message and let me know what you think.

Still moving

I've updated the Teases Blog for anyone interested in reading it. Just a partial song. Life is moving onward. Mom and Adam are coming in this weekend for a bowling tournament and I went home last weekend for Easter. Did a little bit of shopping and saw family that I really haven't seen in about 2 years. I have to work to clean up my apartment this week so it will be presentable for Mom to come, since I don't want litter and junk all over my rooms. It's pretty easy to clean up everything, just time consuming. And I have to go shopping so that I will have food for lunch this week and food for her this weekend, although on Saturday night we'll be going eat at Chef Lee's, so no chinese food during the week. . .We'll probably eat at the bowling alley on Saturday for lunch, but I don't know how long it will take for him to bowl his games. I think it's the state tournament, but Adam doesn't listen to anything, so I don't have any details. I'm not even sure it's at Holiday Lanes, I just know it's in Bossier and their website says they are completely booked for that day. I guess I better get back to working on my story. I started reading a new book on writing last night called Plot: How to build short stories and novels that don't sag, fizzle or trail off in revision -- and how to rescue stories that do. It seems pretty good so far and I hope it can keep me on track and maybe I'll finish Senator. I have an idea of what I want to happen and I have the two main characters although I don't know them as well as I should yet. I'll probably do some more work on them in the next couple of days. I have a villain I think, besides "society" but I don't have a personality or description, or hell, even a name for her yet. She's just the fiance so far. So, this blog is getting long enough and it's not helping me write Senator or Cowboy's Song, which I want to get a OneNote book started for as well, so that's all for now.

Comments will be wined and dined until complacent.

There is a reason. . .

Okay, last couple of entries I talked about blogging more as a way to make myself write, but Aaron suggested that I start journaling as I did in high school and it's true, I kept a pretty updated journal from junior high until the start of college and it really helped me keep my thoughts organized enough to write, so i've picked up a notebook and started a new journal. I don't know if I will keep it in the notebook, since I can use all kinds of paper and clippings in a binder and I have an empty binder at mom's that I can put everything in. It will also help me to keep track of some of my pictures and ticket stubs and what not so keep it updated. I can't wait to go home for Easter and get it now. I've even started writing on one of my other stories recently to take a break from Mission so that I don't get overwhelmed with it and put it aside for as long a time this time. I think I'll update that on the Writing blog, so check it out, it's called Senator and I think it will make a great novel, or maybe even novella. I think there is a bit much there for a short story, but sometimes all of the background just makes the characters that much more mysterious. I don't want them to be boring.

Still Working. . .

Okay, I know I said I would try to write at least 15 minutes a day to get back into the swing of it, and I've been slacking big time. I have been writing. A letter here, a note there, just nothing major. I did work on my story today and added in about a page inside my already fleshed chapters. I need to move forward with it, but it's hard because I know what I want to eventually happen, it's just getting to those points without coming off really cheesy. Anyway, I have 10 minutes left to work and my writing time, so I'm going to work on biographical sketches. Maybe I'll post them here after so you can help me as I work through my characters.

Ja ne!

>*.*< Kat

Day 2 and 3

So yesterday instead of blogging I wrote a letter to my Japanese penpal. It was a pretty long letter. Longer than my last fiction post, but that's not going to cut it for today. I need to start writing something creative and something with a bit more substance because if I don't start writing again, it might go away. Some days I'm scared that I've lost it. . .that maybe the words won't ever come again like they used to. When I started getting sick, I was tired all the time and I didn't want to do anything. I just laid on the sofa and moped about. And now that I'm getting better, I am starting to want to do things again, like read and work with my knitting, but the words just trickle. They used to pour so fast into my brain that I could hardly keep up with the information before the next idea was crowding in. I used to have the voices of my characters in my head keeping me up at night and now I pass out so fast that the voices don't come. I try not to get depressed since, getting depressed won't fix it and it just upsets Aaron. I think I'll have to find a writing exercise page again and do one every day just to see if I can force myself into a habit since i know the talent and creativity is there. It just seems to be dormant. I tried my hand at writing fibonacci poems a while back to try to get creative. Here's a few that I came up with:

I
Fold
Paper
Cranes because
Maybe after a
Thousand my wish might be granted.

Wow.
Space
Can be
Really high
Maintenance when everyone
Takes a holiday from reality.

She
Is
Heather:
Lieutenant,
But do we really
Even know anything about her at all?

I've also had a song by Wynonna Judd stuck in my thoughts for a few days. I guess I'm feeling kinda nostalgic. I've been singing "Come Some Rainy Day," after all. Maybe I'll start a new story with that.

When I first saw you,
I knew I would love you
Halfway through sophomore year
I finally asked your name.
When I kissed you,
I lost my heart completely
And all we wanted
Was just to stay that way.

We move on,
Put those dreams away
Hoping that we'll find them
Come some rainy day.
How could I know
That everything would change
Except the way I miss you,
Come some rainy day.

New Beginnings

Since this is the month for NanoEdmo, and I didn't write a lick during November. . .to be fair, I was in the hospital with an IV in my right arm for a good portion of it. But instead, I'm going to use this month to start writing again. Since I already edit all the time, and it keeps me from writing a lot of the time, since I edit the same thing over and over instead of adding more, I'm going to start doing writing exercises again like I did to keep the creativity going back in college. The rules are simple. You must write at least 15 minutes every day. More if you wish, but at least that. And you can write about anything. . . your shopping goals, a new story piece, why you are too busy to write for today. . . anything. You can even expand on a piece you started on another day. So. Here is the piece for Monday, March 9, 2009. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

I watched her as she sat there for a while, pen in hand poised above the blank sheet of paper. her face was lax, her mind far away from the blank stare and the empty lines. I wonder what has triggered such a journey, as her eyes gaze in the general direction of the pen, unseeing and unmoving as her fingertips. She blinks and partial thought returns as she pushes the pen to dance along the page in loops and lines forming words and thoughts, even though I can tell by her absent minded smile that portions of her mind are still far away.

"Did you need something, Commander?" The flourish of scribbles halts as she turns her face to look up at me. She's taken to speaking only in Japanese to me, my native language rolling off her tongue with an ease I can't fathom after years of English.

"No." I respond simply -- harshly, even when I know it's a lie. I need more than she can give . . . more than she knows.

"Oh, okay." She returns to her scribbles, looking over the patterns of words as if they will impart the truth, but even they seem to be lying to her today. She bites her thumb as she contemplates adding more words to the rows of letters and after a brief smile, she puts the pen back to the paper and begins to write again, my presence mostly forgotten in the flurry of ideas and explanation. I want to ask her what she's writing that's so interesting and is growing so rapidly down the page, but I don't and instead watch her for a moment more before kicking myself and retreating back to the relative safety of my office across the hall.