November 10th

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good morning. Yesterday could have been productive or unproductive, depending on how you look at it. Shortly after I posted my blog, my daughter woke up, which meant no more writing for the day, so we decided to give our dog, Colby, a much needed bath.

If you recall, our dog is not a fan of water. We wrestled him into the bathroom and shut the door. While I was preparing the bath, my daughter was hugging Colby trying to calm him down. He was shaking so bad his teeth were chattering loud enough for me to hear them over the running water. I really don’t understand his anxiety, because, although you can tell he doesn’t like it, he’s fine once he is in the tub.

I will not make the recounting as long as the ordeal, so here’s the Reader’s Digest version. Shampooed, rinsed, half a bottle of conditioner, rinsed again, four hours worth of brushing and blow drying, mats would not come out, one hour with the buzzer, we give up. He looks ridiculous and he still has mats that need to be taken care of, but we figured we had traumatized him enough for one day.

At the end, I was tired, my back hurt and I was coughing up fur balls. I looked like I was wearing a Colby coat. I was so covered in hair, my husband fired up the air compressor and tried blasting it off of me. It worked somewhat. Hopefully a trip through the wash will rid the clothes of the remaining dog hair. If not, my sweatpants and t-shirt just became some nice soft rags. My daughter was smarter than I was; she vacuumed the hair off of herself.

It was not exactly the way I had pictured spending my Saturday. So, what do you think, was my day productive or no?

On another subject, I’d like to ask you opinion. Faerie Tale Queen is set on an island in Northern Ireland. The only inhabitable island in Northern Ireland is Rathlin Island. Here’s my question. Should I actually call it Rathlin Island or should I give it another name, but from the descriptions I give, those familiar with the area will know where I really mean? OR Should I pull a Janet Evanovich and use a real place and just change the names of the landmarks? OR Should I do both – change the name of the island and the landmarks?

I’m leaning toward the latter. This will give me a little more leeway as to the buildings and people who are actually on the island and it will make up for the fact that I cannot find names for any of the roads on the island. This will also allow me to stick a few trees surrounding Kieren’s house, where if I actually use Rathlin, I’d be hard pressed to find trees tall enough to conceal a house. The entire island is pretty much open farmland and incredible cliffs. If you have a few extra minutes, Google Rathlin Island and have a look at some of the photos. It truly is breathtaking.

 

I’d really love to know what you think, so please leave a comment – an open debate would even be better, but I’ll take what I can get. The decision does need to be made today though, because the first time I mention Kieren’s destination specifically is in chapter 4, and I am supposed to post chapter 4 for you to read today.

I need to get several things done before I have to leave for church, and if I don’t start now, they will never get finished. This also means I really don’t have time to take on my own challenge, so y’all get a break today. I’ll have my reply to yesterday’s challenge and a new challenge for you tomorrow.

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday, and happy writing!