Good
morning!
I
really need to stop reading Facebook first thing in the morning. More times
than not, I stumble on a post which manages to aggravate me, and that is not
the way I want to start my day.
Today
I saw a post from a young person who I have known practically their entire life
and I just wanted to reach through my computer screen and smack them and tell
them to get their head out of their butt. (Yes, I know in proper English I
should have used “he” or “she”, but I wanted the comment to remain as ambiguous
as possible.) First off, what they did was so incredibly stupid and second, it
was even more stupid to post about it. I just wanted to scream! Okay, I’m done
ranting, even if I’m not done seething.
By
this time on Friday, I will be on Route 87 a couple of hundred miles into New
York State, on my way to pick up my daughter. Can you tell I’m getting excited
already? She called yesterday, and she is equally as excited to come home as we
are to have her home. She will be home for eight days, and almost every minute
of the poor girl’s time will be accounted for; come Sunday the 1st,
she’ll be more than ready to return to school.
Since
I caught up on NaNoWriMo a few days ago, I have managed to stay pretty much on
track. Yesterday’s milestone was 30K and I only missed it by a few words. I think
I can handle a few dozen extra words added to today’s writing. My main concern
is the limited time I’ll have to write all weekend.
Friday
I’ll be traveling, but I am bringing my computer with me this time so I can
write while my daughter’s in class on Friday. Saturday morning we are leaving
her school bright and early for our trip home, and then when we get home we are
having dinner at Grandma’s. Sunday is church, and then after church we are
going to my son’s house to watch the Cowboys vs. Giants game, so Sunday is
completely shot. I am going to be hard pressed to even get my blog out on
Saturday and Sunday, let alone spend any time on Faerie Tale Queen, and I
seriously doubt I will have a blog post at all on Friday.
While
I’m on the subject, there probably won’t be any writing challenges over the
weekend either. I know they are only ten minutes long, but coming up with them
takes considerably more time than I can afford those three days. This will be
the first time since I started the blog where there may be three days without a
challenge, but I am not going to feel guilty. If you look at other blogs where
they do writing challenges, they usually only post one challenge a week. There
are some that only post challenges once a month. You would have a hard time
trying to find another blog that does almost daily challenges like mine does.
So,
to my non-Facebook audience, did you see my last installment of Faerie Tale
Queen yesterday? Since NaNoWriMo began, every even day, I have posted a chapter
of Faerie Tale Queen. Yesterday’s post was supposed to be Chapter Eight, but
when I posted chapter eight, I noticed it was one of the really short chapters,
so as a bonus, I posted Chapter Nine as well.
I
am still waiting for you to chime in with comments as to if you are enjoying
the story, which errors you are finding, and most of all, if you think I should
change the lead male character’s name. If I go on much longer, I am going to
get attached to Caleb and then no other name will feel right, so time is
running out. Speak now or forever hold you peace.
Just
a reminder, there are only a few day’s left for you to enter Heidi Angell’s
contest on my blog. Also, something I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded
about, but I am going to anyway; the holidays are rapidly approaching. The
first night of Chanukah is a week from tomorrow and Christmas is only 36 days
away. As a suggestion, books make a wonderful gift for either holiday. They
even make great Secret Santa gifts.
On
my website under the “LINKS” tab, I have
several direct links to some Indie books as well as to my own books. There are
a few romance novels, some straight fiction, a horror novel and a couple of
mysteries which might interest you or someone on your list.
Since
time has been at a premium lately, I have not been able to spend any of it on
my website, so I have not had the chance to add the following book. If you want
a fun, silly, gift for someone, you may want to consider the newly released Tickle Me Funny by John Sweeney Jr. The book is so new, it won’t even be on
Amazon.com for another few days, but you can get your copy now by clicking on the title if you’d like. You’ll laugh, you’ll groan, there are some spots where it is
“udderly” ridiculous. If George Carlin was still alive, the book would make him
chuckle. I’m thinking it may be a good stocking stuffers for my son and
husband.
Off
to Ireland… I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!
Your Last Challenge:
You find yourself in a Groundhog Day loop…
(For those of you who might not know, Groundhog Day was a
movie from 1993 Starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. In the movie, Murray
plays Phil Connors, a weatherman – and a bit of a jerk – who is unhappy he has
to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, and he gets sucked
into a time loop. He has to keep repeating the day until he gets it right.)
One more tick mark on the calendar, one
more entry in my journal. Today was the 353rd April Fool’s Day in a
row. Two more weeks and I will have been stuck in this loop for an entire year.
One way I could look at it is,
technically, today is my 400th birthday, because this is my 401st
April Fool’s Day, but even that thought isn’t cheering me up. Birthdays tend to
become a little mundane after you’ve celebrated so many.
After the first two weeks in this loop,
I became tired of celebrating my birthday every day and started to try and find
my way out. I alternated as many things as I could think of, different cake,
different gifts, not asking for gifts, different venue, refusing a party all
together. Nothing worked. I’d go to bed at night and when I woke up the next
morning, it was my birthday all over again.
Since I wasn’t having any luck breaking
the cycle, I spent the next ten April Fool’s Days trying to figure out how I
ended up in the loop in the first place. I retraced my steps, mimicked
everything, down to the last minute detail, of the first April Fool’s Day, but to
no avail. I had no clue how I ended up in this mess and no clue how to get out.
Remembering the old movie Groundhog
Day, and being the eternal optimist that I am, I took a page out of Phil Connors’
book and decided to spend my time more productively, to better myself. Like
Phil, I had always regretted not learning how to play the piano, so, I began
lessons at a local shop. I’m no Chopin, but I can now play well enough where I’m
happy with my abilities. I have taken the time to read books I had always
intended on reading, but never had the time.
I
can honestly say, I am a much more rounded person now than I was a year ago. Yet,
unlike in the movie where at this point the loop is broken for Phil, I still
remain, adding one more tick mark to the calendar, and one more entry in my
journal.
Your
Next Challenge is:
What
fictional character would you like to meet in real life and why?
You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong,
just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to
criticize what someone else has written. Go.
No comments:
Post a Comment