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Thursday, July 31, 2014

July 31st

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! First, I would like to wish my “wicked step monster” Nancy, a very happy birthday! (She gave herself the nickname, not me, and it’s been a running joke for over thirty years.) I hope you have an amazing day! Love you!

So today is the 31st, the last day of Camp NaNoWriMo, and as fate would have it, I have the day off. I did not know I would not be working today, didn’t find out until I showed up at work yesterday. RV has an event she’s attending, so I get a five day weekend. WooHoo!

My brain must have been preparing itself, while I slept, for this final numbers push as well. I had little snippet dreams and, even though I fought it for half an hour, I was up before five, fingers itching to type.

Just this quick blog entry first to say “Hi” to y’all, and now I’m off to Ireland. I doubt I’ll be able to pound out 9,941 words, that would get me to 50K, but I am going to get as close as possible.


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

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

July 30th

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Since it was the fifth Tuesday of the month, my normal writing group did not meet at Princeton Public Library. I had forgotten this was the fifth Tuesday, and on my way to Princeton, I called my buddy Keith to see if he was coming. He laughed, said no, and told me I couldn’t count. Then he told me about another writing group which was meeting at Panera. So I swung a Uie and headed north instead of south.

I figured I was already planning on being out for the evening, so why not. I should have known better. I have enough problems writing in the relatively quiet library, there was no way in you-know-where I was going to be able to write in a public restaurant. Out of desperation, I went next door to Harmon and bought earplugs. It was still too noisy, even with them in.

Bill's working on a cool story
I feel bad because the guy running it, Bill, was really nice, but I don’t think I will be attending in the future. It makes no sense for me to go when I cannot concentrate enough to get anything accomplished. I envy my friend Keith. He popped in his headphones, and away he went. I can’t even have music on while I’m writing.

I gave up and shut my computer down at around 8:30. I guess Bill was not in writing mode either, because the two of us began to chat. We said goodnight to Keith when he packed up and left, and we continued to chat. We chatted until 9:45 when I noticed the time and had to run out to go pick up my youngest from a friend’s house by 10:00. (I was a few minutes late.)

I am SO annoyed with the folks running the place where my daughter works. Last week, a friend of hers was fired for something he did not do. This guy was LOVED by all the kids, so they were extremely upset, some inconsolable, when they found out on Monday. When they asked my daughter why, she told them the truth, and tried to comfort them the best she could.

Today the director confronted her about what she was saying to the kids, and my daughter said, “the truth”. There was no official announcement and certainly no gag order issued, so when the kids asked, she told them what happened. The director said he understood, and he was fine with it, but if any other kids ask, she should send them his way. My daughter apologized and told him she meant no disrespect.

A short time later, my daughter’s supervisor all of a sudden had issues with how my daughter was conducting herself, and that if she couldn’t give 100%, she’d be better off not coming in anymore. My daughter explained to her that she’d been feeling sick for the past several days, even went to the doctor’s Monday night because of it. The doctor said she was dehydrated, gave her medication to fight off her nausea, and told her if it wasn’t better soon, she needed to go to the ER and get on IV fluids. She feels like crap, but she still drags herself to work, every day, because she doesn’t want to disappoint the kids.

That, combined with the fact that the “complaint” wasn’t supposed to be about my daughter, it was her co-counselor who caused the infraction, has me CHOMPING at the bit to call over there and give them a royal set down. My daughter showed me a selfie the co-counselor took of herself, while at the camp, a contractual infraction, and I asked my daughter if it was her in the photo. No, it was the co-counselor. That is how much these two girls look alike, if her own mother was not sure who was in the photo. The kids, as well as the employees constantly mix them up.

My daughter is such a mush. She doesn’t want to throw the other girl under the bus to defend herself. Meanwhile, I have crescent marks on my palms, and my jaw is aching from clenching it. It is so hard to sit back and do nothing while your child is being unjustly attacked. I tried to explain it was political, and they were only lashing out at her because she is friends with the guy who got fired, but it doesn’t make her feel any better.

The guy who got fired is a mush too, because he has a fairly airtight case of wrongful termination as well as defamation of character if he would pursue it, but he doesn’t want to. It could cause huge trouble for the camp if he did, and I think the directors know it. What blows my mind is instead of them taking the whole kumbaya approach and making like everything is wonderful in their little world, they are digging themselves in a bigger hole by the bullying tactics they have decided to go with.

They need to tread lightly. My daughter may have signed a contract to work there, but I sure as heck didn’t; and if they do not back off, the whole world is going to know about all the BS, and I mean ALL the dirty BS, going on over there. Mama bear’s ears are twitching.

Okay, enough. Venting has calmed me down … a tiny bit. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to do so. You may or may not hear more about this little episode, depending on how things go over the next few days.

We are in the last two days of Camp NaNo, and there is absolutely no way I am going to hit the 50K mark. I’m glad I only put a goal of 35K this time around. Friday I will let you know what my final number ended up being.


I’m at the point where a sense of urgency is starting to build in Fairy Tale Queen. As Kieren and Logan piece together more clues, the treat to them becomes greater. I can’t wait to see what new information they will uncover, how our heroes will foil the next Bagairt attack.


I’m off to do battle. As my favorite Disney character would say … TTFN! I hope you have a Tiggriffic day, and happy writing!

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

July 29th

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! A different type of shiny object distracted me today, marketing.
My ranking on Amazon fluctuates wildly, and I am trying to take steps to balance it out a little. One day I can be ranked in the top 1K, the next day it drops to the 400K range, then the following day I’m in the 100K range. There does not appear to be any logical reason for the one day free fall.

I do attribute the high rankings to sale or promotional days, which is to be expected. To be in the 100K – 200K range among the nearly 50M books listed on Amazon, and in the 10K range of the over 1M in the romance category, is respectable, but you know me. I always feel there is something I can do to be better.

I met an author named Nick a few months back, and shortly he will be coming out with a book that tries to unravel the mystery of how Amazon ranks books and how they are placed during searches. A bit has to do with how books are tagged so the search engine recognizes and selects the book. He also shows you ways to become a larger fish in a smaller pond.

There have been other books on the topic, but the methods the authors suggest strike an ethical nerve with me, so I would not engage in their tactics. Nick’s suggestions however, are ones where I would smack my head and say, “Well why didn’t I think of that? It makes perfect sense.”, and I have no issue implementing them.

The book is still in the advanced release stage, so I can’t give you any of the details, but as soon as I get his blessing, I’ll let you know all about it. Now, even though he has monkey steps, you know what a techno/media ditz I am, so I’m sure this is not going to be a walk in the park for me.

For the past few days, I have been concentrating on Author’s Central and another site, Shelfari.com, which feeds Author’s Central with details about the books. The only thing about Shelfari I have reservations about is anyone can add details about the books, not just the author. Perhaps now that Amazon has acquired GoodReads, they will blend it with Shelfari and take the best practices from both sites. GoodReads has an author’s dashboard where you have control over your books and the details – characters, plots, summaries, quotes, tags, etc..

There is a lot of work I need to do to get all three books fully detailed. So far all I have for all three is the book description and the about the author finished. For A Second Chance, I have Characters (list of each of the characters and a brief description of each), Quotes (several quotes from the book to give you a feel for the character’s personalities), Settings and Location (is started, but I have to add detailed descriptions), and First Sentence, Series, Author, Awards, Notes to Parents, Subjects (this is all the genre and sub-genre classifications), and Tags are all done.

Now, if I can get the same done for Taking Chances and Corporate Blues, I’ll be in good shape. Corporate Blues won’t be too terrible, but I am dreading Taking Chances. Since this one is the second in the series, the list of characters is quite extensive. When I get around to finishing Simply By Chance, this is going to be an absolute nightmare! I wish they had a way to pull in characters from the first book so all I’d have to do is click on a prefilled list, but they don’t.


Okay, I got a late start today, so I have to boogie. I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

Monday, July 28, 2014

July 28th

Hi it’s Christina –

Our house before Sandy
Knocked down our tree
Good Morning! Because of something that happened this morning, I have decided today’s blog is going to be very different. Instead of my usual, I have chosen to tell you a true tale; whether or not you choose to believe, is entirely up to you. Some of the facts I learned after the events occurred, but so as not to confuse you, I added the details within the story.

In February of 1998, we purchased the house we currently live in from a little old lady named Althea. Althea was an only child, raised by her mother and her stepfather. She was married to a man named Larry, and they did not have any children of their own. Althea’s stepfather lived with her and Larry before he passed away. Some time after Larry passed away, Althea decided she wanted to move to a warmer climate, and told us she, her ancient dog, and her caregiver were Florida bound. (We later found out her care giver moved Althea, the dog, and all Althea’s money, not to Florida, but to Bogota, but that’s a whole other story.)

Shortly after moving in, odd things began to happen in the house. Cabinet doors would open, lights would turn on and off, pots would fall off their hooks on the rack over the stove. In the tiny hall between the hallway and the main bathroom, right in front of our linen closet, you would see a shadow on the rug, but if you got close, you could no longer see the shadow. Lys, who was three at the time would not walk across that three foot section on rug. Anytime she needed to use the bathroom or bathe, we would have to carry her over the spot. (That changed one night after she got out of bed, walked over to the linen closet, opened the door and looked for the ‘angel’, but again, that’s a whole other story.)

The house was very ‘active’, but never once did any of us feel threatened. We began calling our unseen visitor Larry (because we didn’t know about the stepdad at the time). When Althea moved out, she left many of her possessions behind, items we kept and used until we could afford to buy new ones of our own, so we figured Larry decided to stay behind as well. And, other than Larry not caring for my using his potholder rack to hang my pots – they’d get unhooked and crash down several times a week – no the rack wouldn’t come down, the pots would actually fall off the hooks – we had no issue with Larry sharing the house with us.

The February after we moved in, our youngest daughter Dani Rose was born. At the time, my mother was also living with us while she was waiting for her new house to be built. Our little three bedroom ranch was packed to the hilt. PJ, our son, had his own room. Lys and my mother shared a room, and Dani was in the bedroom with my husband and me.

One night while I was sleeping, I was shaken awake by a hand on my shoulder. I glanced down at my infant daughter, sleeping soundly between my husband and me. My husband was sound asleep. My bedroom door was closed, and I could not see anyone else in my room.

I got up, thinking one of the other kids needed me. I poke my head into Lys’ room, both her and my mother are asleep. I’m was about to open the door to PJ’s room, but then I could hear him snoring through the door, so I didn’t bother. I then wandered around the house to see if anything was amiss. I even went into the basement, nothing. Then, right before I decided to return to bed, I opened the door in the family room which leads to the garage. My husband had forgotten to close the garage door before he went to bed. I close the door, and grumble to Larry the whole way back to bed about how I did not appreciate being woken up at three in the morning because the garage door was left open.

At dinner that night, I told the family about what had happened to me the night before. My husband, who chose to ignore everything that had been happening in the house for the past year, even though he had experiences of his own, thought I was crazy. This kids thought it was nice of Larry to tell me, and my mom kept her opinion to herself.

The following night when we sat down to dinner, my husband plopped our local newspaper on the table in front of my plate, and told me to read the police blotter. It turns out, the night we had left our garage door open, several houses on our street had been broken into. Our house would have been easy access had I not got up, turned lights on while I investigated, and ultimately closed the garage door.

This morning, when I woke up and brought Colby out to be emptied, I found my husband had forgotten to close the garage door again before he went to bed. That was when I realized how much I missed “Larry”. Even though I couldn’t see him, well at least not clearly, his presence was definitely felt; and you can feel the absence of it now that he is gone. The house somehow felt safer when he was here. It’s like I’m mourning the loss of a family member, even though I never met him.

A number of years ago, Larry decided to leave, and I have a theory as to why. Our ghost, who I now believe he is actually Larry’s father-in-law, but I don’t know his name, never had any children of his own. Althea became his daughter when she was around ten or twelve years old. Then when he moved in with Althea and Larry, and they didn’t have any children, he again was denied the privilege of having little ones in his house. When I showed up with a seven and three year old, and then a baby, he finally got to have the children he always yearned for. When my kids got older, he decided he had fulfilled his bucket list and was ready to move on.

I realize many of you do not believe in ghosts. I also realize by me telling you this tale, you may very well think I am crazy and no longer wish to follow me. I understand, and there are no hard feelings.

A few of my followers have experienced Larry first hand, several have heard stories of him over the years, and one follower, a friend of mine from high school, is actually related to him through marriage. It’s from her I was able to find out more information about the previous occupants of my home.


Okay, time to leave this tale to work on my other tale. I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

Sunday, July 27, 2014

July 27th

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! I have the perfect day to write. My hubby is asleep, my girls spent the night at friends’ houses, all is quiet, and I feel blah. It figures, right?

I figure I have between 20 – 25K words to go in order to finish FTQ. It ain’t gunna happen before the end of the month. I realize the past three NaNos have been dedicated to FTQ, but the numbers are a combination of my blog and the novel. Unfortunately for me it has been a 2:1 blog:novel ratio. Seems I’ve had more to chat about than my characters.

This simply won’t do. I need to buckle down and get this finished. As much as I hate to do it, I think for the next several days, my blog posts are going to be short and sweet with no writing challenges. I am also going to have to restrain myself from getting lost on line. I need to firmly secure my blinders.

There’s really no excuse. The story is progressing nicely. I haven’t really hit any walls, other than the little trip-up in chapter 42 which I told you about the other day, but it was easily resolved.

This book has been really strange. I get engrossed in a scene. Type it until completion. Then I go back and look, thinking I wrote all these words, only to find I was able to relay the entire series of events in less than a thousand words. 

I guess, now with this being my fourth book, I am subconsciously streamlining, something which does not usually occur until the editing/rewriting phase. (That’s where you pull out all the unnecessary fluff and fillers – silly stuff like changing ‘he went down the stairs’ to ‘he went downstairs’; or using a one word action verb to show instead of several words to tell.)

This is a good thing, I guess. I’m just used to writing more than needed and then witling it down. Which, if you think about it, is a really stupid, and time consuming, way to do it. I equate it to the way I cook – I’d rather make too much and have left overs than make what I think will be just enough, and someone goes away hungry.

Perhaps I have grown enough in my writing that the 80K goal I have in my head will only get trimmed to 75K instead of 70K, which is still an acceptable word count for a contemporary romance. I can always hope, right?

Okay, I still haven’t had any responses of suggested prompts, and my request for assistance has gone unanswered as well. I can muddle through the prompts, but I REALLY could use your help with finding someone from Northern Ireland to read Faerie Tale Queen.

I will not feel comfortable releasing FTQ without the dialogue being authenticated. There’s slang you would hear in Cork or Limerick which you would never hear in Dublin, and there are expressions a street thug would say which would never come out of a respected businessman’s mouth. Please, ask around. Thanks!!


I hope you have an amazing day, and happy writing!

Saturday, July 26, 2014

July 26th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! It’s Saturday. So are you off to do something fun? The beach? The mountains? The lake? I’d love to hear how you are enjoying your summer.

So, Dani and I went to see the movie Lucy yesterday. I wanted to see it, although I would have waited for the dvd release, but since Dani was bored, we went. The concept was cool, and it starred Morgan Freeman, who I adore, so I forked over the $16 for the matinee tickets and the $15 for the soda, popcorn and candy (one of each to share). Eighteen hours later, I’m still not exactly sure what I thought about the movie, but I am leaning toward it was a waste of $31.

The initial credits begin to run, and various nature scenes as well as scientific shots – you know, the watching cells through a microscope kind – appear on the screen, while Professor Norman, Morgan Freeman, does the voice over. Okay, cool, he’s giving us a little history to set up the movie.

Yeah, you know, being the geek I am, I did go back and verify some of the information from the movie. I already debunked the 10% theory yesterday, so I won’t go there, but I did check out their claim that “Lucy” was the first human. Well, Lucy was the name scientist gave AL288-1, which was hundreds of pieces of female human bone discovered by a French geologist in Ethiopia in 1974.

Lucy is played by Scarlett Johansson. For reasons never disclosed, Lucy is a student studying in Taiwan. The scene opens with her and this guy Richard, who she has been dating for a week, arguing in front of a hotel. He is trying to convince her he
cannot go into the building, so she should deliver a briefcase for him. When she resists, he handcuffs it to her, so she is forced to make the delivery, because, of course, the only one who has the keys to the cuffs is the intended recipient of the briefcase. Predictable, obvious, we’ve all seen it before.

She walks to the front desk, asks for person she is supposed to give the briefcase to, and then we enter bizarro-world. I should have known, but I was still hanging on to hope. The scene kept flipping back and forth between Lucy in the lobby with the bad guys approaching, and a gazelle being stalked by cheetahs in the Serengeti.

The Korean mobsters - hey wait, I thought they were in Taiwan, why are the mobsters Korean? - drag Lucy to a room where she is forced to open the briefcase herself to make sure it isn’t a bomb. It isn’t, though it probably should have been. Inside the case are four packets, roughly 1,000 grams each, of synthetic CPH4, the next new party drug.

Yup, I looked that one up too. CPH4 is an actual chemical compound – carboxytetrahydropterin. However, chemistry was never my forte, so I have no clue if this is a purely manufactured compound or if, as the movie claims, is a naturally occurring one, which happens within a pregnant woman’s body.

SPOILER ALERT – If you are planning on seeing the movie, don’t read the next four paragraphs.


The Korean mob boss turns Lucy and three other men into mules to smuggle the drug out of Taiwan, by surgically implanting the bags of drugs into their abdomens. They are told someone would be waiting for them when they returned to their countries – USA, Germany, France & Italy – to remove the drugs, and then they would be free to go.

Again for reasons unclear, Lucy is taken to a warehouse of sorts instead of to the airport. There, after she slaps away the hand of thug who attempted to fondle her, she is smacked to the ground and repeatedly kicked – where else, but in the stomach. Of course, the bag in her abdomen ruptures, the CPH4 gets into her system, but instead of killing her, it opens up her brain.

A newly enlightened Lucy, breaks away from her captors, commandeers an operating room to have the drugs removed, and has a tearful conversation with her mother on the phone WHILE the drugs are being pulled out of her stomach. Then she goes, kills a bunch of thugs, reads the mob boss’ mind – after she pinned his hands to a chair with knives – and learns the destinations of the other three mules. Can someone tell me why she wouldn’t have just killed the mob boss while she could? You know he’s going to be royally POed and go after her.

She then gets in contact with Professor Norman, tells him she’s on her way to meet him. She contacts a French police captain and enlists his help. There are shoot outs, a high speed race through the streets of Paris, a failed attempt at romance between Lucy and the cop, magical qualities which miraculously appear as Lucy’s brain capacity nears 100%, time travel, metamorphosis, bad guys dead, good guys survive, and Lucy disappears and becomes everything. Hmmm, so if we can achieve 100% brain capacity, we will essentially become God. Oh boy.

OKAY END OF THE SPOILER, YOU CAN READ AGAIN.

Honestly, I had my eyes rolling so many times during this movie, I’m surprised they didn’t roll out of my head. The “science” was not believable. Lucy, who initially comes across as a drugged up party girl, really too old to be in college but you’re supposed to believe she is, person to suddenly having all this knowledge is a joke. In order to access your brain’s knowledge, there had to be some there to start with, no?

The director was probably sampling some of the CPH4 when coming up with the cinematography, the storyline is full of holes and contradictions, and unfortunately, the acting was mediocre at best. It’s such a shame, because the concept had such potential, the director just dropped the ball. In my humble opinion, save your money.

Not my usual blog, but I considered this a public service announcement.

Even though I hit my Camp NaNo goal, Faerie Tale Queen is not finished, so I am going to take advantage of the quiet, currently blanketing my home, while I can. I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Fire lit the night sky…

Precisely twenty five feet in diameter. Flames twenty five feet high. Twenty five shrouded figures, cloaked by darkness just beyond the fire’s glow, encircle the field. A low hum begins and grows as the figures begin their creep toward the dancing flames. In unison they step forward. The leader begins to chant. Half respond. The other half echoes the response. They near the fire. The chant grows. Louder. Faster. The figures begin to sway. The air vibrates. The flame soars and fire lights the night sky. Frenzied. Faster. Louder. Cries fill the air. Then… silence. The flame returns to its controlled twenty five feet. The leader, flanked by his four disciples, turn their back to the flame and recede into the darkness. The sacrifice, complete. Tomorrow they will start their quest for twenty new followers.

Your Next Challenge is:

A conversation between two animals…

You have ten 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.

Friday, July 25, 2014

July 25th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! WOW, lots to cover today, luckily I know where to start. Happy Birthday Dad! Love you!

Next, LOCAL AUTHORS (Belle Mead, Branchburg, Bridgewater, Flagtown, Flemington, Hillsborough, Manville, Montgomery, Neshanic, North Branch, Raritan, Rocky Hill, Somerville, Three Bridges), you only have SIX (6) DAYS LEFT to register for the First Annual HillsboroughLibrary Author’s Day. Initially there were only 20 – 25 authors who were going to be selected, but after some creative rearranging, there is room for more, but the slots are filling up fast.

THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR THIS EVENT. It’s a day for you to come out, sell some books, and network with other authors in the area.

The book signing will be from 1 – 4, but there is going to be a workshop, or possibly two, prior to the event (details are still getting hammered out). Also, during the signing, there are going to be readings done by the authors. (I think it will be a “pull names out of a hat” process.) Again, I will have more details for you as they become available.

Look, it’s going to be a great day. Click on the link above, and sign up. I can’t wait to see you there!

Now all NON-AUTHORS - if you happen to be in Hillsborough, New Jersey on Saturday, November 15th, please stop by the event. We already have authors from numerous genres, both fiction and non-fiction (coffee table books, biographies, memoirs, poetry, children and YA, romance, mystery, and horror), so there’s a little something for everyone. Events like these are much more laid back than the ones held at the big name bookstores. You’ll get to meet and actually chat with the authors, not just get pushed through a line.

Hey, you can get a jump on your holiday shopping for the readers on your list. How great a gift is a signed copy of a book?

So, last night’s critique group went well. I was the only one who brought anything to share, so we spent most of the time talking about the Author’s Day event. I brought with me a chapter of Faerie Tale Queen that I was having an issue with; there was just something not quite right, and I couldn’t figure out what.

Now, I really don’t like just pulling a random chapter out of thin air. When I bring stuff to a critique group, I start with chapter one and then go chronologically, otherwise it takes forever to get folks up to speed so they have a clue what’s going on, but I was desperate. I couldn’t get the chapter to gel, and even though I pushed forward, it was still a big distraction, and I kept revisiting it.

Since I was the only one who brought something to share, the eight of us hashed it out for a good twenty minutes after I finished reading, and I think I can make it work now. I have one sentence to delete, one small dialogue exchange to add, and one cat reference to reflect change of mood and one food reference to mark passage of time to plop in, and I can move on. The fix was so easy, I just couldn’t see it, and it bogged me down.

I know I’ve said it before, but the benefit I get from these various writing groups I have joined is immeasurable. I have learned so much, and I have grown so much as a writer because of them. Their value to me is priceless. I encourage all writers to get involved with writing groups in their area. You won’t be disappointed.

Today I only have a few hours to write. Yeah, I know it’s Friday, a day I usually spend all day writing because I don’t have to go to work, but Dani laid a guilt trip on me last night. Summer is half over and she has only left the house three times. The poor child is bored out of her skull. So today we are going to catch a matinée.

At noon, we are going to see Lucy. If you haven’t seen the previews for the movie yet, you should check it out. It looks interesting. It’s the story about a woman, because of some incident, becomes able to use 100% of her brain’s capabilities.

Although the number 10% is thrown around a lot when they talk about how much brain function the average person uses at one time, more current research has shown it is closer to 16%. Regardless, the percentage of our brain we utilize at any given time is still a paltry amount. (In actuality, your entire brain is in use, just not all at the same time.) It’s reported that even geniuses, like Einstein, use less than 20% of their brains. Could you imagine what it would be like to tap into more of your potential? If you’ll excuse the pun, it’s mindboggling. Anyway, it’s a fascinating concept, and even though the movie is pure fiction, I am looking forward to seeing it.

Okay, I’m off to tweak chapter 42 of Fairy Tale Queen, and then hopefully be able to pound out chapter 43 as well. I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

This ought to be good…

“This ought to be good.”
“Mmm Hmm.”
“Got the camera?”
“Yup.”
“So what do you think, America’s Funniest or Caught on Camera?”
“I’m thinking Ridiculousness.”
“Ouch, really?”
“Have you known any of Buddy’s ‘brilliant ideas’ not to be complete disasters?”
“Good point. Oh, there he goes.”
“I can’t believe he’s actually doing this. He’s such an ass.”
“No. No. NO!”
“Oh CRAP!”
“Put down the camera, and call an 911.”

Your Next Challenge is:

Fire lit the night sky…

You have ten 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.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

July 24th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Well, it’s official. I will be a guest on Ron Shaw’s radio show, on the ArtistFirst RadioNetwork, on Monday, September 15th, at 8 pm. After chatting with him for over an hour last night, he wore me down and I agreed to do the show. Lord only knows what you’re going to get, ‘cause this guy’s a hoot. There was a whole lot of laughing going on during our conversation.

I’m still really nervous. It’s a live show with twelve million listeners worldwide. Hopefully my tongue won’t get too tied. We hit so many different topics during our phone call, I have absolutely no idea what direction the interview is going to go, but I think that will turn out to be a good thing. If I know what’s coming, then my answers will sound rehearsed, and I’d come off sounding like a commercial instead of a real person.

I know one thing that will undoubtedly get screwed up, Ron – or as he likes to be called “Whale” – will end up using my real name during the interview, instead of my pen name. The story behind the pen name is marginally interesting, and now that my kids are older, it doesn’t really matter much anymore, so I guess I’ll be “outed” on international radio. Oh well, c’est la vie. LOL.

Now that we are in the last week of Camp NaNoWriMo, my brain has the consistency of scrambled eggs, which is making coming up with daily writing prompts a challenge. Anytime you folks want to chime in with some suggestion, I’d be happy to have them. Send‘um on over.

I only lasted half an hour longer at work yesterday than I did on Tuesday. I came home laid down for a couple hours, then dragged Dani with me to a long overdue trip to the grocery store. Basically I hung on to the carriage while Dani did all the work. She was a huge help. The back is a whole lot better today, but I am still going to take it real slow so I don’t mess it up again.

RV has an early appointment, so I only have time for the blog today. Maybe, if it’s quiet when I get home, I’ll be able to work on FTQ, but I’m not holding my breath. Oh well, I hope you have a fabulous day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

What is that stuff all over you?

“Eww, Josh, what is that stuff all over you?”

“I have no idea. Find me a towel or something will you?” He pleaded while he tried to wipe the sticky green gunk from his eyes and face.

Lauren found the box marked ‘Kitchen Linens’, tore off the packing tape, and grabbed a handful of dish towels. “What the heck happened?”

“I was putting a box in the back bedroom closet, and the next thing I knew, I was covered in this stuff.”

“Where did it come from?”

Josh paused in his wiping. “Sorry, I wasn’t about to take the time to investigate while I had slime dripping from me.”

Lauren touched a spot on his arm and pulled away a drop of the substance, rubbed it between her fingers, then brought it up to her nose and smelled it. “Phew, it stinks.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“I put the boxes with the bathroom supplies in our bathroom. Why don’t you go take a shower, and I’ll try to figure out what happened.” She handed him a plastic bag. “Here. Put your clothes in this. I’m not putting whatever that is in our new washer.”

***

Did you figure out where this one was going? A young couple just moved in to a new house…

Your Next Challenge is:

This ought to be good…

You have ten 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.