July 15th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! I didn’t jump right into the blog this morning. While I was checking emails, I received one from a friend saying he had his first article published in Huntington Post, so, obviously, I had to read it.

Wow. I am always impressed with Todd’s story telling ability, and even though I had pretty much heard the story before, it still moved me. A few years ago, Todd and his family embarked on a journey when his daughter confessed she was a man trapped in a woman’s body. His story takes you through the initial shock of the revelation, the acceptance, and the transition of saying goodbye to his daughter and embracing his son.

The article is brief, but it packs a punch. It shows the true meaning of being a parent, loving your children unconditionally. I read through the article as well as the comments, many of which heralded Todd as being courageous for telling his story. Although well-meaning I’m sure, it made me sad.

Having a gay or transgender child, and talking about it should not be considered brave, but because of the narrow minded society we live in, it is. Until people realize someone has as much control over being born gay or transgender as they do being born with blue eyes or curly hair, things will never change.

So, my hat is off to Todd, not for his bravery in bringing light to a subject society wants to ignore, my hat is off to him for being a role model for what it means to be a father. Because of his love and acceptance, his son now has a chance at a happy and healthy life, as opposed to becoming one of the statistics. It truly is a wonderful article, and it’s not very long; so if you would like to read it, here’s the link.

I did not get quite as much writing done yesterday as I had hoped. RV called and needed my help. Although I was able to push her off for a couple of hours, it was still in the back of my mind that I had to leave, so I couldn’t allow myself to become lost in the story. I didn’t want to look up from writing and see several hours had passed, which has been known to happen from time to time.

Because of the incomplete focus, I know I have to go back over what I wrote and “beef” it up. I was able to get the general thoughts down, but the details are seriously lacking. I also jumped from point A to point C in a conversation, and I need to fill that in as well, otherwise it will come off as too abrupt and the character will come across as a jerk, and I don’t want that.

Okay, since I only have three hours and I know there are going to be at least two more interruptions in that time, I should go. I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Genre: Mystery; Location: Somewhere down the shore; Situation: Someone is stealing something unusual

“You’re crazy!”

“I’m telling you Mike, they’re not here.”

“Who the heck would steal starfish? What possible use would they have for them?”

Jamie pointed to the shelf, “Then where the hell are they?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you put them somewhere else and forgot?”

“I signed for the box right when we were having that big rush of camp kids, a little after three. I put the box on my desk. As you know, we were busy pretty much the rest of the night. While I was closing up, I saw the box on my desk. I didn’t have the energy to restock the display, so I put the box here in the stock room.” Jamie pointed to the shelf again. “Do you see the box?”

“You could have stuck it on another shelf. You were really beat last night.”

“Okay fine,” Jamie spread her arms wide and turned in a slow circle. “Look for yourself. The box was bright blue with gold lettering. It shouldn’t be hard to spot amongst all this brown.”

Michael carefully looked around. “I don’t see it.”

“That’s what I have been trying to tell you.” She said in an exasperated huff. “You want to hear the strange part? Carly, from the shop over on the corner of 7^th and Ocean, stopped by to see if she could borrow a few dozen hermit crab sponges until her shipment came in, somehow she had misplaced two cases. Then Tyler from Shipwrecked came over, his back scratchers disappeared. Tell me Mike, how does a gross of back scratchers just vanish into thin air?”

Your Next Challenge is:

The morning light looked strange

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.

July 2nd Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! I hope everyone had a great day yesterday. Mine was pretty good even though it was ungodly hot. It hit 96 here late in the afternoon, but with the humidity, even when it was only 82 in the morning, it felt like it was in the 90s. I AM NOT COMPLAINING! I’d still take the heat over the cold.

By now you know my brain does not function like a normal human being, and I find things comical that most probably wouldn’t even notice, but I choose to share them with you in hopes they make you chuckle as well. At last night’s critique group, among the ladies, the “A”s had it. In attendance were: Anna, Christina, Frieda, Gloria, Loretta & Nina. I thought this was hysterical…no one else seemed to get it. I’m a kook, what can I say?

Gloria was new to the group, and I don’t think we scared her away, which is a good thing. She’s just begun to write and asked us for tips. She wanted to know all these things about what she should do after the books was finished. For once, our group actually agreed on something, and we ALL gave her the same advice. Don’t worry about the “after” stuff, the only thing you have to worry about is putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys), because if you don’t do that, the rest will be irrelevant anyway.

I think she was a little surprised by this, because the advice came after she sat in on our meeting and heard conflicting opinions on just about every piece we read. It’s true though, the most important thing to do as a writer is to write – EVERY SINGLE DAY. Some days it’s not easy, but you’ve got to muscle through it.

I wish I had taken down Gloria’s contact information, because I would have sent her the link to Keith’s “Magic Spreadsheet”. There’s no magic really, it’s just a daily sheet which tracks how many words you’ve written each day, and how many “chunks of time” you’ve spent on other writing related items. Example, it usually takes me twenty minutes every day to get this blog posted in its three locations, to find and download all the accompanying photos, and to hook up any links. Twenty minutes is one “chunk” of time.

Since February of this year, I have recorded over 184K words, and since June I’ve recorded 239 chunks of time (it was a new feature on the spreadsheet). Yes, you did the math right, that’s 80 hours of time spent on writing related things other than writing itself. But the most important number is the 149 consecutive days I have written.

Remember the other day I said I got out of bed at 11:30 at night, because I needed to do something before midnight? Well, that’s what I needed to do – get 400 words down on paper so my chain wouldn’t be broken. Even though you are only accountable to yourself, the spreadsheet is a great motivator.

As is our usual practice, after our meeting broke up at 9:00, we all got ice cream (or coffee), and then sat at the tables in the square and chatted. It was a beautiful night, and it gave us time to get to know the new people better and to catch up with the regulars. Todd, our Grand Pooba, spent a portion of the time speaking with a gentleman we did not know. After half an hour or so, he brought the man over to meet us.

It turns out, he’s a rather important person at the Huffington Post, and is quite a character. I believe he will be joining our critique group when he returns from his trip to France. He seems like an interesting and funny guy, and I look forward to getting to know him. He was so sweet; he offered to read and review all of my books for HP. I’m not holding my breath, because I can’t see him having the time to be able to do it, but it would be nice if it happened.

Okay, I only have a little over and hour to write today before I have to go to work, so I’d better leave. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

_____ is the most important thing, because without _____ you can’t…

Garlic is the most important thing, because without it, you can’t make truly authentic tasting Italian dishes. The pungent yet sweet flavor that is garlic adds a certain something to many dishes, not just Italian. Without it, the meal comes off as bland.

In my home, garlic is practically a food group. I add it to virtually every sauce I make; rule of thumb, if olive oil goes in, so does garlic. The seafood dish I made last week, with the cream and brandy reduction sauce was loaded with garlic. The cold green bean and mushroom salad we all love, in part, because of the great big chunks of garlic.

You would think with all the garlic we eat, it would be dripping out of our pores, but it’s not. Purely by accident I discovered if I pair garlic with the consumption of either lemonade or pineapple, the garlic scent is virtually eliminated. However, back when I could still drink wine, if I had paired my garlic infused meal with either red or white wine, I could smell the garlic on my skin the next day. I’m a writer, not a scientist, so I have no idea why this happens, but I thought it was interesting.

Your Next Challenge is:

If I had a nickel for every time I…

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.