July 30th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

The sun’s not even up yet, but I am. I guess knowing my NaNoWriMo deadline is fast approaching and I still have almost 3,700 words to go was playing through my brain. Whatever, I had almost five hours of sleep. If I get tired later (ie: when the girls wake up and I can’t write any more), I’ll take a nap.

Remember I told you writing on the beach was almost impossible because of the glare? Well, this time I did a little redneck engineering and I was able to get 900 words done yesterday. I didn’t exactly hit my goal, but it was literally ten times better than my last beach writing attempt.

 

I could not locate our beach umbrella, so I had to figure out how to jerry rig a regular rain umbrella to my chair. No, I did not use duct tape, although it was tempting. I used a bungee cord. Between that and a conveniently located sign on the beach, I was able to create enough shade so I could see the screen.

Now if I could have figured out a way to muzzle the two old sisters who were seated near me, I would have been in business. I am a visual writer, I write what I see. Basically, I stare ahead and “watch” a scene unfold before my eyes. I tip my head to better “hear” what the people are saying. I may frown when I don’t like what they are doing, or smile when they are. There have been many a time where I either laughed or cried with my characters as well. The sisters were right in my line of vision, and their Ralph and Alice routine was quite a distraction. Also, probably because I was staring ahead, they thought I should be involved in their conversation. So between them and the ninety year old men parading around in speedos turning my stomach, I didn’t get a whole lot done. So today, it’s nose to the grindstone!

Sorry, I got all flustered yesterday when I realized how late I was running and I forgot to tell you one thing that happened at the balloon festival. Right in front of where I had parked, there were two tent set up. These two open sided tents housed a bride, a groom, their wedding party and guests. Apparently, they were supposed to be having the ceremony up in one of the balloons. I guess Mother Nature took offense at not being on their guest list, so she crashed the wedding. I felt SO bad for the couple.

Rain on your wedding is supposed to be good luck. The tears from the sky that day, will be that many less tears you will cry during your lives together. From the amount of rain we got Sunday, several generations of this couple’s lineage will never shed a tear!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

Write a story containing these three words (blame my daughter): Taco, Cactus, Goldfish

 

Our van was packed to the gills, and we were ready to leave. The last two things my daughter brought to the car were the cactus, which she named Paco, she got from her nutty friend as a graduation present and her new goldfish, Taco; both of which she was planning holding for the entire six hour drive.

The first round of tears already happened when she needed to say goodbye to her cat. After we promised her that if she ever moved from the dorm and into a campus apartment, we would bring Mikey to stay with her, the tears stemmed a little, but then she said goodbye to her sister’s cat. By the time she got to our dog, Colby, she was a blubbering mess again. I was surprised, because she had held it together fairly well the previous evening when we had her going away dinner. There were only a few tears while saying goodbye to her human contacts. I guess my daughter is a much better actress than I ever gave her credit for.

 

Yeah, I know. I’m practically jinxing myself, but this is probably how the scene will play out in three weeks. On the bright side, we’ll only be transporting the cactus up to college, and he’ll fit nicely into a cup holder for the trip. We convinced my daughter there actually were pet stores in Vermont and she did not need to transport a fish the entire way, so we will be getting her a goldfish when we arrive on Thursday.

OK, I’m off to camp. Please say a little prayer that I have a productive day. This is crazy, I was so far ahead of schedule, but unforeseen thing popped up, and now I’m scrambling to make deadline. UGH! Really glad I didn’t put my goal as 85K!

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

 

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.

July 28th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Today is Balloon Festival day and I’m excited. Hopefully the weather holds off. I can deal with clouds, but if it actually rains, it’s going to be miserable. My days of standing in the rain to watch a concert are LONG gone! Can’t recall being happy about it even when I was a teenager. Big & Rich are known to put on a great show, so maybe it will be worth it. My hubby scored a parking pass, so we’ll be able to pack a cooler for easy access to food and we’ll be able to leave our chairs in the car and just go get them before the concert starts instead of having to carry them around all day, which will be nice.

 

It’s funny, every time we go to the Balloon Festival; there is some kind of extreme weather. I remember the summer of ’95, it was so hot and my daughter was just an infant in the stroller, I kept wetting down dribble diapers and laying them over her to try to keep her cool. It was miserable. I went with friends and we got separated. I couldn’t find them for hours or I would have gotten the baby out of the oppressive heat.

The last time we went, we were there helping out my nephews’ boy scout troop’s food stand (yes, I wrote that correctly, I had two nephews in the same troop). The day was going great, but then a wicked storm blew through. Tents were knocked over, people were hurt by flying debris, it was scary. There is nowhere to hide out in the middle of a huge field. I’m definitely saying a prayer before we leave so that we don’t run into anything too terrible today.

I only have 5,400 words to go for NaNoWriMo, but I don’t know how many I’ll actually get down today before we have to leave. I still have sandwiches to make, and snacks and drinks to pack. OK, enough chatting or I won’t get any words down. Have a great day!

Your Last Challenge was:

 

The fair’s in town.

 

It’s that time of year again, the annual town fair. This was always a major event for our sleepy little town, and although it still draws a crowd, it’s nothing like it used to be.

 

Originally the fair was held at a local Catholic Church’s field. There was a pie eating contests, funnel cake and all the other things you would find at a country fair. There was always someone you knew flipping burgers or handing you a Ping-Pong ball to throw into a fish bowl to win a goldfish. You knew the kids who were singing in the band and you were there to cheer them on at their first paying gig. I think they got twenty bucks and a free burger and soda. The church ladies had a baked goods stand where you could get the most wonderful chocolate chip cookies or a brownie for a quarter, and the biggest draw at the dunking booth was when one of the most loved priests, Father Stan, was sitting on the platform.

 

When we outgrew the church field, the fair was moved to the fire company field in the center of town. The dunking booth and the funnel cakes followed, but the rides got bigger and there were more commercial games. Our town fair had turned into the town carnival, complete with carnies and all, but for one week out of the year, it was still the place to be. It was the place to meet up with friends who you hadn’t seen since school let out in June. Later it was the place to see friends you hadn’t seen since graduation.

 

Eventually we outgrew the firehouse as well and now the town fair is held in the local Lowes parking lot. It’s funny, now we have all this room, but the appeal of the fair just isn’t there anymore. Everything is commercial now, the rides, the games and even the food. Occasionally you bump into a familiar face, but it doesn’t happen often. It’s sad really. Perhaps we should think about going back to the way things used to be when the fair was at the church.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Write a story containing these three words (blame my daughter): Taco, Cactus, Goldfish

 

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.