July 4th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning!

First and foremost, I want to wish my wonderful son, a very Happy 24^th Birthday! I love you, and I’m so very proud of the man you’ve become! Can’t wait to see you in a few hours!!

Next, I want to wish all my American friends a Happy 4^th. I hope the weather holds out wherever you are, so you can enjoy a wonderful day with your friends and family; and if you are setting off fireworks, please be safe! I live in a state where fireworks are illegal, but that doesn’t seem to stop many from setting them off. And a final cautionary note, if you’ve been drinking, even only two drinks, let someone else drive (provided they haven’t been drinking). It’s just not worth the risk. I’m a selfish person. I don’t want to lose ANY of you, especially to something preventable. So please, be smart, be safe, and enjoy the festivities responsibly.

To everyone else, who does not fit into the two shout-outs above, HAPPY FRIDAY! You’ve made it through another week, and you’ve got two days to enjoy yourself. I know, I know, you’re saying I’m off my rocker – you work harder on your days off than you do at “work”. LOL

Okay, I have a very limited time to work on FTQ today, because I have food to make for the party, so it’s time to skip across the pond. I hope you have an incredible day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Use the following three in a story: Rummaging, Hat, Telescope

We inherited a house from one of our elderly relatives, and with the house came all of the contents. It was a massive endeavor to clean it out, but you have to take the good with the bad, right?

At first, we focused on the living space; weeded out what we could not use, and then rearrange the items we were keeping so they fit into our lifestyle. The last places we tackled were the basement and the attic. Luckily, the basement only took a few hours because it was incredibly organized, and surprisingly, pretty much everything that was down there, had a purpose.

The attic, on the other hand, was a different story. After our initial cursory inspection, we determined it would take several days to rummage through all the contents.

Fortified with a good breakfast, and armed with bottles of water – the attic was hot, even though it was early spring – and a box of heavy duty lawn and leaf garbage bags, we headed up. Boxes and trunks, armoires and dressers, a full-length mirror, one of those dummies dress makers use, adorned with a floppy hat and a feathered boa, a brass telescope on a stand pointing out of the window.

The enormity of the job ahead of me was intimidating, and I guess my panic showed, because my husband squeezed my hand, lead me to a box in the far corner, and said, “One box at a time.”

For the record, the above is total fiction.

Your Next Challenge is (short but appropriate for today):

Fireworks

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 3rd Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! I’m a little late with my blog this morning, sorry. My friend Keith decided to join CampNaNo, and I was trying to figure out how to get him into my cabin; but you know what a techno whiz I am, so you can probably guess how successful I was. I posted a giant “HELP!!” in three different places on the site, so hopefully someone out there will be able to walk me through it.

After that, I decided I needed to reread FTQ to get myself back into the flow of the story, because I was really struggling. I hadn’t touched it since the last camp ended. I had several “oh, I forgot about that” moments, and now I feel more confident I can go one with the story.

I actually have the day off from work, which means I will have roughly an extra hour to work on FTQ. When Dani wakes up, we have a bunch of running around to do, but I plan on writing – very quietly – until she wakes up. I know the longer she sleeps, the more harried my afternoon will be, but I really need to put a boatload of words on paper today, because I won’t have much time tomorrow.

On that note, I’m off to Ireland. I hope you have a sensational day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

If I had a nickel for every time I…

If I had a nickel for every time I did something stupid, I’d be a billionaire; that’s “billion” with a “b”. I am a world class klutz, my mouth has been known to function quicker than my brain, and I have made my fair share of just plain, old fashioned, bad decisions.

On the fire day of kindergarten, there were two kids, Michael and Debbie, who were traumatized by being left at school by their parents. Both had retreated to corners and refused to join the class. My teacher, Miss Payne, sent me to go talk to Michael and sent Ronnie, an adorable boy with curly brown hair, to go talk to Debbie. We managed to get Michael and Debbie to join us, and Ronnie and I were dubbed the class peacemakers. By default, that also made us “boyfriend and girlfriend”.

Some weeks later, while standing in line to be dismissed, Jimmy and Ari, two other boys in class got into a bit of a row over whose fault something was. Me, still trying to play peacemaker, said “it was his fault” and pointed blindly over my shoulder. It turned out, I was pointing directly at Ronnie, and things went downhill from there. You would think that learning a hard lesson when I was five would have at least given me pause in the future to think before I spoke. Let’s just say, I’m not a quick study.

In fourth grade, I let my competitive nature overrule my common sense.

Out of time. I could probably write a doctoral thesis on this topic, but other stories of my stupidity will have to wait for another time.

Your Next Challenge is:

Use the following three in a story: Rummaging, Hat, Telescope

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.

July 1st Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning and Happy July 1^st! Honestly, I could have used another day or two before July 1^st arrived, but it is what it is, and the insanity of Camp NaNoWriMo has begun.

I checked in with my cabin and was pleasantly surprised to see my friend, Dorothy May Mercer, was in our cabin. I have requested folks I knew every time I’ve done NaNo, but this was the first time it actually happened. I’m doing my happy dance, because I know I’ll have at least one cheerleader rooting for me to hit my goal.

You never know, when you first check into your cabin, if your cabin mates are going to be into it, if they will encourage each other, or if they really will do what they said they would do. I lucked out last time, and we had a really great cabin. I don’t remember exactly how many, but almost all of us hit our 50K goal, and we cheered each other on.

The two times before that, I was the only one who hit goal in my cabin, and I gave up trying to interact with my cabin mates, because no one was really into it. I focused all of my energy into my own novel instead of trying to motivate them. It’s strange, but I guess it does make sense in a way. Last time I probably spent more time chatting with my cabin mates, yet I hit goal with plenty of time to spare. The two previous times, I gave up on my cabin mates and I squeaked in at the last minute to hit goal. Even though I was expending more effort to keep the cabin’s spirits up, the encouragement I was receiving in return kept my momentum and creativity up.

I did decide to finish up FTQ, and let Taming Tate to rattle around in my brain for a little while longer. I think it’s the right thing to do, even if I don’t go the traditional publishing route with it. Better to finish one project before starting a new one.

On that note, I should get going. I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

You visit some place you have not seen since you were a child.

From the time I was five until roughly thirteen, I would vacation with my grandparents every summer. We would pack up the Pinto, hook up the camper, and away we’d go. Ultimately, Texas was our final destination, with pit stops in either Virginia, Georgia or Florida along the way. In Virginia we would visit colonial Williamsburg. In Georgia we would visit family. In Florida we would visit a plethora of sites, not just Mickey Mouse.

When I became a parent, I wanted my children to have some of the same wonderful experiences as I did with my grandparents. So one summer we packed up our van, and away we went, final destination Disney. We took the same route as I took with my grandparents, Route 95 South.

I told my kids that Pop-pop, my grandfather, wouldn’t allow us to stop until we hit the Maryland House rest stop, so of course we had to stop. Shortly after we were back on the road, we started to see the signs for South of the Border, and I got excited. This was another stop we made every time with my grandparents, so my kids just had to see it. We made a game of spotting the signs and counting down the miles. By the time we spotted the giant man in the sombrero, the car was practically vibrating with anticipation.

***

Out of time, but what else is new? I’m sure you can see where this was going without any further explanation.

Your Next Challenge is:

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

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.