A very good friend of mine told me, during a phone conversation yesterday, that this month's Writer's Digest has a list of 24 agents looking for novels to represent. I hurried my butt over to Barnes and Noble at Triangle Town Center as fast as I could legally drive (well maybe a little over "legal") and grabbed myself a copy.
Clutching my treasure to my chest, I was headed back to my car...when the beauty of the day suddenly struck me and I thought "why just go home and peruse my magazine? I could just grab a drink and sit outside the mall in the lovely, peaceful, serene center court they have created.
I zipped into Moe's to get a sweet tea (I'm so Southern now!) and wandered over to a seating section in the center of the common area between the beautiful landscaped walking paths. The area was totally isolated and I found a lovely table with a large umbrella to shade me from the direct sunlight. I pulled my magazine from it's bag and took a pen and writing pad from my purse, let out a deep sigh, took a quick sip of tea and opened to page one.
A minute later I hear a loud voiced woman speaking very rapid angry Spanish. I tilted my head over my shoulder and wouldn't you know it...here sat said woman at a table directly behind me, legs crossed, loose foot bobbing rapidly up and down, obviously arguing with someone about something in a language I don't understand. I tensely turned back to my magazine trying to block out the ever increasing volume of the discussion going on in back of me. Just when I thought I had it conquered...a shrill scream rent the air and the head of a boy, about 5 years old pops up above one of the large rocks strategically placed to add peace and serenity to the area. Two moms were now standing at the base of the rock, one of them yelling for little Jimmy to "get down!"
Sighing I very slowly closed my magazine, placed it back into the bag, slipped my notepad and pen into my purse and stalked off to my car. Peace and quiet were finally achieved when I arrived back at my own home, sitting on my own back porch, sipping the rest of my Moe's tea and leisurely reading through my magazine. "There's no place like home...There's no place like home."
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
GROWING IDEAS
The "reading" I went to last nite was so wonderful! We have such talent here in the Raleigh area and I enjoyed listening to everyone. I even go up enough nerve to get up and read one of my short pieces. It was nice to hear some fiction pieces, as I was afraid it would be all poetry. Some poetry I enjoy...like the comedic prose of one of the last readers, but for the most part...I just don't really get it. Way too abstract for my tiny brain.
I know most of you must be on Facebook. I was looking through the messages left on FB last nite after coming from the reading and a friend of mine mentioned that she was "vacuuming up tiny brown things from her porch that seemed to have come from her ferns and she wondered if they were spores." Well after being at this gathering with creativity and imagination running rampant...I couldn't help but start to picture those spores sitting in the vacuum bag, growing, mutating and morphing into some kind of weird fern alien being, then suddenly busting out of the vacuum and slithering through the house, choking the inhabitants before moving onto the rest of the neighborhood. Ahhhh the joys of being a writer and having that over active visualization. Hope I didn't scare the bejesus out of her..........hee hee I'll be saving this idea in my little idea file.
I know most of you must be on Facebook. I was looking through the messages left on FB last nite after coming from the reading and a friend of mine mentioned that she was "vacuuming up tiny brown things from her porch that seemed to have come from her ferns and she wondered if they were spores." Well after being at this gathering with creativity and imagination running rampant...I couldn't help but start to picture those spores sitting in the vacuum bag, growing, mutating and morphing into some kind of weird fern alien being, then suddenly busting out of the vacuum and slithering through the house, choking the inhabitants before moving onto the rest of the neighborhood. Ahhhh the joys of being a writer and having that over active visualization. Hope I didn't scare the bejesus out of her..........hee hee I'll be saving this idea in my little idea file.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
STATUS UPDATE
It's nice to know that people are reading my rants and random thoughts. Thank you to all of you who wished me well during my stressful, stress test time. Many have asked for an update. Unfortunately (don't gasp...it's nothing bad) two of the people who administer the test went home sick right after lunch, so I had a choice...either wait approximately 3 hours to be tested...or reschedule. I rescheduled! So now I go back on the 9th. At least all the preliminary work has been done...EKG, initial blood pressure (which was high, DUH...I was nervous) I'll keep ya all updated.
On to more important things. I'm going to an Open Mic event this evening at the Royal Bean Coffeehouse on Hillsborough St. I won't be reading...I'm just going to observe and listen...at least this time. I think it will be interesting to see what kinds of things other writers are producing. I'm hoping for some fiction pieces and not just poetry. At any rate, I'll pick the brains of any authors who strike a cord with me, so be forewarned fellow writers...I'll be the one in the back, wearing the buzzard costume and grinning at you.
On to more important things. I'm going to an Open Mic event this evening at the Royal Bean Coffeehouse on Hillsborough St. I won't be reading...I'm just going to observe and listen...at least this time. I think it will be interesting to see what kinds of things other writers are producing. I'm hoping for some fiction pieces and not just poetry. At any rate, I'll pick the brains of any authors who strike a cord with me, so be forewarned fellow writers...I'll be the one in the back, wearing the buzzard costume and grinning at you.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
DISTRACTIONS
It's time to get back on track again. I've let a lot of things distract me these past couple of weeks and thus have put all my writing on a back burner. Time to move that pot up front and start things at a full boil again!
I get distracted so easily. I'm not sure that's a good characteristic to have as a writer. Most books I read on the subject stress "being focused". How do you do that though, when you live in the real world. Now if someday I can afford an isolated cabin in the woods where I will hole up for weeks at a time...not bathing, not brushing my teeth, barely taking time to even run a brush through my matted hair...staying "focused", tied to my laptop...eating bologna and cheese sandwiches just cause they are so quick and easy to make and consuming pots and pots of coffee, never seeing the light of day or the darkness of night because time will cease to exist for me and one day will segway into another...........see I'm distracted already. I'm not thinking about my current projects but my brain is jumping into fast forward and creating a whole new world there in the isolated woods...with a cabin so rustic that only an outhouse is available and a pump in the kitchen sink provides water from the well. CRAP...there I go again........
Okay, so enough of this...I am sitting in my very real house, on my very real cul-de-sac and getting ready to pull out my very real short story to work on today. The woods and all it's glory will have to wait for another day.
I get distracted so easily. I'm not sure that's a good characteristic to have as a writer. Most books I read on the subject stress "being focused". How do you do that though, when you live in the real world. Now if someday I can afford an isolated cabin in the woods where I will hole up for weeks at a time...not bathing, not brushing my teeth, barely taking time to even run a brush through my matted hair...staying "focused", tied to my laptop...eating bologna and cheese sandwiches just cause they are so quick and easy to make and consuming pots and pots of coffee, never seeing the light of day or the darkness of night because time will cease to exist for me and one day will segway into another...........see I'm distracted already. I'm not thinking about my current projects but my brain is jumping into fast forward and creating a whole new world there in the isolated woods...with a cabin so rustic that only an outhouse is available and a pump in the kitchen sink provides water from the well. CRAP...there I go again........
Okay, so enough of this...I am sitting in my very real house, on my very real cul-de-sac and getting ready to pull out my very real short story to work on today. The woods and all it's glory will have to wait for another day.
Monday, August 31, 2009
TO-DO
Had to make a "to-do" list last night. Tomorrow I am taking a stress test. I don't mean the kind of test where life situations are thrown at you left and right till your a sobbing mass lying on the floor panting...I have that test every week. This will be a "hook the girl up to a heart monitor and see if we can make her pass out" test. I have to admit...I'm nervous and a bit scared. Well meaning friends tell me "oh don't worry...it's a piece of cake"...well I'm a "pie" girl myself and I'm always anxious about the unknown. Has anyone ever experienced a heart attack while taking one of these tests? I'm having the test done cause my doctor doesn't like the fact that I get sharp pains when I exert myself...so he's going to have me run on a treadmill and see if he can make that happen? Hmmmm...do I sense a bit of the sadistic in my MD?
My to-do list is so I won't sit around thinking about this dang test tomorrow. I'll stay busy. I love lists! I love being organized. I love checking off each item as I complete it. Okay...FINE...I'm anal. But I'd be that mass lying on the floor panting today if it wasn't for my beloved to-do list.
I think keeping a to-do list is great while you're writing too. I like making quick notes of scenes or conversations I want to change in my manuscripts...page and paragraph included. Then, check, check...Roger that...as I take care of each concern. Lists of agents I want to contact..check, check, as I query them.
Maybe it's because I like having things so orderly that I'm stressing over my stress test. Maybe if I make a list...get up, get dressed, stay busy, busy, busy, while waiting to leave for appointment, drive to doctor's office, hand in paperwork, read year old magazines in waiting room till name is called...not sure what happens next........that's the scary part. Say a little prayer for me readers. See ya tomorrow...I hope.
My to-do list is so I won't sit around thinking about this dang test tomorrow. I'll stay busy. I love lists! I love being organized. I love checking off each item as I complete it. Okay...FINE...I'm anal. But I'd be that mass lying on the floor panting today if it wasn't for my beloved to-do list.
I think keeping a to-do list is great while you're writing too. I like making quick notes of scenes or conversations I want to change in my manuscripts...page and paragraph included. Then, check, check...Roger that...as I take care of each concern. Lists of agents I want to contact..check, check, as I query them.
Maybe it's because I like having things so orderly that I'm stressing over my stress test. Maybe if I make a list...get up, get dressed, stay busy, busy, busy, while waiting to leave for appointment, drive to doctor's office, hand in paperwork, read year old magazines in waiting room till name is called...not sure what happens next........that's the scary part. Say a little prayer for me readers. See ya tomorrow...I hope.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
HOME MOVIES
I'm actually blogging on Sunday because yesterday my husband and I were visiting friends, so I didn't get to thrill you with an entry. It's probably good that I couldn't blog yesterday cause I learned a lesson last night that can only be shared today.
Several months ago I was listening to a talk radio show and a therapist was discussing the unreasonable expectations that we set up for ourselves throughout our lifetimes. She talked about how we "make our own home movies" in our heads constantly and then when the actual events have a different ending than those we imagined...we end up feeling sadness, regret and disappointment. As a writer I think I am more guilty of doing this than maybe the average person might be. I write these beautiful, sometimes romantic, definitely exciting scenarios for my life in my head and then when the characters in my real life don't follow the script...I end up frustrated and at times even angry. Logically...this is just plain ole stupid!! No one knows your home movie, except you...so you can't expect people to play their roles if they don't even know their lines. Remember I said "logically"...I am one of the most illogical people in the world.
We had a wonderful time visiting with our neighbors at a house they own at Lake Gaston. They were gracious hosts and this part of my home movie far exceeded all my expectations. It was when we left that my mental video world started to unravel. I forgot to give my hubby his script. Scenes didn't develop, lines weren't spoken, actions weren't realized. This morning I will try to rectify the damage I did last night, in being a poor "director" and try to be more open to "improv"...lights, camera, action.
Several months ago I was listening to a talk radio show and a therapist was discussing the unreasonable expectations that we set up for ourselves throughout our lifetimes. She talked about how we "make our own home movies" in our heads constantly and then when the actual events have a different ending than those we imagined...we end up feeling sadness, regret and disappointment. As a writer I think I am more guilty of doing this than maybe the average person might be. I write these beautiful, sometimes romantic, definitely exciting scenarios for my life in my head and then when the characters in my real life don't follow the script...I end up frustrated and at times even angry. Logically...this is just plain ole stupid!! No one knows your home movie, except you...so you can't expect people to play their roles if they don't even know their lines. Remember I said "logically"...I am one of the most illogical people in the world.
We had a wonderful time visiting with our neighbors at a house they own at Lake Gaston. They were gracious hosts and this part of my home movie far exceeded all my expectations. It was when we left that my mental video world started to unravel. I forgot to give my hubby his script. Scenes didn't develop, lines weren't spoken, actions weren't realized. This morning I will try to rectify the damage I did last night, in being a poor "director" and try to be more open to "improv"...lights, camera, action.
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