Overboard on Writing

Thanks to everyone who commented yesterday on my blog. I really do appreciate it and glad you all stopped by. It’s good to know I’m on the right track with what I’m putting up here. You never know if something is going to touch a nerve of some sort with a person. Just knowing that I seem to be having a good balance is great to here.

These past three days I’ve been on a whirlwind writing tour. If you follow me on Twitter, you will see that I have written 9935 words in three days and I’m not even done for the night. I have about another 4K to go before I call it quits. That will be almost a 5K average a day. What’s interesting about this number is that on most days, I’ve started late in the day.

The house gets quiet and suddenly, my mind is alight with ideas and words and they all want to come out at once. I can’t type enough to keep them flowing. And I’m a slow typist...LOL...as I only do about 35 words a minute. But when the creative juices flow and I am dead on with a story, I go fast.

If I were having a race, I would say that the best I’ve ever done in an hour was about a thousand words. Yeah, you read the number correctly. While that may seem like a huge number, all it means to me is that I was in the groove and my mind was flowing exactly with the story. It doesn’t happen very often but when it does, I go with the flow until I drop.

You never know when you’ll get on another writing streak and you have to take them as they come. Creative creatures are fickle and I’ll be the first to admit it. When I saw this quote, I knew I had found something worth repeating.

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

When I get on a writing jag my family and many of my friends tell me I act as if I have schizophrenia. I frequently have insomnia. I hear the voices of my characters and they won’t shut up until I’ve written at least one chapter a day. Then there’s the fact I will get forgetful due to the lack of sleep and even talk funny as part of the whole system. Probably the worst part is that it all seems normal to me.

Part of my problem is the middle of the night is the only time where the house is one-hundred percent quite. In most rooms I can hear a pin drop. There’s no sound of the DH and the teenager having an argument or a discussion. They like to call them negotiations which, drive me nuts. LOL! The animals are asleep and all TVs are either off or at a bare minimum as far as sound goes. The only part I don’t like is that my office shade becomes translucent at night and I appear as a floating head to those outside.

Yup, it’s fun to see people stop and stare because all they can see is the light from the monitor reflecting off my face. I explain my concern to the DH and didn’t believe him when he told me that at all. He had to take a picture to show me and I must admit it is weird. Probably weirder for those who shouldn’t be out wandering late at night. LOL!

As much as I love chatting with you all, I really must get back to those pesky characters. They screamed at me all through dinner and are doing it again because I’m putting together this blog. They’re probably up to something I don’t want them to do...hey, wait...I tell them what to do.

See you all tomorrow! Have a great day!

Lynn

Writers and Their Lives

You all have probably been wondering why I’ve been talking so much about my family and my home life this week. The answer is simple. I want you to know me, how I write and just what my influences are in my writing world. As you can tell so far, some days are great while others are less than stellar.

The reasons are many and I could go on all day about the importance of why. But for those curious few, I know I need to connect with my readers, be they other authors or fans. Being a writer is just so exotic to some people and it’s taken me a while to figure out why. They think the lifestyle is always rosy with wonderful things happening all the time. Those same people also think if they were rich or maybe a movie star, things would be different.

They have one part correct...life would be different...but certainly not like they thought. LOL!

My point is that I am just like every other person. I have wants and needs and desires. I have hopes and dreams, which need to be met or fulfilled. I take showers and put my pants on the same way as everyone else. I am extremely approachable and if something is going on where I don’t want to be around people, I will remove myself from the situation.

I have foibles and get things wrong. Most of the time I am lucky and get it right. When I do get it wrong, I’ll admit it and try to fix it. Sometimes, things can’t be fixed and I’m grown-up enough to know and understand this fact. Yes, there are those in this world who don’t like me and while I don’t understand this, I can accept it.

I am not a mysterious person but if there is something, I don’t want you to know, I won’t tell you. There are some aspects of my life meant to be private and I’ll be the first to let you know if you overstep. Scary fans creep most people out and I have my share of scary fan stories to share should the subject ever come up.

Why am I doing all this? True, I want you to purchase and read my books but I’m also a human being to needs to connect with people. I love connecting with my readers and fans and fellow authors. So now, I’m asking for a little help from you.

Let me know if it’s too much or too little. Let me know if you want more about writing and less about me or suggest a better balance. Most days, I just write about the first thing that pops into my head unless I’m going on vacation and need to plan it out a little better. Most of those days, I will have a blog column related to a certain aspect of writing as I always have those articles ready for inclusion. I will more than likely be including more in the realm of science articles since I’ve been trending toward more science fiction romance here in the future.

I’m anxiously waiting to hear from you all just, what you expect to see in this blog from me.

See you all tomorrow!


Lynn

The World’s Cutest Kitty

We had the world’s cutest kitty for twenty-one glorious years. Like in Garfield, his name was Nermal and from the moment, we saw him at the vet, he and his brother, whom we named Doom, had our hearts.

That cat had gone through thick and thin with us and when he passed, I was lost. My DH didn’t want to get just any other cat, he wanted another Nermal.

It was a sad thing but we had gotten all our animals about the same time and when Tippy the dog died, we knew it was a matter of time. Our other dog, Bomber, was nearly inconsolable when the old gal died and if it hadn’t been for Patches the cat, who loved him, it would have been nights full of howling.

The youngest cat, Sam, was my youngest son’s and adopted when my DH was overseas as the cat bonded to him immediately. She loved him and would sleep with under the covers in the kid’s bed. She was a joy as well but played with the eighty-pound dog daily and we had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Sure enough, not long after Tippy died, Sam was pounced on and we had another inconsolable dog next door as she couldn’t understand why her friend wouldn’t get back up and play. We got a new cat the same day, black as midnight, once again Sam and loving the kid just as much.

Next went Nermal. He talked to me that morning as if saying his goodbyes and followed me around. I knew he was going to go but had to go to work. My youngest found him and we all gathered to say goodbye. He and Tippy are buried together in a place where the sun always shines. This cat wouldn’t be easily replaced and I knew that.

Just three weeks later, Patches died in my DH’s arms and I thought he was going to go with her. He insisted we go and look for another cat right away. Lo and behold, we went to the same place we got Sam 2 and found another delicate calico who looked almost the same. My DH fell in love immediately and we took her home. She fell for Bomber right away and he always tolerated her cleaning and trying to take care of him.

A month went by, then another and another with no orange tabby in sight. When we weren’t looking, we found tons of little orange kitties but not this time. It took us almost three months of constantly looking then one day during a Petco event, there he was except he wasn’t a tabby with the tiger stripes. He was what they called a mackerel and looked like he had a cinnamon bun stuck on his side.

I called my husband and told him we’d found the one. We told the rescue people we would be back for him the next day and even went as far as getting the paperwork done. We just had to exchange the fee the next day. I was that sure.

We showed up at the time they told us to come back and went to the cage. No kitten. I asked what had happened to our cat. They told us someone had come in after us, paid the fee and took him. They would have more orange kittens later in the month. I could come back then. I let them know they had done me and my family a disservice as that cat was meant to be with us. They just shook their heads and apologized.

I went home with my family in tow very disheartened and angry at how callously these people acted. It took me a couple of weeks before I could go to another Petco event because during this whole time there were no orange kittens to be had anywhere. My son convinced me to go and I slowly walked into the store. The same group was there with their cages of cats and kittens.

Moreover, right in the center of all this was our cat. Our orange mackerel sitting as pretty as can be meowing. He was timid whenever someone came to the cage. When we approached, he just sat there and looked at us. I was right...this cat was meant to be ours...and nothing was going to keep me from taking him home this time.

I went to the people there and they remembered me. I asked why he was back and was told he wasn’t good with people or other animals. Frankly, they weren’t sure what they were going to do with him as he had been returned twice already. This last set of people had to be very sure they wanted him. I was sure. I whipped out my cash and laid it on the table. They already had my paperwork and pulled it out. Realizing I had been the one they treated badly before, they tried to give me the run around.

I just smiled at them and told them the cat was meant to be ours. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be here. The owner of the non-profit facility told me she would need to call me every week to make sure he was a good fit. She didn’t want this cat euthanized any more than I did. I told it was fine to call me but assured her I would have no such problems. To me, animals are like children, you are in it for the long haul, and I expressed this sentiment to her.

We put him in his box and took him home. He was frightened and immediately hid from everything when we let him go. The others were curious but wouldn’t go near him. For almost ten days, I didn’t see this guy except at feedings and my DH wondered if I was right. I told him to leave the cat alone and he’d see. Within a month, he was talking to us and wrapping himself around our legs to ask to be feed much to the surprise of the rescue group we got him from.

He wasn’t a social cat except with us. We had always wondered if he would grow into his paws and he has. He is huge and maybe we should have named him Garfield as he weighs in at a hefty twenty pounds. And he’s one big kitty that puts Jasper the dog on notice. He completes our family in a way that no other cat has. We named him Cinnamon because of the huge bun swirled on his side.

In my eyes, he is the world’s cutest kitty. I hope you can see why I say this. Here’s a picture of him inside an empty drinking water case. We had taken all the bottles, leaving the plastic shell with the cardboard bottom. We notice he was trying to get in it and stood in the kitchen to see what this big guy had to do to fit inside this small place. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

What’s your favorite cat story? Let me know...I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

See you tomorrow.

Lynn

A Squirrel Moment

Well, Monday June 21st was the first in many that I only wrote about a third of what I normally write. Actually, it was less than that I must admit. Yesterday for the first time in I don’t know when, I only wrote 968 words. I didn’t even make my 1000 word commitment which is incredibly rare for me.

So...what happened?

Well, yesterday started like any other...except it was my birthday...I had tons of well wishes through email and phone calls from family, friends and fans. Enough so it made my normal routine suddenly all out of whack. At that point, I opened up Word so I could write my blog as well as my documents so I could write my stories.

Then I did the number one no-no in my book. I decided to see what all the other loops had sent me for the last few days. Normally, I reserve this period for a few hours on Wednesday as I consider that day my promotion day. Oiy vey! And I’m not even Jewish...LOL...I know better than opening up one email on any other day than my promotion day. It was a very squirrel moment.

For those of you who don’t know what I mean about a squirrel moment, go watch the movie UP and you’ll understand immediately. My attention was drawn away from what I was supposed to be doing to something new and shiny. Did I learn anything at all?

Well...let’s see...I learned a few more facts about Summer Solstice. I read at least fifteen blogs. Looked up an agent I was interested in to see what was new with them. I looked at all the Publishers Lunches that I had missed as well as reading Dan Poynter’s and John Kremer’s newsletters to see what I could do more in the way of promotion.

Then I went to Word and started on the blog piece I was getting ready to post. I finally had all my facts in line and needed to get them down on a page. By doing this, I made sure I was at least partially ready for the day. I then went back to the internet and yahoogroups to see what else everyone was doing.

I read tons of new promotion and excerpts, adding to my already huge TBR pile. I looked at fellow author’s covers, voted in many, many polls and did some perusing of different blogs where I get even more news and information. Now this is productive in one way and very destructive in another.

Being a writer means you have to pay attention to writing. On most days. I don’t think I have to say any more. Writing is a job and it needs attention. Constant attention for those stories to grow and be nurture. Languishing with my email or on the internet is not the way it’s going to happen. We both know it.

I’m happy to say that Tuesday was different...much different...LOL! I slept in because I had actually stayed up to watch movies and do some general relaxing with my family, especially my eighteen year old. We had a great time. When I got up, I went and turned on the computer first thing then ate breakfast. The moment I was finished, I sat down in this chair and started.

Between the blogs and the writing on Tuesday, I’m pleased to say I had an almost 5000 word day. This is my normal and if I write this much daily I can crank them out. This is the summer I plan to do it!

So what is your squirrel moment? Do you have them often or are you better than staying on track than I am? Drop me a line and let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.

See you tomorrow!

Lynn

Let My Tribble Go!

I want to thank everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes I received yesterday. I had a wonderful time with my grandchildren who recognize me now. Dinner was with the family and no cake. We’ll have cake on Friday when we all go out to a steakhouse. Having one’s birthday on a work day has its perks and downside. Still, I’m looking forward to having a great night on Friday.

On to today’s subject...and that subject...is tribbles! Or rather my particular two tribbles. For those of you who are Star Trek fans, tribbles are a big part of the series. They first appeared in 1967 in the episode called The Trouble With Tribbles. They also appeared in Deep Space 9 as well as The Next Generation. They are known as the mortal enemies of the Klingons while Vulcans are the only species known to be immune to their effects.

I know their effect on me. I have a large tribble and a small one. I love them and they are part of a very small stuff animal collection which I have. I got mine the year I turned forty when they had a Star Trek experience here in the Las Vegas birthday. For that birthday, I went and sat in Quark’s Bar and had the biggest drink I had ever had in my life. It was served in a fishbowl and wisps of vapor emerged from the dry ice it had in it. It was a birthday to remember in so many, many ways.

Fast forward to the Saturday June 19, two days before my birthday and one before Father’s Day, I hear the phrase from my husband: Let that tribble go! What? Did the man just say tribble? Now over the years, we have had one cat who carried the samll one around as her baby. It was a tussle to get the poor creature away from Samantha because in her mind, it was her baby. In the early days, she would sleep with the darn thing and if I noticed it were gone, all I had to do was find Sam and I’d find my tribble.

But this time, there was a catch. All the cats were asleep in bedrooms with the door shut. That just left one culprit. Jasper, the dog. This creature loves to play chase and come and get me with whatever. I blanched a little when I realized it was he who had the tribble.

Let me tell you a little about Jasper. Last September, we lost our beloved dog Bomber. He was a one of a kind animal who was kissed by the fairies with one blue and one brown eye and I felt the loss deeply. My DH more so as the dog was his jogging buddy. I left little time between when Bomber died and we went to look for another dog. See, I couldn't live in a house without one. I know they are special and bring more into a home. So off to the pound we go to see what's there. There were two we liked and had them brought to us in the enclosure. This little yellow lab was the most mellow dog we had ever seen. He also jogged with my DH on a short trial run. We decided this was the animal for us and did all the paperwork.

When we picked him up the next day, he was dazed from his neutering and we had to have a cone around his head for almost a week. Well, over the course of a few months we came to love this dog despite all his problems. Now, this creature was the product of an abusive home and we didn't know just how much until we got him home. He has a frill of hair that rises when he barks at those who scare him. He had also been shot and I was the unlucky one to find this out by accidentally stepping on his leg and disloging from  his bone the large bb. Still, he has come a long way and we have a long way to go but he provides us with entertainment and companionship with unwavering loyalty. To be honest, I've never had a dog who was my dog. It's an amazing journey.

My office door was open and I hollered out to the DH asking if the dog had my tribble. When the answer was a resounding yes, I uttered the line: Let My Tribble Go! I promptly had the dog by my side with a mouthful of tribble, grinning around the creature. He obviously thought it funny. In a stern voice, I commanded he bring it to me. The dog looked back at his human father then to me, deciding I must be the push over of the two, he came to sit at my feet.

I gave the command for him to drop it and when he wouldn’t my voice became more stern. He gently laid it in my lap and I knew then, he was under the spell of the tribble. I explained to him their importance and he watched me in rapt attention. I also told him he was never to manhandle the tribble like that again.

The DH gave me a wry look and asked, “You think he got all that?”

“He better,” I replied.

“And why is that?” The man stood there positively confused. Didn't he know the importance of a tribble?

“Because if he lives in this house, he’s a Star Trek fan and knows the importance of a tribble.”

The DH gave a snort of laughter, held out his hand and vowed he would put the creature in a place where it couldn’t influence the dog. Fat chance. That dog can find just about anything he wants, buried or not. LOL!

And if he gets the tribble again, he can expect to hear the immortal line Let My Tribble Go yet again.

What’s your favorite pet story? I’d love to hear it! See you all tomorrow!

Lynn

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, it’s my birthday and I’m one day older. When I was a kid growing up, all I could think about was that my birthday was on the longest day of the year. I had extra hours of daylight to do my thing. In Ohio, my thing was running with my friends until my parents called me into the house. In Nevada, in high school, it was swimming or a host of other things to celebrate the day.

As I’ve gotten older, the day has been spent with a quite dinner, a trip here or there or like this year, a day of writing. Tonight I have my critique group and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. It’s one of those simple pleasures in life.

I can hear you all now...what? a critique group a simple pleasure...LOL! It is for me. I love being with fellow writers and I love learning new things about my writing. Critiques can be painful but productive. And everyone needs to make themselves and their writing better.

So what makes today so special? Besides being my birthday. LOL!

Today is Summer Solstice...the longest day of the year...and it has a lot of historical value. Here are just a few of the facts about this very special day:

A solstice is an astronomical event and happens twice a year, once in winter (December 21) and once in summer (June 21). It happens when the tilt of the earth is most inclined toward or away from the sun. Both solstices as well as the equinoxes are connected to the seasons.

Pagans called the Midsummer moon a ‘honey moon’ for the mead made from the fermented honey that was part of the many wedding ceremonies performed at the Summer Soltice.

Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with different celebrations. One was a bonfire where couples would leap through the flames, believing their crops would grow as high as the couple could jump. (I guess Michael Jordon would have had stellar crops...LOL!)

Midsummer was considered to be a time of magic when all sorts of evil spirits would arise to the occasion. To ward off these spirits, the ancient Pagans wore protective garlands of herbs and flowers. One of them was a plant in use today, St. John’s Wort, and it was considered the most powerful of fall.

The word solstice is derived from the Latin words sol + stice, which mean sun and to stand still. As the day lengthens, the sun seems to stand still in the sky at its highest point.

Along with Summer Solstice having the longest day, it also has the shortest night. Remember this only happens in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere has their longest day in December.

Wiccans call the Summer Solstice the sabbat of Litha.

Civilizations have been celebrating this day for millenia. The biggest gathering in current times is in held at Stonehenge and starts at sunrise for a day of celebration and learning.

The Celts and the Slavs celebrated this day with dancing and bonfires to help increase the sun’s energy. The Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light. The Druids had a celebration which they considered the wedding of Heaven and Earth and this resulted in today’s belief that June is a lucky wedding month.

Now tell me what you all know about Summer Solstice. Just being born on a great day doesn’t mean I know everything there is!

I look forward to hearing from you all!

Lynn

Happy Father’s Day

Today is the day we honor our fathers. True, we didn’t naturally come by this day but it is a great way to let our dads know we care and appreciate them. So let’s get the history of father’s day correct. I’ll start with Wikipedia. Here’s what they have to say.

Father’s Day got its start in 1909 in Spokane, Washington when Sonora Smart Dodd sat in church and heard about the newly recognized Mother’s Day. She wanted to honor men like her own father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who was left to raise a family of six children alone when his wife died at the birth of her sixth child. The next year with the help of Reverend Bluhm, pastor of her church, she took the idea to the YMCA in Spokane, suggesting June 5th. The pastors wanted time to prepare and June 19, 1910 was the first recognized Father’s Day with all the young members going to church wearing either a red rose to honor a living father or a white one to honor a deceased one. Dodd herself delivered presents by horse-drawn carriage to shut-in fathers throughout the city.

It took many years for Father’s Day to be made an official holiday in spite of the support it received from many organizations and churches. It was getting attention for all the wrong reasons and was the target of satire, parody and derision including publicized jokes via many newspapers. Many saw it as a way for the calendar to be filled with mindless promotions.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson went to Spokane to speak at a Father’s Day celebration and decided he wanted to make it official. Congress resisted, though it hadn’t for Mother’s Day, fearing it would become too commercialized. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recommended that the day be observed by the nation but stopped short of issuing a national proclamation. In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for over 40 years while honoring mothers thus discriminating against one parent. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers and designated the 3rd Sunday in June as the official Father’s Day. 1n 1972, President Richard Nixon signed that proclamation into law.

Until I saw this history, I hadn’t realized just how convoluted the process had been to get Father’s Day on the books. I personally would have to agree with the Maine senator about the discrimination against dads. There are many great fathers out there just as there are great mothers. There are also bad of both. True, dads don’t have to make the supreme effort of bringing a child into the world but sometimes, they end up being the only parent. It is during those times where they go above and beyond the call of duty trying to do the best they can by their children.

For me, I have a wonderful father. I didn’t know how wonderful until my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. My Dad was there every day at the hospital for most of his waking hours. He lovingly cared for my mother in a way that no one else could have. His love and devotion to his soul mate made me proud to have to have him as my father. I would not trade him for any other dad in the world. I've included a picture of him with my husband and youngest son the day he moved to Idaho Falls.

Tell me about your father when you get a chance...I would love to hear about him...I’m sure each is very special.

See you tomorrow!

Lynn