On The Road Monday

Okay, today I am on the road coming home from my visit to my Dad. We had a great time and I enjoyed my visit with my family immensely. We weren’t able to get up there the whole year. We’d tried at Christmas but the snow storms heading in made us rethink our decision.

Now a friend and I had managed to breeze through in June when we took some things up to her son in Montana. That was a trip as we did 2300 miles in three days. Yeah, we basically started at around noon on a Friday and was home by Monday late evening. We had a great time but the whole thing was very, very rushed.

I was wonderfully surprised by the weather this time in Idaho. We had a wonderful cool streak which is apparently rare for Idaho Falls and August. My husband and I got to do morning walks though he added a run to his exercise as well. The only bad thing about the trip has been the fact we had to leave our puppy home. But he needs more socialization as well as training before we make the family deal with him on anywhere but his own home turf.

Today, I had originally planned to have a wonderful steampunk excerpt for you from a great new author. Unfortunately, it’s at home on my other computer. When I went to look for it, I was severely bummed as I had really wanted to post it. Have you ever had that moment right before you realize you’ve forgotten something very important? I got that this morning as I ran through all the spots I might have saved it on my travel machine. Ugh, it wasn’t there and I just had to come up with something new and fresh.

Now, I have a lot of fresh ideas but most of them have to do with my writing. Again, I have been pleasantly surprised as my idea file filled up even more and stories I’d been plotting on for months, who had run into dead ends, have gotten some new life after this trip. Yeah, team Lynn! One of the hardest things a writer can do is to not come up with new and fresh ideas. This can be frustrating and downright disheartening for those who need the ideas to flow so they can be creative.

I will never have the idea problem as I’ve said before. Maybe I should auction some of those ideas off as I have way too many to ever write. And that would include me being able to do a short every couple of days to finish all those ideas. I usually go sifting through those ideas once a month or so to see if something is calling me as I do finish a story once a month. It’s the editing and fixing and cleaning up that’s the problem.

I write fast and I write ugly but when I edit I am through. I try to get everything my critique partners tell me is wrong fixed then I run it through my own special brand of cleaning. This involves a whole set of rules and highlights and other things I run the finished product through. I can take almost a week, sometimes more to get the work into shape for me to turn into my publisher. Then there is their rounds of edits. It’s a thorough process which produces some good work.

Again, I’ve put in pictures throughout this blog of Idaho and the places I’ve been on this and precious trips. What are some of your best memories of vacations? Long or short…a vacation should be a restful experience…LOL! Have you ever had those trips where you need a vacation from the vacation? Let me know some of those and the one who gives me the best story will get an extra five entries into this month’s drawing!

See you all tomorrow with that steampunk excerpt. Have a great Monday!


Lynn

The Perpetual Pendulum

Have you ever noticed just how fast time seems to fly when you’re busy? Or how it drags when you’re doing something you hate?

Yesterday morning I woke up with all sorts of plans on what I had to do as I had a talk at Talking Two Lips site. I started with Twitter, then moved on to email. I had a fun filled two hours with the few who showed up at Talking Two Lips. Then I decided I had to work on those pesky essays of my son so he could get into the local university. Thank goodness I was only doing the editing portion but I think they are crazy to think and 18 year old kid can write anything in a hundred words or less. Who are they kidding? LOL!

Somewhere in there, I had breakfast, lunch and dinner...then..bang. It’s already eleven o’clock at night and I realized I didn’t even get my bare minimum in for writing. Friday either. Well, Friday I had an excuse as we looked at houses. Since we live in the area where the repossessions have hit the highest numbers ever, we thought maybe it was time to look at getting a larger one with a pool. This is to accommodate my family as I have an aging father as well as two grandsons I would love stay over sometimes.

But what was today’s excuse? I could have said it was the curse words that greeted me as I pulled myself out of sleep this morning. My youngest had sprained his ankle bad and that caused me to get up then call our doctor immediately. The moment his foot hit the ground when getting out of his Dad’s car, I knew something was up. It also got me to listening half to him and not enough to my own inner voice to get a few things done.

But things move quickly in this house, sometimes too quickly. As I’ve grown older, all I want to happen is for time to slow down. I want time to smell the roses, take the trip of a lifetime, and write a book in a week! And it seems to be speeding up the older I get which to me seems very, very odd.

I mean, I schedule my time to the minute some days. Others I couldn’t even tell you what day it is or what time of day. I can tell you I’ve had my head in one of my worlds and I have no contact with my real one. So I know that on days I’m writing, I lose track of it all and sometimes have to ask more than once if I have the right day or time.

My father once told me that when he reached 65 that things just started to blur together. He remembers the things from when he was younger better than what had happened a week ago. Birthdays were just another day and holidays, well, those just didn’t seem to matter much anymore. He’s 76 this year and told me if I wanted time to slow down, I needed to enjoy it more.

And here I thought I was having the time of my life! LOL! Yes, I am enjoying my writing career and the other things in my life like my children, grandchildren and husband. I’m not necessarily enjoying getting older but nothing I can do to stop that one unless I build a time machine. Mmm…maybe a future project…LOL!

Now, I’m going to write something here that I have found to be true and I’m wondering if anybody else has noticed the same. When I was young, I just couldn’t wait for time to pass. I wanted to get older, I wanted to be able to make my own decisions and I wanted to know what those older people seemed to know. Time just moved so slowly and it seemed as if I would never get there.

Today, it’s all fast and I don’t want to miss a thing.

How each of you feel about time and how it affects your life? Just let me know and you’ll get an extra entry put into the hat!

Till next week…

Lynn

The Reveal

As you all know, last week I was nominated for the Creative Writer Blogger Award. I’ve had a wonderful week answering comments regarding my truths and my lie. Here’s my answers!

1) I live with a wonderful Scotsman who is the inspiration for many of my heroes.

This one is absolutely true. My husband is a MacLeod and we’re a Scottish family through and through. When we went to Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, the ancestral home of the MacLeods, my dear husband was cheeky enough to ask for the family discount. The answer surprised him even more as the kid working the entry booth was also a MacLeod. We’re going back to Scotland this summer if I have my way. LOL!

2) I have over five thousand, that’s right 5000 books, hardcover to paper to school volumes, in my house in two rooms and nine books cases.

This is absolutely true. Matter of fact the only real reason I know that I fit 397 books in one huge shelf is that we recently went through them to prune them down. I have two floor to ceiling shelves in my office, we have four more in a storage closet and a whole wall in our utility room. Each and every one of them have books. Like I said, there are some which are books from college, some which are the science fiction/fantasy collection and the rest are various romance books I’ve kept over the years. In my office, I have one shelf for my writing books.

3) My all time favorite movie is Alien.

Again, another truth. I know this might surprise many people but there is just something about Alien that gets me every time I hear the phrase ‘lucky, lucky, lucky’ and I can’t explain it. Also know that if I were to pick my top five all time favorite movies, they would be Alien, While You Were Sleeping, Somewhere in Time, PS I Love You and The Terminator. See, you can find a love story just about anywhere...LOL!

4) I just became a grandmother to twin boys.

Another truth. My oldest son, who was born when I was eighteen, just had a set of twin boys in March of this year. And boy are they cute! I’ve included the happy family’s picture so you can see I didn’t lie. They are truly a wonderful addition to my life and a joy as I can give them back whenever I need to do so...LOL! There is nothing like holding a baby who is just out of their bath, all warm and cuddly and smelling so good!

5) I love chocolate.

Lie and so not true. While I know this might surprise some of you, I really don’t like chocolate. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t eat it...I just don’t like the flavor...unlike my DH and sons who love it. Sure, there are times when the hormonal monster comes out when I crave the darn stuff, but there’s a reason for that I’m told. When I used to do the long hikes required to get my geology degree, we used to take a two pound bag of M&Ms for the sugar rush, two gallons of water and maybe a beer. Yeah, we were young and dumb but more than likely the beer came back and we’d have devoured the M&Ms and the water. They do give that sugar buzz needed to hike the hot desert mountains. My DH still wonders how we ended up together since he loves chocolate and always brings home some from Europe. LOL!

6) I have an elf series which will conclude with this year’s Christmas book.

Yup, the Santa’s Elves series is slated to be complete this year. I have a book for August if I decide to write something about the dark elf and I might not. The last child with have their story told this holiday season. Not much left to say after Maddox has his say. I do promise to wrap up the story in such a way, you all know where everyone is and what has happened with them since their story.

Now the part you all have been waiting for...the winner of the contest...now, let me explain how this works. I put everyone’s name in an excel spreadsheet and have either the DH or the youngest son pick a number 1 to whatever the total number is. It makes if totally fair as neither one of those have a vested interest in the outcome other than to make me happy...:-). So the winner for this contest, the $10 gift certificate and an ebook from me, is...drumroll please... Carol L. (Lucky4750@aol.com). Carol please contact me at lynncrain@cox.net so we can work out the details!

Thanks for entering everyone! I’ll have another contest this week for another great prize.


Lynn

Creative Writer Award

My wonder friend, Dawn Roberto, decided to give this blog, the Creative Writer Blogger Award for this blog. I’m always flattered and humbled by any award, this one is gonna make me do some work here. LOL! I even get to put this cool little graphic on my blog, so all is good.

The instructions which came with this award are quite simple. I either give you 5 truths and one 1 lie about myself, or I give 5 lies and 1 truth. Which will it be, which will it be? I’ll do the 5 truths and one lie. Your job will be to figure out the lie in the six statements. I’ll even give the winner a $10 gift certificate to ARe so you can choose the books of your choice and I’ll throw in one of my own on top of that!

Entering is simple, you must become a follower of my blog and leave a comment to tell me which one statement is a lie about myself. This contest ends one week from today, June 4, at midnight and I will announce the winner the morning of June 5. This is open to all readers.

Here are my truths and a lie. Good luck in figuring it out.


1) I live with a wonderful Scotsman who is the inspiration for many of my heroes.


2) I have over five thousand, that’s right 5000, books, hardcover to paper to school volumes, in my house in two rooms and nine books cases.


3) My all time favorite movie is Alien.


4) I just became a grandmother to twin boys.


5) I love chocolate.


6) I have an elf series which will conclude with this year’s Christmas book.


Now I get to bestow this great honor on some other well deserving bloggers. They are:


1) http://courtneybreazile.com/blog/


2) http://www.cynicalwoman.com/


3) http://sandysullivanauthor.blogspot.com/


4) http://www.sunlightsucks.com/


5) http://kate-hill.com/blog/


6) http://www.dawnmontgomery.com/blog/


7) http://www.lucyndastorey.com/blog/


Now I look forward to hearing your guesses into my truths and lie. Thanks, Dawn, for this wonderful award. :)


Lynn