Sunday, June 23, 2013

I found myself...

I read a book. No, I ATE a book today. Instead of sitting at the computer forcing myself to write something that wasn't going to come easy, I decided to tackle my pile of books. Kresely Cole's book Shadow's Claim had been burning a whole in the ottoman I tossed it on since it arrived.

I cracked it open and pretty much didn't put it down. What can I say, it was a good story. I wonder if I'll ever get tired of the series? I hope not. But I'm not blogging right now to do a review. 

Though I probably should since I've read like a bunch of books.

What happened after I put the book down was something short of amazing. I sat at my computer and began writing! I was pretty happy until I looked at my ceiling and smiled. Next thing I know a half hour had passed and I'd typed nothing. 

Drugs are bad m'kay...
Who knew the ceiling could be so fascinating? I blame the meds. Which begs me to question: Do people space out like I just did or are my prescriptions messing with my focus? Most likely a little bit of both in my case.

Anyway I'm going to attempt to return to The new God and see how I make out. Let's hope that I keep my eye forward and not let them get fascinated my the cracked paint above me.


Saturday, June 22, 2013

Word Association: Lush, Phantasm, Pander, Keeper, Mouth

Like I promised, I'd post later about my word associations exercise to see if I could break my writer's block.  I don't think it worked, but then, I haven't looked at my novel since about noon today.

Some of these seem kind of poem-y. Poetry isn't something I would willingly delve into. Yet, if I frame some of this just right... You never know. Anyway, let me begin with the last one I worked on. 


Lush
The grass and leaves exploded with life and freshness. The air was crisp clean and smelled sweet. The wind carried bird song aling on gentle breezes that even God himself stopped to here. It was a glorious day and the lush dreamt the day away. Hung over from a night of merry making and carousing. She partied long into the dawn and missed all the beauty and wonderment beheld by the breaking of day. How the lush wasted.

I feel sort of like I wasted my day a bit here.  Next was Phantasm. This is the one that seems a little poetic. I am not knocking poetry, I just don't normally go there. What I'm finding as I write that some times my mind will take something and drag me to a place I rarely travel. I should enjoy the journey.

Phantasm
It seemed to be fading in and out of the shadows. The moon was full casting it’s silvery light over everythign it touched. But this gossomar creature flitted in and out of the light quick as lightning. Fading esscences danced behind it as it passed. A wiff of mint, a touch of lavender a hint of you. Is it really you? I have to ask. You’ve been goone for months now. No phone calls or letters. The only thing that remains is an old t-shirt, the scent long worn away. But you’re echo blesses me anew. A ghost that calls my name. Why me? Why now? 

Mouth came before that. If you haven't realized by now I'm going backwards, in order of which they were completed. Mouth seemed to lean toward horror and frankly having once been the character and not suffered this fate, I consider myself very lucky.

Mouth
Teeth! All he saw were teeth. Sharp pointy things. Row upon row of them. The more he looked the more he saw. The large gaping maw froze him in fear. He was petrified at the monstrosity. What kind of creature was this that rose from the deep to take him. Posideon had out done himself. The sailor sank into the water accepting his fate. He didn’t resist. He didn’t fight. As the huge mouth descended on him blocking out the sun he tried not to scream. Yet the pain and the force tearing him apart cause his to yell. No sound came. Water filled his shredded lungs and his own blood came rushing up. 

The monster bit down again before rushing away. It’s dinner captured for the night. 

The next Word Association is actually a memory. This is back when I was much younger and still  wanted to save the world one animal at a time. For a brief moment I thought I might be an aspiring sports star. 

Keeper
I wanted to be goalie so much it hurt. Ever ever since that one day in gym class when I caught the ball that Timmy kicked. It came so fast that I didn’t see where it was going. All of a sudden it was in my arms. I’d caught it, and not with my face this time. I was going to be a star one day. I’d make millions and be on the front of a Wheaties box.

A year later in soccer camp I was placed in the keeper position again. Ball after ball went past me. Reality sunk in. Not only was I a terrible Keeper, I couldn’t play soccer.


The first and my favorite so far has to be Pander. I didn't know what the word meant. Funny, I thought up the word and wrote it on a note card. I thought initially it meant to sell something. I wasn't far from the definition but the whole meaning gave the word a sort of sordid taint. I love this word now.

Pander
The madam stood outside the brothel. It was early evening and only a few clients were expected tonight. The butcher across the street threw his waste on the street and eyed her coveteously. She remembered him. He was one of her first clients so many years ago. Back when she had to work the streets. The money he paid regularly helped her set up shop.

He watched her smoking her cigarrette. The madam winked at him salaciously. He gulped. He was a married man now. A pillar of the community. If he was seen going into her house of loose morals he’d be an outcast. The thrill of getting caught tempting him even more.

The butcher returned to his shop. Oh well thought the madam. Maybe another day. She dropped her cigarette on the ground and went inside.


I guess I'm done playing around with words for today. If anything I've realize that I can still write which is what I mean to do for the rest of my life so that's good. If only I can get my juices flowing on my novel. Work work work.




Writer's Block Free Writing Exercise

Today is day three of my writer's block.

I'm not surprised that this has happened since I've been working most of the month to finish my novel. But today as I sit at my computer wondering wiht inspiration will hit I decided to do something about it.

I took to the web, for once in search of some thing that will get my juices flowing. Normally this is when I clear my work area and start sewing. I found a few tips to help me out, and I'd like to share one or two with you,  if you don't mind.

Free Writing, or something close to it. Just tell you to write what ever comes to mind. Well that sucks, because everything else comes to mind. But I tired it out anyway and got nothing but a To Do List of things I cold be doing instead of staring at t a computer all day. I recommend this when I'm not under so much pressure to do something.

Then there was word association. The site I took this from is called MakeUse.com. It sent me to One Word where a word was chosen at random and I' come up with something, anything in about 60 seconds. They word I happened upon was frenzy. The first thing that popped in my head was shoppers after Thanks Giving day. Oh yes The Black Friday Shoppers. They scare me, they scare me to death.

This one being a little bit more freeing to me I decided to take five words and see where they go.

Here are my five words:
Lush
Phantasm
Keeper
Mouth
Pander

I would love to hear what others think about this. I'm wondering if others who read this blog would be interested in contributing. But as far as the exercise goes I'm going to post them later one and see how it went.


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Friday Fiction - Wouldn't It Be Funny

While I happen to be writing this whole month I figured I'd return to my roots with a little FridayFictioneer. What a lovely picture, it tickles me. Plus, She and He  (links to their other stories above) finally got names (yay...)

Copyright John Nixon

Wouldn't It Be Funny

Heydan hated clowns. Ever since she was little and her parents thought it was a good idea to let her watch It on television. But this clown was part of the play so she remained calm.

Harry next to her whispred, “Wouldn’t it be funny...”


Suddenly, Harry was lifted and thrown into the old piano that sat dusty in the corner. The audience thought he was part of the act and applauded. The actors on stage, clueless.

Only Heydan knew, she pictured it, so it happened. His colorful foot wear adding to the effect.

“Why yes, yes it would be funny.” 



The Blog Hop has already begun, so you should all take a look inside and see what the other awesome writers do with this photo prompt. Don't forget to drop by Rochelle's blog for the rules. 

Thursday, June 6, 2013

#Writingallmonthonpurpose

It has been a while and this will be short. Sorry folks.  A lot has happened in the six weeks since the Marathon Bombing  and the freakishly freaky moment of lost hysteria, which may or may not be the last post I've done on this blog. None of it (my lots happening) is majorly life altering, some of it is just plain outright dull. But nevertheless I've sort of stayed busy.

I finished a few sewing projects. I've been in Craftermath mode for the longest, only because I keep thinking I need clothes. Realistically I'm never going anywhere to wear this stuff but that is just another one of those issues I've yet to deal with. Sewing is just a happy distraction. One I'll blissfully delve into at some other time. Every now and again I'll feel the itch to go cut some fabric. I even caught myself ordering some the other day. I couldn't help myself. But I'm going to exercise some discipline.

My next two projects are actually set to go. What's stopping me, JUNE. Yes, the whole month of June is stopping me. Yes, I know that my father's birthday and Father's day is in June. I also know that June is the month in which summer kicks off. None of that matters. What matters is that I applied to school and I am seriously hoping to get in. I should know by the end of June. If I get in I'll be starting in August. I wont even get into the amount of hops I didn't have to jump through while dealing with Admissions. So blissfully easy I wish I'd thought of it sooner.

I took the month of June to work on my book. The book that should have been in the revisions step of my process back in March. The book isn't even finished yet. What would make me happy is to at least finish the story before I let it collect dust. So on May31st, after a brief three way Facebook conversation between myself, my old friend Rita and my old shipmate Steven, I decided to take the month. I won't do anything but write. If I'm lucky I can get to the end and then actually revise.

Today is day six. I have stuff I could be doing. But I'm afraid in my usual fashion of afraidiness that once I leave the house I'll come home tired and not write anything that day.  So I haven't left my house yet this month. I did take out the trash and walk the dog a few time though. It's not a healthy way to live but fuck it the book has to get finished. I've got a billion ideas for the revisions and I can't do any of them until I get to the end.

So here's to the month of June. May every moment in front of the lap top be worth my "pale" summer tan.