Thursday, November 29, 2007

A day of celebration

Good morning to all!
I am very proud to announce I reached the 50 thousand word goal for the contest I entered called the National Novel Writer's Month or "NaNoWriMo". For me, this is a wonderful, glorious uplifting of my spirits. In 1995, I decided I would put my writing career on hold. Somebody should have slapped me upside the head and told me to get back to work and quit crying over the failures! Had I stuck to it, chances are I would have become published and perhaps doing well as an author.
They say hindsight is 20/20 and if I knew back then what I know now, I would never have stopped trying.
Thanks to the Internet, I have found new friends who are writers who share the same dejected feelings and woes as I do. Whose lives are constantly interrupted but they keep their focus on what they love to do, and that is write. Everyday there are instances and situations that pop up a person can benefit from, each day is a learning experience, whether it is bad or good. You should gain strength from these ordeals and just try to stay in the boundaries which keep a person sane.
I have involved myself in writer's groups which I would have otherwise not been able to do because of my crazy work schedule and life's generalities. I have created blogs (such as this one) in which I can talk about things I cannot talk about if I were to carry on a verbal conversation simply because I don't think I can sometimes get the point across. There are online magazines and writer's schools and contests to enter as well as those done on paper. I have the support from all of these wonderful people with a special thanks to Mary Rosenblum, my instructor from Long Ridge Writer's Group. She picked my story apart but also praised me and gave me encouragement with her kind words and stern editing.
I still have a long way to go, still got to publish that first novel, short story or poem. By the way I have found that I do like to write poetry, huh whoda thunk? This contest has shown me that I do have what it takes as well and even though the novel has some major editing to go through on all levels it will get finished and I will get it published. But after December 1 it will be all about working on "Savant". I even set the finish date for the end of May, instead of August, because I want to start setting up for the next novel in next year's 2008 NaNo as the sequel to "Savant". I already have the title; "Indigo Child" and a rough idea what the story will be about.
Well, I have other places to go and continue on with the contest, it will not be finfished until 11:59:59 on November 30. The more I get wrote down the better it will be!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

A nice visit

We don't get many visits from relatives, simply they are too far away, and getting on in years. However, every year just before Thanksgiving, my uncles from my mom's side of the family come up for a short stay. Uncle David, is the next to the oldest and will be 83 at the end of the month. He can't hear so you have to talk to him pretty loud, but he's great. He is very artistic too, as a matter of fact he sells his paintings and is going to draw a sketch of my dad, so I'm curious to see how it turns out. My mom is a very artistic woman, she has surprised us all numerous times, once, she took a drawing of a locomotive engine that was extensively detailed and copied it line for line, I remember she would sit at the kitchen table with a magnifying glass studying that picture. I still have it somewhere. I think she missed her calling. My uncle Billy works for the State of Arkansas, as the head of health and sanitation (not sure if it's for the county-Poinsett, but I think so). He's a quiet, reserved sort of guy, but he and I can get into some great conversations about different events each time he comes. I keep telling mom we need to get down to where they live,(uncle David lives in West Memphis and uncle Billy lives in Cherry Valley, Ar.). We used to go visit them when we lived in Memphis, it was really cool, because my grandparents lived on a working farm, chickens, cows, pigs, all that good stuff. They did not have a lot of material things, I loved going to Cherry Valley. They had a huge screened in front porch where the deep freezer was kept at, always had ice cream in there for us kids, and cases of Dr.Pepper.
My brother, Mike showed up after they left, but it was all right. I hadn't seen him in awhile and we try not to talk about his marriage, which is a story in itself!
I would like to take mom back "home" before she gets to where it will be an impossibility. She has to use oxygen 24/7 and traveling a great distance tires her out. Maybe some day soon I'll be able to figure out how to get her down there without it being a burden on her.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Nine sheets to the wind

Hello to you all.
Guess what? Yes, that's right, I am nine sheets to the wind. In other words, I'm feelin' mighty fine right now. Had a pretty good time with some friends of mine and saw people I hadn't seen in awhile, so that was cool.
I had a hundred things to say, but when you sit down to write something in this state, nothing comes to mind. If you knew how many times I've hit the backspace key, you would wonder how am I going to make it up the stairs.
Work kinda sucked today, it hurts the soul when you have just cleaned up something like, oh, I don't know a floor, it's pretty big too. Then you spend another two hours cleaning because a drainage line was plugged up from both ends. It sucked. Yet, just like the boss said, when the sun go down, what was it he said? Can't remember, cause I'm nine sheets to the wind.
I'm going to bed, my eyes are getting a bit droopy and they feel really dry. Still around and crossed the 25k mark on the NaNo contest! Yeah for me! (throwing hands into the air with glee).

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Just Stuff

Hello to all!
I know you're out there! Come out from behind that bush you freaks!
Yeah whatever. I think I might actually have my day shift back for awhile! Thank God! Cause it sure sucks switching back and forth, my poor ol' bones can't decide if they need to sleep at 7:00am or 7:00pm! I stay tired for several days until my body catches up with what hours I am working. Too old to be doing that crap on a regular basis, I know that.
I am proud to say that I have reached the 15,000 word mark on the novel writing contest. It would be ideal to put out 2,000 per day but in reality, I write when I can. At work, it's hard to do. I may jot down bits and pieces if something comes to mind, and when it does I have a piece of paper and pen in my pocket. There are just too many things that can happen in a matter of seconds and it's hard to concentrate. I like peace and semi-quiet, but I have been known to write some pretty good stuff listening to Ozzy Osbourne (I know!), Metallica, Tesla, hard hitting, fast paced tempos. As crazy as that sounds to some of you, I type better, make less mistakes and get a rythym going.
Ihad a friend of mine send me an e-mail not too long ago with "JC Penny and surviving the 70's" or something like that. Anyway, (I sent some of you guys this so you know what I'm talking about) There were clippings of clothing that was the hottest fashion sometime in the 70's, I'm guessing form 1976-1979 era. I laughed my ass off because they looked soooo gay, the colors were horrible and the hair styles, well, they weren't too bad. I actually liked the feathered look, my hair does not allow anything but curly, long or short. I made the remark that I don't remember wearing any thing like the stuff this e-mail showed. I suppose I was proved wrong. Okay, so I had a pair of lime-green polyester slacks, hey, THEY FIT! And yes, I liked the wrap around skirts and loved platform shoes (still do but I'd break my neck for sure now). And at the time, the bigger the bell of my jeans the better, I would even slit the sides and add material just to make them bigger! But I can honestly say that I do not think I would have worn the stuff this email had, I hate western shirts, don not believe in wearing his and hers outfits, mucho-lameo! I was a cool kid. Jeans and tee shirts were what I remember wearing most of the time. Uh-oh I'm sure I'll be brought up to date on that! Now days, if I can wear it and it doesn't look too funny, I'll probably wear it!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Greetings

Hello to all!
Well, this past week has just gone zipppity -do- daing along. Jeez, this 50k novel contest isn't going as well as I wanted it to. I should have already been up to at least 10k, but I keep getting interrupted, changing work schedules and doctors appointments, you name it, (well don't do that!) kinda funny how all of a sudden I get tremendously busy when I decide to pursue something. I sat around this house for years, had nothing in particular happening except for a job change and studying to get licences and extra courses. That has all been accomplished so far. I decide to start writing again, my,my,my! Busy, busy, busy. Yeah I know, I'm bitching' and some may think I'm being selfish. No, that's not how I've seen it. I realize I have obligations and that it never goes the way I think it should, don't know why I thought it would. Honestly though, I guess I thought I probably would not reach that goal, in a way it would mean a great deal, but I don't expect it. I probably should be working on the novel instead of sitting here whaa-whaaing, oh woe is me! But sometimes a person needs to do a little venting, and now that I have ,I feel better. I don't care if you post a comment, but stop and think before you do. How many times have you started on a project and suddenly the whole friggin' world begs for attention? Okay, so the whole world isn't beckoning (an exaggeration at best), perhaps it just seems that way. Well, that's all for now. But just so you all know I have reached 5,000 on the novel contest and besides, there is always next year!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Doin' the NaNo & the boss is gone!

Greetings to All!
I know you were all so terribly worried and wondering when I would do another posting, just breaking down the door I tell ya!
Things have been busy and my work schedule has been turned upside down as I am filling in for a co-worker who is on vacation. Going from a day time schedule to the swing-graveyard shifts totally sucks the big one.
But, the boss is away on vacation (rubbing hands together) so what can I do? Hee-hee!
No, this poor guy needed one in a bad way, so I won't break anything intentionally. But two days after my employee evaluation, which was a good report, I manage to slam our city plant with some badwater, thank God they can clean it up! On Fridays, the production plant likes to send all the crap down the drain, and I, not being accustomed to the routine, did not see it coming. Just so you all know, I took immediate action to control this situation.
As for the mad race on the National Novel Writer's Month, three days into the competition, and have only logged in 1150 words, so far, but after I get through here, I'm on my way to put in more. On the days off I'll have to do mega make-up and get to word humpin' *grin* I just don't want to write a bunch of excessive wording I'll just have to go through and get rid of, but at the same time, I want to achieve the 50k mark. I'm in a taffy pulling contest!
Have a great day all you adoring fans!