Hello to all-a-ya!
Vacations are coming up in the Clark household. Alan has eleven days scheduled off starting Thursday, yeah! He needs to relax for a few days and just hang out at the house and drink lots of beer! I'm quite certian he can take this one on hands down. He's going to be a little busy working on some origninal material in the studio and two gigs coming up the weekend of the 12th. Me, not until October, but my work schedule on the norm gives me some extra off time during the week, so it's all good!

For some writer's, what I am preparing to do may be their worst nightmare. Word count, getting a novel written in a month (or close to it). As long as you reach the assigned number, in this instance 50 thousand words, you are declared a winner. No prizes are given, just a mega boost to my writer's ego and bragging rites. That's a lot when you consider most people can't write a 500 word essay! I love the challege though. It gets me keyed up and ready to rock!
For those who don't understand this insanity, pray for me! When I subject myself to these "contests", what little housework got done nearly comes to a standstill during these challenges. Work is work, but armed with pen and paper everywhere. I have a laptop. It does not go with me to work. (I'd go postal if something were to happen to it there, and trust me, it probably would.)

I will occupy nearly every waking moment to the cause or at least 1500 words a day. By the last week, I should be able to crank it up and sail right past 50k by at least another two thousand. That's the plan. In the site's forum sponsoring the challenge, I read tales of people shutting themselves up, families tread lightly about the house. Writer's who are serious about their craft can be like poking a gorilla with a stick during these times of trial. Be nice to us, we can bite. I have read about those who become stuck in the middle of the month, maybe 500 words into the story, really pray for those folks! Who knows? I could be one of them *gasp* Hell no man! I'm too f**king crazy! (I'll write the word potato if I have to get the last words in if necessary. I actually saw that written about in a writer's forum)
So, in addition to Alan on vacation and a couple of our neices from California here soon, my challenge is heightened. Our two cats are of no help either. They think they can just climb right up on the desks and lay there. No space is sacred when it comes to my little dears.
I will keep you all updated on my progress, it may be at the end of the month when all is said and done though. If there are some of my writing buddies doing JulNoWriMo (July Novel Writer's Month) good luck!

My wooden moose writing totem sits behind my laptop, watching, urging me on.

Where I Am

I thought it would be fun to show you some of the places where I live. (I tried to put two videos here, but I guess I will have to post the other one in a seperate post.) The video above is a highway (two lane) which winds throughout the area. There is one place in particular I think shows the beautiful little valley I live in. Green Forest doesn't feel like it is in one, but when you get on the downhill side, it really sprawls out.

To look at my town, it's not very big, we only have one 24/7 place, a quick mart store, oh yeah, and the chicken processing plant. The rest of it, shuts down by ten, the two beer bars are allowed to stay open until 1:00 a.m. on Friday nights. But when you get up on top of the hills in the area and look at it from that perspective, it's such a beautiful place!

The series of pictures I took are from several places in the area. Mostly wild flowers that grow well in this particular soil, but some of the trees, and grasses too.

I'm driving down a narrow country lane to a discount grocery store. Again, I thought it would be fun to let my many viewers see what's up in my hood! The day was humid, sultry, and only the beginning of June. The clouds hung low, brushing lush, green hills and snaking their feathery tendrils into the valleys. I passed several vehicles along the way, probably wondering what the hell I had in my hands and talking. Hopefully, no one noticed!

Anyway, the air cleansed free of pollen and stale odors. The road is wet, the tires and windshield are making their own music with the rain. It seems that flowers and fields of grass for hay can be heard growing! When the sun pops out, the sauna kicks in, the air becomes oppressive, the clouds begin to tower higher into the sky. Then the downpours start! We have had so much rain this year, I would think we would be drought free for the next two years at least! Of course, it's doesn't work like that, too bad though. The mosquitoes will be larger than the lightening bugs, they, will be larger than a humming bird. That would be cool I suppose, but I don't think I want to see mosquitoes that big!

Livewyre

I hate it when people take vacations! No, they have to have them too. I'm just glad I had two days off to recover, five days in a row twelve+ hours each day equals sore feet, legs and knees. As my sister put it, Calgon really needs to take me away!!!! But I'll just look at some nice scenery.......

That's much better.

I am busy with several writing projects. "Savant" is in process of restructuring and will be participating in another 50k writing contest. This one is held every July, this is the fourth or fifth season for this particular one. It's like NaNo, but you can use an active project, you just have to have the 50k to "win". So far, "Savant" has fifteen chapters outlined, and a prologue added, with more to go. I'm excited about this venture. I think I have found a way to jump start my novels by doing these types of activities. My critique group helps me to polish and shine the words and all I have to do now is find an agent.

My other novel, "Dream Drifter" (2007 NaNo project) is in critique now. I have three short stories in active stages as well, "Pumice" (a story about one man's greed)is getting a query letter written, magazine market search and editing, "Man in the Mist" (what would you do if you had the power to change things?) is on hold. Right now, it's in a contest in Colorado, top prize 1,000! The new story, "Thunder Thief"( aka "The Man Who Stole the Thunder")is one written by my dad over thirty years ago. He has passed on however. He sent it out numerous times, and it kept getting rejected. I'm going to see what I can do with it. I have nearly dismantled it, parts and pieces scattered here and there. He sure had a weird sense of humor is all I can say about it for now. I'm trying to decide if I want to keep what he did at the ending of the story or make it have a dramatic ending. Huh, I'll just have to write it and see......

As you can see from the photos I have to the side of my blog, my husband is a drummer. He's played in many types of bands, country, blues, rock and combos of such. He loves playing, I would say so since it's been a passion of his over 30 years now. The newest project is with a couple of guys from the Harrison area and Mountain Home vicinity. The name of the band is "Livewyre". They play a harder type of classic rock, and some newer stuff. Their approach to cover songs is unique which makes them a great three piece band.

Lead guitarist, Jim, Bass and vocals Erik and of course Alan on drums.

This is a video of them playing Ted Nugent's tune "Free For All" I must say I was rather impressed! As the evening wore on, more of the club's patrons decided to bear their breasts and such. I won't be posting those. I must make mention of the fact, I am still learning how my camera works and even though this particular clip wasn't so bad as far as movement goes, it's still shaky. I'm working on my technique. If this one plays and works here on my blog, well you might as well be prepared to listen to some of the other ones I may post here from time to time. I have a myspace page for this sort of stuff, but some people don't like myspace, so.....here goes.