Fall is here and so is Muse Online Writer's Conference

Cool, crisp mornings and warm, sunny afternoons signal the beginning of my favorite time of the year. Autumn. Gardens are harvested and plowed. Birds begin their migrations toward warmer climates and the talk of deer season begins it's fevered pitch. The smell of woodsmoke fills the air and aromas of baking goodies fill the kitchen. Shorter days signal trees to begin their glorious displays of color.

It is also time once again for the Muse Online Writer's Conference. One week filled with intense study of prose, grammar, and camaraderie. This conference is different from all others. You get to stay home for one thing,  and attend Muse Online in your jammies should you feel inclined. This is the fifth year of the conference and each year it gets bigger and better. Each year more publishers and agents sign on, each year more workshops are added, and for the second year in a row, you can pitch your great novel idea to a publisher or agent if you wish. It is my fourth year of attending as I firmly believe that writer's should never think they know it all when it comes to perfecting the craft. This once a year event is motivational, inspirational, it is a chance to mingle with other writers and form bonds. You can find a critique group, form a critique group, find and meet new friends who all share the writer's woes. You have mountains of support and the founders are there to help you should you lose your way.
This conference only lasts a week and with so many workshops and chats to choose from it's hard not to overload yourself with them. Even when the conference ends, the site is open year round as they offer workshops and guest speakers too. The best part about Muse Online it is free to attend, but donations are accepted.  And they always need volunteers for moderating the forums and chats. However, registrations are closed for now but next year's registrations will begin shortly after the conference is over. If you always wanted to write a novel and don't know where to start, or an accomplished author, Muse Online Writer's Conference is a great place to go. If you would like to check it out click on the link in the side bar of this blog or here http://themuseonlinewritersconference.com

Words when written, crystallize history; their very structure gives permanence to the unchangeable past- Bacon
A writer is dear and necessary for us only in the measure in which he reveals to us the inner workings of his soul- Leo Tolstoi

ROGER MUSE MOOSE

Is Drinking A Sin?

There are those who say yes, and those who say no. If done in moderation it's okay. Jesus drank wine. Wine is made from grapes, grapes are fruit, fruit is meant to be eaten and pulverized into juice.

I say it depends on the situation.

If you have a drink with dinner, or an after dinner drink, I do not believe this constitutes a sinful mark against your soul. Should you decide to sit under a tree or a sandy knoll on the beach to watch the sun set with a bottle of Corona or a Michelob, no that's enjoying your life and appreciating God's art.
If you attend a party and have a few too many is that a sin? I say it depends on the actions you take thereafter. To get behind the wheel  in a severe intoxicated state is commiting a sin because you take the risk of causing injury or death.
Should your intentions to commit a sinful act stems from drinking, then yes it is.

Go over the top everyday, I'd say you're addicted.


Should you live your life by the bottle then yes it is a sin. Why?
Because you chose to let it lead you down that path.
For more on this debate go to http://philthompsonlive.com/

The Week in Review

Today 9-11, is a day of remembrance; a day to give pause and reflect. This day in September is a day we should never forget. Where were you when you heard about the attack on our country? I was watching the whole thing unfold. The horror I felt when I watched the plane crash into the second tower, the overwhelming sadness as the skies fell silent; the mountain of grief when the towers collapsed. The days that followed were numbing, I stayed glued to the television it seemed, hoping for survivors. I cried and cheered for the brave souls who overtook the plane in Pennsylvania. This is a day to remind us just how venerable we are and still are. We are not safe anymore. This was one time in our recent history where everyone in the world came together. Too bad it took such a terrible incident as an attack for us to do so.

This past week has been a busy one for me. I've got my classes for The Muse Online Writer's Conference in October and from the looks of it, I'll be burning the candle on both ends! This is my fourth year in attendance and I will also be moderating this year, an honor to volunteer for such a great event.

Labor day weekend was a relaxing time for me. Just to get away and be able to have some much needed R&R where I could work on my book without interruption was great medicine indeed. Well, maybe I'll let the butterfly have a look and see what he says.....

It is my hope that this week you are happy and at peace with yourself. Satisfied with all that you do and loving your life.

Getting in order

Hello to all my fans! I know you're wondering where I've been and what's happened to me. Although this is no excuse it is one of my main issues. The lab job I took in May of last year has nearly occupied any extra time I enjoyed when I worked in Water Treatment. Oh how I miss that work schedule. I have strayed from my love for writing during the winter and found myself playing online games. I became addicted to them, not realizing how they ate up the hours I needed to be writing.
Trying to manage four blogs, a website, Myspace, and Facebook did nothing but create mass confusion and a desire not to do anything because of time related issues. My husband switched jobs and now works the same hours I do and so sometimes my alone time is not alone. However, he is not to blame (all the time) and he supports me as only he knows how.  (I plan to pursue my musical interests because of him and the band projects he lands.)
Then there's my cats. Why is it they have to pile themselves on my keyboard or my lap?
I think I've taken a step in the right direction and decided to eliminate some things (not the husband, he's cool.....for now)
As of now, Stuff From The Attic will remain my sole blog site, everything goes here. For me that's made it better already. I have many things planned this year and goals to accomplish, but I needed a moment to think.....
As for my novel "Savant", it's on the back burner. In order for me to make it work right and be believable I need in depth research. I thought I might have had a publisher interested in the book, as it turns out I never received a response back even after several inquiries. Am I upset? No. I really wasn't ready for that, I needed more time and it needs critiquing rounds in my critique group.
What's going on with me today? Glad you asked. I still plan to do some writing oriented issues such as interviewing authors and reviewing writer's websites and blogs. I also have expanded my horizons a bit and have written a couple of songs. I hold many interests in writing, almost all types of writing is intriguing to me and want to write in the ones I like and see what happens. Book reviewing is also an interest of mine and so expect to see a few of those tossed in too.
The projects I have now? Another great question. I am working on a novel I started in November of 2008 called A Day of Reckoning. I decided to work on this one and get it finished because of the content of the story dealing with current issues such as immigration. There are older postings about this project but as the novel comes to a close, I will post more about it at a later date.
As I mentioned I've written a couple of songs, just words, no music put to it yet because I don't know how. I wouldn't mind learning the guitar, but my hands are small, and arthritis has taken it's toll, so I need to find someone who can play and get song to words and see where that goes.
Sometime back I wrote a piece here entitled "What's the purpose of poison ivy?" This particular post seems to have received more comments than other posts and so I plan to follow this up with a reposting of that along with other things which I wonder what their purposes entail. Like mosquitoes....and fleas.....It promises to produce some controversial issues because I plan to come from all sides, biblical, scientifically and personally, for instance, I believe evolution is part of God's plan. I'm sure this is a subject that is not new, but I'm taking it on.
So, I will be coming to my one and only blog more often, staying away from the cute little games and run the husband out of the room. Some of you will probably notice I reposted some material from the former blogs onto this one, but I will have made some revisions and updated them, so they won't be the same.
I'm looking forward to a great year, I believe many wonderful things are in store for me. As the saying goes, "Less is More"!

 

Another backroad expierence and Muse news

My husband had to literally pull me out of my chair Saturday.  All week long I stayed faithfully in my office, glued to the chair and to the computer.  Muse Online Writer's Conference was coming to a close.  I had stepped out of a pitch session with Morrigan Books, an online publisher.  My head reeling and hands shaking when Mark Deniz, publisher of MB told me to send in the first five chapters of Savant, my Paranormal Thriller.

Bless my dear husband!  He coaxed me with promises of a juicy hamburger and a nice drive to check out fall scenery.  I complied, (well the stomach did).  I had so many things to do, homework, chat sessions, and editing requested chapters.  Still, it was the first pretty day in two weeks.  I neeeded to unclog the brain and get out of the house. So I did.

We took a backroad, cooler filled with beer and found some great fall foilage.  We would stop, get out, feel the crisp air on our faces, and listen to the wind skipping across the tree tops, sending cascades of leaves on us.  We started to head home, I needed to get back, the day was waning, clouds were beginning to sock back in and our pets needed food.  But we decided to check out one more road.  There's always that one more road thing.  We took pictures and followed Osage Creek until we came to a fork in the road.  I opted for the northern route.  We had our bearings and knew home was north of us, so off we go.

We drove on.  I wished we had our truck, however, since we traded it off for a gas effecient vehicle, we made do.  Recent rains caused some major erosion on the road we were on.  The Sonata is not built for four-wheeling, and several times we scraped the under carriage.  I sucked in a lot of spit going down that road.  We drove past a place and noticed a man sitting in his truck, we wave and go on.  I tell my husband as we try to straddle the huge ruts that guy is probably laughing his ass off at us "city slickers".  I wanted our truck.  We came to a point where it is no longer possible to travel the road in our car, so we begin to back up as there is no other choice.  After hissing at each other about not dropping off into a huge gully on my side of the road, we make it to the spot we had seen the man in his truck.  The man is out of his truck.  I think he knew we'd be back soon. 

My husband gets out and with much glee notices the man has a beer in his hand, so they begin to talk.  We stayed about fifteen minutes.  Alan (hubby) offers the gentleman a shot from his pint of Tequilla.  This fellow drinks about a quarter of the liquid and damn near puked.   His faced turned bright red, his eyes watered and he continued to choke for ten of the fifteen minutes. I asked if he was okay to which he replied, "No, I'm not okay."  I feared he may throw up or collapse, but he remained on his feet and kept his gorge down.
It is getting darker and the wind is colder.  We bade our goodbyes and went on, making it home without dragging the oil pan off or busting an axel.  I fed my pets, attended class, and in bed by 9:30pm.  I have this thing about backroading or taking a road unkown, but despite some of the situations we find ourselves in we manage to have a great time and meet some interesting people.

I want to make mention our alcohol consumption was minimal during this time until we got home.  Mine stayed that way, the hubby's? Take a guess.

What happened to Summer?

Summer eveming sky

I don't know what happened to our usual hot, muggy summer days and nights, but it's fall around here!

The past few weeks have been unseasonably cool, which is nice for me.  I like hot summer nights, but that humidity is one nasty mutha!  If it would only melt fat....

In addition to the weird weather, the past few months sped past me!  It's been awhile, since May that I posted anything on this blog, May!  What have I been doing?  Working, working, working.  Well, not all the time, but considerably more than what I was used to with the previous job.  Special tests and audits, plus a non-stop work schedule during the course of the day makes time fly.  While we rejoice when it's time to go home, in the same breath I wish for another hour in order to get the things done that need to be completed.  This lab job works my brain!  While there is nothing wrong with that, speed is of the esscence, you know that saying, "haste makes waste"?  It is the absolute truth folks.  I find that if I take my time to do things correctly, I fall behind schedule, so I speed up.  This of course leads to mistakes, and that pisses me off.  I tell myself I will eventually get the hang of things, that I am still learing this.  I wished I had it all learned and able to keep up with my lab partner.  She's done this job for twenty-five plus years and flies through it with her eyes closed!  She assures me I am doing a great job.  She hasn't yelled at me yet, and I know there were a few times she probably wanted to.  If I were her I would have.  Although this is no excuse, but there are many distractions, many detours taken, and once again, especially with the computer work, I have fallen far behind.  It doesn't take but a couple of minutes for that to happen and my fingers simply do not fly that fast!

I'm getting the hang of it though.  I love being a lab rat and it will take time, I just have to be patient and not let frustration set in.

When I am not working, I have made special effort to finish my novel Savant, it's getting close!  I hope to have it finished before October, before the annual writer's conference.  I let a co-worker read some of it, (written in long hand, I take a notebook with me to work and use my lunch break to write) and she liked it.  I told her thaat was crap writing, stuff off the top of my head and to only take in the feeling of the scene.  It creeped her out and she wants to read more.  This lady reads so much, her locker is stuffed with books, she also reads in the genre I write in, so this gives me encouragement. 

There is another co-worker who has decided he wants to write a book.  Congratulations! I tell him. Let's hear the idea.  I feel a tingling on the back of my neck, I have a story idea that could work with his and so I decided to work with the kid.  I tell him give me something in writing, let's see what you got. 

Sigh

I give him some suggestions and tell him to think hard about what he wants from this.  He will be the one to do most of the writing on the first of the trilogy.  Yes, a trilogy.  The idea is terrific and I hope he is serious.  If not, I may have to run with it myself.

I look forward to Autumn, wood smoke,chili,Halloween, and frosty mornings (which means remembering to warm the car up first).   

It's Early Sunday Morning

I made it through the first week at my "new" job working in the Micro Lab. I put the quotes around new because I worked there before, but as a back-up tech. That was nine years ago as far as working the day shift. Many things changed since I left. Where there used to be three technicians during the day and one during the evening shift, is now two daytime technicians and a part-time evening technician.

Monday morning I walked in, greeted by familiar faces. It almost felt like coming home. In a way I guess because I worked in the quality assurance department for seventeen years before taking the waste water treatment job. The people who work in Q.A. for the most part are still there. There are a few familiar faces throughout the plant, but there are so many new ones. That's what happens when you fade into a out of the way job. I like it when someone asks me how long I've worked for the company and I tell them twenty-three years while watching the expression on their faces!

The first thing for me to master is plating techniques. This consists of cutting samples, mixing them in a solution, taking a certain amount and carefully putting it onto what is called a plate. Back in the day, most of their tests were conducted using Petri dishes, now there is a new technology that allows a special type of media on special paper to grow the cultures needed. This is called Petri film. The film saves time, but can slip around so you have to be careful!

The first week has passed and my technique is improving, thus increasing my speed. Not only do I have to get all of the samples "plated", I have to make up several types of broths used for the samples, everyday get certain samples shipped to our corporate lab. If there is downtime (very little of that) we stock up supplies for the lab or clean it. It may not sound like a lot of work, but it is. The day goes quick and before I know it, it is time to go home.

Now if I can only keep my scissors sharpened and concentrate on the task at hand, I'll have that part of the job down.

There is more to the story though. Computer work, paper work and other various things are done by the second technician. Once I learn how to do that part, my lab partner and I will alternate the tasks each day.

This world is the complete opposite from water treatment. The main thing is little or no walking, although there is a lot of standing. So far, this doesn't seem to bother the knee. No stair climbing or straddling water lines involved with lab work. It's clean, not that the treatment plant was messy, but it didn't take much for it to get that way. If something breaks down, I'm not scratching my head trying to figure out what happened or scrambling to make sure sludge and water don't flood me out.

I like the lab job. As for water treatment, it is a fascinating occupation, and should I ever have to resort back to it, at least I'll have an idea of what to expect. Right now though, I believe it's a safe bet I probably won't go back because of my knees and feet. There are places that do have operators who monitor computers all day, so that's something I can consider should I have to.

I will miss the people I worked with. There are a couple of them, and they know who they are, that had they not encouraged me and trained me, chances are I would have quit that job long ago. The first supervisor I had at water treatment had faith in me, yet, I needed to prove to not only myself, but to these guys I could do it, and I did. The current supervisor helped me out many times, especially when I thought I couldn't take it anymore. He was gracious enough and his selfless actions (like during the ice storm in January; providing a ride to and from work, cigarettes, and general orneriness) are what makes him a good supervisor. He was genuinely interested in Alan's music and even attended a gig once.

Long live the water wars!