Thursday, November 19, 2009

Spiders and writing

Spiders, spiders…they are everywhere!

for those long-time readers, you know I have a muse, much like every artist, but my muse takes the form of a jumbo-jet sized spider named Galock. And when I haven’t written anything…or when the urge to write is particularly strong…he sends out the forces. Sometimes they are invisible…only appearing in my mind. I will see flashes of them here, or there, but they are not really there at all.

But then other times he will send in the real thing. He will start out with the typical spiders. your normal, non-threatening house spiders. I will start seeing them everywhere. But if I ignore them, he starts sending in the bigger troops. the Sun Spiders…they look like scorpions, but do not have the tail and are non-venomous. And yet, if I still ignore them/him…he sends in the true scorpions.

However, last night he did something that he has never done before….

Here I am, sitting on my bed. I am writing, so it is not as if I am ignoring my craft. In fact, I am writing longhand. something I haven’t done since I was 13…19 years ago. Yes, I am telling. I never understood the rule of a woman never telling their age LOL. Anyway, I am writing longhand. Listening to Christmas music. I started out with pop, then country, then hard rock, then metal…but it was Christmas I needed. But then, in comes mom with a box of chocolates and to love my dog and cat goodnight.

As she was loving them, I look over and I see something on my knee. something that was not there earlier…a ink scribble. What in the hell? How did that get there. I had no ball-point pen on the bed. The only writing instruments I had there was a mechanical pencil, a red felt-tip pen and my fountain pen. And when the fountain pen was not in my hand on the paper, it was capped. There was no way it could have touched my knee….especially to put this particular pattern on my knee.

What pattern is that?

It is a spider.

Yes, you read that right. The scribble is that of an abstract spider. It has the fat body, and it is not round, it is oblong. and each side has four legs, but the legs are all joined, not like the “pen” was not lifted and was not drawn straight back to the body…so the legs were drawn more like V shapes for each one, except the first and last ones on each side.

Now, I did not draw this on myself. Nor did my parents, nor my grandmother. It just appeared. I have no clue at all where this came from. It is so weird.

And what is even funnier, is that every time my cat saw it, she kept pawing at it, trying to knock it off, as if it were a spider on me. In fact, she kept coming back to it, like “Mom! get it off you!”

This is the first time Galock has ever inked me with a brand. I didn’t know I needed it. It is not like I have been ignoring my craft…in fact, lately, I have been writing more than I ever have… *snicker*

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Do your craft

I thought I would come in with some words... Dominick was to post his blog tonight…but I booted him away so I could blog about this…

So here goes…

I want you all to keep creating...whatever your form of expression is, and whatever your level is. Be it a word or two or a scribbled drawing that you are embarrassed to show anyone else...to epic novels, paintings, or whatever else it may be.

for me, writing is my entire existence. and I mean that. it is not an exaggeration. If it were not for my writing, I would not be here today. I do not mean that I would have taken my life...My life would have taken me. What I mean by that is this...my health at one point was so bad that I had nothing. nothing at all. I slept 18-20 hours a day. I would wake to eat and then write for a few, then I would read for a few, then I would go back to sleep. that was the sum total of my existence. If it were not for the writing, I would not even have done that much. I did that for years. at least five. perhaps more. I do not know.

Then one day I woke. I woke and thought. I want to write. I stayed up a little longer. I tired easy, and went to bed. but I stayed up longer that day. I did that for several days. I was exhausted. I went back to sleep. Then after going back to my old routine, I woke again. I stayed awake even longer this time. then I slept again. it took quite some time to get my energy back. but it was all because of my writing. how long? 6 years. the exact amount of time it took to write my book Judgment at Witches Court of course, I did not seek to get it published right away...but it is what saved me. it is also part of the reason why I have such a hard time even looking at the book now. but it saved me. it saved my life.

If it wasn't for that book wanting to be written, I would have let sleep take me and eventually the few hours that I was awake, wouldn't have happened. eventually I never would have woke at all.

Since then, things have constantly gotten better...it has been a daily struggle. and some days have been a lot worse, and some days...some weeks...some months...have been a backwards slide and I did not think I would make it...but I have persevered.

Of course, Judgment was not my first book...but it was the book that woke me. and since then, I have been awake. there have been times that I have almost slid back to sleep...figuratively and literally...but always, my writing, my craft, has pulled me through.

Writing has saved my life, my sanity and my soul many times over. and because of it, it is my life, my sanity and my soul. It may sound hokey, but it is the truth.

So, do your craft. whatever it takes, do your craft. Even if you never want to share it with anyone...even if you think you have no talent...do your craft. You will be amazed at what it will do for your entire being.

the “new” AP Report…Now Tiresome Term Tip-of (TTTo) - Authoring

If you read my last blog “What’s been going on,” you were already aware of the name change…if not, then you are probably a little confused…then again, if you are a frequent reader, or friend of mine, then nothing I do really confuses or surprises you. Because you know I change my mind frequently LOL

Yes, we have a new title for this blog series. The AP Report is dead and in it’s place the Tiresome Term Tip-of…or TTTo…has been born. The reason for the name change is this…I forgot that there is already a pretty big name news outfit by a similar abbreviation, Associated Press, and I did not want to be “associated” with them. LOL. So, I renamed this series to the TTTo. I kinda like it better anyway.

On to the Tiresome Term…

Authoring.

I am authoring this blog.

Not.

I am writing this blog.

I don’t author anything.

I am a author.

get it straight.

this has bugged me for a while now. You don’t author a story, you write a story. you don’t author a book, you write a book. And yes, I am aiming this at all of the writers out there that have referred to themselves in this term. If you cannot even use this correctly, then what the hell are you doing writing? *shakes head sadly* It is a very sad commentary on your writing ability if you cannot even refer to your professional status correctly.

Picture this. walking  into the publishing house, or more accurately anymore, writing in to them, and saying “I have authored a novel I think you would absolutely love to publish!” If I were the publisher, the proverbial door would be slammed in your face so fast you would get a wind burn, at the very least.

I can just see all of the English, and grammar teachers out there just cringing in disgust at that usage. Now, granted, I am not the best example of using proper grammar. I bet I write and say things that would make people cringe in fear and loathing…but at least I don’t say that I author anything. Even I draw the line at that.

 

**None of these topics are meant to be aimed at anyone in particular. Some of them may touch a nerve, and I am sorry if they do, but these are my views. I am even guilty of using some of these and am trying to improve myself in regards to them. Besides, if we can’t laugh at some of the words/phrases we use, then this world is indeed too sad a place to be.**

 

**disclaimer: writer I am, writer I will always be. But spelling I never claimed to own. There will always be spelling errors, even with the aid of spell checkers. Unless I employ 20 proof-readers, and if I do that, you will never get to see these blogs…so, guess you will have to put up with the spelling errors….or do what I do. Blame it on the Typo-Fae and say the spelling errors occurred en-route ;-)**

Sunday, November 15, 2009

“Choose Your Own Adventure” books

Do you remember the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books? Oh I do. I loved those books. My favorite was The Magic of the Unicorn by Deborah Lerme Goodman. I devoured that one every chance I got…and still occasionally read it. I am amazed I still have it, and that it is still in good condition with how much I did read it.

I always have had aspirations to write my own “Choose your own adventure,” and at one point my brothers and I attempted to do so…but either it is harder than we thought, or we were going about it completely wrong…because we gave up the idea quickly. I am betting we went about it wrong.

In fact, now that I am awake and writing this blog, I am positive we did it wrong. ROFLMOA

Okay, the process we attempted to write it in when we were children…

1) write a page
2) put a random page number at the bottom of the page
3) continue the story on that random page number
4) put a different random page number
5) continue the story on that next random page
6) and so on and so forth

you get the idea. by the time we were about ten pages in, we were so confused.

now that I am awake, and coherent, and thinking back to then and thinking about the books now, knowing more about the publishing process…not that I am an expert by any means…

I am betting it is more coherent…it is more you write the story, write an alternate endings, then jumble the pages. LOL. Of course, I may be slightly wrong still…but I bet the second way is more accurate than how we attempted it as children!

but thinking about the “Choose Your Own Adventure!” books, I bet they are a complete blast on the eReaders…they are fun in the paper version…being able to flip between the pages to get to where you need to go…forwards and backwards. But with the eReaders, they would be a virtual haven for these type of books. I would not be surprised to see them make a big comeback. I would love it. they are so fun to read.

I know I would get a new copy of The Magic of the Unicorn to go on the eReader—when I eventually get one—though I would still retain my paperback version.

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