AWOL

I confess that I've been AWOL from my blog for quite awhile.

This was for a couple of reasons, 1) I didn't really have a whole lot to say, 2) I was judging some contest entries that took a bit of concentrated time, and 3) I was busy rereading the Harry Potter books, and that, my friends, is a blog of its own.

Oh, and I also managed to go to a Q and A with Jim Butcher. I had to leave early though to pick my hubby up from the airport. Bummer, right?

Jim Butcher
Dude kept walking back and forth. I'm just glad it isn't really blurry like the other ones!

Though many of the people in the audience were Butcher fans, they were also LARPers (Live Action Role Players--the geeks you see fighting with wooden swords in the park when spring is in full swing) and asked a lot of LARPing questions.

There were a few writers in the audience and it was through their questions that I had a "Coming to Jesus" meeting that was a long time in coming to this writer.

Jim learned his lesson in college when he decided to prove his professor wrong when the prof asked him to write a detailed outline of a story, character development papers, along with the first three chapters of a story.

And thus, Harry Dresden was born . . . along with a 23-book outline.

I tried to find character sheets, but I must have no clue as to what I needed to look for.

But I did rediscover the Snowflake method of plotting and thought I'd give it a shot. I'm at the beginning stages of it, so I don't have anything to report quite yet.

I'll try to post a little more regularly, but it's springtime at the Golla Oasis, which means lots of yard work as we clean out the old and plant the new along with adding tons of mulch.

Time to fold some laundry, so to that end, I'll say adieu!

Later, Peeps!

Summer Halfway Over

Wow, it's hard to believe but summer is halfway over! School is set to start on August 14th and then we'll be in the swing of all things school.

I had intended to be more present on this blog over the summer, but I'm taking a bit of a break, too.

Other than being chauffeur mom and driving the kidlet to swim practices--the killer one starts at 5:45 across town--I've been reading voraciously!

I just started Jim Butcher's Dresden Files book #9, White Night. I have/had most of these books in paper format, but made the mistake of lending the first five out to someone I trusted.

Yeah, I never got the books back.

So, like when I collected records, and recollecting everything when the industry went to CD's, and now recollecting again on IPod or in the cloud, I'm repurchasing the entire Dresden series on my Kindle. Luckily I happened to catch the first seven books on  a $0.99 cent sale in June.

Who is Harry Dresden?

He's a wizard. Chicago's only wizard in the yellow pages. Each urban fantasy book is stand alone, since Mr. Butcher does a wonderful job of weaving in the pertinent backstory when needed, but reading them in order provides an overall arc of the characters.

Reading also has made this writer realize some of the errors of her ways.

Not in a bad way, but in a "holy cow, i'm an idiot" type of way.

In fact, one of my epiphanies happened when I was reading the comics.

What? Don't you read comic strips? You should. They are probably the shortest flash fiction you'll ever read. In their one, two, or three cels they paint a picture for the reader. These stories have a beginning, middle and end told in a very concise way.

This was when I finally realized that my picture book, GO AWAY, PIPER! is actually multiple stories in one book. Oops!

I didn't continue the theme of the original story all the way through to the end. In my typical fashion, I took a right turn about 2/3 of the way through the story.

Plus it's wordy, way, way, way too wordy.

It isn't too surprising considering I was just typing my picture books on the computer. Oh, I could visualize the pages, BUT I was writing what I saw instead of letting the images do their job.

So, I bought a small journal. I counted out my 32 picture book pages and now I will see how well my story fits in that parameter. Plus, I'm going to draw/jot notes down about each page scene.

Oh, yeah, I can't draw. So we're talking stick figures and general scribbles.

I hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Later, Peeps!

Santa Letter

When we thought we had everything bought, wrapped and ready to go, our baby girl finally writes her Santa Letter and we discover a whole boatload of stuff she wants for Christmas.

My daughter is at the age where many of her classmates don't believe in Santa, and we suspect she really knows the score. But being a smart cookie and knowing that the only way she will get the additional Santa presents is to actually BELIEVE IN SANTA.

Thus the Santa Letter.

This year she is less influenced by commercials . . . up to a point.

Last year, we bought Fushigi ball and Mind Flex, only to have them sit in their boxes unplayed. BTW: anyone want to buy them?? I'd sell them on the cheap, but the shipping costs will kill you!

This year she asked for Squinkies, pillow pets, DVD's, etc, etc. She had been asking for a cell phone and a bike, but she didn't include them on the list . . . Hmm, Mama wonders if she knows something we don't know . . .

Anyhoo, I have two more days of relative quiet before the kiddo and hubby are off from work and school until Jan. 3rd.

I think I'll enjoy the quiet and finish reading Blood Rites by Jim Butcher. I've lost track of how many times that I've read this book, and each and every time I've thoroughly enjoyed it. There are so many elements in this story that are done right and I think it's one of his best in the Dresden Files series . . . maybe I should write a blog post about it.

Oh, and have you written your Santa Letter??

No, well, get to it!