Christmas Shopping, Arachnid Stopping Warrior

Spider by bunnygoth flickr creative commons

I know it doesn’t seem right to be talking about spiders with Christmas just around the corner. But I saw the Hobbit last night, which by the way, was delightful, although I would’ve liked a bit more dwarven music. Anyway, there was a spider-fighting scene (don’t worry, no spoilers!) that reminded both of Harry Potter and my recent trip Christmas shopping. 

The Harry Potter reference is obvious—giant spiders, death and destruction, what more could anyone want in a fantasy, right? Ok, dragons, magic, elves. It’s all good.

But the Christmas shopping, you may ask? How does that play in? Yesterday I wore myself out scouring Joplin, MO for all the doodads and fuzzies and sweets that my little minions think they need. My feet hurt, my knees hurt, and the cheesecake squares I was munching on during the hour-long drive home were just barely keeping me going. I mean, really. I was desperate and sometime cheesecake alone is not enough. So I popped a couple Reese’s minis in my mouth (not all at once—I’m not crazy).

And then it happened. In the corner of my windshield, what to my wondering eyes did appear? Not a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, that’s for sure. 

A huge, black, hairy spider with massive pincers and eight beady eyes—all trained on me. The monster poked its evil head out of the upholstery then darted out of sight.

At this point, sleepiness was no longer a problem for me. My problem was figuring out how to drive, scream, and not choke on peanut butter and cheesecake at the same time. I couldn’t pull over and track the ugly bugger down, either. I was in the middle of Christmas-shopping traffic on the freeway, for St. Nick’s sake!

My fingers tightened on the steering wheel until they went numb. Whether it was a function of age, exhaustion, carpal tunnel, or gut-wrenching fear isn’t important. The fact remains that when the spider appeared again, it had the upper hand. It dropped down from a thick silken thread and attacked.

I ducked and swerved and wove between astonished drivers as the vicious arachnid dangled in front of my nose, swinging closer every second. But my mad Ninja and Nascar skills saved me, at least for the moment and the fiend retreated.

By this time, tinsel and chocolates, electronics and lip gloss hung from every interior surface of my SUV, including me. I looked like the remains of a Christmas tree explosion. I half expected my nemesis to come crawling from its hole covered with glitter and flashing lights. But the spider was too stealthy for that kind of trick. It skittered out and swung at me, its pincers slashing as it lunged for the kill, trailing gauzy silk streamers behind it, filling my windshield with its sticky, pugnacious garland.

Would this be my last moments? Would I die buried in Christmas treasure, carols ringing in my ears?

No, not while there’s a speck of Christmas spirit still in me (in other words, I didn’t do all that shopping for nothing)! Sugar surged through my veins and I grabbed a handful of receipts and wrestled the monster against the window, fighting for my life, freedom, and sugar plums while visions of Christmas morning danced in my head. As a side note, those visions involved happy, peaceful, children and lots of singing. They did not involve tantrums or sugar highs.

Speaking of sugar highs, mine faded as soon as the hideous beast crumpled into a squishy ball, oozing through my papers. I can only hope the shops will take returns with soggy receipts. I wiped a stray hairy leg from my cheek and surveyed my situation. Only halfway home and school’s almost out. Time to hide the evidence…I mean, the presents. So I called in reinforcements. Dad agreed to pick up the kids and I, Christmas-Shopping, Arachnid-Stopping Warrior that I am, hustled home to hide the goods.

Oh, I can’t wait till next year. Maybe I’ll get to fight a dragon.

What Christmas adventures have you faced this year?

Snow day--hooray!

 

Snow day, free day

Sled day, fun,

 

Laugh day, love day,

Mom and son--

 

Scoop snow, throw snow,

Run and slide,

Stomp and shiver,

Romp outside.

Best friends, hiking

Climbing trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angel, monster--

Such a tease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Chores and play,

Do both somehow,

 

 Break up ice 

And warm the cow.

Country sleigh rides,

Here we go--

Hooray for Oklahoma snow!

Sharing my Passions

"Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down." --Ray Bradbury

One of the joys I’ve experienced as an author is seeing my children develop an interest in writing. So far, three of them are dreaming up stories and putting them on paper. My oldest boy, Chad, went to a writing seminar with me last fall and loved it. When he heard I was going to another without him, he only had one thing to say.

“Jerk.”

We both laughed. Maybe we could host our own seminar, just with our family, or even a few friends.

My six-year-old, Drake, writes stories featuring kings, axes, swords, and flaming arrows. Lots of  blood. I’d be worried, except that my middle son, Josh, went through a gory phase, too, and he seems to be turning out all right.

Today, Drake invited me to his store. He’d set it up in his bedroom, complete with price tags and decorations (Star Wars figurines and a duct-tape maraca). Admittedly, a few items were overpriced. I couldn’t bring myself to cough up a hundred bucks for two pieces of blank paper. Although, I might’ve been tempted during church when I needed something to occupy him.

When I informed Drake that I only had pennies, he said I could read one of his stories for two cents. Six years old and he’s already marketing his fiction. And getting in his two cents’ worth at the same time. While retaining ownership rights. Wow.

I read Rocket Crown twice. Drake helped me decipher his first-grade spelling. I offered to pay three cents if he’d add periods. Even now, he’s upstairs dotting his manuscript, hopefully in the right places.

What a joy it is to share my passions—from writing to swimming to chocolate—with those I love. What passions do you share with family or close friends? And how do you nurture those common interests? I’d love to hear your story.

Why I Need a Fire Dragon

 Now that Nanowrimo is winding down to a close (for me at least, I’m at 49, 872 words today!! Woohoo…happy dance!), I thought I’d blog about a much more pressing matter.

Why I need a Fire Dragon:

1.      The only pets I currently have are outside chewing their cud.

2.      A fire dragon (meaning a dragon made of fire, with scaly black skin laced with cracks that burn orange and ominous as if it’s about to explode…bwah ha ha ha)… Ahem, a fire dragon can provide much more warmth and pyrotechnic ability than a cat, even one who can puff up to the size of a burning mountain lion. (Alas, I don’t have one of those, either, but I wish I did.)

3.      Dragons posses vast stores of ancient, magical knowledge. (That oughta help with my latest novel, right?)

4.      Dogs can’t fly. Dragons can. (And I might be able to ride, right? Wait…what about all that fiery skin…)

5.      Security. Dragons are great at fighting enemies (and irritating neighbors, too).

6.      Seaching for treasure. There’s got to be some gold hidden in these hills.

7.      To keep the cows company when I travel.

8.      To cook me dinner (roasted cow…yum).

9.      So I can watch a dragon fly across the moon (much more exciting than an owl, although those are nice, too).

This would be a perfect moon for dragon-watching

10.  And in the words of my 13-year-old son…Dragons are cooool.

What mythical creature would you like for a pet?

Nanowrimo strikes again!

Okay, I wanna know who decided to set Nanowrimo in the month of Thanksgiving! When we’re supposed to be preparing our homes and our kitchens and our tables and our psycho children for an influx of loving relatives. (Did I say psycho children? What I really meant was psycho selves—note the plural. We’re getting a little loony over here). What about the lead-up to Christmas? How can I possibly complete shopping prior to the holidays if my fingers are cramped from writing so gosh awful many words?

I swear I am never, ever, ever doing Nanowrimo again. 

Well. Not unless my writing has bogged down, my confidence has failed me and I need a massive kick in the pants to pick up a pen or a crayon or a keyboard, whatever, to get creating again. Oh, I’m inventive enough to worm out of facing that computer screen or ratty old notebook, but what I really need is tale-telling, story-spinning, and if it’s gotta be through a tortuous Novemeber marathon that leaves me scratching words into my bedside table at midnight instead of watching the stars and listening to the wind whispering through the flaming leaves, so be it.

Wait. Did I just talk myself into Nanowrimo? Ah well…I just wish it were during another month. Like January. When we’re all recovering from the holidays and have nothing to do but set outrageous, unreachable goals and then kill ourselves trying to meet them.

That’s kind of how I am, anyway. I work best under pressure and under some crazy plan that requires I sacrifice my sanity. When will I learn to take life a step at a time, a bite at time, instead of trying to choke down the whole enchilada, or alternatively, spew a whole new world of characters and scheming across my digital canvas in a short thirty days, less really when you consider that I can’t possibly write from Nov 25 on.

On the bright side, I am now at 33,000 words, many of which are actually in the right order. My main character has developed into a powerful, determined girl who just might triumph over her embittered past, with the help of her feisty cat, Cinder, her sister-cousin Glory, and a handful of moonlight at just the right time.

 What project is ruling your life right now and how are you surviving it?

Nanowrimo: Progress on Gypsy Moon

This pic (courtesy of Jorbasa, flickr creative commons) captures the mood of my latest novel in progress, Gypsy Moon

Well, I’m one week into Nanowrimo, and I must confess it’s going better than I could have anticipated. Despite the lateness of my planning compounded by the surprise wedding of my daughter (I really think I was certifiable on Tuesday), my word count is on track, 14,238 as of this morning, and my novel currently titled Gypsy Moon is unfolding nicely.

Things I have learned in my first week of self-imposed compulsory writing:

1.       When I really, really want to, I can write much faster than I thought I could. Of course, deadlines, self-imposed or not, have always been motivating to me.

2.       In the past, I would reread and edit my previous few pages prior to starting writing. This is a time killer and actually does little to get me in the zone. I’d thought it helped immerse me in my story world, and if I’ve had a week-long lapse in writing, maybe such a review would be necessary. But with regular writing, I only reread a sentence or two to see where I need to pick up.

3.       While it is fun treat to read over pages written on previous days, I’m forcing myself to refrain from any serious editing, which is very time consuming. Instead, my focus is digging my little pearl from my brain. When that’s complete, the true polishing will begin.

4.       Since my plotting got off to a late start, I’ve taken a different approach than I have at other times. We’ll see by the end if this helps or if I end up with a winding mess. I’ve plotted the Inciting Event (the incident that sets the novel in motion), the first turning point, the second turning point, the end and a few key scenes in between. As I’ve written with those things in mind, I’ve discovered that other key scenes and plot twists come to mind as I go and I’ve added these to my outline. This is easier for me than staring at a blank screen and willing the creative juices to flow into my plot plan. When I combine it with writing, I think both my plotting and writing are more effective.

5.       At this point, I’m focusing on writing only each necessary scene, with no transitional connections between them. This forces me to jump around, highlighting only the most important events, which is what the writer is supposed to do anyway. In the past, I’ve gotten bogged down on how the principal characters got from here to there when it really doesn’t matter. This time around, I may need to add a little connective ideas between scenes, but that is much easier than cutting pages of transitions that contribute little to the plot.

At this point in Nanowrimo and Gypsy Moon, I am hopeful, excited and ready to write.

What motivates you to finish projects? What helps you keep on track?

NaNoWriMo 2013

 

Well, Halloween has come and gone and now it is time to get back to real life, in which there’s no people walking around wearing spider pantyhose or rainbow wigs. Sigh…. 

On a happier note, I’ve decided to attempt NaNoWriMo this year. Woohoo! Bells and whistles! For anyone who’s unaware exactly what this means, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. The only requirement is that you write 50,000 words in the month of November. I have to admit, I wish the creators of this monstrous, delicious idea had chosen a different month.

What were they thinking, setting up NaNoWriMo during Thanksgiving, and in the lead-up to Christmas? Don’t they know I have kids? Like a million of them? I’ll be panicked, typing with bloodshot eyes and trembling fingers in between story reading, tooth brushing, homework helping, and baking…all the baking! 

Admittedly, participation is voluntary. I just may be volunteering to drive myself to the loony bin in early December. Already, I’m a bit behind on my ambitious plan. What with all the happenings in my life over the last 5 weeks, I totally forgot I wanted to try NaNoWriMo this year. I’d planned to outline all October so I’d be ready to dive in come November 1.

Fortunately, my friend Grace posted her preparations for the novel-writing event on her blog, sin and inconvenience (Kudos Grace—you inspire me!) and gave me a much-needed kick in the pants. So, I started my planning on October 30. I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself and to simply enjoy the creative challenge. I’m hoping to be outlined and ready to really write by Monday.

For now, I’m setting aside my nearly revised underwater fantasy novel in favor of a foray into gypsy magic. I’ll return undersea after Christmas to finish my editing and start submissions. Lately, my attempts at editing feel more like banging my head against a coral reef. So, a break from Sparks, a break that still keeps me writing, is just what I need.

And honestly, since I took up my pen (ah, keyboard) to write Wednesday, I am finally finding some semblance of peace and stability in my inner life again. Whether I finish up those 50,000 words in 30 days, or finish a more complete novel draft in a longer time, the point is I’m back in the chair. Writing. Creating. Breathing in the hope that invention always brings.

What hobbies bring you sanity while threatening your sanity at the same time? What big projects have you taken on? How did you feel when you completed them? How did you cope if you were unable to finish?