Update & Something Amusing

Update: It turns out Paul's job interview is on Monday morning. I'll keep you posted about how it turns out.

Something Amusing:

This came to me via Bob's blog:

Your Bumper Sticker Should Be

Even if the voices aren't real - they've got some great ideas

What Bumper Sticker Should Be On Your Car?

Perfect for a fiction writer, right?

Good stuff going on

First, I hopped on David's scale on Thursday and discovered I've lost 12 pounds. It's pretty cool, even though weight loss wasn't my goal. Two pair of jeans are nearly falling off, so I'm losing some in that all-important middle where they worry about the fat causing heart disease.

Second, Paul's passed the phone interview and is going to be interviewed in person next week, probably Tuesday, for a good job with a good company. This is a real job, not a temp/contract job. With benefits. Any good vibes, prayers, finger crossing, whatever you do to wish others well will be appreciated. Paul's birthday is a week from Tuesday. Wouldn't a good job be a great birthday gift?

I've been gone a lot this week.

It seems like I'm hardly ever home these days. My oldest son has been walking with us once or twice a week. Then he always seems to have an errand or two to run. It's no big deal for us to take him, so we do.

We're finally in the cooling off stage of that heat wave. We spent a part of one of the hottest days at the movies. We went to see Pirates of the Carribbean--Dead Man's Chest. I loved it. I'd already been forewarned that it doesn't wrap up the story in a nice, neat package. We have to wait until next summer for the end, which is fine with me. That's no different from the last two Back to the Future films.

Next week, Woody Allen's new film Scoop is coming out. I think we're going to go see it. We saw previews when we went to see The Devil Wears Prada and it looks good. A bonus for us fans of Anthony Stewart Head of Buffy fame--according to his official web site, he has a cameo in it.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet around here. Nothing happening with the job hunt. The paper says there's been an increase in hiring, but it's mostly in the hospitality industry, not the tech industry. Paul's put in applications in at places like restaurants and retail, but they won't even interview him. I suspect it's because nothing he's done uses a similar skill set to transfer over to that kind of business. So, we're still looking at whatever's out there in engineering technician work. And trying to keep a positive attitude.

This is Fun!

It's summer! It's the middle of a heat wave. I don't feel like being all serious and "writerly" today. Besides, it's my youngest son's birthday. Happy Birthday, Chris! So, it's a fun stuff day.

From Evil Editor: Want to know what your blog or web site would sound like if it were written in jive? Go Gizoogle it. Warning: the language is a bit rough, so if that bothers you, don't go there. (So, now I've done it. All of you know my little secret. I'm really not a prude. (grin) I think writers cannot afford to flinch at any words. You never know which ones you'll need to tell a story. But that's just my opinion.)

As for Evil Editor's blog--go there. It's funny and informative. He skewers and revises one of the things all writers dread having to write--the query letter. I've learned a lot about how to write one and you will, too.

Another fun thing from my friend Andi's blog:

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

I love Kermit and I agree--it's not easy being green! :)

I don't usually post on Saturday, but...

I haven't been home to write posts the past two days, so I thought I'd better write something, just so you know I haven't disappeared again.

My husband and I have discovered Sudoku. It's actually quite fun and it does make you work your brain. Keeping our brains healthy is as important to us as keeping our bodies healthy.

We've still been walking. If I lose another inch or two in my tummy, hips, or butt, I'll be able to pull off the jeans I'm wearing without undoing them. I think I need to buy a smaller pair of jeans. I don't get it. I've spent decades of my life exercising and following Weight Watchers and doing what you're supposed to do when you want to lose weight. I struggled so much, ending up following the usual pattern of losing weight and regaining it, although I never have gone back to my highest weight. I don't know if this weight loss will continue or how much I'll ultimately lose, but it's pretty cool that it's happening mostly in my middle, which is where you need to lose it if you're going to have good heart health.

I had a couple of writing topics I wanted to post about, but I can't remember what they were. When I do, I'll write and post them. It's so annoying to have that happen. I wasn't at home to stick the ideas in my file, so out of my head they went. Rumor has it that when you're finally through menopause, you stop having so many memory glitches. I certainly hope so.

Fun Stuff

Everyone is deserting us tonight. Chris has a D&D game. Mom's taking David out to dinner for his birthday. So, we decided to go to Red Robin instead of eating leftovers. We'll have the leftovers for lunch.

I looked at my list and discovered I have a lot of fun quizzes I haven't posted on here. I'm going to post a couple and save the rest for later.

Quiz #1:
Animal quiz: found on Stuart MacBride's blog

Your Animal Personality

Your Power Animal: Eagle Animal You Were in a Past Life: Whale You are active, a challenger, and optimistic. Hard-working, you are always working towards a set goal.

The Animal Personality Test

That's pretty true, even if I do get sidetracked from the goal every so often.

Quiz #2:
From Jean's blog:

Draw a Pig personality test

You drew your pig:

Toward the middle of the frame, you are a realist. True.

Facing left, you believe in tradition, are friendly, and remember dates (birthdays, etc.). My family's tradition is to not do traditions. We don't try to force traditional times to be the same every time we celebrate because sometimes it just doesn't work. I am friendly. I used to remember birthdays, etc., but I have trouble remembering what day it is at the moment. Rumor has it that when I'm done with this menopause stuff, my memory will get better again.

With many details, you are analytical, cautious, and distrustful. I'm not distrustful. I tend to be too trusting. But I am analytical and somewhat cautious, depending on the situation.

With 4 legs showing, you are secure, stubborn, and stick to your ideals. These are true.

The size of the ears indicates how good a listener you are. You are a good listener. I try to be, but my original family was full of interrupters. You didn't get heard if you didn't interrupt to make your point. It's a horrible habit I catch myself doing way too often.

The length of the tail indicates the quality of your sex life. You have a great sex life. I'll just say, "You all can figure this one out for yourselves." (grin)

Catching Up

It's been really busy around here. I haven't been home much to post. Sunday Ladyesong sang for the church service. I heard a lot of compliments, which is always appreciated. Then I conked out and slept for an hour or so. It's been hot and we've had the windows open. It's a noisy neighborhood so I don't sleep that well at night. Thus, I conk out in the afternoon. I'd rather not, but me and not enough sleep is not a pretty sight.

Sunday night we had a snack and listened to some music by a local singer. She didn't introduce herself while we were there, so I can't give her a plug. Then we went to Mel's recital. It was an interesting program, starting with music from a composer who lived in the 1500s, I think. (I don't have the program, so I'm doing this from memory.) The pieces moved forward in time until the last two, which were by Irving Berlin. The singers sounded great and it was a lot of fun.

After the recital, we still hadn't decided where to go for dinner. We were dithering between one of the restaurants at Santana Row and Max's. It was late enough that we decided on Max's. Max's is down the street from the church and we were hungry. Good dinner, as usual. All in all, we had a really wonderful anniversary.

Then yesterday we took David to run errands and he bought us lunch. The joys of adult children--sometimes they pay for the meal. I had Laydesong rehearsal last night, so I wasn't here to post. I've noticed I've been kind of serious lately, so I think tomorrow I'll look for some fun, silly quizzes to post.

Exercise, Patience, & Writing

First, Tech, who started it, has given me permission to link to The Great Slim Down. Anyone interested in joining the gang in our efforts to lose weight is welcome.

So, how does Thursday's essay relate to writing?

1. Just like you have to think of yourself as a thin person in order to be one, you have to think you're a writer in order to be one.
   
   If you call yourself a teacher or mother or volunteer or whatever, that's how you see yourself. Those roles are where you'll put your focus and energy. And you won't get much writing done because being a writer isn't in your list of who you are. You have to add writer to your list.


2. Just as you have to see your true image in the mirror in order to be successful with weight loss, you have to see yourself the way you are in order to write honestly.
   
   If you're hiding from the dark parts of your soul or hiding them from your readers, your writing will be "fluffy bunny". Nice doesn't catch people's attention. But dark does. Dark is where the conflict comes from. It's where your themes come from. I tried writing nice and I was bored. Good thing I didn't inflict that on any readers. I had to learn to kiss the monsters, a term my online writing group uses to identify the things you don't want to write about, but are the most powerful things you could write about. That's where honesty as a writer comes from, the hard places.


3. Just as permanent weight loss takes time, so does creating and selling a publishable novel.
   
   People want their novel, their first novel, finished--now. And sold and in the bookstores. More people want to have written a novel, and have it out there being bought and bringing in the bucks, than want to sit down and write the story. But neither writing a novel nor the process of publication is fast. If you need to be rewarded quickly for your work, don't become a novelist. It's a rare person who can write and sell a novel, first time out. Most published writers have more than one sitting in a drawer or on a hard drive somewhere that will never sell. You have to take the time to write the practice novels, where you go from beginner to publishable, plus the time to acquire an agent, plus the time it takes the agent to sell the book, plus the time it takes for the publisher to get it onto the shelves. Add that all up and you have a long, slow process. Weight loss seems easier and faster. (grin)
   


4. Just as you have to "use it or lose it" to get and stay in shape, a writer needs to write regularly or you "lose" it by becoming blocked.
   
   If you don't write, you "forget" how. Now you don't really forget. Like riding a bike, when you get back on, you remember. But you get full of doubts about your ability to write again. You say, "I'll do it tomorrow." And tomorrow is just as full of procrastination or other things that keep you from writing as today was. You have to write regularly, if you want to be a writer. It's kind of the definition of writer. Writers write.

It's Friday & I'm Supposed to Post

I even promised an essay. But my internet connection went down yet again and it's late. I just want to go to sleep. So, I'll try to get that essay written and posted over the weekend, even though it's a super busy weekend, with our usual Saturday errands, our wedding anniversary on Sunday to celebrate, Ladyesong singing for church and going to the recital Sunday night. That's not a complaint. I like busy. I just don't know when I'm going to have time to finish the post. We'll see how it goes. And if I don't get it done before, the gods of the internet willing, I'll post on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Exercise & Weight Loss

I originally wrote this post for a blog that's a group weight loss effort. I'm not trying to lose weight, per se. I mostly post motivational things that occur to me. But since I've been walking, some thoughts occurred to me that I wanted to share with those who read this blog. I don't know if the weight loss blog is a public one, so I'm not going to link to it. Tech is one of the writer buddies I met on Forward Motion.

I'm up to seven laps on the track, three days a week. And a mile and a half on the Los Gatos Creek trail, two days a week. My jeans are getting loose, which is weird because usually when I lose weight or start exercising I notice it in my face, wrists, and ankles first. Not complaining, just observing. (g)

When I was reading Tech's post on patience, a couple of things occurred to me. One good reason to be patient is that it gives you time to see yourself as a normal person. We all think of ourselves as "fat people". Sometimes that image can derail you. It's important to see yourself as you are, not as you were. As you lose weight, take pictures of yourself in clothes that fit well. Post them up and look at them often so your mental image is the smaller you.

You can also use the set of pictures to help you see the weight loss. If you're really big, you can lose a lot of pounds, as reported on the scale, and not really see it in the mirror. But if you have a picture of yourself before you started, you can compare the current picture with the first one you took and you'll see the difference.

Also, even if you have to go to Goodwill or the Salvation Army or a consignment shop, as you lose weight, toss your fat clothes and get clothes that fit. Take more pictures. If you're wearing clothes that hang on you and look terrible and don't show your body at all, you can't get an accurate mental image. So you keep seeing yourself in your mind as the fat person who started this weight-loss program. And that's the person you'll keep trying to become. Plus, if you're clothes are too big, it's tempting to let yourself get big enough to look good in them again.

The other thought I had about patience is something my husband reminded me. It took a lot of years to put on these pounds. He's a bit discouraged because he hasn't noticed any weight loss and he walks a lot farther and faster than I do. (An aside: This is funny, since men tend to lose more easily than women. But if we diet, no exercise, he takes it off way faster than I do.) So his comment was that he doesn't expect to lose it quickly. And, he reminded me that it's about good health, not pounds on the scale.

We hope to be like the 90-something grandma of an online buddy of mine who slipped off a stool and broke her hip. She apparently recovered fine. But what's special about that story is that the stool was in front of a slot machine in the Bahamas. I'd love to be in good enough health to be able to travel when I'm in my 90s. And as much as we all want good health now, isn't it really about not being bedridden when we're really old? That's all about the true cliche--use it or lose it. I'm not saying that if we don't get that, it's our own fault. I just think there are things we can do to increase our likelihood of being that way when we're really old.

One more thing about exercise in general. I've been eating less food since we started walking. I'm not dieting or following any particular program. I just haven't been as hungry. That tells me I'm walking about the right pace and distance for me. I'm not overly hungry, as I would be if I weren't fueling the exercise enough. But, obviously, I didn't need as much food as I thought I did, either. It's not a huge change. Just substituting larger portions of salad and veggies for slightly smaller portions of meat and pasta/rice/bread, etc.

Ok, so what does all this have to do with writing? Well, it's already a very long post, so I'll do that essay tomorrow. Stay tuned. (g)

Nice Concert & Fun Stuff Going on These Days

We did find seats. The music was kind of blah. Then they had a break and fixed the drum mix. They added a second sax. And then they were cookin'. It was a nice evening.

I have a busy week coming up. Ladyesong is doing the special music in church this Sunday. The choir only does four Sundays during the summer. We're singing two pieces, both favorites of mine. "Steal Away" is hard for me because I memorized a different version for another group I sang in and sometimes I start singing the other version, out of habit. We're also doing a spiritual called "Witness", which is more upbeat and is a nice contrast to "Steal Away".

Sunday is our wedding anniversary. 29 years with the same guy and we're still happy, despite the job issues and stuff going on in our lives. We're going to splurge on dinner out somewhere and go to a freebie recital. Mary Elizabeth Enman (Mel), the founder and conductor of Ladyesong, is doing a duet recital with Kathleen Nitz Kazdorf. They will be accompanied by Michael Touchi. If you live in the area, the recital is at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church on the corner of Saratoga and Cox Avenues in Saratoga, CA at 7 pm. We might get a late afternoon snack and do dinner after the recital, so we don't have to rush. It mostly depends on how long the recital is and how late the restaurant stays open on Sunday.

Then, next week, Ladyesong has a concert at The Villages. It's a long one. We're doing 22 pieces and I'm trying to memorize them all because that shoulder/arm injury I had isn't 100% healed. It hurts to hold even one or two pieces of music, even without the folder, because in order to see the music, I can't move my arm. I have to hold it in a position that's awkward for the not-quite-healed muscles. I can use a stand, if I have to, but I'm hoping I won't because that's awkward, too. I'll probably end up tripping over the darn thing. My biggest problem with memorizing the music is that I haven't been home the past couple of days to work on it, but I've been able to listen to the rehearsal CD, which does help.

Anyway, I'm planning to post in here weekdays, as I used to, before I started into a downward spiral into a black hole you don't want to hear about. Paul and I started walking a month ago and it's helping a lot. We do the all-weather track at the local community center three days a week and part of the Los Gatos Creek Trail two days. I'm doing seven laps on the track and 1-1/2 miles on the trail. I must have lost some weight, too. The jeans I wore yesterday are getting way too big. And my appetite is down. I'm not eating as much because I'm just getting full. After our walk, I go get a plain, black coffee and write in my journal. The combination is making me feel, and act, like a normal person again. Whew!

We're walking with our son tomorrow and then we're going off to Target, because we both forgot to pick something up when we were there today. Carpooling is cool, especially when you actually like your kid. (g) I'm looking forward to it. He's done with school for the summer and it's nice to be able to spend some time with him.

Happy Independence Day to you Americans out there!

It's interesting to read what people are putting on their blogs to celebrate this day. I have four I'd like to link to because they said good stuff.

• Holly Lisle
• PBW
• Tamara Siler Jones
• Jean Schara

We're going to celebrate American music, I think. One of the local malls has a free jazz concert every Tuesday from May through September. They get great local talent and it's a fun time, if you can find a place to sit.

Changing Things or Not Changing Things

A Pet Peeve

Ok. You're writing along and come up with a situation that totally sucks. All of your ideas to fix it don't work because you set up your world a specific way. What do you do? Stubbornly stick to your worldbuilding and ditch the story because it doesn't work? Or change the worldbuilding so you can write the story you really want to tell?

At Forward Motion, an online writing community I belong to, there's a thing called a "Think Tank". Sheila Kelly, aka PBW, originated the idea. It's a brainstorming session. People come to Conference Room One. Everyone has an opportunity to ask one writing-related question and the participants brainstorm answers until the moderator calls "time". I moderated the Friday Night Think Tank for nearly three years.

One of the things I saw over and over again is that people asked for help with plotting or character development or whatever and automatically dismissed suggestions because they conflicted with something else the writer had already developed. The writer would say, "But it's this way, so that won't work." That attitude sort of defeats the purpose of brainstorming. When you brainstorm, you don't evaluate ideas. You accept them all and let them sit until after everyone's run out of ideas. Then you consider whether or not they're useful.

Sometimes an idea isn't useful the way it's originally presented. But there's a seed in it that can be tweaked and grown so it becomes a way to solve the original problem. Sometimes you have to rethink the whole thing because you've written yourself into a corner. Or you've built a world that has conflicting elements and something has to change if you're going to tell your story. Sometimes, you know what you need to do, but you're looking for a way out because it's too emotionally difficult to write the best way to tell the story. You dismiss the ideas because you don't want to go to that place inside your head.

But if you want to write your best stories, everything you write is up for grabs. You can't hold onto your words as if they were precious gems. You have to look at them in the context of the story you're telling. Delete, revise, edit, find the best ones, the ones that say what you mean. The same is true of plot ideas, characters, etc. They need to be as up for grabs as the words themselves.

Writing a story is a process. Until you've finished the draft, everything can be mutable. You're not taking dictation, although sometimes it feels that way. And even the "dictated" parts are up for evaluation, revision, editing, etc. Eventually, you get to a point where you're not changing anything essential. That's when it's time to say, "This is the way it is." And send the thing out. Or stick it in a drawer as a learning experience, depending on how it turned out. Before that, everything can be changed as you hone it to reflect the real story you're trying to communicate with your words.

So, my pet peeve is that people restrict the possibilities in their writing by making choices that they refuse to reconsider as they make other choices. For me, telling a story is about refining the choices I make to form a whole. I don't know any other way to do it, at least not with a story the size and complexity of a novel. You can't get a whole novel into your head at one time. You have to do it in chunks, and the later chunks can mean changing the earlier chunks. If you read the original premise of the novel I'm currently writing, then looked at what it's become, you'd wonder how in the world it's the same book. Well, it's the same book because it's the same basic idea. I just changed, refined, honed the details to tell the story behind the idea. That's what you have to do if you want to get closer to getting what's really in your head onto the page.

"Dating" Writing & Love/Hate the Internet

"Dating" Writing

I haven't written about writing for a while. You probably wonder if I'm really an SAHW or a SAHBum. Sometimes I feel like the latter, but writing is rarely far from my mind, even if I'm not doing a lot of work on the novel. I've been learning a lot about technique and the publishing business and storytelling and other writing stuff this year. Lately, I've been itching to get back to working on the novel and I know what the next one in that "world" will be about. You can't keep a writer from writing forever. No matter what happens, we always get back to it.

A couple of days ago Robyn Harper posted on Romancing the Blog about dating your story. By "dating" she meant using specific news events that would cause the reader to know exactly when the story happened. Current consensus seems to believe that you should try to write a contemporary novel so that it's within the parameters of the current time, but not so specific that it must be 2006. I started to write a comment, but realized I had more to say than a sentence or two.

I think you have to consider the impact of news events on your story. In many stories, they have no impact because it's not what the story is about. You don't even have to mention them. If I write a mystery about San Francisco in 2006, I don't have to mention any of the catastrophes that occurred in other places around the world unless something about that catastrophe specifically impacts the story. But if I write a mystery set in San Francisco, post-April 16, 1906, then I must mention the earthquake because the earthquake had an impact on everyone in the region. And it would have messed up clues, taken people's attention away from whatever they may have witnessed about the murder, etc. That would be especially true if the murder took place prior to the earthquake.

Another side of this issue is how the culture "dates" a story. I'd write a story that took place in different parts of my lifetime very differently. If I wrote about the 60s and 70s there would be no cell phones, no personal computers, no world wide web. But if I wrote a story that takes place today and ignored those things, it wouldn't feel right to the reader. So, in that way, all stories have things in them that set the timeline. If you try to leave out all of that stuff and write a story that is contemporary, yet not specific to a particular contemporary time, you end up with an empty stage. Your reader doesn't get grounded in the world you're writing about and can feel lost. Plus, setting makes a difference in the story. How characters relate to the world around them is important, but how can you show that if you don't show the specific world they live in, including both the historical setting and the cultural setting?

On the other hand, I think it's possible to get too specific in writing contemporary settings. Marketing people want to "brand" everything. They want to define us by the brand of clothing we buy, the brand of car we drive, and so on. So there's a temptation to use branding as a shortcut to defining our characters and the world around them. The problem is that when you assume that saying your character drives a BMW rather than a Ford means something to the reader, you're making another assumption--that your reader has the same perception about BMWs vs. Fords that you make. And that everyone who drives one or the other is the same kind of person. Obviously, that's not true.

I wonder if Mark Twain, Jane Austen, or Agatha Christie's books would have stood the test of time if they were so nebulous. Could Twain's biting wit even work if he hadn't addressed the specific life he saw around him? When you read his work, you're drawn into his time. Ditto for the other people I mentioned. Christie gets slammed for her British upper crust racist attitudes. But that was who she was and the world of the 1930s she lived in and wrote about. If she had been born into contemporary society, her attitudes and the attitudes of her stories most likely would have been more in line with ours.

I think chasing the "dateless contemporary" is a futile exercise. Maybe you won't be writing about specific current events, but you will be writing about things that ground the reader in the current time period. That specificity is what I think creates a timeless story. The argument is that people won't buy a book that was written a couple of years ago because it's "dated" makes no sense to me. People still read stories written in past times, stories that don't pretend to be any other time. I think that they don't sell because the story isn't a timeless one, a universal story that has appeal beyond the time it was written for. But if writers admit that, then they can't blame the fickle reading public for not wanting "dated" stories and make themselves nuts trying to write a story that's not "dated", hoping that simple answer means it has a chance of selling beyond the immediate release period. They'd have to admit that maybe the problem is with the story itself. They didn't write a timeless story. Very few people can write timeless stories that sell for years and years, or become classics that still sell decades or centuries after they were written. We can only write the best story we can and the rest is really out of our hands. Personally, I take my advice from the example of Twain and co.--write as honestly as possible about the world as you see it, whether it's contemporary or fantasy or horror or whatever. And let time decide the rest.

Internet Provider Rant

I'm in a love/hate relationship with the Internet. Actually, more with the local internet provider services. Our options are old-fashioned, slooooow, dialup or the local cable company. We're too far from the central service thingie to have DSL. The phone company has been promising to upgrade for the past several years. No go, not yet, at least. So, we have the local cable provider. That was great when we first got it. But lately, I've had entire days when I couldn't get online. That makes job hunting very difficult because you can't check job boards, send resumes, etc. without a solid connection. I can imagine trying to fill out some of the forms on some of the company web sites on dialup. Most of them would time out before you got the form finished. So, we're slogging along and hopefully, the job hunt will be faster this time. We do have some unemployment money coming. Only 4 months, though. I don't know why only 4 instead of the usual 6, unless it's just what we didn't use from the last time Paul's contract ended. And, of course, it means less time for me to keep up the blog. (Sigh) I hope whatever readers I have won't give up on me because I'm not able to post as often as I used to.

What's Up?

Life sucks, but then you get over it. Paul's contract ended. Yet again, we do the job hunt thing. I was kind of numb all last week and disinclined to post anything. My eternal optimism eventually takes over, though, and I figure out how to cope.

My arm is almost 100%. There's still a bit of a limit on what I can lift or carry with it. I have almost complete range of motion. I can do all of the basic things like shower and get dressed by myself. I'm grateful for that. I do still get aches or move it the wrong way and cause it to hurt. That's going away more slowly, but it is going away.

I thought I'd share a couple of fun quizzes. They make me laugh, which I need these days. That's why I like to post them. These were discovered on my friend Andi's blog:

Your Seduction Style: Au Natural

You rank up there with your seduction skills, though you might not know it. That's because you're a natural at seduction. You don't realize your power! The root of your natural seduction power: your innocence and optimism. You're the type of person who happily plays around and creates a unique little world. Little do you know that your personal paradise is so appealing that it sucks people in. You find joy in everything - so is it any surprise that people find joy in you? You bring back the inner child in everyone you meet with your sincere and spontaneous ways. Your childlike (but not childish) behavior also inspires others to care for you. As a result, those who you befriend and date tend to be incredibly loyal to you.

What Kind of Seducer Are You?

That one's obviously not aimed at folks who have been happily married for almost 30 years. If I were not married, I think it's pretty accurate to how I am.

Here's one more:

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel like It's a beautiful day Don't let it get away" You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments. And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's Your Theme Song?

Do I see a theme in these things? I always seem to hit on the "sees the beauty in everyday moments" kind of answers. It fits and I think it's a good way to live because I'm more content, in general, than people I know who are always complaining about everything because it's not perfect enough or because they thought it would be different or whatever.

So, I'm curious. What's your life theme? Do you have one?

Music & Shopping

This has been a busy time for my music life. Ladyesong had a concert last weekend. I'd have posted a promo here, but my Internet connection was gone more than it was on last week. It went really well. I enjoyed doing it. West Valley College's Chamber Orchestra did an arrangement of Go Down, Moses that I'd love to do with my church choir.

This week is the big celebration of the 50th anniversary of the church I attend. Lots of musical opportunities there. We're doing a hymn fest before the dinner on Saturday. And singing a favorite anthem for Sunday's church service. Ladyesong is celebrating along with the church, so we're singing two pieces during the service.

Then we have a few weeks and choir stops for the summer. Ladyesong takes a break in August, but we have a concert in July to prepare for. That's going to be tough because most of the music is new to me and a lot of it is supposed to be memorized. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time with the music because this concert is 45 minutes to an hour and it's just us. I guess I'll have to figure out how to memorize music fast. We don't have a rehearsal CD, so I have to play it on the keyboard. Then sing it a capella to see if I can sing it without the music.

My wonderful hubby's been complaining that I need new dresses. Can you believe it? A guy telling his wife to buy clothes? lol So I bought some online. The first one came today. I really like it and it fits fine. The other two should be here tomorrow. Me, the "hates to buy clothes" person bought three dresses in one online spree. Hmmm . . . I think I need to be careful about online shopping. It's way too easy. lol But, now, I need shoes. Maybe on Saturday, before choir rehearsal, I can take a trip to the shoe store.

Internet Issues & an Interesting Quiz

I've been mostly offline the past week because I haven't had a reliable internet connection. It makes it difficult to post regularly, which I find frustrating.

Jean posted an interesting quiz on her blog yesterday. It's a quiz asking what time of day are you. Here's mine:

You Are Sunrise

You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

What Time Of Day Are You?

This is interesting to me because it's more like me than most of these quizzes. I do enjoy life for what it is. I don't see the point in trying to make life into something it's not, then being disappointed because my expectations aren't met. I don't expect my wildest fantasies to be real, but they're fun to play around with in my mind. I get stories from them because they're so over-the-top, exactly the way fiction is over the top. In real life, though, I try to make the most of each day, doing what I can to build the life I want, and enjoy every minute of that process, because my memories and what I do today are what I have.

I also have learned to appreciate the ordinary. There's a line Henry Fonda says in the original version of Yours, Mine, and Ours with Lucille Ball. He's talking with his teenage daughter, who's trying to figure out what to do about her boyfriend, who wants what every teenage boy wants. Lucille Ball's character is about to have a baby. There's complete chaos going on as they try to follow their plan to make sure the younger kids are cared for and get mom-to-be to the hospital in time. He tells the young girl that this is what life's all about. I think that's where love is built and relationships thrive--in the everyday, ordinary things.

Thought-provoking

Elizabeth Bear's post, "How to Change the World", struck a chord with me. It reads like the things my sons call my "Momisms" because I believe that only if each individual takes personal responsibility for doing what he can to make things a bit better will they ever be a bit better. If you let cynicism make you stop doing what you can because it never seems to be enough or because you can't see that it makes a difference, then the cynics get their perspective validated and the world seems ruder, colder, and harder than it really is.

But then I'm often told I'm naive and stupid for thinking one person can make any difference and I should follow the crowd and look out for "number one". The thing is that I believe that our purpose in life is to care for each other. Not only our circle of friends and family, but everyone whose lives we touch. If everyone did that, we wouldn't have to feel guilty because we can't care for everyone on the planet. We'd know someone else was caring for those we can't reach.

I Refuse to Let This Die

It's been almost two weeks since I last posted. But I don't want the blog to die completely while things get back more or less to normal. I've had internet issues, as well as the arm pain issues, that have kept me from posting. Annoying, but what can I do but wait out both the arm healing and the internet connection?

My arm is getting better. I can type two-handed, but not for long periods of time. It looks like I won't need physical therapy. I just need time to let it heal. I'm only using the sling when I'm out and about, just so people know not to bump that arm. I'm still taking enough Motrin that I'm falling asleep in the afternoon, though. It's annoying because I have things I'd rather be doing than nap for an hour or two.

This week is Easter week. I have one evening I'm not doing a rehearsal or church service and we're shopping that day. Paul needs to exchange a shirt, which is unusual for him. He pretty much wears the same size in everyone's brand, but apparently this one runs large. I think he's going to have to try it on. And I'm looking for a new dress, but being unsuccessful because when I find something I like, they're out of my size. (sigh)

Andi posted a movie star quiz on her friends only blog. The quiz is for women only. She didn't say where she found the quiz, so I don't know if there is one for men. Here's the quiz (with the spelling of Miss Hepburn's name corrected):

Ever wonder which movie star you are most like? Don't read ahead please!

Well, a team of researchers got together and analyzed the personalities of movie stars. The gathered info has been incorporated into this quiz.

There's only 10 questions so it doesn't take long. Number your paper from 1 to 10, then Answer each question with the choice that most describes you at this point in your life, and then add up the points that correspond with your answers.

Don't look ahead or you will ruin the fun!

1. Which describes your perfect date?
a) Candlelight dinner for two
b) Amusement Park
c) Rollerblading in the park
d) Rock Concert
e) Have dinner & see a movie
f) Dinner at home with a loved one

2. What is your favorite type of music?
a) Rock and Roll
b) Alternative
c) Soft Rock
d) Classical
e) Christian
f) Jazz

3. What is your favorite type of movie?
a) Comedy
b) Horror
c) Musical
d) Romance
e) Documentary
f) Mystery

4. Which of the following jobs would you choose if you were given only these choices?
a) Waiter/Waitress
b) Sports Player
c) Teacher
d) Policeman
e) Bartender
f) Business person

5. Which would you rather do if you had an hour to waste?
a) Work out
b) Make out
c) Watch TV
d) Listen to the radio
e) Sleep
f) Read

6. Of the following colors, which do you like best?
a) Yellow
b) White
c) Sky blue
d) Teal
e) Gold
f) Red

7. Which one of the following would you like to eat right now?
a) Ice cream
b) Pizza
c) Sushi
d) Pasta
e) Salad
f) Lobster Tail

8. Which is your favorite holiday?
a) Halloween
b) Christmas
c) New Year's
d) Valentine's Day
e) Thanksgiving
f) Fourth of July

9. If you could go to any of the following places, which would it be?
a) Reno
b) Spain
c) Las Vegas
d) Hawaii
e) Hollywood
f) British Columbia

10. Of the following, who would you rather spend time with?
a) Someone who is smart
b) Someone with good looks
c) Someone who is a party animal
d) Someone who has fun all the time
e) Someone who is very emotional
f) Someone who is fun to be with

Now total up your points on each question:

1. a-4 b-2 c-5 d-1 e-3 f-6
2. a-2 b-1 c-4 d-5 e-3 f-6
3. a-2 b-1 c-3 d-4 e-5 f-6
4. a-4 b-5 c-3 d-2 e-1 f-6
5. a-5 b-4 c-2 d-1 e-3 f-6
6. a-1 b-5 c-3 d-2 e-4 f-6
7. a-3 b-2 c-1 d-4 e-5 f-6
8. a-1 b-3 c-2 d-4 e-5 f-6
9. a-4 b-5 c-1 d-4 e-3 f-6
10. a-5 b-2 c-1 d-3 e-4 f-6

NOW, take your total and find out which Movie Star you are:

(10-17 points) You are MADONNA:
You are wild and crazy and you know it. You know how to have fun, but you may take it to extremes. You know what you are doing though, and are much in control of your own life. People don't always see things your way, but that doesn't mean that you should do away with your beliefs. Try to remember that your wild spirit can lead to hurting yourself and others.

(18-26 points) You are DORIS DAY:
You are fun, friendly, and popular! You are a real crowd pleaser. You have probably been out on the town your share of times, yet you come home with the values that your mother taught you. Marriage and children are very important to you, but only after you have fun. Don't let the people you please influence you to stray.

(27-34 points) You are DEBBIE REYNOLDS:
You are cute, and everyone loves you. You are a best friend that no one takes the chance of losing. You never hurt feelings and seldom have your own feelings hurt. Life is a breeze. You are witty, and calm most of the time. Just keep clear of back stabbers, and you are worry-free.

(35-42 points) You are GRACE KELLY:
You are a lover. Romance, flowers, and wine are all you need to enjoy yourself. You are serious about all commitments and are a family person. You call your Mom every Sunday, and never forget a Birthday. Don't let your passion for romance get confused with the real thing.

(43-50 points) You are KATHARINE HEPBURN:
You are smart, a real thinker. Every situation is approached with a plan. You are very healthy in mind and body. You don't take crap from anyone. You have only a couple of individuals that you consider "real friends". You teach strong family values. Keep your feet planted in them, but don't overlook a bad situation when it does happen.

(51-60 points) You are ELIZABETH TAYLOR:
Everyone is in awe of you. You know what you want and how to get it. You have more friends than you know what to do with. Your word is your bond. Everyone knows when you say something it is money in the bank. You attract the opposite sex. Your intelligence overwhelms most. Your memory is the next thing to photographic. Everyone admires you because you are so considerate and lovable. You know how to enjoy life and treat people right.

I came out like Katharine Hepburn. I think that's cool. When I told Andi who I came out as, she wasn't surprised. Who did you end up being like?

Quote from Stephen King & My Comments

"Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life."
- Stephen King
ON WRITING

I never fail to be amazed at the number of writers who I meet who tell me they don't read. Or they take their inspiration from movies and TV, which would be fine if they were writing screenplays and scripts, but they're writing novels. Different mediums with different requirements. I don't see how you can learn and understand the novel form if you don't read novels.

A lot of writers quote a lot of "writing rules". They tell me "show, don't tell." They tell me don't use adjectives, adverbs, or dialogue tags. And on, and on, and on. But if they were to read as much as I do, they'd see that none of those, or the myriad of other so-called "rules of writing" aren't as simple as "do this" and "don't do that".

Pro writers appear to break those rules all the time. Why? Well, because the rules were generated to help writers in specific situations, but eventually they became broadly applied to every situation because applying a rule is easy. You can fool yourself that you're a good writer because you know how to follow the "rules". But unless you've thought about why you're following the rules and whether you should break them this time, you're not writing at your top level of quality.

What should you do instead? Read, read, read. Look at what the writers of the good books do. Do what they do. Think about your writing as you write and compare the way you're using techniques to the way the pros use them. Then go back and make your writing quality as good as the best books you read. If you can't do that, you're writing's not ready for publication.

Good luck!!