Wednesday, January 16, 2002

 

Here's my first post to my new blogger. I thought this would make it easier to make posts to my journal. And believe me, I need quick and easy right now. Thanks to Lazette. It was her spiffy new blogger that gave me the idea.

Yesterday I took time to read everyone's journals, even the 'on hiatus' ones. It's good to be back reading and posting again. I plan to post more again.

Ron Collins' Jan. 14th entry was very encouraging.

I've been thinking about my writing again. I read a story I wrote a while back and I couldn't believe how horrible! I realized that writing is something I think I'd like to do, but don't really want to put forth the *work* that needs to be done to do it.

Also, after much introspection, I realized that my characters are flat. I recently read "Bag of Bones" by Stephen King (a record 7 days to finish it). He mentions in there that the most brilliantly written character in a story is still only a bag of bones. Well, then, mine characters only amount to the tiny toe bones. My characters are reflections of me and I'm a person who is not interested in much of anything. I'm not an art fanatic, a history buff, or a have any interest in politics. Nor am I a highly intelligent person. Therefore my characters come out very boring, much like me.

So, what am I saying? Am I saying that I'm going to give up and quit writing? No! This means I'm going to have to open up and broaden my horizons a little. I'm going to start reading more, learning more, doing more. This in the past has been difficult for me. I've had the desire to read things and learn more, but once I actually do it, my brain shuts down and says: "Sorry, not interested." I'm just going to have to put my head in gear and get to work.

Another problem with my stories is that they stall out. I get a great beginning, or a middle, but the ends are totally and completely lost to me. I make up endings that seem cliche or ones that make you say, "I saw that coming a mile away." I'm hoping that once I stretch my mind a little and learn more about the world around me that this will fall into place. Also, I need to let the guys in the basement loose a bit, maybe even up their pay. (If you don't get it, read "Bag of Bones".)

"Bag of Bones" was a good story. Although, I was talking to my husband about it and he said, "I don't like Stephen King, he wanders too much." I replied, "Yes, but he does make the wandering interesting." "B of B" is the 3rd King book I've read. "In the Eyes of the Dragon" was first, then "The Green Mile". I plan to read "Hearts of Atlantis" next.

Xander is doing fine. We've definately traded the colic for teething though. "Teething already?" I hear you say. Yup! Teething at 2 months old, I can't believe it either. But, he has all the classic signs: drooling, chewing on fingers, waking up from naps, diarrea, and waking up from naps early (when he wakes up he frantically tries to chew on something). We've tried encouraging him to use his pacifier or teething toys instead of his fingers. It's a battle.

James has been sick with fever and achiness. I'm trying to keep Xander from getting it, so I've been taking 'night shifts'. Xander has difficulty sleeping for more than an hour at a time. If we're lucky he'll sleep from midnight to 3. Before James got sick we were taking turns staying up with him. But now, I'm the one who's been up for several nights in a row now. Most of the time Xander and I share the guest bed where he can lay next to me and I can just put the pacifier in and go back to sleep. Some nights it seems like he's fussy every ten minutes or so.

But, ya gotta love the cute little guy! We've started this little game. He smiles a lot when I'm changing his diaper (and for good reason). But sometimes he'll look me right in the eye and stick his lip out in a pout. I'll say, "Awww, what's wrong?" and he'll grin really big back at me. Sometimes, when he's not smiling, I'll pout at him. If I can get his attention to look at me right in my face, he'll smile back at me. :) He's so precious!

Dawn posted this at 5:13 PM.

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