Friday, August 30, 2002

 

I found this web site from Deb Osorio's journal, Purple Haze. I thought it odd that I got the same thing she did. Maybe they all come up that way..?

I am a STORY TELLER

I am a natural story teller, and tales unfold in my mind almost without thought. I can entertain myself by reading a book that exists only in my head, which might make me seem distant from people at times.

Dawn posted this at 9:45 AM.

 

Ohh! I didn't mention that I lost 3 pounds this week after two weeks of only losing one pound per week. Whoohoo! AND that's considering James parents were here and I splurged a little. We did do a lot of walking on Tuesday and I only ate two meals. (I wanted to be really hungry for Lambert's) Although one pound a week is good and I wouldn't mind if I consistantly lost that, but 3 is even better. I have about 50 I'd like to lose and that would take me about a year then. By then I'd get pregnant again and start the cycle all over. But if I work like I did last time and only gain about 30, then lose most of it in the first six weeks like last time I'll be in great shape! Of course, murphey wouldn't allow that though...

Anyway, I'm babbling...TTFN!

Dawn posted this at 9:36 AM.

 

SC: 9,200 words

I'm so pleased with the way this is going now. Something had been niggling at me for awhile now and when James and I took our walk this morning, we talked breifly about it and he helped me solve it. I've been struggling with the fact that the two main characters motivations were weak. He helped me to strengthen them. I also said I needed an antagonist since the 'bad guy' isn't really in the picture yet. He helped me there too. Things were just going too well for my characters. I need to backtrack a bit and add a bit of conflict. I can't wait to get to work tomorrow morning! :)

I'm thinking about changing the look here, so look for changes soon.

Dawn posted this at 9:08 AM.

Thursday, August 29, 2002

 

SC:8,200

Still plugging away. A couple more writing days and I've inched the word count up a bit. Had a good writing day today. That antsy feeling of "Let's hurry up and be done writing today" or "Oh, how many words was that, am I done yet?" is about gone. Just got to keep going.

We went Tuesday on an exhausting trip down to the coast. First we went to Bellingrath Gardens and I got some gorgeous pictures. Then we went to Dauphin Island (very cul place) and rode the ferry across the bay to Ft. Morgan. Then we let Xander get his feet wet in the gulf. At first he was scared (and tired). But I started laughing at every wave and he quickly got the idea that it was fun. He was really enjoying walking on the wet sand and the waves splashing at his feet by the time we left.

Then we went to Lambert's Cafe (Home of the throwed rolls) for dinner. They litterally do throw the rolls to you. It's so cul. They also have 'pass arounds' which are additional veggies that you can have all you can eat. The day we were there they had fried taters and onions (yum), black-eyed peas, tomatos and macaroni, surgum and apple butter (for the rolls, yum!). It was delicious. There are only 3 locations; one at Foley, AL and two in Missori. You're missing something if you've never been.

Dawn posted this at 1:56 PM.

Monday, August 26, 2002

 

SC:6,700 words.

Missed a few writing days. Friday afternoon I was running ragged. It was such an exhausting week. Saturday I slept in. After a lunch date with my mom and some friends I got to work painting (more later). I managed to finish it by 10 PM Sunday night. Sunday morning I just could not get myself up early enough to write. So here it is Monday. I worked on it some today, but I'm running out of gas. I had to fight with myself to get any wordage at all. But I think the story is beginning to take shape. I'm working it out further and further.

James' parents are here for a visit. We are talking about taking a day trip to the beach tomorrow. I'm taking the laptop along to hopefully get some work done in the car.

About the painting project: I decided that it would be neat to draw the map from Winnie-the-pooh of the 100 Acre Wood on Xander's sliding closet doors. I drew it freehand from the picture in about 45 minutes. I thought it looked great, but James encouraged me to paint it. It looks much better. I never knew that I could do something like that. It was very satisfying work; a great confidence builder. I'll take pictures of it soon and put it on Xander's site.

I'm working on another one on his wall. It says "Xander's Room". The "Room" looks like blocks and sitting on the blocks are Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet. I'm planning to add Tigger hanging from the 'X'. I don't think it will look as good as the other.

Now I'm considering doing this to make some money, but I don't know if I could make much after all the time involved in doing it. We live in a poor area and I don't know how many people could afford it either. A friend did ask me if I could paint a stepstool for her 3 year old daughter. She likes to sew, so I think I'll ask her if she could finish one of the cross stich projects I started, or sew an outfit that I bought materials for, but never sewed.

Anyway, I want to leave you with this quote from my 'quote a day' thingy on my desk. I've been reading this everytime I sit down to write.

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." Walt Disney

Dawn posted this at 12:36 PM.

Thursday, August 22, 2002

 

SC: 5,200 words.

Still working everyday, still walking everyday. :) I'm starting to lose my desire though, the 'getting started novel high' has worn off. I'm still trying to keep myself in the chair for an hour a day though. I've got to find some other time though to get a short story sent off though. I don't want to not write on the novel because I might not get back to it.

My progress on the novel slowed down considerably yesterday and today. The day before yesterday something was nagging me. Then I happened to be reading a couple of things about dreams and it occured to me that I needed a dream sequence. It allowed me to put in a bit of forshadowing as well as some other information in the dream. It was awkward for me to write and took some time. Now the scene I'm currently working on will take a bit of thought as well. They are meeting up with some other characters, one of which I haven't given much thought to yet. I hadn't planned on this character being a major part in it, but it may turn out that he will be involved in the main characters lives. We'll see.

Xander's pictures are fully up at our family website. You can check them out here.

Also, I'm considering another part-time job. This is one of those internet jobs that you can do at home in your own spare time. I'd basically working off commission of advertising (yes, I'd make money off those annoying pop-ups, isn't that terrible!?). BUT part of the job involves writing non-fiction articles for the site. An actual writing job! I'd get paid for writing!! I haven't gotten it yet. I have to send a resume and an article. I'll let you know how it goes.

Dawn posted this at 11:06 AM.

Monday, August 19, 2002

 

I hadn't wanted to say anything here yet, but I think it's been long enough. James and I have been walking two miles every morning for more than 4 weeks now. I've lost about ten pounds, but I can tell that some of my clothes are fitting much better too. I put a dress on that two months ago was about skin tight and now it is just a bit baggy. Whoohoo! We are also learning how to eat to live, not live to eat. It's amazing how little our bodies can live on. We've learned to tell when our body needs food. We're still working on the 'stop when you're satisfied' thing. It's hard to break our concept of 'this is how much I should eat'.

Let me give you an idea of how much I could eat. We'd stop at Wendy's and I would get 2 junior bacon cheeseburgers, a Biggie fry and a frosty. I would still want even more food after that. Now, a lot of times I'm satisfied with just the burger and a drink. I'm beginning to feel full with much less food.

Anyway, on the writing front: I've created some time for me to write everyday. So far it's working great to write between 5:30 and 6:30 AM. James and Xander are still asleep and lately Xander has been sleeping in until almost 7, giving me time to lay down and try to nap for 30 minutes. Although, I'm usually on such a buzz from writing that I can't calm down and sleep. So far SC has 3400 words and climbing. I'm aiming for it to be a novel, but since I'm not a big word count person, I'll be happy with a novella. I'm just not as wordy as most people, nor do I develop a complex plot. I'm hoping that both will get better with practice.

It feels so good to be cranking out words again. :)

Dawn posted this at 11:43 AM.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002

 

Just finished working on Misfit Magic. I've added 400 words and polished it up a bit. I'm now looking for a place to send it to. This story now has springs on it. When it bounces back from one place, I'm going to send it right back out to another.

We just finished having a donut sale/ lock in for the older kids at the library. Monday morning we got up at 4 AM to sale the donuts (raised over $500 for the library!) then that night we met at the library at 8 to have a lock-in for those that sold the donuts. I stayed up till about 3 AM and would have stayed up longer, only Xander woke up at about 2 and I decided to lay down with him so that he would sleep. Poor guy's been having colic trouble nearly every morning around 2.

Our website is partially up. You can see Xander's Wal-mart portraits. I still have to upload the portraits taken with his grandparents though. Here's the link to our family website. I'll probably get the rest up soon.

Dawn posted this at 9:56 AM.

Monday, August 05, 2002

 

I had just finished my mail and had a few minutes to catch up on journals (I wanted to see how Diana's wedding went, and what new project Erin has started) and blogger came up. I'd forgotten that I had it set as my home page and I decided that I would update here.

So much has happened I don't know where to begin. The SRP at the library is over (YEAH!) and we are settling into a routine without that extra work. Xander is growing like a weed. He is crawling (still slow though), standing on his own in his crib and learning bunches. We are working on teaching him to sign "please" (put open hand on chest and move in a circular motion) so that he can communicate. Children can learn communication through actions before they can verbalize anything.

The first day he resisted us taking his hand and signing "please" for a piece of graham cracker. By the third day, not only was he not resisting us, but he was also moving his hand that direction on his own (after we touch his arm). Then, one time I decided to wait a little longer to see if he would do it on his own. He started reaching for my hand. I put my hand on the highchair tray where he could reach it. He picked up my hand and pulled it to his chest! I laughed so hard I thought I'd bust! I woke James up from his nap just to tell him about it. Xander still hasn't done it on his own, but today is only day five of teaching him this.

Just a bit of writing news. I haven't worked on my latest project in quite a while, but I was making quite a bit of progress. I've made some deep revelations about my writing and why I struggle so much with certian areas. I have trouble with antaganists (bad guys). I just can't get into the head of them. I'm starting to see them as people, though. I know that sounds funny, but I always pictured the bad guy as this evil dude that I couldn't understand because he's just so evil. If you think about it from the bad guys point of view though, they're not so bad. It's just that they want something so badly that they'd do anything to get it, even kill for it.

The other thing that I discovered is that as far as the story went, I was goddess. Meaning I controled the world, the environment, etc. But when it came to the characters, I'd act like I wasn't in control. I'd heard so much about "characters having a life of their own" that I took it too literally. I wanted the characters to evolve on their own; for Items of the person's character to be revealed from the story. But I am in control of both the characters and the story line. I am goddess over all (when it comes to my stories). :)

I also need help with plot. My poor brain just won't go beyond the ordinary. Oh, I come up with some extraordinary ideas occasionally, but ideas are not whole stories.

Anyway, I've been reading despite the fact that I was so busy with library work. I finished the Hobbit and I'm in the Lord of the Rings. It's kind of slow, but I'm just getting to the part where Frodo has left on his journey. I think things will pick up now. I had hoped to finish it by the time the movie released to video tomorrow, but that's not happining. I will, however, finish it before I see the movie.

Xander took several sets of Walmart portraits. He had some taken, then he had some with my in-laws, then some taken with my mom and I. We are planning to have more done in September. James b-day is September and we decided to have family portraits done ever September, then have Xander's portraits done in October around his b-day. I'll see if I can put up a few on my other website real quick and then post the link here. TTFN!

Dawn posted this at 11:20 AM.