Insomnia and the Easter Bunny

I have trouble sleeping. Sometimes it's God trying to get my attention, because that's when everything is quiet in my house.  Sometimes it's just the worries of the day. You know things like kids, money, husband, money, laundry, money...you get the idea. Other times it's story ideas. Sometimes I have scenes from a story that I'm working on and need to fix. Sometimes I have conversations in my head with my characters. (Yes, I'm sane. I promise, although my mother never had me tested.) Sometimes it's just scenes and snippets that I need to write down and save for later. Hence, the paper and pencil I always have beside my bed. I have to be very careful. If someone says something like, "You should so totally write about this...," and it piques my interest, I'm in for one long night.

That's kind of what happened Monday night. We were out of town for the weekend to spend Easter with my in-laws. The family has a mini-family reunion with an Easter egg hunt for the kids. After the eggs have been found, we sit around converse, eat boiled eggs and junk food. It's loads of fun, except when your daughter gets car sick on the way home. You get the picture.

So this particular weekend I missed my writers group meeting. I knew the creative exercise was to write a conflict scene. That particular thought ran through my mind and subconscious all weekend. I had pen and paper with me, so if anything came to mind I could write it down. We came home Sunday evening. It was too busy to do anything but get unpacked, and the kids ready for school Monday morning. So Sunday night I slept, but Monday night is another story....here's the result.

The Easter Bunny Conflict



                Lisa heard the door open, slam shut and the sound of footsteps in the hall. She looked up from her cross stitching expecting her husband to walk into the room. She was surprised to see her sister with her hands on her hips glowering at her like she had committed the most heinous crime. She got up off the couch to greet her.

                “How could you!” Her angry words slapped Lisa in the face.

                 She was confused. “Do what? I don’t what you are talking about.”

                Her sister, Lynn, shoved Lisa and she took a couple of steps back. “Oh you know what you did! Just admit it!”

                “I have no clue what the hell you are talking about.” Lynn was not the only one getting angry.

                Lynn shoved her again. “You killed the Easter Bunny!”

                Lisa was dumbfounded. “What?”

                “You know you did it! You killed the Easter Bunny!” Lynn started to shove her again, but Lisa grabbed her arm.

                “I did know such thing!” Appalled Lisa continued. “You know I would never ever do that. How could you think such a thing?

                Lynn wasn’t listening. She sniffed. “What’s that I smell?”

                “I made stew…”

                Lynn’s eyes widened and she looked at Lisa like she couldn’t believe this was her sister. “You made the Easter Bunny into a stew?” She stormed into the kitchen. Lisa followed. Lynn looked into the stew pot and turned a little green. “Seriously?”

                Lisa clenched her teeth. “I did not kill the Easter Bunny!”

                “I heard you say you did!” Lynn fired back.

                “When?”

                “When we were talking while I was driving on my way home.” Lynn paced back and forth.  “I heard killed, then I heard Bunny. I turned right around and came straight here.”

                “You thought I said Easter Bunny?” This time Lisa shoved Lynn. She lost her balance and fell into a chair. “Are you insane?” Lisa towered over her sister. “You know if I had to kill my own food I’d be a vegetarian!”

                “Then what’s cooking on the stove?”

                “Chicken stew! You idiot!”

                “Then what bunny did you kill?” Apparently Lynn was still not convinced. Lisa reached into the trash and pulled out a Blue Bunny ice cream container. Lynn blushed. “Oh.”

                “Yeah – oh.” Lisa threw the container back into the trash can. “I have more in the freezer. You want to help me kill it?”

                Lynn grinned and together they killed another bunny. The Blue Bunny chocolate chip cookie dough kind.

               

Evolution Of A Writer

I've been thinking about this topic for a while now. I've tried to write this entry for about two weeks. I just couldn't seem to find the words for what I wanted to say. Kind of ironic don't ya think. I still don't have the words I want, but it's time to write down my thoughts and feelings about this whole topic.


I've read other blogs and they are really, really, good. They are full of great information for writers and I have started following two of them. I've never followed a blogger before, but these two really spoke to me in their delivery of information. One is http://www.theloneliestplanet.com/.   Randy Ross and good information on marketing and is a fun read.  The other is http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/. I read Kristen Lamb's post on editing and found it to be helpful and inspiring.  I would love to have a lovely blog like these, but I'm not there yet. I'm still learning.


Back in January I decided to be more intentional about my writing. I joined a writers group. They are a bunch of amazing people. I look forward to Saturday evenings when we meet, write, and converse. In the short time I've been with the group, I've learned so much. I look at the group as kind of like on-the-job training. I'm uncomfortable sharing my writing with the group, but how do you learn if you don't share? The critiques and suggestions have been positive and helpful. The exercises we do are sometimes difficult because we write outside our genre and comfort zone. I feel like I grow into a better writer every time I participate.


I always thought I wanted to write my stories, put them out into the world and everything would be fine. I realized that I have to find people to read them, and that means I have to market them. I don't know how to do that.  Kayelle Allen ((http://www.kayelleallen.com/) is an award winning romance writer. She is one of the founders of my group. Kayelle has helped me so much with the world of marketing. I've started wading into the this interesting and time consuming world. Sometimes I feel I work harder on the marketing than I do on my stories, but it has to be done. So now I have some of my marketing tools, a website, a twitter account, and a Facebook Author page. I'm trying to get on Goodreads. I did find my book in their database, so I decided to try their Author program. I hope to hear back from them soon.


Sometimes we think it's glamorous and romantic being a "writer." We watch "Castle" on television and rarely do we see him write, but he is having a lot of fun hanging out with the police department. He sometimes plays poker with his writer buddies. He is a wealthy. Has this great apartment, a house in the Hamptons and cool toys. He writes best sellers, has an agent and a publisher. Granted he is a fictional character, but isn't that we aspire to be? A writer on the New York Times Best Seller list?
Don't get me wrong, I love the show. I love it because of the characters and the stories. I love it because of the writing. The show normally tells a good story. And that's what I want. To tell  good story.


I don't need to be famous. I wouldn't mind being wealthy. I wouldn't even mind being on the Best Seller list, but what is most important is telling a good story. Being a writer is hard. It's not glamorous. I sit at my computer and fill digital pages with words, hoping the words will spark the imagination of the reader and take them on a journey. It is lonely, frustrating, mind-boggling, hard work. But I love it. I love going on adventures with my characters. My characters get to do things I probably would never do, or get to do. Writing them takes me away to places I hope my readers get to experience. That in itself tends to blow my mind.


Evolution. As a writer I'm constantly learning and evolving. I learn from everyone and everything around me. I'm learning how I work best. Right now, I'm at my kitchen table writing this because I just can't seem to get to my office. Life tends to get in the way.  "Improvise, adapt and overcome" should be a motto of a writer. We improvise when things get tough, we adapt to the situations we're given, and we overcome any plot problems that may arise. I am evolving as a writer. I will continue to evolve as I learn and grow and maybe one day...one day I'll be on that best seller list.

Finally...a Website and Other Stuff

Stuff. I like stuff. Stuff can be fun. Stuff can be cluttering. So what stuff am I talking about? Writing stuff. I now have my author Facebook page. I now have a Twitter account, and I now have a website. What other stuff do I need. I need a good story.


I'm not liking how Pete and Virgil is coming along. I'm now sure why. It doesn't seem fun. Of course,  the adventure they are having is not really fun, but I thought there would be more comedy in the story. I want more comedy in the story. It's just not there yet. I'm going to finish it, set it aside for a bit, and look at it again. I did that with Fat Farm. I started that story 20 different times in 20 different ways before I liked what I wrote. The whiney baby in me wants it to be right, right now. It's going to take work and then I'll like it.


I kind of want to work on Simon and the Sweet Pea Root now instead of Pete and Virgil. I have the original hard copy with all the edits and I'm transferring it onto my computer. I'm making even more changes as I go. I work on Pete and Virgil for a while, then I type some of Simon. Maybe they will both be ready at the same time. We'll see.


See my head is cluttered with stuff! There are so many stories to tell that it is hard to focus on one. I can't sleep at night because stories are floating around in my head. It's great and awful at the same time. It seem that since I made the decision to be more focused on my writing and be more disciplined the stories are just pouring out. I just can't type fast enough to get them all down. So for now, I'm telling my brain the stories will be told. All in good time.

The Story of Simon

I found my story of Simon the Cat. I wrote it 20 years ago for my sister, who was having her first child. I put all of our pets that we have had over the years as characters in the story.


When I started telling people about this story, they were appalled. In the story, the baby gets sick, and the animals find a cure. Well, people were just giving me grief about the whole thing! "What if the baby get sick, etc." I almost stopped writing it, but I persevered and wrote the thing. I think my sister liked it. I think she was a little taken aback with the whole sick baby thing. I'm not sure. I don't even think I asked her. I did put together a book of poems and stories I had written for him, so I think I made up for that.


Working on the Pete and Virgil story started me thinking about this one since it was supposed to be a sequel. I actually found on an external drive where I started Simon as a sequel. But things change, people change and so on. I'm writing Pete and Virgil, but at the same time I am rewriting Simon and the Sweet Pea Root. I may give it a different title. One never knows.


And my sister's child? Well he has grown to be a renaissance man. He is about to graduate with a Masters from Georgia Tech, he's a talented photographer and musician, and likes to race cars. He has a very nice girlfriend who has a bunny named Dude. I may have to put Dude in the story. His name is just too cool.


That's all for now. I'll keep you updated. :-)

The Story Behind Pete and Virgil

So, the story behind Pete and Virgil Save Spring...Sort of started off as a sequel to another story I had written years ago titled Simon and the Sweet Pea Root. It was written for my sister when my nephew was born and all our animals were characters in the story. The reason for the "sweet pea" was my sister called my her cat Simon, Sweet Pea. I may have to find a picture and post it, but Simon was a huge long haired cat. He was a yellow, blonde big feline ball of fluff. He was an indoor cat, so he was declawed. In  the story he was called a "Fluff" by everyone else, which meant he had a lot of heart, but very little brains. You know the blonde jokes. They apply here as well. Anyway, Simon went on this great adventure and saved the day.


I had thought about writing another story as a sequel using meerkats. (I love meerkats.) Baby, one of the cat character is the other book would say, "There's no such thing as a mere cat." She was that type of cat. But for some reason, I just couldn't get a good story, but two characters came out of that work that started to take over the story, so I decided to write a story about them.


 I needed names for these two squirrel characters and my husband suggested Pete and Virgil after his two uncles. They are squirrelly kind of characters, so it seemed to fit. Now of course my husband always asks me when I'm going to write the story. Well that's what I'm doing.


I may see if I can find Simon and the Sweet Pea Root and update it. After all, I wrote it 23 years ago. Maybe I'll put it as a free download or something. I think that would be cool.


I'll be checking with you soon! Hope every one has a blessed day!

New Year - New Outlook

Okay, so I'm late on my New Year's post. I had to think of something to say - right? I have decided this year to be more intentional about writing. You say, "I probably should have been like that all along." Well, true, but I have let some aspects of life get in the way. Life still may get in the way, but I won't let it distract me quite so much.


I have joined a writing group. They are a group of like-minded people who I can converse and learn more about my craft. I have set up my Twitter account. Now to get followers. I have a Pinterest board to help market my books. Now I have to set up my author face book page and set up a website. I'm pretty jazzed about this.


What am I working on now? The story of Pete and Virgil. A couple of squirrels who want to part of the Royal Flying Squirrel Squad (say that 10 times fast) and chose the wrong way to do it. Can they fix their mistake? Or will everyone, and I mean everyone suffer the consequences.


Stay tuned!

Conundrum Update - Words

I am still suffering from conundrumitis. Yep. That's a word. I just made it up. Actually, probably not. I'm sure someone else suffering from conundrumitis has coined the phrase. To combat this condition I have started a children's story that's been in the head for a few years. It's a fun little story about how two squirrels save spring. My kids are going to read it when I'm done. But that got me thinking about words. The Oxford Digital Dictionary has added several words. The big 2013 word is "selfie." Now, I've never made a selfie and really don't plan to do so in the near future, but it got me thinking.

My kids have used words like "derp"  and "squee." I had to ask them what they mean.( Derp is an exclamation when you say something stupid, and squee is another exclamation when one is excited.)
I wanted to make sure it wasn't anything inappropriate. There were a lot of words that had been added I never knew. These are pop culture words and well, I'm not up that much on pop culture. Did you know "twerk" has been around for 20 years, but started getting popular in 2002? Me neither. Then I began to wonder about writers. If we use these pop references in our stories, will that date our stories? I can't speak for other writers, but I tend to hide in my "writey-hole" and write my stories. I'm not all in the face of what's going on outside my own little world. That's probably not good. As a writer I suppose I need to keep up with all that stuff. My main goal is to do what it takes to tell a good story. That is my goal. So I may just throw in a "derp," "squee," or "selfie" and see where the story leads.

I let you know the progress on the fun little squirrel story.

See ya soon.