Sometime You Have to Cut and Paste

 

Ohana

My jobs are both in home offices, and one of the homes has relatively small children still in it. Our schools had all of this week off, so the kids were home on Wednesday. As I’m checking financial statements and entering payables, I hear something familiar drift out of the rec room upstairs. Something I’ve heard so many times it’s almost imprinted on my brain.

“Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten.”

If you don’t know, that line is from “Lilo and Stitch“, one of our favorite Disney movies.

Stitch is made for destruction, but is also cute and fluffy. Lilo adopts him, and then notices his bad behavior. She charts it for him, so he has a visual of his badness level.

(And as an aside, this is Kevin the Kitten’s badness level, too.)

But Stitch is now family. Even though the family is little and broken, it’s still good. Yeah, still good.

No matter what your family is like, treasure them. We all have a Stitch or two on our family tree, or maybe we are the Stitch. No matter. Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten. Give thanks for your family, the good and the bad. They are what made you the person you are today.

 

And the Rain, Rain, Rain…

…Came down, down, down. (name that song and its origins for extra bonus points!)

It’s a very, very blustery Tuesday morning here at the Castle, so I think it’s now HaiKuesday. (See what I did there? Huh? See?) You can play along with the home version – give me haiku about some kind of stormy weather, m’kay?

Here’s my first attempt:

Leaves plastered to car

Yea, verily, it pisseth

I love Oregon

Not too bad, for 6:30 am, but I think I’ll try again:

Four days off this week –

What shall I do with my time?

NaNo and dog fur.

Admittedly, not one of my best. But I haven’t even had a half cup of tea yet. It was a warm up…yeah, that’s it. A warm up. Okay, shake it out. Whew. Come on…you can do it…

Crouching-tiger cat

Refuses to go outside.

I hate litter box.

You know, I may have peaked at the first one. I bet you can do better. Help a girl out – give me a funny haiku (5-7-5) about anything in your world. I’ll see if I can make it worth your while. 🙂

NaNo word count: 34,533

Perfect Square

I think I’ve done elaborate posts about most of my immediate family – pictures, over-sharing information…the usual.

This post is about me. Today is my birthday, and I am now a perfect square. Older, yes. Wiser, not so much. It’s been an eventful year, but every year I’ve been alive has been eventful to me…I am the protagonist of my own story, after all.

Aren’t I cute? Wonder what happened?

I’m the one on the left. In case you weren’t sure.

And this is the last time I looked good in a bathing suit.

The seventies were a magical time, weren’t they? A little odd fashion-wise, but magical.

Have I learned any big lessons this year? I don’t know. I hope so. I’ve had friends and family diagnosed with potentially life-threatening diseases. I’ve had one child grapple with unexplained health issues, and another with serious academic problems. I’ve seen wonderful things, even more wonderful people, and haven’t keeled over from carb-overload. There have been highs and lows, positives and negatives.

There are many others in the world who have it much worse than I, so I try to control my gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands when things go pear-shaped at the Castle. Really, I try. But as old pal Yoda says, “There is no ‘try’. There is only ‘do’.”  I guess I need to do ‘do’ a little bit more. And what that has to do with anything, I haven’t a clue.

So Happy Birthday to me, my ginormous backside, and the carbs that made it happen…Rocky Road and toast – I’m talkin’ to you!

Stuff ‘n Stuff

Nuts and chews from the box of See’s chocolates that is my life:

* I’m making a casserole for dinner tonight – throwing things in a pan and hoping for the best. This may well be my last blog post ever – if you don’t hear anything, Google ‘Food Poisoning Oregon’.

* Oh, “Glee”…why you gotta go there? Evil Quinn? Fake Irish accent? Seriously?

* We, or more accurately, I am expecting snow on Friday. Friendly flakes only, nothing’s gonna stick, but…yay! Snow. Yay!

* The first person to ask me if I’ve gotten all my Christmas stuff done will quite possibly need attention at the nearest Urgent Care facility. My only answer, up to the 23rd, is “Don’t be silly.”

* TLC is going to produce a reality show about Irish Dancing. They mention the words ‘tween’, ‘fey-like’, ‘fierce mothers’ and ‘jig dancing’, all of which tell me they haven’t a clue what they, or the production company, are doing. They also never mention boys. I’m sure the show will be just as riveting and stomach-emptying as “Dance Moms”.

* Our senior car is about to roll over to 200,000 miles. Yes, we are just that exciting. All the time.

* My oldest sprog wants to write headlines for Daily Variety. An example –  All Bretts Are Off. Hmmm…I’ll find another. ‘Napa’ Bottles Up Thesp Foursome. Genius. Pure genius. And what a fabulous use of an English degree.

That’s all the news that’s fit to make up. How’s you?

NaNo Word Count: 25,000

Palate Cleanser

Yeah, I know. Got a little serious in the last post. Sorry. Here are a few random images to refresh and entertain you.

A piece of the Chihuly Venetian Wall of Glass that does NOT look like an alien. No. This one looks like an angry dust mite.

Stadium High School in Tacoma, where they filmed “Ten Things I Hate About You”. School was in session when we were skulking around taking pictures, yet they didn’t call the police on us. Weird, huh?

The lovely Jen McAndrews and the lovely Linda Gerber, teaching their workshop on the Hero’s Journey in YA Fiction. Terrific workshop – one of the few that gave writers a tangible tool to improve their craft. (Can I get my endorsement check now? Kidding!)

My delightful sprogs, all dressed up to attend a wedding. They’re even cute from the back, huh?

Go forth refreshed, my six blog readers, into the Monday-ness.

NaNo word count: 21,702

Can You Argue With Hate?

I don’t get political here in the Castle – my views are mine, your views are yours. I respect that. But it seems every small contest in our world has devolved into a vile, name-spewing, hate-mongering, never-ending festival o’ shit. (Yes, shit. I said it, and I stand behind my choice of nouns.)

I said it almost a year ago, and I will say it again…why we gotta be like this? Huh? WHY? I hate, hate, HATE it when every argument and every difference of opinion turns into ad hominem attack.

Here’s an example – these are actual postings on Facebook today, after the University of Oregon Ducks defeated Stanford in football last night. I am not making these up, and misspellings are original, too.

 I should put on my “Friends don’t let friends go to Oregon” T-shirt or my “If I was any dumber I’d be a Duck” T-shirt. 

Let’s compare most famous graduates. UO- Shoe magnet who uses slave labour in Indonesia to support his empire, Phil Knight. OSU- Only person in history to win two un-shared Nobel prizes in Chemistry and Peace, Linus Pauling. Hmmm? 

I love the dudes in there hopped up 4X4’s with there fancy U of Hole shit plastered all over their rigs and the closest they ever came to the U of Hole is when they picked up their last load of Meth in Springfield.

Huh. Really?

Would you be offended? Would you just let it go and chalk it up to too much testosterone and too few neurons? Would you answer in the most intelligent way possible, attempting a reasonable discourse? Would you fear for the children of these men being exposed to this much intense hatred for, of all silly things, a college and a football team? Would you laugh it off and walk away?

Come on, peeps, let me know what you think.

Kitten Break

Everyone needs a kitten break – even from a kitten with a badness level as high as Kevin. I’m sure my hand will heal. Eventually. Here he is in both of his personalities.

Good. Awww.

Bad. Ouch.

Good. Awww.

Bad. Seriously bad. Look at his eyes. *shudder*

And silly. Just silly. At least we can laugh at him.

 

NaNo Word Count: 17,258

Why I Love My Critique Partners

I never in a million years guessed that an informal stop at Voy Forum would change my life.

About ten years ago, I decided to go to the Ladies of Lallybroch Forums to see what was up. The Ladies began as a fan group of the novels of Diana Gabaldon, author of the OUTLANDER series, and grew into not only a website, but a group of forums for discussing many things – the books, their lives, and a Literary Forum for budding writers. See where I’m headed with this? Yep, I began posting and reading at the Lit Forum, and discovered a group of about ten core women who were serious about improving their craft. With their encouragement, I began posting my scribbling, too, awful as it was.

We progressed to weekly chats, homework sessions, e-mails and telephone calls. And then we finally met face to face at the Surrey Writers’ Conference in Vancouver, BC…I think it was in 2003, but I could be wrong. Bonding over sushi and wine, brainstorming plot issues, stalking writers and agents we loved, sharing ideas and laughter – my idea of heaven.

In about 2007, I was asked to join a small group of these women as a critique partner. They were (and are) seriously pursuing publication as a career, not just a hobby. After I was through girly-weeping with happiness, I said ‘yes’. I haven’t regretted a single second of my decision. Some will tell you that good crit partners have to be kept at arms length to be able to give and receive the sometimes-harsh criticism every writer needs to move forward. Be business-y, they say. Don’t be friends.

Bull puckey.

I adore these women. I know the names of their children. I’ve stayed in their homes. They’ve been to mine. I’ve read their amazingly good work. They’ve read mine, even though not as good. And I can say with certainty that we say the harsh stuff when needed – no, it’s not fun, but we know ABSOLUTELY that we would want the others to tell us the same thing. I trust them as much as I trust anyone on the planet.

And that’s why I love my critique partners. Honesty and friendship, comrades-in-arms in the struggle to be true to our stories and still land an agent/book deal. These women ROCK!!

Tuesday Tidbits

Thoughts pondered and things observed near the Castle today. Some were puzzling, some simply a day-in-the-life of My Majesty.

* A woman was running barefoot on the sidewalk near where I live. I know there are many who think barefoot running is the bee’s knees, but it’s November, for frostbite’s sake. Cold, rainy, and loads of leaves and sticks on the ground. Ouchies.

* A squirrel and a crow stopped my car from entering our royal driveway this morning. Seriously. The squirrel took one look at me and decided that he had the advantage in a game of chicken. The crow was laughing his feathered ass off, I think. I won in the end. The squirrel was no match for my Horn of Doom.

* Why haven’t apiaries in public parks taken off? Doesn’t everyone love honey? How could this possibly be a bad idea?

* Kevin the Kitten’s badness level was only at 50% today, so I got to pet him without blood loss.

* I adore Jennifer Crusie and every stinking word she’s written. You think she remembers the Surrey Conference in 2006 when we stalked her? Of course she does. Do you think she remembers the critique she gave me on my five page opening scene? Of course she does. Hi, Jenny. *waving* Love you. Can you please come to the Wet Coast again and teach me how to write the funny?

*Public service announcement:

A superhero we truly need.

What’s happening in your castle?

NaNo word count: 11,696