I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed it, but one certain prop tends to make a regular appearance in science fiction movies: dangling chains. I mean, they look cool, but when you start to think about it, what the heck are they doing just hanging there? What could they possibly be for? If anything, they’re a hazard you could walk into when you’re just going to get a cup of coffee.
Eat them up, yum.
I’m a food junkie when I write or edit books. It helps me think. The trick is to not get crumbs down inside my keyboard! I usually like to snack on peanut butter cups, reeses pieces, sunflower seeds or popcorn. It’s all good.
Ah. It’s that time of year already. Have to drop some dead trees, cut ‘em up, spilt ‘em and stack ‘em. Last year I did sixteen cords. Then I put a new roof in. Now I only have to do eight this year. Yay! My roof, as I came to find out after I purchased the house, had no sheathing underneath the metal. Talk about a hazard for rain leaks and cold leaks.
So, many of you are probably wondering what I’m working on right now. Well, now that The Snowtear Wars can be shopped to a bigger publisher, I need to dust it off and tighten the screws on it. I’ve added one new scene to The Chimes of Yawrana, but have done a lot of additional editing to clean it up for the big time. In a lot of ways, the book has a fresh, new feel to it.
I’m working on Book 2 now, Ice Shadows. Hopefully it will be ready in a few weeks. Then I will move on to re-editing some of my stand alone books. It takes a while to learn all the things you need to watch out for when editing your books. It’s not just simply about writing a great story and putting it out there. The editing is crucial in any book, movie or other form of media in order to turn out a quality product. You just have to learn to train your eyes to look for the problems.
It seems like this is my editing year. I want to go through every one of novels and get them to the best quality possible. Then I can move on to writing something new!
Not the best way to start my week. As I was pulling out of the garage, I noticed that the passenger side front of the car was dipping pretty low. I groaned, knowing what that meant. Sure enough, I had a flatter than a pancake tire. Talk about killing half your day instantly. I had a lot of chores to get accomplished today, too. Ugh.
I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend. Spend some quality time with family and friends. Put the chores aside for at least Sunday, and go find something fun to do.
The word “Easter” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, Eastre. Every year when the vernal equinox rolled around, a festival was held in her honor. Basically, spring was and still is viewed as a time of rebirth.
And before the Easter Bunny was called as such, he was known as the “Easter Hare.” Rabbits, of course, are viewed as symbols of fertility, and the Romans believed all life came from an egg. Children began hunting for eggs in the grass because they believed the hares had laid them. And as for the dying of eggs–in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia, they were dyed for festivals. And in medieval Europe, decorated eggs were given as gifts.
So, as you can see, our little habits of Easter are a culmination of many different cultures’ myths, beliefs and practices. It’s funny how, over time, we manage to lump everything together into one big ball, so we may enjoy a little taste of everything. Variety is the spice of life, as they say.
Most of us don’t realize we’re still carrying around tension — even when we think we’re not. Want me to prove it? There’s one simple method you can do to help you relax instantly to get rid of it, and it works.
Relax your forehead.
Feel better? It’s funny how much stress we carry in just that one area. Is this a result of us overthinking everything? Maybe a side-effect of this hurry-up world? From the moment we get up in the morning we practically have a string of chores to do before we even BEGIN WORK. If you can’t go to the spa, if you don’t have time to work out, if you don’t have time to do anything fun, if you’re trapped and just need a break, then do the one thing you can: control your reaction to the situation and don’t let it rule you.
It’s been half a year or so since I sent out my last newsletter. Since I”m currently in the process of doing some reediting on The Snowtear Wars, I have to put them on hold. However, once I’m done with Ice Shadows (the one I’m currently working on), I will take a break from editing and get the next out. Hopefully this will be no later than the end of May. I miss writing the newsletters, so don’t feel left out.
I was watching American Idol last night, no shocker there, and saw R&B singer Usher helping out the contestants with their upcoming performances. I didn’t know much about Usher, to be honest, but after last night, I have a great deal of respect for him. Out of all the established singers they’ve ever had on the show, he was the best. He gave the most helpful critiques, and truly pulled a couple of the contestants out of their shells, and, boy, did they perform a lot better because of it.
The one thing that really caught my attention, though, was when Usher said to a contestant, “Own your moment.” That hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s simple, but straight to the point. But it doesn’t have to refer to just one type of moment. It can be applied to anything, on any day, and on random things we really don’t give much thought to. The more we “practice” owning the moment, the more successful I feel anyone can be.
What is it? When a person is referring to another, or trying to describe how great an experience they had was, they, more than not, will fall back on this answer: amazing. Reality shows are the worst offenders, using the word at least half a dozen times in every episode. It’s like people have run out of ideas on how to describe things, or have just altogether lost their creativity. Maybe it’s a crutch when they’re put on the spot, or they use it when they can’t think of anything else to say in that particular moment, so they need to say something. Well, the word is overused, and people need to start coming up with alternatives. Be prepared, people. My ears are bleeding!
