Continue the Story

Today in honor of spring and new growth I'm going to post a story beginning and you get to continue it. You can post whatever you like in the comments section to continue the story. Let's see where it takes us over the course of the week. If you don't feel it is truly finished post something to let me know and we will continue the tale for another week. :)


Tilda dug at the frozen earth among the tender shoots that were trying to grow despite the cold of winter which tenaciously wasn't relinquishing its hold. The sky above was a gun metal gray.

Playing Around

Oy vey it has been a long day today. My husband had to go in for a colonoscopy this morning. So instead of doing my morning cardio like usual and then settling in to blog, I was eating breakfast and going to the hospital. Heh! Fortunately, my hubby came away with a clean bill of health, so we won't have to worry about that again for another ten years. Phew. The prep for something like that is worse than the actual procedure. I've never felt so guilty eating at regular intervals before in my life. He had to be on a liquid diet for the most part yesterday. Anyhoo, rather than writing an actual post today I thought I'd play around with uploading a video on my blog.

So here goes and hope this works. The following video for your viewing pleasure is me and my daughter's first collaborative effort at making a funny short video clip. I came up with the idea and Abby ran with it and did most of the script and recording. This was the fourth or fifth run we made. You can't hear what I say at the end, but I'm calling out "Who wants ice cream?" I was accused of hovering too much in the videographer's line of sight while filming and distracting her. So, I said my line, which I wrote myself out of this whole piece, from farther away and it isn't clearly heard. I really hope this works because we both thought our idea was funny and we hope you do as well. :P

My Resolve

Today I thought it would be good to review how things are going with my resolution for the year. Three months into 2014 seems like a good checkpoint for this. By now most people have begun to wonder why they wasted money on that gym membership. Others fell off the diet after a few weeks. Thankfully, I didn't make resolutions to go to the gym or go on a diet. My resolution was to live each day in the moment and try to enjoy them to the fullest so I could remember more of my year than I would running around like a crazy person.

I'm sorry to say that my resolve evaporated somewhere in mid-February. I'm not really even sure when it happened exactly. I started out January doing well. But this idea of living in the moment gradually melted away. I could blame other things for this. Unexpected family illnesses, over scheduling myself with activities for both me and my kids, too many snow days. I can think of plenty of reasons why I suddenly realized I was back on that silly hamster wheel again. But really all of the stuff I just listed can be attributed to life. The true reason I fell off the resolution wagon wasn't because of any of those things. It was much simpler than that. I forgot all about my resolution. I got busy and it slipped away.

It wasn't until I was reading a book that I became aware of this fact. In the book, (unfortunately not one of my books from the to-be-read pile I have that is neverending, but a library book instead) one of the main characters is describing consciously feeling spring. She is a creature that was created from the earth and therefore could tangibly feel it waking up all around her in Central Park. It made me thirst to have a moment where I could be outside and I could feel spring all around me. Just to be in nature and feel and smell the warmth, the flowers, the sounds of the earth waking up after a long, cold sleep. It sounded lovely. That was when I remembered my new year resolution. The one where I was supposed to be doing just what I longed to do--to live in that moment and absorb what was going on. Instead, I was living by my weekly calendar, actively planning ahead to what I needed to do next. Don't get me wrong. I knew from the beginning that I would still need to keep up with my weekly activities and check my calendar each day. I'm not such an idealist that my resolution meant I'd stop living in the real world. It just meant that right now even though I know what I'd like to do or need to do next this morning, I can't enjoy what I am doing now, which is blogging. And it is perfectly okay for me to take a breath, look around my kitchen, and be thankful that I live in a place where I am free to live how I choose as I look at my weekly calendar to remember what I have in store for me. So, tomorrow when my alarm goes off and I have to remember where I am and what day it is (because I'm still not used to being on daylight savings time) I also have to remember to take a breath, listen to all those noisy little birds outside and be thankful I woke up to another morning.

Playing in a Play

Photos courtesy of Susan Campbell

A few short days ago, I was another person. I was Dolores Dumpfy, and aspiring actress. I was quiet, in a creepy way and I was a suspect in a murder.

No I wasn't taking on an alternate identity because I've started working as an undercover spy. I was performing in a play, "Murder Me Always."

This was no simple whodunit. It was a play within a play that came to a abrupt halt when the director was murdered. As Dolores, this wasn't the first play I'd acted in where a murder had taken place among the cast. So, I was a prime suspect. ***SPOILER ALERT***Alas, despite the certainty of some of the audience members I wasn't the killer. I won't say who was in case you ever have the opportunity to see a production of this play. But it wasn't me. I didn't know this, however, until the first read through of the script.

Photos courtesy of Susan Campbell

What you may wonder does any of this have to do with my work as a writer or a mom. I'll tell you.

I had to think long and hard before deciding to audition to be in a play. I knew it would take days out of my week for rehearsals and performances. It would mean that some of the time I would normally be writing or cleaning house would be replaced with reading my script and memorizing my lines. It would be a temporary distraction and addition to my busy schedule. But it would be a creative outlet that I would be doing just for myself. Something outside of the solitary act of writing.

I asked my kids what they thought of the idea. I think my son was ambivalent about it. But my daughter told me "totes magotes, you should do it." It was a risk I decided to take and I enjoyed it very much. It wasn't easy. It was hard memorizing script, and cues for my lines. I didn't have nearly as many as my other cast members, and I didn't have to travel as far to make it to rehearsals as some. Still, it was a challenge and I wasn't able to make it to every single rehearsal. Thankfully, we all had a very forgiving director who gave us the flexibility we needed to make it to as many as we could and still be in the play. When it was all over we were all sad that we wouldn't get to see each other again. We had become a small family of fellow thespians who supported each other even when the lines and scenes didn't always come together exactly as they should have. The audience didn't know and we improvised our way through those moments together.

I learned a lot from the experience. I might not be quite as caught up on my daily writing ventures and tasks as I should be. But being in a different creative endeavor helped me in more ways than it hurt me. I got to know another writer. I literally had to be in character in order for my part to work, something I can really use when I'm struggling to make my written characters come to life. Maybe my dogs will get to see me acting out my stories after this. :D And I learned that when you aren't certain what you are supposed to say next, you improvise. Writers have to do this a lot in their stories. Even when we outline our plots we can't always be certain how they will unfold to get from beginning to that planned ending. And outlines do sometimes have to be revised as you are writing. Best of all it was lovely being around other people who aren't afraid to take a risk and become someone else for a brief moment in time and act in front of a live audience. Despite differences in age, backgrounds, and experience we pulled together and entertained people by living out a story on stage for them. We were a creative cast of characters who were different from our norm and it was fun!

So don't be afraid to take a risk and try a different way to express your creativity. Support your local theatres and area arts and humanities programs. Stretch in new ways as an artist. You will be surprised at what you can learn from the experience.

Please share with me new creative ventures you have pursued and what you've learned from them. Did they help you grow or were they a distraction?

Cast Your Vote Tuesday

This week as the name implies you get to cast your vote and pick your favorite story beginning. Below are are pasted two different beginnings to the same story. Vote on the one you like best and tell us why in the comments section of the post. At least once a month, you will get the chance to help a lucky author craft a stronger story start. So, if you have a story beginning that you need help with let me know via facebook, twitter, or email. I'll post approximately 250 words of your story opening here on my blog for others to vote on. For that entire week you will be able to follow along via viewer comments and see which story start wins. So read on and enjoy and don't forget to vote for your favorite!

Story Beginning #1

Anthem paced back and forth across the room that had been her home for the past ten years.

“Where is he?” she thought. The emotion she felt reverberated around the room with the mind-speak directed at her mother, Queen Miranda.

Anthem sat down on the stool at the bare wooden table facing her mother. She glanced around the tower room. A bed, with a lumpy straw mattress, sat against one side of the room. A tiny table, with a wash basin and pitcher, sat next to the bed. The only other furnishings were the table and the two stools where she and her mother now sat.

 “Caw, caw,” the ravens crowed outside her solitary window. Damien used them to spy on her. Even with bars on her window, he didn’t trust her not to find a way to escape.

A worn rug covered the only door into the room, a trap door that was enchanted. Only the maid, who brought her meals, her mother, and Damien, could open the door by touch. Anthem had tried numerous times to figure out how to overcome the enchantment, but touching the door gave her such a painful headache that her nose bled.

Projecting her thoughts Anthem asked, “Where is he mother?” 

“Close I think,” her mother projected back to her. They dared not speak aloud, where the ravens could hear, about the one who might be able to help Anthem break free. Damien would know.  

Story Beginning #2

Anthem gripped the bars on the window as she peered down at the village below. A very young child was crying and its mother rocked back and forth crooning for her to stop. The tiny girl fought her, wanting to be put down. Anthem imagined it was something the mother just couldn’t do until they were safely home again. As a dark, hulking shape approached from behind, Anthem tried to shout a warning to the mother. Nothing came out but an inarticulate cry, as Anthem watched the ogre grasp the woman’s shoulder and turn her roughly around. The woman shrieked as the ogre ripped her child from her arms and shoved her away.

             The child’s scream echoed up to Anthem from below, as the little girl held out its arms to its mother.

            The woman got back up and fought with the ogre, pulling at its arms. Anthem couldn’t hear her words but she could tell the woman was begging for her child.

            The ogre roared. His angry words too mumbled for Anthem to hear. He shoved the woman down again and this time she stayed in the dirt, sobbing.

            Anthem felt tears track down her cheeks.

“Caw, caw,” a couple of ravens crowed from the eaves just above her window. They flapped their wings when she glanced at them. One cocked its head, and a faint reddish glow seemed to flash in its eye.

Rage filled Anthem. She couldn’t speak aloud, but she could still make noise. Infusing her voice with all the rage she felt, she shrieked from her tower window, filling the air with a piercing sound. The ogre dropped the stolen child in order to cover its ears against it. The hateful ravens took flight cawing in disgust. Anthem saw the woman dash forward and grab her baby, then run away before the ogre was able to recover. Shaking its head the ogre looked up toward her tower and shook a fist in the air.

In Honor of our Presidents

Photo courtesy of freedigitialphotos.net

In honor of our current, former, and in some cases infamous, US Presidents I've copied some quotes for you to think about. You can learn a lot from our past presidents. Some have shown us how to be truly great as leaders and human beings. Others have shown us with they actions and words what not to do. Many have shown us the value of perseverance, hard-work, and a willingness to serve others. But we are reminded also, that power does not make anyone infallible or honest. Holding the office of President of the United States can even magnify our imperfections as individuals. Either way you look at it, whether you love them or hate them, our presidents can show us the best and worst of what it means to be human and to be an American. 

1. George Washington: "Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."

2. John Adams: "Let every sluice of knowledge be open and set a-flowing." 

3. Thomas Jefferson: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

4. James Madison: "I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

5. James Monroe: "A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue."

6.John Quincy Adams: "America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government." 

7. Andrew Jackson: "I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way; but I am not fit to be President."

8. Martin Van Buren: "It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't." 

9. William Henry Harrison: "A decent and manly examination of the acts of the Government should be not only tolerated, but encouraged." 

10. John Tyler: "Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette—the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace."

11. James Knox Polk: "With me it is exceptionally true that the Presidency is no bed of roses."

12. Zachary Taylor: "It would be judicious to act with magnanimity towards a prostrate foe." 

13. Millard Fillmore: "An honorable defeat is better than a dishonorable victory."

14. Franklin Pierce: "The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution." 

Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

15. James Buchanan: "The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among freemen." 

16. Abraham Lincoln: "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"

17. Andrew Johnson: "The goal to strive for is a poor government but a rich people."

18. Ulysses Simpson Grant: "My failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." 

19. Rutherford Birchard Hayes: "Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office seeking."

20. James Abram Garfield: "We can not overestimate the fervent love of liberty, the intelligent courage, and the sum of common sense with which our fathers made the great experiment of self-government."

21. Chester Alan Arthur: "If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth." 

22. Stephen Grover Cleveland: "A man is known by the company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out."

23. Benjamin Harrison: "No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and love or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and so full of generous suggestion to enterprise and labor."

24. William McKinley: "That's all a man can hope for during his lifetime—to set an example—and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history."

25. Theodore Roosevelt: "The only man who makes no mistake is the man who does nothing."

26. William Howard Taft: "The intoxication of power rapidly sobers off in the knowledge of its restrictions and under the prompt reminder of an ever-present and not always considerate press, as well as the kindly suggestions that not infrequently come from Congress."

27. Thomas Woodrow Wilson: "If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

28. Warren Gamaliel Harding: ""My God, this is a hell of a job! I have no trouble with my enemies . . . but my damn friends, they're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights."

29. John Calvin Coolidge: "I have never been hurt by anything I didn't say." 

30. Herbert Clark Hoover: "A splendid storehouse of integrity and freedom has been bequeathed to us by our forefathers. In this day of confusion, of peril to liberty, our high duty is to see that this storehouse is not robbed of its contents."

31. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort."

32. Harry S. Truman: "You can not stop the spread of an idea by passing a law against it." 

33. Dwight David Eisenhower: "I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle." 

34. John Fitzgerald Kennedy: "The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly."

35. Lyndon Baines Johnson: "You ain't learnin' nothin' when you're talkin'." 

36. Richard Milhous Nixon: "Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty; always remember, others may hate you. Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself."

37. Gerald Rudolph Ford: "Truth is the glue that holds governments together. Compromise is the oil that makes governments go."

38. James Earl Carter Jr.: "The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation." 

39. Ronald Wilson Reagan: "America is too great for small dreams." 

40. George Herbert Walker Bush: "If anyone tells you that America's best days are behind her, they're looking the wrong way."

41. William Jefferson Clinton: "We need a spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this together. If we have no sense of community, the American dream will wither."

42. George Walker Bush: "Recognizing and confronting our history is important. Transcending our history is essential. We are not limited by what we have done, or what we have left undone. We are limited only by what we are willing to do."

43. Barack Obama: "Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

Read more: Presidential Quotes | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/presquotes1.html#ixzz2th6SG89f

Share Your Favorite Love Story this Week

Beauty and the Beast's Belle lost in a book

This week we celebrate Valentine's Day and love. Amid the chocolate and other gifts, this is the time of year when I like to delve into a good love story. This week I'm finally going to start reading Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. But I've had lots of fun looking at readers' lists of the top love stories out there to read. Among them I found the usual suspects like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and Twilight to name a few. Sites like Goodreads and About.com among others are teaming with such lists right now for the avid reader. For me it's just another excuse to find new books to add to my to-read list. I was pleased to see that one of the books on the Goodreads list was one I put at the top of my list and that is The Princess Bride. Whether you prefer the book or the movie this whimsical tale is full of true love, adventure, and lots of humor. It is one of my all time favorite loves stories. In honor of the winter Olympics this year I'm also going to add a favorite romantic comedy movie to my favorite love stories list, The Cutting Edge. This movie is basically a Pride and Prejudice type story that takes place on the ice between a rich and entitled figure skater and a every-man type hockey player who learns to be a figure skater. It's fluff but it's fun fluff and the sparks that fly between the couple throughout is very enjoyable to watch.

So this week whether you have a special someone to share this week's romantic holiday with or not, pick up a good book or pop in a favorite movie and enjoy the love. And if you have a favorite love story that you'd like to recommend please share it! I'm always open to reading a good book.