Monday, February 29, 2016

GTKM 11...

Ah, Monday. These weeks just keep marching on.

I almost missed last week due to a fall off a curb. I twisted my right ankle and banged up/cut my left knee. After those two things began to heal, other injuries began to appear, like a huge lump in my right thigh and a large knot on my right knee.

I'm slowly healing, though, so it's all good.

Today's question is:

Who was your first crush?

It was a guy in Junior High School. Up until that point, I don't think I ever really had a crush on anyone. I had liked a few boys, but nothing like this guy.

Looking back on it all, I totally made a fool of myself. Of course, that's what we do, right? Make fools of ourselves as we go all ga-ga over someone. I wrote him notes. Too many, which irritated him. His friends would just roll their eyes when they saw me coming. I'm sure I was borderline stalker-ish! I did everything I could to impress him, but I was a tomboy. I didn't do the hair and make-up and cute clothes.

It took awhile for me to just let it go. Which, I did. I tried to act all aloof and "over him" when I saw him. When I started acting like that, it seemed like the universe decided to throw us together as often as possible.

Later on, in high school, after having moved away for to a new school district, I ended up running into him and his friends. None of them recognized me, of course, because I had changed so much. I had the hair and make-up and what I considered cute girl clothes. I actually got to go out with him for a little while.

Ahhh... memories.

Okay, so spill. Who was your first crush? Leave me comments!

Friday, February 26, 2016

Friday Faves & Funnies...

It's Friday! Another week done and a weekend looming on the horizon.

This Friday, I'll tell you one of my favorite television shows:

Supernatural.

Ooooh, how I love this show. From the first moment I saw it, I was hooked.


I mean, seriously... There are many, many reasons why I love this show. It's a good show, it keeps my attention, which is kind of rare. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry. Yes. I said cry.

I also like this show from a writing perspective. I mean... OH. MY. GOD! What awesome characters. What great dialogue. What a cool story! And the fact that it's on its 11th season helps, too.


Outside of the show, there are also lots of reasons to love Supernatural. Jared Padalecki has admitted to battling depression. There are now, that I know of, two t-shirts to help campaign for this disorder. One I battle myself. The cast seem like a tight knit group and that makes the show even better. Of course this is all part of the fandom and I could go on and on and on, but I won't.

On to the funnies!







There it is! The end of the post! Have a good weekend everyone!

Monday, February 22, 2016

GTKM: 10...

Monday, Monday...

You're going to have that song stuck in your head all day long, now. So sorry. Sort of.

Today's question is:

What is the most interesting thing you can see out of your office or kitchen window?

Well, since I have neither, I'll go with my living room window.

Trees. And a train occasionally. Apparently, when I was a baby, we lived near train tracks in Illinois. My first words were "Choo-choo". I have no memory, as we moved into our house when I was three, I think. Who knows.

Anyway, we live near train tracks in my town. It doesn't matter where you are in this town, though, as you can hear that whistle blow. I don't mind, but sometimes it seems like that engineer is being a jerk with those blasts. Then there was the one that played "Jingle Bells" at Christmas. I only heard that once. I hope he didn't get in trouble.

How about you, what is interesting out your windows?

Monday, February 15, 2016

GTKM: 9...

It's Monday! Don't shoot the messenger...

I hope you all had a good weekend. I work most of the weekend. Then, the one day I do get to spend with hubs, is spent doing laundry and grocery shopping for the week.

It works. It's a good routine!

Okay, so today's question is:

On a scale of 1-10, how funny would you say you are.

10. I'd say a 10, Bob.

(In case you are wondering, I am speaking to Bob in my head like he's a game show host.)

Seriously, though, I'd have to say like a 4 or 5. I think I'm funny, but I'm sure most people don't get my wacky sense of humor. I have even considered trying to do stand up comedy, but I'm a chicken in front of a crowd. I get stage fright so bad. Which is also why I don't sing in front of people.

Ask me to act like a pirate for a play, though, and I'm all over that. Go figure.

How about you? How funny are you on a scale of 1-10?

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Writing Wednesday: Language...

Before we get started, I want you all to know I participated in an author interview on Natasha Orme's blog. You can see the interview here. Now, on with the post!

I'm not talking about vulgarity in writing, although, that could be a whole other topic one of these days...

No, what I'm talking about is creating a language or using an existing one in your writing.

For those writing any sort of fantasy or sci-fi, sometimes you'll have some pretty weird languages. How do you present the language? Do you just type up some garbled nonsense and pass it off as the language of whatever species you've dreamed up?

"I told you, I'll pay you the rest of what I owe in a few days."
"Glkwer lkdjfi beedok crazzt fluker!"
"Don't you swear at me like that!"

I'm sure it's doable. Sort of. I mean... how the heck do you pronounce any of that??? Most of the time, people just sort of gloss over the different languages. Me, I'm sort of a purist and will try my damnedest to try to pronounce each word.

Not everyone can be Tolkien, though, and be a linguist and create their own. I'd love to, actually, but ... no.

Personally, I've combined an Elven language with Latin and have come up with some pretty good results. I'm so stereotypical fantasy, though, that most of my stuff has a lot of apostrophes. Don't know what to tell you, I'm just that sort of fantasy author.

There are a lot of language generators out there, so you'll want to think about using those and maybe coming up with your own combinations. Especially if you are a fantasy author. And I'm sure as far as sci-fi goes, you can just use grunts and clicks, maybe some chirps to get the point across.

Most world building should include ancient texts of a language long gone and very rarely will there be anyone left alive that can read it. Or perhaps there is one person who has such a desire to learn ancient tongues, he's learned how to read these things. This is something to consider in your world, just as much as the more common, current languages of other races.

To have everyone speak the same language the world over, well, that's rather boring and very simple, but I'm sure it'd be acceptable. But choose wisely. We fantasy/sci-fi people, we can be very opinionated about this sort of thing!

Have any suggestions or tips you'd like to share? Leave a comment below!

And don't forget to stop by and read my interview! Have a great day!

Monday, February 8, 2016

GTKM: 8...

::Sings:: It's Monday, it's Monday... please don't shoot me...

It happens every week. The weekend ends and Monday doesn't creep up on us, it explodes in our faces with the fury and vengeance of a woman scorned.

Ahem.

So it's Monday! And it is time for another Getting To Know Me post.

Today's question is:

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

On a beach. In the Carribean. Napping.

Well, I'm only half kidding about that. But in all seriousness, I see myself living in a home built by me and hubs. There's a garden out back with all sorts of veggies. A greenhouse with other plants that we grow year round.

Of course, we're both still working, but he's finally able to work his dream job while I do my job from home. I want to have a place where the family visits regularly and grandkids come for the summer. In the winter, we travel for a couple weeks and then start all over again.

I don't have huge, grand schemes. I'm pretty simple.

How about you? Where do you see yourself in ten years? Leave your answers in the comments below!

Friday, February 5, 2016

Friday Faves & Funnies...

It's Friday, it's Friday! Woohoo! Well, for the many of you who have weekends off, you get to celebrate and relax. Me, I have to work, but that's okay. I love my job!

This week, my Faves topic is going to be Animals.

One of my favorite animals of all time is the wolf. I love wolves. I can't explain it. When I was around 22 or 23, I got my first tattoo. I got a wolf on my right ankle. I'd like to get more tattoos and maybe another wolf or even the tribal wolf paw. I have lots of time to decide.

Okay, on to the funnies!






All right, that's it for this week! What's your favorite animal? Tell me in the comments!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Writing Wednesday: Problem Solving...

Okay, so near the end of my last post, I briefly mentioned Problem Solving Techniques. I said they were extremely important, mainly for your readers.

Problems in your character's lives are as important as drama. They ARE the drama. However, they don't have to be so dramatic. They can be simple or huge. They can seem silly or be very serious.

Whatever the problem your character is facing. Whether it be one or many, your readers will connect on a personal level if they feel it is something they are going through.

You want this personal connection. You need it. Your readers need it.

But here's the tricky thing... if you've never been through a situation similar to your characters, how can you write and relate?

A few tips that will help:

* Find someone who's been through what your character is going through. Ask them if they'd be willing to help you work it out.

* Look for books on the topic and find suggestions on how to deal with situations.

* Research online on other author blogs with similar genres and similar styles. Lots of authors post writing tips.

The fact is, there are so many articles and blogs out there with lists and lists on different writing tips, techniques, that you are bound to find something. I am just stressing the importance of getting your readers and characters to relate.

There is also a quote, from Pixar (apparently): "Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating."

You shouldn't make anything easy for your character. Some things will come naturally, of course, and there will be a significant amount of luck. But if everything just falls neatly into place, you are misleading your readers, your character and yourself.

People hope and pray and plead for every speed bump in their lives to either just go away or fix themselves. At the risk of sounding like a negative jerk, that's just ridiculous. Nothing ever fixes itself. You can think about a situation for hours, days, even weeks. Sometimes longer. Sometimes the solution does seem to just drop in our laps, but that is mostly due to the fact that we've figured it out already, it's been sitting right there in front of our face, but we were so consumed by the problem we didn't see the solution right away. Other times, it takes walking away from the problem to see the solution. And in other cases, you'll dream about a solution.

Remember, your mind works in mysterious ways. So will your character's. Every situation has a solution, some more permanent than others. Make it believable!

What are your thoughts about this post? Have any tips to share? Leave a comment below!

Monday, February 1, 2016

GTKM: 7...

It's Monday! Please don't shoot me. I'm not that excited about it being Monday, but I am excited to be posting regularly again.

I'll get to it so the masses don't start to become unruly.

Today's question is:  What was your first job?

My first job was working at McDonald's. I was in high school and, of course, there weren't many jobs that would hire teenagers.

Since then, I've worked a lot of different jobs. Cashier is the main one. I have done that job over and over again. But I have worked as a receptionist in a dental office, briefly. Another high school job. I've worked Tech Support/Password Security for two different places.

Password Security was at America Online. I was there when we celebrated having one million simultaneous users on the internet. *Gasp!* How exciting! Think about that, now.

Tech Support was at Intuit for Turbo Tax. And yes, people actually did ask if the CD player was a cup holder.

I worked in an Assay Lab, grinding down rock samples for Geology labs. Dusty work!

I've worked in a Print Shop, helping people figure out the end result of their business cards and flyers as well as formatting templates for the printer.

And now, I work at Michael's, where I help people with their craft projects (THAT's a long list, too) and am studying to do Medical Transcription.

Okay, your turn. What was your first job? Leave your answer in the comments!