I’ve fallen off the wagon

I seem to do this from time-to-time.  For some inexplicable reason I stop writing and it drives me nuts.  Not only do I not get any work done, but I also start to feel grumpy and anxious.  Writing is a good way to purge myself of unnecessary issues.  Contrary to what some people I know think, I’m talking to you Mom, I don’t write only sex, death, and destruction.  On a side note, when I manage to get all three of these in a single scene, it makes me giddy.  Wednesday was a rough.  I was miserable at my day job and at home there was…just, too much.  I know mostly normal, but it got to me.  After my husband went to work and Little Missy laid down for a nap, I sat in front of the computer and wrote the most dreadful scene.  It was a simple “explain the plot to the stupid character” paragraph, and it was truly awful, but I felt much better.  I’m thinking nap time is the right time to write!  Wonder if I can get that on a plaque.

Culinary Adventures

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and again I’ll just say that I hate when life interferes with my life.

I enjoy cooking.  I love reading recipes and putting my own spin on things.  I’m not an Iron Chef and probably never will be.  Trust me when I say there have been some flops that resulted in nightmares.  But last nights culinary adventure was making hardtack, basically a large cracker.  If you want to know more here is a Wikipedia link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardtack).  It is very simple to make and tasted terrible.  Seriously, I don’t see how sailors lived on this stuff.  It is hard, dry, and tasteless.  Through research I know there are other recipes so, I’m going to experiment to see if I can’t come up with something better than last night.  I’ll keep you posted.

Alpha – My Thoughts

Last night I finished reading Alpha by Rachel Vincent.  Let me start by saying I love strong female characters that can hang with the boys but still be all woman.  Faythe Sanders can do just that.  She can stand toe-to-toe with the meanest cats around and not back down, even when she is in over her head.  Don’t worry I wont give out any spoilers.  Anyone that has read even one of these novels knows Faythe is often over her head, but she always finds a way out.  I love the characters and the world Ms. Vincent has built.  The fight scenes are as well done as are the love scenes.

I would recommend this series to anyone and have personally turned several co-workers into devout readers

Birthday Vacation

Boy did I ever need a vacation!  I think the last time we “got away from it all” was an over night stay for Conestoga 14 in April.  I can’t remember a time prior to that (after Little Missy was born) that we got to be a married couple instead of co-workers and parents.  It wasn’t nice, it was WONDERFUL.  Our birthdays are 16 days apart so we took a four day weekend.

Hotel Room

We met the MIL at WindStar casino in Thackerville.  She was kind enough to take Little Missy for a few days while we played.  But before they left I got to open our collective birthday present an iPod, thanks again!  Even though it is suppose to be for us, I know the real reason we got it.  Nanna wants “facetime” with Little Missy   Not that I blame her she is the cuties kid in the world, but then again I’m prejudiced.  This is a picture of her playing in the hotel room.

The trip paid off.  After dinner that night we hit the casino floor, now I haven’t done much gambling since I left Arizona in 1993.  Has it really been that long?  Anyway, the sounds of the machines and people mixed with the smell of cigarette smoke, cheap cologne, and sweat took me right back to the fun times in Laughlin NV.

There were some startling differences.  The machines didn’t actually use coins so I did miss the clanking clatter of a good win.  Alcohol didn’t flow as free, maybe because it was an Indian casino or maybe it had to more to do with the economy.  There was also less to do and see for the non-gambler.  Okay, that part sounds a little weird, but I’m a watcher.  I want to watch people interact, shiny new cars, bright lights, and interesting decor.  This place was much more subdue.  But as I’ve said it’s been 16 years since Laughlin and just as long since Las Vegas.  Things may have changed there too, I doubt it but I can’t say with any kind of authority.

Big Pay Off

Penny slots, how ridiculous!  Or that’s what I thought before our trip.  I sat down at one, just because it was Star Wars, and hit “max bet” not realizing that I was making a $3 bet.  The machine went nuts.  There were all kinds of lights, sounds, and video clips from the movies played in front of me.  At this point I had to throw my hands up in the air let what happen, happen because I was clueless.  A very nice gentleman sitting next to told me to relax, “this is a good thing.”  He was right.  When all was said and done there was a huge number of pennies in the “credit” pane.  Immediately after hitting the “cash out” button and snatching the ticket I ran to the cashiers window.  The nice lady there gave me $343.  We put $300 aside and played on the rest.  I was able to make enough to keep playing.  My husband did much better.  He went back to the Star Wars slots and managed to hit two $150 jackpots.  I will never scoff at penny slots again.

Needless to say we were feeling pretty good.  I think we gambled until after 10pm.  That is amazing for me since I have an early day job my brain starts shutting down around 8pm, Little Missy’s bedtime.  By the end of the evening we had $700 in the room safe.

The Safe

A splurge was in order.  We scheduled a room service breakfast for 10am.  Both of us would have liked to sleep later, but one of the major flaws of this hotel was no real curtains on the windows.  Instead was some sheer decorative stuff that offered no privacy and did nothing to block morning sun.  This was made worse by the fact our window overlooked a white roof.  The room was bright.

Room Service

Here is our lovely breakfast.  He had steak and eggs while I had a loaded omelet.  Don’t you just love this technological age?  The pictures are, more or less, instant and since you no longer have to worry about wasting film you can take pictures of the oddest stuff.  Not to mention how cheap it is now days.  Take notice I was smart enough to hide evidence of my coffee addiction   After this huge breakfast, believe me we weren’t hungry until late that evening, we went shopping.  I love shopping, even if I don’t have money to spend.  There is something about feeling the different fabric textures of clothes, the smell of new shoes, even the huge window displays plays into the experience.  Don’t even get me started on the conversations I over hear, its a writers paradise.  We did pick up a few things, but over all we didn’t spend much.

After returning to the casino and a short nap we hit the slot machines again.  This time it was a much different story.  Before leaving the room we had already decided how much we were willing to lose and we lost it quickly.  I guess our luck was used up all of our luck the day before.  So we did what any sensible couple in a casino would do, all you can eat surf and turf buffet.  Yeah, I waddled out of that place and lets face it why go to a buffet if you don’t plan on doing some waddling.

The next morning we were up with the sun and, having not won any money the night before, we skipped room service and headed out early.  After picking up a fast food breakfast we arrived in Dallas before noon and did a little more shopping.  It is always a good idea to have a shopping buddy, one of you can be the voice of reason when something frivolous starts calling.  This is why hubby makes a good shopping partner, he is great at telling me “NO”   Well we completely failed each other at REI, look it up on the internet ( http://www.rei.com).  If you have no self control stay out of the store, just shop on line.  We spent some money.

We made it to MIL’s house in time to grab a quick nap, do some laundry (we reeked of cigarette smoke), and visit a little before heading out to dinner.  Dinner was a whole other experience.  We are fairly adventurous eaters, we’ll try just about anything once, so we went to Tei-An Soba House and Sushi (http://www.tei-an.com/).  Everyone loved the White Seaweed Salad even Little Missy, I have great video of her slurping it down.  There were 5 adults and 1 two year old, so we made a point of ordering several different dishes and passed them around so everyone got a taste.  If you get the chance to go, don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.  There wasn’t anything I didn’t like.

We finally came home on Monday and knowing how tired we all were I was hoping to sleep late on Tuesday, in a dark room, but the weekend was too much for Little Missy and she started vomiting at 7am.  It is now Wednesday night and I still haven’t caught up on my sleep.  That also explains why I haven’t posted sooner or more often.

I hope you have enjoyed my tale, I’m off to bed.

Spam-bots

I hate you!!!  I notice there are comment and get excited because someone is actually reading my site.  Then I notice it is from you.  Do you know how horrible it is to get peoples hopes up?  I am a horror writer and I’m already dreaming up ways to do the “un-thinkable” to you!

My Family

For a few years now I’ve been gathering family stories and will some day write them down.  But since my daughter was born I’ve been more interested in getting these stories on paper.  I lost my Grandpa Rhodes when I was 15, the year I got married I lost both of my Grannies, and in April of this year my Grandpa turned 93.  As much as it breaks my heart I know my daughter will never know him.  I have vague memories of Great-Granny Rhodes and Grandpa Bill (different sides of the family).  I want more than that for Baby Girl.  Growing up we spent a lot of time with family not just at holidays.  I miss that.

Since going to the Five Tribes conference I think I know how to put these stories in a coherent manner and I’m going to do my best to get most of it done by the end of next year.  Some of the Rhodes’ are getting together next month and with any luck I’ll be there with recorder in hand.

Totally off topic, I let you know in another post Second Step – Sit that I had sent in a story and I’d let you know if it was accepted.  Well it wasn’t.  Rejections are not fun for anyone, but everyone gets them.  All a rejection means is that publisher will buy that piece at this time.  That is all!  It doesn’t mean that I’m a bad writer, or the story was no good.  As I wrote in another post (Writing Is Subjective) writing IS subjective.

I’m Back

I’m back from the Five Tribes Story conference and I had a wonderful time.  It was held at the historic, and beautiful, Bacone College in Muskogee Oklahoma.  I met a lot of wonderful people and enjoyed myself.   I heard some heart wrenching, side splitting, poignant, stories about family, life, and traditions of the American Indian.  This was the first ever conference and there were some minor hiccups, but over all I think I would go to this again. 

On a personal note.  My family left our Choctaw heritage in the past.  As I listened to the presenters it became clear that the beliefs passed to me were rooted in the Choctaw culture.  I hope to learn more about our people and eventually reconnect with the past.

Five Tribes Conference

I leave tomorrow for the Five Tribes Story conference. It will be the first time I’ve attended this conference and I’m not really sure how much good it’ll do.  But it is a mini vacation, time spent with other writers, and if nothing else I’ll get to hear some greatstories.  I had a romance in the works, but was having some trouble so I put it on the back burner.  It is a re-telling of a Choctaw legend, like the Greeks they enjoyed a good tragedy.  My goal was to turn it into a positive piece and give it a happier ending. 

Some of the problems are a total lack of knowledge about women’s roles in Choctaw society.  How to tell a historical romance with out giving the reader a history lesson.  And there are things in the legend that don’t exist, as far as I can tell, in Choctaw culture.  I’ve done enough research on the time period and landscape of that era that I think I can paint a vivid picture of life on the Oklahoma prairie.  What I’m lacking is the interaction between tribal members.  Hopefully I can get some of these questions answered.

Characters Everywhere

As an author I see characters everywhere.  I was writing in a coffee shop and overheard a conversation beteween  to ladies about show cats.  This led me to write the flash fiction story “Itch and Witch” about two show cats that murder their owner because she fed them substandard cat food.  It was a lot of fun and did get published at Microhorror.com.  I didn’t get paid for it, but… 

Another character came from watching the nightly news.  A woman was interviewed after a tradgey and she said she was resqued by “An angel named Skeeter.”   Her quote was the inspiration for my character Angel in the 7 Deadly Sins anthology.  Believe me it has taken all the strength I have not to name him Skeeter, right now he is only called Angel.

Last night I went to the state fair and I can’t tell you how many characters I found!

Non-Fiction

Typically I don’t like to read non-fiction.  I’m not a passionate historian, scientist, or biographer, most non-fiction is boring to me.  Give me entertainment, fantasy, adventure, love and I’m hooked, but real life?!  I get enough of that at during the day.  Yuck!

While talking with an Author last April I realized that it would be a good idea to pick up some non-fiction and educate myself.  Also in April I started getting involved in politics, for the same reasons most people did, and found there was a lot I didn’t know.  The point is I am reading The Real George Washington and it is amazing.  When the book first arrived I was intimidated it’s 829 pages!  That is a heck of a big commitment.  Needless to say it took some time to work up the courage to start.  I’m glad I did.  It is worth the read.  I not even close to finishing it, but that is not such a bad thing.  I hope you’ll pick up some non-fiction and give it a try.