The Second Crusader Challenge is up! Woohoo! Then I read it and I'm like uhhhhh. Okay then. I am a long winded writer. It is seriously one of my biggest flaws. This will be a good exercise for me when it comes to keeping my story concise and to the point. So once I finish up this blog post, I shall get to work on that.
I seem to have disappeared again. I know. No excuses. Excuse me while I give myself a quick, swift kick in the ass.
-Stands up and hops around, using the heel of her foot to kick herself in the ass before returning and sitting back in front of the computer.-
Ow.
What? I'm a little quirky. Have you not figured this out yet? If you haven't well...now you know.
Anyways, I'm going to go start working on the crusaders challenge. Good luck to everyone!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Last Minute Mini Vacation
I woke up Friday morning with my husband sitting over me. He had a very long, sad face. I, with my worrisome nature, automatically thinks that something is wrong. So I blink up at him from the pillows and blankets.
Me: What's wrong.
The hubby heaves a sigh as I wait not so patiently.
Hubby: How would you feel about going to Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend.
I blink several more times waiting for the words to process through my sleep fogged brain, as I have not had any coffee yet.
Me: Huh?
Hubby: It's my cousins birthday and I know you've been wanting to go to the Renaissance Festival again, so I figured we should go.
Me: Today?
Hubby: Well we'd head down there today as soon as you wake up. We'd go to the Ren Fest tomorrow.
Insert conversation about finances here.
Me: I'm not driving.
Hubby: I'll drive.
Me: I'm not driving home.
Hubby: I'll drive home too.
Me: I need to find my corset.
Hubby: Is that a yes?
Me: I might blame it on my sleepy state later, but yes.
So we packed up and came to Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend to go to the Renaissance Festival. I used to go every year when we lived down here, but it's been a few years, and I was really excited to go.
It was a BLAST! Though I didn't get to wear my corset cause it was a bit chilly, and then warmed up later in the day. I should have worn it and dealt with it.
We spent five and a half hours walking around doing things, watching shows, drinking, and everything else. My feet hurt sooooo bad by the time we left. After getting back to the father in laws, I took a shower and changed into comfy clothes.
I admit, the bed looked so comfortable. I had to lay down for a minute. Of course that minute turned into a two hour nap. Whoops!
Anyways, I will get the scribbles up when we get home sometime this afternoon. This hubbies belly is jacked up so we're trying to give it time to settle before we hit the road for four hours. In our rush though, I forgot my flash drive with all my docs on it, including the next part of the story! Doh!
I'll post some pictures and things when I get home. For now I gotta go!
Me: What's wrong.
The hubby heaves a sigh as I wait not so patiently.
Hubby: How would you feel about going to Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend.
I blink several more times waiting for the words to process through my sleep fogged brain, as I have not had any coffee yet.
Me: Huh?
Hubby: It's my cousins birthday and I know you've been wanting to go to the Renaissance Festival again, so I figured we should go.
Me: Today?
Hubby: Well we'd head down there today as soon as you wake up. We'd go to the Ren Fest tomorrow.
Insert conversation about finances here.
Me: I'm not driving.
Hubby: I'll drive.
Me: I'm not driving home.
Hubby: I'll drive home too.
Me: I need to find my corset.
Hubby: Is that a yes?
Me: I might blame it on my sleepy state later, but yes.
So we packed up and came to Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend to go to the Renaissance Festival. I used to go every year when we lived down here, but it's been a few years, and I was really excited to go.
It was a BLAST! Though I didn't get to wear my corset cause it was a bit chilly, and then warmed up later in the day. I should have worn it and dealt with it.
We spent five and a half hours walking around doing things, watching shows, drinking, and everything else. My feet hurt sooooo bad by the time we left. After getting back to the father in laws, I took a shower and changed into comfy clothes.
I admit, the bed looked so comfortable. I had to lay down for a minute. Of course that minute turned into a two hour nap. Whoops!
Anyways, I will get the scribbles up when we get home sometime this afternoon. This hubbies belly is jacked up so we're trying to give it time to settle before we hit the road for four hours. In our rush though, I forgot my flash drive with all my docs on it, including the next part of the story! Doh!
I'll post some pictures and things when I get home. For now I gotta go!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
More Awards!
The lovely Zan Marie of In the Shade of the Cherry Tree as given me two awards! Thank you so much! Be sure to go and check out her beautiful blog!
Remember how I said to make sure you check out her blog? I mean it! Do it! Or I shall have Castiel smite you!
Remember how I said to make sure you check out her blog? I mean it! Do it! Or I shall have Castiel smite you!
All right so seven more things about me you did not know.
1. I love to grill!
And I'm pretty good at it to! ;)
2. My childhood crush was Jonathan Brandis.
I absolutely adored him! May he R.I.P.
3.I am a classic TV show buff.
4. Guilt Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton was the first UF book I ever read.
5. I am a whiskey girl.
There is no other whiskey. Just Jack.
6. I play World of Warcraft
7. I think Firefly is one of the best shows of all time.
You really shouldn't disagree with me with on this.
There you go. Seven more things about moi!
Now, let's see, bloggers. Who to choose, who to choose?
11.VR Barkowski
Thanks again Zan and congrats to everyone!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Catch Me If You Can BlogFest!
KayKay's Corner is hosting the 'Catch Me If You Can Blogfest'. It's really simple to sign up for and it seems like it'll be a lot of fun.
Basically the idea is to get some critique back on your current WIP. So today, I'm going to be posting the first 550 words of (for lack of a better title at the moment) Vengeance.
Also one of the participants will get a $20 gift card to Amazon! Come on, you know you want some feedback anyways! Give it a try!
Vengeance
“It’s a bad idea,” Derek said for the third time. Each time he said it his Puerto Rican accent thickened. “There are a lot of variables, which ups the risk. We need to keep it simple."
Lucy rolled her pretty green eyes and sighed in annoyance. “This is simple. Look as soon as I over ride the codes and loop the video—“
“I don’t speak geek,” He reminded her with a flat glare.
She turned back to her computer screen. “You’d think after eighty seven years you’d have picked up more than just information on cars and women.”
Derek leaned against the wall of the van and smirked. “Chica, I think you just wish you had the skills I have with women.”
I sat in the back of the van quietly. They’d figure it out. They always did. Derek’s face twisted and contorted, his eyes shot little red lazer beams at Lucy. I closed my eyes, willing the images to disappear. I’d waited too long between burnings and the flame was pissed. When I opened my eyes the images were still there.
“This is efficient.” Lucy said changing the subject. Her words jumped around my head like ping pong balls bouncing off the sides of my skulls. I heard her, but I couldn’t quite comprehend it. “It’ll get the job done better than a back alley grab where any witness could be lurking. It’s a high tech age, get with the time wolf boy.”
Derek huffed in annoyance but didn’t argue. His laser eye beams narrowed and suddenly he turned towards me. I flinched, expecting to get burned by the red lights, but they faded when he looked at me. “You all right, Hails?”
“Pretty lights can’t hurt me.” Wait that wasn’t right. Closing my eyes I shook my head as if that would get rid of the craziness. After a moment I peaked with one eye. Derek’s olive features were sharp, with a square jaw and strong nose, and they weren’t moving around anymore. A few strands of shaggy dark hair fell into his eyes. Taking that as a good sign I opened the other eye and said, “Yeah, what’s our status?”
Lucy turned to her laptop. “Guards make their rounds every hour on the hour.” She rolled her eyes. “Think they could shake it up a little. Not make it so easy on us.” She scratched at her scalp underneath all the red, curly hair that was piled on top. “The marks office is on the seventeenth floor, corner office on the west side. Now, trying to get you into the elevators on the bottom floor is tricky, so you’re going to go in the side fire escape door and up to the first floor. Then –
“Lucy,” I said pinching the bridge of my nose. She looked up at me questioningly, the freckles started dancing around on her nose and I suddenly had an urge to play connect the dots. My chest grew warm. The flame was anxious. “Take a breath between sentences okay?”
***
I hope you enjoy, and this is just a first draft. I've learned that if I constantly go back and edit I'll never finish it.
Oh and my email is Sullys.scribbles@gmail.com for anyone who may want to do a longer critique!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Sunday Scribbles! (Ha that's right! I'm doing it on Sunday this time!
Okay if you missed the first part of Route 4 you can check it out Here.
Without further ado...
Route 4: Part Two
Without further ado...
Route 4: Part Two
My jaw was gaping as John Doe looked around. He seemed more curious than frightened. My heart was pounding in my chest. His gaze settled on me, eyes grayish and waxy. “Is this the morgue?”
Unsure what to say or do, I simply nodded. Was there protocol for when the dead sat up and started talking to you? If there was I must have missed that seminar at the last convention. This was a first for me. I was very much a deer caught in the headlights.
“So I’m dead…” He lifted his hands looking at them closely. “It would explain why I feel no heartbeat in my chest.”
“I suppose it would.” My voice was quiet, filled with disbelief. It was one thing to work with the dead all night. It’s not like I haven’t talked to a dead body before. Most often was something was eluding me to how they died. They had never spoken back before. It was a little unnerving that John Doe was.
He adjusted the sheet to cover him more comfortable and then rested his hands on the cold, metal table. It was a bit late for modesty. I had already performed an autopsy on him. His chest and belly were sewed up in the stand ‘Y’ shape. My eyes and hands had scoured every inch of his body searching for anything that would not only help the police find his killer, but maybe help identify John Doe as well.
“How did I…?”
I pointed to his forehead. “You were um…” Shot in the head? Had your brains blown out? Murdered? For some reason it seemed rude to say it in any of those ways. Where ever the spirits went after death, it was the greeter’s job on that side to tell them what happened if they didn’t remember. At least I would assume. My job was figuring out the last message they left behind.
He reached his hand up, fingers grazing over the bullet hole. He opened his mouth slightly as realization hit. “Oh dear, this is quiet embarrassing.”
I shrugged. “Not really. I’ve seen deaths a lot less dignified than yours.”
He raised a bushy eyebrow. “Really? Anyone you can think of in particular?”
Realization hit that I was having a conversation with a dead man. Since he wasn’t overly scary and apparently hadn’t risen as a flesh eating zombie, I started to feel the same annoyance I got when around the living. I hated chatty Kathy’s and gossip mongers.
“Look, I’ve still got work to do.” I tried to keep my voice as neutral as possible. “So maybe you can help me out by telling me your name?”
“I didn’t come here to tell you that.” He suddenly looked confused. “Not sure how I know that.” His gray eyes settled on me again. “This is an odd predicament isn’t it?”
I held my thumb and index finger about an inch apart. “Little bit, yeah.” I shrugged. “I’ve spent a lot of time speaking for the dead, but this is the first time the dead actually verbally spoke back. I gotta tell you pal, it’s a unnerving.”
“Pal.” It rolled over his tongue. He seemed to ponder the word for a moment before nodding. “Yes, Pal will do. You may call me Pal if you wish.”
My eyes widened ever so slightly. “Right.” I lengthened the word. It was slow, drawn out. A soft word of sarcasm and surprise. “Somehow I don’t think the name Pal is going to help the police find your next of kin.”
Pal gave a small smile. “Ahh yes, that’s why I’m here. I remember now.” Reaching up he absently scratched the bullet hole. Admittedly it was a little bit sickening to watch.
Said the medical examiner talking to the dead guy.
I was beginning to think I was losing my mind. I was, after all, sitting here having a conversation.
Pal had been sitting in silence for a few moments. He had trailed off and was now staring at the morgue body coolers. “Oh my, I’m a bit claustrophobic. I won’t be put in one of those drawers will I?”
Usually by the time the dead were put in there they didn’t care. Pal would be the first to even have an opinion on the subject. Somehow though, I didn’t think that’s why he was here. I snapped my fingers to draw his attention back.
“Hey, concentrate. What are you here for?”
He blinked and brought his gaze back to me. “Forgive my rudeness.” Pal nodded. “I’m here because you are indeed a friend to the dead. You often say for us what we can no longer say ourselves.”
I supposed some people could see what I do as noble. In reality, the dead were a lot easier to get along with than the living. I shrugged. “It’s my job.”
“So it is, but what you do is still a favor towards those no longer living.” He held up a pale finger. “Thus the dead wish to return the favor.”
My eyebrows rose. “You’re here to kill me?
He scoffed. “Goodness me no.” He almost looked offended by the notion. “However would you be able to continue helping the dead if you died yourself?” He waved the thought away. “No my dear girl, I am here to warn you.”
“If you say I’m going to be visited by three ghosts I’m going to check myself into the psych ward.”
He smiled then. “No ghosts. Just me.” He adjusted the sheet again.
“Well then could cut to the chase, Pal? I’ve got work to do.” Leaning back in my chair, I crossed my arms over my chest. Maybe I had come off as rude, but I wasn’t a people person. Not even a talking dead people person. Besides I was still debating on whether or not I’d fallen asleep at my desk or knocked my head on my something. This could also be one very intense, very vivid hallucination.
“Very well,” Pal said. “If you insist.”
“I do.”
“No need to get your knickers in a twist.”
I cringed. “You’re dead. Please don’t think about my knickers. It’s really creepy.”
“Just a phrase my dear, just a phrase.”
“Can we get on with this?”
Pal made a movement that very much made me think he wanted to sigh. Then he straightened and looked at me with those dead, gray eyes.
“Your normal route. The one you drive every day to and from work?”
I raised a brow again when he phrased it as more of a question. “What about it?”
“Take a detour.” Pal’s gaze was piercing into me. “We don’t wish you among the dead so soon.”
A chill slithered down my spine. Pal had been vague, but his point came across crystal clear.
Something was going to happen my way home. It obviously wasn’t anything good. In fact it would most likely result in my death. Then again I still wasn’t sure this was actually happening.
“If I avoid my usual route, will it stop whatever it is that’s going to happen? Or will someone else take my place?”
Pal raised and dropped one shoulder. A half hearted shrug. “It isn’t for me to say. Only for you to decide.”
“No pressure.”
He smiled. “Life is not easy, nor is death. Every decision has consequences.” Pal looked off into the distance as if seeing something that I couldn’t. Something that was only meant for the eyes of the dead.
The Fifteen Blogs I'm Passing The Award Onto!
2. Brains! Not Just For Zombies!
3.Word + Stuff
4.Marieke's Musings
5.Seeking The Writer's Life
6.The Writer's Funhouse]
7.A Writerly Pensheep
8.Amanda's Twisted Truth's
9.Confession's of an Aspiring Author
10.Freckle Head: Queen of Procrastination
11.Raquel Byrnes]
12.Writes of Passage]
13.Waiting on the Muse
14.The Lit Express
15.An Alleged Author]
Congrats Guys! Read the previous post for details! I got lazy :P
Woohoo!
While I was off being sick I realized I recieved a Stylish Blogger Award from [url=http://cerebrallunchbox.blogspot.com/2011/03/for-me-really.html]Cerebral Lunchbox[/url].
As per the rules, I must do three things.
1. Thank and link back to the awesometastic person who gave me this award.
2. State 7 things about myself. Lucky number seven!
3. Pass this award on to 15 bloggers of my choosing.
Thank you Cerebral Lunchbox! I love the unique name and reading your blog. I am honored to have received this award from you.
Seven Things About Me
1. My favorite color is orange.
2. I hate Valentines Day because it's my birthday and I've always had to share my day with a couples holiday.
3. Macaroni Penguins (or as I call them Surfer Penguins) are one of my two favorite animals. They were my favorite long before the movie Surf's Up. Ever since I was a teenager and went to the zoo and little one armed penguin waved at me.
4. My name was a drunken mistake. My parents couldn't decide on a name for me for five whole days. I was just baby girl ..... My dad went to a bar one night and was telling his friend about the dilemma. Apparently he told my dad to name me Natanya Michelle. In his drunken state my dad wound up turning into Natasha Michelle (which I admit I like better!)
5. I am an avid hockey fan! Go Pens!
6. I have never seen snow! True fact.
7. I am an avid and rabid Supernatural fan!
Honestly not sure why that says Tuesdays as it was never on Tuesdays but hey, it's still a sexy pic!
There you have seven facts about me!
As for the fifteen bloggers to pass this onto? Well they shall be determined tomorrow! Good night folks!
1. Thank and link back to the awesometastic person who gave me this award.
2. State 7 things about myself. Lucky number seven!
3. Pass this award on to 15 bloggers of my choosing.
Thank you Cerebral Lunchbox! I love the unique name and reading your blog. I am honored to have received this award from you.
Seven Things About Me
1. My favorite color is orange.
2. I hate Valentines Day because it's my birthday and I've always had to share my day with a couples holiday.
3. Macaroni Penguins (or as I call them Surfer Penguins) are one of my two favorite animals. They were my favorite long before the movie Surf's Up. Ever since I was a teenager and went to the zoo and little one armed penguin waved at me.
4. My name was a drunken mistake. My parents couldn't decide on a name for me for five whole days. I was just baby girl ..... My dad went to a bar one night and was telling his friend about the dilemma. Apparently he told my dad to name me Natanya Michelle. In his drunken state my dad wound up turning into Natasha Michelle (which I admit I like better!)
5. I am an avid hockey fan! Go Pens!
6. I have never seen snow! True fact.
7. I am an avid and rabid Supernatural fan!
Honestly not sure why that says Tuesdays as it was never on Tuesdays but hey, it's still a sexy pic!
There you have seven facts about me!
As for the fifteen bloggers to pass this onto? Well they shall be determined tomorrow! Good night folks!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Exclamation Marks!Hyper!Mojo Monkey!
Word Of The Day
volte-face
I was lost for a week! Okay well almost a week. Close enough! Where did the time go? See what happens when I don't post for one day! Okay enough with the exclamation marks! That was the last one I promise.
So a week has come and gone. What do I have to report on? The writing side has not been going well, but I was sick. It was one of those I feel disgusting and don't want to get out of bed type sicknesses where your body is achy and feeble feeling.
However I have recovered and my usual spunk has come along with it. Which means my darlings, do expect regular postings from me again.
First off, congrats to all you winners of the Crusader's Challenge! Excellent job! I applaud thee of thy excellence.
I'm not sure if I've had sugar tonight or if it's just the fact that I feel so much better! I have so much energy.
Maybe it's a combination?
Tomorrow is Sunday which means I will finally get the delayed Sunday Scribblings up. Woohoo! Yay for scribblings! Hopefully my muse will be around this week now that I'm feeling like a normal human being instead of a half dead zombie and I'll actually get something decent written.
Onto the word of the day. Honestly, I'm stumped on how to use that one in a sentence for this particular post.
Volt-Face:
a reversal in policy : about-face |
Now, I understand the meaning and context. Maybe my brain is still recovering from being sick. I'm not sure, but for whatever reason I can't not think of a suitable way to incorporate this into my blog post. Mind you this post is mostly gibberish, but hey whatever works to get my writing mojo flowing again.
It's the Mojo Monkey!
I know this post is wild and chaotic and probably doesn't make much sense. I'm just happy to be feeling alive again! It's ALIVE!!! Mwahahahaha.
And I'm going now.
