Who Is Ready For Christmas?

As 2011 comes to a close, I have been trying to tie up some loose ends as far as finances and first drafts go.

Yes! I wrote a 50,000 word novel in November for the infamous NaNoWriMo. I met many cool people and learned a few things about what a lot of writers do when rushed for wordage and have no idea what to write.

DREAM SEQUENCE!!

It's funny to me because I happened to hit my 50,000 word count without a dream sequence, but I want to throw one in there just for the sheer hell of it. I see alot of dreams in movies, and I read them in a lot of books.

At first I had a hard time trying to stay on track because I have a mild undiagnosed version of A.D.D. which gets me acting like a kitty cat and a pen light.

What was that??

Anyway.. I did manage to get a plot idea and ran with it.. I threw my draft in a drawer until January 1, 2012 (which thankfully is a Sunday). I will then go through it with a highlighter and a red pen. I am actually looking forward to going through it because I once read that anyone can write. The real work is in the editing. I have quite a bit of faith that I can pull it off.

Right now I am outlining a memoir type book.

Christmas!! Got almost all the presents I need for my loved ones and co-workers. We got a tree this year. We put the little stuffed penguin under it, we went to the store and got ornaments and pretty lights. And yes, if you look closely at the top of the tree that is Jim Morrison. My daughter made a Jim Morrison tree star!

I didn't even notice it until she said something and I cracked up. Only my sixteen year old daughter would think of putting Jim Morrison on the top of a Christmas Tree! I still am a littel floored that my teenage daughter is so in love with many of the bands from the early 70's. I mean, I was at her age as well (I grew up in the 80's). I loved Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Hendrix... I loved them all. My parents listened to all of that stuff so I by default did as well. I guess the default carries from generation to generation.

So Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope you get everything you ask for! May you and your family be blessed in the coming year.

Whatcha Gonna Do?

Tomorrow is my last vacation day of the year. I always take my last day in October. There is something about the early stages of fall that I am in love with.

I will have the house to myself from approximately 7:30 am until 3:00 pm.

In this time I plan on doing much writing. I am also going to put together a reasonable writing schedule. I always wind up making a schedule I cannot stick to and then feel deflated when I don't meet my goals.

I will keep my goals small and attainable. If I surpass them... yay me.

This week we bought a really nice camera off Amazon.com. I am excited about this! I love photography and prefer adding my own pictures to my blogs as opposed to pictures I find off the web. I always feel so dirty about adding web pictures. I mean, I am using someone's hard work for my own gain. The photographers are impossible to contact and when I manage to contact someone, they take a long time to get back to me... if they ever get back to me at all.

I like taking pictures of architecture and nature. I am not big into photographing people. This picture is from a church in Pennsylvania. We call it the "Pyramid Church" because of all the buildings that look like this. My friend Joe went to one of the sermons there a while back. All he could say was that it was "interesting." Now, the sermon does not take place in one of these actual pyramids. How cramped would that be?

I mostly like old dilapidated buildings. People ask me why. I don't have an answer. Who really has an answer for the odd things we like.

The other night I was sitting on the step, smoking a cigarette when I heard this loud fluttering. Suddenly, something was sitting on my chest with prickly feet. I looked down to see a huge Praying Mantis. They are supposed to be good luck or something.

That would be nice.

The ABC's of Me

A - Always on time.
B - Battle. As in I battle anything and anyone when I am sure I am right.
C - Cats. I love them. I have two and when I hit the lottery will be a rescue kitty woman.
D - Darlene. My name that I hated until I turned 28.
E - Eggs. Love them. My favorite go to protein food.
F - Freak. I get called this a lot for a lot of reasons.
G - Goofy. As in - Darlene you are so goofy! And I am. Really.
H - Highways. I looove to drive and ride. On the road = Happy. Another H!
I - Ice Cream. Not a big fan.
J - James. Half the men in my family have this name.
K - Kickoff. Football. Fall.
L - Long walks. In the park. I'm serious.
M - Momentary Lapse of Reason = awesome Pink Floyd song.
N - Nerd. That's me! Deep down inside and slightly on the surface.
O - Overreact. I do this a lot; have a few books on how not to do this.. but I do it anyway.
P - Pickles! My cat's alter ego.
Q - Quintessential.. a word I use often.
R - Rabid Wolf Spider. Love spiders. The Rabid Wolf Spider is neither rabid nor wolf like.
S - Sleep. I do not do it enough.
T - Take It To The Limit. A song by the Eagles that makes me smile. Every time.
U - Under achiever. A curse that I am still trying to break.
V - Violin. I played for four years while in grade school.
W - Writer. I finally tell people I am a .. gulp.. writer.
X - Xylophone - I played the xylophone in the 5th grade Christmas concert.
Y - Yak - I had a stuffed one with green fur when I was 8.
Z - Zippo. My other cats name. He is named after the song by Corrosion of Conformity... not the lighter.

Thanks to Little Miss Nerd Girl for this idea. Click the link and check out her ABC's.

Perspective and Story Ideas

Ha.. ok, bad title. But hey..
So this week was interesting. I do not have the Ninja 1000 much longer.. maybe 3 weeks? My daughter's 16th birthday approaches.. must make plans for that.

Today Andy and I put the bicycles on the car and headed down to Kelly Drive/West River Drive/Art Museum area in Philadelphia. It was a great day to be outside and we took full advantage.

We did an 8 mile loop and I was sad that I do not have a camera at the moment. There were so many great shots!

There was a line of people to get a picture with the Rocky Statue. I thought that was interesting.

I also made a comment to Andy about an interesting story idea I got when we rode down Kelly Drive and off to the right was a bathroom and a trail that led back into the woods.
Andy told me I was demented, to which I replied "I guess all writers are then."

My novel is coming along nicely. I was glad to be in and driving through Philadelphia today. I got a lot of points of interest for my book and came up with a potential subplot.

My goal for this week is to write a total of 5000 words. Which days that gets done is of minor importance. I'll do a little more mapped of a schedule tomorrow.

In very sad news, my co-worker Nancy, who has Stage Four Colon Cancer, is back in the hospital. She is so sweet to everyone and does so much for so many. I am saddest for her daughters who are 19 and 16. I was talking to my youngest, who will be 16 this month. She told me how devastated she would be if I got sick and then eventually died.

I didn't know what to say. Knowing someone who has their life put in an unimaginable perspective puts a spin on things. I often get wrapped up in the day to day mindless crap. But then, I see Nancy at work. She looks like she'd blow away if a strong breeze came along. She looks so tired.

And I think.. "what the hell am I bitching about?"

Have a great week everyone.. stick to your guns and never give up.

Getting The Mojo Back

This week has been pretty ho hum. I made a lot of progress on my WIP. I did some chapter outlines and posted the very rough draft of the first chapter to Writer's Digest Critique Corner and got a few feedback comments. I amvery excited with the path I want to take the story in.

In motorcycle news... I did go out on the Ninja 1000 yesterday. I rode with Andy and Chris. We decided to just do a loop through Doylestown and stopped off at Five Guys Burgers And Fries out there. I didn't wear a jacket or gloves... I know, I know.. I am very bad. But the frame on the bike gets so damn hot I literally feel like I am going to pass out from heat exhaustion if I wear gear. A very big drawback to the otherwise excellently put together 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 1000.

Book I am reading: Nikki Sixx - The Heroin Diaries. Gripping, sad and eye opening. Nikki Sixx of the famed Motley Crue and Sixx A.M. published his diary. I guess I am kind of living in a cave or something because apparently my sister read it two years ago.

My goals for the week are quite simple.
Continue writing. Continue blog commenting.

It's Getting Better... All The Time!

Alright... wow. This week was a blur in a way. I drove my daughter to Warp Tour on Thursday, she had a blast. The heat was insane, it hit like 100 that day. I had my concerns, but she and her friend each took a big bottle of water and the concert venue had a free refilling station.

I got "The Heroin Diaries - A Year In The Life of a Shattered Rock Star" by Nikki Sixx in the mail last week. I am having a hard time putting it down. It is sad, funny, troubling and surreal to sum it up. As a recovering addict/alcoholic myself, I can relate to a lot of things he writes about. So far I have only cried twice.

I have a book idea! Yay me! I pulled out my BIAM spiral book that has been collecting dust for the last six months and finally started using it. I did start writing a part of my life about the worst ten years of my life, but it is pretty painful to go through. I might not be ready for that. The book idea I have a ran across Andy and he said it sounded pretty interesting, so I am stoked as I do my outline.

I never really did an outline before. I would just write and then lose interest. I think the losing interest was due to having no direction.

I rode Thor a couple times this week. Honestly, it has just been too hot. The temperature has gotten to well above 100 degrees a few times this week. The heat is sickening. Since I was about 32 years old, my body just cannot handle the heat like it used to. I get real sick with a wicked headache. Heat stroke? Not sure.

Well, time for me to go wake Andy up from his morning nap. We are going to his mother's today.

Peace!

Motley Crue and Motorcycles!

Does it ever end? This last week was nuts. Driving my daughter back and forth to her friends, trying to write in between working, blogging, riding my motorcycle, and walking. *sigh* exhaling now.

We went on a few motorcycle rides this week and even went on a short one today!

Oh... the best thing? I went to the Motley Crue/Poison concert Saturday night! It was a blast. My friend Katie took my picture and there was a message to send in fan photos. Katie sent it in and when Motley Crue did Home Sweet Home they put up all the fan photos one by one as they played and mine was one of them!

Katie, her sister Amy and I started screaming and pointing like school girls. It was awesome.
Shortly after that, Tommy Lee did a drum solo on his drum kit while the drum kit was spinning around! Very cool.
But it got better. Vince Neil, the lead singer, called this guy named Tony up on the stage and he got to go on the drum kit with Tommy Lee!

Sunday a bunch of us hopped on the motorcycles and rode over to Princeton, NJ for smoothies and a light lunch. The weather was a little warm but it felt so good to get back out and ride.

This week I am going to give you the link to Sonia G. Medeiros. She is very talented and super funny. I met her through an online class hosted by Kristen Lamb, who I will be profiling soon. I love Sonia's blog. She keeps it real and always has very interesting information. Keep up the good work, Sonia!

Until next week my little tiddlywinks.. be merry, take chances and make those dreams a reality!