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Weaving through mountains

It’s Friday.  I looked over the Flash Fiction options today and my eyes just glazed over and my brain …which is set on some temperature well over 100 degrees at the moment…  just stopped.  So, I’ll forward on the lovely prompt that L.S.Engler posted for her Five Minute Getaway piece.  I’m going to give you the link for Chuck Wendig’s frighteningly detailed assignment for this week.  I’m going to apologize to myself (and Albert) for not even trying to start the Flash Fiction February challenge.

And I’ll send you over to my writing process blog Many Worlds From Many Minds for the opening of a story line I’ve played with for some time.

I am also putting out a request for guest bloggers.  The topic will be “What Inspires Me”…  The posts don’t have to be writing related only.  In fact, I’d be delighted if they were not.  We’re all far more than the accumulation of our words.  Contact me via email at mouse(at)sff(dot)net or @Kymele on Twitter if you would be interested.

Hopefully tomorrow after some sleep I will feel energized enough to finish my photography posts (at least one of them).

Oh, and to add silliness to more silliness…  I’m adding yet another online challenge to my list of to “get done”s.  This one, of course works wonderfully between the two other reading challenges I’m involved in: 50/50/Me and Telling Tales 2012.  I’m not sure I could pull it off well if it didn’t.  This one is called The Bookmark Break Challenge.  It’s to encourage me to finish all those half-red books I was enjoying then got sidetracked from for some strange reason.  You should check it out and spend a bit of time looking over Aubrie Anne’s earlier posts.  She has some amazing tidbits hiding in there.

I have a confession to make.  I stood up a dear friend today.  I didn’t mean to.  I was supposed to go over to his house and hang out with the people in his Changling LARP that is being held at his house (at this minute still at 9:45pm).  Instead, I ended up spending the whole evening writing and posting pages here.

I feel guilty, but then again, I don’t.  After having tried to get my head around writing the photography pages I wanted to make for almost two weeks, I finally had enough pieces together to actually have a go at writing them.  I admit, I’ve only finished two of the pages–Photography and Inspiration and So You Thought Porn Was Bad…– but I have a good start on the next one and all my information gathered for the last one.  I even managed to work in a piece of flash fiction for Chuck Wendig’s The Present Tense challenge.

Not too bad for an afternoon/evening of pantsing it (in the writing sense, not this way).

Of course, that means that I don’t have much to say in this post except note the progress I’ve made for my Telling Tales 2012 check-in.  (Well, technically I have plenty I could say, but none of it has anything to do with the Telling Tales challenge.  Nor would any of it make much sense at the moment.   Suffice it to say that after I finish this set of photography-related posts, I will have enough to keep me plenty busy enough.)

Childhood Treasures

Actually I can’t make any great claims to progress on the challenge.  My husband has taken a few extra nights lately reading the bedtime stories to our boodle boy, and for several of the nights our son has chosen poems and not the longer stories for his bedtime selections.  Add to that our all being sick, I count every step I made as progress.  So when I read two more Grimm’s fairy tales from my unabridged version and found a wonderful piece of flash fiction from the comments on Chuck Wendig’s Photo challenge last week, I intend to count them.  Maybe not as complete works, but certainly three more short works toward my end goal.

My own piece for the photo-challenge I posted by mistake at my process blog Many Worlds From Many Minds.  I’d meant to post it here as I had last week.

And rather than give away the actual story that I’m counting as part of my Mix n’ Match, I’ll just send you to Intellectual Blathering for a delightful short by Jennifer L. Davis.

And an almost shameless plug for my longtime friend, Shan Jeniah Burton and her first flash fiction piece: My Very First Fash Fiction Challenge.  It’s hard to try new things.  I know that very well.

First off, let me say a very warm welcome to everyone who chose to click that little “Follow” button–old friends and new:  Evan at The Better Man Project, Coral Russel at the Alchemy of Scrawl, Elizabeth Anne Mitchell at Leavekeeping, Shan Jeniah Burton,  Janeen at Words By Design, Natasha Guadalupe at My Novel Writing Adventures & Other Words, Miss Elsie at bowerdiaries, and Studio Brow.  Thank you!

Today I’m mostly in the mood to talk about books.   I just started one you see–Knees Up, Mother Earth by Robert Rankin.  I’m not sure why…I think it was because it was the only thing on my immediate shelves that called itself fiction, at least without me having to get out the key for my paperback collection.  (I use and old VHS tape cabinet for most of my paperbacks; CDs go in the doors; it’s an odd system, but it works for me).  I don’t have a lot of fiction anymore.  When we moved to our present house, I weeded down my book collection to my few favorites and the books I assumed I would need for research.  I thought I would use the local library more than I have.  I used University of Albany‘s library and the Albany Public Library regularly when I lived there.  It didn’t work out, and that’s a long story in itself.  Suffice it to say, I understand the passion books can incite in one, but a librarian should be more welcoming of the idea that people may want to actually taken them off your shelves and look at them; and the library should be open more hours than two days a week for three hours in the afternoon (that actually has changed in the ten years we’ve been here, but habits have become what they are, and I tend to get my books from other places now).

I have even started (but haven’t gotten too far) in a movie, courtesy of a friend on Facebook who is something of a film buff.  In posting youtube clips of songs he liked, he posted Take On Me by a-ha.   My friend also posted info about the French movie it was based on called Orpheé by Jean Cocteau.  Though last week you could watch it in ten parts on Youtube, complete with subtitles, it has been pulled from the site now.  I have to say, I’m not inspired to spend the over $50 US dollars to get myself a used copy of the movie(s…  there are three of them) just to watch it once.  So now I am searching again for something new to add to my 50/50/Me  movie selections.  If you have a suggestion that has really delighted or inspired you, please feel free to suggest it.  I’m not good at this sort of thing, as you can see.

As I noted last week, I have decided to take on a new reading challenge as well. Called the Telling Tales Reading Challenge 2012, it involves the reading of fairy tales and myths (including modern translations/versions of them).  Good for me that I have a five year-old son…and equally good that I committed myself to reading 50 novel length books by the end of the year (including short story compilations).  Since I’d like to explore further than just the books I’ll be sharing with Marcus, I have elected to join for the Mix n Match at 25 novels.  The rules are flexible enough that I shouldn’t have too much trouble making that work.

Using our  evening bedtime ritual for the past week, I’ve shared some un-bowdlerized Grimm’s Fairy Tales as well as couple Native American legends…  Most are small enough, given that the print is small and they don’t have pictures that we should be able to cover two, maybe three a day.  Marcus certainly seemed to enjoy these as much or more than a lot of his regular books.

Image via Wikipedia

Of course, I will be supplementing my 50/50/Me to complete the rest.  It’s also part “writing research”.  With so many people in ROW80 talking about the Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell and trading links to various  writing sites that dissect and study Campbell’s work and observations, I thought it might be good to see this “journey” in practice.  Not that all the dissections are good ones….   I can understand that.  Writing isn’t a pattern for most people, even those who outline compulsively.  But the stories that stand the test of centuries of retelling…  There is something interesting to be said for exploring that pattern in its most basic form–as the stories themselves.

So, I will keep you all up to date as I progress along my own “Reader’s Journey”.  Have a great week!

• “Every myth is psychologically symbolic” (gointothestory.blcklst.com)
• Fairy Tales as Guides to Self-Undertanding (meggella.com)
• Archive for The plot Thickens (Mwahahaha) (jordanmccollum.com)

I’ve been feeling somewhat overwhelmed of late these past few weeks.  But it’s a good thing actually.

Recently I’ve become more “interactive” rather than “reactive” to the online community. Though it’s at the moment taking up more of my time than I like, I’m sure that with practice and some better tools (after many had suggested it, I did install Tweetdeck the other day, TY Kristen Lamb), with some trimming and pruning, with some creativity and work, not only will this all work, but it will work well.

Until then, I’m a little down and out of late.

He's becoming braver, at least for me

The weather outside right now is lovely but so frigid that I am extra inspired to stay put and not do much.  It makes being the “crazy cat lady” on my road useful.  No matter what, I know there is a furry half-feral outside the back door twice a day depending on me for a supplement to his hunting efforts.  And probably more, though at the moment, I’m afraid they are being chased away by our neighbor’s little yap dogs (I’m not categorically against dogs; I am against unattended dogs that try to intimidate my son in his own yard–especially as it keeps Marcus from wanting to play outside).

There have been some wonderful things going on of late.  Through the ROW80 community of writers, I have found some amazing blogs online as well as challenge upon challenge to tickle my adventurous streak.  Today, thanks Alberta at Alberta Reads, I now know about the Telling Tales Challenge 2012.  It looks deliciously tasty, and I will be signing up this evening.  Yep, another challenge…  But I can do this with my other challenges; it merely focuses my choices for the 50/50/Me a bit more.

And through the ROW80 blog hop, little delights that have always attracted me seem to be appearing out of the woodwork saying “Look!  See how awesome this is?”

This week’s best example is the pieces I found on Ryukyu Glass

Simple but lovely

Why did this interest me?  Why do people find anything interesting? I’ve always loved glass, stained glass, colored glass, patterns of light and color…  One of my favorite places to go is the Corning Glass museum. It’s one of the reasons I love going into churches, especially old churches with huge stained glass rosettes. Even old abandoned churches (some people who know me would say especially old abandoned churches) where the glass is gone and all remains is a wooden outline draw me to them.  I look at these old beauties and wonder what the design looked like, how they had been removed… did the colorful shards tinkle down like a cascade of  gems one day?  Was the window sold off to a collector, to another church?  Is it still there, hidden from the rest of the world?  And why?

Stories abound!

Really.  Stories DO abound.  Another result of the extra blogging was the added inspiration to try out some flash fiction pieces.  To people who do these regularly, it probably seems silly to say that trying something like this scared the heck out of me.  But something clicked this week and I not only tried one, I went for a second one this morning.

The first I found through

Originally, there were three smaller pieces vying for the spotlight today, but checking into Facebook one of my fellow ROWers, Sharon Howard, posted her piece for another ROWer L.s.Engler’s Five Minute Flash Fiction Challenge.  And, I succumbed to the “shiny factor” and tried it.  The piece actually took 5min 30s, and it’s raw, but it’s a start.

The wall that had once fallen clear and clean, now hung fell white, blue, red and brown with trapped silt and debris…  dead.  What insanity made us come here today?  This glacial mass wasn’t pretty–it was intimidating.

But the kids wanted to climb the waterfall, and this was the time to do it.  Climbing water.  I’d laughed when I’d first heard the idea.  I should have guessed that our young children, the oldest just over ten, inspired by the world and not yet defeated by its reality would find a way.  I had demurred when they’d suggested this chilly hike, saying that if it’s ice, does that really count as water?  But my son, and Dee’s pair too, would not be deterred.

So here were were…  slipping and sliding in the not-quite frozen muck, wondering if we’d finally hit that rock that in warmer climes we’d know was ready to just slide down into the creek below us.

“Mom!  See, it’s not all ice!” shouted Dee’s son.    And, with careful preparation, the three young people, set down their packs on the smooth ice-filled pool that had circled the pond.  They suited up in their safety gear with more ease and familiarity than their mothers.

Dee glanced over to me with a red-cheeked smile. “I told you they would find a way, sis.”

So there you are.  Flash fiction number one.  Not sure if it’s good enough as it is, or if I’d like to develop it further.

The next piece is much smaller and more focused.  The rules are here at Chuck Wendig’s TerribleMinds blog.

When Kat cornered me in the pantry clutching armloads of seeds to my chest, she screeched for help.  Thoughts of my wife and hungry children at home drove me and, unable to see better odds for escape, I darted between Kat’s legs as fast as–THUNK!  Seeds flew from my cheeks as I felt something tear and then pain rising up from my back foot, but I didn’t stop running until I reached the comforting darkness of home.

Between these two pieces, I feel a sense of having done something toward my writing goals.  And the Five Minute piece had an added bonus of being so free form.  I can’t say I’m suddenly all psyched up to write more, but I’m willing to try again.

Firstly, for the joy they brought, let me thank Viansa Blake for directing me first to Celine Shinbutsu’s page were I found this nifty little post on Ryukyu glass.  And not knowing what it was, I searched, spent some time here admiring the photos…  The rest is history!

Another very cool blog by Warren Stokes
Wonderful art work (I confess, I’m a BIG fan of mazes and similar puzzles, and these are superb.)

And this was just funny…
http://grantbarrett.com/hey-girl-words-of-the-year-2

May I thank and welcome my fellow bloggers who braved my sometimes discordant thoughts and clicked the “Follow” button to spend this time with me: Sharon Howard, Raelyn Barclay, and Robert Green.

Have a wonderful Martin Luther King Day.  Have a wonderful weekend as well.

Short post here.  Just stopped in to say, that some of the things that were really making it difficult to maintain this blog have been bright back into the light, and in doing so, made me realize how much less they bothered me now.  For example: this post, which was my very first one here, somehow caused a lot of grief and heartache at the time.  I actually hid the post for well over a year, intending to someday go back to it.  Since procrastination didn’t help motivate me, Fate decided to act up and take a hand.

I think when we first start a new process–any new process, be it blogging or parenting or schooling or even collecting cat fur–we are fragile.  We feel the need to assure the world of the wisdom of our choices.  Instead of just living (them) as best we can and letting our success (or failures and experience) speak for us, we speak more adamantly of how right this thing we are doing is for us.  We often point out our early successes to others (those tricky achievements on the learning curve where every single thing seems to just work out right: there are no headaches or car repairs or grumpy tellers at the bank) as the reason that this thing isn’t just right for us… but that “Hey, you should do it too!”

We’re basically idiots.  I don’t mean that in a bad way either.

I was reading a post the other day about a mother’s dislike for the colloquial use of “retarded”.  I understand what she means.  In reading the comments though, I also had to agree with the commenter who said that calling people who use the word “‘retarded’ to mean ‘stupid’ were idiots” showed a touch of hypocrisy on the part of the blog writer.  A big comment debate, of course, ensued with most people arguing that “idiot” wasn’t a medical diagnosis.  Problem is…it used to be.

And to go further back in history, it simply meant “ignorant, uneducated person“.  The newer definition of a “stupid or foolish person” almost seems like we are (slightly) turning back the calendars at least if you ignore the fact that that is the second use, not the first.  The first, the common use, is labeled offensive and actually reads as:

1.usually offensive: a person affected with extreme mental retardation

Just to make it clear…  I’m using definition two (–actually I am using the original definition, but…).  And I am applying to myself as well as anyone else.  There is a reason newbies sometimes have trouble in online forums (granted, this problem is becoming less common, both as people are by and large becoming more tech savvy and as there is more available help out there).  When we are new and excited by all the great things we’ve discovered…we do a horrible thing: We try to share.  And share.  And share….

Eventually we get to a different place in our lives.  I’m starting to get there.  Starting…

And on that note, and in a spirit of complete disclosure….  I leave you with two idiots (myself and an old friend) with a webcam.

SOMETHING made Laurie laugh

I am going to burst!

Laurie has wings!

Kiss Kiss

Look Mom, it's a diseased ilk!