What's on your Mind?

I'm taking an online class right now (my first in a couple of years) on showing vs. telling. We've been given writing assignments that we're to post for the instructor (and other students) to comment on. Well, I told a friend (which I think most of you know in one way or another) about the class and she signed up with me. She's like the teacher's pet, turning in her assignments first and getting high praise from the teacher and other students. And then there's me...waiting until the last possible minute to turn in my homework, waiting for the instructor to ask "did you not understand the assignment?".

You see, I have this thing about people reading what I've written (yes, I know I have to get over that but does it help explain the secret blog at all?). Anyway, the assignment for yesterday (which we received on Thursday or Friday, and my friend, who went out of town this weekend still got hers in first) was to write a "flowery" scene and then rewrite it, tightening it up. I had a million ideas of what to write about and even started six or seven of them. What I ended up writing was a sex scene. A sex scene! Where that came from is anyone's guess...just something on my mind I guess. LOL

Inspired by Mel, I thought I would post what my local chapter does when they show up to support their friends at a book signing. (I figure it's okay to post here since a couple of the participants have posted it on their respective webpages.) Enjoy. :-)

And what's on your mind these days?

Conflicts

Okay, so I mentioned that I had a conflict with DWTS last night. That conflict was a show I don't tell many people that I watch...I Wanna Be A Soapstar on soapnet. This is its fourth season and the shows air on Tuesday's at 7:00 (thank goodness for DVRs!). It's a reality show where actors compete for a contract on a soap opera. This season they're competing for a role on Days of Our Lives. The host is Cameron Mathison, who is also on DWTS.

The Soapstar show is filmed in advance, except this year the finale is going to be live and the audience will get to have a say in who wins the contract. I think it will be interesting to see how that plays out, if Cameron lasts on DWTS, because the live show of Soapstar would air at 7:00, followed immediately by the elimination round of DWTS at 8:00.

Anyway, a week or so ago I found a blog by the contestants of Soapstar. Each week the contestants post a blog about what happened, from their perspective. There was one contestant, Bo, who really annoyed me with his posts. He had bonded with two other of the men (not that way - that I know of) and thought they were the three best...he refers to them as the three musketeers. He didn't want any of them to get "killed off" and went so far as to point out why others should be killed off. Didn't like that.

I read all that and told my friend, who also watches the show, that Bo had to go. Period. He's been struggling from the beginning anyway so let's just get rid of him already! The next show though, his buddy Travis was killed off. (Travis was a frontrunner from the beginning but had had a very poor showing that night.) Bo's on air comments were like his blog. "Travis shouldn't have left. They could have killed off Yves or Ashley but Travis didn't deserve to go." (Those may not have been the exact words but that is what he said. Ashley was the other frontrunner but she seems to be losing steam herself. I'm leaning towards wanting Jimena and Yves to be in the top two.)

So last night they all had to play drunks. They were drinking for the first time after their SO broke their hearts. Bo said he was going to play it like he was crushing on the bartender. I wondered what he would do when he found out the bartender was going to be played by a man but I have to give him credit, he still did it and it was fun to watch. But then, all of the competitors did a great job last night I thought (as did the judges). And I momentarily forgot about his poor sportsmanship that made me want him to be killed off. So that when he WAS killed off, I was disappointed (I had wanted it to be Justin - his other buddy, who also seems to have a bad attitude about the competition, just in a different way). Once I remembered, I was okay with the decision last night.

Now, as far as DWTS goes, I so do not understand the judges. Monday night they told Jennie Garth how wonderful she was (and I agreed) and gave her all straight sevens. Last night I thought Cameron Mathison had a poor showing (and the judges seemed to agree), and he also got straight sevens. What gives? I still gave Cameron some of my votes but I really didn't feel like he'd put in the work some of the others had.

Lots of conflicts.

Technologically Challenged

I think I may have mentioned that I have a technological disability. If you've ever felt stupid when dealing with a computer or cell phone, this post may make you feel better about yourself.

Okay, so I have a cell phone and have had one for 12 or 13 years. It's never been something I've used a lot though. It's always just been there for "just in case" needs. And I can tell you that when my very first cell phone came with features like call waiting, I didn't see the need. But it was standard and it was more of a hassle to get it removed than to just keep it, so I kept it. I didn't figure it would be an issue, since I wasn't giving out my number anyway.

So, the few times someone DID actually call in when I was using the phone, I disconnected all parties. Don't know how I was doing it but, if nothing else, I was consistent. About the time I would figure out how to work all the features, I would get a new phone and start the process all over again.

Well, a few weeks ago I switched cell phone service providers. As such, I was required to change phones. Now, I still don't see the need (for me anyway) to have all these extra features. While I am using my phone more frequently now, it's still a "just in case" phone to me (although, I haven't replaced my dead house phone yet so it's the only phone I can be reached on at the moment - but that's another story). Even so, the sales person tried to sell me their top of the line phone. She kept showing me these phones with all these features ("you flip it this way for easy text messaging" she said. "I don't know how to text message," I replied. "This one takes pictures," she said. "I don't need a phone that takes pictures," I replied. "You can make this one have a bigger screen," she said, "for when you're on the internet." "I don't need to access the internet from my phone," I replied. And on it went.). I did end up getting a camera phone though, mostly because you can't hardly get a phone without it anymore - plus it was free with my company's plan.

Which, by the way, I want to recommend an improvement to the (or maybe just my) camera phone. You see, I was snapping shots of my dogs and got a great one of Max. Thing was, no one told me that you had to SAVE the picture (yes I'm THAT stupid) so I lost it when I flipped it closed. So my recommendation is that the phone alert you to the fact that it's not saved. You know, like maybe making a sound and then asking "are you sure you want to close this document/picture without saving?" before you lose it. It's just a thought.

But, anyway, I'm still learning the new phone. And last night I was talking to a friend of mine and I heard this beep. I wondered what it was. It was brief so I wasn't sure. Then it beeped again. I started thinking someone was calling me. It was going to be my first call waiting call. I was pretty anxious about it because of my track record of losing both callers in the past.

Then the beeping stopped. My friend had been talking the whole time and I didn't want to interrupt so I hadn't said anything. Then the beeping started again. This time I interrupted my friend and said "Hold on, I think I have another call."

I pressed the "send" button, assuming that's what would switch me to the other call, right? Well, after I pressed it I hear the hi / low pitch you hear when you're phone has been off the hook too long. Figuring I'd missed the caller, I pressed the "end" button. When I tried to get my friend back, I found out that I had disconnected "both" calls. Doh!

I called my friend back, apologizing for disconnecting our call. We were only talking for a few minutes when, again, I hear the beep. I sighed heavily and said, "I think someone is calling me."

She said something and I responded, "Did you hear the beep?"

"Yes. Wait, I think I did."

On cue the beep sounded again. "That?" she asked.

"Yes!" I replied.

"Honey, that's in the store. I'm in WalMart! That's a sound in the store."

Oh.

So I hadn't really disconnected two callers, like I'd thought. No. I'd merely HUNG UP on my friend, for no apparent good reason! LOL

Not embarrassing or anything.

Now, don't you feel better about your skills? ;-)

Hard Work

A couple of years ago I questioned the way my chapter gets its officers. You see, a nominating committee is put together and they announce who will hold what offices. No voting or anything. It's just a done deal.

Okay.

So this year I'm on the nominating committee and I'm seeing why it's done that way. No one will agree to take on the offices! There are only a handful of people I haven't talked to - half of which I don't want to see on the board and the other half, people who have been on the board forever and have expressed a desire to have a break. And I still have two offices to fill! (insert head banging smilie here)

I really want to see a good slate of officers this year. This past year we had a really weak leader and the entire chapter suffered for it. This "leader" never does anything. She will send email after email asking if this or that is done, we say yes and she keeps sending the emails, saying she's getting really worried? Why, I don't know. We'll have done the work already! It's really annoying.

Plus, she never communicates what she IS doing. For example, one of members recently had a death in the family. I passed this information along to the board and found out that she's been sending things out on behalf of the chapter/board without telling us. Someone else stepped up and said that was wrong. She finally commented last night and said she was sending things out on behalf of the chapter - not the board, like that meant it didn't matter we didn't know. I jumped on that and (nicely, but I think everyone knew my "intent") said the board should be in the know no matter what. She hasn't responded to that yet.

She also didn't respond when she sent an email about our upcoming meeting(s), asking which one we should recognize a debut author and who was in charge of bringing the bubbly. What she didn't respond to was my email asking HER to take care of that (again, nicely but everyone probably knew what I was getting at). And I know she was still online in her email because, she sent me an email asking me to give her an update on the slate of officers - something I said I'd do when I had a full slate. I've been avoiding communicating that with her though, because she's expressed an interest in being on the board (but only in particular positions) and I don't think she's a good representation of our chapter. In any event, I've decided to take a page from her book and just ignore what I don't want to address. Works for me.

In other news....it's gonna be another long week for me. I woke up this morning (it's Tuesday, in case you don't stop by for a day or two) and thought it was Saturday. I HATE when that happens.

How's your week going so far?

What's in a Name?

Over on the Deadline Divas' blog, Rhoda recently posted a picture she used for inspiration and I absolutely loved it. In fact, it inspired me too! Several years ago I was inspired to write this story. In my head I saw it on stage rather than in a book. Not sure why but that's what I was seeing. And having less of a clue of how to write a screenplay than I do a book, the idea got shoved to the further most recesses of story idea queue in my mind. Well, plus, the idea wasn't fully formed - I basically only knew the concept.

Fast forward to this picture of inspiration and suddenly the concept is fully formed. I know the beginning, the middle and well, I don't know the exact ending but I do know it is a happily ever after one. I even have a title for the story.

The only thing I don't have is the character's names. I never get fully invested in the names so they might change a gazillion times in the process. And I hate that.

One exception to that is a story idea that I have but it's based on someone I actually know and so I only see that person's name for my character. But, should it be published and should my friend actually read my book, I wouldn't want her (or a jury) to know (beyond a shadow of a doubt) that I based the character on her - or at least one of my initial impressions of her. (I should point out here that it is a person I adore and have the utmost respect for but this particular aspect may not seem "flattering" and I don't want to hurt any feelings.)

Anyway, I've told you all this to ask this - how do you come up with your character's names? Do they just come to you? Do they grow into them?

I just had this flashback to when I got my dog Harley and I called him something different every day until I took him to the vet and was forced to decide on a name. I don't know that I can do that with my characters.

Again, anyway, how do you work these details out? Inquiring minds want to know. :o)

The Geek Squad

I know I've been a bit neglectful, if you will, of my blog recently but I've really had a good reason. I've had zero computer access at home for the last two weeks and an unstable computer environment for a couple of weeks before that. It wasn't until last night that I was able to get back online at home (and don't think I'm not happy about it - I've been spending the last four hours catching up on internet surfing! :o) ).



Anyway, I found out just how little I really know about computer and I also learned that the experts don't know a whole lot more than I do. This all started the first weekend of the month when I noticed my computer was going slower than usual and I shut it off. It shut off alright . . . it wouldn't reboot for me to save my life.



I took it to work and, on the first try mind you, a co-worker got it up and running. I immediately started yelling "save my newsletter! I've gotta save my newsletter!" And then I promptly saved the one document (to a flash drive) that would be the most easy to recreate, should I lose everything and we shut 'er back down - where it once again died.



An "expert" told me I should try to re-boot it from my boot disk and I did, and it actually worked. At that time, I copied as many files as I could (starting with all my partial wips) on the flash drive. It didn't get everything but it got a lot. I'm thinking I'm doing pretty good. I was getting advice that I should re-install everything on my computer and start fresh (I'd bought Norton because the initial diagnosis was that I had a virus - and maybe I did but in the end, it wasn't my biggest problem, but it wouldn't install on my computer) but I wasn't finished with the newsletter I was working on and I really wanted to get it out before I wiped the slate clean, so to speak.



Well, with each change I made to the newsletter, I resaved it to the flash drive, right? That is until my computer quit recognizing the flash drive. You know, the one that had my life on it? Yeah, that one. Suddenly I didn't feel like I was doing so good anymore. That's when I started emailing EVERYTHING on my computer to my gmail account (gotta love 'em) so I could feel good again. :o)



So, I finally finished the newsletter and got it out and decided to reinstall everything. Oh, during all this, I was having some issues with my computer where if it stalled, I could tilt it and it would un-stall, if you know what I mean. The Pam said she thought it was my hard drive. I told the computer "expert" at work all this and he disagreed, saying that if it was my hard drive that I would hear a grinding noise and it would just crash. Which is exactly what happened after I stayed up all night reinstalling everything on my computer.



That was two weeks ago tomorrow.



Tuesday I went Best Buy and bought the hard drive that the computer "expert" from work told me to buy. To shorten the story, it was the wrong hard drive. Fortunately I made the decision to have the "geek squad" at Best Buy install it. Some thought it was a waste of money to do that but considering it turned out to be the wrong hard drive and they wouldn't have refunded my money had someone else opened the box and tried to install it, I think it was money well spent! Anyway, the geek squad had issues too but at the end of the day yesterday (and I mean the end of the day!), I was finally back up and running. (If you wonder why I wasn't up before then - let's just say this was a contributing factor.)

In any event, it's good to be back! :o)

*Sigh*

Tonight my dog, Harley, came in when he heard me open a muffin wrapper. He placed his chin on my leg and when he moved it, it was covered in mud. So I decided to investigate what he (and possibly the other dogs) had been doing outside. It was already dark outside so I took my flashlight with me.

Over in the front corner of the fence it appears like he/they have been digging a hole. O-kay. Now, I don't know if you've heard this but if you fill a hole where dogs have been digging with their own poop, they won't dig there anymore. I was told this a few years back when Max was a puppy and doing the digging - and it worked. So I went and got my shovel to fill the hole and go searching for poop (jealous are you? LOL).

First I filled in the hole and then went looking, shining my flashlight everywhere. The first "pile" I saw and approached turned out to be a dead bird. Poor thing. I hope it went quickly.

Anyway, I decided to look on the other side of my yard because that's where they do most of their business anyway and I headed out on the path that they've created out that way, watching my step. And you know what I found? Are you ready for this?

The cable line that the cable guy buried a couple of weeks ago (see Television Reception entry)? The cable line that I could barely tell WHERE the cable guy buried it because he did such a smooth, clean job? The cable line that is NOW exposed and just begging for Harley to rip it back out of the wall.

Yeah, that's what I found.

I'm telling you, I love the little guy but he is making me crazy.

In any event, I found some poop, filled the hole and disposed of the poor dead bird. Not exactly how I'd pictured this evening going but what are ya gonna do?