NaNoWriMo, Saved By The Bell, and a Giant Cat

My days as an absentee blogger are officially over.

For now, anyway.

Here’s the latest from my neck of the woods:

1) I won a flash fiction contest over at Rachel Harrie’s Writer’s Campaign. I placed twelfth out of 192 entries, which is, apparently, high enough to win a prize. Thanks to everyone who voted for my entry, by the way. It’s an honor.

2) I’m doing my first NaNoWriMo this year. My cousin managed to talk me into it a couple of months ago. My word count isn’t quite where I want it to be, but I’ve got an awesome idea that I can’t stop thinking about (sound familiar?) and I’m good at pumping out words in short amounts of time. I can’t wait to see what I have at the end of November.

3) A good friend of mine stopped by and photographed some drawings for my portfolio. I’m hoping to get them up on the Internet soon and score some new clients.

3) I went to a crafting retreat a few weekends ago outside of the city. A friend of mine, who happens to be an avid scrapbooker/crafter/graphic designer organized the retreat and invited her friends to come out. I’m not a crafter or a scrapbooker, but I figured it would be fun and, as it turns out, I had a great time.

While I was there I had every intention of writing at least 6,000 words for NaNoWriMo, but ended up knitting half a mitten, drawing a still life, and eating more food than I have in the last six months and partaking in more girl talk than a group middle school girls at a slumber party in 1991 arguing Zack vs. Slater.

4) Oh, and I turned 30 yesterday so I’m celebrating by posting a picture of my giant cat.

2nd Campaign Challenge

It's time for the second campaign challenge over at Rachael Harrie's Writer's Platform-Building Campaign.

This one was a doozy, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Rules:

• 200 words exactly, excluding the title: Yes
• Flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, or poem: Got it
• Include the word "imago" in the title: Uh huh
• Include miasma, lacuna, oscitate, and synchronicity: Check
• Make reference to a mirror in your post: Done!

                     

The Battle of Imago

His fist ricocheted off the Opponent’s red armor.

The ligaments in his blue arms extended and retracted at lightning speed through the small lacuna of safety between them that flickered with shards of moonlight.

Though they wore the same type of armor, he knew it wasn’t uncommon to be unfairly matched.

For a brief moment, their arms became entangled and their movements mirrored each other in a synchronicity that frightened him.

The Opponent slammed his fist into his face and a wave of pain darted through his neck and skull. He returned the favor with a swift uppercut. The Opponent’s armor rattled and a mechanism in his left arm snapped.

He smiled. The Opponent was weaker.

The Opponent struggled to maintain his stance and faltered. Through the miasma of aggression he saw an opportunity and drove his fist straight into the Opponent’s jaw, causing his head to oscitate from his shoulders and pop into the air.

Before he could celebrate his victory he felt his body rise into the air and float some distance before settling on a shelf.

“If you ever want to see your Rock’em Sock’em again, you boys better turn the lights out and go to bed!”

                       

If you liked my story take a moment to swing on over to the list of entries and vote for me (#53).

It's Award Time!

In the recent weeks I’ve received a few awards from some awesome bloggers. This has left me feeling quite honored and happy.

*Takes awards and pins to blog*

However, I’ve been so busy lately drawing, making tissue paper flowers, traipsing across the Midwest with my parents, and dodging tornadoes (imaginary) that I haven’t had time to post about it until today.

                      

This is my very first Internet bloggy award ever. EVER. (Thanks, Randy Lindsay, for the award!) Once Randy let me know that he had given me the award, I promptly took a moment to squee to my husband, parents, and everyone else on speed dial.

And since the Liebster Award is all about spreading the love, I’m passing this award on to:

(drum roll)

Rachel Bean

Tania Walsh

Claire Marriott

Dawn Malone

Here are the rules:*

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 4 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog or sending them a tweet.
3. Post the award on your blog.

                      

I received the Versatile Blogger Award from Jocelyn Rish, Karen deBlieck, and Kristina Fugate. Thanks so much, you guys!

According to the rules I need to list seven things about myself. You can see my list here.

And the Versatile Blogger Award goes to:

Julie Farrar

Liz Hellebuyck

Betsy (The Everyday Warrior)

Jenny S. Morris

Yay!

The rules are as follows:*

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass this Award along to 15 [I only picked four] recently discovered blogs and let them know about it!

                      

 

*To my recipients: If you’ve already received one of these awards don't worry about passing it on or listing things about yourself, just bask in the glow of being loved and appreciated.

Random Facts About Me

I was double-tagged by Megan Nafke and Lori M. Lee to list ten random facts about myself. (Thanks for the tags, you guys!)

[Edit: Turns out I was triple-tagged! Thanks, Michelle Chaston!]


Random Facts:

1. I have a Southern accent

2. I visited the Royal Library at Windsor Castle when I took a silverpoint drawing class in art school. When the librarian laid out the Italian Renaissance silverpoint drawings for us to study, I was so star struck by the da Vinci drawings that I could barely hold myself together.

3. I designed rugs for about a year. To this day it’s still one of my favorite jobs. Who wouldn’t love sitting around drawing all day long? I even got to design a line of children’s and baby’s rugs and show them in NYC at Market (sort of the textile industry’s version of fashion week.) Definitely an experience to remember.

4. Tornadoes are out to get me.

5. Planes are out to get me, too.

6. I’m in a scooter club.

7. Even though I ride a moped.

8. I hung out in a Gypsy settlement in Macedonia for two summers while I was in college. Let me tall ya, even though most of the Roma don't have very much, they're incredibly hospitable and know how to throw a party. Their weddings last for days and you can hear the music clear across town.

9. I see colors when I think of numbers and letters. They’ve always been the same colors for as long as I can remember.

10. I went skiing in rural Italy because it’s cheaper than skiing in Colorado. It’s hard to pass up an opportunity to hang out in Bavarian Italy and experience rural farm culture. The food, people. The FOOD!


And now I’m tagging…

Everyone from my four Campaign Groups that hasn’t been tagged yet!

(Beginner Bloggers 1 – Group 49, Urban Fantasy 1 – Group 30, Dystopian/Post Apocalyptic – Group 22, YA(All Genres) 8 – Group13)

1st Campaign Challenge

The first challenge for Rachael Harrie’s Writers’ Platform-building Campaign has been posted! If you aren’t participating in the campaign (have no fear!) you can sign up for the next campaign at Rach Writes next February.

Here are the challenge rules:

"Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: "the door swung shut." (also included in the word count)

For those who want an even greater challenge, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!"

And now for the good stuff:

Pappy’s Fiddle

The door swung open and a tall gray-bearded man stepped over the threshold.

“Pappy!” the children screamed. They leapt from the floor and gathered around him, hugging his legs, and smiling up at him.

“Well, I declare!”

Pappy shut the door and sat his case on the floor, then hugged them back.

A child, slightly older than the rest, stayed hidden in the shadows. He crossed his arms and watched the old man as he put the smaller children on his knees and bounced them and laughed as they pulled his beard and tugged his ears.

“Pappy, play us a tune!”

“Well, alright.” He sat the children down and pulled a fiddle out of his case.

The boy in the shadows frowned, then went to the door and pulled it open.

“Son, you’ll wanna stay for this,” Pappy said to him.

Pappy’s bow hit the strings and the boy froze. Notes leapt from the fiddle, filling the room with musical honey, and the children fell into silence and stared at Pappy’s fiddle in awe.

Goose bumps formed on the boy’s arms and, unable to control his reflexes, he smiled, then let go of the handle and the door swung shut.

If you like my short story swing on over the Rach’s blog where you can read tons of other stories like mine. (Tons of other stories may be an understatement.) I'm #292 by the way.

How I survived Hurricane Lee or Labor Day Weekend

[Edit: Tropical Storm Lee. Sorry everyone. My brain is a bit water-logged at the moment.]

For the Labor Day holiday I took a break from writing and went up to the foothills of the Smoky Mountains for an Old Time music festival. Personally, I don’t play Old Time Music but my mom and dad do. My dad plays the fiddle and my mom plays the banjo ukelele. Yes, that’s right. The banjo ukelele.

Banjo Ukeles by Accumulata

So when we weren't listening to Old Time music we were dodging rain. Luckily, the worst part of Hurricane Lee held off just long enough for us to have a fabulous weekend.


If you’ve never heard of Old Time music:

-It originates from English, Scottish, Irish, and African folk music.

-It’s not blue grass or country music.

-It’s one of the oldest types of music in America other than Native American music.

-The easiest way for a newb to tell the difference between bluegrass and old time is the way the banjo is played. Old Time musicians use the Clawhammer method and Blue Brass musicians play notes in continuous rolls.

-It’s made for dancing—mainly square dancing, clogging, buck dancing, and flat footin’.


Hm. Now I kind of feel like I need to explain buck dancing and flat footin'.

Here’s a video:

Fun Fact: That's my dad singing in the video.

So yep, that’s what I did for the holiday!

Building A Platform

I did it! I joined Rachel Harrie's Third Writer’s Platform-Building Campaign!

I’m so excited about meeting new people, sharing ideas, and learning more about what I do.

I heard about the Campaign on Sommer Leigh’s blog a couple of days ago, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to sign up for something so big (well, it’s big for me, anyway). I’ve always struggled with social interaction on the Interwebz, thanks to Internet Stage Fright, so I put off signing up until the last minute (today). I finally decided that it’s probably going to be an awesome experience and I would be a dummy to pass it up.

The best part is that participants get to join genre-specific groups to help direct them to like-minded writers. I’ve decided to join the Young Adult, Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic, Urban Fantasy, and Beginner Bloggers groups. There’s a good chance I’m going die of blog overdose in the next couple of months because of this, but I don’t care. It’s going to be fun and totally worth it!

I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone!