Happy Halloween

So, this is one of the pumpkins we carved last night.  We thought that middle ridge looked so much like a nose, we decided to leave it alone and carve around it.  Daughter says it looks like Squidword (from Spongebob?). This one looks better in the light.  When it's lit, the nose disappears and the effect is just weird.

This is the other pumpkin.  He was my first foray into creative pumpin carving (sans creative carving tools, btw).  He looks like hell in the light, but once the candle inside is lit, he looks pretty good. 

Anyway, I hope everyone else's pumpkins turned out, or if you didn't carve a pumpkin, I hope the holiday is a good one for you.  And remember, there's usually discount candy at the stores tomorrow.  Yay!

Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone.

Funny Stuff and Funnier Stuff

Well, it's snowing again.  Third time this month.  =op  I've heard reports of 2-4 inches and 8-12 inches by tomorrow morning.  Here's hoping the total is more like the former than the latter.  So, to keep that sense of humor in the face of the falling white stuff, here are a couple things that cracked me up lately.

In other news, if you haven't been by Jennifer Lyon's blog, check it out.  She and her commenters are a hoot, plus she writes some awesome paranormal romance.  (Her latest - Soul Magic - just hit stores.  Go forth and purchase.)  I love her Wing Slayer Worthy posts, and her Hunk Fail Friday posts kill me.  I almost spewed coffee all over my desk over the picture and comments from yesterday's post.

Speaking of amusements...  Daughter and I were screwing around on YouTube yesterday and came across this favorite of mine.  It's from Tiny Toon adventures.  Baby Plucky is learning about potty training...  It's classic.  "Water go down the hole!"



If that doesn't have you rolling, I must be loonier than I thought. 

Have a great day, everyone! 

Picture Pause

Isn't it wonderful how we shower our pets with love, and then they look at us like we're interrupting their lives?  I think she was channeling W.C. Fields when I took this picture.  Her whole attitude just screams: "Go away kid. Ya bother me."

Good Enough

A while back, I read a blog about a trend that seems to be happening in the writing community.  (I can't remember where and can't find it right now, so you'll have to trust me on this one.)  There seem to be a profusion of queriers who think their manuscripts aren't great, but they're 'good enough' and they should be published.  Like they can't be bothered to hammer their manuscript into something great. 

Now, I'm not saying everything should be perfect.  Perfect is damn hard, if not impossible.  But shouldn't a writer at least aim for perfect?  Aim for perfection and you'll hit somewhere close.  Right? 

I do understand that sometimes you've looked at a manuscript so many times, you can't stand to look at it anymore.  That's not the time to query.  Really it isn't.  That's the time to put the manuscript aside and let it simmer while you work on something else.  After a while, you'll be able to look at it with fresh eyes.

I also understand that sometimes you've looked at the same words so many times, a manuscript seems like it's as good as you can get.  That's not the time to query either.  That's the time to have someone else look at it, and let them tell you if you can make it better.  After you have people look at it, and you can't improve it any more, then query.

My problem is, I have a tough time feeling like I'm even up to 'good enough'.  I work a manuscript to death, send it to as many people as I can rope into looking at it, work the manuscript some more, and then - if I think it's my best work - I query.  Some manuscripts haven't even made it that far.  I can't send work out if I don't think it's the best I can do.  (And sometimes even when I'm sure it's the best I can do, I wonder whether my best is good enough.)

See how I have a problem understanding those people who query with 'good enough' work? 

Maybe those people have a better self-image than I do.  Maybe theirs is just over-inflated and mine is underinflated.  Maybe I'm just harder on myself. 

What do you think?  When is 'good enough' good enough?

November Ahead

In a few short days, November will be here, and you know what that means?  National Novel Writing Month!  Or as it's more affectionately know, NaNoWriMo - Nano for short.  Because of this, all sorts of things will be hopping in the writing world.  Thousands (hundreds of?) will be pounding away at their keyboards in hopes of hitting the goal of writing a 50K word novel in thirty days.  Others, like me, will be using this month to hunker down and get at least that many words down on the novel they've already got going.

Personally, I've never even been to the NaNoWriMo site, or participated in any of the actual festivities planned for this month-long event.  I just toddle on my merry way, using this month to inspire me to greater heights and larger word counts.  In 2008, I whipped out a large portion of RTL during November.  In 2007, I wrote the majority of Blink.  If memory serves, I worked on AWJ during Nano in 2006.  Everything before that is a blur.

Anyway, this seems to be an appropriate month to get our collective writing buns in gear - as flat or as wide as they may be.  So... I'm pledging to write 50K words next month.  (Which means I'm going to have to get off the paper and onto the keyboard, but that's life.)

Who's with me?  I mean, besides the cat.

Blog Awards

Thursday I was given two really nifty awards by blog pal and regular commenter, Natalie Murphy over at The Sound of Rain.  The first was the Kreativ Blogger award, and the other was the Heartfelt Award.

First the Kreativ Blogger award: 

1. Copy the Kreativ Blogger picture and post it on your page.
2. Thank the person that gave the award to you and link back to their blog.
3. Write 7 things about you that we don't know.
4. Choose 7 other bloggers that you would like to give the award to.
5. Link to the bloggers that you chose.
6. Let your winners know that they have the lovely award!

The picture's up...  Thank you, Natalie.  You're a peach.  Now for the seven things:

1.  My left leg is shorter than my right.  Not by much and it's not noticeable.  The only reason I know is...
2.  I broke my left thigh so bad they had to take out the shards and then transplant bone from my hip in the gap.  (Sorry if I grossed anyone out.)
3.  My favorite color is Hunter Green.
4. I love the Silverdome.  It was the halfway point between my house and my grandmother's, so we always knew when we were 'almost there'.  I'm still upset they moved the Detriot Lions to that other stadium.  =o/
5. My paternal grandfather was the first police chief ever in the suburban Detroit town of Melvindale, so I have a warm fluffy place in my heart for law enforcement - beyond the appreciation I have for them already for the work they do.
6. I spent a summer working for the City of Marquette Animal Control.  Technically I was employed by the Michigan Youth Corps to supervise workers for the city's first annual (and last annual) Animal Census.  We made national news and even took a shot from Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. 
7.My first cat was a mostly feral kitten I saved from euthanasia at the above shelter.  Jinx was a beautiful black and white shorthair who reminded me of a cat my family had when I was small. Eventually, she came to accept me, but she was wicked with the claws on everyone else. 

Okay, that's the fun part.  As for rules #4-6, I won't do those.  It's too hard choosing just seven out of the bunch of blogs I visit.  Suffice it to say, you're all creative bloggers and you all deserve an award.  If you choose to accept it, let me know in the comments so I can check out your answers.

As for the Heartfelt Award, the rules are simpler...

 Do you reach for a cup of cocoa or tea when you're relaxing, seeking comfort, sharing a plate of cookies with family and friends? You know the feeling you get when you drink a yummy cup of cocoa, tea, or a hot toddy? That is what the Heartfelt Award is all about, feeling warm inside. Rules:Put the logo on your blog/post. Nominate up to to 9 blogs which make you feel comfy or warm inside. Be sure to link your nominees within your post. Let them know that they have been nominated by commenting on their blog. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.


...but the actual award is harder.  I don't know that any blogs make me feel warm inside and comfy.  Usually if I get that comfortable, I end up saying something stupid and embarassing myself.  Knowing this about myself, I try to keep it reined in.  Still, if I had to pick a place, I'd say I feel welcome at Natalie's blog, so I give the award back to her.  Thanks for thinking of so kindly of my blog, Natalie, and I'm glad you feel comfy here.

Weekly Update

First off, this is the 200th post at this new blog.  It seems like only yesterday I switched from one to the other.  (And I still haven't formally shifted from the old one...  Lazy lazy me.)

This week has seen some good words hit the paper.  I closed out my 5 subject notebook, and started with a 70 pager (cuz that's all I had in the house).  My epiphany still hasn't made it into the story, but it's not due up for quite a while yet.  I'm thinking it's perfect for somewhere in the last third of the book.  We'll see. 

As for typing, I only hammered 3648 words into the computer this week.  With another 25+ pages left hand-written, I'd better get a move on.  Nightmares are made of flammable, irrecoverable words.  :shudder: 

Oh, and in the middle of those untyped pages is an idea for a new book.  (Seriously.  I scribbled a line under where I stopped in the story, wrote the idea out and scribbled another line to keep it separate from the rest of the story.)  I love it when that happens, but it's definitely distracting.

In other news, I'm liking the shift to Firefox.  Except for one thing.  I have to go back to IE to comment on some of my favorite blogs.  Silly programs.  I'll live with it.  Everything is so much prettier now that I upgraded to a compatible program.  Even blogger has new functions I could never get to with IE6.  Of course, Hubby came home while I was in the middle of wrestling with Firefox and told me to order a new computer.  Ummm, love to, but I'm not spending money on myself right now.  (Long story.)  I'll limp along with this old bird until it dies or until it's at least not functioning the way I need it to.  I can still blog and surf - albeit slowly - and I can still write.  It's all good.

Your turn:  What's up in your world this week?  Any epiphanies?  Any nightmares about losing your work?