Thursday, December 30, 2010

My Cat has Brain Damage

I really think my cat Warlock has brain damage, bless his heart. ;-D Okay, so here's the deal. He's never ever been allowed on my coffee table. Ever! So I'm sitting on the couch writing and I look over and he's standing on the table. O_O Hello?? What?? So I shew him off the table. A second later I look over and there he is again. So I get the water bottle after him and spray him. He jumps down, licks his shoulder, and a second later there he is again. What the crap? He gets up on the table another billion times and each time he gets sprayed, usually in the face!!! And he still gets up on the table. Who does this if there isn't something mentally wrong?? Each time he's up there, he gets water in the face, gives a little cry, jumps down, and cleans his face. Another second later there he is up on the table again!!! I got nothing to explain this. All I know is that after a while my friend Jessica Jarman and i are laughing our butts off because he continues to get up on that table and gets sprayed for it every time. If nothing else, we can call him persistent.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Music and Writing

To me, music and writing go hand in hand. I can't write without the music. And I'm not one of those people who must create sound tracks or whatever for each book. Please, that would require me to be way more organized than I would ever be in my life. But I carry my MP3 player with me whenever I plan on writing. I can't concentrate unless I have that music pounding in my ears and head. I guess it stills the other thoughts I might be having. You know, worries about work, school or just normal everyday things such as the need to do laundry, mop the floor, blah, blah, blah. With someone like Missy Elliot singing about getting ur freak on I don't have the time to think about anything else, but whatever my characters are currently doing. It's hard to think about laundry when an alpha male is thinking of making a meal of the woman he so wants. I have just ordered a new MP3 player with 8 gigs of memory. Wooooo!! This will mean more songs, longer battery life and a greater opportunity to write. Which is what my ultimate goal is, of course.

--GC

Monday, December 27, 2010

Thankful for the Holidays

Can I just say how thankful I am that the holidays are almost over? This year was certainly a rough one and not something I'd want to repeat anytime too soon. My mother passed away 5 months ago from a massive stroke, which was incredibly sudden and unexpected. This left my sister and I struggling along attempting to figure out what normal is for us now. It hasn't been easy, but we are so lucky to have the friends we do. Two of our very best friends drove up from Memphis, TN (6 hours) to spend the holiday with us. We had the best time and though it did suck, it didn't suck nearly as bad as it could have. In fact, there were moments where we were laughing and having a good time. Mom would have liked that. Unfortunately, they had to leave on the 26th, but my writing partner and awesome friend Jessica Jarman flew in that afternoon. We have been writing, relaxing and talking which is exactly what I needed. Will I get a ton of writing done this week? I have no idea and I don't even think that's important. What is important is the friends I have and how thankful I am they are in my lives. So I guess, instead of being thankful the holidays are over, I need to turn it around and be thankful for all the people I love who are still in my life. My mom would appreciate that sentiment and say that I am finally celebrating the holidays right.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Museum Madness

In my real life I work at a museum as an educator. I love it. I still can work with the kids, but don't have to deal with meetings, grading, meetings, lesson plans, meetings . . . you get the picture. Anyway, so I'm walking around with a group of high schoolers and one stops next to a huge poster we have hung up near a stairwell. On it, one of our actors is dressed as Annie Oakley and she's holding one of our membership cards.

One of the boys says, "Oh man, Annie Oakley was so cool."

Another asks, "Who's that?"

First kid replies, "Annie Oakley was a famous sharp-shooter during the 1800s. She could even shoot a rifle over her shoulder with just a mirror to help her see."

Second kid says, "1800s? So how did she get to be a member of this museum?"

First kid looks at him like this O_O and finally says, "Duuuuuude."

Second kid, "What?"

First kid, "Never mind."

*sigh* Every time I think I've heard it all, someone sets out to prove me wrong.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Saturday Travels

So last Saturday my sister and I hit the road for a day trip. She has this fascination with a place called Big Bone Lick State Park. Yeah, I swear that's really the name. It happens to sit on a road called . . . wait for it . . . Beaver Road. I was telling my friend Jessica it should really sit in the town of Boobieville. I mean really, did a bunch of ten year old boys sit around and think up names? The name supposedly comes from the gigantic mastadon and mammoth bones that were found way back in the day. Apparently, these animals would show up for the salt licks in the area and got sucked down into a huge muddy pit.

I have no idea what she thought the place would be like, but it wasn't all that. It took us nearly 2 hours to get there, driving through areas that I swear I could hear the banjos strumming. And once there, we stayed maybe an hour. Not a lot to do beyond look at the bones, the one huge diorama they have set up, and hike a bit. We then had lunch, not there since there is no where to eat, but an Arby's and hit the road again. To the wineries!!! Wooo hoooo! Way nicer than Big Bone Lick and much more to do . . . like taste wine and buy wine. Totally made my weekend.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

New Start

You know when everything goes wrong? Well that's how my life has been for the last 8 months. I slid on the ice and broke my right leg (both bones and a bone in my ankle). I couldn't work for 2 weeks and when I finally made it back to work I was in a wheel chair since I couldn't walk at all. That lasted until May when I was finally able to wear both shoes again. My mom went into the hospital at the beginning of June, end of June and was finally admitted July 10 with a massive stroke. She passed away on July 18 and I can honestly say that it still doesn't seem real.

This week I am finally taking a break from it all to hang out with one of my best friends, and fellow writer, Jessica Jarman. I am finally back to writing and she and I are plotting out a series we are writing together. It will be under the name J.G. Riley. We hope to have the first book finished by the end of this year and we can submit to a publisher then. When I know more information I will certainly post it.

I'm thinking nothing but positive thoughts now because I refuse to do anything else. *g* Hope all of you will do the same.