Moving On — #WIPpet Wednesday/#ROW80

I had a hard time figuring out what to use for my #WIPpet today.  Since today is the 22nd, it felt a bit rude to give you 22 paragraphs.  I’m never sure when I count sentences if those one word exclamations such as “Mother!” or “F*ck!” should count as sentences or not (I usually count in favor of them being sentences).  And tossing you all in with completely new characters seems a bit rude too…

I’m giving you four paragraphs…2 plus 2 from 22.   I’m sticking with Alanii’s story in Swan Song a bit longer, but moving on to what is starting to look like it will be Chapter 5…  which works for the month of May.

Alanii felt himself start from the dream—no, that was no dream, that had been a horror—and one he’d have sooner forgotten. Instead, a sudden awareness that something was wrong took him. Not something as vivid as the terror he’d just imagined. This was vaguer, less tangible, but so much more omnipresent. Something was going to happen, soon. He didn’t know what, but he knew.

Not worrying much about propriety, he grabbed up his breeches and stumbled out of the bedroom that he’d been given. A flash of something like warning, a sense that he dare not attract too much attention to himself made him stop short of making more noise however, and he ducked himself back into his room and pulled on enough clothing that he would not risk being caught naked if he were seen prowling the halls.

Seen? he realized with some unease that he hadn’t been seen already. Where was the guardsman who normally would have been posted outside his doorway? When he’d gone to bed, it had been one of Lanilis Kailiis’s normal escort, and though he knew the soldiers traded off and on during the night, he should have at least seen that man, if not another semi-familiar face.

Empty Halls

Instead, the hallway had been empty.

Creation of K.L. Schwengel at My Random Muse #WIPpet writers post pieces of a draft (Work In Progress) that somehow relate with the date for commentary and consideration.  Feel free to comment and visit other #WIPpeters.   We love the company.

ROW80 Check-in

Since Sunday I managed to keep pace most days with my writing.  I missed my five sentences yesterday due to being sick.  I hate migraines, but they are somewhat treatable with a prescription.  Food poisoning…it took me out from Monday afternoon to last night.

Dandelion Love

No day is a complete waste.  I’m starting to learn that.  Even though I didn’t feel much energy to write, I got a little reading done, I did some editing, and I watched a few of my favorite shows again with a critical eye.  While screenwriters have to move things faster (and can because they don’t need to offer descriptions of place and character as much), they still need to foreshadow events; they need to develop characters so we feel attracted to them, stuff like that.

So I watched some Grimm and Doctor Who to see why I liked certain characters more than others.  I tried to see where different producers used the same situation to a different effect…

I did nothing major for my ROW80 Fitness goals, just some running and skipping with my son on Monday before his fencing lesson.  I’m up for some jaunting today though. 

The ROW80 Writing Challenge is the brainchild of author Kait Nolan who felt that in a world of WriMos and FastDrafts, people who want become authors  need something that promoted the daily habit of the writing life.  Feel free to visit some of our other members here.

Some Words Sunday — Joy

I’m late posting today, but it’s been one amazing day.  Long too…

Today got spent on joy.  Perhaps not so much my joy, but I certainly got plenty too.  Today was volunteer clean-up day at Vale Park Cemetery in Schenectady.   It was also my son’s other Asperger’s Group meeting.

And coincidentally, it was also the day I took some amazing photos of tree flowers and the Nott Memorial at Union College.  The Wikimedia image is pretty awesome for that, but I think mine is pretty cool too.

The volunteer time was work, but the improvement of the grounds where we worked was easy to see.  (It’s almost sad to say how easy it is to tell where we did the clean up.)  I’ve done Highway Clean-ups with our local atheist group, this project was part of the Capital Region Pagan Alliance, and the point isn’t the group–it’s the gift of one’s self to something or someone else.

Whenever I am feeling stressed out because of all the things I have to do, I need a day like this.  As much as I find my days home alone getting stuff done, I find myself replenished far more by the gift of myself.

In this, there is joy.

ROW80 Check-In

It’s that time of the week.  I didn’t do as much writing as I’d have liked.  Actually I spent far too much of the week editing photos.

I’m still editing photos.  As much joy as I find in creating art with my camera, I’m finding that the learning curve is pretty steep.  I never took photography in school, and when my dad was inspired to teach me, I rebelled against anything that might involve him “lecturing at me”.  So I’m learning…. slowly and often painfully.

My ROW80 sponsor duties are doing well.  And I did manage some #teamsprinty time (again, mostly editing photos, but also some writing).  It was mostly on blog-stuff.  I need to remember August McLaughlin’s Blogging Commandments.  The story(/stories) should be taking precedence.

I did make it to a StoryDam chat this Thursday (yay!), and that was a hoot as usual.  I enjoy chats with other writers; I enjoy chats with most any creative person.  Except maybe cooks…  Cooks intimidate me.  I mean, I like cooks all well and fine, but cooks generally scare the heck out of me.  Always have…  I turn into a babbling idiot and want to run out the door in tears when I have to talk to a cook.

Instead of mourning the fact I didn’t get much writing done (I did finish two books on my To Be Read pile out of need to escape my computer), I have today’s joy to savor and the knowledge that it’s all growth.  I’ve learned a lot this past week.   I had a lot of fun.

And I took a lot of great pictures.

A bunch of awesome people, and me too.

This isn’t one of them, but then I was across the road holding the remote in my hand as my camera sat in the gravel.  The impressive part is the amount of garbage we collected in three hours…

It’s the start of a new week and new ROW80 linky.  Here it is.  Why not go visit some of the other awesome people on it?

 

 

 

Apologies for Missing Yesterday

Welcome Spring… Boodle-style

I was out and about with the Boodle yesterday, and my writing time came in chaotic intervals where I couldn’t get my head together well.  Of the several ideas I had for my What’s With Wednesday post, all of them seemed disjointed after I looked them over last night (at 3am) because I’d fallen asleep in the chair after waiting for my laptop to boot.

It’s an older laptop, but it’s not that old.  I was that tired.

It’s that same cold (or flu) bug I’ve fought for weeks on end of late.  I’m better.  I can get out and about and do things….  but not as much as I thought I could.  I wear out too fast.

Much to fast for anything like this:

Who am I kidding?   I was never up for this type of thing…  I just watched with extra envy today, because I agree in spirit.  I don’t normally like “vacations” either.  At least not the lay back and relax kind.  If I travel, I want to see and do things.  Sitting still or relaxing be a pool seems like a waste of the trip…

A friend from college days used to say a similar thing about getting drunk:  “If you’re not out having fun when you’re buzzed, you’re wasting it.”

I guess it depends on a person’s idea of waste.  Having spent enough time enjoying the fantasies and daydreams that come from downtime, I know that nothing is really wasted.  At least as long as one allows him-/herself the chance to discover the gift of the moment.

Not all gifts are obvious.

Wednesday was ROW80 check-in day

I have been writing.  Not as much as I need to catch up after my last Sunday post where I’d taken a break…  I’m still behind on my CampNaNo project, but I’m not too worried.  It’ll get there, or it won’t.  What matters is that I’m writing; I’m editing, and I’m getting out and about with my family despite fighting the sick and ick.

In that, I think I’m doing just great… great and sleepy.

This doesn’t mean I’ve been at the top of any game, but I’m running and hitting all the check points (I even managed to visit two extra ROWer blogs  this week for sponsor-like posts).  I’m participating in some of the Twitter sprints, except when I’m falling asleep during them (my bad).

Oh, and editing and reading are both going better than I’d planned.  Mostly because they feel like something I can do when I feel too tired to sit at my desk and type and think.

Lastly..  please note:

In Solidarity

I normally do not post links of this type (though I do forward them regularly in my other social media networks), but since most of us are bloggers ourselves, I’d like to draw your attention (if you don’t already know) to some recent events in Bangladesh.   Blogging is real writing–it is saying things that could help, inspire or even offend others.  And…  in some countries, it’s dangerous.

These bloggers are writers–like us–trying to share their thoughts and feelings.  They’re trying to speak to the world, just as we are.  Their views are secular, but that’s not why this matters to me.  It matters because people should always be allowed to speak and write.  And they should be allowed to disagree with someone without fear of being imprisoned for doing so.

Of course, it’s not just in Bangladesh.  This happens everywhere.

I’m offended at all these people being offended.

(As a more fun, but equally thoughtful, closing link, let me pass along this piece on writing good social media comments by The Art of Manliness.  Enjoy!)