Monday, May 17, 2010

Writing is a Writer's Dream





I tell myself that I’m a writer. And in the classical sense, that is whole-heartedly true. What I want to be is a published writer. An author. That would be my cherry on the sundae of life. I am working hard at it, having completed my first young adult fantasy novel (127,000 about vampires, but, please don’t groan and roll your eyes, it’s not another Twilight).



I am in the various stages of editing now, having gone through it myself three different times and done two re-writes (nothing is ever perfect enough, but my author friend who is published tells me it never will be), but the time has to come where I say, “ENOUGH! No more changing, submit already.”

So I am going to…right after I get good, constructive feedback from the online and physical writers groups I’ve joined and go through those self-editing books I’ve purchased.

So maybe it will be ready sometime next week or month…after I read through it one more time with my trusty red pen in hand…

--Me


Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Wild Frontier






Our backyard, I have come to believe, is an aviary. I only say this because of the copious amounts of birds that inhabit our backyard as well as our neighbors'. I guess it’s a suitable habitat, with a canal and numerous mature trees, but I would think that the many outdoor cats would be a deterrent. Not so! Apparently we have the Indiana Jones of birds flying around.




Both of my neighbors are retired and having nothing to do but feed said birds, and I get to reap the benefits. Because of the free meal, we get woodpeckers, sparrows, red-winged black birds, mallards, wood ducks, domesticated ducks, doves, quail and a slew of others I can’t begin to name (Wait, I lied. We also get hawks. We actually were witness to a Discovery Channel moment when we saw a red-tailed hawk take down a dove in front of us and then proceed to devour it right next to our patio).


Anyways…I was beginning to feel that I wasn’t doing my part to help sustain the circle of life in our little subdivision, so I went to Wal-Mart and purchased a cheap, bell bird feeder and hung it from the tree in our back yard.


Days I waited, looking out my kitchen window for signs that the birds were eating away at that little bell. They weren’t and I was starting to feel a little offended and left out. Why wasn’t my bird feeder as good as the other two? Just because there wasn’t a little, wooden house…


The days wore on and I was getting ticked off, until I spotted the reason why they weren’t taking my offering. I was sitting on my back patio, reading a book, when I looked up and saw one of those cats (my cat) perched on the branch the bird feeder hung from, waiting patiently for any dumb bird to come and partake. I had to laugh at that, and suddenly I was glad that the bird feeder was still there.


I have a picture that I was going to post with this, it’s quite comical, of my cat perched right above the bell, but my stupid online album for my cell isn’t working. Dumb Verizon….so I will post it when I can, along with a shot of the hawk.


We really do live in the wild, it feels like. Coyotes, nutria and all manner of birds go through our neighborhood. In fact, we have two mallards nesting in my front flower garden.

--Me

Monday, May 10, 2010

Never Blogged Before in my Life...





...so here it goes. I hope you're all gracious. So, I've journaled or written in diaries or whatever for a good majority of my life, but those always got me in trouble. I always wrote about things that parents shouldn't see or shouldn't have been shared...oops, so I ended up tossing them all in the garbage.


Here I will add thoughts, funny things, pics or whatever pleases me at the moment. This is going to be be fun...or so I'm telling myself.


Welcome to the twenty-first century, RaeLynn...people blog!

--Me