Rantings and Ravings of an Insane Writer

For anyone who wanted into Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways course but didn’t get in, she’s offering a limited one week window to sign up through any affiliate’s link. My link is here, above, or in the sidebar. Holly is opening the window from 9:00 am Eastern time on Monday, September 1 - 9:00 am Eastern time on Monday, September 8, but only if you click through from an affiliate link. I’ve been beta testing the course, and I’m finding it very useful.

If you missed the window and still want to get in, now is a great time to do that. The price is reasonable. While the course is geared for six months, you may complete it at your own pace. Holly is also working on a twelve month version of the course (twice the time and half the price per month — same total course and cost, but spread out more), but she does not anticipate it will be ready in time for this affiliate sale. UPDATE: The twelve month course will be an option if you sign up for How To Think Sideways during this One Week Sale. For those of you for whom the six month price was too steep, this may make a difference.

Holly equates the course cost to that of a pizza and drink per week. Dare I suggest it could be a diet tool? Nah. That would be crazy. Besides, it’s tools for your writing toolbox, and those are a valuable investment. The forums available with the course are a tremendous tool as well. People have been sharing their breakthroughs and techniques they’ve developed at a result of the course, and that helps other people find “Aha” moments. I’m finding it worthwhile. You might, too. Give it a click and see.

Category : HTTS

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I woke up with a twisted version of a currently popular advertising jingle running incessantly through my head:  “If you have a ruptured settlement and need cash now, call…”

I think the play on ruptured versus structured is mildly amusing, but I’m glad that darned jingle has finally departed my brain.

Category : Silly Stuff

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Yes, I am amazed. For the first time, we have all three felines in the garden window at the same time, and nobody is fussing:

As you can tell, the lines of demarcation are getting a little closer together. If you can’t guess, Natasha is on the right side. Pericles is furthest into the window, and Ajax is closest to the camera.

Category : Pets

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Even though Mom is here (she has to go back home tomorrow afternoon), I’m making time just before bed and first thing in the morning to continue working on my How to Think Sideways coursework.  The processes Holly teaches make a lot of sense, and I’m wrestling with getting the hang of applying them to my work.  Fortunately, it’s a pleasant process and only feels a little awkward.   Most new processes feel a little clumsy at first, and these are no exception.

I also have the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain book and workbook to begin working through.  One thing I quickly realized when I decided to take up water color painting was that I would have to learn how to draw.  Because of this, right and left brain development dovetails very well with many of the things I’m pursuing in my life this year.

Life is full, and I’m loving it.

Category : Art, HTTS, Writing

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I won’t be spending much time cruising the web for the next week and a half or so.  My mom is visiting, and we’re spending time with her.

Category : Uncategorized

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I’m really disappointed with the whole Brett Favre “I’m retired, now I want to come back, but I don’t want to play for you” scenario playing out over the last several weeks. I was afraid this would happen last spring, and I’m sorry it did. Brett Favre was a tremendous NFL player. An awesome quarterback. I respected him when he retired after a long, successful career — just a little past his prime but when he still had moments of greatness.

The Packers moved on. They had to. And now the spectacle begins. I try to put myself in his shoes, and a side of me can see where he’s coming from.  There’s a strong pull to keep doing what you’re good at — especially when you’re one of the best in the world.  I believe a lot of people don’t have enough other fulfilling things in their lives to truly occupy their time after they retire.  Their work is all-encompassing, and when your work is a game to many people, that is even easier to believe.  There’s a lot of magic on the playing fields of elite competition.

I know a lot of people who don’t adapt well to retirement — they get bored and antsy.  For myself, I still can’t imagine that happening to me.  I have so many things I want and need to do, that I don’t see an end in sight.  But I held onto my military career as long as I could, though, so I shouldn’t be surprised when other people attempt to do the same.  I knew once I applied for and was accepted for retirement, there would be no turning back, and I had many aspects of my military career I enjoyed.  I didn’t take applying for retirement lightly.  But I haven’t missed it in the least now that the time is at hand.  I consider myself fortunate, and I’m sad for other people who don’t achieve a similar level of satisfaction with their retirement.

Category : Non-Writing

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I have thoroughly enjoyed Stuart MacBride’s work, and his latest, Flesh House, is no exception. In fact, it may be his best work yet. DS Logan McRae is still on the beat, being pulled in all directions by his superiors. There are more twists and turns and threads in this book than I could count, and I think Stuart tied them all together. From reading Stuart’s blog, he struggled with this book, but you can’t tell by reading it. There was even on laugh out loud funny revelation that left me chuckling for pages. But the ending? That requires some thought.

I like to get the original editions of MacBride’s work, and, for some reason, this book was not easy to find. It’s US release is scheduled for this October, though, and you should have no trouble finding it then. There are no equals for Stuart MacBride or Tamara Siler Jones, but both authors write with an intensity I particularly enjoy.

Flesh House — don’t miss it.

Category : Recommendations

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Hubby noticed Pericles (one of our Siamese cats) sitting in the window sill tonight.  Nothing unusual about that, but on the other side of the glass was a mourning dove looking in the window at the cat.  A few hours later, Pericles was gone from the window sill, but the dove was still there, knocking on the glass.  It took a few tries, but Ajax (another of our Siamese cats) made it into the window and is not keeping the bird company.  The bird is snuggled against the window on the sill, contentedly keeping company with either cat.

I hope neither the bird nor the cats figures out how to open the window.

Category : Pets

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This has been an exciting week at Rantings and Ravings. Two new acquaintances from How to Think Sideways dropped in to say hello, and an old friend from Air Force technical training 28 years ago showed up to touch base. Cathy, Texanne, and Kim — thanks for stopping in and taking the time to comment. Cathy,  fingers are crossed for your tenure coming through.

On the fictional front, I’m making slow progress in rethinking POVs for Twilight, considering greater and lesser roles for some characters.  Hilda, Suzan, and Valencia may get greater POV roles…Merlin and Pete’s POVs may disappear.

Category : Personal, Twilight

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EJ asked if Hurricane Dolly’s rain bands were likely to pay us a visit, and I believe San Antonio will get the benefit of the rain. In fact, as I’m typing this, it looks like the first of the outer rain bands may be approaching the city. Hubby headed that way this morning, and I’ll follow him tomorrow. Neither house should have anything to worry about as a result of the rain, but both areas will benefit from any rain we do get.

San Antonio proper, however, if it gets too much rain too fast, is likely to experience flooding — especially in low lying areas and intersections. The one closest to our house is the Interstate 281 overpass over Basse Road. If that area floods, we tend to lose a car or two in that area, and that’s usually not good for the health of the vehicle’s occupants (water over the road is up to 20 feet deep). They aren’t kidding when they tell you there’s a low water crossing and not to enter if water is over the road. Too many drivers don’t heed. It’s worse after dark, because a driver may not realize he’s in deep water until it’s too late.

I hope everyone along the Texas Coast is safe.

Category : Weather

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On my end? Probably not a lot. I’m still reading. I’m beginning Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways: Career Survival School for Writers at a beta student. I’ll be working that (requires a new project — oh darn) along with planning the Twilight rewrite. I do plan to incorporate what I learn in the course as I move ahead with the rewrite.

On the home front, we did lots of trimming at the San Antonio house last week. This week, we’re doing lots of outside work at the Central Texas house as well. We got one pecan tree trimmed yesterday, and that was a massive improvement. We have two more to go. I trimmed hedges, and hubby has resumed moving gravel for the driveway today. On Monday afternoon, we got a little over an inch of rain (desperately needed), so that helped compress the last bit of gravel we’d placed on the previous trip up here.

We’re looking forward to heading to Belton for Belton Market Days tomorrow. After that, we’ll stop in the Temple Lowe’s where we anticipate getting programmable thermostats. Yes, plural. The Central Texas house has three air conditioning and heating units, and we want to program how they heat and cool to be a little more efficient while we maintain personal comfort.

On the retired front, I haven’t worn a watch since I arrived in Texas in May. I wake up every morning when I wake up — usually when ambient light in the bedroom hits a comfortable level (around 7 am at the moment). I work outside for awhile. This morning, I pulled vines from the front of the house. I’m nearly half done with that job, but I’m getting to the tougher part, so it will likely take longer to finish. The vines look pretty, but they are destructive when their little root systems attach themselves to the bricks, mortar, and wood and begin disintegrating it. Vines must go. They are also a nice place for snakes to shed their skins (based upon the several snake skins I’ve discovered so far). They are “beneficial” snakes, but I don’t want to encourage them too much with habitat. After pulling vines for half an hour, I mowed most of the front yard.

When I’m done working outside, I resist (or submit to, depending upon what I perceive to be his true need) my hubby’s pleas to join him in his personal outdoors torture chamber (my terminology). If I resist, I work inside for awhile, either on something writing-related or on household maintenance or organization. If I work outside with him, there are any number of tasks I could find myself doing — stomping gravel, moving boxes, moving equipment, painting. We have lots of painting to do. And we haven’t really started it yet.

Category : House, Writing

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I recently finished reading Holly Lisle’s Hawkspar.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It’s a solid follow-on the Talyn; however, it’s independent of Talyn.  You’ll understand the Tonk and the Feegash a little better if you’ve read Talyn, but if you haven’t, there’s nothing to confuse you in Hawkspar.  I have to say, I absolutely love the ending.  I did not expect what happened to happen until the very end.  Perhaps I should have expected it, but I was completely prepared for the ending I thought would happen.

I like the magic used in this book.  The Eyes are creepy.  I think I know how Hawkspar was spared the rats, during her testing, but I can’t know for sure.  And that’s as it should be.  I like the “vision” of the Eyes and how and Hawkspar achieved the full power of her Eyes.  The trials and tribulations they experience during the sea journey are fabulously brought about, and the reader can clearly see how Hawkspar’s inexperience with the Eyes and reading the possible futures could be so confusing.  Hawkspar’s maturation is equally as fascinating as the journey to free the Tonk people.  The need to maintain hope when all is lost and the need to proceed as if all will work out fine in the end are clearly demonstrated throughout the novel.  Once again, Lisle has demonstated how faith and persistence coupled with leadership and a little teamwork can triumph over evil.  Please give Hawkspar a read — and if you haven’t read Talyn yet, give it a read as well.  You won’t be disappointed.

Category : Recommendations

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While listening to my husband’s band rehearse this afternoon, I pulled out my Twilight spreadsheet and my critique notes and began looking for how I can revise it.  I’m slowly getting more comfortable with some ideas, and I’m looking for ways I can maintain the book’s uniqueness as well as make it more solid.

Since Holly Lisle is preparing her “How to Think Sideways” course, I’m looking for ways to “think sideways” to fix this book.  I’m teasing my mind looking for feasible but unconventional solutions to pulling this book together.  Remember, Twilight is a working title — I’m also looking for a better title, and, frankly, from what I understand about the publishing industry, I shouldn’t get too attached to any single title anyway.

Category : Twilight

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Alas, we finally got the wireless router working at the San Antonio house.  Hubby’s desktop and both our laptops can now access the Internet via our DSL connection.

Category : Tech Stuff, Web Stuff

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Today, we got the kitchen sink (none of the sinks pictured is exactly like the one we bought) I mentioned we were looking for last September.  It’s an old porcelain double drainboard, large, shallow bowl sink from the 40s with an 8″ backboard.  When we redo the kitchen in the “new” house and move our 1959 Kenmore stove up there, we’ll be installing this sink.

And, FF, we’re a long way from being unpacked, but I’m making progress in organizing the stuff.  We’ll be back in Central Texas next week working on that.  For now, we’re continuing to do much needed yardwork on the San Antonio house.  Even without the rain, all our foliage grows like crazy.

Category : House

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