Two Sentence Tuesday -- Of Hares and Hauntings

Our current bedtime story, translated from Finnish, is about a fellow who wanders Finland with a bunny.  He hits it with his car, rescues it, and walks away from his life with the hare at his side.
It's wonderful and funny and a joy to read.
Two from The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna (Penguin 2010):
"Hannikainen had a knapsack on his back; a hare's head peeped out from under the flap.
Vatanen rushed over to them, grabbed the knapsack from Hannikainen's back, undid the cord, and welcomed the hare into his arms."
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I've spent the last few days or so trying to craft a query letter and synopsis for Dead Broke.
I've got the bare bones of both. It's going to be several more days before I have something I'm content to let sit for a while.
Here are two from the query:
"Eddie Corbett, shot dead over a gambling debt, wakes up on the wrong side of the afterlife. If he wants a new life he has to earn it by doing off-label jobs for God like hauntings and sending people to their deaths."
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Thanks for reading me.
For more or to get in on the fun, please see the Women of Mystery.

Two Sentence Tuesday -- Peppering My Work

Reading? Yes.
Writing.  Yes.
Well, I've gotten some done in the New Year. I'd like to say I devoted the off time to thinking about my assorted WIPs, but I have no intention of starting the new year off with a lie.
In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to say I'd done any grand thinking. Most of my time my mind has been occupied with finding new and exciting things to do with leftovers.

Like this:

Shrimp, 'shroom,  pineapple, pepper.

and this:

Ham, pineapple, pepper

We were blessed by a huge can of roasted red peppers. We opened it well over a week ago and I've put my creative mind to finding ways to use them up, and to sorting out a good pizza crust recipe. The writing is a pale second to this, but I'm okay with that for now.
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Currently I'm reading Focusing by Eugene T. Gendlin, PH.D. (Bantam New Age, Revised Edition, 1982).
Here's a bit:
"What is the quality of this unclear felt sense? Let a word, a phrase, or an image come up from the felt sense itself."
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  Here's something from Saintree:
"A few beads of moisture decorated Jemima's upper lip. Eury stared, desperate to reach over and lick them away."
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Thank you. For more or to get in on the fun please see the Women of Mystery.

Two Sentence Tuesday -- Plodding Along

The rewrite is coming along. It's slow. I distract easily. I was looking up another word for studded yesterday and by the time I raised my eyes from The Writer's Digest Flip Dictionary I'd forgotten what I went in for.
Sigh.
 Oh well, the search was fun.

Also yesterday I started reading Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche by Robert A. Johnson ( HarperSanFrancisco, 1991) Here's a sample:
"It is more disrupting to find that you have a profound nobility of character than to find out you are a bum. Of course you are both; but one does not discover these two elements at the same time."

This struck me for a few reasons including, but not restricted to, it's great to keep in mind when playing with characters.
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The season has made me generous.
Here's a whole paragraph from Saintree: 

"The snipe dived again and laughed. Coyotes spread the news.  A hoot owl responded to a call. A woman's high –pitched scream told her a cougar was on the prowl. Those who slept wasted the deep, sensual beauty of a summer's night."

Snipe on a fence post.

Thanks for reading me. I really appreciate it.

For more or to get in on the fun please see the Women of Mystery.

Tuesday Twosomes -- Optimism Reigns

I've been optimistic lately for a number of reasons including, but not restricted to, the reminder that the common cold will run it's course no matter what.
Said course has kept me from doing too much reading beyond the daily and weekly newspapers, and cough syrup bottles. In another example of raging optimism one name brand I found on the shelf offers both a cough suppressant and an expectorant.
It got in the way of writing, too, so I've been editing a different manuscript than the one I was rewriting. I can still think well to find many mistakes and correct most of them.
This gives me hope.
Two non-contiguous lines I read concerning the ingredients of Nin Jion Herbal Cough and Throat Syrup.
Folium  Eriobotryae (Loquat) (Leaf)
Semen Aremeniacae Amarum (Bitter Apricot) (Seed)
#

As for my error corrections, well, they're not exciting, but they must be done. I'll get back to the rewrite of Saintree as soon as I can. For now I've opened up Dead Broke. It's been sitting a few months now and the mistakes are easier to find.

Here's a sample.

" 'I thought we didn’t need cash in heaven.'

 'Your security deposit will be taken out in other ways.' "

 #

Thanks for coming by.

For more or to get in on the fun please see the Women of Mystery.

Two-Sentence Tuesday- The End is Near

I came very close to finishing the re-write on The Legend of Shallal on the weekend.  I spent most of Sunday at the keyboard, leftover Halloween sucker in my mouth, madly revising, rewriting, and making it somewhat better.
Two chapters remain. I had every intention of getting them done today, but I needed to go out for a few things and then I needed my glasses adjusted. Twice.
Instead of working on the end I realized I needed a scene added earlier. The manscript has gone from about 53,000, to about 40,000, and is now around 47,000. It may not ever get to novel length, but if the story is told as a novella, then novella it'll stay.
I wanted it wrapped up so it can sit a spell. And because late last week I got another idea that is currently attempting to kick its way out of my head.
I've tried to mollify it by making notes. It's calmed the kicks a bit, but it'll break its way out soon.

Here are two from the The Legend of Shallal:

"She felt her guts ripped out as the land splintered. Her body twitched on the chamber floor and then all was black to her as the island disappeared under the waves and the waves gave way to a calm sea that twinkled in innocence in the sunlight."
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Our current bedtime story is Taras Bulba, by Nikolai Gogol (The Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol, Vol. 2, The University of Chicago Press (1985).
I've wanted to read this since I first heard about it some 30 years ago.
Bulba is a fine figure of a Cossack. Passionate and intense. A true fighter. And frankly, the man is a complete butt. I'm glad we're reading it, and I hope by the end I can find some way to sympathize with him.

Two sentences:
"The pretty little hand of a Polish lady, smiling and sparkling, lay white as sugar on the railing. Illustrious nobles, rather stout, gazed at the scene with a dignified air."
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Thanks for coming by. For more or to get in on the fun, please see the Women of Mystery.

Tuesday Twosomes - Apparently Stuff Happens

I've been clipping right along with the manuscript. I've managed to keep to my 1,000 words a day for nearly two weeks now. I wonder what will happen when I finish the raw writing of the manuscript. I may have to design a self-hypnosis induction to tell myself to stop.
Despite the 50,000+ words as of yesterday I'm still not clear on the point. I know it's an awful admission, but it's the truth.
Other manuscripts have  started with an idea or a scene in my mind and fell together as I wrote. This is sort of doing the same, and stuff does happen, but the characters are unwilling to grow or give much of themselves to me. Perhaps, I tell myself, it is destined to be such a long manuscript that developments must be parceled out carefully.
Underneath that is the strong hint that I simply don't have a clue what I'm doing and the characters are using this against me.
No matter what the reason, each day as I add to the file they take me somewhere. I suppose that's all I can ask for now. It is only a first draft.

Two lines from Dead Broke:

"I did the equivalent of a hard swallow.
'Someone will come to you and ask a little favor. Not too much, a little something such as you've done for us already perhaps.' "

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I had the pleasure of reading Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club (Ivy Books, 1989) last week.  It quickly took its place as a favorite. I think I'll be reading it every few years to savor the language, the characters, the story, and the strong spine of rich emotions that holds it together.

Two lines:

"For many years I could not remember what I wanted that night from the Moon Lady, or how it was that I was found again by my family. Both of these things seemed an illusion to me, a wish granted that could not be trusted."
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Thanks so much for being here.
For more or to get in on the fun, please see the Women of Mystery.

Twofer Tuesday --The Beauty of Crap

My mind has been occupied with getting things sorted out for our upcoming trip to Cuba rather than on writing.
The guidebook we picked up was named the Best Guidebook of 2005 by the Caribbean Tourism Organization and its author was named Travel Journalist of the Year.

Here's a snippet:

"Cubans are fastidious about dressing well, especially when going out to the theater or dinner, and for business functions. You may wish to take a dress jacket or cocktail dress for dinners in more expensive restaurants, and for that unexpected meeting with Fidel."
- Moon Handbooks Cuba by Christopher P. Baker (Avalon Travel).

I haven't looked at the hard copy of Biting The Dust and likely won't until the middle of next month.
I felt a bit dry and blocked since I printed it out and knew that I should do something to get the flow going. The question was, what?
Then it hit me--dreck. I have permission to write crap, so why not do it? It'll be fun. Ideas will flow and some of them may even be good.
But what would I write?
The beauty of crap is it doesn't matter. The point is unclogging the drain so the good stuff flows.
To that end I opened up a file and started to have at it. Not to brag or anything, but there's a passage where I cringed so hard I had to close my eyes to finish typing it. I thought it was the worst thing ever until I wrote what I'm offering today.
Without further ado or proper preparation here's a little something from Sara Harris' Interesting Time.

Enjoy.
And I'm sorry.

"She felt a strange sensation just below her knee like she was being hugged. A look of horror swept over her face as she realized the cause.
'Pupster. You stop that. You stop humping my leg. Even if it is a compliment.'

If you're wondering, yes, the title is an acronym.

For more or to participate please see The Women of Mystery.

Thank you for reading me.

Two Sentence Tuesdays - Grimm Offerings

I'm pleased to report that another Tuesday has rolled around and I'm still here to read, write, and enjoy it.

Our current bedtime story is Grimm's Fairy Tales. These are personal favourites and we've got a few versions of the tales kicking around.
My husband does most of the reading. He does the voices and occasional accent to, so I can tell you listening to Hansel and Gretel was quite a treat.
If you'll let me count what was read to me as reading, then here's a tasty bit:

" 'I have them, and they shall not escape me!'
Early in the morning, before the children were awake, she got up to look at them, and as they lay sleeping so peacefully with round rosy cheeks, she said to herself,
'What a fine feast I shall have! ' "
-Grimm's Fairy Tales, Junior Deluxe Editions, Nelson Doubleday, Inc.


I finished the once-over of my vampire western the other day. I made a few changes here and there and corrected as many of the typos, spellos, and WTFs as I could see on screen. The hard copy is printed out and awaiting my attention.
Soon.
Very soon.
For now here's a little extra from Biting the Dust:

"The sweet salt streamed down his throat as he drew in every bit that he could before letting the spent body fall to the dust.
Kid wanted to shout. Joy spilled out of his body and overwhelmed him. It made him reel. He knew that gravity would be no match for him if he could only remember how to fly. "

Thanks for reading me.
For more or to get in on the action please see the Women of Mystery.

Twofer Tuesday – Stringing a Few Words Together

I’ve been doing my best to get the editing done on my first manuscript. I’ve found I prefer raw creation to trying to fix up writing that may not amount to anything later on. It’s good exercise, though. Best way to learn is to do.
Somewhere between blogging, getting the usual daily life matters under control, going away for an extended weekend to BC and recovering from same, and occasionally opening up a file to edit, I’ve picked up the guitar again.
It feels good. I’m not very good at it as I inherited my musical talent from a relative who had none to spare, but I’m enjoying it.
I had the sense to spend the money and get a good one, a Larrivee, with a wonderful, soothing sound. This helps considerably when I do something . . . unmusical.
It had been so long since I’d held it in my arms I’d forgotten which key tuned G and which tuned high E. I was madly turning the nut and nothing was happening. Eventually I caught on and got it done properly.
Not only is it soothing, it helps me write. I can think better as I strum or pick and the effects last.
This brings me to something I read this week. The very first song I learned to play was Down in the Valley and I played it again recently.
Here are a few lines from it:

“Writing this letter, containing three lines, answer my question, will you be mine?
Will you be mine, dear, will you be mine? Answer my question, will you be mine?”

The songbook doesn’t list any writer attached to it, but I found this.

As for me, well, I’ve gotten a bit done here and there. Here’s something from The Legend of Shallal:

“Darahfenn brought his antenna around from the back of his head and stroked his recalcitrant face scale. He’d always hoped the gesture made him look thoughtful.”

For more, or to find out how to participate, please see the Women of Mystery.
And thank you for stopping by. I appreciate it.