Dream Home, Could it Be Mine

One of my favorite channels to watch is HGTV and right now, I am waiting like millions of others to see if I am the Park City Dream Home Winner. Stop laughing. I have the same chance as anyone else that entered to win. Funny thing is I’ve never faithfully entered to win one of the HGTV Dream Homes on a daily basis. Each day since January 1, I have submitted my two entries.

The house is beautiful and has all the natural elements I love surround the home, water and a snow capped mountain view. When I look at the picture of this home and its surrounding, I feel peace. I can see myself living in the home and community. You can do anything imaginable, the arts community is thriving, and that’s something I could totally get into. In less than seven hours, I could be a winner!

Stop laughing. It could happen and why not I a fresh start could be just what the universe has in store for me.

Until next time, keep dreaming!

Open to Opportunity

With all this thinking about dreams and working to make them come true, I also believe you have to be open to the change that comes with your dreams coming true. If we’re not prepared for what comes with and after our dreams come true how can, we enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Over the last few months, I have applied to many part-time job listings all over town. All I want is a part-time job of 15 to 20 hours a week to help the family pay some debt off and to do some fun extra stuff. Instead of just wishing, I had a part-time job I should have been more specific. What I really want is a fun part-time job that won’t feel like a job. I want to use my passion for a hobby, so what would my fun part-time job be; well it would involve working with animals or books. Anytime I saw or heard of openings at the local pet stores or bookstore I applied. I still sent out resumes and applications for all the other jobs because I can enjoy most jobs, it’s all in my attitude and I would be truly grateful for any part-time job, but pets with their people and books are the tops for me. For me when I asked what I want to do with the rest of my life it always comes back to books and dogs, so working with animals and or books are optimum.

I would love to be a dog trainer. I have fun training my dogs and would love to share that joy with others. I want to write novels, well I do, I’m just not published. In addition, I love to read and share my love of story with other readers. Perhaps my stating exactly what I would like and being open to these job opportunities is the reason I finally got the call for an interview. I’m totally excited about the possibilities this job could bring my way. Other than the obvious financial aspect, I will get the chance to meet and talk with like-minded people.

Open yourself to all the possibilities your dreams can and will give and who knows…the sky’s the limit!

Dream On

Since I’ve spent 42 years, dreaming you’d think that I would already know what I want to be when I grow up. First I don’t want to grow up and whenever anyone tells me I should I smile and realize that I don’t  need to grow up as they say, but keep living and having fun as a grown up. I’ve concluded that I want to do and be many things and like a stubborn child, I am going to do them all! 

I’ve already had success with dreams coming true. Three years ago I started my own licensed home daycare that caters to the before and after school market. I’ve successfully completed NaNoWrimo nine times. I’ve taken several of my NaNo novels, completed them, and submitted to agents. And had many of those agents squash my dream. But I keep going back for more so I guess you can call it a dream in progress. I’ve had my photography published and won contests and now I dream of a new camera, though the one I have works fine. 

Right now, my dream is to become a vet tech and dog trainer. The one constant over the last seven years in my life other than family, writing and photography has been my love of dogs and training. I devour anything I can get my hands on and I’ll talk dogs and training to anyone who will listen, so why not take that passion and use it. My only regret is I didn’t start sooner.

Other dreams of mine are to own a bookstore, open an eco-friendly hardware store and run a dog walking/daycare service. Who knows maybe I can be the first person to combine all of them and make it the next best thing! 

So, I’m 42 and I want to be everything when I grow up. To quote Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, I’m going to “Dream on, dream on, dream on, dream until your dreams come true.”

What Dreams May Come

I can’t count how many dreams I’ve had in my lifetime, can anyone. I must admit I am a fantastic dreamer; I can even plan how to work on making them come to fruition.  I fall short when it comes to actually making my dreams come true. I don’t mind hard work; I work hard at my job every day. I’ve spent many hours trying to figure out why I fail so often and I’ve realized that my so-called failed dreams are actually successes. How can they be a success, well because the failure showed me what I don’t want from life? It shows me that my passion for that particular dream is not enough. 

If a goal is really worth something to you, I believe a person will work as hard as it takes to accomplish the goal. In high school I wanted to be a rock star, I took singing lessons, did musical things but never went much beyond that. I even dreamed of it after I got married, but I wasn’t truly passionate about it and found that turning up the volume and signing while I cleaned was and still is enough for this closet rock star. 

Then there are those dreams that sneak up on you. The one you didn’t know you wanted until it was hitting you in the face. I never as a kid or adult dreamt of being a mother and even after I became a mom, I never thought of it as a dream comes true. Something changed when my youngest daughter was around two and I realized that I loved being a mom and that it was the first time in my life that I didn’t feel like it was work. It was natural and I wanted to get up each day and be with my girls. They taught me to be present in my life.

My girls to date and probably forever will be my best dream come true and if they’ve taught me nothing else in this life it’s to keep dreaming and striving to bring life to my dreams for however long or short that may be.

Until next time, Dream Big!

Here I Go

Everyone has a dream or two, but how many of us actually work toward making them come true? I mean really work not just say, “I’m going to start doing such and such.” But really put into action the steps needed to start making the dream come true.

My first step is to start blogging again, so here I go…

I have had many dreams in my 42 years, some were never meant to be more than dreams and others keep tapping me on my forehead, shoulder and even flicking my ear to alert me that the time is now, so here I go…

Whether I succeed or not these will be my steps forward to living my dreams. So here I go!

Learning Italian

Buongiorno, Parli Italiano? Sto imparando, perché voglio viaggiare in Italia.

Good morning, do you speak Italian?

I am learning because I want to visit Italy. Yes, it is simplistic but I’ve only been studying for four weeks. And I am teaching myself! I hope I am not butchering the beautiful Italian language. I took French in high school because I was required to take a language to graduate and today I can pick out a handful of words and say a few as well. I wish I retained what I learned from the three years I took. Part of the reason is I never used it and I wasn’t taught anything useful like how to have and understand a conversation with everyday people. There’s no guarantee that learning from the CD’s I have will work either, but I am going to try!

I’m also teaching myself how to build my own WordPress theme/template. In the past, I fiddled with code and enjoyed doing so. So why am I learning WP? Well, I’m thinking of using it to redesign my personal website as well as my blog. My web host has it already installed or ready to install on my control panel so why not use it. Instead of updating, a few places why not put it all in one place. I want to make blogging my thoughts and photos easy and the fewer steps I need to take the better. Not sure how long it’ll take me to get my new blog and website up and running but I am going to give myself a deadline. By November 1, I hope to have a revamped and easily navigated website!

I need to be finished by or before November 1 because I plan to participate in NaNoWriMo for the eighth consecutive year.

Until next time,

Live well now!

Lists Make Way for Dreams

Do you dream all the time or only occasionally? I dream all the time! Sometimes too much and I run into problems getting to the non-dream stuff. I love a leisurely pace. I’m rarely in a hurry to get anywhere. However, that doesn’t mean I’m always late, on the contrary I’m usually early.  Some mistake my leisurely pace for procrastination, but it that’s not the case. I’m an observer with tendencies to do and get things started and finished. I don’t think a procrastinator could lead a leisurely pace of life because they would always be trying to get current with whatever they have due.

When I notice I am panicking about getting projects finished I step back and look at my dream life. If my dream journal is over flowing then I know I ‘m spending too much time in La La Land. To continue living my laid-back way I needed to go back to making to do lists. My to do lists help me prioritize, if I get the major things finished then I can do the fun things like playing with my dogs and lounging on the deck with them and day dreaming!

Take today as an example:

My To Do List
       
4 am wake, shower and drink coffee       
4:30 am write, work on novel       
5:30 am wake daughter continue writing       
6 am wake other daughter. Get things together
for AM Day Care       
6:15 am continue with Daycare stuff or write if
DC is ready until first child arrives       
8:30 am Walk Day care kids to school       
8:45 am Italian Homework       
9:30 am Blog       
10 am go back to writing      
12 pm finish up loose ends       
12:30 pm lunch       
1 pm – 3 pm Free Me Time!       
3 pm – 6 pm Day Care       
6 pm – 10 pm Family time

Today is an easy day because it’s Friday and I try to do the least amount of work on this day. I do laundry while I write or after drinking my coffee. All the other household chores like sweeping, vacuuming and dusting I do as a part of getting the day care ready. The first floor of my home has never been cleaner since I opened the day care. The upstairs is another story, it’s a disaster but I don’t worry about that, because no one ever sees the upstairs and I have better things to do than make my bed or room spotless, like day dreaming, writing or playing with my dogs! 

My lists let me continue to dream!

Until next time, live well now!

Finding the Will

Making my dreams a reality hasn’t been a priority in my life lately and it’s showing in my attitude toward the people in my life and life in general. I took myself off the list back in 2009 when I opened an in-home licensed daycare. I needed to build the business.That’s an ongoing process when you own a business. So it’s high time I find the balance that’s right for me.

I have a list of dreams waiting for me and it’s time to make room for them to come true.Dreaming about how life should be is fun, but dreaming doesn’t make things so.Hard work, perseverance, strength and will make dreams a reality. Lately all I’ve been doing is dreaming and talking about my dreams but talking doesn’t make them come true.

I had an attitude shift about a week ago when a writer I respect posted this quote on the list serve-

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." - Vince Lombardi

She posted the quote to show how one might get past “writerly ruts and not give up”. She planned to cut it out and post it on her plot board. Me I printed it and tacked it onto my vision board. The quote hit me hard because I think of myself as successful. I run a successful daycare and have had my writing published and I written several unpublished novel manuscripts. I have the strength and knowledge when it comes to creating and finishing a story but I realized I lacked the will to follow the manuscript to the end, that being publication. I have three manuscripts that I believe are publishable and I’ve been told they are by people who know the business. My lack of will to follow through with agents has prevented my dream of publication from having the chance to come true.

The past week I began to work on my lack of will. I put me on the top of the To Do List; number one is to research agents for one hour and begin writing queries for the agents I think match my writing. I’m on Day 4 of research and I’ve found five agents now I’m onto writing the queries. I am determined to be as successful a writer as I am a business owner.

Until next time, live well now!

NaNo Day One 2009

NaNo has started and I’m 2500 words in. That’s ahead of the
suggested daily word count to get 50K by the 30^th. However my goal
is to write 3 to 5K a day. Today my goal is to get at least 6K or more. I have
two days this week where I’ll have daycare children from 6:30 am to 6 pm. I’m
not sure I’ll be able to squeeze any writing in because they are school age and
do not nap. I might be able to squeeze some time in if they all settle enough
to watch a movie, but there’s always one or two that would rather play board
games or do something else. My goal is to get 15K by Friday each week and only
write on the weekends if absolutely necessary.  Good luck to all the NaNo’ers.

I’m taking a break from my writing to do this blog and to go
grocery shopping. I should be making a list. I still have a few things to get
for my NaNo time. These are must haves for me. Here’s my list-

1. New
   cool roller ball pen (still need)


2. New
   spiral bound notebook (2)


3. Coffee 


4. Music 


5. Candy
   (Candy Corn is my fave this time of year) 


6. Fuzzy warm
   socks 


7. NaNo
   T-shirts from previous years. Clean and ready to wear 

There’s probably more but I’ve been awake for a while and
can’t think past my main character Lucy. She’s knocking on the front of my
skull. She wants out so it’s back to writing for an hour and then off to do the
shopping.

Until next time, live well now.

Reading and Writing

What are you reading? I have a list on the left and right
columns that show what’s on my bookshelf and what I’ve recently read. Currently
I am reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I must admit I’m not a Jane Austen
fan and the only reason I am reading this is that there are zombies! I have
seen the PBS adaptation of P & P and liked it. I am almost finished and the
book is only okay. I love the zombie parts but the rest of it is a tedious read.
I’m not a fru fru reader. I’ve never liked romance novels and after reading P
& P Zombies, I probably won’t read any other Jane Austen. In movie form, I
might sit and watch.

 

 I’ve written several
novels, 13 to be exact. I’ve edited revised and rewritten 10 of them. Seven of
those 10 suck completely; the only salvageable parts from the others are a
couple of characters from each story. Two of the three left are making the
rounds to agents. The last one I’ve been working on since 2007 and I made the
decision to file the manuscript for the time being. I’ve reached a plateau on this
manuscript. I’ve rewritten the entire novel twice. As it currently stands, my
story doesn’t resemble the first draft in any form. I know I’m not finished
with the novel, but I need some distance to figure out what is wrong and/or missing.

 

During the month of October, I am going to flesh out the
story and characters for my next novel, number 14. I am going to use index
cards to build the plot and storyline. This is a different method for me
especially since I usually write by the tip of my pen. Something needs to
change so I’m changing my method. By the end of this month, I will have the
bones of my next novel and then I will NaNoWriMo through the month of November.
I’ve participated in National Novel Writing Month every year since 2003 and
every year I have written at least 50 K to win the challenge of writing a novel
in a month. I have a blast participating. I hope that my preparation will aid
me in finishing a more complete novel than in past years.

 

Tell me what you’re reading and will you NaNo?

 

Until next time, live well now.

Simmering Beans and Cake on the Counter

The red beans are on the stove. My oldest child is a chef in the making. While the red beans smell fantastic, it’s the cake she baked from scratch that I want to dig into. She made a basic yellow cake with an orange and vanilla icing. I love vanilla and I wasn't sure if it would taste good with the orange. She let me taste it and it was delightful! I guess she was bored today because she spent the entire day cooking when she could have sat in front of the computer.

The youngest spent her day coloring and making those awful fortune teller papers. I really dislike them! What a waste of paper. If I’d known that’s what she was using my white paper for I would have said no.Now she's sitting next to me watching a rerun of Bones. She's a chip off my block. It's sort of scary how much like me she is.

I spent my day fixing my Internet connection, talking with my kids, and reading, then I napped. I should have worked on rewriting my novel, but I needed a break so I took it and was present in the various moments of the day.

Currently I am rewriting my 2007 NaNo novel Beneath the Surface. I’ve renamed it and it doesn’t resemble what I thought the story would be. I had an aha moment about a week ago. It was 2 am and I woke talking a mile a minute. The miraculous part was I remembered most of what I was saying. Now my excitement has cooled, but not my desire to finish and get the story represented and published. My goal is to have it rewritten by the end of the summer. What would be really cool is to have it represented and under contract before my 40th year moves on to my 41st at the end of 2010.

Until next time Breathe Easy and Live Life.

One Thing I Know For Sure

Oprah has a column at the end of her magazine where she talks about one thing she knows for sure and I love reading that. I started a daily ritual about five months ago writing down the “One thing I know for sure.” It didn’t matter if it was a frivolous thing or something Zen. The point was to write something down and let myself know that whatever I know, I matter.

Here’s a small sampling of the things I know for sure about me and the world around me.

1. I am a writer.
2. I am a mother, and so much more.
3. I am not, nor will I ever be perfect and that’s okay!
4. I learn something new each day.
5. We aren’t guaranteed a tomorrow or a later in the day.
6. Living in the past is not living.
7. Life is too short not to follow my dreams.
8. I owe it to myself and children to make my dreams come true.
9. Given the chance I will procrastinate.
10. I actually like being with people and making new friends.

The past two weeks have shown me that I know people are basically good and following your instinct is the right thing to do. I know now that I will be starting my literacy and arts program. There is no right or wrong time only the time you’re presently living.

I am in the process of narrowing my focus and getting feedback in my local area. I’ve also gotten in touch with a friend to join me on the journey. She loves kids, art and reading as much as me and if anyone can help me pull this off it’s her.

So today the one thing I know for sure is “There is no right or wrong time only the time you’re presently living.” For whatever you chose to accomplish today.

Until next time good reading, writing and living!

Dreaming of Books

Something to Ponder or The Odd Fact

Will you die if you get scared half to death twice? And did you know that rhino's sweat is red and acts like a sunscreen.

----------------

Well, I need a valid driver’s license to drive a golf cart on the streets of Colonial Beach. I already figured as much but I spent my evening checking out anything I could find online. What I noticed was this community has a large artist community and the residents support local businesses. Which might help make my dream of opening a bookstore come true, what you had no idea that I had a dream other than writing and getting my novels published? Well I have many and I’m pursuing my dream and learning all I can about running a retail business. I know books but I’m a tad overwhelmed with the business, taxes and so on that come with opening and keeping the business afloat.

I hope to be well on my way to opening by the time I turn 40 and the count down is short with one year and eleven months to go. The more I find out about this area the more I think I could really make a go with a book store because there doesn’t appear to be one locally and the tourist traffic is high during the spring, summer and fall. So now I’ve added another task to my retail research. Find out if the community I currently live in and the one I’m interested in can support and independent bookstore.

Now I need to get back in the habit of writing. I can’t blame my lack of writing on sleep deprivation anymore because I’m finally sleeping again. I’ve been taking meds for my thyroid for four months now and my levels have come down from an overall 85 to 20 and I’m sure it’s even lower now. One of the first symptoms to start getting better was my insomnia. If you’ve ever suffered sleep deprivation you know it’s difficult to function and then try putting a coherent thought on paper and well it’s almost impossible. But I’m writing again and the fog has mostly lifted from my brain so it’s time to get off my procrastinating ass and write more than a blog entry. I’ve left my writing partners high and dry for the last three months, maybe even longer. My time before my meds is quite fuzzy. I’m still trying to figure out how I got up and went to work each day.

Over all I feel my health improving daily. My blood pressure appears to be good and not elevated as my doctor thought. I will continue to take it daily until my next appointment in March to show my doctor that it’s the appointment that makes me nervous and raised my pressure. I’m exercising daily with at least 30 minutes of walking with my dogs and I’m using some DVD workouts with free weights. I’ve updated my health page to show my current weight and the last BP reading. I’m also thinking of adding a page that gives an overview of my weekly diet.

I’m on my way to good health! Until next time good reading and writing.

Things to Ponder

Things to Ponder

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
--------------

Planning for the future is not easy. I’m not talking the
near future; I’m talking 20 to 30 years. I’m also not talking saving for
retirement though that is difficult too and I need to do better. I’m talking
about where I want to spend the rest of my life. I do like where I currently
live, but I want a more town like feeling, I want to be able to walk a quaint
downtown area and one that is close to the water. It’s not difficult to find
places like this on the east coast, what is difficult is to find the property
for under a half million.

I think I have found a place that fits my want of a quaint
town and water, it’s called Colonial Beach. It’s a vacation
area in Virginia as well as year-round living. The town is in the midst of revitalization, it’s
also a golf cart town and that’s a plus for me if you don’t need a license. I
say that because I don’t have a driver’s license.

At 38 I know that water and a small town are what I want in
my future. I don’t want to leave Virginia but I want to live someplace that my entire family would want to visit. As of
right now we live off the I-95 corridor and it takes at least 75 minutes to get
to my home from the DC area but usually because of the traffic it takes as much
as two hours when it should take 55 minutes give or take one or two minutes. No
one likes to drive down and visit us, perhaps if we have a beach out our back
door that might change, but not too much.

I’m in no rush to move especially since the market is low
right now and I have a few things to update before selling, not to mention my
kids would have heart attacks!

Until next time good reading and writing!

The End is Near

Here it is December 30th and I’m still trying to decide what aspirations I will strive to achieve next year. One aspiration that I have is out of my control. I can’t make a NYC agent or publisher take on my novels. Yes, I could publish them myself but that’s not my dream. Over the last 12 months I have made peace and I can say honestly say that if I never see my novels published I’m okay with that. I’ll always know that I wrote my stories and tried until my end. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have my 2008 Aspirations posted.

I finally finished the next book Three Junes for my book club. It took me longer to read it than I thought it would. I found the book boring and not as engaging as all the review quotes. The back and forth between past and present was difficult to follow and it was jarring and messed with story flow. We’ll discuss Three Junes on January 3rd. Our next title is The Glass Castle. I have about two weeks to read that before our next meeting. I also plan to read The Madonna’s of Leningrad and The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business. I should have Madonna’s and Girls Guide finished by the end of the week.

I am keeping this blog and shutting down my other two. The others will shut down sometime in January. I still might change the name; I’m just not sure about that yet.

Until next time good reading and writing!

7 Random Things About Me

I don’t normally do these but I will since Ellen at Garden Addiction tagged me. I think the last one I did was several years ago, 100 Things About Me which is buried somewhere on my old Blogger blog.

Let’s see what seven random things can I think of…

1. I gave up writing in high school when one of my English teachers told me I wasn't smart enough to write.
2. I was diagnosed dyslexic during my freshman year of college.
3. After the birth of my first daughter I took a writing workshop and began writing again.
4. After I sold my first article I went back to my high school and dropped the article on nasty teachers desk and asked what has she gotten published lately. That was fun and my first life lesson to my daughter, never let anyone tell you you’re dumb or can’t do anything.
5. I have three dogs.
6. The husband and I are researching moving to Colorado Springs or Vermont.
7. Here’s a three for one I’m 37, a former smoker and recently diagnosed with emphysema.

Here are 7 blogs I tagged for this meme-

1. shannon mckelden
2. The Crayon Virtuoso
3. Lauri's Reflections
4. Girl With A Curl
5. Hoelzli's House of Horror
6. A collection of letters arranged, somewhat randomly, into words
7. genji's corner

Each blogger starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 random facts as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.

Conservative Approach

Today I didn’t write or revise a word on my novel; instead I
spent the day finishing a book called What Business Should I Start? By Rhonda
Abrams. To be quite honest it wasn’t a book I really needed to read because I
have a good idea of what I want to do. I have three ideas and all three have
great potential in my area because there is a need. This book is really for the
person who has no idea what they want to do as a business. I decided to read it
to see if I could narrow my choices and possibly learn more about the process
and myself. I accomplished all of the above. Now I need to research my three
ideas more, digest the facts and crunch the numbers.

In the past I’ve jumped right into a business, but not this
time, I am going to outline my path, have a plan to follow. As a writer I write
my stories by the tip of my pen, but as a business woman I am going to take a
slightly more conservative approach and have a plan for each stage of starting
my business. The next book I plan to read is also by Abrams, it’s called
Six-Week Start-up. It’s a start up program for small businesses, though my goal
isn’t starting the business in the next six weeks having the tools and
possibility is.

The rest of my even will be spent reading Rich’s book Time
Off for Good Behavior. I’ll do more business reading tomorrow.

Until next time Good Writing!

It's Official! I Now Parent A High Schooler

Tomorrow I officially become a parent of a high schooler,
WAAHHHHH!!!!! Just kidding, I’m not really bawling. I’m actually some what ambivalent
about it. I’m happy she’s progressing academically, but then I’m thinking where
the hell did all the years between birth and 14 go? She’s already talking about
being a veterinarian, chef or wanting to work in the design field. She’s even
mentioned a university that she’s interested in attending for two of the three
fields. She’s a driven kid and if this last year is any indication of what’s to
come then she’ll no doubt get into her choice of schools.

The younger DD still has one year left of elementary. She’s
an honor roll student but she vows to live with the DH and me forever. YIKES,
what have I done wrong? Apparently she doesn’t mind her strict upbringing. Yesterday
was the end of the year assembly and since I was already be there I stayed and
watched my DD accept her honor roll and other certificates. She’ll also have a
few chances to win one of six new mountain bikes for passing her SOL tests. She
wants to win one, but not because she doesn’t have one but because she wants to
sell it! I guess I have a budding entrepreneur on my hands.

Speaking of entrepreneurial endeavors I found a cool site
for women to learn and network on called Women Who Launch. It appears to have a
plethora of wonderful and useful information; I’m still reading and checking it
out. I plan to sign up for their newsletter, read their book and possibly
attend one of their workshops if I can.

Now I must get to work. Until next time Good Writing!

Creativity, Energy and Writing on the Rise

I’m still having the same dream each night. I definitely
think I am supposed to be doing something about it. I am currently researching
setting up some sort of foundation for the walk. I wish that the dream would
reveal a name and more clues as to how I am supposed to pull all of this off.

I’ve picked up my camera again and I’ve been a shooting
fool! I’ve taken close to 500 photos over the last few days and have 40 that I
am sending off for printing so I can decide which six I want to enter into a
local photography contest/show. It’s felt wonderful to resume a part of my life
that is as natural as breathing.

My burst of creativity is spreading to my writing too! I
haven’t written a new novel since my NaNo 06. While I was coughing up a lung, I
revised my Beneath the Surface novel and sent that out to the interested agent,
and then I finished my first round of revisions on my NaNo 06 novel. And
Tuesday I sat down with a spiral bound notebook a pen and wrote 45 pages of my
newest novel! I am revisiting Alex Steele from my NaNo vamp novel. While the
first one is able to stand alone Alex still has plenty of story to tell. And
speaking of that story I’d better get crack-a-lackin’ on writing it.

Until next time good writing!

Plug & Play, Repeating Dreams

For once plug and play meant exactly that. Yesterday I plugged my 250 gig LaCie external hard drive into my USB on my PC and I transferred all my photo files. I had at least 5,000 photos to copy and it took me less than 30 minutes to copy all the folders. Now I can grab the drive and move between my Desktop and my Notebook. The first thing I need to do is get rid of the photos I know I won’t use. These photos are mostly last years and a few hundred that I’ve taken this year. My next step is to make DVD copies of the files to store in my file cabinet and finally I’ll print the photos I want to add to my portfolio. I’d like to get another LaCie external drive to hold my project folders meaning all my art made from my photos but don’t quite resemble the original photo anymore. But for now this drive will do.

Lately I’ve had the same dream night after night and each time a different detail comes into focus giving me greater clarity. I’m closer to knowing what and how I am supposed to proceed. So what is the dream? Each night I dream that I am walking with hundreds of people, we’re all wearing the same shirt and I am leading the way. The shirts are red and white. The only print I am able to read on the tee shirt is April 2009. I’m walking for lung cancer/disease awareness, research and education. Not really a surprise since I am going through the rigors of being diagnosed and have been diagnosed with emphysema. What is telling is the date April 2009, I see that as a sign that I have work to do. Now I just need to figure out how to accomplish what I see each night in my dream. I plan to chronicle my dream on my In Search Of blog because that is where I am chronicling my weight loss and my journey to a better life.

Now I need to get off line and get to my writing!

Until next time Good Writing!