Rave: Cancer Lesson #66 — You’ll never forget your anniversary.
Two years ago today, at about 9:30 am, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
I will celebrate being alive today.
And tomorrow.
And the day after tomorrow.
And the day after that, for the rest of my days.
Rave – I love seeing things like this. Makes me want to write a book about a character who drives a three-wheeled car. For the record, the driver looked pretty happy — he waved at me as I took this picture.
Seen on 71 South ~ 3 wheeled car. Funniest part was they had a spare tire in the hatchback. Shades of Mr. Bean & his Robin.
Rave: My Ideal Bookshelf
Taking a leaf (pun intended) from the book, My Ideal Bookshelf by Jane Mount and Thessaly La Force, here’s my ideal bookshelf. At least it’s my ideal for today.
The bottom book is Flora’s Lot by Katie Fforde, one of my favorite women’s fiction authors. In fact, the bottom four are all from my favorite women’s fiction writers: Katie, Trisha Ashley, Marisa de los Santos and Sarah Addison Allen. The other books are Magic of Christmas, Love Walked In and Garden Spells.
The next is an excellent book called Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, which teaches you to do just what the title says.
Above is probably the first writing book I ever read, On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, from whom I learned why editing and word choice is so important. from whom I first learned about the importance of word choice and editing.
And then we come to Bill Bryson. What can I tell you about Bill? If you haven’t read him, you’re in for a treat. Hysterically funny while at the same time informative and educational, everyone should read at least one of his books. This one, Notes from a Small Island is my favorite, all about his travels in England.
On top of Bill are books by three of my favorite romance authors, all of whom write smart, fun, contemporary stories that you will enjoy. Try Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews, The Best Man by Kristan Higgins or The Trouble with Valentine’s Day by Rachel Gibson.
Topping it off is Facing the Music, from another English women’s fiction writer, Mary Sheepshanks.
These are some of the books I turn to again and again. Leave a comment and tell me what would be on your ideal bookshelf. Or better yet, send me a picture!
A Short Rant About Cigarette Butts, Along with a Rave About Writing as a Habit: Creatures of Habit
The end of our driveway is littered with cigarette butts.
Occasionally, I overcome my squeamishness enough to pick them up for proper disposal, and we have a clean drive for about a day.
English: A cigarette butt, lying in dirty snow. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Still, by the time I go out to get the mail again, more butts have appeared.
No one in our house smokes so I was initially mystified by the origin of these bits of trash. But I think I’ve finally figured it out.
You see, we live on a major road — a state highway that runs between two interstates. More to the point, we live between two semi-major towns surrounded by several suburbs. This means the commuter traffic on our street is especially busy in the morning and evening.
Now, my morning routine is pretty, well, routine. I get up, dress, make a pot of tea, eat my Kashi and drink a cuppa, fix a commuter mug for the road and a one for my husband who’s generally still in bed (he pays me back by providing the tea service on the weekends). Then, I hop in my car and head to work.
My theory about the cigarette buts is there are lots of other folks whose morning activities are just as automatic. And when some of them get in their cars, they light up their first cigarette of the day, which happens to finish just about the time they pass our house.
Every single day.
Yeah, I know. Lucky us.
Still, this says a lot about the strength of habits. And when I look on those butts trashing up our property, they remind me to make sure the habits I’m forming are good ones — like writing every day, eating healthy meals and exercising.
And maybe picking up the garbage at the end of the drive a little more often.
OH YES! This one is definitely a rant! Thank you, John Scalzi!
Not a rant or a rave, this one is more of a whine.
Gosh, it’s easy to be mature about rejection when you haven’t just experienced it. A little over a month ago I said, and I quote, “I try not to take rejection personally. I’m pretty sure the agents and editors I’ve queried don’t mean it that way.”
Today, however, my emailbox — and yes, I know I’m taking liberties with the English language — contained a form-letter rejection, so I’m not feeling so sanguine.
You see, for some reason when I decided to start sending more queries, it never occurred to me that this would, of necessity, result in more rejections.
As we used say in middle school, well duh!
Ah, well, I’m sure I’ll live to query another day.
Addendum: For the record, I’m grateful to receive any response, even a “Dear Author” one. Many agents and editors don’t acknowledge queries they’ve chosen not to pursue.
And it could be worse. At least I never received one of these in my locker.
English: Rejection (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Addendum: About ten minutes after I finished writing this post, that song by Kelly Clarkson started running through my brain — you know the one about what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? — and I suddenly thought, “Kym! You idiot! You survived cancer — why on earth are you whining about a measly rejection?”
Why indeed?
A while ago, someone told me they’d like to see more writing prompts. So I’m sharing the following post by Sue Healy.
A Rave on Writing: Twenty Simple Ways to Fritter Away Your Writing Time
I was going to write a post about time management — how, with a few lifestyle adjustments, you can find more time to write. Sadly, that topic has already been done to death, and we’re all none the wiser.
So I decided to take the opposite approach and share twenty tactics to help you waste those precious few hours when you could be writing.
Now, it’s your turn. Leave a comment about how you waste time when you should be writing.
Study of Clouds over the Roman Campagna by Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (Photo credit: cliff1066™)
What’s this picture got to do with wasting time? I have no idea. It came up as a recommended image, and I thought it was pretty so I’m sharing.
Change Your “Furniture;” Change Your Story — A Rave
This is my new office.
In fact, there’s nothing new about it. The desk was my dad’s, newly acquired and repaired by my husband. The chair came from a library auction, as did the table, and the tall bookcase was my Mom’s, built for her by my stepdad. That big lime green sphere you see is my exercise ball being “repurposed” in the hope that it will see more action as a seat. (It’s functioning as a footstool at the moment.)
It took most of the day to reach the tidy state you see here. (I won’t take any bets on how long it will last.) But after trudging up and down the steps, arms laden with books and furniture, I was gratified to have transformed a previously unused room into an office/library.
Writers do this all the time, except we use everyday words and phrases to create something fresh. We shift those words and phrases — sometimes even paragraphs and scenes — from one part of our book to another, until we find their proper setting where they can shine.
Occasionally, we’re dismayed to discover no such setting exists. We realize that a particular piece of writing serves no purpose, even if we think (probably wrongly) that analogy or description or bit of dialogue is excruciatingly, mind-stoppingly, jaw-droppingly brilliant.
It has to go.
I hate it when that happens. It’s like bringing home that piece of furniture you had to have, and discovering it doesn’t match anything in your house.
Of course, writing is never truly wasted because even the parts we cut provide background in our mind for the story.
As for that mismatched piece of furniture — well, isn’t that what spare rooms and garage sales are for?
garage sale (Photo credit: magnusdigity)
Addendum: For those of you who remember my post about the word “really,” I’d like you to know that I only had to edit out two occurrences in this post. Maybe I’m improving.
Rave: A Compendium of Anti-Valentine’s Day Sites
This year, I’m taking the easy way out and sharing everybody else’s cool ideas. Enjoy!
Puritan Valentines — Okay, they’re not officially “Anti-Valentine” but they might as well be. Here’s my favorite.
For more, check out the College Humor website: http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6870031/puritan-valentines-day-card
There are Anti-Valentine Gifts, like this one from GroovyNet.net.
I don’t think so either. For a complete shopping list with all the sites: http://inventorspot.com/articles/anti_valentines_10411
Here’s Huffington Post’s suggestions for music, including the ever-popular “Love Hurts,” http://tinyurl.com/baul35b
Personally, I think Jimmy Buffett captured the true Anti-Valentine spirit right here
As always, Hipster cards, while not strictly anti-Valentine, certainly provides some unusual options. http://hipstercards.com/browse.php?id=139
You can find Anti-Valentine crafts — like Ex Voodoo dolls and heart beet brownies — here: http://radmegan.blogspot.com/2011/02/anti-valentines-day-crafts-games.html and a slew of other ideas here: http://www.craftster.org/blog/valentines-day-and-anti-valentines-day-crafts/.
Another idea is a duct tape rose made, of course, in black or red and black as below. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Duct-Tape-Rose
Anti-Valentine’s Day Party: Duct Tape Rose (Photo credit: San José Library)
And, it wouldn’t be Anti-Valentine’s Day without mentioning Meish.org, the true home of the holiday. They have loads of funny cards like this one.
http://www.meish.org/vd/
So, eat chocolate, drink wine, make voodoo dolls of your ex, listen to crappy music, and remember, it’s really just another day.
Reading, Writing, Ranting and Raving 