#writemotivation Monday

Well, here we are at the end of May.  Where the time has gone, I don't know, but I wish it didn't go by so quickly.

This being the last Monday in May also makes this Memorial Day.  This is the day we've set aside to recognize all the service men and woman both past and present for all they've done for us to preserve not just our freedom, but also help other countries gain, or regain, their freedom.  I have several within my family who are serving now and a couple which have left the service honorably or retired.  So this makes this day, and other armed service recognition days special.

My grandfather, Charles Cullum, served in the army as one of their mechanical engineer types.  He helped keep their machines working right and efficiently.  He travelled the world during his tenure, seeing ports such as Japan, the Marshal islands, Australia, and others before retiring with honors.  The army wanted to keep him so badly that they offered him a job at one of their factories where he worked until his retirement.  He served during World War II and I am sure he had plenty of stories to tell.  Sadly, he thought women were not the types to enjoy his recounts or be interested, but he'd willingly tell my brother and uncles.

I so wanted to hear his war stories.  If I did, I'm sure I would have started writing sooner just to make a permanent record of his experiences.  I miss him very much.  Sadly, neither of my son will hear his stories.  He passed away when my oldest boy, Adam, was barely two years old.

I will always remember my Grandpop.  He was funny and had a bigger heart than he wanted to admit to having.

My brother proudly served two tours, driving the massive M1-A1 Abrams tank.  He LOVED it!  What he wanted to do the most was being one of the soldiers who guard the Unknown Soldiers' graves in DC.  He came so very close, he could taste it.  He would have brought a lot of honor to the entire family, even our Uncle Harold would be proud.  But, he did his best then left honorably after his second tour to go to school to become a mechanic.  I'm still proud of my brother.  Not because he's the only one I got.

As mentioned, my Uncle Harold is in the armed services, recently retired I believe as a Major of some sort.  Sadly, he doesn't communicate with my part of the family much even with my grandmother living down there in Waco, TX, near him.

Now, my oldest Nephew is a civil engineer for the Air Force.  I am amazed at how far he has come in life.  Not married, yet, but he's sweet on a girl from what I've heard.  I hope she's a strong and smart woman because she'll have this family to contend with and we don't kindly to slackers.  Just ask my brother's ex-wife.  Another of my nephews wanted to join, but due to medical reasons, he's not able to serve.  Sad, but he'll figure a way in through the civilian sector.

Now, we come to the current generation, my youngest nephew and my oldest boy.  Joshua can't due to his hearing loss, but Adam, he just might go for it.  It'll be worth the time to have the help with school and all the branches need someone who is very techno-savvy like him.  We'll see, but I hope he takes the advice me and mom gave him on his graduation from high school.  No matter what he decides to do, I'm proud of him.

In all branches of my family there are those who have gone into the service and done our country and family proud.  I could have joined the Army or Air Force, but at the time, so fresh out of high school and the last of the torture I had endured was done, I knew I wouldn't be a good fit.  Nor would I have been able to do what I wanted to do most, fight with the big boys on the front lines.  At the time, we ladies didn't have that right, but it was soon to come by then.  But, mostly, after all I had endured, I would not have survived basic training.  The first day I would have either passed out, withdrawn completely into a psycho asylum, or crawled down the drill sergeant's throat when the last of my reserves snapped.

They wanted me bad enough to keep calling.  The same three recruiters called weekly, one called daily, only to be shot down each time.  The aptitude tests we took in school must have shown them something they wanted to cultivate before getting to know me personally.  I did get to know them and even served them at work a few times.  All nice gentlemen and they answered my questions but the two who met me at work left understanding why I refused.  I guess they spoke with the third because the calls stopped eventually.

Do I regret not taking that chance?  Yes.  But I don't regret the two boys I have had since or the chances to do more with my natural skill set, which is drawing and writing.  Structure would have killed both quickly until the muse found her bullet proof jacket and iron underwear.  ;)  Instead, she prances through smacks me with a few ideas then prances off again on another long vacation.

Anyway.....  The goals!

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sahlgoode/

1) Get a job or at the very least attend five interviews for a job.

Several prospects, three interviews, one had a second interview.  Technically, I do have a job now, but I need to pass the State Exam for Life and Health Insurance.  Once I have that in hand, I am good to go.  Wish me luck on passing the test on the second try.

2) Edit/revise five chapters of Society of Night and Lies.

I am calling this one done.  I stopped at chapter 11 and have people beta reading it now.  I have feedback on part of chapter one.  He's being brutally honest, which I did request and he's offering suggestions on changes.  As soon as all the feedback is in, I'll go through and do those much needed changes.  Also curious about the critique on the first page I sent in during the donation drive.  Go here for more details -----> OK Tornado Donation Drive.

3) Write two chapters of Black Friday 2.

Still nothing done here, but this is what I'm going to work on this week when not studying or job searching.

4) Exercise twice a week.

Um... kind of.  Been a weird month where my time has been spent in the car or buried deep in applications.

Here's to hoping next month will turn out better!

Writing Prompt for #writemotivation Google+ Group

I couldn't let this one go unnoticed or undone.  It just may appear in my book Society of Night and Lies.  It's a very good set up for an escape scene.

Daily Writing Prompt May 24:Partial First Sentence "With her feet on the window sill..."

With her feet on the sill, she grasped the sash and pulled with all her might to open the huge window.  It gave way, but only grudgingly with a creak then a sudden motion upward which nearly knocked her off balance.  Hanging on for dear life, Sabrina looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was coming in only to hear the pounding footsteps of her captors.

"Shit!"  She muttered then looked down at the street far below.  She had to be at least three stories up and the only soft landing was the half filled trash bin.  "Double shit!"  She didn't relish getting herself smothered in stuff that no stray animal would want to touch let alone walk near.

She then looked at the building across the alley.  The window directly across from her was broken, leaving just a few shards of glass still caught in the pane.  It would be a painful leap but better than getting covered in smelly trash.  After taking a deep breath, she set her resolved and didn't try to think about the distance she would have to cross.  Either way, she was trash if she stayed there and this could be her only chance to escape Dean's clutches.

Crouching low, she closed her eyes and sent a silent prayer.  Sabrina wasn't a religious feline, but even she knew this was going to be a leap of faith as well as a leap for her life.  "One.  Two.  Three!" She counted aloud to herself and launched with all her might to get to the window so enticingly close.

Her captors burst through the door just as she jumped, each of the yelling and getting in each other's way as they scrambled to try to stop her, only to miss the hairs on the tip of her tail as she went sailing through the air to uncertain freedom.

Writing Prompt From #writemotivation Google+ Group

I think I may post these here as well as on my Google+ account.  It's amazing what comes to mind when you have something random placed in front of you that has nothing at all to do with the current works on your plate.

May 25 Daily Writing Prompt: "With bleary eyes she approached the machine"

With bleary eyes, she approached the machine.  While she did have her glasses on, the items still appeared to be one huge blur with distinct points making themselves visible the closer she got.  Deep in the back of her sleep riddled mind, she cursed the machine for the very things it held within its grasp.  She hated anything coming out the old vending machines.

To make things worse, it was a vending machine in the 'breakfast room' of the motel, if it could even be called that, she took refuge from the storm in the night before.  The place looked like it had seen better years before a war against time took chips out of the pain and chunks out of the brick and mortar.  It wasn't someplace she willingly wanted to stay in.  The roaches could keep it for all she cared, as long as they left her alone and didn't try to hitch a ride in the trailer she was pulling.

Now, it was barely sunrise and she needed to get back on the road before traffic got too thick to manage with her rig.  All she needed was something to eat.  Stale chips, half melted candy bars, pretzels that no one wanted to touch let alone eat.  A few packs of gum, but that wouldn't be able to do much about her hunger.

How she dreamed to have an omelette willed with ham, mushrooms, and peppers, a cup of coffee that smelled like it was ground that morning and a pile of hash browns that would make any trucker die from the grease lingering about the plate beneath it all.  Drooling, she smacked her lips then saw, with fresh eyes, the poor excuse for a meal in front of her hiding behind the plexiglass shield of the machine.

She sighed then pushed herself away from the machine.  "Maybe there's something better down the road," she said to herself as she headed back to her room and prepare to leave the nightmarish domain of the roadside motel.

Midweek Thoughts and #writemotivation Goals

It has been a while since I did a midweek post.  All sorts of things, including my mental well-being, got in the way of making my appointed posts.  Facebook is one of those things which got in the way with its shiny time consuming games.  I really should trim those back again.  A few more appeared out of the aether again to tempt me into spending more time away from writing and studying again.

You heard correctly, I said studying.  The studying I was supposed to do to earn my insurance license.  That exam was for today.  No, I did not pass.  I failed miserably, but they did do a break down so I know where to focus my studying for the next exam.  Underwriting got me the most and the rest was how they worded the questions and the lists answers.  I know the material, but sadly, my normal study habits were lacking a couple of things which help a lot.  The good news is I can keep trying until I pass and I WILL pass.  Eventually.

Once I pass the exam, I'll have a job.  So, tomorrow is a brain break to get myself back into the groove for the exam again.  Also, tomorrow is therapy day for my son so there's not a lot of time to give the attention to the eight chapters on Underwriting, life insurance, medical insurance, and the state regulations and such.  I will be bringing one of the chapters with me to read just to help pass the time instead of playing games on my smart phone.

I don't know if anyone else has seen the news release that Amazon is setting up a fanfic section of their Kindle release books.  When I first heard it, I thought... Why?  Why would someone want to make it possible for an unknown who loves to write fanfic (there are precious few who can actually write well enough to be worth publishing.  One of the girls in my NanO group is proof of that).  Then, I got a peek at the rules Amazon wants the would-be authors to follow. 

Now, anyone with a lick of sense will know that this is a bad idea if a big corporation is involved.  Amazon wants people to write in the worlds they have licenced.  To make matters worse, in the terms of use, they will screw over the person who has written the fanfic by taking ownership of the copyright, whether the characters are their own within that world or not.  Now, the would-be author would get royalties, but the original author gets a tidy percentage of that.

My thoughts on that?  A big resounding NO!  Capitol N Capitol O.  NO.  If that isn't screwing someone over just to get more stuff written in a particular world, I don't know what is.  The co-ml for my city's Nano group put it best in her post The Future of Fanfiction.  Rebekah couldn't have put it better.  Me?  I sound like I'm on a rant.

It's a good thing and it's a bad thing.  Either way, I am taking no part of it.  What fanfiction I write will either remain on my hard drive or published with proper credit on my forums, OR, if I am lucky enough to get permission to use their world and characters, I'll publish it on SmashWords or someplace similar.  I will not go for shady shenanigans like Amazon is trying to pull.

Enough of the semi-rant, on to the goals!

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sahlgoode/

1) Get a job or at the very least attend five interviews for a job.

Only three interviews this month, but, there's still a week to get the other two in.  But, I do have a job, sort of.  I say sort of because I need to pass the state exam for Life and Health insurance.  I'll keep retaking until I pass.

2) Edit/revise five chapters of Society of Night and Lies.

There weren't quite five chapters left before I sent the fir 11 chapters out to the beta readers.  I'm still kind of toying with chapter 11 now because a great idea has popped into my brain on how to put more tension into the plot.

3) Write two chapters of Black Friday 2.

I haven't touched this one, yet.  Too many other things took precedence.  I'll be working on this one shortly.  Might get one chapter done before the 31st.

4) Exercise twice a week.

Ummmm... not quite there, but I am working on it.  Got one day down for this week.  The rest will come soon enough.

How has your week been?

Don't forget to donate to your favorite disaster relief fund!  People in Moore, OK, and elsewhere need your help.

Weekly Update #writemotivation

I forget if this is week two or week three for the #writemotivation checks.  Which ever it may be, I am finally making.  Better late than never.  Right?

This has been one of those weeks that seemed busier than what it really was.  I had an interview Monday and got this moving to start selling insurance.  I don't plan on sticking with insurance sales.  It's something to bring money in while I look for something more stable and less stressful on my car.  There will be a lot of driving with this company.  No sitting behind a desk and making phone calls.  At least this company, American Income and Life, is legit and no pyramid scheme from what I can tell.  It also isn't like trying sell a Hyla (a vacuum system thingy) either which is a life saver.

Most I'll have to do is get a new laptop because the one I have now is getting old and I don't think anyone was to run my power cord to an outlet.  Not to mention, I'll have to clean it up and get rid of my pretty stickers and shinies on the lid.  Also, there are a few keys missing thanks to my tom cat.  Silly thing that he is.

Well, on to the checks:

1) Get a job or at the very least attend five interviews for a job.

Well, this one is coming along.  Two interviews down.  Technically, I have a job now, I'm studying for my health and life insurance license.  Not very fun.  :P

2) Edit/revise five chapters of Society of Night and Lies.

I've paused at chapter 11 to send out the willing vic... err beta readers.  Their input will help continue on with the rest and, of course, I those first pages need to be good enough to start querying.  I have done two chapters before sending out this part, so three more to go.

3) Write two chapters of Black Friday 2.

Haven't touched this one, yet.  Don't worry, I will.

4) Exercise twice a week.

Um... I have exercised once this week.  In all honesty, it was walking around three different grocery stores in one day.  It was something!

(Not So) Quiet Weekend Trip

Among the people in my Nano group, there were several of us who had plans for this weekend.  Some went to OWFI and came back with accolades worthy of a party.  Others had things to do; such as writing or doing things around the house.  Then, there are those like me who were going to take a little trip out of state for reasons in the realm of visiting with friends, family, and/or relaxation.

Most, I am sure, enjoyed their weekend no matter what they did or what happened.  I know mine was great and I have the pictures posted on Facebook as proof.  Both of my boys together, meeting for the first time, and getting along as well as a teenager and little kid can.  Amazingly, no grudges or shouting matches were heard.  But, then again, we were there only for the weekend.

But, that great weekend came with a price.  Before the worry warts jump up and go crazy or the sadists start to smile, let me say this: No one was hurt and my mom and I are glad that God gave us mud.

Don't laugh!  If it weren't for mud, this blog would either be done from a hospital or a Memorium post written by my boyfriend before passing it all into the archives.  Honestly, I should have written this Friday night after we arrived at the hotel and unpacked.  I should have, but I somehow forgot to bring the power supply for my laptop and the battery just doesn't hold a charge for very long.

To start things off, neither mom or I had a lot of sleep.  She only had two hours after getting all her stuff washed and together.  Me?  I had only four hours or so thanks to Caffeine, my neutered tom cat, wanting to get frisky with Hylie while I was sleeping.  His meowing woke me up and he, naturally, got punted onto the floor with a sleep aimed kick in the tail and a few swipes from Hylie.  Not a good start to any long drive.

The first hour or so of the trip was fine, but, when we were coming up on Fort Smith near Van Buren, things went scary.  I was dozing since I didn't need to count the change for the toll booths again until our return trip.  Mom, bless her soul, was driving and didn't want to wake me up because I was snoring.  Colin was secure in the back seat playing his Nabi (kid's tablet).  She fell asleep as we were coming to a curve in the interstate.

We safely crossed over then went into the median.  The rumble strips woke the both of us up very quickly.  While she fought to control the car, I was clamping down tightly and envisioning the car (a HHR for the curious) rolling over as we went down the steeper part of the ground through mud.  The mud slowed us down safely and brought us to a complete stop some six to eight feet before the ground level took a serious dip into a stand of trees that could have done serious harm to us and the car.

Pardon the language, but it scared the crap back into me.  I could not go until we were in the hotel later that night.  Both mom and I were about to have a coronary.  Because she was in shock, I took control and assessed the situation by making sure she was okay then checking on Colin.  The poor little guy literally had the pee scared out of him and he was upset we were going to be mad at him for it.

While I was trying to calm him down, a car that was behind us stopped to make sure we were okay.  The woman even stayed until we knew, for sure, there was help on the way and that none of us were seriously hurt.  She did give us her cell number and the number to the Highway Patrol station she worked at for in case we needed her for insurance purposes.  As of this post, I have no idea where that piece of paper went.  *flails*

Thank all that is holy that mom has AAA.  We had to wait about 30 to 45 minutes for the tow truck to get to us.  We really didn't need it according to the driver, but we did need his help getting the car out of the mud.  The only real damage the car got was a chunk of sidewall taken out of the front driver's tire, and the (already) worn shocks and struts leaking to go along with a couple of scratches in the paint.

We got off lucky.  God was definitely watching over us that day.

After getting those few things taken care of (a two and a half hour wait mind you) we took off for Searcy, AR.  After another hour, mom passed the keys to me and I took us in to see my eldest son before we settled in for the night at the hotel.  He got big over the years and quite handsome.

The rest of the weekend went by nice and slow with me finding a lot of familiar faces at the first Wal-Mart I worked in, and got the low down on what all had changed since I moved six years ago.  Other than my son, the one person I wanted to connect with the most had to work so we couldn't get together for a few laughs.  Still, it was fun.

Adam W. Cooper Class of 2013

The big event, Adam's Graduation, was the highlight, of course.  He studied his tail off so he wouldn't have to take the final exams.  Considering he took college preparatory classes, he did very well, carrying an A average.  He may not have made top honors, but he did very well in my book.  But, then again, he did inherit my intelligence and artistic ability.

I'm happy that I was able to be there.  That's one son graduated and one more to go.  Colin might make it if he settles down and controls his impulsiveness.

Right now, I'm happy to be home and back in my own bed.  While I didn't have a serious injury from the accident, I know I hurt a muscle or two in my back.  Dr. Cole will be able to take care of that when I go in to see him.  I'll also be taking Colin along, too.  Best to be sure nothing was damaged than to have something crop up later from it.

Now, for those wondering about my #writemotivation...

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sahlgoode/

1) Get a job or at the very least attend five interviews for a job.

I had an assessment today with AT&T.  I should know more very soon

2) Edit/revise five chapters of Society of Night and Lies.

I got started, but lack of power cord prevented much from being done.

3) Write two chapters of Black Friday 2.

Need to get started on this one.

4) Exercise twice a week.

Working on this one.  Grocery shopping doesn't count, but I did do a lot of walking Thursday to start this one.