Detour & ROW80 check in

I'm sick...
and a little cranky...
lying in bed...
with my pink blanky.
(you didn't know I did lyrics now did you??)

I don't feel like doing a writing prompt today,
but I thought I would share an insight with you instead.

I've been visiting other blogs due to this Platform Building Campaign,
which you can check out here.
And I've realized,
after seeing so many beautiful blogs,
that I have a lot of work to do!

So I'd thought I'd give a shout out to all the blogging peeps,
and see how they got their blogs to catch on fire.
I realize that I should probably have more about myself,
and also my current work in progress.
How else can I make my blog a more exciting place to be?

On the ROW80 side,
I've gotten one chapter done,
but I may be running myself a little ragged...
hence the cold. :(

Anyway,
I hope all my other comrades are doing well,
and I will try hard to pop by other peoples blogs this week.

Have a good night.

August 28th ROW80 check in

Just a quick post to check in for ROW80.
I was able to fix my story arc,
and I finished editing one chapter,
(I wanted to finish two).

So all in all it was a good week.
This week will be crazy,
as I have a ton of stuff to prepare before September.

It will either be super productive,
(as I lose myself in my writing to escape the craziness of my week),
Or I will get very little done,
because I'm being a good girl and getting my work done. :D

Anyway, I hope to get two chapters edited this week.
I hope everyone else in ROW80 has a good week. :)

ROW80 check in & Writing prompt #10: Write about the morning after.

 POSTING LATE DUE TO THUNDER STORMS :)
So I am checking in for ROW80,
which is going reasonably well.
I'm moving forward but right now it feels so slow,
like trying to walk through thick mud.
I've also been really tired lately,
went to bed at 9pm the other night.
Here's hoping I can just keep trudging along.

Anyway,
today's writing prompt is "Write about the morning after."
No editing,
just writing.
Let's see if I can get this done before I fall asleep,
or I get cut off by the monster storm in my area.

*************************************************

My eyes flutter open and for a moment I don't know where I am.  The smells so sterile and the sound of a baby crying -- wait, was that my baby?  I look around the room frantically but the bassinet is empty.  From behind the pastel tissue paper curtain I hear another mother crooning to her baby.  I sit up and shake my head trying to focus on what had happened last night. The sudden pain across my abdomen brings me to reality, we were waiting for our baby. 

Every night, Edward would talk and sing songs to my tummy.  Dreaming dreams so big for such a little bump.  But when the time came you were too weak and a c-section was done.  The day that should have been full of joyful phone calls and time just spent staring at all ten fingers and toes was robbed from us.  An emergency and then you were rushed away and I spent the night alone in the hospital.  I look to the bedside table and see the grainy polaroid picture.  You look alien to me--who is this tiny child.  The photo feels light and cold in my hands.  I set my mouth in a thin line, this is not my child.

Then Edward is there holding my hand, fussing over me.  Soon we will meet this child...this Samantha. The wheel me to a room where large machines hunch keeping a watchful eye on their charges in the incubators.  And there you are with a sign over you with your name and pink balloons.  I can barely stand to look at you so foreign behind the plexiglass.  My heart skips a beat...what a horrible mother I am!  Then the nurse, everything about her in constant motion, is taking the bundle out of the incubator and disconnecting the lines from her body. Suddenly you are in my arms. I notice the weight of her first. Samantha. Then I can feel the heat coming from your tiny body.  Your eyelids flutter and a small smile crosses your face.  I count ten fingers.  I see eyes just like Edward's.  A chin just like mine. You stir, nestling deeper into my embrace with a soft sigh. A tear makes a track down my cheek.  This is my baby. Welcome baby Samantha. 

Something strange...

The Third Writer's Platform Building Campaign started on August 22nd,
and I am officially joining!
It's a chance for writer's (authors, bloggers, publishers etc.),
to increase their online presence.
So if you want to join your fellow authors in this endeavour,
then check out this link here.
Hope to see you there!!

Oh, the something strange?
Well for months (well years really),
I have been trying to coax myself into becoming part of the twitter world.
Some new found phobia I think...
Well, I finally did it!
Try and find me. ;)

Quick check in for ROW80 (late I know...)

It really went well this week,
didn't complete all of the things but I made some great leaps forward.

I got two chapters edited instead of three.
I read two chapter from the writing book. (done!)
And completed my comma cheat sheet. :)

I felt productive this past week,
always a good feeling.

This week I want to fix my story arc,
and edit two more chapters.

Writing Prompt # 9: Nothing has changed & ROW80 check in

ROW80 check in first this time:
so far the week is going fairly well.
I've done my comma cheat sheet,
and I've read one chapter from the book I wanted to get done.
I've also edited another chapter.

Although the goals are going well,
my WIP is giving me some troubles.
I'm still not happy with the first chapter--
none of the characters will behave.
But still I keep writing...


Anyway, today's writing prompt is "Nothing has changed".
Just writing for ten minutes,
and no editing.
Let's see what I can do.

******************************************

Looking out the picture window I can see so much has changed.
The rush of traffic that goes past our little home.
Children of yesterday who are pushing prams with their own rosy bundles.
Highschoolers shuffling to mp3 players.
Weeds where my prize roses used to be.
A dilapidated doorstep that no longer sees my own children,
dirty from making mud pies,
looking for mid afternoon snack.

 I look down at my hands,
wrinkled and crooked.
Blue veins like a road map run across them.
Hands that changed babies bottoms.
Taught the neighbourhood children 'Ode to Joy' on the piano.
Hands that look so foreign to me.

Everything has changed...
I sigh my body deflating like a balloon.

"What are you thinking my love?"
You sit down next to me, your weight causing me to fall towards you on the couch.
Your broad shoulders are stooped with age
and your hair, so white now.
"Hmmm?" you ask again putting your arm around me.
I look up into your hazel eyes
and remember the rainy pier.
You down on one knee in your only pair of good pants.

I smile and a small giggle escapes my lips.  "Oh, I was just thinking how nothing has changed."
Leaning into you smelling your earthy scent.
I sigh contentedly.
Yes, nothing has changed.

Camping with kids and ROW80

This past week I went camping with my four children,
without my husband.
Some people called me brave.
Others thought me crazy.

But something amazing happened amid the late night campfires shared with good friends,
and the lazy afternoons on the sun kissed beaches of Killbear.
I laughed at my children's silly jokes.
Raced my daughter to the comfort station.
Even pretended that my flashlight was a light-saber.

And I was no longer just the chore weilding,
discipline cracking, dish washing mother.
Away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life,
I fell in love with my children again.
I wasn't brave or crazy...
just really blessed.

And I guess that is what a good vacation is all about. :)

As for my ROW80 goals...
didn't do very well there.
Only got one of my three chapters edited this week.
Not really a surprise considering there was a lot of relaxing going on.

This week I am aiming again for editing three chapters,
and studying two chapters from Jeff Gerke's "Plot versus Character".
Plus I would like make up a comma cheat sheet,
(comma's and I don't get along,,, See?!?)

Here's hoping that the rest of my ROW80 comrades are doing well. :)

Finally...pics from my vacation.

This July my husband and I took a trip to Holland,
with a little sojourn to England.
It was the first time we had gone away for so long (ten days),
without the kids since my oldest was born 9 years ago.
It was wonderful!!
The best vacation we have ever had--
truly a once in a lifetime experience.
So I thought I would post some pics. :)

Here is my dear husband looking confused at the amount of bikes in Amsterdam.  Something you have to see in real life to believe.  I actually saw a bike with a pram attached to the side...lol.

Leaning church in Leewarden called the Oldehove.  Apparantly, it started leaning one direction while they were building it so they tried to compensate by building on the other side--it didn't work.  It leans more then the Leaning Tower of Pisa and is really brutal on the calf muscles when you walk up its spiral stone stairs.

We took the opportunity to visit a graveyard dedicated to soldiers who died during the Second World War.  Many of the graves had unknown soldiers in them.  This was one of the smaller grave sites.

Having a traditional dutch meal with our good friends.  Seriously, the dutch have it right--bacon makes anything taste better. :)  Delicious!

Traditional English breakfast at a pub. While we were eating at 10 am in the morning a construction crew came in on their break to have a pint...very different from Canada!!

The Tower of London...such a historically rich place!!  My husband knew someone who's brother works as a Beefeater (guard) here so we were allowed in for free and we got bumped to the front of the line to see the crown jewels. :)

My husband braving the cool looking London telephone booth--which he claimed smelled of urine.  I didn't take a whiff...lol.

My husband and I fighting over a Guinness--the beer that eats like a meal. :)

Standing in front of the pub where the Inklings met--a group of writer's which included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.  One of my lifetime dreams. :)

An awesome sign which was in the pub...made me want to crack open The Lord of the Rings books again. :)

Definately a trip we'd do again.  Aren't we a happy couple?

Writing Prompt #8: Write about a bedroom

It's been too long since I've done a writer's prompt.
Too much vacation time in Holland,
(seriously, I will put up some pics as soon as I figure out how to get them off my ipod).

Anyway,
today's prompt is "Write about a bedroom".
Hopefully I won't be too rusty at this.
Same rules apply:
Ten minutes of writing on whatever the topic brings to your mind,
no editing!

**********************

It was like nestling in the hollow of a giant's hand. The comforter weighed down on my back with just the right amount of pressure--I was safe.  A tiny slit let in enough air so that it didn't get stale in my cotton cocoon.  The night was black but that was how I liked it.  The darkness was slick against my skin hiding my flaws from the world.  Here in the night no one would mock me.  No one could see where the darkness ended and I began.  In the darkness all lines were blurred.  This room was where my mind found solace as my peers in the playground mocked my over-sized hand me down clothes.  The dirt colour of my skin.  Here was safety.  Here was peace.  Here was home.  In the distance I heard the lullaby of the night train howling on the wind.  Soon the rumbling of wheels on track were rocking the whole house.  Rocking me deeper into the sweet release of sleep.

Of cows and moons - ROW80 check-in

So you've heard the story about the cow jumping over the moon?
How about the story of the cow who only made it half way...
No?
Not surprising really.
Who wants to hear of someone who didn't quite make the mark.

Sigh...
unfortunately, I did not make my goal of editing five chapters this week.
I was only able to get two done.
Although, I should be a little less hard on myself,
as last week I was still suffering from jet lag.

I'm hoping that this week will go a little better,
although I am camping next week.
I will not be able to check-in next Wednesday,
but I hope to do some editing while lounging on the beach.

I am going to lower my goals to editing three chapters this week.

Hey, from one cow to another,
you've gotta reach for the moon in order to even have a chance at some stars. :)

If you are interested in joining me check out the challenge here.