Life at the Keyboard- My Surroundings

My desk is a mess- truly. I keep a glass of sweet tea nearby at all times, chapstick, lotion (Bodycology Vanilla Buttercream- something I found at Wal-Mart that makes you smell like a giant sugary cupcake), my digital camera, my video camera, notebooks, binders, pocket calendars, post-it notepads, and a cup full of pens and pencils, a pair of scissors and a letter opener I received when I won an autographed book from an author.

I have a picture of me and my best friend sitting atop the computer tower, a constant reminder of how important friendship is. I have a calendar of kittens on the wall, as well as my children's school pictures and a family photo directly in front of me- the importance of time and family.

On the desk I have a bead bracelet I made with my name on it several months ago when my mom and daughter were making bracelets during Fall Break. It hangs from my computer mike- as well as a fuzzy fairy bear I won from a contest on Coffeetime Romance quite a while back. I've got a small carved stone cat (handcrafted in Kenya) my MIL bought me when we went to the Indianapolis Zoo in 2002 while I was pregnant with my daughter. Being a cat person- I count it as a writing totem. Silly as it sounds, I scratch it between the ears when I'm needing inspiration. (and I talk to it- shhh...It's really not much different than talking to my characters hehe)

I also have a small 2 inch tall (if that) orange T-Rex my daughter "bought" with her classroom money at the "school store" that she insisted she had to give me to keep me company at the computer while I work. LOL

I have a fortune cookie slip taped to the top of my monitor-

"You are a lover of words, someday you will write a book."

LOL Too bad I didn't find that fortune YEARS ago! I got it after I'd already written a few manuscripts! But it still struck a chord, so it got stuck to my monitor to remind me of what I AM doing.

Beside it is a cartoon from NaNoWriMo 2007. It has a man and background quite similar to The Scream, by Edvard Munch. The man is sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop- in the screaming pose- and his wife is at the stove with a frying pan.

The quote- "For heaven's sake, Howard, so you didn't reach your NaNoWriMo wordcount goal today. You'll make up for it tomorrow. Now will you quit with the drama and set the table?!?"

That cracks me up, even when I have a regular word count goal that has nothing to do with NaNo. LOL

And that would be the tour of my little non-cave-middle-of-the-living-room writer's cave.

I'm contemplating a weekly blog on Saturdays called Life at the Keyboard. I'd like to find a way to incorporate some normal "pattern" into the randomness of my blog. We'll see. ;o)

Flames of Love

Thought I would do things a little different today- I did add about 2,500 to my revisions yesterday, but it's been a long week with little to say. I think my brain has zoned out on me this week.

So today I'll entertain you with a little poetry on the fly, a little something I just made up to try to get the juices flowing again so I can get back to revisions.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Flames of Love

Born from a spark, it grew outward
Cast light into the ebony darkness
And found me
Friendship blossomed much deeper
~Into Love~
Hold tight, little flame
The winds of time shall attempt to alter
The emotion kindled deep within
So shimmer and dance and grow
And shiver at Love's sweet caress
And the intimacy of a yearning kiss
Illuminate the distant shadows
So that I shall follow where you lead
Remind me of all that is good
And temper my soul with your softness
Lift me up on wings of joy
Bathe me in the light and warmth
Of kindness and passion
Embrace me in the flames of Love
Where the heart knows no boundaries
Where Love exists forever after
It has no dying embers
But flickers with Love's eternal glow

~taryn raye

Look Deeper

I started the run through on manuscript #3 yesterday. Added a few words/sentences here and there, but I've yet to find a good jumping off point to actually add a lot more.

It's time to look deeper.

Originally I had a hard time getting my heroine to open up because I put her in a nasty situation and she hated me for it. She fought me tooth and nail and though it was a hard novel to write because of her stubborness, she eventually came around, let her guard down and opened up. A little. But again- it's time to look deeper.

Deeper into her psyche and her life. Deeper into the pain and recovery. It's time to peel back more layers of the character because she didn't open up completely and I know that. I gave her space- perhaps too much space- but now it's time to make her show me the rest of what she wouldn't before.

Just a matter of buttering her up. ;o)

Chapter Whatchacallit...

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day knee-deep realigning my chapters, other than a brief time to stop and chat on IM with my best friend. I did hear from my other friend I was worried about. He's fine and still in touch- just not through facebook.

Today I'm going to make one more pass through the last few chapters of the revisions I was working on, just to double-check what I got done last night. I got the chapters lined out and the right amount of pages and the word count is just about 1K different from the previous novel, so not too shabby. There's some relief in that knowledge, but I do believe I will move on to working the revisions on the 3rd book in that series and getting it lined out now. The other needs to simmer and settle before I can come back with fresh eyes again.

The other night hubby and I had a funny little conversation. We were watching something that got us into the realm of men doing romantic things for no reason. I think it was something on Good Morning America or Dr. Phil- can't remember, but it had to do with keeping the romance alive in a relationship.

I told him he rarely does that sort of thing for me and that usually it's only for special occasions- sometimes. He got me roses and a card for my birthday. For Valentine's he took me to see a movie, but there were no flowers or even a card. That didn't bother me. I enjoyed the movie and the day out with him. That was a really nice break from the norm. Then he pointed out this blown glass frosted pink rose on my trinket shelf and said, "I got you that for no reason."

I reminded him that he got me that glass rose almost 8 years ago, when we first got together and I asked him what he had gotten me in more RECENT years- even something small- for no reason. He couldn't think of anything and neither could I! LOL

I told him I attribute it to the fact that girls are raised on fairytales and boys aren't. We girls set high standards based on the happily ever afters we grew up on and then we're disappointed when the man doesn't continue to lavish us with flowers, trinkets and expressions of love. Men don't realize we expect those things to continue, because they didn't grow up on fairytales and have a lower expectation of what life will be like after they win their lady love.

Women think- "Yay! I got my Prince Charming and it's going to be lovely because he will always ride in on that white steed and sweep me off my feet!"

Men think don't think that way. They don't see "Princess Charming" and they don't expect us to be more than we are. In all honesty- men are more realistic and we tend to expect the fantasy to go on and on.

So, yesterday I was thinking about this song we heard on Sunday while we were watching country videos. It's by Jamie O'Neal and it's called "Like A Woman." I'm sure there are plenty of times in a woman's life she's felt that way. The song brings me to tears.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkivP9rgFA4

I thought how sweet it would be if hubby remembered that conversation and the song and did, for once, bring me a little something to make me feel like he still sees me "like a woman." It wouldn't have had to be much, just something to let me know he was thinking of me in a "romantic" way- not just as the wife and mother, but as the woman in his life. He had emailed me early on to tell me he picked up the laundry detergent. Real romantic, right?

Well, he had to stay over at work, so the kids and I ate supper and got it out of the way after he called and let me know he'd be a bit longer, but the best part was when he came in and gave me these-
He said he had looked for purple roses, but only found the purple tulips. (Purple being one of my favorite colors)

I don't think anyone has ever given me tulips and I asked him why- what they were for?

He said "No reason- just because."

AWWWWWW!!!

I teased him that he'd thought about that conversation we'd had, but hey! He was listening when I said it! haha!