Oct 26, 2007 | Writing, Travel, Photos, 70 Days of Sweat |
I'm off for a fabulous weekend of talking, eating, and drinking with my fellow Heart of Dixie chapter members. We've rented an inn in the Tennessee mountains and today we descend en masse to take over the place.
Tonight is fun and games, tomorrow I get a table massage, and tomorrow night is our 1920s themed Murder Mystery Dinner party. I'm playing a gambler, which isn't nearly as exciting as being a flapper, but that's okay. I'm a terrible actress no matter which way you cut it. 🙂
Lessee, Wednesday, I wrote 1377 words. Yesterday, not so good. Too much washing and packing to do. 🙁 I only got 497 words done. I'm not sure how today, or this weekend, will pan out. I'm taking the laptop, but just look at that picture. Do you really think I'm going to get anything done? 🙂
See y'all on Monday!
Edited: picture deleted
Oct 16, 2007 | Writing, Photos, 70 Days of Sweat |
Does it get ANY better? *sigh*
Okay, so it's really sweating with Sven, but a girl can dream, right? 🙂
Day 2 of sweat = success.
Goal – 1285 words.
Actual – 1467 words.
Must. Keep. Making. Progress.
Today wasn't easier, but I finished much earlier. Got busy sooner and kept plugging away. Lots of staring. Lots of thinking. Some deleting, some new ideas, but the point is the words got written.
Thank you Sven and all the sponsors at Sven's gym! 🙂 (And of course thank you to Clive. When the going got tough, you were there, gazing moodily into the distance, inspiring me with your pretty green eyes….)
Edited: picture deleted. Sorry Clive. 🙁
Oct 10, 2007 | Life, Writing, Photos, General |
Hey, y'all, since I'm still recovering from the events of the weekend (and believe me, it took ALL weekend to prepare for and go to Talladega), preparing my entry for the GH, and trying to rebuild the iPod list I accidentally deleted last week, I'm introducing my very first guest blogger. My husband is only too happy to tell you about the Talladega experience. So please welcome Mike, the man who indulges my writing habit, keeps me in groceries, and says nice things about me. 🙂
We went to Talladega for the big NASCAR race and these are my thoughts on it. First, it was a very long and hot day. We got up at 0500 and did not get to bed until around midnight.
Shortly after arriving in Talladega , we setup for a “tail-gate party” with tables, chairs, and food. It was around 0900 when we started partying. The race did not start until 1:00 p.m., so we did a lot of people-watching, eating, and drinking. I can't get over just how many people and campers there were. The best way I can describe it was “immense.” There were cars and campers for literally miles around. It was like a carnival atmosphere. There were concessions all over the place selling food, t-shirts, and whatever else you can possibly imagine.
Around noon, we all hiked up to the race stands and found our places. It was around 90 degrees outside and getting hotter by the minute. I was starting to rethink this whole watching the race thing because of the heat. Every once in awhile a cloud would block the sun for 10 to 15 minutes and grace us with a much needed break. The hour prior to the start of the race went by fairly slowly, but our patience was soon rewarded.
At 1:00 p.m. the race started and I couldn't believe just how much noise the cars make. I won't try to describe the race, but rather my impressions of being at a race. I've seen NASCAR on TV and never thought it was all that thrilling. Well, being at a race in person is very thrilling! The sound of the engines combined with the speed they travel (around 200 mph) is incredible to watch. There is an ever present smell of fuel and rubber from the tires. (Lynn here: oh heck yes, the smell of burning rubber and the feel of grit on your skin. Just what I needed on a Sunday…) In addition to the smells, the feel of the ground shaking as the cars whip past is amazing. After the cars pass there's a sudden rush of wind with all the smells intensified which shortly fades into the background. The race went on for about 3-hours and wasn't boring, which was a complete surprise to me. Jeff Gordon won on the final lap and that was the end.
Here's Jeff driving back to the pits after his win:
If the traffic was bad getting to Talladega , it was ten times worse leaving. Many of the campers that spent the weekend there had packed up and joined the exodus. Since we knew traffic was going to be bumper-to-bumper, we decided to tail-gate again to cool off and eat some food. After a two-hour break, we decided to head home. The traffic was still bumper-to-bumper, but it was starting to move. We didn't get home until 11:00 p.m. After unpacking and showering, it was midnight.
Lessons learned: Spend the weekend down there so we don’t worry about the traffic. It would probably be best to have an RV instead of a tent since a drunk can't trip and knock over your RV. Make sure you have the day off after the event! You have to RECUPERATE. (Lynn: When you add in the migraine I got from the heat and lack of sleep, it took me three days to recover…) Oh yeah, traffic should not be a big problem t
he day after either. Take more pictures. I shot around 80 pictures, but I don't believe I captured nearly enough. I may need to get a digital SLR because taking pictures with a typical digital camera is challenging during the race. (Lynn: Ohhhhh, trying to sneak that one in on me huh? The man is a gadget junkie! It's a ploy, darn his hide.) Tracking the cars becomes an art of anticipating where they'll be when you press the shutter. I had a few empty shots (at least I'm not wasting film). Take a video camera for general purposes. I can't describe the enormous size of this event and I believe a video camera would have helped by recording our drive in and out. Go with a “Hot Babe” like I did. (Lynn: Notice the flattery. This is to smooth the way for the camera! I've got your number, cup cake!)
Well, that's the Talladega experience in a nutshell. Am I sorry I went? No way! It was pretty cool, and I learned that the car chase scene I wrote into my WIP needs the smell of burning rubber and the grit that gets thrown from the tires. I wouldn't have known just how bad it smells if I hadn't gone to Talladega. A car burning rubber on your street is different from that sustained smell of melting rubber that a racecar exudes. And since my car chase involves a high-powered sportscar, I can just imagine what that would smell like. Did I mention the smoke? These are things I'd forgotten to include, but you can bet they'll find their way in now. So, going to Talladega was a learning experience for my writing. And isn't that what all our experience does anyway? Gives us fodder for our imaginations.
Oct 4, 2007 | Photos, Life, General |
A few months ago, perhaps in the throes of distraction related to the WIP or fresh from the happiness of a shoe shopping extravaganza, I uttered these famous words: “Sure, I'd go to Talladega to see a race.”
Oh be careful what you utter! This Sunday, I am going to Talladega for a Nascar event. I know nothing about Nascar. Ricky Bobby is my favorite driver, if that tells you anything.
Truly, the full import of what I have done is beginning to sink in. They drive around and around. For hours. It's loud (someone told me to bring ear plugs for pete's sake!). It's crowded (the gates open at 5-freaking-AM people! On a Sunday!).
We live a good 150 miles from Talladega, so I can't imagine what unseemly hour we shall have to rise for this occasion. (Can I confess that before I moved to Alabama, I thought Talladega was in Florida? It sounds like Florida, and since they have Daytona, I was certain Talladega must be there too.)
Getting up early and driving so far won't be fun, but maybe the day will be more fun than I'm currently anticipating. We are going with two other couples, people we like, and people who, apparently, already know things like who drives what car and what a points leader is and all that stuff.
Since I'm also the person who said, “Sure, I'll go to the Pro Bowl,” and who had a good time there (it was the tailgating more than the game) and who said, “Sure, I'll run an 8K race with you,” and who survived it with only two dead toenails (always get running shoes in the proper size), I suppose I should look forward to this whole Nascar thing. There will be tailgating, and that's always fun. There will be beer. And I — the person who brought a newspaper, a notebook and pen, and 2 books to the Pro Bowl just in case of boredom, and who never did a thing with any of them — will be taking an iPod, a couple of books, and maybe some paper and pens. Just in case.
So how's your spirit of adventure? If you don't know a blasted thing about Nascar (like me), would you go to a race with friends? Has your adventuresome spirit ever gotten you in trouble or committed you to something that you then asked yourself why did I agree to this?
Man, I hope I get to see Ricky Bobby……
Sep 26, 2007 | Photos, Life |
Today is my anniversary. I can't say how long we've been married because then you'll start adding, LOL. But it's been a long time.
Part of being married is learning to enjoy some of the things your spouse likes. It's a give and take. We tend to like a lot of the same things, but then there are those things that we each tolerate on some level (football, me; antique stores, hubby) for the sake of the other one.
And then there's the things we discovered together. Those are the most fun of all, and I usually don't remember whose idea it was in the first place.
So, for the fun of it, here's 10 things that we love (or love to do) that we discovered together (in no particular order):
1. Listen to Tom Jones. It's been 10 years since one of us said, “Hey, what's the deal with this Tom Jones guy? Didn't women used to go crazy over him or something? Wasn't he about as popular as Elvis at one time?” Tom is way cool. Even Jordin Sparks chose a TJ song during Idol (and sang it twice).
2. Stargazing. We took an astronomy class together a few years ago, and both decided we loved spending nights under the stars, slewing a telescope toward little points of light. In Europe, we had star parties on mountain tops, complete with wine and snacks. 🙂
3. Gadgets. Hubby is the gadget guy, always up on the latest info regarding the coolest toys. Somehow, he enmeshes me in his web, and I find myself wanting to go to CompUSA just to gawk at the gizmos. Weird, huh?
4. Wine. We met in Germany. Hubby was a beer guy, and I cut my teeth on sweet German Rieslings. It took a few years, but our tastes gravitated toward reds. Now, we love to split a bottle of Bordeaux or good American Cabernet, Shiraz, Merlot, etc. We have a wine bar right down the street, and love to go tasting. Neither one of us blinks at a $25 bottle, though we don't buy that too often.
5. Independent or arty films. We still love a good Hollywood blockbuster, like those Bourne movies, but we love to watch movies about people as opposed to explosions. Movies like The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Lost in Translation, Broken Flowers, Big Night, The House of Mirth, Good Night and Good Luck, The Matador, etc.
6. Food. We'll pretty much try anything once (within reason — it has to be edible in America, you know), and we're very eclectic in our tastes. I think we both love Italian food the most, but not the kind of Italian you get when you go to the Olive Garden, for instance. We love the real deal, the stuff we got in Europe, the stuff that doesn't have a meatball in sight. I don't think we're foodies in the sense that we're food snobs, but we do like good fresh food prepared simply.
7. Anthony Bourdain. He's a recent pleasure, and we both love to watch him combine our two favorite activities: eating and traveling. I'd add that he's a fine writer too, at least in the vignettes he writes for the show. Haven't read his books yet, but they're on the list. He can be a jerk, but he's hilarious as well. And he really WILL eat anything once. (Steer penis soup? I don't think so!)
8. HGTV. Probably, hubby loves the shows like Groundbreakers and Landscaper's Challenge more than the decorating shows, but he still likes Designing to Sell and House Hunters. I'm sure I tire him out with HGTV, because I will view it non-stop, but he enjoys it too (just not as much as I do). We get ideas, and we talk about what we'd like to do in our own house.
9. Fresh ground coffee. We didn't drink coffee when we first met (young enough not to have acquired a taste for it yet), so that was something we discovered together. We went through the foo-foo phase, where we bought flavored coffees. We went through the Coffee Mate phase. Now, we grind our coffee fresh every morning and drink it with half & half. 100% Kona is our favorite, but that's hard to get now. And expensive when you don't live in Hawaii anymore. 🙁
10. Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. Other than a passing Star Trek fancy, neither one of us was a big space opera kind of person. Now, we've watched the entire Firefly series at least twice (and we're getting ready to do it again), and we're seriously into the new BG. We missed Season 3, due to moving and all that, but we're impatiently waiting for it to come out on DVD. And the DVR is already set to start recording Season 4.
So that's it. Ten things my sweetie and I like, or like to do, together. I'm sure I could think of more, but that's a good enough list to remind me of why this man is my favorite person in the whole wide world. As if I could forget. 🙂 What sort of things have you discovered that you like to do with a significant person in your life? (It could just as easily be a child, or maybe even a parent.) Would you have discovered this thing, or liked this thing as much, if you didn't have someone to share it with?
Sep 24, 2007 | Computer, Writing, Photos |
When I was in Madrid 3 years ago, I ate at Botin's, the restaurant that Hem sends Lady Brett Ashley and Jake Barnes to. This restaurant is right down the street from Botin's, and I had to laugh at the sign. I guess Hemingway's books don't translate well since the sign is clearly for an English-speaking audience. 🙂
Still, it's brilliant, really. If you can't lay claim to having a great American writer get drunk in your restaurant, you can at least proclaim he never was there, right?
Maybe I should make a sign for my office that says “Hemingway never wrote here.” Hmm, wonder if that will inspire me much?
Nope, probably not. I admire some of the old boy's work, that's for sure, but I'd have probably hated to be in his circle of friends. If writers are neurotic, and we know we are, can you imagine Hem ringing you up to discuss the rotten state of his current WIP?
::shudder::
Anyway, not being a good old lush of a writer who sloshes around cafes and hunches over a creaky manual typewriter, I decided to check out this Scrivener thing that's been mentioned. (Jean mentioned it in comments, and I saw posts about it on one of my loops recently. And if anything can help me be more organized, and even get more accomplished, then yeehaw and where do I sign up?)
OMG.
I downloaded it immediately. Scrivener (and I'd love to link to it, but that's something I've yet to figure out with Mac — control c and control v don't cut it anymore) is this cool writer's program that features word processing, outlining (not that I do), a corkboard for research, and then you can export your draft to more popular software, like Word, for final editing and printing (if you want). It is SO cool. There was a program being sold somewhere that was far more expensive, and far less cool, that I tried on my Toshiba a couple of years ago.
Scrivener is $34.99. You get to try it for 30 days free. I haven't bought it yet, though I probably will. First, I wanted to see how long it would take me to learn some of the features, like the outlining. Will I really use it? OTOH, I love the look of the manuscript in the Scrivener edit mode. You can scroll through it seamlessly, and in the statistics portion of the program, Scrivener will actually tell you how many BOOK pages your manuscript would be in comparison to how many mss pages it is. You can change the parameters, too. The default is 350 words to a printed page, but you could make it anything you want.
Want to know if you're on target for Desire? Count how many words are on a Desire page and plug it in. (You'd have to be really anal retentive, but still. You could do it if you wanted, and that's cool.)
So far, so darn cool. Now, the goal is to actually write the book, not play around with toys and computers. Would Hemingway have gotten anything done if he'd had the Internet to goof around with? I don't know. He managed to drink like a fish, party like it was 1999, and gamble away his living money (in the early days) while still writing for a newspaper and hammering out ground-breaking fiction.
I think I have no excuse. Any cool writing toys (computer or otherwise) you've discovered?
