Holy Crap

ANOTHER award??? Can't. Even. Handle. It.

Must. Not. Tear. Up...

This one is from Guinevere over at This Is Not My Day Job. If you haven't checked her blog out yet, you should. I absolutely adore it.

Now for the rules. You're supposed to list 10 things that make you happy and then choose 5 other bloggers who make you happy on a regular basis.

Things That Make Stefanie a Happy Camper:

1. Sleep. I know that sounds kind of weird, but as a college student who thrives in the late night hours, I rarely get the amount of sleep that I should. When I do, though, I sleep HARD. Epically, one might say.
   
   
2. Blogging. It took me a while to join the blogosphere, but now that I've actually made my debut in the blogging world and actually have followers (Holy crap, do I really??? Once again... Must. Not. Cry...) it's really fun. It's a part of my day that I have complete control over - Lord knows I have no control over anything else - and it's something that I really enjoy doing. Ok, enough sap...
   
   
3. Movies of All Shapes and Sizes. Being such a theatre junkie, you'd think that I'd have something against the silver screen, but I love it. The fact that I can disappear of the face of the planet for approximately 2 hours into a world that frequently is so different from my own is somehow comforting. I get to escape when I watch movies - completely disconnect from what's going on around me - to observe someone else and how they react in their world. Lovely.
   
   
4. Animals. Yes, I am that girl, but don't worry. I'm not a crazy person. I won't lie; very few things get me angrier than when I see someone abuse an animal, and animal-tested products make me feel ishy inside, but I'm not about to run up and throw red paint or pig's blood on your fur coats. I have a strong connection with them is all - specifically domestic dogs and cats - and feel like they deserve more than abuse or neglect. It's just something that has always pulled at my heartstrings.
   
   
5. Reading. There's nothing better than sitting down with a cup of tea in an over-sized armchair and an old, musty book to read until your eyes hurt. :)
   
   
6. Writing. This should come as no surprise because of my little bloggy here. I have so many ideas that bounce around in my head throughout the day that it's so relieving to get some of them out and on paper at the end of the day.
   
   
7. 'Rithmetic? No, just kidding. The Color Green. I don't know why; it's just a great color, ok?
   
   
8. Music. This also should be no surprise to those of you who are my regular readers. I've been doing the music thing since I was able to phonate, and I can't imagine my life without it. Lord knows I'd probably be depressed all the time.
   
   
9. Tea Parties. No one has tea parties anymore. Not real ones, anyway. Back when I was in high school, I got together a few times with a friend of mine and a wonderful, wonderful woman - she was like my 2nd Mom - and we would have these awesome tea parties complete with little finger sandwiches and tiny cakes. I felt so sophisticated, and the company was pretty lovely as well.
   
   
10. 
    

And now for the bloggers that receive this award from moi!

• Jen from unedited. A wonderful writer with such a sweet spirit. I always enjoy her comments and posts.
  
• Laura over at A Shift in Dimensions. She's incredibly supportive and always willing to give really sage advice. Plus, her Flash Fiction is exemplary.
  
• Jason at A Nocturnal Writing Journal. He posts excerpts and so on from his current Work In Progress, and he, like everyone else on this list, never fails to bring a smile to my face with conversation about our writerly duties. :)
• Juniper over at We Can All Use a Little More Juju. Once again, this lovely lady is my sister, and even if she weren't I'd love her blog. :) She's an excellent lady, and her writing is great fun to read.
• Hunter from The Time Crook. Just as an example, today's post for this blog is a simple poem about a cat, but it's brilliantly written with a sort of whimsy that makes me smile. Go.

Did you go visit them? Did ya? No?? WELL, GO THEN! :)

And that's that!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day today.

Peace.
Stef. Continue reading...

Cliché Conversation

Exercise #129 : "Cliché Conversation"

Using clichés is generally not a good idea, however, why not have a character who uses clichés?

The exercise is this:
Two characters are arguing about where to go for dinner. One spews clichés. The other...?

If you need a few clichés, here's a little menu:
a fine kettle of fish
mad as a wet hen
a marriage made in heaven
beat around the bush
talk in circles
set your teeth on edge
uphill battle
go off half-cocked
hell in a handbasket
talk your ear off
kill two birds with one stone
a whole new ballgame
wet blanket
have your cake and eat it, too

There's also a Cliché Finder that you can use to collect a longer list if you so desire. I think it's pretty neat.

GO!

So... so... Wait a minute. I'm supposed to allow clichés to sneak their dirty little ways into my writing? I don't know if I can do that! I mean, it goes against everything I have ever learned as a writer! Surely C.M. Mayo jests!!!

But someone has to see if there is merit in this exercise, don't they? I mean, being that Ms. Mayo is, in fact, published while I, sadly, am not, it surely helps, yes?

I will not be doing this exercise today, however, because I have some intense homework to do. I will have a special little post sometime this weekend, though! :) Actually, it's a couple of posts. So... Woo!

Anyways, time to go do homework like a good little student.

Peace.
Stef.

Continue reading...

Sunshine Award!

Woo woo woo!! I got the Sunshine Award from Jen over at unedited, and I'm super psyched.

Here it is:

See? Ain't it purty??

It took me a while to post this one because, well.... I'm lazy. But it's up now!!! Thanks, Jen!

Now for those to whom I am going to extend this award...

1. Robin at Zombies & Cream - Holy crap, ladies and gentlemen. If you want a laugh, go here. Not only that, but you're sure to be thouroughly entertained.
2. Kattrina from 365 Days of Happiness - Her blog is focused on living each day happily, and it serves as a reminder that, as she so eloquently puts it, "although some days are dreary and hard to get through, other days are full of smiles. I'm trying to focus on the smiles."
3. Sassy from The Sassy Curmudgeon - I've only been following this blog for a little while now (found through Blogger's Blog of Note), but it's excellent. Lots of really fun stuff. Go. 'Nuff said.
4. Dan Holloway from The Man Who Painted Agnieszka's Shoes - This is a really great, informative blog with tons of helpful information for writers, self-publication, etc.
5. And finally, Juniper over at We Can All Use a Little More Juju - I'm a little biased because Juniper (aka Jenn) is my sister, but she's pretty witty, and I never miss a post.

Ok, that's all of them! Go visit each one and read at LEAST 2 posts. Seriously. You won't be disappointed. :)

Peace.
Stef. Continue reading...

Dreaming With an Upset Stomach

So I'm sick. :( There's a stomach virus going around, and it hit me this morning when I was about to leave for school. All of the sudden, a wave of nausea hit me, and I ran to the bathroom.

I stayed there for the next 2 hours.

Between fits of upheaval and tears, I laid in my bed pretty much all day, and while I did this, I had a really bizarre dream.I've said it before; I very rarely remember dreams if I even have them at all, but every once in a while - usually induced by delusional sickness or medicine - I get a doozy. I don't remember much about today's dream, but I do have a few odd snippets.

Somehow, I ended up in a competition that was kind of a mix of American Idol and Making the Band. I was trying out for a spot in this "girl group," and one of my friends from NY was involved. Strangely enough, this was not a televised competition. At least, I thought it was strange.

Anyway, the competition is set up through several challenges, and our first one is essentially based on physical appearance. From what I can remember, they had groups of us stand on different platforms with song names on them, and a judge went down the platforms and had us each sing around 8 bars of a song. The challenge was called "The Loose Curl," and the point was to see if we could curl our hair loosely. What this had to do with singing is completely beyond me, but that's neither here nor there. In the end, the judge got over to me, I did this impressive operatic vocalise (I sing opera, ya know. Do you want to hear me sing? Go HERE.) and then broke out into an awesome 8-bar rendition of "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked (yes, I am a theatre nerd). Of course, if I were to try this in real life, it would not go as wonderfully, but this was a dream, so perfection was attainable.

The only problem was this: I had apparently missed the "loose curl" memo and wore my hair straight. When I found out that I had messed up, I sprinted to the bathroom and wet my hair a tad, scrunching it like a crazy person before the actual competition. I ended up with a beach wave type hairstyle that looked pretty cute (This, of course, was more reason to believe that this was a dream. My hair, when styled, is never that easy.).

So I competed, sang my heart out, and then I woke up. Woot.

No, I don't know how it ended. Did I progress up the levels to becoming a part of a super group that dominated the music charts? I have absolutely no idea, but I'm sure I looked really cute. hah

Ok. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has come on, and I must glue myself to the tv and cry for an hour.

Peace.
Stef. Continue reading...

Ten Places, Ten Sounds

Exercise #128 : "Ten Places, Ten Sounds"

For Proust, the scent of a madeleine evoked an entire novel. In this exercise, think "sounds." First, list ten places. Any places will do (i.e. your living room, the Tiki Room, whatever pops into your head). After you have listed those ten places, for each one, list the first sound that comes to mind. Once you have all ten places and sounds, circle the pair that you find most intriguing. Then start writing.

GO!

1. my bedroom - the gentle whir of the space heater (gotta love living in an old, drafty house)
2. the bathroom - the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet
3. the unfinished basement - the clanging of my unbalanced washing machine
4. my back yard - traffic from the nearby interstate
5. the Wilson Music Building's (Belmont School of Music) downstairs hallways - dozens of pianos, voices, and other various instruments cacauphonizing (So I just made that word up. What of it?).
   
6. my Grandmother's house - intense, body shaking snores
7. my shower - some of the best singing I will ever do
8. Green Hills YMCA - a woman yapping on her cellphone about her latest attempt to "go green"
9. the corner of the I-65 South off-ramp and Wedgewood - Dirty Earl (at least that's what I like to call him) jabbering about how the sun is too bright on a cloudy day
10. Disney World - the happiest laughter known to man

You know, I have yet to read In Search of Lost Time (ISoLT) by Proust. It's supposed to be this absolutely brilliant novel, and I haven't read it. Not good. My only problem is that it's so long. I mean, I can't say much against that - The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite book after all - but The Count pales in comparison to ISoLT in regards to length.

"Surely you jest, Stef!" you exclaim. "Pales in comparison? I won't believe it!"

It does, though! While The Count is a measly 1100+ page book, ISoLT spans over SEVEN volumes. 7! Sept! Sieben! And these volumes are not small, either. In fact, they're rather chunky.

In the end, I do want to read ISoLT before I kick the bucket, but I'll just have to cross the hurdle of holy-crap-that's-a-friggin'-huge-book-itis. I'll get there...

...

eventually.

Well, I didn't really do the 2nd part of the exercise, but I'm ok with that today. :) I had fun thinking of the places and attaching sounds to them.

Anywho, I hope everyone has had a glorious day thus far!

How is your writing going?

Peace.
Stef. Continue reading...

Blog Award!!!

First things first, HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

I can't even handle how sweet you guys are. For real. Here I am skipping through the snow here in Nashville, and I come home to a notification sitting in my e-mail inbox telling me that I have an award over at This Is Not My Day Job from Guinevere. I can totally feel the love. :) THANK YOU SO FRIGGIN' MUCH!!!

Ok. Now that the elation has (somewhat) subsided, here are my five picks for the "Superior Scribbler" award:

1. Deb over at Ranch Girl Ramblings - This is also in commemoration of her 100th blog post (Congrats!!). Her blog is so much fun, and she always has something helpful to say.
2. Leah from Travails of a Budding Author - A very funny, entertaining read. I always get a laugh from her posts.
3. Roni at *Fiction Groupie* - Now, I normally like to extend awards to smaller blogs, but I've been reading Roni's blog for quite some time now, and she is one of the most deserving of this award out there in the blogosphere, so I'm extending this to her even though she has 300+ followers. :) It's a great blog, and each one of her posts is incredibly helpful and informative (while being fun at the same time!).
4. Lady Glamis from The Innocent Flower - Her most recent post is a perfect example of why I love her blog. Where else could you go to be educated on what spies actually do? Not only that, but you get introduced to a family-oriented, butterfly-loving spy. Excellent. Go. Now. Really.
5. Maria from her self-titled blog - This woman is hilarious, guys. She has a way with words that would make even the most stoic of military men burst out in gales of laughter.

Well, those are my picks! Go visit them and enlighten yourselves.

Did you go? Yes? Well, we can move on then.

Well, now I feel foolish, because there's nothing really on to which I was planning to move.

Hmm...

Peace.
Stef. Continue reading...

NaNo Update : Excerpt #2

I've decided to post excerpts from my NaNo novel (for which I still have no title... BLARGH!!) in order, starting at the beginning. You have, of course, come across my opening, and your advice and encouragement has been so helpful.

If you want to catch up, go to this post to read the beginning.

This excerpt happens directly after my previous NaNo Update, and it's a flashback. I'm sure you'd figure that out, but just in case... :) It's a rough draft, but I feel like I get my point across. It's mostly met to establish the relationship between Natalie and her father.

Once again, any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.

* * *

"You're leaving for Vismuth in a month, so start making preparations." Official Hansley said casually.

"I'm sorry?" Natalie said, hoping that she had misheard him.

Her father sighed. "A shuttle is leaving for the Vismuth settlement in a month, and I have made arrangements for you to be on it."

Natalie's breath caught in her throat. The Vismuth settlement was doomed to fail, and yet he still clung to its now nearly mythical success with blind, unwavering hope.

"But the incidents -" He held up his hand.

"They've been resolved."

"How?" she asked. "It was less than a month ago. People died. The after effects were too severe."

Calmly, Official Hansley cleared his throat. "Natalie, I don't answer to you. Know your place."

Fire burned her neck and cheeks. Know your place. It was a phrase that her father frequently utilized to shut her up, but this time she would not stand down.

"I know my place, Father," she said slowly, feeling both empowered and meek at the same time, "and it's not on that settlement. How can I help those people? I know nothing about terraforming."

Natalie's father clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes. "You'll learn."

"That's not something I can learn overnight. You know it takes years."

"So it will take years."

The words boxed her ears.Years? How long did he plan for her to be on Vismuth?

"I have responsibilities here," she said.

"They'll be taken care of." His mind was set. What else could she say? Her arguments were pointless, but she could not stop herself from trying.

"But Mom. I can't leave her behind."

"She won't even realize that you're gone."

He was right, she knew, but the thought still dug aggressively into her stomach. Still, she could not leave her mother all alone.

Sheepishly, she lowered her eyes to the floor, afraid of what she was about to say.

"Why are you so intent on sending me away?"

Natalie's father leaned back in his chair, resting his hands on the armrests.

"As you know, Vismuth isn't doing well. Our funding is dwindling, and the recent problems have made the backers nervous, hesitant to finance the project. I need something - or someone - to instill confidence in them. I can't go myself because I have too many responsibilities here, but you, on the other hand, are completely free. Those funding Vismuth's growth will see that, by sending you, I have faith that we will not only succeed but will also be profitable."

Before Natalie could censor herself, her anger bust out of her like a thousand enraged wasps. "I will not be your publicity stunt!" she yelled, her green eyes flashing. "I'm not going."

In one swift, elegant movement, he stood up and leaned over his desks, his palms pressed firmly onto the antique cherry wood.

"You're going," he said, "and you're going to do it with a smile on your face. Either that or you will be completely cut off and will never see your mother again."

As the words sunk in, Natalie could feel her eyes begin to water and her chin start to quiver uncontrollably. There was nothing she could do or say to change his mind. In one month, she would be in Vismuth.

When he saw that she was not going to fight back, the Official sat back down.

"So we have an understanding?" he said, clasping his hands together, the tips of his index fingers and thumbs touching to form a triangle.

"Yes, Sir." She said it so quietly that it was barely audible. She repeated it - "Yes, Sir" - a bit more loudly just in case he had not heard her.

Her father looked blankly at the door behind her and nodded, signaling that it was her time to leave, and she obeyed.

END

So wha'd'ya think?? :) I think I'm going to go back over it to rework a bit of it, but I'm happy where it stands as a rough draft.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, etc.

Peace.
Stef.

Continue reading...

Elmer's Tooth Fairy

Sorry I've been absent for the past 2 days. Things have been a bit crazy, and I needed to prioritize. Because I've been gone, however, I'll post the 2 exercises I've been missing over the weekend! Woo!

Exercise #127 : "Elmer's Tooth Fairy"

What did the tooth fairy bring? Which tooth did Elmer lose? What happens the night the tooth fairy tries to make his/her exchange?

GO!

First things first, who names their kid Elmer? Do they want their child to be beaten up in school?? Apparently.

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system, let's do it to it.

Carl fluttered effortlessly from his cloud-shaped plane downward, aiming for Elmer Boyle's house. He was 6 years old and had finally lost his first tooth. He was surely going to expect an exorbitant amount of coins or dollar bills in exchange for his tooth, but what the little ankle-biter didn't know was that Carl had absolutely no control over how much Elmer would receive.

Carl's mechanical wings slowed and straightened, allowing him to glide toward Elmer's window. He saw the kid pretending to sleep in his bed and sighed.

"He's not going to be happy with this quarter," he said, feeling the small, metal coin in his pocket.

Gently, Carl removed the perch from his satchel and attached it to the boy's windowsill. He quietly jimmied the wooden frame open and peered inside. The lights were off, and Elmer laid sleeping just under the window. As silently and quickly as possible, Carl sneaked the lone quarter under Elmer's pillow and flew away, forgetting his perch.

Carl did not get too far, however, when he heard Elmer cry after him.

"Hey!" yelled the young child. "HEY!"

Carl stopped flying and turned. Elmer was halfway out of his window, leaning on the forgotten perch. For a moment, Carl considered going back to retrieve it but decided it unwise.

"What do you want?"

"A quarter?" Elmer said, holding up the offensive piece of metal. "A quarter?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Carl said, "Yep." When he turned back around to go home, he felt something small hit him squarely on the back of the head. He looked down and saw the quarter falling to the ground below him.

Without turning around, he continued. Kids just aren't as grateful as they used to be.

END

Meh, that was ok. It was fun to write, but I'm not entirely convinced that it's 1) a good concept or 2) good writing. Ah, well. You can't spin golden words every time you sit down to write, can you? :)

Peace.
Stef. Continue reading...

Five Words

Exercise #126 : "Five Words"

We all know far more words than we actually use in our writing. Today's exercise is inspired by poet Debora Ager's 5/5/06 entry in her blog, 32 Poems, "Create What You Don't Know." She wrote:

The other night, I sat down to write. I took a glass of water into my study - with its orange walls glowing pink due to a sunset streaming through the western window - and sat down at my desk. I'd recently RE-found my writing notebook and was pleased to find some notes I'd taken on various poems. I wasn't sure what I wanted to write. I decided to incorporate five words I've never used before in a poem. To do this, I quickly scanned the pages of a book I'm reading and came up with "true," "rice," "anecdote," "beam," and "gentle."

What are five words you know but have never used in your writing? Pick up whatever newspaper or book is handy and see what you can find. You may need the whole five minutes just to find these five words. That's ok.

GO!

1. Cyrillic
2. repeal
3. transcript
4. stimulus
5. parole

So those are my words, and they took approximately........ 4 minutes and 30 seconds to find.

I'd like to think that I use a good portion of my vocabulary when writing, but I'm sure that's not true. I know quite a bit of words and think it would be nearly impossible to use esoteric words like fenestration or abacinate (etc.). I guess that's what happens when you're a bibiophile. We can thank my parents for that. :) And my sister's competitive nature, of course.

Well, that's that. Time to work on homework. Man, I'm tired of school...

Peace.
Stef. Continue reading...

Five Ingredients

Exercise #125 : "Five Ingredients"

Write something - anything - that includes the following five words / phrases:

• urged
• when the servant entered with the soup
• show him the way
• zeal
• dead flies

Part of me wants to be snarky and write a single sentence that incorporates all of these phrases, but snarkiness does not make Stefers a better writer. It simply makes her a snarky lady, so let's put the nose to the grindstone.

GO!

Mikayla looked out of the window, ignoring the dead flies and ladybugs lying on the windowsill between the screen and the glass. She was waiting for Eric to come, and even though he had said that he would be there she doubted him.

When the servant entered with the soup, she whipped around expecting for it to be him. Realizing that she was mistaken, she morosely returned to the window, her chin perched upon her palm. She had lost all of her zeal because of him, and she would make him pay.

The servant put down the soup and urged her to eat, but she would have nothing of it.

"I'll eat it later," she said. "Just leave it."

Sighing and rolling his eyes, the servant left.

A few minutes later, George, the family butler walked in.

"Miss Mikayla," he said, "There is an Eric here to see you."

Suddenly, her stomach lurched and thrust itself up to her throat. Her face felt like it was on fire.

"Show him the way," she croaked.

In a flurry of anticipation, she jumped up from the window seat and straightened her skirt and hair. At least, she did the best she could without help from a mirror.

END

I'm not going to lie. I didn't like that one. I mean, I came up with something, but it was like pulling teeth. In fact, it was so difficult that I'm posting this over a day late. Ew. I hope my lovely readers forgive my tardiness.

Anyways, I need to head out, but I'll probably be posting today's exercise in a little bit.

See you on the flip side!!

Peace.
Stef. Continue reading...