The Plan.

The Man Who Never lied, by Maroon 5 plays on the CD player while I sit here eating my homemade donut, and maybe more then a few of my words. Many of you may have remembered my Blog vs Vlog post. For those of you who don’t. It was a random thought process that compares the Pros and Cons of Blogs and Vlogs, which one is harder, takes more time etc. But at the time I didn’t have much experience with Vlogs having never done one, the closest I could get was the stuff I saw on YouTube. They have everything on that site, including tutorials on How to Vlog, and How to make your daily Vlog successful. (Good stuff by the way, very informative). Not having a clue how Vlogging works, and really wanting to give it a try, I decided to file away the Pro/Con list, just till I had done some actual Vlogging. It was December at the time, I believe I said something about a Vlog going up in January? (Yes I was that arrogant).

Well, for the record, Blogging while not always easy is easier then Vlogging. Now hold on, all you writers out there, before you leave this post let me explain, why I, as a writer  would dare say that. And bear in mind one thing, as Bloggers we get to write from the comfort of our homes. First off, what the How to Vlog tutorials fail to point out, is how extremely awkward it is to walk around carrying a camera, (and talking to yourself). People start giving you the, your a freak looks. Second its tricky trying to get a flattering angle on your face when you can’t see what your filming. Third either you talk too loud or no one can hear you. And while you all know I tend to suffer from writers block, there is a whole other kinda block that hits once that red record light comes on. I mean teachers should patent that when they need to quiet a rowdy class room. Fourth if you finally get a good angle, nice content, and decent footage there is still the editing process, now that’s a whole new kind of animal. Honestly the list goes on for days, and much to my shame its been almost two months since I said I was going to get a Vlog out, and I just finally figured out how to get the video off my SD card and onto my laptop,(thanks to YouTube). Here’s hoping I’ll have my Vlog up sometime before Fall. Thank you, all you loverly readers for taking the time to read my post, feel free to leave a comment I promise I read them all.

Advertisement

Antarctic-Car

Fire in the Water by Fiest plays on the radio, I sit here contemplating the meme on Facebook, The air hurts my face, why do I live where the air hurts my face!? That meme always pops up whenever temperatures drop as they so often do here during the winter. I never really paid much attention to it, I mean it does comes up multiple times during the winter season. This winter by all accounts, has been mild. (But lets not forget I am measuring all my data against a Maine winter.) We have been hovering in the early 40’s to 20’s most of this year, however this is Maine, and a mild winter doesn’t mean you get to live through it all warm and toasty like. This week was the week we all pay for the warm days and fanciful daydreams of Spring. It was suppose to be cold, bring you pets in, and check them after they go out for frostbite kind of cold. No matter such is life here in the north, I woke up to the bracing feeling of a frosty morning, Dad was frantically checking all the pipes in our house for freezing  and us girls were getting ready for work.

It sure was a cold day, by the time we left it had warmed up to about 5 degrees. The car took two attempts to get started, it was freezing but the heating in the van can be a bit touchy so we carefully set the heat temperature to 68 degrees, any higher and the system overheats. No matter 68 is still 63 degrees warmer then outside. So off we went it takes about 38 minutes to get to work, about 15 minutes in I noticed that the heat wasn’t coming out very warm. I casually mentioned that it feels cooler then usual, but we all agreed its just the day, everything feels cold when its only five degrees out.

“Four, four degrees out.” my sister commented from the back seat, pointing to the temperature above my head. It was around the 20 minute mark that we all started to realize something was not right. I was beginning to loose feeling in my fingers.

“Is that thing even on?” mom asked fiddling with the dials.

Nothing worked and the van was steadily getting colder, it use to be when someone spoke you could see their breath cloud, now you could literally see us all breathing.

Let’s just turn it off. mom suggested. But as soon as we turned off the system all the windows clouded up. I couldn’t see a thing, so back on went the heating (and I use that term loosely.) This time however it wasn’t even trying to fool us, as soon as we turned on the heat it was a shot in the face of arctic rage. The heating had quit and we were still 10 minutes out from work. Grimly we drove on, it was only ten minutes, but somehow when you have four degrees blasted in your face and your loosing feeling in your whole body it seems longer. I gained a new respect for all the arctic explorers of old, freezing with only the hope of heat left to keep you going, its not as amazing as it sounds in history. Fortunately the heating decided to work again on the way home, however from now on I’m taking my heavy coat with me to work just in case. Thank you, all you loverly readers for taking the time to read this post. Feel free to leave a comment, I promise I read them all.

 

Up All Night.

I sit here drinking my cup of Sleepytime tea, Misery by Good Charlotte plays softer then usual on the radio. It’s 4:05am, and that’s not the worst of it. I’ve been up since little past 2am. Everyone else is sleeping soundly, you know the typical song of an insomniac. That’s not to say tonight was a total wash. I have learned over the years that not being able to sleep is not always a bad thing, the current character I am working on was an idea that came to me in the middle of the night, many of my best book ideas have come in those wee hours when the sun is just beginning to creep over the horizon.

But tonight was a different kind of night, it was a wide awake with no chance of sleep, kinda night. So onto plan B. I got up, started the teapot and started doing things. I disinfected all the handles in the kitchen, (its still cold and flu season here.) cleaned the bathroom, took out the dinner meat from the freezer, turned off the teapot, took the time to dig into our mountain of recipes, to find a recipe I have been looking for the past couple of weeks, Death by chocolate brownies then decided to wait till actual morning to bake them, since heating and starting the oven can be loud with all the beeping of the buttons and timers and what not. Looked over my finished manuscript I am suppose to edit, went on facebook, and pinned on Pinterest till my fingers cramped. All this and it was only 4:05am this is definitely going to be a long night. On a brighter note, at least I got my blog out for the day.Thank you, all you loverly readers for taking the time to read this post, and spending a portion of this late night with me. Feel free to leave a message in the comment box I promise I read them all.

The Chalkboard.

I sit here brushing chalk dust off my hands, Are we out of the woods? by Taylor Swift plays softly on the radio. It has been a creative day, I woke up after pulling an all night-er. I always feel creative after spending a night reading a delicious book, its one of the perks of being an insomniac. When I finally woke up I was greeted by the sun, it was nice to see the sun after so many grey days. Its rays shined through my window onto one of my favorite piece of wall decor, my chalkboard. I realize it is an odd thing to cherish so much, especially when you consider the fact that the sound of chalk on a chalkboard sets my teeth on edge. Really I’m getting all clinchie just thinking about it. But what can I say? I have always loved the look of a chalkboard on a wall with a nice quote.

So back to this morning I looked at the quote on my wall “I can, and I will.”  Its a loverly quote, that has seen me through many a rough writing patches, but I have had it for almost six months now, it was time to change it. There in lies the rub. When I searched far and wide for the perfect chalkboard. (It took three months to find one.)  They were harder to find then I had thought, all the chalkboards were either too small, or too large finally I found it, nestled on the bottom shelf. It was on sale and would fit perfectly in the spot I picked. Picking it up I clutched my prize to my chest, my head was filling with beautiful artistic pictures, and humorous quotes, I was half way to the register when I remembered I needed chalk, so last second before running up to the register I picked up a pack of organic chalk, I had no idea what organic chalk was, in fact I wasn’t entirely aware chalk was toxic, as a home schooler I used chalk all the time. But it sounded good, came in a wide range of colors, and was cheap. A ring a ding, ding, it was coming home with me. The next day I cured my chalkboard as directed and excitedly pulled out the chalk. I was going to make little daisies with the quote I can so I will in the center just like the pinterest pictures. The only problem was unlike all the pictures on pinterest all my letters were coming out either opaque or scratchy. Now I know its poor form for an artist to blame their tools. Fortunately I’m not an artist! I don’t know what happened in the process to fix our toxic chalk, and make it organic but it left me with virtually usable chalk. Finally I looked up chalkboard art supplies on the internet, I was surprised to see there are a plethora of tools everything from chalk markers, to pastel chalk. I learned a lot that day and look forward to making my daisy board some day soon, till then I learned a few things about the organic chalk the brighter the color the better it writes. It took about an hour but I finally got a presentable quote on my wall because as the quote says I CAN, AND I WILL. Thank you so much all you loverly readers for taking the time to read my post. Feel free to follow my new quote to Free the words of your soul, Write. And leave a comment, I promise I read them all.

Snow Day!

Welcome to my house by Flo-Rida plays on the radio, I sit here thinking back over my day, it was one of those special days. It snowed today, a loverly snowstorm that looked like confectionery sugar falling from the sky. Now I know a snowstorm isn’t really news for those of us that live in Maine, I mean it is February. But the weather was bad enough to give me the day off. So I have decided to devote a part of this found day to writing. Which I haven’t done yet, but its only 4pm the days still young. (Oh wait this counts as my writing quota for today.)

Anyway today is one of those reflective kind of days, something about the way the snowfalls, makes you really want to cuddle up and read, or in my case write. Then life hits you. (Hard) I loaded up my computer and and hit Google Chrome which had barely loaded then I swiped my hand to type in my WordPress password, only to end up back at my start menu. Now I don’t know if Windows8 is just hard to work, or if I am just really bad at working Windows8. But I blame Windows8. Sick of being sent back to start every time I try to scroll, I hooked up my wireless mouse. I put the little nano thingy in the computer which made a loud bell like sound, then I turned on my mouse. First thing I noticed was the bell sound was accompanied by a small loading window which is strange, anyway I carried on and reinstalled the software, but the mouse still didn’t work so I tried a different slot, same thing so I reloaded the software clicking all the little boxes etc etc, still nothing. I tried all the slots which meant I reloaded the software like three times, surely the software is loaded now. Still nothing. So I Googled the problem they had me check the mouse for damage, it was as perfect as the day I bought it, nothing was blocking the sensor either, it just wasn’t working. I was about to retry all the little slots, when one thing hit me, it was simply too easy to be it, but I tried it anyway. I changed the battery….. Much to my chagrin that was it. It was so simple Google didn’t even mention it,  and those are 30 minutes I won’t be getting back. For the record, I still blame Windows8. Thank you all my loverly readers for taking the time to read my blog. The comment box is always open, feel free to tell me how you spend an unexpected day off, go on don’t be shy, I promise I read them all.

A Writer’s Quirks.

I sit here sharing a peanut butter sandwich with My-My, when we were young by Adele plays on the radio, the smell of bleach still hangs in the air. I’ve been cleaning the bathroom, for the second time today. I have been cleaning a lot lately, which if you ask my sister means I am blocked on my current manuscript, a fact I vehemently deny mind you! But there maybe some truth to the theory. My cleaning sprees do tend to coincide with my bad writing days, it seems like the more cluttered my plot, the more I try to work it out by scrubbing everything around me. I’ve been looking into different articles about writers block I found an interesting article in an old issue of O magazine it was all about the different things we as writers do to fend off writer’s block. I won’t elaborate but we do some pretty quirky thing hehehe, the part of the article that really stuck out to me is that as writers we access the part of our brain that houses our dreams, so basically all writers live in a constant daydream which is also why we are so prone to block, we are literally asking our brains to kick into dream mode while we are awake, simply fascinating. The only trouble is the part of our brain that houses our dreams, also houses the source of madness! Which in a way is comforting, in the fact that it confirms my suspicion, that I must have been stark raving mad to decide to let my love of writing put me on the path to become a writer. But what can I do, I love it. Besides there are worse things then living in a waking dream state creating a world where anything is possible with the stroke of a pen, and a little madness makes life fun. Thank you all my loverly readers for taking the time to read my post the comment section is always open, I promise I read them all.

Tips and Tricks

Off with your Head by Yeah Yeah Yeahs plays on the radio. A fitting song considering my topic for today. Having survived the first cold of the season only slightly worse for wear, I have been thinking a lot about how to avoid the sick bed for the rest of the season. Especially when you add the fact that we just got our first snow flurry of the season today.

I am going to kick off this tips and tricks list. 6 ways to avoid the dreaded New England cold and flu season with an disclaimer. I am not a doctor, nor am I affiliated with the medical profession. Oh and I’m not endorsing any of these medicines or vitamins mentioned. Phew that being said, I am simply a slightly germaphobic New Englander who has a plan. So here we go.

1. Prepare.  Collect cold and flu supplies early.

2.Wash your hands often. An oldie but a goodie. Hand sanitizer works in a pinch.

3.Vitamin C, Echinacea, Zinc. Take these if you’re feeling under the weather or if you were exposed to someone who is sick.

4.Rest. Overdoing it is a sure way to catch the cold or flu of the season.

5.Mild Exercise. To help keep your circulation flowing.

6.Stay out of crowds!

With these tips in mind lets go out and actually dare to stay healthy this cold and flu season. Thank you, all you loverly readers for taking the read my post. I’d love to hear your tips for beating the cold and flu season. Feel free to leave a comment, I promise I’ll read them all.

Blogs & Vlogs

I sit here squinting at my sisters laptop in front of me, nothing is playing on the CD player today, I simply don’t have the energy to make the ten step hike from bed to CD player. Lately since I caught the cruel side effect of a New England cold and flu season, I have been drinking a lot of fluids, and resting as much as my busy life will let me. To pass the copious amounts of time I find myself catching up on my reading, and watching a lot of YouTube videos, daily vlogs to be exact. I started thinking about the difference between blogs and vlogs. I started to work on the idea of writing a blog comparing and contrasting the blog vs the vlog. Here is where I got stuck, while I know most of the pros and cons of blogs, I was sorely lacking intel on the pros let alone the cons of vlogs.

What to do?

Maybe its the leading brand cold and flu medication going to my head, but I got really excited. A plan began to form, I have always learned best with hands on training, it’s how I learned to run my printing press, drive a standard, and how to manage a hyper active Aussie pup who makes sonic the hedgehog look sluggish. I have always wanted to do a hands on project, so here is what I’m thinking, I’m going to start a vlog!

What the name will be… No clue.

What the subject will be… Uh, working on it.

When will it start…. January, yay I got one.

The point is I don’t know how to vlog, edit, upload, or voice over. Really I don’t know how to do anything video related. This should be interesting, it could be a giant flop. Either way I promise to keep you all informed. Thank you, all you loverly readers for taking the time to read my post. Feel free to leave a comment, I promise to read them all. Can’t wait to hear from you.

Starlight.

I sit here smiling at the end of my bed, What Sarah Said by Death Cab For Cutie plays softly on my tablet. My cheeks are still slightly cool from being out in the night air. But it was worth every second. I had just spent the last hour staring at the New England night sky. It was unseasonably warm this November evening with a constant cool breeze, the light on the lighthouse over the breakwater waxed bright before waning into darkness. But the night sky was alight with stars twinkling in blazing reds and neon blues. Nothing quite matches the excitement one feels standing under the starry night sky, the feeling of being so very small in a universe so vast. I often take a minute to drink in the stars on a clear night, but this evening was different for tonight as I looked into the unending night, I saw a shooting star. Now contrary to popular belief a shooting star is not a slow moving light crossing the night sky, actually a shooting star is just that, a star moving roughly as fast as you would expect if it were shot from a cannon. So fast, like blink and you’ll miss it kinda fast. Not that I had to worry, as I mentioned earlier, tonight was special. For tonight we had for lack of a better word, a mini meteor shower. For a brief moment the sky looked as though it was literally breaking apart. It was breathtakingly exhilarating, and well worth standing outside as the night air changed from unseasonably cool to cold. Thank you all you loverly readers for taking the time to read my post, feel free to leave a comment I promise to read them all. Can’t wait to hear from you.

Vanishing Ideas.

Daydreamer by Adele plays on my CD player, I sit here looking at my blank screen and the most amazing thing happened. Suddenly my mind was as blank as my computer screen. It’s a funny little phenomenon that hits every writer. You go through the whole day literally being hit in the face at every turn with inspiration. Finally you get a minute to write, sitting down bustling with thoughts and ideas, you turn on the computer get the music just right and….. Nothing, where words should be pouring out, there is only questions and confusion.

What was I going to write about?

How did that thought go again?

Why did I decide to become a writer?

Every writer has been there, some call it writer’s block, others call it don’t quit your day job. I call it a rough patch. Mainly because for me whose writer’s block sits squarely on, This is really hard street and Whose idea was this anyway Lane. I don’t use the term “W.B” till at least two weeks with no success. So what do we do? I say draw on your knowledge of yourself, find out whatever it is that makes you tick. For example I have fixed my writer’s block simply by buying a new pen. This particular block I had today, was fixed by a trick I learned in the horse world. If you approach a horse like you only have five minutes it will take all day. But if you approach a horse like you have all day it will only take five minutes. I was trying to hurry up and write this post I simply had to take some time to calm down and breath and it only took five minutes. So all you writers out there at the cross roads of Do I give up Lane and I can’t write a sentence road. Dig deep any writer’s block can be overcome. Till then, take the time while your blocked to watch the sunrise on a new day, because writer’s write. Thank you, all you loverly readers for taking the time to read my post feel free to leave a comment in the comment box I promise I’ll read them all, I can’t wait to hear from you.