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Tag Archives: Writing space

Liebster Award

04 Sep

Cassidy Cornblatt AND Sara Flower were kind enough to nominate me for the Liebster Blog award on the same day! The winning lottery numbers are…..

Translated from German, Liebster Blog means “Dearest Blog”. Thank you Cassidy and Sara. All Blog awards seem to have rules attached to them so here they are for the Liebster.

The Rules:

  • Answer the eleven questions your nominator posed to her/his nominees
  • Write eleven questions to pose to your own nominees
  • Pass the award on to eleven others

Here are my answers:

1. Why are you a writer? Because I already tried to sing and dance! Seriously, I have always been a storyteller. I just decided to go from verbal to written word.

2. How do you come up with your ideas? Keeping an open mind and day dreaming…alot!

3. Where is your favorite place to write? My home office or on the deck at the cabin.

4. What do you do besides writing? I have interests that would fill up a legal pad. However, the ones that get the most of my attention are archery, fishing, knife-making, gardening, and reading when I’m not creating business continuity plans at my full-time job.

5. Is writing a hobby for you or a career/career path? It is a hobby that I am trying to convert to a career.

6. Do you think writers should have to be decent editors of their own work? I believe that I have to do a good job of editing before it goes to my test readers to ensure they can focus on the areas I need help with. The cleaner the MS is prior to them getting it. the better it will be when they finish with it.

7. What do your friends/family members think of you writing? They are supportive and helpful as alpha readers.

8. Do you have any inhibitions when it comes to writing? Yes. Writing sexual scenes are awkward and difficult to get right.

9. What type of main character do you prefer to write/read about? Characters who have had a difficult time with life but have achieved some level of success. They still have major flaws that cause them no end of grief as they tackle the challenges of the main plot.

10. Do you prefer writing or reading? I am leaning toward writing as I get better at it.

11. How often do you write? This is a tough one. I try to write something every day. For sure, I write a few times a week.

Here are my questions for my nominees:

1. What is your favorite POV to write in? Why?

2. What are some favorite objects that share your writing space?

3. What do you do besides writing?

4. Dogs or Cats?

5. How often do you submit work for critique to your writer’s group?

6. What are your favorite books in your genre? Outside your genre?

7. When writing, how do you connect with a character that is your polar opposite?

8. Why do you write in your chosen genre?

9. If you could sit down with a famous author for an hour, one on one, who would it be and why?

10. Do you read more or less than you did in High School?

11. What do you enjoy doing when not at work or writing?

The following Blogs are excellent locations for advice, ideas, and humor. I admire and respect everyone of them. (I have left a few others off this list only because they were nominated with me as well.)

My “Dearest Blog” Nominees are:

http://shannonhowell.wordpress.com/

http://annewoodman.wordpress.com/

http://beanovelist.wordpress.com/

http://scottweberwriter.wordpress.com/

http://lsengler.wordpress.com/

http://coreymp.wordpress.com/

http://4amwriter.wordpress.com/

http://robincoyle.wordpress.com/

http://carliemacullen.wordpress.com/

 
3 Comments

Posted by on September 4, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

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The View of the Room

22 Jun

Control Center

Since I didn’t have an pictures of my writing room when I posted Room to Write, and Several of you expressed an interest in my domain, here are a few to give you an idea of what it is like.

I also work from home on occasion so the multiple monitors come in handy. When I’m all set up with two laptops it looks like NASA’s Mission Control in Houston.

 **Note – The little sign in front of the desk next to the picture states, “You call it daydreaming…I call it multi-tasking.”  The sign on the wall next to the window states, “If you are agitated and confused, my job here is done.”

Power and Wisdom

The top two images in the Bev Doolittle print are called “Guardian Spirits”. I had the opportunity to purchase the originals when I lived in Colorado. However, I was poor and living in an apartment. Each of the originals was four feet square! The cost was well out of my league. if I even got the opportunity, I would buy them now. Yes, it is a real bison skull minus the black horn caps. I can feel the strength of the spirit behind those eye sockets. 

Inspiration Wall

Items that have special meaning, memories, and dreams. I have a fondness for owl pictures. This group of books are only very small a sample of my reference library. The cuirass on the floor to the left has a date of 1735 inscribed inside. It was a great auction find. All in all, it is a peaceful writing space full of inspiration that fires my imagination whenever I sit down to write.

 
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Posted by on June 22, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

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Room to Write

13 Jun

Twelve years ago, my wife and I purchased our current home with the idea that it was a blank canvas that we could make into our own. All the walls were white. Okay off-white, the previous owners were all chain smokers. Fixtures were mostly gold finish and worn out. The carpet reeked for dogs and cigarette smoke. The yard was a mess with sparse grass and one lonely peony in the back yard. So a few months ago we finally began work on the last room, my study/writing room.

I asked the CEO of my domicile what she wanted to do with this room. Her reply stunned me, “Whatever you want to do. It is your room and I want you to be happy with it.” God bless this woman who let’s me live with her!

Immediately, I started to fantasize about all sorts of interesting, and expensive, things we could do to give me the room of my dreams. However, she doesn’t call me “The Dream Squasher” for nothing. I am the CFO of the domicile so I am well aware of what I can and cannot spend. So, many of my dreams vanished into a puff of smoke. 😦

That’s okay, I am a list maker so I started to make a list of necessities: Desk with ample room to spread out notes and journals, comfortable chair, laptop computer with external oversized monitor and external keyboard, shelves for books that I cannot part with, oak 4-drawer file cabinet (new purchase), stereo system and wide variety of music (that’s a whole different post), soft overhead lighting, views of our backyard waterfall garden and side yard japanese garden, and a bulletin board for story-boarding.

Then comes the accessories (no new purchases): Bison skull, prints by Bev Doolittle, swords and knives I have made and collected, longbows, quivers and arrows, collection of Native American pottery, portrait of the CFO in his renaissance costume, medicine bag, antique cuirass, English war hammer, various (fantasy, Celtic, Native American) sculptures, and most important a photograph of the CEO.

It took about two months to finish it but it is now my very favorite room in the house. Unfortunately, I have been unable to use it much due to other life altering events keeping me away. The good news is the sea has calmed somewhat and I am spending more time in my new sanctuary. The words are beginning to flow more freely.

I still write during my lunch hour but I find myself daydreaming about sitting behind the three feet of oak and listening to my favorite russian composer. Ah…pure bliss.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

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