Melani Blazer

I had a witty topic to talk about. Really. Seems after work, giving the family some time, eating and maybe trying to do a little writing, my brain is pooped out. But I’m here and determined to post a blog entry so you don’t think I only stop in here on Thursday.

I’ve been writing by hand lately. Shan blogged about this phenomenon of returning to the “real” way of “writing” (not typing). She linked to a few others who talked about their type of notebook, pen, etc. I’m not so picky-usually grabbing my clipboard with some loose leaf college ruled paper (okay, I don’t do plain paper—I write uphill, downhill and probably in circles if I got on a roll but I write small and it seems like a waste to use regular ruled paper). Here’s the thing though. The people who chimed in on Shan’s blog post (and those she linked to) all did one thing I don’t—save the handwritten copy after I’ve typed it in.

My daughter snatched my digital camera, but I could show you what a page looks like after I’ve typed in. I’ll cross out whole paragraphs, put arrows and most often, slash through the entire page and put “In” on it with highlighter to indicate I’ve typed it in. I edit as I go, so the paper copy doesn’t always match. It probably rarely matches, because latey I’ve found I’ve got repeatitis.

I guess I feel the need to slap the reader over the head with info over and over. One scene, and the hero rehashes why he’s at the heroine’s townhouse at least four times. Not in full detail, but by the time I got to the third one typing it in, I’m thinking, “I know, buddy, you know and by now, she knows. Next thought, please.”

I’ve been waiting to have one of those really interesting conversations with my characters. I love those. Sadly, I think my characters have joined some character union and come out of their hidey-holes to make nice on paper, then retreat. I had to do my own brainstorming last night and neither of the bastards came out and offered up a “You wanna make me do whaaat?” Speaking of, I should go back and change a few things. Maybe I’m not torturing them enough.

Tomorrow’s my visit to the tax man. I’m praying refund. Big one. We paid a ginormous amount to them, they owe us. Oh, and in other good news, Verizon Wireless finally (after three months of hell) has decided to take my complaint seriously (I returned items and was never credited for them) and set my account right. Gee, and I was all set to do a Thursday Thirteen on how much I hate dealing with customer service at large corporations. *snicker*

okay, enough babbling for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with thirteen somethings… right now I need to prepare for that lovely day job. Ciao!

It’s been a strange couple of weeks, dream-wise.

I’m outta time, but here’s the highlights…

There’s a goddess of the lake that lives in each of the Great Lakes, and someone “caught” the one from Lake Michigan. It’s about 6ft long, transaprent, and has the head of a chinese style dragon and the body of an eel. Oh, and you can’t touch it. Problem is that if its removed from the body of water it protects, things will go haywire and problems (dunno what kind) will begin. I, of course, couldn’t convince a soul of this and fortunately my dream ended before bad things began….

Another night, I had the dream that my daughter went to a carnival–circus kind of things with friends of ours. But the time came when she was supposed to be home and they didn’t show up. We called, and they were really…vague about where they were and where she was. All I could imagine was that they’d let my daughter run away and join the circus.

And then, there was the one about me and about 5 friends in a van traveling toward Chicago. We realized we went too far, and took an exit to turn around but found ourself in a very maze like dirt road that led us to a Pygmy Farm. We finally escaped, but then we were on bicycles and had to go through several bank buildings, store fronts, deal with the cops and finally convince them we needed to go because we had 45 miles to ride to get home by dark. Dunno if we made it. Alarm clock ruins everything.

I’m still waiting for dreams that I can actually use in a book.

And now, off to work with me….

Scooper so graciously tagged me with a meme asking me to post 10 weird things about me. Okay, I’m sure I can find 10.

Rules: No re-tagging, write a blog with 10 weird random things, facts, or habits about yourself, chose 10 people to be tagged and list their names, leave a comment that says “you are tagged” on their profile, and tell them to read your latest blog.

1. I prefer to spend my time with animals, not people. (Yet I work in Customer Service)

2. I wanted to be a neurosurgeon when I grew up. I started to go to med school, but got married, then had my daughter, so went to school as nursing. That didn’t work out, so I turned my part time gig into full time and became an insurance agent (booo~!)

3. My best friend from college has the same first name as me, her mom has the same name as my mom, we have the same nose (so says many people) and we have the same birthmark on the bottom of one of our feet.

4. Legend of the Leopard was developed from a dream involving a white leopard bursting through a window and saving me from a would-be attacker.

5. I’ve got a tattoo on my lower back that is a combination of a dagger, a cross, my birthstone and a pair of wedding rings. I’ve thought of adding my anniversary date in elvish script to it–just haven’t done it yet.

6. I used to love winter–snowmobiling, skiing, etc. Now I want it to go away!

7. My first date with my husband was pulling the engine on his Camaro. (this was by choice)

8. My daughter is one of my very best friends. And she’s 15.

9. I hated cheese until I got pregnant, then I craved it like mad.

10. I’ve been over 190 mph on the back of a motorcycle. What a rush!

Okay, that sucked. Now it’s your turn. I tag:

Shannon
Heather Rae
Angela James
Emma Wayne Porter AKA Wax
Dee
Annicat
Michelle
Christine
Janet
Kate
(that’s what you get for visiting my TT )

It’s the day we’ve been waiting for all week. I, especially, have been waiting for the Colts to finally blow the Bears outta the stadium so I don’t have to listen to ALL my co-workers (Bears fans, can you believe it?) any longer.

We’re heading over to a friend’s house to cheer on our team. The husband, still limping around from knee surgery, did this to his hair head….
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