The Muse is Back

Maybe all this fairy costuming for Midsummer’s Night Dream is helping, but the writing muse is back. I have two new ideas for a brand new story.

No, I didn’t finish the last story I started for NaNoWriMo. I have about three-six months of inspiration on a story, and if I don’t hammer it out then, the story loses its magic for a while.

Of course, due to the overwhelming pressure from all the costumes and sewing I have to finish before Halloween, blog entries will continue to be few and far between.

Surprise

Chapter 9 is Published

Finally.

Now Kid can quit bugging me for about ten minutes, the time it will take her to read the chapter.

Kid, you ought to re-read the chapters to see if you can pick up some of the subtle clues that will soon be important. I’m sure you read too fast to find them before.

Writing

Ch. 7 of my book is up. Please email me or comment here and I’ll send you a password.

I know my blog entries have been scarce, and I’m sorry.

This is a snapshot of my week.  I work 40 hours a week, plus 5 hours of lunch. I attend class for 11 hours out of the week. The drive to or from class takes an hour, and I am taking three classes. That’s six extra hours of driving.  I spend another 6 hours a week commuting, that doesn’t include the extra 6 hours.  I attend church or church activities 13 hours a week. Some of that time is down time, where I can do other things. Assume I sleep 56 hours a week, and take 7 hours a week for personal maintenance. I also have housework, Seussical, homework, my book and individual devotions to squeeze in somewhere.  I have 168 hours in a week, and am absolutely scheduled for 142 of that. No wonder I feel overloaded, I have four other hours per day to fit in everything else. Really these four hours a day don’t exist during the week but on the weekend.

Now that I’ve offered my excuses, please excuse me, I need to go to bed now, since I stayed up to update you.

More Changes

Remember the significant life change that I mentioned in passing?

The following was printed in the bulletin on Sunday:

Please join us in extending our gratitude and warm wishes to [PC], as he steps down from his staff position.  [PC] is going to school to pursue Worship Arts Ministry, and although he is no longer on staff, he will continue to be involved in our Worship Arts Ministry here at Warm Springs!

Funny story. By now you know that I am a story teller and what would all this be without a story.

I didn’t know that the above paragraph was being printed in the bulletin on Sunday. When I entered the church before the first service, I was mobbed by well wishers. I had no idea what happened. Everyone was saying different things about PC leaving. I assured them that we weren’t leaving the church. Perplexed, I made my way to a seat, sat down and opened the bulletin. Then I understood and smiled to myself, they were talking about PC stepping down, not us leaving the church.

Promised Picture Posts

Here’s my picture of waves, my professor says it looks like whales.

What do you mean you can’t see the picture? It’s right there, really.

Ok, I’ll try a new one.  How about this one, my skewed picture of a matchbook?

You can’t see it either?

I think it must be your computer, I can see the pictures just fine.

Here, I’ll post a couple elephant sketches I did last night.

What do you think?

Sorry, if you can’t see the pictures, that’s your own problem.

Fine, don’t come back, I’ll pick up other blog traffic.

I don’t understand why no one can see my pictures, it’s not like I actually posted them or anything.

Just for Fun on Friday

While paragraphs are beginning to form in my mind again, one more list.

• Watercolor was awesome yesterday.
• We did waves again.
• We did a tree exercise too, which I decided to do first.
• I’m a tree expert, according to my professor.
• He also said perhaps I was his best student.
• He’s really nice to everyone.
• He also complimented my color (which I took to mean my mixing).
• I didn’t get to the waves before class was over.
• I have to do it at home now.
• My professor sent me home with his example again.
• It’s Friday.
• I still have the crud, but it’s more bearable.
• I’m 1 sketch short of the two sketches I needed to do this week.
• I’m still planning to post some of my painting, but I need to image.
• I want a costume job.
• City Center has costume/wardrobe jobs open but I’m not qualified.
• I’m thinking about applying anyway and hoping for the best.
• I really need to get cracking on Seussical costumes.
• I like my job but the arts (costumes, drawing, music, theatre, dance) really make my heart sing.
• I didn’t post about a significant, recent, life change.
• No mom, I’m not pregnant.
• No Kid, don’t tell her that I am.
• I really like listening to Air 1 at work, via the Internet.
• Tonight’s date night.

Winter Watercolor Wimp

Another list. Until I recover, my head isn’t forming coherent paragraphs and even the sentences are a stretch.

• I went to work today.
• I’m a wimp.
• It took about seven minutes for me to decide that I would have rather stayed in bed.
• I lied, I would always rather stay in bed.
• It is cold outside.
• The heater is still broken.
• The cats hate us.
• The heater repair man is coming tomorrow.
• I’m writing this list in bed because it’s too cold in the rest of the house.
• I went to the doctor today.
• I’ve been having intermittent fever which suggests it’s not the common cold.
• My symptoms aren’t improving.
• I had a fever when they checked at the doctors office.
• I spent my waiting time at the doctor’s office looking for costume jobs.
• The iPhone is a wonderful thing.
• I have a Sinus Infection.
• I also have allergies.
• At the same time!
• No wonders I feel like my head is full of water.
• Speaking of water…
• I had watercolor tonight.
• I hope there aren’t any stalkers reading my blog.
• I suck.
• The professor said we all had an F+.
• I’m not sure if it’s any consolation, but I was one of the few students from whom he did NOT take their brush and fix their painting.
• I’m going to bed now because I’m tired.
• He took back the F+ at the end of class and said we’re all doing just fine, that we have to walk before we can run.
• My professor is from Italy so you need to add an Italian accent to walk before we can run.
• I plan to post pictures of the project we worked on tonight and my progress (I was going to say my failures instead of progress, but it sounds so disheartening).
• I’m not asking you to feel sorry for me, I don’t feel sorry for me, just keeping you in the loop.
• Will I have another restless night where I spend the night working in my dreams?
• Seriously, this work I’m doing in my dreams is wearing me out.
• Last night, because I was “working” in my dreams, when I woke (in the middle of the night) I forced myself to think about painting Lake McDonald in watercolor.
• It worked to calm me until I fell asleep again.
• I can’t remember how I decided that I would paint it.
• I must be sick if even Montana doesn’t sound appealing right now.

Random Updates

I complain about bloggers who use bulleted lists instead of writing paragraphs, so feel free to complain:

• Watercolor is fun but EXPENSIVE.
• My first watercolor painting was about 1″x3″ 10″x12″ paper. 
• Yes one inch by three inch on ten inch by twelve inch paper.
• I got complimented by the professor on my perspective.
• I was teased for painting a miniature.
• I never used real watercolors before last week.
• I started getting sick Friday.
• I thought it was allergies.
• I was wrong.
• I spent A LOT of MONEY on art supplies.
• I worked on Sunday.
• Am I damned now?
• I work for a home-builder.
• I didn’t buy a house Sunday.
• Our heater died sometime Sunday.
• It was 45 degrees outside today and 60 inside.
• I stayed home sick from work today.
• I have the cutest little travel hairdryer my mom gave me for use in Watercolor.
• I never owned a hairdryer before today.
• My hair reaches my waist and has been this length nearly all my life.
• Drying my hair with a hairdryer takes more energy than running the air conditioner in July.

Updates

It’s been a crazy month or so and the craziness finally caught up with me so I haven’t blogged in a while.

Brief recap: D is out of the hospital. T passed away. S, T’s daughter had her baby, and I wrote 10000 words or so more on my current novel.

About those 10000 or so words, you can find Chapters 4-5 under the chapters tab.

I’m sorry to be so absent. I promise, I’ll blog more soon. Let me just find myself.

Oh, classes start tomorrow night! I’m excited. I’m also worried that I’ll forget and come home after work, which might not be a good thing.

Hang in there, I’ll eventually catch myself and start catching you up too.