Eight things about me

As a part of a tag-team game, I am supposed to list eight unique things about myself…oh, only eight?!

1. I am from a town with a state mental institution on the main drag. This fact used to horrify me. Now, my novels are set in the same town.

2. My skull has a divot. It is solid; not like my brain will ooze out. It is just not smooth and rounded. I was quite the rage in my college anatomy classes. I’ve always maintained that my brain was so huge; it caused my skull to become malformed.

3. I can do a killer chicken imitation. When I graduated from high school, my classmates made me cackle during the ceremony. They threatened to tie me to my chair if I didn’t.

4. I have deep twin dimples; one of the reasons I like to smile so often.

5. When I was a child, I had an imaginary friend who lived in a skate.

6. I loved cats so much when I was little (still do), I would crawl under houses, cars, or anyplace to play with one. I tamed more than one wild kitten, too.

7. I love to fish, but I don’t like to either touch the bait or the fish. As long as someone is sucker enough to do these tasks for me, I will fish until the cows come home.

8. I love animals, but horses seem to know I fear them. They take one look at me and scrub me off on the nearest tree on the way home to the barn. Cowgirl, I am not.


I have more, of course…

Madhatter

Tired of the cholesterol issue? Me, too.

I have to be the stupidest human on earth. I had my annual check-up with blood work around the holidays. Is it a surprise that my cholesterol is high? um...no. Did I eat everything bad in sight? Um...yes.

Good thing I can write. Seems I have a problem with eating; at least, correctly.

What if...

one day, the medical community discovers that elevated cholesterol levels are some kind of protective device? Will we all be encouraged to eat a cheeseburger and biggie fries each day?

Gee...hope I live to see the day...

Being neurotic helps...

I hit the 30 K mark in the NaNo competiton today. Only 20,000 more words to go!

I find it helps to have an unnerving day. I came home and dashed off a cool three thousand in a flash. Love it.

Must say, this quick way of getting words on paper is fun. My internal editor is so fed-up with me, she may never come back from Tahiti.

Good riddance, perhaps?

Trying something new!

To jumpstart my next novel, I am signing up for NaNo, the national novel writing contest. The object is to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. A number of my writer buddies are doing it, too. Should be fun.

My novels are usually longer -- from 80,000 to 90,000 words. I may not complete the first draft in the time allowed, but I can give it a heck of a try.

The hard part will be turning off my internal editor. To get this many words down on paper, I can not stop to tweat and toil along the way.

I have already started to work on some character sheets -- outlines of characters in the book. By the time I start to write, they will seem like flesh and blood. I suppose that's the point.

How funny is that!!??

Prompted by an email from a friend, I googled my name plus the word "needs". One of the results led me to a blog from another female with my first name, from the south. This is odd because I have an unusual first name and have met no other females who share it. Her cat even resembled mine! How bizzare is life?

Also, she is a Clemson fan and I am an FSU Seminole. I was impressed with Clemson fans when we visited their stadium for a game a few years back.

So, here's to synchronicity, or whatever the heck...

Hey, I have cat eyes!

I just had my yearly eye exam. Not nearly as much fun as a physical, but more interesting. My pupils are still dialated! Nothing like stepping out into the glaring Florida midday sun and groping my way to the car. Even with dark sunglasses, I had to squint to see the road. I spent the entire trip home hoping I wouldn't do anything stupid and get pulled over. One look at my eyes and I might have been mistaken for someone who, as one of my friends puts it, was "on the dope". Jeez...

What we do all go through to stay healthy.

Another Southern Trait

Ever notice -- when Southerners want to emphasize a thing, they repeat it?

Examples:

A shirt is not just white, it is white-white.

A couple of days off is a vacation, a week off with a great destination is a vacation-vacation.

Painfully childlike behavior from an adult is not just childish, it is juvenile, juvenile, juvenile.

Once I started to notice this, I heard it often. And, it never ceases to make me smile!