Castle in the Clouds

I've started a couple different posts, but, after a few words, I've deleted them. I guess I don't have anything exciting to report and rambling on about a whole lot of nothing didn't appeal at the time. I still don't have much to say. No profound words of wisdom. No insightful commentary. Not even a bit of juicy gossip to share. No, life is pretty mundane at the moment. The only thing of significance that I can report is that the children are done with sports. We should have the next month off. No practices, no games. Our lives will assume a leisurely pace for a few blessed weeks. Other than that, I am still prepping for Nano. Random bits and pieces fall into place, adding further dimension to the characters and setting. I'm anxious to start writing, but, if I'm completely honest, I'm also enjoying the lull before the storm. It gives me plenty of time to indulge in my two favorite past-times: reading and vegging out in front of the television...

I took a vacation day on Tuesday so I could go on a senior photo shoot with my new step-sister, Jenna. Here's a few samples of our day together. I was pretty happy with the results. There are a few that need some "tweaking" in Photoshop. Mostly, it's sharpening and adding depth with vignetting. I'm sure in more capable hands these good shots would be even better. Lucky for me, I never claimed to be a professional!

I've been a bad blogger. Last week my hubby and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. Fifteen! He was a sweetie and got me these lovelies. The flowers arrived on Wednesday and the chocolates on Thursday. Friday night we splurged and went out to eat at a local Brewery where he sampled the beer and I sipped on a glass of wine. After dinner we wasted an hour or so shopping at the Outlet Mall before finally making it to the late show. It was a great night. And yes, I know. Spoiled.

Last night I took the boys with me to my writer's group meeting. As the only thing on the agenda was discussing the upcoming Nano challenge, I thought they might find the group energy inspirational. You see, normally I wouldn't take the boys, but since I've basically bribed them into participating in this year's Youth Program , I was hoping for the best. Overall, I think they did fairly well. Little boys, especially my little boys, don't sit still for long. There was a fair bit of restlessness and some downright goofiness. Still, I think they did okay and can only hope no one else found them too distracting or disruptive. The good news is that the boys were inspired. The oldest went from wanting to write about spaceships and aliens to wanting to tell a story about mythical creatures, like ogres and fairies. The youngest has decided to write about football (loosely based on him and his friends, of course). So even though Mom might have been feeling the stress ...

For my husband! It seems Wednesday night is one of my favorite nights to use our DVR. From 8 - 11 p.m. something is being recorded. Laugh if you want, but the first two shows are So You Think You Can Dance and America's Next Top Model. Up next is Criminal Minds and Glee, followed by Leverage and Eastwick. Hey, there's no accounting for taste. I like my trashy tv shows! Since I must admit I'm a bit out of control with the whole taping-every-show-that- remotely-appeals-to-me thing, it's been decided that Wednesday nights are going to become Netflix nights. While my shows are recording, we can watch something a bit more universally appealing or at least something that won't leave the hubby wanting to gouge his eyes out. I wonder what's up next on the list? ~skips off to check out the Netflix queue~ Righteous Kill with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Of course, that's assuming we don't watch it before next Wednesday. If we do, hubby gets to move anothe...

I collect books. I collect them not only because I love (wuv) them, but because I am one of those really nerdy people who actually re-reads their favorite novels. Again and again and again. New books in old series inspire me to revisit the entire storyline from beginning to end. This means some of the books sitting on basement bookshelves have been read 10, 11, or even 12 times. So imagine my distress when one of my favorites goes missing. Loaned and not returned. It doesn't happen often because I must admit I am amazingly stingy with my most beloved books. Still, it does happen. Knowing that I have an incomplete trilogy or series or even a missing stand alone will make me do crazy things like purchase a book I've already read a half-dozen times. This is exactly what happened this weekend. Happily, the book I picked up at B&N will once again complete perhaps my all-time favorite trilogy. I don't know who I loaned out Black Sun Rising to, but now it doesn't ...

Normally I crawl into bed and fall right to sleep. Not last night, though. Nope. My mind was racing. I couldn't stop thinking about the amazing group of people I had just met at Barnes & Noble. More exciting, I couldn't stop brainstorming story ideas for my NaNo project. I almost got out of bed to write them down, they were that good! Of course, being the lazy good-for-nothing I am, I willed myself to remember the ideas after I got up in the morning. And it worked! I remember the ideas, which is awesome because one of those passing thoughts provided me with my opening scene. I'm not going to question it or dissect it. I'm not going to wonder if it's the right or wrong move starting there. I'm going to trust my instincts for once and just let myself follow where they may lead. Of course, this makes waiting for NaNo to begin all that much more difficult. I not only have my premise, my characters, and a good portion of the worldbuilding done, I have...

This policy is valid from 16 October 2009 This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Krista Heiser at krheiser at gmail dot com.. This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. I write for my own purposes. However, I am (obviously) influenced by my background, occupation, religion, political affiliation and experiences. The owner(s) of this blog will never receive compensation in any way from this blog. (No one thinks I'm that interesting!) To date, I am not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own. If I claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, I will only endorse products or services that I believe, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service ...