Castle in the Clouds

We're getting a puppy! He's a little fella right now.  I think, if I don't have my dates completely screwed up, that he's only five weeks old right now.  This means we can't bring him home for another three weeks.   The wait...it is making me anxious.  Luckily, his mommy and daddy's owner is very good about sending us pictures of the little rascal.  (Rascal...that' might be a cute name for him!)  He's a morkie.  His mama is a Yorkie and his daddy is a Maltese.  In addition to the little white paws, he also has a patch of white on his chest. He should stay small.  I'm thinking no more than 10lbs.  I'm so excited.  A bit nervous, too, but mostly excited!  

So, my alter ego has this book she needs to write.  It should be fairly easy because the characters and the setting have been determined.  After all, this is a sequel.  So many elements have been established, including the the main conflict... Oh, my.  That's part of the problem right there!  As I typed the word conflict I realized that, yes, there's conflict, but it happens around the two main characters, not to them.  In other words, there is Big Conflict, but no personal conflict.   That's why the writing is stalled.  Personal and interpersonal conflict are the key ingredients and they're missing right now. I don't have any insights into what these personal and interpersonal sources of conflict should or will be.  I just know I need to figure them out in order to truly begin this book.  And to think I thought my new tactic - rereading and creating a new "story bible" for the previous book - would be the thing to jumpstart ...

It was a Sunday.  Ken was on his way to a friend's house to help fix another friend's truck.  With the house to ourselves, the kids fired up the PS3 and I made my way to my craft room in the basement.  I was sitting down there, playing Castleville on Facebook, if I remember correctly, when I heard Ken hollering for me to get my telephoto lens.  And hurry! I imagined the turkeys had made a reappearance.   I never imagined this beautiful creature was feasting on some carrion across the road from our house.  Eagles are not something we see in our neck of the woods.  They're supposed to be "up north".    Look close...he's there.  In the center of the old corn field, shrouded in early morning mist. Trying to get his picture wasn't easy.  I jumped out of the car, Nikon strap around my neck and camera in hand.  Jogging across the two-lane highway we live on, I immediately trespassed onto my neighbor's lawn an...

Both of my boys seem to enjoy art, but my youngest is the one I refer to as "my artist".  While there's no denying that he enjoys playing sports and video games and doing all those other kind of things that little boys like to do, he's also the kid who is happy with a pen and a pad of paper.   I'm not sure when we first noticed that he wasn't just content to color in the lines, but I know he was fairly young when he first attempted to draw his own lines.  At first, he traced images out of coloring books and magazines. Eventually, he started asking for "how to" books. When I found Drawing Dragons in the bargain books at Borders, I was certain he'd enjoy the challenge of drawing such fantastical beasts. I was right. I was also impressed.  I'm not sure how old he was when he drew that eye, but I'm pretty sure it was at least a year ago.  Maybe more. Now, it'll likely come as no surprise that he didn't master the ...