Things To Avoid When You Sprain Your Wrist

Within a week I stapled a finger on my right hand, sliced open a finger on my left hand and sprained my left wrist.  Not a bad week. ;)

On the writing front: I’ve hand to write in my notebook rather than use Word, so I don’t have a word count.  I’m finding a little footing with my story and now know what I want to write about for NaNoWriMo.  This week my goals are to finish this chapter, get a better handle on what my protagonist’s abilities are and what her major obstacle is going to be; I already have my subplot. 

I received two inspiring and encouraging comments on my last post regarding my struggles with writing.  The fact that writing is a solo act has been said and discussed many times and is the reason for so many wonderful sites that have been created and developed to bring writers together.  When you’re living in your head for a good percentage of the time, one’s thoughts can veer off in the wrong direction.  It is the encouragement and empathy of fellow writers that help you keep swimming. 

And now, some things to avoid when you sprain a wrist:

Do not hold a book.  Yes, it may seem at first as though it doesn’t hurt and you might think, “Oh, this is okay.” Don’t let this initial relief fool you! Within minutes shooting pain will cause the book to jump from your hand, landing on the floor and losing your page at the same time.

Do not offer to cook for the entire family.  While it is possible to cook some things with one hand, unless you strap your injured arm to your body, you will, at some point, reach for something with your injured hand.  This will hurt and can be dangerous if it’s the handle of a hot pan. 

Do not hold back from cussing like a sailor.  It helps, sometimes more than the Aleve.

Don’t forget about your injury and throw the ball to your dog with said injured hand. 

Do not type with both hands for too long.  

Looking For My Magic Key

You'd think reigniting my passion for writing would be easy considering how much I love it.  Sometimes this can be easy if a person is in the right mind-space, but I have not been in the right mind-space with really anything lately.

Uncertainty, fear, doubt..  Those three words certainly fit this writer at the moment.

Major curveballs have been thrown my way; I'm having to rethink/restructure my entire life.  So, I've been working through a bit of confusion about me and writing.

Have you ever felt like you couldn't do something? You just wanted to quit?  Do any of the following sound familiar?   -   "I'm just not cut out for this.  I can't write, my writing stinks.  I don't know what the hell I'm doing! Maybe I'm not a writer, after all."

Not the best thinking, eh?  But then I go through this whole other spiel in my head: if I'm really not meant to be a writer, why do I keep going back to it?  Why do I beat myself up when I don't write? Why do I see everything as a possible story, if I'm not a writer?

I have bits of story ideas written everywhere and snippets of scenes or dialogue in my journal and notebooks and even have a handful of docs sitting on my desktop, no titles, just saved as "new idea" or a character's name.

I decided to sign-up for A Round of Words in 80 Days to help me focus and reconnect with this love affair that is currently on ice.

Scoop on this week's goals so far:
Monday - 0 words (I made the decision to sign-up late and was exhausted after I posted so, no words on Monday.)
Tuesday - 314 words
Wednesday - 270, so far

Napoleon Hill said, "You are searching for the magic key that will unlock the door to the source of power; and yet you have the key in your own hands, and you may use it the moment you learn to control your thoughts."

Old pic, but so appropriate. 

Hello, October!

October? Really?  Yikes!  Only three months left of 2012. Also means National Novel Writing Month is oh, so close.

I've been enjoying my participation in the 50/50 challenge.  I've finished the movie portion already - 51 so far.  I don't think I've watched this many new movies in the last five years.  Absolute favorite as of right now is The Avengers.  Holy Macaroni, best superhero movie EVER!!

I'm on track to complete 50 books by the end of the year.  Been reading some old favorite authors and discovered some new faves. Absolutely love Darynda Jones' Charley Davidson series, Seanan McGuire's October Daye series, and just finished and loved the first book in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

My brother loaned me a few graphic novels, finally got around to them recently, and so I can fully blame him for my new addiction: GIRL GENIUS by Phil and Kaja Foglio.  You can read it free online or get the beautiful artwork in print. 

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ROW80 Round 4

After much contemplation, I've decided to dive into the last 2012 round of ROW80!  Things have been tough on a personal level time-wise.  My mom fell and broke her shoulder in three places, causing major shifts in time-management (not to mention stress.)

I'm not going to declare "round" goals because I just don't know how the next couple of months are going to play out.  What I can do is plan a daily word count for October and since I really want to participate in NaNoWriMo in November, I'm including a NaNo novel outline goal for October.  I'm not sure if I'll get to it daily or a few times a week, I'll have it more pinned down in my next few updates, hopefully.

ROW80 Round 4 Goals for the week:

A daily minimum word count of 300 or 2100 for the week.  Whether it's on one of my WIPs or a writing exercise, I want to work the muscle.

NaNo novel outline - begin the process of figuring out what I want to write about. :)

Good luck my fellow ROW80ers!

A pic of Phoebe to help inspire. (Plus, she looks so darn cute here.)

I Remember

I will always remember.

I was on the bus heading to work, running a little late.  My nose stuck in a paperback novel.

We’d just exited the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, Manhattan side, sitting in a bit of traffic, when people started yelling and getting out of their seats.

“Oh my God, those poor people!” will forever stick in my head.

I, of course, didn’t see what they saw until everyone was back in their seats and being quiet.  I looked and looked and thought, “What am I missing?” Then I spotted it: An airplane sticking out of the side of a building.

By the time we moved the few feet to land under the overpass, cars were piling up.  People started worrying about getting to work late and decided to get off the bus and take the train.  We didn’t know the danger that had moved into our city, our country.  We didn’t know we were under attack.

I’d only been working in midtown a few months and being unfamiliar with the trains, decided to stay on the bus along with five other women.  As I watched everyone walk toward the World Trade Center, the vibrations began.  They weren’t coming from just the floor under my feet, but from every direction.  Shielded from the bus and the overpass, I couldn’t see what was causing the bus to shake.  It’s ending was abrupt.  The next thing I remember is seeing people on the street screaming and pointing; hands covering their mouths, nestled against their hearts.

“Those poor people.”

I later learned the vibrations were the second plane finding its mark.

The bus driver was kind enough to take us back to Staten Island via Brooklyn.  It took 5 hours.  In those five hours we watched, from afar, as the burning buildings collapsed.  There, then gone.  We learned of the plane crashing into the Pentagon and the plane that crashed in PA.

That awful sinking feeling took root in my stomach.

We were all family that day.

Today, I remember the fallen and those they left behind.  I honor the men and women who are fighting and have fought for our freedom.

I will remember to appreciate my blessings, the biggest and the smallest ones.

Most especially, I am reminded what a blessing it is to be an American.

Face Of A Fighter

We all believe our dog, cat, or bunny, is the best dog, cat, or bunny, in the world.  Well, Bella, my Golden Retriever, really is the best dog in this universe and all the universes inside the minds of my fellow writers. :)

She is special.  She is an angel here on earth; the most gentle creature you will ever come across.

She is also a fighter!

I need to travel back in time in order to clarify how she is a fighter.

As the bells rang out and glasses clinked together in celebration of the arrival of 2010, Bella had her first psychomotor seizure. Of course, I had no idea what the heck was happening at the time! She was panicking, trembling, and hiding and I couldn’t get her to respond to me no matter what I did.  Some of the episodes lasted for hours but they were never shorter than 30 minutes.  Multiple tests were done and still the doctors couldn’t give me a definitive answer. Long story short, with process of elimination, they concluded she was having psychomotor seizures. She was put on a lot of medication. Once the last medication was added to her regimen, the episodes finally stopped. It was about 9 months after that horrible New Year’s Eve. 

In the picture below you can see the effects from one of the worst episodes that lasted all night. Around 6 in the morning she finally seemed to calm down so we went to sleep but when I woke up at 10 I found her hiding by the water heater with her nose scraped raw.

During these months she also had an emergency hysterectomy due to a disease called Pyometra. You can read all about her experience here.  Essentially, Pyometra is a disease that affects females who are not spayed. It is a life threatening disease, so if you have not spayed your pet, take a look at the symptoms. I learned the hard way, you may not have to. 

Sleeping on the couch after surgery.  Lots of pain meds.

My family has been affected by cancer.  In the last two years, it's taken my uncle and my cousin, attacked another cousin and my father, twice.  It even came after my dog.  Flipping cancer.  

This time last year, Bella completed 18 days of radiation treatment for a nasal tumor.  I can't believe it's been a year...  Part of me feels like it's been 10 years since those awful few months and part of me feels like it was yesterday.  

Her skin healed beautifully but her left eye was a bit more stubborn. I was applying two types of creams everyday, multiple times a day, but she still developed cataracts in her left eye and lost her sight about two months ago. The vet offered the option of surgery, but really, this dog has been through enough. She's not in any pain and can still see out of her right eye. She walked into a few chairs at first but she's adjusted really well. 

After all this, she's still a happy dog. She plays and begs for food and hogs the bed. 

The old saying, "When it rains, it pours." has been proven to me these last few years. Just the same, I still have my Bella and she still has her beautiful spirit. Animals are our companions, our conscience, and our teachers. She shows me every day that we all have fight inside us. 

If you are feeling as though you have no more fight in you, don't worry, you do. It never leaves us. Take each day as it comes, hold on, and believe.

Mirror, Mirror.. What? I am the fairest? (Check to see if you are, too.)

Or at least my blog is.  I've received the Beautiful Blogger Award!  I feel so special, now.

So, the rules state that I need to tell 7 things about myself that aren't well-known facts.  Here goes:


1.  I can build an igloo for two with my book collection. Not a joke.


2.  I’m allergic to penicillin. I’ve been told, because I don’t remember anything from when I was six years old, that I experienced a severe allergic reaction: hives all over the place.


3. I received an award for my excellent math skills when I was around 12 or 13. I had to go up on stage and everything. (A known fact about me is that I am terrified of public speaking.) ‘Course, all that wonderful knowledge has fled my brain.


4.  I’m a hippie at heart.  You have to pass a beautiful bead and bamboo curtain to get into my bathroom and my place often smells like varying bouquets of incense.


5. I am notorious for knocking over my drink… or your drink…  any drink in my vicinity. Having broken so many glasses, I now stick with plastic or a sturdy mason jar, if I can help it. One time I knocked my cup over at work and turned a bunch of uber-important documents pink. (Signed originals! Shhh.)


6.  My first college English professor punched me in the arm. It was the last day of classes, my teacher was handing back everyone’s final paper. He didn’t say anything to me, just flat out punched me in the arm and high-fived me before handing me my paper.  It was about my grandmother and her battle with Alzheimer’s.  On it he'd written, “For the world’s sake, keep writing.”  


7.  My second college English professor accused me of plagiarism.  When I proved to him that it was my own work, he urged me to consider publication. If only I'd listened... better late than never, though, right? :)

The next part of the award is to award the next folks.  So, in no particular order, I award the Beautiful Blog Award to:


Jennifer Fischetto
Jordyn Redwood
Jane Latta


Hope you all have fun, and spread the love!