Day 3...Oh my, I'm losing days...

Day 1 - Edit...  I forgot that I did both sessions of camp last summer and I won the first session.  I just didn't finish the story so I don't really consider it a win.  I just hit the 50k mark...  *sigh*

 

Day 2 - What’s the title of your story?  Why did you choose the name you did?

 

The title of my story is "Two Princes."  I'm horrible at names so I just chose the first name to come to mind.  It is a trick, kind of.  There aren't actually two princes going after the princess.  You'll have to read the story to figure it out.  :)

 

Day 3 - Pick one of your female characters.  Introduce your readers to her, from her point of view and her words only.

 

 My name is Princess Firefly.  I hate that I have to put "Princess" in front of my name when people ask me who I am (not that people normally ask -- they know who I am).  Being a princess is not who I am.  My name is Firefly and I just happen to be a princess...which is one of the most pointless roles in the kingship.  I don't even get to pick who I marry.  BUT, since I am the only heir to my father's kingdom, whoever I marry gets to rule my kingdom with me.  Since my marriage will be extremely important, you'd figure that my dad would be all over the guys that I'm dating, right?  Well, he's not.  Probably because he doesn't allow me to date.  In fact, he doesn't allow me to leave the kingdom at all, so even if I did date, I'd have to date one of the noble men in our kingdom and they're all pretty snobby.  I've never met any of the princes in the other kingdoms (or any of the noblemen either).  I guess I expected them to be just like daddy...only younger.  So when I met Prince Elkhorne, well, let's just say I didn't really expect to meet him.  What a bumbling idiot...

So it is the morning of day 3 of camp.  I've already got a rash.  No, I'm serious.  There's a spot on my leg that's all itchy.  I think it's because of the couch that I've set up camp on.  I might need to relocate.  It's a cold, rainy day of camp.  While I expected to wake up and clean the pond filter, I was happily surprise to see/hear the rain, meaning that I get a morning of writing instead.  I'm not sure if it is in my nature as a writer, or if it is because I am from the Pacific Northwest but the rain helps calm my nerves.  In addition, it helps to inspire words in my chaotic brain.  Wish me luck.  I'm hoping to make 3k+ every day.  Yesterday I only made just over 2k (I think).

Breaking News...

Jake's grandfather is back home from the rehabilitation center, which means a lot of things.  First, that means that he's done a lot of recovery since he went into the hospital.  He can walk again (though he is still very weak) and he can help feed himself.  They are both very slow processes but we are all very patient with him.  As for me, I feel like he accomplishes little victories everytime he does something for himself and when he walks with us or stands up by himself.

It also means that (since he needs a lot of assistance), homelife just got a  tad more complicated.  It's day two since he's been back and we're already developing a schedule (which is so awesome).  We are working on a routine for him so that he can get the most out of his day.  I am developing a routine for myself (it resembles the summer routine that I had when I was here last summer - get up, clean the kitchen, sweep, mop, dust, coffee, write, make breakfast, help with meds, etc.).  The health care specialists and therapists from Caring Hearts are supposed to stop by today to see what he needs from home and see about getting a therapy routine for him as well.  Although it may not seem exciting, the family is very excited.  I have to admit, I am thrilled and excited as well.  

The most recent news is that Jake's aunt is going back home, which means that Jake and I will be here with his grandparents by ourselves (alone for only a week though).  While last summer, that wasn't a problem at all (I would go with Jake's grandmother while he stayed at home with his granddad), it's a bit more complicated now that it takes two people to help his granddad move around, changed, and other daily ritual things.  We'll make it work though.  Just as long as we keep our priorities straight, it should work out fine.  Anyway, the dormatory will be in full effect soon.  We're anticipating a visit from Jake's cousins, aunt, and Jake's dad as well.  I'm excited to see everyone and for everyone to see just how far Jake's granddad has come since his stint at the hospital a couple months ago.  It was looking pretty bleak when he came out of there but now it's a whole new story.

In addition to all that, I'm also going to be "home" a lot more which means that I'll be at my computer doing frequent writing sprints.  I will no longer be able to write for sprints longer than two hours but if I plan it right, I should be able to get some good word slinging in.  My goal for now is to get at least one short story done every week and to continue to work on my novel idea (working title: Holland Manor).  I really want to title it with a pun on the word manor.  "Manor of Speaking" or "Family Manors" or something...

Wish me luck!

Today's prompt:

Base a short story on the phrase "There's more than one way to skin a cat"

Hibiscus Flowers in the Rain

It's been raining here in "sunny" Florida.  The past couple days have reminded me of home sweet home in the Pacific Northwest.  It's been very inspiring.  I feel like flinging words like there's no tomorrow.  There's something about grey skies that really gets my creativity going.  Grey skies and the pitter patter of rain drops on the tin roof over the patio.  

In other news, Jake's granddad has a new roommate.  Broken wrist.  He seems pleasant enough, even though he's apparently hard of hearing.  The TV is on so loud that I can't hear myself think.  Lucky for me, I think The Producers is on.  It could be worse.  It could be Elmo's World...  Not to mention, the new roommate is pretty witty and clever.  That's pretty inspiring as well.  

I have two long term projects that I have been working on: a satirical piece of historical fiction (with a dash of James Bond and a splash of Sherlock Homes) and a humorous (at least that's my intention) adventure story with a lovable group of outcasts and a look at how we treat the elderly in modern day American society.  My self-diagnosed ADD keeps me from locking down only one project at a time.  I figure that focusing on two, very different projects should come in handy because no matter what mood I'm in, I will be able to work on one story or the other.  Now my only problem is staying focused on these long term projects when the distraction of short stories (my first love) is constantly pulling at my attention strings.  Oo, look!  Shiny!

Oh my god...how is it that I've never watched The Producers before?

Caching Florida

Knot a Pine #13

On our way home from the Health Center of Pensacola Jake, Tigre and I often hit a couple cache spots.  It's helped us explore the streets of Pensacola a bit and learn a few basic geocaching tricks.  We rarely get to go exploring deep in the woods but it's still fun.  I love the feeling of finding a tiny container and signing our name on the logsheet.

Bullseye

The "treasures" that we find aren't anything to write home about but I still like to trade items when we can.  We've gotten mardi gras beads, army men, plastic footballs, bracelets, scissors, etc; we've left firemen figurines, army men, bracelets, money, McDonald's toys, and Burping Tuna stickers.  It's not about the treasure though.  It's about honing my ninja skills and it's about the journey.  It's about exploring the town that we're vacationing in.  It's about feeling the orange, clay-rich dirt on our fingertips.  It's about looking amongst the Florida flora.  It's about the things that we experience on the way.  Teamwork. 

 

 

Cantonment is A-1

We're looking forward to coming back home and hunting around our hometown.  Camping and hiking are our favorite passtimes.  Caching in the beautiful woods of the Pacific Northwest will soon be on that list as well.  The excitement will be the same but the feeling will be different.  Geocaching in the Washington rain should be a unique experience for sure.

Newest short story prompt: 

What kind of treasures do you find while geocaching?

Cache Cow

Jake and I went geocaching on Sunday and had a blast despite the fact that we didn't actually uncover any caches*.  Upon further inspection, two (of the three that we went searching for) were stolen and the last one was micro and ...to my knowledge... got eaten by Cthulhu or someone's mother in law.  I'm not sure which.

Speaking of mother-in-laws.  Today's writing prompt comes from Awesome Writing Prompts:

Writing Prompt #567: Do As I Say!

Write about someone who is completely and utterly awful in every way imaginable.  Maybe throw in a unicorn or a narwhal.

All righty, Word Slingers of the Free World!  Good luck!

*Note: I must find myself a few small stuffed cows -- that I shall name "Cache Cows" -- to trade with the small items when Jake and I go geocaching... 

Caching in on going out

A writer's job is very sedentary.  We sit a lot.  Because of that, it's very important to get up and get out every so often.  "But I don't wanna!  I just want to sit and write and read and surf the interwebz..."  No.  Getting up off of your tush is a necessity and it will reward you two fold:

1. It will ensure that you won't be a fat slob.
2. "Write what you know" won't help you if you don't go out and experience the world a little.

It also aids during periods when you get stuck.  Fresh air is good for the lungs and soul.  There are plenty of reasons that come to mind.  Because of this, I fully intend on sharing my experiences with you, in hopes to help inspire you to get out and do something as well.

Yesterday, I introduced the topic of geocaching to my boyfriend, Jake.  He had never heard of the term before (to tell you the truth, I think he thought I was making it up).  As defined by the website, geocaching is "a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices.  Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at the location."  Sometimes there are logbooks to sign.  Sometimes there are items to trade.  There are more that 1.75 million caches around the world since the start of the project back in 2000.  Jake was thrilled.

We have planned a test-run with a small cache located somewhere in Pensacola, this Sunday after Jake and I get finished at the gun show at the Pensacola Fairgrounds.

The minimum requirements for going on one of these GPS adventures are (1) a free membership on the website, and (2) a GPS-enabled device (like my new Windows 7 phone).  Armed with my smartphone, we will be trekking out to find our treasure on Sunday in hopes that Jake will continue to fall further in love with a hobby that we can do together.  I only learned about it myself a couple years back but am thrilled to re-fall-in-love with it.

If we do have a great time, I'm thinking of compiling a geocache specific day-hike backpack. filled with:

• Dollar General Items for trade
• a $1 Item
• a $5 Item
• a $10 Item
• Garbage bag for "Cache In Trade Out"
• "While searching for caches, geogachers collect litter along trails and properly dispose of it."  While normal Cache In Trash Out Events are larger gatherings that focus on cleaning up or beautifying the area, Jake and I plan on doing this for most -- if not all -- of the trails that we go on.
• First aid kit
• Handy wipes
• Paper towels
• Rubber gloves
• Pen
• Extra Socks
• Protein bars
• A couple bottles of water

Have you ever gone geocaching on before?