Dec 27, 2012

Friday funnies - New Year's edition

The final funnies of 2012 - did this year go by fast or what?

If you've seen The Hobbit, do check out this quite amusing parody by one of my fave authors, Ms. Sarah Rees Brennan.

The gingerbread house I wish I'd made:



The librarian I wish I was:


Les Mis, as it should be titled:


An evil New Year's resolution:



How to Wrap a Cat 101:



Happy New Year!

Dec 23, 2012

Mark your calendars for IndieReCon

I wanted to pass on this cool opportunity for those of you weighing your publishing options: IndieRecon, modeled after WriteOnCon, will be held Feb. 19-21. There'll be editors, guests and workshops all about independant publishing. Check out the site for more info.

Dec 21, 2012

Friday funnies - the apocalypse edition




In case you want to be prepared the next time:



This could also be my husband as a child:


And finally, a wee giggle at feline expense:



It's Christmas break! Expect a Monday post from me next week (if I'm not all hopped up on eggnog, that is.)
Have a great weekend,

Dec 9, 2012

Going on sabbatical

Before my parents retired, they were college professors. And every seven years, they applied for a half-to-year-long sabbatical from teaching to travel and do research.

If you're familiar at all with the politics of upper-level academia, you'll have heard the term "publish-or-perish" and what that means is that if you want to keep advancing up the academic pay scale (assistant to associate to full professor) you have to publish original research in a peer reviewed journal periodically.

In other words, you have to get out of the classroom, study something interesting and then write about it. (One year my dad spent in Halifax,  Nova Scotia studying the territorial impulses of a certain kind of sand snail. Which doesn't sound mainstream interesting but he's a biologist and weird that way.)

The whole idea behind this expectation is that interesting lives make for interesting teachers. And the same goes for writers.


The muse I have..
This past semester I've been plugging along on various WIPs. I revised a finished MS twice, completed a WIP and started another despite the fact my writing time shrank to one hour a week at best. And I've been teaching two additional classes without any advance time to plan... in other words, pantsing each class. This takes a lot of thinking time to accomplish - thinking time I had spent on writing. 

And here's what I've discovered: my stores of creativity - aka, my bipolar muse -  are not limitless. They are finite and specific and not into multi-tasking. Also they are slow to refill. I'm an introvert, someone who needs LOTS of down time to refuel. In the middle of the school year, what downtime I have is filled with laundry, cooking, shopping, hockey/volleyball games, volunteering, etc.... the drill of a working mom.

So my Christmas gift to myself this year is to relax. No more internal pressure to just write already. I'm going to concentrate on LIFE - both inside and out of the classroom. Next year I'll be traveling, doing projects with my students and starting the college search with my son.  Oh, and reading a ton. I'm hoping that creativity - as well as enthusiasm and energy and that sneaky/bipolar muse of mine -  will creep back as soon as I stop constantly draining that tank dry. *crosses fingers*

I will continue to post Friday Funnies but Monday Manuscripts will be dependant on something writerly to share.


The muses I want...


How about you? How are you coping with middle-of-the-schoolyear-stress?

Dec 2, 2012

And you are...? bloghop


The wonderful Emily King and Tammy Theriault are hosting this fun hop, in which we all compete to win prizes from none other than Mrs. Claus!!

Which makes me SO EXCITED. I'm Mrs Claus around our house and honestly, it'd be nice if someone else shouldered the whole present-load occasionally. Hopefully one of the prizes is my own set of elves because I could use them right now.


These are the "And You Are...?" questions:


1. How many speeding tickets have you gotten?


Actually gotten? One. It resulted in a warrant for my arrest in the state of Missouri....which makes me an "authentic" Alaskan.

2. Can you pitch a tent?

Of course. I can also build my own campfire and wrassle alligators. *spits*

3. What was your worst vacation ever?

The vacation where, three hours after we'd arrived, my son opened our camper door and my 18-mo. old daughter fell head first onto the concrete camper pad. Her forehead swelled alarmingly, we spent six hours in the ER and then all night calming her down so that, when it was time to cut our losses and leave the campground, she was still screaming in the morning. We packed up at 5 a.m. while she cried inconsolably. When I asked her to "please quiet down, Gracie" our poor tent camping neighbors called out: "Yes, Gracie, please QUIET DOWN!" *burning red with remembered shame* She cried on and off the entire twelve hour trip home where we discovered she was cutting four teeth in addition to having an enormous headache. o.O

4. What was the last thing you bought over $100?

A hockey stick for my son.

5. We're handing you the keys to what?

A spaceship. With light speed, please. Or Wonder Woman's invisible plane. Either one works.

6. What was the last meal you cooked that made even you sick?

A chicken rice soup where the rice blew up and looked like tiny maggots.

7. Fill in the blank: Oh my gosh! Becky, look at her butt! It is so big. She looks like ____?

A spaceship. With light speed.

8. What was your first car?

A 1989 Dodge Horizon.

9. Your best friend falls and gets hurt. Do you ask if he/she's okay or laugh first?

Ask if she's okay. Unless of course her falling involves a wet butt or poo.

10. What's the worst song ever?
Ice, ice, baby.