Whatcha think?

I'm about to be unemployed. Whoohooo! I'm not really upset. I view it as an adventure. Who knows whats around the corner?

So I was talking to my kids today (both in their 20's) and they suggested opening a coffee shop with gluten free snacks. Good idea?

Eh.

I hate cooking, baking and kitchen work. Why would I want to go into a business that involved this stuff?

I love animals.

Doggie day care?

Sadly, not a good idea. Although I live with three dogs (not all mine), 2 cats and a parrot. I'm allergic to anything with fur. :(

So, I'm thinking what do I love best? Writing & Art.

Yeah!

So now I'm researching grants to open up an art gallery for local artists. I want to give the locals a place to display their work and maybe get some press.

Anyone have any ideas on this? Have you ever applied for a grant? Ever recieved one?

Help! I'm in uncharted territory here!

Slowly going crazy

Still no computer. I get up early and go on my daughter's. However, there's no Word on this puter. CAN YOU IMAGINE A COMPUTER WITHOUT WORD?

Its like a world without air.

All my current WIPs are on Edgar who is up at college. :(

I hope he's having fun there, taking good care of my WIPs and not staying up to late. Edgar needs his rest. I think my head is going to explode if I don't get these voices down in Word.

See those bottles? That's what happens when you drop a Mentos in a bottle of diet Coke. Lesson here? Be careful when you mix dangerous snacks.

Stealing computer time

I'm computerless. WHhhhaaaaaa! :(

My college kid's computer crashed. Its exam time. In this day and age she really needs her computer. So her's sits on the kitchen table and my sweet Edgar went to college.

I hope he has fun there, doesn't stay up to late and remembers to shut down for a few hours at night. It's important he gets his rest.

Now I prowl coffee shops and wait for those unsuspecting caffine hounds to leave there puters unguarded for a few minutes so I can jump on and check out my favorite blogs.

I'm computerless, blogless and I think I'm in withdrawals.

Help!

From Book to Screenplay?

This is my Edgar Allen Poe action figure. He sits on my desk to inspire me.
He's not doing so good this week. Inspiration is flagging. Even the WIP that I'm lovin' isn't moving along. :(

Now, someone close to me has asked me to turn a 400 page manuscript I wrote a few years ago into a screenplay for an up and coming film company and I'm at a loss. 400 pages are nice and fluffy and all encompassing but a screenplay is more stripped down to the bones. Leaving things out won't give the full effect of the story, putting too much in won't leave time for the whole story.

Help! Edgar isn't too inspiring right now....

More good sites for Writers

This is Elvis. He's an African Grey. He's very talkative, playful and has the mentality of a 4 year old. My evil children taught him to cluck like a chicken. I tell him he's an eagle and should make eagle sounds but I don't know any eagle sounds to teach him. I'm going to have to look that up.

Isn't that what writers do best? Look things up? Here is a great site for looking things up: http://www.howstuffworks.com/

You can find out how everything works from the witness protection program to witchcraft. I could spend hours there!

Want to use some real Brittish words in your work? Go here: http://www.effingpot.com/

I have a story about a jury and the repercussions of serving. So I went here: Courts and jury selection- http://www.abanet.org/publiced/courts/juryselect.html

So, what else you got?

NAMING YOUR BABIES

Sometimes a character's name comes to me easily. The name just falls out of my head and poof! The character is born. Other times I have to search for the name that will fit the people in my head. They start as a person with all the quirks and habits a good character needs. They have everything but a name...so I have to send them to the fitting room and let them try on the names until I find the perfect fit.

These are a few fitting rooms that point me in the right direction:

1. This one will match the person's likes to the name-

http://www.babynamesetc.com/generate.htm

2. Got a bad guy? Someone a little out there? Go to the Seventh Sanctum: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php

My fav from the Seventh Sanctum is here: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/gens/heroicname.html

3. Do it by the alphabet: http://www.thinkbabynames.com/ or here: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/chyams/Names/boys.html

4. I once knew a woman who named her children after state capitals. If that rings your bell go here: http://www.townsoftheusa.com/states.htm

5. And when you want to finish up with a last name, you can used the great big last name catolog (otherwise known as the phone book) or go here: http://www.last-names.net/letter.asp?s=K

That's where I get some ideas. How about you?

God bless them all...

Not a bad pass time this guys got. I'm not an advocate of the war or of Bush either, but I do support the troops. They are way braver then me. I'm not sure I'd ever have the guts to go into a country like Iraq and walk around even if they did give me a gun. (I'm afraid of guns anyway.) I think the guys who go off to create peace in all parts of the world are heros. Maybe more of us should go to the airports and give these guys a hug?

I love my country even if I don't like my president.