Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mass carnage and a dry writing week.

I opened up the kiln on Friday and received a little surprise. Twenty carefully crafted, painstakingly assembled dinosaurs and dragons met their doom sometime during the night. It's unsure what happened; bad clay, air pockets, steam..who knows...I sure don't. Tomorrow, I have to tell them. Them, being the twenty fifth graders who created the now extinct herd.

Have to say, I'm a bit nervous.

Oh well. Life isn't always perfect is it? It was a crazy week of ceramic projects. I think I have over two hundred little pieces to fire and glaze, so I guess losing twenty isn't so bad. Strictly in a number sense.

Didn't have any free time to write.

It pains me to say that. In the five years that I have been working on my craft, I've always found the time to at least dabble. It was bound to happen, I suppose. But I don't like it. I miss my characters. I need my fix.

It's 90 degrees in Santa Barbara today. Beautiful. Clear. Crisp. The roses are fantastic. Perfect beach day. But I think I'll stay inside and write. No dinosaurs legs or dragon wings on my mind today...just my characters.

But before I do, Jen over at Jen Robinson's Book Page tagged me for a Meme. I did this meme not long ago, but thought it would be fun to tagged more people. (Not sure if this is against Meme rules!)

The questions are similar, so I'll only fill in the ones that I didn't answer before. Scroll down to "I've been tagged" to get the rest of my answers...

The rules, once again, are:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing ten years ago?

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

1. Buy a bouquet of flowers for my daughters Brownie Leader, then pick up my daughter from Brownie Camp and ask her how her tummy feels after hurling in said Brownie Leader's car on route to first ever camp out.
2. Pop in my Kathy Smith's "Lose Weight with Weights Vol II" DVD and exercise for the first time in a week.
3. Drive home the two fourteen year old boys who have taken up residence in my home.
4. Print out the fantastic critiques from my online critique group and rework my chapters on my YA novel.
5. Look at my family's master calendar and organize the week, organize my own week and work on my fundraising mural project.

What are some snacks you enjoy?

I said chips before, but right now I'm loving sugar snap peas. Tey are so plump and sweet right now.

What would you do if you were a billionaire?

What are three of your bad habits?

I'm going to change this to good habits!
1. I eat three balanced/healthy meals a day.
2. I exercise at least three times a week (mostly!).
3. I'm very efficient and therefore, get alot done in a day.

What are five places where you have lived?

What are five jobs you have had?

What five people do you want to tag?

Writing pal Laura over at Laura's Magic Day, my new critique partner, Sarah Rettger at Archimedes Forgets, super-skilled critique partner Christine at The Simple and the Ordinary, an author with the best blog title out there(and her last name isn't bad either) Robin Palmer at Keep your glass slipper...I'd rather wear slippers, and finally, super interviewer/illustrator/ writer from my SCBWI region, Tina at Tales from the Rushmore Kid.


12 comments:

  1. sorry about the dinosaurs and dragons. Hopefully the kids won't take it too hard.

    I've been tagged for this meme before - haven't gotten around to it yet. I guess it's time.

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  2. THE HORROR! Yikes! I don't envy you tomorrow:) It's hard to man-up sometimes, but heck, that's life, right? Ah well, got any more clay for the lil' ones to try again? No time prolly, huh? Thanks for the tag...

    Well done you, for getting some writing time in amiga. Sometimes we have to find it with a pick ax and a helmet, but find it we do! HAPPY WRITING! [I miss your characters too:/]

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  3. Thanks for the tag. I've posted my answers over at my blog.

    Your dinosaur story reminds me of the *very stern* lectures we used to get in elementary school about how we needed to get every bit of air out of our clay creations to avoid the same result.

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  4. Christine: Glad you're participating. Always good to know a little bit more about someone!
    Laura: Yeah, some kids will take it pretty hard. I even know which ones. But, on the bright side, we'll have time to make more.
    Sarah: Your art teacher was right. Air pockets are not a good thing. I should have known better. Good grief.

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  5. Just posted the answers on my blog:) Thanks for the tag...

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  6. I love your good habits! You rock :)

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  7. Those are some pretty impressive good habits. I'm working on that exercise thing myself... Thanks for playing!

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  8. Oh, that's brutal. Hope the kids survived the wreckage!

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  9. PJ and Jen: I owe my good habits to The Bob Greene Best Life Diet. Seriously, he whipped me into shape!

    Vivian: One of the 5th graders was almost in tears and refused to believe that her dino met an early demise. I felt so bad that I offered to look through the wreckage to see if any of her peices could be salvaged...and what do ya know...there it was. An unharmed mini dinosaur lurking beneath the rubble. She was SO happy. The whole class cheered.
    Ahhh.

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  10. *hugs* your my hero:)

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  11. Just popping to say hello and look forward to your future entries.I am also a teacher but on leave at present.(in my second year of it,not sure I can push 3)

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  12. Thora: Thanks for stopping by! I'm an art teacher so I feel I don't have to deal with many of the pressures that regular classroom teachers are faced with.
    Checked out your blog...good luck with your writing!

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