KARNEVAL!

Karneval Facts: 

The salute to others around you (esp. those with drink in hand): 

 

HELAU! (heh-laaoou)

The favorite drink of people at Karneval: 

BEER

Karneval is the Monday before Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday...it's a day off (in the major Karneval areas of NRW and the city of Mainz) where there's Lots Of Drinking, parades and general revelry. I had it off so of course I went into the city to see what was going on. 

And look what I met at the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train station):

Interestingly, many men dress up as women...most have about the success ratio of those above. But after a couple beers, they no longer care that their breasts are pointing towards China and the US, and that their pink hair is skewed on their head. 

I went to the downtown, *before* the parade I might add. And there were already enough people for me.

You can have every type of potato dish known to man (almost) here. I loves them. 

Lotsa games for the kiddies: 

By the time the parade came, it was too many people for me, so I had to pass. I just like the not-normal air of frivolity that invades around carnival time. It was a blast. 

LOLCAT Freidayz

Secrets to cope.

POWDERED DONUTS.

(mmmm)

Today?

Well kids. 

I'm not feeling much of anything today. I'm actually quite overwhelmed. Jakob is being a snothead...he's objecting to what I think he should do and I know I'm going to do what he wants to do it's just a battle of wills until I do. 

So I shall go forth and visit your blogs and amuse myself therein. 

Sending you all hugs and kisses from bemused-brain-(braaaaenz)-land, JKB

Goals Tuesday

Well, goals I thought I got demz, but in fact dey haz me. 

It's been an insane week and it doesn't seem like it's getting any better. After my little breakdown of a couple weeks ago, and the increase in work at present at the day job, my creative juices are definitely kind of jelled rather than flowing. 

THEN of course yesterday was Karneval, which includes a) lotsa drinking (but you know I didn't do thaaat) an b) lots of normal dour German people drunk and dressed up in costumes. 

Oh yes, I have pictures. :) 

So I'm up to 21800. I know, it's not a lot. But I'm moving steadily onward. The NF comes along slowly, at the bottom of the heap, and I'm okay with that. Two buddies of mine and myself had yet another sterling idea so time will be spent for that. I lost six (!!!!!) pounds last week (weight FINALLY started to come off) and I'm actually feeling energetic, which is good 'cause it looks like my life is imploding. 

Fun times. 

Right now I don't even think I'm goin to do goals for next week as I'm kind of feeling overwhelmed. So suffice to say I'll do something good, something not so good and continue my workout. And go back to normal goal posts next week. 

Interviews with a Kitteh

(Faithfully translated from the LOLCAT by Jen - Tooloose's original comments are in parenthesis after my translations)

 

This is Yoda here. It would be my privilege and honor to introduce the feline author Tooloose, the owner of Patricia Wood, for an interview on this, my human's, blog. I feel the lack of feline authors in the blogosphere should be addressed in some way.

Yoda: Portrait of the interviewer as a young cat

Tooloose: Many felines find focus as a writer although they toil in relative obscurity and their craft is stolen from them (THER IZ LOTS OF CATZ WHO WRIT BUT THER OWNERZ TAK CRIDIT FR THER WROK)

Tooloose: Portrait of the interviewee as an author cat

Yoda: Tooloose, it's been said that a writer's muse is normally his cat. Have you found this an interesting dichotomy?

Tooloose: I find the concept amusing. (I EATS MUSES. THEY IS GUD BUT HARD TO CATCH. GECKOS IS SLOWER.) 

 

Yoda: Who would be your muse, then?

  

Tooloose: Who needs a muse when I am my own best? (I DO NOT NAM MY FUD BUT FUL TUMMY MAKS ME TIRED AND I HAF TO SLEP. WHEN I SLEP I THINK ABUT BEING A FAMUS WRITTER AND GETING PRISES AND MUNEE.) 

 

Yoda: What is your writing method?

Tooloose: I'm a free-former of the writing craft. (I THINK ABUT WRITTING ALOT. THEN I PLAY WITH THE PAPUR. DISTRACTIONS IZ HARD.) 

 

Yoda: How do you handle it all? I'm very admiring of your discipline, but when do you have time to clean yourself?

Tooloose: I have servants. (I DUNT. MY SISTAH DUZ IT.)

 

Yoda: Do you really feel it's necessary that you have hair as a feline? I've not found that I miss it.

Tooloose: I appreciate your follically-challenged state. (YOU DUNT HAF HAIR? WIERD.) 

 

Yoda: Do you feel stigmatised, as a Space Monkey Alien Romance feline writer in a human world? How do you overcome this?

Tooloose: Someone must be the light in the darkness. (IT'S HARD BUT WHEN I SLEP I FURGET ABUT IT.) 

 

Yoda: What are books that inspire you?

Tooloose: My most used are relatively obtuse; I doubt you have heard of them. (BIG ONES THAT HAV SOFT COVURS THAT I CAN LAY ON AND SLEP.) 

 

Yoda: Could you give us a short intro to your current literary masterpiece?

Tooloose: It's extremely complicated. (THEZ GUYS THEY DO SUM STUFF AND THEN GIT ETEN BY ALIEN SPAZ MONKEE) 

 

Yoda: Do you find your human takes your successes as her own? (Hey!! - JKB)

Tooloose: It's a depressing fact of life. (YEZ BUT  I MUZ SUFUR FER MY ART AND I MAK HER SUFUR TOO...)

Note: Tooloose can also be found over at Pat's Blog. 

The subbing process just became damn easy.

Why, you ask? 

It's no secret that the submissions process (as well as the agent process!!) is a long arduous trek of nasty, stink filled rejection. 

but. 

BUT. 

In the midst of my long, hard slog, I just got a present. Today, I mean. Or yesterday. I'm all a'flutter, now that I got 'em. 

Let me back up. 

You see, I've lived in Germany now six years, almost seven. So like technically, 6.5 years. And I've gotten really good at some things: making jambalaya, and Mexican, and Spanish *from scratch*, hunting down Doritoes, finding oreos, and a couple little other things. (funnily, these are all food related. I don't know what that says about me. BUT ANYWAY). 

But never once in all my like six years here have I had a powdered donut. And in University, when I was particularly poor, I'd drink a ginger ale and eat powdered donuts for supper, so I have a sentimental attachment to them. 

And I mourned them precious, I did. 

Enter Twitter, where I tweeted (so funny) about my luuuuurve of powdered donuts. (The Little Debbie feed followed me afterwards. True story.) And then enter Facebook, where one of my most darlingest, wonderfulest, perfectest old sorority friends from 'back in the day' emailed me. She said the ten best words in the world to me. 

Jen hon, I'm going to send you some powdered donuts. 

(Actually? I think she used my maiden name, Sheik, as you know I was all popular and shiz and had a nickname.)

(But I digress.)

(Dana, I HEART YOU!)

First Blue cat and Black cat watched me have hysterics, dancing through the kitchen. Terrified but hungry, Blue cat came forward to investigate. 

He came closer. (Sorry the pictures are a biiiit blurry, I was defending my food.)

Then Black cat had to come check it out, fighting the Blue cat away from the bag. 

You know what I'm going to use these FABULOUS DONUTS for? (First we had to taste-test them. I had four, and the boys shared one. I am happy to report they are a hit). 

REJECTIONS. 

That's right. Every rejection will garner me a donut, the amount rising in scale to my level of desperate depression. 

Isn't that great! So I basically just posted a two page long ditty to my new rejection comfort food, DONUTS.

I wubs you, precious, I wubs you awwot. 

OH and big nice thing !! Black cat and Blue cat will have a special interview on Monday! 

-- stay tuned -- 

LOLCAT Freidayz

Secrets to cope.

You all. 

Seriously, you rock. 

:)

erm,

parlez-vous Francais?

Non??

sprechen sie Deutsch?

No?

habla espanol? 

Nee? 

Well welcome to my world. This MS is b*tchslapping me all over town and back again. If I didn't like it so darn much, I'd just quit it (insert Brokeback Mountain reference here). 

But I do luvs it. So I shall carry through! 

*waves flag triumphantly*

Goals Tuesday

SO, here we are! Another Tuesday! My my, how they begin to smoosh together like that PBJ sandwich you kept in your backpack for far too long. 

I realized something last week. I had too much on my plate. Yeah, I know. Sometimes I even amaze myself at my intellect. So the short story is that the NF will be taken down a notch. I was making myself crazy. And for what? I'm making good inroads on it but it's not my first priority...which is FS. Panicking about that helps no one, least of all myself. 

Having made that decision, I'm feeling much more hunky dory. Add that to the plot breakthrough I had last Friday and I'm almost sane again. 

*twitch*

I made 4k of words, but read a 400 pg MS for a friend of mine, so I'm cool with that. This week I'll:

- get another 5k words in. 

- get that darn bio finished. Like, at some point but don't know when. 

- continue on the fit and healthy train!

I'm doing pretty good. How are you doing with yours? 

Experiment for myself.

So here's what I've been doing. 

Obsessing over voice. 

I feel like that is the hardest part to get down, really. And I find that third person voice (close third person) the most difficult of all. And of course that's the one I want to write in. 

So I'm going to make a list of books that *I* feel show outstanding voice. (Most of these books are much re-read by yours truly, but are listed in no order.) :::

- Summer of the Monkeys (1st) 

- Catcher in the Rye (1st)

- To kill a mockingbird (1st)

- The Outlander series (1st)

- The Temeraire series (3rd)

- Harry Potter (3rd)

- The Hobbit (but not the others 3rd)

- Lottery (1st)

- The Underneath (3rd)

- Witching Hour (3rd) 

- Dune (3rd)

In looking at these, I'm adrift. I know how I want FS to sound, and I think I'm onto it but not entirely there fully. 

So my plan follows thusly: to finish the first draft (ha) of FS. Let it sit, and really think about the voice that I know I want. (I can feel it, it's right *there). Then go through once and make sure the voice is there. THEN copyedit, etc etc. 

I think I might get it there. Because that voice is elusive, and difficult to catch. 

Darn voice anyways. 

lolCAT Freidayz

Secrets to cope.

Today? 

Today, at almost the five week mark of reasonably sleepless nights and overworked body from all the workout I do to forget about it? 

I don't have a secret today. I alternate between manic depression and manic happiness, so here is what I'm begging YOU to tell ME today:

Can you give me a secret to cope? 

*sniff*

Linkie

Jodie is an online read I really like. She reads queries for Jenny Rappaport, has ferrets, and plays the flute. (In addition to being a great writer)

She wrote something today that hit the nail on the head for me. So rather than paraphrase her, I'll just send you over there.

Happy Wednesday, everybody.

Tuesday Goals post.

Hey all! 

In the spirit of accountability, I have a confession to make: I have been BAD. 

My good friend gave me her MS to read through (on it's final pass! Before it goes to the agent!) and she also gave me The Hunger Games. (BAD FRIEND). 

So instead of actually writing, I was reading. Although it was mad good. :) So here's my wrapup: 

- Got 5k of words. I'm up to 17,700. It is really powerful tho, and I know *exactly* where I'm going, so that is satisfying

- Got 4 pics in. That is good

- Didn't pay. Bad me. Will do that this week. 

- Read book. 

So here's what I'll do this week. 

- Write 5k of words. I'll be reading/critiquing quite a bit this week so won't have so much time to write.

- Hand-draw some ideas P sent over. 

- Pay the NF info request 

- Write a bio for the NF and get bio from friend for NF

- Do my exercise every day (and I've been doing very good with this! YAY!)

Those are mine. What are yours?

An interesting finding.

So I got this list in my email box last week (thanks honey.). Where the Book of the Month club and the Library of Congress' Center for the Book were asked to name a book that made a difference in their lives. 

Look at the list, and see if you see what I see (that you see. HA!)

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
2. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
3. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
4. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
5. The Bible
6. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
7. Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White
8. The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
9. Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes
10. Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
11. Hiroshima, by John Hersey
12. How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
13. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
14. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
15. The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery
16. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
17. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
18. Roots, by Alex Haley
19. The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
20. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
21. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
22. Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
23. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
24. What Color is Your Parachute?, by Richard Nelson Bolles
25. The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

Now, did you see what I saw? Look at my interpretation of this list. 

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain - YA
2. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand - Adult
3. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Adult
4. The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Adult
5. The Bible - All ages. 
6. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger - YA/MG
7. Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White - MG
8. The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank - MG/YA
9. Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes - Adult (although I read this when I was like 12)
10. Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell - Adult (Ditto above)
11. Hiroshima, by John Hersey - Adult
12. How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie - Adult
13. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou - Adult
14. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison - Adult
15. The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery - MG/YA
16. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott - MG/YA
17. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien - All ages (IMO)
18. Roots, by Alex Haley - YA
19. The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett - YA/MG
20. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee - MG/YA
21. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson - YA/MG
22. Walden, by Henry David Thoreau - All ages (IMO.)
23. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy - Adult
24. What Color is Your Parachute?, by Richard Nelson Bolles - Adult
25. The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum - YA/MG

11 out of 25 are, in my august opinion, MG/YA books. Some others can (and are) read by children as young as 10. (though not War and Peace, shudder). 

I think this gets down to the bare bones of why I write what I write. I know you get asked that a lot, what you write, and all I had before was a feeling. "It's how I feel when I write the book that matters." 

But I think I'm remembering feelings and images from when I read the books I loved as a kid that make me write now. The hope and laughter and tears that were spent through many a good book on the plains of Oklahoma. When I had a good book I wasn't quite as alone. The feeling that my book's characters were as close as any friends I had in the real world. 

I think (well, as of today) that's exactly why I write. To that kid I was, in the hope that kids I will meet will feel the same way about P, and Jakob, and Shad, as I felt about Scout, and Sterling, and Billy, and Jay Berry.

I hope so at least. 

Why do you write what you do?

LOLCAT FREIDAYZ - Owl edition

Secrets to cope.

- Kittehs -

Fun times? Or insane times?

Well, guess what!

I'm doing a Non-fiction, too. A proposal, of course. Of a subject dear to my heart. Can you guess?

It involves animals. (And that is as far as I'm going) 

But I haven't done it before, and while I think I have enough information (and contacts, as well as a platform YAY) to get it done, a nonfiction proposal is a whole different beast. 

I've approached a friend that does NF to see if I can pick her brain and do an interview with her, maybe it'll help. But I've got to say, its very cool to be working on it, and a welcome addition to my insane life. 

You know, you can use it! Too much fiction writing? Take a break and switch to the proposal. Done with the proposal? Back to the fiction.

Wash, repeat.

Fun times. 

Gettin' my rear in gear

You know how long it's been since I've done goals? 

Bad writer. 

So I think, right now, Tuesdays will be my goals post. This still leaves Mondays and Wednesdays to be fun times in JKB land, but I've got to buckle down, here. 

Right now, I'm standing on 13k finished. Between today and next Tuesday (where I'll hold myself accountable), I'll: 

- Get 8k more words in.

- Get 5 more pics oin on P

- Get my NF research paid up (more on that tomorrow)

- Get the NF How to read. 

I think that's good. The week's only got 7 days, after all. 

What are your goals shaping up to be? 

She's a little shy...

...but I've managed to talk her into it. 

I would like to present to you all P's Lookbook. If you've read the book, you'll know the part the Lookbook plays...if you haven't, go check it out. Tell me what you think. 

(I'll relay it to P, seeing as she's a little shy about this sort of thing.)