Monday, July 30, 2012

A Different Perspective...

Ah, sooo long since I blogged. Sorry about that but this blog is as good as any to start up again. One blog I follow shows the value of a different perspective. A great way to spur bouts of creativity is seeing life through another's eyes, in this case a cat's or rather a kitten's.
The blog is called Housecat Confidential (http://housecatconfidential.blogspot.com) and it is written (mostly) from the viewpoint of a kitten named Quill. With a sense of humor and a distinct opinion of what humans are for – servitude – the blog is written for anyone owned by a feline.

This month Meg Hart is concentrating on the Cat-O-Lympics narrated convincingly by a pair of fictitious announcers named Jim and Bob. First round is the Hiding event. My Cedar, a 17lb, Maine Coon, Tuxedo cat is a late entry.

It is said humans once worshiped cats as gods and Cats have never let us forget that fact.
If you have cats or if they have you, you will enjoy Housecat Confidential. Let the games begin!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

An Unhappy Hummingbird

With a snow storm blasting away here in the Northwest corner of the U.S. A couple of my little friends were not happy with all this snow. Luckily I keep the hummingbird feeder full and de-iced. It seems to keep them warm until the stuff melts.
I think this picture needs a caption...
When I go out to feed the birds (and squirrels) in bad weather I can feel hundreds of little eyes watching me. An interesting feeling. My daughter calls me Snow White. My husband says I have animal magnetism.




Thursday, January 12, 2012

My Work-In-Progress progresses...

Someone once said to put your work-in-progess on the back burners and let it simmer. Mine has been simmering now for more than 5 months so I dug deep in my nested computer files and found it. I found several versions of course but I read the last one I worked on. I had prefaced this version with a synopsis and remembered that I had spent the whole night working on it. And hated it.

However after I reread it, I liked my synopsis! I remember tossing the whole thing aside and saying it was drivel and it was a stupid story and no one would read it. Then I reread my first 15 pages of the manuscript and I realized I actually liked this story and I wanted to read more. Surprise, this WIP was OK! It wasn’t drivel after all. I liked my characters. I liked my plot. And the writing wasn't too bad for a 2nd draft.
So now I am re-energized by my own work. Now my work-in-progress is progressing.  (what exactly is 'drivel' anyway?)

✩*¨*•.¸¸✩*¨*•.¸¸✩*¨*•.¸¸✩

Excerpt from "The Emerald Boots" 
a middle-grade work in progress by K.A.Higgins ©2010

“Applause soared up like a mountain from the celebrating crowd on the other side of the woven wicker wall, closely followed by what sounded like a huge dragon belching from somewhere high above her. Jade curled up much tighter into the small storage corner she was hiding in.

Covering her ears and pressing her face firmly against her knees she tried to drown out the noise by chanting in her brain,
This is a good idea
        … this was a good idea… 
             this is not a good idea!

A longer and much louder roaring vibrated the whole basket. The brain chanting abruptly adjusted to; “Eleven-year-olds don’t scream...
         Eleven-year-olds don’t scream…”

KaPoossh-SHHHHHHHHhhh – her whole wicker world tipped and swirled and completely knocked Jade loose.

YES, THEY DO!!!” She screamed and scrambled out of her hiding place smack dab into a pair of solid, green tweed legs.

 “Yes, they do what?” asked a Great And Powerful but familiar voice from above.”

     ©2010

Monday, January 2, 2012

One and only one resolution...

...and don't procrastinate...
My one resolution for 2012 is; 

"Five minutes of writing a day for a year equals a book.

Easy to do, easy to keep and with great results. Thank you Alexandra Sokoloff for that thought.
(PS her books are wonderful...read one)
http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com

Saturday, November 5, 2011

PiBoIdMo Day 5...

Rain, rain, go away . . .
And I have four more ideas and titles:

Idea #2 "Weather or Not" What can you do when it's raining and pouring or snowing and blowing?

Idea #3 "Little Brother; Pest and Pal"  The pros and cons of little brothers as seen from the little brother's POV And the big sister's POV.

Idea #4 "If I Had a Tiger"  What Eli would do with a tiger for a pet. Revenge? Intimidation? Run for president? NOT clean his room?

Idea #5"Come and Get It!" Lucy's family works and plays and dances and creates. When they home for dinner to share their day with interesting results.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Picture Book Idea Month 2011


I figured this was a good way to get back to my blog and back to my art after a fairly long hiatus doing all the things life throws at you.

You know...stuff. Stuff that has to be done so you can eat.
So to start off my PiBoIdMo this year.

IDEA #1:
"Where Are They Going?"
An expose' on where geese, ants, bees, turtles and squirrels are going when they head out on migration. Or just in search of nuts.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

The Creative Mind and Magic…

I firmly believe magic exists. Take for example the case of the magic wand. The wand amplifies and directs desires and intentions you focus your mind on. It is creativity manifest.

Hand a plain stick with a star on it to a child or even an adult and tell them it is magic. They will take it in their hand and possibly point it at a friend (or an enemy) and wave it around a bit, fully intending on turning them in a toad, or a duck or a tree.

In that instant they believe it might, just maybe, possibly… actually happen. Most people will agree that it won’t happen…but for the briefest moment in their minds they believed. And magic lived.

If you handed a billion people a wand and they also believed for only a second that their will could manifest itself into a toad (or a duck or a tree) then for a billion seconds magic would exist.

One billion divided by 31,536000 = 31 years, 259 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes and 40 seconds = 31,709.79 years. And there are about 6 billion people on this planet. That’s about 193 years of magic. 

So I firmly believe magic exists...even if for just a moment.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

What I did on my summer vacation...

After a summer filled with new grand baby and vacation I’m eager to start blogging again and thanks to Janet Reid, literary agent I have a great reentry in the blog-o-sphere.

Janet ran a word challenge contest, she actually does this often but this time she forgot to name the winners. She does not forget often. The challenge was to write a story in 100 or fewer words.  Post the story in the comments section of her blog (http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com) and use the following words in the story: lyrical, angst, conspiracy, reluctant, swoop.

I wrote this: 
"The old sideboard was painted with stories. Minutely detailed life marched up drawers and across shelves. A tiny war folded around the doors, a carefully wrought conspiracy hid in the corners and a love affair gone wrong erupted over the intricately carved headpiece. Rendered mostly in browns and greens, a fragile swoop of red would brightly proclaim a birth…or a death.

This furniture was too precious to sell, too detailed to interpret, too disturbing to keep as is. I dipped my brush in generic beige and reluctantly began to extinguish 87 years of lyrical angst.
"

I checked her blog today (I had promised myself no internet while on vacation) and I won her latest word contest posted on Sunday, July 31. What a surprise to come home after 12 days in the mountains of Idaho to find my name after the word “winner”!

Winning is a great motivator to keep writing…humm…let’s see…I have this idea….