Beebalm

Queen Ann Lace

At night a raccoon ran over to the tree and asked, "I see a big hole in the tree. May I live in it?" The tree's leaves fluttered. "Yes, you can live in it." The raccoon climbed up the tree. scritch, scritch, scritch. He dug inside the hole so he would have more room to lay down.

Plump catapillars were ready to spin their chrysalises. They asked the tree, "Can we spin our chrysalises on one of you branches?" The tree fluttered it's leaves. "Yes, you may," the tree said. The catapillars climbed the tree. pup, pup, pup. They found a branch and hung from it. They spun the threads around their black, white and yellow stripes.

A future author's thoughts on writing and life: Continuation of The Lonely Tree. For children's ey...

A future author's thoughts on writing and life: Continuation of The Lonely Tree. For children's ey...: This is just a rough draft. I will have to work on rythm The next day two squirrels skattered up the tree. scritch, scritch, scritch....

Continuation of The Lonely Tree. For children's eyes only.

This is just a rough draft. I will have to work on rythm

The next day two squirrels skattered up the tree. scritch, scritch, scritch. They reached the top. One squirrel said, "This would be a good spot to build our nest of leaves." The other one said, "Yes, it is"
They asked the tree, "Can we build our home on this part of the tree?" The tree swayed and flapped it's leaves. "You can build your home on the top of me," it said. The squirrels gathered leaves and patted them together.

#Story #writing #photoshopping

In the woods there was a tree and it felt lonely even though it was surrounded by other trees. One day a robin flew over and perched on a branch. "This looks like a good place to build a nest," she chirped.      Then the robin asked, "May I build a nest on one of your branches?"

The tree flapped its branches. "Yes, you can build a nest," it said.  

The robin collected grass, fuzzies and mud and wove a nest. The next day....

 I was strolling through a meadow and became estatic when I spotted yellow, black and white stripes underneath a milkweed plant. This is the first time I had seen these chubby creatures with black antennaes and suctioned feet. I hope a bird doesn't swoop down and swallow the second stage of a monarch butterfly.

photoshopped chicago skyline

Chicago is a great city for it's architecture, old and new. I love driving through the cities canyons.

Lights of Chicago

Best places to write

I need to go to places that are quiet and peaceful to write. Sometimes I sit in a room where I can observe the outdoors. Sometimes coffee shops help me to focus on writing and not what needs to get done at home. I m trying to write after I walk the dog. Or after I do the bills.

I m not the kind of writer that can isolate myself from friends and family. I m a people person and that is one of the reasons I m having difficulty finishing my novel in addition to spending more time with my elderly parents and getting the house ready to sell. I keep telling myself maybe I should find a place on in the woods and just keep writing until I m done. But knowing me, I'd bring handful of bird food, carrots or lettuce to lure the forest creatures over, so I can talk with them

Been so busy this week and feel guilty that I haven't been writing. I've read it a thousand times and I think I'm just tired of it. But I'm going to focus on it this week. I need to start writing the synopsis. That is very difficult!!!!!!!!!!

 I found Max in an animal shelter, so that makes him so special. They had no imformation on where he came from or what kind of dog he is.  I do know he must of had a bad experience with "men in suits." Every time he saw someone in a business suit he'd run over and circle the man and bark. I wish he could tell me what happened, but whatever happened is in the past and he is loved and spoiled by Norm and I.  Below are some different photoshopped pics of Max.

Photoshopping

I used gradient colors, accented edges and gaussian blur

photoshopped flowers

As I revise I noticed that I had all the senses except the sense of touch.  I'll have to decribe the temperature of water or the feel of the ground. If the ground is muddy. I could write: I stepped in the mud and it felt as though my feet were being wrapped with something soft as dough. Or I felt as though I was walking through softened butter or thick cream. Or the mud felt mushy. 

PHOTOSHOPPING

WHEN I NEED TIME TO RELAX I LOVE TO PHOTOSHOP. I LIKE TO TRY VARIOUS TECHNIQUES ON THE SAME PHOTO.  THIS ONE I COLOR THE FLOWERS AND USES THE POSTER EDGES FILTER.

WHILE PHOTOSHOPPING I WAS ABLE TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF WHY MY MAIN CHARACTER WAS ARGUING WITH THE ANTAGONIST. TOMORROW I WILL GET BACK TO MY REWRITE. I'M SO EXCITED. I FEEL MY STORY IS REALLY COMING TOGETHER.

Story Arc's and Turning Points.

I'm still working on my story arc. Sometimes, I think that following the rules of writing can sometimes hamper my creativity. I've read that after 1/4 through the story there should be the first turning point. So if I  have it 3/8 of the book, It's not going to be a good mg novel? And why can't we just have the name, age, and gender of characters listed in an index in the front of the book? Or if not the main character at least the other characters. I sometimes hate it when I'm reading and I don't even know the name of the main character until the end of the chapter. Then as I finally know the name, I forget it because in first person the doesn't come up unless someone addressed the main character. But I guess part of it might be my age. My memory is only 3/4 of their memory or is it 3/8? I'll have to google it and find out what the correct answer is. As you well know, we are all the same.

Now back to my revision. My other thought on a title is: The raft. That might be a catchy title.

The Boulders In the River

I've been working on my final revision of my historical fiction novel.

In one statement the story is:  Kathy supports equal rights for Blacks, but her Grandma is fearful of the minorties and disagrees with her. How does Kathy stand up to Grandma for what she believes is right. How does Grandma react to Kathy's support of Black's equality.

In 1967, Kathy and her family move to Milwaukee  and live with her Grandma until they kind find their own place. Kathy's Grandma is good to Kathy and her brother Jack. Even though Grandma likes  to spoil them, Kathy is frustrated and angry with Grandma's racist remarks and fear of African Americans. At first Kathy tries to ignore her, but she can no longer keep quiet and tries to persuade Grandma that Blacks deserve equality.

Kathy is a real nature lover and likes to hike and climb on the boulders in the river, but her parents and Grandma don't want her near the river because it's not safe with it's strong currents.  Kathy and Jack ignore their order and they sneak over to the river. They run into WT an African-American. They develop a friendship, spend time with him fishing in the river and rafting. Through WT they learn more about the fair housing protests. WT also tries to talk Kathy into attending one of the marches, but she's afraid. Read furthur to find out if Kathy can change Grandma's mind?