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Long-time readers of the blog know that I sometimes go slightly off-topic to share my geek love for all things space.

This month, Hubble celebrates its 21st anniversary of deploying into the space and released this gorgeous picture of two intersecting galaxies called Arp273.

“Arp 273 lies in the constellation Andromeda and is roughly 300 million light-years away from Earth. The image shows a tenuous tidal bridge of material between the two galaxies that are separated from each other by tens of thousands of light-years.

The larger of the spiral galaxies, known as UGC 1810, has a disk that is distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813. A swath of blue jewel-like points across the top is the combined light from clusters of intensely bright and hot young blue stars. These massive stars glow fiercely in ultraviolet light.”

The universe is so beautiful.

For new subscribers of the blog, I sometimes go slightly off-topic to share my geek love for all things space.

The Antennae Galaxies are currently colliding to form one giant galaxy. The orange regions represent the original cores of both galaxies and the old stars and filaments of dust represent the brown regions. The collision first started approximately a hundred million years ago and during the course of this merge, billions of stars will be born, represented in the bright blue regions.

What is most interesting is that the concept of colliding galaxies is fairly common and that most galaxies undergo at least one significant collision in their lifetimes. Our own Milky Way Galaxy will likely collide with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy in the next several billion years.

It’s time for the December edition of Flashback Friday where I share events from my own life during my kid and teen years.

One of the holiday traditions for me was participating in some sort of Nutcracker production. I took ballet for about 10 years until I was 16 — this is when I figured out that I didn’t have the body or the talent to be a prima ballerina.

One of my favorite memories was when I was 11 years old and our dance school had the prestigious honor of dancing with The Atlanta Ballet Company’s rendition of The Nutcracker.

Dear Diary:

So Becky wasn’t lying when she said that Ms. Leopald was going to cast us for roles today. Lisa got cast as a Rat. Perfect role for her. She’ll have to wear this awful furry costume and roll around on the floor. This is what she gets for being such a Grinch (and it’s not even Christmas yet). Donna got cast as a Solider — which was a little better but she won’t dance much and she can’t smile because Soliders Are Serious.

Sooo…guess what? Guess what I am???

Hint: I’m not a Rat and I’m not a Solider.

Give up yet?

I’m an ANGEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m the TALLEST in my class so I got moved with the HIGH SCHOOL girls. I get to actually dance in both acts and I get to rehearse with the Atlanta Ballet dancers.

And the best part? I get to wear GLITTER.

Yeah, let’s talk about that glitter for a second shall we? I had to put it in my hair on my face, shoulders — it was EVERYWHERE. By the end of it all, I was glitter-traumatized. Now when I see glitter, I kinda cringe.

I searched for an Angel picture but couldn’t find any, which is too bad because the costume was really beautiful as I remember it — glitter and all. I did find a picture that I took for a Nutcracker Suite production when I was 13 years old. I danced in The Waltz of the Flowers — to this day it is one of my favorite Tchaikovsky Nutcracker compositions. I remember our dance mistress decided to have each girl be a different color. Looks like I was the blue flower. :)

Today in the United States it’s Thanksgiving so while there are many things I’m really thankful for these are my top three:

1. My friends and family, who always love me unconditionally.
2. My writing, for it is something that gives me something to strive for and gives my creativity an outlet.
3. My day job, which although limits my time writing — allows me to lead a comfortable life in these hard economic times.

For those of you celebrating today, I hope you have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

I went on a Pre-Thanksgiving workout blitz, so I plan on having a great guilt free dinner.

I also plan to get some writing done on my novel project during the long holiday weekend.

No shopping for me. Black Friday? Ugh, no thank you. I’m a Cyber Monday chick.

It’s time for the November edition of Flashback Friday where I share events from my own life during my kid and teen years.

For this installment I thought I would just embarrass myself by posting some of my break-up poems. Did you ever write those? Break-ups in high school were so *dramatic* — the end of the world and being the budding writer that I was — I had to immortalize my pain in the form of bad poetry. Here are two poems that I wrote to two boys after they broke my heart:

Untitled (10th grade)

Out of your life
I’m gone without a trace

No hugs or kisses good-bye
Not even a warm embrace

Out of your life
I fade into the sunset

No pictures or sweet memories
Not even a slight regret

Out of your life
I leave and you do not resist

No questions or a reason why
Not even to ask if I still exist.


Memory (11th grade)

Days When I
Think of
you.

How deep I
exist in
Thoughts.

Aspirations and
Dreams in my
Mind.

Wishes that go
Unfullfilled
And wilt.

Memory and dust
Become
My existence.

Time will bury
Me beyond
Recognition.

Living dead
With heart
Still beating.

I still cringe knowing that I slipped these poems into the lockers of those boys.

With the 11th grade break-up poem I tried to get the janitor to open up my ex-boyfriend’s locker so I could retrieve it — this was right after lunch when I found out that his new girlfriend had access — oh, it was so humiliating! She was also in my Spanish 102 class and made it a living hell when she passed the poem around to her friends. Yeah, good times. And no, I’m not still bitter. Not at all. Ha.

It just proves when you’re young and heart-broken, you can do (and write) some dumb things.

It’s the October edition of Flashback Friday where I share events from my own life during my kid and teen years.

For this installment, I’ve included another relic from my mother’s box. She is the one who encouraged my early writing and she was my first “reader” of the stories I wrote. This one is a “retelling” of a fairy tale I typed on my beloved typewriter when I was 10 years old:

THE STORY OF CHICKENRELLA

You may have already seen the movie or read the book but here is the untold story.

Once there was a beautiful girl who loved chicken. She loved chicken so much, people called her Chickenrella. But Chickenrella had an evil stepmother and two evil step-sisters Bertha and Gertrude.

The people around the land were getting ready for the annual ball the poultry factory held every year. Chickenrella knew this would be the chance she could meet the Inspector and get a free frozen pack of chicken legs. But her evil step-mother would not let her go to the ball. Chickenrella had to make chicken bone gumbo for Bertha and Gertrude. The step-sisters thought the bones had powers to make them beautiful. They had heard the most beautiful girl at the Poultry Ball would get a three-piece chicken dinner.

After the step-sisters left for the Poultry Ball, Chickenrella cried and cried because she knew she wouldn’t get her frozen pack of chicken legs. But a rooster gave her some shoes and the hens made her a dress of feathers. She was ready to head off to the Poultry Ball.

When she got there she saw the Inspector and it was love at first sight. They danced and danced the whole night. Chickenrella won the three-piece chicken dinner. The Inspector married her and she lived happily on frozen packs of chicken legs for the rest of her life.

THE END

Hmm…I think my reasoning wasn’t quite logical since it was the roosters and hens who help Chickenrella get to the Poultry Ball — so that she could get a free frozen pack of chicken legs. But hey, I was only 10 years old and hadn’t learned revision yet. Ha.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Work on your novels.

If you haven’t heard yet, Fall (or Autumn if you prefer) has arrived. Here’s a gorgeous picture that I took last Fall from my office window. One of the things I love about Atlanta is the sea of trees that surround the skyline.

This is my *favorite* season! I LOVES me some Fall. I love the football, the change of weather, the Halloween treats, the veggie harvest, the turning of the leaves, and the infamous Thanksgiving dinner.

Originally my current novel project took place in the Fall but now that has been changed to the Spring because this season worked better for some of the things I needed to do. That’s okay though. Hopefully one of my novels will take place during this glorious time of year.

One of my goals is to be done with the last third of my novel for this revision round. That will be a great milestone to reach. I’m also looking forward to attending the Rutgers One-on-One Plus Conference in October and the Big Sur Children’s Writing Workshop in early December.

Do you have any goals or plans for the Fall? What are you looking forward to most this season?

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Write something…

It’s the September edition of Flashback Friday where I share events from my own life during my kid and teen years.

I have to give credit to my mother for this month’s flashback. When I went to Athens last weekend for the Labor Day holiday, she gave me some letters that I had typed for her birthday. I was 10 years old and it was the year I got my *first* typewriter. Let me tell you that I ADORED that typewriter.

At the time my mother worked on an assembly line at a clock manufacturer and she had a rubber rat named Wilbur that she used to scare people for fun and pranks. She told me she found the letters in her bag during her lunch break.

I must admit that I vaguely remember typing these letters.

Birthday Letter #1 - “You Must Read This One First”

Dear Joyce:

You may not know me but I am Wilbur’s mother. He informed me that today is your birthday. Being the rat that I am I thought I would write to you to wish you a very happy birthday. Oh and I would also want to wish you a happy birthday on the behalf of all the rats in the world.

Yours like a rat,

Wilbur’s mother (Wilbina)

Birthday Letter # 2 - “You Must Read This One Second”

Hi Joyce!

Everybody is talking about your birthday today. Sorry so rude you may not know me but I see you every morning and every evening. Don’t you know who I am? I’m the shift time clock that rings at work silly. Wilbur’s mother typed this up for me. I hope she didn’t get any rat hairs on this! I think that I am being nice to wish you a happy birthday. Anyway since it’s your special day today I just might ring earlier than usual tonight and give you some extra time off.

Ringing out,

The Shift Work Bell

Letter #3 - “You Must Read This One Last”

My Good Friend Joyce,

This is just so exciting! Today is your birthday. I just can’t believe it! Joyce we go back so far. Remember the times that we had together? Scaring the devil out of people? Watching them scream? How we giggled in glee? Don’t tell me that you don’t know who I am. Wilbur himself. The true rat attack. It’s been my pleasure playing pranks with you. Maybe one day we can get someone to pee in their pants. Happy Birthday!

Your rat forever,

Wilbur

I realize now how much me and my mother had this sort of sense of humor with each other. This was important because we as a family had hit a rough patch as far as finances and things got kind of tense. Working 12-hours shifts on the assembly line was a tough job for my mother but she did it to bring in the money we needed so badly. She says she remembers when she read those birthday letters on her lunch break and how good they made her feel.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Get some writing done.

Wow, what a CRAZY week it’s been!

My weekend is going to be great because I’m FINALLY getting furniture delivered my house this afternoon. For those of you who have been following the blog, you may remember when I donated most of my furniture to a single mother and her family in February.

So now after four months, I’m going to be able to start writing in my brand new office. I can’t wait! I’ll be sure to post some pictures soon.

Did any of you get a chance to watch Master Chef on Fox this Tuesday? The premise is to take the best home cooks in America and through elimination competition, turn one of them into a culinary master.

It was an emotional show.

First, most of these people have other lives, other jobs but cooking is their passion. It is what they love to do more than anything.

I thought about us as writers how it’s almost like the same thing. A lot of us do other things in our lives but we all are passionate about writing. We love it more than anything.

Watching the qualification rounds on Master Chef, it was easy to spot which ones were ready to take it to the next level and learn more to become a culinary expert.

I started to think about cooking and writing. It’s the kind of thing where it seems *so* simple. Cooking? It’s just taking some spices and mixing it all together right? Same with writing. It’s just pages and pages of words.

Anyone can do it.

But we know that it’s not that simple. A dish cooked with passion and made from the heart tastes totally different than a dish cooked from a box with instructions. The same with writing. Simple words on the page read flat if they don’t have the passion of storytelling behind them.

It takes more than just writing words on the page. It also takes dedication and perseverance to learn the craft. To make the words on the page transport the reader to another place physically and emotionally.

It takes a lot to be a Master Writer.

I hope that all of you have a great weekend! I’ll be spending some of my time working with my new furniture and enjoying my new office. And I’ll get some writing done as well.

For the new subscribers of the blog, I sometimes go off-topic on Fridays and share my geek love of all things space.

The Ant Nebula is one of my favorite pictures from the Hubble Telescope.

This nebula resides in our galaxy between 3,000 and 6,000 light years from Earth. NASA released this image in Feburary 2001.

To me, what is most interesting is that this plantery nebula shows the last stage in the life of a Sun-like star, which gives us a clue of our own Sun’s fate when that time comes.

Okay, enough of my space geek fest.

I hope that every one has a great weekend and that all of you get some writing done on your projects.

While looking for this month’s Flashback Friday subject, I came across some of my clippings when I was a writer for my high school newspaper, THE EXCLABILUR: The Sword of Truth.

It brought back lots of memories too. Plus, I didn’t know I had written so many short stories for the paper. It now dawns on me that I was probably known more as a writer in high school than I realized.

So here’s an excerpt from an article that I wrote when I was a 16 year-old aspiring journalist. Good advice that’s still applicable today:

Procrastinators Master The Art of Putting It Off

Do you wash the dishes when the suds are gone? Is your motto “‘I’ll do it later,” “I’m tired,” or “I’ll do it tomorrow?” Do you wait until the trash looks like furniture to take it out? Do people hate to ask you to do anything?

If you answered “yes” to at least one of these preceding questions, you could be a true blue procrastinator.

Believe it or not, many psychiatrists say that people procrastinate because they aspire to the ideal of doing everything perfectly.

So what should a true blue procrastinator do? These ten tips should help:

1. Plan tasks. Do the difficult tasks when you have the most energy.

2. Double up. Do two things at one time. An example may be talking on the phone and doing paperwork or exercising and watching T.V.

3. Set deadlines. Give yourself a specific date on which a task must be completed.

4. Get organized. A lot of people lose time looking for things, so set up a shelf, counter, table, etc. for important things.

5. Do it now. If something needs to be done, do it then not later. You’ll feel better if you do.

6. Make a schedule. Block out a time for each specific things os you won’t waste time figuring out what to do next

7. Ask for help. If something is too hard or not easy to understand — ask for help!

8. Set priorities. Of all the things you have to do, figure out what should be done and what must be done.

9. Learn to say no. Don’t accept too many tasks from other people. Let them do it themselves if you’re too busy.

10. Get rest. This may sound tempting. Just don’t overdo it. Be realistic. Procrastinators need rest too!

No one can change overnight, of course. However, putting things in order and doing your tasks on time will make a big difference. You will notice a sense of relief when you finish something.

Okay, these are not bad tips coming from a 16-year old. Though #2 is sort of suspect. But I wonder what my younger self would say about my habits now?

Hmm…

But I think she would be happy that I’m still writing and almost finished with my novel project.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

5 Comments on Flashback Friday (7), last added: 7/18/2010

For the new readers of the blog, I’ve been doing a monthly installment where I share events from my own life during my kid and teen years.

For this installment, I’ve included a note given to me in study hall from one of my girlfriends. The things teen girls share with each other are timeless:

Hey Karen:

Hope you liked my present. I didn’t know what to get you so I just got you something useful. You’re always writing something so I figure pen and paper! Genius!

I went to the mall this weekend but got depressed because there wasn’t anything I liked or could afford. I ended buying some cheap earrings. I wish my parents would give me more for my allowance. How can I get cute with the chump change they give me? I need more CASH.

I saw Jeff and he FINALLY asked for my phone number. I’m so excited! Then I saw Michael, Steven, Julius, and Tony. There were so many cute boys at the mall that I got all light-headed.

I saw Marie with her boyfriend. Have you seen him yet? I swear that is the most ugliest little pea-headed boy you would ever want to see. I would never tell her that but I had to tell somebody — you in this case. Karen, if I ever get an ugly boyfriend, you have to TELL me! Okay? Promise?

Next time you’re coming to the mall with me. You shouldn’t stay up in your room writing stories all the time especially since you let NOBODY read them! You’re missing ALL the action!

I hope that everyone has a great weekend! Don’t forget Father’s Day — do something nice or in remembrance for your father figure(s). Also try to get some writing done!

There is one ending that I have been anticipating all year. The series finale of LOST.

I remember the pilot episode (which is airing on Saturday night on ABC). I fell in love with mysteries of the island. I’m a plot chick so that hooked me first. Then I got caught up with the characters and their stories. It was the best of both worlds — mythology and motivations all lumped into one package.

Although LOST has been known to confuse and frustrate some of its viewers, I think most of them will watch the final episode because if anything, everyone wants to know: How Will It End?

I have some theories but in the end it will be the LOST writers who decide. I’m sure that it won’t satisfy certain segments of the viewing audience but that’s the chance writers take with their work. You’ll always have a different view from the readers.

I started to think about endings. Are all endings subjective? What makes a good ending? Even though LOST is a TV show, it still has a lot of aspects of novel writing.

For me, a good ending ties up loose ends. It gives me a sense that the characters have come to terms with the story question presented in the beginning. It also lets me get a tiny peek into what’s in store for their future — will they happy or sad?

Those are just a few things that I like to see in endings. I don’t like abrupt endings — although some people do — but they are more open-ended than what I really like.

So for those of you who watch LOST, we will all know the answer to how it all ends around 11:31 pm on Sunday night.

Have a great weekend everyone! Hope that you are getting some writing done and moving ahead in your novel projects.

For the new readers of the blog, I sometimes go slightly off-topic to share my space geek love.

The Hubble telescope is celebrating its 20th birthday this month. Last week, a photo was released of the Carina Nebula, the largest seen star-birth regions in the galaxy. Astronomers have nicknamed it “Mystic Mountain.”

The Universe Today blog shares some information about Carina Nebula:

“‘Mystic Mountain has clouds of gas and dust, that have not only baby stars, but also baby solar systems,’ said John Grunsfeld, Hubble-hugger, repairman and now the Deputry Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute. ‘4.5 billion years ago, this may be what our solar system looked like.’”

I love this stuff and find it fascinating and the photo is breath-taking. There is so much in this Universe — things we probably can’t even imagine.

Have a great weekend everyone. I hope that you get some writing done!

On Monday, I will reveal the two winners of my Blog Anniversary Book Giveaway. Stay tuned.

It’s time for my monthly installment of Flashback Friday where I share events from my own life during my kid and teen years.

While searching for an appropriate diary entry to share, I noticed something interesting with the progression of my affinity for boys. So I thought I would share some quick clips of that progression from me seeing boys as the “enemy” to “more than a friend.”

3rd Grade:
“Guess who’s in Mrs. Hill’s class with me? Crummy Stanley. He’s such a baby. I wish I could hit him with a rock.”

4th Grade:
“Allen keeps chasing me around the playscape. That is not funny. When we play dodge ball I’m going to BURN him.”

6th Grade:
“Okay, I admit it. I like Mike but Diary I can’t stand that the sneaky smile. Yuk.”

7th Grade:
“I went to thing skating rink today and Scott bought me a slice a cheese pizza. It was the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I fell down once but he helped me back up. I think I love him.”

8th Grade:
“All I wanted was one boy! One boy to myself! Is that too much to ask for? Cathy knew I liked Donovan. She is such a two-faced *%^#$@!!!!!!! I hate them both!”

9th Grade:
“I went to the movies with Shawn yesterday. Well Mama dropped me off but whatever. He held my hand the whole way through. Then he kissed me. I don’t remember anything about the movie.”

It’s sort of funny seeing the progression but I do remember really *hating* boys as a young girl. I’m so not kidding. The first day of first grade I gave a boy a bloody nose because he pulled my ponytail. But as time went on, I realized that boys were not so bad after all.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Since I write mostly for kids and teens, I find myself observing their world and also revisiting my own life during that time period.

I stumbled upon The Childhood Belief Site - I Used to Believe. It’s fun site that has a list of things people believed when they were kids. My favorite section is the Nature section. Growing up in the country, I was always outside and with my vivid imagination and limited kid knowledge, I came up with some beliefs that are funny now that I’m an adult.

Here are just a few things that I actually believed when I was a kid:

• Ice cream came from clouds. Strawberry ice cream came from sunsets and chocolate ice cream came from storms.
• Each brick along my grandmother’s sidewalk was a tiny apartment where ants lived with their families.
• Butterflies came from flowers and that was the reason they hung around them so much — they were talking to their friends.
• I thought of leaves as hair for trees. In the fall, when leaves changed colors, I always thought it was hair dye job. And since the leaves always fell out, a bad hair dye job.

And those were just a few things that I remember. I’m sure I could think of more. Did you have any weird and/or funny things that you believed as a kid?

This is a first of a periodic series that I’ll be featuring on the blog this year.

Since I write primarily young-adult fiction, I thought it might be fun to revisit my own life during this time period. I’ve kept a journal since I was five years old (seriously) and I’ve uncovered some interesting artifacts from high school during the recent holiday visit to my parent’s house.

It’s funny because there are some things that never change for teens. Case in point, the “getting to know you” game boys and girls play. The medium may change (paper to email to text), but the content seems timeless.

Here’s an actual letter I received from a boy when I was a freshman in high school:

“Dearest Karen

You seem like a pretty nice young lady so far. I want you to know that what Ike has told me about you has made me very interested in you. So when you write back tell me a little about yourself. But first, I’m going to tell you a little bit about myself.

I’m Joseph. Age: 16. Sign: Cancer. Favorite Hobbies: Playing basketball, playing football, riding horses, hunting, talking to beautiful ladies. Birthday: July 7th. Oh, I also like to play my saxophone.

What I see in a girl: Intelligence, a good personality, good looks. That’s about it.

So when you write back, you tell me something about yourself. And give me a picture!

Love always,

Joseph, a.k.a J-Man #20″

Most writers lead sedentary lifestyles. We sit for hours in front of the computer or over our legal pad writing our stories. While this is necessary in order to produce our work, it can be very unhealthy for our bodies.

For me, I have it bad because I do a lot of sitting at the day job as well. And for some reason, my company is having this holiday celebration where it seems every day some kind of food is being showered upon us. Cookies, cupcakes, candy canes, brownies, and all kinds of other seasonal treats. At least I’m a salt chick and the sweet treats don’t phase me. But I think today we’re having a buffet lunch, and I’m sure that they’ll be plenty of salty temptations.

So what’s a sedentary writer to do?

I’ve always known how important having an active lifestyle is to promote health. And a healthy body equals a healthy mind which is good for creativity. And highly creative minds writer better novels.

It’s not always easy though but little things can help.

Here are some tips that help me strive against a sedentary lifestyle:

1. Drink 32 oz of water before noon.

This helps get water in your body early in the day to keep you hydrated and keep hunger at bay. Do you know sometimes thirst can be disguised as hunger? You’re not really hungry but dehydrated? For my water intake I always drink 8 oz upon waking, another 8 oz after my writing session and then 8 oz on the way to work. By the time lunch rolls in, I’ve drank my 32 oz.

2. Use walking as part of physical activity.

Walking is the best type of physical activity and easy to fit in your day. Health officials recommend we should walk 10,000 steps per day. But the average person only usually gets 3,000 steps or less. Take the stairs. Park farther from your destination. Walk around the block in your neighborhood. Buy a pedometer to keep track. You’d be surprised how many more steps you can accumulate in a day with just simple changes. Because let’s face it, working out at the gym doesn’t happen as much as we would like.

3. Eat wisely.

Want to eat something that you know may not be in your best interest? Make sure that it’s something you REALLY want. No use of eating something just because it’s there. Pick your poison wisely. I might kill you for Mexican queso dip with chips. But chocolate cake? Not so much. Don’t eat it because it’s there. Eat it because you really love it and then eat it slowly so that you can savor it. If you deprive yourself, you’ll only binge later.

4. Keep it in perspective.

Always keep things in perspective. Think about ways to incorporate a healthier lifestyle. Most things don’t happen overnight. It’s always the little changes that become habits and have a lasting effect. Think of one small thing you can do to promote a healthier lifestyle and then just focus on that until it’s second nature. Then pick another thing.

I recently read the September issue of Psychology Today. One of the cover story articles, Mixed Signals, talked about who we think we are may not be the same as we are perceived.

I thought it was an interesting article, and then one of the insets described some of the frequently misunderstood types, and I think I may fit one of them like a glove.

Most people who meet me think I’m an extrovert and that I love people, but really this isn’t the case—about being an extrovert that is, I really do love people. Maybe because I’m an only child, but I crave the time I spend alone.

According to the article, I’m a Bubbly Introvert. What is that? According to Psychology Today:

“When people come across as vivacious, exuberant, and cheerful, we assume they’re extroverts. But some lively people are actually gasping for time to themselves. Having good social skills isn’t the same thing as wanting to be around people all the time. ‘These things go together a lot,’ says Sanjay Srivastava, a psychologist at the University of Oregon. ‘But they’re not perfect correlations.’”

In order to correlate better, the article says that Bubbly Introverts need to guard their alone time. I try to do this. I get a lot of invites to parties and just hanging out, but I don’t say yes to all of them, and most of my close friends understand this. Honestly, if I had a choice between a fabulous party and being under the covers with a book—I would choose the book every time. But I also do realize that I need to get out and mingle as well.

One of my core interests is space and astronomy. I’m especially fond of looking at the images captured by the Hubble telescope. I’m so glad that NASA decided to fix it.

This is one of my favorite images: NGC 6302 or The Butterfly Nebula. It does live within our Milky Way galaxy, but it’s almost 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.

It looks beautiful and serene but it’s not.

According to the NASA site:

“What resemble dainty butterfly wings are actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour — fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in 24 minutes!

A dying star that was once about five times the mass of the Sun is at the center of this fury. It has ejected its envelope of gases and is now unleashing a stream of ultraviolet radiation that is making the cast-off material glow.”

That is so interesting! Well, at least to me it is. Space is so vast and endless. Beautiful and yet very dangerous—for us humans at least. I hope that within my lifetime, we will discover a world-changing artifact in space.

After a late night of wrestling with the beast known as my novel, I didn’t even realize the sad news until this morning.

Patrick Swayze has passed on.

Dirty Dancing is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. I still remembering seeing him in The Outsiders and Red Dawn and so when I saw DD, I didn’t realize he was such a talented dancer and singer.

“She’s Like Wind” was one of my favorite songs and reminds me a lot of my teen years.

So, rest in peace Patrick. You gave a good fight and you lived your life by sharing your talents with us.

As his character says in Ghost, “The love inside, you take it with you…”

I’m back from vacation and now I’m gearing up to go back to the real world. Boo!

I’m a little slow and so I didn’t realize today was a “special” day. It’s September 9, 2009 or 09/09/09.

Why is it so special?

Well, because we won’t have another set of repeating, single-digit dates until January 1, 2101. And hey, you and I probably won’t be around.

I have a numerologist friend and she always says that the number 9 can be a positive omen. Most lifepaths occur in 9-year cycles so it could be the beginning of something great.

My the main character in my WIP has a father who lives in Japan and they have a drastic view of the number 9. It’s considered a highly unlucky number.

But I’m going to think positive—09/09/09 is a good day.

Now I feel compelled to like do something! Let’s see I’ve already unpacked, I’ve cleaned the house…

Hmm…

I know!

Maybe I can go buy some books and have some kind of ritual tonight at 09:09 pm.

It’s sort of sad because the summer is ending, but the good news is that I get to go on vacation! Yay! I haven’t had a few days off in a minute and I’m sooo looking forward to it.

Last night, I had to literally stop myself from reading Catching Fire. I’m half-way done and it’s really good and some interesting questions are coming up. Don’t worry, no spoilers here…but I know I’m going to have to read this book again—if anything to study how the author does her pacing and plotting. It’s really off the chain, I must say.

So, my parents are also going on vacation and I have volunteered to pet sit Shakira. She’s a 3-year shih tzu and she’s a very good girl.

So Shakira will be going on vacation with me and I’ve already told her: What happens on vacation stays between us. Hee, hee.

I printed out all of my scenes and I’ll probably look over them and try to figure out how I’m going to start the revision process on my WIP novel. This is actually the fun phase for me at this point. It’s like a puzzle now—how do all these pieces fit together? How do I put this in as a clue? Do my characters really need to act like that? It’s going to be a fun revision(s) ride for me.

I’ll be back a few days after Labor Day, so I hope that everyone has a safe and great holiday!

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Summer Challenge Milestone #11

I’m so excited because my FAVORITE time of the year will be starting again…

Football!

But let me be more specific, Southeastern Conference — SEC College Football!

I’m an UGA alumni and so even though my Georgia Bulldogs are ranked #13, we probably might not be *good* this year since Stafford and Moreno left to go the NFL (I can’t say that I blame them — millions of dollars).

The first game is September 5th against Oklahoma State but it’s not a home game so I’ll have to wait until the next week against South Carolina.

Since I grew up AND went to college in Athens, I have many fond memories of going to UGA football games. They were so fun!

I took this very disturbing picture on the way to work last week (don’t worry, I was stopped at a red light), and I threw up in my mouth a little when I saw it. But I took a picture of it because I wanted the atrocity to be documented so I could show my fellow UGA and Florida State friends.

Being a Bulldog fan means that I HATE all things Florida Gator-related. It doesn’t matter that Florida will probably kick our a#% this season. Nope, that doesn’t matter at all. Gross, this picture makes me ill just looking at it, LOL…