Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Writing Revelations

Last night I finally put together my plotting board. I've been meaning to do this for years, but somehow never got around to it. I used Michael Hauge, Alexandra Sokoloff, Chris Vogler, and Blake Snyder's methods, each one in a different color. It's not very neat, but it sure is pretty.
As you can see, I've started putting sticky notes on it.

As I was writing in the beats, turning points, sequences, whatever, it occurred to me that one could do tarot spreads based on Synder's beats and Vogler's stages to help plot the book.

This morning I pulled out my handy-dandy Osho Zen tarot deck and started doing just that. It was . . . amazing. And so many of the same cards kept showing up.

Now probably someone else has already figured this out, but it was a new idea for me. I'm having fun with it.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Grandmothers

I had the best grandmothers, and I miss them both very much.

Gramma C used to bake me cookies with raisins. My dad doesn't like raisins, so I never had raisin cookies at home, making Gramma's raisin cookies a special treat. When she and my grandfather sold their farm and Gramma offered to let us take something we wanted, I chose the Aunt Jemima cookie jar.

When I was in high school and wanted pet house plants -- purple ones, no less -- Gramma gave me clippings of her coleus and wandering jew. I had those plants for years, until I moved into an apartment that was toxic to plants. (It killed my basil, too, a trauma I still haven't gotten over.)

Gramma T used to make Barbie doll clothes for all of her granddaughters. I still have most of mine -- except for the white satin wedding gown trimmed with pale blue ribbon. The girl down the street "borrowed" it and never returned it. I always thought I'd share the clothes and my dolls with my daughter, but X-Chromo wasn't into Barbies -- or even dolls -- all that much.

Even more than purple plants and homemade Barbie clothes, I have memories. Holidays spent with my sprawling extended families, laughter, fabulous food, and love.

I'm lucky and I'm thankful.

If Gramma C or Gramma T are reading the 'net somewhere, I love you, I miss you.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Election Day & Voting

So glad Election Day is finally here!

  • no more automatic messages on my home voice mail
  • no more inopportune calls that start out, "I can't believe (insert candidate's name) is running for (insert office)!" then proceed to tell you what scum the aforementioned candidate is.
These calls makes one want to get rid of one's landline. 
  • Why are politicians exempt from the DO NOT CALL registry?
  • Why are politicians also exempt from the bot-call laws (where a computer can't call you and stay on the line even after you've hung up the phone)?
I don't like my county's "new" method of "voting". Another woman and I were discussing this while on-line to cast our votes this morning. Neither of us think very much of this so-called progress. The folders provided for "privacy" were half the size needed to shield the ballot. The Poll Watcher -- the man who can read your ballot  (so much for a secret ballot!) -- tried to tell us that the new system was much more handicap accessible.

Sorry. Not buying into that. I mean, how do blind people fill in those little dots? Or people with Parkinson's Disease? And so many of the senior citizens at my polling place this morning had to refill in their ballots because the scanner wouldn't accept them.  Some ballots had to be scanned multiple times in order to completely "take." 

Doesn't anyone besides me remember that seniors having difficulty with ballots is what allowed the Bush Brothers to collude and steal the Florida electoral votes several years ago, changing the course of American history?

And what's up with no one for whom to vote?

The two most important races in my area (in my opinion) had only the incumbents on the ballot. No other party even bothered to put up candidates. My tax dollars are paying for a non-election?

But I did my civic duty.l

I exercised my right to vote.

And this blog is an exercise in my Freedom of Speech.

Is the USA a great country or what.