We're Not Gonna Take It

In my youth, I wanted to be a lawyer. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I hated injustice and wanted to do something about it. Short of being a superhero, I guess I thought a lawyer was the next best thing. Even though I abandoned my plans of being an attorney, I didn't abandon my ideals. When I saw injustice or felt like something wasn't right, I often sought to correct it.

A few examples...

When I became a freshman in high school, I was absolutely appalled that the girls' locker rooms had no shower curtains. Now maybe it was common to let everyone see you au natural, but I was and still am a very private person. And darn it, if I had to take a shower, I was going to do it with a shower curtain.

So what does a gal do in a high school of approximately 200 kids? Why, start a petition, of course.
And that's exactly what I did. I collected signatures and asked the school to put in shower curtains in the girls' locker room. I remember the seniors in my P.E. class shaking their head at me and calling me "naive" and "immature" for wanting to do this. But my P.E. instructor gave me kudos and told me that it was pretty cool what I was doing.

And did I get those shower curtains? You bet. And they're still there today.

When I was a junior in high school, some of our homecoming activities had been taken away. One of them was the bonfire. This had been a tradition at our school for years and years. I remember when I was in elementary and junior high, I couldn't wait for the bonfire activities. Now remember, this is a small town - around 1,600 people - and so the entire community celebrated homecoming. The fire department (all volunteer) would come help, we'd gather a bunch of boxes, and burn them in a safe spot while talking about the upcoming football game and creating a whole bunch of school spirit. It was a great time.

But they took it away before I got into high school and when I was a junior, I figured something better be done about it. So I started another petition. Since I was an editor for the school paper, I also wrote an editorial on the issue. And when I had gathered enough signatures, I gave it to the president of the student council and he presented it to the school board. Lo and behold, we got the bonfire back.

I'm pretty darn proud of myself for taking those two tasks on, miniscule though they may be in the grand scheme of things.

But recently, I've undertaken yet another cause.

We live on a street that, for some reason, gets a lot of traffic. We think that it's a sort of detour for a lot of people to keep them off the main streets. The problem is, we are completely residential - lots of young families with children. And for 10 solid blocks, there is not a single stop sign. No big deal, you might say - but this street is a bit wider than most residential streets and so people figure they can zoom down it at any speed they want.

I'm not ashamed to say that I've yelled at people more than once to slow down and gotten the finger in response. Well, things came to a head over the weekend. I was sitting in my living room, relaxing on Friday night, when I heard a car racing by. By the time I ran outside, it had already gone far enough that I couldn't read it's license plate. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as you'll see), the car came back around, speeding again. Now when I say speeding, I do not mean a few miles over the speed limit. I mean crazy speed - like 50 or 60 miles an hour. And no, I am NOT kidding.

The car comes back and I jump off the couch again and head outside. And just as I opened the door, I saw the car lose control, skid on its breaks, and bang into a parked pick-up truck right across the street from my house. He was going so fast that after he hit the pick-up (and knocked the pick-up tired completely off, plus all the bearings), the speeding car jumped the curb and came over to my side of the street, went into the neighbor's lawn, hit his tree (and left a huge gash in it) and then...he took off. Yes. A hit and run. And since this was a beautiful summer evening, all my neighbors were sitting out on their front porches.

Yeah, the guy got caught.

But the whole situation just reinforced the notion in my mind that something has to be done about this street. I cannot even let my daughter play anywhere in my front yard for fear of something like this happening again. And darn it, why why WHY do people need to drive so fast and then get away with it?

So I've taken the first step and contacted the traffic operations manger for my city. We'll see what happens next. I'm perfectly happy to go around and gather signatures for a petition again if I have to!

Birthdays and Mother's Day

We had my daughter's birthday party Saturday at one of our city's parks. And I just bet you can't guess what the theme of it was when you look at the pictures! :-)

We held it in the nature center where my daughter and her friends were able to touch snakes (eww!) and turtles, watch a bald eagle feed, and see a mama goose and her babies swim in the water.

The girls had tons of fun, and my daughter got some terrific presents - lots of art-related stuff. And of course, her treasured Scooby Doo backpack! But since it was raining outside when we went on our little nature hike, that put a slight damper on things. Still, nothing like a good slice of birthday cake to chase away the blues!

When I got home, though, I took a nap. It rained the entire day, so that was the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon. Then hubby and I watched the Indiana Jones trilogy on the USA channel. Can never watch those too many times. And I can't wait for the new one to come out! I can't believe how much marketing I've seen for it lately, either, down to a Indiana Jones whip for kids! But hey, if it gets them outside and helps them explore, I'm all for it.

Mother's Day was great - got to sleep in and woke to a clean house! Hubby took the kids and I out for lunch and I got to browse Barnes and Noble for awhile. I even got some writing done. The weather was gorgeous on Sunday, so hubby and I also went for my nightly walk. :-)

How was your weekend?

Saving Tigers

My daughter is an animal lover. I can't remember a time when she didn't gravitate toward animals, whether the toys she played with, the books she read, or the shows she watched. And that hasn't changed a bit.

The other evening she was watching Two Brothers, a very heartwarming tale about two orphaned tiger cubs who end up with very different fates. She came up to me and said, "Mom, can I ask you a question?" She was quite solemn.

"Sure," I replied.

"What happens to tiger babies when their mom and dads get killed?"

Thunk. That was the sound of my heart going into my stomach. "Well..." And y'know, I couldn't lie and say that they were all rescued by good-hearted angels and lived happily ever after. She's too smart for that. So I told her the truth.

"Well, they have to try and survive by themselves, but sometimes they die. And sometimes there are mean hunters who kill them."

Her eyes widened. "But they're just babies! How come the hunters have to do that?"

When I told her that there were mean people in the world, she started to cry and then I wished I had told her that all those abandoned baby tigers went to a palatial zoo in the middle of Asia.

But then she said, "I want to save the tigers! Mom, how can I save the tigers?"

I'm not joking when I think I have a budding wildlife preservationist on my hands. She is very attune to these types of things already. So we went online and looked at some of the organizations out there whose sole purpose is to save tigers from going extinct. I looked into "adopting" a tiger, but unfortunately, I didn't have the $10,000 fee it required.

My daughter wanted to make posters that said, "Don't kill tigers!", but then she told me that she didn't think hunters would see them. I told her that even if just one hunter saw it and it made him stop hunting the tigers, then she would have made a difference.

Then, of course, we had to find a picture of tigers that we could print out so she could color it.

I'm pretty sure my daughter's concern over the tiger population will not diminish with age, but will only grow stronger. And someday, she will undoubtedly be on a jungle safari to visit a family of tigers or be working in a zoo delivering a set of tiger cubs. :-)

How you can help save the tigers:

Save the Tiger Fund - Program of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

The Tiger Foundation

Ode to a Walk

I've never been a big fan of exercise. In junior high, I went out for track for exactly one day. Why? Because that entire first day, we ran around and around in the gym. I'm not a runner.

But I am a walker.

My dog and I love to take long walks around our neighborhood. With the weather being absolutely gorgeous lately and all the spring flowers in bloom, I'm really loving our evening walks. And the benefits are many. Exercise (for me and my dog!). Lots and lots of thinking time. Enjoying nature. And when my daughter and my husband come with me, lots of laughter and talking. Sometimes we'll all go to a local park and take long, meandering walks through the woods and by the lake.


Writers often talk about how walking is part of their writing process. I know it's definitely part of mine. I've worked through many a plot problem or character issue while on my walks, either on the treadmill or outside. Just last night I thought of a way to resolve a plot hole in my current manuscript, although I think I was more excited at my discovery than my dog. ;-)

Miss Potter

Yesterday I caught Miss Potter on Showtime and couldn't tear myself away. It is an enchanting story about Beatrix Potter, the bestselling and beloved children's book author.

Simply put, I loved it. I loved Beatrix's spunk and determination to succeed with her art and storytelling, no matter that it was unfashionable to be unmarried and for a woman to make her own way in the world.

In addition to further flaming my love for England and my determination to someday buy a cottage there, this film was absolutely beautiful - the costumes, the crisp cinematography, the illustrations of Peter Rabbit and all of Beatrix's other friends, and the gorgeous scenery. Rene Zelwegger played the part of Beatrix with warmth and wit and portrayed her absolute love for her creativity.

My daughter, a budding artist herself, was entranced by the movie and promptly told me that she wants to start painting in addition to her drawing. In fact, when she saw the finished product of Beatrix's first children's book, she said, "That's what I want to do!"

This movie is such an inspiration for those who want to succeed in their artistic endeavors. And yes, I'll be adding it to my DVD collection. :-)

Memory Lane

It's been 15 years since I graduated from high school and eleven years since I graduated from college (undergrad). The above photo was taken during my senior year with one of my best friends in college. Look how thin I was!

Unfortunately, I don't keep in touch with hardly anyone from my high school class, and there wasn't very many of us. I think we had around 35 people (our entire town only had a population of 1600) and despite what you might think, we weren't exactly a "close" class. My best friends were sophomores when I was a senior, if that tells you anything.

But the other day, I was talking to another guy who I went to high school with. We work at the same company and started walking down memory lane, catching each other up with where certain people were now. So I figured I'd try and find my old junior high English teacher who was always a great believer in my writing, but no longer was at my school. And lo and behold, I found his email address. I wrote him a short note and he replied. It was great to hear from him and I hope to stay in touch. Gotta love the internet.

Do you still stay in touch with friends or teachers from high school?

Getting It Right

I've tried a variety of options when I write a novel. I've tried winging it - just starting and going with whatever pops into my brain. I've tried plotting the first few chapters and leaving the middle to chance. I've tried in-depth plotting, knowing all my major plot points, my black moment, and everything else.

And here's the conclusion I've come to. No matter what I do, my story is always going to change.

I thought I had my GMC's (goals, motivations, conflicts) figured out for my characters in my latest novel. Things were going along swimmingly until I got to about chapter eight and realized that something was wrong. My characters had broken out of the mold I'd put them into (or at least, broken out of what they "told" me about themselves to begin with) and had morphed into different people. Thankfully, it brought the story together much better than I had originally planned.

I had to put these characters into situations and have them feel emotions before I could truly understand them. No amount of character charts or character interviews would do the trick.

While this may increase the time it takes me to finish this novel, that's ok. It's part of my process. And instead of trying to conform to what I "think" my process should be, I have to realize that this is how I work. It took me three novels to figure it out, and I'm sure that every novel will be different, but at least I know what works and what doesn't.

I've been rewriting my first three chapters to reflect my characters' changes and everything flows so much better. And I gotta tell ya - it's then when I love the process. I love to immerse myself in my characters and their world. It makes all the angst and doubt worthwhile. :-)