Writer F.Z. Harper

Library Woes

2011-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

I'm afraid I've become dependent on the library's automated e-mail system to tell me when my books are due. I'll be paying for it today. Recently I changed my phone number. It didn't occur to me to tell the library.
Because I didn't tell them, evidently their whole renewal system is verified via phone number. So I didn't get the email that would have told me my 17 library books were due on Valentine's Day. Only this morning did I get an email saying their system couldn't verify my phone number. Now why they didn't just go ahead and e-mail me is beyond me. Now I have to wait until 11 AM and drag my books over there and unless I can talk them out of it, pay the fine. Sigh.

Symbols and What They Mean To Me

2011-01-28T23:37:00.000-08:00

I think about symbols a lot. I often wonder why am I involved with this or that symbol in my life right now. I use symbols all the time in my art. Like a kite isn't just a kite. It can be a symbol of childhood, of freedom, of clairvoyance, or wind or air, and so on.

Here are some of my needle punch projects. Of course, the saguaro cactus is the symbol of the AZ desert. Dragonflies are a symbol of joy and summer. The ankh is an ancient Egyptian symbol of eternal life.
Symbols can have a conventional meaning, a spiritual meaning or a cultural meaning. Dragons mean different things in Asia than they do in Europe. Snakes mean different things whether you are in India or the U.S.A.

The Victorians were famous for their extensive use of symbolism. They even covered up piano legs because they symbolized a woman's legs. Each type and color of flower meant something, like a not-so-secret message. Even the movements of a fan could tell a suitor if the woman was available or married or mad at him.

Before Your Comment, Think

2011-01-14T22:41:00.001-08:00

Can you believe this comment that was on one of my hubpages articles?
this is NOT HELP GUL AT ALL K IT IS NOT HIPPISH AT ALL SO U UNDERSTAND ME!NEXT TIME BEFOR U GO AND PUT SOMETHIND STUPID LIKE THT ON THE INTERNET LIKE THT USE A DICTIONARY TO SEE WHAT THE WORD MEANS OKAY!
LOVE ALWAYS
HEYWOOD

Smoking Takes Another Life

2010-08-20T03:07:00.000-07:00

Everything happens for a reason. My mother's funeral was on Aug. 19, six years ago. She was a heavy smoker.

And my daughter's father in law just lost his battle with lung cancer, also on Aug. 19 just a few hours ago. The Dr. thought he had another six months. He smoked for 30 years. May he rest in peace.

When a noble man passes on
All you can do is be glad his pain is gone

He will not live to see the birth of his grandson in Sept.

I hope my mother is there to greet him as he passes over the veil. I'm not sure they ever met in real life but she would have liked him.

Happy 4th of July Suspenders and All

2010-07-05T02:06:00.001-07:00

Hope you had a great one.

Bloggers New Templates and Google Adsense

2010-06-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

I was really frustrated last week when I tried to tweak my Google AdSense widgets on some of my blogs. I got error messages on the blogs I was editing as well as on a new blog I created. I tried to resolve the issue by searching for answers on Google and on the help pages of Blogger and AdSense to no avail. So I crossed my fingers and hoped it was one of those issues that would fix itself if I just stopped mucking around with it.

Happily today I was greeted on Blogger by a pop-up window announcing new template software. It's been so hard to create decent original templates on Blogger. And I'm guessing that implementing that new feature was the thing that was mucking up Adsense on my blogs because today it's all working just fine. All the blogs I edited have the Adsense ads showing up again, and even the new blog is showing the ad boxes.

I've played around some with the new template features. So far it's been confusing. I did test out a few of the designs but still don't know if it will let me add my own photos to the backgrounds like Twitter and other sites do. So I still have a lot to check out. Please don't try it on your favorite blog that you've soaked hours into. Make a new blog or use one of your experimental blogs to test drive the new features.

Ducks in the City

2010-04-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

I was driving north on Beach Blvd. by Knott's Berry Farm when we spotted a mother duck and 7 or 8 ducklings crossing in the crosswalk. They finally crossed all 6 lanes and an island in the center and people in cars everywhere were yelling out and beeping so no one would hit the ducks. Just when we thought they were going to make it, the mother duck jumped the curb to safety but the ducklings were too short. They kept jumping and jumping but they couldn't make it to the sidewalk. Then the light changed and we had to drive on, but 2 cars had stopped to help them. Darn, I hate not knowing how that turned out.

Card Memory System

2010-04-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

By taking a deck of cards, and telling a story about each card in order, it is possible to memorize a random deck of cards in just a few minutes. Here is a sample of the first story I made up on the spot.

Ten men with spades came marching down the road. On the path they passed a rich woman. She had with her two of her sons, both named Jack. The first Jack was a loving man and the 2nd carried a sword. While they were walking, a Queen came down the path with her son. She hailed the men with spades and gave 7 of them gems. There were 3 men with spades left so she gave them each four diamonds. If the men were to bet them at the gaming tables, they'd each win 8 diamonds.

After they went on their way a sadder group of people came down the path. It was a rich lady with a big heart. But she was being held prisoner by the King of Swords and the King of Clubs. On each of the king's shoulders was a raven. They were closely followed by 2 cardinals. Then there was a woman executioner in black. She carried 2 daggers. The rich woman was being accused of stealing a crown with 10 diamonds.

This story system can be used with a whole deck of cards. In this story the order of the cards was
10 of spades, Ace of diamonds, Jack of hearts and Jack of spades. Then the Queen of hearts, Jack of hearts, 7 of spades and 3 of spades. Followed by 4 of diamonds and 8 of diamonds.

Then the story changes. Ace of hearts. King of Spades, King of clubs. 2 of spades, 2 of diamonds. A of spades, 2 of spades, and finally 10 of diamonds.

I think if I make my story more fanciful next time it will be easier to remember. I'm primarily using tarot equivalents, where as the red cards are feminine and the black cards masculine. Also, spades are edged weapons like swords and knives. Clubs (wands, also fire in most tarot decks) come into play in my stories. Diamonds are rich women, hearts are loving women. In one case I used black as ravens or crows. Red birds can be cardinals, or robins. But use whatever imagery suits you.

Here are some examples:

Ace of hearts: A loving woman alone (Ace=one)
Two of hearts: A pair of lovebirds. (Hearts=love)
Three of hearts: A threesome of female lovers
Four of hearts: A red building or a wedding chapel (Fours are buildings, a symbol of four walls equals stabilty. A wedding chapel because wedding=love=hearts=red
Five of hearts: Hearts are also cups and emotions in a tarot deck so you could see this as 5 red cups/glasses/goblets.
So if in the story there was a woman in black drinking five glasses of red wine, I'd know that was the 5 of hearts.
Six of hearts: A red hexagon (hexagons have 6 sides). On the hexagon is a heart.
Seven of hearts: Since seven is the number of spirituality I might see that as an angel in a red gown.

Hopefully you get the idea. You don't have to use tarot meanings. Whatever is relevant to you will work. Like if you are an artist, then hearts can be artists, diamonds can be patrons of the arts, spades can be debtors, clubs can be agents. As long as the story line makes sense to you that's what matters.

The Wild Train

2010-03-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

I found one of the keys to managing my anxiety is to live in the present. The minute I start worrying about the future my mind is like a runaway train. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment. When I get there at 10 AM then I will deal with it. Today and right now I have other things to do. Like update my blogs. And take photos of the watercolors I did last night while I still have good light outdoors.

This morning we got my truck running again. Is it possible that all it needed was a new battery? I sure hope so because even that cost me almost $100. (Battery, terminals, etc.). We also replaced the fuel filter. But at least the truck is out of the driveway. So it was the action (not the worrying) about the truck that got rid of that particular anxiety. I think that is part of the curse of poverty. Instead of fixing things in a timely manner, it's too easy to just sit and worry about them as you wait another month for another payment of some sort to arrive. I truly believe that action dispels fear. Doing something is almost always better than sitting in a funk and worrying.

Rainy Day in December

2009-12-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to figure out my mood today. I woke up to the sound of rain in my backyard. Which doesn't sound all that amazing until I point out we haven't had rain of any quantity in maybe six months. Even with the rain the birds were still singing in the tree outside my window. I hadn't expected rain so my boyfriend had to make a quick dash out to the patio to put the flintknapping tool bucket out of harms way. Everything in there will have to be dried out later. But for now he just pushed it under the patio table out of the rain.

My plans to go to the post office and library flew out the window as my old truck doesn't have windshield wipers so I don't drive it in the rain. My boyfriend had an appointment at the beach with a photographer so I find myself home all alone. Too sick to go out, too bored to stay in, you know the drill.

So I read my library book, the Trouble With Magic, for a while, but I found I was dozing off. So I signed on to upload 4 days of daily self portraits. I do take them every day, but I don't necessarily get around to uploading them to the Flickr group every day. When I am sick and bored, it's not much fun doing self portraits, but it's real. It's tempting to skip those days. But the whole point of 'a daily self portrait' is to see the depth of who you are, not just what you look like when you are dressed up and presentable and going out to a party. And sometimes I hate the way I look at the moment of taking it, but months later when I look back on it, it's not so bad as I thought, because our eyes are clouded by our moods at the time. It's hard to watch my face and body aging. So the daily self portrait becomes painful at times. It would be more fun to take them in reverse, starting at 100 and aging backwards. Seeing all the jowls, wrinkles, crows feet, excess weight and sagging gradually going away, like in the movie Benjamin Button.

Yay I'm a Nanowrimo Winner

2009-11-30T22:27:00.000-08:00

Yay, I just finished validating my entry for Nanowrimo 2009 and got this lovely badge to show that I came, I saw and I conquered. And just for the record, finishing was way more fun than not finishing.

Last Day of Nanowrimo

2009-11-30T13:43:00.001-08:00

Last Day of Nanowrimo 2009 and I still have over 5,000 words to go. Ever wonder how fast you can type? Check this out:
76 words
Speed test

Still Nano-ing along.

2009-11-14T23:31:00.000-08:00

I am floundering with Nanowrimo. Even though I wrote over 3,000 words today, the halfway mark is Monday more or less, and 25,000 words are needed to be on the mark. I just passed 17,000. And I didn't really like working this hard so much that I'd want to write 3,000 words a day from now until Nov. 30.
One of the writers I follow has already passed 50,000 words. I think she's at 95,000. My guess is that she is trying to do 100,000, or a double Nano. I'm just not competitive enough. I actually feel so guilty putting other things on the back burner so I can do this challenge. I'm not ready to throw in the pen yet though. I am learning a lot about novel writing. Like timelines for example. Trying to get things in the right sequence with so many characters running around. Or writing the ending for some scene before I've written the beginning or the middle.

The other challenge is losing characters as I go along. Forgetting to write about some of the groups and carry them forward in the plot.

I've also had to change genres from chick lit to mystery. That's because I've killed off someone and now we need to figure out who did it and why. And now I have a kidnapping. But I don't know yet who ordered the kidnapping or what that has to do with the rest of the storyline. I have a new found appreciation for fiction writers.
I also at some point want to donate some cash to Nanowrimo. It must cost a fortune to keep this all running.

Today's Nanowrimo Gathering Build-a-Bear Party

2009-11-09T00:51:00.000-08:00

I'm very sleepy but I want to try out this write or die program that I learned about at the Nanowrimo meeting. One of the authors is a knitter. I invited her to get together with me to do some knitting. Then I found out her friend knits as well.
I met a kid there named Andy. He was working at Downtown Disney as one of the cleaning staff slash information guy on a scholarship program. He's from Bakersfield. Of course I advised him to move out of Bakersfield because it's hot and ugly there. I knew that because I went to 5th and 6th grades there.

After the bear part I went to Michael's. I needed beads for the green beaded collar I'm making called the River Runs Through it. I needed some root beer colored beads for the brown/gold section of the necklace. I spent more than I wanted to. When do I ever spend less at Michaels?

Today I had lunch at Carl's Jr. As I stepped out of the truck I managed to knock my glasses off and step on them with my first step out of the truck. They didn't break apart, but they bent beyond comfortable wear. Good thing they were only a dollar. I'm so hard on glasses. I don't dare buy any real ones that cost $500 or $600. I'd lose them in a week or scratch them or run over them with my truck.

Tomorrow night is another Nanowrimo meeting. This time at a Starbuck's closer to my house than Downtown Disney. I plan to go to it but we'll see how it goes tomorrow. I was too busy celebrating being in Nanowrimo today that I didn't even get a chance to write much. I wrote a few pages in long hand at Downtown Disney. But I haven't had time to type it in yet so I don't know how many words that was. Not very many probably because my handwriting is big.

I watched an art show tonight and then I saw a show with fashion designer Marilyn Lewis. She's a great lady. Funny and talented and a real go-getter. I have seen her before on other shows talking about the restaurants her and her husband used to own. The show tonight showed many of her collection of fashion from the 70's. Even the dress Marlo Thomas wore on That Girl. Interesting stuff. Her looks could still fit into fashion today. They don't look dated at all. I'd be proud to own any one of them. She has some great little black dresses as well as dresses in silk and tweed. And little feather fascinators. She'd fit right in with Etsy and Steampunk.

She lives in a penthouse with her hubby of many years. She rents the rest of her Beverly Hills home. Compared to her I feel like a couch potato. And she's so rail thin. She compared herself to Twiggy.

Build-a-Muse?

2009-11-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

I was thinking of going to a Nanowrimo gathering today to work on my novel, socialize a bit, get to know who else locally is doing this and so on. Then I found out the workshop is at Build-a-Bear in Downtown Disney where they'll be making a 'mascot' bear of their lead character. Considering my main character is a woman juggler in steampunk attire, I seriously doubt Build-a-Bear has that in stock, assuming I did have $50 to splurge. Have you seen their prices? And it doesn't sound like any of us will actually be writing. So I'm undecided. Besides I already have a mascot that I bought at Barnes and Noble years ago for Nanowrimo. It's a one eyed monster. I don't really feel like kicking him to the curb for a stupid bear. And if I was going to make a bear, I'd do a oddball looking thing from fabric and trim in my stash.

Nano Widget

2009-11-07T12:15:00.000-08:00

I added the nanowrimo widget in the sidebar so anyone reading this can see how I'm doing. Not that anyone seems to read this blog, but at least I'll know how I'm doing. I'm about 2 days worth behind, even though I've written every day since I started. I started a day late, and I'm not writing enough each day, but I still feel optimistic about finishing this year.

Nano update

2009-11-04T18:30:00.001-08:00

It's almost 7 PM and I haven't even thought about working on my novel yet today. And I've already been on line for hours and was just about to leave to eat dinner. Which means it will be another couple of hours before I sit still long enough to write again. I should have planned this out better. Yah think?

Nanowrimo-live,love,write

2009-11-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

I wasn't planning on doing Nanowrimo this year, so how did I get sucked into it? If you think you might want to write 50,000 words in a month, it's not too late to jump on. I've written 2000+ words already and I'm a little behind. I was doing pretty well until I started to doze off. I'm still fatiqued from my trip last week. If you are participating, add me to your buddy list. My name over there is enchantress. Happy writing.

Enough With the Heat Already

2009-08-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

It's hot and humid and it's 2 AM. No sign of it getting any cooler than this tonight in S. Calif. And all those people in the zones where the fires are must be having a miserable and scary night.

I have found it is very hard to get along with people in this heat. I have to keep trying super hard to stay calm and relaxed. My boyfriend and I are staying in different rooms so we don't get on each other's nerves tonight. And I'm thirsty yet again so I need to go get another cold drink.

Reading What Others Are Writing

2009-08-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

I ran across this site with writers today. http://elephantwords.co.uk/ I haven't had time to read it but it looks like a cool idea.

Hubchallenge goes on

2009-05-23T12:21:00.001-07:00

I just published 2 new hubs. One on using the preformatting feature and the other on Rug Hooking for the Hubchallenge. I was hoping to get more done today but my boyfriend is already moping at the door and grousing about me spending too much time on the computer, and I just sat down. I'm trying to keep the peace so I'll stop now, but I don't go to his job and ask him to slack off a little and come spend time with me.

Freelance Writer

2009-05-18T11:45:00.001-07:00

I've decided that as soon as I've either succeeded or failed at writing 100 articles in 30 days for the hubchallenge, I'm going to take a break from that site and focus on writing more for Constant-content. I've put their link on the sidebar.

Though it is great fun and excitement to write for Hubpages, and I do make a few dollars a day with adsense, the one article I sold on Constant-content paid me $75. And frankly I'm just working too hard on Hubpages to be working for free. I'm not sure why I took that direction to begin with, other than I just love the way Hubpages look with all their glossy photos and video links. Of course I'll leave all my articles up on Hubpages because I'm no dummy and I like the income from there, as sparse as it is. But with the economy being what it is, I need to be earning a living.

I am conflicted though, because I did want to reach the 500 article mark on Hubpages. Jimmythejock did it so very long ago and I feel like I'll never get there. I'm not even to 300 yet.

Earthquake

2009-05-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

We just had a 5.0 quake roll on by with the epicenter in Lennox CA. I thought the kitchen shelving unit was going to land on my head for a moment there. Twitter is going nuts right now. Search #earthquake on Twitter.com if you want to follow along. No serious damage reports yet. Let's hope it stays that way.

My cat, however, may not get his apetite back until tomorrow. His food is still sitting there uneaten.
The rides at Disneyland are closed for inspection, as I'm sure the ones at Knott's are too.

100 Hubs in 30 Days...still working on it.

2009-05-14T13:03:00.001-07:00

I'm having a great time working on the 100 articles for the #hubchallenge. I just put up another article about succulents. Someone was grousing that the challenge was a terrible idea because it's going to create low quality hastily written articles that are just going to gunk up the Internet. I'm sure that is possible, but most of us take pride in our work and will be doing our best not to let our quality suffer. My quality has actually gone up because I've been on the site for 3 years and there are a lot more bells and whistles now than at the beginning so I can make my work there better and better with videos, RSS feeds, photos, and so much more. And I feel a great passion is happening like a writer's revival of sorts. Writers that were in a slump and haven't added new material in a long time are coming out of the woodwork to meet the challenge and show off their skills.
Won't you join us over there as a reader or a writer?
http://hubpages.com/profile/Moonmaiden

My Hubchallenge Listings So Far

2009-05-12T23:58:00.000-07:00

Hmm, I'm not going to get very far if I keep adding stuff to the ones I've already written instead of moving on. Here are my first five.5/100

http://hubpages.com/hub/You-Dont-Need-a … o-to-Dance
http://hubpages.com/hub/Polka-Dot-Pandamonium
http://hubpages.com/hub/100-Reasons-to-Dance
http://hubpages.com/hub/Skirts-101
http://hubpages.com/hub/Keeping-a-Daily-Blog

I'm doing pretty good for the third day of the challenge considering I didn't even start until day 2.

When I Get Discouraged

2009-05-12T23:48:00.000-07:00

Someone asked me tonight about an erotic story I wrote a few years ago. I just checked the website and that story has had 325,569 hits. Perhaps I should write another one. I can't post it here because Blogger is so vanilla. I'm surprised my friend remembered that story. It's been years since he's read it.

Hubchallenge 3

2009-05-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

I finished another hub. This one is about Polka Dots. My love for polka dots actually. Like for sewing and fashion and home decor. Go see.

Keeping a Daily Blog

2009-05-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

I just finished my 2nd article for the challenge. http://hubpages.com/hub/Keeping-a-Daily-Blog
It's about Blogging, a topic near and dear to my heart. This blog isn't my daily one obviously. My daily one is Craft a Day. You've probably seen it. It's the blog I have with the most followers. Thirty-two followers the last time I checked. It seems kind of funny to write about writing. I sure seem to be writing a lot lately. What I'm supposed to be doing is reading. I'm halfway through Breaking Dawn and it's overdue already. Yikes. That 2 weeks went by fast.

Write for Hubpages

2009-05-11T11:03:00.000-07:00

I'm just accepted a challenge to write 100 articles for Hubpages in 30 days. My first article is about dance: http://hubpages.com/hub/100-Reasons-to-Dance I think this is a great publicity stunt on their part. And the first thing in months that has motivated me to write more for Hubpages.

Journalspace Bites the Dust

2009-02-11T19:23:00.001-08:00

I just became aware that my blog on Journalspace no longer exists. Indeed, none of the blogs on journalspace exist,and they suspect employee sabotage. http://www.blogherald.com/2009/01/02/journalspace-blogging-platform-dies-why-you-must-keep-your-own-backups/

Ever wonder why you should back up your blogs? I haven't actively written on that blog in a few months so I'm not crying too hard. They may or may not be able to retrieve blogs down the road. It is a shame if I lost all those years of blogging, but I am glad I didn't put all my eggs in one basket as I also blog here, on tribe.net, on journalspace, on vox, and on some others. That way if any one of them goes belly up, I don't lose everything. I will survive.

Red Leaves

2008-12-16T11:20:00.000-08:00

Whenever I need solace I turn to nature. Photographing these red leaves in a parking lot helped me celebrate autumn in CA, where it is often hard to find signs of autumn.

youtube

2008-12-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

I want to write something down before I forget it. Today on Tyra she featured people that have become famous on Youtube.com. There was a guy on there who made a mean kitten video about his cat named Sparta. She said he was making $20,000 a month. I about fell off my chair. He said he was a professional youtuber. I have a handful of videos up on youtube.com, and I have a few subscribers, but nothing like that. I'm not even sure how youtube earns people money. I guess sponsors have picked them up because of their frequent hits.
Right now my video camera is crap. It's supposed to hold 30 minutes of video, but only holds 5 minutes. It was an early version of the Flip camera. I guess that is the popular choice, but considering how the first one was so sucky, I haven't wanted to buy that brand again. Maybe they've gotten better. Can anyone recommend their favorite video camera that is reasonably priced and works with youtube? I want to Vlog more. You can see why. Who wouldn't want to earn $20k a month? Honestly.

What is Smallaa.com?

2008-12-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

I just joined a website called smallaa.com under the user name 'steampunk'. It's new I think and the main page keeps crashing. So I was only able to add 2 topics; steampunk and belly dance. I think it will turn out to be something like Stumble Upon. Hard to tell since I can't keep the page open long enough to really explore it.

Smallaa

I'm copyrighted

2008-12-08T23:09:00.000-08:00

Hubpages.com said it picked me for a new feature where I can tell if another site has stolen my content and posted it to theirs. Interesting. I know my stuff gets plagerized from time to time, but mostly I steal my own content to highlight it on my blogs or other writing venues. Still, it will be interesting to see where my words turn up.

Associated Content

2008-10-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

I signed up for Associated Content a long time ago and never submitted anything because I was busy writing for Hubpages. But AC just sent me an email that was enticing, so I just submitted my first poem over there for Halloween. It hasn't been approved yet so I can't post a link but it's good to try out a new venue.

I also put the poem here if you'd like to read it right now: http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Little-Monsters-of-Main-Streetpoetry

I let the weekend slip away

2008-09-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

I didn't feel well this weekend and I had no alone time so I didn't get any writing done. Now I'm feeling sad about that. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow and can at least transfer what I've already written onto my computer. Right now it's all in longhand.

And Today I Write

2008-09-10T12:40:00.001-07:00

I do write every day and I have for years. I write for online sites like http://www.hubpages.com. And I keep a journal. And now I vlog and blog.
Also I've written many a brochure for businesses I have owned and operated in the last 30 years. And of course many college papers and reports. I don't even know what I'd do if I didn't know how to read and write. And type. I learned to touchtype in high school in the 70's. And I've never regretted it. I almost didn't take the class because I didn't want to be pidgeonholed as a secretary. But then I remembered I wanted to be a writer, and I sure didn't want to waste my money hiring other people to type my books and papers. So as far as the most useful classes I've ever taken, typing is in the top ten I'm sure.

Working on a Book

2008-09-10T12:18:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I started writing a new book. It is my goal and dream to have it published by a publisher, and even though I'd happily self-publish it and hope at some point a publisher would sign me on, and take the book and run with it, from what I've seen on the Internet, self-publishing is the kiss of death to a book if you ever want it to be published for the world at large.
So as much as I'd like to share excerpts I'm going to try to have some wisdom and play it close to my chest. I will talk about the process of writing the book however.

I recently turned 50 and after being told for years I should write books, and even getting a fortune in a cookie saying "You will write a book" I've never managed to finish any of the books I started, or even Nanowrimo for that matter. Undaunted however, I am starting again.

The genre of this book is probably going to be fantasy. I try to keep the fantasy out of my books but I always end up there eventually.

So far I have 12 characters, 7 boys and five girls. I've drawn a map of where they live so I can see how close or far apart they might be which should help the flow of the book immensely. For example, if I write, 'They all met at the park in the middle of town,' it helps to know where the middle of town is, what the name of the park is, and how close they live to it. And who would logically walk to the park with whom. What stores will they pass? What logical characters would they meet? So with the map firmly in hand, I'll be able to visualize it so much better.

So far everything is written in longhand, so at some point I'll have to type it all into my computer before I screw around and misplace the notebook it's in, which I am notorious for doing. The next step is to draw each character so I can keep straight who has what color hair and who wears glasses and so forth. Anyway, on with the show. Wish me luck.