Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Poor neglected blog...

Hello, Blog, I've neglected you terribly over the summer. However, I seem to be thinking of all sorts of things lately that I want to say, so your time of loneliness might be almost over.

One interesting thing I learned this summer concerned hummingbirds. I have a feeder on the kitchen window and it was very busy all summer. There were at least three different birds, two males and a female, whom I learned to distinguish, and there may have been more who just didn't look quite unique enough from these three. Now, hummingbirds are unquestionably beautiful and amazing little things, especially this ruby-throated variety. But they are also scrappy little fighters, who will swoop and dive and chirp in a very scolding way if two happen to arrive at the feeder at the same time. This doesn't diminish their attractiveness for me; in fact I think it makes them more interesting. Maybe that's the writer in me. Everything's better with a dash of conflict...

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Monday, August 27, 2007

Coffee Quiz

I just took a Coffee Quiz over at Tickle and it said:

Take this test at Tickle

Your coffee drink is Sweet


A kind and caring soul like you is as warm and comforting as a hot cup of sweet coffee. From parties to book-club meetings to backyard barbecues, you're friendly and welcoming no matter if you're playing host, mingling with guests, or just chilling out with good friends.

You've got a big heart, and you're not afraid to share your feelings and let others know how much they mean to you. People know your friendly smile and fun personality can brighten up any occasion. Sound sweet? A dash of sugar is just your style.


What Kind of Coffee Drink Are You?

Brought to you by Tickle

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Laundry Meme

I know what you're thinking...how interesting could a meme about laundry possibly be? Perhaps more interesting than you think...I don't know, I enjoyed reading Helen's over on her blog, so:

1. In your home, who does the laundry?

Oh, that would be me. However, I have decided that it's time for my daughter to learn the laundry ropes as well, so we're about to start having lessons in sorting, folding, and other laundry mysteries.

2. Do you sort your laundry?

Definitely. Sometimes I even over-sort and then decide that maybe two piles could team up to make one load, since I try to be energy-efficient as much as possible.

3. If you sort, how many different color/fabric type groups do you sort it into?

Lights, whites, darks, colors. Reds/purples get their own load. Sheets and towels can often team up.

I actually get a head start on sorting by keeping two laundry bins near the bedrooms. They are labelled so that everyone puts their dirty clothes either into the "colors" bin or the "whites and darks" bin. I have whites and darks in the same bin because it's very easy to separate them into two piles when the time comes.

4. Do you hand wash anything?

I avoid it as much as possible, but there is the odd thing that I don't want to risk ruining. These items spend a lot of time sitting in the laundry basket before I get around to them, though.

5. Are there any articles of clothing that you send out to be cleaned professionally?

Winter coats, or my husband's suit. That's about it.

6. If you have any clothes cleaned professionally, is that drycleaning? Or regular laundering/pressing?

Drycleaning only.

7. At home, what detergent do you use? Any detergent additives that you regularly use?

We have a front load washer, so I use the concentrated liquid--but I only use about half as much as recommended and the clothes come out just fine. I think that companies are not above telling you to use more than necessary, just so you'll have to buy more, more often. Maybe I'm too cynical, but I don't think so. I recently found a super-concentrated variety that I bought to see if I can get away with using even less. There's an environmental aspect to wanting to use as little as possible, as well.

8. What whiteners/brighteners do you use?

Very occasionally a little bit of bleach.

9. Do you use any fabric softeners?

I use dryer sheets--but again, I tear them in half and just use a half-sheet per load. They work perfectly well and I only have to buy them half as often.

10. How do you handle stains?

I buy stain remover but I've lately found that lemon juice is just as effective on most stains. My mother recently found some "recipes" for cleaning and laundry products to make at home from things like borax and vinegar so I might try some of those.

11. Do you use different water temperatures for your different loads?

I use cold water 99.9% of the time (the ecology thing again). There has to be a good reason for me to use hot water.

12. Do you use a tumble dryer, or do you hang your clothes to dry?

I know I *should* hang things out to dry and in fact in the spring suggested to my husband that we put up a line outdoors, mostly because I feel guilty not hanging things out. He agreed, but we haven't gotten around to it yet. Honestly, I'm not terribly upset about this because I don't care for line-dried clothes--I find them to be so stiff and nasty-feeling. I *do* hang about half our clothes to dry inside (because they seem to shrink in the dryer) so that's something, I guess. Maybe next spring I'll bite the bullet and get the clothesline up...

13. Where do you fold your clothes?

I have a countertop in the laundry room that's perfect for folding clothes--when it's not covered in sewing projects or other things. The other option is the bed, which probably gets used most often. And sometimes I'll fold in the living room while watching tv, but since I watch hardly any tv, that's a rarity.

My biggest laundry problem is keeping up with the folding. Shifting the loads along from washer to dryer to basket is not a big deal at all, but the folding and putting away tends to pile up. It's not unusual for my daughter to be looking for a favorite t-shirt and I'll say, "It might be in the dryer but if not then check the clean clothes in the laundry basket in my room...or the one at the bottom of the stairs...or the one..." etc.

14. Who puts the folded clothes away?

Me, 90% of the time. Sometimes I recruit some help, but not often.

15. Do you have a certain day of the week you consider ”laundry day”?

I try to keep a schedule but often it just turns out to be "whenever we need stuff."

16. About how many laundry loads do you do per week?

There are four of us, and I'd say I do five or six loads a week. My husband is the lightest creator of laundry, and my teenage daughter probably the heaviest. Kids don't seem to "get" that you can wear a pair of jeans more than once before they need a wash, or that a shirt you wore for two hours to a movie is probably okay to wear again. My husband, on the other hand, will change into the same pair of shorts and t-shirt after work every day of the week, until I finally throw them in the wash.

17. Do you iron?

Not much. My husband generally irons his own clothes for work (although I pinch hit if he's pressed for time {no pun intended!}). I iron things if they need it when I'm planning to wear them; I don't iron everything and then put it away, since it will likely need to be ironed again before wearing anyway. I have no desire to do the same job twice! I remember my grandmother and aunt always ironing sheets and pillowcases and dish towels. Um, no. Those things do not get ironed in my house.

If you'd like to do the meme, consider yourself tagged, and then let me know when your answers are up.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Meez

Once again, I'm stealing an idea from Helen's blog. I only steal from the best. ;-) This is an avatar of myself I made over at Meez.com. Who couldn't write in such conducive surroundings? I'm working on my novel rewrite, of course.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Decisions, decisions

Over the past week I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to get back to The Seventh Crow. I did some preliminary work; gathered up all my notes, the hard copy I was working on most recently, opened the file and checked a few things. Oh, yes, and told myself that I couldn't do NaNoWriMo if I didn't have it finished.

However, I can't get started.

I know, this seems unprofessional of me. What if an editor was waiting for this rewrite? I'd have to just buckle down and do it then, so why can't I do it now?

Because an editor is NOT waiting for it, I suppose. I know that all my deadlines are self-imposed and thus...negotiable.

But still, I have a very strong urge to get a novel manuscript finished and in submission. For some reason it's very important that I do this right away.

Soooooo...tonight I started looking at One's Aspect To The Sun again. I know, I know, it's almost a year since I looked at it. I opened the file and found where I'd stopped working on it, realized with dread that I have no idea where I was going with that section. To get back into the groove, I will have to print out the whole thing in its current marked-up, messed-up state and start reading from the beginning.

However, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I feel excited about this story, these characters again. I think it's solid; I think it has legs. I want to run with it.

So I made a minor change to my self-imposed deadline: as long as I finish ONE novel manuscript before November, I will let myself do NaNoWriMo. I think that's fair.

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Thursday, August 02, 2007

Bot-a-Blog

For those of you who had subscribed to this blog via Bloglet, I probably don't have to tell you that the service hasn't been working for some time. I've just added a new subscription vehicle, Bot-a-Blog, which should work the same way: you'll get an email when Under The Stars is updated. We'll see how it works out.

The link to sign up is in the left sidebar, just scroll down to find it.

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A writing experiment

Recently I've been musing on the way I write short stories. Once upon a time, I'd start a story as soon as an idea occurred to me. This resulted in many unfinished short stories languishing on my hard drive, so it seemed that a different approach was needed. I began thinking longer and harder about stories before I started to write them, making notes, mapping out a plan (not an outline, never an outline!). It soon became apparent that there were fewer unfinished stories. I still didn't always finish them, but the percentages were much better.

However, over the course of the past five years, I've written five novels for NaNoWriMo, mostly flying by the seat of the proverbial pants, with minimal planning and maximum trust that "it will all work out in the end." And it has, often to my complete surprise and delight.

Soooooo, now I'm thinking, why not short stories? Is it possible that NaNoWriMo has helped me train my brain to a different sort of writing process, and that what works with novels might also work with short stories? If I simply start, trust, and go with the flow, might I be more likely now to end up with a finished story?

Tonight I started a new story to test this premise. It's one of the ideas that came to me while we were on vacation, but I don't have it worked out in any kind of detail--none at all, in fact. All I have is an opening scene and a very general idea of the society in which it takes place. My plan is to write 500 words a day for hopefully about ten days, at which time I should have a finished first draft. What will happen? Stay tuned...

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Story Sale

Today I've had the news that my story "Summer of the Widows" has been accepted to the Speculative Realm anthology. No set publication date yet as they're still looking for a few more stories, but good news nonetheless!

I haven't had a story sale in a while, working on longer projects, so this feels wonderful!

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