Toujou-ing through the ... Jungle?

So I got double duped into winning the Toujou Blog Award. As in, two people nominated me for it and as I consider them bestest friends, despite the generation gap and lack of physical connection, I shall concede to participate. And besides, when they lavish such praises on me (see below), how can I not participate? :}

From Charley: “Both on an off-line, she's one of my bestest friends-I-haven't-met-yet. We talk about everything, we laugh about everything, and even the figments of our imagination have started uniting in order to dispose of us when we're not looking. She's awesome.”

From Miriam: “She completely shredded my novel and prompted me to rewrite the whole thing, she’s always there with helpful comments when I’m going through a bunch of emotional poo, and she’s a not-at-all-calming influence on mine and Charley’s madness.”

The Rules:

1. If tagged you must tag five others, giving each a quick sentence as to why you ALWAYS read their posts, and tell them that you've tagged them.

2. If tagged you must post your five favorite words. I know, I know, most people do facts, but facts are hard to think of so...

3. If and only if you want to/can be bothered to/have time to you can put up five questions for the people you've tagged. If and only if you want to/can be bothered to/have time to you can ANSWER the five questions your tagger set. If you want to answer questions but your tagger left none, answer your own questions :)

The Famous Five

Okay, so I’m modifying this bit, since the people I’m going to make famous (wouldn’t that be a nice power to have?) are ones who mean so much to me that I don't want to bother them with this silly award. *grins*

Charley Robson – Ditto – basically what she said about me I can say about her. Someday we’ll meet, and I half expect our heads to explode and our characters to emerge from them to join forces and battle the evils that will come out after them. If this happens, I’m sorry world, because it’s likely to start Armageddon.

Miriam Joy – She talks about my shredding of her novel like a good thing, all the time. It boggles my mind, but I thank her for it. And though we don’t talk as much to each other as we talk to charley separately, when Charley goes on radio silence, we know we can talk to each other.

My Mom – She is my best friend, even when I was growing up (when she wasn’t having to be my mother, which wasn’t often because I was the best kid ever! *giggles*). When the rest of the real world doesn’t seem to be listening without judgment, I know she will.

My Hubby – He keeps me grounded in the real world, when my mind would much rather be flying free in imagination land. Yet, despite that, he’s been very supportive of my writing and helping me ‘gain space’, even if I have yet to figure out how to take a writing vacation.

Anne R. Allen – Not only are her posts extremely informative, especially for a newbie to publishing like me, but she’s the first real, published, author I’ve actually had contact with. She’s even commented on my Blogs, particularly the ones in which I’ve reviewed her books. She connected me with my first job in the publishing industry (more on that at another time). And is just all around funny, awesome, and stuff. *grins*

 

Quiz Me!

The questions from Charley’s nomination – too fun to pass up.

1.  Which fictional character do you think you're most like?

 - I used to think I was like Menolly from DragonSong, by Anne McCaffrey, but that was wishful thinking. The fictional character that is most like me, as I am now, is Kaylee from Firefly (and Serinity). I know it’s a TV series that didn’t last long (and movie), but she’s fictional, but her seeming spaciness yet competience when it comes to keeping the ship running, is like me, trying to manage my writing family and day job.

2.  What is your guilty pleasure?

- Writing pure teenage romance... and eating sweets. I do more of the sweet eating than I should. It’s probably the one reason I’m stuck at the weight I’m at.

3.  Name your three utter essentials.

- food, air and water. I know it’s a copy from Miriam, but no one can live without them, whether they want to or not. Once I have those, then I'll take my hubby, um... a well stocked Kindle, and some way to charge them both. *grins*

4.  Which famous person would you most want to kiss?

- My hubby, because he is famous in some circles (seriously I saw it happen – random dude from his company comes up to him and starts lavishing the praises, while my hubby has no idea who the guy is). Oh, you probably mean real celebrities, that anyone might recognize... well I’m sorry, but I’m a one guy girl and very happily taken. :}

5.  What would be the best ever present?

- Ohhh... tough question. I think a writer’s cruise with Miriam and Charley for fourteen days would be super cool – or winning enough money from the lottery to make that happen. I’m not picky.

Bonus Question (Courtesy a comment on Charley’s blog):

6.  If stuck on a desert island, and given a choice of a pointy stick, an automatic rifle with only one bullet, and a talking goldfish, which of these would you choose to help you get off?
- The pointy stick because it needs no refills and I prefer the quite solitude of my own monologue. Besides, the pointy stick has multiple uses and much easier to fix or replace than the other two. :}

Now what about you? Which would you chose? *grins* 

:} Cathryn Leigh

They are Men, Manly Men!

But they aren’t men in tights*. Nope they are the men of Sherwood Ltd. and Camilla’s gotten herself all wrapped up with them. Okay, just the one, but her taste in men is slowly improving...

Last night I stayed up till midnight to finish reading the last book of the Camilla Randall Mysteries Set; Sherwood Ltd. by Anne R Allen. I loved it! But here's a more detailed review. *grin*

It starts off with Camilla being penniless, it seems to be something that plagues Camilla a lot. And of course, shortly thereafter, her ability to attract danger rears up its ugly head; again. Her ex-husband, Jonathan, has disappeared with no hope of retrieving the money that should have been hers from him. Desperate, she crashes at her friend Planet’s SF Apartment while he’s away and meets an intriguing English Man in the alley below.

But is Peter Sherwood, a Peter Pan or a Robin Hood? It’s hard to tell, but what’s clear is that Camilla starts falling for him, even though she knows how bad her luck is with guys. But, he gives her an offer she can't refuse and thus her journey to England begins. Upon landing Camilla has hopes for a bright future, until she reaches her destination.

And so begins a complex unraveling of what is truly going on at Sherwood ltd., where nothing is as it seems. But, somehow, thing are unraveled and the story ends; perfectly.

But what intrigues me most is the fact that this book and the second one, Ghost Writers in the Sky, were inspired by events in Anne’s own life. Just goes to show that if you work hard and find your creativity, you can turn what might be a mediocre event into an extraordinary story.

Which reminds me...

The first place my husband (then boyfriend) and I rented together turnout to have been the sight of a triple Murder suicide. And we’re not talking a decade earlier, we’re talking the people who lived there before us. The rental company didn’t tell us, my husband found out with his awesome internet hunting skills (back when Google was in Beta). The event explained why the front hall stairs, and front bedroom/office/closet (it was 5’ x 10’ if that) had brand new carpet and why the back bedroom’s wood floors were painted maroon.

Nothing spooky happened to us, though the downstairs neighbors kept asking if we heard or saw things. Living there gave us street cred too. An important thing when you’re two young white people living in a somewhat Hispanic neighbor hood, with the projects two blocks away.

I suspect if I wanted to, I could turn that into a good story. Obviously something would have to happen, but that’d be the fun of using my imagination. Of course, now that it's out there and you want to run with it – feel free. I won’t make you pay me 50% for the idea. *wink*

 

:} Cathryn Leigh

*Robin Hood: Men In Tights – directed by Mel Brooks. Delightful film, and I got to see it twice in the movie theater.

This Delinquent Blog Brought to you by...

THE MAP!

So even though I had this post already to go my brain wanted to do some coloring. But now on to our regularly scheduled programing... No wait Look it’s another random blog award!

The Kreativ Blogger Award has given to me by Miriam Joy. She claims it’s because I’m creative, but I secretly suspect it’s also because of my occasional kreativ spellings. And what tasks have been assigned to me via this award? Hm...

• Answer 9 questions – That doesn’t sound too hard.
• Provide 10 facts – I think I can manage that.
• Pass it on to 7 people – No, I’m not going to. Sorry, but I’m playing dead end.

Okay, now on to the questions and facts.

THE QUESTIONS:

1. What is your favorite song?  - Step-by-Step by John McCutcheon has a lot songs I love, but Step-by-step is my anthem. It reminds me that things will get done, one step at a time and to ask for help when needed, because you can’t always do it alone. *grin*
2. What is your favorite dessert? – That’s a tough question, but I’m going to go with an ooey gooy hot fudge brownie topped with mint chocolate chip ice cream, whip cream and a cherry. *drools*
3. What ticks you off? – When my kids don’t listen to me or do what I ask them to do (really anyone who doesn’t listen when I’m trying to tell them to stop doing something). Sadly it’s tears before anger so when Daddy asks, “And why should you listen to Mommy?”, Fiona answers “So that she doesn’t cry.” *sigh*
4. When you’re upset, what do you do? – I tend to hide and cry. I’ve got a lot of tears and it seems to be the best way to let out my upset... crying coupled with chocolate and a good book to escape into, works wonders. Though more often,  it’s sleep that I really need. *zzzz*
5. What is your favorite pet? – My husband... he counts right? If not then, currently I have to say my kitty Dusteen (RIP). She was a rescue kitten we adopted shortly after my mother kicked her mental x-bf out of the house. Dusteen may have been prone to wobbling, flopping and thunding on stairs, but she was full of purrs for me. I miss falling asleep to her lullabies. *sniffles*.
6. Which do you prefer: black or white? – I consider them equal, though white tends to show a lot more of my life with kids and the black puppy. *grin*
7. What is your attitude? – I can be sarcastic or serious, but in general I prefer to be lighthearted. *giggles*
8. What is perfection? – I don’t know. I’ll tell you when I find out. *grin*
9. What is your guilty pleasure? – Writing pure teenage romance. The kind that plays out my dream of what I wish high school might have ended as if my outcast self met the cool, secretly geeky, jock. Reading romances makes me feel a little guilty, too.

THE FACTS:

1. I seriously dislike making random lists. Unless it has a direction (like a grocery list, or to do list) I find it very hard, therefore the remainder of this list will be facts from my university days.
2. I applied to two universities, one in Kansas (near my grandparents) and one near home (that my boyfriend went to). I got into both, but choose to go to the latter.
3. The day I went to my orientation was the day I decided to go from Liberal Arts Undecided to a Bachelor of Science in Textile Chemistry; however, they wouldn’t let me switch my major until a week after school started.
4. The boyfriend mentioned above and I broke up on my mom’s birthday my first semester at the university.
5. About four months later I started hanging out with a new guy, whom I haven’t been able to get rid of (as if I’d want to *giggles and grins*).
6. I found out I could have tested out of Physics, after I’d taken the second semester.
7. My chemistry teacher (whom I had for five semesters plus) was always telling me I should be a straight Chemistry major
8. I tutored Chemistry five hours a week in my last two years University, and loved it (especially when I had students to tutor).
9. There was only one Textile Chemistry major who graduated with me, yet I knew the Chemistry Majors in my year better.
10. I have two diplomas, one says magna cum laude, the other summa cum laude. The later was sent as a correction to the former after the graduation ceremony. 

Next week I’ll try to be a bit more serious. Any suggestions for topics? I’ve been thinking about starting that world building. I’ve already done a post on Maps. (See look I’ve sort of completed mine.) *grins*

:} Cathryn Leigh

Tag! No Backsies! Please...

Well I’m out here in sunny Florida, enjoying the warm weather and recuperating from a friend’s wedding (three nights of parting – I can’t do it as easily as I used to). Anyway, earlier in the week/last week maybe, Miriam decided to tagged me with a blog chain letter. Normally I ignore chain letters, but I’ll go with this one as it makes my life a little easier. AS I said I’m on vacation at the in-laws with the kids. So, here are...

The Rules

1. You must post the rules – check
2. Post eleven facts about yourself on the blog post – Do I have to?
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged. – Really? I make no guarantees on the quality of the questions.
4. Tag eleven bloggers, however, you can break the rules and tag fewer  people if you want. Make sure you hyperlink their names/blogs. – I’m going to do less, that’s for sure.
5. Let them know you’ve tagged them! – Right. I’ll do my best.
6. Have fun! – Um okay. But isn’t that what my vacation is for?

Now for the ...

Eleven Facts

1. I got braces the summer before Fifth grade (year 6), right before I participated as a Dragon in a mummers play, at Pinewoods Dance Camp (Family Week).
2. The year before that I got bifocals due to a stigmatism in one eye that made it hard for me to refocus from near to far and back again (I refused to wear them and didn’t start wearing glasses full time until college).
3. I married my third boyfriend, whom I also consider my first.
4. I think my kids handpicked the genes they got because there’s no way randomness would have created two such adorable kids from my hubby and I.
5. I believe in Unicorns.
6. All the surgeries I’ve had were related to my mouth – a gum graph, removal of six teeth (including two baby teeth that hadn’t fallen out yet), a root canal, and wisdom teeth removal.
7. I’m having a hard time thinking of eleven facts.
8. I had to be dragged from my laptop to go take a walk with my daughter this afternoon, as I’m still trying to recover my ‘quiet time’ I could use a day by myself.
9. TV is a major distraction for me. I have a very hard time ignoring it, even when the volume is off, the images will still attract my eye. There is no way I can go to sleep in front of it like many people I know.
10. I’ve sewn my thumb with my sewing machine once, but I didn’t have to go to the emergency room.
11. I stepped on a rusty nail two weeks after I’d gotten my tetanus shot, which was also two days before I went to Summer camp for two weeks.

And now I must...

Answer the Questions Posed for Me

1. What is the largest object to the right of the computer or other device on which you are writing this? – A restaurant sized red wine glass. Hey I’m on vacation. At home It’d be a china hutch.
2. What was the last book you read? (Not finished. Just read.) – Anca’s Story, which is very emotional (I’ve cried nearly continually since chapter 3), and very awesome.
3. Do you name inanimate objects? Yes, I mean who hasn’t named a stuffed animal!
4. What was your response to receiving the message that you’d been tagged? (Be honest.) – Not again! / Do I have to? Or something along those lines.
5. Do you have any pets? – Not yet, but there is a dog in our future, and  maybe a cat.
6. How many projects do you have going at the moment? – Do I really have to count, because it will probably depress me? I’ve got at least three writing/revising projects. One critiquing project and then there’s the sewing projects that are progressing even slower.
7. What are you supposed to be doing instead of writing this post? – Nothing, as far as I know, maybe socializing, but I’ve no interest in watching TV. I hate TV, it always takes up more time that you want it to.
8. How long have you been blogging? – Good question, I’ll look that up as soon as I go to post this, but definitely less than a year. Yup, it will be a year come mid June.
9. Do you play any musical instruments? (Vocals count.) – Not officially, but I do sing to my children every night, using songs I learned from chorus.
10. What is the last piece of orchestral music you listened to? – I have no idea, but it was last week on the XM radio.
11. What is the oddest objects you can see right now? – A cookie tin being used to hold my nana-in-laws medication (it’s a big cookie tin and a long medication list). Though I suppose the bear rug/wall hanging that’s ‘sitting’ on the antique couch might be weirder.

Now I need to write my own...

Questions

1. What was the last drink you had, or may be drinking right now?
2. What is your favorite food topping?
3. Do you prefer dogs or cats, and if neither, then what?
4. How far are you living from where you were born?
5. How many places have you lived for more than one year?
6. When you write these questions, will you tailor them to the recipient(s)?
7. What would you do if you found a bear rug in your living room?
8. If you could ‘live’ one book (or movie) what would it be?
9. What’s the best gift you’ve received so far?
10. Pick one location that you would love to drop everything and go visit?
11. What do you think should be everyone’s top priority?

Whew and now I must find some people to pass this off to. I can’t do Miriam, since she tagged me. Out of fun I’ll do Charley so she can be double posted and then... Naw, I won’t bother anyone else.

Just an FYI, I think this may be the last ‘chain blog’ I do.

:} Cathryn Leigh

Pocketful of Sunshine

Pocketful of Sunshine clip from “Easy A“, a great flick about thinking before speaking and the power of the rumor mill. I can get that song suck in my head without hearing it though, but I don’t mind. It’s a great song, very catchy. Someday I ought to fully listen to the lyrics just to make sure I agree with them (for the most part) there are a lot of songs out there I start singing to an then go blech.

Oh well. Today’s post is dedicated to an award I got nominated for by my good friend Miriam. She may want to take it back when I return her novel, Watching, at the end of the month. I’m currently sinking my editing teeth into it and I’m being ruthless! Seriously I’m amazed at all the red I’ve put on it and I’m not even paying attention to grammar or spelling (they are not my forte).

Anyway before I procrastinate too long, here are my answers from the Comfy Chair of the Spanish Inquisition. :}

The Sunshine Award 

• Thank Miriam, whonominated me: So thank you Miriam, may your blog resound with the words of a thousand viewers... or something like that.
• Favorite colors: Purple, royal purple that is, the kind they used to make from snails shells.
• Favorite animal: Unicorn, which in my mind, is not an imaginary beast, but that’s another story all together.
• Favorite number: 42, seriously that has to be obvious!
• Favorite drink: Hot chocolate, the rich creamy kind with whipped cream and chocolate shavings... nom nom nom
• Facebook or Twitter: Facebook: Twitter is too fast for me. I tried and gave up. No time for it right now.
• Your passion: Writing is the first thought that comes to mind, then reading, dancing and creating.
• Giving or Receiving: Well now it depends on the situation. Giving a well thought out gift gives just as much joy as receiving the well thought out gift. And seeing kids faces light up at Christmas time is seriously awesome...
• Favorite pattern: A natural one... Twills are kind of nice though, simple yet elegant, erm... *shrug*
• Favorite day of the week: Tough one and it’s a toss-up between Monday and Friday. Hey I look forward to the week and Weekend! *grin*
• Favorite flower: Crocus, they are a symbol that spring is coming (despite the snow flurry on Monday).

So there you have it, and I suppose I’m supposed to send this out again... Any volunteers? :}

If not I pass it on to Charley R, because she never fails to make me smile at least once a day in one of our many conversations... And To Marc / Eloosive because he’s slowly but surely making his way through my Phoenix trilogy and I love his Daily Writing Practice Blog. :}

:} Cathryn Leigh

A Versatile Blogging Award

Earlier this week I got nominated for the Versatile Blogging Award by two totally cool people: Miriam and Charlie. Now as a recipient of this award I have some rules I have to follow.

Fist I have to thank the person (or in my case people) who nominated me.

So, Miriam (A Farewell to Sanity) and Charlie (The Leaning Tower ofPlot), thank you! 

*Aside* I think they were coordinating an ambush because they nominated me on October 15th! I certainly wouldn’t put it past them. *End Aside*

You know I love you two and will give you lots of hugs when we meet at last!

  

Secondly I have to share seven random facts about myself.

Yikes! Do I have to do fourteen because I was nominated twice? I hope not. I think coming up with seven might be hard. Perhaps lunch will help. *Fifteen minutes later* You get seven, but some of them are going to be quite detailed. *grin* 

1. Up until a month before I was born I had an older brother, Eric Benjamin Adams, who died of a rare genetic disease involving the Kreb’s Cycle. He would have been a year and a half older than me.
2. I’m an only child but my daughter will tell you I have a big family.
   
   a.  My Dad’s remarriage when I was 8 or 9 gave me a step-brother and step-sister who are 10 to 15years older than I am. He has two kids, she has three.
   b. My Mom’s remarriage when my daughter was six months only gave me four step-brothers who are not much older than me. One is engaged (or thinking about it), three are married and one of them has a daughter one month older than my son.
3. Writing became my main hobby two years ago when I joined Protagonize and found like minded people to cheer me on. The hobbies that have fallen by the wayside are:
   
   a.  knitting
   b.  crochet
   c.  beading
   d.  sewing (but I still do Halloween costumes!)
   e.  quilting
   (I guarantee that I have unfinished pieces in all of those categories, including writing.)
4. I still get the heebee geebees from dark rooms in houses. This is especially true when I’m heading up stairs in a darkened house. I can feel things creeping up behind me, and I’ve been known to start walking/running if no one else is around.
5. There are times when I also believe in monsters under my bead and jump under the covers and wrap myself up so it can’t get me.
6. When I retire, I want to be a writer and to supplement my retirement savings with book sales. I also hope to have the time to:
   a.  make costumes based upon clothing I’ve created for my worlds
   b.  travel to lots of different places in our world
   c.  be the neighborhood Grandmother (or at least have been enough of a mother to my children’s closest friends to be grandmother to their kids...)
7. I have a love/hate relationship with the [Inter]National Novel Writing Month.
   a.  I love it because it gives me planned time to write away from home in the company of other writers
   b.  I hate it because it forces me to write faster than I like, eliminating my ability to take time and walk out plot points (aka go for a walk to think through what’s going on in my plot and where it’s going next)
   c. Apparently love wins over the hate as I signed up to do it again this year!

Now, Thirdly, I have to pass this award on to five to seven of my deserving blogging buddies.

That’s going to take a bit of figuring see as my two best blogging buddies nominated me, and I’m going to try and use the no backsies (at least not right away) rule. Looks like I’m going to be subscribing to some fellow Protagonize member blogs so I can nominate them *giggles*

1. Eloosive (Daily Writing Practice)
2. Jackerbie (Crumb Trails)
3. Burndtree (Burndtree)
4. Alyssa (Literaturistic Blog)
5. Jessica M. Vazquez, aka Arwym (Crafted Dreams)

And Lastly, I need to contact those people I nominated and congratulate them.

Well if you’re one of those people and you haven’t been contacted by me, you will be soon. Just remember the rules are as follows:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5-7 deserving blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them!

May we all gain a reader or two in this whole fun process!

:} Cathryn Leigh

Introducing Myself

Tonight I thought I was going to manage to slip in some editing on my current story in progress. No such luck. I got thoroughly distracted by creating this blog. So, now that the kids are sleeping and this dishes are done I might as well give you a little introductory post.

My name is Cathryn Leigh.

Well that’s the name I had printed on the tags you can sew into things you make. It really is my given name; first and middle. You see when I had those tags made, back when I was twelve, I was thinking. They came in bundles of 500 and I knew I wasn’t about to make 500 things in which to sew the tags before I got married. I also knew I’d take on my husband’s last name. So, Cathryn Leigh it was because, they would never change though my last name might, and has.

I have other names, which complicates things. Real life friends and family call me Cayla, it’s how my husband almost always introduces me. My coworkers and the parents of my kids’ friends call me Cathryn. And all those cool people I’ve met though the internet call me Elo, or some variation thereof; Elorithryn being my current and favorite.

But, whatever you call me, I’m still me.

I’m the girl who loves to create and will forever dwell in the land of her imagination. Writing is the hobby I spend the most amount of time on, though come October it falls by the wayside for Halloween costumes. In December it’s cooking gingerbread cookies and making cranberry sauce that eat away at my nights. But, whatever hobby I happen to be working on, you can be sure I’m creating something. That’s my passion.

But know this; I will be published one day. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even next year. But it will happen. And this blog is about me getting there... eventually, and all the detours and sidetracks that happen given that I am a writing, working, mother.

:} Cathryn Leigh