Seeing Stars:

Pat Benatar, famous singer and rock star was at Borders Books this last weekend promoting her book “Between a Heart and a Rock Place.” I heard she was going to be in town so I stopped off to see her. Unfortunately I didn’t purchase her book. There was a long winding line of people around the store to see her and have her sign their book. I asked one of the bookstore employees if they had a chance to meet her. They said she was on a tight schedule because she had a concert later that evening.

I walked around searching for a book I wanted and went past the area twice.  I saw her in a petite black tight fitting pantsuit with shoulder length hair and bangs. She was surrounded by several security guards and a publicist. She smiled and talked briefly with excited customers’ holding her book. Her music played in the back ground. Borders Books did an awesome job in playing her up. Of course she didn’t really need it.

I was thrilled to see the sight. At how tiny and beautiful she was. What struck me most was her charisma and smile. It was plain to see the raw talent rolling off her. I only had a few glimpses but they are etched in my memory.  Click here to find out more about her book and to hear Pat discussing her memoirs.  Pat Benatar's Book

Braveheart the Warrior: Update.
My little Braveheart is not so little any more. However he is still a cutie. Yesterday while watching a movie Braveheart jumped up next to me on the couch. I was aware of him but riveted on the movie. “Hidalgo” with Viggo Mortenson. (Very good movie by the way. True story.)

Braveheart sort of looked at me then jumped up on the back of the couch and promptly laid his body across my back. I heard him purring in my ear and felt his warmth.  I allowed him to stay that way for a little bit then picked him up and laid him down beside me. He was on his back with his arms sticking out. He was so funny, I just couldn’t help it. I snapped a picture.

Talk about comfortable!

As you can see he's not the little chubby kitten anymore.  His body is long and sleek.  Right now all four cats and I are giving him a lesson about boundaries.  He loves to pounce on us and bite with very sharp teeth.   He is learning but he's still a youngster. 

One last thing: 

I am another day older today.   I have been having fun with my Facebook friends cute messages of well wishes and Birthday kisses.   Thank you for the good will. 

Share, love, laugh, cry, grow and bond with other.  May your days be as bright at the sun and may you find your happiness.  Until next time. 

Writing, Writing, Writing:

I have a confession to make. I’m a new writer. I wanted to do something that will allow me to write and a way to advance my writing skills. I mostly write fantasy fiction so I wanted to write more along the lines of fiction but real, regular people in true to life situations. I had seen a few other blog storylines and wanted to try. I developed an idea and I even talked to a few writers regarding it. I felt good about everything. I wrote up a cast post and a first episode and launched the blog and Facebook page. I linked it to this blog. After a little while I was unsure about the writing. I needed a second opinion.

A few weeks ago I met a young lady at a writers group that I attended. We hit it off, and she was looking for a critique group. I did belong to another critiquing group that since has disbanded. We decided to help each other out. Well we had a big miscommunication and almost became enemies.

Both of us being professional we cleared up the mishap and we are back to critiquing each others work. Part of the problem between us stemmed from my storyline.


A few days ago I asked my mother and brother to take a look at it. Both hated it. They had a lot to say and I listened with open ears. I had been thinking about making changes anyway. This is exactly what I needed.

So I re-wrote the story and started at the beginning. That’s where I went wrong the first time. I started about six months in the future right in the middle of everything. In starting at the beginning, I will get a better grasp of the characters and what they are doing, how they relate to each other and to find an overall arc for the story.

In starting at the beginning, I cannot bring the story to where I was. I have to look at what came before all that. Here comes the fun part. It’s called surprises. What I really enjoy is this process right here. Even though it is hard and I have to stop often to think about things, but when I pick up again ideas come to me and I get excited and encouraged about the story.

I’d like to start over on the storyline Three Ordinary Lives. I wanted to launch it but in reality was not ready to.

The story will start off with one person Tara Evans. She works for FitzPatrick Insurance, in the claims department. She wants to have a restaurant. Tara is a loving mothering person. The way she nurtures is through food. She likes playing around in the kitchen trying new recipes and dreaming of her restaurant. Her husband, Kyle is an engineer; they have been married for 10 years. No children.

I will bring in other characters and their stories along side Tara’s later, and I will bring in a bigger subplot. I hope you like the changes. I may change the name also. I still have some stuff to work on before I launch it again.

Failure can be taken in different ways. I choose to take it as a positive. I’ve learned the value of waiting. If you want something bad enough something it best to wait until you are ready for it.

How do you feel about failure or success? Tell us your story and how you look at it? Share your story and bond with others. Until next time.

The Joy of a Laundromat:

What do you think of a Laundromat? I went this last Sunday. After placing 16 quarters into a 2 loader washer, because most of the regular washers were out of order, I found that my washer didn’t spin during the final spin and my clothes were sopping wet.

I asked the attendant, “What do I do?"  She says. “Just put them in a dryer.” Not knowing what to do I placed my extremely wet clothes in one of the dryers. After a few minutes I realized this method is not going to work. They were flopping all over the place and the window of the dryer was soaked.

I took out the wet clothes, went to the sink and rung them out one by one. I got a blister on my left thumb then the blister popped, it wasn’t fun. My hands, thumbs, wrists hurt. Not only that, I was as wet as my clothes were. The sweat was pouring off of me. Next I placed the newly rung clothes in two separate dryers.

At that moment I was disgusted with the attendant. When I told her about the machine not spinning she did absolutely nothing. No offer to give me another chance to re-do my clothes. No reimbursement, no sympathy, nothing.

The amount of time to dry the clothes was astounding. Finely they dried and I was able to go home but I was wiped out. I got to thinking about my experience at the lovely Laundromat. I haven’t gone to one in years because I’ve had a washer and dryer at home. Now I remember how much of a pain it is.


Update on Braveheart The Warrior:
Sweet, energizer bunny Braveheart, the pest of the house, and I mean that in a loving way. He’s sick. I could see his right eye was bothering him. When he sat on my lap the other day he was quite warm. I felt the other cats and there was a difference. Then last night he sneezed a few times.
I brought him to the animal doctor this morning and sure enough his eye, the same one as last time, needed more medicine. He also has a cold. I’m glad I took him.

After we returned home he was off giving my other cats an earful of his visit to the doctors. I could hear it now.

“Oh man there was a ton of dogs in there. I was watching them from my carrier, the one that mom put me in. There was big ones, small one, fat ones, and black ones etc… I was nervous. But then I was seen by the doctor and they gave me cat treats. You don’t get any. Ha ha.”

That visit cost me a pretty penny, but my little Braveheart is worth it. Until next time.

The Art of Critiquing:

I am writing out of frustration now. At my last Greater Cleveland Writers Group I met a woman who I liked right off the bat. We discussed writing and the possibility of a critiquing group. We exchanged emails addresses and began a dialog and then over the next few days did some quick critiques of each others work.

The first critique of my first episode of my blog storyline, “Three Ordinary Lives” she wrote some really good points. I re-wrote it. The next critique had a line by line, pulled apart critique as to why it didn’t work. Wrong tense, wrong words, try a different tone here. It was depressing. So I tried again and emailed it.

Once again the critique came back line by line. Try stronger verbs here etc… I re-wrote again but I didn’t send it, because we were going to get together that night and discuss the critiquing group ideas. Later that evening at dinner I showed her my latest re-writes and we had a discussion on tenses. Again I was confused. It seemed I just couldn’t get it right. So I tried again on Saturday morning, and email it.

Sunday I was thinking about it all day. I went to my fiction books and did some research. In all the books I read, and I have a lot of them, I found the way I was writing was correct, so what’s the problem? I just couldn’t figure it out, until later Sunday evening. I have a set of books in the Elements of Fiction Writing by Writer’s Digest, called “Characters and Viewpoints.” The answer I was seeking was right there. Most fiction is written in third person past tense, which I had been writing in. However my new friend was trying to get me to write in first person present tense. After seeing this answer I completely understood the conflict we were having.

At the same time the person’s elevated status was brought down quite a bit. I was so happy to have someone who understood writing only to find that she is a grammar whiz not a writing wiz. It seemed as if she was trying to get me to write in her taste and words not mine. To me that was not critiquing correctly, so I email her to step down. To save my sanity I had to, even though it pains me to do so.

If I had stayed and held the course there would have been too much resentment and it would not have been good for either of us. A lesson learned I think.

Until next time.

Everything New: Update on the move.

For those of you that is new to my blog. I had to move because the property that I lived in sold and the new owner wanted to live in my apartment. I reluctantly moved into a friend’s home. She moved into another one of her properties that needs to be fixed up.

I have lived in my new place for almost two weeks now. It took me one week to get used to it. Now I am very slowly putting stuff away, even though it pains me to do so, after I clean it and ensure that it is safe. (Ha Ha). My old apartment was perfection. Beautiful big kitchen with full cabinets, hardwood floors, new windows etc… Now I live in a place that needs a lot of fixing up, but it is cheaper. For every box that I open and put stuff away I am becoming more aware that I am to stay here.

Don’t get me wrong the new place is nice. It’s just not a nice as my old apartment.

What’s New:
I visited my girlfriend that I’ve known for years. She lives in a beautiful house. When she first arrived there, it was just as bad as the one I live in. Sitting in her kitchen I noticed she has the same small cupboards I have and she made the most of them. She also little by little made her home to be a reflection of the beauty that she is. I have resigned myself to do that, to make my home a place that I can be proud of. Nothing is perfect in this world and as much as I dream and wish I could stay where I was, I must move on.

Update on Braveheart the Warrior:
My little baby kitten I rescued is growing bigger than ever. He is very funny, inquisitive, smart, but my other cats are teaching him to behave and learn to live with all of us. They did embrace him and he has a relationship with each of them.

I must give kudos to my cats. Where I live it is not uncommon for mice to run around in the houses. My cats are very good hunters. I have had four dead mice treasures left for me to discover. I give them praise when they do that. It hones their skills and keeps them entertained and I have peace knowing I don’t have mice crawling around.

Update on Writing:
I am still working on my blog storyline. I have a new friend who is helping me with critiquing my story. With her help it has become better but it is taking longer than I had anticipated. I am working on three advanced stories for “Three Ordinary Lives.” I will re-post the first episode with the revisions and hopefully my writing and story will be more exciting. Thanks for your patience.

My new friend I met during my Greater Cleveland Writers Group. She and I are going to partner a critiquing group together. We are working on the name and what we want to accomplish for ourselves and the group. This is a very exciting time for us.

I am still working on my craft of writing. I am reviewing and going over each chapter of the books I bought at the bookstore from Writers Digest Elements of Fiction Writing Series, Conflict, Action and Suspense by William Noble and Characters and Viewpoint by Orson scott Card.  In my sparest of spare time I work on Grammar, or vocabulary words from the workbook “Defining Twilight” by Brian Leaf, M.A. plus much more.

Slowly I am learning to write and I love every minute of it. When you find your place in the world, you never feel like its work, it just fun.

Until next time.

Womens Issues. End Human Trafficking. Via Annie OSullivan post on my Facebook page.

I saw this posting from one of my friends on Facebook.  I think it is very important.  Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have set up a foundation to End Human Trafficking and have a website for it.  Click here. http://www.demiandashton.org/  Join in the twitter conversation.   
Read the article for the foundation here. humantrafficking.change.org and become involved. 

If you are looking for a worthy cause this is one of them.  Many children boys and girls go missing across the world.  Many are caught in a world they don't have the skills to get out of.   The children are the future of our world.  See how a small amount from you can save their future and ours. 

From Shocked to Recovery:

For those of you that is new to my blog. I just moved from a beautiful apartment, that was on the market and sold, to a friends old run down, creaky, mice running around, bugs flying everywhere, no screens on the windows, well you get the idea, place. I didn’t have a lot of options and neither did my friend when we decided on this move. I had to move quickly.

It’s sad to say that my friend loved the place that I moved into and is moving into a property that she is fixing up, but doesn’t like. Both of us work in property management. She’s an owner and I’m in the profession as a support for a company.

To say that I was in shocked at the new place was an understatement. After spending one full week there I am over the shock but not over the problems dealing with it. Such as the kitchen is completely inefficient, not to mention filthy. There are no linen closets or space to store anything. As I mention in the last paragraph, there are no screens on any of the windows so I cannot get any fresh air flowing through the apartment. I feel like a hermit. My poor cats, all 4 of them, they are dealing with this better than I am. Although I did get a couple of treasures on my bed, dead mice prominently displayed for me to find. I have to hand it to my cats, they are good hunters. They have eaten most of the bug flying around and of course the mice. The old place I could open the windows and they could look out and see the world and get fresh air, but now it’s dark and no air. (Ugh!)

I went to the Laundromat to do a load of clothes. I refuse to go down to the basement to do laundry. I don’t trust that washer and dryer or the basement for that matter. I will not allow my cats to have access either. The washer was dirty and the dryer is filled with clothes my girlfriend forgot. I won’t touch them.

Do you think I am being all weird about this? One of my pet peeves is cleaning someone else’s filth. When I get tired of looking at it, I swallow my pride and will dig in and clean it but I don’t like it. (So There!!) Anyway enough of that subject. I’m getting a headache.

Exciting News:
Last Friday I went to Borders Books, my favorite place to go, and met a new author Harry Dolan. He was promoting his first novel “Bad Things Happen”. I got to meet and talk with him. He’s been traveling around the country talking and meeting people. He was nice and genuine. I bought his book and he personalized it. “WOW.” I’m on the third chapter and it’s good so far. If you get a chance, read it.

Update on Braveheart the Warrior:
Talk about brave. Braveheart has been a trouper through this whole process of moving. The other three cats have been with me before while moving, so they were used to it, well sort of, as much as moving to a new place for an animal could be. They were very good. Braveheart was actually better because he didn’t care about the uncomfortable feeling of a new place. He just wanted to play, and play he did. A few times I was on a couch that was left there, reading. I can feel Braveheart near me stalking when all of the sudden he jumps on top of my book in a effort to get at my hands to play. Sometime he would craw across my shoulders and nuzzles my neck then jumps down onto my lap then again attack my hands.

I just roll my eyes. It doesn’t take him long to be on his way with something else that captures his attention. A few times he stopped by and sat in my lap and actually fell asleep. Those are the most rewarding, when he give love back.

I was so stressed out last week it was a wonder I even had a personality. How I survived I don’t know. Well now I seem to be back to normal, sort of, with smiles and friendliness.

Hopefully you had a great week. If you want to discuss an issue or have gone through something that is similar, which I am sure you have. Please tell us about it and bond with others. It’s nice to know that we are not alone. Share, laugh, cry, grow and bond with others. Until next time.