Military Romance Author
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter @WarriorTales)
Once again it is time for Quirky Fridays! Several years ago my brother-in-law insisted I watch a cute YouTube video about a bear. I was hooked and it became one of my guilty pleasures. Whenever I need to laugh or to get out of an “eat worms in the garden mood,” Gummy Bear does it for me.
What makes you laugh? What guilty pleasures do you have? Enjoy your weekend!
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter @ WarriorTales)
Right brain creatives look at the big picture and many times make connections where others see nothing. A real life game of connect the dots. (I loved those drawing books.) This post headline is a case in point. Let me explain.
I’ve always been a big Toby Keith fan. Not only does he write songs and sing, he is very committed to the troops. He has made many trips into Iraq and Afghanistan, plus other bases and ships and doesn’t make a big deal out of it. His dad was a Korean War veteran. Toby worked in the oilfields and played some semi-pro football before trying a music career.
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter @WarriorTales)
Star Wars is one of my all-time favorite movies. Not only for a young Hans Solo, but because of the classic hero’s journey story arc it portrays. Chris Vogler’s book, The Writer’s Journey, is one of my number one research sources for structure. In the first edition he did a detailed breakdown of Star Wars.
Chris gave me permission to quote his stages of the hero’s journey in my first book. I am forever grateful. In return, I sent him this link to an amazing video. He got a kick out of it.
His next book is out now, Memo From The Story Department. My copy is on its way to me. In the meantime, take a look for yourself at this movie epic below. You’ll never look at a grocery store the same way. Once again it’s Quirky Friday. May the veggies be with you!
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter @WarriorTales)
Everyone needs a vacation and writers are no exception. While writers are “on” all the time observing, watching life and dreaming things in the space between our ears, we do need to refill our creative cup. One of my favorite places to go is the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. www.osfashland.org
I recently returned from five days in this fabulous town and had a blast on the backstage tour and seeing Love’s Labor’s Lost and The Pirates of Penzance. See, I told you there were pirates involved.
This is the 76th season of the Tony Award winning regional theatre and they have 10 plays in repertory this year. The three theatres, the Elizabethan Stage, the Angus Bowmer and the New Theatre offer four different plays each day, which then rotate the next day. Mondays they all take a day off. Well earned.
This year an additional challenge occurred when the main supporting beam in the Angus Bowmer Theatre cracked and they had to move plays immediately. The technical crew and actors did an amazing job to deal with and recover from “Beamageddon” while still putting the plays on in alternate venues. It took six weeks for the beam to be repaired. We heard the inside scoop from our backstage tour host actor Jeffrey King who shared his love of acting and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Being around artists of all kinds rewards and energizes the creative muse and lets the imagination dance. I asked King what his thoughts were about the movie soon to be out, Anonymous, which tries to make folks believe Shakespeare didn’t actually write the plays and sonnets.
“To an actor, what really matters is the story,” he replied. “I believe Shakespeare wrote the plays, but for an actor, it doesn’t really matter who wrote it. It’s all about the story.”
Which brings us back to the true lesson in being a storyteller and writer. It’s the story, stupid! Make it the best it can be. Sounds like an old Army ad, imagine that.
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter @WarriorTales)
Quirky Friday is here again and I am being overwhelmed by techno gadgets. Some gadgets work, some gadgets torture. To demonstrate my true feelings about technology gone bad, check out this cute video.
Imagine the old school apples are computer gadgets and I am the kitten. Got any computer horror stories? May the fur be with you! Have a great weekend!
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter @WarriorTales)
Last Saturday I cleaned up my garden plants to get ready for winter. Made notes about what worked, what didn’t and what I might plant next year. Had trouble when my pruner went MIA.
My gardening tools are collected in a white plastic carry cart so I can keep my gloves and digger implements handy. Pruner not in its spot. Hate that.
Turned the garage upside down and could have gnawed the dead roses off with my teeth twice with the time I spent hunting the pruner. Opted to use the grass cutters, not the best solution, but it worked.
Writing is like that. Keep your tools handy, sharp and updated. Sometimes pruning, aka editing, is needed. My biggest pruning/editing toss was more than 200 pages of a 320 page manuscript.
Silhouette Books had requested that manuscript, then sent me a lovely rejection leter telling me why it needed to be pruned. Drastically.
Since I don’t like to trim basil that is going to seed, let alone a manuscript, it took a lot of gumption to prune that book. Did it. They requested again. Rejected again.
That book manuscript is under the bed with others, maybe becoming compost, but I learned how to do tree surgery size edits/prunes on that one.
Whether gardening or writing, we have to kill our darlings, shovel manure and keep at it to grow our manuscripts. Because Spring is just around the corner and the Burpree catalog will arrrive in January.
My garden started out with one sweet cherry 100 tomato plant in a 5-gallon plastic bucket. Now I have many containers and pots in my garden. Trial and error in gardening, writing and life.
Figured out I may have accidently heaved the pruner out with the yard debris. Note to self; garish bright colored handle on next pruner. As we used to say in the Air Force Reserve, remember the “F” word. Flexible, that is. Lifelong learning is fun.
What seeds will be in your next garden? What writing projects are now seeds? Juvenile plants? Full-grown? Mature? Or need drastic pruning, re-potting or to be pulled out by the roots? What’s in your writing garden?
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