Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

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Of Shakespeare and Pirates!

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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

Me doing a fine job of holding down this sign. Notice the "first" part about the Elizabethan Theatre.

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. 

Inside the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Elizabethan Stage in Ashland, Oregon on the backstage tour.

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.

Are They Really Apples Or Computers?

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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! 

What’s In Your Writing Garden?

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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. 

Part of my "Back Forty" Farm

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?

Quirky Fridays

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By Kimberly A. Cook     (Twitter @WarriorTales)

Writers observe, watch and interpret. Like spies. Part of the fun is enjoying all the wonderful antics and adventures we see all around us. By Friday, everyone needs a laugh. So Quirky Fridays will be part of this blog. Stop in and see my favorite weird and wacky things to give you a smile or maybe a laugh.

To start off this feature, I have to play my all-time favorite YouTube military video. These British lads did it right. To get the “back story” on this video as we say in the writing biz, check out my web site’s favorite video page at http://www.warriortales.com/warriortalestv/favvideos.html  Got a favorite military humor video? Cat video? Let me know about it. Remember, this is a G Rated blog. Have to keep it clean for those young writers too! 

Adventures In Military Writing

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By Kimberly A. Cook     (Twitter @WarriorTales)

Social media can make your head explode.  Facebook just announced another change in format this week. Almost had it figured out. The only constant is change and chaos. I’ve always decided to do my own thing, always have, so life is more fun and interesting that way. In this era of digital publishing everything is up for grabs. I decided several years ago to publish my own work, surrender to ebooks and have more fun.  Social media became a new quest.

Social Media Old School – Classic Underwood typewriter at the Jefferson County Historical Society Museum in Madras, Oregon

First was YouTube movies of my cat and then Twitter to give writing tips. Kicking and screaming I went to Facebook. Now its blog time. I enjoy all 140 characters of Twitter, as a former journalist, I find it a challenge to tell a mini-story within the box.

The Facebook 420 character limit sometimes gets in my way. A lifelong learner, I like to share information and insights about the writing life. Quirky is always  involved.  

A military veteran, photographer and rookie videographer, I consider myself an adventuress. Let’s see what trouble we can all get in with my blog!