Military Romance Author
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
Quirky Friday rolls around again and it’s time for that never-ending war – cats vs. dogs. When it comes to furniture, cats know what they like – everything. These poor puppies are getting lessons in who really does the comfy bed testing in today’s homes. Enjoy your weekend and go cats!
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
Unexpected events caused me to take a blog break last month. While I am dedicated to make my two posts a week, other things are more important. After a lovely Thanksgiving Day with family, my Dad went into the emergency room the next afternoon and he passed on Dec. 8.
It was an intense time for my family and about mid-week I remembered the blog. I made a quick post and hoped all would understand later. My close friends knew and they left some nice comments of support. It was the hardest and most amazing thing I have ever done, being with my Dad those ten days.
Grief and letting go is a process and my family is moving through it; my mother, sister and brother-in-law, plus nieces all doing what we need to do. My Dad was a great guy. He loved to laugh and take care of “his girls.” We have many wonderful memories. He was also a terrific storyteller.
Dad left me a couple of projects to finish. I interviewed him on cassette tape in 1999 about his days on the railroad, he started in 1942 and retired in 1981, steam engines to diesel. Those tapes and transcripts are gold to me now. He also wrote down his own Army Air Corps military stories from World War II for me in 2005. I have those to research and write-up. I also have a ton of photos, since I think I became the family paparazzi.
So a few words for my blog readers. Ask about family stories, audio record and film your relatives. Don’t wait. Do it now. It brings me great comfort to know I still have projects I can do with my Dad. Make sure you can do the same.
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
I’ve been up to my eyeballs watching the NFL playoffs, but now a new league has burst on the scene. Seems the Super Bowl is going to have big competition this year from a pack of rescued kittens that need homes.
Hallmark Channel is presenting the first Kitten Bowl! Decisions, decisions, I’m going to have to DVR one game while watching the other. To get a look at these frisky athletes, check out their moves and player profiles! Watch their training regimen via the live kitten cam at the Kitten Bowl Training Camp! http://new.livestream.com/hallmarkchannel/kittenbowl
This is the link to the latest promo!
http://youtu.be/jqczNdwhA24
Move over Puppy Bowl! Kitten Bowl is going to rock the sports world! Check it out below!
http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/kittenbowl/video/Video/KittenBowlGetReady
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
Two interesting quotes jumped on me in the past few days. One in the January “Vogue” magazine from an interview with Cate Blanchett and the other an opinion piece by a doctor in our local newspaper.
Blanchett talked about the creative process, “there’s a kind of unrest that I think happens in any creative endeavor. You are endlessly disappointed. I mean, no artist worth their salt is ever pleased.” She went on to quote legendary dancer Martha Graham then wrapped it up with, “And that is actually what keeps you moving forward and makes you stay creatively alive.”
It was a nugget of inspiration I needed after trying to figure out what I want to do when my writing grows up, if ever. It’s also testament to reading everything, because you never know where pearls of advice might be hidden. I’d started reading the article in the middle since I wanted to see what Blanchett said about the new movie she’s in, “The Monuments Men.” I’ve owned the book for years! Now it’s a movie and seriously, who doesn’t want to watch George Clooney?
The opinion piece in the paper centered on the need for children to unplug and venture outside, to actually play with something besides a screen. He talked about the need for children to not be so scheduled, they need boredom time. The line that hit me hard? “Boredom is the furnace of creativity.”
What a great and true sentence. Then I immediately applied everything from both articles to adults and writers. When was the last time you were creatively perfect or truly bored? Can’t remember? Of course not! Between the screens, schedules and sleep, who has time to be perfect or bored?
And that is the issue. Writers and all creatives need time to sit, stare out the window and be restless and bored. When I can’t solve a writing problem, I treat it the same way as a glitchy computer; back away, go outside and reboot. House cleaning and mundane tasks give my right brain a vacation, then while my left brain is carefully supervising sock folding; voila, a solution appears in my right brain. Amazing stuff.
Not perfect? Are you bored today? Excellent!
Read the play article here: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/01/why_children_should_play_more.html
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
While many of us are still digesting/munching on our leftover New Year’s Day snacks, these highly trained athletes show us what it’s like to be in shape. I don’t know why I love these agility courses, but I do. Especially the rabbits who cheat!
So whether you can get up out of your chair or off the couch at all, look to these bona fide competitors to show us how to work off our holiday weight gain. Happy Quirky Friday!
by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
Back to the blog. Unlike many folks this year, I’ve decided not to make any New Year’s resolutions I won’t work on after February. Can’t spare the mental energy, so I’ll quit before I add to my list. I’m still working on last year’s goals, so those will roll-forward into this year. When you pick big goals, they can take more than twelve months or last your entire life when you’re a writer.
Part of the writing challenge these days is deciding to combine my office and craft projects in the same room to make an “art studio.” This decision has morphed into a mess of gargantuan proportions. If you don’t have the staff of hundreds they use on those organizing tv shows, the whole “shove two rooms together spill out in the hall mess” is daunting.
There have been some up sides; my crafty creative mind keeps straying over into the writing side of the “art studio” and vice a versa. When glue dots, beads and stickers hunker next to yarn, writing manuscripts and photos, interesting things begin to happen. Our environments are very important to us creatives. Of course, the whole finishing thing issue now crops up in all areas of the room. Squirrel!
But when life gets crazy and holidays and people need tending, the mess waits. So my goal is to get the “art studio” in shape by the end of this year. If I give myself tons of time, it feels like a fun goal and not a business plan. More fun, less work this year is my main goal. Along with simplifying. Now, if I can just get Spec Ops Cat to dust.
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