Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

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Would You Make A Good Writer Spy?

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by Kimberly A. Cook            (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

One of the pieces of craft a writer needs to practice is the art of observation. By people and pet watching we get ideas, insights and entertainment, all for free. With the weather starting to get warmer, we are on the cusp of prime people watching season.

Stealth ducks hiding in plain sight next to my day job building.
Stealth ducks hiding in plain sight next to my day job building.

Walking into my day job building, there is a swale which holds run off rain water. Week before last a pair of ducks were swimming around in the pond six feet from the building. Day in and out I noticed most people didn’t realize the ducks were even there, hiding in plain sight every morning.

Outside my house the other day, a friend noticed a key was hanging from a tree branch. We figured out someone dropped their house key and with no identification and a Good Samaritan tied the lanyard around the tree to serve as a signal. How many great story ideas, characters or dialogue clips have we lost in the trees by not using our writer “Spidey” sense?

Eavesdropping dialogue gold mines for me are mass transit, lines at the grocery store, anyone on a cell phone in public, movie theaters before the movie starts and any sporting event. Malls are great too because not only do you see all kinds of people and outfits, you can snack and drink cocoa at the free viewing tables in the food court.

As a fiction writer I like to make up stories about the people I see, imagine what their “back stories” are and what their current mission might be. It’s a great way to exercise your mind and let your subconscious get some new input.

A piece on the radio recently talked about how doing chores or repetitive tasks can unleash your inner creativity. Great ideas come to me when gardening, washing dishes, in the shower and taking out the trash. Seems our grey matter needs a muse break too.

So it’s time for writer Spring training. Get ready to do chores and people watch. You too may discover some hidden drone ducks on a secret mission or a new mystery book series idea, hiding in plain sight. Get in shape now for writer summer RECON!

Who Knew Giraffes Could Do This?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

We’ve had sunny weather here in Oregon this week and its been gorgeous. These warm days make ones thoughts turn to pool parties and hot tubs. Imagine my surprise when I came across this film which shows how giraffes celebrate summer.

It’s a bit longer than my usual video clips, but well worth the time for entertainment value. Plus, you might pick up some tips! Have a great weekend. Happy Quirky Friday!

How De We Really See Ourselves And Others?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Writers build worlds, fantasies and complicated stories with people, places and animals. We use details to bring a location or emotional event alive. One way we build our characters is by describing their physical characteristics and values through their actions.

This past week I watched a video done by Dove which illustrates how we see ourselves as individuals and how others see us differently. This is a fascinating video clip. The forensic artist does an amazing job. He mentioned in another video clip on the DoveUnitedStates YouTube channel that he could tell when women didn’t like part of their appearance, they lightly touched on it.

Watch this wonderful piece of work and see what you think. How we describe our characters and ourselves may not be how the world sees either of us. Women have a particular challenge with this with the fashion and advertising industries. What’s important is each writer’s and character’s heart. What do you think?

Take A Video Vacation To Greece!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                 (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It’s been a tough week, especially for folks in Boston and Texas. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families, all who helped, and law enforcement and emergency responders during these tragic events. When things like this happen we can be hit with compassion fatigue. The military knows this and has units stand down and take some R&R, rest and relaxation. With that in mind, we could all use a little happy break.

While we wait for summer to appear, my budding grape-vine gives me hope there will be warm summer nights and lunches out in the sun again. Just like that 78-year-old gentleman who was knocked down by the bomb in Boston and got up to finish the race – with a concussion! That’s us Yanks, knock us down, we get back up.

So let’s all take a little breather today and venture off to Greece on the budget plan, by video. One of my favorite destinations in Greece is Hydra, let’s go along with Rick Steves. Happy Quirky Friday!

Got Pets? Have A Current Computer Back Up?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Sunday I walked into my home office to pay some bills and found Spec Ops Cat had gifted me with a hairball – on my finished taxes on the desk. Not a tragedy, my CPA filed my returns electronically two weeks ago so this was the paper copy, but point taken. The open laptop right next to it survived unscathed. One never knows when a hairball or computer crash might happen.

Spec Ops Cat helping out in the office - as a paperweight.
Spec Ops Cat helping out in the office – as a paperweight.

Having “worked for the government” I am paranoid about multiple backups. The rule of three backups with one being off-site is never far from my mind. I don’t even erase my photo memory cards after they are on my computer, I keep them as archives.

I use Carbonite online to backup my computer automatically and I put everything on thumb drives too, plus I have an external hard drive which backs up my computer. No, I’m not using the Cloud yet, but I’ve toyed with Dropbox, but I want my files with me so we shall see about the whole Cloud concept.

My paranoia goes back to my Army logistics training I think – if you don’t have it with you, you don’t have it – that applies to food, fuel, toilet paper and digital photos and documents. A burned CD copy of my book is in my fire safe and still riding around in my car.

Adding photos and videos into the backup equation besides my writing documents increases the memory needs. My first computer used 5 1/4 inch disks and had no hard drive. Now we are all overwhelmed with trying to preserve our digital memories and work to avoid a catastrophic digital disaster. Maybe using some old school ways of burying some DVDs or thumb drives in the backyard might be cool again.

With taxes over for this year, it’s a good time to consider keeping our writing, photos, videos, legal and financial documents safe. Protect yourself and your writing – backup now. Who knows what our pets are plotting for the rest of the year!

Going Fishing? Be Careful Out There!

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by Kimberly A. Co0k                (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Back to the islands this Friday! Yesterday I saw this video clip on both weather.com and cnn.com. Seems Isaac was fishing off Oahu minding his own business, when “Chompy” decided he wanted to fish too! From the end of Isaac’s pole!

When I looked at it yesterday there were 400,000 plus views. This morning, 1.9 million. Chompy has a lot of fans. Enjoy your weekend and have a great Quirky Friday!

http://youtu.be/puNhvXutVjQ