Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

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Happy Thanksgiving Eve

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A prior classic Libby’s recipe pumpkin pie from my very own kitchen. Can you smell the joy?

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Family, turkey, friends, mashed potatoes, football, pumpkin pie, gravy, whipped cream. You get my drift. It’s also a time to reflect on all we have and how lucky we are to live in the USA.

When Debbie, my Australian friend, happened to visit our family during Thanksgiving one year, she totally endorsed this fabulous holiday. Everybody can get behind a time to be thankful.

Whether you’re having turkey, spaghetti, ham, a breakfast burrito, McDonald’s Happy Meal or eating Meals-Ready-To-Eat or mess food on a ship, it’s time to reflect.

My sister and brother-in-law just got back from a trip to California to visit family. On the way down I-5 they traveled on the road with Oregon fire crews going to backup our California neighbors in need. At the hotel in Redding they shared space with more fire crews and the displaced folks who had lost their homes in the fires.

It’s times like these that those of us who are not directly touched by the wildfires, hurricanes or other natural disasters can do our part to help. Donations are always welcome. The Red Cross is a good place to start. 

So while we thank and honor our firefighters on the lines in California, our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq spending another holiday away from home, and all our military members, veterans, law enforcement and intelligence personnel around the world protecting us, it truly is a time to say thank you for what we have.

I am blessed to be able to work on my writer dreams, have a funny family and supportive friends; plus cuddle Spec Ops Cat who thinks I’m his waitress and personal mobile heating pad.

And to my blog readers, I send you hugs and wishes for peace, prosperity and pumpkin pie.

Which means I’m now heading off to whip up the pumpkin pies for tomorrow. Somehow there always seems to be leftovers. Because we plan to feed an army on purpose so we can take turkey and pie home. Life is logistics!

The only thing better than turkey day, is turkey day leftovers.

Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

 

Is Fiction Editing Like Spray Painting?

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This park bench has been in my family for years and ended up at my house this summer. Little worse for wear. A first draft.

Yes. Yes it is. When you think you’ve finished a chapter or a book, the editing process really begins. A first draft is just that, a draft. In spray painting prep terms, it might look like a good specimen, but the closer you look, the more cracks and peeling paint you see. This is a good thing.

First you need to assess the situation. If this is the first draft of book chapter one, keep writing! Otherwise you might polish the first draft of the first chapter into nothingness. Any piece of wood or metal can only take so much sanding or polishing before it becomes dust.

After using my new mouse sander. Looks like how I feel before makeup in the morning.

If you have a finished first draft of a book, it’s time to take a much closer look and find its flaws. They may be minor or major, but taking off the layers will show you the bones and if major or minor revisions are needed.

Some coarse sanding might be in order, then medium, then fine. Once you have a manuscript stripped down to the bones and not a word wasted, you can paint on the layers of polish, aka paint.

Polishing of a first written draft is the same as a first coat of paint; you’re going to need more paint to fill in the gaps.

Take your time to round out the fiction world you have created. Bring in multiple coats of paint and words to create a smooth story and paint surface. Allow time in between layers of words and paint to let it dry and show itself.

You will make editing mistakes. Be patient with yourself. Whether you are spraying your toes or making the book worse, scrub the book and your toes to make them both sparkle.

Then on to final finishing with fine sanding and words to get all the pieces in place, sanded and glowing. One more coat to seal it and then you are good to go.

Whether you are finishing a painting or a writing project, attention to detail and time are key. With each project you undertake, you improve your skills. You find out how you write a book or chapter, not how someone else does it.

The biggest surprise? You never stop learning. With writing or spray paint!

Perfect priceless pink!

 

The Old Trunk Or Creative Jewel?

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Here is a fun spot in Hood River, Oregon. Make sure to take your camera to search for all kinds of treasures. Bring money for the ice cream!

by Kimberly A. Cook

Creativity is a muscle that needs to be exercised. One of my favorite ways to get the imagination train moving is shopping antique stores and flea marts. Not only is it a photographer’s paradise, it is so much fun finding treasures hiding in plain sight.

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The vinyl mother lode! Actually, I have a cabinet full of vinyl myself, so feels like home. Notice the vintage radios and album carrying cases on top. I have one of those too.

Last week on our road trip we stopped at The Old Trunk in Hood River. This killer combo of antiques and soda fountain, plus fruit later in the year is a fun jaunt. I’ll admit we were lured in by the promise of huckleberry ice cream on their website; I’d go just about anywhere for huckleberries. Ice cream too.

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These are cameras before the one in your phone.  Upper left? No batteries, ran on person power.  Viewfinder in the middle with the round disks? Video games for Boomers. Bottom left, Polaroid camera only known to the young people now due to Taylor Swift. Round canisters in the middle? Real film! No digits! Vintage rules.

With the trusty camera along, my creativity gets inspired and things jog my memory or I marvel at items combined in a different way. Of course, seeing all books a buck about sent me into a buying spree. I controlled myself; my bookshelves are overflowing.

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Soda fountain! That red contraption in the middle is the soft serve ice cream machine. They mix Tillamook vanilla ice cream with fresh huckleberries, or other berries, and heaven happens.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t buy ice cream! One of the owners described the crowds they are seeing now and how crazy it will get as the season gets warmer. We lucked in between the crowds late in the day at 4 p.m. for a high ice cream, instead of high tea.

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Soft serve huckleberry ice cream. Fabuwonderfulfantabulous! Trust me.

Simple pleasures, good friends, good weather and ice cream. Living the dream!

Whether you wander on purpose or journey to a destination, take your camera along and prepare to experience some whimsy.

Exercise your creativity muscles!

 

https://www.oldtrunkhr.com/

 

Can You Balance Better Than A Goat?

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by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@   WarriorTales)

Goats have been on my mind this past week. At the day job we put some goats on contract to eat vegetation at one of our sites. They’re doing a fine job and I even got to see a photo of them in action. Cutie pies and top rate work too. So besides being paid to eat, I wondered what other skills they might possess and found this fascinating video.

This must be how they start to train goats to surf, is what I’m thinking. Then they could go on to work at the Surfing Goat Dairy on Maui that I love. Practice makes perfect. Do they have Velcro on their hooves? And are those baby goats too cute?

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

HGTV For Elephants?

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by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Very big redecorating going on at the Oregon Zoo for years and this past week was move in time! I don’t know if the “Property Brothers” could have even handled these picky clients, but the folks who designed the new elephant habitat gave them all the latest home amenities for our popular pachyderms.

Just in time for a sizzling hot weekend here in Oregon, the elephants get to roam in their new home, complete with large windows, then outside play area, elephant proof gazebo and auto feeders and misters! Nothing but the best for our lovable giants. Check out the action. I couldn’t resist all three videos.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday! (P.S. Lilly is still SO CUTE!)

 

 

 

 

Happy Pink Chickens Easter!

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Obviously I was out of action last weekend with a cold because I didn’t hear about the pink chickens alert until I got back to the day job Monday. Seems a Portland chicken daddy drank way too much spirits and decided to dye his two pet chickens pink to make people smile. He then relocated them to a tree on the downtown waterfront for a day out on the town, deciding he would pick them up in the afternoon.

Not in my hometown! The pink chickens were spotted at dawn by an observant Rose Festival employee and the great pink chicken rodeo was on. Between social media and the chicken lovers it was an all out chicken hunt to find the perpetrators. You can cause bodily harm to people here but do not mess with our fowl or animals.

Picked up by Multnomah County Animal Services to be kept in protective custody, the chicken daddy soon came forth and proved he was a) a good daddy since the chickens were in fine health, b) used only beet juice and food coloring to color the chickens – and his dog and c) he was told not to release domestic chicken pets into the cruel city.

All’s Well That End’s Well for the chickens. However, chicken daddy might need to watch his back. Those two pink girls looked none too happy about being dyed pink. Just saying!

Happy Quirky Friday and have a great weekend!

https://youtu.be/0GQEcctD8Bc