glitter

by Kimberly A. Cook

This week I’m determined to get the final edited copy of my military romance fiction book “Mission: Tinderbox” out to my beta readers. What are beta readers? Dedicated hardcore friends/readers/fellow writers who take a final look to make sure it all makes sense and perhaps find a typo or two.

Spec Ops Cat helping me not edit my manuscripts. How could I move this cute guy?

On my non-fiction book, I had eleven beta readers. They each found something different. Pretty amazing. Also amazing was taking the eleven printed manuscripts in binders on an editing retreat in the wilds of Goldendale, Washington to cat sit for my friends Gate Girl and her hubby. Three days, three cats, sixty acres, visiting deer and one biblical thunderstorm later I had all the edits compiled. Worked out great.

But it appears all those distractions I handled back then are nothing compared to the challenges of one Spec Ops Cat at home. Somehow he manages to show up at the right time to make the maximum impact on what I’m trying to do.

Whether he is napping on my manuscripts to edit, stepping into the bead box during play time or suddenly appearing from the mist to stand over my keyboard putting fur in my mouth, he arrives. Then he proceeds to actually step on a key and mess up the manuscript with a long line of zazazazazazazazaza that he did yesterday. How can one small cat be such a diversion?

With these challenges I’ve taken to rewarding myself before I complete goals these days, since that improved my motivation cleaning out the family home last month. I’ve discovered a new addiction too; glitter. So the glitter drawer is now full in the office/craft room and I still need to get this manuscript polished.

Notice whose paws are in the craft container on my lap while I try to sort dice beads. Fur gives him away. Can’t even tell you how quickly this can all go bad… very bad.

Perhaps by confessing in public I can make myself grind it out. Bought the three-ring binders and mailing boxes yesterday, so now all that is left is the final read, edit work, making copies and mailing.

Piece of cake.

Must be a glitter sale somewhere? Right?

by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Perfection is overrated and a creativity killer. It’s a challenge to ignore all our inner and outer critics and go with our heart. This past sunny Friday I had an afternoon to squander cleaning. Garden or garage? My motto is to do what is bugging me the most and the garage was top on the list.

Banker box tops, bark pieces and the sun. Old school supplies. Cheap too.

Between the monsoon rains in December and the usual crazy, the garage had become another sad victim of the drop and go syndrome. My goal was to excavate my work bench and tidy the joint. On top of the layers of stuff on the bench were banker box tops full of bark pieces I had picked up at Suttle Lake. Took the trays out on the patio and let them have a final sun shot before bringing them inside to my jewelry workbench.

When I first started gathering these bark pieces on one our trips to Sisters, I thought they might make nice pendants. I used a plastic bag in the car to collect my bark booty. Last September I used an orange Home Depot bucket, I was prepared. Another form of treasure hunting for me.

Have bark bucket, will travel. Bark booty!

Do I have enough pieces of bark now? Probably. Maybe. Do I know what I am going to do with them all? Nope. But I like them. I’ve been playing with different ideas. The first thought to be jewelry pendants is morphing into maybe little bark vignettes on tiny easels. Not sure. And that’s the best part of art projects; we don’t have to know what it will become.

I’ve also been on a glitter buying terror recently too. Combo of a half-price sale and the bark pieces. Bling bark? Whether folks color books, paint, sew, cook, sculpt, weave, woodcraft, garden or put glitter on bark, the creative process is all about not being perfect.

Because imperfect is priceless. Got art projects?

Writing, Cats And Glitter?

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