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Marie at 1 Write Way

  • Happy Post-4th of July, 2013

    July 5th, 2013

    So as I continue to procrastinate this morning–going through my blog reader, making comments on some of my favorite blogs–I see that a number of bloggers had the good sense to post on the 4th of July.  Obviously, they were aware that this is a holiday many people spend celebrating.  How did I spend 4th of July?  As I usually do, holed up in my room, working on my computer.  Virtually, I was away at Camp NaNoWriMo, taking advantage of the day-job-free day to get a big jump on my word count.  Other years, I spent at home since my husband and I tend to avoid large unruly crowds.  We prefer to enjoy fireworks from a great distance. One year, on a business trip to Washington, DC, we got to see fireworks from our hotel window.  We had thought about going to the Mall but when we saw the crowd, I knew that I would have missed the fireworks due to debilitating panic attacks.

    When I was a little girl living in the country, I loved 4th of July because we would have a picnic in our backyard and at night I could run around with sparklers.  As I got older and lived in urban and suburban landscapes, being around strangers with all manner of fireworks just made me nervous.  My husband is the same way, so we spend every 4th of July at home, patiently waiting for the fireworks that our neighbors illegally set off to end.  We may grill a steak and and sit on our backporch and try to talk over the crash, boom, and bang, but that’s pretty much the extent of our celebration.  Except for last year.  Last 4th of July we were in San Francisco, CA, and a couple of friends invited us to a small party in a house on Potrero Hill.  The plan was to go up on the roof and watch the fireworks over the city.  If you ever have been in San Francisco in July, then you won’t be surprised to know that we were fairly bundled up.  Some guests even had the foresight to bring their down jackets.  I had a blanket wrapped around me.  Still, a great time was had by all.  I took movies of the fireworks with my Flip recorder, but they are rather underwhelming.  There was fog and very heavy cloud cover so the fireworks had a limited range for viewing.  I clipped snapshots of a couple of the highlights.

    Despite the cold and the clouds, this was my best 4th of July ever:  in a city I love, with friends I love, with the man I love.

    View from Potrero Hill, San Franciso, CA, July 4, 2012

    View from Potrero Hill, San Franciso, CA, July 4, 2012
    View from Potrero Hill, San Franciso, CA, July 4, 2012

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  • The Fine Line Between Creativity and Crap

    July 3rd, 2013

    A thoughtful and inspirational post from Destiny Allison. Do read on!

    destinyallison's avatarDestiny Allison

    This weekend, I was invited to attend screenings for two very different independent film projects. Both gave me pause. The first was a pilot the producer is hoping to sell to Netflix. Condescending, poorly written, and a disaster in almost every way, it was all I could do to stay awake. The second, Twilight Angel, was powerful, evocative, and completely engrossing. No actors were hired, no sets created. The entire feature length film took place in an artist’s studio. Riveted, I forgot my surroundings and was completely immersed.

    Why am I telling you this? Because I’m bothered. I celebrate creativity in all its forms, rejoice in the individual pursuit of passion, and encourage all to follow their dreams. Unfortunately, there is a fine line between embracing creativity and abusing it.

    In the first film, the director/producer seized on an idea he thought he could sell. Conceptually, the idea has…

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  • Spotlight: Briana Vedsted

    July 3rd, 2013

    A Spotlight on Briana Vedsted, blogger, author, and all-around sweet person, hosted at the Legends of Windemere. Read on!

    Charles Yallowitz's avatarLegends of Windemere

    Raise your hand if you’ve been fortunate to meet this phenomenal blogger.  I see a lot of hands and that’s as it should be.  Briana is one of the kindest bloggers I have ever met and definitely a bright spot on WordPress.  Her blog is filled with character interviews, her ranching tales, her publishing journey, poetry (a recent addition), and a vast array of posts that are always informative and entertaining.  Her stories range from Western to Werewolf fantasy, so one can be sure that she’s an author to keep an eye on.  She does so much for those around her that I think it’s high time she gets a spotlight.

    Everyone go visit Briana’s blog by clicking on her picture.  Also, go and buy her Western short stories in preparation for her first traditionally published book, Me & Billy the Kid.  Click on the cover to get to…

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  • Ten Underrated Shakespeare Plays

    July 2nd, 2013

    For all you Shakespeare fans out there (and we are legion).

    InterestingLiterature's avatarInteresting Literature

    Everyone knows Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Richard III (or knows of them at least). Even Richard II, As You Like It, and Antony and Cleopatra can be said to be well-known William Shakespeare plays. But what about the others? He wrote or collaborated on nearly forty, after all. Here are ten of the least-known plays by the Bard, with the reasons why people should read them (or reread them), along with an interesting fact about each. We hope you enjoy them. If you like this list, be sure to check out our follow-up pick of Shakespeare’s ten best plays (complete with interesting trivia about them) our interesting facts about Shakespeare too.

    shaks11. King John. This is one of the Bard’s least-performed plays, although it was popular with the Victorians because of its pageantry and medieval pomp. Nevertheless, the play has been…

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  • July Camp NaNoWriMo

    July 2nd, 2013

    2013-Participant-Facebook-Cover

    Hello, my fellow bloggers and blogettes! As many of you know, I am again throwing caution to the wind and entering another Camp NaNoWriMo writing challenge! I did one in April and was successful. That is, I reached my goal of 50 thousand words and actually had a beginning, middle, and end to the novel I was working on. Whether the novel is successful (i.e., readable) is another issue.

    Because I’ve made this commitment (and I know a number of you probably think I should be committed), my presence in the blogosphere will be spotty over the next 30 days. Not only have I challenged myself with another 50 thousand words, but I have cabin mates this time. My dear friend, Patti Hall over at 1WritePlace, is a cabin mate. She and a few other mates are already ahead of me in word count and it’s only been one effing day! (Of course, Patti’s snoring kept me up most of the night. I’ll either have to sleep outside or put a pillow over her head.)

    Anyway, I digress (as usual … and that’s my secret to winning NaNoWriMos … I digress a lot). I won’t be going totally off the radar, but just wanted to give everyone notice in case you miss me. (And you ask, “how can I miss you if you won’t go away” …. one of my favorite songs from Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks).

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  • Shameless Promotion

    July 2nd, 2013

    Help a young fashion designer make it on the gritty streets of NYC. She’s got talent and a fantastic eye for color and style. And you get some pretty good swag for your support :)

    Pamela Beckford's avatarYear 'Round Thanksgiving Project

    My lovely and talented daughter will be showing her spring/Summer 2014 collection at New York Fashion Week. She has launched an Indiegogo campaign to help her create the best collection ever. There is great swag available for sponsors. But even $5 helps (it all adds up). If you want to help a new fashion designer make her mark in NYC just go here. There are also lots of pictures to see her work.

    Thank you.
    Her very proud momma.

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  • Purple Hair

    July 1st, 2013

    A poem I wrote in response to a photo prompt at The Community Storyboard. I definitely have an obsession with hair.

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  • … if ye don’t like it, just switch it off… Life’s far too short to bother with daftness… #TBSU…

    June 30th, 2013

    Another take on the joys of social media :)

    Seumas Gallacher's avatarSeumas Gallacher

    …the miracle of the instantaneous communication world I’m now plugged into is that this ol’ Jurassic can hardly go to the washroom minus the Blackberry without feeling bereft… the immediacy of the 24/7 cable news channels tell me what’s going on, sometimes even before it goes on… keep me away from the laptop for any extended period …(…read ‘a very short passage of time’...)…  and withdrawal symptoms set in… I LUV being attached to all the periphery that comes with the Internet … I’m twinned with my Twitter… gorged with my Goodreads… facetious with my Facebook... licentious with my LinkedIn, and as ye can see, constantly blethering with my Blogging... in a WURD, enjoying… however, I’ve noted recently a wee wave of discontent in certain corners of the WEB... here, a murmur of ennui at receiving Re-Tweets that the Re-Tweetee didn’t Re-quire… there…

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  • Happy Birthday To Me, Happy Birthday To Me

    June 29th, 2013

    I want to share a very special birthday gift from a very special person. We work together at my day job and we both love to knit and sew. She’s given me many of her “prototypes” as gifts, sometimes spur-of-the-moment gifts, sometimes for an occasion like my birthday. This is what she gave me this year: a bag that she made out of a pair of her husband’s old jeans. This bag is a perfect size for carrying around a sock-knitting project, and she lined it in PINK with pockets to hold my knitting tools! I LOVE this bag! I used to make stuff like this when I was in high school, so it brings back fun memories of how much more creative I used to be (because I had no $$ and always had to make do). This is one of those gifts that I’ll get to enjoy over and over and over :)

    outside of bag
    outside of bag
    Inside of bag
    Inside of bag

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  • Just Call Me Ms. Popularity

    June 28th, 2013

    I’ve been honored with TWO awards this week!  I am rather awestruck since never in my life have I felt so popular then when I rebooted my blog :)  The first award I received this week is the Shine On award given to me by the truly inspiring Running To Her Dreams blogger.  If you haven’t visited her blog yet, then go now!  You can always find your way back to me later ;)

    shine-onAs with all awards, there are a few rules (which I may or may not follow ;))

    1. Display the award logo on your blog. ‘Tis done.

    2. Link back to the person who nominated you. Yup, did that, too :)

    3. State 7 things about yourself.  Anything?  OK, here’s to my boring self:

    1. It’s Friday and I’m taking the day off because
    2. My kitchen is being “demolished” because
    3. We’re getting new kitchen cabinets!
    4. Because the old ones were original (32 years and counting) and I tend to be slow to start home improvement projects
    5. I picked out the new cabinets which are white and double-wrapped with polymer to protect from water damage
    6. To my chagrin, the new cabinets are from the Martha Stewart line because
    7. I don’t like Martha Stewart the person, but I know I will love my new cabinets ;)

    4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.
    This is always the biggest challenge for me because I haven’t yet figured out a seamless way to copy and paste these links without having multiple windows open :(  But I’ve got time on my hands today so here goes:

    1. Bastet and Sekhmet
    2. Teri Polen
    3. Readful Things Blog
    4. Busy Mind Thinking
    5. Running Father
    6. Jade Reyner
    7. The D/A Dialogues
    8. Julian Froment’s Blog
    9. The Write Place
    10. Pat Bean’s Blog
    11. Aging Abundantly
    12. Saunved
    13. Green Embers
    14. Year ‘Round Thanksgiving Project
    15. Talking Experience

    I will now proceed to the second award, the Liebster Award, bestowed upon me by the ever erudite John W. Howell at http://johnwhowell.com/.  Do not hesitate to visit his blog!  I’ll still be here when you get back ;)

    liebster3In accordance with the Liebster rules:

    A.  List eleven random facts about yourself

    1. My birthday is tomorrow (for those of you in a different time zone, tomorrow could be yesterday, it could be today or it could still be tomorrow ;))
    2. I will be six years shy of eligibility for Social Security, but something tells me I’ll keep working
    3. I don’t have kids so I have no sense of time passing which means I have no sense of myself aging …
    4. Until I take a look in the mirror and do not immediately recognize myself
    5. Even though my hair is gray, in my mind it’s still dark brown
    6. I think I’m more physically fit than I was in my 20s
    7. But I also have more aches and pains than I did in my 20s
    8. To celebrate the arrival of our new kitchen cabinets, we had a beer before dinner and then wine with dinner
    9. We both woke up the next morning remembering why we shouldn’t do that
    10. I’m looking forward to getting my house back in order after our kitchen is done
    11. I would like someone else to get my house back in order after our kitchen is done

    B.  Nominate eleven other bloggers for the Liebster Award (why not … I’m on a roll!)

    1. Running for Her Dreams
    2. Robynn Gabel’s Common Sense Experience
    3. Eric John Baker
    4. Amber Skye Forbes
    5. mybrandofgenius
    6. Jill Weatherholt
    7. The Crossover
    8. 30 Days of Self Discovery
    9. Word Savant
    10. kiralynblue
    11. lindaghill

    C.  Notify these bloggers:  In due time, I have to finish this post first …

    D.  Ask eleven questions that the bloggers must answer upon accepting the Liebster Award.

    1. What would be your perfect meal (if calories and expense were of no concern)?
    2. What is your favorite footwear?
    3. What is your favorite automobile (if any)?
    4. How do we achieve world peace?
    5. Who or what is your muse?
    6. What is your favorite time of day?
    7. Do you see dead people?  (If yes, explain.  If no, then I am relieved.)
    8. What is your favorite form of exercise?
    9. When is your favorite time to work on your blog?
    10. What is your top pet peeve?
    11. What makes you the most happy?

    E.  Answer the eleven questions that you were asked when you were nominated

    1. Do you want to be rich and famous?  Rich but not famous (I don’t want no stinkn’ paparazzi following me around)
    2. If yes why and if no why? I answered Yes and No because why wouldn’t I want to be rich and why would I want to be famous if I could just be rich?
    3. What is the most important day of the week for you? Saturday
    4. What is your favorite dessert?  Ben and Jerry’s Americone ice cream
    5. How long did it take you to feel good about writing?  About 40 years
    6. What is your favorite time of day?  Whenever my cat Luisa has finally fallen asleep
    7. Who do you depend upon? My husband
    8. Has anyone ever let you down?  Of course, but it was usually my fault.
    9. Where on Earth do you think is closest to heaven? Atop Black Point at Mono Lake, California
    10. What was the most valuable advice anyone ever gave you?  Trust your intuition
    11. What is the most indulgent gift you ever received or given?  I don’t know if I would call it an indulgence, but the most $$ gift was when I gave a family member $1,000 to help him go to Costa Rica for experimental treatment of MS.  We can’t say the treatments actually helped, but I’ve never regretted helping him get the chance to try.

    I end this post, with both hands patting myself on the back :)  Cheers, everyone!

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