Howdy!
What a week! (Month, actually.)
I found out that when women get pregnant, they turn into aliens. Seriously. (If you have a weak stomach, skip over the next couple of paragraphs.)
Apparently, during the third trimester, a woman's body is creating blood vessels so quickly and in such a large amount, that if you cause trauma--on say, a finger--blood vessels may grow there. Yes, this happened to me. :-( I went to the doctor's a month ago and found out that a red, sore, bleeds-a-lot bump on my finger was a blood vessel. It had to be removed, because it would've continued growing, and every time I barely touched it it would start bleeding.
The doctor numbed my finger up (the most painful part), shaved the bump off, then cauterized it several times. Fun.
The risk of this sort of thing is reappearance. And of course, mine came back. So, last week, I returned and had the minor surgery done again. Except this time, the numbing part was incredibly painful. The stuff actually turned the blood vessels in my hand white, and made it feel like I was having needles hammered into my finger, hand, and wrist. Really not fun. And the hole in my finger is much bigger. I'm attaching pictures for those of you who are curious and have a strong stomach. I'll put pictures of Lizzy in the actual post (below) so if you want to see her and not my finger, you don't have to click on the pictures attached to the post. :-)
If the blood vessel returns, they'll have to punch a hole in my finger and insert stitches really deep. I'm praying hard the dang thing won't come back!
Next awful thing that happened to us. Last Thursday afternoon, the drain in our laundry room backed up with sewage water and flooded the room. We spent hours and lots of dollars trying to get it to clear, but to no avail. We ended up spending the night in a hotel, I didn't have time (or internet access) to get on and be involved on Gather (sorry about that - :-( ) and we didn't get a lot of sleep for several days. Every time the heater turned on, the smell got pushed through the whole house. YUCK. And it was too cold to sleep with the heater off, especially with a little baby.
Awful story turned not so awful: we found out it wasn't our fault but the city's. They paid to have a company come in and clean everything up for us on Monday (my two-year anniversary :-)). That company is still working on getting everything cleared away - it's been a week, and we're still experiencing smells and such. What an ordeal! But we're lucky. The sewage also backed up into the neighbor's house, and they had over 500 gallons pushed into their basement. He, my neighbor, was up all night last Thursday with friends and wet/dry vacs, trying to keep the water level down. And they'd just barely finished their basement. Ours is still partially unfinished, and only the unfinished part of the house was affected.
Anyway. Phew! Lots of fun stuff happening. But you know what? Even through the trials there are blessings. For instance, my eBook launch last week of the fourth book in my series was phenomenally successful. I've been having amazing sales. And The Key of Kilenya is still in the top ten for its free, teen fantasy genre. It was #1 all weekend! And we released the special, illustrated edition of The Key of Kilenya as an eBook.
So, while there's a lot to complain about, there's plenty to be grateful for.
I promise there won't be so many updates next week. :-) Because THERE WON'T BE SO MANY AWFUL THINGS HAPPENING!
Gosh, darn it.
On to today's prompt!
I love brainstorming new ideas for books, stories, etc., and I've been asked - like everyone else who writes - where I get my ideas. My response is usually this: dreams, movies, books, previous experiences, games I used to play as a kid, etc. I have very vivid dreams and plan to write several of them into novels.
To respond to this prompt, I want you to choose from a couple different options:
- Tell us how you brainstorm new ideas: where they come from, whether you outline, use flowcharts, where you brainstorm, and things that help with the process, etc.
- Pick one of the sets of words I've come up with below, and brainstorm a story. You don't have to write the story, just give us an idea of where you'd take it, if you were asked to write it. :-)
Sets of words:
- Pizza, blue (the color), mowing lawns, bank.
- Education, first love, Morocco.
- Green and rolling hills, clouds, dead body.
- Skin rash, post-it note, practical joke. (My hubby came up with this set.)
- Scissors, flag, music, unsure--a state of mind. (Another one from my hubby. :-))
Remember:
You have until Thursday, March 14 (MY BIRTHDAY!!!), 2013 at midnight to write and post, and it can be in any format.
I will comment on and feature your responses a week from today.
* Have your title say FWE or Friday Writing Essential, and have the initials "BNI" (Brainstorming New Ideas) in it.
* Make sure to post to the Writing Essential Group.
* Put FWE or Friday Writing Essentials and the initials "BNI" in your tags.
Can't wait to see what you all come up with! :-)
Responses to last week's prompt:
And now, pictures of Lizzy!!! :-)
She's got this quirk where she loves opening her mouth as wide as she can. And it has nothing to do with how hungry she is - she does it all the time. Same with sticking her tongue out. :-)
Smiling for Mom!
Taken today - my most recent picture of her. :-) I tried to catch her while she was smiling, but every time I took the picture, that serious expression was back on her face. With the elevated eyebrow, of course. :-)
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Comments: 77
Sweet baby, Andrea.
I often write non-fiction pieces about things that are going through my mind. Usually, they are based on something I've heard, read or experienced. Writing about them helps me to clarify my feelings and thoughts.
we learn so much being preggers, things we never even thought about, how this condition takes over everything but the result is worth it.
i hope your finger gets better!1
Usually, I am daydreaming about images and such while going about my life ( I an typing this with closed eyes and will correct it in a few minutes when I have stopped typing) I daydream, then I meditate, then I turn off the lights and type, , intuition, slurry of consciousness, that is the way for me,
of course, it is pretty bad, but it has redeeming qualities that revision and editing fix,
my writing always stats with intuition my right brings
and then i use my left brain for editing and revision
and then back to closing my eyes and seeing g whatever before my eyes their voice, their visual expression, what is happening outside as i look at the characters, the whole thing is painted upon my inner eye, lid.
cheap cinema that what it is.
I stare out the window a lot. Like just a second ago. Sometimes I can't open my blinds because it distracts me too much. Other times, if the blinds aren't open, I feel too closed in and can't get anything done.
I enjoy these essays. They are great examples of the personal essay. Very inspiring.......other than the finger of course.
My inspiration comes from the little things around me. Something strange thing happens and I spot the story in it. That's why it is good to carry a notebook.
It is part of the prewriting process.
I hope next week goes smoothly for you without more problems.
I love those pics of your cutie baby up there. She's a doll. Looks like she has some acting talent up there, just a thought. ;)
Thank you for such a great prompt.
IdeaForANovel
And I'm looking forward to reading your response!
You are provdng an education about veins..my goodness.
My mom talks about how wonderful it is to be a grandma all the time. She says it's so much better than parenting. Psh! :-)
The highlight of this prompt is your darling. She is a beautiful babe. Everyone thinks their children are beautiful, but often the rest of us don't. She is adorable...perfectly shaped head, bright eyes, and a smile that would melt ice. Admirable genetics...all you...
Thank you for submitting to Gathers Luminous Writers and Artists. Now Featured.
Thanks for the kind words, Stephen. :-) She has her daddy's ears and lips and I'm very happy with that! I've never liked my lips, and his are absolutely perfect. :-)
We we blessed with two new grandchildren this year. We enjoy them a different way as grandparents, but the feeling is no less miraculous... Congrats...your daughter is a beauty...
As I was telling Pam, I can't WAIT to be a grandma!
Now for the idea that came to me last night. I wish ideas would hit before it's past time to go to bed. Arghhh.
Honestly, I can't wait to be a grandma. :-)
And I get all my ideas late at night, after I've gone to bed. It's frustrating! I don't want to move even to write them down. So I just hope they stick around until the morning. :-)
Second, after reading the assignment, I went to Amazon and looked up your book, The Key of Kilenya...YAAAYYYY, the Jun 23, 2011 edition is currently FREE...so of course I down loaded it. Definately one of my favorite genre's to read, and sooo looking forward to it.
Third, I get ALOT of my ideas from family experiences, (my mom's childhood experiences I'm chronicalizing (?) in my Little Carol stories/series, in a format that young kids might like to read) movies, books, dreams, and certain settings associated w/ them...ex: a full moon so bright that it outshines the stars, or a sliver of a moon peeking out from behind clouds on a windy night, standing in the middle of a group of trees hearing nothing but the sounds of the animals and wind....you get the idea. And of course I just love fantasy books, so anything that set's the "mood" I try to take note of( ...recently bought me a small digital recorder/playback specifically for those "Now I Got It" moments, like just before bed, or waking up in the middle of a night from a dream that would make an EXCELLENT story but I don't want to get up to write it down, things.)
I also help my daughter create her notes for her Nursing classes, and I see diseases and complications in so many things, which helps a great deal in creating my sci-fi scenerios, but also sometimes, when I don't understand something and I learn something knew, I like to write a non-fiction very short-story around it...helps me to remember it better. Sooo, that is my "brainstorming"...when I run out of ideas, I go back and look thru the multitudes of poems, short-story starts and the list of ideas I have written down until something strikes my fancy. ... One of these days I might submit more of my work for publication...My holdup?? I'm never satisfied. I always proofread my work 5+ times and and always find things I want/need to change. When it comes to my writing, I have to admit that I'm a stickler for perfection..and I always worry whether or not others would enjoy reading it.
I wish my hubby weren't such a light sleeper - I hate writing down ideas when they come in the middle of the night, so your recording thing would be perfect! Except... it would wake him up. And when he wakes up, he can't go back to sleep for several hours. So not fun for him.
Actually, we're hoping to plan a trip out to see my sister who lives three hours from you sometime this year. Not sure if it would happen, but it would be sooo much fun!
And yeah, I figured we'd have lots more trials. :-) These sorts of trials seem to be our lot in life. At least we don't have to fight over money. It's tight, but we're on the same page. We get to have problems around us! :-)
Skin rash???? LOL! Me thinks your husband spent too much time down in the basement trying to clean up the backed up sewer. Maybe he needs a little Gold Bond powder .... LOL!
Thanks for the tip!
And thanks again for the pointer! We actually have bacon right now. :-)
I am so sorry you went through this. Yuck...yuck in bold font. How weird is it that there are companies that just clean things up like this? I mean, glad there are, but what a job.
It's been pretty traumatic! I'm excited for all of this to be over!
WriteAScene/EntertainUsForMWE