i-Nature via i-Phone

My friend Kathy Huston takes fantastic nature-themed photos. She started taking these types of pictures with her i-phone when she and her family moved to the county. Taking walks through the woods is undoubtedly more interesting than walks through suburban neighborhoods. Eventually she got a real camera and she was off and running trying new ways to capture her world. Her pictures just keep getting better and better.

    

Above photos courtesy of Kathy Huston!!!

Me reading That Tree by Mark Hirsch

Mark Hirsch, creator of ThatTree used his i-phone, along with some cool phone photo apps, to take a picture of the same burr oak tree every day for one year. 

Tim and I were able to go to a presentation he gave about the making of his photographic opus. We were so impressed with his work, we even bought his book. I enjoy looking at the book and envisioning how he got each picture.

Early this fall, I was inspired by my friend Kathy’s love of finding just the right angle, light, and presentation of her subjects in nature, along with Mark Hirsch’s use of only his i-phone camera, when I set out on a little photo-shoot of my own.

I hope you enjoy this touch of summer/fall in the middle of nasty ol’ winter.

      

Dew drops on blades of grass~ "Egg yolk" flowers from my childhood joined by a little tan fox tail~ The foliage gone makes the stem of this plant look spidery.

   

I switched my phone/camera to black and white and laid on the ground to get this shot. The mushroom looks like an elf house to me!~ These little white flowers almost got overlooked. They're smaller than a dime! So lush, I think the plant didn't realize it was fall!

      

Beautiful yet poisonous! Every hiker's nemesis: Poison Ivy!

    

My favorite picture, I think. The Velvet Leaf seed pod looks like a star!

           

Green leaf tipped in vibrant purple.~ We called these "Chinese Lanterns" when I was a kid.~ A true sign of winter's coming: The Woolly Bear caterpillar!

But now spring is just around the corner!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself!

~Nadine

Saving Red by Sonia Sones

I just finished reading a Young Adult book called Saving Red. People sometimes think young adult books are for readers between, let’s say, 14 and 20 years of age, but that’s not true. Young adult books typically have teen-agers as the main characters but the stories are far from teenybopper.

If you liked the Hunger Games series, the Divergent series, or the Twilight series, you actually read in the Young Adult genre.

Any book in the Young Adult genre will be fast-paced. That’s one of the things I like about YA. The action starts right away and the reader isn’t stuck on pages of description of the carpet, or weather, or what-have-you.

Saving Red is no different. I mean, just read the inside flap:  “My name is Molly.  This book is about me. I’m probably the guiltiest person who ever lived…” I checked this book out from my library solely on the cover design and inside flap blurb.

But when sat down and opened the book, ready to read, I realized the whole thing was written in verse. Crap. I was looking for a good novel. 

Courtesy of Google Images

But then I thought about another book written in verse, Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech. That book ripped my guts out. (You gotta read that book, by the way.) 

So I thought I’d give it a go. I read the whole book in 2 settings within a 24 hour period. About 4-6 hours was all it took.

This is a story about a teenage girl, Molly, who tries to help a homeless teenage girl realize that going home is safer than living on the streets. The problem is, the homeless girl has literally went off her meds and is pretty much crazy. 

Not many fictional stories take on a topic as tough as mental illness. Even less have a likable main character with a mental illness. To top it all off Molly’s family is going through their own hell dealing with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Her mom is always high on doctor prescribed marijuana (talk about opening a can of worms!!!), and her dad is a work-a-holic lawyer.  

See?  Intriguing, isn’t it??

This is the one and only page in the book that
the verse rhymes. I laughed out loud when I
read it! That author is a trickster!

Check out Saving Red by Sonya Sones. You won’t be disappointed.  (In fact, you’ll be thinking about it for much longer than it will take you to read it.)

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Wastin' all of my Time...

We’re off to a new year. 2017. Wow!

Making the best of the New Year is a common theme for most of us right now.  Setting personal and work goals, getting rid of bad habits, uncluttering, and living simply are typically part of the agenda.

Courtesy of Google Images

For me, procrastination and unfocused time use is a bad habit that I need to take a good long look at.  In my mind, I have particular things that I NEED to do on a daily basis. 

They are:

1.    Spiritual reading, meditation and prayer 

2.    Exercise

3.    Housework/Errands

4.    Writing (It has to be done like a job if I want to get anywhere with this thing!)

5.    Reading (Yes it is a Need!)

6.    Family time/ meals

7.    Part-time job at library

You know what gets left out most? Numbers one and two.(TSK!)  

Number three and five get the most attention. (And my house isn’t even that clean!) 

Numbers four and six are lacking my time more often that I’d like to admit. 

Number seven I’m nailing! (I’ve always been a good employee—I’ve got my parents’ expectations growing up to thank for that.)

Courtesy of Google Images

I need to take an honest look at my day and create a plan where all of these things can be attained. Saying that I’m going to do them all daily from now on would be a plan for failure. I need to be realistic. Maybe get number one and two accomplished three times a week would be a better plan for success???? That’s where I’ll start. When I’m successful with that, I can add more to it.

Really, I have to stop and think about how I want to spend my day. I am aware of some of my time wasters. I need to be in tune with my day and make productive choices!

How are you doing with setting goals and changing habits? It’s hard, isn’t it?!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Writer's Life: A Look Back at 2016

Oh man! It’s driving me crazy that I missed posting last Wednesday, December 28th. Christmas and guests and running around doing this and that really cut into my writing time. Sorry dear reader!

Kristen Lamb, a writing blogger I follow, says she has four posts ready to go at all times. If I work hard, maybe I can do that and avoid missing a Wednesday post. I plan to spend my afternoon in front of this computer and try to do just that!

Today is the second-to-last day of 2016. At the end of each year, I take stock. I look at my accomplishments, as well as the happy/good and sad/bad personal events of the year. I always set goals for the upcoming year

Courtesy of Google Images

So, to get a picture of the writing life accomplishments of moi, I will share some of what’s been going on- as unspectacular as it is.

To date, I’ve sent query letters for THE INK OF TIME to six different agents. A query letter is an introduction. It gives potential agents a sense of what the book is about and includes a short author bio. Query letters need to be well written (no errors) and succinct. The letter’s job is to hook the agent, to get him/her to take a minute to think about the project.

I’m proud of the fact that I’ve gotten feed-back from three of the six agents. I think a 50% take-a-minute-look are pretty good odds. I believe it means I’m on to something with this ol’ story. Of course none of them want/need my project, but hey, it’s a start. In fact, the last agent I queried was on November 29th, so technically it’s not an ‘I'll pass on this’ until I haven’t heard anything from her agency within three months. (Yes, it is a very long process!)

While you may wonder, “Nadine, why only six?” the answer is this. I will not send out a mass mailing. I’ve read enough information to know that doing so would be a waste of my time. Agents want writers (authors!) who have researched and “know” them. So I comb through the internet looking for interviews, blog posts, and whatever else I can find to use in my query letter about that specific agent.

I went to a program where Gary W. Moore, author of Playing with the Enemy spoke of his journey to get published. He sent seventy-two (!) query letters before he got a bite. I think he’s published two more books since then. He’s just a regular guy, living in the Chicago suburbs. If he can do it, so can I!

This year, I’ve learned how to write a synopsis of my novel. The purpose of a synopsis is to tell the WHOLE story in short. It’s not easy to do. I had to decide what information must be included so that it was interesting and had a complete story line. I took my 51,000 word manuscript and created a less than 1,000 word synopsis. GAA!

Last March was the first time I felt ready to send out my story. I found out that every manuscript has to be formatted in the exact same way. There’s actually a formula to follow and luckily, I found a tutorial video on YouTube that I used to format my manuscript. Because agencies are inundated daily by writers wanting representation, something as benign as formatting “irregularities” can get a story thrown in the rejection pile.

In October, I joined a Quad Cities based writing group. That was a very scary move for me. I’m still kind of feeling my way. They’re all very positive, supportive people, but I’m just not totally comfortable yet.

Courtesy of Google Images.

That’s about it for now. I’m going to keep on keeping on.

Happy New Year!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

Nadine's Notions to the Fourth Degree

Notion:noun 1. idea, conception. 2. opinion, view. 3. whim, fancy.*

The above dictionary definition is how I decided on the name of my blog.  I dug through the N section of the dictionary looking for alliteration- a word to go with Nadine. 

Now I wish I would have given my blog name a little more thought. Notion seems like such an old fashion word. Back in the day there used to be a "notions" section at Woolworth's and K-Mart that had all sorts of stuff for sewing.

Notion:noun 4.small useful articles (as pins, needles, or thread)*

A sewing selfie!

This week, my blog is about the fourth definition of Notion.

Typically, this time of year, Tim and I choose someone from the angel tree at church to buy for. This year, I had an overwhelming need to make Alzheimer Activity Quilts. I first saw them on Pinterest, (Pinterest is my friend.)  and thought "I can do that!"  Take a look at what I've created. I'm pretty happy with my novice work.

This is my first activity quilt. It's approximately 3ft by 3ft. and it had quite a learning curve. I used a green crush velvet dress in 3 of the squares. Never again. Crush velvet material is not for beginners! It moves all over the place when you're trying to sew it.

1. Lace & velvet collar 2. Silk ribbon to tie (from dress)
3 Tassel balls from the end of a scarf 4. Zipper pocket from swim trunks with a stuffed pup inside 5. Sliding buttons on red ribbons 6. Puffy gingerbread boys
7. Taggies from ribbon 8. Lace crinoline from dress 9. Buttons of various size and color.

My next two lap quilts are Christmas themed. I decided to make two smaller 2x2 quilts instead of one bigger 3x3 quilt and I'm happy with the way they turned out too.

Top Left: Beads inside a "tube" and felt fringe.
Top Right: Velcro hands Santa stuck to felt Christmas trees.
Bottom Left: Soft snowman picture frame.
I cut off the back, added beads and buttons and sewed it down.
(After I chased beads around the room a few times!)
Bottom Right: Big pocket stuffed with needlepoint coaster (someone else made)
and little wooden shoes.

Top Left: I call this my Father, Son, Holy Spirit square. Ribbons and sparkly white buttons.
Top Right: Wooden Christmas tree beads strung on embroidery floss.
Bottom Left: Soft Santa in a pocket
Bottom Right: The Star of Bethlehem. With a yellow brick-a-brack tail.

Every piece of these quilts were made from reclaimed materials. I bought items at Goodwill and Salvation army. Also, my teacher friends my recognize some of their old bulletin board fabric. Because I like to craft, I had plenty of left over doo-dads to use as well.

I plan to deliver these to a local nursing home tomorrow. I hope they will be put to good use!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Nadine

* The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1974. p.480.

Writer's Block and Other Things

So this is what being a writer feels like. I have a deadline to meet and I’m not really interested or invested in an idea at the moment. Yet the deadline looms.

One of the reasons I decided to start my own blog was to learn how to hold myself accountable to meet deadlines. Deadline. Wednesday. 8:00 AM.

Another reason I decided to start my own blog was to learn how to create my own ideas and expand upon them. It’s 9:16 PM on Monday night…

Journal entry June 2007:
Got A Block?
Write around it! Maybe you're afraid of what you have to
say. Maybe you're too lazy to see a project through to the end.
What makes you decide to not keep going? Are the details too
tedious? Is the organization too difficult? Maybe you think too
much. Maybe you don't think enough.Maybe ideas are right in
front of your face. How do you take them from personal
narrative and give them story life? Rough draft is the first
step, don't you think? Just do it. Get something- anything
on paper. Go for it. It will be o.k. or it will suck...

This writing problem is sometimes called Writer’s Block. When I get stuck (AKA have Writer’s Block) writing my stories, I just keep writing. I put ridiculous things in the story. Just to keep it going. Eventually I find a way through the Block and can fix my work. 

That’s what I’m doing right now.

Just writing. I have no idea if I will scrap this before Wednesday or not.

I got the oil changed in my car today. I take it to the shop on the corner, about a mile away from my house. I’ve been going there for years. For the very first time a young woman mechanic took care of me. She wore the blue pants and blue button up shirt that is the uniform of mechanics- that included her name (Tammera) stitched onto a patch over her heart. She wore makeup and pigtails. She told me her mother’s name had been Nadine and that she’d never ever met another Nadine before. I was enchanted. When my car was ready I told her that her Nadine raised a lovely young woman. She beamed and said that meant a lot to her. And I wished her Merry Christmas.

You know, and the thing is, I debated saying anything at all to her. I thought that maybe her mom didn’t raise her, or that she’d be sad if I said something because her mom has obviously passed away. Or that saying something would be corny. It’s easy to be quiet, to just get in the car and drive away. But she put herself out there for me. She made an impact on me. I decided it was the very least I could do for her. It was right for me to acknowledge her mom in that way. It felt good.

It appears I’ve written myself out of a Block. In full disclosure, I had a few sentences about Dan Patrick wearing his socks inside-out today but I deleted it. The oil changing story was what I needed to talk about.

So this is what being a writer feels like. Another successful blog post. On time? Check! A small idea expanded upon? Check!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Writing a Synopsis

This past week I queried (that means send a “PICK ME! PICK ME! letter) to another agent. I don’t like to send out mass mailings. From what I’ve read, it’s a waste of my time. Instead, it’s more important to do research for an agent that specialized in what I’ve written. It’s also important to kind of “know” the person. 

So, after I find an agent that might be interested in my work, I surf the internet for any snippet of information about that agent. Oftentimes I can find interviews that I will use to make mention of in my query letter. I check out their web sites, Facebook and Twitter pages too. (It takes a good bit of time to get all the information I need and the courage up to send all my stuff out once again.)

Typically an agent wants a letter that tells (sells) about the book, the genre, and word count. They also want to know what I’ve published (yikes!) in the past. I just skip that part and talk about my education instead, hoping that they’ll think I know what I’m doing. (HAH!)

Courtesy of Google Images

Anyway, the agent I queried this time wanted a synopsis of my story, THE INK OF TIME, along with the good ‘ol query letter.  A synopsis is like a summary. It tells the main things that happen and how the story ends.  That’s the most important part—how the story ends.  An interested agent wants to know what’s what in the book without having to read the whole novel before deciding Yea or Nay.

Writing a synopsis is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I mean, I know this story inside and out. Frontwards and backwards. I was required to make the synopsis one to two pages long.  I ended up with two pages. (I have no idea how I would cut it down to one, but some day, I may have to figure that out too.)

My synopsis of THE INK OF TIME

My lovely beta readers – Erin and Bekka -and this time TIM also beta read for me- helped immensely. I put that novel on the Jenny Craig/Weight Watchers/ Beachbody diet. I took my fifty-one thousand plus word document and shred over fifty-thousand words. Yep. Yep. My synopsis is a slim, no skinny, nine-hundred ninety-six words. Less than one thousand words.

I haven’t heard anything back yet. Typically it takes a few weeks to get a reply- if any. I debated about the wisdom of putting myself out there before the holidays, or if waiting until January would be better. I thought I might get lost in the hustle/bustle, but I went for it any way. 

Strike while the iron’s hot, as they say.

Courtesy of Google Images

I’ll let you know how it goes…

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine