Commercial Success

I am not a fan of commercials. I am more a fan of the fast forward button. But, I watch quite a few shows. Just last night, my remote & I fought between 'Cupcake Wars' & 'What Not to Wear'. And, now that 'Amazing Race' & 'Survivor' are done, I will have to find some new, if not temporary, distractions.

Some commercials leave me in utter shock; others make me wonder what the Hades the 'Mad Men' were thinking. As my mother-in-law puts it, "I don't get it. What are they even selling?" And on many counts, I agree. However, sometimes, there are the ones that catch my fancy. And here are my 4 faves of the year.

This kid is just too cute!!

Giggling woodchucks! Love it!

Um yeah, I'm pretty sure I know this kid. The mom is priceless.

And, drum roll, please...

This one makes me smile & move every time & is my pick of the litter. I dig it!!

So, now, what are some of your favorites? 

Happy Writing,

Patti

Quirky Is the New Real

Every single one of us has quirks. Things we do that are unique to us, our families, our peer groups, etc. These little idiosyncrasies are what make us unique. They are ingrained in our behavior.

In my family, falling up stairs is much more common than falling down. What makes this interesting is that this is my married in family, but we all share this genetic predisposition to fall up. My niece & I are the most frequent offenders. Ascribing this attribute to a character could be fun - the klutz as detective. Ya know, tripping over bodies, accidentally uncovering evidence when he/she bends back a toenail.

With my parents, the quirk is how not to talk about things. This of course leads to a lack of family reunions & get-togethers. Who wants to hang out with people you can't really talk to anyway?? Ah, but the unspoken is sometimes much more interesting than the oral. With this quirk, white space is your friend; the sentiment is left on the fringe of the paper which amps the trauma & drama.

I have a friend who, when she's done listening to you, paints her lips with the ends of her hair while she stares into space. Another, twirls her hair when she doesn't want to discuss something. For women, hair is one more weapon in the beauty arsenal; a hair cut, a style. When used as a barrier it becomes an interesting device of protection, avoidance &/or misdirection. This quirk adds depth to a witness, a best friend who doesn't lie well, or an MC playing the innocent victim.

I have yet another friend whom I love dearly. She has had a host of surgeries over the last ten years; knees, back, neck. We can rebuild her. But, we can't make her go on a diet. My friend is chronically overweight & yet she insists that she needs to drink at least one Dr. Pepper a day to keep her blood sugar up. So, an overweight, hypoglycemic with a soda addiction. That is a contrast made for writing. And, the quirkiness of it, adds a level of reality that readers will recognize.

Quirky, quirky - we're all identifiable. Don't need fingerprints, DNA, or any other scientific identification. It's the little things that observation & character development are made of.

Happy Writing,

Patti

I Fell & Lived to Tell

On Friday, I had a plan. Write my post and take my mother-in-law, Mary, to the doctor. Her appointment was scheduled for 10:40a.m. or so I thought.

I arrived at her house to pick her up. My brother-in-law, Joe, told me my husband had already taken her down.

"Why, her appointment isn't until 10:40 and," I looked down at the clock to the right of the dash, "it's only 10:15." It's important to note that we live literally five minutes from everywhere in this town. So I had plenty of time.

I started down the road to the same doctor's office I have taken her every month since we moved here. I ran into my husband heading back to pick up Joe. I turned around and met him back at the house. Which turned out to be a very good thing.

I parked, hopped out of the truck and tossed them both the look.

"Don't give us that look. We're not the ones who are late," Joe said, his laugh echoing from the passenger seat.

My husband laughed. I laughed - not so much.

"I have your phone and your gas money," I said to hubby as I crossed the street.

"Hey, you know which doctor you're going to right?" hubby asked.

"Uh, yeah, same one as always."

"No, mom's at the one across from the high school. You know that brown building to the left of where the crossing guard stands every morning?" hubby asked when I gave him the blink-blink.

"Oh, okay." And off I went.

I got to the office just as she was coming out. She scheduled her next appointment, which I can assure not to forget or be late for because it's on my birthday.

I pulled the truck around, helped her into the front seat & we headed out to the grocery store. When she had picked up her prescription & some groceries, we decided it was time for lunch.

We went to her favorite restaurant; all homemade, all fresh. Bread so warm, you swear it will melt in your hands. The best BLT you've ever had in your life - untoasted with wimpy bacon in my case.

After lunch, we made our way back to the truck. And I said, "I have to stop by my house real quick before I take you home."

"Okay," she said.

We chatted all the way to the house. I parked in my driveway, turned to her and said, "I'll be right back."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Take your time."

This is that moment where the average gal would have said, "Oh, yeah, good idea." Not me, I charged right up that first step, the toe of my boot caught the second and those Trex boards and I had an inauspicious meet. I flipped to my side to lessen the impact, whacked my head on the final step and lay there for a second.

Poor Mary, who is 84 years old & uses a walker, watched this whole thing play out. Tried to scramble and figure out how she could get out of the truck, pick her way around the front and reach the gate without falling. Before she made the attempt, I sat up, produced a smile and double thumbs up and proceeded inside.

As if this whole thing weren't bad enough; broad daylight, witnesses, the regular stuff character building moments are made of. I then had to tell the story four different times that night. And again a few more because that meet and greet with the boards led me straight to an up close and personal relationship with my heating pad all weekend.

Good news, I'm pretty darned hard-headed, so the bump cleared by Sunday. Bad news, back's still swollen, shin is bruised and from shoulder to wrist is tender. Yeah, those character building moments just don't have as much impact unless you have the wounds as a reminder.

Happy Writing,

Patti

Friday Mash Up - Contestus Rightus

Announcements - I would like to welcome Brenda Drake to the Bump House. And, I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful comments this week. You guys make my writing life go round.

Jennifer Becton had a great article on writing without FEAR. Terri Tiffany posted an article about Winning Through Writing. And, if the issue has eluded, Writing Contests zagamine by Writer's Digest is on the B&N shelves. Also, Writer's Digest's latest issue details 27 agents looking for new writers.

On my contesting front, now the second thoughts are rearing ugly hair-do's. Will I? Won't I? Where did I screw the purple pony? Why, why did I submit that piece? *boo-boo face*

Oh well, it could be worse; right? Although, at this interchange, I am loathe to decide what worse is. Breathing, breathing - will. cry. later. Whilst I consider NaNoWriMo.

Have an awesome & productive weekend.

Happy Writing,

Patti

Thinkin' Thursday - WIPs Need Food Too

Yesterday it occurred to me that I have eaten the same thing everyday for lunch over the past week & a half. At first, I thought it's simply because it's easy & I like it. But then, I started thinking back on other writing projects. During my previous novel, I ate a bowl of grits smothered in butter & pepper every single day until I finished the book. Currently, I am consuming lunch meat, muenster cheese & either buttery crackers or melba toast. I've really been digging the toast lately.

I lay out the cheese slices, slide a layer of meat over that & then count out the number of crackers on the opposite side of the plate. What can I say, I'm fairly methodical. I thrive on order, number & other OCD habits. I count things; steps, bites, stairs. It's a habit from my childhood & it still continues to this day.

However, back to the food thing. I'm a quarter of the way through this project & I noticed that my food is a direct reflection of where I am in the process. How much time I have to eat correlates to where I am in the story. It makes me wonder what my WIP will be wanting as we approach the midway together.

So, does your current WIP have any favorite snacks? What about previous projects?

Happy Writing,

Patti

So, I thought it was Thursday

What day is it?

So, here I went and did this beautiful post for Thursday, posted it to Twitter and then looked at the post date on my blog. Just spectacular! I now know why the caged bird is trying to get out - because they can see her darnit!!

Of course, this gives me the opportunity to laugh at myself; ha---ha. And the beat keeps poppin'.

And there you have it, my dork flag at full mast waving in the wind at the Republic of Twitter!! Does it get any worse than that - well, yes. Yes, it does.

I spent an entire family dinner last night regaling my loved ones with the writing world at macro and micro levels. They smiled, they indulged and I (after covering my novel in glowing detail - three times!) apologized. Between that and this morning's debacle, I learned something. I am taking myself waaaayyyyy too seriously and I need a hobby.

Writers spend their days glued to the monitor; plotting, twisting, interjecting humor. If it weren't for the occassional breaks, I might never know the temperature outside of my writing space. I can sit for ten or twelve hours, never thinking of food or the bathroom, when I am neck-deep in the ZONE. Heck, I haven't even seen the inside of my shower curtain this morning.

We need to take a break, a walk, a run - anything to keep us normal. Whatever that is. I might even have to break down and make some phone calls - reconnect with the outside world for a while. Because, if I keep this up, my family isn't going to have me over for dinner anymore.

What do you do to bust the chains & reconnect, redirect or decompress? We all know what I did - and I don't recommend it. Ego suck is ego suck - don't try this at home.

Happy Writing,

Patti Struble