This is Not a Super Witty Post

Nope, this is not a witty or exciting post, but I did find an awesome picture which I put on the left. Go check out where I got it and show the creator some love :)

Now on to business! I know my last post was a week ago. Ooops. Life goes on eh?

I have some blog posts in planning, but none of them are quiet solid enough for me to put them up tonight, mostly because my brain isn't behaving and performing for me (dance monkey, dance!).

What's coming? Awesomeness, deep thought, hopefully some discussion with you (the people of blog land), and possibly a contest.

That's really all I have to say tonight. Yes, I know, there's no content tonight other than a little teaser. I just couldn't go another day without posting! I really do miss you guys even though I'm the one who's been awol, here's hoping life continues to improve so I am here more...cuz I really am excited about some of my upcoming posts!

~ Ruthie ~

I Am That Monster

Yes. That's me. The year was 2006 (which feels oh so long ago lol!) and I was all dressed up to go dancing for my birthday. We were taking pictures (after all, how often was I going to dress up like that?) and for some reason out came my dagger. Why? Who knows? My brother was taking the pictures, we both like knives, and we decided that it was a good photo prop.

The picture itself is fairly crappy, it's hard to see the dagger and I'm all white from the flash, but add a little red tint, and it's perfect for today's blog post! Why you ask?

Every great quest involves a few monsters along the way. Ogres and goblins that are determined to make sure you never reach the end. Writing is like a quest sometimes, especially when you want to be a published author some day. There are plenty of swamps and mountains to get through, and yes, there are monsters.

I am that monster.

I know that may not make much sense on the surface, but believe me, I am one of the monsters I have to slay in order to get to the end of this quest. Ok, maybe not me in my entirety, but believe me, I get in my own way just as much as anything else does!

Self doubt and distractions are the two things that get in my way the most. I've noticed I am having a hard time finding the time to work on my first draft of Misfits and it boils down (largely) to those two things. I look at it and all I see is this huge mountain of work, which is followed quickly by, "But what if it's no good?" This inevitably leads too, "I should take a break first and watch that show or read that book. Charge my batteries before I tackle it."

Um. Yah. That doesn't work out so well most of the time.

Granted, I do probably have ADHD (not diagnosed) and so a portion of my problem is just that I have troubles focusing on things unless I'm VERY motivated, but if I didn't start out by telling myself that my work probably isn't worth it I wouldn't get as distracted.

I say it's time to slay the Monster That Is Me and scale the next mountain. I will complete this quest!

~ Ruthie ~

Sunset Scarf

I really should be posting something writer-ly today, but I'm still catching up on life after the back injury (and not out of the woods yet) so I'm just going to talk about what I want to :) It's my blog after all, so no one's going to flog me, right? Right?

I'm working on a scarf for myself right now. It's 48 inches as of this morning, and I'm going to knit up that entire ball unless it gets to the point where it's twice as long as my height LOL. Ok, realistically I'll probably stop when it hits my knees when drapped around my neck. Probably. I decided I want one realllly long scarf in my collection, can you tell?

Over the last two years I've learned to love lots and lots of color, but I also love black, so this yarn is the perfect mix. My Mom saw it earlier and said it looks like a sunrise or sunset, so I'm going to call it my sunset scarf. I've seen a lot more of those in my day than sunrises, I am NOT an early morning person.

In other news, I'm slowly catching up on house cleaning and there are a number of craft projects I'm behind on. The scarf is an easy one to work on when I'm really tired, so it's been getting the most time, but I have some rings, earrings, anklets, and a necklace or two that I owe various people. Plus I need to get started soon on a baby blanket for my cousin who's having a baby.

Oh and I am getting a lesson on tatting on Thursday and I am going to start a project that's supposed to be inbetween projects (using yarn scraps) but I can't resist starting it. And write. Did I mention write? Writing would be good.

As you can see, I'm a little ADHD at times. Ok. Maybe very ADHD and it totally applies to my projects! No matter how I try to finish them I always seem to have more going then I can keep up with.

Writing is a priority, house cleaning and keeping the hubby happy is a priority, knitting happens a lot because I can do it when relaxing, and the other projects happen based on which friends have been waiting the longest and when I find time/inspiration.

I'm starting a folder on my facebook page (you can look me up under Ruthie Stickney, mention your a blog follower please so I don't ignore you) for all my crafty projects. If your a crafty-nut like myself feel free to keep an eye on it! Not that there's anything other than my scarf there now. I am JUST starting it.

What are you working on today?

~ Ruthie ~

Ps. I hear some people are having problems posting on my blog. I'll try to get it sorted out soon but things are a little busy the next two days.

Moving Forward Once Again - ROW80 Check In

I'm making progress and writing again. It makes me so happy! I'm no where near caught up on my goals, and honestly I'm fighting a migraine right now so I'm not going to pull up my goals sheet and update it until tomorrow. I'm going to need to revise things based on the time lost due to the back injury, but that's ok. I'm well aware that there are things in life that are out of our control. The only thing we can control is how we respond to them and then move forward.

Moving forward can be hard sometimes, especially once you know your too far behind to properly catch up. The key, I've found, is to remember that even if you can't catch up you'll only fall farther behind if you don't start moving. That's where I usually start, simply moving.

Simply moving can mean a lot of things. Pertaining to the actual injury, it means doing what I can for myself, with out help. Getting my own water. Then, as I improve, getting my own food. As time progresses I move about more often, do basic stretches, start to catch up on small chores.

With writing, simply moving looks similar. The first thing I usually pick back up after a major set back is this blog. If you look at the last two weeks my posts have been few, but I did make attempts to get back at it. Then, once I was able to do that with relative ease, I focused on catching up on book reviews. Now? Now I'm back to the "real" writing.

In the last couple of days I've not only written some of those book reviews that I've mentioned (I have several in queue right now!) I've also started on a ghost story, and worked on going through Misfits and taking notes. I was hoping to work on Jemnath today, but I got knocked down with a migraine so again its one of those days where moving forward involves small steps.

The ghost story is one of those cases where I have loads I'm supposed to be working on, but my muse is insisting I take some time to work on a different idea. I'm trying to balance all three right now, but hopefully the first draft of the ghost story (it's a short story) will be done in the next week and I can put it on the back burner for awhile. Depending on how it turns out I might work on polishing it from time to time and make it my first submitted work. It has potential, but who knows what will happen!

How are your writing endeavors going?

~ Ruthie ~

Creative Nudge #6 - Meet Levi

Due to my back injury I was never able to respond to the last Creative Nudge I posted - or to post a new one! To catch up I'm both going to share what I wrote and give you a new Nudge - all in one post. Sorry if this gets a little bit long!

Creative Nudge #5 was to interview a character from one of your stories. If you didn't get a chance to respond to it but still want to, feel free to leave a link to your post in the comments of this one! For now... Here's mine :)

source

Levi is one of the characters from my NaNoNovel 2011 which I'm currently referring to as Misfits (although I'm thinking maybe Pack of Misfits instead?) Levi is a Wolf. Wolves in Maerdon are sentient, have a range of psychic and magical abilities, and years ago began learning to shape change to enable them to more easily communicate with the members of other races that weren't comfortable (and sometimes not capable of) using telepathy. Levi has a tortured past, and when we meet him in Misfits he is choosing to live out among the other races in the shape of a man. He's big, 6'2" in human form, with black hair and blue eyes. I've had him answer these questions based on his life before the book starts.

Question #1: What's the hardest part about shape changing?
The small things. At first that means things like getting the fingers and ears right, but then once you have learned the form that becomes much easier. Then you are tripped up by things like facial expressions, mannerisms, even the way you walk. I've spent enough time among the other races that I've learned to imitate them fairly well, but I still forget that most humans can't smell the way I still can while in human form. It takes a lot of focus not to be constantly sniffing the air.

Question #2: What's your favorite thing to do?
Hunt. I love the hunt, and, based on experience, it's something I won't really be able to explain to you.

Question #3: Since you've chosen to live among the other races and not with a pack, how do you make your living?
I hunt. I've learned out to take down a kill without ruining the hide and I then tan and sell the hides. 

Question #4: Where do you live?
I travel a lot. Never stay in one place long, but I do have a cave I take the hides back to so I can tan them. 

Question #5: Wolves are a pack society, is it hard living as a lone Wolf?
Yes.

I could ask him more questions - but this post would get rather long (because of my questions, not his answers obviously, did you notice they got shorter as we went?).  

Erin Morgenstern's Website

Creative Nudge #6: The Circus! I'm currently reading "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern and I can barely put it down (but I know I have to do my own writing too!). So write some thing about a circus, or a clown, or something else you associate with the circus. 

Go write! Then Blog. Then come back here and leave me a comment so I know you did! I will not be using the linky tools that I was previously using (don't want to pay for it) and I'll be looking around to see if I can find another one before next week.

~ Ruthie ~

Friday Features - Ready Player One - a Book Review

I first heard about “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline from the members of my online book group. It sounded really interesting, and after hearing my Elf-sister geek out over it I knew I had to read it! It took me awhile to get my hands on it (it’s a popular book based on how many holds the library had!), and when I did I couldn’t put it down. The synopsis on Amazon is really long, so I’ll give you my own summary.

“Ready Player One” is set in the year 2044, a bleak future where the world is overcrowded, and trailer parks now rise twelve levels or higher. All the trash, just with a higher population density.

There is one escape from the stark pain of daily life, OASIS, virtual reality at its best. In fact its taken over real life in many ways, business meetings take place there virtually, its full of shopping malls, and kids can even go to virtual schools via OASIS! Wade Watts is one of those kids, although he goes by Parzival everywhere but at school, where he’s not allowed to.

For years OASIS had provided not just an escape, it’s provided people with purpose. When OASIS creator James Halliday died, he left the world with the opportunity to win his vast fortune, all they had to do was participate in a vast and difficult quest. Now thousands have spent years trying to even figure out the first puzzle. Parzival is not only one of these kids - he is the first to find his way through that first challenge.

This book is a riotous geek-fest for anyone who has fond memories of the 80’s. Halliday was obsessed with the 80’s (and some with the 70’s and 90’s) and the quest is all based on obscure facts from that era. Video games, movies, music, you name it, it’s there!

I have to admit that I was pretty young in the 80’s, and I didn’t have much exposure to the popular culture of the era until long after it was over, but there was still more than enough in here that I did remember. And I loved every minute of it!


I give this book 5 out of 5 cups of coffee. (really need to get the graphic figured out lol) Not only is it a ton of fun for the nostalgia, it’s incredibly well written. The quest is compelling, and there is a lot of character growth, both in the main character and in his friends. If you remember the 80’s, or are a video game geek, go read this book!

Still Recovering - a Late ROW80 Check In

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Well - after I posted my last bloggy/writing update I managed to re-pull the muscle in my back. Yeah. I'm on a roll here this month! I was fighting off some sort of bug yesterday, so I didn't even mange to get this up on time. That's ok though, I'm definitely on an upswing again today! I even managed to wash a few dishes. Woohoo! Any progress is good!

Hopefully I'll have some writing progress to report by Sunday, at the very least I'd like to get back to my regular blogging schedule, and blog reading schedule. I miss it!

How is your week going?

~ Ruthie ~