Looking Back At May and Title Search

May was a busy month.  I had two Mother's Day events to attend.  I had a long weekend filled with my daughter's birthday and another family picnic and something else....  I can't even remember last weekend....  We drove... somewhere.  It was a busy month.  Writing, like the housework, has suffered.  I'm hoping to catch up.

To start my June off right, I'm starting it early.  I've re-edited a story of mine.  The language was too sentimental, so I've toned it down, while (I hope) still keeping the love of the two main characters present.  My real problem, the title.  I've had this story floating around for a while and I can't seem to find a title that makes me happy.

Here is what I have right now:  Tired Lovers, End The Day, The Happy Couple, Hot Sun, Yellow Car, Stop Calling Me and Falling on the Concrete/Sidewalk.  What do I pick?????

*The picture is from Wikipedia.

Behated

Be.hate.d, n. - something hated deep within the heart.  Opposite of beloved.  Examples:  Peter Pan is beloved, Captain Hook is behated. Sleeping Beauty is beloved, Maleficent is behated.
     - My behated enemy

I think that's the clearest way to explain my new favourite word, behated.  My hubby used it today.  My hubby is a teacher.  He is participating in a fundraiser where the students buy tickets for a draw.  The winner of the draw will get to throw a pie at my husband tomorrow.  More than one teacher is participating.  My hubby has the most tickets in his bowl.  He said that either means he is beloved or behated.  Then we talked about whether behated is a word.  We were pleased with ourselves.  It is not a real word, but it should be.    (Wiktionary was the only place we could find an entry.  I don't think that counts.)  I may start using it in future posts.

Ouch!

I've started Pinning.

Find me at Pinterest. 

Tweet, Tweet....

I've joined Twitter.  You can find me @LoniStorm.  Why did I join Twitter?  I don't know.  So I can waist more time?  I'm hoping to find a voice, I think.  I want to know not just my voice, but the voices of the characters I create.

What’s in a Name?

How important are character names?  I think they’re very important.  They should convey part of the character’s personality.  Coupled with other aspects, I think they should evoke a desired feeling from the reader.  I don’t think names should be taken lightly.

Sometimes naming a character comes easily to me.  I don’t have to think about it, the right name just pops into my head, part of the flow of the story.  Other times, I agonize over the name.  I search meanings, I make lists, I write out variants.  It can take ages; the entire time I had planned to spend writing can be taken up with finding the right name.  Sometimes, I’ll just insert a ____ to hold the space until I decide.  Or sometimes I’ll write out He/She and other pronouns until I decide on something.  Sometimes, like today, a name I’ve used in a story for over a year will seem wrong to me and I’ll change it.  Finding the right name after ages of searching feels so good.

Am I spending to much time with names?

Breasts and Oreos

I've talked about breastfeeding before on my other blog.  I'm a mother.  I have two kids, one of whom is still being breastfed.  (The other is long past being breastfed.)  Apparently, there's a controversial Oreo ad in South Korea featuring a breastfeeding baby.  My concern over this ad would have more to do with a baby that age eating a cookie, not the breastfeeding.  Facebook has taken down all content showing this ad.  For more information, see the link below.

 peaceful parenting: Milk and Cookies: Breastfeeding and Oreos: If you're in North America you'd almost have to be hiding under a rock somewhere to have missed the hoopla that is rumbling across the U...

A Little Bloody Today

I did some writing.  A short story I got the idea for about a month ago.  It was March and it was unseasonably warm.  I don't know why this came to me, but it did.  It's been itching to make in onto paper. 

Below is a sample of what I wrote.  It's around the middle of the second page.  It definitely needs to be edited, but I hope tone is right.

The mother fell to her knees, confused, gripping the stroller and her eldest child.  She could feel the blood leaving her body.  She was losing focus. Her daughter’s tears soaked her face.  Her son continued to cry, but she knew it was a cry of fear, not of pain.

The pealing tires of a car brought her thoughts into focus.  She needed to call the police.  She tried to let go of her daughter, she didn’t want to hurt her, but the little girl wouldn’t let her mother go.

“Mommy!  Mommy!”  She felt Keira being pulled away from her and she held on to her arm again.

She looked up.  The woman with the dog was there.  She was saying something, but she couldn’t hear her.  Keira clutched at her mother.  She watched the woman moved to the front of the stroller.  She was looking at Evan.  The woman let out a sigh.  She was checking Evan and he appeared fine.

The mother’s grip was weakening.  The blood leaving her body was taking her strength.  The stared at the woman, her dog following dutifully at her heals.  She finally noticed something; there was a phone at her ear.  The woman with the dog was talking to someone, describing the scene, telling them how much blood was covering the sidewalk.

I'm not sure about the ending.  Should the readers find out what happens to the mother?  Should I just have her taken away?  I'm not sure.  Should the villain be caught?  Should this be a short, eight page story, or something that keeps going for twenty?  I don't know.  I just know that it'll be on my mind until it reaches its conclusion.

April Goals – Update (2012)

So April is half over and what have I done?

I definitely have not written for ten minutes every day.  I wrote a couple of times, but not enough.

I finished editing the short stories in my folder.  The problem is with one story.  I want to add a new scene, maybe two.  I just need the time to write them.

I have not applied the hard copy edits to the computer files.

I haven’t had a lot of time this week.  My daughter has croup.  It’s not fun.  She’s getting better, but I wasn’t sleeping much and I’ve been trying to make sure my son doesn’t get it.  She’s getting better, but taking care of her has taken a lot out of me.

I might have a go at the new scenes I want to write.  We’ll see after I finish tidying up.

*Photo from the Wikipedia article on croup.