Sunshine, blue skies...

...lack of internet connection, and purchasing a new home in Florida has all kept me from writing for the past two months. So, thank you to Laurie D. and her wonderful blog Unavoidable Awkwardness for kicking my butt. By the way, her site is absolutely beautiful. Guess I'll have to learn how to decorate a blog as well as a house!
Anyway, here are a few questions and a few answers- if the stolen internet connection (thanks Cisco, whoever you are) doesn't fail! I'm going to answer in the order of interest, my interest, just in case.
1. How do you get names for your characters?
Some of my characters' names are compilations from people I've known, especially former students, but sometimes peruse the phone book. I just open it and run my finger up and down the pages. If only I had written down more of the names I've heard from people over the years!! Dafiness Champagne comes to mind.
2. If you were the main character in a book, what genre would it be?
Haha...true crime! Actually, I've always wanted to be Harold from Harold and the Purple Crayon.
3. My favorite color is coral pink, I don't really have a favorite number although my lucky number seems to be 10, and my favorite non-alcoholic drink is a vanilla milkshake.
4. I love to read what my friends, family and acquaintances post on facebook and twitter, especially when they misuse or make up a word. Once a mural was referred to as a muriel and a median strip was called a medium strip. And sometimes I need to ask for help deciphering a word, as the spelling seems to have no relationship to it, even in context. (ex. aenama ??)

New beginnings

Yesterday my husband and I drove fifteen hours to our house in Florida. We have been doing that for several years, and since we retired, have been spending more and more time in Florida. Today we got our licenses switched to Florida licenses, the beginning of our quest to become Florida residents. Why do we want to become residents of Florida? Many reasons!
First, if you are a retiree, Florida cuts you a break on taxes. Second, you can not beat the incredible weather down here during the winter. Third, we have some fantastic friends here. Fourth, the ocean is beautiful and warm. I could continue.
Despite the complications and confusion of the address, insurance, etc. changes, I am excited about becoming a true Floridian! Here's to a new year and a new state!

"If you want something..."

"If you want something done, ask a busy person," is a saying I've heard. It seems accurate. I certainly remember getting up at 5:00 a.m., teaching all day, then running, oh, say, five-ten errands,  cooking/eating dinner, throwing in a load of laundry, and heading back out for a meeting. If something got added on, it was just another check-off on the list.
But now that I'm retired, things have changed. I'm lucky if I accomplish one thing a day. I. am. serious!
Nope,  I have no problem acceding to the truth of that particular homily.

It was when I tried to extend it to other ideas that it entertained me.
I mean:
 "If you want something cleaned, ask a messy person?"
 "If you want some money, ask a broke person?"
 "If you want something read or written, ask an illiterate person?"
You get my drift.

I love this stuff...
See what you come up with.

Kip's Pick

As a writer, I often take a look at what works for other writers.  Take this excerpt, for example. It's from the book which made me fall in love with fantasy, The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge, originally published in 1946. I have read it over and over. By the way, it is J.K. Rowling's favorite book as well. Before I read that, no one I asked had ever heard of this novel.

The turret stairs ended at a door so small that a large grown-up could not possibly have got through it. But for a slim girl of thirteen it was exactly right. Maria stopped and gazed at it with a beating heart, for though this little narrow low door was obviously hundreds of years old yet she felt as though it had been made expecially for her. For if she had been able to choose her own door this was the door she would have chosen. It was more like a front door than a bedroom door, like the door of her very own house. It was of silvery grey oak studded with silver nails, and it had a knocker made of the smallest daintiest horseshoe Maria had ever seen, polished so brightly that it shone like silver. At sight of it Maria thoguth instantly of the little white horse she had thought she had seen in the park, and that she had pointed out to Miss Heliotrope...only Miss Heliotrope hadn't been able to see it. The door was opened by a silver latch that, when Maria lifted it, clicked in a friendly sort of way, as thought it was welcoming her.

So what works for me as the reader in this particular passage? Simple. EG allows the main character to feel that being a child is more special than being an adult. For the reader whose life is full of adult restrictions, that is blissful escape.