Loving Pink

Don't you just love these shoes and the matching bag? What comes to mind when you look at the photo? Sexy? Hot? Fun? Heartbreak? Party? Prom night? Bridesmaid? Tart? Call girl? escort? Sore feet? What kind of character would you put in these shoe?

Is she a young woman coming home from a fabulous first date? Where did she meet her date - maybe an online dating site or was he a friend who finally asked her out, realizing what he was looking for was always right in front of him?

Could the character be a teenage girl attending her prom. She's returned home happy cause she had the best time of her life; she went dateless and danced the night away with her friends. Or maybe she went with a date and they were named prom king and queen. Or did her date turn out to be jerk and she had the worst night of her life so when she returned home she couldn't wait to get out of her dress and shoes threw them all in a corner in her room?

Maybe the owner of these shoes is a spy?

She could be a young at heart senior living in a retirement residence. Where would you send her in these shoes and matching purse?

Was the character that wore these shoes a drag queen wearing an equally fabulous dress (I'm picturing Miss Vida from To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar).

These shoes could be sent on an endless number of adventures limited only by your imagination.

Clown Feet

I was looking at the photo of the clown shoes in the previous blog (reposted above). What kind of character in a story would wear those shoes.

There's always the obvious - on a clown. Is the clown male or female? The shoes are gender neutral. Are they on the feet of a circus clown or a clown for hire that shows up at parties. Does the owner of these shoes do magic tricks, blow up animal balloons or tell jokes?

Does the clown have hair?
Is the clown sinister?
Could the clown be a superhero? Cop under cover? Part of some kinky sex group where all participants dress up as clowns (like the Plushy people in that CSI episode)?

Maybe this clown is a spy and all kinds of spy equipment is built into these shoes.

What if the shoes don't belong to clown at all, just someone who likes the look of them?  This character could have really big feet and clown shoes are the only type of shoes that fit comfortably.

 Or the character could be a shoe collector, perhaps a hoarder? Maybe a parent dressed up as a clown, showing up in a hospital to cheer up her terminal child/spouse/parent/friend.

The possibilities of clown shoe wearing characters are endless and the obvious is not necessarily the obvious.

Here are some more clown feet for thought:

The Return

It's been a long time since I've blogged. Didn't know what I wanted to blog about. I wrote about my kick-ass boots in a post. It's summer now. I could blog about summer shoes. I love summer shoes. Pretty sandals with colourful rhinestones, strappy sexy sandals, funky wedges, flip flops, gold loafers.

Would the shoes on a character's feet define who she is? Are the shoes a decorative accessory or simply functional part of her wardrobe? Are the shoes important to the plot? I suppose they could be if they're used as a weapon or they some kind of secret power.

What about the male characters? Are shoes an important part of their personality?

 Shoes and characters - something to discuss in future blogs.

Time

Time seems to be a factor in blogging- at least for me.

My writing time is limited so last few days I've been working on fixing a story so I haven't had the time for blogging. I'm preoccupied with this story but we're at a stand still. I decided a day away from it would be a good thing.

Although I'm pretty good at multi-tasking, my limited time means I either have time for solitaire and story writing or solitaire and blogging, solitaire being the common denominator in both. Solitaire is a great time sucker/procrastinator. I am a pro procrastinator and love playing solitaire. I downloaded this free trial solitaire thing with all kinds of solitaire games. I'd like to play all the games before the free trial period ends. Don't want to buy the game cause then I'm doomed - neither the stories nor the blogging would get any action.

Now back to the story. I know what I want it to do but the story is saying, "No." Don't you just hate it when stories take over and what you wanted them to do doesn't happen? So it seems the story and I need a break from each other. We are testing our wills. We'll either reach a compromise or one of us will win.

We'll resume our battle tomorrow and see what happens, after a quick game of solitaire of course.

Boots

These boots are the kick-ass boots I've mentioned before. Aren't they hot!

Nancy Sinatra sang about boots. These boots were not made for walking long distances but they're fine for a short distance (unless you're used to wearing high heels). Can't drive in them so when I've worn when I go out- dinner, visiting friends or going to work, I either bring driving shoes or I make sure I have a chauffeur. Why did I buy them you ask? Cause they are hot and although I'm getting older, I'm not old yet...

I went on YouTube and looked up the song These Boots are Made for Walking. Did you know that Megadeath did a cover version of this song?

So what do these boots have to do with writing? Well lots. Any one of your characters can wear these boots on what ever adventure you send them on. Male characters dressed in drag for either business or pleasure or undercover work. Female characters dressed for a night out, every day wear or undercover work. If you write erotica, it goes without say. Even in a YA novel you can have a young girl try on her first heels and teeter, fall and break her ankle. Or better yet, buy them cause she thinks they're hot and her minister father has a fit and makes her return them. The possibilities are endless.

Writing groups

On Friday, a friend invited me to read my story to a group of writers that meet the last Friday of the month. (Don't know if the group has a name). Now I find reading my stories to a group of strangers incredibly nerve wracking. I gathered my courage, brought the story (Married Life, published in Canadian Voices) and read it. The fear was immense - would they like it? Would they find it funny? Could I read it without my voice quivering.

Now about this group, what a nice bunch of writers. We sat in a circle and everyone read something. Lots of poetry, some short stories and a novel excerpt. Some of the poetry was powerful, some of the stories funny, someone even brought her paintings and the poems she wrote to describe them. And most importantly, I got over myself and read my story. I successfully masked my quivering voice and projected my voice well. People laughed at the appropriate spots and the story was well received. Think I'll try and join them again next time.

Now last night my writing group met. Another great bunch of ladies. We're all very supportive of each other and encourage each other to send stuff out when it's ready. These meetings always leave me feeling good about my writing, and inspired to finish the damn stories and get them out there. Now I have no problem reading to the ladies. We've been meeting for a while and I'm quite comfortable reading stuff, no matter how bad, to them cause I know they'll find tactful ways of telling me the story sucked and how to make it better. Every writer should be as blessed to find critique group like mine. (We have a waiting list of people wanting to join).

So what's the point? The point is writing groups with the right people are great. We all want our stuff to be read or heard by someone other than family. So the first group I mentioned fills that niche. The second group help make those stories better and take them to the next level. I highly recommend them!

Day 2 of Blogging

So this is my second day of blogging. I've decided to up my readership and sent the link to this thing to some of my friends, who may or may not chose to read it.

Now comes the decisions of what to blog about.

When I was younger, I kept a diary for a year. I wasn't always good at writing in it every day. Some days, nothing exciting happened so I didn't write on those days. I guess the same will happen with the blog. Some days I'll have absolutely nothing to say or maybe I'll have lots to say but no time to talk about it.

Take yesterday for example. I had a pretty busy day at work (not that I could blog from work anyway). Right after work, I met a couple of my oldest and dearest friends for dinner. I wore my new kick-ass boots. One day I will post a photo of these kick-ass boots. Surprised myself when I bought them and then could wear them without breaking my neck.

Anyway, we went to this great little restaurant on Augusta Ave. for dinner, pigged out and caught up on what's been going on in our busy lives. Conversations are private and not to be transcribed on the world wide web but suffice to say we talked about our jobs, kids, pets, spouses, siblings, aging parents and the merits or there lack of of aging.

We're all up at the crack of dawn so no late nights, not like when we were younger and could stay out late, up early and still be functional at work. Those days are long gone. But I cherish these get togethers and am looking forward to the next one.

TTFN