Everyday in May: My Brother Was Nuts!!

Today's Every Day in May prompt is: "A vivid memory." The vivid memory I'm choosing to share involves my brother and the Space Needle in Seattle, WA. My family went went there when I was 12 years old, when we visited my aunt who lives near Seattle. My brother was 5 years old.

We went up to the top of the building, where you can walk out on the observation deck. I was surprised to look out and see that the only thing between me and the ground, far below, were a few bars that were spaced fairly far apart. The poles radiated out horizontally.

The deck was packed with people, and they all seemed to tower over us at the time. I was in charge of holding my brother's hand.

I was looking out at the sites for awhile, then realized that I hadn't been watching for my parents for a few moments. Right around the same time, my brother got away from me and ran through a small crowd of people so I couldn't see where he went.

The next thing I knew, he was climbing out on the bars! The bars separated more and more the farther out they went so as he crawled out with one hand on each of two bars, his hands got further apart. He looked as if he was about to lose his grip at any moment and plunge to his death. 

I wanted so badly to just reach out and grab him, but I was too small, my arms were too short, and I just wasn't strong enough yet. I felt that if I tried to grab him, I would end up causing him to fall. 

I immediately turned and looked above all the heads of the strangers until I spotted my dad, and ran over and grabbed him and pulled him over to where my brother was tempting fate. He reached out and grabbed my brother with one swift movement, planting his feet safely on the ground.

The one thing I remember more than anything else about the moment was my feeling of utter, raw terror. I felt as though I would drop dead of fear. My heart was beating out of my body to the point where I thought it was going to literally explode. Of course, it didn't, or I wouldn't be writing this blog post right now.

WIP It Good!!

I've joined the WIP It Good Blogfest, where I've decided to share my very first Work In Progress. Now, I'm always working on an article, because that's what I do for a living. But this is my very first novel. I've finally decided to go for it! Here are my answers to the blogfest questions:

WIP Title: No Time (although that is not set in stone)

Word Count (projected/actual so far): only about 4,000 so far, projected about 70K

Genre: Straight sci-fi (my favorite!)

How long have you been working on it?: I first came up with the idea about 20  years ago, before I became a writer. Now that I write articles for a living, I decided to go ahead and write a novel. I actually began the process of writing it last November, although I haven't written anything since. I'm just now getting back to it now that I have a large project from my old job off my plate, and will work on it a little each day.

Elevator Pitch (if you came across an agent in an elevator ride, what couple of lines would you use to summarize your book):

A group of scientists discover a secret of time travel that destroys everything we know about time itself. Governments and individuals around the world race to use time travel for their own benefit, resulting in a worldwide Cold War.

Brief Synopsis (250 words or less):

A small group of scientists from a number of countries discover a fairly easy way to travel through time. But when three of them take a trip back through time, a horrible mistake reveals an important secret of time travel that changes their perception of how time works.

The science team decides to reveal their findings to the world when they realize how much good the technology can do. They are surprised when governments begin using the technology to compete for control of the world.

The scientists from the original discovery team break apart and begin working for the governments with which they agree, not necessarily for the governments residing in the countries from which they came. Dr. Sands, originally from the U.K., leads a team for three countries which have teamed up: the U.S., U.K., and Canada. The facility is located in the U.S.

The group works to prevent other countries from using the technology for nefarious reasons such as a dumping ground for criminals and the mining of minerals that can give them an advantage over other countries. In some cases, the members of the team must follow criminals back in time in order to prevent them from committing their evil deeds. In other cases, they must work to prevent the other teams from sending people back in time in the first place.

Are you looking for a Critique Partner?: Yes, as soon as I organize my thoughts and get a little more of the story down.

Are you looking for a Beta Reader?: Definitely, as soon as I get to that point.

Everyday in May: I Have Trouble Letting Go

Today's Every Day in May prompt is: "React to this term: Letting Go." This is going to be a very simple post. I've been very busy, but I really liked some of these prompts and didn't want to miss them, so I'm making them all up and backdating them. I'll have to catch up on comments over the weekend.

The first thing I think of when I hear the term "letting go" is that I can't. This is exactly what I have trouble with, and is one of the personality flaws I wrote about earlier. I tend to obsess when I make mistakes, and I have trouble letting go of them. My mother still has to remind me of this. She is always reminding me to "let go" of it. So, I continue to work on that. I'm actually better at it than I used to be, but I still find myself obsessing when I'm under stress.

There's also another way to take the term though: letting go of a loved one who dies or wants to leave. That's a really tough one, but sometimes there's just no choice, especially when someone dies. In the other case though, when someone wants to leave and you don't want them to go, I have found that it is best to turn off your brain as much as possible and let it happen.

You may cry for days and days, but it is always the best decision in the long run. The longer you hold on, the longer you suffer. If they want to leave you, then they aren't suffering. You are the only one in great pain. It just doesn't serve anyone to make that pain go on longer than it has to. In the end, you may find you're better off anyway.

When my first boyfriend moved away, I cried myself to sleep for about three months. Then one day I woke up and wondered why I had been so upset. I suddenly realized all the bad things in our relationship, and how much he had stifled my creativity. I was suddenly happy to be free!

Everyday in May: Songs that Bring Back Memories

I'm making up for a lot of Every Day in May posts today and backdating them, so they will all say "today's prompt," even though I didn't write them on the day for which they are posted. Once again, I got really busy, and will have to catch up on comments over the weekend. Today's prompt is: "Five songs or pieces of music that speak to you or bring back memories. Use Grooveshark or YouTube to include them in the post."

I love music, but that was not always the case. During the time I was raised on the farm, we played very little music, and we had no TV. My parents had records, but I don't remember them ever playing anything. At least they never played anything I remembered until later on. The weird thing is that I love their musical taste, but I guess I just couldn't appreciate it until I got older. I just didn't care about music back then.

But then we moved to the city, and started watching TV. One evening, we were watching the Grammy Awards, and something amazing appeared. It was a group of three women dressed in shiny gold dresses. They jumped around, danced and sang their hearts out on a compilation of three different songs. I was an instant fan. It was The Pointer Sisters, and this was one of the songs they sang:


Ruth Pointer always reminded me of my mother because my mom has such a deep voice. Do you remember the song "Automatic," with that deeper than deep voice? I love that song. Anyway, my mom luckily had a cassette tape, and I listened to it over and over. I just loved it.

But then Duran Duran came along, and I found myself with a girly crush on Simon Le Bon. My mother also happened to have a Duran Duran tape, so that was another one I listened to over and over and over again. Here are clips from the first music video and song that hooked me in:


By the way, I have no idea what "The Reflex" means, or what the hell they are saying. I'm not sure it makes any sense to them either. I still love that song anyway, but it's more about the feeling it evokes rather than what it means.

After crushing for awhile, I got back to loving truly quality music when I saw a music video for "These Dreams" by Heart:


I quickly learned through my mother that Heart had been around for a long time. Again, she already had some of their music. I love "These Dreams," but after learning of their other music, I realized that it was just so-so compared to the rest of their musical selection. I could probably make this whole post just about Heart, but instead I'll just link to some of my favorites: "Crazy on You," "Magic Man," and "Barracuda." That's just a very small selection. They have so many awesome songs!

Then came my very first concert: Billy Idol. I've already written about this, but because that was one of my favorite concerts of all time, many Billy Idol songs are memorable to me. This is another one where I could make the entire post about just one musician, but I think this video and song probably sums up my memories best:


The last memorable song I'm choosing is one that hit me like a ton of bricks when I first saw it as a video on MTV (back when they still played music): "I Need You Tonight" by INXS. This song and video hurled me back into crush-dom (or should I say "crush-dumb"?). Both the song and Michael Hutchence was about the hottest thing I had heard or seen on TV. Needless to say, I was floored, and was addicted to INXS for about two years:


I'm just glad my crush on Michael Hutchence had long since died out by the time he committed suicide. It was still very sad news, but I would have been so crushed had it happened back then. I'd rather remember INXS in their successful days as in this video than in their later years. Ah, memories!

Everyday in May: 'Only Pictures'

Everyday in May: A Letter to Fallen Heroes and My Readers

Today's prompt is: "A letter to your readers." This post was for Memorial Day, so I felt a little weird only writing to my readers when it's a day to remember fallen heroes. So I decided to do both:

A letter to fallen heroes:

I just want to say thank you for all you have done for us. Sacrificing yourself to protect us and our way of life is so far beyond anything that can be thanked with a mere "thank you," yet that is all I have within the confines of this blog post.

Outside of blogging, we honor your sacrifice by listening to your story and allowing the tears to fall. We donate to causes to help your family, and those heroes who suffer with injuries. But it somehow still does not seem like enough. All of these things come after the hurt and loss has already taken place, and there is no way to take it away. All we can do is remember and say thank you, again.

A letter to my readers:

Thank you so much for visiting, reading, commenting and giving me awards. When I started this blog, I thought I may have maybe three readers at most, if any.

I just feel so lucky to have cyber-met so many awesome people through this experience. And it's not just the comments and awards that I appreciate. It's the fact that those of you who are both readers and bloggers (whom I believe constitute most or all of my readership), give me so many hours of entertainment through your own awesome blogs.

In many ways, I enjoy the content you have given me to read more than knowing you have read my blog. So thank you, above all, for letting me find you.

And if you are not a blogger, then thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read my blog. I so appreciate it.

Everyday in May: Office Etiquette Article Reminds Me of My Old Job

Today's prompt is "Something you read online. Leave a link and discuss, if you'd like." I read this article by my fellow Yahoo! Contributor: Office Etiquette 101: How to Deal with Irritating, Loud, Sick and Clueless Coworkers.

I always love Rebecca Black's articles because she covers etiquette for every situation. This particular article is no longer as useful to me as it once would have been, but it reminds me of my old job. I had that coworker she talks about in her article. Several of them over the years, actually. Ah, memories.

The article really served to remind me of how happy I am to be back to my entrepreneurial roots, no longer having to work next to others in a cubical and do what others tell me to do. I love my life!