Study in Black and White

Another milestone for the Write 6: Jimmy M gets married today! With RC presiding! Watch for pictures. (Check out the Christmas tree for Tailors...)

This makes 3 babies, several cancer scares and parent deaths, graduations, numerous trips to Disney and beyond, several cell phone upgrades, gallons of coffee and ink - and we still don't know what happened to Urania's ham sandwich!

Let's make 2014 the year one of us is published!

Woohoo! I found my google password! Robin, excellent job of continuing to blog! Now to switch over to your Thailand blog whilst you are missioning...

The crazy thing is, members of this blog have actually been writing--not as prolifically as they would like, but still trying to get some in. Ellen and Monta have added chapters. Urania, as always, begins another fascinating tale. Jim has been working at hard at revising, and apparently the bathtub inspires revelations about these revisions. It looks to be a very busy summer for the Peabodies (Write 6), but writer irons are still in the fire. Mine are still firing in my head.

DONE!!

Brain dead done. All 26.

The last 2 were a rewrite of places churches can be and a board book called Where's Potter Now? about the places you can find a cat.

Now to get back to character development! But first a nap.

Day 22 (23?)

On my master list I have 23 done and 3 to go so I missed reporting somewhere. Or miscounted.

Anyway I managed another Svata story about Great Uncle Moses and the Red Sea. Spoiler alert: chariots don't make it.

Headed home tomorrow and fresh out of any ideas, but determined....3 more....3 more....

Days 20 and 21

Dredging the bottoms of my creativity! Or even interest. Or caring. No, no - I can do this.  Or stop with only 4 left? Arrrrrrgh!

OK - another Svata story - this time about Great Uncle Elijah and the miracle of the Jars. In rhyme. Fun but exhausting. At this point they all are!

And a very rough but assembled story of yearbook predictions for a JH full of odd creatures. Again falling into the "research is more fun than writing" trap, but the weird animals are sooooo funny!

Back to Phoenix today. It has been a nice writers retreat since I am tempted to do nothing else befo the rest of the house starts. Lazy Geezers. Eheheheehehe he

Days 18 and 19.

Freak snowstorm in the desert, but now some sun. And two more stories I have done.

The first was another Page Turner, walking the walls with Joshua.

 The other is the first in a new book I have been thinking of . What stories would Jesus' grandma - or Svata - have told him growing up? Each one is triggered by an event in his life - at that time he is still called his Hebrew name of Yeshua - and she'll tells them in rhyme. So a rainy day triggers the story of GReat Uncle Noah and the 40 day flood. It was fun.

Seven left!

Days 16 and 17

Now it gets hard to stop searching and start wiring. The Internet is so full of fascinating stuff!  On fact to another and another and I can spend 2 hours listing and no actual work. But I'd did manage to crawl out from Online Stupor and assemble two non fictions pictures books. The first is on positions of prayer around the world and the other is on various places to sit internationally. You can see the tempatiaon to slide into comparing names for bread or what we call our footwear! But 2 more done - 17 of 26!

And today I saw and got pictures of a real javelina!

Days 14 and 15

Settled in Tucson with the sun shining in. Nice. I finished Two more - on a substantial rewrite of No Car No Problem about world transportation told in rhyme. Much more fun thatn that discirption sounds! Another one for the Page Turner book on feeding 5000. Today is the 17th so I am almost caught up!
Looking out the window - maybe Prickly the Talking Cactus? Still watching for a javelina!

Days 12 and 13

Huff puff trying to catch up on this marathon! So I did another Page Turner on Peter denying Jesus and then one based on life here in AZ. My sister in law fell recently and got an abandoned puppy on the same day. The convergence of the two means the puppy is named Stitch! I suppose ideas come all year, but in February I am watching for them. And making time to write them.

Days 10 and 11

Yes I am not caught up yet for Day 15! But I am working from AZ now, and the relatives keep talking! It is all good.
Anyway I did a couple more Page Turner stories on the magi seeking Jesus and the people of Israel wandering around the desert. But the fun one was yesterday I learned about ledger art. Hopi children were taken to boarding school in Pennsylvania. The only paper they had was donated by the Army and it was accounting ledger paper. The exhibit I saw was pictures the children had done on this ledger paper. The pictures were very "boy" lots of arrows and shooting and fighting and horses.
In the village they drew on scraped leather and to make a new drawing they had to scrape off the old one. At the school they first got slates and chalk which had to be erased. So I wrote about a boy who gets ledger paper and colored pencils and for the fist time his art is not erased so he signs it with his new americanized name. It is so fun to learn new things!

Day 9

Whee! This one was fun! I have been thinking about the Pink Crazed Moms and girls and wondering what happens when the daughter breaks the pink habit. Take Rose Jardin. She was named after a French "rose garden" or maybe a nail polish shade. And today is the day for NO More Pink! Day 9, story 9. Keeping up!

Day 8

I have wanted to write this series of page turner Bible stories for so long they are just flying out! And I can't tell you how many times I've tried and did not have the motivation. Thank goodness for February marathon motivation! Day 8 is Moses in the basket going down the Nile. And done!

Day 7

Up early and clicking away. Today is another Page Turner- Water in the Desert featuring the ever grumbling People of Israel. There has got to be a market for Bible stories kids want to read! Plus last night a K teacher told me that teachers would love the "what will happen now" opportunity - a big deal in the schools to work on anticipating outcomes.  Well there is plenty of material to work with! Day 7 - done!

Day 6

I reworked one from last year I had not finished. The title is now 1,2,Kaleidoscope! It is about collective terms for groups of animals. The catch is that the collective noun also has another meaning that can create a humorous picture. A School of Sharks. A Murder of Crows. My favorite is A Congress of Baboons!

In between these 6, I preached and prepared the Lent devotional guide and now have the newsletter on my desk! Wonder if any of those had pictures if they would count?

Day 5

In Lexington, KY, this fall we toured Churchill Downs and I was enamoured by a miniture Buddy House named Winston. This is a story of his wondering what good a little horse can be and finding his own specail talent.

Day 4

I am working on a set of stories that may be a single book or series of paperbacks. They are exciting interesting Bible stories (!) The set up is that the story goes so far on one page and then the question is asked: "What do you think will happen next? Turn the page to find out!" Thus the collection name: Page Turner Bible Stories. Today I did one about Paul's Escape over the city wall in a basket! Make you want to go back to Sunday school?

Day 3

Tullymore the puppy arrives from Kansas as the grandblessings gather here to wait. How can there be 47 hours in one day? But this is the story of how he arrives - and Potter the cat greets him!

Day 2

Another kid life book - Lily turned 6. How do you become a 6 year old princess? Needless to say it takes half dozen years of training and the right DNA (and Nana) helps.

Day 1

I am trying something new this year for the first couple of days because the subjects are right here!  Day 1 is a stour of a 3 year old named James (!) who want to be a superhero.mor a dinosaur.  I collected all the pictures I had of him over the years in various Dino/super outfits and made a rhyming text. Wonder if there is a market for ghost writers for grandparents who want cute books?

2013 Feb Marathon

I am on the way writing 26 books in 29 days. Got a plan -  a few ideas generated - plus Lent and 2 weeks in AZ! But this spurt of creativity lasts me a year of editing. So let's go!