Alaska, 8-12--8-29 2011

We flew to Anchorage Alaska for 10 days in mid-August. Temperatures were in the low 60’s during the day and in the 50’s at night. We had a busy and fun time staying with our son, who had a great deal to show us during our stay. We arrived on Saturday at 1 in the morning and during the day we saw a bit of down town, ate lunch and shopped. On Sunday after church, we went to the Blueberry festival in Girdwood, 25 miles south of Anchorage. It was too rainy to pick blue berries, but there were plenty of booths with crafts to shop from.
Monday we took a 4 hour train ride to Seward and went to the sea life museum, had a fine lunch and did more shopping, we returned home via train that night. Tuesday my husband and our son played Disc Golf; I stayed home and cooked fresh halibut for dinner. Wednesday we drove past Girdwood another 15 minutes to the Wildlife preserve—my favorite place. Afterwards, we drove another 10 minutes to Whittier which is on the inlet where all the cruise ships dock for travel into Anchorage and other points. To get into Whittier, traffic goes into town one way on the half-hour through a one lane, 2&1/2 mile long tunnel. Leaving town, the traffic goes at the top of the hour. It was interesting.
On Thursday my husband and I went to the Alaskan Heritage Cultural center and saw how the natives used to live. Then we met a MUSHER who breeds his own sled dogs and runs in the Iditarod. He was offering dog-sled rides for $10 – a way for him to raise money. We did not take a ride but purchased a DVD from him where the Discovery channel filmed the 2011 race as it happened. On Friday went to Earthquake park where they said the earthquake shook for 4 minutes in Anchorage and in the outskirts it shook for 15 minutes, unbelievable. After the park, we went out to a great place for dinner and had fresh Alaskan king crab legs...yum lots of fun. Flew home the next day.

Minnesota

The pictures here are of my 7 and a 1/2 week stay in Owatonna, Minnesota with our daughter, Susie, and the grandchildren, Samantha and Jake. THE PICTURES - 4) Me, Susie and granddaughter, Samantha, 3) Grandson, Jake, 2) friend Pam and me at Sat night reunion, 1) Breakfast in Sock City WI with Sandi and Dave on the way to Sharon & Greg's.
My husband, Ed, and I flew there for Jake’s high-school graduation. Then Ed had to return to Sacramento to work. I remained to spend time with Susie and also to attend my 50th high school reunion in Madison, Wisconsin the last week of July.
Susie had an opportunity to participate in a charity affair for Healthy seniors, Dancing with the Stars, in Owatonna. Her partner was Owatonna’s hospital administrator, Dave, who she knows from Rotary. Neither had ever danced much, but they practiced twice a week for 3 month and they won, as they should have. It was quite clear that they were the best in the show.
I had a good time meeting Susie’s friends, dining with them and even hearing a review of my two books. Susie has a book club that meets every other month and for July they chose to review both of my books, Morningside and Crystal Pines. I was very pleased with what the all the ladies in the group had to say. They seemed to like what they read. FYI – the screen play for Crystal Pines is finally finished and in the producer’s hands. I don’t what happens from here, perhaps nothing.
I have another book that is near being ready to send to a publisher. I sent 300 pages to Susie’s so I would have something to edit while there. Now I am making the corrections on my computer here. I brought a small Acer Notebook to Minnesota but did not feel comfortable putting my book on it.
For the reunion I spent the night with three different girlfriends. On Thursday I took the bus from Rochester MN, where Susie works, to La Cross WI where my friend Sandi picked me up to take me to Onalaska where she and her husband have lived for 35 years (this is about a half hour drive from La Cross. Had a wonderful time with Sandi and Dave, gracious hosts, good food and conversation – also played cribbage.
Sandi and Dave drove me to Waunakee, Wisconsin, where I spent the night with my friend, Pam and her highschool sweetheart, husband, Dick. They have a beautiful home in a senior community. We also had a good visit and went to the Friday night reunion party and then out to dinner.
The night of the reunion, I stayed at the Candlewood Suites in Fitchburg, just outside of Madison. The reunion was held there – in attendance were 50 class mates and a total of 90 people. It was great fun. On Sunday I rode with my friend Sharon, and her husband Greg to Trempealeau, Wisconsin, right across the Mississippi River from Winnona, Minnesota. As with my other two friends, Sharon and Greg were delightful hosts and their home was also beautiful—played cribbage and lost.

Writing and editing - . Anyone writing to be rich is in for a diaspopointment. Not that one cannot make a living at it, but how many of us are Mary Higgins Clark or John Gresham---yet that is? I do not read a lot of fiction, because I write fiction, but I did read a historical noval not long ago. It was the life of Nefertti as told in the first person by her sister. I am glad I decided to read it because I was able to get a fresh perspective on writing. As a rule, though, I believe it is too easy to subsconsciously use other peoples pharases in your own writing and think they are your own.
I have been reviewing my latest book, thinking it was ready to go to a publisher. As I began to read over it to make sure there were no errors, I realized it needed a great deal of tightening up. The book had been sitting for several months, and as I read it I remembered the rough spots that I might have left alone if I had not decided to look at it again. Though it is disapointing to realize that my book wasn't nearly as perfect as I thought, It is gratifying to see how much better I can make it before I send if off.
I will try to be more diligent in my blogging, as i am spending June and July in Minnesota with my daughter and should have ample time. I have only my new Acer Notebook with me and it is not really easy to type on the small key board, or on my Notepad, which has no red underlines for spelling errors . Nevertheless,between my spare time and the 600 actual pages of real paper I mailed ahead for editing, I am thrilled that I was able to bring the Notebook with me, which allows me to interact with the internet and my email while I am away from home. Until next tine, Priscilla

Faith Salon

Beauty Shop remodel
A friend of mine who recommended me to her nail salon, which she has been going to for many years, paid me a worthy compliment. She suggested to the owner of the salon that she ask me to help her decorate her new location, because I had a beautiful home and would be good with helping her pick out colors, etc.

I was happy to do it, and as payment, I get my acrylic nails done free. For the salon I picked out large tiles for the floor in colors of earthy greens and we painted the walls in a medium, soft green that picked up one of the colors in the tile. The new shop is very long and narrow and upon entering the first thing your eye catches is the floor. The comments are rife with oohs and ahas by the customers indicating admiration for the new color scheme; many have indicated that they were happy not to see clinical white walls.

We hung a large, scroll framed white clock on the wall for all to see when they walk in. I have to admit that the owner did a beautiful job of picking out the new salon chairs and nail tables. I found great wall hangings from Target and when all the accoutrements were purchased from there and Ross’s (right next door with Target) the owner had spent a total of $400—the salon looks like perfect. I only show the finished pictures.

Books and things

My apologies for not having updated this in sometime. We had company through the holidays and prior to that celebrated our 3oth wedding anniversary. Also, I ran out of decorating ideas to talk about. Instead, I have taken more time for my writing. I had planned to attend the Mt. Herman Christian Writer's Conference in April this year, but found out that the person I wanted to room with was not going until next year.
I was at first disappointed but it has worked out for the good. I am working on two books and decided that I could take this year to make them more worthy. My Gifts for the Road book, about Jesus, Joseph and Mary’s trip to Egypt has been with various agents over the past year and I have had rejections…except for the agency that I removed it from. They were a do nothing agency. In the mean time, I decided to re-read the story and make some significant changes. I restarted the beginning of the book with a little more action, and I think it reads better. I also found a couple of errors that were missed in the beginning of sending the book out. I also changed the ending and improved on it.
My other book, which I wrote 10 years ago, but never really polished, I have completely re-written. I changed the time frame from 1798 England to 1931 California and had a great time doing it. I also needed to make the story twice as long – it was more of a novella. Hence, I have added a great deal to it. It is one of my favorite stories, and now I have a year to really polish it. ‘
I understand that attending a writer’s conference is almost a sure in to getting an agent’s attention, and that is the only reason I am planning to go….UNLESS…an agent accepts one of them before that. I do plan to send the Gifts for the Road book out to more agents. You never know, after all it is in God’s hands and he is in charge. That’s all for now..

Small apartments & homes

Small Living Spaces
A friend of mine moved into a beautiful new two bedroom apartment recently. She wanted me to see it and asked how I could make it work for her. The living room is the size of a postage stamp; there’s a small eating area off the kitchen, but no large dining area. Additionally, there is no place to lounge, or generally be a slob, watch TV and put your face into a bowl of popcorn.
My friend likes things to be elegant and yet simple, but she needed to have a place for guests or family to sleep as well as where she could lounge without fear of someone coming to the door. I suggested for her living room, where people enter and see all, that she put two matching love seats in the middle of the room facing each other. We did this and put a long sofa table behind one of the love seats (both of them in a floral print so they won’t show spills and stains). On the sofa table we put a lamp, a green plant (philodendron) that doesn’t require a lot of sun, some coasters and a figurine from Ross’s. The figurine was of a porcelain girl with a basket of flowers on her arm: Ross has great accessories and they are usually a bargain.
We put a small oval (you don’t want sharp corners in small rooms) coffee table in between the love seats; and on the table we placed an artificial flower arrangement along with a decorative candle. We put a floor lamp in the corner by the sliding doors that led to the patio. Floor lamps give off great light when needed. Next to the lamp we put a 6’ tall artificial plant. A small table with a drawer, where she could drop her keys, went by the door (found this at the Salvation Army for $30.00). The love-seats we bought at a consignment store, two perfect ones about 5 ½’ long. The room is 14 x 12 feet.
Just a side note: leather sofas are really good for high traffic areas, so if you are not into floral, try a dark leather sofa, especially for a one bedroom place where the living room is the only place to lounge. Notice we did not put a TV in the living room, my friend doesn’t like to watch it when she has company so we put one in her bedroom and a small one in the 2nd bedroom. The love seats are small enough and if she has to set up a card table for extra dinner guests, she can move the love seats towards the wall or sliding door.
One wall in the living room allowed for a single bookcase, so we filled that up with books and some of her treasures she wanted displayed. In the dining area we used a round table. Round tables can seat a lot of people, and there are no sharp corners. We picked up a large picture from Salvations Army (they have great pictures sometimes) to hang in the dining area; the picture was of a waterfall with lots of foliage on either side. The high counter in the kitchen that separated it from the living room we kept cleared off except for one plant and a decorative candle.
In the master bedroom, she used an armoire, like those in hotel rooms, to put a TV in. This bedroom is large and also has space for a desk. In went her desk of dark wood with a matching file cabinet. Now she has a nice small office space under her bedroom window. In the 2nd bedroom, we bought a trundle bed from Craig’s List. It serves as a sofa when closed and two twin beds when opened. We lined the wall opposite the trundle bed with bookcases, including a shelf for the small TV and lots of other things that needed a shelf. Voila
I think the point of a small apartment or home like this is to keep down on the clutter. Practice regularly giving away to the Good Will or whom-ever, or throw out things you don’t use or need. They add to a home that reeks of disorder and muddle. Clean out paper and things on a weekly basis. I keep a large trash basket lined with 33 gallon garbage bag under the kitchen sink. Once a week before trash pick-up, I go through the house and empty everything into one bag. Of course, I keep the recyclables separate. If you have to live in a small space, don’t forget to pick up after yourself.

Writing

Other Things -
Today I am going to write about WRITING.
For some this may drive you crazy to read about how I work on my books, but for me it is only a short putt. Sometimes I have three books being edited, all open on my desk at the same time. How do I keep things straight, you ask? It’s simple, for each story I keep a list of the characters in the footer. Below is an example of a story I am working on. My books always have lots of characters.

SAMPLE FOOTER OF FICTION CHARACTERS: Sarah of Bethany & her serving girl Anna,& manservant, Gaddi. Crippled Rebecca & Jonathan from Cana, her servants Jochebed and Samson, Bleeding Ruth from Bethsaida, The other prostitute Hannah from Korazin, Zipporah from Sychar in Samaria, and friends in Arimathia. Martha, husband Andrew, Son of Alpheus, son of Zebedee, John, Judas Iscariot, Matthew, Bartholomew, Peter, Philip, Simon, Thaddeus, Thomas Tamar & Ephraim of Nain, Joseph of Arimathia, his wife Dara, Galilee, Nathan of Magdala Mary M’s fiancé, Zilpah,her serving maid., Bezai & mom Hephzibah; Jonas MM head serving man. Cuza, MM servant left to watch the house, Jada, MM servant & Tirzah Jada’s true love., Kishi the old man
IT'S A JUMBLED MESS, I KNOW, BUT I CAN KEEP THE CHARACTERS STRAIGHT.

Why you ask, do I like to work on more than one story at a time? It is because after I write, create a portion of the story, I have to let it sit for a day or two before I go back to it. Often there are many, many rewrites. In the meantime, while I let a story sit or maybe I am just bored with it, I work on another story for awhile.
I write historical fiction, and my stories never have sex scenes or foul language in them. Here are four stories I am working on right now; they are on average 75,000 words. One story is about a young woman in 1931 California, another is about a young business woman in 1902 New York City. A third story is about a family in 1839 England, and a 4th is about the women who followed Jesus during his earthly ministry.
I have one book that is with an agent right now; you can read about that one on my website www.priscillamcdaniel.com .
I haven’t heard back from the agent whether or not she is interested. It takes about 60 to 90 days to hear from an agent once you have sent your material to them. All fiction sent out has to be completed with between 70 to 100 thousand words, which makes up a book of about 300 to 400 pages.
How does one get started on a book? Sit down and start writing#$%^^&**. Make an outline if you need to; sometimes it gives you direction and helps you gather your thoughts. However, the important thing is to START. Write that first sentence, don’t worry about research until you need to know something. The outline comes in handy, when after you have written a few pages, you are stuck. You don’t have to follow the outline, remembering that many stories take on a life of their own, so only use the outline as a guideline.
If you have any questions, please email me at priscillasflair@gmail.