Description Exercises

Have you ever had a conversation and then walk away thinking, "I should have said that!" You know... hindsight! Don't we all wish we had that! Well that's what I love about blogs. I can say "hey I should of said that or added that" and here I am editing! A comment from IntricateKnot and you can find her blog here  http://intricateknot.blogspot.com/ triggered an AHA moment for me. So with much ado I have to add to this blog post :-))
I was reading a blurb a couple of weeks ago for this one book and the description in the paragraph was mind blowing and not in a good way. They way overdid their description to the point that 12 words out of 20, I didn't know if they were actual words that I could find in the dictionary or if they were made up words, but this got me to thinking about my own writing and I realized I don't describe enough. I tend to rely heavily on dialogue between my characters and make my readers use their imagination, maybe sometimes too much!
So I'm thinking there has got to be a fine line there somewhere. Where do you find it? Or do you? Do you rely too much on the dialogue or too much on the description? I'd love to hear how you balance out the two.


Good Morning and Happy Friday! It is VERY WINDY in my area this morning and it has triggered my blog post for today.
How do you describe the wind? What if it's a blustery wind? Exactly what is a blustery wind? Well according to my dictionary Blustery is

3.

vi blow loudly in gusts: to blow in sudden loud gusts (refers to winds) What is wind? According to the dictionary 1. moving air: air moving across the surface of the planet or through the atmosphere at a speed fast enough to be noticed  So how do you describe it? What if you needed to describe wind to someone who has never felt it? What about water? Or try explaining a lush green lawn to someone who can't see it. Sometimes it's easier to describe solid objects. A person, a house, things we can touch or hold. But explaining thoughts, feelings, actions, and emotions can be difficult at times. Take the time to look around you today and work on describing things you see and can't see. .Picture yourself describing these thing to someone who can't see or feel  them. Have fun with it! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Back up and Save, Back up and Save!

I can not say this enough. Back up and Save. Back up and Save everything!

I can't begin to tell you how important this is and yet....
Yep, that's right, it takes a near catastrophe to remind myself to
 back up and save certain things on my computer.

I purchased a brand new desk top PC in July 2006.
 I had just started my new business of creating custom designed gift baskets in Oct. 2005
 and needed a new computer for my new website.
That computer got a virus and crashed in 2008, the day after my virus protection expired.
Here's another thing to remember check your emails frequently,
 so you'll know when your protection is expiring!
(I still haven't learned this rule either, hence the 1500 + new unread emails
I have sitting in my inbox waiting to be read) And I am giving advice! Sheesh!

Well I got the pc to run in safe mode and saved what I needed.
And then my son brought his PC in and I started using it,
until Windows did their little thing of new updates need to be downloaded/uploaded whatever,
you know those little notifications.
Anyway his PC went through all of them at once and fried the hard drive.

Well to make a long story short. Oops! Too late for that. Sorry...
I have a new laptop. Well my son bought it for me for Christmas 2009.
It's nice and has Windows 7 but I'm cheap and when my trial ran out for MS Works...
And Windows 7 is not compatible with my Yahoo Sitebuider program for my website.
I use this computer for mainly surfing the web. Facebook, twitter, blogging, etc.

I have an old laptop, Not a lot of memory, slow processor, small hard drive,
But it has Microsoft works 2003 And I Type my novels on it.
Oct. 30th...I had just finished my first MS 200+ pages, 96,000+ words and was going to do a read through, so I decided I'd get my lap desk and sit on the couch with my feet, instead here at the dining room table, and my little dog Duggy decided he wanted to play. He got tangled up in my mouse cord and my laptop went flying across the room face down on the floor. He ran off and hid under the dining room table, scared him and on my knees I turned over my laptop and there was a huge section highlighted, my mouse wouldn't work, my eraser wouldn't work and I figured it had froze. OMG! What am I going to do, I had not backed up and saved all that I had written! I finally got another mouse to work and everything was okay.
Did I immediately back up and save? Nope!

I am doing NaNoWriMo and they tell you back up and save often!
I am 30,000+ words into it and get up this morning, turn on the computer, and what do I see,
A black screen with blue words telling me, There is something wrong with my computer!
OMG! Heart attack time!
It says shut it down and restart and if that doesn't work, blah, blah, blah
I didn't take time to read it all, I shut it down and restarted and as soon as it worked...
Yep, you're right, I BACKED UP AND SAVED! Both novels.
Grabbed my little memory stick and Did it right then and there!

Please remember to back up and save!