Breaking For Art and Family Fun!

Hey guys!

I’ve been doing pretty good, making my way through editing A Heart Not Easily Broken. I finished chapter six and am working my way through chapter seven.  I’ve also written up a blurb for the book that will be featured in a blog post next month. Soon, I will start working on a website dedicated to The Butterfly Memoir’s series that will feature information about the series, characters and their stories.

Last week also had me working on the rough outline for book two in the series, whose title is to be determined. The original story was written nearly two years ago, but is undergoing a rewrite to make it truly meet the series standards. I’ve gotten eighteen of the twenty-one chapters outlined. Once that is completed, I will jump back to writing and researching the h/h character profiles. From there I will write the in-depth story outline before doing my thirty-day MS writing purge that worked so well with the first book. 

So much to do and I am excited to have the opportunity to do it!

But in the meantime, Friday and Saturday were my ‘brain break days’. As writer’s we all have them. You know, the days where you put away you pen, paper and laptops away and pull yourself out of the world in which your characters live and merge back into the real world where our families and bills exist.  Families the fun part….the bills suck!

 

My 14 yr. old daughter - the family artist

Friday was spent with my daughters at our local library participating in an Art 101 class taught by one of the librarians who is an art major. Mrs. Diana is very talented. A few months ago, she spent time with my oldest daughter, teaching some of the fundamentals of drawing that helped her get accepted into the Fine Arts Magnet program held at a local high school.  My son has been going there since the ninth grade majoring in Orchestra. My daughter will be starting her first year there majoring in Art. She is so excited and so are we. My youngest daughter is also showing her developing art skills. I’m not so bad myself, though my passion is in writing.  Mrs. Dianna taught us how to draw the human eye and lips. Here’s what we drew.

My 9 yr old - artist in training

And me, I've got my eye on you!

 

 Not too bad huh? At least I was able to keep up with my daughter, the one who will be receiving all of the wonderful training that she deserves! Though I must say, they picked at my eyelashes, apparently they were too long. Guess my eye was related to Tammy Fay Baker! LOL!

Last weekend was me and my husband’s seventeenth wedding anniversary. We decided to have a family cook out this weekend complete with fun games and silly dancing. Ribs, steak, hamburgers and hot dogs were on the grill. Chips, potato salad and baked beans were the sides. And of course there was the Rose Courvoisier….for grown ups only.  And balloons, lots of balloons. Don’t ask me why, but a one dollar bag of balloons turned into the most fun! The kids were wearing them as tails to imitate the wag of our family dog’s tail. Then there was balloon volley ball and the dog got in on the fun. Check it out! (I'm not in the video, I'm the one filming and laughing)

  

And of course there was dancing, lots of it. We turned on the radio and watched the kids work it. And like most people, we did the Cha-Cha Slide. LOL…….

So, now that ‘brain break’ time is over, it’s time to get back to work. In a few weeks life around here is gonna get crazy. When school starts, I will have two in high school and two in elementary school. With school comes homework, field trips, after school practices, projects and with my oldest, who has been selected to perform with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra in September, after school practices at the ASO. This will be a very interesting, fulfilling and tiring year! All of this as I continue on my journey to publish my first book in January. 

Stay tuned, I’m sure I’m gonna have lots of stories to share, advice to give and so much more!

Thanks for stopping by!