Weekly Photo Challenge: Geometry

November 5, 2012 / Janna Hill / 5 Comments

Geometry and Grandchildren.

The youngest grandson stayed with us over the weekend…

by himself…

There were no cousins to sword fight, wrestle with or act as the other meat eating dinosaur. It was only me and his Papa to contend with his six year old imagination.

When he grew bored with his grandfather it was up to me, the Disney channel or his PSP to amuse him. Hmm…

I said, “hey how about a geometric journey- you like to take pictures don’t you?”

He of course was thrilled with the idea snapping the camera at anything that had a line, an angle or might be used in measure.

Six year olds are really intelligent creatures. Give them a definition in terms they can understand (don’t call it learning) and watch them grow go.

This weeks photo challenge is geometry. We took over one hundred shots and settled on two.

The Stars & Stripes of Our Geometric Journey

It’s Cool to be Square

Thank You WordPress. That Will Be All For Now

October 29, 2012 / Janna Hill / 2 Comments

It may be shameful but I use WordPress as my personal messenger. Yep, once I hit publish this will go to twitter and Facebook and I’ll go on to bed or maybe I’ll play Zuma 🙂

Here WP, go tell the folks at twitter and Facebook that I have updated the news section of my author’s website. Apologize for my neglect in promoting the Goodreads giveaway of Unjustified Favor that ends on October 30th. Tell them The Rage Trilogy is on sale via Nook or Kindle and mention that all of my Amazon Author profiles are complete.

They’re lousy tippers so don’t spend any time over there just tell them to check the News & Reviews section. Hurry up, it’s nearly midnight. That will be all for now.

Weekly Photo Challenge (Foreign)

October 26, 2012October 26, 2012 / Janna Hill / 10 Comments

This week’s photo challenge foreign fits right in to my current thought process, as in foreign language. As I mentioned in a recent post I speak Hick and a little French. My grasp of foreign languages is limited; thank goodness my imagination is not.

I sometimes watch Spanish television. No, I do not speak Spanish – that may be why I find it so entertaining. I like to guess at what they’re saying. My husband enjoys certain Latin channels because they show cleavage and midgets. I don’t know what it is about that combination but it humors him and he laughs at the plump jolly man dancing to La Cucaracha.

I try to discern what they are saying, I don’t want to fluently comprehend – that would take the fun out of my guessing game. Husband doesn’t even try to guess, his thoughts are, “They’ve got boobs, little people, a happy fat man dancing and a song about a cockroach – who cares what they are saying.”

Foreign Snapshot

This snapshot came from a program I was watching this morning. I gather the conversation had something to do with men cheating on women or leaving them and monogamy being a realistic expectation.

I’m guessing that to some monogamy is a foreign concept.

Pardon My French

October 26, 2012 / Janna Hill / 9 Comments

Pardon my French or rather my lack of. While you’re at it please pardon my inability to speak any language that doesn’t include ain’t and y’all. I’m a Hick. There, I’ve said it.

I have at times been mistakenly called a hillbilly but that is not the correct terminology. For the record I am not a hillbilly. The only hills in my neck of the woods are inhabited by moles. I, sir or madam am a Hick. A Hick from the sticks, residing in a rural wooded area shared with other uncouth creatures and Hick type peoples. I do not live in a mobile home but would like to when I get rich.

I am however a worldly Hick. My electronic travels have taken me places I never knew existed, far beyond the bounds of a barbed wire fence. I converse with all sorts of people from different creeds, castes and cultures made possible by use of a translator tool. I am getting quite an education.

I speak Hick and a little bit of French. You see around here we say “pardon my French” in conjunction with cursing. It is a built in irrevocable vindication. Calling it French makes it completely pardonable, e.g. “He is a lousy son of a bitch, pardon my French.”

I think the translator tool is an awesome invention but sometimes what one intends to convey gets a tad bit distorted in the conversion. (Note: English is the closest dialect to Hick currently available)

Here is an example of how the aforementioned statement describing a worthless man can get misconstrued in a non- Hick translation.

From English to French “iI est un fils de pute moche”

From French back to English “He is a son of a ugly bitch”

No, no, no! Calling him a ‘lousy son of a bitch’ was about him. Calling him ‘a son of a ugly bitch’ directs the insult to his mother. (Whom you may happen to like very much)

I suppose calling someone a son of a bitch is technically an insult to their mother regardless, but calling her ugly just seems too rude.

Linguistics. Now that is some interesting sh*t. Pardon my French.

What the Heck? Door Number Four (IIII)

October 25, 2012 / Janna Hill / 4 Comments

What the Heck is Door Number IIII

My proofreader asked that very question along with “where do you come up with this (umm) stuff?”

Answer: Door Number Four (IIII) was a short story concept designed for a specific market. It was essentially a job interview with the challenge being “Give me something mysterious and unique with a defined beginning and ending tied up in a neat little package in six thousand words or less.” Well I screwed up on the word count (damn you Microsoft Word! 😉 I think it ended up around 6150. As a consolation I was offered $500 dollars for the concept and all rights to the story. That is a months’ worth of groceries but it is also exactly the sort of thing that drove me to becoming an indie using my real name, no matter how sullied that name may become. So here it is I’m sure I could have gone on to add more depth to the story but I really wanted to keep it as limited, raw and original as the first effort/presentation. Am I cutting my nose off to spite my face or am I saving face? Once again time will tell but I’m not going back. I have established the course and set my compass.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if Door Number III sold a million copies and Mr. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ said, “Congratulations you made that $500 bucks the hard way”

Hmmm. Dream on 🙂

Another leg on my journey as an indie.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

October 21, 2012October 21, 2012 / Janna Hill / 8 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

They’ve flown south now for the winter. The last bottle of red colored sucrose hangs fermenting. The Petunia and Morning Glory have bid them farewell as the Four O’clock and Salvia prepare to sleep.

Seed and root resting in the shadow of nature’s understanding.

Oh that I might fly with you..

Until the next Equinox, buenas noches little bird.

A Brief Moment of Rest

Book Trailers and the 80’s

October 17, 2012 / Janna Hill / 7 Comments

What do Book Trailers have in common with the 80’s? Apparently not much.

Book trailers are not a new thing, they’re just fairly new to me. But then so is the world I wake up in everyday.

Faith, aka helpy-helper recently introduced me to book trailers. By introduced I mean she gave me a tongue lashing that ended in, “Good lord woman get with the program.1982 is long gone.”

“You don’t have to keep reminding me of that.” I whimpered.

I am not one to pine for my prime it’s just that my mind often resides in yesterday. Okay the yesterday of three decades ago. [sigh] Anywho…

Book trailers? I totally did not understand the concept. Books made into movies, sure. I’m down with that – but book TRAILERS? Really?

I said, “Faith you must be trippin.” She assured me that was not possible as she was planted firmly in her chair. “No one really looks at those things, do they?” I asked. I honestly didn’t think they did until she directed me to a few sites all the while explaining view counts.

“Well f*ck me runnin!” I giggled, then helpy-helper smacked me. She will not abide my cursing. Good for her.

After 90 minutes of browsing I admitted I liked quite a few of them, especially the talking paper-dolls. I couldn’t tell you what book was being promoted but those little paper people were sooo cute! There were several animations that were entertaining as well, you know where the drawing occurs along with the narration? What do you call that? Idk. There were a lot of really good slide shows too. I call them slide shows, someone can correct me later. I do not care much for the cinema effects except for one or two trailers. One being Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It was really good. No, I do not know the creator or the author.

Did it make me want to buy the book? Heck no, it made me want him to finish telling the bloody story!

I am by no means an expert, on the contrary my knowledge of what goes into making an effective trailer can be stored in a thimble. But I do have an opinion and this is mine – which if added to a ten dollar bill will get you a bagel and small latte.

Thank you Faith.

What Faith accomplished was getting me past my prior prejudice. My assumption that audio and actors were not to be interbred with reading. That imposing visuals onto a book would hinder the imaginative experience. Yeah, I know. Faith is younger, prettier and ~~hipper~~ smarter than me. We have completed six slide-shows now and two of them I actually like. When I figure out how to work youtube (other than how to click on view) I plan to do a couple on my own. Maybe I’ll make my own movie.

Yes! I’ll brush the dust off of my rabbit coat (carefully so the fur doesn’t fall out in clumps), get my big hair going with maybe some hotdog bangs – no, scratch the bangs. Pump up the jam and dance, oh yes it ladies night and the feelings right, oh yes it’s ladies night oh what a night -ohh what a ni-i-ight.

I’m kidding, I lost my rabbit fur coat a long time ago. 🙂

But I am curious. What do others really think of book trailers? Do they convince you to buy the book? Do you watch them strictly for entertainment? Can anyone recommend a great one?

Writers are Bizarre

October 14, 2012October 17, 2012 / Janna Hill / 7 Comments

Writers are Bizarre, oh yes they are. I feel certain the majority of authors know this – those who don’t have not yet had their epiphany or come to terms with the fact. If the truth be told they are more than strange, they are obsessive odd balls bordering on schizophrenia. I suspect many have prescriptions but refuse to take the psychotropic medication because it hinders their creativity. They need to feel alive; to interact with the personalities dueling inside their heads, not subdue them. Their characters must be allowed a chance at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as well as the right to die.

Writers are bizarre, oh yes they are. From my observations this peculiarity seems to afflict creative writers especially. Creative writers and poets. Oh, poets are creative writers? Okay. Poets are a also a grievous lot. They are constantly imagining, seeing, and feeling or thinking. They are a curious hand with six digits and a raw nerve. Most of them are bereaved with some sort of incurable pain. Odd thing is it’s usually not their pain but the aches of every one and every thing around them as if they carried the weight of the world on their shoulders. On occasion one will write about the joy or beauty found in something. Usually that something is what the rest of earth’s inhabitants dismiss or take for granted on a daily basis.

Writers are bizarre, oh yes indeed they are. They carve out niches for indolent thoughts, sow seeds of cerebration, offer rest to weary secrets, and give birth to imagination.

Now what sort of world would this be without these flaky, freakish, alien-like individuals?

Gone would be the greens and reds, lost to slow decay. In place of all the rainbows bled – a shade of muted gray.

To Bee or not to Bee

October 11, 2012 / Janna Hill / 7 Comments

Can’t live with `em- Can’t live without `em.

Bee’s are beneficial. We wouldn’t have our delicious honey without them and plants would become extinct without their pollinating expertise. But when we are not willing to share our home with them… what to do?

To bee or not to bee?

The local beekeepers won’t take them for fear of their “being Africanized” meaning they may have crossed with the dreaded, aggressive African honeybee. They don’t appear aggressive to me but what do I know? Nada!

The last professional removed a comb from the flooring of the house (that sits on stilts in South Texas) and sprayed some sort of “poison” to deter them. I soaked the area in vinegar and I was the only creature bothered by it.

We have plugged any holes we found to keep them out of the house but they continually swarm beneath the house. They want in! I want them alive and happy, I just don’t want them as roommates. It’s my vacation home maybe they think they have seniority being full time residents?

[Sigh] I just want them to go away. Any advice?

Once they make it into the house they go directly to the kitchen window where they die on the window sill.

Are they drawn to the sunlight or looking for a way out?…

Here they gather in the corner of the same kitchen window. At one point they hung in a thick cluster.

The Rewards of Spontaniety

October 11, 2012 / Janna Hill / 3 Comments

Last week my husband phoned form work at 7:30 A.M and said “start packing.” I didn’t question him I just threw a few suits of clothing into a suitcase along with the laptop and camera, gathered up the dog’s bare essentials and waited. He had been talking about heading south when October’s first cold front came through to do a little fishing but his work schedule did not look agreeable. Apparently something changed and he seized the moment.

“Carpe diem!” I said. “I don’t care for Carp – I’m after a Redfish.” He replied with a wink.

I ~~think~~ know he dreams of catching a trophy Red.

Within thirty minutes he has his 16 foot 1957 aluminum boat hooked up and ready to roll. We have a skiff but he likes that old dinghy. Anyway seven hours later we are standing in the salty breeze assessing the conditions. The tide, the wind, the weeds and the water temperature. Fishing is very serious business, that’s why I usually leave it to him. Thank goodness a cousin showed up to keep him company on the water while I undertook the tasks of reading and snapping pictures. All in the name of research of course.

Taking off on a whim is something we haven’t done in a very long time and you know what? I loved it!

These are the rewards of spontaneity