Posts in Category: Washington DC
My Vacation: I Know Where the Hobbits Live
No, I didn’t travel to New Zealand, but you know where I did go? Washington, as in the state, not D.C. like I did last year. Which reminds me, why is it that when I say I’m vacationing in Washington, people look at me like they’re waiting for me to finish my sentence? For example:
Person: Oh, you’re going on vacation! How exciting. Where to?
Me: Washington.
Person: *lifts eyebrows and blinks expectantly*
Me: *sighs* The state of Washington.
Let’s all pull out our world atlases and look at the United States. See Washington? It’s Washington, right? Not the State of Washington? Can you find Washington, D.C.? If I was going to Washington, D.C., I swear on my life I would add the D.C. part right after I said Washington. Okay, /rant. I’m usually sooooooooooo easy-going, but that makes me want to light my face on fire.
Anyway. Let’s move on to the actual vacation. We flew out of the Denver International Airport, and let me tell you something: If going through security before made me feel kind of guilty, like maybe I was hiding something and I didn’t even know it, now it makes me feel like I’m definitely a terrorist. Security makes you walk through a new scanner thingy where you have to raise your arms over your head like you’re about to be arrested. Guess what? It beeped when I walked through. The buckle on the back of my shorts was made of metal, and I completely forgot about it. So I had to be patted down while I turned fifty shades of red.
Yes, I understand the point of increased security. I really do. But if I had taken that buckle off, my shorts would have fallen to my ankles and everyone would have seen my granny panties. No fun for anyone.
Okay, back to the vacation part. My parents were the reason I was vacationing in Washington, and my BF reminded me why I’m definitely their daughter. My parents are hobbits, you see. They live to eat, but neither are overweight. They live in a cozy home with a fireplace and walls full of bookshelves. They go a lot of places, but they prefer to stay at home with their books and cheeses and cakes. They don’t, however, have big hairy feet. Yep. I’m definitely my parents’ daughter.
Oh, and we also went to Mordor. It was a perilous journey full of climbing, hiking, dodging snakes, and following the leprechaun to a patch of four leaf clovers. You might think I’m kidding, but I’m really, really not.
See? They’re a little dried up, but they still count.
This is the foresty part on the way to Mordor.
I didn’t get a picture of the snake because I was too busy running away, in case you were wondering.
Okay, so we weren’t really going to Mordor. We were actually in Wallace, Idaho, which is close to where my parents live. The largest forest fire in the history of the United States swept through this small town and destroyed a third of it in 1910. Wallace resident and forest ranger Edward Pulaski saved thirty-eight men from the fire by leading them to safety into an old mine. The path we walked winds around the above stream and leads close to the mine. On the way there, we saw towering trees with black marks scorched right up the sides of them.
We couldn’t go inside the entrance to the mine. 🙁
We also visited Manito Park in Spokane, Washington. It was gorgeous.
This…whatever it is looks like furry red cat tails!
The view from the Japanese Gardens. So pretty!
Since I come from a family of hobbits, it should come as no surprise that we ate. A lot.
This giant sundae was one of the many, many things we devoured. That’s my mom behind it wondering if we have big enough spoons.
It was so much fun to visit with my parents, but because I’m a hobbit, I also enjoyed coming home.
Have you gone on any summer adventures? Do you know where any hobbits live?
No Cops Were Called – Behind the Scenes of My Book Trailer
Last summer when I should have been writing book two of the The Grave Winner series, I decided instead to make a book trailer. I borrowed my boyfriend’s shiny new camera/video camera and skipped out into the backyard with it and a pitcher of water. The water wasn’t for drinking, though I probably should have since it was August. Triple digit heat sucks. Did I mention I live in Hell?
Anyway, I scooped some mud up onto the porch and poured the pitcher of water on it to – you guessed it – make mud! But I had to work fast because the water was already being sucked into the hot air by that silly thing called evaporation. I mushed my hands into the mud and proceeded to slather myself with it. Because, you see, I needed to turn myself into a zombie who’s just come back from the dead. Then I had to take a picture of myself walking all zombified. Because that’s what I do on hot afternoons.
Here are my sexy zombie legs. I guess I’m also part vampire. Look at all that pale!
You can kind of see my owl tattoo on my right ankle.
I don’t have a fence in my backyard, so it’s quite possible my neighbors wondered what the deuce I was up to. Perhaps they knew I was just some crazy, procrastinating writer. Or maybe they thought I was really a zombie. Either way, no one called the cops, so yay!
After I cleaned myself up, I came inside and started messing around with Intelli-Studio. It’s this movie making program that came with BF’s camera. He’d used it previously to produce videos of our Washington, D.C. vacation and of our cat being silly. So, since he’d already given me a one-minute tutorial, I set to work on arranging the pictures and video in the order I wanted.
It turned out I probably could’ve used more than a minute long tutorial because apparently Intelli-Studio is for intelligent people, and I can only count to monkey. But I can be crazy stubborn, so I guess that helped me kind of figure it out. The program does have some cool bells and whistles and stuff, which is why I refused to switch to an easier to use program. Did I mention I’m stubborn?
The photos and videos I’d taken weren’t going to be enough for what I envisioned, so I scoured the internet for royalty free websites. I found everything I needed at www.canstockphoto.com. Not everything is free there, but the forest chase video, the kiss, and the scary lady were so perfect, I thought it was worth it to shell out a few bucks.
Now, I knew I wanted some movement with the scary lady picture because she’s pretty important. You can download Photo Story for free, and it lets you create movement with your pictures like zooming in on scary people so it feels like they’re chasing you. It’s not terribly difficult to use either.
By the time I got to this point, school had started and my book trailer production got pushed to the back burner. Then my computer died. All the work I’d done vanished. I blame Intelli-Studio for not letting me save my project anywhere other than the actual program. Guess how many four letter words I said on that day…
Luckily, I did still have all my pictures and everything I bought from canstockphoto.com saved to my flash drive. So, I started rebuilding everything. I was almost finished, but I needed my book cover, which I didn’t have yet, and some creepy music to make the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you watched the video.
That’s when I found Incompetech.com. I could spend hours at Incompetech! The catalog is giant, the music is high quality, and you can filter your search by genre or feel. I found two songs that were so perfect, I donated money to the website even though it’s all free. I also found the perfect ending sound to the video at freesound.org.
But guess what happened next? Since Intelli-Studio had it in for me from day zero, it picked up a glitch at Glitchville and threw it in my face by deleting my entire project. Oh, the words I said. The things I threw. To be honest, I probably should have called the cops on myself. BF and the kitty slinked around on top of the eggshells that spotted our floor for hours.
Then, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I started again at the beginning. You’d think I’d learn to switch programs! Give up! Have someone else do it! But no.
When I got my amazing book cover, I added it to my book trailer and was pretty much done. I declared it finally finished when I threw it up onto Youtube.
If you’re asking if I will ever make another book trailer again, the answer is NO! But I think it did turn out pretty great. Here it is in all its glory:
Flexing the Ole’ Writing Brain
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| My brain kind of looks like a pre-cooked turkey when I flex it. |
Because I’m procrastinating on book two of The Grave Winner, I’m branching out a little in all things writerly. I just finished my first novelette, which is between the lengths of a short story and a novella, so roughly 7500-15000 words. It was great fun, and I think I’ll do it again sometime.
I also did something in the novelette I’ve never done before – write some steamy scenes. Sure, I’ve written scenes with major sexual tension, but nothing like this! Whoo! *wipes sweat off brow* That was also great fun, and I think I’ll do it again sometime.
So procrastination has some pluses. Yay! But I truly think it’s beneficial to write something you’ve never written before. It stretches your creativity, which is always good.
P.S. Our trip to Washington DC was a great success despite the blisters all over my feet and the sweltering heat. Hey, that rhymed! The BF put together a video of some of the sites. Check it out!
All Packed Up and Ready to Go: I’m DC Bound!
In a few days, I leave for Washington DC for vacation! I’ve never been there so it should be a lot of fun. We only have a few days to see all the sights and eat all the food, so those of you who are in the know, do you have any recommendations for what I absolutely must do/eat/see?