Stairs

In psychology stairs can represent...

Reaching new heights emotionally, spiritually, physically, etc.
A higher understanding of learning
Regressing into your subconscious (if you're going down the stairs)
Spiral stairs could mean growth/rebirth

But to me they will always mean fun! I lived in a one-story house with a basement. Not just any kind of basement. We had a completely separate living area that we could mess up to our childish heart's content. And company wouldn't be the wiser. When I was little and my oldest sisters were already married (I was seven) my two older brothers occupied the two bedrooms and shared bathroom. I recall I've had every room in that house (except my parents' of course). When you've lived in the same house for 19 years, you tend to migrate from room to room as the house empties.

We also played a lot on the stairs. I remember playing with an old Hot Wheels set on the stairs, My Little Pony, and church with my dollies. (Yes, I couldn't get enough church apparently.) When I was four we took some family pictures on the stairs and when my parents were getting ready to leave the house that many of us called home we took the same picture on the stairs again. The stairs seemed so few then, all of us trying to pile in. But when I had to vacuum them, endless!

I have stairs in the home that I share with husband and the boy and lined along it are pictures of our parents and grandparents. Most have passed on now and so it's nice to imagine that they are watching over our little family.

If you're interested in analyzing more objects, check out Dream Moods. (It's where I got my information)

The Next Big Thing

So I've been tagged to do this blog hopping thing by a new writing pal, Katie. I'm somewhat qualified to participate as I am a writer and I do have a few stories in my head that would be fun to talk about with people other than myself. There are two Works in Progress (WIP) that are battling for my attention.

1. What is the working title of your book?
- Thanks to my witty husband, I'm calling it Premarital Existence.
- Blaming Jane

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
- The first one came to me as a junior in high school. I think I was looking for YA literature and wasn't really finding it.
- Blaming Jane came from my sister when we discovered that Jane Austen is a distant cousin related to us through marriage. (Pretty cool huh?)

3. What genre does your book fall under?
- Probably YA but could fall possibly under the NA tent.
- Memoir probably but I think it might better fit as a play.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
- This is a toughie...I would want some young-ish characters since they are in their first or third years of college. This guy could do. Maybe slightly longer hair. Don't ask me who is, this is what Google, cooked up for me.

I've been told, you write what you know, and I know blond hair, blue-eyed girls very well. I think Julianne Hough could play my heroine in a movie. After all, she is starting to appear more and more on the silver screen. I think this picture really captures the down-to-earth girl I've imagined and I think these two could make a cute and believable couple.

As for the other MS (manuscript) I cannot picture anyone else playing me but me. Ha!


5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
- It's hard to find yourself while you're trying to find Mr. Right.
- A modern-day "Little Women" family with all of the problems of Jane Austen characters.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
- I don't think I would ever self-publish. I hear it's difficult and writing a book has been a challenge enough.
- I think this book/memoir would be really interesting to an agency, since there are genealogical ties.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
- Since it's first inception in 2001, I think I'm still working on my first draft. I have a difficult time finishing anything, probably because I don't always see the ending.
- Right now it's a just an idea with a few thoughts jotted down.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
- What the Doctor Ordered by Janette Rallison
- I haven't read it yet but Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo sounds like it could be very similar.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
- I think the number of books appropriate for me at age seventeen were few and far between so I decided to write one that I figured other seventeen year olds would want to read.
- My sister inspired me to write Blaming Jane because of our genealogical connection and the fact that when upon inspection our lives do resemble those of her characters.

10. What else about your book might pique your readers' interest?
- There's possibility for a sequel
- It's kind of a tell-all about living under the shadow of wealth.



Check out some other writers my friend Katie also tagged to post today...

Darci Cole
Ryan Dalton
Trisha Schmidt

Okay this is so not fair, all of these writers have author-y sounding names already. Probably because they already are.


Happy reading!

~ Lady Jane

Cultural

I should probably do some research before I start complaining, but I hate to research, and I'm an English major (a very complex individual)... Anyway, I would really like it if someone did a research paper on which cultures are the more openly exuberant.

I've met my share of a few cultures, okay I'm lying, most of them have been from watching TV. But I did meet a few rowdy Italians in London on a trip with the hubs back in the day and boy howdy were they loud and proud of it.

So what I'd like to know is if my in-laws' reserved nature is cultural because it's all foreign to me.

Maybe it's the feisty Irish, the boisterous Mexican, the passionate French in me that overpowers the reserved English nature. (I've got quite the pedigree) On a side note, not joking my grandmother's mother was Mexican so that makes me...drum roll please an 1/8 Mexican. Although to look at me no one would consider it.

But I digress.

So who wants to take on that project? Or find the research for me?


~Lady Jane

Complexity is My Middle Name

I decided it was about time to get back to my original purpose for this blog and considering all of the events going on in my life that I cannot change, becoming a better writer is one thing I have control over.

"Where do you come from, who are you, what makes you?" One of the best questions posed by Goldberg to help the budding writer within.

The most obvious answer would be to expound upon my upbringing (which I have done a lot of) mention the skills/talents I have and hobbies I enjoy. BORING! So I will try and make it a little less boring.

I come from seekers and believers:

Not too long ago, I filled out a Mormon.org profile and one of the questions I answered was why I was Mormon. I think it's because my family is. It's in my blood. My 3x great grandfather was the first to become a Mormon, he sought after truth and believed. I owe him immensely for the knowledge I have because he looked for answers to his questions.

I come from music:

My grandmother is an amazing pianist! She lived next to me for nineteen years and when I say next to me I mean next to. I could get to her house through our garage. So I would often drop by and listen to her play the piano. Two of my older sisters also played the piano; music filled our house often and sometimes to the dismay of anyone in the house wanting to watch t.v.

I come from laughter:

My dad has the wackiest sense of humor, which I luckily possess a little bit of. He claims it was his mother's father that passed it down to him. I love to hear the laughter of my family and I get to hear it a lot.

I am Cowardice/Heroism/Peace/Contention/Love/Self-Loathing:

I am a complex woman. I am sometimes too afraid to confront a problem and other times, a raging bull out of the gate. I just wish I knew how to be bull when I'm a lamb. And with that cowardice and heroism, I am a blend of peace and contention. I don't like contention, avoid it at all costs and when I should be a peacemaker, I'm too afraid to mediate. I am freely giving of compliments, but not to myself, afraid of becoming narcissistic or egocentric. I'm also noticing a pattern here. Do you see it? I think my cowardly side trumps my heroic side by a long shot!

So, "where do you come from, who are you, what makes you?"

~ Lady Jane

Monday's Child

Do you know the poem, "Monday's Child"? It was my earliest memory of reading. My mother had one of those Little Golden Books full of nursery rhymes and that one was always my favorite.

Monday's Child

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for his living,

And the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

I too was born on a Monday and as far as this poem serving as a horoscope goes, it is still true to this day. Even growing up in a hot climate-where the sun shines 345 days of the year-I managed to stay fair. The European roots of my ancestry holding too hard onto me, I suppose. Always jealous of the girls in my class that could tan, I bet they don't get confused with teenagers. That was really embarrassing when I was six months pregnant with my son and working at a high school. I even wore a different ring on my left hand that was more obvious to prove I was in fact a married lady. Speaking of which, I have been married over eight years and have an almost two year old little boy.

My little guy was born on a Tuesday, and he is the most observant little boy I've ever met. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or a Mormon as we're more commonly known, I think. And my little boy has been close to heaven since the day he was born. At a young age, he's learned to fold his arms for prayers and says "Bless you" after he or someone else sneezes. My little angel, born on a Tuesday is full of grace.

My husband, was born on a Thursday. When I think back to the poem I chuckle quietly to myself because it is so fitting for my little family of three. When I first met my husband, he wanted to study international business, then he decided to go the route of business management (not that different right?) all while working for a student loan company. Then he got laid off and had to find a job. He doesn't do well with not having anything to do. He came across a company that seemed to fit for him, however menial his tasks seemed. It was while working at this job that he got heavy in economics, specifically the Austrian Economics philosophy of economics (if you are even at all interested, my husband would be so proud first of all and secondly, here is the address http://mises.org/) Then, he decided he wanted to become an Economics teacher. When he realized that he would have to take too many classes to cover an undergrad degree in Economics, the idea of becoming an instructor in the field waned. He, I hope, has found a joy in his current line of work. It would certainly open a lot of doors for him to attend economic conferences with the Mises Institute in his spare time as a hobby. This Thursday's child has far to go and has gone far too.

I will try and post once a week as I work through Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones" an excellent book to help the writer who doesn't want to give up on writing. I wish I could say I was this excited to go through her book when I had to for college creative writing class, but here's to trying. I'm somewhat glad that college bookstores are terrible for trying to sell gently used books back, but I probably wouldn't be in possession of half the books I bought if the bookstore took them back.

~ Lady Jane