I have always been a fan of Heart.
NOTE: THE VERY FIRST SUPER DUPER LOTTERY CONTEST ON SIDEBAR. QUESTIONS ABOUT RULES? ASK THEM IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!
10 PM
83 degrees.
They come out of nowhere.
These thoughts.
Ideas.
What if?
And then POOF!
They're gone.
Writers second guess themselves all the time. It happens. I read author interviews. Features. It's there between the lines.
When you worry about what others think. Worry about being good enough you can be paralyzed.
I am reminded of songs.
Of aphorisms.
Jiminy Cricket.
The little engine that could.
The ant.
What animal do you become when you want to persevere. To outlast. To be strong?
And then it hits me. It occurs to me who the Barracuda really is.
Me.
I am the Barracuda.
I will survive.
AREN'T YOU TOO?
A BARRACUDA.
Posts
23 comments:
Wow, Pat. Your timing is amazing. Just last night I tried to start the first draft of a short story which is due 8/1. I write SLLOOOWWLY, so that’s a tight deadline for me. And that first paragraph… You have to get it just right. So I thought and fretted and obsessed. Mental wads of paper piled up. I decided a working title would help me focus. I spent an hour filling a page, top to bottom, four columns of ideas. Hated ‘em all. I decided to just write. I wrote one word. Deleted it. Went out to enjoy the fireworks. I’m more creative in the morning anyway. Procrastination is my second best friend.
My best friend? A stubborn streak that knows no limits. I have met impossible deadlines, overcome ridiculous odds, even written from a hospital bed when my chances of survival were slim. I survived. The words written in that hospital bed were published.
What animal do I become? My stubborn, defiant self. I will not be stopped.
Good for you!
When I was looking through my old underwater pics and found this one that I took in the Gulf of Mexico knew I had to blog about it.
Right now I need that perseverance that I used in querying to really get to work on my other projects.
Out damn Procrastination!
I hear ya loud and clear!
Procrastination is so easy......perserverance is so hard.....but only one of them will get you anywhere in the end so.....perserverance it is! As for which animal I become -- having a penchant for cats -- I'll go with a lion or tiger or jaguar or -- well, you get the picture.
Questions about the contest will be answered here. Lurkers now is the time to come out from hiding. Comment as anonymous and make up a name if you want!
Kick it out Magic Man! :) I am Stevie Nicks when I write - toughing out the heartache of defeat and lost words and broken sentences. I twirl my cape and hope for magic!
kinda came upon your site via Manic. just wanted to say congrats on getting the book published. I read the overview on amazon..sounds like a great book..sounds like a movie too!!
i'll be poking around some more on your site as I am a first time reader.
As long as I can have the Barracuda song in the background as I strut down the street, I am so down with being one!
Barracuda
So this aint the end -
I saw you again today
I had to turn my heart away
Smiled like the sun -
Kisses for real
And tales - it never fails!
You lying so low in the weeds
I bet you gonna ambush me
Youd have me down down down down on my knees
Now wouldnt you, barracuda?
Back over time we were all
Trying for free
You met the porpoise and me
No right no wrong, selling a song-
A name, whisper game.
If the real thing dont do the trick
You better make up something quick
You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick
Ooooooh, barracuda?
Sell me sell you the porpoise said
Dive down deep down to save my head
You...i think you got the blues too.
All that night and all the next
Swam without looking back
Made for the western pools - silly fools!
If the real thing dont do the trick
No, you better make up something quick
You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick
Ooooooohhhh, barra barracuda.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.
Pat, I still have no idea what this song means - but I can't stop it from playing over and over in my head. Aaaaaaarghhhhh!
Any time you wanna ask me about myspace, tech stuff, whatever, just let me know.
Aloha,
Josephine
Josephine!!!All the lyrics!!!Now we ALL have that song in our heads!
Just caught up on things...I am so excited to read all about the developments! And I am DYING to read LOTTERY. I. Can't. Wait.
Please add me to the email list! (junebugleroy AT yahoo DOT com)
Your contest idea & prize package is fantastic.
I dunno... a jackass??? My ol man says that all horses have a certain amount of donkey parentage in them, but you only see it when you want them to work. So yeah I guess that's me!
I'm too thick headed to figure out your contest rules, and as much as I'd love to win that bag o swag...I'll just have to get my hands on your book the old fashioned way and BUY IT!!!
Do barracudas bite?
Heidi just scrounge up some friends and get them to comment and send me an email to be on my list!
NO RULES!!! I mean it.
Suck up to manic mom as she is judging!
Make sure your friends say lots of nice things about how wonderful I am and how they love Lottery even though they haven't read it yet!!!
Great post, Pat! Love the Barracuda song :)
M G
Actually your question should be do barracuda bite people.
My answer is no. It would be a rare occurrance. They were quite shy and I had to work to get this photo. Even here in Hawaii they are not threats for divers and swimmers.
Done! So the winner is by decision and not by lottery? I don't know if I am on this mysterious email list or not but I hope my friend Gisela will soon be. She's a Special Education teacher and I just know she will love Perry.
"Welcome to More Stupid Questions, with your host, Heidi!"
Do I have to sign up for Gmail to send you email????
(can you believe i manage to post a blog, or even get my teeth brushed each day?)
No you do not have to sign up for gmail to email me.
just send it to:
patwoodauthor@gmail.com
I also have a link on the sidebar of my blog.
I'd love to hear from you.
(and you lurkers too!!)
kiskadee
I will leave that up to manic mom but we are working out the logistics.
This sucks. I don't have any friends. Do my 2 dogs count? I can get them e-mail addresses if necessary.
Wait! How about all my imaginary friends? I can get them e-mail addresses too!
Well, seeing as I can't win, I do think I'm ahead as I've sent you Jess Riley and March of the Sea (shoutout guys!) LOL!
Pat, we should discuss some legit way to judge, and I'm sure you are keeping a list of commenters so they can qualify, right?
This is fun--a LOTTERY FOR THE LOTTERY!
Believe me folks, sign up--this is such an uplifting novel!!!
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