When people find out I’m a writer and if I decide to let them read any of my work, inevitably I’m told, “Oh My God! I know who Katie is! And, Jillian, and Matt, and etc…” They are referring to the idea that my characters are based off of real people.

I smile, laugh inwardly, and reply, “Nope. They’re entirely fictional.”

Now, that’s a lie.

I know it, and if they’re smart enough and know me well enough, they’ll know it too. But do I tell them that yes, Jillian is XXX or that Katie is XXX? That would just cause riffs between me and those friends and cause riffs between the friends that are not in the story.

Writers take in and use everything around them. Sure characteristics of people I know are present in my characters, but they truly are fictional. I like to think of my characters as the best and worst of those I’ve known. It’s easy to shape someone fictional into whatever you want. It’s like a God-complex – the writer creates everything, or at least attempts to until those pesky characters start doing something that one would never have suspected. When the character takes over, that’s weird because it’s as if they really have come to life. This has happened to me several times, and it’s solidified in my mind that I will never write horror or anything slasher because it’s just too scary to think of those characters pouring out of me and then becoming something. Ewww.

Another thing people will say is that they can see me in a particular character. Well, duh. Sure some of my main characters like to eat cinnamon rolls, eat chocolate, drink margaritas, listen to music, walk on the beach, etc. Those are things I like to do, as well as many other people like to do. But I try very hard to not pour myself into a character. I’m really not that interesting.

What those people never see is themselves in my characters, and I think that is hilarious. I have a friend, who at one time, used to call me at home and then on my cell phone if I didn’t answer at home. She’d call between those two phones until I answered. She never noticed when one of the characters did that. I thought that was very interesting.

So, I guess you better watch what you say and do around me or you may just end up in a book!

Peace,

Kris

Oh My Goodness – I’m going to blog about writing! Amazing, isn’t it?

Well, just seconds ago I sent off my edits for my women’s fiction novel, A Life Unraveled. The deadline that my agent and I agreed to is today, and I’m so happy that I was able to meet that date. What a wonderful feeling it is to have finally completed this manuscript.

I have to admit that I’d fallen out of love with the story, actually I felt nothing toward this manuscript, not love or hate, more like indifference – wait a minute! A former boyfriend told me that once about me. Now I know how he felt! But indifference about something you’ve created is much different than indifference toward another person. I had to work on this stack of papers, make it better than it was, and then deliver to Christine by the deadline. I had a hard time getting back into the story. I didn’t like the characters, thought the storyline was too fluffy.

But as I worked, the old familiar feeling of why I wrote this story in the first place began to take hold over me, and my fingers flew over the keyboard as I changed and tweaked it. I fell in love with it again.

So, now I’ll have to wait until it gets to the top of her edit pile to read before I hear back from her. But I’m not worried; I believe I delivered a beautifully moving and emotionally charged story. I hope she feels the same way.

Oh, and before I forget… Happy Father’s Day to all you dad’s out there!

Peace,

Kris

Ok, so this doesn’t do HockeyBoy’s black eye justice, but it is a good warning to parents who let their children play street hockey without a helmet. A high stick met HB’s right eye (coincidentally the same eye that “caught” a baseball last Saturday at a Mudhen game) and the offending player did not sit out for a minor, even though there was blood!

This happened last night while playing at Chris Osgood’s backyard sports court. Before you get all jealous, no, we didn’t get to talk with Ozzie, let alone play hockey with him like the boys did last year. The man needed a break, for goodness sakes! Actually, his wife told us he was watching tv – probably the NHL Award show which he skipped.

HB’s Cub Scout year-end picnic is held at the neighbors of the Osgood family. All year long, weather permitting, the boys play at Ozzie’s sport court as well as at the year-end picnic. We had a great time, even with the black eye.

What was funny, and trust me a stick to the eye is not funny, was when one of the other boys said to me, “HB’s got a shiner. The chicks will be digging on him tomorrow at school.” They’re in third grade!

So, next time HB plays hockey, either inside or out, I’m making him wear his helmet!

Peace,

Kris

Phew! The Red Wings finally did it, and thank goodness it wasn’t in overtime! It was a great Game 6, and I give a lot of credit to the Penguins. But the better team won, and not because of our “old” legs – that comment really bothered me. The Red Wings are a much more experienced team, and heck they just play better.

Sidney Crosby will have his time, but it wasn’t last night.

It was a shame that they couldn’t win the cup in Hockeytown, but listening to many of the players after the game, it was evident that they’d put too much pressure on themselves in Game 5. I’m sure it didn’t help that the crowd kept chanting, “We want The Cup!” Still is was awesome to watch them hoist Lord Stanley over their head while the crowd in white clapped and a few Red Wings fans cheered at the Igloo. It was awesome to see Nick Lidstrom hand The Cup to Dallas Drake, and then to see Dan Cleary, the only Newfoundlander to ever win The Cup, skate around. Such an awesome ending to a great season.

There will be a parade here tomorrow morning. We’ll record it as that’s Field Day for our boys, and I’m sure they won’t want to miss school.

Congratulations Red Wings! We love you!

Kris

Oh, it was so close. I’m sure those who live in Michigan, and are hockey fans of course, already know that the Wings lost in the 3rd OT. It was a long game. I can’t imagine how the players felt, but as a spectator, I was ready for it to be over. Of course, I wanted the Wings to score and not the Penguins.

But that’s ok.  There’s still a lot of hockey to play. Two games. At least 120 minutes. We’ve won before, we’ll do it again.

What stinks the most is that when there was a few minutes left in the 3rd period, the guys were prepping the Stanley Cup, making it all shiny for the presentation. Then when Talbot got the third goal to tie up the game with 35 seconds left, UGH…..! Yuck. Can’t even write the words.

Hockeytown is loyal to their players. We’ll support them because they are a great team. So don’t worry, Ozzie, we’ll still love you even if they take the Cup – but, shhh….don’t say that too loudly.

Peace,

Kris

Game 4 went to the Red Wings. Yes, we here in Hockeytown are not surprised, but we are superstitious enough to not mention anything else. Just yet.

Talk to me after tomorrow’s game 5.

Kris