Tag: Girl Scouts

Tangled up in green

Bloganuary: What color describes your personality and why?

If you had asked about my favorite color from the time when I could answer that question, I would have said blue.

But I don’t think blue describes my personality.

What does describe my personality has been there from the start, in the author bio I’ve been using for publications:

Charity Tahmaseb has slung corn on the cob for Green Giant and jumped out of airplanes (but not at the same time).

She spent twelve years as a Girl Scout and six in the Army; that she wore a green uniform for both may not be a coincidence.

No, probably not a coincidence. What it is, though? I’m not sure.  

But green feels right, and that’s the answer I’m going with.

Weekly writing check-in: (low-key) adventure time

So, I missed last week due to some (low-key) adventure. My Girl Scout Troop will be graduating this spring, and between now and then, we need to spend all the cookie money they’ve earned.

In fact, we’re not even selling cookies this year. Even after this trip, we still have money to burn. (And yes, that sound you hear is my sigh of relief.)

What we did do is book a lovely house on a lake a couple of hours north. And somehow, everyone was able to attend. It did not blizzard on us. And I think/hope a good time was had by all.

We did jigsaw puzzles and snowshoed on the lake, baked cookies in the Italian kitchen and watched movies.

We also caught a gorgeous sunrise over the lake.

In writing news, I somehow (somehow!) managed to schedule all of the stories for March. I have April’s selected. Looking into May, I’m going to need to write a few new ones here pretty soon.

All in all, not a bad week.

Weekly writing check-in: quickly, quickly, with a sunrise

Quick update this week. I need to hit the store for some snacks because I’m bridging my Girl Scout troop today. People! They are Ambassadors! (That’s the highest level in Girl Scouts). I’m eternally grateful that they still want to show up once or twice a month and do Girl Scout stuff.

In actual writing news, I’m still working my way through The Emotional Craft of Fiction. This isn’t anything I plan to rush, so I’m happy with this pace.

Related to research, I’ve been binge-watching both The Crimson Field and Anzac Girls, and I highly recommend both.

That’s it for this week. Now, to find some cupcakes.

Weekly writing check-in: the one with the animals

Tortoise

For the second weekend in a row, we’ve done something fun with my daughter’s Girl Scout troop. This time, instead of volunteering at a walk, we raised money and completed the walk. Her troop raised ~1,500 dollars for the Animal Humane Society and we had a blast at the walk.

We also met this gal. She’s a youngster, only twenty years old.

The only thing left to do is bridge the girls to senior scouts (!) and eat some cake. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s going to involve cake.

In the writing world this week, I’m doing something to shake things up a bit. I’m following along with A Story a Day in May. This week, I ended up with six short stories. I took one day off to work on edits for a story that’s in a forthcoming anthology, but otherwise, I got it done.

Now, granted, one story was a drabble (exactly 100 words), but those can take more time than you might imagine. I ended up with two stories that involve dragons, one that features a succubus, a vignette, one told entirely in text messages, and one that can only be described as crazy.

It was a good week.

Writing Work:

  • Writing: ~ 5,000 words in six short stories
  • Craft work (reading, video lectures, etc.)

Submissions:

  • Like Bread Loves Salt

Rejections:

  • Like Bread Loves Salt

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with the new pup

Oscar4It was one of those weeks where I didn’t get a whole lot done. Between all-day training at work, Girl Scout cookie activities, and gearing up for dance competition season (for my daughter, not me), my regular routine was knocked off kilter a bit.

Add in a new dog? Well, we spent the week building up a new routine that includes our new family member.

Meet Oscar (there on the left, that’s Mattie in the background–note the matching bow ties).

He’s one of a thousand rescue Chihuahuas that have arrived in Minnesota from California. He’s actually a Chihuahua/terrier mix and is fitting in very well. He’s still a little skittish, but warming up and has the funniest, sweetest personality.

In actual writing work, I did make it all the way through the listening proof of The Wedding Ghost. So, there’s that.

Writing Work:

  • Coffee & Ghosts, Season Two: proofing The Wedding Ghost

Submissions:

  • None

Rejections:

  • None

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with the cookie booth

 

coffeeheartIt’s Girl Scout cookie time! We went out last weekend and my daughter sold 60 boxes in the neighborhood. She’s selling like crazy at school, and later today we have a cookie booth as well. It’s pretty much all cookies, all the time around here.

Otherwise, proofing and revision work on Coffee & Ghosts, Season Two, some messing around in Photoshop. And that’s about it for my week.

Writing Work:

  • Coffee & Ghosts, Season Two: proofing and revision
  • Photoshop tutorials

Submissions:

  • With Hair of Teeth and Claw

Rejections:

  • The Perfect Canvas
  • Chicken Fat and Whipped Cream

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with the roller derby

derby

So this week, I somehow managed to write 10,000 words and take my daughter’s Girl Scout troop to the roller derby.

The Minnesota RollerGirls hosted a special badge day event for Girl Scouts. We participated in that, had dinner in downtown St. Paul (fancy), and then went back for the bout. There was a band and dancing at halftime.

But I’m just a little bit tired today and I’m getting creative with the spelling, so I’m calling the week a success and may do nothing more than curl up with a book today.

Writing Work:

  • Writing: The Wedding Ghost, 10,000 words
  • Photoshop tutorials

Submissions:

  • None

Rejections:

  • Like Bread Loves Salt

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with the camping trip

Very, very, very short post this week. I just returned from camping with my daughter’s Girl Scout troop, and I’m not sure I remember what happened last week. I did keep up in class (well, I still need to post some homework and feedback, but it’s done). We prepped for camping, then we went camping. It rained and even snowed during the week, but Saturday? Ah, Saturday was a perfect day, not a single cloud in the sky.

I am now going to go do something that requires very little thought and minimal movement.

Writing Work:

  • Description class
  • Narrative Design class

Submissions:

  • None

Rejections:

  • None

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

100 years of Girl Scouting is keeping me busy

100 years of Girl Scouting can keep you pretty busy. So can epic Girl Scout cookie sales. And we’re doing both this month and next. As part of all this, we’re working on the Girl Scout Way badge, since we can knock out three requirements at the big anniversary celebration at the Mall of America (oh, my word, this looks to be like barely contained chaos).

The indoor amusement park will be open early–and just for the Girl Scouts. Is Kyra excited about this? Yes, yes she is.

Today at our meeting we learned about the woman who started it all Juliette Gordon Low:

You can view Part Two and Part Three as well. It’s a nicely done biography of her that runs a little more than thirty minutes total. Even though I was a Girl Scout for twelve years, I’m not really sure I knew much of Juliette’s story. It’s really quite fascinating.

Afterward we watched this, the girls made up a play about the first Girl Scout meeting. Even though I didn’t actually attend the first Girl Scout meeting, I think I’m safe in saying that the one the girls presented in no way resembled what actually happened.

And now it’s time to go sell some cookies … want a Thin Mint?

Skateboarding gals, won’t you come out tonight

So this week, Kyra completed her big project for the Junior aMUSE badge set. Previously, she created a girl, and gave her a goal and something that concerned her, and listed some of her favorite things . For you writers out there, if you think this sounds like the start of a character sketch, you’d be right.

The final requirement is completing a play, poem, story, comic, etc. about your girl. Kyra wanted to write a play, with a part for everyone in her troop (fortunately, we’re a small troop and that’s only six parts).

I could not dissuade her. It had to be a play and we’re going to do a read-through performance at the next meeting.

So, she wrote the draft by hand, and then last night, set to work on my computer typing the whole thing out.

The Skateboarding Gals  comes in at three pages and 457 words. The climax involves exploding garbage. I do not know why. I was not the creative consultant for that part of the project.

My favorite part is this:

Halley: I wish I could skateboard

Lilly Suzy and Sally: I’ll teach you

All exchange glances.

Lilly Suzy and Sally: We’ll teach you

Lilly: after the exploding garbage

Then they all ride off (on skateboards) into the sunset. After the exploding garbage, of course. What? You were doubting the happy ending?

I, for one, am looking forward to The Skateboarding Gals limited run in the library’s meeting room. It’s sure to be standing room only.