Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Names, Challenges, Inspirations and Vacation Necessities

Today's blogs....

Welcome To My Reality – Week Twenty – Five

3. How do you choose names? For characters, pets or children... Do you read baby name books, check out websites, use family names...?

Choosing names is an interesting process. A name is often influenced by the person I know that may have it. Being a teacher, names play on that influence a lot.

There are certain sounds and letters I like - K and Y figure often.

I have also consulted baby books and found names I like. I record them and hope that one day that name will tell me who the character is who has that name.

Any time I run across a name I like to record it for future reference.

Names come from everywhere. I generally like my main character to have a name I like. My secondary characters have more 'run of the mill' names.

My current NaNo novel has the main couple as Brynn and Dylan, with there friends being Amy and Ned.

Like a real person these names are 'real' to me.

I have had stories that I have started and the main character has insisted on a name change. I go with it. No sense calling them something they are not, heck I hate it when something misspells my own name or calls me a variation of my name. Why would a character be any different.

4. What's the hardest challenge you've ever set yourself that you've successfully accomplished? What do you think was the key to achieving it?

Focus and commitment to achieving the challenge. Those are the keys to achieving the challenge whether it is being an effective team player on the Game of Thrones Challenge, writing a story or poem or trying to land a teaching position.

The hardest challenges for me are interviews. Selling myself is not my strong suite. I don't like to be pushy and say 'this is who I am and your school can not do without me.' That does not sit well with me, but if I want to get the position I need to prepare my knowledge base and then act my ass off to impress the people so that I can really show them what I can do after I get the position.

I have managed to get long term occasional teaching positions but those are only temporary. I want my own class, my own school and a feeling of belonging that comes with having a contracted teaching position. My biggest problem right now is that I have divided interests - writing and teaching. To focus on one depletes the other. I find it hard to stay on top of both.

7. When inspiration completely fails you, you can't think of anything to write and have no ideas...what do you do?

I often find prompts and a ten minute timer help to get me going. Getting onto 750words.com and having to complete at least that much writing often swings the pendulum into the realm of finding some inspiration. Some days it is a mish mash of crap I don't want to see again, but other days little sparkles of gems appear and I am able to take them and polish them up.

Blogging often seems to shift the writing focus. I usually start my blogs in 750words.com and go from there. I like to write in the morning as well. That seems the best time to slip into the creative realm and find myself.

Blog City – Day 100 – June 11

Prompt: What is something you always take with you on vacation?

So easy... my bathing suit. Wherever we go there better be a pool, lake or ocean.

Funny, but in the last year or so I would probably add my Surface 2 to the list of things needed on vacation. It would be up there with the sunscreen.

30 Day Blogging Challenge

Kids finding out about sex.

I don’t remember when I found out about sex, but at seven I was touched by a teenage boy who was entrusted to babysit me. At the time I knew it was wrong... but I was far too young to be exposed to anything like that.