EK's Star Log

According to Answers.com: Spotlight: Platform 9 ¾, the Sorting Hat and quidditch were introduced to the world 10 years ago this week, with the first publishing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The Manichaean bildungsroman, which was later translated into American English, launched a billion-dollar empire. The final book will be published on July 21 and promises to answer questions such as "Will 'The Boy Who Lived' die?," "Is Snape good?" and "What is a Deathly Hallow?" The fifth movie will be released 2 weeks earlier. The amusement park doesn't open until at least 2009. Quote: 'Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words and here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!' — Albus Dumbledore in Philosopher's Stone

After the 1964 Dodge 300 4-door sedan, which is my fave car; my other fave car is the Peugeot 505 (all years, all models) . I first saw one in 1983. A white Peugeot 505 with red interior, it was love at first sight, and remained a car I dreamed of having. Of course as many of you know, I have a passion for black cars with red interior, regarless of the type of car. And than there is my obsession with metal-flaked cars. Here in the USA , the Peugeot 505 came in 3 models: the 4 door sedan the station wagon the 8 passange, third seat station wagon All three in a 4 cyl or a 6 cyl gas or desil option. In France, they also came in a pick-up truck model, a hearse model, and there was an aditional option of a V-8 engine. These came in left-hand or right-hand drive depending on the contry that they were shipped to. In the USA , we only saw the left-hand drive versions. Well, this goal is two fold: My short term goal is just to get a Peugeot 505, any year, any model, just so I can saw I’ve got o

I used to read an average of 3 books a week. Over the years though, I’ve slowly gotten away from it. Last year I think I read 3 books in the entire year. With my love for books, I find that appauling, and so started this goal (and others) in order to turn my reading habit around and back to the way it was years ago. In order to do this, I signed up for 2 differant book reading goals on 43Things. The first was 52 books in 52 weeks. Though I’ve done it before and then some, in the past, I wasn’t quite sure I could do today, because it had been so long since I’ve read that many books in one year. I know for a fact just how much time this requires me to devote to nothing but reading, and I wasn’t sure if I could do that. But I knew I’d make 10 books in 2007, so I signed up for that one as well. I’ve hit 14 books in 2007, so that goal is now crossed off and I’m working on the 52 books in 52 weeks. I can cross off this goal as well now. I certainly am reading more. Not at the rate I was in

I signed up for 2 differant book reading goals on 43Things, this being the shorter of the 2. Though I’ve done it before, I wasn’t quite sure I could do the second one of 52 books in 52 weeks, but I knew I’d make 10 books in 2007. I’ve hit 14 books in 2007, so this goal is now crossed off! ~~Wendy See more progress on: read 10 books in 2007

Today (June 20, 2007) is this the 2nd anniversary of The Padded Cell #2. I remember being here when the original Padded Cell started February 16, 2005. I remember it being Feb 16, 2005, because that was the day I found the [], and was graced wih my first ever pink-slap! I remember being one of the very first posters on the Padded Cell, I think I showed up on page 2 of it. It was what kept me coming back to eBay and the []. Without it I don't think I would have come back to the [], because there was a wierd flame war going on than, and the [] just seemed so crazy at the time. But than Flowers started the Padded Cell and it was like a safe haven from the rest of the insanity going on in the [] at that time, so I just kept coming back and coming back... and wow! I can't belive it's been so long already! The original Padded Cell was short lived and closed down on June 16, 2005. It's last post was made by Dreams and was post number 27834, making it officailly eBay's lon

Happy La Kermeese! I'm watching them set up for the block party right now. We got front row seats to the concert and fireworks and we don't even have to leave to house! Can't get out the front door right now, cause there's a Slush Puppy machine and a hot dog stand in the sidewalk. The radio stations are setting up in front of my bedroom window. Such exicentment going on. I love it. Wondering: Are any of you guys going to be here tonight? For Those who don't know, it's a French festival celebrated in Maine. It celebrates the peace between Maine and Quebec and the mixed heritage of everyone that lives in the area. It's headquarters are in Biddeford Maine, which is a predominaty French town, and they close off all of Main Street and the off streets and turn the entire city into a giant carnival. It looks like the entire population of Quebec is here right now, you should see the traffic! A green frog is the symbol of the festival, and everyone has got frogs on t

I have a desk again! Yippie! And a chair too. It seems like ages since I’ve had a desk to sit down at. Forget the fire, my desk didn’t survive the flood. I’ve been without a desk for much much longer than we’d been homeless. I am sitting at the desk right now. It feels so good. I can write without my back hurting again. It is so good to not have to sit on the floor to do my writing anymore. I had forgotten how good it feels to write and not have my back hurt when I get done. I had almost forgotten how good it was to have furniture. It’s a nice desk. One of those white and black artists` drafting desks, with the tilting adjustable top. Can you believe it? Someone actually threw this thing out! Well, I’m so glad they did, cause otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting at it writing right now. Granted the shelves are missing and the white vinyl top has been peeled off, and it’s top’s been spray painted so to make it white again, but still, it’s a good sturdy desk and it’s useable no matter what i

I have a desk again! Yippie! And a chair too. It seems like ages since I’ve had a desk to sit down at. Forget the fire, my desk didn’t survive the flood. I’ve been without a desk for much much longer than we’d been homeless. I am sitting at the desk right now. It feels so good. I can write without my back hurting again. It is so good to not have to sit on the floor to do my writing anymore. I had forgotten how good it feels to write and not have my back hurt when I get done. I had almost forgotten how good it was to have furniture. It’s a nice desk. One of those whit and black artists` drafting desks, with the tilting adjustable top. Can you believe it? Someone actually threw this thing out! Well, I’m so glad they did, cause otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting at it writing right now. Granted the shelves are missing and the white vinyl top has been peeled off, and it’s top’s been spray painted so to make it white again, but still, it’s a good sturdy desk and it’s useable no matter what it

I was right, it only took me three days to read it, but like my writing I didn’t do it every day, so those three days got spaced out over a week! I must say that The Half-Blood Prince was not who I ever would have expected it to be! ~~EK See more progress on: read Harry potter 6

You know, it was about 5 years ago when I first told Old Orchard Beach police that there was a bear in our yard, but because I didn’t have pictures, they just laughed and said there was no bear in Old Orchard Beach. Yes, tell that to the bear that routinely makes her weekly visits to our brook for a drink. Or tell that to the “bear tree” that marks her territory some 100 feet behind The GoldenEagle . Tell that to my terrified hens, who refuse to lay eggs after the bear has been by. But, who am I too know a bear, I only grew up in the Ross Forest, on land settled by Thomas Rogers (my ancestor and founder of this town) , making friends with every wild animal out there: from the bobcats to the coyotes, both of which btw the way the police also told me did not live in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Uhm-huh. I believe you, I’ll just go on seeing these animals in my yard and keeping my pets under lock and key, and I’m NOT cutting a hole in my wall to allow the cats to roam free in bear, coyote, a

Kalico Kastle look Mermaids

A few years back, in 2003 accourding to what I wrote on the cover of the notebook, I had started writing a book. The notebook got lost, and over time I forgot about it. A few weeks ago, as some of you may know, we were forced off of the land that had been in our family since our ancestor founded this town, over 300 years ago. In the midst of it all, we had to clean everything out of the house. My brother found some lost notebooks of mine, that had somehow found a way to survive both the flood of May 2006 and the fire of October 2006. The notebooks found, were soggy and wet and molded, but still intact and so, I made an attempt to dry them out. The ink, must have been waterproof, because it still there and still readible in spite of the condition of the pages themselves. What a great find though. Some of the papers were lost sections of my Twighlight Manor series. One, as I said was a book I started in 2003. Well, I know I’m working on SHIVER right now, but I’m going to take up where I

Finally getting around to reading this one. I had started it back when it came out but, I got to them meeting Slughorn, than never finished it. Just went back last night, and started over again. I’m up to chapter nine, page 188. Rate I’m going I should be done in 3 days. See more progress on: read Harry potter 6

I was just reading this blog post: Reading, writing, and arithmetic I must say, though the concept is sound, I'm afraid his dollar amounts are a bit off. The average advance for a first novel is $1,000 or less, and it's rare that you'll get an advance until after you have a bestseller. For the average author an advance is just a mythical dream they hope to someday be famous enough to aquire. The average book sales for a first time novel is 500 copies world-wide. This is also the average sales for books that are not first time novels. To become a best-seller you must sell 10,000 copies per printing, but only a handful of publishers print more than 2,000 copies per printing. The average writer hits best-seller status with their 9th novel. Ad only those who have already sold over 100,000 copies of a single printing well ever see an advance as astronomical out of proportion as the $100,000 figure he gave you. He might want to check his facts better before he teaches to many mor

I use Times New Roman when typeing up my MSs. It’s clean, simple, easy to read, prints well, and can be “read” by all computers regardless of running sytem, software, or screen resolution. Times New Roman is just a good, basic, overall font. I tend to avoid useing Courier because it looks like a 60’s era typwriter hacked it out. It also looks very unprofesional, and seems to scream, “I’m a protest chapbook and I hate everything”. I’ve seen to many crude hate-promoting crapbooks printed in Courier font. So, how about you? What fonts do you use? Which ones do you avoid? ~EK See more progress on: Write more

My writing goal is to write between 1,000 to 2,000 words per day. My average per day, is much less… more like 400 – 700 per day, once every three days instead of every day. Well, it’s better than nothing, and I’m still inching my way to my goal. My problem seems to lie in that I get the urge to write at times when I just can’t write, but than at the time I set aside to write, I’m to bored or restless or want to read or whatever… anything that is not writing basicly. I’ll be right in the middle of something, say walking my dog, or cleaning the catbox, when this great idea well pop into my head, with not a pen or paper in sight. Than an hour or two later, I’ll finally get to some paper, and I find I can’t think of what I wanted to write down, or else I can’t get it worded right, or worse I’ve forgotten it all together! I write amazing outlines. You should see the detailed historical timelines I can come up with for my story ideas… than I sit down, my outline in hand, ready to type the