The Hunger Games Movie

Y'all, I'm so excited about The Hunger Games movie! I do a dystopian unit with my students at the end of the year and The Hunger Games is one of the books they can choose to read (of course! How could I leave HG off the list?). They LOVE HG--the whole series, in fact. I know Lionsgate's out there looking for the perfect Katniss and personally, I think they should cast the YouTube girl!


You know the YouTube Katniss, right? She's awesome--and totally made me cry. Plus, there's a new one with her and Peeta (oh, how I do love a British accent on Peeta, even if he isn't supposed to be British. Makes him seem even more adorable and vulnerable.).


Here's the one that made me cry (it gives away a huge scene between Katniss and Rue so, if you haven't read it yet (um, what's wrong with you?!? kidding.), you may not want to watch it):


And here's the Katniss and Peeta scene:


LOVE! Thank you, MAINSTAY PRODUCTIONS for putting these together! (Ooh, those Mainstay boys are adorable and oh-so-very talented.) More, please?

Too Much of a Good Thing?

This past Christmas, my parents bought their granddogs a plethora of toys (there are no grandchildren in the picture, so they shower their affections on the dogs. The dogs love it. The parents, I'm afraid, would prefer a grandkid. Sorry, folks. Love you!). Two long monkeys that, when someone chews on their heads, break into shrieking monkey laughter. A sixteen-squeaker cow. Cheweez (chicken flavored, of course). A fuzzy hedgehog we immediately named Fred. A green dog almost as long as Fiona. Rawhide twists. My pups were in heaven, tearing through the packaging like toddlers on a sugar high.


Once all the presents were unwrapped, the dogs bounced from toy to toy, picking up one and giving it a toss or a squeak before moving on to the next one. Finally, with toys strewn around the living room and rawhide treats buried in couch cushions, the dogs collapsed into exhausted heaps in the middle of the floor.


Too much. Too many choices. Too much awesomeness.


It's the same thing with ideas. You'd think that having great ideas for amazing (well, in my mind, anyway) plots would be a good thing. But what happens when you're swamped with them? One right after another, before you even have time to catch your breath? Or write the first story? Yeah, it's not great.


I promise, I'm not complaining about having ideas--far from it. I love those shiny new ideas that come to you in a weird flash of inspiration when you least expect it. They're gifts from the universe. But they can be entirely too distracting when they come in multiples. And, unfortunately, I'm easily distracted lately.


So, how to focus? First, pick ONE of those lovely, shiny ideas. It's hard. They're all so pretty. They all have the potential to be awesome (hopefully). But the concentration (my focus) has to be on one, at least for a first draft.


Second, well, there is no second. That's it. Make a choice. Stick with it, not allowing yourself to be completely distracted by those shiny ideas (I've started a new writing journal to jot down, you know, stuff. So I won't be distracted. It doesn't always work but it helps quite a bit.). Write it. Move on to the next one.


As you can see, I'm not one who's currently able to successfully juggle projects. Maybe that will change, as I write more. Probably not. But it's all good, just as long as I keep writing.


What about you all: How do you focus? Can you focus on multiple projects?

Steppin' Out of that Comfort Zone

We all have our comfort zones. At home, mine happens to be ensconced in my big chair; dressed in a t-shirt and yoga pants; with my computer, a book, or a dog (sometimes all three). Usually the TV's on, since I'm a junky. When I'm at work, it's walking around my classroom, helping students, joking with them, making sure they're doing what they're supposed to do. I don't use the overhead lights because they're too bright and give me a headache, so the room's lit by funky lamps from Target. There are pillows and beanbags for comfy reading. Yep, both at home and at work, I'm all about being comfortable in my environment.


But yesterday, I was thrown out of my comfort zone onto the hard, wooden floor of the basketball court.


Let me back up just a tad. Every year about this time, both teachers and students go a little nutso. We get on each others' nerves. There are more fights between the kids. Teachers snap and gripe a bit more. So, in an effort to blow off some steam, we have a little competition. Staff against the student basketball team. In a game of basketball. With the whole school looking on.

Yeah. I don't play basketball. I'm much more of a running-yoga-beach-volleyball-for-fun kind of girl. Not competitive sports. But I was recruited because I'm, well, tall. Yep--those exact words were fed to me when I protested, saying I don't know how to play. Not at all. Never played, except in middle school when forced to for a grade.


I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. Crowds are not my thing, especially when I know I will make a fool of myself in front of them. But, once I got into the spirit of the thing, it was fun. I played like crap--all over the court, like a spider monkey (my brother's laughing suggestion when I whined on Facebook). And those girls played hard! However, in the end, triumph was ours--staff WON! Woot, baybee, woot!


I did enjoy myself. Not that I'm going to run out and join a league but it was interesting nonetheless. Plus, it got me out of my comfort zone, which is always good. There's nothing like new experiences, especially those that push you places you might not go on your own.


So, what about you? Been out of your comfort zone lately?

What freaks you out?

I seem to be freaking my self out a lot lately. Right now, for instance, I'm watching Doctor Who (always awesome--this one is with the newest Doctor who, despite my worries, is absolutely adorable and Amy Pond makes a fabulous sidekick). It's the one with the Angels. Do you know about the Angels?

With Doctor Who #10 (British hottie David Tennant), there was a great Angels episode called BLINK that absolutely freaked me out.

CREEPY! I swear, I didn't blink the entire episode. Now, that's the kind of horror and scariness that I "like" (I put it in quotes because I don't seek it out but I do like it when I see it. I'm not so much with the blood and guts, unless it's one of those action flicks where everything blows up and he

ads explode and all that. That's not really scary to me. But those shows and movies and books with more of the anticipation, the dread, the heart-pounding question of what's around the corner? That's what freaks me out.

The Angels return later with Doctor Who #11. And there are more of them in this episode...

As for creepy, freak-me-out books?

TRAPPED by Michael Northrop

The day the blizzard started, no one knew that it was going to keep snowing for a week. That for those in its path, it would become not just a matter of keeping warm, but of staying alive....

Scotty and his friends Pete and Jason are among the last seven kids at their high school waiting to get picked up that day, and they soon realize that no one is coming for them. Still, it doesn't seem so bad to spend the night at school, especially when distractingly hot Krista and Julie are sleeping just down the hall. But then the power goes out, then the heat. The pipes freeze, and the roof shudders. As the days add up, the snow piles higher, and the empty halls grow colder and darker, the mounting pressure forces a devastating decision....

When I first picked this book up, I thought it looked good but what I didn't know was that I'd read it right before a big ole snowstorm. Granted, we don't EVER get enough snow in South Carolina to completely trap me in a building so that if I went outside I'd freeze to death but still. Oh, and then the crazy-ass snow storm tore across the entire country and, suddenly it didn't seem so implausible.

Then I read this:

CRYER'S CROSS by Lisa McMann

The community of Cryer’s Cross, Montana (population 212) is distraught when high school freshman Tiffany disappears without a trace. Already off-balance due to her OCD, 16-year-old Kendall is freaked out seeing Tiffany’s empty desk in the one-room school house, but somehow life goes on... until Kendall's boyfriend Nico also disappears, and also without a trace. Now the town is in a panic. Alone in her depression and with her OCD at an all-time high, Kendall notices something that connects Nico and Tiffany: they both sat at the same desk. She knows it's crazy, but Kendall finds herself drawn to the desk, dreaming of Nico and wondering if maybe she, too, will disappear...and whether that would be so bad. Then she begins receiving graffiti messages on the desk from someone who can only be Nico. Can he possibly be alive somewhere? Where is he? And how can Kendall help him? The only person who believes her is Jacian, the new guy she finds irritating...and attractive. As Kendall and Jacian grow closer, Kendall digs deeper into Nico's mysterious disappearance only to stumble upon some ugly—and deadly—local history. Kendall is about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried.

Again, very creepy. Old desk. Whispery voices. Disappearing kids. *shudder* Fast-paced to the point of almost being frantic near the end, the suspense builds right along with the mystery. Loved it! Want more!

Any creepy story recommendations?