From the Inkwell, From the Vein.....

The holidays were supposed to be an exciting and warm time to share with friends and family. I've never understood how/why people find it necessary to go completely insane. Simple times with loved ones are all I crave and wish for during the holidays. I wish I could say that working at a bookstore that we might actually be immune to the insanity, but it isn't true. Even now, 3 full days after Christmas and we are still getting trashed. What ever happened to people having respect for property? What about home-training? Have we all forgotten how to raise our children to treat things/people with decency? I am constantly amazed at the total disregard for everything in our store. It's not that I'm crying in outrage for the mistreatment of corporate America, not at all. But, the whole attitude of "isn't it your job to clean up after me" is not only erroneous, but degrading. We are not paid to be your maid, in fact, we aren't paid anywhere near enough to

Just when you think you've got everything all figured out, something somewhere seeks you out and throws you a massive curve ball the size of small island. Okay, so maybe it isn't the size of a small island, but it's still annoying. So, I have a vague, very general outline for my up and coming project "Soul Sifters", but I am, as yet, unable to come up with a single character name and I'm not even sure that the outline I have is really what I'm looking for.... sometimes I just wish stories could write themselves. I like the idea, but it borders on possibly being a psychological thriller or possibly a horror story. I don't think it's going to fit in either younger genre that I'm much more accustomed to writing in. Yet, I suppose that dabbling in other genres is part of the growth process. How will I know where I fit as a writer unless I try writing every possible form of writing out there??

Okay, so Christmas is definitely here....at least in the retail world. When shoppers are this cranky and this obsessed with what they're getting, it's definitely obvious that Christmas has arrived :( I've never understood why a season that is meant to bring out only the good feelings in people really brings out the worst in consumers. Don't people realize that Christmas isn't about obsessing over presents? That it's okay to not get the absolute perfect gift for someone? The person they're struggling so hard to shop for would probably prefer just to spend time with them, the gift is completely superfluous. Unfortunately, the attitudes of shoppers are very draining as anyone who's ever worked retail during the holidays can attest to. It makes it difficult to get excited about anything. And any energy that I might have had to focus on any writing projects has already been completely expended. So, very little progress has been made on "Soul Sifters&

Though there weren't many votes, it seems like everyone is eager for me to write out my story idea for "Soul Sifters". Now that NaNoWriMo is officially over *sighs*, I must focus my attention to other stories and to editing. I'm actually looking forward to reading my NaNovel. As it is, I've only read the first chapter and a few scattered paragraphs as I was finishing up. It will be interesting to see how well my plot held up through the 20-day marathon of writing. "Soul Sifters", I think, will be one of the more ambitious stories that I have floating around. I'm still fumbling through plot ideas and structures. I know the ideas I want to get across, but I'm struggling as to the best way of presenting them. But, there's no immediate rush. I'm giving myself until January to plot and outline and do some early research. It's Christmas, and anybody who's ever worked retail in the holidays knows it's pretty much---all work and not