Collected Thoughts

elenabtvs asked me these Five Questions. If any one wants me to ask them Five Questions leave a message in my comments.

BTW my answers are long because no matter how hard I try

1. What is it about the beach that makes you love it so much? Is there anything about it you would change? Is it any beach or just yours?

This beach is in my blood, so to speak. My great grandfather bought the land when my dad was a kid, so it's been in my family, I know so many stories. Things my grandmother have told me and, oddly enough, Mom have told me. My parents first took me to the beach when I was just a wee one and when we first moved down here--for my parents it was back down here, my brother and I were born elsewhere---Mom, my brother, and I lived at the beach for the summer. Mom had inflatable boat and at low tide she'd take us for a walk and we'd play and when we'd get tired we'd get in and she'd drag us along and then later on we'd take a nap. I'm not exactly sure how old we were but we were young. Grandpa E made us a sandbox, with folding covers that,when you opened them up turned into ramps, but the sand we used was from our beach.

So part of the love is the history. We don't have a family house, not really. And my grandparents moved a lot so the beach is as close to a family home or a family farm as we have.

But just the place itself---it's a bay technically, and it's calm and relaxing and there's always something new to see and discover. And even when a storm is kicking up it's cool to watch, to see the dark clouds and the rain. Going out side, even for a short walk and there are Great Blue Herons and Little Blue Herons and all kinds of sandpipers and gulls and pelicans. And in the water snails and hermit crabs and blue crabs or horseshoe crabs. And maybe I'll see an osprey catching its dinner or maybe I'll see a huge school of baitfish travellig along the bay with dozens of birds swarming over head and feeding.

It's always, always different. The sand bars shift and change and but they keep the same basic shape.

What I'd change if I could, would be to stop the building. The people who keep building bigger houses or more houses. And keep stupid ass people from driving their trucks on the sand and disrupting the sand and the wild life and the people from mowing down the sea oats, which is a crime anyway.

2. When you decide to write a story, how does that work? Do you get the idea, then write an outline, do you decide to write something about a character or an episode? Describe the process.


I get my story ideas from different places, maybe I'll be talking to someone or watching an episode and something will spark in my head. Or I've read someone else's story and think on what they've done and not try to do what they did but sort of veer off and go in another direction. Sometimes I'll see a picture in my head or hear a line of dialouge or a line will just come to me and that's how it starts.

Sometimes I want to write a specific character or I'll want to write something specific for a character. Not just a Xander story but a story with Xander and whatever. Ideas occasionally will just strike me, I'll watch a show or maybe be listening to a song and then it will just hit. What if? Or maybe?

And then I'll just let the story run in my head, see it play out or listen to the characters talk. I'll write it down, either the story or just variations of the idea. But constantly have it running in my head. So I'll get different versions of my original idea, or even a totally new idea. Maybe even start out writing for one character and end up with a story for another.

I have too many half formed stories.

3. Who is your favourite character to write? Why?

Well, I haven't written that much. And the character I've written the most about is Lex and I don't even watch Smallville anymore. The story I had the most fun writing was Such a Darkness, getting inside Wes's mind during Billy was just way too much fun.

Right now I've got an unfinished Andrew and Xander. Putting Wes through mental anguish is fun. I probably shouldn't have so much fun writing darkfic, but ---it's amusing to me and no one really gets hurt.

4. If you could go anywhere, money being no object, for two weeks where would you go? (you can't say *your* beach)

Decisions. I suck at making them. Maybe I'd save it up and go to NZ when my brother is there or do a mad whirlwind Bitchy tour.

5. What is it about dancing that you enjoy? What do you dislike about it? Are you planning to go back to it?

The grace, spins, twirls, all the physicalness of it. Plus it's been easy for me to learn, I just get it. I always liked dancin--freestyle in clubs, but I never felt really comfortable in my body and I finally learned some of the secrets. I like dancing with someone, the connection and even though I really sucked at following at first I got better at it. Did I mention the spins? Dances like the Hustle are fun. The more complicated turns and manuvers and spins, it makes me laugh and leaves me breathless and plus people keep telling me I'm good at it!

What I disliked: lousy partners, and not being able to learn at the pace I wanted to. I was stuck in situation where I could only take group lessons on my level once a week and I got bored with taking the beginning lessons once I got used to them. My ex instructor I didn't like him.

I plan to go back, I have lessons left so I need to use those. But I think I'm going to try something else for awhile. Everyone around here wants to know why I want to move off to some larger city and more variety for places to learn things---dance, martial arts, cooking lessons, whatever are available. Here the choices are as so limited in everything.