Wednesday, July 18, 2007

You won't accept "no!"

A new song! I've put it on my podcast, The Kimmy Awards, but since some folks were having trouble, I also uploaded it to YouTube, or you can view below. Many thanks to my talented friend, Layne Rowland, who plays the pushy newbie writer in this dialog between writer and overworked, under-appreciated editor.

Warning: One naughty word at the end of the song.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Hi kimnorman!


I was telling my friend Sara today about an odd phenomenon I've noticed since doing some school visits in my own town -- where I'm likely to encounter the children again. When they see me elsewhere, (even if they already knew me as Mrs. Norman from church, say) suddenly I'm their best friend: "Hi Kimnorman!" The name comes out like one word.

This has happened 3 or 4 times now. Very odd. "Hey, aren't you kimnorman?" "Hey, Mom! It's kimnorman!" (The moms, many of whom already me as Kim Norman -- two words -- are always mightily impressed, let me tell you.)

Just wondering if other authors have experienced that after an appearance.

By the way, if you're curious about the above photo, she's one of my Evil Inner Editors. View the rest of them here.

And don't forget to listen to my hilarious new song featuring an overworked editor and a pushy writer on my podcast, The Kimmy Awards.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Announcing "The Kimmy Awards!"


Okay, I'll admit I'm not handing out any awards... yet. It just seemed like a good, short dot.com name to buy for my podcast.

And today we have a new song!! Your editors are going to love this one. A dialog between a harried editor and a pushy newbie writer. Listen to my newest song, You won't accept "no!" here:
www.kimmyawards.com

Friday, July 06, 2007

A gift from a dream


For the first time that I recall, I came up with a story idea in a dream last night. In my dream, I watched this little boy singing a song that sounded like a nice premise for a picture book. I even began scribbling the idea down in my dream -- with the usual plot twists and interruptions. Does everybody dream like that, with lots of obstacles in the way of their intentions, or is it just my cluttered life that makes me dream that way?

Within the dream, as I wrote down the story idea, I suddenly thought, "Wait a minute. What if that was a real, copyrighted song he was singing?" Because when I first heard him, I was sure it was original. You know, one of those tuneless, chant-like songs children sing when they're busy doing something else. But as I wrote down the idea, I began to worry maybe he was just tone deaf.

Before I had a chance to finish writing down the idea, I woke up coughing. Makes me wonder: was that a real cough, or my body trying to wake me to write down the dream? Of course, I always have allergies, but no cold or cold "remnants" right now. Curious.

And then, of course, out for my morning walk to think about it. Snapped a few photos along the way, including one of my favorite subject, that old farmhouse which is bound for doom with developers encroaching. Sigh.