Whirling Thoughts

This month's challenge theme from Silmarillion Writer's Guild is "A Woman's Sceptre". SWG is running monthly challenges for the year and my goal is to have a story written for each one by the end of the year. I asked for my assigned quotation and was sent one I love - "An artist's duty, as far as I am concerned, is to reflect the times." - Nina Simone. WHOOT! I am totally stoked. My dreams last night were packed with ideas. Now to start filtering and walking into the morass of plots, figuring out which plot might have enough structure to hold the weight of a story within the assigned parameters.

Nina Simone is a singer whose life has been spent as a protest
singer and political activist. I'm totally stoked to have been
assigned a quotation by her! 

I have to laugh at myself sometimes because I'm so visually immersed in things. I dive in and the world around me fades. So when I'm playing Lord of the Rings Online and I'm in a snow-filled and cold place like the Misty Mountains or Forochel, I shiver and I get cold. It could be ninety degrees outside, and I would still be shivering because I am in a virtual frozen landscape. Geez! Suggestible much? I'm currently working on quests in the Misty Mountains and it seems as if I'm always reaching over to put on a cardigan or pull on a hoodie. I totally admit that I'm a weather wuss - so why do I live up here in the Frozen Northlands?!?!?

The Misty Mountains in LOTRO are snow-filled, very craggy, with some
areas that take forever to find your way through. Yesterday, while playing
over my lunch break, it was snowing so hard I could barely see the enemies
I was supposed to be tracking and killing. *sigh* I am always glad to leave
the cold parts behind me and progress on to deeper and darker problems -
like the Mines of Moria. 

It does seem that our winter has now left us and we're entering spring. I'm actually seeing flowering bushes and I'm sure the fruit trees aren't far behind. The grass is green, the leaves are starting to pop, and we're getting rain instead of snow. Of course, it's also almost the start of tornado season up here, so our summer cautions of wicked thunderstorms and torrential rains will be kicking in soon. But right now it's absolutely ideal - one of the best times of the year. I couldn't be happier.

Tornadoes are beautiful but so powerful and deadly. I've seen them many
times as I crossed the plains, and I really don't want them too close
to me. Although they have hit near me several times, I've been lucky in my
life and have managed to escape any direct interaction. 

So, for my "day off" I have a major shopping expedition to Target for stupid but necessary household things (toilet paper - pretty high on my list - LOL), followed by grocery shopping, several loads of laundry, and capped off by a nice chat with Aearwen - always one of the highlights of my week. I hope each of you has a wonderful Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow with clean clothes, towels and linens and the beginnings of a storyline for this month's SWG Challenge (hopefully). Enjoy the day!