Yes, it is the 4th of July. Yeah for America and Yeah for us declaring our Independence today!! Love it!! Truly!!
But Marty and I went to the gym, (and he showed me why I was gaining muscle so fast… seems I was an idiot and did the same exercises over and over and over… yeah. Idiot.) and we watched all the cars heading to Galveston Island. A LOT of cars.
My hubs and I decided that we would stay home. Part of the reason? Independence Day is a large part of his family’s celebrations, and we lost a huge member of that family. This year is just not feeling right knowing that Russ is not with us. So there is not as much fun to be had, and since we are the only Brandiburs here in Houston…yeah.
Later, Marty ran out of deodorant, so we went to Target, and while driving over I45, there were backups going as far as we could see – parking lot came to mind. Again, towards the beach at 4:30 in the afternoon.
I understand, I did it one year, the whole family went to the beach all day, played in the Gulf, and afterwards, watched the fireworks over the Gulf. Awesome. I have done it at Kemah, at Joe’s Crabshack, and again, awesome. Even better, cause I didn’t burn. I burn easily, no matter what I put on me. I tan afterwards, but I always burn. Hate it, and know how bad it is for me. 75spf? Nope. 100 spf? Did nada. If I am outside, I will burn. And I apply it religiously every hour.. Every 1/2 hour… nothing.
But I find myself now watching it all, and wondering, is everyone celebrating the holiday? Or the real reason for it? Have people forgotten that this was the day a colony took a brave step forward and told the strongest nation on earth at the time: We reject you!! We will do anything to have our freedom! We will fight, we will starve, die by frostbite, die with a grapeshot in our heart. We will suffer just to be free.
Think on it. Nobody had done anything like this yet. We were the first, and we won. We won by throwing away tactics that were making our soldiers die. Stand in a line and shoot at the other line. Then stand there as the other line took their shot at you?!?!?! Hell no! But they did. They did this multiple times. Before they remembered the French and Indian War and how guerrilla warfare worked. We used it against the British. Why? We were fighting for our rights as human beings, we were fighting for freedom. It meant enough to our forefathers to fight for it.
The British made it worse, and if they found you a rebel, they killed you as publicly as possible. They were trying to make people fear them, and instead, they made people hate them and join in the fight for what they want. They backed the Colonists into a corner. The backed a nation of people who had taken a chance to live here, in the unknown, to be far from safety. And you backed them into a corner using fear? Not likely!! They did what you would expect and rose up against their oppressors.
This is not the birth of our nation as most think. It instead is the birth of the idea of our nation. This was the day they said, “We will be FREE!”
This day was never to be a day for people to get drunk and party, especially with it being a three day weekend. No, this is a day we remember the sacrifices of our forefathers who made it possible for us to drink ourselves to a point that we can’t remember the night.
To this day and right this moment there are soldiers on the front lines, sleeping in sand, carrying weight that means the difference between living and dying, weight that no normal American would be able to carry nowadays. These soldiers will joke with themselves, going Happy 4th of July! to each other. And then go back to keeping an eye for the next person to try to kill them. They fight to keep us free, to give this wondrous gift of Freedom to others. They give of themselves so that we don’t have to.
Is it too much to thank a soldier? Just to go up to one and thank them? For a lot of you, yes. Think about it. That young man or woman is willing to DIE for you. They are our secret service. They will take a bullet for you. And nobody says thanks. You scorn them, you make fun of them. You pay them less than most of us make, and then demand that they get nothing when they return from seeing things that would make you sick.
Get real, people. I think it is shameful how we treat our military. No matter what you think, you should thank the person who made the sacrifice to put on the uniform and say, “I will give my life to protect this nation of ours. I will lay down my life so that the average Joe Smith can live his life how he wants it.” Seriously people. We fight in this nation over the stupidest things, and the important things are pushed under the rug to be ignored.
Ugh.
Take a moment, and thank one soldier to his face. Just one. Do this – tell them that you are thankful they made the sacrifice for your three day weekend. Tell them you are thankful that they did it so you don’t have to. Thank them.
And no, it aint no Camel day. No matter what GEICO tries to tell us. Nope. So…. Guess what? You get two updates today!!!! Anyone complaining? If so, direct all comments to… Never mind. Huge thanks to both Meridian and Mknue for betaing! Pick your poison that you wish to start off with.
Now for the updates of what is going on. Yes. I missed the Sunday post. I was ordered off the computer, not allowed to do anything on Sunday, and let me tell you, it was GLORIOUS! I actually took a nice nap, and got up to date on Chamber of Secrets so I can go back to writing my Harry Potter. Ideas are springing up everywhere. This has taught me the benefit of taking some time out for myself, so I will schedule the Sunday posts for you guys from now on. Which would be better since anything I hear of True Blood disgusts me right now to the point I want to go nowhere close to the computer or TV.
All I Want may.. MAY get another update this week. I am doing my edit thing, and I am in front of the beta. I am thinking that Monday’s will be a great day to update this fic. The tentative schedule being Mondays – All I Want, Wednesdays – I Never…Did and Fridays will be Heavenly (HP/Twilight). The other stories will be up for the Betas to decide on. Heavenly is still in the writing time, but I am thinking to finish it after I finish AIW, as well as some contest entries from friends that have them out there. I am thinking a one shot to be inserted somewhere also. Hey editing is NOT my favorite thing to do. But if I handed you guys the story without the edits, it would not be detailed, and my characters are cardboard cut outs talking to each other. Well, maybe not that bad anymore, but yes. When I write, I am doing a very rough draft.
After AIW is done editing, we have some short fics coming before I drift away to write. Oh yeah What If. The first half will be edited and then I will finish that one. Then work on my Original Fiction, then In The End.. and Edge. I have 8 stories in the works people. Let me write and you will get them sooner. IND will be worked on in spurts, that hopefully you will never see. If I get what I want, then you guys will get some truly epic stories done.
Just a reminder to let others know. This weeks AIW and IND will NOT be updated to FF, FictionPad and AO3 until next week. TWCS gets theirs earlier. Someone is nice to do it for me. Friends don’t let friends read a chapter behind!
Contest time!!!!
Yes, last month I know I opened it up to you guys late. However, you are getting this the second day of the month. Should be enough time to think up something. Here are the pics that are the prompt for this month:
I call them my Angels Through the Fire Series. Here is the deal:
This month the contest is to write a fic (One shot or it can be the beginning of a story, just indicate which) based on one of the pics up above. Here is the catch. If you have another character you would write on, ask me to render it for you. For instance, Kelpie wanted Hook, she got a say on the pic used, and what the wings will look like. However, she owes me a story for the contest. But once a character has been added, you are free to enter under that character. For more information as well as the rules, where to send the files and so on, click here. Remember, I gain nothing by this. I will be making the banners and so on, this is to help you guys.
Also, the Non-Canon awards has me interviewing people. I am still on Meridian, but we got a little more organized over there. Expect to see me at least on Tuesdays for sure. For the record, so far I reviewed 2 stories and some one shots, and in return, Meridian has turned one One-Shot to a story and updated the last story I reviewed, Decisions. Keep clicking on them to get more.
I can’t forget the Amazon, since really guys, clicking though it does everything for me, and may give you additional discounts for using it. It costs you nothing, and if you bookmark the page after you go through my link, it will always give credit. I hate bringing this up, but when I stopped, the sales went way down. So thanks for helping contribute to the site by doing nothing but using the link and buying what you would normally do through Amazon. For more information, click on the Amazon banner on the side menu.
Expect things to change, I am getting bored of the side menu content, and I like the look of pictures more. I already changed some stuff, so expect there to be more.
I can’t think of anything else right now.. Oh yeah. While I was busy writing this, the Facebook group has been clicking away at the stories. I replaced the words on the side menu with a banner for you to click and it will take you to the group. Join, and you can get special advance notice when chapters will be posted, as well teasers. For instance, last night they were treated to a teaser from next week’s chapter for AIW. Just saying…
I know you guys love this day more than any other. It is the start of a posting week for me, so it is when all you loyal followers of the site get the new chapters. Aint life grand being a follower of this site?
I am right now working on getting all the chapters I have for this story edited, so I can work on AIW faster. Then I can write more and edit more on this then move on to Wisdom and so on. Yes this is a WIP fic and will be written on it. It’s just getting started people.
I am also rereading Chamber of Secrets so I can move forward on the HP fic. I do it at the gym since it is the only time I can read without being bothered. Well mostly. I have to go early tomorrow since I have to drive on the other side of Houston, to a town called Katy. An hour to two hours drive. All to see a doctor.
I am moving forward with getting stuff done, looking forward to the next writing period. I have my betas staring up with requests for their favorites to be updated. And they know how to push the buttons.
Ok some housekeeping stuff. Amazon. If you buy through Amazon, save the link in the pages. AS long as you use that as your gateway into the site, it will give me credit. Save it as your link to Amazon instead of the old one. It costs you nothing, and is giving me credit for you using my link as your gateway. they pay me for referring you to them. Nothing more nothing less. Buying a Kindle book? Yep go through the link. It all adds up and helps support this site. I pay for all this out of my own pocket. It may not seem like much to you, but for us it is a huge deal.
The Kill Bill 2 contest is wrapping up this week. Friday is the last day, so read those stories and VOTE!!! The vote is on the side also to make it easy. You can only vote once, but that makes each and everyone of them count more. This is NOT a popularity contest, so the names are withheld. Vote for the story you like best. Winners will be announced on Saturday.
The writing challenges are for your benefit. Not mine. I make all the banners now, I have to read the stories so I can get the banners right. Robin sets up the links, as well as make the voting polls. There is nothing in this for me, but I do them to help people realize they can write, to make that first time hitting publish easier on them. Or maybe you have writers block? This month I am going to try something, and I will post the information for the contest on the page early. You can submit your entries to the kittyinazwritingchallenges@gmail.com. Its new so no worries for any transferring this month. The other email is still checked. Click on the above banner to be taken to the guidelines and prompts for this month.
Thanks for all the reviews on All I Want!! My betas are also enjoying it, they were shocked since the new chapter that you guys got was much bigger than the original.
Now.. I think I have let you guys read enough. I am off to go back to editing, and using the reviews you send me to inspire the next chapters.
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