Welcome Guest Blogger Cait London!
Second Takes
First of all, thank you from Wilson, my pumpkin, for making him feel so welcome here on a previous visit…
From Cait London: Writers travel in two reality-lanes, real-life and one they create in their minds. Both lanes can tangle into one written scene. Here's some of my real-life scenes I'll write sometime; I play either the stalker or the victim:
Scene One:
Ready to exit the grocery store, my cart filled and heavy, I saw one of the grocery teenagers, hands on hips, staring out at the dreary day. He was probably thinking of places he'd rather be. To help his doldrums, and basically myself with a heavy cart, I asked, "How would you like to put a little fun in your day?"
He stared blankly at me, then seemed slightly horrified. Only then did I realize that coming from a middle-aged woman (with children his age), my innocent question could be taken other than how it had been intended. From his years-younger point of view, "How would you like to put a little fun in your day?" may have sounded like a proposition from an older woman.
But on the other hand, at least he was looking at me, sleazy mama that I was, which takes us to Scene Two:
When I worked in an office, life was dull-dull, spiced up by the occasional plastic dog manure placed in my desk drawer, alternated by plastic vomit placed on my chair. (They also gifted me with a Christmas tree, a barren branch ornamented with one light bulb. It was actually cute; so was the tape on the carpet to outline my pseudo-office.) After a while, I began to understand that my coworkers did not really see me; I was invisible, a functioning machine. To rebel and test this theory, one day I wore unmatched earrings. No one noticed. Then the faked facial-mole incident. Another day, I made use of my snagged nylons. At the hole over my calf, I drew a black-marker smiley face and stood with my back to my coworkers. That experiment proved I was truly invisible, merely an office machine, because there were no second takes.
I wished no one had taken second takes the day one of my shoulder pads (big ones from yesteryear) slid down to make one side of my blouse measurably larger than the other. While second takes continued for a while, I was unaware of my unusual bust line, which takes us to Scene Three, a favorite of my 3 daughters:
While exiting a truck stop's ladies room, someone kindly indicated the long, long length of toilet paper trailing behind me. It had been tucked into my waistband. One look at my laughing daughter (one of three daughters, born 3 years apart), and I knew who had created this scene.
And Scene Three brings me to For Her Eyes Only, the conclusion of my triplet-sisters trilogy, born 3 minutes apart. Written as a story-arc, previous triplet stories are 1. At The Edge and 2. A Stranger's Touch.
I'll be writing these scenes someday. If you have second-take scenes that deserve to be written down, please share, and if you are registered here at Cigars, you could win a signed copy of one of my backlist books.
Welcome Cait!
I love your second takes. :) I have used a lot of little moments from real life in my books, though I think they always become revised a little (or a lot), especially in regards to new experiences or travel, I like to filter things I saw or did into books, like standing on the Empire State Building observation deck or walking along the sponge docks in Florida, but I'm sure there were little everyday moments as well, though they escape me now -- none as entertaining as yours, for sure!
Glad to have you and Wilson back,
Sam
Aloha, Sam!
I love to use that as my cell phone message announcements. People always ask if I'm in Hawaii, which would be nice. Wilson, still sitting on his stool and watching TV, says Hi. He's unusually long living for a pumpkin, but looks can be deceiving.:)
I'm blogging quite a bit, so hope everyone can follow me by noting the schedule at my website.
CaitLondon.com
http://caitlondon.blogspot.com
Hi Cait and Wilson,
Welcome back. I saw one of Wilson's cousins in the grocery store and almost succumbed. My husband was with me and talked me out of succumbing. They did want an awful lot of money per pound for Wilson's cousin.
My entire life seems to be a second take scene. When I first started creating things out of hitched horsehair, I decided to approach the local western store owner. I was nervous--he'd once been invited to the Smithsonian to demonstrate saddlemaking and his store is top of the line. I went in the store, delivered my speech. He kindly agreed to take some of my pieces on commission. I went out the car, happy, looked in the review mirror and I had peanut butter on the tip of my nose.
I'm With Jeannie
Ok, I've had more, which made it easy to write about psychic triplets with overlapping thought-communications. Odd moments. Odd realizations, which occur either in mid-open mouth insert foot moments, or later. I don't know which is worse, occurance at the moment it leaves your lips, or later, when there is no correction margin.
I once got really upset about the city doing something, hurried to dress in my go-to-town outfit, zoomed down on my broom to city hall, told off whomever, and then decided hell, why not go ahead and do business while I'm all dressed up, gas saver that I am. So I go to a 4-color print shop, do some pricing, notice their odd looks, the same as the city clerk, and tool on down to the grocery store.
After getting home and changing my outfit, as I keep that on hand for day-missions and usually dress in grungies/whatever, I see that the mid-back lining of my tunic had come fully out, flopping around, the tag showing.
Mm. It usually scratches a bit, but I was so bent on getting things done that I didn't notice. Could have used a second take then.
CaitLondon.com
http://caitlondon.blogspot.com
Another Welcome to Cait!
Wilson!! (Love that pumpkin!)
Ah, I am a walking double take. But my favorite one ever was having construction workers at my apartment building and their scaffold was blocking my window slightly. But if I looked through the hole,I could see the men down on the bottom floor from the waist down. Being me, this is NOT a bad angle. So, I'm not so innocently judging who looks good in their jeans, doing a chat and telling the women in there what I'm seeing when this absolutely to die for man strolls up in sexy black jeans. Everything about him is sensual and sexy and I was ashamed to realize I had instant hots for the guy. While I was trying to remind myself of my quite happily married state, my front door suddenly opened.
Hubby came home for lunch.
In black denims.
It took him a solid three minutes to get me to stop laughing.
Sadly, the girls in the chat took about three months.
Dee
ROFL!
Oh Dee, I love that story!
Thanks for the giggles this
Thanks for the giggles this morning! I *know* I've had moments like these...but for the life of me I can't think of any right now. Isn't that how it so often works, though? You know until you're asked? :-)
Do Over
Hi Cait,
I love the idea of second takes. I wish we were able to have a chance to do things over. I might be able to stop myself from wearing an unflattering outfit out in public, or stop myself from saying the wrong/inappropriate thing.
Hi Cait and Wilson!
Thank you for the laughs! I especially like the scene with the grocery store clerk. Being a woman "of middle years" myself I can so see that happening to me.
I once had a very busy day at work with me frantically working on projects and trying to meet deadlines. I didn't look in a mirror the entire day. If I had I would have noticed that one of my bra straps has loosened causing me to walk through the 'corporate kingdom' for an entire day with one boob hanging about 2 inches lower than the other. And here I had thought all the smiles meant people were just glad to see me! lol
Come on Down
Thanks for sharing, people. It's a lonely view when you think you're the only one living in the odd lane. With workmen around the house, you have to be careful. But I hope I never expose the view my plumber does :)
CaitLondon.com
http://caitlondon.blogspot.com
My Second Takes
I have long hair (mid back length) so I'm always shedding. Before my husband and I got married, whenever I was pulling a hair out of my shirt, there would be my boss. He must have thought I spent half the day groping myself!
Well, it was just before the wedding and my coworkers threw me a lingerie shower. One of the women in the office couldn't attend because she was ill. I was asked to take my prezzies to work to show her as she had chipped in but hadn't seen the actual item.
So, I'm at my desk, holding up little scraps of this and that for her to look at. Out came my boss. He got about halfway to my desk and then just turned around and went back to his office.
But from his angle, he wouldn't have been able to see her so I'm not sure what he thought I was up to then!
ani
PS Hi to Wilson!!
Your second takes are too
Your second takes are too funny!
I can't think of any second takes in my life---boring, I know.
So funny!
I thought the one in the grocery store so funny... I wondered what he thought!
It must be great to be able to use those moments in books. I enjoy those scenes as they had realism and a fun moment in books.
Thanks for the laugh
The padded shoulders... it was hilarious. A similar wardrobe malfunction went on when I was in high school. Our teacher - in her mid-thrities and used to flirt all the time with the guys - was wearing a tight skirt as she usually did. She dropped her pen on the floor and tried to collect it, however as she was wearing a cigarette skirt, it was obvious she was having a hard time getting it... and then we heard the sound of clothes tearing, her skirt just teared from behing and we had a clear view of her underwear. We could not stop laughing!! She quickly realised that the tear was important dismissed class.
From that day, she started wearing A-shaped skirts.
What Happened?
I'm behind. But since my last post, and the interesting stories about broken bra straps, etc., I've been out retrieving a lost neighborhood boy. Or he thought he was lost, his face a film of snot. Long story short, I am a heroine.
Yes, I'm the stuff heroines are made of. :) At 4, he basically woke up from his nap, saw his dad leaving in his pickup, and went out the door. From there, without knowing that his mother was in the house, cleaning, he wandered onto the street and cried loud enough to, well you know. Harried Mom out looking for him was not happy. I gave him a toy alligator. Boys like alligators. It's the teeth. That story will probably turn up somewhere.
Then I used my ladder, took off screens, caulked some windows with my caulk gun (I have two, and should get hip holsters for them), washed the windows, put away the ladder.
But sometimes I like to watch my ceiling fan go 'round. Sometimes. And sometimes it throws ideas at me, too. Like the time I'd dusted the dining room paddles before Thanksgiving, then, of course, when someone turned it on, dust tumbled down on our dinner :) Yes, I have dust. But not dust bunnies like Jayne Ann Krentz :) And for some reason, I like to watch my washing machine agitate. Do you have those simplistic zoning times, too?
I'm back to enjoying this, and do hope along the way to interest some of you in my psychic triplets, who probably have a lot of interesting stories themselves.
CaitLondon.com
http://caitlondon.blogspot.com
Hi Cait and Wilson
I loved your post how cute. You must be a card to be around. It reminds me of my family at Christmas we kind of give joke gifts out every year. They get past around from year to year. We even have a size 60 dress that someone in the family will get every year. We even have a few naughty gifts that are passed around.
Ode to Lead Bottom
Love the size 60 dress story. Now, see to someone else--without a sense of humor that might not be funny. But I laughed because we also have family-joke gifts.
I'm also loving it here at Cigars. I'm hoping you'll all stop by my blog to see my Russian copy of IT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT, such a cute little hardback, and check out the phone. I'm so hoping these three psychic books are books to enjoy as well, and I've certainly enjoyed the journey with the sisters. FOR HER EYES ONLY just got a 5 stars from bookjunkies and I got one of those cute bookjunkies little ribbons for my website. You can check on Leona at http://caitlondon.com/triplets/Leona.html, see her reviews and those Celtic icons are actually taken from my favorite earrings.
CaitLondon.com
http://caitlondon.blogspot.com
thanks so much for the
thanks so much for the laughs today!! I must get a book of yours to read as I'm sure there is humor in the book. I love humorous incidents. I'm sure it isn't so funny to the people it happened to but...
I was looking after my friend's puppy and proceeded to put him out for a little bit the other day; I didn't realize the cable guy was app. half a block away and there I was standing in my panties and a purple spaghetti strap chemise that I sleep in. Now if only I hadn't talked to the dog the cable guy probably would not have looked up.
Cait
I've never had that toilet paper thing. I was embarrassed one time when a swing fell out from under me. Not only did my hiney hurt, but everyone was laughing at me.
Deidre
congrts on teh books. any
congrts on teh books.
any winner
any winner?
any winner?
Winner!
Sorry I dropped the ball on this folks -- thanks to kim h for reminding me we never got a winner for Cait's giveaway, but the name from the hat is: PJ!
Congrats PJ -- Cait will be in touch!
Sam
wtg pj
wtg pj