one thing Archives - Author K. Williams

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #93

What Is Your Bucket List?

Welcome back to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop! If you’re new to the series, the authors included are grateful for your reads and appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Be prepared to become a regular reader.

Well, I guess the best way to accomplish this is to make an actual list. It’s pretty hard to think about it in terms of kicking the bucket. The reality is we can pass away at any time. Being as aware of this as I am, I think of this more of a list of goals. A couple of these are already underway. Do you know which ones?

1. Travel Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Kenya, Asia and maybe Egypt.

I don’t necessarily want to travel every country in Europe, but I’d like to visit the places from which my ancestors came: Italy, Scotland, England, Wales, Germany, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden…I’ve been to Ireland, and it was a blast. Going there filled me with a sense of homecoming. The people were quite welcoming.

Australia and New Zealand have been on my travel list since I was a girl. I’d like to do this one sooner rather than later, because it’s more of an adventure holiday. Going to these countries, for me, requires good health and desire to be in the outdoors.

Kenya, is very similar to the last two places. Mostly, I’d like to just visit the Giraffe hotel and do some photography in wilds. (Of course I’d carry my camera to all my destinations because of the excellent shots I’d get.)

As for Asia, my biggest desire is to see China. For a historian, I can’t imagine a better destination (except for India), and learning experience. Japan has my curiosity, as does Myanmar, India and Korea. Pretty much all of Asia has somewhere i’d like to stop over.

Lastly, I’d love to see Egypt. My aunt was able to go when I was just a little girl. She brought me home a fuchsia bag painted with the mask of King Tutankhamen. A love of antiquities and classical history was born. Due to violence in the area of late, this may have to wait sometime, but I look forward to when things calm down again. Travelling, for women, can be dangerous no matter the place, so there is always a concern.

2. Learn a foreign language (or two—three)?

I’ve always been enamored with people who can speak more than their native language. Here in the United States, it doesn’t seem to be much of a concern among a large swath of the dominant culture. You know the ones, always screaming about speak English. They barely grasp English themselves, so a fear of someone who speaks a different language is probably intimidating. Either that, or they resent not knowing what is being said, or fear it. I never felt that way. It’s none of my business what people are saying to each other privately, and I’m not so insecure that I think it has anything to do with me. Even if it did, so what?

What languages are on my list? You must know I’m learning German by now, if you’ve been following the blog. Other than that, I’ve been very interested in trying Mandarin and Welsh.

3. Make a Movie

I went back to school to get a masters degree in screenwriting. For my project, I adapted my second novel into a screenplay and have been pitching it in an effort to get this list item checked off. Certainly there is no stopping there. Once I get one made, I am sure I will try to pursue others. Being an extra and knowing some very talented filmmakers has really inspired me to follow through on this.

4. Own a Great Dane

Dear God, this has probably been on my list the longest and it still has not happened! Finding a breeder is tough. You want someone responsible. In more recent years, I’ve become a more staunch advocate of rescuing instead of purchasing a pet. Because I always have a dog attached to my hip, there is a concern of bringing in another animal that could not mesh so well with my current pooch. There are plenty of horror stories out there to explain to you why I feel this way. So, I prefer a puppy (6 – 8 mos and under). Unfortunately, a lot of folks are looking for that description, regardless of needing that kind of match for their household. People just want puppies.

Certainly I would accept an older dog, but keep in mind this breed doesn’t live that long, and taking in a five year old means less time, not just dealing with more problems from their former housing arrangements.

5. Parachute

My dad was in the National Guard while I was growing up. He had 25 years of service. One of the things he loved the most was getting AirBorne. I have to say, I’d love to do this myself, at least once.

6. Tour amusement parks across the United States and maybe the world.

What’s to explain? I love places like this. There are some epic parks out there.

7. Cruise and photograph Alaska

Not much to explain here either. You have to know I’m a photographer?

8. Photograph Provence.

This would go hand in glove with my trip to France. I’d be willing to just do this part of seeing France, although missing Paris would be sad.

9. Own my own house.

…with a little garden and room for my dogs to run.

10. Meet the Dalai Lama (14th).

What an inspiring and amazingly loving man. He warms my heart every time I look at him. I’d like to learn more about Buddhism before I do, but I would feel comfortable encountering his holiness regardless. He has no judgment, just joy. I’d be giddier than a seven year old at Christmas.

I wonder what the other authors have on their list? Check them out on the links below…

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♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #92

What Inspires You? And why do those things inspire you?

Welcome back to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop! If you’re new to the series, the authors included are grateful for your reads and appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Be prepared to become a regular reader.

Learning.

That’s it.

I am inspired when I am learning something. This is not to be confused with being excited—or, thrilled. There are plenty of works of art (musical, poetical, visual) that get my blood circulating. Inspiration is more about getting the wheels in my head grinding. The two can cross paths when, for instance, I am learning a new song, or meeting new poetry, seeing new art. In those moments, the thrilling feelings that get my circulation up increase the speed of the wheels set to grinding.

More importantly, you are probably wondering WHY learning inspires me. When most people find learning to be a chore, I’ve had a predisposition for enjoying it. Of course I have felt that it’s harder work than it needs to be, and that mainly was the result of poor teaching of difficult subjects. There’s a reason some people find mathematics to be enjoyable: they get it and a teacher likely got them excited about it. Those two aspects are necessary for successful learning.

I realized that I had this love of learning when my jobs kept bringing me back to universities. That realization was solidified when I went back to school for my masters. Talk about a whole other world! I will be the first to admit that primary school can definitely kill any love of learning in any person. Secondary school, let’s talk about the undergraduate work, can serve to do the same. But graduate school—you’ll know exactly what it is you want to study, and the programs usually open up to let you explore how. Learning is easier, more engaging, but, above all, it is more successful. You truly become an expert in your field.
While studying for my Masters, my thoughts on continuing education were freed from the dread. In my personal time, I had taught myself to write scripts, and was learning various theological practices just out of a desire to do so. Languages were on my list, and I reflected on turning away from biology to pursue writing, wondering if I could go back and complete that track. I have since started learning German on my own. My Masters solidified my screenwriting into a credential. Going back to finish a degree in biology still hangs out there as a possibility, but I think I’d rather study theology at this point (all of the theologies).

To clarify the effect learning has on my level of inspiration, let me talk about the things I accomplished during my studies. First of all, I have a series of papers, which you can review here on the site. Insights that had been missing, and thus hampered my work, were gained and the path cleared for me to create The Trailokya Trilogy. Up until then, it had existed as a single feature screenplay, and I had no intention of fleshing out the work as novels, because the effort seemed too much of a lift at the time. That might sound odd, because the focus of my work was adapting OP-DEC: Operation Deceit. Yet, some of the things I was reading and thus learning translated to this other work. That, in my estimation was high success.

Not only was the path cleared for the series, and they were written between semesters, but I made some of my jewelry, perfected my work on several recipes, reworked an old script, and got back into graphics work. I would say, going back to school and learning had definitely been inspirational for me.

Let’s hop on over and see what the other authors are inspired by…