Creepy Crawlies Don't Creep Me Out Except For...

I don't get creeped out very easily by bugs and crawly thing.

I have a 6 (almost 7) year old son who is constantly showing me insects and other creatures he has found. I bait hooks and unhook fish. They don't creep me out. (This picture was from summer last year when I was pregnant)

I have a lizard that eats live crickets and wax worms. I can hold him and pat his little head. He doesn't creep me out.

A spider web full of little bugs and the spider, currently not in the picture, doesn't creep me out.
I have even touched hissing cockroaches. (Psst. It doesn't creep me out)

Centipede. CREEPS ME OUT!

All those little synchronized legs moving as it travels across the ceiling at lightning speed. Just looking at the picture makes my shoulders go up around my ears and my spine tingle as if this freaky insect is crawling down my back. Every time I walked under it I thought it was going to jump on my head. I'm so glad my camera has a good zoom feature.

Update - Please let Amigo be okay.

Good news - Amigo, the leopard gecko, is ok. He must have been too cold to move. I just checked on him and he has moved and is now in s different position. Whew! When I spoke to him he looked up at me as if to say, "What? Quit bothering me Crazy Lady I'm trying to sleep."

Please let Amigo be okay.

I noticed this morning Amigo's light was burnt out. For those of you who don't know Amigo is my very loved leopard gecko.


The light was on yesterday and it's not unusual for the light to burn out and not be change for a day (I'm not sitting watching him 24/7). At this point it's been less than 24 hours the light has been burt out. I changed the bulb but Amigo didn't move. I called him, blew on him through the hole in the rock he lived in and shook the terrarium lightly. He didn't move. I didn't open the terrarium or touch him for two reasons.

1) I didn't want to frighten him and
2) I want to believe he is okay.

I think he wasn't moving because he was too cold and he sleeps during the day anyway. I'll let the bulb warm him up and check on him later. I feel slightly sick in my stomach. I'll update the blog when I figure out his status.

I Thought It Was Just Me

I thought it was just me. I thought I was the only author who had a little sort of mascot sitting by her computer to help her write.

Often, when I am at a stand still in my writing, I turn to Marge and think about my next step or ask her where I should go from here. Beside my computer I have a small figure of Marge Simpson I got from inside a Kellog's cereal box. Why Marge? Despite being a mother of 3 to a trouble maker, a genius and a baby, and the wife to an oaf of a husband, Marge always keeps it together. She always has the answer. I have two lovely children and a wonderful husband and if Marge can keep it together when things get a little rough, I can too. Am I crazy? Probably but despite that, talking about the writing issue with Marge helps me move forward and sort my thoughts. She helps keep me focused and keeps me in the world of imagination while I'm writing. Some of the best things about Marge are she won't talk back, she doesn't tells me my ideas are stupid and she never laughs at me.

I've discovered I am not the only author who has an inanimate writing buddy. Paula Yoo, author of SHINING STAR: THE ANNA MAY WONG STORY and GOOD ENOUGH, has a little writing friend named Bartlett Bear.


Which gives me comfort because either a) I'm not crazy to be talking to an inanimate object for answers or b) if I am crazy I'm not alone.

No News Is Good News

I always say, "No news is good news." However, yesterday's "No news is good news." I received an email from Teri Santitoro of Scifaikuest accepting my sci-fi tanka for the November 2009 print edition of the magazine. This is wonderful because, not only do I get paid but, I get to see my poem in print in the contributor's copy I will receive. Though this is not a children's market it is still a publishing credit and I'm very pleased to post it here. :)

When it is published I will post the cover here.