Wednesday 9 January 2013

Beginnings blogfest



It's January 9th and therefore time for L.G. Keltner's Beginnings blogfest - for me, the first blogfest of the year! The idea behind this blogfest is to write about some sort of beginning in your life. It doesn't have to be about you, but the way I see it, it should be something meaningful to you. For a better idea of L.G.'s concept, check out her post over at Writing Off the Edge.

As for my beginning? Well, I really do love the story of how my SQUEAKY story got started, so here it is:

It was 2007, and I was at work, wrestling with the library management system. After yet another thing went wrong, I made a litte squeaking sound - the faint chitter of impassioned consternation, I assure you. At that very moment, my colleague turned to me with raised brows and spoke these fateful words:
"What are ya, a mouse?" 
My immediate response: "Yeah, I was a mouse in a former life. And my name was Squeaky McLean." 
And so mouse detective Squeaky McLean was born. And he was just the beginning of a wacko crazy ride (which is still far from over). With the invaluable assistance of my colleague, I began to jot down silly little Squeaky plot points, mostly ludicrous names for characters we didn't even know, and lines they might utter in plotlines that didn't yet exist. We had a lot of notes even before we had a first sentence.
But then things got serious, 'cause NaNoWriMo 2007 was rolling around. It seemed only natural that I should attempt to write Squeaky during that month of madness and mayhem. And that's exactly what I did. The result was a complete Book 1.
Fast forward to November 2008, and the Squeaky universe was still alive and very well in my heart. On November 1st I kicked off book 2, and by November's end I had hit 50k once again. I haven't finished book 2, but I will, and someday soon. Because even now, 6 years later, I still love the Squeaky-verse. To absolute furry little bits.
Thank you for reading my "Beginnings" story. I can't wait to read all of yours as well!


On another topic, I got a couple of comments relating to my blog's current background image, and I wanted to show you exactly where it came from:


I took this photo on the walk back to my car from work one day, and I used bits of it (flipped, cropped and mirrored) to form the background image. Unfortunately this kind of thing takes me way longer than it should, because I rely on Paintbrush to get things done. Still, it does the trick in the end.

29 comments:

  1. Squeaky MacLean sounds adorable and I'm sure tough in his own way!
    The background is awesome. I am all thumbs when it comes to things artistic, so I really appreciate the talent in other people. I don't even have a decorating eye!

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  2. Squeaky McClean is the coolest name ever!

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  3. Cool background! NaNo is extremely beneficial to the writing community. People criticize the exercise, but I just ignore them. Happy 2013!

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  4. Squeaky McClean makes me think on a Die Hard mouse. I like that!

    And here i thought I was watching at some type of freeze effect on a glass, hahahaha. My imagination...

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  5. Would love to read these stories someday Trisha! And the background image is super cool. :-)

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  6. Thanks for sharing your beginning. Squeky McClean sounds fun.

    I would have never guessed what your background imagine was if you hadn't told me. Cool!

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  7. Oh I love the name Squeaky McClean! That's awesome. Love the background too, what a gorgeous picture.

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  8. Squeaky McClean had a wonderful beginning. Thanks for sharing the story of his beginning, and how you created this beautiful background.

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  9. Looking forward to the adventures of Squeaky McLean!

    --
    Tim Brannan
    The Other Side
    The Freedom of Nonbelief

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  10. Squeaky McClean was a wonderful story!

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  11. squeaky mcclean is the best mouse name i've ever heard! great story!

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  12. Great beginnings can come to life when you least expect it. I've learned to grab on and go along for the ride when that fantastic idea comes along!

    Thanks for participating in my blogfest!

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  13. The photo is pretty.

    Squeaky McLean! LOL - I love the name.

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  14. I love the original photo!

    And I love Squeaky McLean!! Cool name.

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  15. I hope Squeaky makes it out into the world one day. I'd love to read about him!

    I have no idea how you would go about making a background image like that. You're so multitalented!

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  16. This is a great beginning, I love it when ideas come from such small events, especially when they inspire something so big!

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  17. You need to let that co-worker know you are still squeaking! Very cool.

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  18. "I made a litte squeaking sound - the faint chitter of impassioned consternation" was funny. I can totally hear that in my mind's ear. :-) Cute post!

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  19. That's a fun story! I love the name of your mouse detective.

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  20. ahaha that is an awesome beginning. Squeeky McLean very nice.

    Love the photo and what you've done with it.

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  21. I can totally hear the squeak. LOL Great post!

    Thanks for visiting my blog. :)

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  22. Of course, with a good ol' Scottish name like McLean, how could he not be great? Very clever play on words. It's always amazing where the inspiration comes from for stories, I was commenting on something yesterday about interruptive clauses, I find these too can spark new independent stories unexpectedly. My friend (a non writer) has a great idea for a storyline, for kids - the concept of which I have to keep secret - which normally I wouldn't do, but wanted my help on, as well as another storyline to do with a mince pie; writing only little things here and there already - and while I wrote a whole chapter to get her started and now have so many notes, unfortunately she's not committed, but still won't allow me to use her concept!

    Go Squeaky! And yes, the background image is really lovely. Well done.

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  23. What a wonderful way for Squeaky to have been born.

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  24. Love the story! And LOVE the picture...

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  25. Squeaky McLean is a great name and I imagine he's quite a character.

    I love the picture.

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  26. Aww! Love your beginning story about Squeaky McLean (awesome name, btw)!

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  27. Squeaky McLean sounds too cool and lots of fun.

    G~

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  28. What a great beginning story. Squeaky McLean sounds like a lot of fun! Love that photo too.

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  29. Love it - Squeaky McLean sounds super cool (and cute...feel like a need a description)! Also love your background image :)

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!