Fridays Are Full Of Happy

Run, Edward!

<picture deleted>

LMAO!! Don't get me wrong, I liked both Twilight and Blade. (I especially like that CKR played an evil pomeranian wielding vampire in Blade Trinity, but I digress....) Someone posted this pic on twitter, and I followed the linky. I'd give "saw it first" credits, but I'm simply too lazy to go back and search it out. :P

I'm listening to the coffee brew, and anticipating word on whether or not hubster gets to come home this weekend. It all depends on whether or not there's a rain out today. At any rate, I've been trying to help him search out an apartment around Kenner. Thing is, it's hard to find a place with a short enough lease - 3 months or less, renewable without a waiting list. Oh, and preferably something partially furnished and with utilities paid. Sounds like I'm asking a lot, doesn't it? I've seen a couple listed that may or may not fall into this category. I'm gonna have to call around and ask about availability and all that.

So there's my big goal for the weekend. Apartment hunting. Creative bill paying. Somewhere in all that, I hope to get a chapter or so revised. We'll have to see how all that works out. ;0)

That's it for me. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday!

Nothing, Just Chillin

*giggle, giggle, snort*

The good news is I'm back home, the Jeep is now home, and the kids are in their corners - one sleeping, the other doing teenagerly things. The weather has been crap for a couple of days: LOUD thunderstorms, lots of glitchy lights, crappy cell phone and DSL connections. Mini has been bouncing off walls because he hasn't been able to play outside, so pretty much he and his big bubba just spend the day annoying each other.

Well, late yesterday, I decided if we were going to have food to eat for the rest of the week, the kids and I were gonna have to go grocery shopping. Bleh. Isn't that the worst when you have to do it in the rain? But there wasn't much left in the fridge. It's been a while since the stocks were this low. Anyway, I got up with Minibeast around 7, put on coffee, made a quick breakfast for him - toast and sausage with "honeybee honey" as he calls it. Once that was all settled, I decided I'd wait for Oldest to wake up and we'd go shopping.

It was a fairly sunny morning. A few rain showers. Then it dried up, turned humid and blazing hot. Around 11 I peeked around the door and Oldest was still piled up in bed like a lump. I returned to the den and did a bit of editing, then played phone tag with mom and dad for about an hour. Around 1:30 pm the rain starts again. Hm... I better get food if I'm going to do it. Tired of waiting for Oldest, I changed into jeans and a tshirt that didn't quite make me look like an island castaway refugee, found my least ratty pair of flip flops, pulled my hair into a pony tail and told Mini to find his shoes.

We are leaving out the door and Oldest throws open his door. "Where are y'all going?" I tell him we're going to the store, have a good nap and see ya later. And I went on out to the Jeep and put Mini in the car seat. I just get behind the wheel and start to crank up, when Mini shouts, "There's Bubba!" In record time - I SWEAR, less than 2 minutes - Oldest is dressed, carrying flip flops, carrying MP3 player and is out the door. Who knew that just walking out of the house worked like that?!

I get to the store and it's packed. I mean crazy packed. I suppose everyone else was trying to dodge the rain too. I planned to pick up things for a few meals, but end up picking up an entire bill of groceries. Then I ran into one of the hubster's ex-co workers. I totally adore her. She wanted to let me know the reason we hadn't seen her working at her old store was because she'd quit and gone back to school. I'm very proud of her for that, hugged her neck, and then we parted ways. We must've been in the store overall for about an hour.

Oldest took Mini with him to go out and wait in the Jeep - crank up the AC, put Mini in the carseat, and all that. However, by the time I get out of the checkout line and I'm coming out of the store, I notice they're in the lobby. Oldest then tells me, "I tried to crank the car but it wouldn't start, so we came back in here where it's cool." Which is what they're supposed to do. Bonus points for Oldest. However, if the Jeep won't start, that can mean only 1 thing - the battery is dead.

I get outside, it's raining, humid, and blazing effing hot. I immediately go to the Jeep and hop behind the wheel. Mother eff. Why, yes, the battery is dead. How do I know for sure it's the battery?

Because there is a law in Louisiana, that if it is raining, no matter night or day, no matter how bright it is outside, if your windshield wipers are on, so should your headlights be. I hope the dillweed that came up with that dumbass law spends his eternity in the afterlife sitting in the parking lot of a Louisiana grocery store thanks to a dead battery because it doesn't matter if it's raining, it's hard to tell that the effing lights are on when it's bright outside.

Of course, hubster is in La Place, so I can't call him for back up. I try to call dad. Remember I mentioned the crappy cell phone signals thanks to the thunderstorms? I managed to get through to dad, only to have his phone drop me. Next, I try to call mom. By this point, I'm hoping I don't have to go in and buy another battery, because that would just suck and come on - haven't I been through enough this week already?

I manage to get through to mom, and thankfully she's able to come and get us, before I have to knock Oldest and Mini heads together. During this entire ordeal, the two are arguing, fussing, and irritating each other. A 17 and a 4 year old. How the hell do arguments even happen on that level? It absolutely blows my mind that Oldest will even argue with him, and mind bomb x2 is that Mini can keep up with him, and often end up with the upper hand. What the heck is that? The power of cute? *_*

Anyway, mom picks us up. Oldest and I transfer Mini, carseat, and groceries to mom's truck. I tuck the keys to the Jeep in the visor. I figure NO ONE in their right mind would steal BBQ Jeep, or the box of babywipes in the back seat. As much as I love my ride, the poor thing is quite the ugly, broke-in POS. Much like my favorite flip flops. What can I say?

The good news: BBQ Jeep is home, sitting in the front yard right now getting pelted by hail from the thunderstorms blowing through. Ah, such is bliss. Dad picked up mom and went to the store after he got home from work, and together they pulled a Frankstein with jumper cables and got old BBQ running again. I swear, that is one ride that has been through it. At least it no longer smells like fish. Long story, that one.

That is pretty much the gist of my day. I did manage to get a little done on revisions this morning, so yay me. I'm pleased with how it came out, too, so maybe today wasn't a complete bust. I'm still hoping tomorrow goes a little better.

Out for now. Nite nite, all!

Get Your Mind Together

Arg. I'm so draggin ass tired today. I stayed up til 1 am last night/this morning editing the wip while Oldest watched some show on Syfy. Oh for crap. I just did the unthinkable. I typed Syfy. I still think that's teh suck. Sorry, Sci-fi. Anyway, Mini woke up at 6:30, and so I got up with him and put on coffee. A raging thunderstorm rolled in around that time, and we totally got slammed with it. The lights went out early this morning we were without for most of the day.

About ten minutes into the blackout, Mini and Oldest tied into it. Basically they were annoying the crap out of each other for the sake of it, and thereby annoying me. I threw in the towel and told them to get their stuff - we're going to grandma's, kids!

I took them over and pretty much dropped them off, then returned home and cleaned up the house the old fashioned way - handwashed the dishes, swept floors, etc. Good Pete, do I ever love my dishwasher. :P Not long after I got everything settled, the lights came back on. Big hurray for air conditioning!

I called mom to let her know I was coming back to pick up the bratlings, and she was kinda sorta, but not admitting it, glad because they'd been doing nothing but squabbling since they got there. *forehead smack*

Once I got back over there, I caught mom in the midst of a kitchen experiment. She was trying to make chocolate pie filling/pudding with wheat flour, heavy whipping cream, and a few other things. Now there's something I actually know how to do! So I stood around the stove with her and we dropped in ingredients. Mini wanted to help and decided we needed pinches of this and pinches of that. He was in dire need of a nap by this point, and at one point mom looked at me and asked, "Since when is he so smart mouthed?" Um, honestly, since he discovered Nickelodeon and shows like My Life as a Teenage Robot, but where would admitting that get me? I merely gave Mini the glare of doom, and told mom he was just tired.

We left not long after mom's pudding concoction turned out. The entire way home I had to listen to Mini yowling because he was so tired: "I wanna stay at Gramma's! I wanna ICEE. I don't need a nap-nap!"

I made it to the Wolf Stop with the Jeep's needle parked on E, and my internal bitch factor clocking 1/10 of remaining sanity power. Once home, I put Mini to bed then put on supper and checked emails. All in all, I feel like I've run a marathon. I need to get some editing done tonight, but I wonder if I'll have the energy.

That's about it for me today. I'm lounging around, surfing the net, while waiting for the Minibeast to wind down. He's had supper, a bath and his hair washed. I don't think it'll be too much longer now. At least I hope. Because my eyelids are getting pretty heavy.

Playing Catch Up

Today, I've got to prioritize at least a little bit. I've been run aground by the endless errand pile up. Seriously. I revolted yesterday and refused to do anything. No work. No laundry. Dishes - well, I went the paper plate route. I ended up watching eXistenZ on the laptop and did everything in my power to ignore the manuscript sitting on my desk. Now I need to catch up on laundry, plus I have a book feature to write, and I need to do something with this manuscript. What's that saying? You play you pay? ~_~'

I haven't checked my emails for at least four days. Everytime I'd hop into my account, something happens - phone calls, unexpected visitors, child drama. It's much the same with the phone and overlapping calls. I told my parents yesterday they are both psychic. I won't hear from them for two weeks, but the minute someone calls me long distance then they call. This has happened I don't know how many times over the past few days. I finally told mom to just come over and visit us. I mean, come on, they live fifteen minutes down the road.

I just realized how ranty this post sounds thus far, and it's not meant to be. Er, or would that be I'm not ranty? More like, I'm coming down off of a two week stress fest. Hubster is off working a job, and things are finally going back to normal.

So that's it for me. Gonna go sort emails now - after I make a pot of coffee. Have a good Monday, folks.

Sprite and Blueberries

It's Friday and the bills are paid. *rejoicing* I'll have to celebrate with Sprite and blueberries, though, because our current budget can't swing strawberries and champagne. Think anyone will notice? ;)

I didn't get anything writerly accomplished today. Yet. Maybe tonight. I'm waiting for the kidlets to abandon the den. Earlier I ran a few errands, and things have kind of slowed down, but tomorrow it'll be full swing again. We're still preparing for hubster to haul off to La Place come Monday. I imagine it'll take a few days to calm things down once he's gone. That's usually the way of things.

My parents dropped by earlier to pick up the spare lumber in our storage shed. They're going to build something? Repair something? Anyway, Mini attributed the spare lumber to his swing set and went bonkers. Totally panicked thinking his Pawpaw was there to take his playground away. That took some work, convincing him that no one was gonna haul off his yard toys. Thankfully, though, that was the height of the day's drama.

That's it for now. I'm going to get Mini settled in for the evening and maybe do a little revising. Happy Friday, everyone. I hope you all have a snazzy weekend.

Where the River Flows

So I'm kinda going with the flow today. Got a call from my fantabulous crit parnter, and we chatted until I got a call from an employer wanting to talk to the hubster. The good news is hubby will be back to work come Monday. However, he'll be gone quite a bit until something closer to home opens. He'll be working in La Place, which is north of New Orleans. So it will be me, the kidlets, my parents (down the road), and the pack of Oldest's friends and such trekking in and out of the house. Oh, and Pitbull - who is right at this moment begging me with sad puppy eyes for a pork rind. :P

The revisions are going okay. I'm going through pages little by little. I'm right now preparing to send off a few sections for Cass to review. Then it's more pages from the top of the stack.

I tell ya, what with all the stress going on here, it's amazing I have any hair left. Or that I've accomplished anything as far as writing goes. Then last night, or rather around midnight, I was sitting at my desk in the dining room and red penning pages when I heard this funky rattle-squeal coming from the kitchen. It was the refridgerator, protesting it's old age. Oh. For. Pete.

I quickly took everything out of the freezer and hauled it to the deep freezer in the laundry room. Then I went and woke hubby so he could pull the beast out from the wall and take a look at it. Apparently, some kind of plastic thing - a clear wrapper of some sort? - had made it back behind the fridge and was wrapped in the fan. I blame aliens. OR perhaps the shoe gnomes. I don't know. But after some tinkering, he managed to get the plastic off the fan and voila! - our fridge is okay. For now. I don't want to jinx myself.

So there you have it: the lowdown. Ah, the adventures in domestic living. Happy Thursday, everyone! ~_^

Give Me Candy

Good Pete, is it in the stars or something? I have been absolutely fiending for sweets. Donuts, cookies, brownies. All the things I can't have. When I ran errands yesterday, I bought a small bag of sugar free toffee bites. I ate every single one of them. To hell with a stomach ache, just give me candy!

I figured that would do the trick, but oh no. Today I hit another candy rampage, and let me just say there is nothing in the house like that. Everything is sugar free, wheat, whole foods, etc. In a snarling, ravenous rampage, I made a bowl of cheesecake pudding and sat down with that. Hubby peeked his head in the kitchen to ask what was cooking, and I gave him the evil eye. My pudding! *fangs*

I'm mostly recovered from my pudding binge - which was 100% homemade legit and all that. But geez. I don't know if it's stress, pre-PMS or what. At any rate, family, be warned. Don't get between me and the splenda.

I knocked back 35 pages in revisions last night. That felt great, like I'm actually getting somewhere, and so far there are no fatal wounds to the wip. However, I've been set back almost 1000 words. Yik. I'm sure that will work itself out later, but I'm not going to lie. That sucked big time, cutting all those words.

I made bunches of notes on the hardcopy today and keyed in some of the changes - the minor ones. In other sections, I marked what I want to rewrite. Tonight I'll be going through and cutting stuff out of the .doc file, then I'll take down a few more untouched hardcopy pages and move forward. I think I'm finally getting a handle on what needs to be done, and how to do it without working myself to death, so yay me.

That's it for now. I wish I had more to talk about, but at the moment it's kinda slow around here. At any rate, I'm going to fold a bit of laundry and watch Andrew Zimmern. lol It's a plan. ;) Happy evening, everyone.

Keeping Going

This evening feels a bit more settled than it has over the last few days. Hubster got word earlier this afternoon about a job opening in Texas. It's looking like he'll have to travel, but at least he'll be working. After dealing with all the in house drama, now that we've hit a calm patch, I'm feeling kinda zen. Once I have my cuppa tea, I imagine no one will have to rock me to sleep tonight.

On another note, I've moved forward a bit with the revisions. It's still very slow going, but I'm satisfied with what I have so far. These last couple of pages turned out really well, so I'm marching onward. I've got the next few pages marked up, and once the kidlets are off to bed, I'm gonna type those to draft, and drag out a little more hard copy. Wish me luck.
I'm off for now. I hear Minibeast clinking around in my nail polish bottles. Oy, that could be a disaster. Happy Monday, everyone.

Manuscript Bloodletting

It's been a tough day. Earlier, I went in and axed an entire scene from my wip. Granted, it was one of those that I was on the fence about, but oy, the revision process has just started and the bloodletting is going full force. Without a doubt, in a few days, my pages will probably start to look a lot like this. In case you were wondering, those notes are from Wave Rider.
Since I have a few minutes to blog and drink my cuppa tea before breaking out the red pens again, I thought I'd share a few new researcherly things I've discovered over the past few days. First things first, let me just take a moment to say I am damn glad I focused on writing this book in scenes.
That may sound bonkers or otherwise completely obvious to some folks out there, but it is something I never really considered until this point. I've always viewed the writing process as tackling chapters. Au contraire. It has worked for me with short fiction, but with long fiction it is apparently another ball game.
I realize now there's no way I could've slogged through this manuscript, even to revise it, if I'd focused on chapters instead of scenes. Apparently, scenes are like the quantum physics at work within each chapter - all important, but not casually noticeable because we tend to focus on the bigger picture. As it turns out, scenes and the conflict in them are what actually propel your story forward. Not the chapters themselves. And let me repeat this for peanut gallery: I am glad I focused on writing this book scene by scene, because I'd be sweating bullets right now if I hadn't.
If you want to know more about scene writing from someone who actually knows what the hell they're talking about, I highly recommend starting here. She has a ton of free to read writing articles that are tremedously helpful. Seriously, it's a vault of knowledge over there. Step in and ask the search box a writing question. I'm sure she's at least touched on whatever you're looking for.
Now for my actual progress. So far it's slim pickins. Over the past few days, I've pinpointed my theme, as well as three subthemes, and did a bit of fact checking. I've consolidated two characters, named a character who is important but had no name, and zapped the guy who got carried off by the plot monkeys in chapter six. I've also cleaned up two scenes. One of them I axed completely this afternoon after determining there was really no way to save it.
Overall, I've revised about 2,000 words total. It feels like there should be much more to show for at this point, but that's it - the full monty. A handful of pages. At the same time, I feel better going slow with this, instead of trying to rush forward. I feel like I'll overlook something important if I do. So until I catch my groove: baby steps. If nothing else, I can look over my shoulder and say chapter one is now behind me. It's not much, but it's a start.
Happy weekend, everyone. And keep writing. :0)

One Scene At A Time

I cleaned up a pretty good scene today, which I consider a major feat thanks to the killer sinus headache I've had since waking up this morning. I gotta admit, I'm still trying to get into the groove with this whole revision thing. So far I've worked out a few rough patches on the hardcopy, made a few final decisions I'd been on the fence about, and made notes for things to fix down the line, but on the actual revising - it's slow going. Agnonizingly slow. I wish I knew how to speed up the process, but I think it's best at this point not to rush it.
About an hour ago I realized it's Friday. Hm. Where did the rest of the week go? I have gone all day thinking it's Thursday, thinking I had one more day to get everything together to run errands. Well, I guess that gives me something to do tomorrow. Heh. Because, really, I had no idea.
Right now I'm baking chicken in the oven for supper, and the hubster has taken Mini out to the playground. Nothing monumental happening here. Maybe that's a good thing. I haven't decided yet.
Happy Friday, everyone.

Coffee is like Rainbows

I'm hanging out doing laundry while waiting for hubster to haul Mini to a puppet show at the library. We haven't yet told Mini he's going, but I imagine he'll be psyched once he figures it out. He loves the library.

I stayed up last night with the wip and realized just what a monumental task this revision is really going to be. Not that I don't think it can be done, or that it's not worth doing. Just that it's going to take a lot of work on a lot of pages to polish this story and give it the tone that I want it to have. That really sank in last night once I started going through the first chapter. It's not terrible, just very, very rough. However, when going through this thing near midnight, I'm making notes and thinking urgh...this is so not where my head is right now.

So today I'm making it a point to get my head back in the game. I'm denying the muse right now. No books, no flipping through notes or notecards. No kind of story stimuli until I get a chance to sit down with the wip. Come hell or high water, I'm going to get through this.

Whips and WIPs

So, I started on revisions last night. No actual work on the hardcopy yet, just pre-revision work. Holly Lisle recently posted this link in her writing diary and it couldn't have come at a better time. I printed off a copy so I can follow the rules step by step. I've never tried revising this way before - I usually just go chapter by chapter - but her revision process seems much more efficient so I'm gonna give it a shot. Either way I'll come away with something revised, ya know?

I started printing the manuscript the night before last, and ran out of ink. Heh. Yesterday, I went and bought two print cartridges to make sure it didn't happen again, and also picked up a spiral notebook for working out kinks with the WIP. Yay me. Then last night, as I sat down to print out the 2nd half of the WIP, I realized I'd forgotten one very necessary ingredient to successfully printing up a manuscript. An item I'd somehow carelessly left off my supply list.

I ran out of printer paper with about 140 pages left to print. *_* Ya know, I'm only guessing, but I think maybe this is something that could only happen to me. At any rate, today I have promise, promise, promised myself I'll get my act together. Srsly.

On another note, remember that dream I had about the volcano? It's wild because I was browsing webshots this morning and came across this picture that I had apparently missed when it was the featured picture of the day.

As it turns out, those formations are called hoodoos , or fairy chimneys. The thing that grabbed me about the picture when I saw it, is this. In the volcano dream, the water had receeded quickly from the shore, and there were shapes like that jutting up out of the lake bed, only on a much smaller scale. Like someone had formed shapes out of sand buckets directly on the lake bed itself.
Yeah, what's so bizarre about that, you ask? And I do mean, other than me just being weird and thinking too much? Well, I had never heard of fairy chimneys or hoodoos until I read about them this morning. Trippy. *cue ooglie booglie music here*

So now I'll probably spend entirely too much time searching the interwebz for stuff on fairy chimneys. I wonder if they have some significant or subliminal meaning? As you can imagine, I'm gonna look around and find out.

So that's it for me today. Off I go to sort through the manscript. And let me just say one quick thing.... I forgot just how big a 250 page stack of paper really is. Yipes! And there are more pages still to add to the stack.

Happy hump day, everyone! ~_^

Beginning Revisions - New Ideas

Whew, looks like this one's gonna be another late day post. Today hubster and I drove to pick up Mini and Oldest from over at my mom's house. Mini had a blast, but Oldest was raring to go home. He can't bar the bedroom door at Gramma's like he does at home with the baby gate, so he had the joy of having Mini run into his room ever five minutes and jump on his travel bed. LMAO! Mom said she had to send them both to different corners so she wouldn't have to "box their ears". I can only imagine.

Mom looked pretty frazzled too - she usually takes the kids one at a time. A couple of days with Mini, maybe a week with Oldest. This is mostly a convenience thing, but both kids know it well. When hubby dropped the kids off over the weekend, Mini told his big brother to "put your shoes on and go with daddy". LOL! He was declaring his territory within five minutes of arrival. ^_^

Anyway, everytime they stay a few days with my parents, they have to be de-programmed when they come back home. No running and shouting through the house, for example. No taking drinks into the living room - especially Mini. I tell ya, it's been a long day.

Before picking up the kids, I ran to the store and bought two ink cartridges for the Behemoth, and a spiral notebook to prepare for revisions. I started printing up the completely manuscript so I could revise off the hardcopy last night, but the cartridge ran out about 100 pages in. Typical! I'm going to finish printing up the whole mamajama tonight, and start sorting the finished hardcopy before calling it a night.

Today I also came up with another idea for a single title novel, and sat down to work out a rough outline. The characters just wouldn't leave me alone. I wrote down several pages of notes and managed to get the first chapter on paper - about 2k words in length. Now that these guys have had their 15 minutes of fame, though, I'm going to have to put them away while I focus on the finished manuscript. If nothing else, at least I'll have something to work on after the big kahuna is submission ready. If nothing else, maybe having a book idea on tap will help me head off the 2nd book curse that I've heard some writers go through. We will see...

That's all I've got for today. I wanna say thanks to everyone who dropped in with well wishes here and around the net. I appreciate it very, very much. I feel like I've crossed a major milestone, and I'm glad for having such good company to share it with. :*)

WIP Sillybration Day

Woot! I did it!

Around 1:30 this afternoon, on the 347th page of my current manuscript, I wrote the two most beautiful words in the entire English language: THE END.

I saved everything down, updated my progress meters, and closed the document file. The 90k word count has been met and exceeded, and I'm declaring the 1st draft of my futuristic novel officially complete.

Talk about a wild ride!

I'm rewarding myself tonight with a BSG dvd marathon, a huge piece of chocolate cake, and plenty of Boone's Strawberry Hill. To top it all off, gram and grampa called this afternoon to let me know they're keeping the kids and extra day. Woot! So as it stands, hubster and I will have another evening to ourselves. Hopefully any extra-curricular sillybrating won't lead to a necessary repaint of the spare bedroom, aka "the nursery" in a few months. Cuz that's what happened once before. *cough, cough*

Anywayz...Off now to go hunt down a sugar free chocolate cake while the gettin' is good. Happy Monday, everyone. Cheers! *clinks glasses*

Blame it on the Mothership

In case anyone is as yet unaware, YouTube is evil. It is the root of my internet procrastination. I swear it's true. Where else can I look up old episodes of Soul Train while eating breakfast? No, no, please don't tell me if there's actually another site where I can do that. I'm lost to the cause already. ~_~'
I hit a Don Cornelius marathon this morning while flipping through book notes, and reviewing what I wrote yesterday. Talk about Saturday morning nostalgia, complete with "homework".
When I was growing up, the last "cartoon" of the morning - which was that show where Captain Kangaroo reads books you otherwise never heard of or cared about? That show. Right. Anyway, that was followed up by a marathon of dance tv : Soul Train, American Bandstand, and Solid Gold. And, yesh, I watched them all. Or as much as I could get away with before my mom ran me out of the house. "Go outside and play in the sunshine!"
At any rate, I've spent a shameful amount of time on youtube this morning. Whenever will I learn to stay away from there? Or at least get some work done first? One video leads to another, then to another and another. I'm hopeless, and that's the truth of it. Here it is a little after 11am, I've got a handful of notes to show for and Rock Steady stuck in my head.
On the writing front, I made it t0 the ball park! I hit the 80k mark on my wip around 2-3am this morning. *confetti* Directly afterward, I closed up shop for the night and fell into bed before I kicked over.
It's safe to say I exceeded my mini-goal for the week. From here on in, I'm making a dash straight to 90k. If I can get in at least 1k a day, I'll have this puppy finished well within the month. And I'm pretty sure if I do a few writing sprints between now and next Saturday, I can wrap this one up before then. Wish me luck!
That's it for now. The guys are gone to the lake so I'm going to take advantage of the quite time to do a timed writing. Oh! One more thing... My author page at Cobblestone is now fully updated with all my available titles, including Wave Rider and Wicked Desires. Yay! I hope you'll check it out!
Happy weekend!

Writing Sprints and Wave Rider

It's been a busy morning, and a good start to the writing day! So far I've written close to 2k, thanks to a couple of timing writing sprints with Marley Delarose.

I stayed up late last night mostly due to allergies driving me bonkers. I have gone through buckets of eyedrops - ok, so not really, but I've used them alot lately. Still my eyes are itchy and dry. It probably doesn't help that I took Mini outside yesterday and sat under the huge oak tree in the back yard. What can I say? I'm a glutton for (pollen) punishment.

At around four this morning I hit the 75k mark, and I'd have celebrated Kool & the Gang style if the rest of the house hadn't been asleep. I've now hit official "book length" with my wip. Woohoo!



Oh! Before I forget, Wave Rider is out today! :*) It's available now from Cobblestone Press!




At a tropical resort in Bonaire, two sexy surfers teach Sunny to ride wave after wave of pleasure. (contemporary erotica)

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/waverider.htm

I'm a bit tired after staying up so late, so I'm thinking I better get my running done early this morning, just incase I have a nap crash later. ^_^ So, that's it for now. Off to go pay the bills. I hope you all have a snazzy Friday!

Turning More Pages

I received a gorgeous art print in the mail today from P.S. Haven. It totally made my day. :*) I won it through one of his bad ass contests hosted over at Faster, Baby!, which is one of my favorite blogs, so be sure to check it out.
It's been a tough week here so far, but I'm soldiering through and trying to keep my chin up. I recently picked up a copy of Making Waves by Cathryn Fox and Jaci Burton, so I'll probably sit down with that this evening. Tell me that isn't one gorgeous cover, btw. Sexy mermaids? Yep, count me in with a cuppa tea. Can't wait to read this one!
I've been plugging away at my wip on and off throughout the day. It's kinda been a slow writing day, but overall the project is going very well. I hit the 70k mark earlier this afternoon, and stopped to celebrate with a Diet Dr. Pepper and a bowl of pork rinds which Pitbull insisted I share with him, the poor underfed beast. :P
Since my writing mini-goal for the week was 65k, I toyed with the idea of upping the ante, but I think I'm just going to keep at it without revamping the goal until Saturday night. At that point I'll see what I've got and go from there. I don't want to set a goal so close to the end of the week and push myself to the point of burn out.
That said, the world is still turning. Can't ask for much more than that, I guess. I'm off to figure out what's for supper and do a few house-wifely things. I hope you all have a happy hump day.

Kreativ Blogger Award

The lovely and talented Emerald nominated me for a Kreativ Blogger award. :*) It is now apparently my turn to pass the torch and I had to look around carefully to make sure I haven't chosen anyone already nominated - to equally spread the love, and all that.

So here goes...the 7 blogs I nominate (in no particular order) are:

1.) And Shades of Grey - Because she's wonderful and a mean knitter to boot.
2.) The Shape of Imagination - Interesting books, all the time.
3.) Isabelle Santiago - An awesome romance writer, and new mommy.
4.)The Galaxy Express - OMG, a blog that's food for procrastination!
5.)Mimi Smartypants - I can't stop reading. *_*
6.)Yolanda Sfetsos - A hard working, ass kickin' writer. Nuff said.
7.) Midnight Moon Cafe - Yes, I am biased. While I do take care of the website, and handle some of the businessy things at MMC, it's the other ladies, particularly Cassandra Curtis, who works so very hard to keep the blog fun and interesting. Cheers, sisters. You are all more than deserving, in my opinion.

Now, I think I am supposed to post 7 things* I like...or at least everyone else
seems to be doing it, so why shouldn't I?

*And just for the record, I am hereby disqualifying all the obvious things that would fit into this category, including but not limited to family members, freedom, pets, etc.

1.) my laptop - My preeeecious... *_* I'd be lost without it.
2.)books - all kinds, ebook, print, romance, sci-fi, erotica, horror. I luv them all.
3.)Cylons - Oh, please, please, please can I have this one!
4.)the ocean - wish I lived there.
5.)celestial printed things - I'm addicted.
6.)riding with the top down
7.)Those long, midnight gab fests over the phone that last for three or more hours with my crit partner. Oh, and we even save the last few minutes of the convo for actual talk about our books and projects, lol. ;0)

That's it for today. It's been a tough one. I'll spare you all the horrific events: job loss, sick relatives, not enough Berenger chilling in the fridge. Big hugs, Emerald, for the nomination. You've truly made my day.

Summer Dreamin'

I don't want to believe it's already the 2nd week in July. Where is the summer going so fast? Can't it just drag on indefinitely until we all get bored with it, then request a season shift? Wouldn't that be the way to go? ;)

Friday, July 10th, my tribute to summer lovin' will be available at Cobblestone Press.
About Wave Rider...
Sunny Richard's vacation at an exclusive Bonaire resort takes an adventurous turn when she meets two sexy surfers staying in one of the waterfront chalets next door. Together, the men teach her to ride wave after wave of pleasure. It’s a sexy summer vacation she will never forget.
-(contemporary erotica)
On the writing front, I'm almost to the 64k mark after what has turned out to be a really good writing weekend. Since It's pouring rain outside, so I guess it's a good day to make a dash for the 65k mark. That's supposed to be my writing goal for this week, but I'm already so close to the tipping point, I may have to up the ante.
That's it for now. Be sure to drop by the MMC today if you have a minute to spare. Author Grace Draven is talking about her awesome new book, Master of Crows! http://midnightmooncafe.blogspot.com

Taking A Subliminal Dip

Last night I dreamed I went swimming in a murky lake. Alone, I waded out, although not very far from shore, and sat in the water. There I watched the other people scattered about, lying on rafts, swimming and playing with their kids, etc. It was all quiet and very serene.
The entire place looked like something out of a fictionalized martian landscape. The lake was situated in a canyon with lots of high, red cliffs with all the layers of sediment showing. The water was a rusty color from the soil. I couldn't see what was around the corner from where I was, but there was an ebb and flow to the water, gentle rocking waves like what you feel off the wakes of passing boats.

I'm still sitting there when I spot Pitbull's cheetah plushie bobbing in the water about three feet away. I'm surprised to see it because for one thing, it belongs to my dog and I'm certain I'm there by myself. So I stand up, and I'm looking for Pitbull, and one of the guys who must be here with him if his toy is here.
I stand up and shield my eyes from the sun, but I can't spot anyone I recognize. Then I feel water lapping around the tops of my feet and look down. The water has gone very shallow and there is all this jagged sand, like piles someone had formed into sand castles, and it had dried into small columns on the ground that way.
I glanced back at the beach and saw the water had completely pulled away from the shore, and other people are marveling at this as well. The water is receeding before our very eyes. I walk along the dry lake bed, the dog toy is gone, and by the time I get to a vantage point where I can see around the edge of the canyon wall, a guy walks past me and says, "Everyone's going now. They're saying the volcano is about to blow."

I had no idea we were sitting in a volcano crater, but suddenly I remembered Crater Lake, and while I wasn't exactly scared, I guess I decided not to tempt fate. I walked with the guy to the shore. We crossed the hot sand, and fell in with the other people walking along this narrow mountain path trying to get back to...somewhere. I have no idea. The geography wasn't familiar to me.
Once the lake was out of view, I looked at the guy and said, "You know, if the volcano erupts, no matter if we're here or a few miles down the road, we won't be able to escape it."
The guy said, "Maybe not. But we will have tried."
Who can argue with that?
I woke up immediately afterward, and laid there examining the details. The dream really doesn't surprise me much. I'm pretty sure this is my subconscious mind telling me the water is calm now, but to get out of a crappy situation before the ship sinks. Or at least move far enough down the road so I'm not plowed over by whatever eruption is coming. I sense it, and see the change I need to make. But oy, it's going to be tough. Make no doubt about that.
The wip is going well. I crossed the 62k barrier last night, and I'm still going strong. Doing a bit of layering in there too. So far so good. I've finally decided on the target publisher for this book, and I'm waffling over a short list of agents as well. Until then, back to the writing cave.
I'm shooting for another 1k today. Or possibly a short writing jaunt this morning, and another one tonight. Sounds like a plan.
That's it for now. I hope you all have a happy Sunday.

Happy Independence Day

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Happy July 4th, everyone! I took the kiddos to my parents house for a BBQ earlier, and now I'm sitting around with Mini waiting for the hubster to get home. It's been a pretty good day.

The writing is going. As of this morning, I'm 61k into the wip, and it's sitting at 233 pages. I'm going to try for at least another 1k tonight, but it's just whatever fills the page, since I don't want to push myself too hard when I don't need to. I already cleared my word goal for the week, and wouldn't want to shoot myself in the foot with burnout. So just a leisurely writing jag in store for tonight. ;)

That's it for now. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Friday Sparklies

I did it! Around 2 this morning I hit the 60k mark on the wip. Woot! With that mini-goal in the bag, it's time for another one. I'm going for 65k by the 10th. That will give me time to do a few plot cards this weekend, maybe write a little bit, too. That gives me a daily target of 1k each day next week, which is a doable, realistic goal. And if I somehow go above 65k, all the better. But the point is to be able to write and not stress out about it.
I plan to take the boys to my parents for a July 4th BBQ. Hubster has to work, sadly, but I'll bring him a plate back. We're going to do ice cream sundaes (entirely sugar free) instead of apple pie this year - I'm going to pick up a small watermelon too. Then there will be the BBQ itself, plus beans, and I'll be bringing devilled eggs, spinach ricotta casserole, and probably a nuke it in the microwave container of macaroni and cheese for Minibeast. He likes mac and cheese with...oh, just about everything. If nothing else, I know he'll eat that.
Well, Mini has just informed me the clock is on the 11, so that means the Panda is open. So, do you think he wants Chinese food today? :P Oldest has just poked his head around the door and seconded the motion, so I guess we are. I suppose I should go run a brush through my hair and find my Jackie O. sunglasses. Time to start the weekly run.
Happy Friday, everyone!

Attack of the Plot Monkeys

Writing along on my wip last night, I had to skip back a few chapters to reference a plot point I couldn't quite remember. I quickly found what I needed, but in the process discovered a character I'd totally forgotten about. Hm. This person simply vanishes after chapter 6, never to be heard from again.

Hear that rustling, wing flapping sound? It's the plot monkeys. They carried this poor soul away to who only knows where. *_*

Every now and again that happens to me, and I'm reminded of an errant tourist who just can't seem to ignore the long suffering tour guide who intones at the beginning of every journey. "Stay on the path, follow the markers, and never, ever get separated from the group."
Anyone else notice there is always one - one single hardheaded dingbat that just can't help himself? He just has to disobey every one of those rules? Sometimes he drags his unlucky friend with him, but he's truly at his worst when he's by himself. Every instinct tells me he deserves to be plot monkey food, but of course, I know during revisions I'll go back and try to fish the fool out of the mire. (Because I have to.)

At any rate, the goal today is 2k. That will put me over the 60k mark. I just hope I don't get down the writing road and find that lost guy from Chapter 6 trapped in a closet somewhere. I can hear his whining, angry voice already: "Where the heck have you been? I've been locked in here for eight chapters. Were you even planning to let me out?"
*sigh*
That's all for now. Back to the tour for me. I hope you all have a happy Thursday.

Approaching Book Length

I managed to get my wip up to 57k last night. Woot! It's sitting at roughly 218 pages, so now it's in that final stretch before reaching book length. I'm really excited about that. Judging by what I have so far, and the direction the book is taking, the 80-90k target range seems right on the money.

For an added boost, I've joined Holly Lisle's Write A Book With Me. It's pure, free, scrupulous motivation. ;)

My mini goal for the rest of the week is to reach the 60k mark, and unless something dramatic happens around the house, I should be able to make it. So far, my characters are still in their element and talking to me.

On a completely different note, I am long overdue in posting about the good books I've recently read. I tend to read book in short gallops throughout the day, so I manage to read a book or two a week. You'd think as a writer, I'd post more about my favorite finds...what can I say. I'm usually snatching minutes out of the air just to get the casual things accomplished. At any rate, I've had a stack of books sitting next to my comp that are really good books I'd meant to recommend. Here are two from the top of the stack:

Live Girls by Ray Garton
Welcome to Live Girls, an understated "peep show" club in Times Square run by seductive vampires who feed from, and destroy the lives of, their unsuspecting patrons.
For me, this book was a totally new concept of vampire survival. I like books where the vampires must adapt to the broad world of humans and actually work for a "living", and this is one of those stories. Make no mistake, this horror novel is graphic and very gritty. Full of horrific and some downright disgusting, if necessary, events as a menas of survival. Very interesting book that I read in one sitting. I highly recommend it to horror/vampire fans. The book does contain graphic sex, extreme bloodletting, and violence. Definitely for 18+ readers.
You can buy it here: http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/productdetail.cfm?Product_ID=1605&L1=1&L2=0

Netherwood by Michele Lang
From the phased out Shomi line at Dorchester, this book is listed as an action romance on the side, but I tend to think of it as being a pretty good cyberpunk novel.

There is a lot going on in this book with both real and virtually perceived personalities (and bodies), cyber outlaws fighting the system, a living forest, and FortuneCorp - a mega conglomerate that has become a dangerous and powerful artificial intelligence.

Netherwood reminds me of smash up of Neuromancer, Ghost in the Shell, with Skynet from the Terminator tossed in for good measure. If you're a fan of classic cyberpunk, you can't go wrong with this one.

You can buy it here: http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/productdetail.cfm?Product_ID=2070&L1=2&L2=0
Well, the guys are back from their foray into the village. I'm off of here for now - gotta make it look like I'm getting something accomplished, ya know. I hope you all have a happy Wednesday!