It is time ...

That I blogged.

But what to say about my life that wouldn't come out as an exhausted whimper? I get up at five and try to go to bed by eleven. In between I drive, cook three meals a day, hand out constant snacks, fold loads of clothes and direct my troops hither and thither. I read stories, deal with Gabe and change dozens of diapers. I try to write and research and conduct interviews when I can. I filled up my car this morning and pushed zero on my milage guage. I drove 105 miles by the time I made my last pick up.

We have Gabe in vacation bible school this week. I don't even have to take him. My friend comes and picks him up and brings him home. It's a big help to have him out of the house for three hours in the morning. And he gets to play with other kids in a way that is highly structured, which is good for him. He and the girls are going to the zoo tomorrow with their mom for a three hour visit. It's her birthday. It will be supervised, of course. But altogether, that is four hours they will be gone and I can't decide what to do... sleep? Work on nonfiction? Finish the scene in LIPS? Probably the scene. That should be a priority.

On the good news front, I told my main client what's going on and they were just wonderful about it. They're going to give me assignments with no deadlines for a while and are sending me a ton of toys, DVD's educational computer games and baby stuff. iParenting.com rocks. Go check them out.

The two little ones are on WIC and that helps replenish the amazing amount of milk and juice that goes out of this house. It looks like the federal monies are going to go through, so that will be a huge help. I started a folder just for the kids. The amount of paperwork is amazing.

Okay, I have to run to the store, straighten up the house and get to bed. Thanks for listening to me whine a bit.

Sorry...

For all the typos, mispellings, etc., in the last post. Too sleepy.

YES!

I finished an article last night! May not sound like much, but let me tell you, I felt like I'd won the lottery!

Maybe, just maybe I can do this. Now I just have to work on that scene in LIPS that needs to be added!

Lost blog

I had this great post that I worked on yesterday. Every hour or so when I could spare a few minutes I would write what I had been doing. I got all the way to 4:00 pm and when I sat down to add to it at six, my son had exited the page!

Am far to tired to try it again.

What can I say? When I am able to sit down to write I am too tired to be coherent. My agent loved LIPS and I have one scene to add and it goes out. Can't find time. I have two articles I can get out. Can't find time. I realized at 3:00 yesterday that I hadn't even BRUSHED MY TEETH YET! (but I had time to blog, shows where my priorities are!)

It's hard. But on the upside, little karen, the one we thought was a druggie baby has realy come out of her shell. She has morphed from an almost completely nonresponsive baby into a chortling, bright eyed little punkin head. You have to wonder how this affects even the little ones. they are so attached to their mother, have to be too survive, then she went from her mothers house to a foster home, to our house. No wonder she wasn't respinding much. Her trust attachment had been completely severed. Now that she has attached herself to me, she probably feels safe. Everyone adores her.

Gabe isn't doing as well. He is having a hard time because he was a totally raised by the TV kind of kid. Don't get me wrong... we love our TV around here. But when my kids were little, I limited it far more and made them learn how to entertain themselves. Gabe has a real problem with that. He fell asleep on the couch everynight in front of the television. He has decided that he loves our night time story time, though, even if we do make him go to bed at an obscenely early hour. (8:30) He loves to scare people, like walking by and then screeching BOO! in their face. Like every five minutes. Sometimes would be fine, but my nerves can't take it. Everyone hated it and we are trying to break him of it. He causes a lot of problems with his sisters. Loves to devil them. Now, I understand little boys do that... I had one:) But he is relentless. I just keep looking at the vulnerable scared little kid underneath the loud and it keeps me trying to get through to him.

I should be writing, but just can't. I will try tomorrow.

Happy Tired Fourth

Am tired. Not feeling too festive. This is the first time my family has been separated for the Fourth. The boy left to go hang with a friend and the ice princess stayed most of the day helping. She and her friend put the toddler bed together, bounced babies and gave the two year old a bath. Then she took off to a friend's house because they were having a party. Sigh. I guess they are growing up. Plus, things are pretty hectic here.

This morning went okay. Of course, I didn't have to take the kids anywhere and they didn't have school. I don't know how we are going to manage that. I did manage to get a chapter edited, though I need to add to it. Kids are definitely better in the morning. Gabe only got out of hand a few times. Our friends showed up with their babies and all the stuff they had for us, including a crib, carseats, tons of clothes, a toddler bed and a small box of toys. Mostly baby toys though... not big kid toys or books. Tomorrow my son will be gone part of the day and my daughter will be going to an ice rink in the morning. I will be alone with the young ones. No doubt my hubby will still be sleeping most of the morning, so I guess I'll see if I can do this on my own.

They are going to visit their mother tomorrow. The CSD is coming to get them and she gets to spend an hour with them. I am glad she gets to see them...but then today made me wonder how smart it is. Gabe can understand a lot. he knows we are relatives and he knows he is safe here. That it's a good place. Zoe, on the other hand is too little to understand. Today, I was walking our friends to the car and she went out with me, saw the open car doors and became hysterical. She clung to me and screamed "Zoe no go!" Broke my heart. So I guess she knows it's a safe place too.

Anyway, they are all in bed and I have to get some work tomorrow, so I should hit it.

I'll never write again...

This first night was amazing.

Gabe is hyper and vulnerable at the same time. Zoey is a doll... definitely not three. A very demanding two year old. Karen is sweet and quiet for a nine month old. I am thinking drugs may have affected her because she has the hugest head on any baby I have ever seen.

It was so chaotic. We really weren't prepared. My poor husband has had about 3 hours of sleep in the last twenty four and he did the best he could. My son came home, played games with Gabe for twenty minutes and fled. My ice princess has been a rock. But how will I get them to where they need to go? Math class? Youth council? The rink? And as for writing? Right. I have six articles to finish up this month. Maybe just maybe....

Right now I am hot and have a splitting headache.

My hats off to any mothers with young children who can write.

Just call me Saint Out of My Mind

Shannon Mckeledon sorta gave me that name.

Pretty much.

Today has been up and down and up and down. Haven't had a lot of time to think in between forms, home inspection, cleaning for said home inspection, and phone calls trying to get the stuff. The certifier said we should have no problem. Then she called and we had a problem. Seems like the eighties reached up and bit us in the arse. Snort. (no pun intended) So I called everyone and said it would be at least four weeks. Then a small miracle happened and now we are getting them on Monday again.

Up down, up down.

I will try my hardest never to badmouth Children Services Division again because they went above and beyond for trying to get these kids in our home as quickly as possible. It really is the only shot these kids have right now. Sigh.

I have been too busy to think, but frankly, when I do, I am overwhelmed. I have no idea how I am going to make this work. We live in a thousand square foot house, people! Big yard, but that doesn't do us much good in the winter.

I did no writing today, but need to get a couple of articles done over the weekend. One step at a time, eh?

Wife Swap Out. Foster Kids in.

What a difference a day makes, eh?

Yesterday, I was purusing the application for Wife Swap. Today I am purusing what I have to do to get Emergency Family certification. My messed up brother (he is fine now, but took him years) who raised a really messed up daughter (funny how that happens) who kept having babies, got her babies taken away today. My mom called me and next thing I knew, I was on the phone for hours with CSD. I haven't had much to do with these people for years because, well, just because. Ahem.

So, because we are bloody, freaking squeaky clean and the salt of the earth kind of people, we will no doubt be adding to our family for a while. Remember I have teens. Love my teens. If I ever said I hated teens, I didn't mean it. They are gods and goddesses.

Here are the ages of the tiny waifs. Six, two and a half, and ten months. Boy, girl, girl respectively.

Oh. My. Gawd.

So I have to come up with crib, toddler bed, high chair, carseats, booster seat, clothes, stoller and diaper bag. What exactly do you put in a diaper bag? Gawd, I blanked it all out!

Okay. Going to make a list.

Finally

Finally!

The one negative thing about freelancing is the random way the checks appear in your mail box. Hard to plan or budget if you have no idea when a check will come or not. We had a ton of upcoming bills due on the first. My daughter's skate club dues. My son's math tutoring. My RWA dues. The stuff that only comes around once in a while, but when it does you better be ready. We were so not ready. It had been weeks since I had recieved a check and then yesterday, one pops into my mail box as if by magic. A nice big one. After buying a big fat starbucks, I paid my bills like the good responsible woman, I am. you notice the Starbucks came first. I am a Pacific Northwesterner, after all. A girl has to have her priorities.

Got some work done yesterday. Unfortunately, it wasn't on HOT. I think I managed two pages to add to the three I did the day before. Good thing I did ten on Monday! I sent the synopsis to my agent along with another idea I had...For another YA. I am really excited about this one too. So many book ideas. So little writing time!

Honestly, I get a lot of YA ideas from my teens and their friends. What are they into? What do they watch? What is popular? I watch how they interact with what they love to do and get ideas. Some come to fruition and some just hang out in the idea file of my brain.

I know, I really should write these things down!

On top of it and my weird life

I am on top of things this week! Worked on my nonfiction to do list. Sent out article questions, did research, etc. Yay me!

Also wrote ten pages of HOT yesterday! YAY! I have to go back over them of course, but I will be finishing up chapter one this week. Maybe even part of chapter two. I have to redo my synopsis though. Not enough GMC for the hero and I didn't deal with him having a fiance well. Have to change a couple of things, but not the biggies:) It's so weird writing adult emotions since I have been writing so muchYA. It's fun. Very different.

And my weird life. I was contacted by the casting director of Wife Swap and asked if I would liek to go through the application process. Thinks my family might be a good candidate. Snicker. We have to think on this. She told me she read my blog... Um. Thanks?

It's HOT!

It got up to 100 degrees here yesterday and will do so again today. Gah! We don't do hot well. I used to love the heat when I was younger. When you don't have to do anything except lie next to a river and drink ice cold beer, hot is fun. Not so much when you have to go grocery shopping and run errands. The ice princess and I hit the beach Saturday afternoon for a few hours. Was really lovely there and we had fun together. It's so nice to do soemthing with just one of your kids. Great time for parental bonding.

But.

I finished the synopsis of HOT! All done except for some editing. I love having an idea of where I am going ahead of time. Never wrote out the symopsis before I wrote the actual book. Love it! Also found out that American Romance, the line I'm targeting only has 60,000 words, not 70,000 words. YAY! That sounds so much more doable for me. (Remember, I have been writing YA which is anywhere from 40,000-60,000. ) My Cp enjoyed the synopsis and told me that it sounds perfect. Will have to do a bit of research, but that's okay. Looking forward to it.

I have to work on an article coming down the pike and send out a couple of article ideas, but other than that... HOT all the way!

Alone

I spent last night almost all alone. No kids. No husband. Just me and the complete first season of Sex in the City. I turned off the computer, so I wouldn't be tempted, and made myself a giant cosmopolitin. Was wonderful. Then a read a couple of chapters of Patricia Grasso's Pleasuring the Prince. I didn't like it when I started it, but it has just enough oddities to draw me in and make me forget about the head hopping.

But I was alone. And it was good.

I should have cleaned the walls in the bathroom. Or deadheaded the roses. Or plotted out HOT. But I didn't. I relaxed. Fancy that.

Today, I am going to work in the yard before it gets hot and then work on HOT. I promise. I have another good idea for it and think I will start out with a synopsis this time. I like to shake things up every time I write a new book. Try something different. So this time I'm making a character list and doing the entire synopsis before I do chapter one. I am going to try for 65,000-70,000 words. I think I'm targeting the American Romance line with it, so it has to be longer than I originally thought. Never wrote a book that long before.

Wish me luck.

As a mama.... I rock!

The girls are still sleeping. Five gorgy figure skaters all converged on my house last night for an impromptu sleepover. I bbqed for them, ran them around and basically made sure a good time was had by all. The ice princess has been havign a hard time at the rink lately and this was a way for her to bond with some of the nicer skaters. See, I am always, always thinking of my kids! I think it worked too. I can see these girls making a pact to never talk behind eachother's back and planning more escapades, just the five of them. They range in age from 16 to 11. They were supposed to skate this morning, but they had the foresight to cancel their lessons and one just called her mama and said... "I can't do it," and got permission to skip the ice this morning. It's good for these girls to just be normal once in a while. They are so driven.

I also finished up two articles yesterday, so other than preparing for next months articles, I am FREE! Not that free, because one of them is due the third, but free enough. Will work on Hot and move into the front yard. Haven't touched the yard or HOT for quite sometime, so we shall see. Back to plotting and writing, baby!

How...

did I forget that I had two articles due on Thursday? Add that to the one from last week that didn't get done(thanks to the aforementioned PR person and tardy expert), and you have a week that is insane. July is filling up with articles, but on the upside I was able to go over LIPS in the wee hours of Monday morning and got it sent out. Just have to wait for Agent McDreamy to read it and we can start selling the sucker!

Now to get those articles done.

Fisher boy took off for Canada early Sunday morning. So my driving is way, way down this week. Miss him already. So quiet when he isn't here in all his six foot teststerone laden glory.

The ice princess had her competition on Sunday, as well. She bombed her dramatic. Fell on an axel, for crying out loud. But even when she is bad, her natural grace and speed comes through and she ended up placing third. WOW. That was an unlooked for gifty. She came off the ice bawling and then got third. In the team event(where four members each have to perform an element)she pulled off a gorgy double loop jump and helped her team place first. It was really no contest. Each of them did well and when the girl from our team landed a double toe, double toe, we knew we had won. The coaches put together their team from their students and the girls so wanted to win for their coach. It was awesome. They were placed first all the way across the line. Not a bad showing at all. Now we have state games. The ice princess will be doing her Intermediate short and her dramatic.

Okay, am rink bound then must come home and work like there's no tomorrow.

I have a question... (Warning major whine)

My question is thus.

Where is the life I was supposed to have?

Not that I'm complaining about my life. Okay, maybe a little. Maybe my question shold be, is everyone this busy?

The weeks pass in a blur.

Have the kids done enough school today? Who has to work? Does she have a lesson? When is her next ortho appointment? Did I take my medication today? When do I need to make an appointment for my next blood test? Does my bank do a Canadian cash exchange? If I don't pick up the dry cleaning for a couple of days, will they throw it away? What time does he have to be at the church to take off for Canada? Why did the ESD mark him as private schooled when we have been compliant homeschoolers for his entire life and why does the DMV have to have proof of enrollment so the kid can get his driver's permit? Just how long am I going to have to be digging jungle vine out of my flower bed and why is grass so tough to pull out? Why is her former friend trying to make her life hell? Why can't experts and PR people tell the truth about when they are going to get you the answers to your questions? Do I really have to drive to the rink six times today? Why can't someone else cook dinner? Why did they have to drag my daughter into a statatory rape case? How are we going to make it financially through July with me cutting back on my nonfiction for June? Will I be able to get her to the competition on time and get him to the meeting on time and not look like the walking dead? Am I going to make that deadline? How many mistakes did the skate club application have? How am I going to set up the notebooks and be volunteer coordinator for the club and vice president? Did I make the appointment for his state testing? Who is going to put together the birthday book she is giving a friend? Why does it always look like we are living out of my car? When and where is his next Youth Council meeting?


AND WHY? OH, WHY DO MY PARENTS KEEP ASKING ME TO GO VISIT THEM?

FINI!!!!

I finished up! Just wrote fini at the end of the manuscript. The new revisions changed it from third to first person and added tons more plot. To the tune of about about 10,000 words. I love it love it! I have some edits to do, but that is about it. One more go over and it will be ready to send to Jenny! YAY!

Thanks to all my talented CP's who helped me get through this. What a learning experience this has been! I am a way better writer now than I was.

I wrote 16 pages today! Wow. And I still have two articles to write tomorrow. But I will think about that in the morning. Right now I want to revel in being done!

Almost done!!!

I not only finished twelve yesterday, but chapter thirteen, as well! Plus a good three pages in 14 which I think will be the last chapter. We'll see. It is turning out so much better that I had hoped.

In other news... the reason I slept so much the night before last is because I was getting sick. Bummer, but obviously sickness leads itself to creativity!

Must press on!

The long sleep...

I slept for eleven hours last night. I was so flipping exhausted yesterday, I could hardly think. Which might account for my measly 2 pages on LIPS. Sigh. Was so looking forward to finishing up the chapter. Oh well, I guess I will have to finish it up today instead.

I did manage to do an article yesterday. Hopefully, I will do another one today before the weds afternoon maddness begins. I spend most of my weds in a car driving hither and yon. The ice princess has to go to the ice rink while the boy has math class then I grab both of them and cart them off to youth group. Then I get an hour and a half to myself until I have to go get them. Why couldn't the dh get weds off instead of Monday and Tuesdays?

There was some sort of shake up over at Folio... just heard a rumor, but not sure who got fired or who left. If you know let me know. I have a friend who just signed with someone over there and hasn't heard from her agent in several weeks and is feeling paranoid.

Got an invite to an authors and editors party that Trident is giving during Nationals. Am broken hearted that I can't go. Wah! Maybe next year.

Okay must get more coffee. I am having a hard time waking up from my long winter's nap.

Twelve pages

I did twelve pages of chapter twelve yesterday! YAY! Have five or six pages to go on that and then I am down to two chapters!

The odd thing about it is that a character who was supposed to be a name entered another scene. This is the second one. She seems to think very highly of herself. I had no idea at the beginning of the book that she would be more than just a name dropped in conversation and here she is playing a very important role indeed. Haughty wench.

But the good news is the writing is flowing well and things seem to be coming together. And at the final three chapters, that is very impotant indeed.

Didn't get a thing crossed off my list yesterday, though it wasn't for lack of trying. My nonfiction stuff just doesn't seem to be flowing as well. Maybe today I will have more luck!

I may be going to look at new cars today with DD. Our fleet is aging and I think it may be time. My daughter and I are going to share a car because I told her, once I don't have to drive anymore, it will be a while till I want to drive. Like maybe a couple of years!

Another Monday, Another to Do

Write Depends article
Get anecdotal source for Buyer Beware Fertility
Get anecdotal source for Car Seats
Get sources for Elevated TV’s
Send out questions to elevated TV’s
Get sources for Baby Shrinks
Send questions for Baby Seats
Write Car seats
Finish chapter twelve in LIPS
Finish chapter thirteen in LIPS
Plot out HOT

Plus yard work/skate club stuff/driving/checking kids stuff.

Need drinkies will travel

GAWD! I am so sick of weeding/watering/hauling/trimming, I could just spit!

My hands are a bloody freaking mess. Packed a huge pile of rose bush clipping from the backyard into the truck. (The same climbing rose I cut to shreds the other day. Poor thing. Poor thing my butt, that should teach it from sending 25 foot canes up into the trees! Of course, when it blooms in early spring it is breathaking. Must have had thousands of perfectly formed tiny teacup pink roses. But still. We call it the monster roses cause when we had it on the side of the house it grew INTO our attic! We moved it.

But.

It is looking verra nice if I do say so myself. Still have a large portion of the backyard to do and then back to the front yard. And then the barkdust. Then I am DONE!

Bout time.

YES!

My agent and her assistant Loved, Loved, loved LIPS! Did I mention that they loved LIPS? LOL I have 3 more chapters in the revisions and am SO excited! I love the direction it has gone in and can't wait to finish it. I have good feelings about this one:) They loved everything about it and they say it is going in the right direction and everything is working.

Big sigh of relief. Have so much to do, I can't write much... between the skate club, my dh's desire to get rid of some stuff on Craigslist and the yard I am pretty much swamped. Not to mention all the nonfiction stuff I have been ignoring.

Later!

Yard Work

Welp, it's that time of year again. The yard is taking a huge portion of my time. When we first moved here I became quite the master gardener. I planned, trimmed, dug and weeded. I also planted with abandon. My dh became a rose freak and we now have 13 rose bushes to go along with the 13 trees we have. We also have four separate lawns to mow including the big backyard. So my work pretty much never ends. Of course, when we moved here I wasn't writing professionally, just scribbling here and there as the notion grabbed me. Now, I. really. have. no. time. So the yard is neglected most of the time. But I give it one big push in May or June and get the beds cleaned out and dump bark dust on everything to hold back the weeds. My dh takes care of the roses except for deadheading so I just have the kids water and mow. But no one can weed/clean/rake a flower bed like me so I am the elected one. I do have to admit that it is looking very good as some of the things I planted when we first moved here are maturing. I will probably have a bbq when it is done to show it off and then it will be dreadfully neglected again.

My friend and agent sistah, Stephanie Hale, sold her book yesterday. She got a very nice two book deal from Berkley Jam. Am so happy for her and she was sweet enough to ask me if the news was bittersweet for me as I haven't sold yet. Maybe a bit, but that feeling was nothing compared to how crazy happy I am for her. How can you not be just delighted for someone so thoughtful that they would think of that in the middle of their JOY???

I'm going to go work on my manuscript. Agent McDreamy told me she would get back to me on the revisions ASAP and I would love to get the last few chapters done.

Yay me:)

Got seven things done on my list. Course, some of them were really simple. I do the easy ones first because it makes me feel better to have some lines crossed off. My husband does stuff and then adds them to the list and crosses them off. I think that's cheating, don't you?

I finished chapter ten in LIPS and managed three hours on my yard. It's looking nice. Have about 50 more hours on it to get it into shape! Still have to spread barkdust, but the beds have to be weeded out in order to do it. Why do the flowers all die in winter, but the weeds live on? I wanna know!

I am going to try to finish up LIPS in the next week or so. Am eager to move on to HOT.

No more to report!

Mondays to do

Another week, another to do.

Send revised articles to Jessica
Make new articles due list
update tracking list
Send MOM Rebecca questions
Do research for Depends article
Send out Depends article questions
Do research for buyer beware
Find experts for buyer beware
Send questions for buyer beware
Find experts for fertility article
Send Carseat expert questions
Write chapter ten in LIPS
Write a synopsis for HOT
Start a scene by scene outline for HOT
Crit CP's chapters
Get paper for printer
Send questions to brian pellerin
rewrite hockey hopefuls

Let's see how much of this actually gets done, eh? What are you working on this week?

HOT

I went and bought four HQ's yesterday. Two Presents and two American Romances. I just finished Michele Dunaway's Capturing the Cop. Really enjoyed it. I really think I like that line. I think my first book will be for etender Romance. It's about 50,000 words and since that is what I am used to writing I don't think it will be too much of a stretch for me.

I have set it in Seattle. It's a bigger, more metropolitian city than Portland is. I plotted out my GMC for the main characters yesterday and am working on creating the cast of minor chatacters. Next, I think I will do a chapter by chapter outline and the synopsis. But I still need to finish LIPS and that needs to come first.

I am loving all the industry blogs that have come out. A couple of HQ ones are very informative, especially since I am planning on writing one or two or three.

Back to reading!

Ahhhh Fiction

I worked on fiction most of the day yesterday. Ahhhh, what a relief! Lips is going very well. I finished chapter nine and started on chapter ten. The main characters are behaving well and I am excited to finish it. Chapter ten is the party and then it starts with initiation week, which will cover chapter 11-13 then the conclusion in 14. Everything is in place and it was just so bloody nice to work with characters rather than experts. I still have a couple of articles to rewrite and must finish 5 articles this month, but I really do feel as if the weight of the world has been taken off my shoulders. I am finding that there is quite a few scenes from the original manuscript can be used in the revisions so I'm not completely rewriting the book.

I am still plotting Smoking Hot and will try to get a lot of that done while the ice princess is having her lesson today at the rink. This time I am going to make a character list and hang it up next to my computer. I am bloody well tired of not knowing what color of hair each teen girl is supposed to have or what their last name is. I actually gave two characters the same last name! Scrolling back or having to do a find on it really slows down the writing process.

Oh, it was very cool... A friend invited me out to dinner last night at the last minute. We went out to an Indian restaurant and it was the first time I have ever had real Indian food. Fabulous! It was a little scary eating stuff without having any idea of what it was, but it was a culinary adventure. Perfect to get me in the mood for Smoking Hot, which is muchly about food.

On the agenda for today... finish LIPS ten, send out some interview questions, do some yard work and take a nap!

My son won!!!

He won an essay contest! This was a national competition put on by the National Guard in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Corp of Discovery expedition. They chose ten essays from each state and his was one of Oregon's! He will represent our state with an all expenses paid trip to North Dakota to take part in a youth rendezvous. He will walk the Lewis and Clark trail, take part in numorous celebrations and events, and even visit Fort Mandan. He will be gone for a week. I am so proud of him. He took forever to finish the stupid thing with everything else he has going and finished the last paragraph the day before the competition ended:) I guess I'm not the only writer in the family!

In other news... it's JUNE! Which means I am done, done, done with all those articles. Actually, I have to rewrite two of them, because I hurried so much, but I only have four to do this month so far and I am only taking a couple of more. It will be a month of fiction. YES! On the upside, I made oodles of money this month which will surely come in handy.

Oh, and does anyone know of any online plotting worksheets? Soemthing I can download that will help me tighten the plot on my cat romance? The line I am targeting is only 50,000-55,000 words long so it needs to pack a punch. I talked to agent McDreamy and she does rep cats so I am good as far as that goes. Am excited to get started!

A quickie

Blog that is. Shame on you!

Went to the mall yesterday. DD went bathingsuit shopping while I ran over to the fragrences and searched for a new fragrance. My Amarige is almost gone and I needed a new one asap. It was funny, I would have the perfume sales woman spray some on testing paper and run them over to my daughter. I think she was getting tired of me. "That smells like Raid, you know, the bug spray," I told her once. Another one smelled like a mixed drink. I'd be hauled in if I ever got stopped in a car wearing that one. After sniffing dozens of perfumes and clearing my nose with coffee beans, I narrowed it down to three. Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely, Escada's Magnetism and Ralph Lauren's Hot. Honestly, I didn't like any of the other Givenchys besides Amarige. Escada's Magnetism smelled too much like my daughter as she wears Esacada's Pacific Paradise. PP is more tropical and Magnetism is more fruity (lots of plum and vanilla) but I don't want to smell like my daughter! So I sprayed Lovely on one arm and Hot on the other and finished my shopping. I chose Hot. Lovely was wonderful and I will no doubt get it someday, but Hot is a very warm perfume with Maple notes. LOL! I like perfume with food scents. One of my all time favorites was Givenchy's Haute Couture that was raspberry and black pepper. Too bad it was only a seasonal.

Among other weekend purchases was a cocktail shaker and some cosmo fixings. Damn, I can make a good cosmo. Yes, I have been stirring my mixed drinks for years. No more! I can now make a mixed drink with the best of them:)

Today

I would love, love, love to get my last two articles done today. Actually, I have another one I can do that isn't due until June third. But if I can get three articles done today, I can concentrate on fiction the rest of the week. I would love to get the rest of LIPS done in the next couple of weeks. Then I can start on Smoking Hot. Yeah, that is the working title of my next work.

Went and celebrated the advent of summer last night. Fisherguy and I went to Mcminimins for nummy ale and pool with a friend. Had a really good time. I lurve their Hammerhead ale. We bought a pitcher of that and a pitcher of Working Man's Red. Went down so smooth. Then after I got home and Fisherguy left to jam on his Les Paul with friend, I watched the last four episodes of Sex and the City. Didn't get up until 9:00 this morning... and that is sleeping in. Felt decadent, I did!

Didn't get much plotting done yesterday, but I did jot down some ideas. Will run it past my Cp's later today. If I am going to pack it into 50,000 to 65,000 word I am going to have to have a very tight plot. That way I can work on emotion. Have decided to do it in 3rd person, which isn't hard because most cats are in 3rd person. Haven't decided on a local yet, but am working on it. I would love to use Portland, but Portland isn't very romantic. Maybe Seattle? Seattle is a bigger, more international city and I have been there it several times, so I know it's ambiance. Plus it has the Space needle and the Seahawks so it is more well known.

I always have the heroines internal and external conflict down. Have the hero's external conflict down. Still working on his internal conflict. I think it will be fun to write:) Definitely different from what I have been doing:)

Thinking about new books

I am thinking about my next book. I'm thinking about doing a short cat book. I know I have waxed on about this before, but I really like the idea of trying to pack a big love story in a little book. But now I have a concept. And it's not really that bad. It really might work. Unfortunately, I don't know how unique it is. And that's frustrating.

HA! Everything about the business is frustrating.

I think I am going to take a little time for myself today and plot out my new book. I really, really want an alphasmart so I can write when I am out and about. I need a coffee and some silence.

Rants of various sizes

Just feeling pissy.

Rant number 1. Little old women with walkers should not drive five hundred gazillion pound cars. SHOULD NOT. EVER. I'm just saying.

Rant number 2. SUV's should be banned. I could pretend that I have some big eco concern going but it's not that. I am just sick and tired of walking out of a store to find myself sandwiched in between two small mountains. Backing up out of a parking spot has become a sort of driving russian roulette in which I inch out while my children pray, "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God." I think the price of gas is just desserts. REAP IT! Ahem.

Rant number 3. Most men have a relationship IQ of about minus ten. Even the good ones. My Fisherman said to me the other day. "I have learned that you are always going to be you. You are never going to change. When I was young, I thought if I were just compassionate enough you would become a completely different person." This after seventeeen years of marriage. It boggles the mind. And yes, he has since apologised all over himself, yipping, "I didn't mean that the way it sounded," etc.

Rant Number 4 Teenage girls are mean. When I was a teen, I thought it was me. Now that I have a teen girl who was raised with loving parents and given every advantage imaginable, I have decided that it wasn't me, it was them. THEM, I tell you! Child didn't have a mean bone in her body till she turned fourteen. Or maybe it's the hair color. My darling girl has now perfected the blond toss of hair and evil blue gaze that can drop young men where they stand and make girls the world over shudder.

Rant number 5. Chris Doughtry isn't the American Idol. I thought I was over this till I heard him sing again last night. What were you thinking people???Really!? WTF???

Writing, printers and READ MY LIPS

Finally, finally got a new printer. For the last six months, my printer has been making the most God awful noise while printing. Like something between a cat screaming and nails running down a chalkboard. It finally gave up the ghost and kept giving me an error message. It's sitting on my counter right now, preparing to go to wherever printers go to die. In its place on my desk is a brand new printer waiting for the hard use that only a writer can give it. Lurve XP, by the way, because it now takes me 20 minutes to get a new printer online. Unlike the old days when it took several hours, a call to HP support and a small miracle to get it synched up with my computer. YAY!

Actually got to take a break from nonfiction this evening and was able to work on LIPS. Okay, I only wrote a page and a half, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. I am at the point now where I am mostly rewriting because the basic plot has changed so much. I am loving how it's turning out except for a few spots that I will fix later. I am pretty darn sure this is going to be the first one to sell. I sent the revised chapters to my agent this week. Hope she likes it, because I sure do.

I have three nonfiction articles left to write this month. GAH. Next month looks much better. I am hoping for a bit of a break. I want to finish up LIPS and figure out what to do next. Honestly, I would love to write a cat novel. I write tight and short and am seriously considering some of the shorter lines. I also have a NEXT book in me, as well. We shall see. Must talk to my agent about that. See what she thinks.

I don't have to go to the rink until late tomorrow. The ice princess doesn't work until five and doesn't practice on Weds. I think I will sleep in a bit. But, I am still looking for a famous person. I dunno. I just feel like this is a test that I am failing miserably. Okay, should probably hit the hay.

So long Sydney!

Okay, I admit it. I spent a good portion of this decade being an Alias Addict. I also admit the last two years haven't been that great, but I have never watched TV that made your heart pound like the first three seasons of this show! For adreniline rushes, shocks and pure sexy TV, the Alias team had it all. Lurve Sydney, lurve Jack, even lured wacky Marshall. Wasn't that fond of Vaughn, but hey, can't have it all and there is no denying the heat syd and Vaughn generated in those first three seasons was sexy, sexy. I'll miss it. (tear)

American Idol also ends this week. I think. I hope. Great singers this season. And yes, I am one of most of America who whimpered and whined when they kicked off Daughtry. (whimper, whine) Because him was just a hunk of nummy man flesh with a voice. Yum. So now, I really don't care who wins. Taylor probably will, but I'm not sure Taylor's energy can be translated to CD. The guy is a perfomer rather than a great vocalist. Love him though. I also loved kat's rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Cliche, but true. But other than that, eh. Let's put it this way... she's no Kelly Clarkson.

The end of Desperate Housewives was fun, but didn't have the same impact as last year. Will watch again next year though. I just want to see what happens. I just want to see more scenes with the sexy gardener's shirt off.

Gray's Anatomy was the real cliffhanger. My daughter booed and hissed when it ended. What a year though. It basically kept me up way past my bedtime on Sundays. I didn't want to like it cause I have been an ER fan for years(though I rarely watch it now) but I do like it, I do!

Okay, now that I have shown what a TV addict I am (Let's not even get started on my strange, inexplicable 25 year addiction to DOOL!) I will sidle off to do soem real work. Writing an article while leaping mounds of laundry, driving to the rink and meeting a writer friend for coffee. Sydney Bristow has nothing on me!

Gearing up for another one

Last week of the month. I know, technically, we have another part week, but come on, it's Memorial Day weekend. Who's actually going to be around?

Which sucks for me cause I have to do a lot of interviews this week.

My printer isn't working. Need to get that fixed cause I can't actually print out a to do list and writing one in longhand doesn't seem to have the same affect. Nothing is as frustrating as a printer that won't work no matter what you do. Must fix that.

Have four articles to do. Must do them ASAP.

Must find famous person. Please, God let me find famous person.

Must crit cps work.

Must send in LIPS with a note to agent about changes.

Must get prom pics in so I can put them up.

Must take a nap today.

Must get back to work.

What a week

I survived it and even finished, what? Four articles? Five? I dunno, lost count. The one that was due today I didn't even get the interview for until like one or something. Add in four trips back and fourth to the rink, two trips to the bank, the dd's boy trauma and a cranky husband and you have a mess. More like panic attacks all over the place.

Breath, Teri, breath.

But I am having fun counting up my invoices every time I send in another one. More work during the weekend, but hopefully all fiction. Crits for my Cp's and finishing up chapter nine on LIPS. Oh, and the prom is on Sunday so I will probably be running hither and thither for the kids. I hope they have a good time.

Only four more articles this month. June looks pretty sparse, but that is okay, after this month I'll need it. I'm thinking a picnic at the lake is in order. I dearly love a good picnic.

Now I am actually cleaning my poor neglected house. (One of the reasons the dh has been so cranky. That and he has been working for ten days.) Ugh.

Okay, going to go dust and make my last trip to the rink. Of course, I have to do it again in the morning.

A Sad Day

I got some horrible news tonight. One of my lovely neicy girls got herself pregnant. Well, she didn't do it herself... you know. So she was planning on a baby at 15. No one in the family was really joyous about it, because we knew what it would do to her life, but we all knew we would adore that baby.Today, she lost the baby in the most horrible way possible.

She was six months along and complained of a backache last night. This morning her mother rushed her to the hospital and at seven am, during the beginnings of premature labor, she was told that her baby was dead. She had to give birth to a baby she knew was dead. After several hours of labor, she gave birth to a tiny, perfect baby boy. She held him until they took him away from her while she screamed and sobbed. She hates everyone and everything right now and my sis in law is broken hearted. She said there is nothing more horrible than seeing your baby in that much pain and not being able to help. We didn't find out about it until late this evening as no one wanted to leave her. She was depressed before, and are afraid of what neicy girl will do.

So, so sad.

Oh good grief

Doing pretty damn good on the old listy. I interviewed the hockey coach, found a bunch of experts, worked on LIPS and over all kicked some serious writing booty.

Am meeting with a writing friend this morning to talk about writing and writing related topics. So excited. So fun. Would love to get together with a small group of woemn for goal keeping or perhaps plotting sessions. I rarely make it to the chapter meetings cause they are on Saturdays. My Saturdays include running the children around most of the day. Anyway, I have a friend who has a group like that and it sounds like fun. I could use some fun.

More later.

The More Later Part

Loved going out to coffee with writer friend. Loved getting out of the house. Hate having to drive to the rink this afternoon and hate having to go to another bloody board meeting. Am PMSing and hate just about everything about the rink right now.

But I am not whining! No Sirree!

Mondays To do

A couple of items are from last week. Didn't get everything done. Sigh.


Get coach interview for Hockey Hopefuls
Write Hockey Hopefuls and submit
Write up questions for prolapsed uterus, cervix, parents in control, and asthma pregnancy.
Get Anecdotal Sources for Prolapsed Uterus. (If this happened to you, please get in touch with me)
Get anecdotal Sources for Cervix Article (Ever had cervical cancer? I wanna talk to you!)
Get Experts for Parents in Control
Get Experts for Asthma during Pregnancy
Get Sources for Parents in Control
Get Anecdotal Sources for Asthma Pregnancy
Find Source for Celebrity Depends article
Finish rewriting Chapter eight and nine in LIPS
Contact new CP
Crit last to chapter for BBH
Write up some queries and send out.
Write and submit prolapsed uterus
Write and submit all about the cervix

What's on your to do list this week?

When it doesn't come together

I hate when things don't come together. Currently, I am working on an article that isn't coming together. I hate telling my editor things like, "I'm sorry, I wasn't sure what the focus was," or I'm not getting any good responses," or how about, "I know the study says this, so how come everyone is telling me that?"

Especially when it's all about the same article. Things like this have happened before. Sometimes I get the feeling an article is cursed. Anything that can go wrong, does. Experts flake out on me at the last minute. The information points in a completely different direction than the assignment. You can't find an anecdotal source to save your life. That sort of thing.

My editors give me a lot of leeway cause I have proven myself to them over and over, but it's still humiliating. Unprofessional.

Sometimes ideas don't come together. I pitched my great idea to my agent and she hated it. Really hated it. Though it was creepy and not in a good way. Sigh. One example of an idea that didn't come together.

Sometimes scenes don't come together. I wrote a love scene in my book over and over because it wasn't coming out right. (Yes, a love scene in a YA that was hot but not fulfilling, if you know what I mean.) I have trouble with other scenes and have to go back and look at the purpose of the scene. What is the conflict, the goal, the motivation. Usually, when I strip it all down I can figure out what's wrong with it.

I need to finish the article from hell and then I can work on my fiction. Kids are gone for most of the morning and though I should be going to my chapter meeting, I think I will have to skip it.Um yeah, especially since it's in five minutes!

On writers and Whining

Well, slap my face and shut my mouth!

Garrison on the topic of whiny writers. Ahem!

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3791084

Art or business?

You know I have always prided myself for looking at my work as a business. I am a freelancer who gets ton of assignments. The editor tells me what to do and I do it. I like the give and take of CP groups. I like an agent who says, let's do this, this and this. So imagine my surprise when I felt myself balking at more rewrites on my wip. I don't mind cutting here and there. Adding this and that. But I am feeling like the first three or four chapters are pretty good. I'll change the synopsis, but there are things in the story that add the heart. My protagonist is a deaf girl, for crying out loud. I don't want to lose the fact that she is deaf and has had more struggles than most of us have ever known or dreamed of. I am not sure if I want her to be slick and packaged.

I hesitate to call my work art. (In fact, I am going through a my work sucks kind of week) But how much should we change our vision to meet market criteria? It would be easier if I were published, I think. More confidence.

So I am going to have to figure out what I am going to do now.

Had a great idea for a new work that I am going to pitch my agent this week. Do some more plotting for it.

Other than that, I am in nonfiction hell with more interviews and outlining than I can possibly mention. Why did I take so many assignments this month, Lord, why? Oh, right, the money.

Better get started.

San Jose!!!

What a wonderful time!

Made three fabulous new friends (Hi Kerensa, Delle and Laurena!) All chapter mates and now best buds. Food was good, beds were soft and there were so many agents and editors I lost count. I will never again belittle the importance of conferences. One of my friends ended up with the last appointment of the day with her dream agent. The agent was so enthralled she bought her a glass of wine and they talked for another hour. My other friend came up with six requests and we ended up practically closing down the bar with my agent and Sara Crowe from Harvey Klinger. (One of my agent's best friends)

Oh, and I LURVED my agent! Jenny and I got on fabulously well and had several private meetings. Hee.

Julia Quinn spoke yesterday morning and it was awesome. Also heard/met Catherine Coulter who is a lovely person. Will have pictures soon.

Also got to chat with Kristen Nelson while we waited in line to get our books signed. How fun is that?

Plus I bumped up to first class on both flights and it was SO worth it. I never rode in first class before so it was a new experience.

Also came up with a fabulous new idea for a book. Am so excited!

But this month have a gazillion things to do. I have eleven articles due. Have to finish revising LIPS and do some plotting on my new book.

I'm not even going to put my to do list on here, because you all would think I was pulling your leg!

Oh, oh, Rachel!!I met Miriam and we talked about you!! She says she's excited to meet you at RT:)

I'm outtie

Got a ton of stuff done and almost ready for tomorrow. Hey, that's optimistic, but I am in a better mood today. DOn't know why. The washer has been fixed so that helps. At least I'll be clean. I sure hope they serve drinks on the plane. I is gonna need them. Will report back when I get home!
Teri

Warning: Bitching, moaning and whining

Why me, Lord? Why now?

Wh-wh-whwhyyyyyyy?????

• Why did both of my children's laptops take a dump on me this week? They do cyber school and no laptops means no school! Why????
• Why did my washing machine blow up on me? I need clean clothes to meet my agent in. I can't introduce myself in dog hair covered, coffee stained clothes with M&Ms stuck to front like happy polka dots.
• Why did my daughter's coach choose right now to bitch about this and that? WHYYYYY?
• Why did Meier and Frank have to lose the jacket I placed on hold for presale? The one that would look so cute with my camis and made me look like I lost weight? Why?
• Why does my agent want me to revise LIPS again? Why??? (Okay, I know why and agree, I am just on a roll here.)
• Why do I have to run four different places tonight? At the same time?

Okay done whining. Have an article to write.

Surviving

Or things I managed to get done yesterday:

Get sources for toy IQ article
Send out questions for IQ article
Get interviews from Nick and a hockey coach
Send out soy questions
Make out new member packet
Write out application for FS club
Pick up Megs prom dress
Make appointment for dog’s hair cut (not only made the appointment, but got her hair cut!)

Okay, so I kicked some serious booty. Gonna have to keep that up all week if I am going to get out of here on time.

Am too excited! This will be my first RWA conference and I get to meet my agent. Am having much trouble finding clothes that will be appropriate and look good. There is a pair of pants I want to get at Chicos... so chic and so comfy. Must have them. Must remember to wrestle credit card from DH.

Must go write or some such thing.

I'm leaving on a jet plane

And my to do list is out of this world.


To Do List

Get sources for toy IQ article
Send out questions for IQ article
Write IQ article
Get interviews from Nick and a hockey coach
Send out soy questions
Make out new articles due list
Get sources for Pull Ups articles
Write Hockey Hopefuls
Get sources for Parents in Control article
Get sources for prolapsed uterus article
Finish shopping for trip
Pack up stuff for trip including numbers and list
Crit two chapters for Dawn
Send Dawn CP hopefuls
Make out new member packet
Write out application for FS club
FS Board meeting Tuesday night
Get hair and eyebrows done
Get info for prom registration and send out
Pick up Megs prom dress
Make appointment for dog’s hair cut
Find weekend rides for kids

Rose City Reader's luncheon

Was fabulous. Really a blast. I met Serena Robar, who was practically out of her mind with excitement because the Border's people were selling copies of her book at the luncheon. The book isn't out till next week, so she wasn't expecting it. Either that or she's always out of her mind.

I also met the lovely Shannon McKeldon and her daughter, Jess, who knows as much about romance and books as anyone I have ever met. What a treasure that girl! My son is my reader but he's not much into romance novels. Shannon was as sweet and funny as I thought she would be and I want to live next door to her. Not only is she like the perfect friend, but she has hundreds of books. (I cull mine all the time due to space restraints) The food was, well, eh, but what can you do with a buffet? Besides, by the time we got food we were gnashing our teeth as most of us had starbucks for breakfast. We would have eaten anything. But our goodies bags held chocolate and that kept us from attcking the tartlets in the gift basket at our table. Which Shannon won. Lucky gal, though Serena was an ultra lucky one, winning three raffle baskets full of goodies. Shanon won two. I got nada. I did win a door prize with a couple of books in it. But I really wanted a basket... oh well, between Serena, Shannon, and the goodie bag, I now have a ton of new books for my TBR pile and I even was gifted with a sweetly scented candle and a bottle of wine. (thanks chickies!)

Elizabeth Boyle was a wonderful speaker. Had me truly laughing and wanted to come home and write. And Oregon Literacy got to take home some money. YAY!

I hope my new peeps had as fun a time as I did. they are welcome to hang out with our chapter and me anytime!

Plus Serena said something to me that was so profound I think I am going to have an epiphany from it. Will write on that later.

What a difference a few years can make

I picked up a new market yesterday. I hadn't really planned on looking for any new clients, but what you plan on and what happens are often two different things. It's been a while since I truly researched new markets. I kind of miss the hunt. The excitment when one comes through. If I had nothing else to do but write, I would probably do it a lot more. But as it is... I'm in the car a bit much. I can't really write full time. Especially full uninterupted time!

But what was really cool about this, is that the turn around was so quick. He love my resume. I remember several years ago I had to work to make it sound good. When I first started... yeah. It was bad. Now, it looks pretty darn good. And I can also add: My fiction work is currently being represented by Trident Media Group. Pretty darn cool.

I am done with nonfiction for the month. Get to concentrate entirely on my fiction which is nice. I just finished reading my CP's book. Is wonderful! Except I was so involved I didn't crit it. Now I have to go back with the red pen. Must get to that as well. I put that under fiction. Oh and I have a bunch of club stuff to get to, as well.

No one answered my question on character arcs... must find a list to ask.

Have a Big Readers Luncheon to go to tomorrow. Going to meet the fabulous Shannon Mckeldon and the talented Serena Robar! Woohoo. I really should figure out where this place is! The weather is going to be absolutely gorgeous!
Can't wait!

Scene Arcs

Well, maybe I should call this chapter Arc. I just finished writing a love scene yesterday. My agent asked for hotter so I gave her hotter. But after I wrote it. I got all paranoid. Is it too hot? I mean, we are talking teens here. Sent to CP Shannon and got a big NO! Whew.

But am having trouble with the chapter as a whole. I think this is one of the problems with rewriting a book. The uber talented Jaci had to do it with Demon Island. When you get given a wonderful idea that changes so much of the book you are both "Yay" and "*&%$" cause it means rewriting a good portion of the book. Not just revising and editing. Rewriting. Changing the focus, the plot and character. I have found that isn't too difficult in the first half of the book, because of the way books start off building to the climax, but now that I am on chapter seven, I am realizing that more and more is going to have to be rewritten. Which is fine, but that also means slashing scenes and subplots that I adored.

In the original chapter seven, the boy and girl have a fight that helps explain some of the boy's inexpliciable behavior in the first six chapters. Well, since I added the very hot love scene, I needed to get to the fight from a different angle. But now I have the love scene and then the fight and the orginal seven ended up with them having a real date. I think it's too much to ask from one chapter. It seems rushed. So... what now, what now? Slash date. They can sorta make up. But no date.

Okay on to chapter arcs. How many people plot their chapter point by point? How do you make an arc? What the hell is an arc anyway? Cause I have a slam dunk synopsis, but it's time to start the serious rewriting and make the book more like the new synopsis. I need to understand this concept. What about Character Arcs? I think I get what it means on an intuitive basis, but for the purpose of improving my craft, I need more.

Thank you people. Oh, and if the above post seems a bit scattered, it's because I was up sick all night. With an unmentionable (only because I hate the word. It's creepy sounding, not gross.) milady.

A Tuesday To Do

Okay, was far too busy doing yesterday to make out to do. So here it is a day late.

Make out new member packet for skate club.
Make out hotel list for skate club.
Finish editing chapter seven and eight in LIPS
Flesh out new idea/write synopsis
Query editors for May work
Write Sperm article (This one just keeps hanging over my head!)
Research a few new markets.
Get ready for San Jose writer's conference. (shopping baby!)
Crit CP's last two chapters.

Okay, that's it for this week. I think that's enough seeings how it is already Tuesday.

Oregonians and weather

It's been a sunny weekend. Probably the first sunny weekend since November and that didn't count because it was freezing.

Pacific Northwesterners love them some sunny weekends. Don't get me wrong, we love the rain too or else we wouldn't live there. After a hot summer, that first mist is amazing. We actually head outdoors and drink our coffee on the deck soaking up the moisture. There's a great commercial for the University of Oregon that depicts a graduation in the pouring rain. A girl walks up to get her diploma with an umbrella over her and proceedings come to a dead stop. She looks around and then drops her umbrella and everyone cheers. She's one of us now.

But after several months of rain, that first sunny weekend is like Mardi Gras, Christmas and Cinco De Mayo all rolled together. Perhaps it's a reminder of why we live here. The softness of the breeze, the color of the sky when cleared of clouds and the fresh, sweet scent of growth. But I think it's the greens. Not just one green, but so many shades of green it boggles the eyes. Greens so bright it almost hurts to look at them.

As I was driving around yesterday, marveling at the greens, I noticed how many people were out. Families walking to the park, little leaguers playing ball, and men and women mowing, weeding, planting. Walkers with dogs, joggers with ipods. Kids on bikes. Neighbors were chatting. Nursery parkinglots were over flowing and the barkdust people were hauling chips by the loads. You'd have thought it was a national holiday. Okay, so it was Earth Day. But here it was a sunny Saturday, so fresh and clean it might have been washed by God. Well, it sort of was... washed in three months of rain.

Sure does wonders for the blues:)

The cure...

for da blues, iSh apple martinis. Like big liquid jolly ranchers with a serioush kick. Screw the gh;-)

Oh... and the shun came back out.

Cheers!

I got the blues

How am I blue? Let me count the ways:

1. For one thing, I'm pmsing. Oh, Lord, why did you design me to be at the mercy of hormones? I know you are Lord of all things, but why did You, the Being that created the heavens and the earth, the cells and the platipus for crying out loud, design me to be at the beck and call of hormones running from a gland at the back of my head to my ovaries and then all through my body? I wanna know.
2. For another, it started to rain again after two days of loveliness. Not long enough. It's like a giant cosmic tease to show us exactly why we live in the Pacific Northwest and then take it away again. March was one of the rainiest months ever and April has been no better. We get two breathtaking days of sun and then it's gone in a puff of mist. An author once said, "People in the Pacific Northwest have as many names for rain as the Inuits do snow." I believe it.
3. Cigarettes are bad for you. Why God, why? Enough said.
4. My book hasn't sold and may never sell. The RWA GH scores were absymal. I have one of the best agents in the business and it still hasn't sold. It seems as if everyone is selling except me. Why??? I wanna know.
5. Why do fifteen year olds suddenly believe that their parents, who have lived rich, full and eventful lives, are stupid? Don't know squat. I say wait a couple days before you do anything rash and she waits exactly 10 minutes. We say don't use your cell phone anymore the bill is gonna be big. A dozen times we say this. Then we get the bill. $736 dollars. Then she throws a fit the next day when we tell her she has to help clean the garage. Why, God, why? I wanna know.
6. My mother is back in the same state as I am. Why God, whyyyyyyyyyyyyy??????
7. Cigarettes are bad for you. Oh wait, I already put that. Oh well, it's worth repeating.

Can you tell I want a cigarette? I got de blues baby.

Heros

Diana had a post on her blog regarding heros. Specifically, Narnia heros. I was thinking about who did it for me both in books and movies. Here's a short list.

Ponyboy Curtis
Sodapop Curtis
Dally Curtis (I loved me some Curtis boys!)
Gilbert Blythe
The dark haired guy from Alias Smith and Jones.
Will from The Lords of Discipline
The Princes of Troy (Both of them, so romantic and tragic. Not to mention gorgeous. They did it for me way more than Brad's butt. Sorry Gena!)
Colin Firth in Bridget Jones Diary.
Chris in the Morning from Nothern Exposure. Loved him on Sex in the City and my Big Fat Greek Wedding too, so maybe it's just him.

I could probably think of more, but I have to get to work and thinking of gorgeous men this early in the morning is a little distracting. Which fictional characters do it for you?

Lalalalalalala

So far so good. Sent in my LIPS proposal. Some of the finest writing I have ever done. I sent in the revised synopsis and the first five chapters. Am busy rewriting the rest of the book. Am having a bit of trouble with six and seven. I had to kill a favorite scene in order to make the new version move faster. More dirt, less awwww! Better pacing too. So fun, so fun.

I have other ideas I want to get started on. One is about a couple of soon to be step sisters who are deadly enemies at school. I have a funny idea for pretend magic that was generously given to me by one of my talented Cp's. The other one I am toying with is called Homeschool Chick. A girl who has been homeschooled all her life starts in a regualr public highschool. I have a lot of funny ideas for the happenings at school, but I need something more. A hook of some kind. A plot would be good. Snort. Plus I am not sure whether she leaves school at the end or stays in. I think I would probably offend a lot of people by having her value the freedom she had as a homeschooler and decide to walk out.

Nonfiction is going better. I spent the last two days gathering sources and getting interview questions written. I have four articles to finish before the end of the month, but I think everything will pan out just fine. Still have a lot of work to do, but I don't feel so overwhelmed.

So Lalalalalalala!

Oooops

Um, I did something. The other day when I tried to put that link in? I did soemthing I don't think I was supposed to and now I have no links at all to the right. I need to be able to get to my blogs.

Can someone fix for me? I have tried a lot of different things, but can't find them. Does someone know a smattering of html, or at least can recogonize something that would clue them in on what I did? Jill, Rachel?

Sob. I can't visit anyone!

Update: Diana told me how to fix it, but I took the cowards way out and just deleted the post. I am off to visit everyone!
Teri

All Jumbled up

I am not awake yet so I am going to just jot down the things I have to do this week even if they are not writing related. I usually make two lists.

Call in prescriptions for my medications and husbands.
Get sources for So long to Soy.
Send out questions for Sperm article(I lost everything in the email program crash)
Find Sources for FOlic Acid peice
Find Sources for Pregnancy and Anti Depressents.
Finish Revising Chapter five in Lips.
Get at least three chapters critted for CP.
Work out, what three times?
Cook three dinners this week.
Light a candle for OTE. (Sucker needs it!)
Check out Calendar and see how many trips to the rink I can consolidate.
Stop capitalizing completely random letters in a sentence! GRRRR!
Um Mail Taxes (Need to put that one at the top of the list, eh?)
PUt together new member packet for Skate club
Call hotels and see which ones will give us discounts for competition.

Okay... I am outta here. this is sort of depressing. Oh, I have the greatest picture as my background. It's a lovely picture of an Aruban beach. Palm trees, tiki huts filled with booze or something. And two chubby tourist, a man and a woman, laying in lounge chairs soaking up the sun. My son was like, "What's the fat people doing there?" That's when I told him, "Don't laugh, that's me and your dad in ten years!"

Still dreaming of the beach:)

Overbooked

I am frantically overbooked today. Drive the kids to the rink, come home meet with the people who are buying the truck. Take money to the bank. Get kids at noon and bring them home. Try to get a hold of a source so I can finish an article and send it in. Take Son up to the zoo so he can meet a girl I don't like and don't trust. Rush back home. Check over Meggy's school work. Finish article and go over the synopsis notes from my agent. Rush back to the zoo in rush hour. Come home. Make and eat dinner. Rush back to the rink because dd has club and ds has to work again. Rush dd over to her boyfriends hockey game. Come home relax or collapse for an hour until I have to go back to pick Ethan up at the rink.

Can we say major anxiety attack here? Especially since Dh woke me up at 5 am. I am going to feel like crap for the rest of the day. It is going to suck. Is this really a life?

Okay. Breathing deep here. I could use a drink... even if it is 7am. Thing is, I can't drink today at all. Too much driving to do.

Whimper.

What's for Dinner

I have a confession to make. I am really tired of cooking dinner for my family. Now, remember, I homeschool and my hubby has always been on wonkey shifts so when the kids were younger, I might have to make six seperate meals a day. Yeah, six. As they grew I became so busy with driving, writing and homeschooling that I couldn't cook that much. So when my kids came of age, I created the make it yourself meal plan. Also known in my family as the FEED YOURSELF!!! diet.

Fortunately, my children do feed themselves. Unfortunately, they don't feed themselves well. My son likes carbs. My daughter likes pepsi and chocolate poptarts and I will eat anything that is fast and can be eaten with a book. Since I did away with the kitchen table to make some room for my office in the diningroom, I almost completely killed family meal times. I think we've all put on weight except my daughter who skates a couple of hours a day six days a week.

It's not like the husband doesn't help. He cooks several nights a week for us on his days off. But I am really going to have to get it together. So I am resolving to try to make the dinners a week. Then maybe I can make a couple of breakfast. Maybe. I don't want to take on too much.

Tonight we are having ribs marinaded and grilled on the bbq, pasta and grilled red pepers. A real meal.

hey, don't judge, my kids are 15 and 16... and they both know how to cook. Sorta.

Recovering

I'm still trying to recover from the weekend. The guys went fishing and it's just the ice princess and I so it has been pretty nice, though I did have to go collect boyfriend. They walked down to the shopping center to hang out while I tried to get some work done. Not going well. I need my synopsis to be approved so I can carry on.Am having trouble in my nonfiction world as well.

In fact nothing new to report, after all.

WOWZA

Dear son and friend had fab time at Fall Out Boy/All American Rejects concert. We didn't get back till midnight. Went to bed a little after one am. Got up at six. Drove to Vancouver about an hour of freeways from here. Freeways, people. I can't even tell you what driving on freeways does to me. Can we say pass the xanax?

Daughter competes in spins. Does a fantastic job. Gets third. Competes in jumps. Places fourth out of five. Not so good. We have about five hours till she ocmpetes again. Then the conversation with dh.

Him: "What do you mean your not coming to get Ethan and taking him to work?"
Me: "It would take you thirty minutes to take him to work."
Him: I worked a twelve hour shift! I have to work another one. What if I can't get back to sleep?"
Me: "You'll get back to sleep. It'll take me an hour and a half round trip at best."
Him: What are you talking about? It's nine miles! You just don't want to drive. You're being selfish. I have to sleep."
Me: (So pissed off I don't even catch the nine miles comment) Fine, whatever! I'll drive it!"
Him: Fine!

So I drive back on the freeways in pouring rain. An hour to get home to take my son to our home rink to work. Another hour to get back.

Another conversation four hours later after dh talks to daughter.

Him: "Oh my God, why didn't you tell me you were in Vancouver!?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Him: I thought you were at **** (The home rink) Do you know how much it cost us in gas for you to run all the way home and take him to work?
Me: "Go suck monkey butt."

Actually he apologised his arse off for making me drive like 150 miles to do what he could have done in 25 minutes.

I went out to lunch with ice princess and charged multiple cosmopolitins. Take that.

Oh, and the ice princess got third in her short program even after not having the right cut of music and having her boyfriend there watching. So proud of her for pulling it together. She fell 4 times in warm up and her boyfriend was really nervous. So cute!

I have more OTE news. An editor really liked my writing and the premise but had soem problems with the plot. She said she would be happy to look at the story again if I revised it. Since she is the only editor who had thos eproblems we are going to wait before doing anything.

Oh well.

This and That

I slept for four hours today. Of course, since I stayed up until after one last night and got up at six to go to the rink this morning, I really needed it. Now my whole day is off and the article due today is still only half finished. Gah.

I finished Jill Monroe's book, Sharing the Darkness, last night. She is a fab writer.Great tightly written story too.

Ummm what else. In a fevered pitch to get ready for competition on Sat. Tomorrow she will practice from 7 to 11 and then we will run to the bank so she can cash her check and get all the glitter stuff she needs. Then I drop her back off the rink for a little R&R with her friends and BF and will drive my son and a friend of his to a concert. (about an hour south of us) Will hang out at the inlaws who live right down the street from the concert hall. Will wait for call pick them up and take them home. The next morning, I get up and have to have my dd to the competition by eight am. (About an hour north of us.) Will be there ALL day. From 8am to 5:15. UGH! Will find a restaurant with many drinkies.

Sunday I rest. Sorta.

Am looking for another book to read. Going to hit the bookstore sometime this weekend for some good YA. Any ideas? I want to get Twilight. What else?

I got news!

Not the news I wanted cause it is both good and bad. But, I will just concentrate on the good. Berkly passed on ON THE EDGE. They said it was too young for them. (I really thought the editor would go for it because she's a big skate fan, but no. I think it's too sweet. More on that in a minute.)

Aladdin/Simon and Schuster passed... because it was too old for them. But the editor for Aladdin loved it so much she mentioned it to an editor at Simon pulse who called the agent and requested it. The editor told my agent, and this is a direct quote... " I thought it was compulsively readable, and that Teri did a nice job of weaving behind-the-scenes of skating life with a juicy, soapy story."

That will keep me going through the next round of rejections!

On to the sweet thing. Skate girls are sweet. Not that they can't be competitive bitches, they can and I show that. But they are a bit slow on the growing up side of things because they don't have the time. The skating community is filled with late bloomers, coaches who were late bloomers and helicopter parents. My daughter, at fifteen, is the first one of her crowd to have a boyfriend... when she showed up with a small hicky, you would have thought that she was turning tricks on Broadway from the reaction she got from the her two coaches and a couple of the other girls. She's already shown it to me in that proud, but embarassed way that you have when first love is blossoming, and I had to do major damage control between her and her coaches. GAWD! I didn't think it was that big of a deal. And this is my main audience. Yes, I will be reaching teens who dream of skating, but in order to depict these girls honestly and not offend the intended audience, I have to write them sweet. Parents will be buying these books for their girls.

I can write edgy and don't have a problem with that, though I doubt I will ever have teens having rampant sex. But this particular book is about 15-17 year old late bloomers. So, I might have a really hard time finding a publisher who understands that.

Okay, off to read the quote some more and get some work done!

Losers

They couldn't get my missing files back. Gah! The Geek found them, but they were corrupted so he is going to run some stuff at home and then try to open them here again... and he is going to help out.

I need my files back!!!

Ahem.

Other than that no news on nothing. Bah. Everyone else has news. A sale here, a final there. But I have none. Just a stinky computer that ate my files. Time for chocolate.

Outlook Express?

My Outlook express weirded out on me during a compacting thing and swallowed some very important files. Like my invoice files. And several files containing interviews for due articles. I have the geek squad coming on Monday to try to recover them.

Can we say depressed? I really needed those files. I mean my invoices are all sent and I have them marked in my books, but I don't have the actual files so I can forward to my clients if they don't pay me and say, "See, I told you I sent it!"

I am bummed! Too busy for this, let alone can't really afford it! But just one of those files is worth the money for geek squad.

Sigh. I should go write on something, but haven't been in the mood.

week in review

Today's Friday, right? Shaking head. It just flew by. I really didn't get anything done. I got started on the LIPS synopsis. Am rewriting LIPS again. Agent gave me some killer ideas, so here I go again. (Does anyone actually say killer anymore?) But I haven't gotten that far. I have two articles I could be doing and haven't. No motivation.

Of course, darling husband has been home for the past few days doing amazing busy-busy. That's sorta distracting. Men who do laundry are so sexy, don't you think? And he made three dinners. I helped, but we were alone all three times. Dd was at friends house and ds was traveling around Oregon and Cali in a van with his friends. So we were alone, left to sip wine and ale and cook together. Twas wonderful. Can't even tell you.

So I didn't write much. Not nearly enough. I did get stuff done like looking for sources and stuff like that. (If your DH had a low sperm count, I would love to talk to you!) But no real writing.

But that's okay. Sometimes you have to actually get your arse out of the chair and live, you know? Otherwise I wouldn't be a very good writer:)

Phone interviews blech

Okay, I'm weird.

I really hate phone interviews. Yes, you get more than by an email interview. Yes, you form a better relationship with the source. But no matter. They are a pain in the ass. Cause than they know you and have your phone number. I had one source who contacted me forever. Forever! Wanting me to use him in more articles. Etc. Talk for an hour each time. Also... you have to make sure you call or are at home at the right time. You have to be prepared. Instead of just emailing it whenever and then getting it back and using it when you want to, you have to beready to talk about the subject at hand on someone else's schedule. Plus with email interviews I get a hard copy of every quote you put in the article. Every one. See, Mr. Lawyer. They sent this to me and in good faith I reported it. Plus, okay, another weird thing. I just don't want to talk on the phone unless I want to talk on the phone, you know?

Yeah, if you can't tell by my infantile complaining I have to do a phone interview today.

Sigh.

Another Monday

I should be making a to do list for the week, but I'm not.

Just took my oldest and dropped him off for a spring break youth group trip. He came back and actually hugged me! In front of everyone. Awww. He's growing up! Hugging Mom isn't social death anymore:)

Have a gazillion things to do this week. Seems like I always do. I have a couple of articles due, want to get to the LIPS synopsis, revise a couple of chapters, that sort of thing. I have a couple of ideas I am developing for my next work, but I want to get Lips mostly done. Also need to do some crits for CP's. What else? The yard is becoming an issue. How on earth am I supposed to fit that in? Yikes.

What are your plans for the week?

WOOHOO!

So many of my friends finaled in the GH or the Rita, I can't even list them all. Okay, tear for me. Oh, wait. I didn't think I would win it anyway and the only reason I wanted to win was to give any editors waffeling on the story a push over to my side. Well, now I just go back to waiting with a little reminder to myself that this is the story that had three different agencies all wanting it at the same time. There, my ego needed that. Next year I'll be ineligible cause I'll surely have sold somethign by them right? Right?

Still frazzled here. Was out last till midnight with my dd's new love muffin. They played at the rink till 11 when my boy got off and then we all went to shari's for a late night snack. Down at 1:30, up at 7 and back to the rink with dd and ds has a chess tournament. Then go pick them up and then come home and NAP! Or write an article if I can.

Need to work on LIPS. Dying to work on LIPS, really. maybe tonight. Once the chess tourney and the teaching are done, my running around is over too, so maybe I can fit it all in plus a nap. Wouldn't that be nice?

Slammed, swamped and overloaded...

Did I mention overwhelmed? Between my daughter needing help finishing up her English class, juggling a dozen articles and finishing up revisions on LIPS, I am just sort of tired of writing. Will get back to my blog when my fingers don't hurt.
Teri

Monday's To Do

Quite a week I have going for me. I have 13 things on the to do list, including two articles due, three articles due the next week and I have to make sure I have the sources for, finish polishing the first three chapters of Lips and send back out to Jenny, and start on the synopsis. Those are just a list sampling. Busy, busy, busy.

I like busy though. It keeps me from thinking about not making the GH finals. How do I know for sure? I just do. My prologue that I sent out with the GH version isn't nearly as strong as the one I have now. So there you go. Plus, I know a lot of the women who entered the YA catagory. A lot of them have scored agents or contracts with those very same books. I know, I know, I am one of those who scored an agent with her GH entry, but I haven't gotten a contract yet, have I? So I am fairly certain that I haven't made it and I am okay with that. But still... there is a little part of me. LOL That wishes I would. Hee. And no, I'm not just saying this to have people prop me up with positives. I'm not being negative, just realistic. And... this is my way of dealing with the not knowing. Some people are all confident, others immerse themselves in work and I say, oh I don't have a chance and carry on. None of those ways are better than the others, just different.

I am on chapter five of the big third to first person switch over. It's going fabulously. So far my Cp's are really positive about the change, though one isn't as enthusiastic about chapter two as chapter one. I will tweak a couple things, but I think it's fine. It is different writing for and about teens than it is adults. Teens are more forgiving of a protagonist not knowing what they want and being changable in their goals, because they can relate. Being changable is the teen norm. I get frustrated with adult novels when the heroine is all wishy washy, going this way and that. Because she is an adult and should have a fairly well defined sense of self. A teen protag could be a punk, but still be lured into wanting to be a prep. They are in the middle of changing. And they don't know what they want. And what they think they want can change one or more times.

For instance, my heroine thinks she wants to fit in because that is something she never really had before. She does all sorts of things that aren't really her because of this goal. But there is one part of her that is a bit pissed off about having to do those things and she extracts revenge now and again. So on the one hand, she is doing her best to be something she's not, to fit in. On the other hand she is disdainful of the people she is trying to fit in with and herself for wanting to fit in. That is one of the realities of teendom.

Hee, I don't even remember where I was going with this. Probably just trying to cement in my mind why my girl is pretty contradictory in the second chapter.

Okay, must get started on the to do list from hell...

Four Score!

Four movies you would watch over and over:
Oh, Brother Where Art Thou
Much Ado About Nothing
Love, Actually


Four places you have lived:
Alfalfa, Oregon
Puallup, Washington
Peoria, Arizona
Portland, Oregon

Four TV shows you love to watch:
Desperate Housewives
American Idol
Days of Our Lives (Oh, shut up, it was an addiction given to me when I was ten by my mother)
Grays Anatomy

Four places you have been on vacation:
Yuma, Arizona
Chicago
Reno, Nevada
Columbus, Ohio

Four websites you visit daily:
Google
MSN homepage
Blogger

Four of your favorite foods:
Fetticini Alfredo
Dibs
Swiss cheese and vegi sandwiches

Four places you would rather be right now:
Chicago
A warm beach

So Excited!

Okay, the changes my agent asked for are not only making the manuscript better, they are kicking ass! Changing it from third person POV to first is making it pop and sparkle the way it never did before. Adding more angst and edge to the main character's persona is creating a vibrancy in a way I'd never imagined. The story was good before, but compared to this version it was flat. A mere shadow of what it could be and what it is now.

Can you tell I'm excited?

I have always loved revisions, but when they makes such a huge difference to the story, they're almost addictive. I should be working out, cleaning my house, driving my kids to the rink. Instead I am working on Lips, playing with this, changing that, adding the charged up sexual excitement you felt in highschool, but rarely acted on. Adding in some of the anger and mean that was also a big part of highschool. Anyone else dump perfume or shampoo on someone on the bus on their way to school? No? LOL. Ahem.

Anyway, back to work. And I am also managing to keep up with my nonfiction too, which is good cause I have nine assignments due in the next month.

What the?

Have you ever went on a diet and gained weight? I was steadily losing until I gained a pound yesterday and another pound today. I swear, I was almost suicidal until I looked at the date. Oh. Duh. That's why. I don't mind this though, because of the big loss it will take in a week or so. As long as I am faithful.

Writing wise, I got the notes from my agent about my proposal. Great ideas all, so now I am doing a rewrite of my previously rewritten and polished chapters... and they are ever so much better. That's probably why she's the agent, eh? I think her ideas are spot on.

Busy running day today, but luckily most of it should be done by three this afternoon. Then I can relax this evening.

I had this weird dream that I went to an animal shelter and my husband ended up asking if we could do foster care for two more dogs in our home. Gads. Just what we need. More animals.

The Insecure Writer

We all have em. Those little insecurities that plague us no matter what we do. Even the most innocent letter from our agent can take on double and triple meanings. I love the concept, am sending notes... can mean a billion things except, of course, I love the concept, am sending notes! HA! I even asked for input, so why am I paranoid? Because I am an insecure writer.

Some people are so insecure they won't even send their writing out. Some people won't even finish anything because they are so convinced their writing sucks. Writers who can't take critism are writers plagued by insecurities... even when they seem to have it all together. And it's too bad because such writers never grow.

I admit it, I am totally insecure about my writing. But not to the point that I won't finish or I won't take critism or won't turn it in. My desire to be a published author overcomes my insecurities.

That's why I am going to succeed while other, more talented writers will fail... pure, in your face, tenacity. The kind of strong teeth gritting will that made my parents crazy. It overcomes the insecurities.

Men are babies

My dh is sick. Now, I won't go into a blow by blow of what a baby he is when sick because I don't want to disrespect him like that. Suffice it to say that I had brain surgery, and a week in ICU and no one had to hand feed me when I got home. Unlike someone I know stricken with the flu. That's all I have to say about that.

My best friend is in Hawaii this week. So unfair. It's also pretty boring without her.

In spite of a sick dh and enormously busy babies, I am up to chapter eight on my edits of LIPs. It's going well, except I have some changes to make in their relationship... the tension is there, but it isn't feeling right to one of my CPs. So I have to figure a few things out and see what I can do. My agent still has the first three chapter so it's just a waiting game now. And speaking of my agent... she was a busy woman this week and made calls to five more publishers and sent it back out! So now we are up to ten publishers again. Just waiting for someone to bite. Someone has to bite, right?

sheese.

treading water

Busy busy busy

Articles. Editing. Driving.

Trying to lose a gazillion pounds before San Jose.

Will write soonest.

Sometimes I just do good work...

I managed to already polish off both articles I had to finish up this week. I LOVE that. Now the rest of the week can be low key plugging away. As a reward for getting them in early I was offered more articles. I took them. What can I say? Until I start selling some fiction I will remain an article slut.

Am busy today, but hope to get into Lips at some point. Am going to have the ice princess fitted with a custom dress for the upcoming season. Also have to get her to the rink to teach this afternoon. Child best get a move on her school or else she'll be staying up late tonight.

Ethan ran into some BS at work. Hate to tell him so young that is a part of life. He has a meeting with his boss on Friday. I gave him some pointers but can't fix it for him. He has to do it himself.

Back to Lips. Agent has first three chapters. We'll see. Gulp.

Mondays to do list

Ah, yes, it's that time again!

Write Potty Training Independence
Write Nuts and Bolts of toilet training
Get anecdotal Sources for Hormonally Speaking
Contact Mom of the month people
Send out questions for temporarily wihtout kids
Polish, revise and edit Lips
Do crits for Cp's
Get sources for Understanding the uterus.
Get sources for Fibromyalgia.
Write synopsis for Lips
Develop new YA idea


Going to be a fun week, eh? Add that to my regularly fun schedule of running the children all over creation and the fact that I am desperately trying to lose some weight and you have a woman living on the edge of sanity and reason.

WOOOHOOO!

My Writing Weaknesses

Okay, time to fess up. We all have em. Writing weakesses. My CP's, current and former, know what mine are. And they don't know how lucky they are they didn't get me six years ago. As one of those "non college going writers" (No, never been, don't really want to go, though it has crossed my mind) I am a bit weak on mechanics. Comma's confuse me, tenses befuddle me, and the thought of reading Strunk and White tortures me. I am big enough to confess this. I am MUCH, MUCH better. But some spellings will always slip my mind. It's like a missing synapse. For instance, how many times will I have to write nessesary or consicous before I just know what they are instead of having to stop to think.? By this time, I think never.

I actually got denied entrance into a YA Crit group when I started six years ago. Yeah, I can see why now. Six years of writing 9-14 articles a month can be quite the education. But fiction writing is vastly different and it has been a learning experience.

What else am I weak on? Patience. I have shot myself in the foot more than once because I am impatient. My tendency to jump the gun has cause me more humilation than I can count and yet I never seem to learn my lesson there. Perhaps its a sign of immaturity? Or a character flaw? This has impacted my career and my writing.

I have capital issues. I capitalize random letters in a sentence. I do it both printing and typing. No one knows why.

Speaking of typing, I don't know how to type the correct way. My fingers actually rest on the right keys, but I have to look most of the time cause I have an unruly left hand. It won't do anything right. I use two fingers on my left hand, the pointer and the middle finger. I will use the ring finger on occassion for the shift key. But mostly my right hand does all the work which is why it is aching right now. This typing style is also why I write fmaily that way and form (supposed to be from) Wierd.

I have dyscalcula and my daughter is dyslexic so I think I have some left/right brain issues going on. My son is a lefty but he does a lot of things with his right hand and I am a righty who does a lot of things with her left hand. (I find brain stuff like this fascinating)

I have more weaknesses, but my weird brained kids need to get to the rink. Ice princess has to practice for an hour and then teach for two and my son has to work all day. Which means Mommy gets some quality alone time with the keyboard! YAY!

What are your writing weaknesses?

WOOHOO!

I am done with the rough of READ MY LIPS!

A whole weeks and a half after Gena finished hers, but better late than never is certainly apt in this case:) Now I get to the fun! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

What's New In Teri's World

French Press Coffee

Lurve this stuff. Really. Am so addicted. I remember a long time ago I used to be satisfied with Folgers or MJB or brands like that. My mom and dad switched to newly ground coffees as soon as it came out, but I turned up my nose. The expense! As a new mom I drank far too much coffee to get started on that stuff. Even if it did taste better. Ridiculously better. Then I got a grinder from Christmas and that was all she wrote. Starbucks on every street corner didn't help either. Then someone gave me a french press. I disdained it for a year. Then I tried it. Oh.My.Gawd. Now they are all I drink. Problem is that it takes roughly half the amount of a full pot to make one lucious cup. Pretty soon I'll just be sitting at my desk eating the beans.


A Gardener

Ab finally broke down and decided to hire us someone for the yard... not full time, just someone to take care of the grass, rake up and cut down the slimy plants I should have cut down last year. Cause he has realized that I. Am. Just. Not. Going. To. Get. To. It.

When we first moved here I wasn't writing full time and I put in about 15 flower beds. Actually they were here and I expanded. Now I drive and write and that is the sum total of what I can handle. Oh, and the occasionally hot and sweaty bonus to keep him happy. But really, that's all I can do. No more garden calendar. No more pouring over the catalogues planning for the spring. I think he misses that in me like he misses banana bread and homemade cake. Not gonna happen, Mister. You're lucky to get the hot and sweaty bonus. So he hired someone to make it look reasonable again. God bless him.

Conferences

Ab has also realized that just like the tides, his wife now gets to abscendate herself from the fmaily on the occasional business trip called the writing conference. Am going to both San Jose this year and Emerald City. YAY me! One in the fall and one in the spring. If I could go to nationals I will. But Alas, the chances of me finalling in the YA cat is slim to none so I won't even consider it. Way too much money and too much time away from home. How would the children get around for that long?

A Bloody Eye

Started this weird veiny bleeding thing yesterday. Children told me to go to the doctor. But will they give me good drugs? Probably not. Then eh. Whatevah. Though I did wake up with a headache this morning. Hate that. I keep thinking that maybe my pituitary gland is dying from all the radiation leveled at it and this is a symptom. I'd rather bury my eye, er, head in the sand.

So what's new in your world?

Not Quite Done, But...

Getting there.

I won't even go over how many times I had to run to the ice rink yesterday. No way would I get any writing done on the last couple of chapters so I sat down with some of my Cp's crits and went at it. Good comments by all and the first three chapters are now very, very clean and ready to go. Really wish I could just finish it. But alas, I have a ton of nonfiction things to do. I hope to start that last chapter today, wish me luck.

Revising the finished product is actually the part of the process I enjoy most about writing. Gathering enough clay to work with is hard for me, but once I have enough clay to make a ball, watch out! I can shape it and pull it and dig my fingers into it. The best fun. And sometimes, like yesterday, I can't wait till I finish to start playing with it.