What's the Difference?

Between a writer who will make it and a writer who won't?

I've thought about that a lot lately because I heard from an old cyber friend who hasn't made it. I haven't spoken to her in years, but she was one of my first writer friends in the business. I heard from another friend several months ago who was my first writing mentor many years ago. These women haven't made it. Haven't gone any further in their writing than when I first knew them. Why?

I am defining someone who has made it as someone who has achieved financial goals. (very narrow, I know, but this is nonfiction) For instance, I wanted to make a decent living writing part time. I've done that and consider myself a success even though it takes full time writing to make a part time wage But this is mostly because I work on fiction part time, as well, and I haven't sold a book yet which would add considerably to my yearly income.

I have two other dear, long term cyber friends. Both wanted to be full time freelance writers. One kind of fell by the wayside and chose a different direction. Very talented woman, but something about a freelancer's life didn't agree with her, so she zigged when she could have zagged. My other writer friend quit her job and within a year was making more money a month than she ever had working.

What's the difference between those who make it and those who don't? I've been writing professionally for about seven years now and have seen a lot of writers come and go. I have also seen those who keep at it and end up making it. Why did I "make it?" I have very little formal education and have faced tons of adversity, including a husband who was less than enthusiastic at the beginning. Now, every writer is different, but there are a few common attributes in writers who have made it.

• Desire. A burning desire. These people don't just want to see their own book or article, they want to write. To see their words develop on the page and then see the finished product with their name on it.
• Stubborness. As in teeth gritted, knock me down and I'll get up EVERY DAMN TIME kind of stubborness. Blind, irrational, hard headedness.
• Willingness to learn and diversify. Learning is hard. But in order to make it in this business you have to continue to learn and strive. You also have to be willing to diversify. My one friend who is making so much money has diversified. She is editing, writing for trade magazines and writing books.
• Know your limitations. I would never be able to work as a copy writer because it would bore me to tears. I can write on many topics, but don't ask me to do technical writing. I could never write science fiction either. Don't go down a road you know you really don't want to go down. It will show in your work.
• A thick skin. I am working on this. I whine and moan on occasion. But I don't let the rejections or disappointments stop me. See above on stubborness and desire.

What other attributes do you see in writers who have made it?

Writing Rules and Regulations

I've been thinking of writing's rules and regulations a lot. Maybe because of my backstory problems with HOT. I've read somewhere (And I can't remember where) That one thing the RWA has done a good job at is spreading the rules of writing so well that editors are getting perfectly done books with no life to them. Now, they don't spread these rules themselves, but the local chapters where workshops are held, critique groups are formed, etc, have done a good job at getting the rules out.

Don't get me wrong... I love my Cp's. They are fabulous. But we do seem pretty hung up on the rules of writing. Let's take backstory first. This is one of those rules that every critique group knows about. Backstory, even a couple of paragraphs, slows the pacing down. Where is it written that stories have to shoot out of a cannon and not slow until the bang up finish? Whatever happpened to the slow build up of a book? I just reread Scruples by Judith Krantz. This was her first book, or her first blockbuster at least, and I have reread it so many times I've memorized parts of it. Almost EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER INTRODUCED has backstory. Fascinating, interesting, backstory. Even if the character is minor to the book.

Then there is POV. A one sentence POV shift, one that reveals more about the characters or story, is caught and reviled. But Nora Roberts does it all the time. Even in a single scene, the headhopping can make my own head spin. Now, I understand, Nora can get away with stuff others can't, but oftentimes, she makes it work.

Adverbs. I have taken to noting adverbs when I read, probably because they are such, gasp, no no's. Almost every book I have ever read has an -ly word at some point. I did read one romance that had so many it was frustrating, but that was also paired with stiff dialog and clunky prose. Maddening. But if we're supposed to write tight and an -ly word can take the place of an eight word description... what's the harm? Over use? Yeah. I can see that. But sometimes, it seems to me that an -ly word is the best word for the job.

Distancing with a "he asked himself" Okay, the idea when you are in deep POV is that the internals don't need to be underlines because they are pretty much always internals right? (If I'm wrong here please let me know) But tons of books use this on occasion. Sometimes it does seem right.

Never, if ever, use the word was. It's passive. I can't tell you the literary acrobatics I've done to keep from using was in a sentence. Again, this is a word I see all over other books. Do they not know you aren't supposed to use was? Am I taking these rules to literally?

Again, I am posting the disclaimer... this has nothing to do with my own Cp's who are very astute and usually right on the money. I do the same thing when I judge for contests. But are we doing the world a favor by maintaining such strict writing rules and regulations? Or was we paving the way for a bunch of books that are written strangely alike?

Another disclaimer, I am as yet unpublished... maybe there's a reason for that:)

Working

I think I'm finally getting the hang of my new schedule. My son will start carpooling with another college student next week, so I will get some relief from the to and fro school gig. So things are definitely looking up.

Except of course, I have to get up at 5:40 am. That's not so good. But I have about an hour and 30 minutes before I have to have the ice princess to school and I use that time to wake up, check my email, check a few blogs and figure out what has to be done for the day.

At 7:10 I take ice princess to school and stop at the gym on my way home. Fisher boy isn't awake yet and I usually workout for about an hour.

Get home, wake up the boy and start on working. I usually grab an instant breakfast that can be slurrped while I work. This is my favorite time of the day. The DH is still in bed(he doesn't get home until about 3am, sometimes later) and the boy is usually finishing up some homework, so we sit and work quietly, sometimes talking about what we are doing and sometimes just sitting together companionably. It's nice. Warm.

At 11:30 we break for lunch and he gets his work together for college.

At 12:15 I run him up to the college and come home to wake up the dh. Or sometimes, like I'm going to today, I run over to the highschool and take the ice princess some lunch and we sit in the car and talk about her day while she scarfs.

I get home about 1:20 and chat with the dh while he gets ready for work and I clean house. I also try to work a bit, but it depends on how talkative he is! LOL

I go get the ice princess at 2:40, about the same time the DH takes off for work. We come home, watch part of my soap and we talk until she starts school around 4.


Then I go get the fisher boy around 4:20. Come home make dinner and we all work until TV comes on or they have somewhere they have to be. I like it when they don't have to go anywhere... then I kick back and try to fit a chore or two in before I have to help with homework.
Then reading until I fall asleep between ten and eleven. It will be really nice when I don't have to take the boy to school!

But I seem to get a lot of work done in that time. Not so much on the house... I told my son today that our house isn't cluttered... its dirty! I like the new schedule because I get a lot of alone time with most everybody. Nice.

Letting Go

I've been thinking a lot about letting go lately. My son's first day of college was last Monday. He's in a program where he will earn college credit as he finishes his high school diploma. Great program. They want all their kids to be a success so they get lots of support. With the ice princess in high school that means I have no children at home to homeschool, so in a blink of an eye, I am done being a homeschooling mom, an identity I have had for the last 12 years or so.

I loved being a homeschooling mom. I watched as my children learned to read and understand the basic concepts of math. (turns out that was all I could teach them!)While other moms put their kid on the bus for the first time, my children and I snuggled up in the bed to read some books. I was a homeschool Mom and my life was good. (This is about writing, I promise)

About halfway through my journey, I discovered the Internet and a way to make my long dormant dreams of becoming a writer true. I threw myself into writing with a passion. I had always written, but the Internet allowed me to rub virtual elbows with other writers and learn about the business and when I chose to write, I wrote about homeschooling. I wrote essays for homeschooling magazines and hit upon a column or two. Soon, I had a book out. As my children grew, I branched out and wrote of other things. When my next book was in process, I decided to make it for all moms and Day Tripping was born.

You can't be a writer and not learn how to let go. Ideas and articles are rejected, magazines and markets fold. Books don't sell. The letting go process should get easier, but it doesn't. When I scored my agent, a couple months shy of a year ago, I thought I would be a published author by now. It didn't happen and I find myself having to let go of On the Edge and the Rink Rats series. No, it's not completely dead, but its getting there. LIPS went out almost three weeks ago and it still hasn't sold yet. I know, it usually takes longer than that, but so many of my friends sold within a couple of weeks of their manuscript going out that I just assumed... It's good, better than anything I've written. But it's time I let go of the idea that LIPS would sell right out of the starting block.

I look down the road and I only have a few more years until my children are both gone. Even as I've had to let go of being a homeschooling mom, I will have to let go of being active mom... the one in control. But I'll always be a mom. Just like I will always be a writer... even if I have to let go of manuscripts, I will always be a writer.

Monday's To Do, Plotting and Other Issues

Yes, plotting revisited. After Cherry Adair's workshop, I had some big ideas concerning plotting and planning the novel. I went out and bought a bunch of brightly colored post its, a cork board and a poster board. It's still all sitting there waiting for me to complete. I want to do it... I'm just... stalled. Read a great post over on Diana Peterfreund's blog about plotting and am ready to go... except I'm not. I understand the concepts, it's the actual act that gets me. Plus, I need to go back and rewrite chapter two of HOT because my hero's motivation doesn't show through and my Cp's believe there is too much backstory. Okay... I can see how the suggestions might be true. So I'll play with it for a bit. How much do you plot? Usually, I just make a few chapter notes on index cards and go to it, but I get to the middle and stall that way too, so I'm trying something different.

I had a heck of an evening yesterday. Could have sworn it was Monday morning not Sunday night. First, one of my fav editors has left her job. Not sure why. Heard from the big boss that I should send the articles due to the editor to her. Okay. So I tell her I have been unable to find anyone as an anecdotal source for one of them. Heard back and that was cool. Not ten minutes later, I hear from another anecdotal source that she has decided that she doesn't want her name published. GAH! This is an article the big boss was already looing at so I had to tell her, "Psych! I know I turned it in but I have to rewrite. So sorry." Talk about looking like an idiot.

I could really use some good news this week!

This weeks to do

Send questions to old dads' sources
rewrite potty plan and resend
Finish computer games and submit
Write potty peers
get sources for choline
get old dad's anecdotal sources
write old dads
plot out first five chapters on plotting board
rewrite chapter two of HOT
get started on HOT three
Figure out how writer's support is going to go

All About TV

I have managed to get some of my list whittled away and thought I would take a moment to talk about another passion of mine besides writing. TV.

I admit it, I love TV. I am not one of those people who prefer to listen to classical music rather than watch the soul destroying, mind sucking, boob tube. Not that there is anything wrong with classical music mind you... I often listen to it in my car, but I am a self admited TV freak. I was raised with it and adore it and for the most part my kids do too. Neither one of them has a TV in their bedroom and TV has become a family thing. Something we do together.

Anyways, this is a big week in TV. Season premiers and series premiers galore. This is a list of shows my family and I have already watched or are looking foreward to.

Men in Trees: This got lukewarm reviews, but I loved it anyway. Sort of like Sex in the City meets Northern Exposure. Both two of my favorite shows. And I spend most Fridays sitting at home waiting for a child to call for a pick up so it's something I can watch on a regular basis.

The Biggest Loser: Awesome as always. Except where did Jillian go? And I really felt sorry for all those people who traveled there with hope and then told to go home and do it themselves... we all know how difficult it is to do that!

Gray's Anatomy: Luscious, luscious, luscious. Met every expectation.

Gilmore Girls: They must get rid of Logan this year. Ditch him. I liked Jess and the Dean much better.

Heros: This looks so intriguing! I can't wait to see what they do with it!

Desperate Housewives: Love this show! Don't care if last season wasn't as good as the year before... I still love it.

My Characters

Okay, I was over at Jenna's blog... no, I haven't got her link up... but I'm working on it! Anyway, she has pix up of her characters... who she thinks they resemble and I decided to do the same thing.

So here's Cally. Rachel Bilson isn't a perfect Cally as she looks about 3 years too young, but hey... I procrastinated long enough.

And here's Weston. I know he looks like Heath Ledger, but work with me people!

He could be a chef right? I think he's hot enough!

Now to finish plotting!

Box of goodies!

Got the most fabulous box yesterday! I won the seasons contest put on by Jill Monroe, Crystal Green, Jennifer Scully and Stephanie Fegan. The box was so fun! Lotions, potions, books and doodads. Woohoo! Can't wait to read the books!

In other news, it was MRI day yesterday. Absolutely hate them. They always ask, "Are you claustrophobic?" and I always say, "Well, I wasn't the first six or seven times I did it, but now? A little bit!"

They blew a vein getting the contrast in and then I went through the roof when they finally found another one. GAWD! And after the scan my hubby took me out for Lemon drop martinis. That's my MRI day thing. Good stiff drinks.

Confession

I have a confession to make. I am MS word ignorant. It does all these strange things and makes me nuts. My CP's are always telling me, "one inch all the way around!" WTF? I thought I did! What's the difference between a bloody tab and a margin? How come when I paste in some text from an email it double spaces itself, yet when I go to format/paragraph to fix it, it says that it's single spacing? WHY? And the only way I can get it to do single spacing is to push the space bar in front of the sentence or word and then it crawls across the page and single spaces itself. WHY? Oh, and in one crit I found this little gem in a comment box:

Indent: Left: 0", Right: 0", Automatically adjust right indent when grid is defined, Adjust space between Asian and Latin text, Adjust space between Asian text and numbers, Tabs: Not at 0.5

Well, that's clear as mud. Asian text? WTF? I'm not writing in Asian text. What are they talking about?? Also, when I make a header and enlarge it, sometimes when I move the curser down a few spaces it is 12. font and sometimes it is the same big font as the header? WHY? How come when I do bullet points in one part of the article and then try to do it three paragraphs down, the bullets are in different places? WHY? And how come the margins sometimes change on me when writing? Is it me? Should I take a class? Get a degree in Microsoft word???

Also when I try to paste the stupid article in the body of an email I get a warning that says I don't have Active X enabled and the formatting won't be correct. Sometimes it does that with web pages. What the heck is Active X?

A good weekend and Monday's to do

Went to the Cherry Adair workshop... It was fabulous. It was on layering your plot and I learned tons about plotting. Am going to try some of her methods with HOT. Went out to lunch afterwards. One of my chapter mates insisted that I try a hazlenut mocha martini. OMG... so fabulous. Like a dessert. Then we went to Cherry Adair's book signing at Borders. Mega cool. I have found my RWA membership to be invaluable. Nothing like talking to other writers in person to kick start your mind and imagination. How do you like being a chapter member?

Yesterday, we went to a family birthday and bbq. It was fun, very kicked back and they had good vino. What more can you ask for? Okay, on to the to do list.

Weekly to do

Write games and special needs.
Get anecdotal sources for potty plan.
Check on all expert sources on articles due next week.
Do plotting and research on HOT.
Get sources for vaccine story
Write Vaccine story
Make new articles due list
Pitch a few articles to editor.
Start on chapter three HOT(notice this was left over from last week!)
Send sources their articles
Write Potty Peers
Get info for old dads and Autism
Write Potty Plan

Guess who's going to be on the computer a lot this week!

LIPS IS OUT!

READ MY LIPS is officially out in the hands of editors. Am so excited! Everyone they pitched to wanted to see it and my agent said they were very interested and excited! Cross your fingers for me!

Have a great weekend. My chapter meeting is tomorrow and we have guest novelist Cherry Adair speaking and Theresa Meyers from Blue Moon communications will be there as well. We are all going out to lunch afterwards:)

UPDATE!

READ MY LIPS got third place in the Pasic Book of Your Heart Contest! I placed, I placed:) YAY!

Backstory

I just finished reading an old book by Dame Roberts. I've never read her before and when the dh brought a bax of books home for me, I was quite pleased to see that it included several of Nora Roberts books. The story was sweet and the romance electric. But the headhopping made me dizzy. I guess she can break whatever writing rule she pleases?

But this post isn't about headhopping, it's about back story. As you know, I am working on a category romance, one that I am targeting for HQ's Amercian Romance line. The first chapter is pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. One thing I've noticed about Cats is they have more backstory/internals in them than most other books I've read. They probably have to have more internals, especially, because they have such a short amount of time to invest the reader in the characters lives.

But again this post isn't about internals, it's about backstory. I have a couple of questions. My story is about a chef who enters a cooking competition and one of the judges is the man she loved and jilted six years prior. He doesn't know why she jilted him and I am not letting the reader know for several chapters either. But the backstory is very important to this book. There are times when the heroine, thinks about her choice, wonders whether she did the right thing, etc. How much is too much? A huge part of the conflict between the hero and heroine is because of their former relationship. Now, I elude to it often in brief flicks, but I have a scene that is about a page of the heroine remembering how her family reacted to the news that she was not only running off to get married, she was moving to Italy to study cooking. The family crisis this caused is the reason she never showed up. Again, I elude to the actual event that caused her to jilt the man she loved, but I don't come right out and say it. (I am trying to build a little tension here by leaving the reader in the dark. Of course, the reader will know before the hero does and hopefully by that time they will be thinking, tell him, tell him!)

My question is... how much back story is too much? Keeping in mind that this is category romance, how much will slow the story down too much? I Know the rule is like NEVER. But in reality authors use it all the time. Any opinions on backstory?

An Illicit Deal

"I have a confession to make."

My husband had just woke up and I was lying in bed with him. My stomach tightened. In my experience, no good can come from a conversation that starts out with, "I have a confession to make."

"Mmmhmmm?" Noncomittal.

"I bought something yesterday."

I relaxed a bit. It wasn't one of "those" confessions. But then my mind whirled. He'd been checking out vintage Les Paul guitars on ebay. Had he bought one? We were trying to save up enough money for a trip to Hawaii. Had he blown the trip?

"What's that?" Cautious now.

"I bought an eighth."

I am a child of the eighties. An eighth means only one thing in my book, an indulgence we gave up years ago when we decided to stop partying and raise children. I sat up in bed.

"You what?" Imagine my voice raising five octives on that last word.

"An eighth of coffee."

I lay back down. An eighth of coffee?

"You know my friend Andy? He went and bought a half a pound of coffee and I bought an eighth of it. Amazing coffee. The best coffee in the world. Like incredibly expensive coffee. I felt like I was doing a drug deal."

My brow furrowed. "Just how expensive was it?"

"You don't want to know."

"Yes, I do. Just how expensive can it be?"

"Almost 200 a pound."

"What?" (the octive thing again) "That means you spent like 25 dollars or something on an eighth of coffee!"

"Yeah."

"It better be damn good coffee."

It was. Drop dead and die good coffee. Now, I love me some coffee. I drink it black except for my Starbucks, but other than that I am a purist. And this coffee was to die for. Rich, nutty, dark on the tongue, it left an amazing aftertaste that's hard to describe.

But in order for coffee to be worth that much it would have to hop out of my refrigerater, grind itself and leap into my cup fully made.

But that doesn't keep me from enjoying it!

Mondays To Do

Woohoo! My first to do list since the kids left. A sign that things really are getting back to normal. So without further ado... Monday's to do!

Finish revising chapter two in HOT
Finish synopsis for HOT
Write chapter three in HOT
Send out questions for TBI anecdotal sources
Write TBI
Make new files for articles due
Make articles due list
Get sources for Potty Training Plan
Get sources for computer games
Get anecdotal sources for Potty plan
Get anecdotal sources for computer games
Get sources for pneumonia
Get anecdotal sources for pneumonia

What's top priority on your list?

Oops

I did something. Not sure what. But now my browser is showing font the size of Mt. Ranier. I really hate it. I feel like a third grader stuck reading those horrid large print reading books about Jane and Mark when all I really wanted to do was get back to The Yearling or my latest biography on Louisa May Alcott.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

UPDATE: Yeah! All fixed. Thanks Bonnie!

First Day of school

Yeah, I know. Usually the first day of school is Kindergarten or first grade and you are holding the hand of a little gap toothed wonder. Turns out my daughter's first day of school came when she is a lovely, poised fiffteen year old. You see, I chose to homeschool my kids. A choice many more people are making these days.

I remember those years with fondness. Making claypots and learning sign language for our native American studies. Stitching together raccon caps for our study on mountian men. Countless field trips, classes and learning experiences. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Many people choose to homeschool all the way through highschool, but my daughter wanted to go to school. At first, I was opposed, but as I saw her maturing, I knew she was going to be okay. I trust her. So at fifteen, she is heading out. When my son goes to college in a couple of weeks, I will officially be finished homeschooling. That part of my life, a part I enjoyed so much, will be over. It's time to really start letting go. Sniff.

Not quite back in the saddle

Saturday was spent celebrating. Sunday was spent getting ready for a garage sale. Yesterday was garage sale and today, I have an article due.

Yeah, I already contacted editor and begged forgiveness, because today I am heading to the beach with my family... the first time we have been out together all summer. The ice princess goes to school on Thursday, so we are going to go today. I plan on lounging, eating clam chowder and watching my kids. Not because they will eat sand, bug other people or hit each other, but because I love them and never tire of watching them. I am blowing off another board meeting to do it, but I'm not going to let my life get out of hand with commitments again.

Steve Irwin's death really hit my family hard. My sixteen year old son cried for a half an hour when he heard and this kid cries over very little. It wasn't so much that fisher boy loved Steve Irwin, fisher boy wanted to be Steve Irwin. Much of what my son knows about animals he learned watching the Crocodile Hunter. His love of conservationism is due in a large part to watching Steve. No matter what you think of his methods, Steve did a lot to inspire children to want to know more about the natural world. I know my son is not the only young person who grew up watching Steve.I feel for his family.

Oh, I read a book over the weekend. Fantabulous. The Summer House by Jude Deveraux. Wow, is all I have to say. It was my first book by her and I'll be on the lookout for more. The story swept me away so much I couldn't tell you what the writing was like! I know that nothing jarred me out of the story, so it must be pretty good.

Okay, off for the last day of summer!

They're gone!

The wee ones left yesterday to go back with their momma. I didn't know until she showed up if they were going to a interim foster care place or their what. Mom had so many hoops to jump through. She got the apartment and then they said she had to have beds and groceries. But they are with their mom now and I am a happy camper. Both of my children are so happy and grateful. Fisherboy said, "I have my family back!" Ice princess said, "My life is wonderful. I don't ever want to forget that again." In celebration, ice princess and I went and had pedicures, then we dropped back by the house and picked up the boy and went out to dinner. Then we all went to a Tigard High Football game. It was wonderful.

Next week I begin my career anew and no telling what might happen.

Thirteen Hours

I have thirteen hours until the children leave and thought I would pass the time by thinking of all the things having them here has taught me.

• I do not, in any way, shape or form, want another baby.
• I don't think I was cut out to be a mom to little ones.
• That sex leads to poopy, bad smelling, whining, needy, demanding creatures who take over your whole life.
• How good a clean baby smells.
• How close we are as a family
• That sometimes you have to do the right thing even if it hurts.
• Sharpened our negotiation skills.
• That six year olds always have one more thing to say.
• How funny little ones can really be.
• That a two year old can ask you what you are doing fifty trillion times... even if they can see what you are doing.
• That women who can have successful writing careers while wiping noses and making snacks are to be held in awe.

The Odd, Unusual and cool on I84

Had to make an emergency trip up through the Columbia River Gorge yesterday. Came back this morning. Everyone(meaning my parents) is fine, but they needed me, so fisher boy and I made a wild road trip. This is what we saw: (Remember, part of the Gorge is pines and cliffs and the other part is sagebrush and hills, like nothing there for miles, which made our sightings even odder)

• Six airplane wings flying up the freeway on the backs of semi trucks.
• Seven half houses. So does that mean someone is getting a half a house? Or a house and a half?
• A cafe called Spookies. Hmmm.
• Fifty gazillion watermelon stands.
• Fifty gazillion smashed watermelons on the side of the road.
• Two midgets holding hands at a rest stop. Had much fun trying to figure out which vehicle was theirs.
• A guy with a horse trailer almost crash in front of us when an extra strong gust of wind hit us.

Interesting trip.

Four days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

September first. They are leaving September first. Need I say more?

Ch Ch Ch Changes?

The changes are coming. I can almost smell them. No, wee one hasn't filled her diaper. Life changes.

Change number one?

Children's services is now eager to get the kids back to their mother. Is this motivation caused by a reluctance to pay childcare? Who knows. But as soon as Mom gets a place the caseworker said she would advocate the kids going back with their Mom. Well, Mom called me today and said she is 90 percent sure she has a place. Have crossed my fingers, legs, toes and eyes. Would appreciate everyone in cyber space doing the same.

Change Number two:

My own lovely ice princess has tired of her ice obsessed life and is going to high school. She has never been to school nor even on the big yellow school bus, but she has decided she wants it. The whole thing. Dance Squad, report cards, track team. Have reservations, but am going to allow her to do so. She can go as long as I don't see any big changes in her behavior and she knows it. I actually think it will be good for her. She doesn't know who she is aside from skating and I think her renewed interest in youth group and school will help her find her direction.

Change number three:

My son will be (knock wood) starting college this year. I can already see the changes in him from his trips this year and am excited for this new chapter of his life.

What this means for me?

More money for one thing. We have been spending thousands of dollars a year on the ice princess. THOUSANDS. I can get a new car. Get my own cell phone. Pay off our bills.

More time. I won't be spending hours and hours a day on the road. Ice princess will take the bus to school. My boy will be driving soon. I will be able to write more. Do some of the things I have been wanting to do. Kick up my writing career a notch or two.

But for right now, I will wait. Make it through each day. Know that this too shall pass.

Yay!

I got five days of child care! I got five days of child care! I didn't mean to play hard ball with them. I told them I couldn't take the kids after the first of September and I got an offer of five days. Funny how that work. They seem to think that Mom is going to get them back fairly soon so I think that is one of the reasons they caved. I just couldn't let my writing career go in the toilet. I worked to hard for it. Plus... I am hella tired. So tomorrow or the next day I will be able to take the munchkins to daycare for the day. Good thing because I started taking assignments again for next month.

My son got back from North Dakota the other day and he had the experience of his life. We only had a few hours to talk after he arrived home(he had a camping trip planned) and he was so excited about his time there. What really struck me was how close his squad had become in such a short period of time. He told me that the parting at the airport was incredibly emotional. I checked out some of their MySpaces and am seeing things like "I left pieces of myself in ND and traded it for memories" "North Dakota changed me forever" "Bravo Company 1-1-1 is my new family" and things like that. These kids are in constant contact with each other and planning a reunion. He made friends from all over the US; Alabama, New York, Texas and Maine. I am so happy for him. Daughter had a blast at camp. She has never been away for that long before and even though she missed us, she was glad to get away and do teen things like tubing behind a jet boat, white water rafting, swimming and hiking. The son joined her there and proceeded to get really sick. I think the airplane ride did him in. So in spite of the wee ones coming to live with us, I think the kids had a decent summer.

No news on the writing front. Finished a couple of articles. Have one more to do before I get started on next months. Didn't get any fiction done though.

Miffed

So much legal mumbo jumbo going on with the kids, I can't even explain it all. Suffice it to say that they are now backpedaling on their offer to give the girls daycare. The conversation went like this:

Caseworker: "I'm not sure about five days a week daycare. We really want the children to be in your home most of the time."

Me: "Are you telling me that you don't certify duel income households, where both people work outside the home?"

Long pause

Caseworker: "Well, yeah, we do. And we often pay childcare for them."

Me: "Then can you tell me what the difference is?"

Another very long, heavy pause.

Caseworker: "I guess there really isn't one."

Me, the light dawning on me. "Just because I work at home, doesn't mean I don't work!"

GAWD! They should see my monthly invoices. June: $2200 July: $1100 August: $550! I work on nonfiction and fiction a total of 35 to 40 hours a week. Or I did. Now I am down to maybe five total weekly hours. FIVE! Do they want to talk to my editors to prove I am a writer and make money? My tax preparer? Or maybe I should have my agent call them from New York?

Just wanted to let you know, fellow writers, that we aren't really working. What we do isn't really a job. It must follow that publishing isn't really a business.

Just to let you all know.

This and That

What to say, what to say?

Kids were gone yesterday. I got started on a couple of the articles I have due this month. If anyone's child contracted roundworms from somewhere or if you take measures to prevent that, I would love to hear from you. Having trouble finding anecdotal sources for that one. Didn't look at any fiction. Took a nap instead.

The boy is in North Dakota this week. I missed his call this morning at 5:30 am. Just couldn't wake myself up enough to run for the phone. The Lewis and Clark Rondezvous sounds amazing. He gets to watch a show called the Medora Musical while eating a big pitchfork fondue banquet. Gets to ride in covered wagons to eat a meal in the Dakota Badlands, float the Missouri River on the Lewis and Clark Riverboat, do a high ropes adventure course, tour Custer's last home, visit Fort Mandan, watch Calvery reenacters and all sorts of amazing things. They chose ten students from every state for an all expenses paid trip, so he will be amongst 500 other students from around the country. He comes in Friday. I miss him horribly. If he wasn't five inches taller than I am, I'd call him mini me. We are pretty tight and he often finishes my sentences for me.

I have read so many books this summer. Funny how that happens. When I'm stressed, I read more. Haven't picked up Diana P.'s book, Secret Society Girl, yet. That's next on my list. I have some more YA to catch up on, as well.

Hark! I hear a baby. She's playing my song again.

On the Home Front

Had the entire weekend to myself. Well, almost. They came and got the kids on Saturday about 2 pm and from then on out it was just me and my kids. My husband had a wedding to attend so the kids and I went to our favorite Chinese food and talked about the situation. The mom went to court on Friday and turns out they want her to do more work. The caseworker called and begged us to keep them for 45 more days. Sigh. We were counting down till September first. This would put it at the end of September. Basically, the boy would be starting first grade and then moving to another school in about two and a half weeks which doesn't make sense to me if they are going to just give them back to mom anyway. There is a family meeting on Wednesday that I want to attend so I can make that point known to them. At any rate, the caseworker asked if we would take them if the state provided childcare for the two girls as well as the boy, (until he starts school) And promised that they would be able to go to Grandpa's place every weekend.

I had mixed results from my kids. My son was okay with it. He figured that if they are gone almost everyday and over the weekends so we can kind of get back to our own lives, he would be able to do it. My daughter was adamantly opposed. She wants them out of the house, like, yesterday.

Then the kids and I went to the book store where we bought a few study books for my daughter and Reality Chick for me. My daughter spent Saturday night with a friend and was taking off for the beach with friends on Sunday and my son took off for North Dakota for a week 4am Sunday morning so it was just me and my dh and the book. Was fabulous. Read it in one sitting. I should have been writing in HOT, but couldn't put the book down. Rounded out the day by running errands with my husband and relaxing.

My daughter takes off on Thursday for camp. Then the boy gets in and we have to bring him home, dust him off, repack and drive him to camp with his friends. But... they are taking the kids again this next weekend so I will have another whole weekend to myself. I promise to write that weekend.

Writing This Time... Promise!

Actually that's a lie. More on reading, which as at least writing related!

The book I picked up was Once Upon Stilettos. Wonderful, fab, can't say enough. I love the concept of these books. Very different and highly entertaining. Her characters are wonderful.

I won a contest and got my prize in the mail a few days ago. Flirting With Forty, by Jane Porter. If you haven't read this book yet, grab it. I lurved it! It really resonated with me, having turned forty last year. It was romantic and introspective and had a lot of very true things to say on being forty, sex and motherhood, as well as dreaming and wanting more. Knowing the inside story added to the charm of the book. Suffice it to say, the author met and fell in love with a surf instructor, much as the heroine in the book did. Her descriptions are wonderful and I wish I could write more like she does. Can you tell I loved this book? I stayed up till one am last night to finish it and, as you know, I really need my sleep. Was so worth it though, except now it's done. Sob.

Okay, Have to get the children in bed. Blessed Bed. So I can write!!!

Oh, my CP loved my first chapter of HOT. YAY. Maybe I can write an adult contemporary!

The pleasures of a good nap

Took a nap today and got a great idea. More proof that sleep tickles the muse. There I was, dreaming about working at starbucks (Even more proof I drink too much coffee,) and a phrase slipped into my brain. I want to have more children.

Now that isn't me, HA! So it had to be a character. A woman. A woman who thinks she wants more children, but what she really wants is a life. So there it is. The kernal that will make the book. Fun stuff. Delightful stuff. The stuff a writer's life is made of. Besides waiting, that it.

Speaking of waiting, I had some good news for OTE. It was requested by another editor. Very excited, but trying not to be. I thought the sucker was almost dead, but apparently, not quite. If that sells as a two book series deal and then LIPS sells with another publisher, that would make me a multi contracted author!

Ahem. Get a grip, Teri.

Spent the day without children, hence the nap. Worked a bit on chapter two of HOT. Spent the rest of the afternoon at a college with my boy taking tests etc. He is trying to get into a program where he can get his highschool diploma and his AA at the same time. Then he can just transfer to a four year college for his last two years. And viola! We get two years of college for free. Keep your fingers crossed. He has two more days of evaluation and then a private interview. We will know by September 11th. You know, just the day Spetember 11th jars me. We will be talking about something and the date comes up, like "You'll get it on September 11th," or, "We're leaving on September eleventh," And my heart stands still. I wonder if that happens to people who lived during Pearl Harbor. Does December 7th still resonate with them?

Will have to remember to ask my Mom.

A tough Choice

Went to the bookstore yesterday. Wanted to get Shanna Swendson's latest, Once Upon Stilletos. Found it and Lauren Barnholdt's Reality Chick. And my son wanted the latest Artemis Fowl. Went up to the counter. $35.00. WTF? There were no hardbacks here. They were all paperbacks. GAH! Couldn't afford that. I had 30.00 cash. I looked at the books in my hands. I was committed to Artemis Fowl. Reality Chick? Once Upon Stillettos? Even the wise women of the ages wouldn't be able to figure that one out! When I finally put one down and paid for the others, I felt a deep sense of loss. This wasn't the road less chosen, it was the book not chosen and in my mind, a book is far more important than a road.

Oh, and I will never take the little ones to the book store again. Not a satisfying trip AT ALL!

Question... which one did I choose? Eh?

Lovely, lovely

Yesterday, the kids went on an all day visit with their mom and grandpa. I took my own kids to the lake. The ice princess met her boyfriend out there , (he lives next to the lake,) my son fished and I lounged on a blanket and read a book I had picked up at the little store on the Lake. It was Fantastic. Mimosa Grove, it was called. Can't remember the author's name, but lurved the book. I rested, I relaxed, I fought off killer bees. Yes, killer bees. The minute I opened my Coke, they swarmed me. I finally covered the can and took it down the beach from me. The bees didn't bother me again.

Was lovely. The idea was for me to write, but the day was just perfect, about 80 degrees, with a slight breeze and the quiet was too seductive to even want to work. The scent was intoxicating, warm pine needles mixed with fresh water. Mmmm. A fine time was had by all. My son caught several fish, my daughter held hands with her boyfriend and got to know him better and I lazed in the sun like I used to. After we left, I took my kids to the rink where they were meeting their youth group after the Ice Princess taught a couple of classes. I didn't have to go out again. I took a nap, which would have been delectable, except I got six phone calls in two hours. Oh well, it was almost better that way because there was a smile on my face everytime I hung up the phone and realized I could go back to sleep again. I may not have recieved as much rest as I would have from a solid nap, but I enjoyed it more.

And the best part? They go on another visit today! But no rest today, I have to work on the few articles I have for the month of August and work on my fiction. Sounds like fun to me!

Fiction!

I actually wrote soem fiction yesterday! Mostly it consisted of opening HOT and changing a few things and starting the end of the first chapter, but I actually did it! It felt good and I didn't want to come back from that world, but I had to. Too much going on here.

I want to go deeper into the characters, learn about them in a more meaningful way. That's the only way I will be able to do them justice. I am excited about writing again. Want to do it so badly.

That's a very, very good thing!

Getting closer

My kids are over the little kids. They still help a lot, but I can tell by their attitudes that they're over it. Over getting woken up early(especially my daughter who has to get up so early for skating anyway. On her days off she wants to sleep!) Over sharing their rooms that they can no longer consider sanctuary. Over always having to feed the kids before they put food into their continually hungry teenage bodies. Over the house smelling like pee and poo. Over having to give up events because we have no one to watch the sleeping babies so I can pick them up. Over the noise, the sticky floors, the drool, the diapers and the bickering. Tired of their mother always being tired and bitchy. The court date is the eleventh and I am hoping that mommy gets them back. We cannot do this long term.

Not that my children are not compassionate. My son really doesn't want them going back with mom because he believes they won't have a chance of making a good life with her. But he is mature enough to know that we can't do this forever. And they are teens. Compassion will only take them so far. But they continue to help. Last night, they played yard games like Red Light Green Light and Simon Says while I made dinner. But their tempers and patience and tolerance is much shorter.

In writing news... congrats to all the RWA Rita and Golden Heart Winners! I can only imagine the excitment they all must be experiencing. How fun the gala must be. Perhaps next year. And in reading all the accounts of nationals, I am excited to get back to my writing. So even though I wasn't there, I have been encouraged. Now that is the power of a conference!

Book of Your Heart Finalist!

Just got the news that READ MY LIPS is a PASIC Book of Your Heart Finalist! I was so sure that it wouldn't make it! I sent in two and LIPS finaled! I was anxious about this contest because the preliminary judges are book sellers. My name was last on the list so I am thinking LIPS tied and barely managed to squeak by, but hey, I'll take it!

In other good news, one of my CP's, Dawn Groszek, finaled for contemp with her Love's Duet. So excited for her! And me!
Teri

One More

I have one more article to complete this month and I'm done with nonfiction for July. I managed to do seven this month which is amazing, considering. I have a couple set up for next month, but am going to have to hustle up a few more.

I filled out all the paper work for the camp for the eldest new kidlet. I think he'll have fun and God knows we need the break. The camp is longer than I had wanted... from nine am to four in the afternoon, but since they go on a lot of fieldtrips that is to be expected. And I think the kids will go back at the end of August, so it will work out just fine. I might actually have time to work on fiction.

Still not sure which book I am going to start on. My friend, Shirley Jump, just sold her 25th book in six years. I remember when she sold her first one... I was so happy for her. I can't believe what she's done with her career. So I may do the adult one first, just to get my feet wet, so to speak. Then I can start on Looking for Laguna.

Not much more to report, no clever observations or funny anecdotes. Too sleepy for that.

Drowning

In paperwork and work.

I have papers all over my desk. Wic papers, federal assistance papers (all three kids are elegible for assistance) papers to fill out to have the state pay for day camps for the eldest, papers filled with names of other foster parents to call for support, papers listing do's and don'ts for disciplining foster children... the list is endless. I know I can shove them all in the folder, but they have to be gone over, filled out and changes made.

Then there is writing. Finished another article today. The rough anyway. I am sure it is disjointed as I had to write in twenty minute increments. Am hoping for some time tonight to go over it and maybe finish another one. Am far behind and I haven't touched fiction in ages. I miss my CP's. I miss living in another world(I could use another world right about now!)

Everyone is gearing up for Nationals and once again I am feeling left out. Couldn't afford it. Didn't sell this year. (and as things turned out, I couldn't go anyway!) But, I am not complaining. Since the Reno Nationals, I've completed a really wonderful book and scored a top notch agent. Last year, I made more with my writing than I ever have. I have learned tons and tons and went to a writers conference where I met several wonderful agents and editors and made some good friends. And I scored a fabulous CP. (Hi Shannon!) So, all and all, I have moved foreward this year:)

I'll hang onto that:)
Teri

Memory trick?

Is it a memory trick or is it me?

I remember taking my children to the lake. Brown berry babies playing at the waters edge, exclaiming over their latest treasure, coming up to me for more snacks and to show me what they found. So I thought I would take the current crop of babies to the lake. Not even close. Kids hated getting too far away from me and hovered next to the blanket kicking sand on everything. Didn't know how to play alone. Baby wanted to eat sand and screamed for three hours because I wouldn't let her. I must have said "go play," 500 times.

Another illusion shot.

Am wavering between working on HOT and LOOKING FOR LAGUNA. Sigh. Thought I was ready to tackle an adult romance, but the teens of Laguna are louder. Teens are always louder. Of course, at the moment, I'm not finding time to write much of anything.

My agent is going to wait until September to pitch LIPS. Said she doesn't want to pitch anything so good in the month of August. So I will trust her judgement and wait. Maybe I will luck out and final in the Pasic contest. Not holding my breath, though. A lot of talented authors entered.

My Next Books...

Trying to get back into the swing of things. Have been thinking a lot on HOT. It has been languishing at chapter one for a couple of weeks now. Agent McDreamy isn't sure it's right for the line I've targeted. Am still going to write it, though. I think it's a great idea.

I do have another YA idea that has been forming. I like it and think it would sell. Have a lot more plotting to do on it. This one includes a working class girl and AM loves the idea of a working classs heroine. Will write out a synopsis one of these days. She needs to come from a midwestern state. Not sure which one though. But since it includes a road trip, it needs to be far enough from California to allow a long enough trip for all sorts of adventures to happen a long the way.

Can't wait to start writing fiction again. But first I have a ton of nonfiction to finish up. I worked on an article last night and will finish it this morning while the children are gone... they go visit their mom today. I have another one that is due that I need to get out, too. I need to be diligent and not get distracted! Not think about that warm soft bed that I could sink into for several hours. Sent LIPS out yesterday. Hope to hear from Agent McDreamy soon. I love sending stuff out and hearing where it's going to be pitched, etc. The excitement, the nerves, all of it. OTE recieved two more passes over the last week or so. Hardly even disappointed. I don't think it's going to sell. I look back on it and I can't believe it even got an agent. I'm so much better now, due, in part, to Shannon McKeldon, my amazing CP.

Nothing new to report on the kidlet front. They are small and warm and needy. I do have to say, that it's no wonder mom allows unsuitable men in her life... I have two teens and a husband and am barely surviving it. I couldn't imagine trying to do this on my own. (Not that that is an excuse to letting unsafe people into your children's lives... just an observation.)

Okay... rink time.

fini

Finished that last scene. My CP said it worked for her, so I am going to go over the manuscript one more time and send it to agent McDreamy. Whew!

I had several hours to myself yesterday. Wrote the scene, took a shower and cleaned my poor house. The boy was working and ice princess took the opportunity to go hang out with friends. I have all the info I need to write up a couple of articles. So in other words, I am staying afloat.

:)

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!