The Internal Clock

March 10, 2008 | Writing, family, life

I don’t know if it’s the five foot high snow banks surrounding my house like a medieval wall that’s throwing me off, but my internal clock is having a tough time recognising the time change. I suppose when we spring forward my mind assumes there should be at least some hint of spring outside. Sigh. Well it can’t stay winter forever, can it?

DS has started March Break and DH has most of the week off. I don’t expect to get all that much done this week. (Last week I was very productive so I’m not feeling too guilty about it.) I’m hoping to finish up my research for my WIP. I want to start writing once DS is back in school. I also hope to keep up on my rewrites, one chapter posted to my crit group and another to final draft. And I want to keep up on crits for the ladies in my critique group.

Hmm. Maybe this week will be more productive than I’d planned for.

Mood: Good
Music: The Seeker, The Who

Random Stuff

February 26, 2008 | Books, Writing, family

DS is home with the flu. He’s been sick since he woke up Saturday morning. Today the fever is gone, but he’s still looking a little pale and hollow eyed. Still, he’s also feeling well enough that he’s bored with video games and TV. A good sign.

Obviously I’m not getting as much done on my rewrites as I would like. Sigh. I am, however, still making notes on a new WIP. I’ve come across two potential snags in my story, one I think I’ve solved and the other I’m still trying to work through. I’m also attempting to do a little more research at the beginning of my novel this time (rather than when I’m finished) in an effort to cut back on the number of write-arounds I need to between the first and second draft. This is the lesson I take from Blood and Bone.

I just finished reading Knaves Honor by Margaret Moore. I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I finished it in less than week. I don’t often read historicals, but I like hers. Now, I’m reading Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning. I’ve never read anything by her, but a friend recommended her. I’m only on chapter three, but so far I’m intrigued.

That’s it for now.

New Used Boots

January 23, 2008 | HellHound, family

We had a thaw here a few weeks ago, and all the snow melted. As if to celebrate winter’s momentary lapse, HellHound ate my winter boots. And he did it practically right in front of me. I was sitting at the dining room table talking to DH while HellHound was under the table chewing on what I thought was his bone. Imagine my surprised when I realized.

This past weekend I’d planned to buy myself a new pair, but never did get around to it. (We did, however, finally take the Christmas tree down.) So naturally it snowed yesterday, a good five or six inches and I was forced to traipse through it all in my sneakers.

Last night, I went to my mom’s to help her print up business cards for her store. She took one look at my feet and gave me that look that makes me forget I’m a woman in my mid-thirties, making me feel like I’m a seventeen-year-old instead (and not in a good way either). Then she dug out pair of her old boots to give me. They’re so weird, they look a little like old fashioned cross country ski boots–naturally, I love them.

Ah Mom, you’re the best.

After Christmas Catch Up

December 27, 2007 | family, life

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. Sigh.

I had a lovely holiday with family. It was hectic, but fun. Still, spending all of Boxing Day in my jammies and reading a book was well earned.

My favorite gift came from DH. He bought me an electric woodstove for my attic. No more dressing in layers or aching knuckles while I type. And it does add a coziness ambiance to the room.

DS’s big gift was Guitar Hero (I think that’s what it’s called) for his PlayStation. Truth be told, DH and I have been playing it more than DS. Last night we were up until 1 a.m. My wrist, forearm and fingers are killing me today.

I must apologize for being a touch absent lately. Between the bookkeeping (year end is nearly upon us) and the holidays, I’ve been buried. With Christmas is over, I plan to be much more active here starting…now.

Dog Days

August 1, 2007 | HellHound, family

My mother’s has gone to a wedding in the Caribbean this week, so I’m dog sitting for her. I don’t really mind doing it. I love dogs, after all. But my mother’s dog, who I have renamed Diva, is really high strung and a touch demanding.

When she wants food or water, she kicks her bowl. Not a huge deal, but because she and HellHound are using the bowl as part of their power struggle, (She won’t drink from the bowl after he does. Not that I blame her, he tends to leave a thick film of slobber behind.) has I’m constantly filling the the thing. I’ve filled it four time since I woke up and it’s noon. If I don’t drop whatever I’m doing and fill said bowl right away, she comes over and barks at me then returns to her bowl to kick it some more. I’d also like to point out that HellHound’s bowl is filled with crystal clear untouched water while all of this is going on.

But even more annoying than the water bowl is the barking. HellHound is a real barker anyway. Probably because he’s male and not fixed, he thinks everything he sees belongs to him. So anyone walking by, especially people walking their dogs, will send him into a barking fury. The good news is if doesn’t see it, he doesn’t bark. Diva, however, has excellent hearing so barks at the slightest sound. Her barking gets HellHound barking–even though he doesn’t know why he’s barking–then his barking keeps her barking and viceversa. I firmly believe that if left unchecked, the two of them would bark themselves hoarse.

I Screamed Like a Girl

July 29, 2007 | family, life

This morning while in the bath I was attacked by a centipede. Okay, attacked might be a slight exaggeration. It must have been clinging to the back of my shampoo bottle. I’m not entirely sure because DS had distracted me. He was asking if he could have chips for dessert, since he’d eaten all his breakfast, and I was shouting to make sure he could hear me through the closed door that breakfast wasn’t a meal typically followed by dessert and that I felt 8:30 a.m. was too early for chips. (but I’m one of those strict moms) Then felt something scurry over the back of my hand. When I looked down, a two inch centipede was crawling up my arm. Ugh! What a way to start my morning.

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 14, 2007 | family

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Mine didn’t start out terribly promising, but it turned out all right.

Friday I got a call from the school, telling me DS had been hit with a croquette mallet while at recess. (I don’t know who thought giving six and seven year-old boys croquette mallets to play with with minimal supervision sounded like a good idea…) Anyway, there was a nasty gash right near the corner of his eye. Not very long, but wide and deep. (If he’d been hit just a fraction of an inch to the left, he’d have been hit in the eye.) So off to emergency we went where he received two stitches.

The stitches were actually the easy part. Because the wound was so close to his eye, the doctor needed to sedate him before giving him the stitches. It took three tries to get the IV in with DS screaming bloody murder the whole time. After they got the IV in him, the rest went pretty smoothly.

I stayed with him holding his hand while the doctor gave him the stitches. As the sedative wore off and DS woke, he looked at me and smiled and said, ‘I love you Mom.’

The best mother’s day gift ever!

They Can Put a Man on the Moon, but They Can’t Make a Coffee Pot that Doestn’t Drip When You Pour

May 6, 2007 | Writing, family, life

Good morning all. I have been very neglectful of my blog of late, but I’ve been completely buried these past weeks. For a woman who doesn’t work outside the home, I seem to have a lot on my plate lately.

On the writing front:

I’m coming up to one year since I sent out my full of Living Lies. The editor who requested it has left the publisher so I’m not sure where that leaves me. As for Witch, I sent out eight submissions to publishers and received rejections from two. I’m still struggling with my Blood and Bone rewrite, but I’ve been rereading the entire MS and I’m wondering if the changes I’d planned are really just over complicating the story. I think I need to just rewrite the thing as is, and stop worrying about crap like whether or not hero and heroine meet in chapter 2 versus chapter 3.

I’ve always believed that something like that would not stop publisher from buying the book if they truly loved the story, so I don’t know why I’m obsessing about now.

My WIP is going well, or at least it was until this past week. I put it on hold to catch up on everything else I was doing. Starting today, I’m back at it.

I had planned to do more gardening today (blech!) but yesterday I got badly sunburned and my shoulder and wrist are killing me from digging and pulling weeds. (Side note–I hate grass.)

There’s only two months left in the school year and I think I might be almost as excited as my DS to see it come to a close. I have developed a special hatred for his teacher. Now, lest you think this is just an overprotective parent (which I am) who can’t accept that her precious might not be so precious when he’s with his friends (Ha!) I would like to point out that so far two other children in his class have been pulled out because this woman had them so terrified to go school.

DS isn’t afraid of the woman, and perhaps that’s what aggravates her so much about him. Not that he can’t be a brat, but most of my friends have boys and I’ve yet to see one who does what he’s told the first time he’s asked. Anyway, after a few conversations with her, I was concerned enough to go to the principal. The principal assured me that he was doing fine so now I’m coasting to the end of the year–or trying to. Every time DS steps out of line I get a note home.

Like on Thursday. I got a note home telling me that DS saw some newly sharpened pencils and yelled out ‘HOLY SHIT!’ Now, I naturally yelled at him and sent him to his room, taking away T.V. and video games, but I have to admit I did kind of get a chuckle over this. I realize he’s at an age where he’s going to be experimenting with swear words, but I would like to think he would have enough common sense not to use these words in the classroom. DS told me on Friday one of the little girls in his class said Shit while they were playing a game in classroom.

No doubt I’ll be getting a note home about that on Monday.

Music: Honestly - Annie Lennox
Mood: Amused

Wringing the Life Out of Every Day

February 8, 2007 | family

My grandfather passed away nearly two weeks ago. Yesterday I went to the funeral. He was eighty-one years-old, and as sad as I am to lose him I can not help but be impressed by the life he had.

He was a man’s man, that’s for sure. He loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, skiing. I have a very fond memory of him taking me out on a snowmobile when I was seven. He loved the sea, he loved woodworking. He built the cottage my family vacationed in for more than fifteen years. Last summer we rented a cottage on the same lake and drove by our old cottage in the boat. It’s been added to, but the bones are still there as strong as ever.

Yet my grandfather had an arty side also. He had lovely voice, performed in local theatre and he wrote beautiful poetry.

He adored my grandmother and when he lost her two years ago it literally brought him to his knees. But he stood up and he kept going.

Now that he’s gone, I will miss him every day. But I will remember all that he taught us. To work hard, to love your family and to get out there and truly live life.

The Speed of Life

January 28, 2007 | Writing, family, life

What a weird week this has been.

I managed to land a day job. And after receiving three agent rejections this week, perhaps it’s a sign. I’ve been looking for a job, albeit half-heartedly, since November and with very little success. Then this week, one interview, a few phone calls and I start Monday. Huh?! DS is thrilled that he’ll be able to go to a babysitter, I’m worried sick, but I’ve been known to be a tad overprotective.

Today I’m going to the hospital to visit my grandfather. He is in the final stages of prostate and bone cancer. This too seems to moving with a sudden and frightening speed. Three weeks ago DH and I were at my grandfather’s house so DH could hook up the wires to my grandfather’s new TV. He didn’t look well, but I must admit I’ve been completely unprepared for just how quickly he’s deteriorating. His doctor says he’s dwindling, and I can barely wrap my head around the idea that this could be the last time I see him. Okay, let’s talk about something else.

My WIP is coming along really well. I love my characters. I’m still has conflicted as ever on B&B. Though, I’ve made one decision that I definitely think was the right one. I rewrote the scene and can’t believe how much better it is.

Amongst my many rejections for Witch last week was a personal one. Good, right? Although, the agent didn’t like the conflict or the pacing, she did say the writing was good. That’s something, isn’t it?

Well, I should stop my ramblings here. I have a ton of stuff to do today. After all, tomorrow I have to go to work.

Music: On the Hood–Matt Mays and El Torpedo
Mood: When my brain catches up, I’ll let you know