A Great Mood!

July 29, 2008 | HellHound, Living Lies, Reviews, Writing

I’m in an fantastic mood today.

First, I’ve finally finished my revisions for The Witch’s Stone and sent it off. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Second, I received an awesome review from Fallen Angels Reviews for Living Lies. Five angels and a recommended read. WooHoo!

So with Witch finally finished and off my desk for now, I’m going to get back to Blood & Bone–I would love to have done and ready for submission by September–and back to the WIP. I put aside last week to finish with Witch and I can’t wait to get back to it.

Hellhound is doing better. I wound up cancelling his vet appointment as the spray seemed to bring the hotspot under control in a matter of days.

I guess that’s it for now.

Mood: Excellent

Music: I Feel it All - Feist

The Sound That Said “Meep” and Other Mysteries

May 22, 2008 | HellHound, life

This morning I’m suffering the effects of lousy night’s sleep. At four a.m. I awoke to a strange sort of intermittent ‘meep’ sound. It’s kind of like a high-pitched squeak. Not terribly loud, but at four in the morning–without any other household noises–it was loud enough to keep me awake.

I’ve managed to track the noise to the front hall, but from there I’m not sure what’s causing it. Maybe the vents or the floors settling. The house is one-hundred-and-thirty-years-old so it makes odd noises all the time, but this ‘meep’ is starting to get on my nerves. I wondered if it could be the battery in the smoke detector starting to die, DH claims he’s sure that’s not it. I remain unconvinced.

Also, in the relm of the unexplained is HellHound’s turquoise back paw. I can’t find anything that he might have gotten into, and whatever turned the fur on his paw that lovely shad of blue/green washed off easily.

Hmm, so many mysteries this morning.

Mood: Perplexed

Music: Cuts Like a Knife, Bryan Adams  

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.

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.

Skunks and Other Happenings

June 5, 2007 | HellHound

So last week Hell Hound got sprayed by a skunk. Really, living here with such a bull for a dog, it was only a matter of time. We bathed him in a mix of vinegar, baking soda and dish soap (though there was a far more recommended recipe that uses peroxide instead of vinegar, but Hell Hound got sprayed in the face and we worried we’d get it in his eyes.) Luckily, he didn’t get bit. I’m a little behind on the rabies shots, but needless to say I have an appointment booked to get him caught up. And as if that wasn’t adventure enough for Hell Hound , while I was checking him for bites I found the beginning of a hotspot.

For anyone who owns dogs prone to hotspots, they know how quickly they can spread. Last year was the first time Hell Hound got them and it took me about a day and a half to realize what was wrong with him. By the time we took him to the vet, they had to shave a third of him. And then end result was a nearly $500.00 vet bill.

This time I caught it right away. It was just a small spot on his face that had barely started to spread. And this time my bill was only $80.00. As much as I hate to admit it, I probably wouldn’t have caught the hotspot so fast if he hadn’t been sprayed by the skunk. Fate is funny sometimes.

My writing has also taken an upswing. The WIP is continuing to come along nicely. I’m approaching the midpoint and I think I know how it’s going to end. But we’ll see. Anything can change.

I’m rewriting B&B again, having managed to work through the snag I’d wound up in. I sent a follow up letter to the editor who has LL so hopefully I get some kind of response soon. And no recent rejections for TWS. No news is good news.

I’m also toying with idea of writing a short story for a specific market. One wouldn’t assume this would be a challenge, but I don’t think I’ve written a short story since high school English class. Condensing an idea to between 10 and 20,000 words will be a challenge for me. But change is good. Or so they say.

Just Another Day

October 4, 2006 | HellHound, Writing, life

Monday I received a request for a full manuscript from an agent I’d queried in September. Yay! So since then I’ve been tweaking the last two chapters about a million times (I’m exaggerating a little, but not much.) and rereading and printing each chapter out individually so I can be fairly certain there are no mistakes (hopefully).

My house looks like a bomb hit it, the laundry is mounting up with frightening speed and all other writing projects, including my WIP, have been put on hold. Oh, and HellHound got into the garbage this afternoon and scattered it across my kitchen floor.

Just another day.

The Empty Mail Box

September 29, 2006 | HellHound, Writing

I find that whenever I have submissions out, I become somewhat obsessive about checking my mail. Today I checked it three times before giving up and accepting that there would nothing. Then, at nearly four o’clock, (our mail normally arrives between nine and one) I hear HellHound going ballistic at the front door. I emerged from my office just in time to see the mailman hightailing it away from our porch. (Not that I blame him.) The mail at last. But when I check, all that’s there is a bank statement and two fliers. Sigh.

This, of course, begs the question, isn’t no news good news where submissions are concerned? And the answer is yes, but I have to admit, the whole hurry-up-and-wait in this business is probably the hardest thing for me to deal with. I can handle the rejections. Don’t get me wrong I would much prefer to be offered the contract of my dreams, but one step at a time. Still, I find the months of waiting very frustrating.

I’ve had a full with an editor since the end of May and really that’s not very long. I’ve heard of writers with submissions at publishers for up to and over a year. That’s a lot of empty mail boxes.

Mood: Tired
Music: Diana Krall