Friday, June 30, 2006

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?

Thursday, June 29, 2006

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!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

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?

Monday, June 26, 2006

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!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

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.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

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!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

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.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

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?

Thursday, June 15, 2006

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!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

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.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

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!

Monday, June 12, 2006

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.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

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.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

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!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

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.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

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!

Monday, June 05, 2006

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?

Saturday, June 03, 2006

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!

Friday, June 02, 2006

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!

Thursday, June 01, 2006

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!