Monday’s Muse

I had an amazing weekend. One full of inspiration and awesomeness! And it’s all because I was able to attend the annual SCBWIAZ Welcome to Our House Conference.

The faculty was amazing! I threw out a few highlights on Twitter, but really, there was so much to absorb, that I’m still pouring through my notes (and wishing I could have recorded it because I just know I couldn’t write fast enough to capture it all).

Still, what notes I did manage to scrawl are full of amazing insights. Now I’m ready to pour myself into writing. Unfortunately, I still have other obligations. Like my eighth and fifth graders who are doing online school and are home all day needing my assistance. And then my sixth grader who comes home and needs help with her homework. And dinner and washing clothes and all that other “mom” stuff that needs doing. *sigh*

But, I’ve made a plan. Starting tomorrow (when they all have school again), my two at home are getting up at about 9:00 and we are going to get through school by noon (let me dream, people—let me dream). Then I’ll have about two hours to write before I have to go pick up my sixth grader from school and get started on her homework (I’ll find some time to eat something in those two hours—I hope). And on those miraculous days when sixth grader doesn’t have homework, I’ll be able to have more writing time before dinner. As for the cleaning stuff, the rest of the family is just going to have to pitch in more.

This is my plan. It probably won’t work, but my main point is that I’m going to find ways to adjust things so that I do have more writing time. Because I haven’t been writing every day or even once a week—sometimes two weeks go by—and I need to get back into it. I miss it (and I’d like to pretend that it misses me).

On a totally unrelated topic, I’ve been using an app called My Fitness Pal to log my daily calories. It’s been eye opening! I’ve been watching how much I eat and have started exercising (because when I exercise, I burn calories and can eat more LOL). And just by doing this—and eating less of what I normally eat—I’ve lost 8 1/2 pounds over the last couple of months!

So, what has inspired you lately?

Write on!

Hello . . . hello . . . hello

Wow. Did you hear that echo?

Yeah. Things have been awfully empty and deserted in my blogosphere. I am still here even though I haven’t been “here” posting on the blog (poor neglected thing).

I’ve spent the summer in frustration and confusion and a bit of depression. I totally expected to have a new novel finished before the kids go back to school (which will be on the 29th of this month)—and—well—I don’t. Not even close. I’ve started and stopped several, but haven’t even made it to the midpoint on any of them.

I HAVE been writing and completed two picture book manuscripts so at least that’s something (right?). But the rest of my summer has been spent studying my craft. I’ve attended a couple of webinars, purchased many books about writing (probably too many), and have been reading blogs and books in my chosen genres and learning—and trying to figure out where I’m going wrong in my process. Because the rejections I keep getting tell me that something is obviously broken.

I even had a couple of industry professional critiques—which had helpful feedback, but not enough to get me that “yes” I want. So where am I going wrong? Yeah. I wish I knew. Even with all my studying and learning and trying to figure it out, I don’t have an answer.

I did learn quite a bit about plotting and structuring  and characterization (some amazing revelations occurred), but I haven’t been able to move forward. And it’s not for lack of motivation. I’m definitely motivated.

I have an unopened package of Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolates (my favorite treat) just waiting for me. And all I have to do to open the package is reach the midpoint of a novel project. That’s it!

I want to open that package and enjoy a bite of chocolate heaven, believe me!

And yet, I can’t seem to reach the goal.

It’s not the fault of the stories I’ve tried writing—the concepts are good, the characters are good, the structure and plot and everything is all planned out (turning points etc.) and it is good—but me? I’m not so good.

And I don’t know why. If I knew what it was that’s holding me back, I could figure out a way to annihilate it and move on.

Have any of you ever gone through this? What is it? And how do I get myself out of it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Write on (if you can)!

I Am Broken

So, things have been pretty quiet here on the blog. I meant to have more contests through out the week and more prizes and more fun and a book review for When the Butterflies Came, but pain kept me from hobbling out to my shed/writing room and since my laptop is out there, things didn’t get done. If you read my April 8th post, you know of my injury (but I’ll go into more detail later in case you don’t). I suppose I could have made hubby or one of the kids venture into my space and bring my laptop to me, but with the pain I’ve been in, I just wanted to lay in bed and let the meds do their thing.

This is my left leg (yes, I have very white skin and need to see some sun, but just concentrate on the bruising and swelling and ignore the rest):

I do have an ankle bone, but the swelling makes it look like I don’t. This picture is almost two weeks after the initial incident. What incident? Why the one where I slammed my leg into my dresser. Now that doesn’t mean I took it off of my body and repeatedly banged it on the dresser (get that image out of your mind if you can). No, I was running from my youngest daughter after waking her by tossing stuffed animals onto her until she was buried under a mass of fluffy furry things (it’s a game we sometimes play to keep her from being cranky in the mornings before school). She erupts from the burial and gives chase. I run to my bedroom where I jump onto my bed before she can get to me. We’ve done it many times before.

Unfortunately, hubby left his laptop and iPad on his side of the bed (nearest the door) so I couldn’t jump onto the bed like I usually do—well, at least not without the risk of breaking his electronics or hurting my self (ironic?). I could have hurried to my side of the bed, but my daughter was almost upon me. So when I reached the foot of the bed, I took my leap. My ankle veered off course. Really it should have followed the rest of my body’s trajectory, but for some reason it didn’t (which I’m sure wasn’t my fault—okay it probably was). My leg banged into the dresser. This caused massive pain and much crying and a little bit of blood (those aren’t razor cuts on my leg, but rather they are scabs from the healing scrapes where the dresser bit me).

After hobbling to take the kids to school, I went to Urgent Care. They took some x-rays and said it wasn’t broken and sent me on my way with an air cast and some crutches.

I wasn’t able to use the crutches because I’m a weakling and don’t have the upper body strength for it (my arms almost hurt worse than my leg—yeah, I need to do some weight lifting or something). So I spent a week limping around when I had to, but spending most of my time in bed with my leg propped up and some ice—which also hurt (even running my hand down my leg hurt). I’m not a wimp, mind you. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but this H-U-R-T. So I limped back to Urgent Care last Thursday. They said I should follow up with my Dr. because it “might” be broken after all (hairline fracture). So I set up an appointment and went yesterday (it takes a while to get an appointment with my Dr. sometimes).

And now I have this new stylish footwear:

I’ve been booted. This new footwear will be part of my wardrobe for the next four weeks.

As I said, being absent from the blog during the contest was not my intention. And because I didn’t get to do all the fun things I wanted to, I’m going to extend the contest so I can have the chance to do what I want. And since this is my blog—well, I can.

So the blog contest will be extended through April 30th. That gives me time next week to do all the fun things I wanted to do (and still time to prop my leg up and ice it to reduce the massive swelling that gives me an elephant ankle).

Now I’m going to hobble into the house to grab some lunch and get back out here for some writing time before the day gets away from me (it’s on the run and I’m falling behind).

Write on!

No More Guilt!

I attended a Writer’s Digest University webinar this morning. It was presented by Holly Root and Barbara Poelle. Of course it was amazing. I’m looking forward to the critique of my query and first page that was included with the webinar. There was so much information and I’m still trying to absorb it all, but one thing that really stood out was this.

They gave us permission to be a social media slacker! That’s right, we don’t have to feel guilty about ignoring our blogs or Twitter or Facebook or any of it! Writing is what’s most important. And while I knew this deep down, I still felt guilty for not updating my blog, Facebook, Twitter on a regular basis.

I don’t have to feel guilty anymore! Yay!! I can be a slacker because Holly Root and Barbara Poelle said I can. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever update anything, because I will, but I won’t feel guilty if I don’t.

The most important thing is that I get words on the pages of my manuscripts. If that means not updating for weeks or months, I’m okay with that and I hope my followers will be too. And for all my writing friends out there, don’t let guilt force you into social media. If you don’t want to do it or don’t have time—then don’t!

Write on!

Friday Five

1. Things have been crazy! I’ve done lots of revising on my MG (practically rewrote the whole thing). I’ve also developed a few new ideas.

2. The kids have been on spring break for the last two weeks(they go back on Monday). We’ve had fun, but I’m ready for them to go back.

3. I’ve started a new YA. I can’t believe how much I LOVE this story and characters. I’m having more fun writing it than I’ve ever had writing anything before. Hopefully the love lasts and the words will keep flowing.

4. I’ve been taking some classes from Joyce Sweeney (Valentine’s Day present from my awesome hubby). I’m enjoying the classes and am learning so much—but with everything going on, I’m falling behind in my homework. Oops. Good thing they’re flexible. I hope to get all caught up by the end of next week.

5. The day started out sunny and nice, but the wind picked up a few hours ago and blew in a storm. We’ve had the first few sprinkles of spring rain! Yay.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Oh, and I’ll be posting a contest here soon. Don’t miss it!

Write on.

Thursday Three

1. Kate Epstein rocks! I was extremely disappointed when I received a rejection from her for a MG project—but the blow was softened since she was no longer representing fiction (that meant the rejection wasn’t because of my manuscript). She told me about her editing services (check out her site here). Extremely affordable! I jumped at the chance. Her feedback has been awesome! It’s so worth the $$. She tailored the critique to my specific questions (mostly—why do I keep getting rejections?) and opened my eyes. A-Ma-Zing!

2. Instead of working on one of my new novel projects, I’ve been diving into revisions based on Kate’s feedback. It’s been a joy to transform my manuscript! I’ve asked Kate if she’d be interested in helping me whip my query letter and synopsis into shape—we’ll see what she says. (crossing my fingers)

3. It’s been hard to get the kids up and moving in the mornings. They missed one week of school when they were sick and another week after grandpa died so they got in the habit of sleeping in. Hopefully next week will be better (I can dream).

Hope everyone is enjoying a happy and productive Thursday!

Oh—and I’m looking forward to Super Bowl weekend! I don’t care who wins the actual game—I like the commercials and the fact that I don’t have to cook. Yay!

 

Write on!

Update—Friday Five style

1. Things have been crazy. Last week I had sick kids home from school and wasn’t able to get much done.

2. One week ago today, my father-in-law passed away. His funeral and graveside were on Wednesday. We drove to Flagstaff on Tuesday, spent the night, and attended the funeral Wednesday morning. That afternoon, we drove to St. Johns (a town about 2 1/2 hours away) for the graveside and burial (my father-in-law grew up in St. Johns and wanted to be buried there). It was a very long day full of high emotions and lots of driving. Their grandpa was the first person they were really close to that has died, and the kids are having a hard time. We’re doing our best to comfort them, and I know they’ll get through this. We all will.

3. I’m not sure if it’s because of all the travel or the emotional exhaustion or that they weren’t fully recovered before we had to travel, but my kids are sick again today. I’m out in my writing space, hoping to get some queries sent out (yes, it’s time to send things out again), but I’m not sure how much I’ll really get done since I keep having to go in and check on the kids.

4. I sent my MG fantasy off to an agent for editorial services a while back. She’s gotten most of the novel back to me and her comments have been extremely helpful. I’ve managed to revise through the first three chapters and am looking forward to receiving the final thoughts/comments from the agent as soon as she’s done (she mentioned she might have it finished later today).

5. I’m worn out. Why is it that whenever I get a new idea for a novel, all heck breaks loose and I can’t ever find the time to actually write the darn thing? It’s crazy! But I’m determined to get the new YA idea written. Somehow—someday—somewhere.  

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Write on.

Wednesday’s Word

Procrastination

I’m very good at it. For example, my Christmas decorations stayed up until last night. I kept saying, “We’ll take them down tomorrow.” And each day would come and go and the decorations remained. I tried to blame it on the snow that had frozen to ice and still covered some of the outside lights (the ones on the ground—yes, I had lights on the ground), but the reality was I just didn’t want to do it.  It was a pain trying to reclaim my lights from the icy clutches of winter, but with hubby’s help and several cups of hot water, we got it done. But I do feel so much better with the tree and all the decorations are packed away.

This got me thinking about other things I tend to procrastinate—like writing.

Yesterday after dropping my kids off at school, I came home, got K’s homework, went back to town, and took the homework to K (along with the kids’ lunches). After that, I came home again and took my little self out the door, through the back yard, and into my writing room. I even went so far as to open my computer and get it booted up. Once everything was running, I quickly checked my emails and dutifully opened Word.

And that’s as far as I got. I remembered J was sitting on the couch as I passed and she needed “encouragement” to do her online schooling. So I went back inside, told her to get started and come get me if she had any questions or needed help. I returned to my writing room, sat down, and logged into the online school to check her progress (and I needed to record attendance). Once there, I found she was missing some work. So I went back in the house and found her still sitting on the couch.

Yeah, I spent the morning making sure she was focused on her work and going through the concepts she hadn’t mastered. After overseeing her completion of quite a bit of work, we had lunch and I returned to my writing room. But did I write? No. I wasted valuable time surfing the web.

As I said in my first post of this new year, I plan to take 2013 one day at a time—and yesterday was not much of a writing day. I’m not sure how much I’ll get done today either. I have to oversee J’s science project—it involves dissecting a chicken wing and requires a sharp knife . . . and I’m a bit overprotective when it comes to my kids handling sharp objects.

Today J needs me (at least for a little while), but yesterday I realized there will always be a way to procrastinate. Not a huge revelation (I mean, I KNOW that already), but realizing I’m more prone to give in to the distraction than to force myself to focus on writing is a huge revelation—at least for me.

Face it, writing is hard work. Even the research, plotting, planning, etc. that sometimes comes before the writing is hard work. Okay, it’s not hard physical labor (though typing can wear out fingers/wrists/arms), but mentally and emotionally it takes its toll. No wonder we sometimes need a break.

I’m pleased with myself for identifying my tend to give in to distractions. Now that I know the problem, I plan to do something about it. There will still be days when I probably won’t get any writing done, but I believe I can eliminate many of those days by making the conscious choice NOT to give in to unnecessary distractions (that includes my kids unless they REALLY do need me).

I’m not setting a goal or making a resolution here—I still plan to take 2013 one day at a time—I’m just realizing a weakness in myself and deciding to work on strengthening that aspect of my character.

After all, I am a character in my own life, and I need to experience some growth by the end of my story too.

Before I go inside to help J this morning, I intend to either fill out at least five 3 x 5 index cards or come up with names for the characters in my YA SF.

What about you? Are you easily distracted and allow yourself to procrastinate?

And finally, if you chose one word for today, what would it be?

 

Write on.

Oh yeah, I have a blog.

Yeah, it’s been awhile. *waves to anyone who might still drop in to read*

So the holidays are over, and I survived. Whew! The kids went back to school today so I had time to finish a critique I was doing and jot down a few more ideas for the YA SF project I’m hoping to write. I’m still working on the new MG—but now I’ll probably bop back and forth between it and the YA. We’ll see.

Last night I sent my MG Fantasy off for a professional edit. I’m hoping the edit will help steer me in the right direction so I can get an offer instead of rejections. It’s going to cost a bit of money, but I really think it will be worth it in the end. It seems like I’ve hit a wall with it. I’ve gone as far as I can go with critiques and my own revisions, and I’m hoping a more professional eye will show me what’s wrong so I can fix it.

I didn’t set any New Year’s resolutions this year. I usually try to at least have a goal in mind and say I’m going to do better with keeping up with my blog or get in shape or whatever—but not this year. It seems I never reach the goals or succeed in that which I resolve so I’m not sure it helps me at all. Inevitably I look back on my resolutions/goals and realize I didn’t reach them and get all depressed and upset. It’s just not worth it. Besides, things were too hectic with the kids and travelling to relatives and everything. I didn’t even look back at my goals/resolutions for this year—heck, I’m not sure I even made any. And I don’t care if I did (so if you remember, don’t remind me). My plan for 2013 is to take it one day at a time and see where this year takes me. I’ll write when I can and not beat myself up when I can’t.

What about you? Do you set goals or resolutions? If so, how do you choose what to resolve/what goal to set? If not, why don’t you?

2013 on!

Monday’s Muse = I Got the Point—and It Hurts!

I stabbed myself in the hand yesterday. Yes, this takes amazing talent, I know. Let me explain my stupidity. A few months ago, I purchased one of those forever sharp knife sets. Yesterday I decided to open it. I took out all the knives, but still felt something in the box. I put my right hand under the opening so whatever was inside could fall into my open palm and not onto my glass stovetop. I tipped the box upside down and shook it a little to dislodge the object stuck inside. Out came the fillet knife--yeah, the real sharp, pointy one—and straight into my hand. OUCH!!

It came right back out again, so I’m not sure how far it actually went in, but it hurt and bled quite a bit. I imagine it wasn’t too far in since the stab wound is small (about 1/8”), but the pain begs to differ. At least it’s off on the fleshy part about an inch beneath my pinky finger and not in the center of my palm. For some reason, thinking this makes me feel better.

In my defense, all of the other knives in the box were also in their own individual boxes so I had no idea there was a box-less instrument of pain awaiting me. Also, there were orange juice drinking things in the box. So I really wasn’t expecting to be wounded by whatever would fall out of the box. Still, I should have at least looked inside before shaking the box over my hand. S-T-U-P-I-D.

So, I’m in pain and it radiates out from the wound to share the agony with my pinky finger and on down my wrist, but I refuse to let it win. And, after reading this Monday’s Muse worthy post from Dawn Metcalf, I’m inspired to hope I can use this pain in my writing someday (though I admit it wasn’t something that crossed my mind before reading the post—the only thing on my mind in relation to the incident was PAIN! Owie, owie, owie).

I’m still typing in spite of the aching (though a bit more slowly with lots of breaks). And I still graded the spelling papers for K’s class last night (that hurt much worse than typing—something about the way I needed to hold the pen, I guess). And today I’m going to (hopefully) finish up a critique I’ve been doing and then dive back into my own writing again.

So, how has your week before Christmas started? Hopefully not with any stabbing pain.

 

Write on!

Thursday Things

Here’s what I’ve been up to the last three days.

We hired someone to do the tape and texture on the walls. I had researched how to do it myself, but since I hadn’t ever done it, I decided it might not be the best idea for me to try. The professional we hired finished up on Saturday so I started working (you can see some of my work in the picture showing the textured wall.

Tuesday I painted the ceiling—it’s a very deep purple color.

On Wednesday I painted the walls.

They’re a lighter purple color—yes, my favorite color is purple.

Today I put down the floor. I used the brown paper floor method—except I didn’t use brown paper. I saw some awesome colored paper at Home Depot and couldn’t resist using it. Not only is it pretty, but I don’t have to stain the floor so I save some time.

These are the supplies I used. Elmer’s Glue-All and the pretty mauve paper. I mixed the glue with water (3 parts water to one part glue) then used a paintbrush to apply the glue mixture to the floor. I tore off pieces of paper and wadded them up. Then the crumpled up papers went into the glue and were spread out on the floor. I used the paintbrush to smooth it out (I overlapped the pieces) and apply a topcoat of glue.

And here’s the result of my day’s work:

Tomorrow I start adding the water-based polyurethane and once it’s all dry my floor will be finished. Then I’ll need to add the trim around the base of the walls and get the ceiling fan installed. Once that’s all done, I can start moving in my craft and writing stuff. YAY!!

Create on!

Friday’s Five

1. National Novel Writing Month is over (well, at midnight tonight). It was a complete bust for me this year. With all the family drama going on, I didn’t manage to get remotely close to 50,000 words. Oh well. I do have some writing done at least. Maybe next year.

2. Family drama—I’m tired of it. That is all.

3. The writing/craft room is ready for painting! The walls have been taped and textured by a professional. I decided it was beyond me even though I got an e-book and watched videos to learn how to do it. I’ll try my hand at taping and texturing on a less important project—like a closet that no one will ever see or something. I’m not sure when I’ll get around to getting the walls painted, but after the walls are painted, I’ll do the floor and then have the ceiling fan installed (not by me since I’d probably electrocute myself), and I’ll be all ready to move in! Yay. Okay—“move in” makes it sound like I’m planning to live there. I’m not. Though it may seem like it to my family. hee hee hee

4. I can’t believe tomorrow will be December! Holy mistletoe! Where did the time go? Christmas will be here in 25 short days. YIKES! The kids want to decorate the house tomorrow. I’m not ready to dig out the decorations. First of all, I have to plan these things. It’s not like I can just get the decorations and start throwing them around the house (even though the finished results may look like I did). No, my friends. This takes planning. I have to rearrange the entire living room to accommodate the tree—because it HAS to be in front of the window so it can be seen from the street. It’s like an unwritten law or something (well, it should be). And the couch is under the window right now—and I have no idea where I’ll move it. Last year, we took the couch completely out of the house (it was a different couch) and were couch-less for the holidays. I DON’T want that again. I like having somewhere to sit.

5. The kids made bows and arrows out of sticks from the hedges hubby cut. They even got bird feathers (ones the macaw and cockatiel had discarded) to tie on the arrows. The bows and arrows work surprisingly well. I made them swear NOT to shoot them at any living thing upon pain of me taking away and breaking their bows and arrows. They promised. I hope the threat of losing all their hard work is enough to make them keep their promise. And hopefully they’ll be to busy NOT shooting at living things to bug me about decorating the house tomorrow.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Distractions on!

Words on Wednesday . . . even though it’s Tuesday

I won't be here tomorrow and wanted to get at least one post in this week. I'm heading out on a field trip with K in the morning and will be gone until late afternoon/early evening (yeah, it's a long one). We'll likely be exhausted since the trip involves some hiking so I doubt I'll feel like blogging. So you get Wednesday's post tonight. Lucky you? ;-)

Things have been insane here! My NaNo dreams will NOT be coming true. I’ve had absolutely no time for writing.

Among the many other crazy things going on, we ended up pulling J out of middle school and enrolling her in an online school. Trying to get things organized and learning the ropes of how everything works (still trying to learn it all) has taken up the majority of my time.

J started the online course today but it’s basically introduction and assessment testing for this week. The school supplies (books, etc.) are on their way but probably won’t get here until next week or later.

Since she’s older, she should be able to do most of it on her own with a little assistance from me (I’m her “Learning Coach”), but for now, it’s taking both of us to get it figured out. Some of the classes/lessons will require some advanced preparation on my part, but this isn’t a “homeschool” situation. It’s a virtual academy so she has been assigned a teacher to help her along the way.

I really hope it works for her—and for me. But right now it’s frustrating. We’ll see how it goes.

With that and the sickness that has been invading my home (one thing after another), I’m ready to pull my hair out—or at least go to the salon and have it cut off. But I’m trying to resist temptation. I always want to have long hair until I get long hair and then I start hating it and run and get it cut shorter and then I wish I had long hair again. It’s a vicious cycle.

So, no writing, a few rejections here and there (one on a full—ouch), and sending out more submissions in between juggling housework, school arrangements, and other life adventures—that’s my life right now.

Hope all is well with everyone. I haven’t had a chance to drop by your blogs, and I miss you all!! Here’s hoping I get more time soon!

Write Live on.

Thursday Things

1. Today is the start of National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNo or NaNoWriMo). I do plan to participate, but I’m not sure I’ll get much writing done today.

2. I have all three kids home today due to various illness. K finally got the sore throat and fever the other two had. JR has a sore throat and stomach ache (and he didn’t even eat a bunch of Halloween candy) and J has stomach ache and vomiting (she didn’t eat Halloween candy either). *sigh* For some reason, the kids always get sick when the weather changes.

3. J asked me about doing online schooling yesterday. She’s in 7th grade this year, but doesn’t like it much. We are looking into it and considering allowing her to enroll in online school. We’ll see.

4. I’m glad to see some of my east coast friends are getting back online after the hurricane/storm/mess. It’s also good to see some agents/agencies getting back online too.

5. And I read the news about the Penguin/Random House merger yesterday. There are those who don’t like it and those who do. I’m not sure what to think.

What are your thoughts on the merger?

Hope you have a great Thursday and an amazing start to a brand new month!!

Write on!

Four on Friday

1. The kids have been sick most of the week. This means I haven’t been able to do much writing wise. But two of the three went back to school today, and I’m out in my shed ready to get some work done (even though most of the day is gone).

2. My father-in-law is down in Scottsdale today to be seen by a specialist. For those who don’t know, he has bladder cancer. We aren’t sure what stage it is at this point, but they are talking about removing his bladder—hopefully we’ll know more after the appointment today.

3. I can’t believe it’s almost November! Crazy! It’s chilly here today with a slight wind blowing—which makes it feel colder than it probably is. Though it’s been cold in the mornings, the afternoons usually warm up, so this is quite a change. It always happens just in time for the kids to freeze while dressed in their Halloween costumes. Then it usually warms back up again for a bit. I was hopeful that it would stay warm this year, but I should have known better.

4. We don’t have any plans for this weekend—though we may go visit FIL if they keep him down there for surgery instead of having him come back at another time. We’ll see.

What about you? Any plans for this weekend? Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy every  minute of it!

Have a weekend full of awesome!

 

Write/or whatever on!

Tuesday Tidbits

1. I finished my revisions, came up with a new title, and sent off the full MG manuscript to the editor and the agent who requested it. Now I wait to hear back. I also queried a few other agents. Usually I’d be obsessively checking my inbox. But I’m not. Weird. I was all geared up to jump into the new MG novel (the one I started writing and then stopped to go back to work on revisions), but I’ve had sick kids since last Friday. I love my kids, but it’s so hard to get any writing done when they’re home—especially when they’re sick. I take the youngest to the doctor later this morning.

2. I have a headache today. Probably some of it is from lack of sleep, and the rest is because I’m trying to wear contacts again—and there’s trouble getting the right eye’s contact to stay in place. I may end up having to go for the hard lenses again (gas permeable). I was really hoping to wear soft lenses—stupid astigmatism.

3. Progress on the shed:

A friend of hubby’s came last Wednesday to help. Because of him, all the sheetrock is up! Hooray!!

And the “doggy door” has gone from this:

to this:

The door has gone from this:

to this:

As you can see, the motion sensor light is also installed (that little thing in the upper left corner of the outside door picture—hubby installed it himself).

So, there’s still the tape and texture to be done, walls to be painted, ceiling fan to be installed, and floors to be done. Lots of work, but it’s looking more and more like a real workplace! After I take JR to the doctor, I hope to hide away in this lovely space and get a bit of writing done today—if the kids will let me. If it’s still a bit chilly out there, I have this little heater to help keep me warm.

It may not look like much, but it does a great job of heating up this little space.

Hope you all have a Terrific Tuesday!

Write on!

Fixing-up Friday

As many of you know, we’ve been fixing up the shed in preparation to turn it into a craft/writing room for me. Yesterday was a glorious day for the electrician came and fixed the old wiring (it wasn’t right) and installed new outlets and a base for a ceiling fan/light set. YAY!!

Here are some before and after pictures:

Before and after light fixture (sorry about the light being on during the before shot):

As you can see, he moved the light over a bit so it’s more in the center of the room. He also installed a new switch system. One switch for the light, one for the fan, and one for the outside light (which he also set up—pictured later in post).

There were a total of two outlet boxes in the shed. One was in the corner by the door and the other was in the ceiling (yes, in the ceiling—it was to plug the light into because the light wasn’t wired—just a plug in). Before and after shots of the corner outlet area:

He left the corner outlet and put it on a circuit all its own so it can be used for the portable heating/cooling unit I’ll be using at first. Having it on its own circuit means I won’t have any dimming lights or blown circuits when I want to be cool/warm. He also installed a new outlet on the adjoining wall—because that’s where I plan to have my computer set-up.

The back wall has a built-in work bench area. I debated taking it out, but decided I’d leave it (though we’re going to improve it) so I can use it for my crafting. Before and after shots of the back wall.

He installed three outlet boxes so I’ll have plenty of power for my sewing machines, glue guns, blender, iron, etc. Yay crafts!! Right now I’ve got my laptop on it (as you can see) and am ready for some revisions (including bag of Snickers—thanks to Kimberley Griffiths-Little)!

Tomorrow is supposed to be the day for insulating and walls. We’ll see how it goes. I’m hoping all goes well and we can at least get the place insulated and the sheetrock up—maybe get the texturing done. But if the texturing doesn’t get done, I’m hoping the door will get fixed, and also the “doggy door” closed off.

Here’s the current door and doggy door areas:

The fixture set-up to the left of the door is for the outside motion sensor light (which will be installed at a later date). This is so I don’t kill myself when trying to go back to the house after a long day of writing/crafting (I’ve been out here writing even though the building isn’t complete and, let me tell you, trying to navigate in the dark isn’t fun). The doggy door is currently nailed shut by a board, but, as you can see, light and air still moves in around it (and it’s a bit chilly today—brrr—I’m wearing a jacket to keep warm).

So things are progressing! The floor will be completely redone after everything else is taken care of (including the painting). I hope the floor turns out as glorious as I’m imagining (I’m doing it myself—more on that later).

Now I’m going to eat Snickers and drink my water (the red bottle in the pictures) and get some revising going (hoping to finish today).

Write on!

Friday Flood

Well, it’s not quite flooding yet, but it has been raining all morning. This put a halt to the field trip to the county fair for which I was to chaperone (for K’s class). K and the rest of the class are pretty bummed about it—but I’m okay with not having to spend the day at the fair . . . I’m evil like that.

It’s not that I don’t love going to the fair—I really do. I mean, there are animals (those who know me understand I’m a huge animal lover) and booths with lots of fun food and crafts and projects that the kids did and events to watch. But I’m okay with staying home today.

Here’s why:

As some of you may know, I’m in the process of cleaning out the storage shed in my back yard so I can transform it into a special place for me to write and do my crafting. Yesterday was the day to get some cleaning out done. But before I could start hauling stuff out of the shed, I had to mow the lawn—cause the grass/weeds were up past my waist (I’m short, but still—waist high grass/weeds are too tall). I wasn’t able to mow the entire lawn because the inflatable water slide was in the way. So I had to inflate it, hose it down, and let it dry out so I could put it away. So I mowed the lawn around the water slide and went to open the back gate in order to haul stuff to the front—the location of the huge trash dumpster.

After I opened the gate, I realized I wouldn’t be able to get stuff out the gate because we’d set some junk by the gate so we’d remember to throw it out. So I had to move the junk pile to the huge trash dumpster first. Once I dragged stuff to the dumpster, I realized some of the larger things—like the old BBQ grill and broken swimming pool—would have to be taken apart if I still wanted to have room in the trash bin for more junk. So I started taking apart the grill. Then I decided I needed to get oldest son, E, out of bed to help me. Once I got him up and moving (no small feat), I decided to leave the taking apart of the larger items to hubby or I’d never get stuff out of the shed. So E and I started pulling stuff out of the shed.

The first thing we hauled out was the old inflatable water slide. It had some holes that I was going to repair but never got around to fixing. So into the dumpster it went (and took up most of the room—stupid water slide). We then hauled the plastic tubs full of old toys and books and keepsakes, etc. out of the shed and set them in the driveway. I went through a few of them and threw things out (don’t tell the kids). When hubby got home, he took apart the grill and started helping us load the plastic tubs into his truck.

I’d like to say we got the whole shed cleaned out and everything hauled to the storage room we rent, but, sadly, that’s not the case. We did get quite a bit of stuff out of there, but there’s still SOOO much more to do.

Anyway, all that was to explain why I’m tired today and not sad to stay home instead of having to chaperone a group of excited fifth graders at the county fair. Plus, unlike today, yesterday was bright and sunny—okay, down right HOT—and, being the idiot I am, I forgot to wear sunscreen and got sunburned. It hurts.

So, yeah, I’m evil and selfish and glad the field trip got cancelled. So there. *sticking tongue out*

Tomorrow will be another day of cleaning out the shed so “the guy” can come on Tuesday and tell us what we’ll need to do to transform the shed into a writing/crafting room.

And I’m excited for the writing/crafting room to be finished so I can have room to work on my secret craft projects—yes, I need more room than my kitchen table provides (will share pictures/info when the crafts are done). And it will also be nice to have somewhere quiet (and not so cramped to write). The little desk off to the side of my bedroom is not near enough room—and it gets noisy when everyone’s home . . . and the distractions of seeing laundry and stuff that needs done around the house really kills my creativity.

What “fun” things did you do this week? Have anything “fun” planned for this weekend?

Write/craft/clean on!

Tuesday Times

Things have been so crazy here (what else is new)! We’ve travelled every weekend for the last month to visit family and attend various family gatherings. I’m exhausted!

This weekend was the most exhausting yet. We visited my parents in Snowflake (AZ) for the corn harvest. We planted less this year, but harvested more. I’m not sure I’ve seen so much corn! Not only did we harvest it, but we also steamed it and cut it off the cob so we could freeze it. We started at 6:00 a.m. (which meant the kids and I had to get up at 4:00 a.m. so we could get there on time) and didn’t get finished until just after 4:00 p.m. After harvesting the corn (there was a truck bed full of it), my siblings and their children shucked it while another sister and I harvested the carrots (a wagon overflowing with them) and some watermelon (gigantic heavy things—or maybe it only felt like it because we were tired). I brought home a thirty-one pound watermelon (we’re going to cut into it tonight) and there were several others that were big like that.

So exhausting might not quite convey the level of tired we all are. Yesterday was spent recuperating. We had planned to travel to Flagstaff for the Coconino County Fair, but decided not to. We did go out to one of the local pizza places to hang out and eat lunch, but that was it.

Two of my kids are home today because they aren’t feeling well—likely a combination of exhaustion (they helped harvest and shuck the corn) and eating too much corn (we had some for dinner last night and the night before—on the cob). Corn tastes so much sweeter when you’ve grown and harvested it yourself—or maybe we just appreciate it more.

Anyway, today I’m hoping to get some writing done. I wasn’t able to write much last week at all between the sick kids and preparing to travel. But it’s a new week—and a new month—and I’m hoping to accomplish great things. Well, I should at least be able to get the research done that I need to for this new project.

So how was your Labor Day weekend? Did you do anything fun? What are you planning for the rest of this week?

Write on!