Wednesday Words

It’s here! The kids are off to their first day of school. While I’m excited because it means I’ll be able to get back to a writing schedule/routine, I’m also a bit nervous. Not sure if it’s nerves for the kids and the new school year for them, or nerves for myself and my writing. I’m not sure why I should be nervous about diving back into a regular writing schedule, but I think I might be. This is the first time in a long time that I’ll have Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for nothing but writing. I won’t be going back to school myself this semester, and (so far) I’m not signed up to do any volunteering at the school library. My days from about 9:00 until 3:00 are all mine for writing!

Of course, Wednesday isn’t in the list above because hubby is off on Wednesdays, and it’s hard to write when he’s home watching TV. But today, he had a meeting in Flagstaff so he’s gone too (won’t be home until after the kids are). I’m going to get some writing done today! It’s not that I haven’t been writing at all during the summer—I did a bit here and there when I could, but it was hard with kids home—but there’s a part of me that wonders if my lax summer habits will be easy to break (played lots of games during the summer). I’m hoping I’ll be able to get back into the swing of things (this blog post might be considered an effort to procrastinate, but I think it’s more of a “breaking the ice” type thing) right away and accomplish quite a bit of writing.

The first project I’ll be tackling is finishing up the rewrite of the MG I’ve been doing. Once finished with the rewrite, I’ll be revising it based on feedback from critique buddies. I’m setting a deadline and planning on having it all finished and revised and ready to send to my wonderful agent by the end of September.

What are your plans for this wonderful Wednesday?

Write on!

I’m Free to Write

Today I’m grateful for those who fought to win American independence and those who continue to fight to keep us free. In honor of these amazing and brave people, I’m going to exercise my freedom of speech and using the morning to write. Yay!

After the kids are up, we’ll have our flag ceremony (our Cub Scout is excited). Then the rest of the day will be pretty boring. The kids promised to clean their rooms (we’ll see if it happens), and I need to do a load of dishes and a load of towels (amazing how fast they get used in summer when kids are playing in the pool). Maybe we’ll have a barbeque for lunch, but basically everything we do is distraction to keep the kids from constantly asking me if it’s time for fireworks.

Yes, despite the extreme fire danger, our town does fireworks every year. Only because they do the fireworks out on the lake in Green Valley Park. Once again, the sky is cloudy and it looks like rain (it seems to rain here EVERY July 4th). I’m not sure how much of the fireworks we’ll be able to enjoy if it’s pouring down rain (though we did watch the fireworks in a light rain a couple of years ago). Still, we need the rain, and I’m grateful whenever it falls.

We aren’t sure where we’ll go to watch the fireworks this year. We used to have a spot up by the airport but over the years, others in the town have discovered what an amazing vantage point it is and it’s been super crowded the last couple of years.

We don’t go down to the park because it’s WAY too congested down there with all the people and traffic. Still, we’ll enjoy celebrating our independence today however we manage to do it.

But, as I said, I’ll be using the morning to do some writing.

What about you? If you’re here in America, what do you do to celebrate Independence Day?

Write on.

Friday Five

1. Another day of peace and quiet (at least till hubby comes home from work). I’ve done a little writing and then had to stop and do a lot of plotting (hey, sometimes these things need to be planned). I’m taking a break to blog and then get lunch before diving back into more writing.

2. On my break, I discovered the amazing Dawn Metcalf is celebrating the first anniversary of her book, LUMINOUS!

I can’t believe it’s been a year. Wow. In celebration of the anniversary she’s holding a giveaway. Go here to check it out and enter.

3. Though I’m enjoying my quiet time, I do find I’m missing my kids. Crazy, I know. The house is just so quiet. No one is banging on my door or yelling “Mom” from somewhere else in the house. And there aren’t any little arms to give me hugs. We’ve been keeping in touch with Facetime (the kids all have their own iPods and hubby and I have our iPads), but it’s not the same. I’ll be glad to have them back—but I’m sure I’ll miss the quiet time when it’s gone too. The grass is always greener and all that.

4. I can’t believe this month is almost over! It was full of fun with us taking the kids to the zoo and science center and Lowell Observatory. And oldest son, E, turned 19 on the 22nd!! July will be here in a few more days and with it J and JR’s birthdays, mine and hubby’s anniversary, and the kids will be going back to school! Crazy!

5. What plans do you have for the end of June and the first of July this weekend?

Write on.

Thursday Things

My house is quiet.

No, I didn’t murder my family and bury them in the back yard or anything.  It’s quiet because hubby and oldest son are off working today. “But wait,” you say. “You have three other children. What about them?” Ah, fear not, my friends. Last night we dropped the three youngest kids off at the in-laws in Flagstaff where they’ll stay until Sunday. This means quiet time for me. Yay!

So, what am I doing with my first day of quiet? Well, I spent the morning catching up on emails and such. I thought I’d spend the rest of the day catching up on housework (cleaning the kids’ rooms while they’re gone), but another plan has formed instead.

Since it’s hard to get any writing done when the kids are home—they think they need their mother for other things, silly beasts—I decided to use this rare kid-free time to get some writing done.

Granted, it would be easier to clean their rooms while they’re gone so they aren’t looking over my shoulder and begging to keep things I want to throw away, but it can be done while they’re home (even if it means keeping a few things that would normally be thrown out), and writing can’t.

So, after I get something lunch-ish to eat, I plan to tackle a couple of critiques. Once I get those done, I’ll be able to dive into my WIP guilt free—at least until I have to walk down the hall for something and see that the rooms really do need my attention. I guess I’ll just have to avoid the hallway.

Hope you all have a happy Thursday!

Write on.

Friday Five

1. I love this post by Dawn Metcalf about beginnings and endings. Beginnings are hard for me. Endings can sometimes be hard too, but at least there’s the satisfaction of reaching the end. With the beginning, there’s a blank page staring at me, daring me to fill it. It’s usually a struggle. I rewrite/revise my beginnings countless times, but the endings usually don’t require much revision/rewriting. What about you? Do you prefer beginnings or endings?

2. I’ve been slacking again. Not only have I ignored my blog (sorry) and Facebook (not a bad thing, necessarily), but I’ve been ignoring my writing (a very bad thing). Okay, so things have been busy with the start of summer and family obligations, and crafting obligations (yes, it’s an obligation—I’m paying for a space in a local store and I needed to fill it), and everything, but really, I COULD have done some writing if I really wanted to. I’ve just been too lazy. Even now, I’m blogging to avoid working on my WIP (I WILL do at least one chapter today, I’ve promised myself—and now you). Is it harder for you to write in the summer?

3. Father’s Day is Sunday, and I haven’t done a single bit of shopping. I don’t even know what to get hubby. I’m making a shoe rack for my dad and still need to buy the wood and stuff to make it. I had no problem coming up with a gift idea for my dad, but it’s more difficult to figure out something for hubby. *sigh* I know my dad needs a shoe rack (and decided to build one instead of buy one), but I can’t think of a single thing hubby wants/needs. We always get him lame things like a tie or DVD or something. Although, now that I think about it, he has mentioned wanting a new speaker system for the bedroom TV/DVD/BlueRay. Hmm . . . problem solved—well sort of, I still have to take the kids shopping to buy it and that can be a HUGE problem (kids don’t shop well—always ask for stuff and stress me out). What are you planning for Father’s Day?

4. Vacationing is exhausting. It was more of a day trip, really, but it was still exhausting. We went to the Phoenix Zoo AND the Arizona Science Center on Wednesday. We will never do it again! One or the other, but never both in the same day. I have never walked so much in my life, and my legs are S-O-R-E. Okay, so the exercise is good for me and all that, but DANG!

5. Even though there are more blogs to catch up on and all that, I’m going to resist temptation and get to work on my revising/rewriting. Hope you all have a great weekend! Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there.

Write on.

Friday Five

1. This has been a miserable week! Sunday we went to visit hubby’s mom for early mother’s day (that’s not the miserable part). By the time we got home Sunday night, hubby was feeling sick. Monday night, I started coughing. And it was all downhill from there. We’ve been sick this whole week! Coughing, throat so raw it hurts to swallow, stuffy nose, high fevers. It hasn’t been fun. I ended up in the ER on Wednesday morning because my chest hurt so bad it was hard to breathe (I have a weak chest wall). They gave me antibiotics and told me to rest. Gee, thanks. *eye roll*

I can barely talk now (and it hurts when I try), it’s still painful to breathe, but I’m taking Motrin to help with the pain. I’m taking Sudafed to help with the stuffy nose, sucking on cough drops like they’re candy to help with the sore throat, and taking the azithromycin (antibiotic). Hopefully it will all go away soon—and I won’t get pneumonia (I usually get it whenever I have a respiratory infection).

2. The kids have been out of school most of the week with the sickness. It’s hard enough feeling crappy, but trying to take care of kids who also feel crappy on top of it is even worse. It’s all part of being a mom though.

3. We’re supposed to go to Snowflake to visit my mom on Sunday for Mother’s Day. I’m not sure we’ll make it with all the sickness. I’m still hoping I feel better by then and can at least go by myself if I have to.

4. With all the sickness, I haven’t done much writing. I did manage to critique a chapter for someone though. And I have looked at my MG . . . read through a bit, but didn’t write anything.

5. I hope Sunday brings all my LJ friends a great Mother’s Day!

Stay well!

Write on.

Thursday Things

1. I survived the weekend trip to Tucson (it seems it’s taken me this long to fully recover). We ended up NOT going to the science center. Instead, we took the kids to Toys R Us. That may seem like a lame option, but my kids have never been to a Toys R Us and they wanted to go (except oldest son, E, who stayed in the hotel room). Later that night we went out to dinner with my oldest sister and her family and my mom. We ate at Golden Corral (which we had also never been to). After eating, we went back to the hotel and the kids and hubby swam in the pool with the cousins while I chatted with my sister. We got to see my younger sister’s new baby and lots of family that I hadn’t seen in a while—including my two new adorable nieces.

2. I’ve been having more fun painting on the iPad!

Using hubby’s stylus wasn’t cutting it for me so after some research I bought the Adonit Jot Pro stylus:

You can’t see it in this picture, but there’s a cap that screws onto the end (so you don’t lose it). It also sticks nicely to the magnetic side of the iPad so I don’t lose it. Yay! I had some fun experimenting and drew this a few minutes ago (took about an hour):

Then I decided to add some freckles:

I’ve decided I LOVE the Jot Pro stylus! It’s very responsive and with the little round see through surface, I’m able to add fine detail to things.

3. It’s raining here today. Though I love that this means I won’t have to water my flowers, the kids broke all the umbrellas (they think they’re toys no matter how many times I tell them not to touch unless it’s raining) so I’m trying to stay inside today. However, the kids have a 1/2 day of school so I’ll likely have to drive to the bus stop to pick them up (they ride the bus home now to save gas $$) so they won’t get their little heads rained upon.

4. Next week is finals. I’m not overly concerned since they are take home tests—open book and everything (I love my history teacher). Next Tuesday will be my last “official” day of school. Monday the 7th I’ll have to go back to ceramics to pick up my finished projects, but that doesn’t really count as a class IMO. I’m excited that it’s almost over, but also sad since I won’t be going back next semester (and maybe not the semester after that).

5. I got an email from my amazing agent with fabulous feedback on my YA yesterday! Can I just say again that she’s amazing?! Some of the things she pointed out were “duh” moments, but I never would have seen them if she hadn’t pointed them out to me. There are LOTS of problems with this MS (I did tell her it was a mess before sending it to her), and I emailed back to ask if she thought it was worth fixing or if I should move on. We’ll see what she says.

6. I’m going to work on my MG today. I do love this story, but I did ask amazing agent if she wanted to look at what I have so far to see if it’s suitable for the market before I spend too much time on a MS that won’t sell. I have so many other ideas waiting for me that it’s good to have someone who can guide me and let me know what to work on. I look forward to hearing what she has to say.

I hope you all have a great Thursday!!

Write on.

Finally Friday Five . . . or so

It’s been a crazy since I last posted!

1. I had a birthday and got another year older—hate it when that happens.

2. It snowed here on Monday night, and the school decided to give the kiddos a snow day on Tuesday (which was good because it continued to snow throughout the day)! Yay!! We only got a few inches and it melted away quickly, but it was fun while it lasted.

3. We got some of the Christmas decorating done. I know I said it would take two days, but I forgot that I had to spend most of the day on Saturday getting things ready for Sunday’s trip to my parents’ house. We try to come together three times a year and the December meeting includes a Christmas Program. Normally we have the kids dress up and put on the Christmas pageant, but we weren’t going to have enough kids coming this year who would be willing to do it (curse that whole getting older and more mature thing). Since it was my year to be in charge of the program, I had to put something together. I ended up doing a Power Point presentation complete with videos, scripture readings, and music. It was kind of a pain, but turned out well. Anyway, the decorating didn’t get done. We do have the tree up, the lighted deer figures and lighted candy canes are hooked up to the light show box and put out on the lawn to blast the Christmas music and flash the lights and annoy the heck out of my neighbors (that’s what the Season is all about right?). I hope to get the other lights up and hooked into the box today and tomorrow (cause it might take me two days—not cause I have THAT many lights, but it’s cold outside and I don’t want to be out there too long).

4. I finished my final for my last college class last night! YAY!!! It was U.S. History 101 and I feel I did well on it—so hopefully I did!

5. We got our Elf on the Shelf and have been having so much fun with him! The kids named him Winter Tinsel. If you’re not familiar with this tradition, click on the link above and check it out! Here’s a picture of one of Winter Tinsel’s hiding places:

And this is how we found him this morning:

Too much fun!

6. Dawn Metcalf is having a contest in which you can win some fabulous reading material. Click the link to check out her Don’t Miss This If You Missed It Contest Giveaway.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Write on.

Brrr . . . December!

It’s raining (trying to snow) and cold here today. I wanted to curl up in my bed and stay there, but the school thinks my kids need to attend, even on days like this. *sigh*

We bundled up and went off to school. I spent the first part of the morning helping out in the kids’ library (I’m now helping all day Tuesday and on Thursday mornings), and stopped at McDonald’s to get myself a large peppermint hot chocolate (I don’t drink coffee) on the way home. It’s still too hot to drink (you should have heard my taste buds scream when I tried to drink it), and I’m thinking of putting it in the freezer to cool down . . . but that means I’d have to get up from the laptop and move. #toolazytomove

After I finish blogging and checking my email, I’ll dive into working on the new picture book (the third one). Yay! I stopped working on this one to write up a Christmas one that was nagging at me (it obviously doesn’t have the Christmas spirit to be nagging like that).

Speaking (or writing) of Christmas, the kids have been bugging me to get out the decorations. I promised we would today, but since it’s raining, I’m hoping to postpone it. They’ll probably insist we do the tree even though we can’t put up the outside decorations (kids are smart like that), but I’d rather not mess with it today.

Between college assignments and writing new picture books for my agent (my agent!! SQUEE—uh-hem, sorry, I’m still excited about that), NaNo was a bust for me this year. I didn’t even get half way—barely a drop in the 50,000 word bucket—but I’m not too horribly upset about it. Maybe I can do it next year—we’ll see.

Brr—I stepped in a puddle when I was running into the house to get out of the rain (being the wicked witch of the west and all, I didn’t want to melt) so I had to take off my shoes and socks and now my feet are cold. I’ve got to get some more socks on. I think it’s time to bust out the fuzzy socks!! That means it’s REALLY winter—even though the calendar says it isn’t. Come on, who are you going to trust; the fuzzy socks or the calendar??!!

Cold weather like this always makes me want to get back into crocheting. I really don’t have the time for it, so I’ll have to resist the temptation. This chilly weather also makes me want soup, or chili, or stew (and the hot chocolate, of course). What do you like to do (keep it clean, people)/eat when it’s cold outside?

 

Write on.