Friday Five

1. We had fun on President’s Day. We took the kids to the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix. We saw the Van Gogh Live exhibit. Though I didn’t get to spend as much time in there as I would have liked 9the kids weren’t as interested in it as I was). Still, it was nice to get to see it. We also went to the Imax theatre at the center to see Hubble 3D. I had no idea the Hubble telescope could see so far into space! Awesome experience! We ended up purchasing a yearly membership so we plan to go back at least one other time this year (hopefully more than once).

2. I started a new picture book but after re-reading it, I’m thinking it might be too scary for kids. LOL Yeah, my imagination is warped. I’ve put it on hold for a little while until I can figure out how to fix it.

3. J has been home from school all this week with a bronchial infection (she went to the doctor on Tuesday and got antibiotics). It’s awful to hear her coughing and not be able to do anything about it. Sometimes she coughs so hard she says it hurts her chest. Poor thing. Um . . . I really hope she doesn’t pass it on to anyone else. Thank goodness for Lysol/Clorox wipes and spray!

4. I have a PowerPoint presentation for History 102 due on Tuesday. My topic is the 1918 flu epidemic. I have another PowerPoint presentation for History 105 due on March 5th with Charles Dickens as my topic. Both presentations only have to be about 10 minutes long. The hard part for me won’t be putting them together, but not getting carried away and making them too long. LOL

5.  Yesterday was crazy! I had so much to do and was feeling sluggish. I didn’t get everything done that I needed to, but at least I accomplished SOMETHING! J was still home sick and that made it harder, but she’s pretty good about not bugging me every five seconds so I was able to get a bit of writing done before I had to get busy on household stuff. I still have piles of laundry to get through today, and the dishes need washing (they never end). In spite of still having housework to do, I’m hoping to still get some revising time in. I miss working on my MG!

Enjoy the weekend!

Write on.

Friday Five

1. I’ve been having fun illustrating with my new Wacom Intuos4 Wireless Tablet. Here’s a little something I did to try out my Autodesk Sketchbook program (it came as a free download when I got my tablet).

I like Autodesk Sketchbook, but I like ArtRage Pro better (though I had to pay for it).

Any illustrators out there who have an illustrating program they prefer to use?

I also have Corel Painter Sketch Pad and a trial of OpenCanvas, but I’m new to this whole computer illustration thing and have found ArtRage Pro and Autodesk Sketchbook to be the most user friendly (cause I’m lame—I mentioned that, right?). Still, it’s been nice to have another creative outlet since I missed ceramics class for the last two weeks.

2. I’ve resisted temptation to play with the tablet today and did a bit of work on my middle grade novel instead (it was HARD to resist the call of the tablet). When I’m done with this post, I’ll continue to resist the tablet temptation and go back to writing. I’m not sure I’ll keep working on the MG though. I have a new picture book idea that’s been bouncing around in my head and I may work on that instead.

3. We had a quiz in History 102 on Tuesday night. Last night we got the results (the class is two nights a week—Tue and Thur). I passed, but only because the teacher threw out some of the questions we all got wrong (they were kind of tricky and she felt bad that no one got them right). After that quiz, I’m even more nervous about the History 105 quiz I took on Monday. I still don’t know my score for that one (had a fever brain that night)—and since Monday is President’s Day, I won’t know for a week after that!!! Since it’s the same teacher as my History 102 class, I’m hoping she’ll be lenient in 105 too!

4.  Since there’s no classes on Monday, I won’t be able to go to ceramics AGAIN! That’s three weeks in a row. *frown* That means I’ll probably have to take some time next week to play around with the tablet more. *grin*

5. Valentine’s Day was okay. It started out rough, the two sick kids from Monday were still sick and had to stay home. Thank goodness their teachers said they could come back at the end of the day to join in the Valentine’s Day celebrations in class or they might have recreated the St. Valentine’s Day massacre at my house! Hubby gave me a card and some Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolates (my favorite). We think alike because I got him the same thing (he loves those chocolates too). We had a good laugh about that. I did have class on Tuesday night and the above mentioned quiz, but after class ended at around 8:00, hubby took me out to dinner. It was Y-U-M-M-Y!!

May your weekend be all you want it to be!

Write on.

Woe is Monday

The past week wasn’t nice to me. I had one child home sick from Tuesday to Thursday. I started a marathon house cleaning effort on Wednesday that continued all through the weekend (this is what happens when you let things go far too long). Now I’m in pain. Yes, I hurt myself cleaning house—it’s dangerous business.

It was the sweeping/vacuuming that did me in—or maybe it was the thousand loads of laundry or mopping the floor. I doubt it was the loading of the dishwasher since I do that all the time with no ill effects. I think I need to get a doctor’s note to excuse me from housework in the future.

Of course, cleaning out the minivan didn’t help. I would have put off that cleaning job had the rotten thing not griped and complained and gone on strike. But after 124,000 miles on original parts and no trips to the car doctor for a check-up, it threatened to quit if it’s demands weren’t met. So I had to clean it out, removing stacks of papers shoved under the seat—that I suspect are missing homework assignments. Old hamburger wrappers tossed toward—but missing—the garbage sack hung lovingly between the driver and passenger seats. Then there were the piles of rocks my kids like to collect—and not just gravel dragged in off the playground, but larger specimens as well (called “pretty rocks” at our house). Then I had to vacuum the van to get up the smashed pretzels/popcorn/chips/I’m-not-sure-I-want-to-know-what-it-was off the seats and floor. Once finished we took the van to the car doctor so he could tell us it will cost $1400 or more to cure what ails it and get it back to work.

I’m driving the Mazda Protégé today—which doesn’t make E happy since it means he isn’t driving it. It’s an old car and in need of a trip to the car doctor itself. I imagine it’s only a matter of time before it starts making demands and goes on strike as well.

Of course all my sore muscles might not be from housework at all but from whatever illness is causing me to run a slight fever today. But I like the idea that the illness is Toomuch Houseworkitis so I’m going to stick with that theory.

It’s more likely that it’s a real virus or something since I have two kids sick and home from school today. This means I wasn’t able to go to school this morning either—and the class I missed was ceramics and I WANTED to go. I have History 105 tonight AND we’re supposed to have a quiz. Things are not looking good for passing the quiz tonight. History is hard enough for me without having a fever brain on top of it. *sigh*

I hope this week improves (and that I won’t get super sick from whatever illness is invading my system). Even with the kids home today I’ve managed to do a bit of writing. I can’t guarantee it makes any sense (ditto for this blog post) or that I won’t have to redo every last word of it, but that happens even when I don’t have a fever brain so I can’t really blame it on that—well, I can, but I won’t.

Hope you all have a great Monday and a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!

Write on (but don’t clean on—it’s dangerous).

Six on a Sleepy Saturday

I missed posting yesterday so I’ll throw one up today.

1. The dogs were on crack or something yesterday. They kept running inside and jumping at the gate (sounded like someone was bouncing a ball or something). After being driven insane by that all day, when we brought them inside and locked them in the kennels (that’s what we do at night) all they did was whine and cry. I put them out many times to use the restroom—thinking that was the trouble—and gave them water to drink and everything I could think of (I even sprayed them with a squirt bottle). But they wouldn’t shut up! So I haven’t had more than a couple of hours of sleep. I’m tired.

2. When I went to buy dog food at the pet store, they were out of the brand I usually buy so I bought them some Blue Buffalo. I wonder if that was the reason for the extra hyper-activeness? It might be because one of them is inside jumping at the gate again today. *sigh* They better behave tonight or—yeah, I don’t know what I’ll do. Probably whine and cry and bawl right along with them (and change dog food on Monday).

3. Even though I’m tired, I’m going to try to get a little bit of work done on the rewrite of my MG. Things are going well with it and I’m super excited to be rewriting it. I’ve always loved the story and characters and I hope this rewrite will do the trick (I’ve learned quite a bit since I first wrote it eight years ago).

4. We were going to go to Flagstaff today, but since the dogs kept us up all night, we will probably just stay home. This doesn’t make the kids happy as they wanted to visit grandma and grandpa and eat at Peter Piper Pizza, but that’s the way things go.

5. Because they were up all night too, the dogs slept in this morning—which meant hubby and I got to sleep in a little. Youngest son, JR, came in at about 8:30 to ask if he should get a bath before going to his friend’s birthday party at 10:00. Hubby took pity on me (he got slightly more sleep than me and doesn’t have trouble sleeping during the day like I do) and took JR to buy a birthday present and then to the party. <3 that man!

6. I’m trying to win me some Jodi-mitts so, despite my exhaustion, I spent the morning drawing an entry for the contest Jodi Meadows is having. Check out the details on her blog. The contest ends tonight, but there’s still a little time to enter (you don’t have to draw anything—it gives extra entries—all you have to do is leave a comment on her blog post for an entry). Anyway, here is the drawing I did.

 

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Write on.

Creating = Writing + Chocolate cake is dangerous

Yesterday was my first ceramics class of the semester. It’s been a year since last I did ceramics. I missed it! I decided to make a Christmas-ish container type thing—it was a spur of the moment/what the heck am I going to make/I have to do something besides sit here situation. We’ll see how it turns out after it dries and is fired, glazed, and fired again.

Anyway, by the time the class was over, I had thought through some issues in my MG (making ceramics doesn’t use all my concentration) and wanted to rush home and work on it. I couldn’t because I had to pick the kids up from school (the class goes from 8:3-2:20 and the kids get out at 2:15). After I picked them up from school, I rushed home (drove a little over the speed limit) in the hopes of getting to work on it.

Alas, I had to do some house cleaning because my parents called and were on their way to my house. It was great to see them, but the weather was turning nasty and they had to rush away after only a few minutes. Still, at least the dishes were done and the floors swept and mopped. I hoped to get to writing then, but my cousin called with some questions and then my sister called with an update on my brother (he’s been in the hospital since Sunday with complications from an appendectomy). By the time I got off the phone, I had ten minutes to get to my evening History class.

The class went well, and I really think I’m going to like it, but when I got home, I had to help the kids with homework and get some food in me (hubby made dinner) and then I was exhausted!

Today I was supposed to help out in the kids’ school library. I ditched so I could do some writing and also read the chapter I need to read before class tonight.

The point of all this is that I’m back! I’m no longer in a writing funk and WANT to write again. YAY!!

Those of you who have been there will understand my excitement. I was hoping the ceramics class would due the trick and am pleased that it did (even though I didn’t get the time to write yesterday). I’m not sure the librarian is very happy, but sometimes volunteer work has to be put on the back burner for a while.

I’m working on my MG today (though I’m taking a break to blog—and then get some breakfast/brunch) and things have been going well so far this morning. I hope to accomplish more before I have to go get the kids from school (I’ll do my History reading after I get them since class isn’t until 6:00 tonight).

Anyway, this whole thing got me thinking. How do you get out of your writing funk? Are you the type of person who just writes even when you don’t feel like it? Do you have another creative outlet you do (crochet, drawing, painting, photography, etc.) to help get your creativity flowing? Or do you have something else that may not necessarily be creative that you do to help get your writing groove back?

Write/Share on!

Edited to add:

Chocolate Cake Is Dangerous!

I decided my breakfast/brunch would be a piece of the Entenmann’s Chocolate Fudge Cake that hubby brought home yesterday (he brought home two and we ate the other one after dinner). As I opened the box, I cut my pinky finger! OUCH!! Stinking cardboard cuts! It sliced off a little bit of skin and is stinging and bleeding a little. I managed to scrounge around and found what I’m pretty sure is the last band-aid in the house. It stuck together when I was trying to put it on and I mangled it a bit, but managed to get the cut covered (so I won’t bleed all over my keyboard).

Now I’m sitting down with a sliced finger, a slice of cake, and a glass of milk (we’ll pretend this is a balanced and nutritious meal). Mmmm. It’s worth it.

Friday Five

1. I’m pretty sure K had a seizure last night/early this morning. All I know is that when I went to wake her up for school, she had wet her bed and drooled all over (poor girl). I got her up and into a bath and then she started complaining of a huge headache and feeling like she was going to throw up—which always happens after a big seizure. She doesn’t usually wet the bed (though she does tend to drool a bit) and when coupled with the headache and nausea, I’m pretty sure had an episode. I just wish I knew how long it lasted and how bad it was. She didn’t seem to have bitten her tongue this time at least.

2. After all that, she still wanted to go to school. I tried to convince her to stay home, but she insisted. I gave her children’s ibuprofen and off we went. When we arrived at school, she was still complaining of a headache and nausea. It took her teacher telling her to go home that finally did it, but only after K made me promise she could go back if she felt better later. She came home and slept for about an hour and wanted to go back to school. I grudgingly took her and hope she will be okay for the rest of the day. The teacher knows what to look out for, but I still worry.

3. I got a little bit of writing done while she was sleeping on my bed. It was hard because I was trying to type softly so as not to wake her. I never realized how LOUD typing can be until I was trying to be quiet! Dang! Those little key strokes are noisy!

4. Yesterday morning, I sent of the third PB manuscript for the series my agent suggested. I had also sent her a Christmas PB manuscript. She’s been sick and emailed that she’d get to them as soon as she possibly can. Poor woman! I can’t imagine trying to work and fight off the whooping cough at the same time. Anyway, I told her I’d work on my YA or MG stuff until I hear back from her. Yesterday I worked on one of my new YA projects and again this morning. But, if I do any more writing today, I think I’ll work on my MG for a while.

5. I’m feeling run down because I haven’t been getting enough sleep and am thinking of taking a nap when I’m done with this post—writing can wait, right? I mean, if I write when I’m tired, I may end up with a more mixed up and crazy world than Alice’s Wonderland!

Write Sleep on!

Friday Five—um, I mean—Thirteen

In honor of this most wonderful superstitious filled day.

1. I’ve signed up to attend college classes (9 credit hours)

2. College started on Wednesday. My first class was to be last night (U. S. History II), but the college called at about noon to tell me the teacher dropped the class for lack of students.

3. Since that class was dropped, I signed up for another class that was to be held last night (Psychology).

4. The college called at about 3:30 to say they found another teacher to teach the History class that the other teacher had dropped.

5. I dropped Psychology (they are on the same night and time) and re-signed up for History, but the class was cancelled for Thursday night since the new teacher needed some time to get a lesson plan together. Our first class will be on Tuesday evening.

6. I have Ceramics on Monday morning and History 105 (Western Civilization II) on Monday nights. Since MLK day is on Monday, I won’t get to attend these classes until January 23.

7. January 23 is AFTER the add/drop date so I really hope I like them—I know I love ceramics, but am concerned about the History class especially since I will be taking two of them this semester. What was I thinking???!!!

8. I was going to take a drawing class this semester, but decided to drop it because the class was Wednesday mornings. If I would have kept it, I’d be gone all day Monday for Ceramics (8:30-2:20), all day Tuesday to volunteer at the kids’ school library (9:00-2:15), and most of Wednesday (8:30-12:50) for the Drawing class. I also volunteer at the library part of Thursday mornings. That would have left me NO WRITING TIME!! AHHH. It was painful to drop the drawing class, but it had to be done. I’ll take it another semester.

9. One “fun” class is enough (ceramics) and I needed to fill the other two slots with “serious” classes. Hopefully it was the right decision, but I can’t help wondering if I should have taken two “fun” classes and only one “serious” class.  

10. It’s been cold and windy here the last few days. I’m ready for spring!

11. I haven’t been in the mood to write much lately. I’ve still been trying, but it’s hard to make the words come. I’ll probably have to delete everything I’ve written and start over when I’m finally back in the groove of things.

12.  I’ve fallen off my Wii Fit wagon. I was aiming for “playing” it every day in hopes of getting a little bit in shape, but I only made it three days in a row. Of course, it doesn’t help that the kids take the Wii Fit platform out of my room so they can play it in the living room (yes, we have two Wii systems—one for the kids and one for hubby and I . . . we’re geeks, okay?). I’d tell them to leave it in here and ban them from taking it, but how can I deny them the chance to exercise too? Maybe I should break down and buy another Wii Fit system. *sigh*

13. I’ve delayed as much as I can (well, I’m sure I can find some other distraction if I REALLY wanted to) with online time and need to get some writing done. Unfortunately, it hasn’t felt fun for me lately and I’m approaching it like it’s a chore. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I need to get out of this funk soon!!! I love writing---I just don’t want to do it right now. I know this mood will change, I just don’t know when.

Well, I made it all the way to 13 (I wasn’t sure I would). Hope you all have a wonderful and LUCKY Friday the 13th.

Write on.