It was a gorgeous spring day today. Clear blue sky, a little breezy, about 78 degrees. It’s lovely out there right now too. The temp has dropped to a cool 61 and I love it. The window is open, the crickets are chirping. It’s great.

I made it through the week. I am so glad. I have found people to take on the work I will be leaving behind. Another sense of relief.

I have a busy weekend ahead. I need to get the oil changed in both cars, but I think I will only be able to get one done. It’s going to be jam-packed with things to do. I asked my son what he wanted to do this weekend and his response was that he wanted to play. I may have to find a time to take him to the park.

I really should be writing. I’m thinking I want to snap off the light and lay here in the dark and listen to the crickets chirp. I only wish I was out in the middle of nowhere so I didn’t have the city noise - the neighbors air compressor, a car rumbling by, traffic noise on the busy street west of the house, a dog barking. I guess I don’t get when people run their AC when it’s so cool outside. I like fresh air.

I need to try to get at least part of an issue done before I fall asleep..and the eyelids are getting heavy.

Sometimes late at night, I wander to the front door and peer out the oval window. The street is bathed in a yellow glow from the streetlight. A car drives by every now and again, their headlights shining into the windows. It’s calm and serene. But sometimes, for whatever reason, the neighborhood has a weird aura. There’s just something about it that leaves me unsettled, makes me check and double-check the locks on all exterior doors. Paranoia? Maybe. Or maybe I’m just cautious.

I’ll head back to bed and crawl between the sheets - still the flannel ones and it’s way past flannel sheet season. I like to sleep with the window open. The chirping crickets make me drift off to sleep. At some point in the wee hours of the night, they stop chirping and everything goes very quiet and very still. This is one of my favorite times. Nighttime when the world is quiet.

I can hear the train whistle in the distance. It’s humid tonight, so I’ve got the window closed. But I can still hear the hum of the AC unit next door and the train. The ceiling fan spins lazily overhead and somewhere in the house something creaks as even it settles in the for night.

Nighttime is my solace. It’s the only time I have completely to myself. I left work with a horrible tension headache and sharp shooting pains in the back of my head. I’m trying to get over it now and hope it doesn’t turn into a full blown migraine. And they wonder why I quit. Today just reconfirmed my decision was the right one. I am so looking forward to getting away and back to the peace of quiet of graphics that don’t talk back. The mint and eucalyptus warming neck-wrap is helping some of that tension ebb away. Now if I only had a nice glass of merlot… ah well.

I completed issue 96 of Scars last night and turned it in. HOORAY! I started the next one as well as the next issue of Ransom & Fortune. My lead characters have come to a crossroads in their story (Ransom & Fortune) and I’m trying to decide how to handle it. I’m trying to put myself in my heroine’s shoes for a bit and try to think like her. I have to ask myself some difficult questions and come up with plausible explanations of why she thinks she could love the man who murdered her parents.

I have a busy weekend ahead. I need to get my oil changed in my car, fill up all four 5 gallon bottles of water, grocery shop, do laundry, bake a red velvet cake for my niece for her birthday (note to self: don’t forget red food coloring!), finish the gift baskets for the conference, work on the serials, and polish up my first six pages to submit to a contest. Jam-packed. I’m tired just thinking about it.

I was flipping channels this evening and ran across re-runs of Sex and the City on TBS. It was an episode I hadn’t seen. It was nice to visit with the girls again.

On another note, my shoes came in! Sweet. But they came DHL and of course it was signature required and of course I wasn’t home when they tried to deliver. So I had to go pick it up at the DHL service center. Ya know, I have to say…I’m impressed with them. I called them to find out where exactly they were located and the lady was so nice, she checked to see if the driver had returned yet, which he hadn’t. She took down my number and told me she’d call when he had. She followed through and when I arrived at the service center, she said, “You must be Michelle.” Wow. Now that’s customer service!

A new story idea has been rattling around in my head for a few days. It came to me when I was at my chapter meeting on Saturday. The guest speaker, Jane Graves, sat down and introduced herself to me and a fellow member and friend. She asked us what we wrote. I said fantasy romance. My friend said chick-lit. She commented how both were very hot and how chick-lit was starting to branch out and cross genres. So I got to thinking… wouldn’t it be fun to have a fantasy chick-lit? Dating, relating, and saving the world! Hm.. maybe it’s too lame.

After tomorrow I will have five days left at my current job. WOOHOO

Read the crits on my contest entries. I don’t know why I was avoiding it. Before going in, though, I told myself I would read the crits with an opening mind. And you know what? It wasn’t so bad.

Two people loved it and two people said there wasn’t enough emotion. AHA! Could this be the secret as to why it’s getting rejected? Also, one of the comments was too many characters. Interesting. I think that might be right. I do have a very large cast of characters with this novel. But it’s a complicated story and it needs the large cast to support it. I mean, I have the somewhat naive heroine, the mother who is dying and has to pass on her knowledge to her daughter, the evil king and his cronies bent on conquering the world, a father coming to reclaim what he wants, and the hero who doesn’t realize who he really is. One comment said the places were too complicated. And you know, after reading the comments and thinking about the story, it does seem…cluttered. Of course one side of me whines but it’s a fantasy and the other says but it needs to be pared down. I have thought before that the story could be cut way down, much as I hate to. *heavy sigh* I dunno. I need to think on it some more.

All right.. enough procrastinating. Gotta go write.

I stole this from CeCe’s blog:

You are just a big puddle of goo, aren’t you? You
either have no comprehension of the real world
or simply live in denial. You should work with
small children and write slash fiction.

The Online Career Advisor
brought to you by Quizilla

Is it just me, or is Bo Bice (American Idol) smoking hot? Dammit… I was watching him tonight and couldn’t help but think how incredibly good-looking he is. A much better performer by far than Constantine. I just don’t like Constantine, I guess, and I never have since the very beginning of the season. I really don’t like his vocals and I’m not a big fan of his “stage presence” that everyone keeps talking about. Bo, however, is another story. I love the scruffy facial hair thing going on. And the long hair… yum. If he showed up on my doorstep I certainly wouldn’t turn him away. I was actually compelled to vote for him tonight. First time I ever voted for anyone on American Idol. Now I’m really a geek.

Okay, enough drooling. *reaches for tissue and wipes keyboard*

Fighting Self Doubt
Two of my writing friends got an agent recently. I am so happy for them! But at the same time a little envious. I wish it was me. I’ve been thinking about it for a few days now and I think how incredibly sucky I must be. I wonder what’s wrong with my manuscript that it keeps getting rejected. Hell, I haven’t even gotten the nerve to read the crits on my contest entries I got back on Friday. The envelope is still sitting on the table by my desk. Of course, I peeked inside to see the score sheet. The scores were wide-ranging. I thought about reading them tonight but couldn’t get the nerve. Maybe I should just throw the entire ms. out and forget it. Or maybe it’s time to turn it into a serial. I don’t know.

I sent out the first six pages of my new pirate story to my chapter members. I still haven’t had the courage to read their crits. I’m lame. And scared. I don’t know why. Getting crits has never bothered me before. I guess I’m afraid of reading that I have zero talent and I totally suck, so I don’t read them at all. Even though I really want to send in these pages to a contest. I’ve got to get off my duff and read those crits, revise, and send in the pages.

In the meantime, I really do have to get some writing done on the romance serial. It’s really starting to annoy me that I still have to write it and it’s to the point now that I hate the characters and the storyline. These bitches are getting are my nerves. Sometimes I wish I could just throw one large grenade and wipe out the entire cast at once and say THE END. But, alas, I cannot.

And for whatever retarded reason, I have this really bad pain in my neck and my right bicep. It hurts like the devil. I’ve been using heat on the neck pain all evening. I’ve got heat on the arm. I fell asleep on the couch for about 30 minutes (watching a documentary about Errol Flynn - man he was hot, too [what can I say? I'm lonely]) and woke up in so much pain I could hardly move.

Also, I’m annoyed by the Victor’s Secret commercial pushing their new IPEX bra. I absolutely despise the way the girl stands in the commercial - you know the one. She’s wearing the skimpy black panties and the new bra and she’s standing there with her boobs pushed out and her back arched and her legs hip-width apart. Her hair is all flowing around her face. It annoys me to death because in order for me to look like her in that outfit (if you can call it that) I would have to stand in that weird-ass position. And that just ain’t happening when you have a 3-yr-old and you have to work in the real world for a living. HA

Okay, I’ll quit complaining and bitching. I have writing to do after all.

Idea Box
I’ve a new category called Idea Box. I’m going to be posting some writing prompts and ideas as I think of them. Feel free to use them for your own writing, but I’m posting them as a reminder to me to write.

Pick your favorite piece of art and write a story about it

This morning started too damn early at 4:30. We all had to get up to take DH to the airport for his early flight. At least he got to go back to sleep on the airplane. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open on the way home. I settled DS (dear son) down in front of the TV with early morning cartoons while I went and dozed for another 20 minutes. I still made it to work by 7:30, much to my dismay. I dragged my feet as much as I could.

Heard that the big boss was quite upset when he found out I put in my notice. He’ll get over it or he won’t. He ignored me when he was in the office today. Just as well. I’d rather be ignored.

For the first time in I don’t know when I finally feel like myself again. I thought that on the way home. And you know… it feels damn good to get that back. Perhaps my muse deserted me because she was trying to tell me something. She’s slowly starting to come around. Good thing too. I need her back!

It was a pretty good day. After work, I had to run by a friend’s house to pick up some stuff for the baskets I’m making for our RWA chapter conference next month (wow, that was a terrible run on sentence!). She donated some great things for the Celtic basket. I have two done! So relieved. I put the Texas basket together and finished it off. The Celtic basket is done but I have to hot glue the bows I made to the handle. It looks really nice. It was kind of an ugly wicker basket so to pretty it up, I wrapped the handle in nice gold ribbon and made lovely blue and gold bows for the sides. I had so many hardback books that I’ll never really read so I donated them. I’m feeling better knowing that they are almost finished.

Anyway, before I picked up my son, I ended up at the mall. At Nordstrom’s. It was about 5 :00 when I got there and boy was it a madhouse. Tons of customers - mostly teenage girls with their mothers. The nice thing was there were plenty of salesmen wandering around and I was able to snag one right away. I knew exactly what I was looking for, too. I bought the shoes. Only they didn’t have my size. The salesman was all too happy to order them for me and have them shipped to my house. Woohoo! They are my “I got a new job” shoes. Love them. Can’t wait to wear them. This shoe thing is getting bad - I’m like a junkie getting her next fix. I can’t help it - I love shoes. If I’m ever rich enough, I want one closet just devoted to them with a back-lit wall so when they’re lined on the shelf, you can clearly see what they are. Gaw, I’m sick.

Got a new subscriber to the romance serial today. It was a freebie though, so no earnings but at least it’s one. I should be writing but I’m about to crash. I have a raging headache and if I don’t lay down now I’ll be sorry.

Forgot to mention that I received my RWA PRO pin at yesterday’s meeting. I’m so excited.

Basically, PRO membership are for those who have completed a manuscript, submitted it, and been rejected. Since I qualified, I thought I’d join. I am now eligible for all the PRO loops and other things of interest. I haven’t delved too far into the PRO pages at RWA’s main website yet. But it’s on the agenda!

It’s a beautiful day. Other than a gusty wind, it’s warm and just lovely out. After some errands, I spent some time outside. I watered the plants and then killed some weeds that was growing in the cracks of the driveway. Then I picked up limbs that have been laying in the back flowerbed for almost a year. The yard looks much tidier now.

Next week, we’re having some concrete poured. A new sidewalk from the front to the back and then we’re extending our patio. When that gets done, I have lots of work to do to clean out the flowerbed on the north side of the house. Gotta kill some fire ant beds. Then when I get them all cleaned up, I’m going to plant marigolds I think. Maybe some pansies. I’m going to use bedding plants this year because it’s too late for bulbs. I really wanted daffodils, though. Tiger lilies are going in the flower bed in the backyard just under our bedroom window. They are very colorful tiger lilies too. But, again, those are bulbs, so they’ll have to wait until next year.

There’s a Mockingbird that likes to sit on the top of the chimney of the house behind us. It starts signing at the crack of dawn and sits there nearly all day. It’s there now, singing it’s little heart out. I can see it from where I sit in the upstairs office. I haven’t seen any redbirds this year, nor blue jays. Plenty of robins and doves though.

This is the first year of my independent life that I’ve ever felt like gardening. I won’t feel much like getting out when the temps soar to over 100, though, so I’m enjoying the weather now. I have all the windows open in the house and a nice cool breeze is keeping the house enjoyable. The electric bill has been surprisingly low since I’ve not been running the heat or the air. It’s nice. Wish it was this way all year round.

Finished issue 82 of Ransom & Fortune and wrote issue 83. It’s still not complete but I plan to get it done today and turned in as well. I have to work on Scars next because I’ll be behind on that as of this week if I don’t get to it.

I feel more creative lately. I suppose because a weight has been lifted. With DH home, I got back into my old rhythm - set up the laptop, put on the earphones, blast the music, and just write. I so needed that. But he flies back out to Baltimore on Monday. This will probably be the last trip home. The next time he comes home it will be for good. Thanks goodness!

And I can’t stop thinking about those shoes… It’s going to be time to re-evaluate my closet very soon. I’ve been thinking of switching with DH since his is more of a square shape and mine is long and narrow. I think I’ll have more room to expand in his closet than in the dinky one I have now. I should have picked that one when we moved in. LOL

Well, back to writing!

Thanks, Devon!

Your Irish Name Is…

Aoife Connolly

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