Dinner was fun last night and we had a super server. He ordered for us - brought us all kinds of appetizers and about seven different entrees. The captain’s table was totally cool. Having never sat at one, it was loud. We had to yell over the clanging dishes to talk to each other. And Mom wanted whatever was on fire. (The Man said it was just a wok haha) But the total experience was great.  And I drank one too many martinis. We also had dessert - about four different kinds - and I ended up coming home with nearly a whole piece of chocolate cake. Like I need that in my fridge!

I woke up at 5 am for some unknown reason. It was super annoying because all I wanted to do was sleep. I got up, guzzled some water, and then went back to bed. I tossed and turned for an hour and finally drifted off about 6.

I woke up to the patter of rain…and 9 am! Got up, had coffee, and finished painting the bedroom ceiling. Then I did touchups on one wall… and then I nearly passed out from hunger pains. I slammed some turkey and cheese and now I’m sitting here typing this.

The ceiling looks good but it was a total pain to do. My arms, necks and shoulders are sore. And I have bruises all over my legs from moving the ladder. Ah well. Guess I won’t be wearing a skirt any time soon.

I’m off to Mom’s later this afternoon for dinner.

Tonight, Best Good Friend is throwing a dinner party for Brother’s birthday at The Man’s restaurant. We get to sit at the captain’s table and I’m SO excited about it! I got my hair cut and my toes done for the occasion. My mommy’s going too. Of course, I don’t want to look good for Brother cos that would be weird. HA

Yesterday I was in traning all day for Dreamweaver and can I just say this is the coolest program EVER? I want to go back and take Lvl 2 and 3. The lvl 1 class was very basic, though, and I didn’t come away learning a lot. I could have figured all that out on my own just playing in the program. Anyway, it was a good class.

I’ve rewritten the book blurb for the website. Well, I even had help on that. Gaw, how pathetic. But at least it’s done and as soon as it’s polished I’m going to turn that in.

Can I tell you how relieved I am it’s done?

Anyway… last night I tackled painting the bedroom ceiling. I DO NOT recommend it. It’s a gigantic mess. Even though the ceiling looks really damn good. I still need to do the edging but I gave out last night. I was too tired to continue. The Sweetie Boy fell asleep at 7! So I had the whole evening to wander through the house - that’s when I decided to paint.

He crawled in bed with me sometime or another and then a few hours later woke me up. “Mom, I’m hungry and thirsty.” He didn’t have dinner since he slept right through it. So we got up at 3:45 am and got juice and then went back to bed.

This morning, we got up and finished reading Night of the Ninjas and then had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I’ve done two loads of laundry and am about to hit the shower becuase I have to run up to the office and get my work computer - which I forgot.

Tomorrow, I’m off to Mom’s for another birthday dinner for Brother - he’s getting the royal treatment lately.

And now for something completely different:

For some laughs, read Voodoo’s Army of Princesses post here and her Release It Into The Wild post here. With Voodoo, hilarity definitely ensues.

And if you’re single and want to share your thoughts, Ames is blogging about that here and here.

That’s it for me. I’m off to shower!

Hey I’m over at Chicas today! Stop on by if you can. 

I’m back! Did you miss me? Probably not, eh?

I finished the book finally! It was truly an experience. I started working on it hard and heavy about two weeks ago and wrote a chapter a night for the first half of the book. The second half of the book was just mainly revision but it had some new material added as well. And I cut about 20,000 words! The final count ended up around 65,000.

Lessons Learned
It’s been a total learning experience. I learned a lot about my writing process, especially under pressure. It seems I work better that way. Plus I had some great folks cheering me on - and one in particular that wouldn’t allow me to take the easy way out for my characters. EVER. She was tough but I totally appreciate it and I feel really really good about the book. A lot better than I would have if I had just fixed the glaring errors, thrown it out there and said done.

I learned that even in the darkest hour, there is still hope. I had some hopeless moments, though. Some moments where I just thought I couldn’t do it. But I made myself dig in and keep going, even though I wanted to sit and cry and totally give up. I’m really glad I didn’t.

I learned I can stay up until midnight, get up and go to the Day Job the next day, and then come home and do it all again.

I learned it’s sometimes easier to edit material you already have than to write from scratch.

I learned to always backup your work! Every day! Even if you think is a pain in the ass and not necessary. I had numerous problems with my Word Documents becoming corrupt. Luckily, I had a backup and I had separated each chapter into a seperate file. I am so thankful I had the forethought to backup every night when I finished writing. It totally saved my life on more than one occasion.

I learned you really do need a bulletin board where you can tack up pictures of people and places and things to represent your book. It really DOES work!

I learned never let your characters off the hook so easy. It’s okay if they go to hell and back. As long as they come back.

I learned to never EVER write a story without an outline/plot/structure/synopsis ever again.

I learned it’s vital to have folks who support you even if they just say, “You can do it!”

I hope I come away from this whole experience as a better writer, a stronger writer. A writer who knows that she CAN do it.

I’ve written every single day for the last two weeks and it’s felt delicious. I’ve been doing some hard thinking about my future and my career and I’m getting ready to make some decisions. I’m going to draw up a business plan for myself and set career goals, not necessarily with time limits involved. I’m going to write every day. Yes, every day. And NOT in the blog.

This is the commitment I want to make to myself. And no one can make me do it but me. It’s like making the commitment to exercise - you do it anyway, even if you don’t want to.

I understand that so much better now!

I finished the book last night, thank the maker. I’m going to give the second half one more read through today and then it’s off to the editor - SIX days early. YAY!

I’ll be back tomorrow with my regular post entry.

…drink another pot of coffee!

Just popping in for a quick update. I’m this close to finishing the book. I expect I’ll have it done by early to mid next week. Thank the maker.

And if I don’t…well…anyone got a sword handy? Cuz I’ll need to be falling on it…

Okay, folks, I hate to do this, but I have to. I’m going mic off for the next few days while I finish this book. I have a “drop dead date” and I’m trying to finish before it - by at least a week - because I need to be done.

So you’ll forgive me if I don’t show up here in the next few days or so. I’ll be checking emails, though, so feel free to email me. (Oh and I’ll still be blogging over at Chicas on Thursday.)

Until next time…

Monday was one of those days where it was hard for me to get started. Hard to get up in the morning, and work out (but I did it anyway), hard to get going at the Day Job, hard to get writing… Sometimes you just have to force yourself.

I’ve been thinking about the plot for the second half of The Book. It’s been bugging me, quite a lot actually. I knew I wanted Dane to go on a quest or sorts… and after talking with one of my writing pals, I realized that he needs to have a sort of internal quest. I jotted down some notes about it. I think I can move on now.

One thing I’ve totally learned with this entire revision process - PLOT PLOT PLOT!

Are you so proud of me? The Pantser is changing her ways. hehe

I still have a long way to go. Especially with writing book 3 totally from scratch. Gaw.

Anyway. It rained again last night. Another thunderstorm. I swear, it’s rained every day (nearly) for a month. BUT - something incredible happened with this rain. We got a double rainbow! A total arch. It was so beautiful!

You can’t see the double here, but it was there.

And here’s what else I did this weekend. I painted the kitchen from the dark, dismal color to this lovely shade. It reminds me of a chocolate milkshake.

Now I just gotta get the rest of the house done…

All in good time, though!

Why’s it gotta be Monday already?

Yesterday I couldn’t get going on The Book. Tried and tired but the brain seemed to be empty. So I repainted my kitchen instead. And it gave me good thinking time. I also cooked chicken friend steak and mashed potatoes and it came out perfect.

I decided to sit down and write up a rough synopsis for the second half of the book, so that’s exactly what I did. I have a general idea now and I think I can get back to it now.

And in other news…I’m having a horrifyingly bad hair day. I’m desperate to get it cut so I’m going to have to budget for that next week. I hate it. It’s driving me crazy. It’s either get it cut or shave it off. HA.

Not much else to report other than I haven’t been sleeping well and I’m exhausted. I did get up this morning and do a power stretch to flex all my sore muscles from painting. That seemed to help.

Time to work!

I have come to a conclusion. It is impossible for me to write during the day on the weekends when I have Sweetie Boy. Just flat impossible.

I will regroup and try again tonight… sheesh

…I tried to sleep it but it was rather useless with a 5 year old hogging the bed. He climbed in bed with me around 5ish this morning. And sometime duirng the night, the storms woke me up…but he slept right through them.

I ran a few errands today including Target…where I spent way too much money. Isn’t that always the way? I had gone in for bubble mailers and came out $80 lighter. Figures. BUT I got stuff I needed. The Sweetie Boy has artwork out the wazoo and I need to put it someplace so I bought one of those gigantic clear plastic tubs. Then I found a wall shelf for all my cookbooks on clearance for $13! And…and some magazine holders which I needed desperately. I’m going to get organized!

Oh, and, I bought the kiddo three things too. You know I couldn’t resist.

Just got back from mailing out the five books I owed folks. Now I need to look at my finances and figure out a budget. I’m done spending on stuff now until Christmas. Well, there are a few birthdays in there… hehe

Okay that’s it for me. Enjoy the Saturday!

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