There’s this really cool feature with my new Word 2007, so I’m giving it a try. I’m actually TYPING my entry in Word and then uploading it automatically into my blog. That’s just awesome.

I have this character in my head pestering me to write her story. It’s Delilah. She’s telling me she needs me to get her story written because she’s ready to get hot and sweaty with Sam.

Chill, girl. I’m working on the historical/time-travel now.

But, she whines, my story is way more important than some stupid historical major.

See that’s the problem with characters. They’re so bloody demanding. I was talking with a non-writer today about this - the fact that I have this character talking to me in my head. And he thinks I need therapy. And that’s the problem with non-writers. They don’t understand the neuroses.

But then again, I think he has serious issues myself. We have a unique and very twisted relationship, he and I. And for the purposes of this blog, I’ll call him Boyfriend #1.

Boyfriend #1 is not a lady-killer, but he has certain appealing…qualities. He can be very sweet when he wants to be. Like yesterday when he showed up with a very large pink bag puking red and pink tissue paper. I couldn’t believe it. Inside, there was a shocking amount of goodies and a totally mushy card.

I was like, huh?

He proclaims he doesn’t have a girlfriend, yet he treats me like his girlfriend. Gifts at Christmas and now gifts for Valentine’s Day (which I still want to shun, by the way). We had a long, interesting discussion and the only thing I can figure is…he’s weird. He has certain hang-ups about relationships. I’m sure the string of Girlfriends From Hell had something to do with that. That and a long marriage that ended in divorce. So he has issues. But who doesn’t?

I definitely get frustrated with him. And then I remember - we are not a couple. We go out occasionally and enjoy each other’s company and that’s about it.

Then there’s Boyfriend #2. We dated for about a year and then broke up for four months. I had no intention of getting back together with him. You see, he has this very high-stress job as a restaurant owner and he didn’t have a lot of time for me. He couldn’t even pencil me in for lunch. It was one of the reasons we broke up. It drove me insane.

But then he called me. I made it very clear I wasn’t interested in a reunion and then something happened… I ended up going to see him at his restaurant. It sort of opened the flood gates. He finally asked me out to dinner and a hockey game (because hockey is my weakness and I really can’t say no). And I, of course, said yes.

I got to thinking. I don’t get everything I need from one. Why should I settle for that? So I decided I would give it another try…but I would have to lay the ground rules first. I told him I wasn’t sure I wanted to get back together, but I also wasn’t sure I didn’t want to get back together either. He can be sweet, too, when he wants to be.

We’re having dinner and hockey early next month and I told him he has to pick me up. He’s calling it our first date again so we can start over. But I told him he was getting ahead of himself. It was no pressure - and just dinner and hockey.

So yesterday… on Valentine’s Day, I thought of all of this. And you know what I came up with? I’m the prize. I’m the princess. And they’re going to have to work really damn hard to get me. Because, damn it, I’m a catch. I’m a single, independent, intelligent, witty, 30-something woman and DAMN IT I deserve better than some half-assed attempt at dating. As a good friend put it, make ‘em earn being my consort (I’m paraphrasing here hehe).

May the best man win. Whichever he may be!

Here’s how I feel about Valentine’s Day:

Yeah I’ve never been a fan. And yeah, I’m still boycotting it. Why should we acknowledge a day that is such…bullshit?

They had a thing on the news about how Valentine’s Day has spread to other parts of the world. Like Japan, for instance. However, over there, the ladies are the ones that give the men chocolates and flowers. Whatever. It’s probably because the men forgot.

I don’t know why I have this undying hate for the day. I guess because I’ve never once felt special enough to someone to make it a special day. I’ve never had a boyfriend or husband yet send me flowers on the day of. Besides New Year’s, I think I hate it the most of all holidays (actually, I don’t even want to call it a holiday - let’s call it a day that is only recognized by Hallmark, Helzberg, and Hershey’s). And what really pisses me off are the women to get shit on V-Day when all they do is bitch and moan about their husband/boyfriend. You know the ones. The ones that are a collosal pain in the ass.

I’m just bitchy.

I had several people ask me what I’m doing tonight. Um. Nothing. Why? I’m going to go home, cook dinner, spend time with my kid, watch Don’t Forget the Lyrics and then I’m going to bed. I expect not to get flowers or candy or anything resembling a heart.

Well, except from my kid. And he sort of spilled the beans about that anyway. I know I’m getting something from him because he gave me “a hint” the other day when he said, “Mom, I bought you a heart.”

Aw.

He’s a sweet kid. He really is. And funny. He does some of the goofiest stuff. Can’t imagine where he gets that from.

I’ve been brainstorming on One Knight Only. This is a much more complicated story than I originally thought. And I know it’s going to be way longer than the alloted 20,000 words. So I’m going to just not worry about it and write the damn book. I’m shooting for single title length. I think there’s enough story there for that. And I think it’s good enough to actually see the light of day in a Brick & Mortar bookstore. Don’t get me wrong, I lurve my publisher to death. I make a lot of money off ebooks. But I also have higher aspirations than that.

And I really just want to write books. Real books that you buy from a book store, that sit on a shelf, that you can hold and sniff.

I’ve been working on a new creative project. It’s going to take some time to get off the ground and I’m actively recruiting folks who can help me launch it. It’s a non-paying gig, though, so I’m looking for folks interested in exercising their creative muscle on something fun and fabulous (yes, those are key words here). It’s an exciting venture and one I think could turn out to be grand and eventually pay, but there’ll be a lot of blood, sweat and tears involved. We’ll see how that goes.

Must dash. Gotta get the kiddo to school and me to work!

 

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First of all, CeCe is boycotting Valentine’s Day, so if you’re all for it, visit here and swipe her button to spread the word. ;) I’m all for it. I just say no to VD, too. It’s the only day of the year that’s complete crap. Commercialized CRAP.

I’ve never had a happy Valentine’s day and I seriously doubt this year will be any different. I think one of the comments in that entry is from Bailey who says, “It’s a holiday cooked up by happy people to make lonely people feel lonlier.” I couldn’t agree more!

Anyhoo…

Now that all my contest entries are out, I can breathe a sigh of relief.

Except now I have entries for the Shiela to read and they’re due back March 14. hehe I have five to read. I think I judged for them last year. They’re electronic, though, so I can take them with me. Which is great because I can read them on my lunch hour.

Today I’m going to get back to writing my 1000 words a day. I miss it so.

I did get a response from a very nice lady with the SCA about jousting. She was very informative (note to self: reply to her email!) and gave me lots of information. She suggested I watch A Knight’s Tale but little does she know that’s one of my all time favorite movies.

Oh and before I forget, here’s a picture of our table at the book signing. This was before we all got our hands on it and rearranged everything. The manager was so nice and she let us do whatever we want. And she had it set up really nice, too.

Cool, eh?

Monday as I was driving home from work, the ex called me. He had to work super late and he wondered if I could pick up the kiddo. I readily agreed. It was nice to have an hour or so with him. I bought him Chick-Fil-A for dinner and he had the chicken sandwich meal. I think the days of kid’s meals are ending. He is, after all, a growing boy.

After he ate dinner, he was in a right happy mood. I had some emails to respond to and as I sat at the computer, he played with the keyboard. He likes to play the songs that are programmed in it and then dance to them. It’s hilarious. I was laughing at him and he knew he was being cute. He asked me if I thought he was funny.

I also took a look inside his binder. All his work papers were in there from last week. Since it was the 100th day of school, they did all sorts of things with the number 100. One was a sheet that had fill in the blanks, “If I had a 100…” etc. One of the sentences was, “When I’m 100 years old, I hope I can still…” and the kiddo filled in the word “walk”. It cracked me up.

Yeah, I hope I can still walk, too, when I’m 100. If I live that long. hehe

Kids are funny.

Anyway, I’m reading one of my friend’s manuscripts and OH BOY is it great. I love it. Of course, I loved it the first time around but I love it even more now. I’m very fond of this story. I certainly hope it gets published.

Okay that’s it for me. I’m off to work!

First of all - the winner of Free Book Friday is Sandy Jones! Yay, Sandy!

This weeked is a blur.

Friday night I spent assigning judges for the contest. It took nearly three hours. But I felt pretty good because I got it done. I went to bed and tossed and turned. I don’t know why. I guess because I had so much to think about for the following day.

Saturday came and I got up fairly early. Had coffee, got ready. I struggled with what to wear to the RWA meeting and then the book signing. I finally settled on my best pair of dark blue jeans and my bohemian top. I wore my Tommy Hilfiger espadrilles.

The meeting was good. We got through the business portion quickly and then our guest speaker was just great. Melissa Schroeder came and talked to us about making writing a priority. Everything she said was right on. It really all made a lot of sense. She said to set a goal and then figure out what you have to do to make that goal happen. And sometimes that involves giving up something.

I think I’m going to give up all TV. Of course, I’ll still tape my favorite shows and watch them (Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Moonlight), but for the most part, I’m not going to watch ANY TV. I’m making a commitment to myself and to my writing this year.

Not that I hadn’t already. I’ve promised myself I’ll write five manuscripts this year.

Afterward, it was off to the book signing. The Barnes & Noble was in Flower Mound (aka Highland Village) and we nearly got lost on the way there. The directions from Yahoo Maps and Mapquest were shit. They were so wrong! They had you gonig the complete opposite way. Anyway, we found it. And the intersection the book store is in is a totally beating to get to and out of. It’s like the population boomed 1000 percent and there was no way in Hades the roads could handle it.

The store is inside a cluster of stores. You can’t see it from the street. But we found it. And the manager had the table set up so cute! Yes, I have pictures. Just haven’t had time to download them.

We rearranged and got settled. We had some traffic but not much. I gave out some of my cover flats I made for the ebooks. We had cookies and cupcakes. Amie and I checked out the guys and rated them. There were a few very young boys who came blushing up to our table asknig if they could have a cookie. And then their very young girlfriends would drag them away. One mother covered her daughter’s eyes as they passed by.

I mean, come on. Okay, so the covers are a little racy. Okay, so there are half-naked people on them. But all the important parts are covered… I guess, as a mother…I would probably try to shield my kid from it, too. And we were set up right in front of the doors.

I sold two books. Well, three if you count the one I swiped. Yes, just call me stupid. I coudn’t believe it when I got home and unpacked my bag and realized it. I was horrified! Now I have to call the manager and tell her I’m a dumbass and I accidentally picked it up. I hope she doesn’t think I’m a moron. I will be paying for it, of course, over the phone with a credit card. I feel so retarded. I mean, HUGELY retarded.

So that was my stupid for the day. I’m going to chalk it up to (a) not paying attention; (b) I was distracted by getting packed up and out of there; (c) I had a splitting headache; and (d) I was worried about how to get out of there and which way to get back to the freeway.

Anyway I felt like a total bloody idiot.

After the signing, I had an invitation for dinner and drinks. Yes, with a boy. No, I’m not gonna say. I had a good time, though. I needed the decompression after the long morning and afternoon. I had three martinis. I was exhausted by the time I walked out of the restaurant four hours later and hit the house. I literally fell into bed.

Of course I slept for shit.

Sunday I worked on the contest ALL day long. I got up early, went to the grocery store, and came back to hit it hard and heavy. I sat at the computer from 10 am until 9 pm, only taking breaks to eat and go potty. But I got all 59 entries done and out to the 40-some-odd judges. Who are great, by the way. Our panel of judges are so generous with their time. Since I was short a few judges, several stepped up and volunteered to read extra entries. That certainly made my life a little easier.

But of course, it wasn’t a day without problems. I had to completely reassign all the Series Contemporary judges. That took about three hours all told. And then my Word decided to crash on me and wouldn’t open again except in Safe Mode. It ticked me off. I restarted and that didn’t work. I shut all the way down and booted back up and that didn’t work either. I was so frustrated. I stopped and cooked dinner and ate and then went back to it and…it was fine. WTF?

I downloaded the trial version of Office 2007 and may I just say…I hate it? It’s awful. Of course, I like my Word just the way it was. hehe

I shut everything off at 9 pm and headed to the couch. I needed some downtime. So I vegged out in front of the TV until I climbed into bed and fainted about 11.

What a weekend. It was good though. I feel good about the signing (except for the part where I shoplifted my own book, which is motifiying). I hope the people who took the cover flats will actually buy the book.

I got all 59 entries out to the 40-some-odd judges today. I sat at this computer for nearly 12 hours. I’m tired, as you can imagine. And I stink. I need a shower. hehe

Will report back tomorrow on all the weekend festivities. And boy were there some

Today’s the day! So if you’re in the area, come on out and meet and greet. I’m signing from 2 pm to 4 pm with fellow authors Melissa Schroeder, Shayla Black, Amie Stuart and Denise McDonald!

Hope to see you there!

Barnes & Noble
4100 Deer Creek Road, Suite 100
Highland Village, TX  75077
Northwest Corner of FM 407 and Long Prairie Road (FM 2499)
Phone: 972-966-0099

Hi, ya’ll. It’s here! Another Free Book Friday! Today I’m giving away Beth Williamson’s Sword of Rhoswen.

Yesterday was one of those fast and furious days. I had lots of little stuff to take care of at the office. You know…those nuisance tasks that don’t take very long but you have like a thousand of them.

Then I had to pick up the kiddo from school. We ran errands afterward. I had to get my car inspection since it expired in December. Yeah, I’m a little late. And then it was off to the post office where I stood in line for nearly half an hour.

Here’s what I don’t get about the post office. You have three clerks but only two are “working” and the line is literaly out the door. Wouldn’t you think the third clerk would, oh, say, assist customers?? I mean, that only makes sense to me. But what do I know? It just really irks me. And of course there are those people ahead of you in line that either have 230498 packages or they don’t have all their paperwork filled out before they get to the windows. Which just ensures that they have to come back, quite possibly bumping you out of line.

And I got my package in the mail but OF COURSE I was so distracted by the long line (and my child’s behavior) that I spaced and forgot to mail my mortgage. At least it’s not late yet.

Then it was back home where the kid played while I did more work. And then I realized I had to do his Valentine’s project. I had to take an old shoe box, cover it, then cut a hole in the top for the valentine’s. You know what? I’m geometry and mathmetically challenged. I’m also challenged in the task of covering boxes, i.e., I suck at it. I had quite a time trying to figure out what to wrap the box in utnil Sysenlaw suggested tissue paper. And I had an abundance of that!

Of course that was a challenge too. And then cutting the whole out of the top. I used a kitchen knife. Then he had to decorate it. Well, I’m a lazy/tired Mom, so I rumaged around in his room until I found several sheets of stickers. I handed them to him and told him to go knock himself out putting on the stickers.

And for some reason that kid kept walking around singing YMCA. It was cracking me up. I also had a time getting him to do his homework. It took him forever to write 11 sentences with his spelling words and it was driving me insane. I had to sit with him and hover over him to make him do it. I can tell it’s just not his thing. hehe

We watched Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader and I’m happy to announce *I* knew the answer to the million dollar question. Hello, The Right Stuff. Hadn’t she seen that movie? Even Jeff Foxworthy alluded to that. Duh. Then we watched Don’t Forget The Lyrics and the couple at the beginning was just downright annoying. I liked the guy who won $200,000.

After I finally got the kid in bed, I got to watch Lost. Interesting twists and turns so far this season but I’m not sure I’m entirely happy with the show this year.

Anyhoo… I finished getting the contest entries ready. Now it’s time to start assigning judges and then getting them out the door. WOO! I’m ready so I can get back to writing. I also volunteering for a contest. I know how hard it is to find judges so, you know, I felt obligated.

I’m ready to get back to One Knight Only. I think the Middle Ages are my favorite time period in history. If I could, I’d like to go back in time just to see it live, in action. This book is about jousting so I went out on a limb and emailed the good folks at Medieval Times to see if I can interivew one or two of their knights. So far no response. But wouldn’t that be cool? hehe I’ve done quite a bit of reading on jousting, but there’s nothing like getting it firsthand, even if they are doing it the safe way.

So what’s your favorite time period? Who would you want to meet and what would you do there?

Post a comment and tell me if you want to be entered in Free Book Friday. Drawing will be on Saturday sometime - but I’ll be busy since I have RWA and then my first book signing. I promise to announce the winner tomorrow, though. Contest closes at midnight CST, as always.

Happy Friday!

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