Just Keep Swimming

May 12, 2009 by

Remember in Finding Nemo when Dory tells Marlin, “You know what you gotta do when life gets you down? Just keep swimming…just keep swimming…”

I’m swimming! I’m swimming!

I tinkered a little yesterday with the book and some of the exercises in the Deep Edits class. I can’t say it’s any easier but I think the rusty gears might be starting to click some. ;)

On the brighter side, I got an agent appointment at Nationals with… NEPHELE TEMPEST. Dream agent, baby! Very thrilled about that. Now cross your fingers they don’t schedule me on Saturday morning when I’m supposed to be on a plane back home. If that happens, I will be severely put out.

ANYHOO… crappy day yesterday but it got better. Went to Kid’s last soccer game of the season and it turned cold. Now, when I say cold that’s becuase we got used to 85 and 90 degrees with lots of humidity and then all of a sudden it’s 70 with a brisk little breeze. I was freezing out there! More rain on the way this week. It’s that rainy season. The cottonwood is blooming and absolutely trashing my allergies. And the grass. There’s nothing like freshly mowed grass but man it kills me. Hate this time of year for that. And I detest having medicine head all day. Oh well.

Just keep swimming!

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Why Moms Have Gray Hair

August 29, 2008 by

Yesterday, my child and his buddy at school concocted a great idea – they were going to hang out together. My kiddo was going to ride home on the bus with his new BFF so they could play their new cool soldier game together. Oh yeah, and he was going to spend the night.

Imagine my surprise when I get a call from the teacher shortly before dismissal asking if my son was supposed to go home on the bus. Um. No. He’s supposed to go with his grandparents. The next call I got was from the kid himself. He wants to go to his friend’s house and play and he’s just going to get on the bus and go with him. Um. Again. NO!

Of course, his grandparents weren’t going to allow it either. Thank goodness they all have sense. haha We had a long discussion last night about the Rules and when he can and can’t go. I’m so glad the teacher had the forethought to call me bfore any of that happened.

Because…imagine for a moment, if you will… You’re 7 and you decide to go to your friend’s house because, in your world, that makes perfect sense. And now… Mom doesn’t know where you are and you don’t know your phone number to call Mom. Can you say “FREAK OUT”? I explained it to him that way, too. I told him how worried I would be if I didn’t know where he was. We also set the ground rules. I told him I didn’t mind him spending the night or going to his friend’s house, but I had no idea who his parents were and I needed to meet them first. We decided to invite him to his birthday party on Saturday. Maybe he can come and I can meet the other mom and then we can set up that play date.

Of course now that it’s all over with, I think how funny it was. He was certain his idea was brilliant and would work. And in his world, it would have if grown-ups hadn’t intervened. I had a good laugh about it with his grandparents and told his dad about it, too. I guess this is where it all begins, eh?

Truly, I’m thrilled he’s found a friend. I was starting to worry. But I swear, just thinking of what could have happened sent fear through me. I would have seriousl heart failure.

Anyway. Yes, still writing. Not much, but I am writing. And I’m cheering on my friend’s who aren’t writing (AHEM – you know who you are!). I’m also reading a good friend’s YA fiction and loving it. It’s fantastic. I’m devouring it and begging for more.

I can’t believe it’s Labor Day Weekend already. I’m glad it’s a three-day weekend, but it really snuck up on me. Tomorrow is my baby boy’s 7th birthday (*sniff*). We’re having a party at Chuck E Cheese with most of the soccer team. And then he goes to his dad’s for the rest of the weekend. Tonight, though, I told him he could open his gifts from me. Plus, I’m baking him his Birthday Brownie (instead of a cake – he didn’t want that…he’s Anti-Cake I guess). I’ve got to get by the store today at lunch and pick up some decoration for it so it’ll be “official”.

AND! It’s a Star Trek Marathon all weekend. WOOHOO! I’m gonna watch The Next Generation all day on Monday. Today is an all day marathon of Enterprise. Yeah. I’m a nerd. Man said perhaps I could truly earn my Geek Card on Monday. I stuck my tongue out at him. He’s mean. :D

Okay so that’s it for me. Have a great long weekend, ya’ll! I’ll blog as I can. I’m going to hit the book store to see my book on the shelf in person. I’ll post pics!

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Winners and… other (deep) stuff

August 27, 2008 by

Okay – so! Congrats to the two winners of the signed books:

Amy S
Jane

Please email me your snail mail address and I’ll get them in the mail for you. YAY!

Can I just say…Thank GOD for the school system? It’s like I have a different kid. He’s so…agreeable. He does what I ask. When I ask. I haven’t had to fight him to get him in the tub. It’s … nice. And weird!

Anyway. Here he is on his first day of second grade. He’s so dang cute I can’t stand it.

He told me at length about the Smiley Face System in which you get a happy face if you were good and a sad face if you weren’t following directions, finishing work, or listening. I told him most definitely we want to always have happy faces. He agreed! And then he told me he bumped his head on the playground. No lump but he said it was sore. Poor guy.

I’m just glad he’s back in school and soccer. I think it helps if he can interact with other kids. He needs that social time. And I need my sanity. :D

Tonight is soccer practice. YAY. <sarcasm>I get to stand out in the 95 degree heat for an hour.</sarcasm>

In other news… I’m writing! Yes, folks. I am. I started writing in longhand over the lunch hour and took it to the computer last night. Got about 1000 words in. And I have my handy plot board to keep me on track and in good company. I’m getting back into the story (and thinking of the sequel) so I’m really looking forward to getting it finished. I’ve been reading agent blogs religiously of late and BookEnds had a terrific post about futzing here. What really stood out for me was the final paragraph – it made so much sense – and I realized what a terrible thing I’ve done to myself: I’ve not planned ahead. And I’ve not looked forward. I sort of thought this writing thing would just happen for me. But what I failed to realize was – It will never just happen. It’s work. Hard work. And if I have any hope at all of succeeding like I want to succeed, I need to get off my ass and make it happen. I need to map out clear goals of where I want to go instead of shrugging and saying, I want to write books.

Well. That’s fine and dandy, Mik, but every Tom Dick and Harry wants to write a book.

So I did some hard thinking and I took a long look at myself and my life. And it was really hard to tell myself how lazy I’ve been. And how disappointing it is. I don’t want to let myself down again. All I can do it try and it may take me years to get to the level I want to achieve. And you know… that’s okay. I’m still young and most writers write until, well, they can’t anymore.

I’ve also volunteered to judge another contest. Seems they were running short. I should get some entries here soon. I figured as long as I keep myself enmeshed in the writing world, it will keep me motivated and inspired.

Okay. Enough of that deep thought stuff. I’m contemplating changing the name of the blog. Ye Olde Inkwell is starting to get tiresome for me. Plus I have a good idea of what I’d like to change the name to…I’m just thinking here. What do ya’ll think? Talk amongst yourselves whilst I get my kiddo to school.

P.S. I was so bad last night. I totally SPLURGED and spent $75 on Sex and the City paraphanalia. Okay, so like I NEEDED it but OMG I finally found a tote with a stiletto on it! It so rocks. I can’t wait to get it. YAY!

Seriously going now…

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Whoa…it’s Thursday?

January 3, 2008 by

I totally missed Wordless Wednesday yesterday! And I had SUCH a great post for it, too.

Oh well.

My blogging the long post was much more important. I’m sure everyone was RIVETED with my theater story. Come on, now. You know you were!

Progress Report:

  • 1758 words on Tuesday, January 1
  • 1955 words on Wednesday, January 2

Go me!

Let’s hope I make that word count for today.

Yesterday was totally uneventful. Wait, that’s not right. Let me start over.

Yesterday was a weird-ass morning. See? I’ve already purged it from my brain. I got up on time, got ready for work. And since I had the kiddo still, I got him up at 7 am so I could get him ready to take to his grandmom. Well, I got him dressed and all that and then went out to the garage to start the car and get it warm.

As I walked back into the house throught he garage…BAM! I smacked the kiddo with the door! It scared the life out of me. He was fine. He looked shocked and surprised and I was freaking out. He said, very quickly, “I’m okay. It didn’t hurt.”

But I could tell he was trying hard not to cry and it was killing me. So I hugged and fussed and kissed and made a big deal out of it. But he was fine. It didn’t even leave a red mark so I didn’t hit him that hard.

Five minutes later, we headed for the car. He usually gets in first while I put my stuff in the front. He has a hard time getting his seatbelt buckled around his thick coat (and it was BLOODY COLD yesterday morning, too), so I usually do it. Well, he shut the car door seconds before I got to him.

So I opened it. And the little stinker was holding onto the handle and nearly fell out of the car!

Sheesh.

“What are you doing?!”

“HEY! I was holding on to that!” he shouts back.

He was using it as leverage to get up into his seat. Why he was on the floorboard of the car is beyond me.

I get him buckled. We get out of the house. The damn garage door won’t shut. I finally get it shut and have to get OUT of the car to stomp on the damn handle of the door to make it go down all the way (yeah, it’s still sick and doesn’t want to work right). Back in the car, get situated AGAIN, get the seatbelt on and we’re off.

Get to Grandmom’s house, drop him off. Hug and kiss and love on him and tell him to stay inside because it’s FREAKING cold outside (hey – 27 is cold for us Texans). He seems fine with it. I walk outside, get back in the car, get onto the road and am 2 seconds away from my cell phone rings.

It’s my child crying his eyes out because I didn’t “wave bye” to him. So I explained to him that I DID when I left him at the door and I gave him a hug and a kiss and it was okay because it was cold outside and he needed to stay inside. I talked him down. He was fine when we hung up a few minutes later.

But I got to work and felt like a total schmuck. I guess you have those days as a parent when you think – WHY THE HELL IS THIS SO HARD?

I think I have more gray hair.

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