The end of an era - okay, just a year

It's been a big year. The boys started school, Amelia's in second grade, Bryan's started a new company and I finished a book, wrote a short story (soon to be published), and - hmmmm, what else did I do? I'm not sure, but a whole year has passed doing it.

One thing I've done is started a writing website for my author-self, but am having trouble maintaining it and blogging here. I may have to think that through some more.

Funny kid story: Jamie solved the Car Talk puzzler the other weekend. He was riding around with Daddy in the car, and the puzzler came on. They both listened to it, and Jamie piped up with,

SPOILER...

"They burned the gas in the truck."

I love my kids. They're weird but cute.

I have to get some work done, but thought I'd check in and say hello. I'm still around, just busy. Leave a comment if you visit so I know you stopped by.

Happy New Year!

Let it snow!

We got snow yesterday, we're getting snow today, big nor'easter supposedly coming in sometime - although I thought there was also a storm coming in from Kansas. It's the most wonderful time of the year (after, of course, the start of school time). The skiways are happy here and the kids are happy and my toes are cold, but otherwise, I'm happy too.

Amelia, Alex and Jamie have been sledding up a storm. Bryan's built them a little ramp to jump their sleds off of - entirely too close to the trees and rocks, in my opinion, but I'm only Mom. I don't count - at least when it comes to fun and danger. They have different paths and a whole system worked out for the short trails. Lots of fun - for them. I close my eyes and wait for the screams.

Bryan's business is plugging along, with a goal of end of January for a sell-able, tested product. It's aggressive, but I think at this point, the goal is good, even if they don't make it. I need to get hopping on helping with the website and business plan, which is currently in flux.

On top of that, I'm working at home 40 hours/week, trying to keep us afloat, and doing all the child care/house care things. Well, not ALL. Bryan's been helping out more and we're working on the balance so I can get things done other than work. Like laundry, cleaning, playing with kids, cooking. Little things.

In addition, TWO BITS OF REALLY EXCITING NEWS! Sorry for shouting, but I want to get your attention.

ONE: my short story, The Vicar's Vixen, is coming out in March from Dark Eden Press. Now, they publish some pretty hot stuff, although my story is tame (I'm sooooo booring!), so only link to them if you're 18 or older, okay? And be sure you took your heart meds this morning.

TWO: a well-respected e-publisher, who's also putting some print books in bricks-and-mortar stores, has asked for a revision of The Full Moon Factor. The editor loved the story but would like to see some things fixed. So in my spare time (HA!) I'm working on that.

For more on my writing career, see my alternate persona, Kristin Lawrence's website.

Gotta get some work done, but there's the news for now.

Never a boring minute

In a bazillion years, when life gets slower, I'll be more consistent with posting to my blog. I think that means never. Life doesn't slow down, and that's a good thing. Inactivity is boredom. The good thing is, my life is never boring.

I'm working two jobs, Bryan is cutting back on his current job to start a company, I've got a short story getting published and I'm still shopping my first novel to publishers. The two jobs-thing is taking all my time right now - all that's not devoted to the kids, that is. Fortunately, one job is temporary and ends in 2 1/2 weeks, so things will get markedly more sane then, although we'll be slightly poorer as well, since that's when Bryan's hours cut back. But we'll do fine. Bryan's company has a great start and I'm predicting even better things to come. And I'm already planning that my brilliant sister will help them get organized on the business end. All those engineers will need her incisive mind to control their practical idealism. It does no good to build the product if you don't actually find the buyers for the product. They're not Kevin Costner.

The kids are adorable as usual. Alex and Jamie love kindergarten - art, gym and recess in particular. Because they compete with each other to tell me things, I actually get to hear what happens in their days. Amelia never told me anything much about school unless I was really lucky and patient. Amelia loves her second grade teacher, who apparently is an A+ teacher. The gym teacher, whom everyone loves, is an Ax (times) teacher - one step ahead of A+, according to Amelia.

Halloween is around the corner, so Bryan and I are working on costumes, with Auntie Di's able help on a Supergirl costume. Jamie wants to be a deep sea explorer and Alex a ghost. We tried convincing all of them to be ghosts, but no luck.

Time (time, time) is on my side (yes it is)

I keep telling myself that anyway. Somehow, with four hours every morning to do things, I still feel rushed. Am I adding more to my to-do list or am I just inefficient?

I am getting things done though. In the middle of laundry right now, paid some bills, and will get to finishing my short story today. Along with that, I need to send out some info on three workshops I'm doing for a woman starting up a company in the area. I guess there's more on my plate than I had before.

The kids are loving school so far, although the boys say circle time is "stupid." We agreed to amend that to, "We don't like circle time as much." Their primary objection to it appears to be that they can't talk incessantly - the curse of multiples is to work to be heard above their siblings. Only the fit survive. Apparently, Darwin is not a consideration at circle time.

I got two agent rejections in the past week. Stinks, especially because it draws my attention from writing. I don't want an agent, I want a personal assistant. One who can find the agents for me, prepare the submissions, track everything, and file the rejections. Hopefully one who will eventually deal with an acceptance someday too. If he or she can help with the laundry, that would heaven.

Buzzer just went off on the sheets in the dryer. Gotta go be productive with my time.

Back to work and school

Summer vacation's over. My three kids caught the bus this morning, the boys for the first time. Everyone was excited, including Mom. And I was the only one who cried too, which was good. Amelia was a great big sister, showing her brothers the ropes on the bus. (Alex said, "Mommy, why does the bus have ropes?") Now I'm home, writing five actual pages of non-crap today. Wow.

The summer ended nicely, with us trying to spend a lot of time together doing fun things. As opposed to Mom yelling, "No, we don't hit or bite when someone sits on us." Sometimes, frankly, I don't blame them for hitting and biting. Not that they should do it, mind you, but the impulse is perfectly understandable. I'd be pretty pissed if someone threw a Lego creation at me too.

We had a cookie-and-milk stand on Monday, earmarking the money earned - a whole $4 (thank you, neighbors) for the Haven, a homeless shelter in the area. Tuesday, we went on a long hike, stopping a couple times for mini-snacks along the way. It was a gorgeous day and complaining was at a minimum. Couldn't ask for more than that. The highlight for me was finding our second snack stop at a place where the echo was amazing. The kids practiced their silliest sounds, just to hear the echo, then I persuaded them that echoes should be beautiful, so we sang. Loudly and sometimes out of tune, but joyfully and, to my heart if not my ears, beautifully.

So summer is over and it's back to getting things accomplished. The last two weeks, I got two rejections, one from the publishing house where my manuscript had gotten past the readers' review and to the editor-in-chief's desk. Disappointing, but I'm plugging along, having submitted it to three agents and a few more to go on the "A" list. We'll see and in the meantime, I'm back to writing more.

Summer begins...

Whew. The last few weeks have been a blur. The boys finished pre-school - our final helping days, field trips, last party, teacher gifts. It was busy and I could scarcely keep track of things. And they turned 5 with a birthday bash. 12 4 and 5 year-olds running around midday, and lots of relatives at night. My in-laws were here. I think we overwhelmed them with how insane things were. Probably scared them off, but it's normal for us here to go, go, go all day long and just collapse at night. We're not very exciting.

Then my oldest friend (not age-wise, but how-long-we've-been-friends-wise) visited with her husband and two little ones. Man, I'm glad my kids are getting older. I'm too tired to deal with three-year old tantrums any more. Five-year old tantrums seem much more manageable. Gives me some time to have a tantrum or two of my own. Just kidding.

Amelia's reaching the end of first grade as well. It's hard to rein in all the activities she's involved in or could potentially be involved in. We're doing too much I think. I'm contemplating our summer plans - the only thing we have scheduled is soccer camp for all three kids. Two different weeks, but the coaches are great and they have lots of fun, so it's worth the running around. They could also do a summer camp at the Montshire Museum but I'm wondering if even a week of that in August becomes too much. I was thinking of signing them up for swimming lessons, but am rethinking that now. Summer's for relaxing - I hate the idea that they'll be running from place to place and not get a chance to just play.

The hard part about summer is trying to find time for me to write. It's a challenge to feel like I can have an uninterrupted moment. The two projects I'm working on are going fairly well - I've hit a writing roadblock this week - no drive right now, but I think that's because of all the craziness of the past few weeks. I'm still plugging away.

I'm setting a goal for myself. Modest I think, but necessary to keep me moving - four pages written a day (1000 words). That's new pages, mind you, not editing. We'll see if it works.

Still waiting to hear back on the submission of my full MS to the publisher. Cross your fingers!

I've been tagged.

Thanks, Aasiyah. In a weird game of pyramid combined with tag and a little flavor of chain letters thrown in, one of my crit partners has tagged me, along with three other people, to list eight random things about myself. I then tag four more people, who have to check my blog for the rules, post their own list on their blog, and tag an additional four victims. Soon we'll take over the world.

So, in the spirit of cooperation, here are my eight random things:
1. I have an allergic reaction to some fresh fruits - apples, bananas, pears, and now strawberries are starting to give me problems too. My mouth starts to get numb and my throat gets scratchy. I can eat applesauce and canned pears - just not fresh. And organic, peeling them, whatever, doesn't seem to make a difference.

2. Guilty pleasure - I love teen movies - Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller, of course, but also newer ones like Mean Girls, Clueless, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton (hilarious).

3. Even though I try to do it three days a week, I hate running. But I love having gone running.

4. I frequently have dreams about having to find a home/moving into a new home/apartment. Usually in the dreams, I'm of college age, but with the same responsibilities I have now. One dream, I agonized over finding a roommate who wouldn't mind sharing space with my (then) one-year old daughter.

5. I usually have to read the end of the book first. I hate when I get attached to a character to whom really bad things happen which aren't resolved by the end.

6. I'm jealous that one of my dogs (Iris) likes my husband better than me. She likes me, just likes Bryan so much better.

7. I like chick music - Bonnie Raitt, Nanci Griffith, Dixie Chicks, Pretenders, Indigo Girls. I never could understand liking heavy metal.

8. I still believe that I can get back to my college weight even after three kids, one a twin pregnancy. (I have 8 pounds to go.)

There. Done. Now Diane, T.J., Tom, and Linda will get their turn, if they so choose.

Jamie's channeling Nigel...

Power is on, no pressing house issues - there are always house issues, but, for the moment, no pressing ones - so I'm finally back to blogging and Spinal Tap stories.

Bryan's frequently misplacing his tape measure, probably because the kids are fascinated with it and I suspect walk off with it on occasion. So Jamie, being the considerate boy that he is, wanted to help Daddy out and made him a new ruler. Upon presenting it to Daddy, Jamie pointed out that his ruler goes up to 13, since sometimes you want to measure things that are bigger than 12. Bryan and I agreed that it was very useful to be able to go past 12 when you need to. So yes, Diane, he did turn it up to 11.

Jamie and Alex have also been singing medleys of Jimmy Buffett tunes - Cheeseburger in Paradise and Fins, their two favorites. Right now, they admire their parents' cultural touchstones, but what will they prefer when they're 16?

Amelia hates missing all her brothers' adventures while she's in school and is looking forward to summer vacation. I anticipate and dread what they'll come up with during the summer.

Spinal Tap for 4-year olds - postponed till a later date

Bryan and I have moved beyond the aftereffects of the storm. The power was out for 5 days, with intermittent outages over the weekend. The bright side is we now have a generator and can weather future outages with much more grace than we have before. (Really, that's me - Bryan handles the unexpected much better.)

Now we're focusing on house issues. Our contractor has called, asking when we're ready for him to come back and fix a few things (the front half of the roof, the siding that's off). The work was waiting for us to get our butts in gear on a couple items - electrical power to the house being brought underground and settling some financial details. We definitely chose the right contractor. Dave's conscientious and detail-oriented and - most importantly - good at what he does. And he wants it done right, since his name's on it. So now we're moving to get all our ducks in a row so he can come back and finish.

Ironically, as I write this, my power just shut off.

I was going to write about Jamie's Spinal Tap moment, but that will have to wait until I call the power company and get the generator going.

Sigh.

More pictures

Here are more pictures from the storm. I know, I know - they look like pictures of trees to you. But where you see sunshine seeping between the tree trunks, instead imagine these woods so thick the roads were forever in the shade. The pines were so close together that you couldn't see past them to what was beyond.

Now, if you look, you see lots of branches and severed trunks. It looks like a messy field. But it was, 10 days ago, a forest.

There wasn't a funnel cloud touching down, as far as I know, but the wind cut a path along the ridge line and through the pines, leaving a path of destruction much like a tornado or a cyclone.








In other, non-storm-related ramblings, I'm working on a new project and very happy about it. I've been stewing for a while on my prior WIP but have this other idea floating around in my head. After re-reading Stephen King's book On Writing I decided to get this idea out of my head and onto paper (or computer, really). It's not a romance, I'm not sure if it's book-length or a short story, and I'm not entirely certain of how it's going to end. But now I have to write it to see what happens.

Stephen King's genre doesn't interest me, so I'd never read a book of his before this one. But I really enjoyed his approach to and philosophy on writing, as well as his style. I particularly like what he says about writing and life. You'll have to read it yourself - it's on page 94 in my Pocket Books paperback edition. I've found him inspiring as I ponder my direction.

Storm pictures

I took a few pictures of some of the damage down the street. It may not look like much, but there was a whole thick forest of pines in these pictures once. The story's the same going down a one-mile stretch of the road.















The rumor is that we might get our power back Saturday - over five days after we lost it. It could have been worse, but it also could have been a lot better.

Living in th Dark Ages

72 hours without power and counting. The local paper says there are "dozens without power." I can count dozens on my street alone, so I think they've missed something. Fortunately, Bryan warned me to get a generator or get out of town for a while, so we've got some power. I have lights in my kitchen, running water, a working refrigerator, and heat. What more could I ask for? I even got to take a shower today - by candlelight, but beggars can't be choosers.

Power might not be restored soon either. The road next to us is a mess - completely blocked off. My neighbors don't have power or phone (at least I have a phone) and one can't get to his house at the top of the hill. He has to park at the bottom and walk.

The storm recovery has brought out a certain neighborliness around here. People looking out for each other, those with power offering their homes to those without. My neighbor - the one who can't get up his hill - even ran out to the store to get us some bottled water before our generator was hooked up. Kind, since he was in the same boat and has young children too. The fire department made clear to Bryan that if I needed something while he was gone, I was to call them and ask. Since he gave two days to them, they're happy to give back to us. (Within reason, I presume, but I haven't tested them yet.)

There's other darkness out there, not of the electrical kind. Global warming and our destruction of the planet, the erosion of our Constitutional rights, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the growing radicalism around the world including the United States. There's not much to smile about today.

I did laugh at a sig line on an email Bryan got the other day. It said, roughly:
Let's send Iraq our Constitution. We're not using it.

On a happier note, power trucks have been spotted in our area. I'm thinking we should investigate getting solar panels.

Who says there's no global climate change?

Those who think something isn't screwy with the weather need to visit New Hampshire this week. Half the state is out of power and we're due for more snow tonight and tomorrow. Usually by tax day, the most we get is a little dusting that quickly melts.

On my street, the forest behind my neighbor's house has been leveled, or so says Bryan. I haven't gone that way yet, but saw the pine forest down the other direction on the street pushed over like dominoes. Trees - not just babies, but old ones with massive root systems - are down everywhere and the power company hasn't even been to our town yet and the town's been out of power since 5:00 A.M.

The good thing is that Bryan told me to go get a generator. Unfortunately, he was too busy with the fire department to go with me. He's been out since 6:30 this morning clearing trees and roads and generally making the town safe - my hero. He came back to eat, dry out, and hook up the new generator. I bought one of the last ones at the local building store. Home Depot had the massive ones that Bryan wanted to get, but I could not make that large a purchase on my own and feel comfortable that I wasn't being taken for a ride. So the kids and I decided on a small one, which has my refrigerator going, a lamp and, temporarily at least, the laptop. However, I think I'll trade in the computer for a TV soon and see what's going on in the rest of the world. Tomorrow, Bryan might be able to hook up my well water pump. The joys of running water.

Apparently, I'm too philosophical.

That would be news to my philosophy professors in college who, I'm sure, thought I was anything but. But my husband said he was going to send my blog url to his parents and sister, then decided they wouldn't be interested, because it was all philosophical and not about family. That's an engineer for you.

So this is about family. Amelia, Alex, and Jamie put on a show for us on Easter. They had practiced it all week, planning costumes, characters, and everything. Jamie was the Easter Bunny and, for some bizarre reason, carried a bag full of play kitchen pots and pans. Alex was an Easter egg, stuffing his shirt with paper towels (now I know where they all disappear to) so he was "stuffed with fluff" a la Winnie the Pooh. And Amelia was the Easter Fairy, dressed in a very shiny pink and purple concoction from her dress-up clothes. Amelia was also director, producer, choreographer, stage manager, scriptwriter, and star. Pardon me, diva.

The production was incredibly repetitive, but very adorable. The entire plot centered on dancing around in a circle while some music played on one of their alphabet toys. There ended up being a second act, with Amelia singing a part-opera, part-Broadway showstopper musical number. It was, however, all Amelia.

The best part, besides the immortal lyrics "I love Easter because of all the candy!", was that the kids had a huge amount of fun and their parents got to rest on the couch for 15 minutes. I only wish we had a digital camera that took better videos, to have saved the moment for posterity. I'm sure we'll want it some day when the kids get older - like at a wedding, college graduation, or when they just need to be reminded who's got incriminating information about them.

Writing motivation, part II

Easter egg hunting this weekend in six inches of snow. That was a first for us. The kids were afraid the Easter bunny might not make it with all the snow, but he did. It was hard to pick the eggs up with mittens, but the kids managed it and had fun, which was the whole point.

So I've been thinking about blogging - a growing form of writing. Why do people blog? Talk about narcissistic and navel-gazing. But it's a little addictive too - an easy way to get published, in a sense. Whether anyone reads your writing is another story.

But blogging is an amazing phenomenon to me. A way for the common man to communicate with the world. Bloggers about politics making national news on election night, telling the world first reactions to things. It's a lot crap, in many ways - like they know what everyone's thinking. But people have latched onto blogging as a way of getting the word out - their word out.

Emails have started to kill letter-writing as a way to keep in touch, and historians wonder how future generations will have access to everyday history. Think about how letters during the years of WWII have helped us understand the trials and tribulations of the men and women in the war theaters and those on the home fronts. Emails aren't usually saved for posterity. How will people know about day-to-day life, first reactions to major/minor events, etc. without that record?

Maybe blogging begins to fill in the cracks.

Don't know that it's an answer to why people blog, but, navel-gazing or not, it's a reason to keep it going.

Why do we write?

Sniffling my way through the worst flu/cold bugs I've ever had - three weeks of being down with one illness, then another - and I've had tons of time to think. Unfortunately, not a lot of energy, but that's another story.

And I've been thinking about the motivation of writers, egged on after reading Evanne's post on the Writing Life ( April 2, 2007 ). Why write? For the money, for the prestige, for the lifestyle, for the pure joy of it? I'm sure for many writers, one of these hits the mark - perhaps a little of many of these. I'm not sure there's lots of money or prestige, unless you're Stephen King or you win the Pulitzer.

Lifestyle? Well, writing could be a flexible job, but it's a lot of work to be good at it and make any amount of money. I suppose you could be bad at it and make some money - c'mon, I know we've all read books and thought, "A monkey could write better than that." But, in general, having some talent is helpful to making money.

So do we do this for money or love? Like I said, few make bizillions of dollars, but many aspire to. Writers avidly follow market news and hit the hot trends - witness the slew of vampires and other supernatural creatures showing up after "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" hit it big. (Love that show!) Or they try to be ahead of the trends, anticipating what readers want and writing it for them.

In a way, it reminds me of politicians chasing polls - give the people what they want. Or what they don't want yet, but will once I write it. The mark of a good writer, to get people caught up in their plot or characters.

But where is the writer's will in this? Do writers set out to write what they want to write or what the market wants? If you only write what you want, then this seems like a huge exercise in navel-gazing. Narcissistic in the extreme. But if you're writing only what the market wants, then are you telling a tale worthy of being told? Like most reality television, you may have viewers but no value.

So perhaps the answer lies in being a mix of the two - a story you want to write for a market that is open to reading it. If you're really good, you write something worthwhile, that affects people to the core and stays with them, whether they asked for it or not. I think of books like "The Kite Runner" or "Angle of Repose" or "To Kill a Mockingbird" - my all-time favorite. Was there a publisher out there saying, "What readers are really searching for is a book that a) examines pre-, post- Soviet-invasion Afghanistan, b) follows a woman throughout her marriage to an engineer on the Western frontier, or c) tells the story of a white lawyer defending a black man in the deep South"?

Not likely. These were writers who had a story to tell, and they told it - beautifully, majestically, painfully at times. And, of course, there's much more to their stories than my glib descriptions. Some wise and fortunate publisher had the opportunity to let these works out to the world, but even now some of them aren't appreciated. I believe Wallace Stegner's "Angle of Repose" is the only Pulitzer Prize winner for literature never to be reviewed by the New York Times. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

Most of this doesn't apply to me. I'm writing romance, right now at least - happy endings only please. I write because I like the stories in my head. I write because the characters want to get out on paper. I write because I like it. Am I challenging the market? No. But I can't say I'm following it either.

I'm curious. What do other writers write for?

Ocotillo, "shag" and other popular topics

Apparently Linda's book and "shag" are both comment-worthy topics. Frankly, Linda's book should be - "shag" is just an interesting side note.

This topic is popular, at least in our house: Progress is being made in the maple sugaring season. After burning our first batch of sap, we have successfully boiled down about 1 quart of maple syrup (end product). My husband is shocked that it worked, I think. He's convinced I come up with these kooky ideas for the kids to take part in and this was just next in a series, but he's been more excited than anyone. We had pancakes the other night for dinner (lazy cook dinner) - the syrup was delicious. I love New England.

Again, popular with my husband and me: my completed manuscript has been requested by a publisher. Yahoo! Even though it's just the first step, it's something to be excited about.

And your opportunity to bash on me for anachronisms: I'm working on my next book, set in 19th century England, and used a phrase in the first draft of it that seems to have come into the language in the 20 c. in the South - "hung the moon and stars." A combination of lazy writing, procrastination on research, and the hope I could scoot by with it and let it stay in the draft, but I've been caught. Properly so. At least it wasn't "shag."

A blustery day

March came in like a lion - blizzard conditions - and seems to be going out like one too. It's cold and windy today. The boys' major project of the past two days has been to make three octopus kites - entirely of their own design - one for each of them and Amelia. Very nice and they picked the right days to do them.

I started writing a long blog about writing and responsibility, but have decided it's too deep for today. I've been making progress on my next WIP and would rather concentrate on that.

So no more thoughts here, deep or otherwise, today. Turn off your computer and go out and have fun.

Productive days, at least for some things

After promising my kids for weeks that we would tap our sugar maples this year, I finally bought taps for our biggest tree - just in time for what is likely to be the last weekend of the sugaring season. Neither Bryan or I had ever tapped trees before and were amazed at how quickly the sap started flowing - pretty much right away. The kids got a kick out of it too, Amelia especially. The boys quickly decided that playing in the mounds of mud in the yard was much more fun. By nightfall we'd already gotten quite a bit collected, which is good, since 10 gallons boils down to about 1 quart of maple syrup. I feel like a true New Englander - my Puritan forefathers would be proud. (Or maybe not, since this is pure frivolity on our part.)

It's amazing to me how different the areas of our country are and how attached we become to our places. I had the pleasure of reading a writing friend's recently published novel yesterday - I started it and was enjoying myself so much that I wanted to finish it. It wasn't a page-turner, OMG-I-have-to-find-out-what-happens kind of book. More a slow, easy read with characters that feel like old friends by the end. I even got attached to the dog in the book.

The book is called When the Ocotillo Bloom (by Linda LaRoque, published by Wings ePress - check it out) and the reason I mention it as I think about our regional differences is that Linda writes - beautifully, I might add - about an area of the country that is about as different from mine as night is from day. I've never been much interested in Texas (sorry, Linda) or reading scenery, for that matter, so reading scenery about Texas you might think would immediately turn me off. Linda's ability to describe her home region, in vivid, precise terms, weaving it into the story and helping the story move forward through those descriptions was amazing to me.

Made me even want to visit Texas sometime. But not in the summer. I got a kick out of the description of a mild May evening as not even being ninety degrees (or something like that - I'm sure I'm butchering her words). Here in the Upper Connecticut river valley, ninety degrees doesn't qualify as anything but downright hot.

Linda's way with words is exceptional, I think. I've had the pleasure of reading her next book and can't wait till I see it in print. I don't want anyone to think I go around praising every book I read. I started one a few months ago and never finished it because the first chapter made me want to throw it across the room. Maybe it's just me, but the only historical novels I think should have the word "shag"- as used the way Austin Powers would use it - should involve time travel and Austin Powers. Unless books that take place in the 1960s now qualify as historicals. Although apparently in the language during the Regency period in England, it was a very low, vulgar word, only found in underground and privately printed books. I'm just not buying "shag" as an appropriate word for a Regency hero - even one who starts off as a rake.

The return of the laptop...

Finally, my laptop is back, minus my files, my family pictures, and my Mozilla bookmarks. Hard to decide which is more upsetting right now. I am under strict orders from my husband to not allow my children to even breathe in the general vicinity of the laptop and liquids are completely banned. I assume he means for the kids, because I'm not typing anything without my green tea or a cup of mocha handy.

So I'm trying to update my blog page here, adding pictures, links of friends/family/writing buddies' blogs, and discover I can't remember for the life of me my password. Who came up with this idea about passwords anyway? Conceptually it's sensible, until you realize that, with all the pages you log in to - the worst being, IMHO, the online shopping people who want you to have an account at every store - you'd need at least 75 passwords, if you intend to keep them distinct. I try to keep something I can remember and vary between a few, but with all the potential passwords I use, I never can log in to anything on the first try - except my email.

Obviously, I finally reset my password here and got in. Took too long.

Now I'm off to do what I set out to do here in the first place - add someone's blog. Then time to get back to my WIP - still in the prologue, but things are going well. It's been interesting writing it all out on paper. Since I can't edit as easily, words keep flowing more and I worry about editing later. While I write slower than I type, I think I've been more efficient with writing long-hand because I've turned off, to a large extent, my self-editor. We'll see.

Assorted weekend happenings

So many things, so little energy to write about them. Major story of our past week is illness - the boys and I have been coughing and run down since Wednesday. I think we're on the mend, but the house and other things have fallen by the wayside, so there's a lot of catching up to do now. The builder has broken through into the addition, so dust is everywhere - not good for the coughing, plus I don't really care enough to clean it up right now. And they're only going to create more dust before they're done, so why bother?

I used to try that excuse with my mother - I'm only going to sleep in my bed again tonight, so why make it? It never seemed to work. One of the beauties of being an adult - I can let myself get away with that now. Only now I'm conditioned to make my bed everyday - sigh.

Other exciting news - let's see. The boys rode the chair lift at the Skiway last weekend and skied down the big hill for the first time. Very fun. Oh, this one's good. Amelia held an election for the family to vote on who they'd choose as president, George W. Bush or Abraham Lincoln? Unsurprisingly, Abe won, 3-0. (Jamie chose not to exercise his right to vote and Amelia, as the election official, didn't want to seem biased, so she abstained as well.)

Time to get to my 74 emails. Then maybe some Advil.

Life is what happens...

I definitely made other plans for this week. Included in them was NOT having my laptop hard drive die due to an overdose of grape juice. Apparently, grape juice is contraindicated when you're a hard drive, but try telling a 4-year old that.

So, after panicking that I lost everything, I calmed down to realize that I'd backed up almost everything that was really important - my completed manuscript. What I didn't back up, which I want to cry about sometimes but am working through, is the latest pictures of the kids - since October 2005. We're trying to get access to the files on the hard drive, but it will be iffy. If anyone can do it, however, I fully believe Bryan can. Just one more thing to add to his work load.

The good thing that happened this week? My sister read my book and actually liked it. (See comment on last post.) I was expecting polite and tepid feedback, knowing she sets high standards for almost everything, so I'm really happy it didn't make her want to throw it across the room in disgust. As I told her, that would break her computer.

Now, if a publisher could like it too, that would be wonderful.

Too late for important thoughts...

but since I'm here, I'll write something anyway. I'm not sure why I started a blog since I don't actually have time to write what I should be writing. All these ideas in my head for novels, both important and mundane, and I'm writing stream of consciousness. Did I spell that right? I guess this is also known as procrastination.
But the weekend was good, for all that I'm not getting much done on the getting published end of things. Played Uno with Bryan and kids during our power outage on Friday and was very proud of my daughter Amelia, who lost without losing her composure or sense of humor. Went sledding with about 50 other people on Saturday afternoon/evening, including Bryan, kids and dogs, and we had a blast, going down a nice big fast hill on the west side of town. It's great to live in Lyme. The fire chief broke out the generator and large lights to allow the nighttime sledding, people brought hot chocolate and cookies, and a good time was had by all. Today the kids all had skiing lessons - they're doing wonderfully - and as a treat for the almost end of ski season, the whole family had lunch at the lodge. Expensive fast food in a crowded cafeteria, but the company at my table was great.
So I might not have accomplished much in one area, but I feel very lucky in another.

A virtual room

Wow. A blog. A place to publish my thoughts and words. A virtual room of my own.
I hadn't really planned this out, so I'm starting from scratch. The basics:
I live in New England, on 4 acres, with 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 1 husband. There's a nice symmetry to that, I think. I wish I could remember how I spend my time, but it seems gone before I can take note of it. I try to keep up with my family's needs - shopping, laundry, housekeeping - and writing.
Yes, I'm writing a book. Actually, I just finished one and will be starting another any day now. It's a crap shoot whether my writing will go anywhere, but it gives me a purpose and I find the idea of creating something on my own very satisfying - most of the time. I just finished writing a time-travel romance and have started plotting for a historical romance.
Why romance? Frankly, the world is scary enough as it is. If I want something serious, I read the paper. Besides, I like a happy ending.