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| A night spent scrapbooking my characters. The entire 5 x 7 rug was littered with paper, glue, photos, etc etc. Foolish me, I thought I could use what paper I had. Funny how I buy 12 x 12 sheets, but I alway scrapbook in 8 x 11 notebooks. Anyway, I did seven pages, not record-breaking, but the hero, heroine, sidekick and image characters are done. I don't have the right background for landscapes and the villainess. bwahahaha. Larry, do you want to look at the furniture at Hobby Lobby tomorrow? I'll be back by the paper. At work, we carved pumpkins for the BIG contest, in which MAJOR prizes would be given. Don't start packing your swimwear yet, ladies. You get a bag of candy corn. Mixed with peanuts. So your candy tastes like peanuts and the peanuts make you go into a diabetic coma. Oh, and you get a pouchy/backpacky thingy with Steelcase emblazoned on it. Why do I know this? Because our team won. I had the idea as no one seemed ready to party on with this forced fun. We murdered Jackie O'Lantern and then turned the case over to Law & Order SVU (Special Vegetables Unit) Yep, a knife to the head, some fake blood, plop the head onto a trashcan outfitted in one of the guy's running shirts, plop that onto a cart and wrap some Caution tape around that. For that, I get a bag of candy corn. And peanuts. Oh, and an extra space on the MSU, Uof M football pool, which, (technically) is not gambling as we're not putting money down. But there will be AWESOME prizes to the winners. Two bags of candy corn. With peanuts. | | |
| Georgia and Harrison are done, the story ending at page 357, such an odd number. I spent a day doing a full read, putting the four acts into one document, polishing, making sure of continuity, etc. It's 95% done. I start querying this week. Yeah, I know, but I've promised, and I will. Lissa and Richard's story is molding into something great. By identifying the character arcs, I know them better than any other characters I've written. They are my NaNo book for November. Lots of overtime at work, long hours but more money to be put away for conferences next year. Hockey season has started! A nice starting run, 4-1 so far. Go Wings! | | |
| What a strange day. We went to the circus this morning, the first of three shows playing today. It's been years since we've gone. No trapeze artists. No tightrope walkers. Hat jugglers (?) and a hokey, Disneyish theme. One of the Cossack horse riders - mmm, definitely cover model material. Afterward, we decided to walk around downtown, something we rarely do. Immediately ran into a large group of war protesters. Had lunch at a hot dog place where a homeless man begged for eating money. Walked to Jerry Ford's grave. Pressed our noses to the windows in the new Marriott. Ran into some PETA protesters. Got in the car and visited (oh so briefly) my SIL and MIL, who brought me back a bottle of water from Nevada. Lot of thought there. Spending any kind of time with them is like the seven motorcyclists running around inside the giant globe. Mass confusion. Buzzing. Noise. Wonder at how they make it. So - circus, protesters, homeless, in-laws. What could top off the day? | | |
| Libby is home for a few days, surprising us Wednesday (though we knew she was coming soon) and driving back tomorrow, though she's already said her goodbyes. A friend's sister was married yesterday, the ceremony (Sudanese) continuing today. We tried to squeeze every minute with her to visit, but it's becoming harder and easier to say goodbye. She's always a part of the family, but not. Her life is elsewhere with other people and has been for three years now. As she nears graduation and a full fledged adult life, we'll have to adjust to the hard fact that she is on her own. How do you do that? A parent's job is to raise their children to be independent and not need them. That's the hard part. The natural tendency is to hang on to them for as long as possible, but that's not good for anyone. Selflessness is a bitch. On the writing front, I continue toward my goal in writing fits and days of no contribution. We've been on overtime for most of the summer, so writing time is a premium. When I do have energy for it, I crank out a dozen pages or so, then it sits until the next burst. I'm getting there, driving the bus blindfolded, not knowing what the next scene is going to be. So different than what I'm used to. The good news is, I start sending out queries this week, hang if it's finished or not. I've started editing the rough draft as I finish Act 3. The next story remains a mystery. The Girls don't send it up until I'm almost done with the WIP. I must be the only writer who doesn't have a dozen stories waiting to be written. | | |
| Last Tuesday, the 17th, Larry and I marked our 25th anniversary. Wow! Does it seem that long? Are we that old? Mentally, no, but physically - we tend to be more cautious, and this year we've suffered the frozen syndrome - me with my frozen shoulder (99.4% better) and Larry with a frozen vocal cord (84% better). It's been a great 25 years and I wouldn't miss a second of it. To celebrate, yesterday we went to Lansing and saw "Wicked." Our seats were far away (last row, aisle) but we enjoyed it very much. A nice dinner afterward and an unprofitable trip to Mt. Pleasant, but a nice day. Except for the part where I tripped, went down like a sack of cement and twisted my ankle. It's stiff today, but there are drugs... I've been tied up with various things the last week, so writing has been slow, but I'm rededicated and still focused on finishing in September. A new twist appeared, and I've been so distracted by its implications to the story that I've had to take some time to think of how I'll handle it. I like it, but it will be tricky incorporating it, and I'll have to do some tweeking to what has been written so far. Saturday brought a rejection letter from an editor, which just makes me want to blanket the publishing world with new queries. I'm not the type to collapse, defeated and snivel in a corner. Don't they know what they're missing? | | |
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