The Zoo
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Good night. (When I say that, imagine it the same way people say, "Good grief." or "Good Lord." Anyway...)
I'm beat. Although dd turned 10 over the weekend, we waited until today to do her birthday party. We don't do your ordinary cake and ice cream and games party. We do little adventures. Trips to places that we just don't go that often. Small experiences.
Today it was the St Louis Zoo. Very nice zoo. The elephant habitat is huge! It was cool and overcast, but still warm enough for comfort and it didn't rain until right after we got home. Perfect. Kept the crowds away, too. Just her and ds and couple of her friends. Corn dogs and Dippin' Dots (weird ice cream).
But now I'm bushed. Printed out what I had of BBW, but was too tired to read last night. Now I'm too tired to do anything else. Good thing we have leftovers for dinner.
Dipping my toe back in
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
I think I'll take my re-entry into blogging casually.
It's summer holidays here now. I am the parent of a rising 1st grader and a 5th grader. (She just turned 10. Did I mention the gray hairs?) And so it begins. How to keep the kids occupied -- away from the TV -- yet still allow me some writing time.
I made my first sally yesterday with her birthday presents.
Egyptology and the
Hieroglyphics Treasure Chest. She already has books on pyramids and mummies, as well as some of the more accessible Egyptian myths and one on famous women in Egypt. I do believe I have our summer study program all set out. And it'll take relatively little effort on my part because it's something she's already interested in!
We can't forget the reading programs at the local library, Barnes & Noble, and her school. Read X many books and get prizes! Not to mention, you can read one book and put it on all three lists.
Strangely, we don't have very many outside options. There's the neighborhood pool, certainly, which we'll see a lot of, but the other kids on our street just don't seem to get out during the day.
Tomorrow is her party, so I'm taking her and some of her BFFs out for a little adventure. Loads more fun than just hanging out at home and eating cake, I think. Plus, I don't have to clean obsessively.
In any case, there's lots to do after the long weekend, so I'm off and running. Might write this afternoon, but we'll see. I seem to have lost my dining room table somewhere under all the clutter. I'll take a flare gun with me if I get lost.
Happy Birthday to Me!!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
*gg*
Anna reminded me to post!
Do you know, for the next 6 months I'll have to do the math to figure out how old I am. When I finally learn it so I remember, then I'll start fussing over how old I'll be on my next birthday.
Not much in the way of peace for the wicked, is there?
Quick catch up post:
Turned in first revision for HEART OF THE SEA. Decided that's the title I'll keep. I added about 2600 words to it and brought it up to almost 19K. Now just waiting on actual edits. And fussing over the things I meant to add in, but forgot.
Got new business cards for RWA. They're wicked cute. This is an older draft. I made some minor changes before I ordered. But I love the the watercolor style.
Still working on BIG BAD WOLF. I'm 9K in.
Had a booksigning of DREAMS & DESIRES last Saturday at my local chapter meeting. Did I tell y'all I finally joined a local RWA chapter? Been writing for over 5 years now and had never joined a local group. Mostly because they were never really local before. This one is nice. Good sized -- not too big, not too small -- lots of interesting programs.
Anyway, Barnes & Noble ordered the books, but they only ordered the hardback. Which is expensive! For some reason, they didn't order the much more affordable trade paper size. Therefore, I count myself lucky to have sold three copies. At $30 a pop! Still, it's all to a good cause.
I've written a draft of a letter to RWA re: their proposed changes to the RITA. Specifically, their decision to cancel the novella category. Sheesh. It's bad enough they don't recognize me as a writer because I write too short. But I figured that at least they acknowledged novellas as a legitimate form of short romantic fiction.
Wrong again. Apparently, it's so easy to knock out novellas, that any old twit can do it. And if any old twit can do it, they don't want us clogging up their precious awards.
If novelists and novella writers had been aboard the RWA Titanic, the novella writers would have been down in steerage. No life boats for us.
And to top it all off, it's raining, so I'm not sure I'll get to the Rib Festival tonight. The Indy 500 is probably rained out, too.
Ugh. Must shake off the crankiness. It's my birthday, after all!
I think I'll go pull out a few gray hairs.
Hail Ra!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Another post up at
Beyond the Veil. Today I'm talking about
The Gods of Egypt. It's a huge subject and I couldn't begin to cover even the basics in one post. I'll do a follow up post next time I blog there.
Recently Read:
ANANSI BOYS by Neil Gaiman. Not as dark as AMERICAN GODS was. More charming, although brief portions were fairly horrific. Still recommended, but I preferred AG.
NIGHT LOST by Lynn Viehl. The latest in her Darkyn series. Great focus on the romance -- if you're not squicked out by bugs -- and I love how she weaves the main plot into the arc of the series as a whole. Seamless. Highly recommended. Certainly paranormal with a gritty feel. Good for fans of urban fantasy who also like romance.
Velkommen til Ansgard!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Blogging about the Norse pantheon today over at
Beyond the Veil.Lots of links about Norse mythology, lots of book recommendations for research.
I read Neil Gaiman's
American Gods this week.
Absolutely Amazing! I'm telling you, this is one great storyteller. It's a big honking book, too, but never once did I get bored. This, from the woman who reads and writes short stories for a reason.
It focused hugely on Odin and some of the Norse mythology like him hanging from Yggdrasil for nine days to learn secret spells and runes. The main character, Shadow, was so wonderfully drawn. I can't recommend this book enough, though some of the references were to some fairly obscure mythological beings. Not all Nordic. African, Native American, Slavic, Egyptian, Indian... they all have their place in this book.
I'm now looking forward to picking up the follow-up book,
Anansi Boys.
Check in time
Monday, May 07, 2007
I know this sounds awful, but I'm really enjoying NOT blogging. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Not to mention all the stuff I'm getting done instead of blogging and blog hopping.
Fear not, however. I do still check in with y'all from time to time.
Anyway, thought I'd let y'all know what was up.
I'm revising.
Heart of the Sea. Or
Seduced by the Sea. Whatever the hell it's called. I'm still going over it for icky parts. It has a lot of icky parts. Then I'm going to start fixing the icky parts, beginning with my messed-up mythology and timeline. Yikes.
So I'm back on deadline and starting to feel the adrenaline rush. This is actually kind of fun. It's almost like reading someone else's work because I've been gone from it for so long. I get to snark on myself!
I'll keep y'all updated.
Samhain Blog Today
Friday, May 04, 2007
I'm at the
Samhain Blog today talking about coffee.
Which I'm sure comes as no surprise. I'm only on my 2nd cup.
Enjoy!
