Ugh...Sick (Strep!)

Yesterday I woke up with a massive sore throat, headache, and just a general feeling of the yuck-factor. Today isn't much better, but I'm at work (for the time being).

I actually felt pretty good last night before I went to bed. The sore throat is undoubtedly from all the drainage and doesn't last long (although for some reason it's hanging on tight this morning).

So...missed work yesterday, slept a lot, ate a lot of ice cream because it felt good on the throat (and no, I didn't even worry about calories), and watched a few good movies - Russell Crowe in A Good Year and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief. Slept some more, ate some more ice cream, and fell asleep around 11:30 last night. Kittens woke me up at 4 a.m. , running and playing on the furniture, so didn't sleep very well.

My brother and his family are coming tonight, too - we're supposed to go out and have a family dinner, but the way I feel now...well, who knows. I'm thinking I have a sinus infection. UGH. (Edited to add - Nope, it's STREP. Double UGH. The doc says she's seen a ton of it lately. I'm starting to wonder if our antibiotics are becoming useless against these mega germs.)

At any rate, didn't get to any one's blogs yesterday and doubt I will get to any today. Will try over the weekend, though.

Hope things are well on your end and hope you have a great weekend!

Ah yes. It's amazing what cute little kitties can do when left unattended. In this case, they literally dismantled the wire shelf in the bathroom, strewing washcloths all over the place. I don't quite know how they did it exactly, but the picture is proof that they did!

And of course, all that running around and creating mayhem and mischief all day tires a gal out.

On Writing...

I've been struggling with the plotting process of my Italian Duet series. Why? Because it's different than anything I've written before. This is not going to be a genre book - it's going to be mainstream. And there's a difference. While there is a love story involved, it is not at the center of the book. Thus, it's not a romance. But to tell you the truth, that is pretty much all I know how to plot is a romance.

While every fiction novel follows a basic pattern, there are subtle differences between genres. In a romance, the characters' relationship is at the center of the novel and the conflict directly involves that relationship. Not so with the book I'm writing. It's almost like I have to go back to the basics. Does that make any sense? It sure made sense a little while ago, but I'm tired and could be hallucinating...

At any rate, the other evening the lightning bolt struck again and I had to grope for pen and paper on the nightstand to write it down. Thankfully, I had a working pen this time!

In the next few days or so, I plan to break down the whole plot process, not only to give myself a refresher course (because let's face it - we all need that every now and then), but to also get some discussion going on the differences between genre, mainstream, and literary.

Happy Wednesday!

Summer Vacation

Do you remember the joy of a summer vacation? I loved them. Well, up until I was a teenager and had to get a job. And before that, I had to work in the fields sometimes hacking away at weeds or scooping ditches. But thankfully, I did most of my summer chores inside the nice, cool house. My poor brothers were the ones to work outside on the farm with Dad! But it made you guys tougher, admit it! ;-)

My summer vacations were full of books, summer library reading programs, baseball and softball games, short little vacations (we farmed, so couldn't take long vacations during the summer because we had to irrigate the crops), family get-togethers, and wonderful summer evenings sitting outside and enjoying a cool breeze.

I wanted my daughter to have a true summer vacation. Since I've had a full-time job, she hasn't had the luxury of staying up late to go chase fireflies or sleep in after an evening hard at play during the summer. She always had to go to bed at the same time and get up to go to daycare.

This year I was determined to change that. I wanted her to have a nice, relaxing summer free from the same old routine. Quitting my job was out of the question, of course! But last night my husband and I hit upon a solution.

Our wonderful family friend, who is retired, agreed to watch the kids for us this summer at our house. Since she lives right down the street, this is absolutely perfect. My daughter will get to enjoy her summer vacation and I will rest in the knowledge that I gave her a small gift. :-)

I'm very thankful that the Lord provided this solution to us. I know I'm very blessed to be able to do this - lots of people don't have an option and must use the daycare route.

This will also be a break for mom and dad, too! We'll have three months of not worrying about getting a grouchy seven-year-old out of bed and taking her to daycare.

What's your favorite memory of summer vacation?

Birthdays and Mom's Day!

My daughter turned 7 yesterday. And of course, we had to celebrate in style! Along with her grandmother, we went to the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo. If you've never been here, I highly suggest a visit. It is a simply amazing place. Very well kept, clean, and full of wonderful animals. And as much daughter loves animals and wants to work in a zoo some day, she was simply in heaven.

We had a Scooby Doo birthday - Scooby Doo cake, presents, and fun! Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Today is Mother's Day and in addition to my daughter's wonderful handmade gifts - a hand-painted planter and a card, my husband gave me a dozen roses and the DVD of Disney's Robin Hood. I simply adore this movie and highly recommend it! Hubby is also making his famous homemade enchiladas for me and cleaned the house!

Happy Mother's Day!

Week's End

Friday, Friday, Friday.

I never used to love Fridays this much when I was a stay at home mom. I think it had something to do with all three kids (daughter and two stepsons) being home all weekend long How times change...

Now I adore them. Maybe it's because the day job has been so demanding lately. And it's cutting into my writing time.

Last night I worked on the plot of my first Italian Duet novel and had an ephiphany (don't you love those?) on a particular plot point. It certainly added a new dimension to the story.

Not much more to report - will try and stop by your blogs today. Thanks for all your comments on my last post about rejection - it's just part of the whole writing life. It's just adding another layer to that requisite thick skin that a writer needs to survive this business.

Have a great weekend!

Rejection Equals Frustration

Rejection.

It's a part of life. And it's a major part of the writing life.

What's a girl to do when nothing but rejections invade the email inbox?

Keep at it.

But what happens when frustration begins to claw its way into your brain?

Drink lots of Diet Pepsi. And eat lots of chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

R.U.E.

I want you to remember this acronym.

Resist the Urge to Explain.

R.U.E.


Why is it so important in writing? Because if we try to explain every thing down to the smallest detail, we cheat our readers of using their imagination. Not only that, but we also might bore them, which is even worse! Renni Browne and Dave King coined this acronym in Self-Editing for Fiction Writers .

So what should you resist explaining in your novel or short story or heck, anything you write?

Look at the following sentence.

She slammed the door and marched over to him. "You make me so mad!" she screamed angrily.

It's pretty obvious in this sentence what we want to delete: "she screamed angrily" isn't needed. The slamming door and what she says pretty much convey that this lady is just a little upset.
Adverbs are always a clue that you need to look at your writing and see if you are trying to explain a little too much.

But what about sections that aren't so obvious?

Here's a paragraph that is a little more difficult.

She put the beer back in the refrigerator, then pulled it out again. If she left it there, he would want to drink it again. And she didn't want that to happen. He'd been drinking too much again, and she couldn't stand to watch him stumble around anymore . But if she took it out, then she would be a co-dependent. What to do?

This paragraph analyzes this character's motivation to the extreme. In the proper context of the novel (where we already know what's happening), you could shorten it to read like this:

She put the beer back in the refrigerator, then pulled it out again, torn over the decision.

Look at all of those words we deleted! And in so doing, we didn't bash the reader over the head with information.

When you're editing your novel, look for places where you can Resist the Urge to Explain. It will help with your pacing, tighten sections that are just a little too wordy, and smooth out any rough spots.

Happy hunting!

Eight Things About Me

Toni tagged me, so here goes...

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight Weird/Random Facts About Me

#1. I have nearly the whole script from The Princess Bride memorized.

#2. I have two stepsons - one lives with us and the other lives with his mom in Kentucky.

#3. I don't wear make-up every day. *gasp!* Seriously, I don't. Natural beauty, baby!

#4. I used to have horrible dreams about cats - they would sink their claws into me and I couldn't get them off. In fact, I used to really hate cats because of that fact. Now I have three of them and wouldn't give them away for anything. (Well, ok. Maybe a million dollars.) ;-)

#5. I am the one that picked out our house. The first time hubby actually stepped foot inside it was the day we moved in. He looked at some pictures before we bought it, but that was it! He said he trusted me to make a good buy. Well, I got him a three car garage. What more could he want? ;-)

#6. I like liver and onions. With ketchup. Must have ketchup.

#7. I absolutely adore Big Band music, Frank Sinatra, and any other crooners of the 1940's and 1950's.

#8. When I gave birth to my daughter, in the midst of intense labor, I asked my husband, "How can women have herds of these things?" I still don't remember saying it, but apparently I did.

I tag...

Anissa
Robin
Elizabeth
Diane C.
Diane P.
Camilla
ChaCha
Meretta

It's Friday!

I had a wonderful surprise last night...

Hubby found one of my notebooks (that is supposed to be in the infamous file folder) in his garage.

I have no idea how it got out there because believe me - his garage is his domain. I rarely step foot in it.

But this particular notebook had all of my editing notes that I desperately need. I am so, so thankful that he found it.

As to where the rest of the file folder is...who knows where it will turn up!

I'm working at home today...my stepson has the flu and he's one miserable guy. But hey, it's Friday and I don't mind not being in the office. :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Small Bites (And Happy Birthday!)

Even though I doubt my little brother ever reads my blog (he's too busy living the carefree life of a bachelor!), I'm still going to wish him a happy birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COREY!!!

Now. Onto the writing...

Small bites. That's what I've been doing this week.

To tell you the truth, when work wasn't as busy, I was much more eager to get home and start writing. Now that I'm completely swamped at the day job, the urge is less apparent. When you write for a living (I'm a copywriter) and also write in your free time, it's a catch 22. On the one hand, my writing has improved by leaps and bounds since I started this job. I write every day and my writing muscle is well-toned. On the other hand, when I write all day, sometimes the very last thing I want to do at night when I get home from work is sit in front of the computer and write some more.

My solution? Small bites. I turn on the laptop every night and force myself to sit down and write. Even if I only manage a page or a paragraph, it's progress and it keeps me in the story. Last night I sat on my front porch swing and enjoyed the beautiful evening and wrote. Moving my location from being chained to a desk to the outdoors also helps.

Here's what I've recognized about myself. I need downtime. I can't come home, sit in front of the laptop, and start writing. I need a few hours to decompress. If I don't get that - well, just ask my husband what happens. *grin* I also don't want to burn myself out.

So I reserve my major writing time for the weekends, when I have lots and lots of uninterrupted hours (well, as uninterrupted as it can be with two kids, four kittens, and three dogs) to dive into the novel.

Are you one of those people that need to decompress after a long day on the job?

Watcha doin'?

Feels like the blog world is a bit quiet lately. So tell me:

Watcha doin'?