One more day...

Welcome to the last day of November.  Boy, this year has gone by so quickly.  Just one more day and it'll be December, and the mad dash to the new year begins.

We woke up to a rainy Monday here.  That didn't matter much to me though.  Our youngest daughter came down with a nasty stomach bug late Saturday night and she was so sick all day yesterday.  She couldn't keep anything down, was running a fever, and ended up hanging out in my bed all day.  I hate when the kids are sick, especially when they're this young.  She couldn't even keep a cracker down yesterday.  :-(

However, this morning she woke (after sleeping all night) feeling much better.  After a small bout of dry heaves, she ate some oatmeal and drank orange juice... and it all stayed down! Yay!  Looks like it was just a 24 hour thing.  Thank goodness!

After a warm bubble bath, baby lotion, sweat shirt and pants, brushed hair and painted fingernails, she's feeling like a new 4 year old.  :-)  I'm so glad she's feeling better.  I have her in my room watching Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure right now.

Today marks the start of the one week that I take off after NaNoWriMo.  After such a strenuous month,  need one week to de-stress, feel normal again and catch up on housework.  Tim and I kicked off the day with some "alone time" while the baby was still asleep.  If you have to have a sick kid you might as well take advantage of them sleeping late.  ;-)

I'll finish up Christmas stuff this week, as well.  It's just a nice week to re-connect with the world and the stuff that makes me happy.  I even have a whole week of easy dinners planned so that I won't have to deal with much of that in the evenings.  Awwww, peace...

Okay, before I go I want to remind everyone that my monthly newsletter will be going out on Wednesday.  It will have all the details about my December-Twitter GiveAway.  Be sure to sign up & not miss this issue.

That's it for me today.  I'm off to play Xbox with Tim while the sheets are washing.  Before I know it the day will be over & I'll be off picking the big girls up from school.

Have a great day and an extraordinarily fantastic week.  :-)

Waking up a winner.

Good morning everyone.  I hope you're waking up to a wonderful day.  I went to bed and woke up this morning as a winner of NaNoWriMo.  I'm soooooo grateful that November is officially over for me now.  It's time to get back to my normal writing routine, and to tear what I've written over the last month to complete shreds.

Yep, I'm ready to dig in, tear it apart, throwit in the trash, shake it until it pukes, and just rip it to shreds.  And I'll be so happy to do so!

I'm ready to take a deep breath, sit back, and decide what lives and dies in this story, while also finishing it.  Hopefully it won't take me more than a few months to get it up to par, but we'll see.  However, for the next month I will not be focusing on this story.  I'll instead be sending Time For Death out for judgement.  I want to get it out there into the world so that I can come back to book 2 and focus only on it. 

There's nothing better than working on book 2 while waiting to hear back about book 1.  It helps keep your mind off the long days and nights of waiting for emails and snail mails arrive.  All while visions of great contracts and people loving your manuscript dance through your head.  Oh, wait.  That's Christmas stuff...

Anyway, before I start my day I just wanted to celerate that November is over, NaNo is over, and my story needs to be torn apart at the seams.  Yay!  LOL.

Happy Sunday!

I don't mind not knowing.

For someone who always plans, plans and plans everything I can posibly plan, writing is the one place where I don't mind not knowing where I'm going.  I really don't know where a story will go, or how it will end.  I'll find out when I get there.  The ending will arrive when it arrives.  I can't know where the characters are going until they go there and tell me about it.

That's the fun of writing like I do.  I get to sit back and let the story go where it may. 

I am sooooo glad that NaNoWriMo is nearly over.  I'm coming up on the 50,000 word goal for November, but the story is all rushed and... well, to be honest... It's crap!  Yes, yes, you've heard me say that all first drafts are rubbish, and they are, but I hate rushing a story just for the sake of a word count.  I like to let it linger, ferment, season over time as I get to know the characters and what they're up to.

I go into a story knowing just a small amount about what will happen, the jist of the story, I suppose.  Most of the time the idea starts out as a handwritten note consisting of a few sentences to a couple of paragraphs... and that's it.  I work from that and weave something out of those small snippets of the characters' futures.

Basically, I'm whining about the fact that once this month is over, the story I'm working on right now will have to be rewritten in its entirety just so that I can go slower, make more out of it, and fix the bullshit that's only there because it came to me and I didn't have the time to turn it into something good. 

Yep, I'm feeling very unhappy with the overall flow of the story right now. 

There are some scenes that I absolutely love.  Those will be kept, of course.  However, there are a lot of scenes that I abhor!  Those will be deleted, changed, cut, burned, castrated, and stomped to bits and pieces while I cackle in that evil take-over-the-world kind of way.  Hey!  Come to think of it, that actually sounds kind of fun!

In the end, I think that I'll link myself to this entry so that next year I can look back on it and remember why I didn't want to do NaNoWriMo to begin with this year and will make sure that Tim reminds me to refuse next year.

I like the writer that I am and will stop screwing up my process every time the month of November rolls around.  That's it, after I meet goal this year, I'm warding off NaNoWriMo.  Thanks for the ride, but I'm done.

I hope you all have a glorious Thanksgiving Day yesterday.  We all ate too much, had loads of fun, and even put up our Christmas tree.  I will NOT be out in the Black Friday mess today.  If you read this blog regularly you know that I hate crowds.  I'll be right here, doing my daily word count, wrapping gifts, and enjoying the time with my family.  No deal is good enough for me to leave that!  LOL.
Have a great Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving! Thursday Thoughts #8

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving Day!  It's a day for rest, relaxation, enjoying your loved ones, and pigging out on enough food to feed you for a week.

We're going to my sister's for Thanksgiving lunch today.  I usually take the holiday, but she & her new hubby moved into a new house a few months ago and she wanted to host.  I wasn't about to complain that someone wanted to cook for ME for a change.

I figured I'd post this morning because I'm sure I won't feel like it this evening after all the food and Christmas decorating.  The kids will want to be lazy and watch movies, and I'll be right there enjoying the peace with them.

With a day all about being thankful, today's Thursday Thoughts will be all about what I'm thankful for this year.  Sure, there are days when things don't go quite right, and we feel less than happy with the world around us.  But on days like this, we have to look around and remember how happy and loved we are.

Even when the kids are screaming, fighting, and driving us up a wall.  Even when the spouse can push our buttons from dawn to dusk.  Even when the phone rings non-stop and all we want to do is go back to bed.  Even when everything piles up on us and we aren't sure that we can take another day of nonsense...

That's when we need to look around and be thankful for what we do have, who loves us, and who we love.

I'm thankful for a mother who happily takes the kids off my hands every other Friday.  I'm thankful for the husband who has loved me every single day since June 1993.  I'm thankful for my girls, who make me laugh even when I feel like exploding.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to have a job that I enjoy.  I'm thankful for my health and happiness... even when I'm dealing with a migraine and feeling quite unhappy.

I'm thankful for so many things every day.  I only wish that everyone could see through the negativity of the world around them and find the good.  There are so many negative people in the world that some days it's difficult to be happy with ourselves. 

So take today and do just that.  Be happy, be thankful, be the you that you want to be.  Ignore the naysayers and be cheerful!

Now, I'm off to get my babies dressed and head out to enjoy Thanksgiving Day.  I hope you enjoy yours!

Wanna Know Wednesday #42

Since it's the day before Thanksgiving, I figured it'd be a good day to share some of our favorite Thanksgiving Day foods.  I was busy this morning making sure that everything on my end was ready for tomorrow.  Normally I'd be hosting the holiday, but my little sister wanted to do it, and who was I to complain?  LOL. 

We have a small family (only 9, and 5 of them are in my house, LOL), but we always fix enough food to eat on for days.  LOL.  Here is our menu list for tomorrow.

1. Roasted Turkey
2. Mashed Potatoes
3. Gravy
4. Dressing
5. Cranberry Sauce
6. Deviled Eggs
7. Homemade Rolls
8. Green Beans
9. Jello Pie
10. Pecan Pie

I'm sure there'll be more, but I can't think of them right now.  LOL.  There's always such a spread that we eat lunch, and then everyone takes home enough to eat laterfor dinner.  When I host, there's also enough for the five of us to eat on the next day too.  It's a lot of food!  But it's a lot of fun.

Today has turned out to be a better day than yesterday was.  The sun is even shining!  I woke up with the 4 yr old cuddle up next to me because she was cold.  She hasn't done that in months.  We made breakfast before Tim went to work with his dad and the girls and I went shopping.

I had to pick up some things that I need for tomorrow and next week, cause I'm not leaving the house during the Black Friday craziness if I can help it.  LOL.  When we got home I made a dozen deviled eggs and one Jello pie.  Then we had lunch and sat down to watch a dvd.  I like it when the girls are engrossed in a movie and I can do whatever without interruption.  :-)

Right now they're watching Hoodwinked and I'm writing this.  When I get off here I'll get to work on today's NaNo word count before Tim gets home.

Tomorrow we'll go to lunch at my sister's and then back here to put up the Christmas tree and wrap gifts.  It'll be nice.  :-)

All right, that's it. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.  I'll be back tomorrow (when I have time) to talk about what we're thankful for.  Lots of love to you all!  *Smooches*

Last day for this week

Morning all.  Welcome to Tuesday.  Today is the official end to this week.  The big girls only had two days of school this week and then five days off for Thanksgiving.  I'll get to sleep past 5:50 am for the next five days.  Yay!

Things are coming along nicely with the NaNo novel.  I won't be finished when I hit 50K words, but the storyline has picked up and I'm satisfied with it as a first draft.  Liz has had quite the turbulant life since discovering her vampire parentage.

I know this is a short entry, but Tim's off working with his dad and the youngest is eating lunch, so I must get some work done while it's quiet in the house.

I hope all of you U.S. friends and family have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Enjoy the time with your family, and even when they drive you completely batty, remember to be thankful that they love you.  :-)

Furniture & dinner rolls up to my elbows.

Good afternoon to you all.  It has been a rainy, yet very productive Sunday around here.  Tim woke up with a headache so we stayed home instead of visiting with his parents (which is perfectly fine with me).  However, I'm not the kind of person who will just sit around all day.

I had the girls doing chores while I started in on the living room.  We spent half the day emptying the room out, cleaning everything, and then rearranging everything as we put it all back into the room.  There is a whole new layout now.  Not too sure if I like it yet, but it'll do for now.

In the meantime, I've had the breadmachine doing its thing all day.  As of right now, I've made three batches of dinner rolls.  One will go with our dinner tonight (stew) and the other two will go into the freezer for Thanksgiving Day.  Yum!  It's quite difficult keeping the kids away from them when I want to build up a freezer stash.  LOL.

Right now it's just after 3:30pm.  This weekend has gone by super fast, but it has been very productive and a lot of fun.  The rain and darkness makes me want to turn on Christmas music, light some good smelling candles, and wrap presents in the living room floor.  Too bad we don't put our tree up until Thanksgiving night.  :-)

I'm waiting on the last batch of rolls to finish rising and then I'll start dinner.  In the meantime, I'm going to get some novel writing done and hopefully get closer to catching up my word count for NaNo.  The month is nearly over, but I've got a fresh set of plot ideas to finish the rest of my word count out with. The story won't be finished (very few ever are at only 50K), but I will reach word count.  :-)

I hope you're having a lovely Sunday and ready for a new week.  Those of you in the U.S. will be enjoying a short week, too!  :-)

What do you want for a holiday gift?

Hello out there!  What's everyone up to lately?  It's been very quiet here on the blog lately.  And I know you're still reading.  LOL.

I have a single question for all of you out there.  What do you want as a holiday gift this year?  Sure, we all have a list of things we'd like to have, but what is the ONE thing you want the most?  No, I probably won't be buying it for you, but I do feel that when you put what you want out into the universe there's a better chance that you'll get it at some point.  :-)

It's actually a difficult question for most of us.  To narrow our mental lists down to one single item is hard.  Especially when you look at that list and say, "No, that's not as important as this.  But I'd like to have this more than that.  Oh wait, what about that one?"  So which one comes out on to when you have to choose only one?

I won't share mine until tomorrow because I don't want to influence other people.  I want to hear what YOU want.

Since we're talking about the holidays...

Last night was date night.  Tim and I had sooooo much fun.  Usually we stay home and grill out, or we'll go see a movie & grab something quick to eat on the way home.  But last night we went out on the town, dressed up and everything.  Woohoo!  I even wore make-up.  LOL.  Those who know me personally know that I don't wear make-up very often at all.  Maybe once a month... at most!

To those on my Facebook page helping me decide what to wear last night:  I went with black dress pants, a purple-colored dress shirt, black high-heeled boots, black sweater jacket with earrings and matching bracelet.  Oh, and yes Tammy, I totally went naked under my clothes!  Hahaha!

We dropped the kids off and then went straight to Chattanooga.  Since the roads were crowded with work traffic, we decided to go eat first.  It was sooooo nice being able to sit and actually enjoy a meal without the rush of having all three kids with us.  You know how they say you'll fill up faster when you actually CHEW your food?  Well, it's 100% true.  LOL!  We were both stuffed.  And my first strawberry margarita (I've only had regular ones up to now) was super YUMMY.  I didn't even know they would put sugar instead of salt around the glass rim until the bartender asked me which I wanted. 

After dinner we hit the mall and I lost myself in Barnes & Noble.  I so love bookstores.  I could spend all day in a bookstore that size.  And yes, Tim had to go see if my books were on the shelves.  Hahaha!  Surprisingly there was one complete set sitting there.  Amazing!  Most of the time people have to order them if they want them from a particular brick & mortar store.  I thought about signing them to give the next buyer a little surprise, but figured they wouldn't know if it was really me or someone forging me.  LOL.  So I just put one of my cards in each one.  :-)

I did manage to find two lovely journals for the older girls before we went out and walked around the mall.  We didn't buy a single thing after that, but it was fun.

After that we headed back toward home, stopping off for a bottle of wine on the way.  We got here a little after 8pm and spent the rest of the evening watching movies and enjoying our time together.  It was super nice.

Now that I've bored you enough for one day...  I hope you're having a fabulous Saturday.  It's beautiful and sunny here, so I'm going to go enjoy more of it while I have the opportunity. 

Love to you all!

It's date night in the Silvers Household.

Happy Friday everyone!  Today will be a fantastic day, I'll be my happy-go-lucky self (gotta make up for yesterday), and Tim is taking me out tonight.  Woohoo!

It's Mom's night to have the kids; I'll be taking them to her when the oldest gets home from school.  Then Tim and I will be heading to Chattanooga for an evening out.  First we'll have dinner at Famous Dave's (a yummy BBQ place we like) and then we'll go over to Hamilton Place Mall for some Christmas shopping that I can't get done down here.  I need to hit Barnes & Noble up there since all of our bookstores appear to have closed down here.

I'm getting the older girls brand new journals for Christmas and I can't find any good ones here.  I didn't see any I liked on Amazon either, but the B&N website shows a lot of pretty ones.  So we'll do that.  And afterwards we'll come home to watch some Netflix movies, enjoy the peace and quiet, and enjoy each other... tremendously!  ;-)

This morning however, I have lots of writing to do, since I'm way behind on my NaNo word count... still.  I have no doubt that I'll finish (I'm not a quitter), but it'll be a rush to the end in those last few days.  I'll be sequestered in my bedroom with death threats to anyone who dares to knock.  Seriously, there will be dire consequences in those last few days.  Fear of bodily harm will be practiced by all.  LOL!

Tim knows how I am when I'm on a deadline and I'm rushing to meet it.  This isn't his first rodeo with me.  He can't leave me alone up to those last days, but when it comes right down to that point he has a deep rooted fear of death by my hand.  I know how to use every tool in this house and have no problem fashioning some of my own, if need be.  LOL.

Nonetheless, today I'll do laundry and work.  Tonight we'll be kid-less and out on the town.  Then back home for drinks, movies, and dare I say it... NOOKIE!  Oh yeah, baby!  ;-)

So that's my Friday plans, what about yours?  What will you be up to today/night?  Whatever it is, I hope you have a great day and enjoy every bit of it. 

Thursday Thoughts #7: Why bother?

Morning all.  Today will be a brief Thursday Thoughts rant.  If you're not in the mood for that, then turn away now. 

Here I go:

If you know someone doesn't like you, enjoy your "attention" on them, doesn't want you around them or their family, why, oh why, would you send them a friend's request on places like Facebook?  I'm serious here.  My personal stalker seriously sent me a friend's request on Facebook yesterday.  I don't get it.  You know I can't stand the ground you walk on, so why bother?  I happily, yet confused in the process, denied your request and will deny your request no matter when you send it.

I check all friend's requests on all of my social networking sites.  I don't automatically add, approve, or follow anyone on any of these sites.  I will always go to the requestor's page and check them out.  Spammers won't get by me an neither will people I don't want to associate with. 

So stop!  How many times do I have to say this?  Just stop.  It's been almost a year now, and I certainly don't like you anymore today than I did a year ago.  Or sixteen years ago, for that matter.

Why bother?

Okay, so techinically that wasn't a short entry, but I warned you ahead of time that it was all a rant.  It's been cloudy and dreary around here lately, and that makes me antsy and "down".  I apologize to those of you who came by for the cheerful Christie, but she's not here right now.  However, I am grateful for the times Tim tells me I look hot.  That can make any girl feel better.  ;-)  Well, as long as it comes from the right person.  >:-(

I hope your day is happy and productive!

Wanna Know Wednesday #41

Good morning. It's another cloudy day here in north Georgia.  Yesterday was quite dreary, but tolerable  suppose.  We had a day at home where I cleaned and just had an easy-going day.  Then after the kids got home fro school we went to visit Tim's mom.  She's in a regular room and the doctors are talking about sending her home on Friday.  We'll see how that goes.

On the way to the hospital, Tim pointed out some vehicles he pines over.  He's always quite vocal about the things he wants, but will most likely not have.  You know, we all have those desires, but we know that a $100,000 car is generally out of the budget for most of us.  Me, well I'm not as vocal about my nonsensical desires as he is, but I did mention that I, too, would like many things. 

Some of my wants are tangible, and will happen.  While others are pure fantasy.  Nonetheless, here is my top ten list that I recited when he asked, "And what do you want?"

1. A new car.
2. A bigger house.
3. The body I had when I was 16 (yeah right!).
4. Firmer boobs (goes along with that16yr old, pre-childbirth body).
5. An e-book reader (currently saving for this one).
6. For him to surprise me with shiny gifts from time to time (never gonna happen).
7. My own deserted island.  I'd live so happily away from people as long as I had internet & cell service.
8. New carpet for the house.
9. A bigger laundry room.
10. A new set of living room furniture.

See?  Some are plausible, some will happen, and others are pure fantasy.  Nevertheless, we're all allowed to dream, want, desire things.  We all just need to know when our wants are simply something we fancy and when they're something we can work hard to obtain.  And no, Tim will never get one of those $100,000 cars.  Even if I had that kind of money I refuse to spend more money on a car than we paid for our house.

So anyway, it's Hump Day and I'll be hanging out here at home for most of the day.  I have the second load of laundry in the washer and need to do two days of writing for my NaNo novel (since visiting his mom screwed up my schedule yesterday).

Have a wonderful day!

Ooops! I missed Monday.

Morning, morning, morning!  Tuesday started with me hitting the snooze button twice before realizing that I'd already hit it once.  When I finally crawled out of bed I discovered that my cell phone was dead and a text message I'd sent to Facebook at 4pm yesterday showed up at 1am last night.  LOL.  No, I was not picking up the oldest, nor was Tim seasoning salmon to grill at 1am.

Yesterday was quite the laid back day around here.  I suppose I could have found a few minutes to blog, but I was wrapped up with Tim, doing laundry, and just enjoying the sunshine while I could.  After picking the kids up, we grilled out dinner and then when the youngest went to bed I plugged my ears and wrote for two hours.

It was just a simply day around here.

Oh, and after four days in the ICU Tim's mom was moved out into a regular hospital room yesterday.  They say she's doing better and her oxygen levels are back up.  She says she's determined to quit the smoking, and I hope that's th truth.  However, we heard that when they put on portable oxygen a year ago.  They'll both have to do it for either of them to succeed.  Hopefully they'll do it this time.

Today...  Well today I will be doing my NaNo writing early in the day so that I can watch V when it comes on tonight.  The NaNo story is coming along nicely, though it certainly won't be done when it hits 50,000 words.  I'm only on chapter 9 after all.

Speaking of my work, I received another glowing review from a reader of A Midnight Infatuation yesterday (shout to Sherie!).  I love when readers let me know how much they're enjoying the books.  It definitely makes my day worthwhile.  :-)  Writers are only human and we want to know that our work is enjoyed by others.

Okay, Tim is about to take the kids to school.  I better go make the youngest some breakfast.  I hope you have a beautiful day, and I'll see you back here tomorrow. 

How I write, on this sunny Sunday morning.

Good morning to all you wonderful ladies and gentlemen reading this.  I hope you've had one fabulously extraordinary weekend.  Mine has been pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

Yesterday our oldest daughter had her very first school dance.  It was very sweet, and really only the tip of the iceberg for her.  She's in 7th grade and this was a two hour "social" at school.  She wore jeans, a black t-shirt, black heeled boots, and her jean jacket.  I fixed her hair and put her very first full face of make-up on.  She was so excited.

There was no date for this dance.  She met up with all her friends, and from what I hear they had a fantastic time.  She even brought a friend home when I picked her up.  We ended up with a sleepover buddy, but they were very well-behaved and had fun. 

I had a great writing day yesterday.  Today, once I find the time to write, I'll hit the halfway point.  25K here I come!  I can't believe the month is half over.  I wasn't even planning to do NaNo this year, so it's no wonder that I probably won't be finishing early this year.  However, I know I will at least finish on time.  Woohoo!

I love how a story starts out one way, you have an idea of how it's all going to go, and them *WHAM* it takes a turn you weren't expecting and the entire story changes.  I had a character in this story who was going to be a helper in the story.  However, things went dark and he's actually turned into the bad guy!!  Eek!  I wasn't expecting that one!  It's very exciting to see where my characters go and down what paths they'll take me.

I'm a character driven writer.  I let them take the lead in a story.  I have an "idea" of what the story will be about, or what the ending will be, but I never know how my characters will create the ending.  I couldn't imagine being the type of writer who plots the entire story out from beginning to end.  I actually tried to do that once and the story went so far off of my story outline that I couldn't believe I'd even tried it that way.

One thing that I love about being this kind of writer is the fact that even I don't know what will happen next.  I've had moments with all of my books where I will literally say out loud, "Wow! I wasn't expecting that to happen."  Tim just looks at me like I'm nuts, but it's true.  LOL.  I really didn't know that was going to happen next until my fingers type it out.

So anyway, that's how it works for me.  I let the characters take me where they may and I'm simply along for the ride.  :-)

Right now I have banana bread in the oven.  Once it's done, I have to get dressed, take the oldest's friend home, and head to the hospital to visit Tim's mom. 

She's still in intensive care, with no hint of when she'll be moved to a regular room.  They're saying this hospital visit will be a long one for her, and the doctors were even discussing life support wishes with both her and FIL.  And when we were up there Friday, the nurses had been discussing the option of putting a breathing tube down her throat.  It doesn't sound good to me.

I'm off!  If anyone wants fresh banana bread, come on over!  There'll be plenty for sharing.  :-)  Have a great day!

Eek! It's Friday the 13th!!

It wasn't until about an hour ago that I actually realized that today was Friday the 13th.  LOL.  Maybe that's a good sign that I'm not too worried about it.  Just the other day I hit 666 friends on my Facebook page.  I was screaming, "Send someone to me in a hurry!" to all of my friends.  Of course I survived and made two new friends in a matter of minutes.  I announced to my worried few, "Crisis averted with two new friends!  Whew!  Thought I was a goner there for a minute!"  Everyone had a good laugh and I had new friends. 

I'm not very superstitious, as you can tell.  LOL.

Though technically, I get many new friends on Facebook every single day; I never stay at any set number for very long.  Twitter followers are starting to pick up as well, even though I'm not on there as often as Facebook.  My Twitter page is over 200 followers behind my Facebook friends.  So if you're on Twitter and not following yet, pop on over and say hi.  I always follow back, as long as you aren't a spammer or distributor of porn.  I might write smokin' sex scenes in my books, but I still my personal ideals.

On a different note, Tim's mom is in the hospital again.  She was taken via ambulance yesterday afternoon while I was waiting at school pick-up.  Tim texted me to let me know, so I told him to bring the youngest to me if he wanted to go along.  However, he didn't want to go and we waited for his dad to call with news later in the evening.

His mom has been on oxygen with asthma and all sorts of meds for a while now.  The doctors told her she needed to quit smoking.  She's had heart issues too.  Has she stopped that nasty-ass habit in order to improve her health??  Of course not!  It really irks me when people know stopping will improve their quality of life and yet they still keep doing it.

Anyway, she was placed in intensive care last night, will be there all day today and tonight, and then we'll see where they're at tomorrow.  We're going up to visit this evening, after the kids get home from school.  I hate hospitals!  I even hated them when I was there giving birth to all three girls.  Hate it!

That's my day thus far.  I've actually had a good day and will do some writing when I head off to pick-up in a bit.  We bought groceries this morning and I picked up a few Christmas gifts that I didn't order online last night.  My oldest now has several Twilight/New Moon items to look forward too.  And the 4 year old graciously pointed out every single toy in the story and declared, "I want that!  Can I have that?"

Oops, I hear that both the washer & dryer have stopped.  Guess I'll go change out laundry before packing the laptop up and heading out.  Have a fabulous Friday the 13th!

Thursday Thoughts #6: Christmas Shopping

What a beautiful morning here in north Georgia!  The sun is shining brightly and there isn't a cloud in the sky.  It's very windy, thus quite a bit chilly, but it's very lovely out there.

Yesterday turned out to be a great day for me.  I was exactly one full day behind on my NaNo word count... until yesterday.  After three different writing sessions, I ended up writing 3,381 words by the end of the day.  I'm not caught up, and a little ahead on the necessary 1,667 words per day.  I'll need a few more great writing days like that in order to finish early, but I'll be happy with finishing on time.

On another YAY twist of information, I also heard some exciting news about one of my other writing ventures.  Nothing to announce publicly (yet), but it made me happy.  :-)

Today I'll be working on dwindling down my Christmas shopping list.  I was going to do it last night, but I was on a writing roll, and everyone knows (or should now) that if you're on a writing roll you do NOT stop for anything.  So today is shopping day.

What I'm wondering is, why, with three girls who are always asking for millions of things they see on tv, in magazines, hear from friends, why is it that they can never give me a decent list of gift ideas?  They go for the high-priced gadgets and gizmos that they know I'm not going to buy them instead.

Sure, Mommy knows you want an iPhone, a jukebox, and that $200 charm bracelet.  But you know Mommy isn't going to buy those items, has told you numerous times over the last few months that you aren't going to get those items, and you might as well come up with other, lesser priced gifts.

"But Moooommmm!"

Sheesh.  Kids.

I have a few ideas for the kids, my Mom told me exactly what she wanted, my sister suggested what she might want, Tim knows nothing (but I have ideas), and I have absolutely no ideas for the in-laws or my grandmother.  Plus I have a few friends to buy for.  We'll see how it goes.

My oldest is into all the "Twilight" stuff.  She has posters, a bag, and numerous trinkets.  My sister got her more to go with her collection, too.  But really, I don't want to get her something else like that.  I like buying them books, creative stuff, gifts that make them think or amaze them.... but without spending a freakin' fortune.  And no, she's not getting a cell phone no matter how much she begs, pleads, and swears that, "but allllll my friends have one!"

So anyway, that's what I'll be up to today.  I'll be scouring the internet in search of the perfect gifts this morning, and then having another fabulous writing day this afternoon.  Yep, that's that!

Now I'm off to order a copy of the new Star Trek movie for a certain someone who made sure to let me know that Target free shipping on that movie.  LOL!

Have a wonderful day.  :-)

Wanna Know Wednesday #40

Morning all.  Welcome to Hump Day and this week's edition of Wanna Know Wednesday.  I've decided that after 40 weeks of WKW, once I hit number 52 this topic will be over.  I figure that by now, and with the inclusion of Thursday Thoughts, you more than likely know everything there is to know about it.  And if you come up with something new, I'll either eventually come around to that, or you can feel free to ask me.  :-)  I don't mind questions, just so long as they aren't questions from my list of pet peeves.

Nonetheless, there will be twelve more WKW entries and then that's it.  If you want to know something I haven't already shared, ask away.  :-)

Today is another day of writing for me (aren't they all?).  I have no laundry to deal with, the kitchen's already clean, Tim will be paying his new Xbox game...  It should be a decent day for working on Liz's story.  I'm looking forward to reaching the 25K word count.  For some reason reaching that point makes the rest go much faster.

10K was a big deal for me.  20K is great.  But 25,000 means halfway!  You're halfway to finished, halfway to the end of November.  Sure, the story is crap, probably makes no sense, has holes in the plot the size of the Grand Canyon, but it's still your story.  Rewrites can fix all the problems mentioned, if you can make it to the end.  You can't finish if you give up.  Keep moving forward and you'll get there... eventually!

Okay, enough babbling.  Here's this week's Wanna Know Wednesday.

1. I like to hang out in shorts, tank tops and/or pajama pants during the day.
2. My feet get cold very often, but I hate wearing socks.
3. I floss every day... at least once.
4. I wash my face at least twice a day.
5. My hair spends the majority of time in a ponytail or hair clip up away from my neck, especially in bed at night.
6. I'm behind on my tv shows and will finally be watching the last episode of True Blood's season 2.  I can't believe that we have to wait until next summer for season 3. :-(
7.  I've never had a completely manuscript sitting here while working on the next one.  The whole agent game is a new one for me.  But a very exciting game nonetheless!
8. I'm so very grateful for all of my readers!  Readers of my books, readers of the blog, readers on Facebook and Twitter, you're all important to me and quite loved!
9. Currently my fingers and toes have zero polish on the.  Ack!  That very rarely happens.  What color should I go with next?  I'm always up for new colors if any of you need gift ideas.  *wink, wink*
10. Yesterday I told Tim that I wanted something pretty and sparkly for Christmas.  Preferably something that'll hang from around my neck.  Think that's plain enough for a man who never picks out my Christmas gift on his own?  Probably not!  LOL!

That's it for this morning.  I'm off to charge the battery in my mp3 player and then get to work.  Liz and her sex drive wait for no one!  Oooohhh la la!

The website is down...

Looks like my host is having server problems.  Something about a fiber cable being cut and the host's ISP having to replace it.  Apparently the site has been down all day (I just happened to check the site to post stuff in the forums) and they have no idea how long the cable replacement will take.

As always, you can find me here and on Facebook or Twitter.  It sucks to have the site down, but we can't control everything.  We just have to be patient and move forward.  The universe always corrects itself at some point.  ;-)

Now I'm off to finish tonight's dinner of hommade chili & grilled sandwiches.  The perfect end to a cool, wet Tuesday!

Tuesday! It'll be a good day.

Good morning!  We have been blessed with the ability to wake up to yet another Tuesday.  Be happy!

It's cloudy and rainy here in north Georgia, but I'm feeling frisky and energetic this morning.  It's just past 8 am and I've washed two loads of laundry, fed the youngest and took a shower.  I still need to eat something myself, but not sure what I want yet.  Tim took the big girls to school for me, so that was nice.  :-)

Yesterday turned out to be a good writing day, even though it felt like I was running the roads all day.  So many things to do in one little day just make it feel rushed and overwhelming.  Luckily I'm a stubborn Capricorn that knows how to get things done.  ;-)

Today will be a smoother day, with less running around.  I'll be able to have another good writing day.  The story is finally picking up speed for me.  Took three chapters, but hey, that's what edits and rewrites are for AFTER the story is on my virtual paper.  LOL.  Right now it's all about just getting the story, from beginning to end, written down and out of my head.  Later I'll come back to add scenes, change scenes, delete scenes, rewrite those things Liz said to Chad when they were rolling around on the ground, delete what Cole said about Hamish, and numerous/millions of other things that'll need to be done and un-done.

Yeah, edits will be a bitch on this one, but it'll be well worth it in the end.  I hate edits!  Nonetheless, they improve any story one hundred fold from its first daft state.  No one but the writer should ever, EVER lay eyes on a first draft of anything... much less a story.  Nooooo!!  Never do that!  It's death to any story when you show the first draft to someone.  You know it's bad, all first drafts are bad, there can be no exception to this rule.  Just don't do it.  And certainly don't ask to see mine 'cause I'll adamantly refuse your request.

Well, I guess I better change out of my shorts and tank top and into something appropriate for November.  Tim wants to go buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 when the game store opens.  He's been talking about it for a couple of weeks, so it has been planned. 

I doubted he'd get it since it's $60, but he made some extra cash helping his dad and I always make him trade in an old game when he wants a new one.  So he should have plenty of money to get it without asking me for more.  LOL.  Gotta train those husbands like you do the kids sometimes.  We'll hit our 16th anniversary after the first of the year, so no, the training never ends.

But at least that'll keep him busy while I'm working today.  Woohoo!!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!  Make the best of it and you'll be a happier person.

Welcome to Monday.

Morning all.  It's the start of another week.  That seems to be happening a lot more often these days.  Where has the year gone.  Didn't November just begin, and yet here we are on th 9th already?  Crazy how that happens as you get older.

This morning I ran a few errands and then we made it back home.  Nothing special.  Tim has plans to go help his dad do some work today, but his dad never gets out early.  So here it is, almost 11am, half our day is over, and he's still waiting on his dad to call that he's ready to get busy.  Not only that, but I'm waiting on Tim to leave so I can get started on my writing for today (in hopes that I'll be able to get more done with him off busy elsewhere).

Luckily, this evening will be a quick & easy dinner, and I won't have to worry about it taking up as much work time a yesterday.  I do, however, have to pick the oldest up at school twice this week. 

Anyway, I'm going to fix the youngest some lunch, have Tim call his dad, and then maybe, just maybe, I can get caught up on my word count.  Cross those fingers & toes for me, cause it looks like I'm gonna need it.  LOL!

Have a great day.  :-)

I was going to work all day.

Not everything works out the way you expect them to.  This morning I high expectations of being home and working on my novel all day.  I'd planned to be done with 3,000 words by 1 p.m. and then have the rest of the day to do what I wanted--watch movies, play online, chat with friends, play around.  However, the day changed dramatically when I agreed to go to lunch with the in-laws.

A free lunch is always nice, but I should've known better when it comes to interrupting my work.  Here it is, nearly 4 p.m. and I'm only halfway done with my 3k word goal.  I would've been done by the time they came home from lunch. 

I had a flow going when we got ready to leave.  I can't seem to get that flow back.  Words are coming at me sporadically.  Scenes feel sluggish, stagnant, slow.

Not only that, but it's nearly evening time, on a Sunday, and I've gotta make dinner, get all the kids bathed and ready for a new week of school, and throw some laundry into the washer after their showers so I won't have to deal with it tomorrow.

Tim promised that if I went with him for lunch, I'd have all the time I needed to work when we got back.  He'd send the kids to play.  He'd be watching his race instead of talking to me.  He'd take the dog out when needed.  And yes, he's done all of that.  BUT....

The kids keep coming in; Tim keeps telling me about what's happening on the race; during commercial breaks he comes over and kisses me on the neck and tries to "help" me with my story.  Oh, I'm going completely insane here!

So, I took a mini-break to post this.  I'm hoping that this will prompt my Idea Well to flow a bit more freely.  I'm going to plug my ears and write for 1 more hour before I absolutely must stop to make dinner.  Then after that, it's all done for the day.

Luckily, tomorrow, after I run some errands, Tim will be working with his dad and I'll have the house to myself for work.  Whatever I'm behind at the end of today will be taken care of tomorrow.  That makes me happy and gives me the kind of hope that only another writer during this hectic month can fully appreciate.

Have a wonderful Sunday evening.  I'm off to create more of Liz's world than I had before.  :-)

National Bookstore Day!

Welcome to the first annual Publishers Weekly's National Bookstore Day!  What a great day to let your favorite bookstore/seller know how much you appreciate them.  Publishers Weekly calls it, "a day devoted to celebrating bookselling and the vibrant culture of bookstores."  What better day to get your holiday shopping done for all the book lovers on your list?

Stop by the Publishers Weekly website to find a participating store near you.  Go out, buy books, let your favorite sellers know how much you love them and how they help to change the world with each book they provide. 

I love bookstores.  The smell of books, the silky texture of new pages, the "read" look of used books.  I don't care if they are old or new, I love books!  From the moment my children understood what a book was I've taught them that books are to be cherished and loved, not tossed aside, drawn in, or ripped apart. 

I must have done a good job with these teachings because my oldest came home from school one day, simply horrified at a task one of her teachers had asked her to help with.  When she told me what it was, I was horrified right along with her.  One of her teachers had been going through a book that the class was reading and marking out words she'd deemed inppropriate for the class.  OMG!  Are you serious? 

These kids are in middle school.  Anything in a school approved book can't be any worse than the things they see on tv, in the movies, or even hear in their own homes.  I was not a happy camper when I heard about this.  I can't believe that someone would destroy an author's hard work by going through the book with a black marker and censoring the story.  Ugh!

Okay, now I'm on a ranting rampage.  I'll stop right there for today.  I'm just glad my daughter told me about it so that we could discuss censorship in more detail than we had in the past.  Respect for books is something I take very seriously and luckily my daughters have picked up on that.

Have a happy National Bookstore Day!  Go read something!

Hot Vampires! Who's your favorite?

Happy Friday morning ladies and gents!  It's finally the weekend.  Woohoo!  My mom will be taking the kids tonight and we'll be enjoying a peaceful evening.  Then tomorrow we get to sleep late.  I like sleeping late.  I hate the sound of my alarm clock Monday through Friday.  That sucker scares me half to death every single morning.

I don't have much more than writing planned for today.  I got an e-mail from DS wanting me to write more articles, but I don't "do" articles during NaNoWriMo.  I like to focus solely on my story without having my attention spread out over web content as well.  I love my fiction!  Articles are just there to make some extra cash when I'm not having to process a fiction story.

When I work on my novels I like to think about them all day.  Even when I'm not writing, the story is going through my mind; I'm working through scenes, conversations, locations, etc.  I might be watching television, folding laundry, giving the youngest a bath, but I'm rolling the story over and over in my head.  If I start writing an article about gardening, well, that just throws my story thoughts right out the window for a while.  It ruins my work flow.

This is why I only write articles when I'm editing or doing rewrites.  If I'm working on a story from scratch I just can't do articles.  I've learned this about myself over the years and figure I should just stick with what works best for me.  :-)

Now, back to the title of this blog.  Hmmm, hot vampires!  I love hot vampires.  Hot vampires are what makes the movies and books worth watching and reading.  Hot vampires are the ones that make you wanna swoon and offer up your own neck for their use.  Mmmm, the world would be awfully boring without hot vampires.  Hell, my books would be pointless without hot vampires!!  LOL!

Yesterday a friend shared 20 Hottest Vampires of All Time.  Stop by and check out.  Do you agree with the findings?  Do you have suggestions for others?  I like the list, but would totally reorder it to my own liking.

Before I go, I wanted to share that I got some fabulously potential good news yesterday.  It's pretty big for me, but it's a done deal.  It may not even pan out at all.  But if it does I'll be shouting it from the rooftops & you guys will be some of the firsts to know.  However, at this time I'm asking for everyone to cross their fingers and toes, and to think happy thoughts for me.  I believe in karma; if you send goodness out into the universe it'll come back to you tenfold.  Most of you know that about me.  Fingers crossed!

Have a great day!

Thursday Thoughts #5: I love the holidays.

Good morning (almost afternoon) everyone!  How is your Thursday going?  Mine has been smooth going thus far.  Tim took the kids to school, the youngest & I stayed home to have some breakfast.  I cleaned and straightened out desk.  Started running scans and clean-ups in the desktop computer.  Then at 9 a.m. we went to town.

Tim was complaining that he needed a new chain for his chainsaw in order to cut firewood for the winter (we need something to put in the fireplace. Sheesh!).  So now he has TWO new ones, and absolutely no excises not to get out there ASAP.  LOL.

As you can tell by the title, today's Thursday Thoughts are about the holidays.  I love the holidays.  I adore the lights, decorations, the excitment in our girls' eyes.  I like to decorate, rearrange the furniture to make our gigantic tree fit in front of the bay windows.  I even enjoy the gift shopping!  Well, I prefer doing it online, but that doesn't mean it's not fun.  :-D

My sister was asking me what I want for Christmas from her this year.  I've been teasing that I need someone to buy a new Kindle, but I'd never really want anyone to spend that much on me for Christmas.  Soooo, I decided to just ask for Amazon gift certificates from all my gift-giving friends and family that are online.  At least that way they can help make a dent in the price and I'll happily cover the rest.  Plus that makes it easier for them to "figure out" what to buy me.

Apparently I'm very hard to shop for.... or though I've been told.  ;-)  Now what do I tell Tim to get me?  LOL!

I still have a bunch of gifts to buy, but I'll be taking care of most of them next week when it's payday on AC.  I have a very nice bonus coming from them that'll take care of about 90% of the gifts I have left to buy.  Woohoo!

I love the holidays!

Okay, I'm off.  I need to make some notes about chapter 3 in the new novel so I can start on today's NaNo word count.

Have a fabulous Thursday!

Wanna Know Wednesday #39

Good morning all. I'll start off by apologizing for yesterday's lack of entry. It was quite a lazy day for me Tim was gone for several hours helping his dad work on one of his rental properties. The youngest was so quiet playing by herself and watching cartoons. And then the puppy slept.

The house was soooooooo quiet!! I couldn't believe it. Made me realize that after him being home 24/7 for the last three months, I'm kind of missing him going off to a job during the day and leaving me to my domain. It looks like I'll get more of that goodness today as the job with his dad wasn't finished yesterday.

I've also made him take the kids to school the last two mornings. Meaning I've gotten to stay home and get my housework done earlier in order to start my writing earlier. I like having a clean house & all the laundry done before I start writing. Doing it that way prevents the stop & go writing that comes with having to change out laundry everytime the washer stops. That screws up my "flow" in the story, making it take longer for me to get into the scene.

So this morning I've already made the 4yr old breakfast, folded one load of laundry & washed another, cleaned the diningroom clutter, swept the kitchen, and put away the 4 yr old's laundry. Once the last load is finished drying I'll fold them and then start on my NaNoWriMo word count for today. I have 800 extra words that I didn't finish for yesterday's word count that I'll add to today's. That's about 20 minutes of extra writing for me, so it's not bad.

Okay, so I'll go ahead and get to this week's Wanna Know Wednesday.

10 Random Facts About Me

1. The 4 yr old starts asking for Halloween candy at 7am.
2. The dog currently has four different toys & the kids keep finding more things for him to play with.
3. The oldest will be staying after school for two days a week starting next week. She has quiz bowl & reading bowl now.
4. Oh yes, my oldest has joined me in doing NaNoWriMo this year. She's doing the youth program.
5. Tim is currently curled up in "his" chair with the pup in his lap.
6. I plan to write at least 2,400 words today, bringing me into Chapter 3 of the new Liz Baker story.
7. One of my biggest pet peeves about being a writer with books out in the world popped up the other day. Ugh!
8. I'm planning to surprise the 4 yr old with a "big girl bed" next week. She's still sleeping in her crib, which converts to the toddler bed it is at the moment. New bed, new bed set, new set-up in her room. She'll be so excited!
9. I think I'll go have a cinnamon raisin bagel when I get done with this. My tummy is growling.
10. I can't believe it's already November, and yet I can't wait to start decorating for Christmas. I love all the lights, colors, wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree that this time of the year provides.

Okay, that's it. I'm off for the day. I'm waiting on that last load of laundry and going to have a bagel. I always start my writing work at 9am, so I have one more hour to play around.

You have a fabulous day. Go do something that you enjoy! It makes the day more pleasant when you do. :-)

Nuts! Those darn pictures.

It appears that my photo link from the Rex the Super Pup entry wasn't working correctly. Sooooo, I'll just share some of the many pictures instead.

 

Good Monday Morning

Welcome to another new week.  Did you know that each new week provides you with a fresh start, a new chance at potential growth?  New weeks are fabulous!  I enjoy the opportunity at starting anew.  :-)

This morning I also enjoyed the time change and being able to actually SEE when I took the girls to school.  Not having to drive in the dark helps wake me up sooner too.  I like this time of the year for just that reason. 

Yesterday I managed to get 1,730 words written for my NaNoWriMo novel.  And that was only half of chapter one.  LOL.  Today I'll finish that chapter and reach today's word count goal.  Some people go wild during this time of the year.  It's like the only thing they can see is the story they're working on.  The world around them fades away. 

As much as I'd like to focus solely on my work, that's just not an option for me.  I have the kids, Tim, family, friends, and I'm able to keep a clean house and make homemade meals.  LOL.  NaNoWriMo doesn't have to control your entire life for these 30 days.  You just need to know how to set time aside for your story without your story taking over your life.

On a different subject, I just want to wish my dad a happy birthday.  Today he would have been 51 years old.  In only a few short months he'll be gone for 7 years.  I miss him terribly and hope he sees how great his granddaughters are and how fast they're growing.

Okay, I'm off.  Next on my work list is Liz's story.  She's always happy to see me when I open up her computer file.  Right now she's sitting in an office, dealing with paperwork, and being very pissed by the attitude of her "friend" Rick.

Have a great day!

On your mark, get set, WRITE!!!

Welcome to Sunday, and November 1st!  Today is the day that the National Novel Writing Month begins.  Woohoo!  I'm super excited about this month and hope to have the first draft of the next Liz Baker story completed by November 30th (preferably sooner).

I won't be able to get started on my word count until we return from visiting the in-laws today.  However, I do have loads of notes, ideas, and thoughts on paper, in the computer file, and stored away in my head.  I have the book's computer file all set and ready for the story to begin.  It's open and sitting here on my desktop so that I'll be able to jump right in when we get home.  Woohoo!

Okay, so last night was Halloween.  We took the kids and Rex the Super Pup out to forage for sweet things to eat. It was sooooo crowded in the neighborhood that we go to (my grandmother's), and we got rained on.  Blah!  Therefore, I was thoroughly thrilled that their candy buckets ended up full to the tippy top after only 8 houses.   Yay! 

After that we loaded them back into the van and partook in the 50 cent corndog deal at Sonic for their late dinner.  It's not everyday that you can feed three children for only $7 (including fries).  Tim & I had Subway.  Yum!

Rex the Super Pup had a decent time.  He freaked out when he met my mom's chihuahua, but that only lasted a moment and then he was intrigued by this other dog so close in size.  LOL.  However, he was happy when we returned home and he was back on his own turf.

Well, I'm off.  We need to get ready for Tim's parents and the back home for me to get started on NaNoWriMo. Once I get the word count widget on here (on the left), you'll probably notice that some days will be low in word count and others will be extremely high.  My ideas come in spurts--some are small and some are gigantic.  :-)

Have a great Sunday and try not to get a tummy ache from all the candy you collected last night.