Finally, after seven years I’ve figured out how to link a blog to my website. Please take a moment to check out my new blog and I apologize for the inconvenience of updating your links. Thanks.
Checking Out
I’ve checked out of the literary world as of late. I rarely visit the forums anymore and I never post anything. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a short story or had an article published. I even stopped publishing a project that was once, near and dear to my heart.
I’ve done my time with working to building “writing credits”. They got me nowhere and are just filling on a query letter. I been thinking about my end game. What’s all this work been for? Most of it was because it’s what writers do. They write, get their work published and get paid. Some write novels and make millions, some write novels and can make a decent living, others write novels and keep their day jobs and others are so versatile with their pen, they can create content for just about any medium and live very well.
What do I want really? I want “the deal”. I want a major publisher. I want marketing.
I have to stop participating in the short game of writing short stories and articles, hoping for the best. I just need to write a book that an agent will fall in love with. I’ve come close and I know I can. I just have to work a little harder.
I did add another 1k to the demon story. I still have about 24 handwritten pages to add, but I don’t like to get too far ahead. I like to write a chapter or two and then edit them over and over until I get it right. If I ever finished a true rough draft, I probably never finish it because the edits and polish would be almost too much. That’s why I can’t participate in NANOWRIMO. I do envy those who can and do.
B4 doesn’t have school today and tomorrow, but everyone else does. His grades are pretty good and he even has an A- in Algebra. He has tutoring every Wednesday because he skipped a quarter of pre-Alegbra, but I think that’s awesome. His Language Arts grade is the lowest at a B+ so I really can’t complain. I’ve always known he was just as smart as my other kids. At last, I think he believes it as well.
Today it’s more writing at lunch, typing in the evening and then an appointment that I’m very excited about. I’ll reveal more tomorrow. Have a wonderful day everyone!
Running late . . .
. . . so this will be a short post. I remembered my iPhone yesterday. All was right in the world.
Hubby has got the crud. I mean the snotty-sneezy-coughy-congested-achy-fevery crud. It’s disgusting and I feel bad for him. I’m using my neti pot and gargling with salt water and peroxide religiously, hoping to stave it off. But realistically, it’s going to run through this family like Mexican water through an American tourist. I can hear B4 sneezing as I type.
B2 isn’t feeling well either, but she has mid-terms this week. I told her if she didn’t feel well to text me (yes, all the kids text in class and I don’t care who says otherwise) and I’ll call the school and ask them to let her leave. Ah, I do love teenagers who can drive themselves everywhere. She had basketball practice last night, choosing to play for a church team rather than her high school. She started varsity last year, but three sports during a school year is too much for her, and everyone else.
B3 still hasn’t decided whether or not she’s playing in the winter volleyball league at Carolina Courts. She’d better make up her mind soon. She did it last year by herself and had a miserable time. Bless her heart, when those Union County girls hear she goes to Independence, they think she’s ghetto. The school certainly does have a stigma attached to it and some of it was indeed earned.
B4 and some of his friends who will also be going to UNCC next fall are planning to get an apartment. I’m torn. Part of me want to keep my baby close at home and another part of me wants the lazy ass out. Here’s a conversation snippet from last night:
B1: If I move out, do I have to keep my job?
Me: Only if you want to eat.
B1: You know, you’ll still see me if I move out. I’ll visit every weekend.
Me: You mean to raid my cabinets and wear out my washing machine?
B1: Exactly.
Me: Text me a list of what you need a couple of days beforehand, so I can make sure I have it.
B1: I will.
I know he will.
I made some progress on the ghost story but I’m definitely the turtle in this race. Well, better get moving. Have a wonderful day everyone!
A Day Without My iPhone
At first it was disbelief which quickly grew into an all out panic. My beloved iPhone was still lying on my nightstand and I was at least twenty minutes away by the time I realized it.
Quickly I ran through my options. One was to turn around and get it and spend a day full of music and talk radio or to keep going and be destined for a day listening to sneezing, coughing and keyboard clicking (I really need a new keyboard at work). On the one hand, I’m late for work at least three days a week so one more day really wouldn’t matter. But this particular day, I was on time.
Reluctantly, I pushed on, my work ethic prevailing (dammit). There was no checking email, no twitter, no web surfing and no bejeweled at the traffic lights. It was just me and the car radio.
I walked up and down four flights of stairs four times yesterday and the only sounds were my own footsteps. No music to make it easier. And as a side note, I’ve been doing this since July and one would think it would get easier after all of that time – well, it doesn’t. I’m just as winded now as I was the first time I did it.
I really wasn’t worried that I’d miss a call because anyone I’d want to talk to has my work number. This one thing I wasn’t concerned about was the one thing that got me. Sometime after lunch B4 left me a voicemail saying he had afterschool detention – something about mushrooms, a bad attitude and subsequent punishment. I missed that one and drove through carpool as usual to find no kid waiting. There’s twenty minutes of my life I won’t get back. EVER!
Despite the horror of a quiet and uninformed day, I did manage to live without my iPhone. Would I want to do it again? Oh heck no! It is torture, but doable.
As for B4 and detention – some of the boys were picking up mushrooms and throwing them hard against trees to watch them explode. A teacher asked them to stop and I’m assuming B4 got mouthy. Hubby picked him up.
Last night I got chapter 4 of the demon story typed. I printed off chaps 3 and 4 to flesh them out today at lunch. B3 said I have too much dialogue in my stories. Good to know. I estimated I have about 9K handwritten and now have over 14K typed. I’m moving along despite myself.
Well, I need to get moving. Have a wonderful day everyone.
Goals and initiative
I have none. The day job has been kickin’ my butt for months now, with no signs of easing up. I finally showed hubby the workload disparity between the department so at least he’d know I’m not just bitching to hear myself bitch. It’s a real problem and if I was the litigation type, I know I’d have a lawsuit. But I’m not, I’ll just work until I get fed up and walk out or run my mouth to the point where no one can take it and they fire me. Either way I’m to the point where I don’t really care.
I have been writing almost every day during lunch mostly for sanity’s sake, and have accumulated about 30 handwritten pages. If anyone else could read my writing I’d pay to have it typed. But they can’t so I’m not.
I have to drive to Barnes and Noble every Sunday to get B1 a NYT Sunday Edition. Yesterday was the first day I bought some books – THE SLAYER CHRONICLES by Heather Brewer and GRAVEMINDER by Melissa Marr. B2 needed a Barron’s AP Psych book as well.
The weather here has been wonderful. There’s been a little sore throat and coughs around the house, but not me. I intend to keep it that way with some old remedies that my grandma used to say worked.
My hairdresser is finally back to work after having surgery. Thank goodness because I haven’t had a haircut since May and my hair grows about an inch per month during the summer. It’s about four inches past my shoulders and heavy as heck. Now if I can find some time to go in.
The acupuncture has been working wonders on the hypo-thyroid. I’ve lost 20 pounds since July without changing much. I eat breakfast and dinner. I’ve always been a lunch-skipper. I do lift weights at least three days a week and try to take the stairs (4 flights) at least 4 times a day.
I plan to blog more often. It’s time to get back to what I like to do, not what I have to do. Have a wonderful day everyone.
My TBR Pile
First of all, rest in peace Steve Jobs. Thank you for the multiple iPODs we have, the iPHONES, and the MacBook Pro. You will go down in history as a true pioneer who changed the world.
My “to be read” pile is enormous. Here’s what in front of me right now:
1/2 of Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
Assumption of Right by Annabel Aidan (I think I bought this book twice)
Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr
Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Full Black by Brad Thor
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
That’s just what I see. I’m certain there are others hidden in the shelf somewhere.
Unless, I positively have to have it, I can’t buy anymore books until I read these, except for one – One Knight Only by Michelle Miles. It looks pretty juicy. And that’s it. No more, I’m done.
Okay, I try not to blog politics, but the clips of our President’s speech I heard yesterday where he compared himself to Reagan was effing nauseating. That’s all I’ll say.
And, I’m still not clear on what the Wall Street protesters want. Useful idiots I suppose. Don’t like capitalism – relocate to Europe and leave the rest of us Capitalists alone. Pissed off that you can’t get a job and have $80k in student loans. No one forced you into a school that you couldn’t afford. No one forced you to apply for those loans or sign a contract that you’d pay it back. I’m certain if you looked hard enough, you could have found less expensive choices for higher education. What, are you a little too good for a couple of years in community college to earn transferable credits???
I think it’s irresponsible to come out of school at least $50 to 80K in debt unless one is studying for a masters or a doctorate in a relatively lucrative field. I wouldn’t have dared take out such student loans (I think my total loans were about $7k) and my kids certainly won’t be doing that. Because we have a sense of PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!!! Do your homework people and don’t spend $60k on a Liberal Arts Degree from a private university. God bless the NYC Police.
I now have 25 handwritten pages of the new book. I haven’t made time to type it up yet, but I write almost every day at lunch.
Well, out of time. Have a wonderful day everyone!
Brrrrrr!
It was a whopping 40 degrees when I got up this morning. Autumn is officially here and that means I have to teach B4 how to warm up the truck in the mornings. I hate getting into a cold automobile and driving off.
It’s been busy, busy, busy around the Birch house. B1 is busy at UNCC, both B2 and B3 have been busy with school and volleyball and B4 is in lacrosse camp once a week and has been moved to algebra. All my other kids took algebra in 8th grade so he can do it to. He has to go to tutoring on Wednesdays though because he wasn’t in the pre-algebra math class last year even though I threw a fit to get him in there.
Volleyball will be over this month and the girls are only playing rec basketball and not school ball. That’s a big time saver. I don’t think B4 is going out for the school team this year, but you never know.
Believe it or not I’ve been writing almost every day at lunch. I have over 11K typed out and at least another 20 handwritten pages that I need to type. It’s moving along nicely despite the crap I have to deal with at the day job. Let’s just say if they don’t hire help soon, I’m going to have a come-apart. That’s southern for a nervous breakdown. We’ll see.
I spent a wonderful Labor Day weekend in New York City with my girls, my sister and some of her friends. The weather was great and it wasn’t quite as hot as it was two years ago when me and B2 went. We took the train this trip and I have to say, there are pros and cons with Amtrak instead of flying.
First of all, no one made you take off your shoes, no one cared how much your luggage weighed or made you pay for luggage period, you didn’t have to check anything and the seating was much roomier and reclined both head and feet. We all took blankets with us.
I probably saved around $600.00 taking the train vs. flying.
It was long. Very long. I’d recommend traveling in groups of two because the odd person out (which was me) was at the mercy of people doing the seating and they had no pity on me. On the trip up, a young gentleman who reeked of piss (or crystal meth) sat next to me. I tolerated it for a couple of hours but then he did something that made me get up and move quickly. After that, I sat with the girls. Yep three of us in two seats, but as I said, they were big seats.
On the way back I sat next to several people. One was a nice lady who got off the train in Washington DC. A couple stop later a young man sat next to me who proceeded to blast the same four Katy Perry songs for hours from his MP3 player. Everyone around him could hear the music through the guy’s headphones. I’m thinking he should turn in his man card on that one. Finally around 10 pm someone asked him to turn it down.
He got off at Greensboro and another gentlemen who had obviously just eaten something loaded with garlic sat next to me. The girls were asleep by then so I just endured it until Charlotte.
Now these were the exceptions and I believe someone was playing a cruel joke on me. There were people of all kinds on the train. Just like at the airport.
Here’s some photos of our trip. I didn’t take as many as I should have, but I never do.
B3 and B2 goofing off in a souvenir store on 5th Avenue.
B2 and B3 walking up 5th Avenue
Waiting for the train.
In Times Square, in front of the hotel.
I’m not sure where this one was taken.
Hopefully I’ll be a little more consistent with the blog. Goodness knows I still have much to talk about. Have a wonderful day.
Remembering the Victims of 9/11
I watched the coverage of the 9/11 Memorial Service today as well as a few documentaries of that day. The service was moving and the documentaries brought it all back like it was yesterday.
What they didn’t show was those assholes cheering in the Middle East after the tragedy. That needs to be televised and televised often just so everyone is clear who the enemy is.
Back to School Week
I don’t know what happened to summer, but back-to-school officially started in my house on Monday with B1 started his first day of college classes. I felt really bad for him yesterday because his classes started at 8 am, he had three classes and then had to work from 4 to 11 pm. But that’s life and most of us have gone through or are currently going through a similar situation. He’ll survive.
Since he’s commuting and still working and saving us a ton of money, hubby and I decided to get him a MacBook Pro. I’m not sold on those MacBook Airs yet. Call me old and untrusting but I’m not sold on “the cloud” or any other remote storage system. There are too many things that could go wrong so for now, I would like my own hard drive please. Unfortunately, I think this idea of no hard drives is catching on fast.
B4 starts school today and it’s officially back to my short work day. I completely forgot to get his hair cut. He’s going into 8th grade. One more year and I’m completely done with middle school. I didn’t have to do much shopping for him, just new shorts and shoes because he’s wearing uniforms for one more year.
He had a reading project over the summer. I HATE when teachers do this. Few boys like to read for pleasure and even fewer like to read during the summer. They also had an optional work packet they could complete over the summer for prizes. When I read optional I tossed it in the trash. It wasn’t going to happen. I understand the need to prevent “summer loss”, but give me a freakin’ break.
He got into a fight yesterday. If I told him once, I’ve told him at least ten times to quit worrying about what a piece of trash kid says to him or about him and quit beating him up for crying out loud. This kid goes to the same school but I don’t think they have any classes together. Today should be interesting but hopefully they won’t do anything. I threatened B4 with swift and severe punishment if anything else happened.
The girls start school tomorrow and this is B3′s freshman year in high school. I was really proud of her when she made the varsity volleyball team. She’s still a little unsure of where all her classes are, but she’ll be okay. Two of her tough classes are Algebra II honors and Biology honors but she also has Art and PE. She’ll be okay.
B2 is a junior and has a pretty tough schedule this year. She also made the varsity volleyball team and she’s really come along way from last year with jump serves and playing the net. They’ve already had three games, losing two and winning one. They have a game tonight and tomorrow night.
I’ve taken a picture of all their schedules on my iPhone, so I’ll know where they’re at. Pretty clever or at least I think so.
It’s less than two weeks until our trip to New York. I stopped by the Amtrak station to pick up our tickets. We’ll see how this train thing goes. We may have to go back to flying.
As for the new novel, I have about 11k words typed, two chapters red-inked up and another five handwritten pages waiting to be typed. It feels like there are pieces of this story everywhere. If I ever lost my messenger bag, I’d be screwed.
Well, I have to get the boys up. I hope everyone has a wonderful day.
The days . . .
. . . got away from me. I can’t believe it’s already August. Tax-free weekend is coming up, so I have to make a list of school supplies and other stuff for back to school. I know the kids all need new Sperry’s and the girls need new Rainbow flip-flops.
B2 got her driver’s license this past Friday. She practiced and practiced that three-point until I was getting car sick, but she nailed it. She drove herself and B3 to school volleyball tryouts yesterday at 8 am. It was a little gray and foggy so she turned on her headlights but left them on. She didn’t know what the “dinging” was when she turned the car off. She knows now. Thankfully, someone was there with jumper cables and all was fixed.
B3′s softball team won the PONY National tournament. They played teams from NJ, NY, DE, VA, PA, NC and even Canada. There are some who play down this tournament as being inferior to other softball organizations but heck, at least we weren’t beating up the same teams we normally play.
B1 got back from the beach on Sunday and is back to work. I got to get his tuition, books and parking paid soon.
I just found the sheet listing the books that B4 has to read over the summer. Oops! I ordered THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman and OKAY FOR NOW by Gary D. Schmidt. Of course I already owned several of the books on the list, but those are “girl” books, or so he said. Heck, I’ll probably read THE GRAVEYARD BOOK myself. B3 has to read THE GOOD EARTH by Pearl S. Buck but I bought that back in June.
B2 has yet to tell me what book she has to read. I’m must be psychic because I see cliff notes in her future. She’s not a big reader.
Somehow Kitty got into the garage last night. I knew something was up because Boo, my skiddish kitty who has only warmed up to B3, was meowing and getting in my way for five solid minutes before I realized that Kitty wasn’t around. Kitty is normally under my feet. So at 5 am this morning I’m searching for this cat. I peeked into B2′s room to see if she had shut Kitty in there. She wasn’t there but I heard a muffled meow. B2 heard it too and we followed it to the basement and into the garage where she was hiding in the ceiling between the floors. We got her down, gave her some affection and brought her back inside. Silly Kitty.
I have over 10k words on the demon story and I’ve received at least ten “close” but no solid offers from agents for the ghost story and offers to re-read if I make some recommended changes. I’ll figure out what to do with it after I finish the demon story.
Well, I have to get the girls up for volleyball tryouts and get to work. I hope everyone has a wonderful day.
