There's something defective with me.

See - I set myself these goals. Submitting my full to a publisher and entering the Golden Heart Contest (deadline 11/16 - but I'm filling out my forms today.)

I hit a speed bump in my goals that sent me flying for a bit. See - there is a word limit for the genres I'm working towards - 65,000 words.
I fudged it a little when I wrote my first draft and pitched it to an editor. On my first draft, I was at about 72,000 words, and I figured there was a lot of fluff up in there, it would be a piece of cake to cut.

I finished the book, submitted the first three chapts to the publisher, and put aside the draft, working happily on my New Shiny Book. When I got the request for the full, and Golden Hearts came around at the same time, I realized NOW is the time to buckle back into that old book and tidy it all up. (It's also good to step away from a project for a bit, to get some perspective.)

So I go into my edits, keeping in mind I need to cut out a bunch of words, and solidify plot, and nail in emotions.

I come out on the back end - 88,000 words. Holy hell. This was my speed bump. Trust me, there was much wailing, hand wringing and Cheese Nip Eating.

But I didn't quit. I buckled up, and dove back in to cut chop and slice out unnecessary words, sentences, scenes. (Oh the Soccer scene I cut, it was a thing of beauty. It made me a little weepy to chop it all out. But it had to go, it didn't move the plot forward. But OOOOoooh it was pretty)

On Sunday I finished, and word count was at 63,674. I forced myself to relax, and realize I DID IT. I made my goal. I sat down with a bottle of wine and a Nora Roberts book. And tried to relax.

Here's where the defective part comes in. I couldn't relax. Its not good enough. In the back of my mind, I keep thinking I should have worked harder, been at this point sooner, in fact, how did I let this happen in the first place?

My shoulders are aching, my back hurts, and I still am forcing myself to stay up too late, and work hard.
But I'm not working smart.
I KNOW there's a certain point when my focus has run off. Where I'm just going through the motions and not making smart decisions. So why do I force myself to keep working?

Because I am defective. Because underneath thus fluffy layer of Eazy Laid Back chick (that's how you all see me, right?) there's a type A girl who can't stop pushing herself for MORE.

And when it all comes down to it, Old Chap, deep in my heart I know this is NOT the book that will be picked up. There are flaws. Things that I don't like. So why am I forcing this? because there's the chance, and because I am defective.

And because I have the need to follow this through.

Weekend Review

Friday night we went to our friend's house for Game Night. To break the ice we played a game of Apples to Apples, and one of the cards was Richard Simmons.

Our chums were going on and on about how hilarious R.S. was on this episode of Who's Line is it Anyway? They were right - I couldn't stop giggling. Its a bit long, but I promise, the hilarity doesn't stop.



Then on Saturday I got lots of great work done on the Book, and we helped pull off a successful Surprise Party for our friend B.
Sunday - clean the house (boo hiss) and more work on the book. Around 6 I did manage to trim my word count down enough, and I took a break to relax for the rest of the night.

Not a wild weekend, but a productive one.
Happy Monday, Old Chap. I hope this week brings both of us much success.

I haz hot dog

No Wombat Pictures today

Sorry Old Chap, no pictures of El Wombat today. For some reason time just got away from me this week.
El Wombat has been especially naughty lately, I'm not sure why. He was doing really well with leaving the trash alone, but for the past few days he's been getting into it and dragging it around the house.

I'd like to claim that its because the trash was especially yummy, with tons of gourmet opptions for a hungry little Wombat... but no. Just messy coffee grounds, some deli lunch meat bags and salad remnents. Why would he even want that?

Also - he's gotten at the rug by our door, pulling up little tufts of the rug. Its not a super expensive rug, but none the less it looks crappy now and has to be replaced. or I'll just ignore it for a while, nobody uses that door anyway.

I've been working furiously on edits on the Brewmaster story (still!!) and my contest entry.
Once I'm done with that, I can jump back into the new story, Alice Gets a Bunion.

And I can feel ideas stirring for the next one. I can feel something percolating, circling, I have a few ideas of scenes, but nothing solid yet. I'll keep poking at it, see what bites. It's there, just waiting to spring out at me!

I'm kind of bummed out I'm not participating fully in NaNoWriMo. It makes me sad, because I keep reading blogs from friends who are getting into it, digging deep, working hard. And I'm not with them in the trenches. But the fact is, I have projects I need to finish first.

Today at the donut factory we're having a Book swap. Drop a book on the table, for who ever to help themselves to. So of course I lugged in three bags of Romance Novels I already read and aren't 'keepers.'
Every time I go up, I drop another handfull off, and every time I go up, they're snatched up by people. Meanwhile, the mystery novels, the bible study novels, and the Book Club selections are not dissapearing as fast.

So... I guess more people read romance novels then I would suspect!

Its really not that hard.

Things the Big Guy says that will produce a positive reaction:

- It's just water weight.

- You're right!

- Lets go out for dinner.

- I brought home flowers, just because.

- You're butt is so much smaller then hers.

- The FUNNIEST thing happened today, hang on, let me turn off the TV so I can tell you the best story. I KNOW you're going to laugh!

- I got you another glass of wine while I was up.

- Let's watch a romantic comedy tonight while I give you a back rub, without any ulterior motives.

- You're building muscle!

- No, you should have the last one.

- Hey, how's your book going?

- I'll turn off the TV so you can have quiet while you read.

- I told you that b*tch was crazy.



Things that will produce a negative reaction:

- How fast are you driving? You do know the limit is 55 here, right?

- hmmm - what is this? It tastes healthy. (With Mr. Yuck face)

- Hey, you're not watching this show, are you? Let's watch this new Frank Zappa DVD I got instead.

- Somebody should really walk the dog.

- Let me ask my Old Lady. (meaning me.)

- (Exasperated sigh) - I can't believe you haven't memorized the channel numbers for all 300 tv channels we have. Ugh.

- Hey, do you know where the pickles are? Where my keys are? Where my glasses are? Where the bread went? What I did with my wallet?

- Turn left. (points right) You mean left? Yes, Left. (points right)

Don't fall in the water

When Big Brother and I were growing up, we had the fantastic shag carpet in our living room so popular in the 70s, resplendent in blues and greens.

This of course, spurned many games of 'Don't fall in the Water.' Leaping from couch to chair to ottoman to VCR chest (don't tell mother) and trying not to touch the carpet.

It's the only thing we can pinpoint back to our mutual fear of octupus, jellyfish and squid. We never took any trips to the ocean as wee tikes, growing up in the 'burbs of Milwaukee didn't expose us to much Ocean activity. There was never any one incident that would have us share this fear.

So you can only imagine my horror at this article. I'm just about gagging looking at this photo.



Enormous Jellyfish Sink Japanese Fishing Boat - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News - FOXNews.com

Posted using ShareThis

Random Mash up

Today at the gym my "serial killer" friend was there again. As the Big Guy and I were leaving he laughingly told us he couldn't allow us to leave.
Hardy har har!! I bet you say that to ALL Your victims before you eat their brains and sew their flesh into a lovely lampshade.

Actually - I chuckled and said I'd be more then willing to stay at the gym rather then go into the donut factory. I like to think that if I befriend him, maybe he won't kill me. ((Crossing fingers.))

YES- I have convinced The Big Guy to join me at the Gym!
But we don't even speak. I go do my thing, he does his thing (not including those sissy leg thigh master machines) and we meet up at the Elliptical. Still not talking. As much as he threatens, he hasn't tried to smooch on me yet.

For some reason the fact that I'm a 'blogger' has come up a few random times in the past few days. One friend is moving across the country and asked for me to help him set up a blog so he can keep in touch with everyone.

Another friend announced to a group rather proudly that I was a 'blogger' and people oohed. (okay, that felt kind of good. But it was like my mother oohing - she doesn't really understand this whole Interwebs thing, so any involvement I have on it is scary and exciting.)

Hey - people - its free!! And also - quite Easy!

I just happen to like working on my writing in another format, and connecting with other writer types. I like sharing little bits of my life with people.

And of course, I hope that someday this blog will be connected with a well trafficked web site promoting my multiple books.

Happy Tuesday Old Chap. Do something good for yourself today.