How Was Your Weekend?

I don't usually go into monologues about my weekend, but this one was crazy.

I had it planned, Saturday was going to be golden. I was going to write like the wind, crank up my word count and generally bury myself at my keyboard. My older daughter had soccer clinic in the morning and my husband had a car rally. My daughter wanted to go so I said I would go ahead and meet the rally at their first stopping point and drop her off. Saturday night was also my nephews' birthday party and their mom asked if my other two kids could come over early. Even better.

Soccer clinic coach said clinic would be over an hour earlier than planned so I went ahead and went to pick up my daughter an hour early. Nope, they weren't done. I could have writing for that hour. I didn't bother bringing anything to read so it was frustrating. But hey, I was going to have the afternoon. Got my daughter home and ready and told my other kids to get ready as well because after I dropped of their sister it would be close to time to drop them off.

Off we go in the convertible. Beautiful weather for a quick jaunt into the mountains. Of course there is an accident on the freeway so we were stuck for awhile. But it was okay, once we got passed the accident we had plenty of time. We get off the freeway and head up the mountain road. And we keep going...and going...and going.... I had thought the restaurant the car club was meeting at was about 14 miles in. But we were still climbing. Son asks "how much gas do we have?"

Oh, crap.

Yeah, I was at about an 1/8th of a tank and still hadn't reached our destination. Oh, and there was no cell service. I'm about to turn around when we spy a ranger station. I ask the ranger where this restaurant is and he tells me I could walk to it from where we are. Anyway, we head to the restaurant and of course beat the car club by a half hour. Finally they show. My kids are hungry, it is well past lunch but they are too irritated to stay. I hand over my kid to my husband we take off. And I find out we have gone 28 miles. We have to go back another 28 miles to reach the gas station. So with many prayers, we head back down the mountain. Luckily, it is down hill. My son is scared of mountain roads while his sister loves them so it was an interesting drive. I'm trying not to use gas so I'm using physics to keep this car going. Anyway, we did make with probably a lot more gas to spare, but I don't like that feeling. We fill up and I head back to my in laws' house with the kids. And of course we hit traffic.

By the way, did you know you can get sunburned in a convertible?

I got the kids dropped off, got home and it was after 4:30. I had to be back at my SIL's at 6. My golden day was toast. Don't you hate when that happens? Yesterday was a little easier and I got some writing done. My daughter had a planned sleepover with a friend. Another friend called and she got invited over as well, so I have three 5th grade girls over right now. I'm taking them to an amusement park, so I guess writing is on hold today.

So how was your weekend?

Where Did the Weekend Go?

Don't you loved those plans which completely fall apart?

I had ambitions to write 7000 words this weekend. I think I eked out about 1000. Saturday started out okay but we ended up taking the crunched truck into the body shop and then headed for a much needed Costco trip. These trips take at least two hours and leave me totally wiped out. It took another hour to put everything away then it was time for dinner. Friday was my FIL's birthday, so my husband grilled him a steak took dinner over to him. With my MIL still recovering from surgery, they couldn't go out to celebrate so we tried to do the next best thing. Saturday night we got together with the rest of the family for cake and ice cream. I got about 500 words done.

Sunday I knew was going to be my day. My daughter had a friend over and that kept my girls entertained. Hubby was out doing yard work. The laundry was under control. Perfect time to write. However, I went to Michelle's blog where she talked about Facebook. When I got over there, I discovered other people like Tori, Bailey and Teresa. I ended up horsing around on that site for awhile.

Ah well, it was fun, but now I really need to focus on my writing this week. I think part of it was I needed a break. But the writing I did do was pretty good and I managed to get through a rough patch.

I posted over at Costco Junkie today. It also appears I fixed the feed on this blog. Not sure how I did it, but it seems to work now.

Something to Look Forward To

I'm glad the weekend is over. I know most people don't feel that way, but they haven't had to be home with my husband and kids. Hubby was pretty miserable. He felt pretty good on Saturday and during the afternoon we did some furniture window shopping. My family room furniture is falling apart and we have decided we want a partners desk in the home office so we can both work in there. After an afternoon of traipsing through furniture stores with three whiny kids, he was pretty miserable. Sensing our weakness, the kids were particularly obnoxious and by Saturday night I was ready to explode. Sunday didn't start out too well either. Hubby was miserable and just wanted to rest and be left alone. My daughters were awful and he finally ended up locking himself in our bedroom. He was in pain most of the day and took a long nap. He didn't do anything yesterday and everything fell to me. I am so biting my tongue right now, I may choke on the blood. But I won't say anything. I was a bit cranky yesterday to say the least. He did manage to read the entire Potter book this weekend so I get to read it next. Today he seemed better. I really hope we are over a hump.

Now something to look forward to. I have a special guest tomorrow. Author Susanne Dunlap will be answering some questions about writing and about her book "Liszt's Kiss" which I had the good luck to read, so make sure you stop by.

Tumultuous

I really planned on blogging all week last week but it was an odd week.

I got bad news from my agent. My book is nearing the end of the line with editors and we had to make the decision about where to go next. We could take it to smaller publishers, but she didn't think that was a good idea. Based on her reasoning, I agree with her. Ergo, the book will soon retire to the ol' hard drive. It won't be alone and I have to say this book went further than any before it and who knows, it may eventually find its way to publication eventually. Why it was rejected and why we are letting it go is a blog post all on its own.

I'm not a big chocolate fan so I couldn't really bury my disappointment in a Cadbury bar. I did get a manicure and a pedicure. I also got my hair colored and bought a bunch of new clothes. I also went to a cocktail party with my hubby and Friday we took off for the weekend up the coast just the two of us.

While I'm disappointed, I'm not devistated. In the general scheme of things, not getting this book published is not all that tragic. I suppose that is what keeps me in perspective. As tough as rejection is, it is not the end of the world.

Now I have to get myself writing. I spent much of the weekend sorting through story ideas in my head. I have to admit, it is difficult mustering up a whole lot of enthusiasm right now. I feel like I'm walking on creative eggshells. My biggest problem is that I think too much and I'm not relying on the insticnt which has guided me all these years. So now I need to silence that little voice and go with the flow.

Now I'm back to playing catch up on the blogs. I've got a little jet lag and a bit of a hangover (wine tasting), so I might have to wait until tomorrow.

I'd Rather Be Writing

Greetings from Cookie Central! I'm taking a quick break from cookie duty to post. I picked up 66 cases of Girl Scout cookies and now I need to divide them up between the girls. Ugh!
I started a new story and I'm eager to immerse myself in it.

I'm struggling with writing what I want and what I think will sell. Unfortunately, I found myself not focusing on what I want to write but what will do well in the market. Big mistake. One thing my agent liked about "Tamsyn Unbound" (that's the name of my book) was she got a sense that I had a good time writing it. And I did. I didn't worry about the market when I wrote it, I just thought it was a fun story to write. Now I need to work on something new and I could feel the doubt crowding in. How was I going to write something that would sell? Talk about missing the point. I started a few things and I was dissatisfied with them. I was worried too much about the elements and how I thought they would fit in the marketplace.

This time, I went with how I felt, wrote the book the way I envisioned it. And I'm having fun. Because isn't that what its all about?

Anyway, hope everyone has a great weekend. Wednesday was my husband's birthday and today is my mom's. We are going to Benihana's this weekend to celebrate. Tomorrow is picture day for baseball and we are going to scrimmage another team. That should be fun. What are you up to?

How Was Your Weekend?

I had one of those mixed bag weekends.

I finished my revisions on my ms. I started going through it a third time and noticed I was skipping through it and I knew what the next line was. I figured if I looked at it again, I'd start screwing it up. Sometimes in our need to polish, we polish out that which makes it unique. So I stopped. I'm pleased with it. I don't think it is my best writing because it is contemporary and I think my voice shines in historical. But what do I know?

I yelled at my kids a lot. Actually, I yelled at Diva the most. She isn't human right now. She spent the night at a friend's house on Saturday. The other two kids were so well behaved without her. She really knows how to stir things up. She's going to make a great lawyer. When she came home Sunday she was such a brat and so obnoxious, I made her stay upstairs and out of my sight. She ended up taking a nap.

I made cookie dough for Christmas cookies. Got the sugar cookie dough made without incident but when I started on the gingerbread, I discovered I had no more cinnamon. Diva has gone through a cinnamon toast phase, so I'm sure she used it up. Had to run to the store and get more. I hate interruptions of that nature.

Went appliance shopping on Saturday. I bought a new cook top, two dishwashers, a trash compactor, a warming drawer, a range hood, a microwave, a wine chiller and an outdoor set of burners. We are getting ready to remodel the kitchen so the contractor wanted the appliances planned so the cabinets could be designed around them. It was pretty fun. The stuff won't be delivered until March, but we are now committed to the remodel.

I found a missing book. I was really eager to read Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas but when I went to pull it off my shelf, it was gone. I found it yesterday in a suitcase. I guess I packed it when I went to Hawaii.

We got a Christmas tree. It's still in the box. We decided to go artificial this year. It's pre-lit so we are going to miss out on the yearly husband-wife light fight. I did get the shivers when he told the kids that next year we will have the artificial tree and a real tree. Now he decides to be Mr. Christmas.