Monthly Archives: June 2009

Jun
22

Lonely Magnolia

Posted in random | 1 Comment
I have a strange little magnolia tree in my backyard. In all the time I’ve lived there, it’s never really blossomed right…and it’s rather sporadic when it does. The flowers are magnificent when they do come out, though. I noticed Saturday morning that we had just a single blossom hanging out there, so I ran out to take a picture. You can see my finger in the lower part (holding down the branch), to give you a sense of scale. It’s probably bigger than my head, honestly. If the tree produced them on a regular basis, I’d probably put some in a bowl (floating or something artsy like that), but it seems kind of mean to me to remove the sole fruit of its labors for the sake of vanity.… Read more
Jun
19

Drafting

Posted in craft, editing, writing | 1 Comment
Well, after working until 1:30 every night this past week, I’ve finally finished the editing. Or at least the second run through of it. Plugged in plot holes. Got rid of plot points that either never went anywhere or didn’t make much sense. (Damn my panster-self!). Is there more to do? Oh yes, but less than there was. Kind of freaks me out, honestly. I printed it out at work today and I have to say it’s a bit overwhelming to think I managed to write nearly 400 pages in a year. Less than that, actually, if I’m really honest with myself. Even though I started the process about this time last year, I didn’t become *serious* about it until the fall. I had about 28,000 words by then, but I was still half-assing it. Come January, I instituted my 1000-word-a-day policy and stuck to it. By the end of… Read more
Jun
14

The Sixth Sense

Posted in Connor, grumpy as fuck, mornings | 4 Comments
You know, I’d like this to be about how I can talk to dead people, or see into the future or that I’ve got massive powers of telekinesis. (Okay, actually I do think I have a touch of clairaudience and I’m pretty sure I’ve done a little astral travel now and then. And I’ve *definitely* had sleep paralysis, but I don’t think that counts. Either way, I digress). But no. This is more along the lines of how my kids know when I’m trying to sleep in. You know, when you’ve been up until 2 or 3 either writing, or editing, or reading, or playing WoW or whatever. And you’re thinking, well at least tomorrow is Saturday. I can sleep in. But, no. No, you can’t. It’s 6 am, and I hear a “thud, thud, thud, thud” coming down the hallway. “Mom. Will you come downstairs with me?” “No. I’m… Read more
Jun
9

How Much is Too Much?

Posted in sequals, writing | 3 Comments
So.  I somehow managed to snag myself a copy of LKH’s latest: Skin Trade.  There was a time, several years ago, when I’d snatch the latest AB: Vampire Hunter book off the shelves and read it in a matter of hours.  I’ve had this one for at least 3 or 4 days now…and I’m barely into the 7th chapter (about 50 pages).  I literally put it down every few paragraphs.  Admittedly, I’m busy. Kids, writing, job, all of it.  My reading time has gone down the crapper and to be honest, there’s very few books out there that hold my attention that long these days.  (Doesn’t stop the slow pile in just about every corner…I have *TONS* of books and manga, as mr myn can attest to). Still.  Putting a book down every few paragraphs?  There’s a lot of dialogue in here, which is fine, but thus far it’s been… Read more
Jun
4

Termites and Winged Ants and Gazebos, Oh My

Posted in blog | 4 Comments
I called an exterminator yesterday.  Tuesday actually, but they came yesterday and did their thing.  I had originally called because we were getting ants.  Little ants falling out of the windowsills in the kitchen and big ass winged carpenter ants coming through the front.  Lucky me, Connor was quite willing to capture many of them in his bug zoo and bring them up to my bed at 6 am the other day.  (For fun later we put a grasshopper in there…it ate the ants.  Yay!) So, not liking where this was going, I decided pest people were in order.  I called Home Paramount and they stopped by.  Of course, neglecting the fact that I left work early to try to get home in time for the 2 hour window, sat in bumper to bumper traffic (early, ha!), picked up the kids (because you know, if I had just shown up,… Read more