WIP Update

Well, I didn't get started until really late today (after 3, and then I got a phone call from Phyllis, so just about after 4 really) on my writing, but I got in over 1,300 words. So current stat is 6,345. That makes 43,655 to go. I need a few more days like that. Actually, I need every day like that, if I can just keep from stepping on any more hornets or falling down any more stairs.

And actually, I'm in the middle of a fairly easy scene since I know what needs to happen, so hopefully tomorrow will be a good day too.

In other writing-related news, I got the newsletter out today. I'm so random on when I get that thing done, I really should be better about it.

And ack, I almost forgot a really important thing for today...I ordered my new laptop computer so I don't have to fight with this one anymore about running out of space. A Gateway M460XL with an 80GB hardrive (!), a Pentium M Processor of 1.87 Ghz, and 512MB of RAM. Whoo-Hoo!! I'm going to use the money from the Pepe Lopez gig to pay for it. And, if I'm lucky, with that invoice and some of the others, I can prove to AT&T that yes, I really am starting a writing business, and I can get it paid for through their fund for new business ventures started by ex-employees. Double bonus, if they approve it. You never know. When I talked to them on the phone that one time, they were like "Uh, you want to like write for a living?" like it was something inconceivable to them.

Revenge of the Sith (and the Hornet)

Some days, I shouldn't get out of bed. Yesterday being one of those days...since soon after I did, I stepped on a hornet. In the house. With no shoes on. So yesterday I was under the influence of benadryl, but I'm still itching like the dickens and my foot is approximately 2 times it's normal size. Sigh.

On Monday we went to see Revenge of the Sith. I really didn't want to go. The last one (The Clone Wars or whatever it was) was just painful for me to watch. You have to understand that the very first movie I ever saw in a theatre in my life was the original Star Wars: A New Hope (though nobody called it A New Hope back then). At the time, we were living in the wilds of Arkansas on a rabbit farm (seriously, I am not kidding). I was only around 5. Maybe even four. We had to drive for over an hour to get to a town that had a movie theatre and we passed a cow in the middle of the road on the way there and a dead cow in the middle of the road on the way back. There were even people all dressed up like Darth Vader and Chewbacca there. It was an amazing thing. See, by the time it made it anywhere near us out there in Arkansas, it had already hit big. That was, I imagine, the only reason that my dad drove us all out there to see it.

So it has been the movie to which I have held up all other movies to. And it didn't hurt that my little 5 year-old self thought Mark Hamil was one heck of a cutie. Okay, looking back, the hair really has to go, but it was my first crush. I even stayed to read the credits so I could find out what his real name was. (okay, yeah, I was a tad bit precocious)

When Lucas started coming out with the "first" movies, or pre-quels or whatever you want to call them (ahem, crap), I was so disappointed. The Phantom Menace was barely acceptable, though it had a few moments. I, like so many, wanted to personally wring Jar-Jar's neck. The next one was just awful. Unbelievable. Couldn't stand it. But Revenge of the Sith, thank god, had some actual plot. I still don't think any of the newer ones compare to the first one, but at least this last one brought something to the table.

How big a geek am I, anyway? I guess it could be worse. I could be discussing the Star Trek movies.

Sigh. My butt is sopping wet.

Yep, that's right. My butt is currently sporting a nice big wet spot. One of the things I'm supposed to be doing for my back is wearing an ice pack, so I've been walking around with a ziploc baggie full of ice stuffed down my pants (works much better with pants than with shorts, let me tell you). Well, I think it's time to retire this particular baggie since it's leaked all over me. I just know that the Fed Ex delivery guy will show up at any minute. That's just the way these things work.

And yeah, I could change into another pair of pants, but that would require getting up and going upstairs and leaving the laptop where I've finally just settled down to write.

The Tequila Update

It seems I was caught up in the guy's spam filter, so they don't hate me or anything. In fact, so far they seem to like what I've sent in for the content update for Pepe Lopez. It's going fairly well. I'm not actually a huge tequila drinker (is anyone?), but I do know quite a bit about parties, so that part is shaping up nicely. 2,654 words and counting. I need to finish that up this week if I can.

This Bites (WIP) Update

So I haven't really written much in my WIP since I've been busy with the tequila thing and unpacking (all the clothes are FINALLY unpacked!!! -- which reminds me, I seriously need to purge my closets. I've got way too much stuff from the 80's and I hope to god that stuff never comes back into fashion). But, I have had a few mental breakthroughs (the vamp. love interest taking my heroine to see someone "turned", a reference to Countess Bathory, "what, am I going to be tested on this??"), so there's some progress. I hope to actually work on it some today. I kind of hate it when someone asks me what my novel is about, since it's technically a vampire story. I know they've been done to death, but I'm doing something different (so sayeth everyone, yeah, yeah, I know) and funny. More Todd Strasser, Niki Burnham, and Cameron Dokey smooshed together than Anne Rice, if you know what I mean. And if you do, you probably read as many YA novels as I do.

In non-writing, non-health related news...

I've come to believe that my husband and I are the last people on the planet who do not watch reality TV. I've never seen an episode of Survivor or any of the I-can't-find-a-mate-on-my-own-so-let-me-debase-myself-on-TV shows. In fact, since we moved into the house at the end of April, we haven't even plugged in the TV. We're even thinking about just keeping one TV in the house instead of two (in the bedroom, for when you're folding clothes and things). They just don't fit in well in a Victorian house.

It's just weird. I don't get the whole reality TV thing at all. It's so unreal. And embarassing. I don't know why anyone ever wants to go on those shows. Maybe I don't have that fame gene. I'd just like to be moderately successful selling my stories. I don't need people to recognize me on the street. If you do watch it, why do you? I'm really curious.

Of course, I have to FINISH something first, so enough of this blogging. Gotta get back to writing.

Secrets

I was taking a gander at Agent Obscura, an agent's blog, and came across her post about PostSecret. Whatever the guy's motivation for doing the site (could be purely commercial, as one comment accuses him or could be something more altruistic and artistic), it's a powerful thing. People are so much more honest when they are anonymous.

I'm not sure what my secret would be. Sometimes I feel like I have hundreds. Other times, none.

I could say more, but I'd just turn maudlin, and we don't want that.

The good news...

The good news is that the MRI showed that I have a bulging disc, but that it isn't intruding into the spinal column. The bad news is that I've still got back pain with no clear culprit. According to some stuff I read online, a bulging disc may or may not even be a symptom / cause of pain.

Great.

I'd really like a big, bad wicked witch to point my finger at and go "Aha! Now I know why I've been suffering! Take that, you hag!" [ finds treatment. lives happily and pain free forever after. ] Oh well.

Back to the list of do's and don'ts...do drink water, take my vitamins and Bayer, don't lift heavy stuff, etc., etc.

Maybe someday I'll profit off of this and write a story about a short Amer-Asian back pain sufferer who finds a higher calling. Yeah, or something like that.

Tequila Updates & Ask Yahoo...Why?

Well, I sent my first draft of the Pepe Lopez content to the guys at Leapfrog Interactive last Thursday and have heard nary a word since then. Ugh. I don't want to go any further with it until I do, to make sure I'm not headed down a totally different path. So, we'll see. I left a message on the guy's voice mail this morning.

In other news...I'm an avid reader of Yahoo's "Ask Yahoo!" section where people write in and ask weird things like How does a word become a swear word? and What's the story behind R.E.M.'s song "What's the Frequency, Kenneth"? Random questions, sometimes random answers, but I learn something new all the time.

Well, today's question was where did the word snob originate from? The answer was interesting enough, but the end of the post was kind of funny...well, sort of. There must be some layoffs going on at Yahoo:

Any other such fascinating queries, please do drop them in the mail. But address the letter to yourself, dear boy, as we'll be summering on the unemployment line, and thus be incommunicado.

So sleepy...

I don't know what's wrong with me today, but I am so incredibly sleepy. I got up earlier than normal since something caused a loud noise outside which in turn caused a loud noise inside as Grace flipped out and went under the bed. Then, since I was "up" I remembered that Tom might be by today to install the crown moulding, so I ran downstairs to move my grandmother's china out of the way. He hasn't showed up since the sun came back out. And I've been waiting on the plumber to come by...and to drive to my meeting with the Leapfrog Interactive people at 3 PM. I wish I'd taken a nap instead of all this waiting around. I did get some work on the YA site done today, but not really any writing. It's no real excuse, but I'm just so deadly tired. I think I could fall asleep standing up.

A new project

So the unpacking thing is going along, albeit very slowly as I still can't bend forward. I've perfected bending backward and to the side, though it looks very funny. Dr. B said today I seem worse since my tumble down the stairs and she's setting up an MRI for me to make sure I don't have a disc problem. Keep your fingers crossed.

In writing news...I did a little work on my book (only about 200 words worth) and have another few pages wrapped up in my head. And a guy from Leapfrog Interactive (a local Louisville company) contacted me. He'd found my "about me" site somehow or other. And it looks like I'll be doing some web writing for them for Pepe Lopez, a tequila brand. I'm supposed to meet with their creative director tomorrow. Ugh. Which means driving to someplace I've never been. I'm horrible with directions. South? What's that? It sounds like a fun project though.

General Stupidity & Randomness

According to the spam I get in my Yahoo account (literally hundreds a day), about an equal number of Christians are looking for dates as there are those in search of, er, enlargement (either the male enhancement type or the female "bigger is better" type). Of course, they could be partly the same group of people.

I have no idea who writes these spam emails, but they definitely have one track minds. And bad spelling practices. I don't know how they decide who gets which e-mails either. I also get a ton of the South African money scam ones, and Tony has never, ever gotten one. I don't know how that is possible. Those have been going on for over 20 years, orginally as letters. How people get suckered into believing that some relative of a former ruling member of whatever country needs them to smuggle out millions of dollars is beyond me. Tony doesn't get the raunchy cheerleader ones either, and I'm sure he'd be far more receptive to those than I am.

Anyway, on to general stupidity. Last night that was me. I didn't turn on the light when I was going down the basement stairs and somehow managed to miss the last three steps. I wound up scraping my foot up and landing on my already much abused tailbone, so I'm feeling quite crippled.

My goal today is to get enough of the desk cleared off so that I can actually do some writing. Wait, you say, aren't you writing right now? Hmm, well, yeah. But under a handicap of piles of stuff and a cat that thinks mousepads are cat pads. Maybe I should just suck it up.

I'm not as much of a neat freak as Tony is, but piles and piles of stuff do get on my nerves. Actually, the worst thing for me right now is the state of my books. It's grating on me. They are piled and piled and piled in no order whatsover and most books ARE NOT next to books of the same height. Yes, that's anal, but ohmigosh it really bugs me. I used to spend hours rearranging my books when I was little. I need about another 3 or 4 bookshelves. Soon.

National Dinner Tour

This is the coolest thing I've seen today: Marc Horowitz's National Dinner Tour. This guy was working as a photographer's assistant for a Crate and Barrel photo shoot and he wrote "Dinner w/Marc" and his phone number on one of the blackboards. You know how sterile C&B rooms are - they look like people never live in them. I probably even got that catalog, since you can't get off their list once you are on it (though I do have to admit, with some chagrin, that I like some of their furniture, even though they are a big chain). Anyway, people started calling him and now he's doing a national dinner tour meeting with strangers. I love that.

Unpacking...

I've got a lot of books. I know Tony says that all the time (usually with a slight grimace on his face), but you really realize it when you're unpacking them. Especially when you don't have enough bookshelves to unpack to. I'm triple and double stacked on every shelf right now on the 4 bookshelves we have up (5 shelves each). And I haven't even touched the old books yet that I want to have out on the 2nd floor. I don't know how I'll get organized until I have more shelves. We've got one more bookcase to put together, but it's only a two-high with a total of four shelves. I think it will just hold paperback books. A lot of them are books I need to review. I dunno how I'll ever catch up, honestly, but I'll do my best.

I caught up with everything on the web site -- got all the prize books ready to mail, used an Excel randomizer to pick the contest winners of last month's contest, checked & verified all the new submissions, posted an interview...etc. I've still got another interview to post and some emails to respond to, but they can wait until tomorrow.

No writing in the new house yet, but I've got to get some of these piles of stuff cut down before I can get to that. It's like living in a war zone. Ok, no blood, guts, or glory, but definitely mass confusion. At least we've got the desktop computer set up so I can listen to music while unpacking now. That helps. I've been on a Portishead/Market/Poe/Sixpence None the Richer/Morcheeba fix today. All girls, all the time, baby.