Blame it on biorhythyms

Whenever everything I touch seems to go wrong, I like to check my biorhythms. I know it's kind of like praying to pagan gods during an eclipse, but for whatever reason, believing that there is something controlling this mess is comforting.
According to my chart for today, it's a miracle I even got out of bed. My Intellectual, Emotional, and Wisdom states are all in the crapper right now.

Light examples of my current state: could not speak properly yesterday. Ordered a 'whole wheat tomato' instead of a 'whole wheat bagel' at Tim Hortons yesterday, and it took a while to clear up the confusion

More serious example: I think the accountant I used to prepare my taxes and E's taxes was incompetent. Still sorting this mess out.

I am trying to look for the silver lining, but I just want to curl up under a cozy duvet and not think about it.

Oh, and I broke E's snappy labelmaker (the nice Brother P-Touch kind, not the cheap 70's kind) when I was trying to do filing in my office.

Home again

When I found out Friday that my car wouldn't be ready again(!) and I'd be waiting until at least today, maybe longer, I sunk into a pit of despair. Gran Dorse kept trying to entice me off the ledge:

GD: "It's sunny and warm - you can go running outside!"
me: "don't want to"

GD: " I made dark chocolate brownies"
me: " grrr"

GD: "I can see if we have enough frequent flyer points for E to visit for the weekend"
me: "ok"

As it turned out, E was too busy and important to fly out Saturday even if GD did have enough points, so she lent me her snappy red vehicle and I made it back. GD & Boba will drive the friggin' Civic back if they ever manage to track down all the unique gaskets, sprockets and hoozits required to make a Honda run.

While it has been lovely to see E, it has been less-than-lovely to deal with 3 weeks of neglected misc - specifically taxes. Bad news from my accountant - I owe more than he estimated. great.

So I am digging change out of GD's car cushions hoping to scrape together enough to keep myself out of debtor's prison.

On the plus side, my tulips are starting to sprout : )

Am I a Mean Boss or an Understanding Boss?

Ok, so my car engine blew up - could happen to anyone. But gone for 2 weeks!! Isn't that a bit much? Yes, yes, I'm working over the Internet, but I'm only doing jobs I'd already committed to - I am not drumming up new work, following up on outstanding invoices or doing any marketing/promotion.

I am thrashing back and forth between
understanding boss: 'it's a stressful situation and you should cut yourself some slack'
to
mean boss: 'get on with it and quit whining - you're lucky you have the kind of job that allows you to be gone so long - take advantage and get as much done as possible.'

On the plus side, I'm in a good workout groove - The local Y here is excellent - I've been swimming twice and spinning twice. The instructor for this morning's spinning class was, let's say 'nearing retirement age', and she kicked my a**!! That was humbling. The Pilates class led by a soft-spoken granola girl left me feeling like I'd been punched in the stomach for an hour. Apparently I NEED these workouts.

I've been wearing the same pair of jeans over and over, and finally today I found another pair for $7.50 on the red dot clearance rack at Peebles. If your engine ever blows up and you've eaten a bunch of pizza and frosted cookies and you don't want to buy any nice pants at your current weight, but you need another pair of pants until you can get home, I recommend Peebles.

BTW I have stopped eating pizza and frosted cookies. I might still be snacking on chocolate easter eggs and Hershey's truffle kisses, but they're small and slow me down with all the unwrapping.

'it's ok, you'll get back on track when you're home'

'quit making excuses, a**clown. life is tough. deal with it.'

I'm coming unglued. I miss E.

I spent Easter discussing religion in McDonalds

Sunday, 4 p.m.

Me: “Is it fixable?”

Mechanic: “How much do you like your car?”

Not good.

Earlier Sunday, approx. 2:15 p.m.

As I pop in disc 5 of an audio book that I’m not crazy about, but is keeping me occupied on my drive from Illinois to Ohio, I hear rattling. I turn off the CD and hear louder rattling. I try to notice what is causing it – no engine lights are on, temperature is ok. Pressing the gas pedal makes it worse but even with my foot off the gas, the noise isn’t good.

I calm my rising panic by telling myself that sometimes really bad noises are more noise than trouble. Unfortunately my calm is short-lived when something goes POP!, the oil light and battery light go on, smoke pours out from under the car, and I’m forced to roll over to the shoulder. On the Interstate. Great.

I pull out my cell phone, get my CAA card and put my ‘in case of emergency’ plan to work. While I wait to get a signal and try to not think about how much ‘roaming’ is going to cost me, some guy turns up out of nowhere. He’s pointing to my engine. Does he think I don’t know my car has broken down or is he Ted Bundy junior? Where did he come from anyway? I don’t see a car anywhere nearby. From the rattle and smoke, I doubt that he can help. I motion to my cell phone and wave my CAA card. He mouths “It’s on fire,” and points to my engine.

I don’t think Bundy ever used the car on fire excuse so I take my chances and get out of my car. I say “It’s on fire?"

He tells me he saw fire under my car, but now it appears to be out.

I’m suspicious of this good Samaritan (too many after-school specials and that creepy Kurt Russel Breakdown movie) but I notice that I’ve got a good six inches and ten pound on this guy, so I try to look as surly as possible and hope he doesn’t see me as a victim. Just when I finally connect to AAA, two state troopers pull up.

Thank you, truck drivers.

The troopers send the ‘concerned citizen’ on his way, help me explain to AAA where exactly I am – Howe Indiana at the mile 115 marker - and then let me warm up in a cruiser, but not with my purse – that had to go in the trunk in case I had a gun.

4:15 pm

Since my car will obviously not be fixed anytime soon, if ever, I need a plan b.

Plan b is to have my Dad pick me up somewhere recognizable, easy to find, where I can wait in comfort and safety.

McDonalds.

There is ALWAYS a McDonalds nearby, and of course, there is one just off the Interstate where we can easily direct my dad and where I can sit safely to wait.

I admit to being all over the anti-McDonald’s bandwagon – I watched SuperSize me in horror and straightened up in my upright position on my sky-high horse.

“I don’t eat at McDonalds” I’d proudly state when the buzz from the movie first came out.

Right now I am overjoyed to be eating in McDonalds. Compared to sitting underdressed (didn’t expect it to SNOW on Easter!) in my non-functioning car on the side of the highway, a well-lit, warm, safe McDonalds is nirvana. The excellent coffee is a bonus.

I luck out at this particular McDonalds in LaGrange Indiana – the back room with a big flat screen TV makes me feel less lost, alone and stranded. The world news helps keep my looming carless state in perspective.

7:30

I move to the front to watch for my Dad, who is supposed to be there any minute to pick me up.

7:31

Grizzled psycho: “THEY say the world is billions of years old but I don't believe it. Evolution – pshaw. Who do they think created it all?”
Apparently the question is directed at me. I've never actually seen anyone who didn't believe in evolution in person before. He really fits the cliche of a nutcase, but I don't want to give up my Dad-watching vantage point or lug my 3 bags around again, so I stay put and decide to character-study a living, breathing creationist lunatic.

15 minutes later, his rants about gays, lesbians, sinners and non-believers is wearing thin. He's SUCH a cliche that he's completely useless to me character-wise – fraying collar on a flannel shirt, stooped shoulders, unshaven, wild-eyed, ranting nonsense. Totally useless – nothing unique or interesting about him, just a run-of the mill nutbar.

Dad finally shows up, looks at the religious wacko, looks at me, chuckes and says, “I have to go to the bathroom” and walks away LEAVING ME WITH THE NUTBAR!

Thanks a lot.

I spend another eternity learning about how I can get my own subscription to 'The Daily Bread' when Dad finally reappears and we go to the car.

What a day.

Monday

The broken-down car saga continues. It looks like I'll be here for the rest of the week at least trying to either get it fixed (engines aren't cheap) or scrapping it and getting a ride back.

I miss E.

Zombie Romance

Already done:

Source: IMDB :From the land that spawned probably the most zombie films to this date, ranging in quality from excellent to exremely dull, comes one film that rises above nearly all the rest. DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE (aka CEMETERY MAN) is that film, and if you haven't seen it yet, you are seriously missing out. The story is about lonely cemetery attendant Francesco (Rupert Everett (!?) in one of his very early roles)and his mute, Igor-like assistant Gnaghi. Every seven days, the dead rise from their graves (for no real apparent reason...) and it is Francesco and Gnaghi's job to dispatch them. The 2 live a pretty solitary existence until a mysterious woman comes along and into Francesco's life. Cut to the chase- Francesco and the woman have sex on her newly buried husband's grave, and when he returns from the dead, everything goes haywire from there...

DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE is several films rolled into one...zombie gore film, dark comedy, romance story - similar in some ways to perhaps DEADALIVE (not nearly as silly or gory), but this is a hard film to make a comparison on. It really is it's own unique experience and should definitely be viewed by anyone into horror/zombie films. Again, one of my all-time zombie favorites...Highly Recommended 9/10

Small smile today

It sounds silly, but I get a thrill when I receive an e-mail from someone who wants me to 'professionally rewrite' their text. Even better when I dig into the details, Google their credentials, and discover that it's a genuine, interesting project.

This is what it's all about.

: )

Finite vs Infinite

I seem to be struggling with the concept that there really only are so many hours in the day, and only so many hours in which a person can do the same thing. I ended up on writing strike Saturday, opting to clean the fish tank for 3 hours. The tank is depressing and dank when dirty, and truly beautiful and a pleasure to look at when it's clean and sparkling.

Then we had the winner of the Alex contest over for dinner. E and I ended up drinking quite a bit of Rioja and ice wine and staying up too late considering we were doing a 10K race Sunday morning. DOH. The race went well, especially considering the alcohol loading and sleep deprivation the night before. E finished in 44 min, I finished in 1h04, which is faster than my 10K time at the end of last year - bodes well for breaking the 1h barrier this year.

In writing news, I'm a bit overextended right now, and mildly frazzled. Compound that with trying desperately to find tax deductions for '06, preparing for this weekend's novel writing conference and trying to find time to visit ksl and the gang, and I feel like I need 3 of me to keep going. I'm sure it will all magically work itself out.

right?

Don't Tell my Visor I'm Blogging

Of all the things I expected to struggle with in my freelancing career, time management wasn't one of them. I have ALWAYS been able to get more done than was expected of me at any job, and I figured I'd keep using the same system to get things done in my home office.

No can do.

No, I do not sleep in or watch soaps. I am showered and at my desk by 8 a.m. every morning. The only time I ever watched t.v. during the day was after I had root canal. I am putting in the hours, but the blocks of time are disappearing and I'm not 100% happy with the net results. I do run 'home' errands during the day: grocery shopping, laundry, post office, etc. and I work out during the day about twice per week. I do this because it takes up much less time during the day and is overall more efficient. Still, I need to be aware of those hours and plan for those hours.

The plan was to do freelance work when that work was available and to do book work when there was no freelance work available. Excellent plan, except for the fact that I PANIC if I go for a week without anyone calling me. I can't relax and take advantage of the downtime to work on my book. Instead, I scramble making phone calls, working on promotional post cards, putting in 'face time' at various client offices. Invariably the following week I'll be inundated with calls, but still the next time famine hits I re-panic.

Time for some serious time management. One of the members of a networking group I belong to (see panic above) is a professional organizer. He came in to my home office and helped me set it up so I can function more efficiently. He is pro-Covey, but he didn't insist on that system - he allowed me to dust off the Handspring Visor my mother (way more technologically advanced than I am!) gave me years ago and start using it to plan my time according to my goals. In the first week of following his system I managed to carve out 5 hours of book time. I slept better, felt less anxiety and was 100% happier about my day. This week I fell off the wagon a little - I kept moving my 'book' time. Still, I have hope for this process. Seeing my time blocks spelled out is making a huge difference. If I want to blog more often, I need to schedule some time to do it. Simple as that.

Having the entire day available to self-manage in order to meet monetary and personal goals is an incredible opportunity, but also an incredible responsibility. There is no corporation to blame for wasting your time. If my time gets wasted, the spotlight of blame goes on me and I don't like it.

Uh-oh - I am 12 minutes into my next time block. Maybe I should rig the Visor to a stun gun and shock myself every time I'm working on the wrong thing...

Confessions of a Bookaholic

I waited in line from 6:30 p.m. until 8:15 p.m. last night so that Sophie Kinsella could sign my copies of Can You Keep a Secret? and Undomestic Goddess. Chapters was pushing for sales of Shopaholic & Baby, but I stopped reading Shopaholic after the &Sister book.

Since the lineup was so insane, SK didn't have time to do any kind of talk, which was a bit disappointing. I think I would have rather heard her say something than get my books signed. Standing in line wasn't all bad, though. Chick lit fans central! The consensus was that the Shopaholic & Sister book was an aberration - no one is sure what she was thinking with that one.

For me the whole experience was motivating -- like meeting someone who just climbed Everest when your goal is to climb Everest. Not sure it's necessary to have that person sign your crmpons though...

Where was E during all of this? Chatting about chick lit while waiting in line of course.
Or he was taking a martial arts class from Peter the florist/martial arts instructor. Leave it to E to find a florist who also sells martial arts weapons and gives classes. Peter has the whole relationship covered: the early days - flowers galore, then post-living together when both people start stockpiling weapons he really makes a profit.

So I am inspired and motivated from meeting the Shopaholic creator. She actually seemed human - no special writer headgear or wiring. I need to get a picture of the event and PhotoShop my head on her body sitting next to a table of books. I also need to not lounge around reading Undomestic Goddess, but focus on writing my friggin book. Hopefully Sophie Kinsella will soon be putting off writing Shopaholic on Vacation because she's lounging around reading my book.

: )

Go Alex!

Here he is. Hopefully he is training other squirrels to do the same.

Exploiting E

He has no problem with it. In fact, he almost seemed to have fun with it.

Unfortunately, the E/Zombie fans are not really my target chick lit women's fiction audience. Unless... A zombie romance? Paranormal romance is huge right now, but vampires are on the verge of being overdone. Hmm zombie romance... zombie romance... all I can come up with is a scenario where all the guys turn into zombies and the chicks don't even notice. Not enough there for a plot. Must work on it.

I like Mac's rant on the "powerful woman" myth. I didn't realize the extent of the Ripley effect until I read this:

"A little bit of history for you: The "powerful woman" myth was born in pop culture in 1986, in the persona of Ellen Ripley. I make that 21 years. Our species has stood in it's present form for roughly 35,000 years. (NOT counting Neanderthal, and Cro Magnon before that) So I make this out to be .06% of the time. For the remaining 99.94% of our existence, men have been taking care of business just fine.

Mysteriously, up until the night before "Aliens" made it's theatrical debut in 1986 women still seemed to trip and fall while fleeing monsters, or zombies. However, the next morning, the myth of the strong female character was born, and they were able singly-handedly defeat a colony of horrible aliens, while men cowered, and whimpered in corners. (Hey, what's that whirring sound? Sounds like...Charles Darwin, spinning in his grave!)

Naw, dude... Chicks don't think about how to defend the homestead against zombies. They're still too busy gathering."

For the record, I receive TONS of zombie-related e-mail. There must be a reason... zombie romance... zombie romance....

Fecalmatter wins!

Winning entry:
Squirrels are like water, they'll take the path of least resistance. I would have created a corridor of obstacles leading to the nearest exit to the outdoors, opened the outside door, then the fireplace door.

Mac almost won, which is scary, considering his psychotic rant about Alex causing a nuclear holocaust.

Plan A was for E to throw a pillowcase over Alex, grab him and chuck him out the front door. When E opened the fireplace door, Alex jumped up onto an interior ledge in the fireplace, forcing us to move on to plan B.

Plan B (which was the backup plan in case plan A went haywire): set up barricades using old political posters on corrugated cardboard (good to know they have some use), making a path straight from the fireplace to the front door.

So, E got behind the barricade, opened the fireplace door and used a fireplace poker to 'encourage' Alex to get off the ledge and out of the fireplace.



This is when Plan B almost went to plan C - Mayhem:
Alex ran out of the fireplace and jumped on top of the fireplace poker stand, preparing to leap up on to the mantle or on my head. Luckily, E grabbed a long box of matches from the mantle and used it to 'encourage' Alex to jump off the poker stand, into the barricaded hallway and out the door. Alex bolted outside and so far hasn't caused nuclear meltdown, but might have been run over by a car within minutes.

I prefer to think that I saw him hopping along the back fence, happily looking for birdseed in the feeder.

Thanks to everyone for participating.

Fecalmatter, I'll be contacting you to arrange a time to award you your prize.

Guns, grenades or peanut butter?

Alex is gone. Read the post "Alex the Squirrel" below for the story behind the squirrel in the fireplace.


E 'handled' the situation. Note that E has access to a lot of weapons and ammo and was looking for a way to stay entertained while home on a sick day, so any of the scenarios shown below is within the realm of possibility.

What happened to Alex?












Enter your guess in the Mercenary or Merciful Contest by posting a comment. Tell whether you think Alex was killed or set free, and then explain how you think it was accomplished. The actual scenario may or may not be depicted in the photos above. If you enter the actual answer, you'll win! The actual prize is TBD, but your real reward will be glory and recognition. Contest closes 9:00 a.m. on Friday, March 2, 2007.
In case of a tie, the winner will be chosen from a random draw of the correct entries. If there are no correct entries, the winner will be chosen by a random draw from the correct entries for the "killed" or "set free" portion of the answer.
Karen, Alex, and E are not eligible to participate in the contest.

Alex the Squirrel

Walking through the living room this morning, I glanced at the fireplace and saw two eyes looking back at me. Through some navigational error, excess of curiousity or lack of coordination, a squirrel managed to land in the fireplace and survive. Other than a sooty nose, the squirrel seems to be ok.

Me: "There's a squirrel in the fireplace"
E: (Eyes not open/ still sleeping) "Light a fire under it."
Me: "Can't we somehow get it outside alive?"
E: "Work on that plan while I get more sleep"
update/clarification: E is struck down with a plague-like cold and is home trying (unsuccessfully) to rest. He is normally not snoozing late on Friday morning.

Later, when E is more rested, and we're sitting on the couch looking at Alex (In lieu of coming up with a workable plan, I named the squirrel hoping to personalize him/her, increasing his/her odds of survival)
E: "It's like a mammal aquarium"
Me: Noting that Alex is crammed in a corner, not moving "It's a boring mammal aquarium"
E: "Yah. We need to add hornets or something"

Later, after I've convinced myself he was kidding
Me: "So what's your plan, seriously?"
E: "Smoke bomb"
Me: "Isn't there any way to not kill Alex?"
E: "I could put on two layers of fleece and gloves and try to grab it - depends how skittish it is. Knock on the fireplace door to see if it runs around"
Me: (Sad that E is referring to Alex as 'it', but happy that he didn't suggest that I put on 2 layers of fleece and gloves) --after jiggling the fireplace door latch--"Alex is just sitting there blinking."

E:"It can't be very smart - it probably wouldn't even survive outside. Too bad it didn't go down the other way. It would have been incinerated"
Me: "Maybe Alex is VERY smart, but Alex's friends said to go on the roof and Alex isn't coordinated and Alex slipped."
E - sighing.
Me - sighing.

Alex's fate is still unknown, but I'm afraid if I leave E down there too long unsupervised, Alex will 'disappear'

I prefer my romance unscheduled, thank you very much

Yes, yes, E and I celebrated Valentine's Day - romantic dinner for two, lovely bottle of wine, and the romantic movie Quick Change (ok, not romantic, but funny). But honestly, this is a busy week, and VDay didn't exactly fall at an ideal time. There have been other evenings when we've had much more time to linger over dinner, chatting and letting the evening pass by.

I was more touched by what E did the day before VDay. I've been whining and complaining about diet and exercise for pretty much all of February. This is normal for this tme of year, but as my jeans get tighter and I still can't get motivated to stop snacking and work out more, I get increasingly crabby and E gets to listen to it. Instead of telling me to snap out of it and get on with the eat better/exercise more program that we all know works, he went out of his way to go to the bookstore to pick up two women's fitness magazines for me. He pointed out specific articles he thought I would like and let me curl up to read them. The fact that he listens and is supportive of whatever it is I'm trying to do means much more to me than a handful of overpriced dead roses on a manufactured romance day.

I think we'll have time for a nice, long, no-rush dinner sometime in March...

HUMOR: Adapting to change

Watch Introducing the Book on YouTube


Also funny: March of the Librarians

Productivity: low
At least I'm laughing, not whining

No disgruntled poets, please!

Tonight I am going to meet a group of 'Montreal Writers.' I found this group via meetups.com in my never-ending quest to find critique partners who are not my friends or family. We'll see how this goes. My last foray into critique groups resulted in me quitting due to the less-than-useful suggestions from the over-abundance of self-proclaimed unappreciated, misunderstood poets in the group.

So far, tonight's group has two strikes against it:
one - the host is charging $10 per person. For what? Wine and hors d'oevres. Great. Apparently we need to be liquored up to read each other's work
two - writers tend to not be particularly social, which means we'll all stand around feeling uncomfortable wishing we were at home, alone, reading.

However, I'm going. I will do my best to conjure up 'outgoing Karen' and see how it goes. I promise to not rip the head off the first disgruntled poet who sneers at my commercial women's fiction, but if there is more than one in the group I won't be held responsible for my actions.

Coming soon: winter camping 07 pictures. I need to finish some freelance work before monkeying around with flickr but I should have time tomorrow.

Pandalerium, indeed

Now we get to name the pandas??!!!
I adore #12,

but #13 is pretty funny showing his booty to the camera.


Must think of panda names, panda names...

BTW getting tons of work done on my book. heh heh

Panda Therapy

I was feeling anxious about making a tough decision when I saw photos of the baby pandas. They're so freaking cute I felt cheered up immediately.

Tough decision? Putting book #1 aside to focus on book #2. I've been going around about this decision for months. It's difficult to be sure that I'm not just stopping because I'm tired of book #1 in the final stages. No, I'm sure that's not it - I gave it a nice long break and even had a fresh angle that would have improved some trouble spots. I honestly think it might just be my 'learning' book. It's painful to not do anything with it but file it away, but I believe my time will be better spent moving book #2 forward. Book #2 has a fresher angle, is better organized and tighter (thanks to me learning the hard way) and I think it has a better chance of hitting the mark I'm aiming for and being something I'm proud to have my name on instead of hiding behind Chiete Nickerson.

So there it is. Next deadline: March 30 - conference in MA and a chance to pitch the book to an agent. Time to get cracking.

Oh, and I also need to lose 15 lbs and get in shape to run a 1/2 marathon by the end of April.

Feeling anxious, must go look at pandas,... ahhhhhh. : )

As bad as it looks

See more Mt-Washington photos in my flickr set. Don't worry - there are only 10 this time! I was too cold and miserable to snap lots of photos.

On the plus side, I didn't need my avalanche kit

Mt. Washington was insanely cold, even for Mt. Washington: -70 with wind chill. The wind was 100 mph with 135 mph gusts. I made it as far as Harvard Cabin, which involved slugging uphill for 1 1/2 hours wearing a 5 lb boot on each foot plus layers of high-tech winter gear. I had a 37 lb backpack on for about 100 ft until E's friend "Speedy" took it to help pick up our pace a little. It was still pretty miserable. Even when we got to the cabin to stop, I had been working so hard I started sweating, which was BAD because then I was wet and then I got cold and started shivering. It took me another hour sitting in front of the fire in the cabin with 2 layers of down coats on to get warm. Brutal.
So, all was not well. E and his friend went climbing further and picked me up on their way back. I made it back down and felt better after the Chinese buffet and a couple of margaritas.
Sunday we set out to go climbing again, but I bailed at the last minute and spent the day reading "Dating Dead Men." Coincidentally, E is being exceptionally nice to me.

Graphic and disturbing? Sounds like a good read

Yesterday was Anne Bronte's birthday. I only discovered this because today, Fits told me about listening to the daily trivia and poem on Writer's Almanac.

From yesterday's Writer's Almanac:

"It's the birthday of Anne Brontë, (books by this author) born in Yorkshire (1820). Anne Brontë has been remembered primarily as the third Brontë sister. She was meek and more religious-minded than Charlotte or Emily, and little is known about her life compared to the lives of her sisters. But she was a writer, just as they were. Her first novel was Agnes Grey (1847), based on her experience as a governess. It didn't get much attention, but her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), was an immediate success. The heroine, Helen Huntingdon, leaves her husband to protect their young son from his influence. She supports herself and her son by painting while living in hiding. In doing so, she violates social conventions and English law. At the time, a married woman had no independent legal existence apart from her husband.

In the second printing of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë responded to critics who said her portrayal of the husband was graphic and disturbing. She wrote, "Is it better to reveal the snares and pitfalls of life to the young and thoughtless traveller, or to cover them with branches and flowers? O Reader! if there were less of this delicate concealment of facts — this whispering "Peace, peace," when there is no peace, there would be less of sin and misery to the young of both sexes who are left to wring their bitter knowledge from experience."

Why haven't I read this book yet?

I am working on my synopsis and mustering the courage to boldly go where E insists we go ice climbing this weekend: Mount Washington. Hopefully between his ability and my ineptness we will make it to the top. O Reader! wish me luck.

me: "when I called the equipment rental guy for my viper axes and avalanche kit (!) he asked where we were going, and when I told him he said 'WHOA!'"
E: "he's just jealous"

Popularity Contest

From the NYT Book section : a contest for an as-yet unpublished book that will be voted on over the Internet. Winner gets published. Seems a little desperate. Talk about a long shot. Hmm, maybe I'll give it a second look....

Current book status: flailing between fixing up and sending out book #1 or scrapping book #1 and focusing on book #2. Every time I decide to just fix #1 up so I can move on, I feel overwhelmed. Today is the day - do or die. Note that I am up at 5 a.m. for some unknown reason.

Tart by Jody Gehrman

Just finished reading Tart by Jody Gehrman. If you like chick lit, I recommend it. The main character is quirky and the writing is quick and funny. There are a couple of predictable pieces you need to ignore: the hot motorcycle-riding surfer guy and the classic misunderstanding, but otherwise, it's and original, light, fun read.

Sounds good to me

I didn't set any specific 2007 resolutions because I have a lot going on and I'm extremely happy with my life, so I'd like to keep moving forward with the freelancing, book writing, and increased sports and leisure. Last year had enough change and upheaval for me.

I asked E what his resolutions are. He told me without missing a beat:
"Laugh more and eat more ice cream."

Can't beat that.

: )

Top chick lit books

I still have a hard time describing 'chick lit' to people who ask. I do not want to ditch the CL tag and use 'women's fiction' because to me, 'women's fiction' is a depressing tale of death, abuse and woe. Prove me wrong by recommending something that breaks the mold!

Trashionista listed their top 10 chick lit, and I haven't even read everything on the list. Of the ones I have read, I didn't love them all...

10-Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
Never read it, but loved the TV show. It's on my TBR list.

9-Thirtynothing by Lisa Jewell
Never read it, never heard of it.

8-The Nanny Diariesby Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin

I'm not into the whole mom-lit thing, so I'm not sure this would be for me. Not on my TBR pile.

7-The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

Also never read this one - I'm beginning to wonder if I know ANYTHING about chick lit. I did enjoy the movie.

6-High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Finally something I've read. Love Nick Hornby, but is this chick lit?

5-Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

I've only read 2 Jennifer Crusie books: Bet Me and ummm, something else. Neither are on my favorites list, but "Don't Look Down" is on my TBR pile.

4-In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

The Only J. Weiner book I've read is Good In Bed. It was extremely hyped by the time I read it and I didn't love it. sorry.

3-The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

I thought the first book was called Confessions of a Shopaholic--? I did read it and enjoy it, but I preferred "Can You keep a Secret" by Sophie Kinsella.

2 Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes

Finally, one I agree with. Yes!

1-Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

I agree - v. v. funny. Definitely my #1

So - what would I add to my 'best chick lit' list?
The Girlfriend Curse and the Accidental Virgin by Valerie Frankel
Tales of A Drama Queen, Hand Me Down and True Lies of a Drama Queen by Lee Nichols
I also liked Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.

Scuba Cuba

The photos are online here

Happy Holidays!

It's back to reality tomorrow - setting the alarm, and not for a good reason, like making an early dive or catching a plane heading south.

The holidays were wonderful, even though we only got a white boxing day, not a white Christmas. No xc skiing, but I still can't complain : )

Here's a pic of our non-traditional Christmas dinner:



I'll put the vacation pics on Flicr asap. I'm still working on getting our increasingly belated holiday card out - I sent a desperate plea for help to Dodi - hopefully she can help or I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Handling rejection

We got back early last night and our neighbor brought over our mail pile this morning. At the bottom of my pile was an SASE I had sent to the agent I met at the Midwest Lit Fest. Getting your SASE back is always bad - if they want your story, they'll call. So yes, I have received my first official rejection. On the plus side, it was a personalized letter specifically about my story, not a form rejection. So while I'm a litle sad about being rejected, I'm making my list of who to send the story to next. It's all part of the process.

Shark

Went diving for the first time Monday and we saw a shark! It was just a small (3.5 ft) nurse shark - not dangerous, but it was neat to see - our guide made the 'shark' sign, and I thought he was kidding, but then he pointed to the shark tail, then wiggled the tail and the shark swam out of the coral and under us. : )
Of course no one in our group had a camera, including the professional photographer who is doing this trip solely for the photos. Getting a photo of one of the sharks is turning into a quest like photographing bigfoot.
We're set to dive again today at 1 at a different location, right by the resort. Diving near coral is unbelievably beautiful - it is literally like being dropped into a giant aquarium. The fish don't swim away - they pretty much ignore you, swim next to you and between you. It's a lot of fun. E. was true to his word and held my hand - I pretty much had him in a death grip. I wasn't scared per se - just a little freaked out - it's a little weird to be in the ocean, plus it was an extremely rough day - the boat that dropped us off was tossing around in huge swells. I ran out of air pretty fast (nebies tend to pant instead of breathing slowly) so I went up before E. When I surfaced with the 2 other low air people, we couldn't even see the boat - just ocean. That's a little weird, plus we were bobbing around like corks in the waves. Getting back on the boat was by far the hardest part - I have bruises up and down my left leg from being thrashed around on the ladder as the boat rocked. All in all an amazing time. We hooked up with a Toronto dive club for dinner and had the biggest langouste tails I've ever seen, plus real mojitos (with mint), music, actual bottles of wine, plus a star-filled sky and walk on the beach as E puffed a Monte Cristo-like cigar - it was all good.
Our birthday dinner had a few hitches including them having no idea what a private table meant or realizing that chapmagne should be chilled, but we enjoyed ourselves once I got E to laugh about the situation.
Hasta Luego!

Last ni

HOLA AMIGOS

So far so okay in Cuba. A few stolen items from E's luggage including the underwater camera got us off to a rocky start but after lots of rum drinks we're starting to recover.

No diving yet - too much wind today, but we did try out my new mask in the pool yesterday and I can clear it no probnlem, so I feel ready. Today will most likely be a day of slack - we're adjusting nicely to the despacio pace here.

We've almost got our little side trip to Havana planned - probably next weekend.
Time for my first siesta soon.

see you later : )

Holiday Meme

Since I'm supposed to be paying bills and preparing invoices and trying to get wrinkles out of a no-iron shirt I need to wear tonight, I will instead do a Holiday Meme. No one tagged me, so I guess that makes me a bit of a loser, but hey, it's December, MY month and it's MY blog so I'll do what I want.

Christmas Meme


1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
I had a bad Jack Daniels and egg nog incident in the late '80's - I will NEVER touch the stuff again. Hot chocolate definitely. Preferably WITH marshmallows :)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Wrapped!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No - isn't it poisinous? It's really not that nice-looking either. No idea where that tradition started.


5. When do you put your decorations up?
Normally I would get a real tree the weekend around my b-day Dec 12, but we'll be gone this year and my decorations are still in storage in Plainfield, so we'll be decor-less. Maybe a wreath.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Chcolate gingerbread people hand-decorated to maximize originality and creativity. The sad-face ones with broken limbs are the best.

7. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
What do you mean?

8. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love it!! I have spiffy new xc skis ready to go this year.

9. Can you ice skate?
I can stay upright and move forward but it isn't pretty.

10. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Getting a good book and spending the afternoon reading it. I know, not really Christmas-related, but it's nice to relax once the hoopla is over.

Ok, I admit I cut this down from 20 to 10, but I think 10 is enough.
I tag Dodi.

December!

I love December - my birthday, holidays, people generally in a good mood, lots of chocolate and wine and cheese up for grabs - it's all good.

E. and I will miss most of the gala events this month because I wanted to do something different for my big 4-0 - remember I got my scuba certification last summer? That was in preparation for the scuba trip in less than a week!! I can't believe it's here. I still need to find a short wetsuit, but otherwise I am ready to go. So no writing, no freelance, just looking at the fish and coral and keeping an eye on my air pressure.

I warned E that I need to finish 4 to 5 books during the vacation, and he swears he can keep himself occupied during my hammock time. I don't even want to try to guess what he has planned - shark wrestling? spear fishing? cigar rolling? whatever - we'll make plans to meet for dinner.

Did I mention I can't wait? : )

10K in one day!!!

Done and done!




mood=ecstatic : )

Purple bar or bust

People at NaNoWriMo are uploading their 50k words and getting a purple WINNER! bar. I wants one... my precious...

I need to clear off my desk (Hefty Bag to the rescue) then it will be full steam ahead.

The only problem is I don't have any 'to do' scenes queued up. I might have to resort to 'shark jumping' to beef up my word count. Whatever it takes!!!

See you when that bar hits PURPLE.

Revenge!

I am trying to plant seeds to let my subconscious come up with a good revenge idea. I think revenge appeals to us because we like to think up ways to smite our enemies, but we never actually move beyond the thinking stage. The idea of actually going through with a revenge plan is irresistible. I recall reading a short story by Stephen King about revenge. The story involved a guy who went to the trouble of moving a road and painting a fake road over a pit and then burying his enemies alive in the pit. good stuff.

Weekend goal: run 15K, write 5K Sat; run 8K, write 5 k Sun. Woe be to anyone who tries to get in my way.

Now I know what a root canal feels like

Not fun. And mine wasn't even that bad - over in one session. Now my jaw is sore, but it only *hurts* when I sneeze. I've been avoiding using the left side of my mouth to chew for a couple of months already, so continuing to do so while the rc heals isn't too tough.

So my NaNo count hasn't moved, and my ToDo list has nothing crossed off. Must rectify this today. The good news is I met an accountant Wednesday, and my finances are all under control. Big sigh of relief. I was dreading finding out that I'd screwed it up and would owe big bags of cash.

Must work on ToDo list.

Would rather curl up with a book and pretend that my tooth hurts more than it does. Oh the agony...

Blame it on the Weather

I am completely lethargic.

The book is still getting written - see word count: 27,668. I need to keep up the pressure this week because next week I have a lot of freelance work booked.

Tomorrow I have to meet with an accountant to review my tax strategy. I am dreading it. Almost as much as going back to the dentist Thursday to find out if I need a root canal. ugh.
I hope it is just the weather - 3 sunless grey rainy and/or overcast days in a row, or else I am spiralling into a funk about turning 40 in less than a month.

Tug of war in my head:

My teeth are rotting because I'm getting old.
or
My teeth are rotting because I snack on licorice.

I can't believe I don't have my tax issues under control and I'm embarassed to show how much/little I earned.
or
I have zero debt and I'm doing ok.

You know, my first book wasn't that bad - I should send it to more people.
or
It completely sucks. I should shove it under my desk and focus on #2

Please please let it be sunny soon. One more grey day and the evil, pessimistic side will win.

Tomorrow: winter tires, prepare for tax man, mapquest taxman's office, meet with tax man. Oh boy can't wait. Also need to crank out more NaNo words that have nothing to do with root canal, winter tires or tax.

re: chick flick film festival. There were 8 of us total and it was actually fun -well, I had fun - I hope the others had fun. We watched Failure to Launch - cute, funny. ShopGirl - gets a thumbs down from me - too dark, and then Pretty in Pink - some things are just best left in the 80's.

Tonight I watched Friends with Money - can someone please explain it to me? I'm lost. Maybe I'm just too borderline cranky to appreciate it. At least explain why Jennifer Aniston gave that idiot personal trainer money.

HALFWAY DONE!

I hit 25K tonight. This rocks. Chick lit film festival was also a success. Details tomorrow. E is waiting with Felix & Norton and a fire. : )

Distraction/Procrastination

Just spent 3 days doing some freelance verification (proofreading plus). It's draining. Now I have time to get back on the NaNo track, but I've produced ZERO words this morning. Instead, I monkeyed around on the Internet, looking at my new favorite comic strips: LIO and Rhymes with Orange. Spent quite a bit of time daydreaming about being able to draw and being able to produce funny comics. Wasted more time trying to explain to E that e-mail from him is arriving blank. I think he's doing it on purpose to mess with me.

Going running now - must burn off beer, nachos, chicken wings and potato skins consumed at happy hour yesterday. The bikini for my upcoming Cuba trip is morphing into a one-piece with a big skirt : (

Must get back on the NaNo track. Looking for moving horror stories - pls post as comments. Thank you.

15,135 NaNo words

Woo-hoo, that's pretty damn good. I don't know if I'll hit 20k before my hunter-gatherer returns because I have a full day of freelance work tomorrow, but never say never.
I added a little Nano graph to the right so you can see my progress. Not sure how they're calculating goal. Today's should be 6*1667 = 10,002. I'm over, but not by as much as they say.

Shifting Position

That's my new NaNo working title: Shifting Position

I'm currently at 5085 which makes me caught up as of yesterday's target, with time to reach today's: 6668.

NaNo Update 8pm: 8,125 words. yeah, baby!

Now it's off to go running, plant tulips and possibly rake some leaves.

As for the deer-hunters, one of their friends who didn't go this weekend just called to get the phone number at the cottage because he found one guy's ammo under the seat of his car. Hmm, I wonder if Mr. no-ammo plans to just jump out of his tree stand with a knife. It's more sporting than using ammo, I guess.

It sounds like I am surrounded by colourful, interesting characters, but honestly, they're too bizarre for fiction. Must find more believable friends.

Freelance update: my designer has finished my business card and sent me a draft of my profile sheet. I LOVE my new card : ) and can't wait to have a thousand of them on my desk : ) :)

Introverted, anti-social, or just lazy?

November is deer-hunting season. E will be gone every weekend trying to kill Bambi, I mean take a clean shot at a trophy buck, thus providing valuable meat for the long cold winter ahead.

Anyhoo - that leaves me free to do as I please in the house each weekend. Of course there's NaNoWriMo, which will take up a good amount of time, but E is encouraging me to have the chicks over for a chick flick film festival. This is something I threaten to do each time he has the guys over for a war movie film festival. The thing is - I'm not really good at ' having people over' I get too nervous that people are bored, hungry, thirsty/whatever, and I can't relax. Plus, I don't have 'a gang' - I'd be inviting chicks in 1's and 2's who I know from different places and who don't know each other. I'm not skilled at keeping the small talk ball rolling, so I'd have to worry about lack of chit chat, too.

Is this a good reason to not have people over? No. Is socializing a skill that can be learned? Probably. What's the worst that can happen?
1- no one shows up, leaving me and a pile of movies. hmmm, not too bad.
2 - a few people show up, don't get along, are bored and never want to see me again. I can live with that.

Is it laziness? I dread the stream of reply e-mails of peope not availble on whatever day I pick, last-minute cancellations, "what can I bring?" etc. etc., but I suppose that's just laziness. These are times I wish L (my sister) were here. She's better at this stuff, and worst-case, at least it would be the 2 of us, and Em (my niece, who LOVES chick flicks) of course.

sigh

Plan-less in Ile-Perrot

I'm a Walking Psychology Experiment

The bad news: word count 452, target: 3334

The good news: I completely cleared my ToDo list!
-wrapped and mailed Nate's birthday gift
-wrote and sent a query letter
-went to a walk-in clinic to get a tetanus shot and a prescription for Hep A/B shots for my upcoming trip (this required a 2-hour wait, but I had a notebook with me and the NoPlot NoProblem book, so all was not lost)
-paid bills
-cancelled a credit card
-contacted a tax accountant
-cleaned desk and found medical insurance card
-found medical insurance forms and receipts from the last 6 months, filled in paperwork
-made a dentist appointment
-made a haircut appointment

All of these things have been lingering on my ToDo list for weeks, if not months. Why today? Because I'm supposed to be writing my freaking book, that's why. Apparently I'm insane.
I've officially run out of other things to do because I am not desperate enough to start organizing or cleaning. yuk. NaNo it is....

update 6 p.m. : word count 2,304. Not on target yet, but back in the game : )

Oh no, November!!

I talked the talk, now can I write the pages? So far, so bad -- I don't have my outline quite at the level I wanted it to be and my character sketches aren't written down, but hey- that's what the deadline is for, right? To force me to forget the excuses and get going.

Now.

ok now.

ok, maybe after a cappucino - did I mention I bought one of those snappy machines last weekend? I got a cheap one, but it seems to do the trick. Should come in handy for NaNo. I even have a NaNo buddy - someone I met at the MidWest lit fest.

Reasons why I haven't started yet:
1. Must clean desk. No, really, my arms are resting on a pile of papers as I type. I was up against a freelance deadline yesterday, and there are printouts and notes EVERYWHERE.
2. I could use a nice cuppa...

That's really it. If I quit monkeying around on the Internet, I could be writing in the next 20 min.

NaNoNaNo

Work hard, achieve greatness

I like the message this article sends. It disputes the idea of innate talent and says that greatness is achieved through hard work. I'd like to believe that it's true, because it leaves each of us with a world of choices and opportunities to be good, even great at whatever we choose. Pay attention to the article's definition of hard work - it's not just mindless hour clocking. Practice must be deliberate to have an effect.

I need to structure my writing time with this in mind. Less mindless blogging...

Lost in the Woods

I wish it were a metaphor, but it's my plan for the weekend. E and I are signed up for four hours of orienteering (navigating your way through forest and trails using a map and compass to earn points by finding checkpoints), and we're having a side competition with friends of ours: the chicks (me and other chick L) have to be the ones doing the map reading/using the compass. The guys just follow. This should be interesting. If you don't hear from me for a looong time, you'll know why - I'll be still bumbling around Gatineau Park.

IronGirl is in

I just signed up for NaNoWriMo, and I need to put an image of myself online, so here it is. I don't actually look like that; I had my hair 'done' straight to try to look professional. My hair usually looks uncontrollably curly. Not sure why I'm so shiny, either. Odd. Look for me as IronGirl.

For the month of November, I'll have crazy ponytail hair, no makeup and glasses. Nice. Hopefully compared to E's deer-hunting compadres I'll still look good. If I don't, I'm in trouble.

Ha ha - just saw this: www.willwriteforchocolate.com/

I'm skimming through my 'how to' books before plunging in again with book 2. I'm enjoying Sol Stein's books. Here are a couple of quotes from How to Grow a Novel:

"Open your mind to the possibilites your imagination could generate."

"In our not-yet-acknowledged secret garden lie the seeds of our best not-yet-written stories."

To take the edge off the touchy-feeliness, here is the inspiring message E posted on my wall: Analyse,
Improvise,
Adapt (crossed out), Exfoliate and
Overcome (crossed out), Moisturize.

Survey

I notice that sometimes I have a prejudice against age gap (10 yrs+) couples. I know there is no reason for it, and once people are in their 30's, age becomes much less of an issue than attitude.
I am trying to gather information that I can use to create believable fiction, so I am conducting an informal survey to find out if others share this prejudice or have been exposed to it, particularly in the workplace. I am interested in older woman/younger man relationships - not pickups. If you wouldn't mind sharing your opinions/stories with me, I'd appreciate hearing them.

Questions:
1-Are you prejudiced against older women/younger men? Why?
2-Have you witnessed older woman/younger man prejudice at work or in your circle of friends/family?
3-Do you think a woman who has a younger man as her significant other is judged negatively by her work peers? At what kinds of corporate events would this be apparent?
4-Do you think a woman who has a younger man as her significant other would be held back from being promoted to a management position in the workplace?

You can be completely anonymous - create a fake hotmail account and send me your story, or say it happened to a friend, or change names/personal details to protect the innocent. Work the older women/younger men issue into conversation with your friends and let me know what they say.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Road Trip

If you have never gone for a drive through Vermont in the fall, you are missing out! The colors are amazing. Making the drive in E's freshly repainted RX made it that much more fun : )

For my first Thanksgiving as a Canadian, I went to Boston to run the Tufts 10K for women. It's a tradition! Canadians don't do Thanksgivng all out the way Americans do, so it's not like E's parents had a big feast ready with two empty chairs waiting for us.

The 10K went pretty well, considering that there were 7,000 women running and it was HOT, not warm, but HOT. Smart women has support people running to the water table, then running cups of water back to them. If only I'd known, I could have put E to better use. I had to stand in line for cups of water, losing valuable minutes. Too hot to skip the hydration stations. E and Aunt N were my support system and cheered me on to the finish in style : )

Now it's back to... reality? rain? I need to get myself in gear to be ready for NaNo Wri Mo. I have a 3/4 baked plan of my next book, but I need to get it fully outlined and planned so I can start writing Nov 1.

Back to the Routine

Now that the LitFest is over and the summer freelancing feast is over it's time to get back to my normal routine.
1-Send e. off to the train with his lunch bag and Shooter book (hey, at least he's reading. E. claims that reading a sniper book on the train guarantees that no one sits next to him.)
2-Eat healthy breakfast and drink pot of coffee
3-Go to office, check e-mail
4-Realize I have no routine
5-Search for time organization strategy from financial planner
6-Try to create agenda using Word; hit roadblock requiring the original Word CD. Try to download agenda from Internet; hit roadblock requiring Explorer instead of Firefox.
Maybe I'm not cut out for a 'routine'.

Can you judge a book from a blog?

Last week I wandered around Borders with a 30% off coupon burning my hands, but I couldn't find ANYTHING I wanted to buy. Of course, I had just purchased a pile of books at the Midwest Lit Fest (yes, as soon as I'm completely unpacked I will list them) so my 'to read' pile is towering. But still... 30%... what a wasted opportunity.

Today I received a 15% off coupon from B&N in my e-mail. Since my membership discount expires at the end of the month I decided to take the plunge and buy something with the two discounts. I went with books by two authors whose blogs I enjoy reading:
Diana Peterfreund, author of Secret Society Girl
Tess Gerritsen, author of The Mephisto Club and many other books including Vanish (the one I bought)

I hope I enjoy the books as much as or more than the blogs. Has anyone else bought books because you like a blog or are you all (all 3 of you) waiting for my book ? ;)

Make Sure it's Flawless

That is some of the advice on a Do's and Dont's tip sheet from the conference about sending your work to an agent. While I appreciate the advice, it's been paralyzing me, because while flawless is an admirable goal, it's also impossible.

I can' think of a single book I've ever read that was absolutely flawless, can you? Every author (and human) has strengths and weaknesses. If the strengths are used to great advantage and the weaknesses minimized, then the book works. I will minimize the flaws in my manuscript and then find someone who appreciates my strengths and can help accentuate them to get my book published.

Send Me a Few Chapters

That's exactly what you want to hear when you pitch your idea to an agent at a conference, and it's what I did hear. Yay me. Now I need to take the plunge, quit playing with it and send the first few chapters in. This is not a done deal, but a necessary step in the process. I hope at the very least I get some feedback.

I am revising revising REVISING. I didn't make any major changes - no characters or subplots eliminated, but I am tightening everything up.

The conference went well. I learned a few more interesting tidbits, but not as much as I did last year. Why not? Because I've already learned quite a bit about how this whole process works. I was relatively new when I went last year, and going again showed me just how far I've come. If you had told me last year that I'd be back in a year with a completed manuscript that I would successfully pitch to an agent I would have laughed, but here I am. Excellent. Where will I be next year?

Remind me to post the list of books I bought. I ended up spending more on books than on the conference itself... One of the new authors (Tasa Alexander) was compared to Elizabeth Peters, so I can't wait to try her book.

Read two books in two days!

I'm en route to the Midwest Lit Festival. I have a pile of TBR books with me, but I left my pile aside to stop and read two of Dorse's while I'm here: 12 Sharp - Janet Evanovich and Size 12 is Not Fat - Meg Cabot.

I enjoyed both! I enjoyed just sitting back and reading, but 12 Sharp was much better than the last 3 Plum stories in my opinion. I was ready to ditch the series, but Dorse got me to read it by telling me it was all about Ranger. I heart Ranger.

Size 12 is Not Fat was a fun, easy read. I can't say it's a must-read, but it worked. In my opinion, size 12 is sometimes not fat, but sometimes it is - depends how tall you are. On me it's a little bit too chubby. Maybe the book title guilted me into going running, or maybe the fact that I'm already signed up for a 10K race in early October did it, but I ran for 54 minutes today. No slow slog jog, either. Hard intervals. Freaking exhausting.

Recovery required a trip to the Clinique counter for two $13 eye pencils - I know, I know it's ridiculous, particularly when I have an alternate source of $2 pencils, but my source doesn't have taupe. AND I wanted the free gift. I know, I know, it's cheap marketing ploy, but every makeup bag I've ever owned has been part of a free gift with purchase. I'm a sucker for those things. Did I mention I also impulsively bought their eye makeup remover? The Clinique woman rubbed it on my hand to remove all the test taupe lines, and it felt so amazing I had to have it. My current EM remover burns like hellfire if I get it in my eyes, which I often do.

Wow - long ramble.

Speaking of rambling... what is November? To E. it's hunting season - yuk. He'll be off with 'the boys' for most of the month, which leaves me free to sew new tablcloths (HA) or... commit to NaNoWriMO - I think I'll do it. Last year I was already in the middle of my since-abandoned stalker books, but this year I think I'll be ready to start book #2, and what better way than NaNoWriMo? Who is with me?

BTW - please do not read into this that I would not be able to do NaNoWriMo If E were around. I could, but I would feel bad because I would be stumbling around in slacker pants dribbling coffee on myself mumbling about characters and plot, and he would be building a boat out of scrap metal, with no stimulants or pshychotic episodes.

Booked!

I booked myself for the next 2 weeks to focus on my book, including attending the Midwest Literary Festival. I JUST sent my last outstanding freelance assignemnt and can finally get my head back in my chick lit world :)

Interesting piece from CNN on the current state of romance and chick lit.
be sure to click on the video links - I thought those were the most interesting parts.

Does anyone out there read romance? I went through a Danielle Steele phase in the '80s but otherwise never really liked it. Has the genre changed? If I like chick lit, would I like modern romance? Any recommendations?

Back to the Grind

Ok, so my life isn't exactly a grind, and my summer was anything but lazy, but stilll - something about back-to-school time makes me feel like I better shine my shoes and get my A game in gear.

Speaking of shoes, I have a HUGE painful blister from wearing grown-up shoes to 'the office' yesterday. ow ow ow. I'm sooo much happier to be at my home office in bare feet, although I wish the maid would wash the floors.

As I said, yesterday I had to go to a 'real' office which meant driving in traffic and dressing for success. Today I am working from home. I have WAY more than 8 hours of work to do, but still I woke up feeling energized and ready to go. I definitely have some kind of mental block against working away from home. I do have a pretty cushy setup here - corner office with a view. : )

Book status: I've heard back from 2 of 5 readers. I gave one a little slack until next week (she's related to me and back to school time is crazy busy for her). Another received it late, but I'm hoping she finishes soon. The other.... I'd like to hear from.... it's ok if you have negative comments - I got several already and I plan to use them to improve the next draft so please don't be shy. If you haven't had time just let me know - I understand.


Better get cracking on paid work. My boss doesn't appreciate slackitude and she's got her eye on a new fall suit from Mexx.

My summer vacation

Four days and three nights of kayaking down the St. Maurice River.
No, there were no bear attacks and E did not have to tow me, and we did not stay alive by eating minnows and Pop-Tarts. See the whole story here.

Unplugged

Leaving tomorrow on vacation - yahooo! E and I are going kayaking down the St Maurice river. As in: loading sleeping bags, tents, deydrated food, two rolls of toilet paper, two water purification systems, and one chick lit book :) into the kayaks and paddling our selves down the river (with the current) we'll stop, put up the tent and camp along the way. No showers - camp suds in the water, no 'facilities' - there's a shovel for covering up 'business'. I'm looking forward to total relaxation. E says our schedule is for 5 hrs of paddling per day. If you figure 8 hours on the water, that leaves 3 hours for a long lunch break and lots of little photo ops and slowdowns.

Here's my reaction to the 'you're crazy!' reactions: I think it's crazy to pack everything from your living room into your car and trailer, go park it in some ramshackle campground full of people and then 'camp' next to your car-ful of crap. To me, camping is carrying the essentials (yes - a chick lit book is essential) somewhere remote (no people around). I DO enjoy a vacation of lesiure, but that would be an all-inclusive resort.

My reaction to the 'do you know how to kayak?' reaction: not really. I guess I'm about to learn the hard way. I've been out a few times for a few hours each time. Having the boats loaded down with stuff makes them more stable, and each time we go out it gets a little easier, so I'm hoping the trip goes well. Worst case, we have a tow-rope....

: )

Feedback

I asked my readers for feedback after Labor Day. My first one just called to tell me she finished over breakfast this morning. She said she read it every chance she got and it helped her relax in the bathroom. Not sure I'll put that on the cover blurbs.

I don't want to share her feedback because I don't want to influence other readers, but I will say she found some mistakes - wrong names used, etc. and had some specific "complaints" - too slow here, too much detail there, but overall she *liked it*.

The demons are telling me that she's only saying that because she knows me and doesn't want to hurt my feelings, but my inner Buffy is saying that she could have given me much more negative feedback in a *nice way* so the book just might not be half bad...

Anxiety

Just send my 2nd draft to a group of readers. My not-so-secret fear is that they will read it and think "Oh my God, this is awful. Poor her - she'll never publish anything."

Ok, so what if it's true? What if this book stinks. bad. real bad...
The next one will be better. right?

ugh.

lots o' freelance work. office a mess. not getting enough downtime. cannot keep up with E. 2nd night in a row I insisted on Karen time. I don't even want to know what he's doing because it will go something like this:
E: "So, how was your evening? Get a lot done?"
Me: "Yes - I read a chapter of Villette, polished my toenails and updated my blog. You?"
E: "I replaced the engine in my car, re-painted a wall in the living room, fixed the loose hinge on the dishwasher, took out the garbage and ran 15K."

Grrr. freakin' e. He doesn't lord it over me or anything, but there is just no keeping up with him. grrr. I'm going to start adding "and I thought over some tricky plot points" to all my time-accounting answers. He knows it's code for did nothing, but at least it sounds good.

Help pls!

I need another name like the 'Geek Squad' - you know those guys at Best Buy who will fix your computer even if it means plugging it in or hitting the Any key.

I want to use a Geek Squad in my book but I need my own name.

All I can come up with is 'Reboot Rangers' which sux.

Pls brainstrom anything - bad ideas pave the way to good ideas (at least I hope so or my book is doomed).

Thanks in advance

And yes, this means I am making progress....

The Karen character needs to change already

She still just sits at her computer writing a little, then not writing, then scribbling on post-its, coming up with complicated plot-fixing organizational systems that just mess up her office more. I'm getting really annoyed with her. She better just fix the freaking ending of her book already and get on with it.

Searching For a Safe Haven

Nothing, NOTHING is booked for this weekend. AAAhhhh I might actually get to read and relax. E is having a thermal pump installed. He claims that I'll be able to hide out in my office and ignore the process, but I'm concerned that I will feel guilty being surrounded by all the activity while I loll around reading OR, WORSE that I'll be sent to Rona for 3/8" hydrolining retrofitting compression connectors, and then come back with the coated ones instead of the uncoated ones. I want to help, but... maye I'll go see if the local library has comfortable chairs. Run away!!!! Bad Karen.

Manilow on My Mind

I woke up with the song "I Write the Songs" playing in my head and I can't get rid of it. Mental breakdown? Possibly...

Remember the Energizer bunny all happy with his sunglasses and drum, and how sad it is when he runs out of energy and falls over? That's E - he was face down, passed out completely asleep when I got home from the movies last night at 9:45 pm. I couldn't believe it - he's normally going and going and going - Ohmigod - he stopped!!!

I am feeling better and better each day - recovering from those two Navy Seal boot camp weekends. I also got another call from someone looking for some marketing freelance writing. I can't tell you how happy that makes me, particularly because it's for the kind of work I like doing : )

And although I haven't technically 'written' any bits of my book, I've been thinking through some rough spots. Soon it will spill onto paper.

Office cleanup status: messy. Papers from three jobs spread all over mixed with various bills, post-its and hot pink page flags. I bought more oganizers yesterday, but they don't seem to be magically doing the trick. I might have to break down and sort through this crap soon.

The Fog has Lifted

I'm back BACK the fog has lifted
The earth has shifted
and raised the gifted

name that tune...

I am an official PADI-Certified Open Water Scuba Diver. I spent last Saturday and Sunday refining my skills in the murky depths of some unknown lake by St Zotique Quebec. Apparently divers certifed here have it relatively easy everywhere else because the conditions around here are so bad. I believe it.

I am still having problems clearing my mask. I think I might need to drop some coin on a prescription mask. I can swim with my contacts and goggles, but underwater it takes longer to re-adjust your mask, and keeping my eyes squeezed shut while underwater is just a bit too much - it makes me a little too anxious and my beathing gets ragged. I think if I could keep my eyes open while clearing my mask it might go better. E and I are going to try a few adjustments in a friend's pool soon. I'm also a stinky snorkeler. We're going to work on that this weekend (weather permitting) at the cottage : )

I have a more manageable level of freelance work this week which might actually allow me to - - dare I suggest it? --- work on my book!!! I have an appointment to check in with L this Sunday, so progress must be made or else.

Easily Distracted

My peaceful, quiet home office that I have been SOOO looking forward to using this week has been completely disrupted by project new driveway across the street. The amount of trucks, crew, and construction equipment is almost equal to the water pipe project on the nearby road.

For whatever reason, I am completely fascinated by the process. I keep watching as each piece of equipment or truck does its part. E wants me to go over there with lemonade to try to get them to dump dirt in our driveway. I am too intimidated by the whole operation to even consider it.

Must try to focus... must finish work and send out some invoices... oh yeah, then there's that novel sitting in a binder gathering dust....

Coming up for air

I spent the weekend underwater - literally. I took the 'confined water' aka pool portion of a scuba certification class. The schedule was pretty intense: Friday 6:30 - 11:30 PM, Sat 7:45 AM - 12 noon, 7 PM - 11 PM, then Sunday 4 PM - 11:30 PM.
The time was aboout 1/2 classroom, 1/2 pool.

The first night the pool visibility was bad and I was bordering on panic most of the time even though we stayed in the shallow end on our knees for most of it, so you could see the surface right above you. The panic was completely unfounded - there was nothing wrong, it was just little voices saying 'go up, go up - you don't want to do this' HEY - I recognize those guys - slightly altered versions of the you can't write a book demons. I know better than to listen to them, but they show up at the WORST possible times...

Saturday went MUCH better even though by Saturday night I was coming unglued just from being so tired. I have always been good in a classroom situation and I am not incredibly patient with people who are slower so I was getting really antsy before we got in the pool. In the pool, the tables turned so to speak - I was one of the slowest ones to catch on. It almost always took me at leat two tries to be able to do the skills, and sometimes I needed serious additional explanation. This is normal for me with anything physical - it does not come naturally or easily. I always have to work harder than other people who might not be as book smart or even in as good condition physically. It's just the way it is - I don't like being at the back of the class, but my only other option is to not get to do any of these things.

Sunday I aced the final exam, but was still wrestling with my inability to clear my snorkel and mask. I made it through the pool part, but still need to work on some skills before I feel confident.

There was a 10-yr old kid in my class, and while he struggled a bit in the classroom, he was incredibly at ease in the water. It was impressive and humbling at the same time.

re: sharks. I was more afraid of them before I went to the class than after. Sharks are not aggressive. For the most part they are shy and will swim right by you, which is actually really cool if you think about it. They bite from below, so if you see one that seems interested in you, you can swim away along the bottom and be safe. Driving to the class on the highway under construction in the rain was much more dangerous than diving.

Next weekend we head out to the open water. It's supposed to be easier in many ways than being in the pool, except you need to deal with cold and current. I am looking forward to it because there should at least be something to see besides clumps of hair floating in the pool - yuk.

When E took scuba classes over 20 years ago, you had to take apart and dump your gear on the bottom of the pool, surface, take a breath, swim down and reconnect it all and put it back on underwater. We didn't have to do anything like that. Either the equipment is more reliable, or the odds of ever having to do that are so slim, it just doesn't make sense to freak people out by teaching it.

Today I am really sore and tired, but looking forward to next weekend : )

Overextended

As if doing truckloads of freelance work wasn't enough, I signed up for an intensive scuba certification course this weekend. All scuba, all weekend. AND I get to read the entire scuba book before I get there.

What makes you bouyant? Why does a wetsuit have to be so freaking tight? What's the most important thing to remember so your head doesn't explode? Breathe. Trying to just focus on that one for now.

stop. relax. breathe.

In other news, we had visitors last weekend - my aunts and uncle from Boston. I was of course a maniac. I put rhubarb bars in the oven then sat down on the porch with the door closed, chit-chatting and sipping Sangria until Sgt. Yahoo showed up and said "Hey, Karen - is there supposed to be smoke coming out of the oven?"
They didn't burn - they were ok, in fact pretty freaking tasty. Amazing what 1/2 lb of butter and a few cups of sugar can do to a fibrous weed growing in the yard.

Luckily E handled the rest of the cooking - delicious bbq. We also made it downtown for the last day of the jazzfest and went for a walk along the boardwalk in Ste-Anne. That's the good thing about having people visit - it forces you to re-appreciate your city. We would have completely missed the jazzfest otherwise.

The visit was quick but fun. Now I'm back to work, studying scuba and swimming twice per week.

How is the book going? Hello! Did you read the above? I've completely overscheduled myself and the book is once again on the back burner. I know, I'm an assclown.

I'm #1!

I actually finished 1st in the Women's Duathlon in the Great Race at St. Albans Bay VT last weekend. Not sure if that's a smile or a grimace in the photo. Jumping on your bike after running doesn't feel fantastic, so I'm leaning toward grimace.

See official results here.

If you search triathlon teams/men's kayak over 40 you'll find e. on team sparky - ranked 3rd.

I am the champion.... I am the champion....

Before we all get too excited, let's look at my actual times:
Run 5K 29:49.5
Bike 20K 51:36.0

That's ummmm... slow... but not as slow as sitting on the couch, so there you go.

My reward?


Delicious. And, yes.... I ate the WHOLE THING!

: )

Meeting my Financial Advisor

E: "Why do you look so cranky and worried?"
Me: "I have no idea what I'm doing with invoicing/taxes, etc. and it's freaking me out."
E: "I know a good financial planner you can talk to"
Me: "I don't have any money - he won't want to talk to me."
E:"Yes, he will - that's what he does"

I always thought financial planners were for people who had millions of dollars to put 'somewhere' but just weren't sure where. This guy was a strategist - tell him where you are, what you're doing, where you want to be and he'll help you come up with a plan to get there.

Me: "I'm broke and working all the time and not getting my book done. I'd like to be not broke, not working all the time, finished with my first book and working on the second."

I have 3 initial things to do:
a) schedule my time and stick to the schedule. no more agreeing to last-minute rush jobs that require me to write all day. ridiculous.
b) clean my office. It's causing me undue stress.
c) network.

Parts a and b yes, I probably could have figured out for myself. It was part c that I was thinking of in the wrong way. I still need to mull over this networking stuff, but it's starting to make more sense.

So here I am, cleaning my office. Or blogging...

Technical Difficulties

The BIGGEST Word doc that I've been working on is now un-openable. I don't know why. I have several copies, backup versions, versions sent as e-mail attachments,etc. etc. The only one I can still open is so old it will require re-doing A LOT of work. damn damn damn. I guess that's how the writing projects crumble. It's part of a freelance job, not my book. grrr.

I should have posted earlier because I WAS doing much better - head clear, getting stuff done. grrr.

mood: cranky
listening to: myself complain

Brain Fog

Current location: Ile-Perrot. Status: permanent : )

I am sooo f-ing tired...

Cause?
1. driving from Plainfield to Ile-Perrot and having a flat tire and flat spare en route
2. working full days as soon as I got here
3. going away for the weekend- fun, but nothing on the 'to-do' list got done - see 5.
4. adjusting to new surroundings
5. not being unpacked
6. going to a bye-bye barbecue for another friend who left as soon as I arrived
7. more work to do, deadline quickly approaching
8. zero book progress
9. 99% humidity
10. less than fantastic nutrition the last week
11. leaving my sister and her family
12. seeing my ex-college roommates, having a great time, and having to accept that we might not see each other again unless we magically manage to keep in touch
13. pms

Poor E. I might barricade myself in my office with a book until my black cloud passes.

Reprieve

I got a 2-week deadline extension on my current project - yay! I'm still work-work-working on it, but now it' s more of a midterm in a big class kind of stress instead of an omigod I have to study for all the finals for all the classes I didn't got to all year kind of panic.

I love this: go here, then scroll way down to the bottom right to see the stick figure at a computer.

My world

I feel like I am always on the move, but I apparently just keep going to the same places over and over. The map of countries I've visited is pretty limited:


create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

Thanks to Stephen for the link. (tried to link to his Mac account - got an erorr page - no more Stephen on the net?)

I think it's kind of funny that I've been to opposite ends of the earth.
No in-between for me.

Next on my list:
Cuba - this year? All talk so far, waiting for action.
Europe - hopefully Italy for a nice cycling trip
Africa - the leisurely tourist stroll up Kilimanjaro - hopefully by the time I'm 50

All these fancy trips require moola so for now my world is the size of my desk where I am busy writing.

She Works Hard for Her Money

The sun is shining, the kids are outside splashing in the wading pool and I'm at my desk working. Yes, the glamorous life of freelancers isn't all hakuna matada.

I have a ton, yes TON of work to finish by the 15th, not to mention that I need time to shop for an outfit that makes me look glamorous for my reunion with my college rommates on the 16th.

So I am either working, working out or webcam skyping the infamous e because I miss him so much. If you have any long-distance friends and family you must MUST go to skype.com, download it and use it to talk, and then hook up a web cam so you can see each other. It's the best. E told me to get a web cam months ago. Talking and seeing each other makes a HUGE difference. Why don't I listen?

Back to the grind.. my boss is a task master, and she wants me to get back to the firggin' book!