Buh bye 2012

I'm late again. I know. I'd blame life insanity, but it's mostly me being scatter brainy.

This has been a meh year. A bit trying in some ways, but really great in others. That said, I'm glad it's done and we're moving on to the new. I need some new.

This past week, I went up in weight ( even tho my points were fine, I definitely blame Christmas travel which included going off the 'fresh food' plan, too much sodium, and not getting enough water) but I should be down again this week, at least to where I was. I haven't written a thing other than chats, posts and tweets, but I've read two books (The Bellwether by Connie Willis was especially enjoyable, even tho it really didn't have a plot). I've completed one quilt, will likely finish another before I get to bed tonight, sinus crud is improving, family is fine, house is - slowly - shaping up, and truly, other than me sidelined by distractions, all is well.

But the new year will be here in a mere couple of hours (as I type this) and Changes Must Be Made. Some I have ultimate control over, some I don't at all, but, nevertheless, Changes Must Be Made so here goes.

First on my stack is an agent. I am expecting a phone call sometime next week or the week after, say around the 10th, ish, from an agency I've been in contact with for months. They're the only ones who've read SPORE (initial comments were great plus they loved Morgan's Run. Yay!). I am hopeful it will go well. If not, I have backup plans laid out, but I am very, very hopeful for good news from New York in mid January. After the agent, I intend to do whatever I can to get SPORE sold well plus get it to Hollywood. I think it'd make an awesome film, especially the Ghoulie parts.

Next up, I have at least two books to write. Finish Dubric #4 (currently titled Stain of Corruption) and one other book, as yet undecided. I'm brainstorming with my friend Shirley next Monday to come up with ideas for both, so that'll be fun. Hopefully we can come up with something workable. I mostly just need a concept. Once I have that, the rest is just typing. The idea, tho, is always tough for me. I've never understood how so many writers have gazillions of ideas. I never have.

I have a LOT of sewing to do. I owe so, so many people quilts or other items, and I have waaaaay too much fabric. So I must sew. I'm thinking a finished project every three weeks, ish, which comes to 17 in 2013. I have one bed sized quilt on deck, but everything else will be wallhangings or table runners or other smaller things, especially since I have to send the big projects out to be quilted but I quilt the smaller ones myself. In that area of things to do, I also will trim down my fabric to a more manageable level (17 projects ought to help with that!!), weed out my mountain of patterns, and learn how to quilt feathers on my machine as well as circles (I bought the circle foot last year but haven't used it yet). Plus sew some clothes for my granddaughter. :)

Weight Watchers is going well. I intend to ensure it continues to go well. So far, I haven't had much trouble keeping on plan, mostly for me it's a matter of tracking like I should and drinking enough water. If I can do that, I usually do well at weekly weigh in. Want to increase exercising and remove even more processed foods (like the baked crisps I like oh so much for my salty/crunchy fix).

I'm also going to do baby steps into being more frugal, FlyLady, and general organization. Mostly, I want less STUFF.

Lastly, and perhaps most important, I want to spend more time with my family, especially my husband. Because he's awesome. :)

So, I guess that's it. Work. Creativity. Health. Organization. And, most important, Family.

2013 is gonna be a great year!!

{{huggs}} for you all and I'm so glad to have you in my life.

Placeholder

This is a placeholder post. Not quite ready to talk about my goals for 2013 or review my goals for 2012. I will say that it was a harder year than I had hoped for, but I'm still here, still writing, still selling books, still getting by. And that is something to be thankful for.

Right now, I am worn out. Too many gatherings. Traveled six hours today (to and back) for one gathering. I have three more "Christmases" before Christmas 2012 is officially over. Love Christmas. Not sure about the people, though. I'm not good with crowds, noise, etc. Puts a strain on me. And one Christmas just got moved to New Year's Day, which frankly I'm not pleased about. I wanted that day to myself. Instead, grandchildren will be arriving. Love them, but wanted some space. Well, that's life. I'll enjoy them. I know I will. And there will come a time when they're teenagers and it won't be cool or fun to come. Need to enjoy these times while they last. That's what I tell myself. And it's the truth.

Anyway, I hope you had a good Christmas. And if you're still in the middle of them ... well, I'm thinking of you and rooting for you.

My plan is to be back here New Year's Day. Then I'll talk about my goals, my failures and successes, and a few other things. See you then.

Wendy's Last Week

Apparently I didn't have any concrete 2012 goals. That explains a lot.

Good Stuff:
- We've had some good family time.
- Made some progress packing stuff from kitchen cabinets. The new cabinets will be here Friday. Not sure when they'll be installed, but I'd imagine it won't be too long after that.
- Set some concrete goals for 2013. We'll see how that works out.
- I've felt like shaking things up lately, like I don't want to waste any more time. It's not something I can really put my finger on, but it makes me wonder if this is how a caterpillar feels when it spins its cocoon.
- I'm rearranging my office to set up a reading area by the window. I'm really hoping the new configuration will lead to greater productivity.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Once again I spent too much time watching TV. I almost overdosed on HGTV.
- I'm having a hard time plotting the new book. I'm trying to dig deeper, but I seem to be digging in the wrong places because it hasn't clicked yet.
- The kid I was fencing with today whacked the crap out of my knuckle. It's really tender but not bruised. Yet. I got him back, the little bugger. ;-) All part of the process.

For 2013:

·     Make enough money to pay at least half my professional expenses.

·   Keep the new kitchen clean.

·   Give to the food bank at least three times.

·   Keep five notes in the car for people standing on the corners.

·   Seriously declutter. I have no idea how to measure this.

·   Do at least 1 bible study.

·   Learn more ways to defend myself.

o  Practice the ways I already know.

·   Write 150,000 book words.

Have a great new year! See you on the flip side!

The End of the Year as We Know It

I think next year I'll pick a random song lyric for a title--maybe modify it for relevance.

The Good Stuff:

• Two San Antonio bathroom problems are resolved or abated.  The sink drain is repaired, including the leaky hot water supply line. The toilet tank has been rebuilt, stopping a troublesome leak.
• Kittens are doing well, as are the big cats
• A very little work done on PBOTL
• Made progress on a few household hot spots
• Raked some more leaves; trimmed a few bushes

The Not So Good Stuff:

• Hubby is still avoiding the tub drain repair.  He has it mapped out, but he just has to convince himself to go under the house. I do understand this.  Sigh.
• Just as our Christmas ham finished cooking, the rotisserie motor on the stove went out.  We have a year to get it fixed, but I'll need to remind hubby about it early in the year.  I imagine he'll be scrambling at the last minute get it fixed, though.

The Week Ahead:

• Prepare to return to Central TX
• Bring in the New Year (because you know it won't arrive without our assistance)

Speaking of New Year, here are the goals for the coming year.

Relationship: Seems like we're in a mostly good place right now, and we'd like to keep it that way.

Pets:

• Continue care, feeding, and attention for inside (big) cats.  
• Decide what will be best for the feral kittens.  They will be ready for spay/neuter around the beginning of February.  Until then, where do we keep them?  In the crate in the garage (it will be difficult for me to clean the crate that way, but it will be better preparation if I'm to release them to outside after their spay/neuter) or set up in the parlor (where hubby says we don't have the space).  
• I plan to ask the vet if she'll keep them for a week or so to see if they can be adopted out of her office -- or I'll ask if a home they'd find from her office would be better than living outside at my place.  
• Of course, the temptation to keep them all inside is a strong one, but that would cause problems.  For our four, we can leave for a four-day weekend, and the litter boxes and food and water towers work fine.  Doubling the number of cats would be problematic.  And, of course, boarding that many for a couple of weeks while we travel would be, gasp!, prohibitive.
• If I put them outside, I'm feeding six cats, so I'd probably need two more feeders.  That would be easy.  I could probably treat these four monthly with the all in one flea and worm preventative to keep them safe from parasites -- assuming they will allow themselves to be handled once I release them.
• Continue trying to trap Sneaky to get her spayed.

Properties:

• San Antonio: This year I want to work on interior cleanliness, yard, help hubby with renovations in preparation for putting it on the market (not this year).
• Central TX House: Declutter, yard, exterior paint
• Shop: help hubby with projects (maybe bathroom repair and cleaning behind the building
• Store: Move bikes to shop, inventory glass, keep it mowed
• Ranch: Trim road edge back

Health and Fitness:

• Rededicate to WW and Fitness.  No, this is not a broken record.  I began the year at 263 and currently have a net gain of six pounds.  My next goal of 261 has been waiting impatiently for me to meet it.  A reasonable goal would be to be at or below 245 at year's end.
• Riding the bike helps keep my knees mobile and helps cardiac fitness (but I'll need to add more resistance to achieve better heart benefits)
• Resume my exercises for my knees.  My right hip is bothering me, and that's directly attributable to not doing my stretching exercises
• My blood pressure is giving me problems.  If I can't get it lowered with diet and exercise, the doc is going to have to put me on another medication.  I don't want that. 

Family:

• This is always troublesome for me.  I care for my family -- even love them, of course, but I've been away from them so long, I don't really know them.  Mom and I play Lexulous, so we chat back and forth in the course of the game.  My younger brother and his family are on Facebook, so we have some communication that way. My sister has a Facebook account, but she hasn't been on for several months.  My older brother will communicate via text, so maybe I better text him more than an annual Christmas and birthday text.
• My folks are coming to OK for my nephew's high school graduation in May, and we plan to attend as well.  So I suggested they might want to ride down on the train, and we'd pick them up in Dallas.  Then I suggested they come spend a couple of days with us in Central TX (Dad hasn't seen the house yet), and they accepted.

Writing: PBOTL revision and completion of How To Revise Your Novel are my top writing priority.  I also plan to participate in NaNoWriMo again this year.

Reading: I always have a goal of reading 50 books a year.  2012 has probably been my worst year for reading, and I doubt 2013 will be much better, but the goal remains 50 books.

FM: I'm more active behind the scenes than I was at the beginning of the year.  I'm not much more active on the front end than I was before. With the transition to Joomla!, I've become the primary backend person.  I've created the test site but still haven't found the best way to get it configured to match the live site.  I plan to redo the FAQ. We need to figure out how to get chat logins integrated with the site login.  There are a few other problems people are complaining about that I have no idea how to resolve.

Blogging and Internet Presence:  I'm mostly comfortable with my current blog schedule.  I skip a few days now and then.  I see few new readers and nearly no commenters.  I understand what they meant when they said blogging was dead, but I have no interest in making Facebook a blogging platform.  In fact, I refuse to do so.  I still value what we have here at Createslate as we begin our third year.

Merry Christmas!

★*˚°。°*。°*。★*˚°。°*。°˚°★*˚°。°*。°*★*˚°。°*。°*★
° * _██_*˚°。°/♥ \*˚°。°*。°*★*˚°。°*。°*★*˚°。°*。°*★
˛ . (´• ̮•)*. 。*/♫.♫\*˛.* ˛ _Π_____*˚°。*。°*❤*˚°。°*。°*★
. ° ( . • .) ˛° . /• '♫ '•\.˛*./_______/~\*˚°。°*。°*°*❤ ˚°*★
.* (.. '•'..) *˛ ╬╬╬╬╬˛°.｜田田❤｜門｜╬╬╬╬╬*˚°。°*。°* ♥
★*˚°。°*。°*。★ *˚°。°*。°*。★*˚°。°*。°˚°★*˚°。°*。★
★*˚°。°*。°*。★ *˚°。°*。°*。★*˚°。°*。°˚°★*˚°。°*。★

Wendy's Week

Somehow the weekend has gotten away from me. It's been super busy. Go figure, it's the weekend before Christmas.

Good Stuff:
- Alex got home safely. It took him a little longer because they'd had a blizzard the day before (the same one that socked you in, Tammy) and there were power lines down and snow covered roads on his route.
- Vicky's birthday has been celebrated. Twice. She came Friday for dinner and presents, and this afternoon we all went to see The Hobbit. It was good, very much like I expected, but with a lot of fight scenes and chaos. If I'm going to watch a fight scene I'd rather be able to focus on a couple select people, not pan across the whole thing, especially now that I've started fencing.
- Speaking of which, I fenced yesterday. My instructor is giving me a little less grace each week, not pulling hits and so forth. He landed a few good shots yesterday, but I whacked him good a couple times too. I'm a little shocked at how much I enjoy it, considering it's physical and sometimes painful and a lot more complicated that it looks.

Not So Good Stuff:
- I was getting dressed Thursday morning to go to a funeral, and I went through 3 pairs of pants before I found one that fit. Nothing says "you've gained weight" like trying to dress up in stuff you don't normally wear. I have only myself to blame. I've really let my diet slip lately and I need to get a handle on it.
- I got some unexpected test results from my doctor. Nothing life-threatening, but something to follow up on. This, of course, means more tests, which will be put it off until after the first of the year. Surgery later in the year is a distinct possibility, but mostly because it's a new thing in a long succession of chronic issues and I'm sick and tired of dealing with them.
- The crits from a contest I entered came in this morning. They were not as encouraging as I thought they would be. In fact, overall scores were similar to scores I got in a different contest a year ago. After all the work I've done in the last year I thought they would be better and it's a little discouraging. I know they're subjective and are really only the opinions of people in the industry. They all agreed that the story line was interesting, just that I still have some work to do. Nothing I can do but take their crits into consideration, pick myself up, and keep slogging up the learning curve.

So that's about it from here. I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas. See you next week!

Caught up ... sort of

I spent the last week catching up on everything I had let slide during the launch of Tales from Bethlehem. I mailed the last of my Christmas cards, published and mailed the December family newsletter, shopped for and wrapped and bagged Christmas presents, caught up on the regular household chores, and had my first gift exchange.

This coming week, I will:
-- Have at least three Christmas gift exchanges.
-- Work on my goals for next year.
-- Stay warm. We're supposed to get ice and snow on Christmas, and it won't improve until Friday. Which is good because I'm supposed to travel on Saturday.
-- Continue to work on organizing my desk and craft supplies. I am determined to reduce what I have to what I actually use or will use.
-- Establish a blogging schedule again.

Y'all have a wonderful Christmas. I hope it's peaceful and sweet. This is my favorite time of the year, but it's also the one where I miss my parents terribly. The black dog never rests, you know. But even if Christmas tinged by sadness and loss, it still means a lot to me. It's the beginning of the redemption story. Later on there would be blood, sorrow, and death before joy comes again, but at the beginning, there is only the joy and a babe in the night.

Iowa still stands ;)

Winter has arrived. While I love a good snowstorm, I am very saddened by the car wrecks on our highways. The entire state of Iowa was '100% snow/ice covered, do not drive' on Thursday, yet people still drove. Some were injured, a few died, and for what? There's nowhere you need to be during a blizzard that's worth risking your life - and the lives of rescue personnel - for.

Pretty sure I mentioned this last winter, but it's worth mentioning again. White out conditions, 50+ mph winds, icy pavement under 8" inches of snow... just stay home.

There are still folks in the Des Moines area without power. We're thankful, though, for the snow. We've been so, so dry, it's welcome moisture. We stayed home and took it easy. Bill even took Friday off work to get us shoveled out, so all good there!

Okay, enough of winter, onto the list!!

The Good:

• My regular Weight Watchers meeting was cancelled due to snow, so I went to this morning's meeting and am officially down 19.4 lbs! Woot!
• Since I'd planned on a 'baby steps' approach to Weight Watchers instead of 'leap in all the way and flounder' method I usually prefer, I'd prepared to begin officially exercising at the 3 month mark. Since that was at this week's weigh in, I bought one of their Time Crunch Training DVDs and did the time-crunch upper body workout. I'm going to do a minimum of three of these mini workouts a week all this next month then reassess and expand/lengthen exercise as needed.
• Sinus infection/cold/allergy/brain clog is lifting. Finally. I think because with the snow we've finally had a really hard, fast freeze and allergens have been knocked down. Woot for that, too!
• Christmas shopping and wrapping is done. Yay!
• Bill interviewed for a job that could potentially take him from the posty office into something much more stable. The interview went well, but he's not sure if he'd want the job should they offer it, so we'll see.
• I'm getting better at cooking 'on plan' and pre-tracking so that's really quite helpful as I plan out meals and cook supper.
• Bill got me a really nice pan. I know that sounds boring, but it's heavy brushed stainless, 4 quarts with a draining lid and I am giddy over it.
• I'm wearing jeans I haven't worn in probably a decade and am shrinking out of shirts at a worrisome rate. Not sure how I'm gonna replace my wardrobe, but I'll find a way.
• Thank you, Wendy, for the card!!  {{huggs}}

The Meh:

• Grocery prices are really getting me aggravated. It's getting crazy expensive out there and it's only gonna get worse.
• Christmas is almost over. I've actually managed this one better than usual - I do NOT like Christmas. At. All. - and I only had one implosion, but it'll be done on Monday and I'll be quite thankful for that. Not much longer to go.
• My sewing is stalled due to my head cold issues. I'm making two baby quilts and I don't want the babies to get my illness so I haven't worked on them since right after Thanksgiving, but I'll be back on the sewing machine today.
• Hubby is a grump butt. I am a grump butt. Bah humbug. (it's almost Monday and we'll be DONE!!  Whew!)
• Been sleeping too much - sinuses and generalized depression - but it's getting better.
• Haven't written anything, but haven't really had the brain power or physical energy to write.
• In an effort to get a better handle on characters and conditions I haven't had to write in a long time, I read Ghosts in the Snow, cover to cover, no skimming, for the first time since I did my printer proofs back on 2004. It was a pretty good read, but I kept wanting to fix my lazy grammar.

The Bad:

• Never did get my Christmas cards done. Bought them. And that's about as far as I got. I blame a combination of bah-humbug and sinuses.
• Sewing area looks like a fabric store exploded. Must clean it up. Somehow.
• Eyes have taken another slight step toward old age and I've had to increase my reading glasses strength.
• I have Too. Much. Stuff. Really getting tired of it.
• Need a haircut. Need the gray toned back. Must budget for this.
• No ideas for a new novel other than back to faithful ol' Dubric and Stain of Corruption, but... blargh. I don't wanna. Sigh.

To do for the remainder of this year:

• Gonna trim out excess 'stuff' on my desk, in the kitchen, and in my sewing room.
• Finish the two baby quilts and get them shipped to their appropriate peoples.
• Go through my clothes and take anything I've shrunk out of to either my sister or Goodwill.
• Try not to gripe too much about Christmas. Maybe even bake some cookies.
• Continue to track and exercise.

Looking ahead to next year:

• New agent to rep Spore and subsequent mainstream thrillers
• Sell Spore and get it through production.
• Write at least one more mainstream novel.
• Finish Stain. 
• 50lb weight loss by my birthday in June.
• Sew regularly to keep my happiness up.
• Get back on the Flylady wagon.
• Spread happiness and hope!

{{huggs}} and Happy Christmas, everyone!!

So Much for the Mayans

I'm writing this on Thursday, but I'm completely confident you're here to read it.

The Good Stuff:

• Cats are all fine
• Got a little yard work done
• Have made a little more progress on PBOTL
• Hubby is in Central TX finishing the final edition for the year of his lantern newsletter
• Christmas cards and gifts mailed out
• Have kitty gifts for Christmas 
• Hubby called this morning to say Peaches was sitting on the porch waiting for the food to drop.  He was about fifteen minutes early, so he was relaxing while he waited, and hubby watched and waited while Peaches waited. (In the not so good part of this, hubby did not hear the food drop -- the feeder rumbles to shake the food down, so, standing where he was, he should have heard the food drop. He will not believe me when I say his hearing is impaired. Peaches, of course was not impaired, he began eating as soon as the food fell.)
• The local high school football team won the state championship

The Not So Good Stuff:

• Weight loss from last week must have been a result of illness (not surprising)
• Only did one day of the plan to clean up in house "hot spots" 
• A certain freshly minted 18-year old is providing interesting character development fodder. 

The Week Ahead:

• Finish Christmas grocery shopping -- just need a few fresh things
• Work the house cleaning checklist to get some nagging "hot spots" taken care of
• Continue working with the cats
• More progress on the trees, bag leaves

Revisit Goals for 2012:

• I intend to continue working on my overall health and fitness.  

I think I wound up treading water on both health and fitness

• Work will continue on the various properties.

The Neverending Story is going well

• Relationship--which will remain in the "other" category.

In a reasonably good place right now

• Pets.  I probably won't report on them regularly, but they are fun to talk about --- kind of like people talking about their kids and grandchildren.

I think I've talked about them rather a lot lately.

• I've decided I need to take a more participatory role in Forward Motion.

My work with Forward Motion remains behind the scenes. With the move to the new site, I have a more active admin role. 

• I need to make better use of my on-line time.  I haven't figured out how, but I need to do something different from what I have been doing.  

I may have been doing better at this.  It usually means I'd rather be on line than doing what I'm doing, but I have dragged myself away more this year.

• That brings me to the primary reason why we're here -- writing. 

I did a little work on a novel during our May train trip, and I think a writing retreat on a train is very doable.

• I plan to continue working through "How To Revise Your Novel" with Polar Bear on the Loose. 

I'd hoped to finish this in 2012.  Instead, I'll be carrying it over, but I did make progress.

• I have several reading projects underway.  First, I'm reading The Federalist Papers by email subscription.  I'm also reading Durant's History of Civilization -- I'm on volume 1 of the how ever many volume set.  I've been winning about three books a year from LibraryThing, so I have to read them and write a review.  Other than that, my annual goal is to read 50 books. 

I'm nearly done with The Federalist Papers subscription.  I started another one a few months ago.  I'm continuing to read Durant.  I'm working on a LibraryThing review book. My worst year reading ever.

Next week, I'll post goals for 2013.

December's more than half over.

Totally can't be possible, yet it's true.

I'm fine, everything's fine. Behind on most everything. Still kinda sick. I have no time. Otherwise, all the same.

Happy holidays.  {{huggs}}

The End of the World, by Mayans.

Will this be my last post ever? Stay tuned. Typing on the iPad, so I'm just going to say it this week.

- I ran a fever and went to bed instead of watching a Spurs game Thursday night. I napped a lot of Friday, but I feel better now. Somewhere this week, four pounds disappeared.
- I did pull PBOTL out of the wrapper and finished a scene. Trying to figure out the next one.
- Hubby played Tuba Christmas and swears he's not going to participate next year. We'll see.
- Hubby was supposed to head for Central TX today, but he's delayed another day or two.
- He was planning to be back so we could face the End of the World together, but now that won't happen.
- Kittens are all doing well. Glacial socialization progress.
- Big cats mostly adjusting. They want the kitten food.
- Leaves raked, bagged, and gone in time for more to fall. We're supposed to get wind, so that will put them into a pile for me, making it easier to bag.
- Hubby has only printed one-third of the Christmas cards I need. I may have to improvise the rest.
- Apparently, grandmother is doing well. Two birthday cards go her way tomorrow. She'll be 95 on the 20th.t
- Found out something of great concern regarding my parents today. Thankfully, I can help.
- Double sink vanities take up a lot of room. Surprising how spacious the bathroom became when we had to remove it to access the drain to get the repair complete. I'm thinking bathroom sinks are over-rated and should be removed. Alas, the heavy, bulky beast has been returned. Not sure if hubby plans to actually attempt to complete the job tomorrow or not. If I ask, I'm "pushing" him, so mostly I stay in the dark about these things until he complains that he's waiting for me to help him or some other such thing that indicates I just should have known what was obvious to him all along.
- Tired of sponge baths and washing my hair in the kitchen sink, I may head to one of the local base gyms, do a workout, and shower afterward.
- A couple kittens were losing fur, and Delta was coughing. Fearing mange, I took them to our local vet. He suspects a skin fungus, so we're treating for that. It's not getting any worse, so I think that may have been it. The worst of it is a bare spot on top of Ruby's head. For Delta, he gave me some anti-biotics. Half an eyedropper twice a day. I've never had a cat take medicine as well as she does. I don't think I heard her cough today, either. Hmm.

This week I need to wrap Christmas presents, prepare for mailing, mail, and address and send Christmas cards.  Everything else is up in the air until I figure out what hubby is going to do.

Worn out

Whew. A busy week. I'm worn out, but it's from good things. Two book signings in one week are a bit much, but I know authors who do four or five a week so I need to build up my endurance.

I had enough books. Ended up with 11 left. Some will go back down to the store that are selling them for me. The rest I'm going to sell to anyone who wants an autographed book and bookmark for $15, which includes postage (but only in the U.S.). I have the mailing envelopes that fit the books so it should be relatively easy to do. I guess I'll have them send me a check. Maybe I should investigate PayPal. That's something to work out next week.

Speaking of next week:
-- Wrap Christmas presents.
-- Publish and mail December family newsletter.
-- Household chores.
-- Rest.
-- Sing carols.
-- Cook more. Been eating out too much. Can't afford it, and frankly, I don't think the food is worth what restaurants charge for it.
-- Start exercising regularly again.
-- Work on the outline for "Murder by the Mile." Decided to finish and publish it next.
-- Pay bills.
-- And so on and so on.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Wendy's Week

Wow, again? Didn't I just do one of these?

Good stuff:
- Got some work done on the new Newport Gilded Age novel. I downloaded a character worksheet from Camy Tang's website and it's helped a lot with plotting. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get through one novel without slogging through the middle and making you all listen to me whine that it's haaaarrrrrddd.  ;-)
- Christmas storage boxes have been put away.
- Christmas shopping is done.
- Presents are wrapped and under the tree. Mostly.
- Presents that needed to be shipped have been, and I know at least one person received theirs.
- Shuffled the family's eye appointments. Alex is staying an extra week at school to get some extra work hours in.
- Vicky's birthday presents are bought, wrapped, and ready to go. I even mailed a card to her since she won't be here on her birthday. As of Wednesday at 9:42 a.m. I will no longer have teenagers.
- Routine medical tests and follow-ups are complete for the year.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Our exercise routine was off this week because Eric needed to work through lunch to make up hours from a Monday migraine. It actually worked in my favor, switching from lunchtime to 4-ish because it allowed me to keep working when I was on a roll. There are no rolls to be on late in the afternoon. We're going to try it again this week and see if it continues to work. It's not so much a "bad" thing as an adjustment in the routine for the better. I just have to remember to do my exercise video and remember to do something about dinner earlier so we can eat at a reasonable time.
- Now that the kids are gone and I'm just cooking for Eric and me, I find it's easier to get distracted and I burn things a lot lately. It's annoying. I am getting a handle on portion control, though, just in time for Alex to come home and throw a wrench in the works.
- My energy is ebbing again. I think it's the early evenings. Did I mention that last week? Keeping up on the vitamin D and magnesium helps, but I might need to increase dosages. Hopefully I have a record somewhere of how much vitamin D I took last winter. I think it was 5,000 mg. and I switched down to 2,000 for the summer since I was outside more. Walks on nice days might be a smart thing to add to the routine, especially in the afternoon when I'm not good for anything requiring concentration.

This Week:
- Get ready for Alex to be home.
- Celebrate Vicky's birthday.
- Do the Christmas baking. Share with neighbors, praise band members, and Eric's coworkers.
- Keep writing.
- Try to wrap up 2013 goals. I should really have more than 2 things to work toward.

Late late late

Well, the last two weeks taught me the folly of launching a book during the holiday season. I simply can't get everything done. But I will, dang it, I will.

This week is going to be particularly busy because I have two book signings, one on Thursday (Ada Public Library, 4:30 -6:30 pm) and and one on Saturday (Muldrow Public Library, 10:30 am - 1 pm). I have a huge list that I'm trying to get done.

The table prizes for Thursday are done; all I have to do is pack up the books I'm going to take and the items for my table. A friend is catering the event for me again so I don't have to worry about refreshments. And I don't have to make as big a presentation for this one because my space is limited.

I need to finish the table prizes for Saturday and pack the books for that signing, but I can't do that -- well, can't finish it -- until I see what's left over from the Thursday signing.

I'm very close to the break even point on "Tales from Bethlehem." Soon I will be in profit area. My creditors will appreciate that. It takes some pressure off me, too.

I'm afraid of selling out of books before the Muldrow signing. I probably won't, but I can see how that could happen. Nothing I can do about it. It's too late to order and have them arrive before Saturday. I should have some left. And I could always take orders and mail them, although I don't know how I'm going to approach passing the shipping costs on to them. Well, this is a better problem to have than having lots left over.

I need to concentrate on buying gifts this week and getting my Christmas list done. And Christmas cards. Oh, a family newsletter, too. And chores. And publicity for Tales. Updating all the blogs. Ai, ai, ai ... Well, deep breath. Here we go. Y'all have a great week. Talk to you later.

Winding Down 2012

The week has been good in several ways -- progress with the kittens, a couple of bills paid, some time with friends, and progress made on the bathroom sink drain.

Unfortunately, I didn't pull out PBOTL or get Christmas presents wrapped. I took the picture for the Christmas cards before we left Central TX, but hubby will insist on making those.

Hubby's been on a buy file cabinet kick this week. We found three four drawer units at yard and estate sales this week for $36. Good finds. I guess.  We brought four kittens down in one cat carrier, but they,ll be too large to make the trip back that way, so I found a small dog carrier at Bussey's Dlea Market today that should help them travel in comfort. Hubby found a lantern.

My grandmother's hemoglobin dropped to single digits, and she refused a transfusion.  The nursing home transferred her to a hospital. Mom (a retired RN) talked to grandma, and she has apparently agreed to transfusions on Monday. She'll be 95 on the 14th.

My niece will be 18 on the 20th. She can't wait to be able to get tattoos and buy her own cigarettes. Insert eye rolls here. I hope she proves me wrong, but I don't see a bright future for her.

The new Weight Watchers site has some interesting additions to the programs.

The week ahead:

Pull out PBOTL and refresh my memory.
Help hubby with the plumbing work as much as possible (I really want to take a shower, and he's working on the sink first).
Rake leaves
Continue working with the kittens.

A week of December has passed...

This will likely be another very short post.

Little Miss started vomiting Wed afternoon and by Friday morning everyone in the house was sick. I got it the least - never progressed beyond miserable-glurgly probably because I am almost OCD about hand washing - but after a trip to the doc, 2 prescriptions, 3 bottles of Pedialyte and I dunno how much cleaning solution used up on the couch, carpets and floor, we're all on the mend. Not sure if the couch will ever fully recover, but we're hopeful. A full steam-clean is on schedule for tomorrow.

That took up most of my week, honestly, either being sick or caring for a houseful of sickies (since I was the only one in any condition to drive, cook, or do laundry... Gak, the LAUNDRY!!), but it wasn't a total wash of a week. Bill and I celebrated (sort of, if you count napping all day and eating nothing stronger than chicken broth) our 24th anniversary and I heard back about SPORE. She called to say she loved it, very excited and enthusiastic, and it - and Morgan - are off to the 'big guy' for reading and potential final approval. I am not only excited to have found a potentially interested agency but incredibly relieved that two mainstream novels I wrote as myself, with my voice, my subject matter, my vision, and my unfettered intent are - so far at least - understood and appreciated for what and how they are. While I didn't mind the work involved when I had to gut and totally re-do two of the Dubric novels, it did make me doubt my abilities as a writer quite a lot. So, even if the ultimate answer in this process is a no, I'm still thankful that I'm doing my job correctly and not merely spinning my wheels, if that makes sense.

Oh! I passed 16lbs lost with WW before I got sick, so yay for that, too! Does anyone have any thoughts about the 360˚ program expansion? I went ahead and bought the 'expansion kit' at the meeting and I really like the handbook.

That's all I have. Probably should take another nap. Have a great week, everyone!

Wendy's Week

Not a great week. I logged a lot of couch time thanks to the 5-day migraine. It seems to be gone now. Hopefully.

Good stuff:
- I did manage to get some laundry done, dishes washed, Christmas presents wrapped.
- Vicky came Friday night to help me decorate the Christmas tree. I wasn't going to do any other decorating, but maybe I'll get the creche out.
- We ordered our new counter tops yesterday, but there won't be any work in the kitchen until January. The cabinets arrive the 4th, and from that point it will be at least a month of living in a renovation. If we survive that, we're thinking our next house will be a fixer-upper.
- E-mailed "Held" to Splickety Monday evening, before the headache started, so I have 5-7 more weeks to wait for an answer on that.

Not So Good stuff:
- No writing.
- Not as much exercise, although I did get a good workout in fencing class yesterday, and I can feel it today!
- Ate out way too much.

This week:
- Write!
- Ship presents that need to be shipped.
- Cook and eat at home.
    --- Figure out how to compensate for the loss of the meat thawing drawer in the new frige
- Finish Christmas shopping

December? Wow!

This year has been an adventure.  Time to begin reflecting on the year that's been, the year that will be, and just maybe cleaning up some loose ends.

The Good Stuff:

• Hubby's older daughter was able to get away from Dallas for the weekend and brought the younger granddaughter with her. We thoroughly enjoyed having them here this weekend.  Granddaughter got some quality time with the kittens and helped socializing them to new people.  She made good progress with Rossie while she was here.  Daughter got to spend quality time with her dad sharing some family genealogy information and making copies.
• Is it only this week that we got all four kittens caught and together again to socialize?  My.  It seems like longer than that.  The kittens have a long way to go, but they have come so far.  They are great with the litter box, they're learning to use the scratching box instead of other things. They are learning to play and wrestle. They're learning to be handled, but they are only just beginning to welcome it. (Ruby is our fastest adopter at this point.)
• Hubby has made good progress in getting the downspout upgraded at the shop.  He's working on the key downspout, but we have several more to do.  
• I lost a couple of pounds this week, but I didn't feel as if I'd done anything to achieve the loss.  Maybe that's a good thing?
• Had the follow-up ultrasound, and all they found was a well-formed cyst.  I'll do a follow up in six months to make sure it doesn't change size.  I scheduled the GYN followup for mid-January for the fibroid problem follow-up.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• Hubby was trying to show the kids something, and I attempted to help him, causing what I was trying to avoid -- dropping the item on an antique lamp shade and cracking it.  It was a hundred year old milk glass shade that he has not found another of even though he's been looking. He's furious with me.  He says he'll get over it, but he's heartsick about the damage to that item.  And I feel terrible.
• I didn't even pull PBOTL out to look at it.

The Week Ahead:

• Semi-annual doctor visit on Tuesday
• Heading to San Antonio to do some work down there on Wednesday 
• I need to do some goal work in preparation for closing out this year and beginning next year.
• Including looking at PBOTL.

Signing and more

Last week was busy. I spent the first part of the week getting ready for the book signing on Thursday -- mailing postcards; sending out emails; marketing on Twitter, Facebook, etc.; preparing the door prizes; coordinating the food and drinks, etc. It's quite an undertaking, and I always wonder when I'm in the middle of it if it's all going to to be worth all the effort. I learned a long time ago that bad weather can undone all you've done. At least in my town, if there's bad weather -- a bit of rain or snow -- no one comes out.

Anyway, the signing was on Thursday. It went well. Plenty of people, lots of laughter and good conversation, and I sold a lot of Tales from Bethlehem, including a few copies of Floozy and Other Stories. Of course, I had a lot of people who told me they'd be there who didn't show for one reason or another, but I have another signing on the 13th here. Maybe they'll be able to make that one. Several have said they will.

I'm close to the break even point on Tales. Well, a bit more than half way there, but closer than before the signing. I should reach it with the other signings barring unforeseen circumstances -- like bad weather. The weather here is unnaturally warm and clear. Worries me. We desperately need rain.

Friday and Saturday, I spent recovering and repacking all the stuff I'd unpacked for the signing. I also did a bit of Christmas shopping and wrapped some presents.

This week, I will:
- Continue to sell and promote Tales online and otherwise.
- Prepare more prizes for the signing on the 13th and 15th. I used all of the prepared ones at the Thursday signing.
- Household chores.
- Christmas shopping and wrapping.
- Christmas cards.
- Pray for rain.
- Writers group Christmas gathering this coming Saturday.
- The Hanging of the Green tonight at the local Methodist church. I always enjoy the Hanging. It starts the Christmas season for me.

And that's my news. Hope you have a great week!

Welcome to December

Nothing much to report here other than there's been no word on SPORE and I've returned to working on Stain of Corruption. I'm officially down 13.2 lbs. That's about it.

{{huggs}} all around.

Wendy's week

It's been so quiet this week it seems like two since last weekend!

Good Stuff:
- Got some kitchen stuff packed up. Already it feels bigger.
- Returned the library books I could find. The library says I still have 2. We're all going to look for them again. If they don't turn up, I have the ISBNs to replace them.
- Swam 3 days, and did my exercise video 4 days.
- Researched some paid short story markets.
- Started my 2013 goals.
- Fenced this morning, and Eric went along to observe since we had other stuff to do in the city. He may be joining our class. If he does, I'll have a sparring partner at home.
- Tales From Bethlehem just got here. At 8:30 on Saturday night. FedEx must be paying some serious overtime. That, of course, means I'm almost done Christmas shopping for Mom's side of the family, so maybe, just maybe I can ship their gifts this week.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Back to feeling like I'm not getting anything done. It seems like there are always a lot of things left undone at the end of the day. Must be the shorter days. It stinks to be solar powered with no means of energy storage.
- I still have at least three Powerpoints to do for December. Maybe four.
- Not a lot to show for my time on the writing front. A couple of short stories.
- I'm still waiting for one more crit of the story I set to all of you. I did implement some of the changes you suggested, including changing Kenzie's last name, adjusting the timeline, and the end. Now Julie doesn't say "I told you so." She grins, sits in the other chair, and takes Kenzie's free hand. I also changed the title to Held. (There is a song by Natalie Grant with the same theme and title.)


 This Week:
- Send Held to Splickety Magazine whether I get the last crit or not. She's done with NaNo, so hopefully it will be here in the next couple of days.
- Work more on the kitchen.
- Wrap and ship Mom's presents.
- Track down the elusive Dad present.
- Put up the Christmas tree.
- Work on kids' gifts.
- Figure out a daily schedule that integrates writing and house stuff. There has to be a better way to do things than what I'm doing now.

Blur

Well, last week was a blur. Getting ready for Thanksgiving, putting up the Christmas tree and outside and inside decorations, household chores, and of course, selling, selling, selling Tales from Bethlehem. That's pretty much it.

This week:
- 1st book signing for Tales from Bethlehem this Thursday. I've mailed postcards and emails, set up events and invites on Facebook, and sent a story to the newspaper. Arranged the eats for the event and the door prizes. Basically I have odds and ends to do, but that's it. And I'm approaching this event with the calm I always approach being in public: Yes, I want to throw up repeatedly. I hate book signings, but dang it, I sell a lot of books. And after they get going, they're not bad. I even enjoy the people. Still want to throw up, though.
- Household chores.
- Christmas cards.
- Christmas gift list.
- Continue to promote TFB.
- Start on work on the publicity for the signings on Dec. 13th and 15th.
- Shop.
- Rake up the dang leaves. I have piles about three feet deep against my house. I hope I don't find a body underneath the piles. Again.
- Oh, can't forget to get my hair cut. Must try to look somewhat respectable for the signing.
- Get the deadbolt lock fixed on the front door. It doesn't want to open anymore. Of course, we mostly go in and out the garage, anyway, but it would be nice if it worked.

Hope y'all have a great week. Wish you lived closer so you could sit beside me at the book signing. I am so nervous. Sigh. Well, tally ho!

Quiet.......

It's been a boisterous week at my house, what with three of the Boys and my kids home for Thanksgiving. We had a great time. I didn't have as much left over as I thought I would, but Danny was here this year. He just turned 39 and still has the metabolism of a 15-year-old. Yes, I want to slap him for it. ;-) Oh, and I forgot to make dressing on Thanksgiving, but nobody missed it. Pretty sure I gained some weight, but I'll get back to business as usual this week. Right now it's so quiet I can hear my ears ringing, and I don't want to do anything but watch HGTV. I love having them all here, but they exhaust me!

This week:
- December Powerpoints.
- Make a Christmas list for Eric.
- Christmas shopping, primarily for extended families so I can ship stuff.
- Declutter the kitchen. My new cabinets will be delivered the week after Christmas so I can start packing up what I won't use between now and then.
- Oh, yeah. Write. Haven't done any of that for over a week.
- Swim.

Post-Thanksgiving Haze

Not so much, but it sounded good.

The Good Stuff: 

• Pretty Boy Floyd was captured, taken for shots, lost, recaptured, and now he'd rather have pets than food. I said I'd need to bring him in to the bathroom to change the towel in the carrier today, and hubby said, bring him into the kitchen. So we introduced Floyd to the kitchen. He did pretty well. He'd explore, then he'd want to be held, then he'd go off to explore, then he'd come back for snuggles. He used the litter box, explored, and came back for snuggles. He's going to make somebody a good kitty -- except he seems to be making motions as if he's spraying. He's too young, but that's not a good habit for an indoor kitty.
• Hubby and I got iPhone5s on Monday. I love it. He hasn't cursed at his yet, but he's a little grumpy about some things--I don't think he's happy unless he can grump about something.
• Hubby got a Toshiba Excite10 tablet. It has a bit of a learning curve, but he,s found a solitaire game he like for it. (He didn't get it for Solitaire. He got is for making a mobile photo album and database for his lanterns and car parts.)
• Yeah. Pretty much Christmas for us, I guess.
• Rode the bike a couple of times
• Finished NaNo last night. Of course, it needs lots of work, but this is where I get startd.

The Not So Good:

• I'm still trying to catch three kitties.
• There's so much to do.

The Week Ahead:

• Pull out PBOTL and refresh my memory on it. It's been two months.
• Blood work for semi-annual doctor visit and the ultrasound as a followup on the mammogram.
• Pick up quarantined kitty and begin working with her
• Trap one big kitty and two small ones. I haven't seen the small ones this week. I'm sure they are still around. I'm more interested in catching Sneaky this week.

Post Thanksgiving Catch Up

We're all fine here, and no word yet on Spore, but I don't expect anything until mid/late December at the earliest. :)

Had Turkey Day at home, just us, which was nice, and since I did all of the cooking I wasn't tempted by naughty Thanksgiving fare and went down this week.

Sewn a little, slept a lot, still nursing a head cold, and totally avoided Black Friday shopping.

That's about it, I guess. I hope you all had a good week. {{hugs}}

Hurry up and stop

Last week was one of those weeks where I rushed around madly and got my stuff done, only to be halted by other people. Well, not halted, but I was busy jumping and going around roadblocks. Mostly I worked on selling Tales from Bethlehem. And it is selling. Not as fast as my mysteries did -- but nothing has sold like my mysteries -- but it's getting out there.

And here are some (actual) comments about TFB that bemused, amused, and/or annoyed me along with the replies I didn't make:.

1. I'm going to buy one when it gets closer to Christmas. I'm just not in the spirit now.
You're not in the spirit? Try writing Christmas stories during the hottest July on record.

2. I just read it. It surprised me by how good it was! You actually have talent!
Thank you. I think.

3. I loved the book! It's awesome. And it would make a great play. Of course, you'd have to change the plot.
So ... the baby Jesus wouldn't be born or what?

4. I think it's great book, but I wish Santa could have had a Tale. You know there really was a Saint Nicholas.
And Saint Nick was at the Nativity, was he?

5. Oh, I loved it, loved it! You know, you should write some funny stories about Easter. Call it Easter Tales or Tales from Rome!
Yes, because the trial and brutal execution of Jesus abound with comic possibilities.

6. I liked the book, but it did have some liberal leanings. You know, where you have that rich man who was unhappy. I know a lot of rich people, and they're happy.
Good. Grief. Are you crazy?

7. You quoted from the Bible. Are you allowed to do that?
Yes. God said it was okay.

8. I liked the stories, but I didn't read the poems. I hate poetry.
Just give me your check and go far away.

That's all so far! More to come, I'm sure. But still, they were making the comments after reading (and purchasing) TFB, so I'm grateful, grateful, grateful.

This week:
- Sell more TFB.
- Make sure the hosts have the press releases.
- Update all my blogs with the book signing info.
- Finish printing the postcards for the Nov. 29th book signing. I have to mail them Friday.
- Finish printing the postcards for the Dec. 13th book signing.
- Finish printing the postcards for the Dec. 15th book signing.
- Thanksgiving Thursday.
- Work on my Christmas cards.
- Finish the November family newsletter.
- Stay busy. Keeps the black dog at bay.

Hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

And if you have a smart phone that can read this, let me know if it works. I was told you could put some info in the middle of a QR code and it would still work. I really need to get a smart phone or iPad or something that will read QR codes.

Thank goodness I made it past that hurdle.

In case y'all missed the news on FB, SPORE has left the building. I don't expect to hear much - if anything at all - back from the agent until after Christmas, but you just never know. I learned a lot while writing it, and hopefully I can put that into practice on the next novel. Bill and our nephew were teasing me today about writing zombie food erotica from the POV of the zombie eroticasizer, er, I LOVE BRAINZ!!! eater/adorer but I really don't think that's gonna happen. ;)

I have a mountain of sewing to do. A mountain. And zippo desire to do it. I might try to stretch a quilt tomorrow, assuming I have enough batting, which is unlikely. I did the Northern Iowa Holiday Shop Hop yesterday (Saturday) and managed all 9 shops on Saturday. Since there's more than 100 miles East-to-West between the two most far-flung shops (and about 60 miles North/South ziggy-zagging around), most folks do the hop in 2 or 3 days, splitting the east half or third from the west, or north from south. Not me. All in one day. I tried to make it into a circle, but it ended up more like a weird backwards G loopty loop since I wanted to start at the shop farthest from home and end with the one closest to home.

Some days it feels like I live in the car, and Saturday was definitely one of them. But at least I got to listen to my music, cranked up, and can't you just see me belting out Billie Holiday while barreling down an Iowa dirt road? You'd better, because I did. ;) A lot. And Lightnin' Hopkins. Most of my music is Blues. :)

I was so, so tired tho - between getting up Wed morning and finishing Spore around 1pm Fri afternoon I'd had maybe 5 hours sleep, and got very little Fri night because of fretting over 'I hope I didn't screw up the book!!' - yet it was still nice to get out and do something for me. I spent a bit too much money, but oh well. It was still fun.

I'm officially down 12.2 lbs at WW this week - yay - but it's likely to go up because I was too tired to pack suitable snacks for Saturday's shop hop drive and ate too much fast food, then today was a pizza birthday party, and, um, I'm back on it FULL SWING tomorrow. I've logged everything, and haven't used up my plus points, but I still don't like feeling greasy. My usual meeting day is Thursday - but there will be no meeting due to the holiday - but they have another local meeting Saturday which I WILL go to. Gotta stay on the bandwagon, right? Must track all my points, eat right, drink about a gallon of water a day (water's been my secret weapon) and just stay on plan.

I've passed on some of the shirts I've shrunk out of to my sister. She said she liked them and I hope so - they were all blueish and she's more into reds. One is my most favorite shirt that I bought over this past summer and loved wearing, but it just hangs on me now so it has to go. I've decided to pass on all of my 'outgrown' clothes once I've outgrown them so I don't have a ready wardrobe to be a safety net, if that makes sense.

That's about it for me, I guess. I hope you all have a great week!  {{huggs}}

Itchy, Watery Eyes

That's the way I feel this morning (noon). Thankfully, hubby had to make a trip to Temple  yesterday, and I went with him and stopped at the clinic and got a cortisone shot to head off the poison ivy reaction.  But I'm skipping ahead.

The Good Stuff:

• We got scaffolding set up behind the shop, the old downspout removed, and hubby is crafting the mechanism to install the new downspout.  Once this is done, he anticipates water will be ushered off the roof in a more efficient manner.  He also plans to seal off the area that leaks back into the shop when water overflows the downspout bucket.
• We dropped a load of rocks off at the ranch.  To reach the spot hubby has been obsessively piling rocks for the last several years (why, yes, it does correspond to the place he got his four-wheel drive truck stuck in a rainstorm five years ago -- I swear, the pile of rocks will be visible from space when he's done), we had to clear two tree tops which had fallen over the road.
• I bought a cat trap and borrowed one from the vet and have been happily trapping kitties all week.  Well, only three so far.  One older male and female, who have both been neutered/spayed, vaccinated and released, and one younger female who is too young to spay.  Since she bit the vet tech, she's quarantined with other kitties about her age at the vet's who are looking for new homes.  I hope to socialize her and find her a home.  That would be better than being a feral kitty.  I have one more larger kitty and three more smaller kitties to catch.  I'll start working that on Sunday night.  After that, I'm not sure how many more -- I'd love for that to be it.
• The last two days to the contrary, NaNo is progressing nicely.  I need to get about three thousand words today to get caught up to my goal word count, but I'm well ahead of where I need to be for traditional NaNo.
• I rode the bike a couple of days this week.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• After coming home from the ranch, I showered immediately, but that didn't stop me from waking up on Thursday morning with itchy eyes, ears, and neck.  It wasn't getting any better, and I planned to make a trip to Temple on Monday.  Thankfully, hubby needed to make one on Friday, so I got a cortisone shot, which seems to have slowed the advance.  I'm still itchy, but I'm taking generic Benadryl to help with that.  If I'd have waited until Monday, I would have been much more miserable.
• I'm not as far into menopause as I'd hoped, and the problems with the fibroids are making themselves known.  I may need to revise my "wait and see" approach from that diagnosis.  I'll discuss with the GYN in January.

The Week Ahead:

• I'd like to finish NaNo this week.
• I'd like to catch the remainder of the kitties this week.
• I ordered a time released feeder for the outside cats.  If it works, it should ensure they have some food available when we're out of town for a couple of weeks at a time. This one http://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Electronic-Programmable-Portion-Control/dp/B004SBSNB0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1353176262&sr=8-4&keywords=timer+pet+feeder has fairly good reviews and seems to do what I need it to do.
• If I can find homes for the four little ones, that leaves three outside cats who will need to be cared for.
• 
  

Wait, it's Sunday again???

Yeah, it's been a little crazy around here lately.

Good Stuff:
- It's official. We're replacing cabinets, countertops, and appliances. We weren't going to do appliances, but we found a great deal. The new fridge comes Tuesday morning; the rest will have to wait until the new cabinets are installed.
- Made some progress on Vicky's room.
- Celebrated birthdays yesterday--mine and my friend, Jenn, who will be 40 on Tuesday. (Yes, I get a new fridge for Jenn's birthday!) We went into the city early to have brunch with her, and then we went to a park to do anniversary pics before heading over to the party. They surprised me by inviting my fencing instructor, so it was more fun than it would have been. (No, we did not fence at the party.)
- Got 3/4 of the tomatoes I picked the other day made into salsa verde. It's in the fridge now. I need to adjust spices and get it canned.
- Did a lot of the shopping for Thanksgiving. One more commissary run before Alex comes home and the Boys come.

Not So Good Stuff:
- I think I'm going to have to scrub NaNo this year. I got 7,228 words last week, and I'm almost 6,000 behind. There's just too much going on. I have, however, gotten some really cool stuff, including what could be the beginning of a future novel about Boadicea's daughters. Excited about that one.
- Still lots of stuff to do to get ready, and I now have 5 days.
- Slacked off on the gym last week.
- Eating has started to become an issue. I find myself snacking when I'm bored, grabbing bites of things I don't need, even when I'm already full, just to get the taste in my mouth. Really need to get a handle on this and find rewards that are not food.

This Week:
- Finish getting the house ready.
- Keep writing. I'll be happy with 30k this month. I'm almost half-way to that.
- Return library books.
- Go to the bank.
- Finish November Powerpoints.

Chug. Chug. Chug.

Jus' chuggin' along. 

The Good Stuff:

• NaNo is coming along nicely.  As of last night, 27,686 words completed.
• I got the yards done this week.
• I only rode the bike once, and there were three days of yard work, so that's four days of some kind of exercise.
• I knocked out a few items on the anti-procrastination list.  I have so many more to do.
• The new FM chat is operational, and the old one is shut down.
• I have a test chat environment working

The Not So Good Stuff:

• If I'm going to subscribe to the WW website, you'd think I'd use it.  This was the problem I had last time I was signed up for the program.  It works when you work it, but after a certain amount of time, I just quit working it.  Then I don't want to go there, because I've been doing so bad.  I tried restarting in week one, but I didn't "play the game," so it didn't help.  It's a mental thing for me.  When I'm on track and in the grove, weight falls off, it's never been so easy to do this, why did I ever have so much trouble?  Then, I get out of mental balance on it, and it's the hardest thing I've ever tried to do, I can't do it, nothing works. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Very frustrating.
• Both HDMI inputs on the kitchen TV went out yesterday.  It works on composite cables, but that's not why I got HD satellite service.  I was hoping it was the satellite box, but the BlueRay player doesn't work either, so I'm sure it's the HDMI input circuitry on the TV.  The TV is an LG, and there were some negative reviews about volume cutting out on it which have caused me concern since we bought it -- volume does cut out from time to time.  I bought Samsungs for upstairs.  We may look at replacing this with either a Samsung or a Toshiba.  At some point, a trip to Best Buy will be in order to compare, but it isn't an emergency.

 The Week Ahead:

• Continue work on NaNo
• Look for a trap for the kittens -- males in January (vet won't snip them before six months; says it messes them up), if I can identify any females, I need to be trying to get them now.
• Knock out a few more procrastination items

Tail End Wendy

It's been a little crazy here. Why does everything have to happen on the same weekend?

Good Stuff:
- My new printer works.
- November Powerpoints are about 75% done.
- Canned more tomatoes. I have more to pick, a few red and lots more green. At the suggestion of a friend, I'm going to pick them all and make salsa verda with the green ones. She gave me some serrano peppers to throw in.
- We hung out with friends Saturday night. There was a Scotch tasting to raise funds for Tartan Days in April (where I'll be doing my tag team set with Pictus). Of the five we tasted, I really liked one and didn't like two. The other two were all right. I do have a better idea what I like now, so I'm on my way to being a Scotch snob. ;-) The Scotch we donated to the silent auction brought in half again what we paid for it, so that was exciting for us.
- Fenced on Saturday, which was a good workout. The only possible downside is he's teaching me one-handed and two-handed at the same time, and the footwork is completely different, so I keep messing that up.
- Bought part of a cow for our freezer. A hundred pounds wasn't as much as I thought it was going to be.
- Our DVR has saved my sanity. I haven't watched live TV (except evening news once or twice) in weeks.
- Got a good start on Christmas shopping.

Not So Good:
- I'm already behind in NaNo. As of Sunday I was at 5426. The busy weekend really hurt word count, and we're having company for a week at Thanksgiving. On the upside, I got two more warrior queen stories written. Two more to go, but I've got research material for those, so now it's a matter of reading and writing.
- I looked forward to getting cheap Halloween candy Thursday, but all I could find was milk chocolate and the sour fruity crap the kids like. No dark chocolate at all. Not entirely bad, really, but still!
- Decided to make a beaded circlet for my friend who's turning 40 a few days before my birthday. Bought the supplies, talked through design with the beading expert at the shop, and got home to find Vicky had taken almost all the beading tools with her. I have a pair of wire cutters and two crimpers, and I'm not using crimping beads on this project. :-/

This Week:
- Get the guest rooms finished. No, really, I have to do it this week.
- Crit a contest entry for a friend.
- Gear up for Thanksgiving (make a list, buy food, fun stuff like that)
- WRITE! GET LOTS AND LOTS OF WORDS! Jeesh.

Tam's late to the party again...

Gak, I am TIRED.

There's nothing specific exhausting me, I think it's just book worry, election overload, and general seasonal head/sinus congestion.

Mostly things are all right. Been kinda blue (I blame hormones and sinuses) but reviews and comments for SPORE have mostly been positive. I have some fairly extensive character reworking to do (I have a natural tendency toward iconic/symbolic extremes especially with characters, probably because I'm a theme-focused writer and generally an overly emotional person in real life). So, anyway, lots of great comments, very few line edits, lots of character changes to make but nothing really in plot/story other than some clarifying stuff. So that's all good and it looks like I should hit my promise to get it to NY on or around the 15th without any trouble. If any of you want to see the final version for a quickie look-see before it's out the door, please let me know ASAP. I'm estimating finishing around the 10th or 12th.

In other booky news, my Amazon sales for the ebook short stories have totally flatlined (as in ZERO sales) while other venues (Sony, Kobo, Apple Bookstore, etc) sales have skyrocketed three fold this past month or two. My only guess is that due to my occasional public grumbles about how I refuse to publish exclusively w/ The Evil Empire they've altered my algorhythms or something. I'm not talking a lot of money here, the ebooks were making about $10 a month, ish, on Amazon, but to have it fall to absolute zero for three months while moving upward from $4 a month to $12 with everyone else is just... suspicious.

So, um, yeah.

My physical last week went well - Doc was happily excited that I'm at my lowest weight EVER since she moved to specialty practice - and my bloodwork came back okay, but not great. She said not to worry, it'll take time for the new life-plan to really impact my internal numbers. But I'm officially down 12 lbs. So, yay!! My hormones are a mess, tho, and that's not fun at all. Mutter, mutter. Getting old sucks.

I sewed some this past weekend, which was nice. I have two quilts I HAVE to get done before Christmas plus several projects I'd like to get done. Must make more time. Plus the house is being overtaken by cobwebs and dog hair, so I really need to put more focus on housework. And exercise. And come up with the next book - whatever it might be. And write another Dubric novel, which I really don't want to do, but have to do (and I'm pretty sure that's helping feed my current dip into doldrums, I don't handle feeling forced to do anything well at all, especially when it's something I've been avoiding)

But, anyway, I'm all right, SPORE is mostly excellent, and I will be oh so relieved when this political nastiness has moved on.

{{hugs}}

Black dog rising

I'm going to use Jean's format this week.

The good stuff:
- Tales from Bethlehem launched.
- My publicity plan is going as scheduled.
- I've stayed up on mailing out the bookplates. I always hate my sloppy handwriting when I sign the bookplates.
- As always, my true friends and family support me, and I'm so grateful to them.
- Had about 35 trick-or-treaters on Halloween. I was excited about that. I nearly ran out of candy.
- I stayed up on my household chores.
- I finished Spore and was so pleased by how it worked out. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, but the ending is freaking grand. I wanted to cheer. For a dark SF novel, it has a lot of hope and passion running through it. I'm looking forward to getting a signed copy from Tammy when it's published. (Note: I'm not sure what Spore's genre really is. Like the best novels, it blends plenty of elements. Horror adventure? Dark SF? It uses genre elements to support its theme, which is different from a lot of horror novels that have horrific elements for their own sake rather than to propel the story forward. If that makes sense.)
- I wrote a review of Holly Lisle's Hunting the Corrigan's Blood and posted it on Amazon and on my blog. Great book! I'm looking forward to the sequel.
- I did filing and cleaned my desk and the area around it.

The not-so-good stuff:
- Most of my family treated my launch of Tales of Bethlehem with indifference. I wish I didn't let it hurt me, but I do. And you'd think I'd be used to it, but I'm not. But it's okay. Well, I mean I will survive it, like I always have.
- Black dog has me by the throat. Bad time when I need to get so much done. Makes it so hard to get up, to keep the house clean, to schedule book signings, update my blogs, keep all the balls in the air. Same old song. Just have to endure, and then it will get better.
- Speaking of the launch, I had two people tell me that they ordered the book, but they didn't. They don't know I can track the sales. I didn't tell them. I think they wanted to show they supported me. I guess. I just couldn't see any point in telling them that they hadn't. And maybe they meant to or mean to or something. Won't worry about it.
- Not doing National Novel Writing Month. Couldn't work up the energy this year. Miss being a part of it.
- Writers group is having a crisis. The president wants to quit, and no one wants to be president. I feel this pressure from people that I should, but I don't want to. Uncomfortable.
- Blood sugar is creeping up, and I'm not exercising. I need to, but it's so dang hard by myself. And then I beat myself up for not exercising.
- Money is tight. Same old gut-wrenching song.
- Life seems to getting away from me, you know?

The Week Ahead:
- Continue publicity for Tales. Get two book signings scheduled.
- Household chores.
- Start walking again at the gym by myself, dang it!
- Get more sleep.
- Flu shot. Got to do that.

And that's it.

November's Here. November's Here!

Yeah. I'm not sure what's so great about it either.  But here it is.

The Good Stuff:

• NaNo is off to a decent start.
• Tales from Bethlehem has been published and I'm awaiting the copies I ordered.  The signed bookplates arrived today (Thank you!).
• San Antonio yard is mowed and edged.  Should be last mow for the year. I hope.
• Early voting accomplished.
• Yuengling Black and Tans delivered to Twitter friend, and we enjoyed meeting him and his wife in person.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• Hubby wants a mobile picture frame that he can view photos of lanterns, car parts, etc. on. As he's describing what he wants, I realize an iPad Mini with a Bento database will provide the results he wants.  But he doesn't want an iPad, and whatever he gets has to allow him to swap SD cards of pictures that he's going to painstakingly embed the text he wants into the .jpg image (can you begin to imagine the sheer laboriousness of that effort?) so it will display on the screen. He's looking at a Samsung Galaxy Tab, which will probably do the job, but it's not quiiite what he wants. I'd love to put this search out of my mind and ignore him, but then I still have to listen to him whine and moan about how "nobody makes what I want." *Runs screaming from the room.*
• Plumbing. In San Antonio house. Is a mess and getting worse.  Sigh. Thankfully, the toilet, washer, and kitchen sink still work. For now.
• I plan a trip to San Antonio specifically so plumbing work can get done, and we don't do any of it.  Things don't go as hubby plans, and it seems to short-circuit his brain. My suggestions won't work for whatever reason, so I just do what I do and wait. Then he says he didn't want to interrupt me from what I was doing as a reason why we didn't get something done.  I think I'm a convenient excuse to blame for any reason he wants or needs to procrastinate on a task. Tediousness.  Just mildly frustrated.  Pay me no mind.

The Week Ahead:

• Continue NaNo story.  I'm thinking this could be an interactive story or one story told from multiple viewpoints.  It's beginning to get tricky.  I did back off the six first person POV approach and have changed to one first person with five thirds (whew!). I may wind up doing a lot of experimentation in the draft (what else is NaNo for?).
• Trim, edge, and mow Central TX house and store property.
• Make what I guess amounts to a procrastination to do list and begin knocking off items on the list.  Nothing on the list that takes more than five minutes to do, and just "get 'em done"! Which, technically, is 95% of the items on my Today list in Things.  I guess I don't have to procrastinate on making the list.  It's right there.

Tales from Bethlehem released!

Tales from Bethlehem  by Stephen B. Bagley is available now! Enjoy these touching and funny Tales of everyone else at the Nativity. Here's the link: Tales from Bethlehem

Tales

I've done nothing except work on Tales from Bethlehem this week. It should be published next week. I think. It's went through four proof readings by various people. Each time, they found new errors. Admittedly the errors were fewer each time -- the fourth proofer only found four -- but it still makes me cautious. I'm going to do another line edit myself, but I'm doubting my ability to catch anything else since I had already missed all those other errors. (I confess I'm very tired of working on it. And sitting at my computer.)

Sigh.

Well, what else? I'm reading Spore by our talented Tammy. It's a great read. I'm not proofing, just enjoying it. This book is going to be big, big, big! I was trying to proof, but I kept being caught up by the story and having to stop and go back and then read again and finally decided to heck with proofing! I'm a better reader than proofer, if that makes sense. I'm about two-thirds through the story. It's gone a different direction that I expected, and I like that. I'm having real difficulty in keeping from skipping to the end and seeing how it all turns out. NO SPOILERS!

I've stopped exercising the way I should. No excuses. Got to get going again. My blood sugar is creeping up on me. It's just ... well, all my friends stopped. Now, it's just me, and I have all the willpower of a French king.

Hate the fall. Not because of the weather. The lack of sunlight. I feel like I'm living in a cave. It gets dark so early, and once the time change takes place, it will be dark at noon! Okay, maybe not noon.

Went to the writers group meeting today. It was enjoyable, although I'm not sure how much writing info is exchanged. Well, yes, I am. Precious little, but maybe that will improve. We did have cookies and coffee. HmmMmm.

Attended a book signing Tuesday afternoon. Poorly attended. Author did sell 14 books, and that's not bad for my town, but only 10 people showed up. I felt bad for the author.

Black dog is back.

This week, I will:
- Finish and submit Tales.
- Household chores.
- Start publicity for Tales.
- Get a flu shot.
- Catch blog up.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Wendy's Week

Lots of things marked off my list this week.

Good Stuff:
- Vicky's room has been converted to a guest room. The paint has been touched up, furniture rearranged, new curtains hung. I did think about moving my office in there, but it's a fairly large room with only one vent, so the temperature is harder to regulate. I spend a lot of time in my office; best to leave it in a more comfortable room.
- I have about 50 pictures to use as writing prompts for NaNo. A collection of short stories isn't exactly a novel, so I'm stretching the parameters, but it's not like the NaNo Police are going to arrest me.
- Got more cleaning done than I expected to. Still a long way to go, though. The Boys will be here in 3 weeks.
- Made check-up appointments and ordered new contacts. Doesn't look like much on paper, but I procrastinate phone calls. My years of spending hours of my work days on the phone over-rode the pleasurable hours I spent on the phone as a teenager.
- Encased the garden in plastic so I can see how long my tomatoes will keep producing, and to increase the possibility of a Brussels sprout harvest.
- Kicked around the possibility of a kitchen remodel. It's something Eric does periodically. Went so far as to go to Lowes to scope out new cabinets and flooring. After taking measurements, we estimated the flooring (porcelain tile) alone would be close to $3,000 with installation and tabled it again. Phew! I am going to encourage him to take the measurements back to Lowes, though, to get an estimate for the rest of the kitchen. Maybe the sticker shock will last a little longer. Yes, I would like a more functional kitchen. The builder cut a lot of corners, and a few changes would increase work space and storage, but kitchens are so daggone expensive!

Not So Good Stuff:
- The 'green house' design is leaving a lot to be desired thanks to the wind. Why does it have to be so darned windy? I'll need to do some research over the winter, I think, for a better design.
- I lost connectivity with the wireless printer, and the laser printer in my office has been on the fritz for months. Eric found a great deal online for a new printer, but now I have to clean my office and move the old laser out. I should maybe just donate it right away, but where would I donate a printer that doesn't work?
- The warrior queens are still elusive, but I think I'm close to being able to write Grace O'Malley (Irish pirate in the late 1500's). I have some fun ideas for her.

This Week:
- Clean my office.
- Finish getting guest rooms ready for Thanksgiving. I think it's maybe not even too early to make the beds.
- NaNo.
- Finish Spore and send it back to Tammy. Really enjoying it, but I can't read as long at a stretch on the computer screen, so it's a little slow going.
- Keep cleaning. I'm assuming it will all get done eventually.

Ten Months Down. Two to Go.

But I'm in no hurry. It's been an interesting week. On the edge of being "may you live in interesting times" but not quite that bad.

The Good Stuff:

• I have three and a half of six characters with a little more meat on their bones.
• I rode the bike this morning for the first time in three weeks, and I noticed no problems with my joints while doing so.
• I helped proof Tales from Bethlehem for Stephen.  Inspired.  I loved the way he retold the well-known story from fresh eyes of the characters from Bethlehem.  I will be buying several copies.
• Then, I read Tammy's Spore. Also inspired.  If you think about it, the message of both books is very similar. On the surface, they are nothing alike, yet the stories are about new beginnings. And Tammy's is told true to her brand -- as is Stephen's. When available, I'll be buying this one, too.
• I printed my sample ballot and am researching a plethora of judge candidates in preparation for early voting this week.
• We got rain this week. And cold. And sun.  Yay.
• I'm using the beta version of Scrapple for brainstorming for REUNION. I have a very powerful brainstorming program, but this one is interesting.  It will integrate with Scrivener and is anticipated to sell for about ten dollars when it's released around the first of the year.
• The first two weeks of Forward Motion on the new site have gone well.  Still working on how to get Chat integrated (Margaret more than me). For now, chat remains linked to the old site logins.  That is the most critical thing we have to figure out.  The rest is more low key.

 The Not So Good Stuff:

• The kitten I mentioned so enthusiastically last week? Vanished. I know there will be others, but I can't help feeling as if I somehow let this one down. I know that's not real rational. I'll be okay.
• Had my mammogram appointment week before last.  They take digital photos, and they have us wait while the radiologist reads them. If he wants more pictures, they get them right then.  He wanted more pictures this time.  Essentially re-shot the whole set. Said he thought everything was okay but wanted an ultrasound just to be sure. So, I'm not sure why I was mildly surprised to get the usual letter except instead of "no problems see you next year" checked, the "your results were abnormal, we need an ultrasound" was checked. Waiting for that appointment to arrive in the mail.  Hopefully, no big deal.
• Hubby's schedule didn't go as planned, so there was no sanding this week.
• Too much inertia on my part this week. Not much accomplished. Some of it kitten. Some of it other things.

The Week Ahead:

• Finish character generation
• Spend M-R in San Antonio with Monday and Thursday being travel days.  Vote.  Hopefully, hubby will get the tub drain under house fix trip made so we can use the shower. Deliver beer to a Twitter  acquaintance (and meet him and his wife).
• Begin NaNo