Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Craziness and stuff

So, I'm in the middle of moving right now. You always forget how much moving stinks until you get to do it again. The being in a new house, and organizing everything, and all of that--I love. The packing up the old space and transporting everything and all of that--I hate. Add to that three kids who like to "help" a lot (to varying degrees of usefulness), and a mountain of writing work to be done, and let's just say it's kind of a crazy week! But I'm so excited. This has been a long time coming, and I can't wait to get settled in and make our new house a home!

THE NEW HOUSE!
(kind of a funny angle to hide the numbers on the garage... just to be safe.) 

And as far as the writing goes, well, that's good stuff, too! #ProblemChild (aka my WIP) has finally decided to behave (for the most part), and I'm more than halfway done. Probably closer to two-thirds. Which is good, because I'm hoping to finish it before I get hit with some revisions that are looming on the very near horizon. It probably won't happen, but at least I'll be close! This book is very different from the other ones I've written in many ways, and while I'm extremely excited about it, I'm also nervous. It's always a little scary to branch out to something unfamiliar.

Also, it's snowed about a foot in the last twelve hours. Or maybe more. Between the never-ending-inversion-of-death and now the never-ending snow, I'm kind of done with winter. Good thing I get to escape to Mexico in March, just in time for my birthday (the Big 3-0!) with SHH! I can't wait!

What are you all up to these days? Has this first month of 2013 treated you well? Or are you grateful to see January go, and looking forward to change on the horizon for February?

Wishing sunshine for us all. And lots of wonderful words in our WIPs. And magical moving faeries that will surprise me and have all of my stuff moved when I wake up in the morning! Oh, wait...

Friday, January 11, 2013

Friday Five: the long-winded story version

1. SonB (who had a birthday on Monday and will now only let me refer to him as "Big Four-Year-Old" and not his name) is quite the... independent little boy. A bit precocious, one might say. (Or A LOT.) He used to be a really good eater, but for the last year and a half, almost every meal is a struggle with him. My husband decided to start telling him that with every bite he took, he was getting taller, to give him incentive to eat. So, now SonB has decided that he'll take a bite, then he gets down on the ground and tells his older brother "Tell Mommy that I'm coming to surprise her!" I have to wait for SonA to tell me, and then say, "Oh, no, where did SonB go?" and then he pops up and points to his head. I must then say, "Wow! Look you got taller, you must have had a bite of food!" To which he nods and tells me what he ate. And then it starts all over. EVERY. MEAL. EVERY. BITE. And if any of these steps gets messed up (if I jump the gun and say, "Where is SonB?" before SonA tells me he's coming for example), hoo-boy. Tantrum City. Well, now Baby Girl (who is officially 18 months old now) has decided that she needs to start patting the top of her head when she eats, too. Except she still uses a combination of a spoon/fork and her hands to eat, so this usually means that part of her meal ends up on top of her head. And I have to tell her, "Wow, you're getting taller, too!" and then she nods emphatically and grins at me, then eats some more. (She's still a good eater--in fact, she usually out eats my boys.) Living with these kids is never dull, that's for sure!

2. So for Mother's Day last year, SHH gave me a gift certificate for a massage. I save things like that for a "special occasion" which usually means I save it and save it until it's about to expire and then have to rush to get in time. Worried that it would expire, he told me to book it for last night, since he had the night off. I left to meet him and switch cars (and hand off the kids) in a total blizzard. I barely made it out of our neighborhood. I called him to say I wasn't sure this was a good idea, but he said the roads were barely even wet where he was, and it was probably just bad on the benches. So we made the switch, and off I went. The roads were fine, the weather was ominous, but not bad, until I was about half-way there. (The place was downtown.) Suddenly, from one second to the next, I was driving in a near white-out, on a freeway that had suddenly turned into an ice-rink with half a foot of snow on the ground. Surrounded by semi's with no visible lane-lines and crazy drivers who were going too fast and spinning out of control, I clutched my steering wheel with white-knuckles and kept on going. It was pointless to turn back now, right? Needless to say, I was late. So instead of being nice about it (HELLOOO, I came to you during the snowpacolypse rather than cancelling!), they cut my massage short. And I had a male masseuse for the first time ever. He was a little... different. I figured since it was going to be short, I'd try to get the most out of it that I could, and had him do fairly firm pressure. (As in, I was clenching my jaw and holding my breath to not cry out in pain at times. I have a very tight/knotted back.) This was a mistake, as it turns out. Because today? I feel like my entire back got beat with a sledgehammer. So rather than helping me stand up straighter, I can barely handle lifting my daughter. #epicfail


3. Many of you have probably seen me tweeting/FBing about my "Problem Child." This is what I'm (semi) lovingly calling my new WIP. I'm a fast drafter. It's just how I write. Usually. This book? Not so much. This book is trying to kill me. I have moments where I think I'm prevailing, where I feel like I'm figuring it out and whipping it into line. And then my characters and this plot just laugh and laugh at me when I'm floundering five minutes later, totally frustrated and lost yet again. Does this mean I'm on the brink of brilliance--or the cusp of utter and total failure? Maybe somewhere in the middle. I hope.

4. So recently I've been thinking a lot about social media, and the negative effects it has in life. We are SO interconnected now; I don't think it's necessarily a good thing to see every picture and hear every detail of each other's lives. It can lead to moments of jealousy or feelings of inadequacy or being left out or a myriad of other negative emotions. Or at least it does for me sometimes. Maybe I'm just insecure like that and that doesn't happen to anyone else. But there are also moments when social media can be absolutely incredible, and SO helpful. Like when I tweeted about #ProblemChild and how it wanted to be set in a place I know nothing about... and one of my amazing friends/followers tweeted back and when I told her about it said, "It sounds like it wants to be set near where I live!" SCORE! Her help has been invaluable. So the point is that I'm torn in my feelings toward FB and Twitter. I guess that's how most things in life are though, there are always good and bad sides to most everything.

Wow, these were all so long, let's just call it quits at 4, shall we? So that's a glimpse of what's on my mind on this snowy cold Friday morning. How about you?

Friday, January 4, 2013

Friday Five: The New Year Edition

Why hello, shiny new year! We didn't get off to the best start, but we're not going to let that shape how this year turns out, are we? No. No we're not. We're going to shake off this flu/bronchitis of death, and rise victorious, making this year the best one yet! Right? Right.

Okay, so I might still be suffering from the lingering effects of lack of sleep, and cough syrup,  but here are just a few of my thoughts on this first Friday of the New Year:

1. Last year was quite the year -- some of the worst lows of my life, and some of the best highs. I learned a lot, I grew a lot, I reached some amazing new milestones in my writing career and in  my personal life. I can hardly believe it's over and that 2013 is already here.

2. I've been super sick for almost two weeks, and all of my kids have been, too. And SonA had his tonsils out two days after Christmas. And it's 2 degrees outside right now. We're finally on the upswing, getting better, but still not quite there yet. Can you say recipe for going stir-crazy????

3. Luckily I had some great books to keep me sane during all the hours of sickness. There are some amazing books coming out this year, and one of the first ones is THROUGH THE EVER NIGHT - the sequel to UNDER THE NEVER SKY. I was lucky enough to get to read an arc of TTEN during the break and I'm here to tell you Veronica Rossi knows how to write a sequel. SERIOUSLY. SO. GOOD. I'm still thinking about it and contemplating ways to bribe her into letting me read the last one. I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! So, if you haven't already pre-ordered this baby, go do it. Like, right now. Or you can wait until it comes out January 8th and go buy both of her books to celebrate!

4. I love spending time with good friends. Last night I got to go to dinner with two wonderful friends (who are also writers), and it was SO very needed. I got to escape the sick house, enjoy amazing food and even better company, and talk books/writing/life for hours. Just what the doctor prescribed!

5. There are so many exciting things coming up in 2013, it's going to be a year to remember! (AKA, I have too many thoughts to put into a list of five, so I'm finishing with a vague, "wait and see what else is coming" tease to round this list out.)

So that's it for now. How's your new year starting off? Do you make resolutions? Do you have a good feeling about lucky 13?