Friday Five: short and sweet

1. My brain is quite literally on the verge of reaching fried status, so that is a big reason why this is going to be short and sweet. But the great news is that I'm definitely going to meet my goal of finishing the first draft of my WIP by the end of the month! Possibly this weekend. Yay! *tosses confetti at myself* *sneezes and wonders why I just did that*

2. I'm almost to 300 followers (just one away!) and I'm wondering if I should do a giveaway to celebrate. Or maybe I should wait (since I did a 200 followers one not too long ago), until I hit a bigger number, like 500... hmm... what do you think? And if I did get convinced to do a giveaway, what would you prefer this time: books or critiques?

3. The weather is driving me nuts. I want it to be WARM. No more blizzards. NO MORE.

4. You know what is not fun? Asking someone when they're due (because they're obviously pregnant), and thinking "she's totally due after me because she's way smaller than I am" and then they tell you they're due a month before you. BEFORE. Did I mention her baby belly was smaller than mine? AND I was taller than her. Isn't there supposed to be some rule that tall people get to have smaller baby bumps because there's more space for the baby? So not true for me. Ah, well. What can you do?

5. I love listening to SonA read. To see him putting concepts together, and pointing out "silent 'e' words" to me, and finding joy in understanding the world around him on a new level. I hope I can help instill a true love of reading in him.

Bonus thought: I have to give a shout out to my wonderful friend Carolina Valdez Miller who signed with an agent last week. (If you aren't already, make sure and go follow her. She seriously rocks you guys.)

WOOHOO!!! *throws confetti at her* *hopes she doesn't sneeze too*

She is the one of the kindest, most caring, hard working people I've "met" (not in person yet unfortunately, though I hope sometime soon to change that!), and I couldn't be more thrilled for her. Her book sounds amazing, and I'm beyond excited to see what happens next. Congrats again Carol, you deserve it! :)

Maybe I also should have titled this post "random." Whatevs, remember how I said my brain is nearly fried? Yeah. It is.

So, what's on your mind this week?

Friday Five

1. I'm beginning to think that groundhog might not be able to predict the weather. It's shocking to say the least. But the evidence is what it is. That elusive, oh-so-desperately wanted season called Spring? So hasn't shown up yet. Not even a hint. It was in the single digits this morning, my car frozen solid yet again. Argh. Pux-a-whatever-your-name-is, you better make it warm up soon, or I'm coming for vengeance!

2. Sometimes, you need to start a new project to clear your mind. Sometimes, you feel like your writing is just utter crap, and playing with a new idea helps you remember why you love writing. I'm not saying that I am flirting with a SNI (Shiny New Idea), just that sometimes, for some people, it can actually be a good thing.

3. Scraping off a frozen car sucks even more when you know your husband is basking in the heat and sun in Mexico. For "work."

4. Really interesting characters are multi-faceted. They're complicated. They're light and dark. I read someone's review today that said they were kind of bored with a book because the "hero" was SO good. Real people have flaws. We often find these flaws annoying in real life (oh come on, you know you do). But fictional characters without any flaws or failings or problems of some sort tend to be... well, boring. I wonder if that would be the same in real people. Do our flaws and foibles give us depth? Make us interesting? Would be boring if we were perfect? I guess we'll never know...

5. Taking your two-year-old to the movies might not be a good idea. Just sayin'. The five-year-old loved it, watched the whole thing. The two-year-old? Enthralled... for about ten minutes. Short movies are 90 minutes long. Popcorn bought me ten more minutes. Candy lasted only as long as he took to chew it. You do the math. From what I got to see of it, Megamind was an interesting example of multi-faceted characters. So are my kids.

How's that for a mix of profound and inane on this Friday morning? Pretty much sums up my week. All over the place. What's on your mind today?

Early Spring... oh please, yes!

So that groundhog didn't see his shadow, predicting an early spring. I, for one, am hoping that a groundhog really can predict the weather, because this so-cold-you-can't-breathe-and-your-hands-get-frostbite-just-from-holding-the-steering-wheel weather we're having? I'm soooo over it. I hope all my friends in the midwest are surviving that blizzard okay! What a crazy winter we've had. Sheesh. I'm ready for some good ole sunshine and warm breezes. (And all you California/Arizona/warm climate dwellers can just keep your smirks to yourself. I'm looking at you Kiersten "I almost couldn't wear capris-pocolypse" White! he he...)

Anyway, the only bright side to it being this cold outside is that I'm perfectly content curled up in my sweatshirt, blankets, and a computer to work on my revision or my WIP. Oh, but wait, I have kids. And I have to go volunteer at KidA's class today, which means I have to drag KidB out to our car (which is frozen solid right now) and brave the air that is so cold there are little crystalline bits of frost just floating around. Fun. Ah, well, the things we do for our kids.

Maybe I'll get to curl up, warm up, and get writing again tonight. One can dream big, right? Time to write and an early spring? That would be heaven right now.

Do you think a groundhog can predict the weather?