Self Induced Torture

Who said that climbing a mountain is fun? Okay, so it can be if you're in shape, but let me tell ya, I'm far far from being in any kind of shape that resembles healthy. But the DH, 2 kids and I climbed a (small)mountain yesterday. It was beautiful in spots, and pure heck in other spots. My shoes need to be tossed into a shredder and my clothes burned. But, as tough as it was, I did it, reached the top and walked back down. My legs still ache, but its better than having just sat home doing nothing on my one day off.

Its supposed to be an extremely hot week here in NH. Wednesday we could get into triple digits. Ugh. I can't wait til October!!!

Today I must get some much needed boring chores done, but after that I'm determined to get settled down and get some writing done. Unless I fall asleep first.

Everyone have a wonderful day!

Character Occupations

I'm trying to figure out just what my hero in my (latest-sort of) wip does for a living. Currently he's a fifth grade teacher. Hey, my heros are usually regular joes. I tossed around the idea of making him a cop. But I already have a cop in my last manuscript. Then I got to thinking... is it alright to go with the same occupation for my characters? I tend to go with artists a lot. My heroine in Sweet Forever is an artist and innkeeper. My hero in Storm Within (my novella) is an artist. In my current wip (tentatively titled The Staying Kind) the heroine is, yah, you guessed it... an artist. My heros have been fireman and a cop (I looooove a man in uniform *drool*), a rancher and a lawyer/senator to be. So a fifth grade teacher would be okay, but I'd like for him to be in a position to help her with her problems, which include trying to find out if her husband and daughter actually did die in a boating accident two years previous.

Okay, time to get ready for work. I'll mull this around and try to come up with some conclusion.

Sometimes TV can be a good thing...

As I was beginning to slip into that tv induced coma last night I started watching a movie that I have to admit that I really like- Baby Boom. I came in mid-way through when she was settling into her little Vermont town. It inspired me into picking up a wip that I had started some time back, set in a little NH town that is a lot like the one in the movie.

Okay, okay, so its not so good for the rewrites I was trying to do on the novella, but this is better than not writing at all, I guess.

I love setting my stories in small towns. With a very few exceptions, my stories are all in small New England towns. I like the feel of them.

So, off I go to get back to my notes. I still have no idea where I'm going with it.

I ask you... what else can go wrong?

Okay, I'm home from a long dull day at work.... trying to get some writing done and ACTUALLY making some headway, when I get a phone call from my mom. My daughter (who is 15) is no where to be found. She goes there after school 2 days a week. *sigh* My mom, who has back problems and didn't want to try hiking around to look for her, says maybe I should drive over. Good idea. So I gather the kids and head out for the 20 minute drive to my parent's house. When I'm nearly there I get the call that my daughter has just turned up. She'd been taking a walk. (My daughter, tho 15 has DS, so taking walks alone isn't the best idea). So I show up, have a chit chat with my daughter, gather everyone together and head home. I get a few hundred yards up the road and guess what.... my van from hell dies. Thank goodness it didn't do that halfway home. So get the parental units on the phone... my Dad calls a tow truck, my mom comes and gathers the kids and takes them home. Nearly an hour later the tow truck comes and my mom takes me home.

So, this could be it for the Van O' Death. I dont' want to sink anymore money into it's rotting corpse (can you tell that I really like my van??) I just can't afford a car payment right now and livng with one vehicle is a challenge.

So, now I have to face my writing. Or I can just slip into a television induced coma.... hmmmmm.....

Out of Sync

Well, here I sit at work. In the mood to write. Ideas flowing.

And I have to enter orders.

What a waste of a day.

Why can't I be in this kind of mood when I have the time and chance to write? Instead most of that time my creativity has dried up and useless. I guess I could push myself to get the job done and go back later and try to add some life to the story. Isn't anything better than nothing? I heard that somewhere.

So I'll have to remember that next time I'm staring blankly at whatever I'm working on and being tempted away by some surfing.

Dont doooo iiittttt!!!!!!!

Just Not Happenin

I've been trying to write something the last few days but nothing is happening thats any good. I've completely given up on July Nano. I think I ended up with about 4000 words on a new wip but I just don't want to go any further on it. I'm revisiting (re-re-revisiting) an old novella I wrote with the intention of re-re-rewriting it and lengthening it. I have some scenes, mostly love scenes that I'll have to rewrite because I borrowed them for other manuscripts (anyone else do that?) but its a good story and the first in a possible trilogy.

So, with something in my sights it should be easy, right? Now if my muse would come back and give me a hand I could produce the masterpiece I know I have inside me.

Oh, and still haven't heard back about my submission of Where One Road Leads. Ho hum...

Need Batteries Recharged

I haven't written at all this week. What a waste, but I'm just too stressed right now. Work is a hassle as our big boss becomes more and more of an *bllllleeeeepppp* and makes our lives more and more difficult. Today we had a staff meeting. Not a good one. More work expected from us, and no benefits to it. No thank you from the 'big boss', nothing. He won't even talk to us. And I found out that a coworker has been very resentful of the work I've been doing because it means that everyone else has to 'pick up the slack' for the phone calls I'm not taking. She didn't say word one to me after the meeting. Of course our manager said 'don't be mad at Ceri for being off the phones. She's learning what she needs to know to cover for the assistant manager if need be'. Great. So that puts me in the other camp as far as my coworkers are concerned. Life isn't going to get easier anytime soon. I'm expecting to see a few resignations coming in soon. But its not my problem. I understand everyone's frustration, I feel it too, but I have to worry about me and my family's needs, not the feelings of my coworkers who think we have to make some kind of stand against the big boss. Talk about spitting into the wind.

But I need to put it past me and get my mind back onto my writing. If I can settle on a wip. I've got a couple projects to work on, so its not like I'd be staring at a blank screen.

What to do........

Let Them Eat Cake aka The Rock and the Hard Place

For those who have been following the drama at my work place, well a few weeks ago we (the miffed customer service crew) sent a letter to the owners of our parent company explaining our unhappiness with our current situation. One of the CSR leaders got a call from the matron of the company (from her lakehouse in Michigan). She might as well as just patted us on our collective heads like we were grumpy toddlers. Her words were "empathetic" but meaningless. She'll "talk to her son when he gets back from Europe" and "you know how Jack (our immediate ceo and thorn in our sides) is." When asked what our next step is she said "Sell more magazines, dear."

Let them eat cake.

I just picture Marie Antoinette lounging around in her palace which she owns due to the labor of the little serfs.

So basically too bad, quit complaining and get back to work.

After jack (nasty thoughts come to mind) yelled at our supervisor, he told her to send around a memo. Not enough money to hire more employees which we desperately need (or give raises which we need more) but he's saying that everyone HAS to put in 2-4 hours overtime a week for the next 4-6 week. I don't think they could force us though.

And now the Rock and the Hard Place. I signed up for the overtime. I have an enormous amount of work to do and I've been doing overtime the past few weeks anyway. Several of my coworkers are saying this is it, we have to make a stand and not do what they're "forcing" us to do (overtime) and let the work pile up. Basically, though, I need the money. If I can't get a raise, the only way I can do that is to work as much overtime as I can. I get flak from my coworkers though. I can see their point. If I didn't need the cash I'd join in. We're being treated horribly by this company, but what choice do I have? This job works with my available work hours, I doubt I'd find another that would.

So, unless I suddenly get all sorts of offers for my writing and make tens of thousands of dollars, I have to stick with what I can.

And risk the wrath of my coworkers. Or join them.

Yeah!! Another Release Date!!

I'm super happy! I got the release date for Sweet Forever from Samhain. Tentative release date is April 24th, 2007. So Finally Home won't be my first official release even though its my first sale. That's okay.

Last night I took the kids to see the local fireworks. We got there way early (which is fine because we got a better parking spot than if we'd waited. It was a good show, but man oh man the kids were cranky when we were done. Still, we're thinking of tackling the BIG show in Jaffrey next month. That is an exercise in patience. Generally they have some 40K people there. Leaving is a joy.

Well, off to fill out my cover art stuff with Samhain. :)

Small Towns

I love small towns. Right now my town is having their "4th of July" (I guess) celebrations. There's a parade going by, even as I type. I can hear the bagpipers (there are 3 of them, but I love the sound of the bagpipe). Then you get the handful of antique cars with important people, followed by the fire engines. I can hear the Master of Ceremonies describing each vehicle (and the people inside them) as they pass. Finally we have a big marching band (I use the term "big" loosely). They're really good, though.

The parade route is less than 1/2 a mile in length. Rose Bowl Parade it aint, but there's something wonderful about the quaintnes of the whole thing.

But, here I sit at work. At least (for now) I have a window nearby so I can look out.

The Perfect Man

Okay, I've decided that Paul Walker is the most perfect looking man I've ever seen. I was watching Eight Below and I tried to find some kind of flaw and I couldn't. He's actually a model for one of my heros in a story a friend and I started a few years back. It was a good story before it fizzled out.

Anyhue, haven't done much writing in the past few days. So much for JuNoWriMo. Don't think I'll come close to 50k. But I just haven't settled down with a storyline yet. It'll come to me..... sometime.... I hope. *sigh*

Unbelievable

I work for a company that publishes children's magazines, many of them are used for educational purposes in schools around the country, even the world. These are high quality and, in my opinion, non-biased magazines on things like US and world history, world culture, archaeology, science etc. Our May issue of Cobblestone, the American history magazine is entitled Duty, Honor and Country and focuses on the US Army. Here's what the Boston Globe has to say.... Yesterday, after this appeared in the Globe and on a Boston news station we got a lot of angry emails from outraged teachers and subscribers. On the other side, we did get a lot of supportive emails as well.

Michael Graham, a Boston talk show host, summed it up really well on his blog yesterday. On his radio show yesterday he discussed it for at least an hour. THANKS MICHAEL GRAHAM!!!

Just a question for those who think we shouldn't cast the Army in a positive light or even discuss it wiht children.... how do you think we are ablet to protect our freedoms? Where would we be right now if it wasn't for the sacrafice and service of our armed forces? I find it very sad that people could be outraged at featuring a story such as this.

And on that note... HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY EVERYONE! Remember our troops when you are enjoying your cookouts and fireworks.

Am I Nuts?

I just signed up for JulNoWriMo. Yes, there is such a thing. I don't know what makes me think that I could get 50k written in 30 days in the summer. But I probably thought that in Novemeber and I did it.

There's also one in August.

So, I think I know which wip I'll go with (since I'm already on the 2nd day into this I guess its a good thing.

The trick is getting writing done over the next few days with Jim home. I'll have to keep my notebook close. I tend to be able to handwrite a lot more than I get done on the puter when my husband is home.

So, there it is. I'm officially nutzo.

Pooo

I haven't written anything in about 3 days. I hate that, but I've been in a stinky mood and been driving all over the place picking kids up and dropping kids off and visiting doctors, etc etc etc. I just want to slllleeeeepppp. Tomorrow I can sleep in for a bit, tho usually I'm up and about around 7am.

This is also stinky. I have tomorrow off... then work Monday.... then have Tuesday off.... then back to work on Wednesday. Now how can anyone have a proper holiday weekend with a schedule like this??? (Oh, I'm at work now). It's my middle child's 10th birthday today. She's off hiking with my DH, DS and DSD, then off to a cookout at my father in laws. There is no justice in this world!! I'm stuck in this office WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE QUIET, BUT IT ISN'T!!!

Writing.. I should be writing. *sigh*