700 more words today on my WIP.  Woo-hoo!
I guess I'm gearing up for Nanowrimo.  Or hoping to, if I'm not too engrossed on my WIP still.  My new idea is ready and waiting in the wings.  Where it may have to take a back seat indefinitely.  I might have to do my own version of Nanowrimo and use my 50,000 words to finish the WIP while it's still flowing so well.

That's all!

P.S. How many of you are doing Nanowrimo this year?

Update:  I just broke 1100 words for the day and wrote my favorite scene of the whole novel . . . the scene is out of order but it came lilke one of those gifts that happens every once in a blue moon where you see it all so clearly -- I couldn't let it slip away.  Had to share.  Hope the rest of you are having a successful evening.

Over the weekend, I hiked up a nearby canyon and enjoyed scenes like these:











Today, it's snowing . . . hard!

I love the changing seasons.

Today we went from red leaves (just coming on) to white hills...and we all wondered where our usual excitement was over the very first snow storm of the year -- but I can't help it, it's just too early.  (Although I did love the rain that came before the snow and hail).

Last night we had red skies . . . no warning at all for what was to come.

The sunset colors were amazing...and my pictures just don't do it justice.  My camera can't capture the true essence of the colors.


I love fall . . . I do hope it's coming back!

. . . that it's not until I've shut down my computer for the night and I'm laying in bed trying to sleep that my Muse kicks into high gear?

. . .that it takes my daughter 3 minutes to clean her messy room and 6 hours to decorate her locker at school, lol.

. . . that ice cream melts ten times  faster when you're eating in the shop with five- ten year olds (that shop just happens not to have a restroom or access to running water) and much slower at home where water runs abundantly and clean up is easy and it's only one child?

. . . that summer school work turned in today requires no final exam but if turned in Monday, an exam is required to finish the course?

. . . that the tomatoes, onions, and peppers ripen different weeks during (this) summer when I really want them all at once for salsa?

. . . that after five days of DH being out of town and me working to get everyone organized for school and the house whipped into shape, it all looks the same -- like nothing's been done?

 . . .that the only two nights this month we've had family swimming parties, it's expected/or has rained?

. . . that no matter which novel I'm working on...I always get a brainstorm of ideas for a different story which is constantly distracting me?

Well we're almost to a weekend...Enjoy!

All week, people have been asking me what I planned to do on Friday?  I thought this was a bit strange, but I've answered telling them that my daughter is in a soccer tourney and such...I mean, what else do I say?  I didn't have anything special planned other than the same things I do every friday.  But everyone has seemed so interested. Then today my daughter came home to tell me about the parade and fireworks and my son announced that he didn't have to work tomorrow.  Only then did I remember that tomorrow is a holiday here.  (Smacks head).  So I feel like an idiot but at least I just answered the question when asked instead of saying something completely stupid and showing my ignorance, boring as my plans were, lol. 

I remember now that the last eighteen years, our families would call and ask what we were doing on the 24th of July.  I'd react much the same way...um, getting groceries, driving the kids to piano, etc.  Because even though I grew up here, I'd lived in Colorado for 18 years and kind of forgot about the state celebration. So it's kind of ironic that now I have a holiday and I forget to celebrate!

Luckily, I punted and it worked out great (yes, I know the 24th isn't until tomorrow -- but it seems they start celebrating the 24th on the 23rd...I think it's so they can fit in more things on the actual holiday).  Tonight was one of the funnest nights we've had all summer.  Seriously!  On an impromptu whim we decided to go swimming at my parents neighborhood pool around 9p.m.  We were the only ones there, and it's a blast to swim in the dark with the pool lights on under the water.  (I always loved this as a kid). We swam until 10p.m. when the city firework show started.  We had a perfect view from the pool deck.  So the four of us (DH is still out of town) sat on the lawn chairs and laid back and watched the fireworks exploding overhead.  No crowds, no saving seats, no talking or music or horns honking, just us!  It was spectacular.  We had such a great time that we decided this should be our new 24th of July tradition.  It's a memory that I'll always cherish.  And I feel like we did something really cool to celebrate!

So happy 24th of July to you . . . no matter where you live.  Do something special just because you can.

I had a strange dream over the weekend.  I don't really remember much other than I was speaking to someone -- a famous author, I think, but I can't remember clearly.  And he said, "It's all in the details."  This struck me and has stayed with me.  It's the rivulet of water running down the pane of glass as I look out, it's the new pair of shoes flung across the closet . . . that tells so much about the character or the story.  So many little details that if done right can say something about the person without overdoing and being too much.

I came home from our Writers Girls Group the other night thinking how cool it is to talk to these other writers and share experiences.  I realized that even though our experiences were all different, someone would share something and I'd immediately think of my own experiences and be able to relate and connect to that other person in some way even though our experiences might be vastly different -- they still linked in my mind and helped me relate to the other persons dilemma. 

I've been pondering this for the last few days along with the comment about details, trying to understand how I can better make those connections . . . build those important relationships and add meaningful details in my own characters. I should have seen the  little connections before more poignantly.  I have in my own life, but it hasn't clicked as vividly for me in my writing.  This whole idea that one person's experience connects to another's in a very small way (not like when you meet someone who is so similar to you that you have so much in common but more like being different but having a sliver of commonality that links you) was like someone opening the blinds and letting me see the rest of the world I've been missing.  This sounds stupid like I should have seen it before, and I think in some ways I have, but it's clearer.  I'm still trying to figure out the best way for me to show these connections and the building of these relationships in my writing.  I think this is where I'll still struggle.  But I'm so grateful that I see the bridge from real life to writing.  I'm not sure I've come up with the right answer, but I think awareness is the first step. I'm hoping this understanding will strengthen my characterization.
 
What about you?  What do you do to bring out those small connections and details that develop your characters and build relationships in your writing?

1.  Tonight was the first night I got together with the awesome Writer Girls Group that pixiechick_sw  has put together.  I came home energized after meeting and talking to other writers.  I loved the open and supportive atmosphere.  They made me believe I could do whatever I need/want to do with my writing.  It was empowering and inspiring. Thanks!
2.  Successful week for my son.  He received his AP scores and found out he'd passed all three tests he took: Chemistry, Biology and American History.  He also completed his health credit that he's been working on at home.  (To make up for the Colorado class he took that the school here wouldn't accept).  He's also playing in the championship soccer game for the Cache Valley Cup Soccer Tourney tomorrow.  He's had an incredible week.
3.  Monday morning is my youngest daughter's birthday party.  She's so excited that I hope she doesn't burst before then.  A lot of her friends are out of town and there are a few we haven't heard from, so I hope she's not disappointed in the turnout. I only know of two girls coming for sure out of the seven we invited.  She has it all planned out in her mind exactly as she thinks it should go...hope we're successful.  I finished all her birthday shopping today!  Yay!
4.  I'm still struggling with the same scen of my WIP...I've rewritten it so many times now I can't even remember which way it goes.  I keep thinking I have it worked out, but when I get it down on paper, it's just not right.  So I've decided that I have the basic gist and I'm moving on.  I'll come back when I get a little further and try again. Hopefully then it will click. Tonight I was thinking about it as I drove home and decided maybe I have the wrong character in the scene -- I might try switching characters around.  I know what happens next, so I'm going on.  :)
5.  It's turned hot.  I spent the morning at the pool with my daughters and their friends.  Our garden exploded this week with the change in weather.  Last week we hardly had any produce.  This week, I picked 6 squash and 5 zucchini plus a few peppers and tomatoes.  (Those were the ones that had to be picked).  The beans are going to be on any day now.  So it's really summer! 
Happy Weekend Everyone!

What do you do if you've lost part of your manuscript?

I reread one of my earlier WIP that is taking a little rest while I write my current WIP and when I finished, I kept scrolling down because I can vividly remember scenes that I wrote after it ended . . . quite a few -- but they're gone.  The only thing I can think is that they're 1) saved on my laptop that my husband currently has out of town with him (crosses fingers and hopes) 2) they are hand written in one of my hundred notebooks that I take with me places (I've been through all the ones I can find...nope) or 3) I dreamed the scenes so vividly that I still remember them after a long time and they're stored eternally in my brain (can't believe this...I'm lucky if I can remember where I put stuff from day to day, ha!).  I know I wrote those scenes...I actually remember hand writing and typing lots of scenes for this story two summers ago on a reasearch/family vacation.  I was so inspired by the area we were visiting that I wrote a lot of the time in the car.  (I had my laptop and took extra notebooks)  Now, I just have to figure out where the missing pages are and get them typed into my manuscript before I forget I've lost them again.  Sigh!  I really don't want to rewrite them, although I'm so grateful I can remember them so clearly.

Am I the only one who has ever done this?  Please tell me others have lost their minds too.  :)

1.  On the 4th we went to our small community parade.  At the end, it's a water parade and everyone gets into this major water fight.  It's a blast!  Then we celebrated that evening with DH's family, which was really cool because his nephew and wife that lived with us for one summer in Denver was visiting from Arizona and his nephew who is battling cancer got to be there.  It was a great day, and I'm so grateful for all my blessings and my freedom.
And yes, I took one float picture -- I couldn't resist and knew I had to post it for brian_ohio  even though his blog is on an official hiatus :(


2.  This week I've been working a lot on revisions of previous novels and writing my WIP -- except it seems I keep coming back to this one scene in my WIP and rewriting it.  I've got about 5 versions of the same scene now and can't decide which is better.  This character could easily react different ways if pushed, hence the different versions.  I think I'm feeling insecure about myself as a writer.  I've read some really awesome stuff by many of my lj friends and others the past two weeks (kudos to olmue  for one -- her ms was super amazing) and I'm doing that icky comparison thing that comes as human nature.  I know all I can do is my best and hope it's enough, but still . . .
I am truly inspired by you guys and your talents.  You all make me want to be better!    I've had fun working on the revisions even if I feel in a bit of a Groundhog Day rut with my WIP.  :)

3.  I ran into one of my Colorado friends here on Tuesday.  It was so fun to see her!  And such a surprise! Then on Wednesday morning, my son's best friend growing up (since they were like 4) came with his family to stay with us.  I only got to visit with his mom for about an hour or so because they still had a long drive back to Colorado ahead of them that day...but it was lovely.  I miss her.  She is also one of my best friends.  And I keep looking at my son's friend and sighing.  I told him I feel like I should hug him everytime I see him (luckily, he's a very good natured teenager and knows me well -- he just grins and says it's a mom thing).  Then today, my dear friend robinellen is off to ALA.  I'd really hoped to join her but it didn't work out for me (long before my son's friend decided to come).  I'm so very excited for her and hope she has a great time.  But as much as I want to go meet all of you that are there and some of my favorite lj authors and get new ARCs (which I really, really wanted to do), honestly, more than anything, I wanted to go just to see Robin.
So to sum it up...I've been quite homesick this week.  I really miss all my great Colorado friends...which seems kind of odd to be homesick when I am in theory home.  :)  But just know I'm thinking of you and so grateful to have such awesome friends.  Hope all you ALAers have a blast.

4.  Summer!  I love the freedom of summer.  Yesterday, we just blew everything off, went swimming with cousins and friends, BBQd with my family (my sister and neice are in town from Florida), played night games with all the kids outside in the neighborhood...and just enjoyed summer!  I feel a field trip coming on...I need to go see what fun things we can do next week.

Hmm, I guess I only really have four this week.  I should change my title to Friday Four. 

5.  DH is off traveling again . . . gone for several weeks.  Maybe I'll actually finish my WIP and my valances (blushes, I've had the fabric for a year).  But ah, here's my number 5...I did finish getting the wild jungle known as my yard all ripped out, mulched, planted and whipped into shape this week (it was the project on the burner as soon as I finished camp).  So success!  Ha!  I guess now it's kind of a Friday Six!  Wish I'd taken some before pictures so that an after picture would mean something.  Oh well.

I'll stop while I'm ahead and don't completely bore you.

Enjoy your weekend!

1. Woo-hoo! Schools out! 'Nuf said.
2. My son shared this with me. Jon is his piano playing hero. He's dying for the sheet music to come out for this arrangement so he can learn it. We saw Jon in concert a few years ago in Denver and that experience really motivated my son to reach new heights on the piano. It was a turning point for him in his own music...since then he's written some of his own arrangements and learned to play upside down like Jon does (not shown on this video). Enjoy!

Kind of a pathetic month overall...
Read 1 book (ONE?) I can't remember a month when I've only read one book:
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen...after reading the prologue, I didn't think I was going to read this, but then I flipped to the middle of the book, read a page, and decided to do it. It was different. And when I reread the prologue at the end, I liked it. I'm planning to read Rumors (the sequel). If I enjoy that one, I'll move onto Envy (the last of the books in the series to have been released).

Critiques: 1 full manuscript -- yay! and 7 other critiques.

Word Count: I did write, but it was all done by hand in my trusty notebook that I carry with me to soccer games and such. As of yet, I've not had the chance to type it in and see how many words...but it's not going to be anything to celebrate! I've set a goal though and my manuscript will be finished by the middle of July when my critique group will be ready for it.

Weight: I didn't lose any weight this month...but nor did I gain any. If I can have one more month like this than I'll be ready to try and lose some more starting July. Whew!

Exercise & Journaling: About the same as normal. Hit and miss, nothing to write home about...but doing some consistently.

That's about it for me, folks. I'm hoping to hold steady until July. Girls camp will be over and we'll have established some kind of a summer routine. July, I've decided is to be MY month. I'm hoping for the best here. :)

Happy Monday -- Happy June!

1) I had the most fascinating dream last night. It was almost mind boggling (I realize that doesn't take much for me though :) )

To understand how this dream came about, you probably need some background. This week I read fandoria's amazing novel. I finished yesterday morning. It really got me thinking about my characters and itching to write again (yay!). I sent out my comments to her last night five minutes after I should have been at a dress rehersal for a church drama I'm in for the women in our area. So I spent the next four hours at this dress rehersal.

The drama is a garden party where the first president of the women's organization welcomes and visits with each of the following presidents up to the current president. There's musical numbers and each of the presidents talks about something important that she did during her time serving as president. Anyway, I'm one of the presidents in this little production we're doing for all the women tomorrow. (And no, I don't sing or act, so I'm simply doing this because I love the person who asked me, lol).

So last night, I dreamed about a garden party. But I wasn't the host (I played the interesting role of fly on the wall) but one of my mc's from my very first novel was the host. I sat back and watched as characters from my various novels interacted and talked about their stories with fandoria's characters. I swear, I tried to ask a few questions, but they would not cooperate. I simply watched and learned and tried not to wake up (weird as that sounds).

It was one of the most fascinating things I've ever experienced especially since I can still recall it. A few things really stood out to me. One being that I really want to rewrite my first novel after I reread the very first version. One of fandoria's characters kept telling this host that I had it right the first time and I should try going back to the original pov and age of my mc. Is that so weird or what? (OK, please don't report me, I don't think I'm psychotic). So I need to dig up that first version and hope I still have a copy...and read it. Anyway, this was so cool, I had to share.

2) My oldest daughter's friend has been staying with us for a week. Tonight is her last night. I think we'll have a movie party. It's been fun but also very hectic. This friend will be moving to Japan in June and so it was really fun for my daughter to have her while her parents were out of town.

3) My son is taking 3 AP tests. His first one is this morning. I think he'll do great but he was nervous.

He also scored two goals back to back at his soccer game Wed. night. And it just so happened that he played the high school's head coaches private team (yeah, I think it's wrong that he's allowed to coach a private team because the only ones that make the high school team are the kids who played on his private team). Anyway, my son's team shut out the coaches team 3-0 and my son scored the last two goals. To say he was psyched is an understatement. He loves his team and is the first to admit that he enjoys it more than he would playing with the high school because there are awesome kids and coaches that the boys love (no one -- not even the parents of players or players on the school team even remotely like the hs coach)...but I could tell there was immense satisfaction in scoring TWICE against this coaches ELITE team (next year's hs team, ha!) after the coach wouldn't even look at my son because he hadn't been on his previous premier team. (We'd moved here and my son had played varsity as a sophomore in Colorado-- he hadn't had the opportunity to play with him even if he'd wanted to). Anyway, it was a huge boost to my son who has just taken the whole set back in stride and grown from it. Yay for him!

4) It's a weekend. And although I desperately need to weed, find mother's day gifts (any cool suggestions, I'm thinking books or book gift cards -- any more creative ideas out there, lol), make cookies that were promised to someone, actually pull off this garden party play, take my daughter to her state cup soccer tourney an hour away, return a visiting friend in one piece back to her parents, celebrate mother's day with both mom's, clean my house, put away laundry which has been piling up, finish off all the teacher appreciation stuff I've been helping with at the school this week, get recipes collected for the Enrichment dinner we did for church on Tuesday, put together a budget for our church girls camp I'm directing by Sunday, make sure my son is studying for the next two AP tests which are Mon and Tues, and just enjoying the sunshine...it's still a weekend!

I think I'll just celebrate that! Maybe I can have a little garden party and invite a few of my closest friends and characters -- that would liven things up a bit. Ha! Enjoy.

And a very Happy Mother's Day to all of you women out there. We're all mom's to someone (even if not by blood) because there's always someone who needs extra love and care that we can touch. It's just our nature. Hope it's a great day for all.

5) My thoughts go out to all of those who have swine flu or know someone who has it. But looking on the funny side, for all of you worried about getting it. Don't do this!
( Below here )
Sorry, someone sent this to me and it was so funny, I couldn't help myself.

Happy Weekend!

Where did the month go? I've vowed not to blink this month for fear of missing May as well. We'll see how that works for me. Maybe my eyes will dry out and I'll turn into one ofbrian_ohio  icons. I'm hoping instead, that I really finish my WIP, although I've realized that it's going to be much longer (word count wise) than what I initially predicted -- it has morphed into a different story than what I began writing. I hope when it's done that I'll be glad. Everyday, I seem to discover something new that the characters are splicing into the story.   I'm still hoping that I can tie all the threads together into something cohesive and brilliant (okay, ignore the brilliant part, lol...I'm going for cohesive and something that's not a total mess). 
Here's my month at a glance (a bit pathetic for my lofty goals).
Critiques for friends:  Only 9
Books Read: Only 5
Evermore by Alyson Noel -- Interesting story.  I liked the premise and found it had interesting twists especially with the sister connection (won't be specific because of spoilers -- but if you've read it I hope you know what I mean).  It did very much remind me of Twilight.  Especially with the sequel's name Blue Moon and the connection to the Immortal and romance.  It was probably just me that felt it had a connection.  I still enjoyed it.   
Need by Carrie Jones -- loved the emotional tie I felt toward the characters.  I stayed up all night to finish it.  I like that the mc figures out for herself how to solve the problem and make everything work out without having to be rescued.  Well done, carriejones 
Howls Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones -- very fun wizard book with an old fashioned flair that makes it kind of a My Fair Lady meets Harry Potter magical world that's entertaining.
Season by Sarah MacLean -- loved this book!  Great characters -- Gavin Blackmore is going to be on the 10 best male mc's of all times list (if there is such a list -- if not, I should start one).  He was right up there with Darcy for me.  Excellent read.  Thanks for the recommendation, robinellen 
Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith - Loved the world building and the amazing way she creates the setting and brings the characters alive so smoothly without leaving the reader with questions.  I personally would have preferred a different ending style...but not a different ending in and of itself.  I can't wait to read her two new books.
I have thirty books stacked beside my bed...at this rate, I'll finish my WIP before I get them read (sigh, that's supposed to be a joke since I thought I'd finish my WIP four months ago...but yeah, I get that it's not really funny anymore, lol).
Word Count:  Only 650 words.  Ugh!  But I have a ton reworked and ready in my head...just gotta find the time to get the story down on paper.
Weight loss & Exercise:  2 lbs. and Spring Break -- can't be unhappy with that!  I did really well with the exercise and definitely feel better for it.  Now if I could figure out a way to not go to sleep at 1a.m. and wake up at 4 a.m.  I'd be one energetic person.  :)
Journaling/Blogging:  so-so -- definitely need to improve 
That's about it for me today...except good news, I just found out my husbands travel for next week has been canceled.  Yay! 
Happy Friday (and this was definitely more than five...thanks for suffering through).

So it's snowing here! I mean really snowing. It rained all yesterday and poured all night. (Can I just say how much I love it raining while I'm sleeping at night, it's so relaxing and rhythmic). This morning when I dropped my girls off at school, their field had become a pond -- a pretty deep pond. And then it really let loose and just poured for hours . . . and now it's snowing! And yet soccer will go on (my daughter played last night in it and my son will, I'm sure, play tonight -- yay!) Happy Spring, all!

So we had an awesome spring break! My two daughters planned our Spring break trip with DH. (My son's only requirement for the trip was to be able to play tennis and sleep). The youngest chose to spend the first half of the week up at a condo in the mountains and travel around the county there because she's doing a report on the county for school. It was fun! The first day it snowed! But two days later it was beautiful and sunny. We played tennis and relaxed (instantly meeting DS's requirements, ha!) We took lots of fun pictures of my daughter in all the main attractions of the county. When the whole trip was finished -- she'd visited half of the counties in the state on our trip (including her sister's trip portion). The older daughter chose to head South and explore that part of the state that my girls had never seen. It was a blast! We hiked a lot. The first day we hiked in the Needles in the Canyonlands Park. We did an awesome 6 mile hike in about 2 hours. The spectacular scenery made the hike. We spent the next day in Arches National Park and hiked to Delicate Arch (where the wind nearly blew my kids right off the arch) and other arches. It was a windy day. My daughter counted 26 arches I think. This arch had a huge chunk fall off the day before my son was born...but it looks like the rest of it will go at anytime.
The next day we hiked up into a slot canyon where we had to literally hike through water up to our thighs. When we arrived at the channels of water, the kids all said, "We're going!" So we did. (We'd heard a report from a lady hiking back down that her husband and son had waded through and so we knew about how high the water was). DH actually carried my youngest daughter on his back because it would have been too high on her. The water was so COLD. The slot canyon was amazing.

Then we went to Goblin Valley and hiked. We climbed to the very top of the far valley and could see valleys of goblins stretching for miles in all directions. Very cool!

That night, we took a 4 wheel drive trail through Capital Reef National Park.

My youngest daughter was starting to get car sick on the twisty, bumpy roads so the last part was slow going. We get four hours into what's supposed to be a 2 hour drive (according to the map) and find we have to cross a river. No problem, except when we look across the river there's no where to cross over to...hmm, we look down river, nothing, we look up river and sure enough about 100 ft up river is the crossing. DH and I both looked at each other like "there's no way I'm turning back and driving 4 hours with a car sick kid". So we crossed.
We have some great stories about that one...something I'm sure my kids will be laughing about for years. I think this was one of my teenage son's highlights.
The next day we explored Capital Reef National Park

and hiked Lower Calf Falls which was really cool.

We drove over this highway where both sides of the 2 lane highway drop off for thousands of feet. When we get down and are hiking, we realize that we are hiking right underneath that highlway. Then we look up -- we see that all the rock under the lane we drove over has fallen away and its hollow -- right! So when we drove back over it we had to stop and take a picture...because some day, that highway won't be there. We figure we hiked at least 15 miles each day. By the time we finished the hike to the waterfall, I was feeling it. But my youngest who has not typically been much of a hiker, surprised us all -- she was the first one up and back on every single hike. Woo-hoo for her! The kids had a great time hiking and climbing on all the rocks. What fun to explore a new state (at least for the girls...my son has been to many of the places with us but not since he was little).
We arrived back in town just in time to have a wild, rainy Easter egg hunt with DH's family on Sat night and enjoy Easter yesterday with my family. Whew! Now I'm trying to dig myself out with laundry and get the kids back into school mode (man was it hard getting them up this morning)...and finishing all the homework projects due this week that didn't quite get finished on the trip. Figures! But we had a great week. I didn't write a single word all week, but I got some great ideas, worked out some plotting, and rewrote a few upcoming scenes in my head while driving. Now I just have to get them down on paper. Soon! Sorry for the complete travel log. Hope you're all enjoying spring! Back to reality!

Was it just me who stayed up until midnight backing up all my writing files...in case there really was a new virus that was about to worm into my hard drive and ruin all my years of work?  Well, I did it anyway...I just couldn't stand the thought of losing things that cost so much sweat and blood.

Went to lunch today for a friend's birthday -- Chinese.  Cracked open my fortune cookie, read the note -- first impression, woo-hee!  Maybe something will happen with my writing.  Reread the fortune, slapped my head, Oh no!  So what's your take on it?

Fortune:  An unexpected event will soon make your life more exciting.  (Um, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a good event and some days my life is already way more exciting than I need). 

It also reminded me a bit of Kazdreamer's general tarot reading for me.  Hmm, maybe the stars are telling me something.  Sigh!  Wish I knew what it was so I could somehow prepare for the unexpected.  LOL.

March in a Nutshell:

Critiques:  One full novel and ten chapters

Word Count:  Grew by 9500 words (Whew!  Not bad for me...if I can do that this month, I'll be finished or close enough that the momentum will carry me through -- I know, I've been saying that for months).

Books read:  (Only 6)

Beastly by Alex Flinn -- Interesting twist to the Beauty and the Beast story.  I liked the story from a beast pov.  Very modern and unique turn to an old tale.
Wild Swans by Jung Chang -- Excellent portrayal of three generations of Chinese women.  I enjoyed learning more about the culture.
Eyes of a Stranger by Rachel Ann Nunes -- Okay, fairly predicitable, I thought.  Although I did like the twist at the end.
Far From You by Lisa Schroeder -- Loved this very well connected and emotional portrayal of a young woman dealing with the death of her mom and the intricacies of building new relationships.  Well done, Lisa.
Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson -- A little edgier and shallower than I like.  A story about getting caught up in the middle of prom planning and discovering that she cared about things she hadn't expected to care about.  I've heard good things about her other books, and just picked up Speak from the library -- I'm willing to give her another shot.
Audrey Wait! by Robin Benway -- Not my thing.  Edgier and shallower than I like.  And I struggled to read this because of the language.  You can roll your eyes, but I know hundreds of teens and none of them use the f word in every other sentence. Cute idea here, but I found it predictable.  I did like the ending when she took control of her life. 

Now I feel bad because I always want my reviews to be positive, which is why I usually just highlight the positive things I liked (even if there's only one or two things) and I don't do many book reviews.  Um, but each of these was obviously interesting enough for me to pick in the first place.  I'm a picky reader.  Just because maybe a book wasn't my thing doesn't mean that you won't adore it. 

Journaling -- Still need to improve here.
Exercise -- Better but still need to improve here.  (Hoping to do some serious hiking next week).

Weight loss -- about 6-7 lbs.  (14 lbs. total)  But the most important thing, I'm eating much healthier and my cholesterol dropped 112 points over the last three months and that's been my most important goal.  I feel better, have more energy, hopefully look better, and am getting much more done overall.  Yay!  Now if I can just keep it up.  I'm hoping having everyone home for spring break doesn't kill my goal.  But if so, I'll just have to start again when they all go back to school and hope to make up my losses.  I'm crossing my fingers here.

Well, hope you all had a great month.  I'm looking forward to April and the "unexpected event", lol.  I'm hoping to finish my WIP, and hope that it's a great, successful, and happy month for all of you!  (And that's no April fool'n).

1.  DH gets home tomorrow!  Woo-hoo!  (Crosses fingers and hope nothing changes) He doesn't leave town again until the middle of April . . .and (whispers so no one at work hears and suddenly needs him) he has a full week off for spring break starting one week from today!  Which might not seem like anything exciting to you -- but my family is psyched!  He's been gone so much this year.  (The other day, my daughter jokingly called him the person who occassionally visits on weekends - sigh!).  My other daughter always asks him where he's vacationing this week, lol.  He's so sick of vacations (hotels, restaurants, etc) -- how would it be?  I'm really sick of Mac n' Cheese (which my daughter finds as her new back up snack and still wants for dinner).  But don't worry, we've only had it as part of a real meal twice in the past month.

2.  I've been cruising on my WIP -- now that I'm passed the agonizing  part that really stumped me and was very difficult for me to break through...yay!  And I have to really hurry because once DH is off, I know I'll get nothing done.  I"m hoping we can still do some exploring in our state...we have some great hikes planned.

3.  So my van didn't pass the state inspection...and took a lot of money to fix it so that  1) I can legally drive it  2) I can someday sell it (but not right away because I have no money to buy a new one) and  3) I can safely transport people without concern that it might completely fall apart.  (And 4 which I shouldn't mention, the mechanic can now buy a new mercedes).  I did wonder if I'd been totally taken for a ride since they knew I had to fix it...but it does drive sooo much better -- I do wonder however, if all the part prices were jacked up because it seemed much too expensive for what needed to be done.  And they told me business had been slow (maybe they shouldn't mention that to customers who might have to take out a second mortgage to pay for their repairs, lol, of course I'm kidding).  So now I'm trying to scale back Spring Break activities to compensate.  Ugh!

4.  Daughter has had a lot of pain in her thumb...today, we had to x-ray it again.  She worried so much about it last night that after 4 hours of trying to sleep unsuccessfully, I finally put her in my bed to sleep.  The x-ray still doesn't show a break.  They're guessing that she's torn ligaments.  The thumb is still bruised and ugly and painful -- but they said to just suffer through a few more weeks to see if the sprain or tear finally heals.  If not...it looks like a hand surgeon is in our future. 

5.  Junior Prom is tomorrow night.  My son is taking a really nice girl.  Him and his friends are still finalizing things like what they're having for dinner and who's  making it -- boys!  But I found out last night that I'm probably making dinner and helping to serve it, which works for me as long as I know what I'm making in time to buy and prepare it.  This is the first prom he's attended -- the first tux he's rented.  He's going to look so handsome.  But man, he's growing up so fast, soon school will be out and starting again and he'll be a senior.  We're looking at scholarship and admission requirements to colleges already...and he's taking the ACT again even though he did really well the first time -- just in case he can improve his English score.  Anyway, hold on to them while you can because in a flash, they're grown.  :)

Hope you all have an amazing weekend.  We're supposed to have rain and snow here but the sun is out today, so I think I'll go enjoy it while I can.
Happy Friday!

I will be honest, I am not sorry for this week to end.  My kids don't have school on Monday and I'm happy to have a lazy, kick back, long weekend -- I swear we deserve it.

1.  The schools buried my kids in homework this week for the end of the term.  We've never had it this bad.  My high school son has lots of hard classes, lets see since last Thursday he's had (I'm sure I've left a few things out):  3 AP Chem finals, a 700 pnt Chem Lab Notebook Due, 2 Chem Asg.s, 3 AP American History Finals,  2 History Asg., 3 PreCalculus Math Finals, 3 Math Assignments, 2 AP Biology Finals, 2 Bio Asgns, Had to read a novel and write two papers on it for Honors English, a Civics final (which the teacher lost -- gave son a zero which nearly put him over the edge -- um, I did email the teacher at this point (nicely) but my thought was seriously if my son is in class the day of the test, has 102% in the class already -- what are the chances that he just messed around during that period and never took the test?  Yeah, I emailed him and asked if he'd look again, and he found the test two days later in with another class, but at least he found it!).  Okay, enough whining.  It appears that he's done well so far on the tests they corrected in class.  I think he's going to be ready for college.  :)

My daughter has also had two major projects due each day this week and she's only in 6th grade (although the gifted and talented program she's in is intense -- next year is going to be a breeze for her). 

2.  Youngest daughter hasn't had any homework this week, she's just been happily playing, until she fell on the monkey bars at school Wed. and might have broken her thumb.  They couldn't tell for sure on the x-ray, there was a shadow but it was too swollen to see if there's an actual break.  So she's in a splint for ten days and then they re x-ray.  She spent 3 hours crying last night.  She said it hurt but it had also turned purple and blue and she was quite upset that  it might look ugly.  Yes, I'm happy to be moving to a weekend.  Thankfully, DH (who's out of town still) talked to her over the phone and was able to suggest some fun activities she could do with the splint which diverted her.  Yay for dad!  Tonight she's calling him every hour, just kidding, maybe.

3.  It is the most beautiful sunny day -- rumor is that we'll break 70 degrees today.  I've already taken one nice walk.  It's lovely.

4.  This was going to be a big writing week for me but I only wrote Mon. and a little Tues.  About 4,000 words.  I'm hoping to write this afternoon and over the weekend though to make up for the rest of the chaos that distracted me.  I do have one slight problem, I seem to have painted one character into a corner and I can't figure out how to get her out yet.  It's going to take a long rope, lol.  I keep brainstorming and hoping I'll have one of Rose's plot dreams or something to show me the way.  So far, nada.  I know this character will come through for me though, she's much more opiniated than I initially thought and has had several power struggles with her sister who is really my protag.  It'll be interesting if nothing else.  That's something I love about writiing.

5.  And then to end a stressful week -- I received books in the mail from Robinellen.  Totally made my week.  Thanks, Robin.

So I think chaos has left the building right behind her boyfriend stress (I'm praying I'm right) and now it's just the rest of us here left to totally crash and recouperate from their eventful tenure in our home.  Maybe we'll escape and go see Race to Witch Mountain this weekend. 

Happy Weekend!

While the weather is mild here today, it looks like March is roaring like a lion in other parts of the country.  I can't help wondering if it's coming our way.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying the newly showing grass (almost all our snow melted last week) and sunshine.  My kids start outdoor soccer practice this week.  It's nice when they get to be out again.

February didn't turn out to be as productive in some areas as I'd hoped (writing) but there was a lot going on with my family and kids school projects (and yes, some stalling/procrastination on my part).  For February being a short month...it was really long.  :)

I haven't been doing a lot of reading -- only six books this month and all at the beginning of the month.  (I have so many I'm trying to get to).
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (YA) -- an interesting take on the afterlife but not a book I'd personally read again.
Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock  (YA) -- great voice!
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (again, to get ready for my book club) by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barows - interesting format, relaxing read.
Kissing Frogs by Laura Marie Altom (adult) -- fun idea but plotting felt a little weak even for a romance novel.
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George (YA) -- lovely retelling.  I personally like her Dragon books better.
Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix (YA) -- interesting ending that I didn't expect.

I did 22 critiques for friends.

Only wrote 7,666 words on my WIP -- didn't complete the novel as I'd planned (probably another 25,000 -30,000 words needed).

Didn't do as well at journaling this month.

Improved exercise and healthy eating -- Lost 7-8 lbs. Woo-hoo!

Well that's about it for me (more than you wanted to read, I'm sure).  Hope you all have a happy Monday!