Stress and the not-so-single girl

Sometimes life is a barrel of monkeys.  Have you noticed?

 

I still have several hundred pages to edit for Dawn of Redemption.  Yep, the same several hundred I had the last time I mentioned it.  And I still need to finish writing one single-title manuscript while another novella length story is waiting in the wings.  There simply aren't enough hours in the day most days.  Today, I had everything ready for a computer dude to come to my house and help me figure out some shopping cart software I need to install for a client.  Looks like I'm going to have to call The Geek Squad on this one, however.  Dude was a no-show. 

 

When I was single, I would lament being stood-up.  In fact, I thought my now-husband had stood me up on our second date, when he was supposed to meet my parents.  I waited and waited and waited for him on the pier (or is it peir?) where his ship was docked (he was in the Navy) but he never showed up.  I drove home in tears, to the point I had to pull over twice because I couldn't drive safely.  When I got home, he was in my living room laughing it up with my Dad.  That was almost our LAST date, I was so upset.  But I was also relieved.  He hadn't stood me up afterall.

 

But to be stood up by a computer geek?  A computer geek I was going to pay?  What a waste of my valuable time!  I'm not going to cry about it, although not having this shopping cart installed is really ticking me off.

 

Nope.  No tears this time around.  I have a call out to a geekette (a very cute one, at that) and hopefully, she'll be able to help me.  Until then, I'm going to make a dent in the edits on my desk.

 

I'll cry about my missing geek in the morning when I have time.

 

Hugs,

Marjorie

My brain has officially liquified and is falling out of my ears

I have spent the last several days sweating deadlines.  Not just in my writing, but as webmistress for a new publishing company and trying to find the right kind of software to deliver the ebooks to come.  So I've cgi-binning, mySQLing, and editing programming code until all hours.  Don't know what any of that means?  Well, join the club.  Neither do I.  So I'm going to outsource this part of the project.  Done.

 

In the meantime, I'm still in review edits for Dawn of Redemption and I really need to dive into The Flyer, which I now have four weeks to write.  Hopefully, by this weekend, I can not only dive in, but dive in headfirst.

 

I sure hope there's water in the pool.

 

Hugs,

Marjorie

Time to Say Goodbye

Well, it's been nice.  No I'm not giving up on the blog quite yet, but I am giving up my membership in the RWA.  This was something that I'd considered doing late last year, but since I suffer from "Cant-say-no-itis", I agreed to take over as president of my chapter instead.

 

Why had I considered leaving?  It wasn't because I wasn't getting a benefit.  Of course I was.  Friendship among the top of the list.  You can't complain to your spouse if one of your characters is misbehaving, right?  Friends and family don't get it.  Fellow writers do.  It's that simple.  It was worth my hundred or so bucks per year to have that kind of companionship.

 

I considered leaving because of TIME, and time alone.  My trips to the monthly meetings were a full day adventure.  I live over 100 miles from the meeting place.  It was expensive, esp. with gas these days.  So I admit that I wanted to leave almost a year ago.

 

But I didn't.  I should have, but I didn't.  I was the Pres. for a few months, then I received a lecture from my doctor, and the pathologist, about how 'can't-say-no-itis' is a real condition -- also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  I was running a fever for more than six months.  No energy.  Depressed.  Didn't care about anything... at least not enough to make myself to my job.  So, out of fairness to the chapter, I resigned as President.  Broke my heart, but it had to be done.  They needed someone to really rally the troops, and they got that in the form of the VP, Phyllis Campbell - http://www.phyllismariecampbell.com who has now taken over.  The entire board is fabu!

 

However, that wasn't my only issue.  I also have a daughter who decided to rob me blind right around the time I went to RT in Daytona.  I thought I'd simply lost my mind and was incapable of balancing a checkbook, had to borrow over a grand to go on the trip I'd booked, and take a grand advance from my very part time gig at a cell phone store (which took two months to earn back -- read: no paycheck for two months).  I just deleted the gorry details, but suffice it to say, I haven't a lot of pocket cash these days.

 

So I just received word from my local chapter that I'm on the outs, officially.  I can't attend meetings and I'm not going to be in the yahoo groups anymore.  Done.  Finis. 

 

I need to find a good spin here.  I'm a writer.  I write.  I have lots of friends on email and in lists who commiserate that fact.  I now have that expensive Saturday once per month to write! 

 

And write I shall.

 

Hugs,

Marjorie

 

 

Questions for the Cosmos

I should have been writing, but since I broke through a difficult scene earlier today, I decided to take the evening off and watch a movie with my husband.  He wanted to watch the new King Kong with Jack Black, so yours truly made a trip to Blockbuster.

 

Natch, the husband was asleep before they even found Kong on the island, but that's okay.  I enjoyed the movie anyway.  He'd already seen it, which is how he knew I'd like it.

 

A beautiful girl falls in love with an ape, and vice versa.  What's not to like?

 

Which brings me to the question... what is it about off the wall relationships that is so fascinating?  I mean, it didn't really work out too well for poor old Kong.  In the stories we love to read (and some of us write) our 'beasts' are generally shapeshifters (at least, I sure hope they are).  But that still leaves the question of the animal influence. 

 

Is it because animals are primal and therefore inherently innocent?  Pure, if you will?  A dog chews of shoes because that's what dogs do, not because they are 'bad', or they want you be barefoot when you head to Payless after they ate your last pair.  (yes, that's a true story as of about three days ago, grrrr).

 

Or is it the taming of the beast that we're after?  If a beast, a person with the heart of an animal, can learn to love on an intelligent level, with a purpose, does that somehow make them less animal and more human?

 

I dunno.  I'm just asking. 

 

Nobody actually reads my blog yet, so if, at some point, someone comes upon this cosmic question, feel free to give a shout.  I'd love to understand it a bit better.

 

Oh, and for the record, my breakthrough scene was a love scene... Vampire hero, Witch heroine, complete with a bite.  Breakthrough.  I'm just not sure whether my beast became more human, or my witch became more beast.

 

We shall see on the morrow when I pick up the pen.

 

Hugs,

Marjorie

 

Mountains to scale

That's mountains of laundry.  Don't even get me started on the dishes!  I have a cleaning lady that comes in twice a month, but I try to save the big stuff for her, and we really can't go that long without doing laundry anyway, and if we could, she sure as heck couldn't do it all in two hours.  So, I got up early and started a load, then I had to work on a website for a bit.  I work the dayjob today so I won't be able to clean house again until tonight at the earliest, and I still have looming deadlines.

 

I'll do a quick search for my superwoman cape when I get home from work.  And I'll let you know if I reached the summit later.  Crud... I have to shower this morning too. *sigh*

 

Hugs,

Marjorie

Okay, so here's the deal

I'm am the WORST blogger in the history of ... well... blogging.

 

I'm gonna give this another try.  I think my problem is, I try to hard to limit myself.  I wasn't blogging inspiring or philosophical every day, so I decided to do writing tips.  I ran out of time to pursue that, but in the mean time, I came up with all sorts of things I would love to chat about, but I'd changed the focus of my blog, so I couldn't.

 

Why not?

 

Cuz I couldn't, that's why LOL.

 

Bah.

 

It's my blog and I can blog if I want to... blog if I want to...

 

So, here I am ... giving it another shot.

 

I'm in deadline hell at the moment.  I have just tacked on another 1000 or so words to my newest chapter of Dawn of Redemption for Champagne Books.  I promised this book to my editor over a week ago, but I find myself with about three chapters to go.  I defend myself with the fact that the same editor (waving to Ellen) sent my galley for my October release, My Lady's Will, for a final run through last week, as well.  I tried to finish Redemption first, but had to stop writing so I could edit. 

 

Tonight, I emailed my final changes so I'm back into Redemption.  This is a very good thing.  I want to have it done by the end of the week.  If I can do that, then I'll have an ENTIRE month to write roughtly 315 pages on my next 20th Century Historical, also set in Australia (see The Lighthorseman).  If you read The Lighthorseman, this next one is Paul's story.  Cross your fingers.  No contract yet, just a request to read the final product.  I promised it in seven weeks, and I've burned about two of them. 

 

It's been a pretty rough year for me, personally, but things are evening out, I'm very slowly catching up.  I'm off to the post office first thing Monday morning to mail two contest prizes out... the Daytona package and my Alasdair Vampire bear... to the respective winners.  Terribly sorry for the delay.  It's been crazy around here.

 

I think that's about it.

 

oh... if you're looking for a fabulously wonderful ride through the old west (and believe me, you ARE), be sure to pick up Beth Ciotta's Lasso the Moon.  I managed to read a whole book while waiting for doctor's appointments, reluctantly taking the family to Lagoon (its an amusement park), and getting my car serviced.  It's fabulous!!

 

OHOHOH!  I almost forgot... Dawn of Love is now available at http://www.champagnebooks.com   YAY!!!!

 

Until next time,

Marjorie -- who can't decide if she should sleep, or shower... decisions, decisions.