Writers, Artists, & Doctors

Well I missed Monday and I'm sorry. Life is just too insane right now. Between revisions, the teen, the house, the revisions, the craft, the .... the .... well, that's just how it is this week. I have to make my writing and my family life a priority, but I don't want to miss out on my cyber world either.

So hi!!

On Saturday I went to a wonderful all day workshop hosted by the Heart of Dixie at the Huntsville Library. I learned how to dress, how to behave, how to market, how to write a review and how to be excited about this industry from two fabulous editors from Romantic Times Magazine. This is an industry magazine that spotlights published authors and gives awesome book reviews in all sub-genres of the romance writing world.

Many thanks to Morgan Doremus and Stephanie Klose for taking the time to teach us this Saturday. I hope to see them again at an RT Convention when I am a published author. Additional thanks to Morgan for taking so many headshots of all the published and unpublished authors after the workshop. She was so kind and very enthusiastic. I felt like a published Mills & Boon author when she showed me the digital shot she thought was the best.

On Sunday I went to see the wonderful Cirque du Soleil show Dralion with my darling teen. Wow!!! Amazing show. We had seats center stage, but super high. We had a great view of the entire ground stage and the aerial stage. These performers are all artists with amazing strength, grace, humor, and agility. I highly recommend this show!! When it was over, we turned to each other and said, "What? It's over?" We were mesmerized by the constant feats of agility and theatrics. Truly, the eyes were never bored.

Monday arrived and with it the revisions. Sigh. This book is causing me all kinds of problems. But they are the good kind. I've just passed the "I'm a hack" stage and into the "if I work at it I might get a decent bit of prose written." Meanwhile, I've entered 4 manuscripts in the Linda Howard Award of Excellence contest and I'm prepping a chapter for the Mills & Boon New Voices contest. I love to add tension to my writing life, really. I do.

Today I'm off to the allergy doctor to get all kinds of testing done. I'm a little nervous, but also very excited to find out what else is causing me issues. I suffer from shellfish and insect allergies. I hate the food allergy worse than the bug allergy. I have found it difficult to eat outside of the home and there is a stigma attached to food allergies. I don't think people take food allergies seriously. And I've had to endure many unappetizing meals in restaurants I didn't want to eat in because they didn't properly separate shellfish from the other foods just so my companions could eat what THEY wanted to eat. My nervousness comes from the fear of the itchiness. I instantly go into high alert whenever I suspect an insect bite or reaction to food. My adrenaline pumps like mad, my fight and flight system kicks into high gear, and I panic. I have to talk myself out of reacting, calm myself down with deep breaths, and tell myself I'll be okay. Yes, I have an epi pen and Benadryl. So I know I can save myself if necessary.

But I am still very afraid.

After the allergy tests, I am heading home to tackle the dreaded revisions again. They take top priority after the kid and the king of the house. So I'll be backing off the blogging a bit. Popping in once a week to say hi and to share my life with you. Maybe more than once if I get some spare time.

How was your weekend? What do you do in your spare time? And do you have allergies, too? Share with me and let's chat.