This Week's Personal To-Do List

Writing:

*read through MS and look for white spaces and odd typos

*read through and edit synopsis again

*letter for submissions

*put together submissions for the people who requested

*send away and poof, done

*write a quick and dirty story without worrying about structure for fifth MS

*put together a list of questions for the SFO Green Beret & send

*print out the LHAofE grid

*deliver more HOD Workshop flyers

Home:

*organize medical billing/hospital bills/INSURANCE info

*chase down accurate info re: the above line--the joy never ends

*go to school for open house

*the usual everyday chores of laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning and ironing (yes, I iron--don't mock me--I like it)

*plan a menu for the week

*birthday and wedding cards out (and they are late)

*box up books for my adopted mom in Australia

*mail boxed books

*meet a friend and reconnect cause I miss her sunny disposition

*organize a trip to Asheville

I think there's more--stay tuned.

And hours later, some of the to-do's are checked off... woot!

Dreaded Chapter 13--Events Driving Me to Distraction

I wanted to write on Thursday, but didn't. Too much going on. My dear friends from VA were coming into town for a quick overnight visit. I originally thought they were coming on Friday night sooooooooo........ figured I would get things together in the afternoon after I wrote my requisite minimum hour during hectic times.

But when I woke up, I opened an email from my friend. They had left VA at 4:30AM their time. Yikes! Quickly, I gathered my wits and zoomed through the upstairs to get it ready for a family of four. Pumped up the Queen Air Mattress, and the two twins. Made the beds, cleaned the bathroom, and dusted the rest of the room (did I gripe a few days ago about my DH being underfoot? I take it all back--he totally helped me get the room together!).

Many droplets of sweat later, I took a much needed shower. Well, maybe now, I thought, I'd write. Nope. Eye Doctor called -- darling daughter's contacts in. Off we went to the eye doctor at 12PM to see if the left eye contact was correct. An hour later, we were assured she had 20/20 vision and away we went. 

Meanwhile, I get a call. The friends are about an hour away. Great. I had already promised my darling daughter she could visit with her friends till 6PM. But when was I to drop her by her friend's house? 

Mad texting occurred over the course of several achingly LONG minutes. Why do these kids not TALK on their phones? I have the answer: no minutes left to speak. Apparently texting is unlimited so we are handcuffed by the teens' loquaciousness about one day into their cell phone bill.

We are informed we have a bit of time. Off we drive to my pharmacist to get progesterone (because I have the hormone levels of a 70 year old post-menopausal woman), and then to the party store to get a bouquet of balloons to welcome my neighbor's new baby girl home. Woohoo! Apparently she has the hormone levels of a much younger woman (she's 40).

Home we go. Eat lunch. Watch BONES on DVD. Await call about the daughter drop. Daughter drop call arrives. We leave. I with grocery list in hand. Drop daughter, go to grocery store, buy dinner items, home to unload items, and start marinade just before our friends arrive.

Mad, quick, wonderful visit with friends. Wine, food, talk, play with girls, set up alarms, plan their return on the way back.

I tumbled into bed at 11PM. At 4:20AM, I hear my poor decrepit aged cat yowling at the top of her lungs. Dear Lord.  I bounce out of bed, hair in a tangled mess, and step out to hallway leading to the garage. Dear friends are loading their van, poor cat incredibly confused (heck, my GF is blond as well), and they are profusely apologetic. 

No need to apologize say I. Silly cat would wake me up anyway. Off they go. I turn out the lights and crawl back into bed with purring old cat. 

Wake up. Take darling daughter to hair appointment with computer and revision pages in tow. DD's daughter takes 3.5 hours. I write almost as long. Chapter 13 almost finished. I think it is crap, but at least this crap is moving along. As we are paying for hair (don't ask how much), DD is arranging movie ticket to see UP. I bring her home, print out the tickets, turn around, drive her to the theater, then off to the bank, and then home. Shower (finally!) and now I am too tired to write another dang word (at least a creative one in which all my plot and character problems flow with ease).

Contests and Formats and Yikes What a Day!

I finally sent off my Maggie entry today. We'll see how that goes. Not holding my breath, but the feedback is excellent. Maybe it will fare better after all the changes I made to the beginning of the MS. I hope so. 

After I sent the Maggie off to places far away and in GA, I worked on gathering my entry pieces together for REVEAL YOUR INNER VIXEN. There are all these rules for how to submit online--and it's driving me crazy. I can put all the RTF parts of the entry in a folder and send the folder as an attachment, but I can't put all the pieces of the entry on ONE document and have it turn out right in the HEADER section. There are too many different elements. Argh.

I sent an email to the contest coordinator to ask if I can submit the entry in a folder with the four documents. I hope so or I've wasted my time on this--other than the revising part of the scene. It's changing and evolving -- and I like it. Hey--I just checked my email and the contest coordinator said I can send it in a folder and just explain my "header challenged brain" to the contest person I email it to! Hallelujah!!!!

I need to put the new changes into the Scrivener Document--I revised in the Word Doc after I revised in Scrivener... argh again. That's the only thing I don't like with Scrivener. It's hard to move back and forth in the saved folders. I have to export and input all changes or do it manually.

This afternoon I went to the APPLE store for my tutorial. I really didn't have much to ask--simple fix questions. And I told the dude after half an hour I was ready to leave. I don't need weekly sessions anymore. I think I will use that time, one hour per week, to build my web page and work on my business side of writing (probably more than one hour a week). If questions come  up as I work on the web site, I'll jot them down and schedule a session. I have a year's worth of onetoone sessions paid for. One thing that jerks my chain is that I paid to have classes with the APPLE SPECIALISTS. But the past three classes have been with the next tier down because the specialists are overwhelmed. I don't mind too much, but it's the principle of the matter. I feel shuffled aside. The next time I go in, I am making my appointment on-line and I am putting in the notes box that I want a specialist to help me.

After I went to the APPLE STORE, I hit B&N and got DD her required reading book for 10th Grade Honors English. Then I drove to the Mall and fetched her Powder Puff T-shirt. After I retrieved said shirt, I high tailed it to STAPLES to get four black ink cartridges. Two for her and two for me. We run out of ink here FAST.

When I got home, I worked on the RYIV Entry, and now I am fried--nothing left to give. I'll read through the entry and edit it tomorrow morning. Thankfully, I'll be able to send it all off in a folder.

And I got three scenes revised as I prepared for this contest (only putting in 2 and a bit). Of course, the book is never done. It'll never be finished until it is sold and on the shelves! I decided that I will revise this one through for the RWA Conference. Then I'm pitching it. I'll line edit and check it over with a fine tooth comb if I get a request for a FULL. If not, I am done. I'll park it, and move on to the fourth book. I want to get that MS ready for the GH in November. 

I will pull number 3 out of park after I've got the fourth book revised and on its way out the door via the GH. I'm sending the 3rd book out to the GH again if I don't get the "call" before November.

Now the goal is speed, building back list books, and getting my business side of writing running.