Sometimes the best plans are NO plans

Sometimes the best plans are no plans. Just relaxing and floating on the stream of life.

I do have to say I am VERY glad that it is FRIDAY!!!! WHOOO HOOO!!!!! OH HECK YEAH!!!! (Hmn, you'd think I wanted to get away from my day job for a couple of days! Surely not! (LOL)

I'm trying to make sure I don't overplan this weekend and just take some time to relax and enjoy. I have a tendency to be very purposeful and driven trying to get everything done efficiently. There's definitely times for that, and it is a quality that helps me achieve my goals. But there has to be balance where you relax, otherwise you "run the car out of gas and/or blow the motor".

I've been running on empty for a while. So it's time to refresh.

Gotta Run.

2nd post of the day. WOW

OK, this song is stuck in my head today. Another favorite.

John Lennon (Apparently from Double Fantasy)

Watching The Wheels

People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing
Well they give me all kinds of warnings
to save me from ruin
When I say that I'm o.k. they look at me kind of strange
Surely you're not happy now you no longer play the game

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice
designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine
watching shadows on the wall
Don't you miss the big time boy
you're no longer on the ball?

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels
go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

People asking questions lost in confusion
Well I tell them there's no problem, only solutions
Well they shake their heads and look
at me as if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry...
I'm just sitting here doing time

I'm just sitting here watching
the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

In Pursuit of an Untamed Water Fowl

Isn't that nicer than saying "a wild goose chase?" The book led me down the garden path for a bit. I was trying to make things more complicated than they needed to be. Sometimes you have to prune back some of the subplots or they overwhelm the book. It is something I may have failed to do with Cat, which is why I'm so worried waiting for the editor to write back. (Actually, one of MANY reasons, another of which is rampant paranoia!)

HI JIM!!!!! HI YO!!!!! HI A.J.!!!!!!

Guys, I appreciate your stopping by. Jim, I'll be sending you a personal response as soon as I can. I was going to write an e-mail last night, but wound up staying late at the day job. Maybe at lunch or tonight! ANYWAY, thanks for writing!

I'm getting happier again. Still having some physical trouble, and work at the day job sucketh a bit, but I'm getting happier... I guess just cause. Anyway, I'm not going to question it!

Gotta run. Life waits for no one.

Cie

(Possible mis)Quote of the day from John Lennon: Life is what happens when you're making other plans.

Posting these song lyrics

I'm posting these song lyrics because, well, I have the song stuck in my head. Fortunately it's one of the ones that makes me smile. It's by the Indigo Girls:

CLOSER TO FINE


I'm trying to tell you something about my life
maybe give me insight between black and white
and the best thing you've ever done for me
is to help me take my life less seriously
it's only life after all
yeah

well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
and lightness has a call that's hard to hear
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it
I'm crawling on your shores

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
there's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line
and the less I seek my source for some definitive
the closer I am to fine
the closer I am to fine

and I went to see the doctor of philosophy
with a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
he never did marry or see a b-grade movie
he graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
got my paper and I was free

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
there's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line
the less I seek my source for some definitive
the closer I am to fine
the closer I am to fine

I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.
to seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
and I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before
and I went in seeking clarity.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
yeah we go to the doctor, we go to the mountains
we look to the children, we drink from the fountains
yeah we go to the bible, we go through the workout
we read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout
there's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line
the less I seek my source for some definitive
the closer I am to fine
the closer I am to fine
the closer I am to fine

~Indigo Girls, words and music Emily Saliers

Hi Kids

Cie here:

I HATE TRANSITION SCENES!

I am sitting down at work checking my e-mails because I am assiduously avoiding a transition scene. I absolutely know where the action goes next, but I have to GET there. ARGH!

Got rid of some of the hostility by cleaning house yesterday. I've also been baking. Generally speaking I have this interior "Threshhold" that if things get too chaotic or dirty beyond it I go nutsola. I don't like that about myself, but it's the truth. So yesterday I got things back to my comfort level. I hope they'll stay that way, but I'm betting they won't. My cats and my son have a very different comfort level. They LIKE messy -- or at least messier than I like it.

Went to Y's blog and wound up getting tagged.

What were you doing ten years ago?

Working my ass off doing between two and four jobs. (Yeah, that's right, I said FOUR. (1) Full time legal secretary at the law school; (2) part time legal secretary for a criminal defense attorney; (3) house-sitting; (4) part time typing for bail bondsmen. (I was also raising my son and TRYING to write my books).

What was I doing 1 year ago?

Working full time at the law office here in Texas, working part-time writing books and doing all of the miscellany that goes with it. (Signings, conferences, etc.) Helping my son get back on his feet.

5 Snacks I enjoy:
Pepsi
Milk Chocolate
Plain potato chips
My home made jerky
My brownies or chocolate chip cookies

5 songs you know all the lyrics to:

OK, there are too many of these to mention. Once upon a time (in a galaxy far, far away) I had a photographic memory and an excellent audio memory. (These went away after a particularly nasty little head injury when I was 18 or 19) Because of this all of the pre-injury stuff is filed away, including all of the Old-School country music stuff my parents loved and I hated desperately.

5 things you'll do when you're a millionaire (thinking positive):)

1. Pay off all my old debt, including the house and the vehicle.
2. Give to charity.
3. Set up trust funds for my son and my aging parents.
4. Re-fund my retirement 401K
5. Switch to writing full time.
(Wow, don't I just look like the party girl!)

5 bad habits:

Biting my nails.
Not getting enough rest or taking good enough care of my body.
Eating and drinking too much sugar.
Pushing myself too hard to accomplish more than is actually physically possible.
Procrastinating about things that I feel helpless over.

5 things you like doing:

WRITING.
Reading.
Singing with my son.
Playing computer games.
Seeing my books on the shelves in the bookstores. (Yes, I AM a closet egomaniac!)

5 things you would never buy or wear again:

BIG hair.
Spandex. (Other than a swimsuit -- or maybe not. I really don't like to swim either)
(IF I CAN HELP IT) High heels and pantyhose
Midriff tops.

5 favorite toys:

MY COMPUTER
My CD Player and stereo.
My truck.
My Zen garden
My art supplies.

5 people you would give this to.

ANYBODY WHO HAS THE TIME AND WANTS TO.

Hi Guys!

Good Morning. It's Thursday. For some reason I keep trying to make it Friday instead. SIGH. Not that I'm looking forward to the weekend or anything! LOL.

Writing has slowed a bit. But I know where it's going and I know it's there. The trick is that this is an entirely new world. That means I'm doing a lot of backstory and world building -- things that won't be used in the book, but help me relate to the characters and their history with each other, world rules, etc. For example, The Battle of Kittens is something that happened in the past. It was, in fact, one of the most ludicrous situations the heroine was ever in. It also turned into a real political mess. It will never see the light of day in the book, but it is important to her history with Pug and their relationship. Another is the situation of how she met Pug in the first place. (Pug, by the way, is a gargoyle -- one of the smaller stone trolls.) All of it is fun to think about, and useful in the grand scheme of things, but it doesn't get the pages out. It just makes me more able to get the pages out later.

I'm HOPING to successfully change the avatar for this blog. I'm wanting to add the cover for Touch of Evil, which is coming out in March. We'll see. For some reason I'm not nearly as good with computers as I used to be. I think it's a combination of (1) lack of concentration, and (2) I don't have nearly as good of equipment to work with as I did at the university. Still, I SHALL PREVAIL. (RAWR) (Picture me standing with my fist pumped and a red cape billowing behind me.

Hmmmnnnnn.....

Hi guys, welcome to another Friday.

I was looking at someone else's snarky blog (nobody who visits here). It was cute, but maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it. Then again, maybe it just didn't suit my sense of humor. My boss thought it was hysterical (which is why he told me to take a look at it). He thinks the writing is terrific.

**************************

OK, one of my new goals/resolutions is definitely having mixed reviews.

I am generally fairly non-confrontational -- particularly when I have to interact with the person on a regular basis. It has to be a pretty serious matter before I'll bring it up. Otherwise, why shovel excess defacational matter? Because, let's face it, nobody wants to hear that you think they were wrong about something -- because if they thought it was wrong, they WOULDN'T have done it.

BUT one of my resolutions is to take more control of my life and stand up for myself a little better. The thing is, no matter how nicely you try to do this, most people who interact with you are fairly invested in the status quo. Even if they think they want you to do more, they want to choose what more you do. It doesn't work that way. If you're going to be more assertive, it will probably have to be across the board. So, I'm running into some friction across the board, and the question becomes "What do I do about it?" Do I go back to the background, or live with the friction until they "get used to it"?

I haven't decided. I have responsibilities, but I also have to be true to myself. It's something to think about.

****************************************

Did the first half of my goal setting. Now comes the hard part -- the plan on how to reach them and the back up plans, and the list of things I'm willing and NOT willing to do to get there. Wish me luck.

*****************************************

Looking forward to a weekend. Book is going well, mostly.

Sorry this is so disjointed. But that's the way my mind is working today. Very short, harsh, impatient thoughts. Not good. Definitely not good.

Quiz of the Day.

What Tarot Card are you Most like?
brought to you by Quizilla

Guten Tag

Good afternoon everybody.

AE had great news! Happy times!

Let's see, book is ROLLING -- FINALLY!!!! WHOO HOO!! I was getting very frustrated. I'd tried a couple of different beginnings, but they just weren't working. Now I've found one that seems to work, and I'm incorporating the other information, which means I have quite a few pages done!

I'm getting healthier. It's slow going, but I'm actually feeling like myself quite a bit of the time now. I just have to be very careful not to push to hard.

Still trying to decide what conferences I am and am not going to this year. It's hard.... I dunno...

Well, I would love to tell you all wonderful exciting news, but we're kind of in between things right now. Just keeping on keeping on. Soon as we know more, I'll post it. In the meantime, good things are on tap, I just have to be patient.

Oh, and I've managed to stop pissing people off. It just suddenly stopped, very much like it just suddenly began. I'm telling myself it was pre-Christmas stress on all sides. Probably not true, but as explanations go, it'll do.

Later guys. If you see a great quiz, let me know.

Cie

Howdy!

Just stopped by for a moment because I'm getting mapquest and heading out.

The book was stalled -- and I finally figured out why. For some reason this story needs to be told in 3rd person. Weird, because normally I'm a first person kind of gal. But, there you have it. It is what it is. Hope it'll still work for a publisher. Have to see.

Anyway, gotta run. I'm Salvation Army bound with lots of donatables. Sadly, filling the truck only got rid of half the stuff in the garage -- so I'll be doing this again next weekend. Oh well.

Cie

Aloha!

Hi guys. Welcome to the weekend (almost).

First, an observation. A lot of folks are annoyed because US stamps are going up two cents. Well, I'm kind of in favor of it. (What, in favor of spending MORE money? HUNH?) Well, it's been a few years since they raised the rates (3 or 4). How much have gas prices gone up in those years? How many vehicles do they have on the road? I'm amazed it hasn't gone up sooner and more! I mean, I know how bad inflation's affected MY life, and I only have one car. And I assume their employees occasionally want a raise and stuff...

I want the weekend to be here already. I'm SOOOOOO not motivated to be in the law office. I finally started making progress on the book, and darn it, now I have to be HERE?

Oh well. Need to make the best of it and work hard. So adios mi amigos.


OK -- Took a quizilla (AGAIN)

What vampire archetype am I?

You are the Lone Wolf. Dark, silent, mysterious you
stalk the hidden corners of the night. You
avoid the living and the undead, preferring the
high roofs of the city and the low tunnels of
the streets.


What Fictional Vampire Archtype are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Bon Jour Mes Amis

Hi guys!

It's Thursday morning. Life is pretty good. There are things I need to get done, things I want to get done, and life is pretty busy, but it's a good busy.

Took a Quizilla quiz as to which villain I would be. I, my friends, am an EVIL GENIUS... BWA HA HA HA HA...

Writing is slow. I kind of hit a snag. Part of the problem is that I've not completely recovered from the last book. But I need to get excited and get moving.

Let's see... is there anything else? Not really. Kind of a slow day.

Everybody have a good one.

Cie

Bon Giorno

Hi Guys! Cie here.

OK, yesterday was a fantastic day! Whoo hoo, gotta love it kind of day. Today, not so much. Oh well. Still grateful for yesterday.

I'm about to launch into a mini-not-quite-rant. (I know, very weird).

I like what I write. If I didn't, I wouldn't write it. (DUH). I don't think I should have to "defend" it. But I live in a part of the country (the bible belt) where people either love it (but won't admit it) or tell me (in a well meaning way) how much they wish I'd write for "our side," i.e. inspirationals.

OK for the record, I'm a relatively good little Catholic girl. I still have the guilt from when I wore the cute blue and green plaid, pleated uniform with a starched white blouse and Peter Pan collar. (I also still have the VERY vivid memory from when I accidentally stumbled into a gay bar where a transvestite hooker was working the bar in the same uniform... but I digress). I don't think I'm WRITING FOR THE ENEMY. It's IMAGINATION for heaven's sake. There are good guys, there are bad guys. There are points being made (hopefully with relative subtlety) about open mindedness and tolerance... Anyway, it's weird. I ABSOLUTELY believe what I write has worth, but I feel so incredibly attacked and defensive. Very weird.

Ah well, I have to go back to work. But I had to mention that because it's really been bugging me. So have the comments about "But you look so normal."

Radio Interview is UP

The interview I had in November with Bill Thompson of Eye on Books is up now. The url is below if anybody wants to take a listen. I sound MUCH better than I thought I did. (Of course, since I was sure I'd come off as an idiot, that doesn't take much! LOL)

http://www.eyeonbooks.com/ibp.php?ISBN=0765349140

Howdy Y'all!!!

OK. The new year has officially started. I'm doing my whole "rah rah" routine with the motivational CDs and have started a new book that combines fairies and ghosts and may or may not work, but is lots of fun to write.

I was GOING to clean out the garage and house and take all of the "stuff" to Salvation Army, but they're closed today. Probably just as well because the fatigue hit like a ton of bricks this morning. Wound up going back to bed for 4.5 hours. Good news is that I now feel almost human. For the record, I do not recommend getting an "unidentified chronic fatiguing illness." Fortunately for me I have LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG periods where it is in remission, especially if I'm careful. And boy oh boy do I intend to be careful. I remember what a pain in the.... ahem... patootie it was when this was active. I feel so very badly for all of the people who have to live with this stuff ALL the time!

I probably shouldn't be confiding this. Too personal. But I feel like most the folks who come by here are good folks, so I'm not too worried. And it lets people know WHY sometimes I can't carry through on my wonderful intentions. Too, stress (either physical from an illness like oh, say, bronchitis; or prolonged mental stress) can trigger the symptoms. So if I seem to be extremely stress-averse, you now know why.

I think this is going to be a very good year. I hope to accomplish a lot. I hope NOT to piss off anybody irretrievably. But I have promised myself that I am not going to be too hard on myself. I do not deliberately set out to anger anybody unless they deliberately attack me and won't stop. Then, well, if they INSIST... Still, most people aren't that aggressive, thank goodness. And if I go through life TRYING to be nice and accidentally do stupid or offensive things, well, all I can do is apologize and move on.

Things are looking promising for my son. I'm glad. I so want him to be happy! I think things are finally coming together for him. Good thing too. He was starting to get very depressed.

Well, back to the book. Since I can't do the donation thing, I'll just listen to my motivational stuff and WRITE. No hardship since that's one of the things I truly love best.

Best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves. If you pray, keep all the folks who were devastated by Katrina in your prayers. At this point I think the shock has worn off and the true depression and impact is sinking in. God bless 'em. I wish I could do more, but (a) I don't even have a clue WHAT to do other than donate to charities and hope it makes it to them and (b) I'm kind of flailing around myself.

Happy New Year

OK, new year, new beginning. I wish everybody happiness and joy.

Cie