The book will go in Monday.

The Celia book-after-next (the next is THE ELDRITCH CONSPIRACY) is in the can.  Cathy is going over it.  She may make changes.   But come Monday it is off to the editor.

I am SO FREAKING POOPED.

It is tenatively titled DANCE WITH THE DEVIL, which I think is perfect.  Unfortunately back in 2003 Sherrilyn Kenyon had a book with the same title and there are several others as well.  Of course most are a few years old, so maybe they'll let me use it anyway.  We'll see.

I am behind on absolutely EVERYTHING but there are a couple of personal items that have reached CRISIS status while I was wrapped up in meeting the deadline.  Today and tomorrow they HAVE TO BE SOLVED or there will be nasty consequences, so I am keeping this brief. 

But I am happy.  It's done.  I think it's quite good.  (A little short, but that's fixable.)

Anyway, I am off to deal with the crisis.  After which I will rest a few days and then try to catch up on things like newsletters, prize mail-outs, and the next thing. 

No rest for the weary (I don't think I qualify for wicked right now.  I'm too busy to be bad.).

Be well, be happy.

Cie

A Contest, Contemplation, and stuff.

First, I want to see if anyone is paying attention. 

SO, a contest.  If you read this, comment (and send a return e-mail address sent to cieadams@yahoo.com with COMMENT in the re).  Assuming I get more than one entry, I will randomly select somebody to get the first 4 Bloodsinger books on audio, e-mail you that you've won, and get a snail mail address to send them to.  Good Luck.

Second, something happened today that made me laugh.

When I was in 5th grade my mother was getting rid of a hat.  I took it.  It was a big, floppy tan felt hat with a brown vinyl/pleather band around the crown. (Yeah, I know, I should look up the right word, but I don't wanna, so there).  I sewed fake pearls every two inches along the band, and it became my "Hippie Hat."  I wore it everywhere.  They even took my picture for the newspaper in it.  (I believe my mother was mortified.  My friend was JEALOUS.)  At some point I wore it out, it fell apart, or became victim of a familial cleaning frenzy.  Either way, it disappeared before I made it to junior high.

TODAY HOWEVER I was looking at the Avon catalog.  Holy CRAPOLA BATMAN.  Page 104.  IT'S MY HAT.  Okay, it's got a ribbon around the band instead of pleather, but IT'S MY FREAKING HAT. 

Needless to say, I bought it.  I suspect my mother will be mortified.

Puny

Took today off because I was exhausted and puny.  Not sick . . . yet.  But deep cough with wheeze and just complete and total exhaustion. 

I got up to feed the animals at 6:00 (they're used to 4:30, so by 6:00 they were in the YOU WILL NOT IGNORE ME mode), took my meds and back to bed.

Had a short conversation with my sis at 9:00 or 10:00, did a couple of quick things and, back to bed. 

Finally GOT UP at Noon.

Yup NOON. 

And for the first time in longer than I can remember I actually wasn't completely weary.  Since then I have done a bit of housework, but mostly I ran up to the nearest city and went to the Walgreens, the bookstore, and bought myself seafood at Long John Silver's.  I fed the critters on the evening shift and am now messing around. 

It is glorious.

I don't take many days off.  I have the full time day job, the full-time writing, a house to tend to, and animals.  But every once in a while I need to remember to rest.

Up Early. Working Hard.

Up early.  Working hard.  It's worth it, but I do get tired.

The dog, however, is tired of waiting.  She wants her walk.  NOW.  Never mind that it's still dark and I'm busy.  NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

I am not that person anymore.

Life changes and we change with it. 

Seems obvious. 

What's less obvious is that, because we're along for the ride, we generally don't notice how much we've changed or how. 

I have been looking back, and forward, and at where I am now, trying to figure out a path to where I want to be and who I want to be.  In doing so, I've actually looked at how much I've changed since I was a teenager.

HOLY CRAP.

Oh, there are a lot of things that are still 'me'.  But huge swaths of my personality from then just don't apply any more.  The situations don't arise.  (Possibly because I've become old enough not to put myself in them.)

It's very strange.  Not bad.  But strange.

If I live long enough, will who I am now be as inapplicable to the future me?

Another Early Morning

Another early morning writing away.  The book is actually progressing nicely, although I will say yet again that I HATE transition scenes.  I have to segue from where I'm at to the two big final scenes, giving relief for a brief second before ratcheting the tension up to the breaking point.

I've done it before.  I can do it again.  But damn it, it's HARD. 

Of course if it wasn't, they wouldn't pay me to do this for a living they would hire a trained monkey.

Gotta go.  Pages to write and agonize over.

Cie

A quickie.

I am about to go feed the cats, rest for an hour, then attack the manuscript.  Before I do I wanted to take a minute to say hi and thank the folks who actually still check in on the blog once in a while.

A few thoughts.

First, I do not like politics.  Talking about them makes me queasy.
That said, I will risk nausea to state that I haven't got a clue what I'm going to do.

I do not like a number of Obama's extreme liberal policies;

I equally dislike the Republican extreme conservative policies -- particularly those relating to women, gays, and the lingering sense I have that they believe that in this land of opportunity (and yes, it still is) we all get equal opportunities (we most assuredly DON'T).  And that if you're poor, it's your own damned fault.

I really feel like "a plague on both of your houses."  But that won't select a President, or congressmen, or teach both sides of the aisle to "PLAY NICE DAMMIT."

Thank you Jim Butcher.

Okay, I am a professional writer.  I have close to 20 books under my belt and innumerable short stories.

But a few days back I "hit the wall."

"Hit the wall" is the phrase I use when the story that seemed to be going so well suddenly and abruptly stops. 

"Oh crap."  I say at first.  "I'm on deadline.  This isn't good."
If it lasts a little longer, I say.  "Oh SHIT.  I'm on DEADLINE.  This is NOT GOOD."
If it lasts a little longer than that I panic, even though it has happened before and I know I will fix it.  Because it could take time and I DON'T HAVE ANY.

So I went to Jim Butcher's website and to his blog (LiveJournal).  And I re-read his writing advice for newbies.  Even though I am not a newbie, I sure needed advice.  And going through his posts I remembered some things I had forgotten, and learned some things I hadn't, and wound up with this wonderful flash of inspiration.

I KNEW WHAT TO DO! 

Holy crapola Batman.  I can DO this.  And I am doing this.  Feverishly.  There is still hope of making the deadline.  (Sleep deprivation may become an issue, but that's another problem for another night). 

SO THANK YOU JIM BUTCHER!!!!

New Purse

Got a new Laurel Burch (sp?) purse.  I'd done a favor for a friend, and this is the repayment.  Tres cool.  Bright colors and pussycats.  :)

Took today off to write.  It is progressing.  Slower than I would like, but still I am taking all the progress I can get. 

Back to it.

Cie

Writing Status

At twelve pages thus far today.  Less than I wanted, but more than I had expected.  I still have several hours left too.  But I need to take a break in a few minutes to clear my head, feed the critters, and get myself excited again.  Inspiration makes writing much faster and easier.  Failing that, there's craft, practice and hard work. 

I've done both.  But I actually have some inspiration today, and I don't want to lose it.

So, off I go.

Be well.  Be happy.

Cie

Status and Stuff

Small decisions consistently made = huge changes.

I did not gain this weight from one snack or meal.   I gained it as the result of small choices.  Eating the chocolate.  Not doing the exercises.  Yes the thyroid condition and the pituitary tumor mean I'm going to have a tendency to be heavy.  But only a tendency.  I knew about those conditions and made the decisions anyway.  And voila. 

And that's just one (the most physically obvious) example.

The bad news.  I've made quite a few bad choices.

The good news.  Changing small things is really kind of easy if you take them one at a time.

SO time to take hold of the little decisions and make the big changes.

Best.

Cie

Goal Setting and Tony Robbins

A lot of people make fun of the Tony Robbins thing.  I'll admit he seems a bit over the top sometimes.  And whoo boy howdy, the thing where folks got burned on the coals recently.  Um, OOPS?  OW!  Oh OW!

But the fact is that whenever I am stuck, and depressed, and feel as if I'm getting nowhere, I pull out my Tony Robbins Personal Power II tapes or CDs and start the program.  It gets me motivated and moving again.  Maybe it doesn't work for everyone.  Maybe it's a little silly.  But it works for me, and since I'm the only one I'm trying to impress or get action out of, I've no reason NOT to.

SO, I've been stuck, and a little depressed.  So out with the CDs.  I am now getting ready to do some serious goal setting, then back to the writing.

Wish me well. 


Cie