Come One, Come All (Or Maybe Not)

If you are in the Dayton area and want to see me make a complete fool of myself, come to Books & Company in the Town & Country Shopping Center (Kettering, I believe) at 7:00pm on Wednesday, December 1st. My writers group, Western Ohio Writers Association (WOWA) is holding a Beatnik Café and several of us writers are actually going to stand up in front of whatever crowd appears and read our short stories & poems.

I will be reading my short story “Glorified Brownies.” I hate reading in front of crowds (I hate doing ANYTHING in front of crowds – you should have seen me at a baseball game when I got picked to sing “Wild Thing” – something I still haven’t forgiven my husband for), so I’m sure I won’t be loud and I’ll probably talk fast!

Actually, there will be a short reception in Joe Muggs (inside the store) at 6:00pm, and you’re welcome to join us there. The actually reading will take place from 7:00 to 8:30pm.

If you come because of this blog, please let me know!

We're Going to Canton!

We sat outside and froze our butts off (temperature dipped below 30), but it was worth it watching our  Wayne Warriors beat Hilliard-Davidson to go on to the State Championship Game! That means we'll be driving to Canton next Saturday.

We are stoked!

Movie Day

Since the late 80's, while we were stationed at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, the day after Thanksgiving became Movie Day for our family. I hate shopping and I especially hate doing it with crowds. In fact, most of my shopping this year has been done on line (so must less stress that way).

But I digress.

I almost thought our tradition was over. I mean, the kids are older now. They both live on their own. When our daughter said she had to work, we moved the time of the movie to later. That meant our son might not be able to attend. As it turned out, he was able to attend, but it got me to thinking. Will this be the last Movie Day for our family?

I sure hope not. I'd like to think if they were involved with someone, they would invite them along. Family traditions include all family (even friends have been known to join us). I hope as long as they live in the area, Movie Day will continue on.

Oh, and the movie we saw this year? Love and Other Drugs. Yes, our tastes have morphed into the R rated movies. We've come a long way from Ghost Dad!

One Year!

A year ago today, on Thanksgiving evening, I decided to finally take the plunge and start my own blog.

I can’t believe I actually stuck with it!

Sure, I don’t blog every day. I didn’t plan on it. I basically set it up to help me track the blogs I do follow. Then I found other interesting uses for it, so it’s kind of grown from there. Having followers is a big BONUS (and I get excited every time I see the number go up) – so THANK YOU for following!

I’ve experienced a lot as a writer in the past year. Querying. Rejects. Requests! It’s been a roller coaster ride and I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you. And if I learned anything in the past year, it was that writing a short interesting blog is not easy. Heck, for all I know, I haven’t done one yet!

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading. I hope I’m able to entertain you in the next year.

Disconnected

My husband had a good laugh this weekend – and at my expense, too.

On Saturday our internet connection was iffy. Sometimes you could get connected and if you were stupid enough to log out, might not be able to get back in two seconds later. It was frustrating.

On Sunday morning I couldn’t get to the internet at all. So of course I ranted to my husband about it. That’s when he laughed.

Sure, he was laughing at the person who used to not care about the internet. Who was lucky to respond to your e-mail within a month of it being sent. When I didn’t own a laptop, I rarely used the computer.

Somewhere between writing and querying and reading blogs, I became obsessed with the internet. Or to be more accurate – my e-mail. I probably can blame that on querying – since it’s responses I’m looking for anyway. And not having access to my e-mail kind of makes me crazy. Crazy enough for my husband to laugh.

Oh well, it’s not like he doesn’t make me laugh on a daily basis. I guess it’s only fair he gets his turn. Still, if the internet isn’t fixed soon, he’ll start hearing me growl!

Region 4 Champs!

Hot Dog! They did it. Wayne High School Warriors are the Region 4 Champions! And like all their other games, it was a nail biter.

Next week they meet the defending champions in the semi-finals. Should be fun!

Keeping My Fingers Crossed

Tonight our Wayne Warriors (high school football team) play in the Regional Final. I was hoping the day would be a little warmer than it is, but that's November weather for you. We'll still be at the game, rooting for them, hoping to make it to the next level. At least it's not raining - we do have that going for us!

And in case you were wondering - we do not have any children in high school. The youngest graduated in 2003. But with both kids in the band, we went to all the games and got hooked.

This team reminds me of the 1999/2000 team. Winning when we thought they were done. Making each game exciting (or is that nerve wracking?). That team made it to the State Champion game. We can only hope this one does the same. I don't think I would mind driving to Canton on Dec 4th.

I'll keep you posted.

Computers – An Evil Necessity?

It seems like everything wants to go digital. Books. Banks. Businesses. But how trustworthy is the digital age?

What got me thinking was hearing how some businesses will charge now for sending a paper bill. What if I don’t have a computer? What if I don’t want to give out my e-mail? What if my e-mail (or computer) EATS the bill? (Our main computer went down and I lost all my saved e-mails, yes, that’s me you hear snarling.) It doesn’t seem fair that I would have to pay extra for a paper bill.

I don’t trust paying electronically, either. I only have one company take money out of my checking account – my local paper (and I only did it because it was CHEAPER). Now I can’t even trust them. When my newspaper wasn’t delivered, I called to complain and was told I hadn’t paid my bill. What?

The thing is, payment is made almost a month in advance. So why didn’t anyone call me to find out why it wasn’t paid or why the bank rejected it? I have been a customer of theirs for almost 20 years. Don’t you think they would have noticed something was WRONG? A week after I finally got the whole thing fixed, I THEN get a call asking me to re-subscribe. If I didn’t want the paper (I love my comics, what can I say), I would have told them what they could do with their subscription!

As if things couldn’t get worse, I get a letter in the mail explaining that they had an accounting glitch causing my October payment to be returned (Ha! No kidding!). So on November 5 they were going to post two payments, one for Oct and one for Nov. I received this letter on November 6. Talk about a warning!

I called them and sure enough two payments posted and now I’m paid up until January. I just better not see any payments show up in December (or they will hear from me again).

So how do you feel about the digital age? Do any of you pay your bills on line? Do you have payments taken out automatically? Do you think it’s fair that companies may start charging a fee for a paper bill? Or am I the only one fighting the digital age?

Computers – You can’t live with them and eventually won’t be able to survive without them. I’m not looking forward to that day.

A Good Weekend!

So far this weekend has been EXCELLENT.

The football team of our local high school, the one my children attended several years ago, has reached the Regional Finals last night in a thriller of a game. In double overtime against their rivals, no less. This season is feeling reminiscent of 1999 (my son's senior year, daughter's freshman year - they played in the band), when they reached the State Finals. They lost, but it was the first time they ever made it that far - and at a #8 seed (the lowest seed). They squeaked in at #8 this year, too. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

And while that was all good (and exciting), I got BETTER news when I came home and checked my e-mails. On Tuesday I pitched THE UNCOMMON ONE to a publisher via my RWA Chapter Blog and had been waiting for the results all week. Well, it was posted on Saturday - my book was one of the few selected to send off the full. So now it's off to another publisher (that makes TWO that I'm waiting to hear back from) and I don't need to tell you that I just can't relax now. I hate getting my hopes up, but it's hard not to.

Now, if I can only win the lottery so I can quit my day job!

NaNoWriMo

Anyone out there doing NaNo this year? How’s it going for you?

(That would be National Novel Writing Month for those non-writers out there – where you write a book in one month.)

This is the second year I’ve heard of it. Last year I was deep into editing my first book and didn’t even want to think about writing 50,000+ words in one month (or in my case closer to 100,000 since that’s how long my books tend to be). This year I’m editing my second book and in the middle of writing my third, so I don’t want to put them aside to do NaNo.

But I wonder – whose great idea was it to have NaNo in November? That’s got to be the WORST month ever! January would have made so much more sense. Is anyone else in agreement with me on this?

It’s nice that it’s out there for those writers who need the encouragement or the competition. I feel fortunate that I do not need either. Maybe it’s because I’m still new to it all. Maybe someday I’ll need the help. But right now I’ll stick with what’s working.

Ahh, Fall

Yesterday I mowed the lawn, probably for the last time until Spring. No, not probably, for certain. And while I mowed, I felt a bit sad as I shivered (the high yesterday was 42). Summer is really over. Dag blast it!

Today, I took care of the rest of the yard work. I hate edging, but it was needed. Shovelling snow (Argh!) is easier when the edge of the grass is even. Man, I hate even having to think of snow.

The only good thing about this weekend's yard work was that I wasn't pestered with bugs. The first freeze pretty much did away with everything - no mosquitoes, no bees, no wasps. Saw a stray fly, but that was about it. It's the ONLY thing I like about the cold months.

It's times like this that I wish we could have afforded to live in Calfornia when my husband retired from the Army. I miss the temperate weather. I miss Santa Barbara. But at the time, our family came first, and that meant living somewhere we could afford. And while we had family in the Dayton area at the time, and we were close to a military facility, it was the best choice for us. It was the affordable choice.

Maybe someday we'll move back to California. Who knows, maybe we'll win the lottery! It's something I hope for everyday, just so I can quit my job and write full time. Until then, I need to prepare for the winter. There was a time when I liked the snow. Can't remember when that was, though!

Check This Out!

Mia Marlowe has critqued the first 500 words of THE UNCOMMON ONE. Come see what she has to say - and leave comments if you wish!

http://miamarlowe.blogspot.com/2010/11/red-pencil-thursday-with-stacy.html