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Ennui

Sorry, I know I haven’t been posting very often.  I’m busy with Coyote Con and a five-year project at the Evil Day Job is coming to a close (please, dear God, let us finish this month).  But that’s not really an excuse for my lack of production lately.

I open my file every day.  I just don’t actually find myself doing anything.

Oh, I tinker around in Scrivener.  I load my class file each day and play around in my project.  I’m learning a lot.  But I still can’t get any headway on Lord Regret.  It’s not him.  It’s me.

I’ve been struggling to stay on track with Weight Watchers too.  Not tracking faithfully.  Not exercising.  I’m still up and down the same 2 lbs since April.  Which is actually GOOD considering I haven’t been trying very hard.

Grrr.  I’m annoyed with myself.

I just have to keep trying.  I start out each day tracking, even if I don’t finish.  I did get back to Power 90 this week…once.  That’s a start.  I planned to work out today over lunch but I didn’t feel the greatest.  Hopefully I won’t get the fall cold going around and I can kick myself in the tail.

As for Lord Regret, I’m giving up on him for awhile.  I’m going to talk to Gil instead.  He didn’t have a voice in Lady Doctor Wyre and I have a feeling he might have a lot to say.

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Crocheting Fool

I need to get my act together and start working on some Christmas gifts.  This year, I think I’m going to crochet a few things.

Just a few.  Ok, ok, who am I kidding.

You see, the problem is that if I make something for myself… I have to make 3 more just like it for the monsters.  So I made myself a pair of fingerless gloves… and 3 more pairs over the weekend.  I also completed a scarf and started another.  You know, for GIFTS!

Then I started working on a matching headband (without the big flower – I’ve never made one of those before), but I had to rip it out.  I messed up really bad.  I restarted it last night, and so far I’m okay.  I don’t *think* I’ve messed it up yet.  The first time I make something from a new-to-me pattern is always risky.  I’m a terrible pattern reader.  I usually end up taking it to my mom and have her decipher the directions for me, but I want to make something for her this year, so I can’t have her help me!

Here’s a terrible picture of my gloves, made with LionBrand yarn.  It’s a little itchy (a wool blend) but so incredibly warm!

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The Hair-Smelling Zombies

I had a WHOPPER of a dream last night.

It wasn’t exactly a nightmare, but I woke up with an elevated heartrate and had a hard time getting back to sleep.  You know how sometimes you have a really GOOD dream and you want to slip back into that dream world but it’s too late?  You’re too awake?  Well it was the opposite of that last night.  I woke up, heart pounding, but started to slip right back into the dream.  So I got up, hit the bathroom, got a drink, crawled back into bed…

And had to fight the hair-smelling zombies again.

Let me ‘splain.

I was in a group of people that I did not know, standing in line.  Some guy was talking but I don’t remember what he looked like, only that he was in control and he was changing the people (US) in the room.  We were becoming zombies.  He lectured about how this was good and right and scientifically miraculous, blah blah blah but what it really came down to….

He didn’t like the way human hair smelled.

Yeah, what a freak!  Anyway, he’s giving all of us medicine that eliminates body hair, everywhere, and the side effect unfortunately is that we turn into zombies.

Evidently I’m okay with this.  (?)  I’m his favorite.  Even as the other people begin to react violently — more like zombies! — I’m completely normal and calm.  Until the zombies start smelling me.

Because I still have my hair.

I can’t figure out why the medicine isn’t affecting me, and all I can think about is what HE will do when he realizes that his favorite hasn’t lost her foul-smelling human hair.  I’m really getting anxious about this.  He’s willing to turn people into zombies just to get rid of their hair.  So what’s he going to do if his science fails on me?

At the same time, the other zombies keep smelling my hair and getting increasingly aggressive.  One in particular keeps bumping me and getting in my face.  Oddly, he’s shorter than me (NO ONE IS SHORTER THAN ME, especially grown men, but whatever) and very stocky, like a wrestler.  In the dream, I wondered if he was a friend of That Man’s family that I met one time about a hundred years ago.  It was hard to tell because he had no hair, no eyebrows, etc. and he was so stinking short!  I couldn’t get over it.

Anyway, he keeps bumping me, growling at me about my hair, and I’m so nervous.  I’m afraid he’s making too much noise and HE will notice that I still have all my hair.  I’m trying to stay quiet, but the bald short zombie starts poking me.  He’s hitting me in the back, that bump at the base of my neck where it meets my shoulders.  What is that thing called?  (In the dream, it was a mandela, I have no idea if that’s really what it’s called or not.)  It hurts, but there’s no blood or guts or anything, and I’m trying to stay quiet.

I still have my hair.

Whew, I know that doesn’t sound scary at all, but it was really disturbing.  And then the dream kept trying to suck me back.  That really worried me.  I so did not want to go back and find out what hair-smelling zombies would do to me.

Oh, did I mention that I got my hair colored today?  :mrgreen:  I joked with Apryll that I was having an axiety attack about what she’d do to my hair and came up with hair-smelling zombies the night before.  But what really made me burst out laughing was when I sat down in the chair (before she knew about the dream)…

And she smelled my hair.

*dies*  I always wear Moroccan Oil which smells divine.  Maybe that’s what the zombies were after!

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Save An Ent Winner

Thank you for all your lovely comments this past month to help me celebrate Tecun’s release!  I gathered all the comments from all the guest posts this past month, put them in a spreadsheet, and then used random.org to pick comment #136.

Betty Hamilton for her comment at Books N Kisses.

Betty, drop me a note at joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com and we’ll work out which eReader you’d like.  If I don’t hear from you in 3 days, I’ll pick a new winner.

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Freshly Ground Wheat Success

I’ve been interested in grinding my own whole wheat fresh (especially for bread) for months now.  I wasn’t willing to invest in a NutriMill that *only* grinds wheat — because I just wasn’t sure how likely I’d actually stick with it.  I mean, I adore adore adore homemade bread.  Dangerously adore.

I could eat the whole loaf right out of the pan. No joke.

But after reading about all the nutrients in freshly ground wheat I was determined to try.  That’s one of the reasons I settled on investing in a VitaMix.  With the dry blade, I’m supposed to be able to grind any grain.

Yet after several disappointing attempts (tortillas that were more like frisbees, a brick loaf) I’d kind of given up.  It didn’t taste all that great.  I wasn’t able to get the flour fine enough.  I was sick of wasting all those ingredients!

My SIL gave me a recipe months ago that she swore would make the best whole wheat bread.  She’d taken a class through her church (which I plan to take too, next class!!) and learned all the tricks to getting whole wheat to rise.

Then of course I lost the recipe.

I finally found it last week and set out to try again.  I dragged out the dry blade container and my wheat berries.  This time, I refused to be afraid of burning the VitaMix up.  I’ve watched youtube videos of people grinding for minutes on high without any issue.  So I ground my wheat up really good, going longer than I ever had before.  (Deep down, I think I was afraid of making flour paste or something.)  One small batch was maybe a little too coarse but the rest was fine.

And the bread.  *dies*  It’s soooo good.  Lots of honey make it sweet.  The grains are incredible.  I used coconut oil too, along with an egg to help make it smooth.  It’s not only the best whole wheat bread I’ve ever made…it’s the best BREAD.  Period.  And so healthy!  (Sorry, I don’t have permission to share the recipe online or I would!)

Of course I overate the first loaf (Middle loved it so much she also ate 3 pieces the first day), but I’ve still got half of the second loaf in the fridge.

With that victory, I ground more flour over the weekend and used up all the ripe bananas to make a batch of banana bread and 2 dozen banana chocolate chip muffins for the kids’ lunches.  There’s only 2 left… so I think they went over okay.

Of course it’s a little tricky to count all these whole grains on WW.  I can do the math, sure, but it’s crazy to see the number of points.  Honey is more points than artificial sweetener.  I didn’t want to cut the coconut oil out — but it is pointy.  However I know it’s healthy all the way.  Could I find “cheaper” (less points) diet bread at the store?  Sure.  But I’m not eating that crap with all the preservatives and fillers when I can have freshly ground wheat at my fingertips.

I just have to figure out how to only eat one small piece…

Do you have a favorite whole wheat recipe that I can add to my list?

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Conquering Scrivener

One of the contributing factors to my lack of progress with Lord Regret *might* be Scrivener.  I’ve yet to finish a project that I started there.

I love many aspects of it but I still get overwhelmed, or perhaps distracted is a better word.  There are so many cool things that may or may not help me plot and organize.  Instead of working, I end up exploring or fiddling or researching.

However, I really do believe that eventually it’ll be a lifesaver.  I love the corkboard and I think it will be huge in helping me plot future books.  I’ve just got to get over the initial shock-and-awe phase so I can actually, you know, WRITE.

To that end, I bought Scrivener for Dummies and I’ve been working through it this week.  Gwen Hernandez’s classes were recommended to me on Twitter, and so far, the book has been extremely helpful.  My only frustration is the difference between Mac and Windows commands.  I often find myself hunting through various menus to find what I need because the Windows alternative isn’t always included.  A few things are still missing from the Windows version, too, which makes me wonder if I’m wasting my time looking for something that’s not even there.

There’s a ton of functionality I don’t think I’ll ever use, even if it’s cool.  But it’s nice to know it’s there and have the book to fall back on if I decide I do need to learn more about it someday.

The biggest takeaway so far has been custom labels so I can keep track of POV.  I really love that feature.  Color coding for the win!

As August winds down, I’ll be learning everything I can and making sure my projects for Lord Regret’s Price are ready.  Yes I have two.  Sigh.  One is a plotting template I made that has just a few notes in it.  The other is more general with research and notes.  NEITHER has much in the Manuscript folder.  But it will, one way or the other, very soon!

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Checking The List

I’ve been using a new project management tool (introduced at the Evil Day Job) called AgileZen that has really helped me keep track of what’s in my queue, what my dates are, and the associated tasks for each book.  You can set up a free account with up to one board (that’s what I’m doing so far).

I have projects color-coded by publisher (including a color for my self-pub works), so at a glance I can see what needs to be done first and what % completed each book is.

In the past two weeks, I’ve crossed off Her Grace’s Stable (submitted) and several of The Zombie Billionaire’s Virgin Witch tasks leading up to cover and formatting.  I love crossing things off my monstrous to-do list!

Now the only thing I have to work on until October are:  Lord Regret’s (obstinate butthead) Price and Coyote Con!

No mercy, no surrender, Sig.  I’m going to tie you to a chair and have my wicked way with you until this draft is done.

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The Brighter Side of Rejection

Okay, I’m not going to try and fool you or myself.  Rejection sucks.  It’ll always suck.  Sometimes it really feels like a kick to the gut.  You work really hard to have a good work ethic.  You make extensive revisions per your editor’s requests without whining or complaining.  You try and learn from previous edits so you’re not making the same mistakes.  You’d kill yourself trying to make whatever changes necessary in order to get the work accepted if given half a chance.

So it can be hard not to take a rejection personally.

But sometimes, a work just isn’t right for wherever you sent it.  It’s depressing.  It can take the wind out of your sails… if you let it.

Here’s the thing:  rejection is part of the game.  If you’re a working writer and continue submitting stories for consideration, you’re going to get rejected, even after you’ve been accepted.  It might even be an editor that loved your other work before.  It happens.  So you’ve got to come up with a battle plan that works for you when rejection kicks you in the head.

There’s a bright side, though.  Sometimes a rejection gives you a chance to take a second look at a project.  It can give you a chance to dig deeper, change up key ideas, or just get creative in a new way.

The thing about very specific submission calls (for me) is that the idea germinates from those initial requirements.  Depending on the publisher/editor, you might enforce various boundaries to try and meet the needs for that particular project.  Maybe you cut certain elements that you prefer or suppress plot points because you know (or think you know) that editor’s tastes.  Worse, you might even crimp your brand a little to try and “slide” beneath or into the requirements.

*raises hand*  Guilty as charged.

Honestly, this is exactly why I try NOT to write to a specific submission call any longer.  I try so hard to write what I think the editor wants, that I sometimes end up holding the story magic back from what I’d naturally or normally do.  I’ve never had a work accepted from a specific submission call (like an anthology), probably for this very reason.  I just can’t figure out how to mold a “Joely” idea into a specific anthology call and make it work.

So yeah, I have a project that was rejected.  It bummed me out pretty bad.  It sat on my harddrive for a couple of months while I worked on other stuff.  I kicked Lady Blackmyre out for consideration this weekend, so I decided to take a quick look at that other project and see what I wanted to do with it.  Did I still love the idea?  If I read it, would I get any sparks for revision ideas?  Did I want to submit it somewhere else?

The good news is I still love the project.  Really really love it.

The better news is that I quickly realized where I muzzled myself.  Where I stupidly “toned down” my own brand.  I’ve already started revising that scene (it’s only one — the rest is happily very solid) and should have a much better and more truthful scene in place within a few days.

And then I’m going to self publish this work.  I’ll also be donating at least some of the profits to Joplin Recovery, where the book is set.  It’ll be all my own idea.  My own “brand.”  My own crazy spin.

Watch for The Zombie Billionaire’s Virgin Witch in October.  The perfect month for a zombie mash up!