Category: Life Happens

Posted on by — 4 Comments

Busy, Distracted, and Stinky

Sorry for the unexpected blog holiday.  I’ve been a bit scattered the last week and life has been busy.  No, Revision Xibalba is not going well.  I wrote a couple of hundred words, realized I had started the scene in the wrong place, and deleted them all.  I wrote several pages of notes at basketball practice, but I’ve been too busy to get them written into a scene, and I’ve been too tired to get up Dark & Early.  Argh!  It drives me nuts when I let life distract me!

Today will be no better, with basketball this morning and a possible road trip the rest of the day.

Now for the stinky…

Last night Uncle J and Aunt BB stopped by for dinner and then we helped them get a large gorgeous piece of artwork home on the other side of town.  We were on the freeway headed home behind a semitruck.  That Man noticed a dead animal in the middle of the road but we couldn’t swerve with cars on the left.  Besides, it was dead, right?  What harm could it cause?

Well, evidently it was a FRESHLY killed SKUNK, so fresh that it managed to spray the van. 

Now no one enjoys the smell of a skunk, except maybe another skunk, but That Man cannot stand “country” smells.  (You should see him driving by Iowa pig farms in the heat of summer with no air conditioning.)  He was gagging and retching, the kids were moaning like they were dying, and I sat there with my mouth shut tightly because if I opened it I could taste the skunk.  Ugh.  It really was strong, but it was funny listening to their reactions.

We started looking for a car wash.  I kid you not, we hit three and all three were closed.  *boggles*  It’s only our luck!

We had to circle all of town smelling like fresh roadkill skunk before we finally found a car wash next to the monsters’ old daycare.  We did the works, the $8 complete package, and then we parked the van outside overnight so it didn’t stink up the garage.  That Man cracked the windows, too, so hopefully the smell will air out.

I swear, I still smell that skunk, even after sleeping all night.  If the van still reeks, we will NOT be making the 3 hour roundtrip car ride to celebrate That Man’s parents’ wedding anniversary after basketball today!

Posted on by — 9 Comments

Firefly to the Rescue

I took a sick day and just bummed and rested.  At last, I watched discs 1-3 of Firefly.  I know, just a few years too late.  I have 1 more disc and then I’m going to watch Serenity the movie, which I’ve been saving until I watch all the episodes.

So far, my favorite is Out of Gas.  But War Stories is a close second.

Oh, I did think about writing, but I’ve got two major problems, one in each story.  Problems I haven’t plotted my way out of yet.  I think I may have to backtrack in NSR a little; I can’t figure out where the best place to start 7Crows is, neither.  So I doodled off and on today, thinking, stewing, and I still don’t know.  I guess I’ll just have to sleep on it. 

With NSR, the problem is:  I have a “dead” shapeshifter who’s recovering, locked in a cell with two women, one of whom has no idea what he is and can do.  The room is wired and heavily monitored by guards.  Now I’ve got to figure out how he “wakes up” without bringing all the guards down on them immediately.  I think I need to get Jaid out of the room first.  Hmm.

7Crows, I plotted out a bunch of stuff tonight, but my gut says it’s all backstory.  There’s no core conflict in it.  But I don’t know enough about what happens later to decide if there’s enough story AFTER a certain point, neither.  So I just keep plodding away through all this stuff I’m pretty sure happens, and trust that eventually I’ll know where I’m supposed to land.  Did come up with an interesting idea today.

Falling is just one flap away from flying.

Sounds like something I should remember in this writing gig, huh?

Posted on by — 9 Comments

Back to the Doctor

And no one had to drag me kicking and screaming this time. 

I knew something had changed with my cough.  When I took the dog out last night right before bed, I coughed while outside and my chest really hurt.  Even my back hurt, like I’d pulled something coughing.  I blamed it on the cold, night air, but then I had a HORRIBLE night of sleeping.  I ended up taking 3 doses of cough syrup, trying to get some sleep.  It was awful.

In my first meeting (via phone) today, my co-workers immediately thought I was getting sick(er) again.  The rasp continued throughout the day but I never fully lost my voice.  I also got a weird bubbly/rattle thing going in my chest sometimes when I coughed, with an icky taste in the back of my throat.

In general, I just felt like I was sliding backward again and I was going to get really, really sick this time.

So after work, I went back to the same clinic (different doctor).  I got right in.  While sitting in the little room, my cough echoed through the whole building.  It was ridiculous.  They all knew why I was back before they even saw me.  This time when she checked my O2 levels, it was down a little.  Worse, my pulse was pretty high (over 100), like my heart was beating extra hard trying to compensate.  And yes, she heard the rattling wheeze in my chest.

They had me do a nebulizer treatment while I was there, which made me feel as high as a kite on an empty stomach (I hadn’t eaten since 10:30 or so).  She also sent me home with three prescriptions for antibiotics, an inhaler, and the foulest, nastiest tasting cough medicine I’ve ever had in my entire life.  My mouth feels numb. But I’m NOT coughing! 

I’m hoping and praying to get the first good night’s sleep in weeks, and maybe I’ll be able to kick this thing at last. 

Official diagnosis:  bronchitis.

Posted on by — 4 Comments

Catching Up

Sorry I’ve not been posting as regularly as usual.  I’m running so low on energy that it’s an effort to do anything, and this has been a very busy weekend.

Yesterday was not only the first day of Upwards Basketball for all three monsters (all playing at different times), but it was also Middle Monster’s 7th birthday.  All three girls had a great time at the games, and as I went with each kid after her game, waited through the “award” ceremony, snacks, etc. then the three hours on the bench went by very quickly.  The two youngest monsters’ games were scoreless — every kid is a winner — but they do keep score on Princess Monster’s games.  Last year, her team lost every single game (8 weeks) and it was so hard to keep upbeat and positive.  It was a terrible — but great — experience for her.  She had to learn to play anyway, even when there’s no hope of winning, and still do her best, as well as losing gracefully.

This year, she had an excellent game from what I saw of it (she played second, so I missed part of it while helping Littlest Monster after her game).  She made several baskets, and thanks to her height (even though she’s one of the youngest on her team), she made several key rebounds and blocks too.  Her team won their game by about ten points, against some really great athletes we’ve met over the years.

Since it was Middle Monster’s birthday, Papa from Mexico made it down, and then went with us to Branson for her birthday dinner at Famous Dave’s.

She asked for a Build-A-Bear for her birthday — gasp, a trip to the dreaded mall! — and she picked out a Scruffy Puppy who’s adorable.  I’ll try to take a picture later.

We planned to go to church this morning.  We’ve missed a couple of Sundays because I’ve been sick.  Unfortunately, I was up most of the night coughing, this time bad enough that I got up and dozed on the couch so everyone else could sleep.  Three doses of Vicks 44 and half a dozen cough drops, I finally got the spasms down and went back to bed around 4 a.m.  Needless to say, we stayed home again.  My cough is even worse today, very chesty and nasty.  The clinic called to see how I’m doing, and she admittted I still sounded bad, but to give it another day or two.

I don’t know how I can possibly work if I’m not sleeping.  I’m exhausted today, despite sleeping in this morning.  I guess I’ll see what kind of night I have again.  I hate calling in to work for a sick day because of a “cold” but this is getting ridiculous.  Even though I won’t infect anyone (I telecommute from home), my brain power is just not there for the level of work I need to be doing right now.

Writing has been beyond me, but reading has been fine.  So I finished the paper-pass on The Road to Shanhasson and got that back to my editor today.  I’m reading a critique for a friend today while watching football.

And trying not to cough up a lung.

Posted on by — 6 Comments

Doctor Visit

After so many of you advised me to go to the doctor — and That Man kept nagging me — I went this afternoon.  It was an utter waste of time, though.  You got it — it’s viral.  My lungs are clear, my sinuses and ears are unaffected.  She told me to quit taking Mucinex since the congestion had gone out of my sinuses, and that if I had difficulty sleeping at night thanks to feeling wonky after decongestant, to take Benedryl instead.

So basically a $20 copay to be told to take Benedryl. 

On the bright side, my blood pressure was good, and it was nice to get confirmation that it’s not pneumonia or bronchitis.  However, I am starting to run a low-grade fever now and I feel “sick” where before I just had a cough and no voice.  This is some “cold” let me tell you.

I’m sure I’ll feel even better after sitting through three hours of basketball games tomorrow.  :wink:

Posted on by — 8 Comments

Intermission

I almost titled this “sick day” but since I’m still working the Evil Day Job, I thought that’d be misleading.  If you’ve been reading my (mostly sparse) Twitters (because I forget to post), you know I’ve had a relapse of the cough.  It went very barky Monday, and by Tuesday I’d lost my voice.  I mean, it’s SHOT.  It’s still gone today.  My cough is almost squeaky because my throat is so sore, and I’m coughing so hard my back is sore too.  That Man keeps after me to go to the doctor and I’m like why?  It’s a cough and a sore throat.  I have no fever.  I know it’s not pneumonia.  It might be bronchitis, but I don’t have the diminished lung capacity like the last time I had it.  My chest doesn’t hurt or feel heavy or bubbly.  It’s a cough.  Even if I do start to run a fever, it’s most likely viral and they won’t be able to give me anything anyway.

So it’s lots of hot tea and orange juice and a steady stream of decongestant, Musinex, Vicks 44, and Sucrets.

I don’t feel that bad, except I don’t have much of an appetite.  Even coffee hasn’t been that appealing (which is fine, because I’ve got less than half a bag of Caribou yet and I don’t know when my order will get here.  Caribou has been very slow to ship lately.)  I haven’t been sleeping good either, but last night wasn’t the cough.  I was rather loopy — possibly thanks to the medicine — and dreamed endlessly about the short story I’m writing.

Oh, did I forget to mention that?  A friend sent me a call for an anthology, and darned if I didn’t immediately get an idea for it.  It’s not my usual fare, but closer to Letters than my other work.  It’s dangerous and definitely out of my comfort zone, so I’m going for it.  I only need 2-4K, which is harder than a whole novel, I think.

Anyway (yes, I’m still taking the medicine, can’t you tell?), I dreamed the ending for the short story.  Over and over.  It was like a “choose your next scene” book and after the first iteration, it didn’t even make sense anymore.  I kept waking up and thinking Ooooh!  Oh, never mind, that was stupid.  Then I’d go back to sleep and dream another ending.  Crazy.

So no dark & early this morning.  No Revision Xibalba.  I did get up a little bit before work and managed to start the final scene of the short thanks to those stupid dreams, and it’s close to being wrapped up.  The title I’m thinking about is so bad I don’t feel comfortable sharing it here.  Ha.  Like I said, totally not my normal fare.  I keep alternating between “Cool!” to “This is dumb” to “I can’t believe I wrote that!”  *blush* 

Needless to say, I have absolutely no expectation that this story will be accepted, and NO, I won’t be giving it away for free (here) if I don’t sell it.  Although if you really want to embarrass me, you could drop me a line and see if you can convince me to see it.

Posted on by — 5 Comments

Prepping

While the New Year has come and gone, it still feels like a vacation/holiday to me until the monsters go back to school.  Tomorrow.  Thank the Lord!  Today is Princess Monster’s 10th birthday, so I took this day off, probably my last vacation day for quite a while.  Basketball starts up this week, and with all three playing, our weekends are shot for the next 8 weeks.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading (4 books since I finished Return) and watching movies (Hellboy, Princess Mononoke, Seven Samurai).  I’ve also been clearing the slate, so to speak.  Getting Gregar, Mykal, and Dharman out of my head has proven more difficult than I expected, but slowly I’ve been switching gears to the Mayan fantasy. 

Unfortunately, I’ve misplaced my orange folder that has some of my notes in it (e.g. the monsters probably cut it up to make artwork).  I have my index cards and spreadsheets, but now my mind is mourning that folder (even though I can’t remember what’s in there).  I’ve read the nearly 120 pages I’ve polished, but I’m mentally stuck.  I can’t remember how this scene was going to end (note to self:  never leave a work in the middle of a scene without notes.  But what if I made notes and now just can’t find them??)  So I might have to skip ahead or something.

I plan on using this week to slowly work myself back to a Dark & Early schedule, stretching those writer muscles and freeing up those brain cells, building momentum day by day until I’m back to full speed.

I really want to finish Revision Xibalba this month, but after seeing how many scenes I still have to go (some of which haven’t been drafted yet), I may need another month.  We’ll see.  I have the query written and the list of agents I want to target.  I have a bad synopsis that I’ll need to throw out and rewrite, but the proposal package is just about ready.  I don’t have high hopes with the market in turmoil.  Plus, this idea isn’t as fresh as it was when I first came up with it.  I’ve minimized some of the “common” elements and highlighted what I think makes this story unique.  We’ll see if I get any nibbles.

I’m also going to use this slower time to get back into a regular exercise routine.  Nothing too strenuous to start, but after killing myself through NaNoWriMo, my back and knees need to get back to work!  The bright side of two hours of basketball practice every week (two of the monsters have practice at the same time) is more time to walk on the track.  It gets really boring since the track is so small, but it’s better than sitting on that uncomfortable bench.

How’s your new year going?

Posted on by — 2 Comments

2008 Winds Down

The last Christmas presents have been opened.  We celebrated our last family dinner yesterday with Granny, my Beloved Sis, and my brother’s family.  The last Chiefs’ football game is on today.

2008 is almost over.

So this next week, I’ll be writing up formal goals for 2009.  I’ll look back to last year and see how I did on 2008’s goals.

Meanwhile, I’m reading.  Not from my reward stack, although this has been a very great reward.  I started with The Rose of Shanhasson, then The Road to Shanhasson, and finally, I’m reading the first draft of Return to Shanhasson that I just finished.  Oooooh, it’s so awesome to see the story all laid out and complete.  So much love.  So much blood.  So much Shadow.  The last book still needs work to bring it up where it needs to be, but the theme is definitely carried through to the end. 

Love, the greatest gift of all, and the greatest sacrifice.

2009 goals will be forthcoming.

Posted on by — 5 Comments

Merry Christmas!

A near Santa catastrophe was averted.  The stockings are hung.  Mom has keeled over on the couch with a glass of wine after a day of baking and Christmas Eve celebrations.  I made bon bons and truffles, along with Settlers’ Beans and Suzanne’s Ultimate Breakfast Casserole for tomorrow.  I really wanted to make peanut brittle, but there was nary a bag of raw peanuts to be found!

Whatever your family traditions, I hope you’re having a lovely holiday!  The monsters blow hugs and kisses to you all.  (Watch out for their chocolate faces.  They loooove bon bons.)

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Sundries

Re: book chat with Cindy — I noticed she hasn’t posted her portion yet.  When she does, I’ll provide the link.

The writing is slow going.  Couple of hundred words here and there.  Why, yes, I am in another nagging scene.  How did you know?  (Because they always slow me down.  I might have to skip this one and get my momentum going again.)

We drove down to Joplin today to visit My Beloved Sis and take her some frozen meat our dad, Papa from Mexico, had brought her on Thanksgiving, which she forgot.  Papa was supposed to come babysit the monsters while we celebrated our wedding anniversary early by eating at my favorite restaurant, Mythos, but Papa has pneumonia!  Not so bad that he needed to be hospitalized, but we definitely didn’t want him driving down here and exhausting himself trying to keep Middle Monster from setting something on fire.

So we changed things around a little and decided to drive down later and see the light display in Carthage.  Aunt BB and Uncle J happened to call while we were on the way, and they decided to follow us.  We visited with Molly awhile and then we all met up at Grand Fortuna, a delicious Chinese buffet.  We also drove around town, showed the monsters our first apartment That Man and I had together, as well as the Missouri Southern campus where I graduated.

A trip to Joplin would not be complete without a stop by Books A Million (we don’t have one here).  Remind me never to take the monsters in there again.  Every book they wanted was ridiculously pricy.  As much as it pained me, I had to deny them a book there, and promised their choice at a more reasonably priced store.  I was able to find book 2 and 3 of Brent Weeks’ fantasy assassin series.  I made the mistake of beginning book 1 the other day and it’s really good.  (I’m not supposed to read anything until I finish Return.)

Once Return is done, stand back, I’ll fall on that entire series like a starving pack of wolves.