Friday, September 10, 2010

Friday's at the Piedmont Grille

On the menu today -- Crow with a side order of I told you so.

Well, good morning. Sorry I'm late with this post but Monster Baby is home sick from school today. I knew it wouldn't be long but I was hoping it would be longer than 5 days. Poor kid. I just don't know what to do anymore. We've been to specialists and doctors and we even switched milk, but still, we don't know what her problem is. No one has any answers, least of all me. Rest assured, she'll be fine but I feel bad. Her life has not turned out the way I wanted it to be.

Thanks for stopping by to read my excerpt. I'm sorry I scared so many of you. It wasn't my intention. I know heart attacks are frightening, I just didn't realize so many of you connected on so many different levels.

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, (which I probably have a 1000 times) I clean to get over my slump, snag, writer's block. Last weekend, I went crazy. I moved furniture, washed walls, vacuumed, repotted all my plants, washed curtains and bed spreads...the list goes on. What did it do for me? Gave me a wicked clean house. I also moved past my slump but not enough to really fulfill my fondest wish, which was to finish the damn novel.

I had a scene I wanted to keep but it wasn't working. I didn't want to take it out because it was brilliant (if I do say so myself). I realized my mistake on Wednesday that I can put it right at the very end of the book and that will raise the stakes on the tension I've created between Pete and Genna. Oh the angst!

So, I wrote something else, something that will, hopefully, keep the reader reading until the very end and accomplished something - 3500 more words. Yay me. I'm praying, hoping, wanting to finish this by the end of next week, but we'll see. I think I can do it, if nothing else rocks my crazy world.

Congratulations to VR Barkowski who snagged an agent. And belated Congrats to Roni at Fiction Groupie for snagging her agent. Someday my friends that goal will become realized for all of us. (I have nothing, if not faith.)

Next week will be the last posting of excerpts from my book. I may or may not also share my query with you. I've also tried to come up with another title as I'm not that thrilled with REMEMBERING YOU anymore. It seems kind of schmaltzy to me.

Anyway, have a great weekend. Try and get some writing done.

PS - Is Blogger being a really really bad boy or what? I've tried 3 times to post this.

29 comments:

Linda G. said...

Can you come to my house next time you have writer's block? ;)

Hope Monster Baby feels better soon! It's so hard on moms when their kiddos don't feel well. :(

Anne Gallagher said...

Linda -- I wish you lived within 5 minutes of me because I'd have been there for the last two weeks. And thanks, MB will be better by tomorrow I hope. Truthfully I think it's the crazy schedule she's had to keep.

Talli Roland said...

Blogger's been acting up for me, too - especially with following people and commenting!

Sorry to hear about your writing struggles last week. :( But I'm glad your house is clean!


I hope Monster Baby feels better soon!

JE said...

Heart attack? Sick kid? What have I missed while I was gone? I hope all goes well!

~JD

Anne Gallagher said...

Talli -- OMG posting and commenting has been a nightmare lately so I guess it's not just me.

Justine -- All is well. One of my characters had a heart attack that's all.

Julie Dao said...

I love your positive attitude and I think you are right! Someday we will all be a part of that agented group of people :) Keep writing!

Sarah Ahiers said...

oooh i had a roomate once who cleaned when she was procrastianting. It was awesome. I sometimes clean, but not as much as i'd like (mostly i just play video games or read when i'm procrastinating)

Natascha said...

I clean to procrastinate. I know I should sit down and write for the day, but I can't focus when there's a sink of smelly, dirty dishes waiting to be washed. I'm so excited for you to be so close to the end! I hope this is the novel that will give you the opportunity to share your work with the world!

Kelsey (Dominique) Ridge said...

I hope MB feels better soon.

Cleaning while blocked sounds like a brilliant idea, or at least very useful. I wish I could develop that trait. Congrats on the breakthrough. :)

Roni Loren said...

Sorry to hear you have a sick kiddo. I know how tough that is (and frustrating when no one can tell you what's wrong). We've been dealing with that too. Mine just had ear tubes and adenoid removal surgery yesterday, so we're hoping the illnesses decrease now.

Also, thanks for the well wishes and congrats to VR!

Anne Gallagher said...

Julie -- Hey great to see you! And yes, I firmly believe all our dreams will come true.

Sarah -- I never try to think of myself as procrastinating but I know deep down in my heart of hearts that is exactly what it is. Writer's block sounds so much more, you know.

Vegas -- My biggest problem is I'm not a cleaner. I'll do anything to get out of it. But when I can't write anymore I have no choice. I hope this is the novel too!

Anne Gallagher said...

Dominique -- Cleaning only works when all other ideas have failed - watching movies, reading, playing with the dogs. OR, the house looks like a bomb hit and I can't stand it anymore.

Roni -- I think the surgery will be her last resort but it's so hard to figure it out. Even our Ear, Nose and Throat guy can't seem to pinpoint it and he really doesn't want to do surgery.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Would mowing my lawn inspire you? Does nothing for me.
Sorry Monster Baby is sick.
Blogger was fussy with me yesterday, but so far fo good today.

Roxy said...

I clean when I'm stressed, too. It's great therapy. I didn't know about VR and Roni. Awesome for them. Good luck with that title. I am challenged by titles every time. Have a great weekend, Anne. I hope your little one feels better soon.

February Grace said...

Wow- I wish cleaning helped me over writer's block! It's more writing gets in the way of my cleaning for me...

So sorry to hear the lil one is sick, there's nothing worse than having a sick kid. I'd always rather be sick myself. Though as it usually goes, my daughter brings something home from her little brother (at her Dad's house) then shares with us all so we all get it anyway. Ugh. School has begun hasn't it???

Hope she feels better soon and congratulations on all that writing. I am desperate to get back into the swing myself- aside from the time when I couldn't see (and maybe even then) this is the longest I've gone without feeling I've been up to writing and I hate it- have to get back.

big hugs
bru

Anonymous said...

Blogger IS a bad boy. It needs a time-out.

Congratulations on 3500 words! I found, as I got closer to the end of my first novel, I started second-guessing everything that came before. I have no idea why that happened but I have a feeling it will be one of the quirks in my writing life.

Get well soon to Monster Baby.

<3

Anne Gallagher said...

Alex -- Last I heard you were going to pave your lawn. MB will be fine, thanks though.

Roxy -- It's so nice to see you out and about again. Missed you muchly. Yeah, cleaning. It helps but only to a point.

Bru -- You'll get back to writing when the time is right. Don't worry, it'll happen.

E.Elle -- Bad Bad Blogger! And it's funny, I had everything down on cards, it wasn't supposed to be hard to write at all. I even wrote the ending before the last 5 chapters. I don't know how it happened though. Maybe Genna needed more space or something.

Anonymous said...

Well wishes and good luck vibes should be flooding your clean house now.

Anne Gallagher said...

Donna -- Thanks Donna. Need them.

Theresa Milstein said...

I'm sorry about "Monster baby". It's frustrating when our children aren't well and we can't fix it.

Cleaning instead of sitting on the couch feeling sorry for yourself is a better way to get through a writing slump. Hope the house is clean and you're over your slump soon.

I'm so happy for B.R. Barkowski!

The Words Crafter said...

I get into cleaning moods sometimes and I can feel the love radiating from my house. I've missed a lot with my computer issues lately, I have to go back and catch up.

Sorry MB isn't feeling well. From working in childcare, I have learned a couple things. Each new class has it's own set of germs and I invariably get sick. Too, I learned that food allergies can cause all kinds of sinus related issues, much like cold or infection. Don't know if that helps at all....

I like your title!

And yes, Blogger has been a very bad boy!!!

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Oh, boy, I wish my house was that clean!!! I need to get some writer's block.

I hope you keep advancing in your writing! I know you will get published one day. No doubt in my mind. :)

VR Barkowski said...

Thanks so much for the shout-out Anne and yes, time is the answer. I queried solid for a full year and I'm told I had it easy. Yeah, right.

So sorry about Monster Baby! That's hard not only on her, poor thing, but you. And Blogger *has* been atrocious, if I get Error 503, Service Unavailable one more time I'm going to scream

Anne Gallagher said...

Theresa -- Thankfully slumps don't last that long, or at least as long as I get all the vacuuming done.

Becky -- We think MB's whole situation is b/c she's allergic to milk. But we're not sure. We go to the allergist in two weeks so hopefully they'll run some different tests this time.

Michelle -- I have got to email you right now.

VR -- I am just so absolutely thrilled for you. And a year! I gave up after 6 months but that was just b/c I wanted to get his new one out there. So happy for your!

Shelley Sly said...

I hope MB feels better soon! :(

I'm sorry I missed your Something Something post -- I've been having trouble balancing blogging with my new job and my health. But I bet it was good, sounds like it was intense.

Hope you've had a good weekend so far!

Christine said...

First of all, I hope Monster Baby is better very soon. Hug. Second of all, I clean when I am stuck as well. So if the house is dirty... well... I am in the middle of massive revision and slowly eeking out the story, You'll get it done. We all do eventually.

Jennifer Shirk said...

I clean too--or at least vacuum when I'm stuck. :)
Great progress on the writing!

Wendy S Marcus said...

I'm so sorry your daughter isn't feeling well. As a parent it's such a helpless feeling to not be able to make them well. It doesn't get better as they age. My son is 16 and all of a sudden got a terrible headache and nausea. He'd complained of tingling in his fingers at dinner (probably related to Xbox) but I was still on the computer cross referencing headache, nausea, tingling, heat stroke (because he'd played an intense game of soccer that day). He's fine today. Hope your daughter is better soon, too!

Lola Sharp said...

I hope MB feels better. :(

And I'm glad you are having some writing breakthroughs.

And, YES. Blogger has been very buggy lately. All last week it gave me grief. But, hey, it's free. I feel guilty complaining.

Okay, I just sneaked in for a minute...I'm sneaking back out, all stealthy and ninja-like.

Love,
Lola