So I'm Just Checking In

Well, hey howdy ho everyone. Hope you're all doing okay. I decided it was about time I stuck my nose back into the blogosphere just to say hey. It feels like forever, but it's only been a month. Or maybe two. I don't know. I've lost all track of time now that we're out of school.

I wish I could say I've been slaving away, burning up the keyboard but I'd be lying. I've written exactly 3,946 words on a short story. And that was only last weekend. I haven't written anything other than that except the outlines for a couple of stories for next year. And let me tell you how badly I want to write.

But, I have pictures of what has been taking up all my time so you can see for yourself that I haven't been entirely slacking.

The first week of June was pretty hectic as it was the last week of school. You know how that goes...award ceremonies, picnics, one last field trip. And then Monster and I slept in the following week. We were making plans for the pool, or vacation, just lazing about. I did a couple of interviews for that school story I'm supposed to be working on, and then on June 14 (Thursday) at approximately 4:45pm, a severe thunderstorm warning was put out across all the local tv stations. At 5:10pm our power went out. At 6:30 my mother called and said that I had to go down to her house to look at the damage. The storm was a quick mover and already gone. The sun was shining when I went down the street. This is what I saw.

These three fell across the middle driveway

This one killed my trailer and my dad's little John Deere

This one is actually two 

 Like a bomb exploded.

This one blocked the garage and the driveway

This is three trees and an unholy mess

This one came this close > < to hitting the house

This upended root structure is 12 feet across

My poor little trailer. This blocked the lower driveway.













You can't see the other machine in the background because there's an oak tree laying across it.












That's my father in the blue T-shirt.













My mother's clothesline is gone now. No more trees to hang it from.











This one blocked the upper driveway.














My favorite tree. On the top side, pachysandra encircles the entire base. We're still trying to saw away enough of the base to push it back upright.












We are all okay, nothing happened to the house, but it was pretty scary. I've only shown a couple of the pictures, but we lost 7 trees in all. Seven, very tall (80 feet), very large trees. (The oaks all had about a four foot base around, the pines were at least three. Huge huge trees.) Our next door neighbors have been helping me clean up. My parents told them if they wanted it for firewood, they could have it if they wanted to do the labor. So they said yes.

This is part of the pile that I cut myself. Well, most of it.

This is the other part

This is my pile.

This is only one of the debris piles

This is the front side. My neighbor cut me all the big logs. I did all the small ones.

You can see my parents house down the hill. And part of the debris we're still cleaning up.









This side of the pile I did all by myself. I guess my father's Christmas present to me of a chain saw came in handy.










This debris pile is 30 feet long by 4 feet high by 4 feet wide and hopefully the last one this size. The DPW has already hauled away 3 of these piles. When all was said and done, they loaded 4 monstrous dump trucks with debris. And I'm still cleaning up two weeks later.

These flowers are finally on the rebound. They were completely flattened to the ground. I love them so I was thankful nothing happened to them. I used to have them at the beach.

I had just one piece of siding come loose on the second story of my house, so I had to climb on the roof to fix it, but thankfully that was the only damage.

We couldn't watch the news, so I never actually found out if it was a baby tornado, a down draft, a micro burst, or what. But it was nasty and I don't want to ever have to do hard manual labor like that ever again. I want to be a sissy girly-girl and sit at my desk like a good little writer. lol The worst part about the whole thing is that as soon as the storm passed, it brought the nasty humid weather. So we've been working in 90 degree temps with 70% humidity. I take two, sometimes three showers a day.

I've decided what I really need is a vacation. But we'll see how that goes. I gave myself the month of July to write the school project story and hopefully I can get' er done. And maybe if I do, the gods will smile down on me and let me rent a beach house somewhere for the first two weeks of August. (Oh please, oh please.)

So, kids, that's about it. That's all I've been doing since June 14. I hope nothing like this happens to any of you. Or if it does, you have big strong men to do the clean up. Although, I have lost about 10 pounds, but it's a little extreme. I feel like I've been run through The Biggest Loser. ha!

I hope you all have a very safe, and fun 4th of July. I don't know when I'll be back around again. Maybe the first of August. I've really got to get that story written. You know how time flies and I have to have it ready to publish by Sept. 1. So wish me luck. Not so much on the story but that I get to go to the beach. lololololol

Talk to you soon. Happy Summer!

At The Grille

On Today's Menu -- Baby Grilled Pork Tenderloin sandwiches on Baguettes, New Red Potato Salad, Spinach Salad, and Sweet Iced Tea. Assorted Melon Slices for Dessert.

Don't I wish I could have that for lunch.

Thanks so much for all your enthusiasm for the last two little flash pieces I put up on the blog the last two weeks. Jim and Callie have been roaming around in my brain for the last couple of months, and I do have every intention of setting more of their story down, but I'm just not that into them yet. I made an outline, so I know where I'm going, and it's a pretty good plot about what happens when you find the 'right one' out of the clear blue. However, the twist is -- circumstances keep them apart. I'm not even sure if there will be a Happily Ever After with this. Women's fiction at its finest.

Question -- Has anyone else been having trouble logging onto Blogger? I can get into gmail, and I used to be able to jump from mail to blogger but now I can't. And so I sign out of mail, and go to Blogger to sign in and it says Page Not Found. So I have to jump to a post I have on my favorites bar (lucky it's there) and sign in from my post. I know a couple of you have had trouble with comments and you have to unsign in from stay signed in, but I never stay signed in. Is it just me?

The kitchen reno is complete. The painting is finished. YAY! However, my mother decided she wants to get the garden straightened out before the weather really gets nasty, and then I get to tile the buffet, and THEN, I get to paint the whole downstairs cave. Don't get me wrong, I love my mother, and would do anything for her, but I am just too old for this. Besides, I can't get any writing done. UGH!

School is out in 9 more days. I'd love to have Monster Child go to camp, even day camp, but I don't think it's fair for her to have to have a regimen during the summer. Last summer she stayed up until 10, and slept until 10, and I got some writing done. Having her at camp would free up my schedule so much, but I'm starting to feel soooo guilty. I do want to spend time with her, but it's just so hard not living at the beach anymore. There was always stuff to do. Clamming, swimming, searching for shells and crabs, exploring. Now the beach is 4 hours away. I'm starting to hate vacation.

And so ends another week here. Hope you all have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. I'll be working in the garden.

Friday's at the Piedmont Grille

On Today's Menu -- Peanut butter and banana sanwiches (non-fried), and a big ol' glass of chocolate milk. May as well throw in a couple of chocolate chip cookies too. Brain food. (protein fiber carbs vitamin D and chocolate)

I am much better today, thank you all for your kind words from Wednesday. I think because I was almost at the end of my book, the stress to make it perfect was getting to me. I did this with the last two as well. I second guess myself, I hate what I've written, I deal with way too many questions, I read too many industry blogs to find my problems. Then I can't think straight. It's a vicious cycle.

And then we also have the time change which has really affected my sleep patterns. It's 4:38 in the wee hours of the a.m. as I write this and I am exhausted. I also internalize my stress which affects me in the form of weird, really weird dreams.

The one that got me up this morning was missing a writing workshop of Les Edgertons. He was giving it at the inn where I used to work. He came into the kitchen, we chatted for a few, and then he went back to the workshop.

What was it that woke me up? I forgot to tell him I was Piedmont Writer. And you know why I dreamed this -- because I didn't read the blog post he wrote the other day and I really wanted to, but I didn't have enough time. Yeah. I know. I really need to get a grip. (Hey Butch!)

Two very lovely ladies have offered to read my book. I heard from one of them yesterday. Pretty good so far, is what she said. So I'm happy about that. I did have the chance to re-read it myself yesterday. Start to finish. I need to add a few things to the ms. But as it stands, I still think it's pretty good. It's just a lot of stuff going on. We'll see what the ladies think.

I know many of you recommended for me to step back for awhile and let it stew. I can't. I need to get it finished, revised and queried before the end of April. I know that's a lot of pressure, but the weather has started turning, the yard needs dealing with, the house needs paint, the pool needs doing. I cannot remain attached to a book with all that. I also want to get this one out, so I can work on the first one again. It needs a little fixing, but I can work on it at my leisure. It's already there, it's not like I have to write it. You know.

Out of 37 queries for REMEMBERING YOU, only 1 partial and 1 full request. So, that one is definitely going under the bed. I think I'm not a contemporary writer. And that's okay. They all say to find your niche, well, I can honestly say, I love writing Regency romance and I think that's where I'll stay, thank you very much.

Congratulations to Carolina Valdez Miller on her scooping the elusive agent. Much continued success to her in her career.

And come back on Monday. I've received another award and I've finally decided to do an awards post. I think the last one I did was last July. So yeah, there might be a few to pass along. And there will definitely be some heavy duty linkage, so come on back.

And you know what, I think that's all I have today. Not much else is going on. I'm going to try and finish the book today. There's not a lot left to write, and I figure I may as well.

Have a great weekend.

Friday's at the Piedmont Grille

We've a lot of material to cover today gentle readers, so let's get on with it shall we.

We had a new batch of tornadoes whip through last night and unfortunately these were a little closer to home. Actually a LOT closer to home. One cell whipped right over us before I even had a chance to turn on the tv and find out if we should go down to the basement bathroom. By the time I got to the tv (I was writing this blog post) it was gone. I've never seen anything move so fast. They said the cell carried 50 mph winds and I believe it. My trees are still standing but alas, my plants on the deck were blown to smithereens.

On to the next.

Lola, dearest LOLA, is having a contest because she can. You can go here to find out all about it.

Andrew at The Write Runneris hosting a BAD GIRLS blogfest so go check that out. Go ahead, I know you want to.

Don't forget the lovely Susan Fields is hosting a contest for hitting 100.

And Roxy is rocking steady with her own contest here.

I also want to say, I haven't heard anything from my partial yet, or my other 7 queries that are still out. I know some of the agents say that if you don't hear from them in a few weeks, they're not interested. However, none of those agents who are still holding on to my query and pages had that on their website, so I'll just chalk it up to them being really really busy.

I also wanted to say, check out Sarah's post on revisions yesterday at Falen Formulates Fiction. It's way cool and she's got pics!

Now, on to the important stuff... For those of you who read my excerpt yesterday, I was taken aback by how many said they wanted Tony to ask about the baby right away. I was holding on to that information until Genna dropped the bomb at the fourth of July party. However, as my readers are always right, and I don't want to disappoint them, I changed it. So here for your viewing pleasure is the tiny little change.

*******

She felt sorry for him but she lent no sympathetic gesture, gave no sign of acknowledgement. She had cried enough over the last ten years to last a lifetime. Now she felt it was his turn. Let him feel the loss and the pain. Let him know what she had been dealing with this last decade. She felt it was only right.

When his sobs quieted, he wiped his face with both his hands.

“What happened to the baby?” His voice was barely audible over the rain on the roof of the car.

“The baby didn’t make it Tony, just like us.”

“Oh Genna, I’m so sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I knew Debbie manipulated me but I had no idea what she did to you. Truly, I didn’t. If I had…”

“Yes, well if you had, I’m sure we wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation.” Genna looked out the fogged window and wiped it with her arm.

*********

Now, I hope that appeals to everyone because full disclosure won't happen until the fourth of July party. Or should I say, after the fourth of July party.

I've also finished the scene between Genna and Nana Rocco. Big surprise! BIG surprise! I've only got one more setting to write but that should be more or less easy peasy. It's written in the paper pad so I just have to transfer it to Word. Hopefully, I'll be done with 21k under my belt. Yay. Then on to Act 2. More drama.

As to the fence, I shall be working on that this weekend. The weather finally broke, down to the 70's. I had such a bad case of sun poisoning from last weekend I didn't dare go out this week to finish. I've also gotten half the dirt moved, half the hole filled, and half the yard in complete disarray. We shall be working hard this weekend. I so need a man. But only for yard work.

And so gentle readers, another edition of the Grille closes with my hope for a lovely weekend for all of you. Write something wonderful, have fun with your families, friends and/or cohorts, and be safe. The weather is very unpredictable.

I Did It!

RE: my post from yesterday that I was kvetching I didn't want to write the scene I needed to write because I didn't want to get all upset. Well, I didn't cry but boy howdy did I find a twist that NOBODY saw coming! Not even me!

I am very proud of myself because I think it's the perfect PERFECT climactic ending for the first act. Of course this also leaves me in the lurch as to how to start the second act but I think I know how. I think. I'll have to ruminate on it some more. But the first act is done. 17,383 words. TA DA!

I'll be building the fence for the rest of the week, it's supposed to be in the high 80's here, yeah can you believe it, and I'm opening the pool tomorrow so come on by, bathing suits are required, unfortunately I live in a neighborhood rampant with rednecks. I don't need any of my friends getting carried off into the woods.

So don't forget, stop by tomorrow to read the last scene from Act 1 from REMEMBERING YOU. It'll only be up for two days.

Oh, and Roni, from Fiction Groupie is going to post the first 750 words of REMEMBERING YOU and do a critique on it Thursday as well. So swing by there for those of you who missed the opening.

Oh, and Christine Danek from Christine's Journey has reached 100 followers, Yay, so she's having a contest! Go check it out.

Happy Hump Day!!!

The Weather

Simon wrote an excellent post yesterday on the snow. Etherial, magical, poetic, beautiful. I, unfortunately had to shovel my driveway, up hill, and so didn't find it quite so magical.

Do you write the weather when you write your stories? Is it raining, is it cold, is it humid and sunny? Is it important? Do you care if your MC's are cold, wet, hot, sweaty, hypothermic?

Do you find that you imitate the weather where you are? If it's nice outside, is your MC outside? If it's raining, is it raining where they are? Do you care if they don't have an umbrella in a hurricane?