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A brief update...and why I hate Nietzche
Career Day
I was asked by a close friend to take part in a career day at a local middle school next week. I, of course, asked her if she wanted me to participate as a writer, a chiropractor, or a Chippendale dancer. They're all valid careers...except for maybe 'writer' as I suppose income is a prerequisite for calling something a career. I'll let you know how it goes!
Writing Stuff
Being that this is a blog about writing, I suppose I should fill y'all in on what's going on in my writing world. As I posted a while back, book #2 is finished. It's finished and I'm happy with it and as I go back through it I can find only small details I want to change. The book is a departure for me. It's historical fiction about kids in 1934 horseracing and although I had a blast writing it, it was HARD! But I also love it. It's dark, gritty, and shows that there is light even in the darkest places.
Book #3 is well underway. I am having a blast with this one, letting myself go a little hog wild. It's funny and tense and unnerving and asks really really hard questions. It's all the things I love about YA fiction. I crossed the 30,000 word mark not too long ago. This book is still in creative flux so I don't want to say too much about it yet. However, the acronym formed by the words in the title is EMLM. I'd love to see if anyone can guess the title (Loree and Liza keep your mouths shut!), but not even an infinite number of monkeys sitting at an infinite number of typewriters would come close--especially if monkey #3,454,237,743 calls in sick that day. He's a very smart monkey.
Quilt
I was asked to sign a quilt square for a fundraiser. Each square in the quilt will be signed by a children's author and it will be auctioned off at the NYSRA conference in the fall. Proceeds will go toward funding children's collections in libraries. Very cool. Now I have this square of fabric and I have no idea what to do with it. Should I just sign it with a Sharpie marker? I think I should do something a little more creative, but I have no crafty flair. Maybe I'll go pester the ladies with short sensible haircuts down at JoAnn's Fabrics.
Garden Stuff
I suck at gardening. I hate my backyard because it's all gardens and it grows too fast for me to manage it. Daylilies are the bane of my existence. Those things just spread like crazy! So do ferns and lilac bushes and the roses I've been trying to kill for 5 years. Here's a photo tour of my yard:
This is half of it. Dinosaurs could live back there. In the foreground is the goldfish pond that I hate and in the way back you can see our Victorian gazing ball. I knd of like that:
Here is a closer picture of the gazing ball. It's green. I can't get much closer due to the carniverous weeds underfoot and the evil rose bush that is hiding off to the right:
Here is the evil rose bush. Do not be fooled by it's beauty. That's just a lure to draw you in, like a moth to a blowtorch. You've seen Little Shop of Horrors, haven't you? I've cut this thing to the ground every year and every year it comes back bigger and with a greater hatred for me. Damn you Nietzche!
Here is the other side of my yard. Please note the park bench being swallowed by underbrush. It's what gardeners call "ground cover." It's what I call "Death by Chlorophyl." Notice my poor gargoyle being eaten alive:
Pumpkins and Watermelons
The pumpkins and watermelons are coming along well. I only planted a few of each from the germinated seeds. I have a slew more in ziplock bags all sprouted. If anyone wants them, let me know and I'll mail them to you. They'll probably survive the trip! From what you've seen of my backyard, there's not much space to plant these guys. Right now, I have them growing in pots in my back room, which faces the jungle yard. The plants are doing swimmingly, thank you very much.
Here is the magic watering can (duckie insisted on posing in the background):
Here is the watermelon pot and the pumpkin pot (froggie insisted on posing in the watermelon dirt). Those pumpkins are going totally insane! It's interesting how alike the plants are. They grow in very much the same way, but clearly the pumpkins are the faster growers!
That's all for now. Look for new Google Pings, more updates, more news, and more fun in the upcoming days!
I was asked by a close friend to take part in a career day at a local middle school next week. I, of course, asked her if she wanted me to participate as a writer, a chiropractor, or a Chippendale dancer. They're all valid careers...except for maybe 'writer' as I suppose income is a prerequisite for calling something a career. I'll let you know how it goes!
Writing Stuff
Being that this is a blog about writing, I suppose I should fill y'all in on what's going on in my writing world. As I posted a while back, book #2 is finished. It's finished and I'm happy with it and as I go back through it I can find only small details I want to change. The book is a departure for me. It's historical fiction about kids in 1934 horseracing and although I had a blast writing it, it was HARD! But I also love it. It's dark, gritty, and shows that there is light even in the darkest places.
Book #3 is well underway. I am having a blast with this one, letting myself go a little hog wild. It's funny and tense and unnerving and asks really really hard questions. It's all the things I love about YA fiction. I crossed the 30,000 word mark not too long ago. This book is still in creative flux so I don't want to say too much about it yet. However, the acronym formed by the words in the title is EMLM. I'd love to see if anyone can guess the title (Loree and Liza keep your mouths shut!), but not even an infinite number of monkeys sitting at an infinite number of typewriters would come close--especially if monkey #3,454,237,743 calls in sick that day. He's a very smart monkey.
Quilt
I was asked to sign a quilt square for a fundraiser. Each square in the quilt will be signed by a children's author and it will be auctioned off at the NYSRA conference in the fall. Proceeds will go toward funding children's collections in libraries. Very cool. Now I have this square of fabric and I have no idea what to do with it. Should I just sign it with a Sharpie marker? I think I should do something a little more creative, but I have no crafty flair. Maybe I'll go pester the ladies with short sensible haircuts down at JoAnn's Fabrics.
Garden Stuff
I suck at gardening. I hate my backyard because it's all gardens and it grows too fast for me to manage it. Daylilies are the bane of my existence. Those things just spread like crazy! So do ferns and lilac bushes and the roses I've been trying to kill for 5 years. Here's a photo tour of my yard:
This is half of it. Dinosaurs could live back there. In the foreground is the goldfish pond that I hate and in the way back you can see our Victorian gazing ball. I knd of like that:
Here is a closer picture of the gazing ball. It's green. I can't get much closer due to the carniverous weeds underfoot and the evil rose bush that is hiding off to the right:
Here is the evil rose bush. Do not be fooled by it's beauty. That's just a lure to draw you in, like a moth to a blowtorch. You've seen Little Shop of Horrors, haven't you? I've cut this thing to the ground every year and every year it comes back bigger and with a greater hatred for me. Damn you Nietzche!
Here is the other side of my yard. Please note the park bench being swallowed by underbrush. It's what gardeners call "ground cover." It's what I call "Death by Chlorophyl." Notice my poor gargoyle being eaten alive:
Pumpkins and Watermelons
The pumpkins and watermelons are coming along well. I only planted a few of each from the germinated seeds. I have a slew more in ziplock bags all sprouted. If anyone wants them, let me know and I'll mail them to you. They'll probably survive the trip! From what you've seen of my backyard, there's not much space to plant these guys. Right now, I have them growing in pots in my back room, which faces the jungle yard. The plants are doing swimmingly, thank you very much.
Here is the magic watering can (duckie insisted on posing in the background):
Here is the watermelon pot and the pumpkin pot (froggie insisted on posing in the watermelon dirt). Those pumpkins are going totally insane! It's interesting how alike the plants are. They grow in very much the same way, but clearly the pumpkins are the faster growers!
That's all for now. Look for new Google Pings, more updates, more news, and more fun in the upcoming days!