I spent Friday night setting up my new ipod. New ipod you ask? Oh yes. New because I was uber-smart and dumped mine in the washing machine after I got home from the club the other day, unbeknownst to me. Of course, I killed it by doing so and needed a new one. So I got the new one, sat down to upload my music and looked at the list I have on itunes. And I was suddenly thirteen again, sitting in the front seat of my dad’s car, rolling my eyes at the twangy country music pumping out of the speakers.

Me: “This music bites. Can I change the channel?”
Him, laughing: “No. One day you’ll enjoy country music.”
Me, frowning as I look out the window: “Don’t bet on it, old man.”

Guess what I have on itunes? Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Martina McBride and Tim McGraw.

All great artists, but man, what a wake up call. I am, after all, a child of the 80′s. Where are my roots? So I went in search of my music. Guns n Roses, AC DC, Def Leppard. Afterwards, with several new songs downloaded and the ipod blaring in my ears, I felt better. And then I realized what I’d just done.

Can you say, avoidance behavior?

Oh yeah, that’s me lately. Anything and everything to avoid the wip.

Lisa blogged about meeting deadlines the other day, and I have to say, her post has re-inspired me. Though I’m not usually a “plotter”, I sat down today and looked at my manuscript. I want to get this puppy finished. It’s all in my head, but in my head is not finished. The key is getting it down onto the page. And that takes discipline. I tend to write in fits and starts – like one week I’ll write twenty pages a day and then I can’t bleed out a word for two weeks straight (as evidenced by the past two weeks). I’m tired of writing this way.

So, I sat down and looked at my schedule for the next month. We’re leaving on vacation on April 29th. If I push myself in the same way I’m pushing myself to work out to get in shape for said vacation, I can have a finished manuscript by April 27th, leaving me a day to spare. Think I can do it? I hope so. People like Jen and Karmela and Lisa are inspiring me, so I’m going to go for it.

What’s on the ipod right now? Guns n Roses, Sweet Child O’Mine
What’s on the computer right now? Vanished. Ten pages down today, baby, and pounding out more as we speak.

How’s your wip coming?

So let’s see…how did I celebrate my GH final placement? I got sicker than a dog. Yup, lucky me. Just before I got the call I was starting to feel rather ill, and was hit full-force with the worst case of food poisoning on the planet just after I hung up the phone. That spilled into Monday, where I laid in bed all day and begged my DH to just put me out of my misery. It was that bad. He, of course, said no, he wouldn’t slit my wrists for me (as I had no energy to do it myself), because that would leave him alone with the three Gremlins. And he wasn’t doing the single parenting thing alone just because I ate some bad fish. Men. They never do what you want them to do.

Aside from getting well, I’ve been dealing with conference “stuff”. Stuff like…oh, trying to find a room in Dallas. The conference hotel filled up nearly three weeks ago (don’t even get me started on how stupid that is. I’m pretty sure it didn’t fill up until some time in April or May last year. Does early March strike anyone else as excessively early?!). Seems like every other hotel in downtown Dallas is also filling up unusually fast. I’ve been checking airfare, finding out which of my chapter mates are really going to Dallas after all. Did I mention it’s spring break here and my Gremlins are all home? Oh, and that DH had a procedure on his back yesterday so he’s home too? Yes, lots going on.

I also got my GH “official” packet in the mail yesterday. Complete with my little gold heart pin. To which my mother (who was here at the time) looked at it and said, “Hm. It’s not real gold.” (That’s me just shaking my head). Of course, I bit my tongue because since I wasn’t planning on going to Dallas this year and now am, I need her to babysit during the day while DH is working. So yesterday I was trying to butter her up for that. And do you know what the woman did? She got smart. Resorted to blackmail. I think her exact words were, “Okay, I’ll babysit for you if you finally let me read this book. No book. No babysitting.” Argh…I have hedged this whole mother-reading-my-book thing for quite some time, but now I think I’m really stuck. Crap. I have to print it for her now!

In addition to all the conference stuff (and mother stuff), I have to get a picture turned in to RWA by Monday April 9th. Which means I have to get my hair done (hate going to do that) sooner than I’d wanted. And I have to find someone who has patience to take my photo. (I really hate having my photo taken.) Because I am the photographer in the family, there are no recent photos of me. I may have to take Piper up on her suggestion to come take my picture.

All grumbling aside, I really have to say I’ve been so amazed at the number of people who have mentioned my finaling in their blogs or who sent me personal congrats emails. Each and every one of your comments meant so much to me. And a big, huge, special thank you to my wonderful CP, Joan, who revamped the home page of my website to include news of my 2007 GH Final. J, you truly are da bomb. I love you!

Okay…I’ll stop rambling now. I obviously need more coffee. Hope your day is well.

I just got the call that my manuscript – Make Me Believe – finaled in the Romantic Suspense category of the Golden Heart!!!!

Tuesday night was my local RWA chapter meeting. It was good. I always enjoy the meetings even when I’m tired and don’t want to go. This month’s meeting was a crit meeting. People who wanted feedback on their WIPs brought 3-5 pgs to be read aloud for everyone to listen to and then comment on.

Now, I have to say outright that I hate these meetings. I really do. Only because I DETEST having my work read aloud. The last (and only) time I did this I was tricked into participating. I’d sent a chapter to Evil Lisa for her to read, and then I’d been busy the day of the meeting (on purpose) and didn’t have time to make copies or print out my pages. Lo and behold, Lisa made copies, knowing I wouldn’t, and brought them to the meeting (weasel!). I did get some great feedback that night, but the whole time my pages were being read (and not by me), I felt like hiding under the table with my hands covering my ears, singing the Star Spangled Banner at the top of my lungs to drown out the voices and words from above. I don’t know what it is…I don’t have a problem with people reading my stuff so long as it isn’t done aloud and I’m not in the room.

But I digress. Back to this month’s meeting.

So I didn’t take pages this time, and I sure as heck didn’t send Lisa anything early. Others brought their work to be reviewed though, so it was fine…I got to sit and listen (or read along). It’s fun to hear other people’s work…fun to learn what my chapter mates are working on. But because I tend to be visual, not auditory, I have trouble staying focused when people are reading to me. I think about shopping lists and schedules and what’s in the fridge to snack on when I get home, or what my characters are rambling about in the back of my brain. But this night, as I was sitting there listening to one of the girls’ pages, I was totally enraptured. I can’t tell you what her story was about. I don’t even remember the names of the characters. All I know is her voice totally stuck with me. So much so everything else faded away. I emailed her today to tell her that. She’s a new writer, only working on her second book, but I see great things for her if she sticks with it. Her voice is fun and fresh and so easy to listen to (and read), it alone makes me want to buy her books.

People gave her great suggestions for her pages, and she was completely open to all feedback. And sitting there, she commented that she thinks this manuscript (her second) could be the one to sell. Normally I would smile that plastic smile and nod and think, yeah right, when a newbie writer says that with such confidence, but you know what? I almost believe she can do it with this book. She’s got things she knows she has to work on – mainly sharpening her craft, but she’s already leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at her stage in my career. I really hope she sticks with it and makes it.

What a cool feeling, being surrounded by that enthusiasm and energy and someone who has genuine talent when it comes to writing. I was reminded why I love to write at this meeting. I was reminded of the excitement I felt when I first started, before I was jaded by submissions and rejections and the business side of writing. Every once in a while, it’s nice to be reminded of the reasons we all started writing in the first place. Not because we wanted to sell and make millions of dollars (although that would be nice too), but because deep down we love it and can’t imagine doing anything else. This girl loves to write, and she’s good at it, which is a really cool combination. And you know what? I love it, too.

I’m now off to write…

Whew…that’s the sound of me exhaling loudly. Today was my dd’s 8th bday party. I pushed for a party away from home, she wanted to have a party at home. She won. I limited the invites to 10 kids, it blossomed somehow to 20. Again, she won (Hmm…seeing a pattern here.) It was chaos here today to put it plainly. Thankfully though, it’s now over. One more bday party and I’m done for the year. Starting in Jan. my kids have bdays just about ever five weeks. At what age do they stop wanting to have bday parties?????

What have I been up to? Hm. Let’s see. Writing. Basically, that’s it. Really in the zone with the WIP, and I love the feeling. Hoping to get to the halfway mark soon.

I booked our vacation to Maui today. We’re going in April. DH and I have never been to Hawaii, so I’m really stoked. Esp. since we’re going sans kids.

Okay, that’s as much update as I can manage today. If any of you have been to Maui, what things/places are a must-see?

Nothing significant happened today, but I have to say, it was a good day. The sun was shining, it was over sixty degrees here, and the daffodils are coming out. Writing-wise, I got some editing done, did some plotting I’ve been putting off and had a great conversation with my agent. For the first time in months, I feel like I’m on the right path. Why do we second-guess ourselves all the time? I look back at the past few months and can’t help but think if I hadn’t been worrying so much about editors and sales and what comes next, I could already be done with the darn WIP. I’m not, but at least now I feel like I *will* be done soon.

In other news, over at Romance Worth Killing For this week we’re cross-blogging with the girls at Romance Unleashed. The topic for the week is mis-information. Today was my day to post, so go check it out. And when you get done commenting, be sure to pop over to Romance Unleashed to read a NY pubbed author’s view of the same topic.

I’m nervously anticipating the 4th book in JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood tomorrow. My palms sweat just thinking about it (I blame Lisa for this condition). Must get some writing done tonight because I know tomorrow night I’ll most likely be reading.

So, all in all, though nothing major happened today, it was a good day.

How was your day?