Whew! Finally two minutes of peace. Is anyone else ready to send their kids back to school?

I know I promised to blog about my vacation yesterday, but my editor sent my line edits for STOLEN FURY and I spent all day yesterday working through them. I’m happy to say they’re done and gone this morning, which is a nice thing to have off my plate. Either I’ve grown a thick skin, or I’ve learned to step back from my work and look at things objectively. Honestly, even six months ago I used to cringe when I’d open crits from CPs or an email from my agent regarding submissions. These days though, no sweat (well, hardly any anyway). I’m lucky in that I’ve surrounded myself with people – CPs, agent, editor – who know what they’re doing.

My line edits all-in-all weren’t too bad. And while I was deathly afraid of the horror stories I’d heard from some authors about editors rewriting their sentences and effectively changing their voice, that didn’t happen in my case. My editor has a great eye for what doesn’t need to be there or what lines can be moved around to different locations for maximum impact. And while I was a wee bit sad at a few areas we had to trim (mostly secondary character development) the manuscript was not impacted by those changes. It’s still the exact same book I wrote and fell in love with.

As for vacation, I’m still nursing a blister on my hand from playing golf two days in a row. But, boy, it was worth it. I haven’t golfed in probably five years, but apparently I have a natural swing (ROFL…or so my hubby and golf-obsessed friends told me). And I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The second day we took the kids golfing late in the afternoon and that was a hoot. My 3-yr old loved driving the golf cart (on my lap). Putting isn’t his specialty – he runs around and picks up everyone’s balls – but he was happy to have the job of holding my clubs. We swam everyday and I got way more sun than I should have (shhh…don’t tell my mother), and for my g’friend’s birthday the adults went to this beautiful restaurant on Suttle Lake housed in an old boat house. Very fun – and The Lodge at Suttle Lake is absolutely gorgeous. I definitely want to make plans to go back there.

Next trip on my plate is RWA in San Fran. Followed by Hawaii (sans kiddos) less than a week later. The hubby has told me since he’s not taking his laptop to Hawaii, I’m not taking mine (don’t worry, Leah…I can sneak my notebook in my bag if I’m behind), so I guess I’d better get back to the wip.

Do you have any trips planned this summer? If so, where?

I’m rushing off to a swim meet for Gremlin #1, but I had a couple things I wanted to share:

1. My new website is live!!! Go check it out at http://www.elisabethnaughton.com/

2. I’m posting today at the Rose City Romance Writers blog about my writing space. I’d love it if you stopped by and said “hi”.

I returned from vacation on Monday and yesterday was spent playing catch up. Tomorrow I’ll post all about our trip – and what a fabulous time we had! I didn’t get as much writing done as I’d wanted, but it was still a productive week.

Ciao for now!

I finished my first half-marathon this morning. The Helvetia Half Marathon is 13.1 miles through the beautiful countryside of Hillsboro, Oregon. Translation? Lots and lots of hills. I’d been training for flat, so the hills were killer, but I finished in 2hrs, 14-15 minutes (not sure on exact time as I didn’t look at the clock as I crossed the finish line, but that’s a pretty close estimate). I’m pretty happy, my goal was to finish at 2:20 – without knowing about the hills – and I beat that. I feel pretty good right now, but I’m sure the tiredness will catch up to me soon. Before today the most I’d ever ran was 10 miles in training. My running partner (who runs full marathons) is already trying to talk me into running the half of the Portland Marathon in October. Not entirely sure about that yet. I need a few days recovery from this one.

In other news…STOLEN SEDUCTION is really coming along. I’m totally in love with my hero. I’ve been waiting to write him since I wrote STOLEN FURY, so I’m enjoying the entire process. I think I may just be a little sad when this series is over. But excited about what I have planned next.

Next week the kids and I are off to central Oregon with a friend to stay at her vacation home. We’re taking my niece as babysitter because both of us have to work. I’m hoping to make some serious progress on SS while I’m there. I’ll have internet so I’ll try to post from the resort.

Are you a runner? If so, I’d love to hear about it. If not…what’s one thing you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t yet?

Because I suddenly realized it’s been nearly a week since I blogged!

Weather Report: It’s 53 degrees and rainy. Where did summer go????? I refuse to give up my flip flops. Jeans, a sweater and flip-flops. Yeah. That’s stylish. Not even three weeks ago it was 102 degrees. That’s right. A fifty degree swing.

The Gremlins have three more days of school. THREE. MORE. DAYS. That’s it. Looooooord help me. I fear a long summer ahead with me on deadline. I may be calling grandma to come and save me. A lot.

My half marathon is just over a week away. Today I bought new running shoes – finally – and proceeded to freak out when I realized the size the clerk sold me was a 10!!! (I never looked at the size as I was trying them on, and when she kept telling me I needed more toe room, I nodded like I had a freakin’ clue what I was doing. Who knew you were supposed to have lots of room in your running shoes? Maybe this will help my neuromas.) Normally I wear an 8.5.

The DH is a god. Last night he came home, took one look at me and realized I was stressing over books and deadlines and promo stuff. So he’s kicking me out of the house. A night away at the beach with my web designer next week so we can finish up my website and get that thing done. I love him. I really do. He takes good care of me.

My buddy Kendra and I are taking a handgun class in July. This weekend I have to be “fitted” for my gun. That sounds so cool, doesn’t it? Can’t wait for this one. Kendra just finished up a citizen’s police academy course. She had a blast. I’m planning to take one in the fall.

Tomorrow I’m blogging about series over at the Mid-willamette Valley Chapter blog. Stop by and tell me what you think about series. Specifically, I want to know when a series gets to be too long.

Oh, and I saw the new Indy movie! I had mixed feelings. Tell me what you thought of it.