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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Well, the boring times are over. My dad fell and broke his hip Sunday, and I'm going nuts here wanting to get to him. I had my quarterly CT scan yesterday, and I have my doctor appt and treatment tomorrow. Then I can leave town.

He had a partial hip replacement yesterday and seemed to tolerate the surgery very well. They got him up and sat him in a chair today. Mom said it was very slow and painful. Tomorrow they'll stand him up. Thursday, he'll move down to the physical therapy floor for about a week. Mom hopes he'll go home after that, but most likely he'll go into a rehab facility for a couple of weeks.

I'm checking out rehab facilities here and will try to get them to come live with me while dad recovers. Both will hate not getting to go home, but Darlene and I just can't keep traveling back and forth and Mom will need the help.

Scary stuff.

The wind is blowing like crazy today. It blew all our chairs into the pool, so Lane will have something to do when he gets home from work. I have lots to do to get ready to go, but it's hard not to just sit and worry. I'm pretty down in the dumps today.

I'd better go and get busy. Hopefully the time will go faster.

~pinkie

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Pluggin' Along

Things are pretty boring around here which is a really good thing. I've been ready for the slow-down since last Thanksgiving. Right now I'm working on editing my straight contemporary novel which is going slowly. I'm at a part that needs heavy rewriting (as in delete these pages and start over kind of heavy), but I think once I get past this, I should move at a pretty steady clip.

Brooklynn and Brady are coming to spend the night with us this Friday, and it's my Friday to have Alec, so he's probably going to want to spend the night too. I plan to call his step-mom later and see how she wants to work this.

I did my first early-bird writing class with my local chapter this past Saturday and it went really well I think. We're listening to workshops from past conferences and working through the boot camp book I love so well. Hopefully many of us will be able to stay motivated through the year and be able to finish our projects and polish them up to perfection. I do the same class with my online group, but I'm having trouble finding a way to do the workshop tapes. I'm investigating free online radio services right now. The HHRW webmistress set up a site where I can upload the workshops for people to listen to during the month, so I'll start uploading them tomorrow.

My other two major active projects right now are my scrapbook recipe books for the kids and judging the Golden Heart entries I received. Did I say it was boring right now - I obviously was still asleep when I wrote that! hehehe.

I'm drinking my coffee right now, but I'm about to go do my cardio for the day. I really *hate* exercising, but it's so darn good for you. Dadgumit! Lane says if I do it enough I'll get to where I like it. I'm not sure I can do it that much. I mean, I really, really hate it. It's boring even when I listen to music or watch TV. I still want to be doing a second task (I live to multi-task). Ah well, maybe I'll figure something out. In the meantime, I have to go do it. I promised myself I would. (Please don't make me!).

*sigh* Off I go. Talk to you later!
~pinkie

Thursday, January 17, 2008

I just had the nastiest sore throat I've had since my tonsils were taken out. The doctor gave me some new kill-all antibiotic, and it still took four full days to get over it. I'm still a bit too medicated to blog effectively, but I thought I'd check in and let you guys know I haven't disappeared. Call off the posse - I escaped. Don't pay the ransom.
hehehe
~pinkie

Sunday, January 13, 2008

A Month Has Passed - WOW

I can't believe it's been a month since my last blog.

I got to see my oldest daughter for a few days which was awesome.

Christmas was great. I didn't get the recipe books (scrapbook style) all done, but I got close enough for the kids to see what they'll look like. It's been a really fun project with all the old photos and recipes. I hope to have them done in the next few weeks.

I got to take my oldest grandson to Texas to see my parents, and we had a great time. He likes to play board games, so we Sorry'd and Yahtzee'd until we were blue in the face. He and Dad got along great 'cause Dad does all the funny faces and silly stuff.

We didn't do much for New Year's - as I recall Lane and I went to bed around 9 on Dec 31. We're getting more boring by the minute, I think.

I got my 2008 goals done and made a spreadsheet graphing when I need to do what. So far it's working really well. I'm working on more edits for two manuscripts and hope to have them ready to submit by the end of March. After that, I'm going to start on the new paranormal historical I've been itching to write. Or I may work on edits for an existing historical and add a paranormal twist...

I'm program chair for my local writing chapter, and I'm doing earlybird programs each month. I'm really excited about those. I have some great workshop sessions from past conferences we'll listen to while we write and/or edit. I'll be putting those together with various writing exercises and Todd Stone's Novelist's Boot Camp (bless you, Todd!).

Made a flying trip back to Texas on Wednesday because my folks got sick, but all's fine now. I got back yesterday with some sort of cold myself. Throat is itchy and nose is running. Lungs are coughing - fun all around.

On the bright side, Medium has started its new season, and the first episode was fantastic. TV's looking pretty dicey in the next few months. I can't believe CBS is airing Dexter. They'll have to do some major cutting.

Then we also have this Carrie Edwards plagarism thing going on (for details see smartbitchestrashynovels.com) which is too bizarre for words. It also made CNN.com today. Who would have thought anyone would have caught her lifting descriptions from a non-fiction resource and a 1929 novel (even though it was a Pulitzer Prize winner)? And it happened in such a not-looking-for-it kind of way. Maybe I'm just not smart enough, but kudos to those who are. I would never have made that connection.

One thing about it, though. Even I'm smart enough to know you can't use another writer's words (including non-fiction) in your own work. Be creative. Come up with your own way of saying the same thing. Isn't that what creative writing is all about? Evidently, this gal's been doing this for years.

The dh and I are just about done with season 6 of 24, and it looks like we'll have to wait until the writers' strike is over to see the new season. *sigh*

So, what's been going on with the rest of you?

~pinkie