The Toothless Wonder

"I find that most men would rather have their bellies opened for five hundred dollars, than have a tooth pulled for five." ~ Martin H. Fischer

I had my four wisdom teeth extracted yesterday. My dental surgeon looked at my x-rays and wished I had come in 20 years ago because now my roots were very curved and one tooth was impacted, another resting right up against another tooth. Fun stuff.

I wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight so by the time I got there at 8am I was starving!! And in desperate need of java. They took me in almost right away and got to work. I was under the twilight sedation, but contrary to being told I wouldn't remember the surgery, I pretty much remember all of it. The top two seemed to come out without a problem. The impacted one came out okay, then they went after the wisdom tooth resting against the other tooth. It was not budging. The dentist finally took a break from all the pushing and pulling against my jaw and I took the opportunity to utter, "uh...oooowwww". They froze me up a little more after that and finally the tooth came out. At which point the surgeon commented he was glad he was getting his most difficult case out of the way first thing in the morning.

Yes...happy to accommodate....

Unfortunately I have no fun stories to tell you about being looped up on the drugs afterwards. I just was quiet and drowsy. There was a big, good looking guy from Tanzania in the recovery room with me. This guy had to be 6'5" if he was an inch and built with that lean, not an ounce of fat on him, physique. He was also high as a kite and sporting a big goofy grin. We both were sporting a mouthful of gauze too. And let me tell you, that is NOT an attractive look for anyone, but I think he pulled it off better than me. When his girlfriend came in the nurse said she wasn't sure what he was saying. He'd been talking off and on, but it turns out he'd reverted to speaking in his native tongue while stoned.

So far, I've been lucky. My jaw was swollen but that's gone down some already. There is very little pain, although my lower jaw is still a little frozen in spots so that may be why. They say the pain usually worsens on the 2nd and 3rd day. I have big ibuprofen horse pills and Tylenol 3s to take in between those if I need them.

Oddly, the worst pain I've experienced so far has been due to the fact I didn't get my morning java. I have a caffeine withdrawal headache!

J has been playing nursemaid but I finally let him off the hook to go play hockey. In the meantime, with the rest of the week off work for recovery, I have books, movies, magazines and knitting to keep me busy. I'm not to drive, operate heavy machinery, do any strenuous exercise or lifting for a few days. I have nothing to do but sit on the couch and recuperate.

Here's hoping the rest of the recovery goes without incident...

Thursday Miscellany

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. ~ Ansel Adams

I will apologize now for any upcoming typos that I miss. As I sit here typing this, the dog keeps dropping his toy on my keyboard. You know, I'm sure Lassie never behaved this way. Perhaps he was too busy saving Timmy from the well he'd fallen down for the umpteenth time. Great...now he's doing his butt dance. This is something that has to be seen to be believed, but I'll try to describe it as best I can. Imagine a bunking bronco, and then imagine that bunking bronco is slamming his butt into your chair. Oh well, at least he's not trying to eat his tail. He seems to have gotten it into his head that it’s a chew toy.

Meanwhile, back to my originally scheduled post before Cedar got me off track. My vacation has ended (que sad music and wailing). It was an awesome vacation sandwiched between two weekends away, lots of food, and plenty of writing. Sadly the lots of food was not followed by lots of trips to the gym. It should have been. I'm sure at the retreat alone I ate double my weight in carbs. I'm making up for it now.

The photo shoot with Heather Gionet was fabulous. We had a great sunny day and lots of natural light. The setting at Kings College was perfect. It will be about 3-4 weeks before the pictures are ready for me to view and choose. I can't wait!

Last weekend was RWAC's annual Writers Retreat at White Point and once again it was an absolute blast. There was plenty of food (and when I say plenty, I mean I ate anything that wasn't nailed down), a little vino, lots of writing, and awesome company.

When I arrived Friday around noon, I started working on my plot for my NaNo book. My plan was to write Book 2 in the Brides of Fatal Bluff series. Book 1 is The Outlaw Bride (Carina Press, April 2011), and Book 2 is The Widow Bride. I thought I had it all pulled together and it just needed a little more tweaking. Ah, foolish girl...

The more I worked on it, the more the plot fell apart. The main problem I was having was...well, it was somewhat boring. This, upon closer inspection, revealed there wasn't much in the way of conflict. Now, because of the set up in Book 1 with these characters, I didn't have a blank slate to work from. I was married to certain details. I tried not to panic. I failed miserably. I needed to have this ready for NaNo. The clock was ticking. I couldn't figure out how to fix this. None of the ideas I came up with were working. Ahhh!!!

Ahem. I decided I should take a break and go walk in the fall foliage. That seemed to do the trick. I came back with a new idea. Played around a little. It held up. It led to other places. It made the story fun! Interesting! Problem solved and story saved. Whew!

So now, all I need to do is work on my detailed outline to have it ready for NaNo. I use Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet to help with the process. This week and next, I'm transferring the Beat Sheet into 40 beats and posting them on index cards on my bulletin board. Then voila - I will be ready to go on November 1st.

Photo: Julia & me doing the annual clinking of the wine glasses.

When Retreat Is Good For the Soul

"Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say." ~ Sharon O'Brien

I'm blogging over at ThePopCultureDivas today about my chapter's annual Writers' Retreat. Check it out!

Blissfully Happy Vacation

"A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in." ~ Robert Orben

I am just one day away from vacation and I can’t wait. This weekend is Thanksgiving in my neck of the woods (we Canadians celebrate the holiday in October) which would make this a long weekend for me, but I decided to stretch it out and take the whole week.

It’ll be a busy one. J and I will be heading out for a night at the Blomidon Inn where we make the annual trek for Thanksgiving, returning in time to have turkey dinner with the folks. The weather sounds great for the weekend too, so bonus!

Then on Tuesday I have my photoshoot scheduled with Heather Gionet from This is Photography. She did Lilly Cain’s photos and that’s how I got her name. I can’t wait. We’re taking the photos at Kings College to take advantage of some of the historical architecture in the city. So far the weather is looking good for that too. I’m excited about getting this done. I had tried to do it a little over a year ago but timing and finances never cooperated. But now with THE OUTLAW BRIDE coming out in April, it’s time. I’ll give you the rundown on how it went in next week’s post.

The rest of next week will be spent revising AN INVITATION TO SCANDAL, trying to get as much of the 2nd draft completed before NaNoWriMo starts. I’m tearing apart scenes and reconstructing them in a different order to try and tighten up the story. I should hear about where I placed in the Lone Star contest the weekend of Oct 16th, provided I have cell phone reception.

You see the weekend of Oct 15-17 is my RWA Chapter’s annual Writer’s Retreat at White Point Beach. I start looking forward to this event the day I return home from it. It is a highlight of my year and is always a huge blast. There are 8 of us staying at the cottage this year where food, wine and creativity abound. I’m hoping to brainstorm ideas for Book 3 in the Brides of Fatal Bluff series while I’m there.

And that is what’s in store for the upcoming week. Now, if this week would just END so I can GET THERE I’d be all set.