Don’t get me wrong – I love being busy. But there’s busy, and then there’s insanely out of your mind can’t catch your breath kind of busy. Right now, I am experiencing the latter. I have 3.5 days left before I have to have this manuscript out the door. (Yes, yes, I know I said Wednesday at the latest before, but unless I learn to stop time, that just ain’t gonna happen.)
Even the day job is crazy busy and to top it off, I am determined to de-clutter my house this week. Why this week? Because for some reason I got the idea that since the boyfriend is away for the week I would have a little extra time. Hahaha. Ha. Yeah.
To make things worse, cell phone reception sucks where he’s at so I barely get more than a few text messages a day when he finds himself in range. Which means I miss him terribly making it hard to concentrate on other things. Thankfully he returns on Saturday, at which point this manuscript will be out the door and I will have a few days free and clear with him before I have to then turn around and fly off to San Francisco.
And please don’t even ask about my prep for the conference. Pitches, etc will be completed on the plane ride down. Sigh…
I was supposed to do a blog entry for Miss Make a Movie this week, but there has been no time to sit down and think up something halfway interesting. All my writing time has been dedicated to finishing Brimstone. Right now I’m working on it morning, lunch hours and evenings. I’m pretty sure by the time it is on its way I’ll be able to recite it verbatim.
And for the love of all things holy, I haven’t even been to see Batman yet!! Granted, I spent the weekend at our annual Writers’ Retreat, but still…this Friday for sure. And then again on Sunday if the boyfriend is up for spending two hours of me drooling over Christian Bale.
So that is why I have been missing in action of late. Again. I’m sure things will calm down soon. Once I get back from conference I am going to set up a more reasonable schedule. I am. Really.
I was browsing through the bookstore the other day, not a strange occurrence given the amount of hours I spend in the bookstore in the run of a week, but what was strange was the area I kept gravitating to. The books I kept picking up. Lately I've felt like changing up what I've been reading. Certainly not giving up reading romance, that's just pure craziness. But branching out. And what I keep coming back to are the classics.
Now I'll be honest - outside of some Jane Austen, I haven't read the classics. At least not all the way through. I've been known to pick up a Dickens, flip it open and read passages, or pages or even a chapter or two, then set it down and go back to what I was reading. But there has always been this part of me that wanted to read more of what created the backbone of classic literature.
I picked up The Count of Monte Cristo, Crime and Punishment, Madame Bovary. My fingers skimmed over the rows and itched to toss all of them into my arms and rush to the check-out. I did manage to stop myself. The $20 in my wallet would only go so far and pay day was another week away. But it got me to thinking maybe I should readjust my goals list and add 'reading two classic pieces of literature' onto my Personal Goals. Does anyone else have classics that are their favorites?
In other news, I am reconsidering San Francisco. The more I look at it, the more I am balking at the cost, which would probably end up being in the vicinity of $2500. As much as I want to go, I am just not sure the cost will be justified - at least as far as how much it will progress my career. By July I will have already contacted all the agents that interest me, so meeting one of them face to face doesn't justify the cost. I will have already sent Brimstone to Berkley long before July as well.
The only hitch is the Golden Heart. Should I be lucky enough to final, I would love to be there for the gala event at the end and see my name and picture flash up on the screen when they announce the nominees. But that's a really expensive ego stroke, and again, I'm just not sure I can justify it. Going to conference might get me a foot in the door somewhere, but so will staying home and doing it the old fashioned way. Sending queries, partials, contests, etc.
Now if I had the money kicking around to spare, I'd be on that plane in a heart beat and not think twice about it. But I don't. And I'm also trying to save for a trip south with friends in April 2009 and another trip to Italy in September 2009. Both of these I'm really excited about and don't want to give up.
So, it isn't written in stone yet, and if something should happen that some extra cash should magically fall into my lap I will change my mind, but for now, it looks like San Fran is not in the cards this year.
Don’t get me wrong – I love being busy. But there’s busy, and then there’s insanely out of your mind can’t catch your breath kind of busy. Right now, I am experiencing the latter. I have 3.5 days left before I have to have this manuscript out the door. (Yes, yes, I know I said Wednesday at the latest before, but unless I learn to stop time, that just ain’t gonna happen.)
