Getting back the Ho-Ho MoJo

Well that was just what the doctor ordered. Saturday night was a lot of fun. We had some wine, we did some dancing, eating and had lots of laughs. And thankfully there were no side effects that lingered the following morning from a slight overindulgence of the vino.

I spent Sunday trimming the tree with Maxx and her daughter which is the first time I've done that. Usually it was just me and Coop listening to the Christmas tunes while she sat on the couch supervising and I trimmed the tree. It felt strange not having her there while I did this year, so the distraction of company was probably a good thing.

Meanwhile, my revisions for Brimstone are coming along. I'm managing to keep my page count at 390 pages and I know there are a few sections coming up to be shortened or cut so I will get that down a little further. I have eleven days off over Christmas and I'm hoping to get a fair bit done over the holidays if I can swing it. I don't have any family things planned beyond Christmas eve and Christmas Day so that should leave the rest of the time available for writing.

Work has been a lot of fun lately (shocking!). We have begun a national charity campaign to support the food banks across the country and on Friday we raised over $1,500 and then myself, another co-worker and our CEO went out and bought carts and carts of food to send over to our local food bank here. We ended up with 819 kg of food by the end of it. It was a real adrenaline rush getting to shop and see all the food that would be put to good use. This Friday afternoon I am spending another shift at the warehouse sorting and bagging food. I've already done one shift. I love doing stuff like this. I think it's helping get my HoHo MoJo back. Hopefully things will slow down a little and I can get back to visiting my blog buddies. I haven't had a lot of chance to do that lately and I miss hearing what everyone is up to.

So what did everyone else do this weekend?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I have decided part of my usual holiday doldrums were a symptom of my feeling antsy of late. I have become rather bored. Things feel like they have slipped into a mundane rut and every day is looking so much like the one before it that they've all meshed together into one dull, tedious lump.

And when this happens, there is only one thing a girl can do - grab her best bud and head out for a night on the town!

So that is exactly what I am doing. This Saturday in celebration of Maxx's birthday, we are heading downtown for drinks and revelry. I expect dancing and frivolity to ensue. And hopefully in the process, the boredom will fall away and I will shimmy and shake myself right out of the rut I've veered off into.

The new year is closing in on us and I think maybe 2008 needs to be a year filled with new things, new experiences and maybe even a few new faces and places. It's time to get this party started. So this Saturday - we dahnce!

Who Stole My Holiday MoJo?

Ah yes, December. The month of crushing crowds and stress and -- dare I say it-- way too many baked goods. The month where the diet and exercise take a back seat and the only work out you get is shoving the goodies into your gaping maw and chowing down like it's your last meal. The month where you threaten to cut through the hordes of people blocking your way to the 50% off sale rack with a machete whilst smiling through your gritted teeth wishing everyone near you the best of the season.

December. The month where your family tries to decide who gets the single person this year and actually make you feel guilty when you suggest perhaps, just maybe, you'd like to spend a quiet Christmas in your own humble abode away from all the noise and insanity and stop up periodically over the holidays to visit. The month where they remind you that as the only single person left in the family and with no family of your own you are therefore mobile. And you must be the one to keep the parents happy by providing them with at least one child to grace their home on Christmas morning. And no, it doesn't matter what you want or that you have hit forty and are no longer a child. You are their child, that is apparently all that is required.

Yes, December. The twelfth month. The only month of the year that seems purposely set aside for the sole purpose of reminding you with its family gatherings and parties that require dates and good cheer and fa-la-la-la-la-ing that you are single, and somehow in the eyes of Society, that is wrong. And forty and single (insert swift intake of breath here) - why that is just...why...(horrified whisper)...there are just...no...words.

Ah, yes. December is on par with Valentine's Day in that way. Except Valentine's Day thankfully only lasts 24 hours and therefore can be slept through. December, not so much.

People ask me why I don't get excited over Christmas anymore.

Hmm...I wonder?

Write-Ins, Christmas & Presents For Me!

NaNo is getting near the end, just twelve days to go to the end. I'm well on track to finish, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should make the 50,000 words by the end. This week my production will slow to a crawl on Salvation Falls while I fix up Brimstone, but if I can make it to 45,000 words by the end of this week I should be fine.

The edits to Brimstone are coming along pretty good. I have the section I'm submitting to the GH cleaned up and good to go, and my synopsis is written (though I doubt I would call it anywhere near brilliant. Functional would maybe be more appropriate). Now I just need to clean up the rest of the manuscript as best I can. There are changes I want to make, but I think they will have to wait until next month. I won't have time to make those changes throughout the manuscript in just a few short days, and if I want to meet the GH deadline, this has to be off in the mail by Friday.

We did another write-in with the NaNo crew at Starbucks on Saturday. These are a lot of fun and I can't believe how much I get done when I'm there. This last excursion I ended up with 4,100 words, bringing my total to 42,001 words. We're talking about making this a monthly thing even after NaNo is finished.

In other news: I finished my Christmas shopping on Sunday. Yahoo! I will not have to step foot in a mall until well after the Season has ended. Given how much I hate crowds, this can only be a good thing. Also, a little early Christmas present for me - I have preordered Rescue Dawn which comes out on DVD this Tuesday. It should arrive in my mailbox by the 22nd. Ho, ho, ho!

Petty Annoyance Purging

Generally, I’m a pretty positive person. I usually let things roll off my back and don’t get too worked up unless it’s a major issue. It seems a waste of time to me to spend my energy on the little drivel that can sometimes clog up our lives.

But every now and then things accumulate and I feel a proper venting is in order to purge myself of petty annoyances. So here goes:

Petty Annoyance #1: Not being able to get into my Hotmail account. Now, granted, this rarely ever happens. But it is happening today and it is really annoying me because I was expecting some return emails and I can’t get to them. I don’t know if it is the server at work that is timing me out, or if hotmail itself is the one having the problem, but whatever it is I wish they would fix it so I can get my @#$% email!

Petty Annoyance #2: Negativity. Normally I steer clear of negative people. I find it hard not to let them annoy me so I’m better off not crossing paths with them since every time they spew their toxic negativity my first reaction is to cuff them upside the head hard and fast. You see, I’ve come to notice that most people who complain about their lives are doing little to change the circumstances they are complaining about. And that annoys me. Because if it was really so bad as you are leading us to believe, you should be expending your energy on changing it or fixing it instead of filling the air with your noxious fumes of negativity. But you aren’t fixing it. Personally, I think you just want attention. And I’m not going to give it to you. Save, perhaps, for that hard and fast cuffing upside your head.

Petty Annoyance #3: Stinky processed lunches. Several people in the office bring in those ‘boxed’ lunches. You know the ones – Stoeffers, Lean Cuisine, etc. Now some of them don’t smell too bad, but there are the others that reek of some weird chemical smell that filters through the entire lunch room and down the hall. It’s really hard to enjoy my own lunch when I have to breathe that in. I think we need to ban stinky chemical lunches.

Petty Annoyance #4: People who don’t shut up. Have you ever seen those comics where the little balloon coming out of the person’s mouth is filled with ‘blah blah blah blah blah’? Well there are people I know like that. I have to work with one of them. And when they get going, they get louder and louder. For a person who likes peace and quiet, this is tantamount to screaming in my ear. I want to find the nearest roll of duct tape and encase their entire head in it. And I’m not even considering poking a few air holes into the tape either.

Petty Annoyance #5: Hemming and hawing. Now granted, there are times when all of us have trouble making some decisions. We want to weigh our options and ensure we make the right ones. And when this decision is one of the big ones I think that’s wise. But there are other decisions, the little ones, like what shirt should I wear today or should I have the broccoli soup for lunch or the BLT sandwich that can send some people into a total nosedive. They can’t decide even the little decisions. The ones that shouldn’t even really be termed as decisions. I mean just pick one for crying out loud. The course of history isn’t going to be altered one iota if you wear the blue or the green shirt. And unless the BLT is sporting a high dose of salmonella, it isn’t going to matter what you have for lunch. Grab one, quit your damn hemming and hawing and deal with it. Sheesh.

Whew. Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel much better now that I got that out of my system. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see if Hotmail has decided to resurrect itself yet. May you all have a wonderful day free of petty annoyances. See you back in about three months for another quarterly purging.

Rebroadcasting the Documentary

For any of you who missed it, or for any of you who just can't get enough of it - the documentary, Who's Afraid of Happy Endings is being rebroadcast on Bravo Canada this Sunday, June 10th at 6 pm EST. So grab some popcorn, set the VCR or TiVO and watch me cross swords, get told virgins are where it's at, and pontificate about the good ole love scene. And of course there's other people in there too - most of who manage to sound far more pithy than yours truly. Kathryn Smith and Kayla Perrin for example.

Still no news yet on when it'll broadcast in the US but I'll keep you guys posted.

Meanwhile, I have to admit two new obsessions. Facebook (or Crackbook as I like to call it) is my newest obsession. I'm getting in touch with so many people I lost touch with that it borders on the ridiculous. It's like an online reunion. Damn this internet thing, I really think it's catching on. So if you're a crackbook addict as well, look me up and add me to your friends list if you're so inclined. I'm a regular on there.

The other obsession is a little more embarrassing. David Beckham. Well, okay, not actually David Beckham. More like David' Beckham's face. In the spin-off series from the one I'm currently working on, there are two characters that bear a resemblance to each other. One is introduced in Book 4 of the current series. The other is mentioned throughout the current series but not introduced until Book 1 of the next series. But their faces are beginning to take shape in my mind. One character is the missing Earl. One is from the streets. Their lives become intertwined in a strange series of events. The question is, which one is the earl and which one is from the streets. I have David and Gabriel Aubry and not sure who is going to play which part. What do you think? Which is which?

The Long Weekend

Flora & Fauna at Shubie Park.
(I think you can click on these pixs to enlarge)

SUNSHINE !!!

The squirrel nearly camoflauged by his surroundings.

Me, hanging out near the lake.

I had a great long weekend. I had originally planned to get 7-10 pages written a day but that fell by the wayside. I decided in the end to give myself the weekend off. It rained every day and didn't stop until Monday, which meant I ran the Bluenose 5K race in wet weather. Still, I had a blast and managed to finish with a time of 33:17.8 which put me in the top half of the 548 runners doing that particular race, so I was really pleased. I think I might try for the 10K next year. I wasn't even winded when I finished so I think I had a lot of steam left in me.

The other thing I did over the weekend was read, read, read. I finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (think I got the name right) and it was amazing. Then I moved on to Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas, also a great read and the book actually went in directions I wasn't expected, which I really enjoyed. Now I'm moving on to Water for Elephants which my critique partner recommended.

Yesterday, my friend and I went for a trek through Shubie Park for an hour as the sun was coming out. It felt soooo good to see the sun again and I took my digital camera and snapped some photos which I've added here.

As for the pedometer challenge - I'm still kicking butt by about 35,000 steps and we have 10 days left to go.

But now the long weekend is over and it's back to work. I'm hoping to have draft two of Brimstone finished by the end of June. I'm feeling a little stuck. I think I'm paying too much attention to page count trying to figure out how I'm going to work all I need left to happen into 100 pages and it's stressing me out. I need to just write it and edit it down from there. Once the second draft is done, I'll take a month off to do a little research and working on plotting out book two as well as replotting Finding Home.

So what did everyone else do for the weekend?

What Tarot Card Are You?

Hmm... I like it!

You are the World

Completion, Good Reward.

The World is the final card of the Major Arcana, and as such represents saturnian energies, time, and completion.

The World card pictures a dancer in a Yoni (sometimes made of laurel leaves). The Yoni symbolizes the great Mother, the cervix through which everything is born, and also the doorway to the next life after death. It is indicative of a complete circle. Everything is finally coming together, successfully and at last. You will get that Ph.D. you've been working for years to complete, graduate at long last, marry after a long engagement, or finish that huge project. This card is not for little ends, but for big ones, important ones, ones that come with well earned cheers and acknowledgements. Your hard work, knowledge, wisdom, patience, etc, will absolutely pay-off; you've done everything right.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Another Weekly Wrap-Up

Another not so great blogging week. Last week was a bit crazy between trying to get ready for next weekend's retreat, reading my crit partner's manuscript, my own writing, getting my walks in, blah blah blah. You turn around and the whole week is gone and there isn't anything new to report of any great significance.

Writing is going really great, I'm addicted to Facebook and trying to hunt down people I used to know that I lost touch with, my walks are going great - I've mapped out three routes: 5.5K, 7K and 10K. The pedometer challenge starts Tuesday morning. I'm pumped and ready.

The running clinic was great on Saturday. I was at the front of the pack leading the way because the usual guy who's ahead of me was off. Which meant I was the one everyone else was following. Which would have been fine, except I have NO sense of direction. We managed to get back to the store without incident but there were a few dicey moments where I wasn't sure I made the right turn...

I'm currently reading Susan Elizabeth Phillip's new book, Natural Born Charmer and I have to day it's awesome! I was hooked on the first page. I mean, c'mon, a woman walking down the street in a beaver suit?? How could not be grabbed by that? And the rest of the book has lived up to the start. I can't put it down. Which is good because it's on a 7 day rapid read loan from the library!

And that is about it. I was just too busy this week to notice if anything spectacular happened and next week is looking just as busy, but I will report when I get back from the retreat as I'm sure I'll be pumped and have plenty to say.

Bah-RING It!

So by now anyone who has read this blog for any length of time has figured out what a competitive individual I am. Yes, yes, I know, some say high levels of competitiveness aren’t healthy, but I have to say, I disagree. Nothing gets me fired up like knowing I have an opportunity to challenge myself, or push myself and nothing makes me do that like competition. You feel alive, like anything is possible. How can that be unhealthy??

Now, don’t get the wrong idea – I’m not one of these ‘win at all costs’ types. In fact, to be honest, for me the big fun isn’t in the winning, it’s in the competing itself. Winning is just the gravy. Not to say I don’t prefer winning over losing, but since to me the only true lose is when you don’t try at all, I’m usually pretty satisfied just being in the game. Those who have the ‘win at all costs’ mentality often lose the point. They focus on the destination and completely miss the journey. And the journey is the best part.

When you compete, you give it your all. You go out there, not knowing what the outcome will be, you face your adversary in whatever shape or size they shows up in, and you take them on. For me, competition has always been a pretty good metaphor for life. I never wanted to be one of those people who sat on the sidelines and watched someone else play the game. Probably why I love sports, but much prefer playing to watching it on TV.

I attack my writing in the same way. Anyone doing this knows the obstacles that we face, but rather than dwell on them, I prefer to focus on plowing through them, one at a time, keeping my eye on the bigger picture and enjoying each accomplishment, each victory as I go. Setbacks are not a failure, but rather just a chance to try again. The only failure is giving up. Or worse, never trying at all.

When someone heard I was a writer, they asked me if I was published. I said, ‘No, not yet. But I’m enjoying the process.’

And when I am published, I’ll enjoy the gravy.

Blogger Goes MIA

My blogging was MIA last week. Much apologies to my regular visitors. It was one of those weeks where there weren't enough days in the week and hours in the day. As it was, there wasn't much to talk about, other than to pop in and say I was busy. So here's the quick and dirty update and hopefully I'll have something more exciting to report.

The writing is still going full steam ahead. I'm making progress, about 2 - 3 chapters a week. I'm cutting as I go in my edits and so far I think I'm on track word count wise. The last third of the book is where the crunch is going to happen, but if I can at least reach that point on target then I'm a bit a head of the game.

My work is doing a country wide pedometer challenge beginning May 1st and going until May 31st. Most of my office is going to do it. The person to beat will be one of my bosses who is training for a marathon, so I'm already strategizing on how I can beat is step count when he's running long distances at least once a week. I've suggested he might want to start taking longer strides, meanwhile I'll be baby stepping it everywhere.

The running is going great. Coach Christine had me out again yesterday for a run. Now that we actually have some sunshine and spring-like weather, I can't wait to get outside at the end of the day.

Two weeks until our annual writers' retreat in May. I can't wait. Last year was such a blast and this year is lining up to be another great three day extravaganza of educational sessions, writing exercises and brainstorming. Not to mention the food and vino.

I also took my annual trip to the psychic on Wednesday. I got to her every year. The woman is freaky accurate about things. Anyway, writing-wise everything sounds amazing and that's always great news. Love life? Well, that's a little more complicated, but still not bad news. Overall I walked out of there feeling great. I call it my annual therapy session. Wonder if I can get that covered on my medical insurance...

Oh, and I have decided to get my eyeballs lasered this year, probably closer to the end of the year. I've been wanting to do it for the past decade and now that it's more affordable, I'm finally going to get it done.

And that was last week in the news.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

How does my garden grow? Okay, well my name isn’t Mary unless I’m having some kind of identity crisis I’m not aware of, but the answer to the question is that I see green things beginning to sprout, but I can’t seem to get the weather to cooperate so that I can get out there and dig around. Right now it just looks like a globby mess of dead stuff left over from last year. It's covered in rotted leaves which I told myself were mulch but were really just a sign of my laziness because I didn't clean things up before the cold weather hit.

This year I promised myself I would spend more time with the garden. Last year was a bust because (a) the funds weren’t there to do it properly; (b) I didn’t have much time to devote to it; and (c) the damn ant colony that took over my backyard refused to go quietly into that good night. But this year, this year will be different.

This year I’m going to plan. Strategize. Create a blueprint of what I want to grow and where I want to put it. I’m going to dig up old stuff the previous homeowner put in that I don’t particularly like and replace it with my own vision. I’m going to add more color, prettier flowers, fewer hostices (no idea how to spell that but sound it out).

And I’m going to get rid of those damn ants if I have to dig up them up and pitch them into my neighbor’s yard. Not very neighborly of me I grant you, but they dug up their yard to get rid of the ants, and the next summer my yard was overtaken. Where do you think those displaced ants migrated to? I say turnabout is fair play.

Unless any of you gardeners out there have a better idea...

Thank God You're Here!

I kept seeing the scenes for this show on NBC and thought I would check it out. It seemed a pretty funny idea, toss an actor into a costume with no explanation, then make them go through a door into a scene with no script and no idea what is going on. The first thing out of one of the other actors mouth is, "Thank God you're here!" And then the actor thrown into the scene has to ad lib with the other actors who have a script.

Since it's on the same time as 24, I taped it and watched it last night. I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face and thought I was going to cack up a lung. This is the funniest show I've ever seen. Unfortunately I screwed up taping and only got the first episode and not the one they showed afterwards that had Jason Alexander on it. But if you like a good laugh, definitely check this out.

In other news, I joined the Beaumonde group the other day, so I'm pretty excited about that. A wealth of information there that I can definitely use. And I finally got a definitive answer on is Mr. Kane actually referred to as Mr. Kane or does he have some courtesy title, blah blah blah. Man the English and their titles can get confusing at times.

This week, I need to shrink 100 pages down into about 60, which means blending and multi-tasking my scenes. I think I know how I'm going to do it. I have about 3 chapters of 20 pages each before I'm at the end of Act II.

The Easter holiday whizzed by. Friday was mostly a veg day, which was nice. Then Saturday I went to my first running clinic class. That was fun. We ran a minute, walked a minute and thankfully by the end of it I wasn't feeling winded, so I'm pretty sure I can do this no problem. Will I be ready for a 5K in 6 weeks? Hard to say, but I'll decide at week 5 if I feel ready and go from there. If not, there is a run in June that I can do. Later on Saturday we got a pile of snow dumped on us. The weather gods...oh how they mock me. So Sunday Easter dinner in Truro got cancelled and rescheduled to Monday. Good thing my company gave us Monday off or I'd have been out an Easter dinner.

And that's about all there is to report. Slow news week really. Hope everyone had a great long weekend!

You Wanna Hear A Secret?

See, I don't post for a few days and then you get two for one.

I'm sure by now everyone has heard about The Secret. Is it possible for anything to be on Oprah and not have the entire world talking about it non-stop for the next six months. Seriously, say what you will about this woman but there is no denying the power she wields in the collective consciousness of our society.

I had caught the last half hour of the show she did revealing “the Secret”, only half-paying attention since I missed the first half and wasn’t too up to speed on what they were jawing about. But with the one ear I had tuned in, I thought, ‘huh...sounds like common sense to me, maybe I missed something.’

So my friend and chapter-mate, Anne mentioned she had bought the DVD to check it out. There may have been some question to the cashier about a money back guarantee if it didn’t work. Either way, Anne watched it and offered to lend it to me. I figured what the heck. Everyone was talking about it and I kept thinking I had missed the boat. I hate when there’s a secret and I don’t know about it. I’m just real nosy that way.

Anyhoo, by this time I had heard enough of what The Secret supposedly entailed to maintain my first thought that it all seemed like a bunch of common sense to me, but I’d give the DVD a whirl because it was Sunday and it was either that or I’d have to suffer through an hour of Desperate Housewives, which just seemed like a cruel and unusual way to end my weekend.

So into the DVD player it was popped and I sat back to have the secret of the universe revealed to me. First impression? A little bit too DaVinci Code for me, but I did like the backgrounds they used and being an historical writer, I liked the seal with the big S on it. What can I say? I’m a visual kind of gal. They go through the opening blurb of a woman telling how her life had dissolved to crap and she was looking for answers. (Why does no one look for answers before their life falls to crap?) She came upon this book and then suddenly we are catapulted into The Secret.

You have philosophers, visionaries, quite a few authors, psychologists, and even a few quantum physicists talking about The Secret and how it works and what using it will bring you and how you do it. So what is the Secret? Here it is in a nutshell:

The Law of Attraction: What you send out, you get back.

Now, I don’t know how everyone else was brought up, but my parents drilled it into me right from the get go (I’m pretty sure my Mom must have been chanting this when I was in the womb) that I could achieve anything I put my mind to. My Dad instilled in me a strong work ethic. You combine those two and you get a kid that grows up believing that anything is possible if you (1) believe it to be; and (2) work to get it.

Which apparently is The Secret.

I have to admit, I watched the DVD with skepticism. Just another bandwagon everyone was going to jump on. Like that whole Women are from Saturn, Men are From Uranus, or whatever it was called. A fad, a thing that will fade out fast and be replaced by the next big thing. And maybe it will. But the essence of what they are saying is solid, and it’s been used by successful people for eons.

But it isn’t a secret. It’s just common sense. So let me save you the $35 on the DVD or the book and boil it down for you.

The entire universe is made up of energy. That includes you. And thoughts give off energy, according to the quantum physicists with their fancy machines. This isn’t a new theory, scientific or otherwise apparently.

So, if you want to achieve something, you need to believe in it. You need to visualize yourself already having it. You need to feel what it would feel like to have achieved it. If you want a shiny new red car, close your eyes and imagine how it would feel behind the wheel. Imagine yourself whipping through winding roads, the wind in your hair. Believe the car will be yours. This sends the positive vibes (energy) out into universe and the universe in return brings it on back your way. On the flip side, if you walk around thinking you’ll never achieve this, you don’t deserve that, things like that don’t happen to you, then you send that out into the universe, and the universe responds in kind and that’s what you get back. You’ll also annoy all of those around you with your whining and negativity and end up desperate, bitter and alone. Hey, it could happen. The universe is a crazy thing.

They also say that it’s the way in which you think of it. So if you want to be debt-free, don’t think about your debt, think about being affluent. Otherwise all the universe hears is ‘debt’ and that’s what it sends your way. If it hears ‘affluence’ then that’s what it sends your way. Positive thinking over negative thinking.

So there you have it. The Secret. And I won’t charge you a thing.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go visualize a three book contract for six figures with a major publishing house. And Christian Bale arriving on my doorstep declaring his undying devotion. It's going to be a busy day.

Miscellaneous Thangs

I've found some great new pixs of Christian Bale. Yummy. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, most of this week has seemed to revolve around the documentary. I walked into the office on Monday and grabbed the telecaster that goes out province-wide in the newspaper. It fell open to page three and there was my mug staring up at me. There's something strangely surreal about seeing that. I think in that moment I realized it was really happening. Then the TV Guide interview aired. Then I went on Bravo's site and saw my picture there too. There's a strange weirdness to it, almost like it's happening to someone else. Who is this chick? And more importantly, what did she say on film and did she make a complete and utter fool of herself? Let's hope not, although I'm sure the editor appointment shows in vivid detail me being on the verge of hyperventilating and slithering beneath the table. Ah well, what can you do? Reality TV at its best.

But as much as the documentary has been foremost in my mind this week, it hasn't been the only thing. I've been beating my way through the plot issues I encountered with Finding Home, working things out and making some headway. I'm determined to be finished by the end of the month. I'm also determined to get three more agent queries out this week. I'll have to work through the weekend, but I need to get it done. The book isn't going to just jump on the shelves all by itself.

Once I do finish the first draft of Finding Home I get to return to the second draft of Desire & Brimstone. I am so excited to get back to this. I prepped it for a contest the other week and just reading the first thirty pages got me all excited about this series again. It's on my mind a lot and I can't wait to dive back in.

I'm also working up some ideas for a website design. I like what I have already, it works for now, but I want something a bit cleaner and more professional. I have an idea of what I want, I just need to solidify that. And of course then come up with the cash to do the revamp. I'm targeting next year but we'll wait and see. I am going to San Francisco next year for the conference and hoping to get a little extra time in to do some sightseeing.

And, for your viewing pleasure, might I suggest you check out Romance Novel TV. There's a great interview there with Julianne MacLean that's definitely worth a look.

And last but not least, if anyone loves art and craft whether to buy or sell, you should check out Etsy.com. I'm in the process of setting up a shop of my own to sell some of my knitting but there's lots of great stuff on there.

Zoom Zoom Zoom...

Check out my new wheels! Saaahhhweeeettt!

I was having separation anxiety about giving up my trusty Sunfire but my lease was up and I thought it best to get another new car under lease with all the warranties etc, just to save some cash on any potential nasty repair bills. But I figured I had another two months since my lease wasn't up until April.

Then my dealer called me yesterday. I had won a credit of $575 to use towards a new lease back in January, but it had to be used by February 28th. Did I want to come in and do a new lease now?

Now? The separation anxiety pang kicked in full force. Give up my Sunfire? My first car? My baby??

They tell me about the G5. I say that's nice. Tell me the price. Same as what I'm paying now thanks to the $575 credit and the $750 customer loyalty credit you get if you re-lease another Pontiac. And they'll nix my March car payment. Hmm...better car, newer car, same price and I save a month's payment. The separation anxiety begins to lessen. Uh...what colors do you have that in?

I was torn between the fusion orange and the blue streak metallic. I had planned on the orange, but the blue was so shiny...and it was ready to take home right then and there. Blue it is then. Wrap that baby up and lets motor.

So we did the deal, which didn't take too much. I nixed all the extras. Automatic windows? Pffttt. Roll down your window, it's good exercise, builds those biceps. Air conditioning? I live in Nova Scotia, not Atlanta. I can deal with the heat. I'm happy about the heat. If I want air conditioning, I'll build up my bicep and roll down the window.

So off I went, leaving my trust Sunfire behind and taking my new baby home. I miss my Sunfire. That was one good little car. But it was better that it left me like a band aid being ripped away. If I had to think about it too much I probably would have gotten all sentimental and weepy. This way, it happened so fast the decision was made and the new car was in my hands within a few hours.

And - before I left to pick it up, a lady from Bravo called me. They are getting a lot of great buzz about the documentary and are really excited. She said she watched it and loved it. Apparently the swords and the corset (minus the boob grabbing - thank God!) made it into the final cut. And get this - TV Guide wants to interview the three writers profiled in "Who's Afraid of Happy Endings?" They are calling me on my lunch break on Monday to do the interview over the phone. I kept thinking -- TV Guide? Wow...that seems completely surreal.

TV Guide interview, new car, and money from a car payment that no longer needs to be made. Hmm...a pretty good day all around!