I have been a busy little beaver. Entering contests, preparing a workshop for our chapter meeting in June, getting the house ready for the BF and his boy to move in has kept me hopping. I’m looking forward to a little down time but there’s no vacation for me until the first of July.
In the meantime I decided not to waste the momentum. I sat down and made a writing plan for the next six months. By the end of the year, if I can stick with the plan, I will have 4 completed manuscripts to market in the big bad world. I will also have 2 first drafts ready for revision and I also have the outline of the remaining books in the two series I have on the go.
I have a week off the first of August to spend with the BF and his boy in a cottage on PEI. My hope is to take a stack of books with me to try and put a dent in my ever growing TBR pile. It would help if I didn’t keep adding to it, but it’s not my fault. People keep writing these great books that scream to be read! What’s a girl to do?
Speaking of great books to be read, Jennifer Haymore’s new book – A Hint of Wicked, came out on June 1st and I picked that up on Wednesday. Jennifer and I met online a few years back when we both belonged to the HisFic Critique group and we managed to meet face to face, along with another critique partner, Christine Wells, when we all converged on San Francisco for the conference. I’m so excited to see Jennifer's first book hit the shelves and it sounds like its going to be a great read! I can’t wait to dive into it.
But that will have to wait. For now, I have a To Do list the length of my arm and this afternoon I am taking off work to finish up my gardens (finally!). Then I get to start reorganizing rooms, purging and tossing and moving things to make room for the BF’s furniture.
I have a feeling the busy isn’t going to stop any time soon…
First, on the writing front, I have finished the first round of revisions on Salvation Falls and have started the read through. I’m hoping to have the manuscript ready to send out by the end of the month. I’m considering a couple of contests as well but we’ll wait and see. Money is a bit tight for the next few months so I have to pinch some pennies and watch where I do my spending.
The historical novel, The Tangled Garden, is not progressing as quickly. I thought I could research while revising the other one, but I seem to keep forgetting how many hours are in a day and that no matter how much I want to get done, I still need to go to work and sleep. So for now, rather than overload my plate and feel frustrated, I’ve decided to get Salvation Falls and Invitation to Scandal out the door first, then settle in to work on The Tangled Garden. My mother reminded me the other day that I’m always trying to jam my entire life into five minutes and maybe I should just try tackling one thing at a time. Sometimes mother does know best…
Meanwhile, the sickness that invaded the other week is being beaten back with a vengeance and so we are all very, very thrilled about that, not to mention breathing a collective sigh of relief that things are going so well.
The puppy is also doing well. I get regular reports from my boss who said the pup, now named Bailey, has this annoying quirk where when Boss tells her no, she sits down and argues with him. He is convinced I trained her to do this. I did not bother to disabuse him of that notion.
The snow that hit us the other day is pretty much gone. I can’t wait for the weather to improve so I can finally get into my gardens. The past couple of years I’ve been horribly lax in tending to them (I have quite a few despite a relatively small yard). And now the lack of attention is beginning to show. Which is a shame because they used to be quite spectacular.
The garden at the bottom of the deck steps is going to be completely revamped. The tree I hate. It’s ugly and overgrown. It’s coming out. The grass in front of the garden is a nest of stupid ants every year. Something must be done about that. And the walkway and the weeds…sigh…so much work to be done.
And don’t even get me started on the stupid basketball court. JG wants to take a jackhammer to it and I’m not going to stop him. Have at it, I say. I never wanted the stupid thing and ever since the hurricane in 2005 the net has had a rather threatening lean to it.
The front garden I want to add some color to and maybe put out some baskets or flower boxes that hang off the step railing.
In a year or so, depending on the markets, JG and I are hoping to list my house and buy one of our own, so I want to get as many improvements done now to up the value and add curb appeal. Now if the weather will just cooperate, I can get to work…
I have been a busy little beaver. Entering contests, preparing a workshop for our chapter meeting in June, getting the house ready for the BF and his boy to move in has kept me hopping. I’m looking forward to a little down time but there’s no vacation for me until the first of July.
