What do I really think about Bikini Girl? The Dangers of Silicone Valley

Top ten reasons were-llamas (Oh, yeah. They're real.) are the coolest shape-shifters ever.

Top Ten Reasons Why Katy Rocks:

1. She knows kung fu. I mean come on, how cool is that?

2. She's unfailingly loyal.

3. She has excellent taste in music.

4. She sends me pics of zombie stilettos.

5. She has an incredible imagination and the dedication necessary to hone talent into treasure.

6. Her laugh is contagious.

7. There's nothing she wouldn't do to help a friend.

8. She has a sense of adventure and isn't afraid to use it.

9. She's honest, no matter what.

10. She is one amazing, incredible, invaluable friend.

Love you, Katy!! :)

How do you force your characters to do the unthinkable? Toss a bull into the orchard.

1. Apparently, I'm posting to LJ more like once a month instead of once a week now. *shrugs* You know where to find me if you want updates on my crazy life. *grins*

2. I watched my Tivoed episode of Lost last night and cried at the end. This season is nothing short of WOW.

3.  I'm busy organizing a writer's retreat for the southeastern Pixies and I think I found the perfect place.

4. Though how I came to be wearing the organizer's hat when I rarely remember to charge my cell phone is a mystery to me.

5. I wonder if unicorns were really as pure as legend makes them out to be.

6. Seems like they're equipped with a pretty perfect weapon for disembowelment.

7. I truly detest the smell of cooked country ham.

8. It's nearly as bad as green beans.

9. The kittens are delightful and follow me everywhere.

10. I'm doing last tweaks to SF's ending before sending it back (once again) to Holly. Hopefully, I'll nail it this time.

11. This list lived up to it's name. :)

My beautiful cat died this morning around 4 a.m. She held on much longer than I thought she could, but she was always a fighter. I miss her more than I can say.

You're an incredibly strong, loving, and generous woman and I hope today is absolutely wonderful!

So, I constantly forget to post here because I'm always posting on The Last Word but tonight I thought I'd push myself to write a different post for LJ so I can kinda, sorta keep up with you all. (You notice that even though I've lived in the South for almost 6 years now and even sometimes say "ya'll", I WILL NOT use it in my writing. I have to cling to what few standards I have left.)

Tomorrow is my birthday. I turn 35. I absolutely don't feel that old. Actually, I don't think 35 is old. I think the decade of my 30's rocks. I know myself better, I'm less concerned with that angsty early 20's stuff, I love where I'm at, and I still have the energy to do whatever I'd like to do. Also, I'm not facing menopause. All of that = win.

Today, I received several birthday cards in the mail from friends. One local, and two of my online CPs. If you'd asked me a few years ago if I thought some of my best friends would be people I met online and rarely, if ever, saw in person, I'd politely ask you if you'd smoked crack for breakfast. Now, I'm grateful. The cards lifted my spirits and made me smile. They reaffirmed that friendships happen in unlikely places and that no matter what, I'm never alone.

So, tomorrow I will wake up feeling blessed as I hit the halfway point in this decade of my life. I have family who love me, dreams to chase, and friends who remember to send me cards even though they know me well enough to know that while I will have bought their card early, it will most definitely arrive late. Very late. =)

Thanks for the friendship!

I used your first sentence in my latest "Get Me Started" blog entry. =) Nice sentence, btw. Thanks!

Shadowing Fate is officially finished!!!!

Three major revisions later...it's a strong manuscript, fast-paced, suspensfeul and fun and I'm satisfied. I'm sending it out tonight to the four agents who've requested it and then it's off to bed. I think I've slept a total of seven hours the last three days.

So, raise some cyber champagne for me and think good thoughts and I send it out to agents. =)

1. I'd like to go an entire day without hearing anything political. Not that yesterday wasn't momentous on several levels, but man am I tired of the frenetic discussions and the belief that it's okay to be disrespectful to each other if we believe differently.

2. That being said, I've reserved judgment on the election results. I wasn't a fan of either candidate (McCain's Vietnam heroism notwithstanding) and Obama needs to prove to me that he will live up to his rhetoric rather than fall back on his fairly spotty record.

3. We'll see in a few years what change he brings us. I'm really hoping it's good.

4. In other news, I've decided the undergarment industry could do with some "Change We Can Believe In" campaigns of their own.

5. For starters, I'd like at least one company to realize that gravity is a harsh mistress who attacks more than just the breasts.

6. Furthermore, my breasts are not the only things than need lifting and separating.

7. There's the matter of my derriere.

8. Also, I believe I'm passing the point where the lifting and separating of my breasts is any kind of solution at all.

9. Separation is no longer a problem. It's corralling them both into a semblance of their original position and then holding them there that causes difficulty. And I don't need a garment that promises lift. I need one that is prepared to hoist.

10. I need NASA to take on the undergarment world. I figure, if NASA can master g-force and rocket thrust and break through our atmosphere and defy gravity, they ought to be able to design a bra that makes me look like my breasts aren't going south for the winter.

11. Perhaps they could use some sort of pliable metal so that I'm not only hoisted into position, I'm not in danger of catching a stiff breeze and poking out the eye of someone behind me as my breasts fly willy-nilly over my shoulders.

12. That is all.

I've had my head buried in SF revisions for the past two months. I added depth to the characters, OMG to the conflict, and rearranged stuff. Sent chunks out to CPs and got feedback. Waited to send bigger chunks to other CPs to get big picture take (actually, I haven't sent it out to big picture CPs yet, but it's coming, Katy.)

Then, today, I heard back from one CP, whose opinion I respect, and she didn't get the rearranging. At all. We discussed it and she confirmed what I'd begun to fear - I rearranged a bit TOO much.

Dang it.

Now, I have to re-rearrange and edit a few chapters because of it and still write the last three scenes. *sigh* This is stressful to me, though I'm not sure why. I have it all listed, in order, I know exactly what to do. I've opened a new doc and I'm copying and pasting chapter by chapter, editing and rearranging as I go. I really want to finish it by Sunday night so I can send it out for a quick read through and then get it to agents who've asked for it. I told them they would have it by next week.

Okay, deep breath and off to write/rearrange/edit/beat my head against a desk.

It's that time of year again. No, I don't mean ghosts and ghouls and candy galore. (Hey! That sounds much better than Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!) I mean, it's time for my yearly You Get Me Started creative writing exercise on The Last Word.

Here's how it works:

1. You think up a cool, funny, interesting, or challenging first sentence. (no profanity, blood and guts are fine)

2. You leave it in the comments section on this post.

3. I use it to produce a piece of short fiction.

It's fun and last year, my best first sentence entries came from my LJ crowd! So, keep up the tradition. Head over and leave me a first sentence. I'll let you know when your piece is up.

WOW!!!  I got my Pepper's Apothecary goodies and am officially in love with your stuff. My mom is in town and loves the lotion too. I can't wait to brag about you on my blog and hopefully drive more sales  your way.  And thanks for the body spray! ;)  Love, love, love it all!

And now, to give thanks for:

1. My boys, who challenge me daily to rise above who I thought I was and become someone better.

2. My hubby, who fixes vacuum cleaners and listens to me rant about characters instead of watching his tv show.

3. Wii fit, even though the little bugger's "Oh!" of surprise every time it weighs me irritates me, still I'm working out once or twice a day now and that's cause for celebration.

4. That my current manager found a way to give me day hours at a guaranteed rate of pay that make further job hunting unnecessary and give me a low stress environment with people who understand I'm a mother first.

5. For really excellent writing from my soon-to-be published friends. (Wow, Kerry!!)

6. Stilettos and sexy fall shoes (that I can't afford, but whatever)

7. My church and my friends there who roll up their sleeves and dig into the lives of those around them and truly CARE.

8. Friends who accept phone calls in the middle of the night.

9. High Empress of All Things Awesome - Katy

10. nomadicdragon

11. Imagination

12. Halloween decorations

13. The hard times are temporary in the grand scheme of things.

Today I'm thankful for:

1. My super cool lj family (even if I rarely post at the moment!).

2. Critique partners who are solidly in my corner.

3. My beautiful, challenging, wonderful kids.

4. That the jerk who sexually harassed me at work is now gone.

5. J.J. Abrams

6. Pie. Almost any kind.

7. My husband, who totally supports me in anything I do.

8. The music on my ipod (and my friend Paul who always gets me what I want).

9. That I can feel fall weather creeping toward us. (Fall is my favorite time of year.)

10. My cat, who acts superior, but follows me around all day and sleeps next to me no matter where I end up.

11. Last, but no where near least, the men and women who serve in our armed forces and their families who all make sacrifices that humble me.

So the media, the blogosphere, and apparently America in general are buzzing about the revelation that Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter is pregnant. Google the girl and a host of articles appear. Political pundits chew up the story and spit it out, wringing every last scintillating detail onto their page. Bloggers speculate that perhaps Sarah's fifth child was really the result of her daughter's first pregnancy, never mind the obvious idiocy of anyone who thinks a GOVERNOR could somehow fake a pregnancy and delivery without political enemies raising red flags.

Has everyone lost their minds? A 17 year old girl is facing an unplanned pregnancy. Happens every day to girls from strong families, broken families, conservative backgrounds, liberal backgrounds...happens every single day. Speculation about this girl is a disgusting rubber-necking that sullies anyone who jumps on the bandwagon and tries to make one girl's situation somehow relevant to a political contest.

I don't care about Sarah's daughter. I don't care that she's pregnant. Seriously. How in the world does it have anything to do with whether the McCain/Palin ticket can deliver renewable sources of energy? A sensible end to the Iraq war? Protection from additional terrorist attacks against us? Strengthening our education system? Bolstering the economy?

These are the things that matter. These are the things I want to know. So the daughter of a Republican Vice Presidential candidate got pregnant out of marriage...so what? The daughter of the last Vice President was gay. The President before him got his jollies with a seriously young intern and a box of cigars.

So. What.

I invite those who wish to turn a teenager's private drama into their own political fifteen seconds of fame to go play on the nearest train tracks. I don't care what party you support. Children are off-limits.

I'm thinking of switching our family over to mostly whole foods. I mean, we already eat salad every night and snack on carrot sticks, apples, bananas, grapes, and berries during the day and I buy whole grain breads and pasta, but now I'm considering moving in a more dramatic direction toward the days before we had so many freakin' preservatives holding our food together for us.

My friend has a book called The Maker's Diet which basically has you making everything from scratch. It's pretty effective in helping those with Crohn's Disease and Irritable Bowel. I have a child with IBS so that's attractive to me.

What isn't attractive is the massive amounts of time it would take to make everything from scratch. I barely keep my head above water now...

I think I'll start phasing things in, getting used to each stage before moving to the next.

Here's what I'm doing for September:

1. Baking my own sandwich bread. Most of the bread sold in the store has high fructose corn syrup (and often sugar and sucrose too!) which is ridiculously unnecessary and very unhealthy. I have a bread machine. I'll have to check to see if I can find bread mixes without high fructose. I'm sure I can. So, I'll start making the kid's sandwich bread at home.

2. Investing in Splenda. I don't like the idea of using sugar substitutes because they're nothing but chemicals but my son can't have sugar. So, I'm going to buy Splenda and unprocessed sugar (I think it's called birch sugar?? I'll check at our whole foods store.) to use in recipes.

3. I'm going to make my own soup this fall rather than buy canned.

Those are my three new habits. Once I get those down, I'll add some more. My goal is to have as little canned/processed/preserved stuff in my pantry as possible.

1. How's that for a title that has nothing to do with the post?

2. My oft-neglected lj is going to have a sporty little list of randomage to take it through the weekend.

3. McCain just chose Sarah Palin (maverick governor of Alaska) as his running mate.

4. I've admired Sarah Palin for a long time. She takes on the big boys (oil companies, her own party members, opponents, you name it) and wins.

5. She's actually the first name thrown into this political circus that I'm authentically excited about.

6. Yesterday sucked (or drained...). If you want to know why, read this post.

7. I'll be working many hours this weekend but at least I have Monday off.

8. I want a pair of camouflauge stilettos.

9. And a really cool movie poster of the Dark Knight, featuring the Joker, of course.

10. My brain is trying to recover from yesterday, produce 2000 words today on SF, and gear up for a night of waiting tables so 10 is all I can manage. =)

Happy Labor Day!

I can't believe it's almost September. Somehow, that doesn't seem quite right. This summer was crazy busy (and sometimes just crazy) and I welcome the routine of the school year where I actually have time to myself to get my writing done and the house will stay clean until 4 pm when my boys get off the bus. =)

I've decided I need to be a more disciplined person. That doesn't come easily to me, overall. I can do it in small doses (like with my writing or in keeping up with the boys' schoolwork) but mostly, I just live life by the seat of my pants.

That's not a bad thing, really. I'm spontaneous and tons of fun but I'm also sporadic and often irresponsible without meaning to be.

So, to help me be more disciplined, I'm listing my goals for the month of September:

1. Finished editing and polishing SHADOWING FATE and get it into the hands of the agents who've requested it.

2. Do not buy a box of Hot Tamales (which are of the devil). For any reason.

3. Work out three mornings a week.

4. Clean out the closets and surprise Goodwill with boxes of goodies.

5. Write two short stories (I don't even know if I remember how!) and outline TWISTING FATE.

6. Or, if outlining doesn't work (as it rarely does for me), just jump into TF and start writing.

7.  Keep my checkbook balanced and save $400 toward Christmas.

That's about all I can handle for a to-do list. =) The longer the list, the more pressure I feel and the easier it is to just chuck the entire thing out the window. 

Off to work on #1.