Booking it orderly

 Okay, I haven’t booked through Thursday for a while, so I thought I would.

Do you use any of the online book-cataloguing sites, like Library Thing or Shelfari? Why or why not? (Or . . . do you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking to?? (grin))

If not an online catalog, do you use any other method to catalog your book collection? Excel spreadsheets, index cards, a notebook, anything?

I use Library Thing, but it’s more of a reading log than a place where I catalog books. So there’s a mix of what I own and what I’ve read and I haven’t tagged which is which yet. I guess I should do that someday.

In other news, what my kids want for Christmas that they’re probably not going to get:

  • Andrew: a lizard
  • Kyra: a real magic wand

How you got here

Here’s a few of the searches that brought people here: 

  • lots of writing about poor charity
  • Humpbacked lawyers

Seriously, people? What’s up with this. I’m pretty sure I’ve never blogged about lawyers, never mind those with humpbacks. And the other? My new motto: come for the (humpbacked) lawyers, stay for the self-pity.

In actual writing news, it looks like the Young Adult category for both the Golden Heart (unpublished) and the Rita (published) made their numbers. Every once in a while, I log into my RWA account and look at the contest entry page and gaze at my entries listed there. I know. I need a hobby.

Agent Donald Maass is letting you know what he’d like to see in a romance these days (I like the last one on the list–it’s a book I’d like to read, not necessarily write). Agent Nathan Bransford talks about December’s publishing coma. Agent Rachel Vater is getting back into blogging after switching agencies. She is already receiving queries for novels written during National Novel Writing Month. That would be last month. (Just reason 932 to hate NaNo. I’m still waiting for National Brain Surgery month. Think it will happen?)

And to end on a happy note, head on over to the Wet Noodle Posse blog. December is all about “The Call.” Mothers have birth stories, writers have call stories. There’s a mix of Golden Heart and SOLD! call stories (but not mine, since my GH call story is pretty boring).

Hibernation

So Andrew is at a Boy Scout movie weekend campout. Since the temperature is hovering slightly above and below zero, they’re not really camping–they’re sleeping in a lodge. It’s really a big slumber party with lots of boy movies, but since they’re boys, they can’t call it that. They’re camping. He’s due back sometime today.

Yesterday, Miss B and I hibernated. We got out the big fuzzy blanket and snuggled on the bed. I read an entire book. In one day! I haven’t done that in ages. We made brownies. We did venture out in the morning for ballet, but that’s all we did. Serious hibernation.

Today, I’ll have to do the laundry, at the very least, but it’s cold out with flurries in the forecast, and really, it looks like another good day to hibernate.

Miss B’s words to the wise for today: “You lose, you snooze.”

Actually, that sounds like a win/win situation to me.

Love songs, safety rules, and the Manwich

 Thank you for all the twoo wuv song suggestions. All of them considered, most of them serious contenders for Landon’s playlist. I’m sure iTunes has some sort of love song essential list as well, so I’ll waste time do research there. And M, you’re right: you’re a touch more country than Landon, but man, Hopelessly Devoted? So perfect.

And I’ll be requesting even more musical help (bet you can’t wait), but not right away.

In other news, last night, Kyra wanted help spelling something on a picture she’d drawn. I was cooking dinner at the time, assuming one can define cooking as: browning ground beef and adding Manwich sauce. Hey, the ConAgra site (the fine people who bring you this product) says it’s is a quick and easy one-pan meal the whole family loves. It’s not just a sandwich, it’s a meal.

Anyway, back to the drawing. I took a quick glance at it (due to stove, hot grease, and so on). A triangle, lots of red. What was it Miss B wanted me to spell?

No going by volcanoes.

Clearly a cautionary drawing. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

And hey, she’d already written no. But by far her favorite thing to write is this:

I love u
Mom
Daddy
Andrew

We have paper after paper covered with those words. I find them all over the house. Love notes from Miss B.

Had enough of silly love songs?

 I hope not. I’m in the market for your best, your gooiest love songs. Not sad ones, not somebody-done-somebody-wrong ones, not unrequited-love ones. I’m looking for songs such as Accidentally in Love by the Counting Crows and not Everybody Hurts by R.E.M.

This is just one of many lists I’m making during “downtime” before I tackle the third draft. Lists are a big part of MacKenna’s story. Believe it or not, I have a list of all the lists I need to fill in. (Because, no, they are not all filled in. There are some things you don’t do during the draft stage. Pondering every last song that could go on a list is one of them.)

The list I’m pondering now is Landon’s prom mix. I need a little help. I have and know a ton of songs. When I sit down to make a list? Mind, screen–both are blank.

So, I need your help. Landon needs your help. Now, he’s not a music genre snob. If a song fits the mood of his playlist, he’ll add it. However, he does have standards. There are certain principles one does not compromise.

So, gooey, happy, love songs. Keep in mind, this is also playlist MacKenna calls “songs to barf by.” She’s a romantic, that girl.

Ready? Bring on the love in the comments if you have a suggestion.

Winter wonderland

Winter. She is here:

wonderland.jpg

Yep, we’re digging out today.

And yes, we did go to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday. Amazingly (or perhaps not so), the only people there were people with birthday parties, so it was  quiet, or not so loud, at least. I’m glad we went, since Kyra was the first school friend to show up (a few more trickled in), but all the parties had low attendance. I chatted with the parents and read. The kids had a blast, won lots of tickets, got prizes.

A good time was had by all.

It’s the first day!

Kyra is very excited about the first day of December. While we shopped for Thanksgiving dinner, she picked out an Advent calendar, and I explained that we couldn’t start opening the little windows until the first day of December. Apparently, she’s been waiting ever since.

Plus! It’s snowing! Real snow, real, let’s stay inside, or bundle up the kids and send them outside, but we’ll watch them through the window kind of snow. We’ve already trekked through it once to ballet. Now, I’m wondering about the whole Chuck E. Cheese party. Is it bad enough we stay home? Do we brave the weather and venture out? We’re supposed to get six to ten inches.

I woke up this morning and it was so strange not to sit at the computer and start in on some sort of manuscript. I got nothing–at least at the moment. The plan is to take a month break from MacKenna, then I’ll work up a third draft. Then, maybe I can convince a few victims beta readers to review it.

Until then, I’m going to read: a lot. I have The Virginia Woolf Writers’ Workshop, Seven Lessons to Inspire Great Writing (we can only hope, no?), and of course, the holidays. I’m taking Kyra to the Nutcracker this year (well, Andrew and my mom too). I promised Kyra a “theater” dress, because you have to dress up when you go to the ballet. She wants something colorful, with hearts, flowers, diamonds, and who knows what else. If such a dress exists, leave it to the Marvelous Miss B to find it.

If wishes were naps

Today’s lunchtime fortune cookie fortune:

Your persistence will pay off soon.

Well, we can certainly hope. Of course, right now, I’d settle for pay off = nice long nap.

In other news, Kyra is invited to another birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. And here I am, with nothing to edit. And get this, the party is scheduled for 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Now, I spoke to the girl’s mother on the phone and the woman did not sound insane to me. Still. Five hours. At Chuck E. Cheese.

Everyone’s going to need a nap after that.

It’s all about me

 Jen was kind enough to think up some interview questions for me … and here I’ve been, sitting on them for ages. And sitting on interview questions isn’t all that comfortable or ergonomic. I recommend a chair. Okay, without further ado, my interview with … me.

1.     What has been the single most exciting thing since getting your agent?

Seriously? Every time I see her pop up in email, my heart kick starts. So the excitement = nonstop. In all honesty, while I know you got to write for yourself, do it because you love it, blah, blah, blah, I’d be lying if I said some industry validation didn’t matter. Even if none of this works out, it’s nice to believe I’m on the right track with this writing thing.

2.     What is a typical weekend like in terms of balancing the kids and the writing around your house?

Well, the last couple weekends haven’t been all that typical. Between line edits and pushing to get all of MacKenna into first person, and other crazy stuff, I’ve spent way more time on the computer than normal. Usually, I squeeze writing in when I can–early in the morning, when there’s a lull in the chaos, and so on.

3.     When are your best times of day to write and why?

Well, my worst time is the evening, when I’m tired, but I’ve written then. I’m a morning person, but I probably write more in the afternoon. I muse, and stew, and turn things over in my mind a lot. I guess I need to be awake for a couple of hours before things start working in my brain.

4.     What has been the most fun you’ve ever had as a writer?

I have a couple that qualify, and I can’t pick just one, so you get both.

I love the times when it feels like everything is working. Call it what you like, in the zone, inspired, whatever. And sure, if you’re even a tiny bit self aware, you know not everything is truly working. But the writing feels great; you don’t want to stop. If you exercise/run a lot, it’s similar to that endorphin high.

The other is working with Darcy. I remember the precise moment I knew we had something, when I read the master debater line and nearly fell out of my chair. I really love how Geek Girl’s Guide isn’t my story, and it isn’t hers, but Bethany’s. Something wonderful and magical happened. I even enjoyed the revisions and line edits. (Although, I’m not sure how Darcy felt about them. D? Have you recovered from me yet?)