FUN Friday

TGIF! Let's have some fun heading into the weekend.

Have I posted this one before? I can't remember...

This is for all my friends who own mutts. We've all wondered what exactly is in our dog. Well, the hubster doesn't. He only cares that Lily is a "good dog." It's always fun walking her - "Hey, is that a Weimeraner" (Um, never) "She's one of those blue pits, isn't she?" (Um, waaaaay too big by about 30 pounds) "She's a Lab, what?" (Well, she does have webbed feet so maybe but her ears aren't long enough and she's lazy) "Is she a mastiff?" (Definitely some of that in there) Maybe some day I'll get the test. But I don't know how accurate they are...

Dog DNA - watch more funny videos

This isn't funny. Zombies rarely are. But I am SO excited for Season 2!

Hide under the cars? WHAT? Um, NO.

KID FUNNIES:
Pre-school again this week. I had a four year old say, "Nice tail!" and when I turned around, he had Cooper's tail in his hands. We had just gone over where you can and can't touch a dog you are meeting for the first time, but I was so relieved that he wasn't talking about my tush that I let the teacher go over it with him again.

On Tuesday, a school booked us that 98% Chinese. They spoke Mandarin and I always enjoy listening to my presentation being translated into another language! In my very last class, I had one child named Jordan. His blonde hair and blue eyes stood out from his classmates. When everyone was seated, he became the spokesperson for the class.

"Hi, my name is Jordan and these," he says as he gestures all the way around himself, "are my friends."

"Wow, Jordan. You have a lot of friends."

"I do. They are all really nice. This is Sung. And that's Ying Ying. And this is Jun. And Chueng. Quon. Mei..."

The teacher had to interrupt him or he would have introduced me to all 23 of his classmates. It was so adorable!


I'm spending the weekend deep in rewrites - I have my post-it notes (color coded depending on character, plot, etc.) at the ready and my favorite pen! I'll mix in some great hour long workouts to get the blood flowing and brain pumping along with a lot of caffeine. That's my weekend! Broken up with a fun time on Saturday night with my Crit Girls!

What about you - what are your big weekend plans?

Wednesday Wishes

This is Wednesday leaning out of her cat tree. She may look like just your average gray tabby cat, but she has many skills. Most of these skills, she uses for The Good. Okay, 'most' might be a slight exaggeration. Wednesday is a good little kitty, though, at heart. She loves her family, loves her sisters, loves annoying those sisters and she also loves to grant wishes. Every Wednesday morning, I will rub the side of the cat house and summon our magic cat!

My Wednesday Wishes for the week:

1) Two Places at Once - I want to be able to be two places at once and be completely conscious in both situations. When I'm short on time, this would be extremely helpful. For example, Sunday - I had two grocery stores to go and an entire house to clean. Who wants to waste all that time when you could be READING? Yeah, me neither. It would be really helpful (not to mention extremely cool) if I could go to the grocery stores at the same time that I am at home cleaning the house! Think of all the things that I could get done! I could take a nap while I'm out for a run. Well rested AND toned.

2) A Pause Button - I can't tell you how many times I have wanted a remote control for life. To be able to rewind to those special days, fast forward past dental appointments...but this past week, I've really needed a PAUSE button. I'm blowing through my stack of books. I feel incredibly guilty just sitting around the house reading. I've even thought maybe I need to hang out with someone who has a cold so that I get sick and have a reason to sit around and read. I read The Dead and Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer in 24 hours to give an idea of my idleness. Yes, I taught this morning. But as soon as I got home, I was parked on the couch reading. I even turned down a nap to keep reading. So a pause button would certainly help my case. I wouldn't have to feel guilty spending the time rediscovering how much I love to read!

3) Help - This one is widespread and it's for all the areas affected by Irene. My best friend's parents are in New Jersey. They haven't had power since Irene swept through town. I can't imagine. Luckily, it's not too hot so they aren't suffering that way. But I'd love for them to have power. I can't imagine losing everything in a flood. So I wish comfort for those who have lost their homes and for those who have lost loved ones. I would have called this "Healing" but I wanted to include the people without power or food, which doesn't technically fall under that category. Hence, Help. Whatever Help people need.

What about you - what are your wishes for our magical cat?

Rediscovering An Old Love

SILO is in the hands of readers and I have to let it sit for a few weeks after I get notes anyway. My nightstand is...EMPTY! Gasp! How can that be? I'm not sure. I end every day reading. Some nights I stay up later than I should (thank you, Patrick Rothfuss). Between vacation and finishing up my first draft of SILO, it somehow slipped my notice that my TBR pile was dwindling.

I took a walk down to the library on Friday. It's funny that even as an adult, I get the same thrill leaving with an arm load of books. I got so carried away with excitement that I ended up with seven books. I realized at the desk that I still had to walk home with them. I managed to make it home.

As I was sorting through the stack at home, it hit me - I checked out the first book in six series. Oops. That was bright. Not a big deal if the series weren't already complete. But they are. I cracked open Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Wow. It sucked me. Depressing, hard read but addictive from the get go. I closed it this afternoon. I'll be headed back to the library in the morning to get the next two books in the series.

In the meantime, I'm cracking open Midnighters as soon as I'm done with this blog post. Or maybe Uglies. But Midnighters The Secret Hour is a BRAND NEW book at my library so when I open it, it has that new book smell. Very attractive to me. We'll see which book wins out.

I haven't enjoyed a weekend this much in awhile. Rediscovering my old love - reading. Devouring, really would be a better word. My goal is a book in two days. I have plenty of time while I'm letting SILO marinate!

What about you - what are you reading? What's on your TBR pile? Any "must reads" for me?

FUN Friday

TGIF! Let's have some fun as we're rolling into the weekend!

Dillon survived his first week of school! Here he was on his first day...

No pictures please! He's practicing for his days of dodging the paparazzi.











And, of course, it wouldn't be kindergarten without a backpack bigger than he is.








Now for the FUN part...

We all need to take a page from Jessica's book when we're feeling down on ourselves (which as writers sometimes happens).


And a little Henry Cho - What do you mean you've never heard of him? And he's CLEAN so I don't have to post a warning!



KID FUNNIES:

We're doing Early Education Centers right now so the kids are 4-5 years old. Some of my favorites lines:

"My gog loves my cats and my cats loves my gog." (This does not contain typos.)

"Ms. Jennifer, your dog is REALLY funny!"
"Yeah, he's really SUPER funny!"

"Ms. Jennifer, did you know my name is Micah?"
"No, I didn't."
"It is and I want to tell you a secret...(whispers)I am Spiderman!"

I bet you didn't know that crimefighter was still in Pre-School. Which is good for Sam Raimi. He'll have remakes for decades!


My YA Dystopian is DONE and out with my teen readers. Two are already done! I forgot how quickly they read (two days). I went to the library and picked up a STACK of books. I'll be diving into those this weekend. It's going to be a hot one so I'll be staying indoors. Crit Group with my girlz on Saturday night is about as wild as my weekend is going to be!

What about you - what are your plans for the weekend? Have a GREAT one!!

Wednesday Wishes

This is Wednesday leaning out of her cat tree. She may look like just your average gray tabby cat, but she has many skills. Most of these skills, she uses for The Good. Okay, 'most' might be a slight exaggeration. Wednesday is a good little kitty, though, at heart. She loves her family, loves her sisters, loves annoying those sisters and she also loves to grant wishes. Every Wednesday morning, I will rub the side of the cat house and summon our magic cat!


My Wednesday Wishes for the week:

1) Dillon - My poor nephew is terrified about starting school today. He's been so worried that he's not sleeping well. It's all he has talked about for two months now. I just want his first day to go astonishingly well. I want him to make instant friends, the teacher to fall as in love with him as we are and for him to want to go back again on Thursday (and the rest of the school year!).

2) A Magic Traveler's Mug - It fills with whatever beverage I want at the moment! All I have to do is SAY it! How cool would that be? So, on my way to teach tomorrow morning, I could say SKINNY VANILLA LATTE! because it's hot out at the moment and that would be a great way to wake up while cooling down. Then, in the afternoon while I'm running errands, I could say ICED GREEN TEA! and there it would be full of ice, sweating so that it's cool to the touch and overflowing with yummy green tea. Or even iced water! Whatever I want. How perfect would that be?!?

3) Mountains - I am such a mountain girl. When I'm up in the mountains, I feel such peace. When I'm gone from them, I feel stressed out. I told Erik this week we have to move to Washington. Oregon was my first choice until driving through it we realized that I'd need a prescription for sudafed and Erik wouldn't be able to pump his own gas. (Lily votes for Oregon, though. Everywhere we went, someone gave her a cookie. The dog gained almost 5 pounds in that state.) But I need green hills and pine trees and fresh air and trails to hike high up into lakes! It would be great in the meantime, though, if I could just open the front door and see this:

What about you - what are your wishes for Wednesday?

Venturing Off the Path

(warning: bad writer metaphor ahead)

I have to admit to liking to stick to the path when we're hiking. My husband is into adventure and has no problem wandering off into the brush. Or finding a side trail and deciding to take it to see where it leads.

I follow along, grumbling to myself. If we're bushwacking, my heart will be beating and I will squeal if anything I can't identify brushes my leg. So why do I follow him if it's so out of my character and not entirely enjoyable?

Because sometimes you find this...











If I had refused to venture off the first path, I would have missed out on that! It's beautiful and mystical and wow!

I go through the same struggle with my writing. I'm such a detailed person. I love lists. Detailed lists. For example, to go to the two grocery stores that I had to run to today, I made lists...writing things down as I went through my list of lunches and dinners this week. Then I went back through those and organized them by aisle. Starting from the right with my cough drops (a really weird addiction) and finishing in the freezer section. Detailed. Organized. Awesomeness.

When I write, I can tend toward the anal as well. I'm a plotter. I love my outlines. Detailed. Outlines. But I'm learning to be more flexible. I spend time on that detailed outline, but sometimes something happens when I'm doing the actual book writing...and GASP! it wasn't in that outline. Anywhere. An arrow will come flying at my antagonist that wasn't expected. She's suddenly on the run and I've got a whole new threat. I've learned to venture off that path and into the forest. Off that outline and into the pages, the story.

I have a confession to make...it's exhilirating! Not having the answers right there with me used to completely throw me off. I wouldn't allow it. Now, I do! And it's so much fun! I'm starting to get what you pantsers are all about. I'm LIKING it! Look out now!

What about you - do you plot or pants? Do you stick to the path or wander off it and see what you can find?

On Vacation

We're gearing up for a two week vacation and I'm finding there is so much to do to get ready!

Our first week will be up in the mountains where my book DARK FOREST is actually set. That's right, the riddles in the book lead to actual locations! How cool is that?

Anyway, because it's such a remote location, I have little room for error when it comes to packing. This has me a bit harried. Also, getting my second book SILO completed and into the hands of my readers before I leave. My teens have school starting right around the time that we'll be returning so they need it "like now!" to be able to make comments. So errands coupled with writing and getting things ready for the house/pet sitter is stretching me a bit thin.

I won't be posting until I get back. For now, I will leave you with some gorgeous pictures.

My dad walking on the road. Yes, we're hard core. We don't camp where there is asphalt!

The bridge that leads to some of the upper lakes. Cross over the deep...

A meadow that I managed to incorporate into my book. Isn't it gorgeous? But danger lurks behind the beauty!

This is a 4 mile hike with a steep elevation gain. Totally worth it for this beautiful lake!

Our second week will be in Sequim, Washington. We have friends that moved up there with their three dogs, added a fourth and bought a horse! We'll be relaxing at their lovely home when we're not out hiking and having grand adventures.

Lily will be hanging out with one of her first loves, Chopper. He's the gorgeous blue Cane Corso she's snuggling with there.

We'll be wandering paths like this that lead us to...

Places like this!

And one last amazing thing in anticipation of FUN Friday.

Hope everyone has a wonderful few weeks! I will see you all the middle of August and expect great news from you!!