February 15, 2010 - President's Day

Gotta love 3 day weekends, especially coming off the last two weeks of MY life. No wait, make that the last 6 weeks.

First was the last gasp of my Presidency for the Gothic Romance Writers, getting the Board filled in and passing on membership information and cleaning up the Yahoo site. Then came the LAST gasp of my Vice Presidencey's Love & Laughter contest work for the RWA/NYC chapter. Single-handed is so not the way to do the contest, but there I was, every day returning the 27 (record number) of entries to contestants with their judging and commentary sheets. No artist I, then the creation of the Winner's Certificate for her entry - which, if I do say so myself was simply stunning and NOT riddled with hearts and flowers, which is not my thing at all. Then I had to attend the last meeting to hand it out, say goodbyes (although no one seemed interested in saying goodbye, so I just went drinking with Maria and Lis). That weekend would have wound up so much better EXCEPT my oil burner went on the fritz on Sunday evening. Much sturm und drung and having to use a personal day on Monday after NO sleep Sunday night, the oil burner was repaired and that week ended up being just super busy at work. Did I write? Edit? No.

Then came the next weekend. Monday, not bad. The usual overwhelming workload. A super snow storm loomed on the horizon, giving me angst about getting to work on Wednesday. THEN on Tuesday I left my backpack on the train. It would not have been much of a loss, though I love the backpack, but it had all my BILLS in it (personal identity? ID theft?). I leapt off the bus to run back to Penn Station to get it - and got squished between the bus, which just took off, and a construction barricade. A protuberance on the bus slammed into my shoulder and I look like The Rock used it for a heavy bag. Green and yellow and blue from shoulder to elbow and hurts like the Dickens. I raced around like a madwoman trying to locate the bag to no avail. Frantic, I had to go home and then came the snow.

Bam. 17 inches. I shoveled like a robot all day long, 8 episodes from 9 AM to 8 PM. And then 6 inches fell after that. So, I lost a PTO day and still had to get up early and slog through the piled up white stuff. Writing? Editing? Nah.

Thursday arrives and I crawl to work. NYC has no discernable snow, though LI is a white freakin' wonderland. I checked at the Lost & Found in the AM - futiley as it turned out - but just when I thought I was on the brink of the "last straw" scenario, they called and said they'd found my bag.

YAY!

Going home after picking it up and finding all intact, did I write? Nope. Too weak with relief and exhaustion after the adrenalin and besides my shoulder hurt like a Mother.

Friday, I got through the day weak with relief and it was a hugely busy day so getting on the train at end of day was like being freed from a kidnapper.

BUT - I wrote. I read. I edited. I brainstormed.

Saturday - nothing. Exhausted, napped, cooked (great beef stew, BTW) and tried to recuperate.

Sunday - food shopping, bought a Nook and several titles (very cool, by the way and I actually got it up and running with no help from the dimwitted Nook "expert" at B&N). Nice long bath with epsom salts and then I slept from 9:30 to 9:20 AM this morning. Writing? Editing? Revising? Guess again.

So there you have it. It's President's Day and I have the "gotta go back to work Sunday blahs" only a day later. Another snow storm is on the way (lesser amounts - 2-5 we hope, we hope, but they say sleet and rain, which makes the snow heavier and my trees/bushes are already screaming for mercy.).

I've got a curry chicken dish to make for dinner. I have 1 load of laundry in in the vain hope that the 40 degree and sunny (for now) day will dry at least a few loads. The rest will have to hang around the living room/bathroom to dry, because I am OUT of work clothes.

BUT - I will be reading and editing and revising today. For sure. I've made it through 6 weeks of hideousness. The holidays took it out of me and my exultation that, on Jan. 1, I'd be free, was a vain hope. But now I am. The contest is over and everything's handled. The RWA chapter responsibilities are over and done. My Saturdays are free. Work is getting handled and I'm getting used to the stress of working for some of the busiest, and most exacting people in the office.

I've caught up on my sleep and while my housecleaning is lagging behind (Like it's still at the starting line) I'm getting there. And I've got vacation scheduled so I have something to look forward to (including Spring, btw).

So, today I'll be pulling out my MS and gathering the collections of printouts and all those revisions and I'll be prepared to have a fine-tuned first three chapters this week. Plus a serious outline of where I need to improve my scenes, my worldbuilding, my characterizations and then comes the big day:

March 13 - when I go to the Liberty States Conference and pitch my book! I don't know who I got for my editorial and agent choices - hopefully all of them! If not I'll get at least one. And then when I come back - if there has not been a request, then I'll begin my query process to the list of publishers I've already made, none of whom are attending Liberty.

Spring is on the way! My book is in great shape though it does need refining. I'm going to be making my very first submission before long and I've overcome a few weeks of hell.

Bloody but unbowed - definitely battered and bruised - but I made it through.

What did you say?

Oh, right.

So sit down and start writing fool!

February 7, 2010.

The Northeast missed being whalloped by the storm that dumped 2 - 3 feet of snow south from southern NJ through the mid-Atlantic. There's another predicted for Wednesday, though, so I can only hope we'll be that lucky again, especially since the LIRR has commented that they will cease all operations if there's more than 10 inches of snow - to avoid having another incident with a stuck train (but stranding millions of passengers in NYC would be OK? Sheesh. Talk about excessive ...).

Despite the bountiful sun today it's still pretty darn cold and after attending my last NYC RWA chapter meeting yesterday, I've got just today to get all my errands and chores done. BUT I feel a sense of freedom, having delivered the certificate to the Love & Laughter contest winner, which ends my 2009 VP responsibilities, and is the last of all my RWA chapter responsibilities (that have overwhelmed me for the past 3 years).

So today is the first day on which I feel that I can focus, solely, on my own work. Having gotten my first novel completed on December 30, 2009, I am now heading into revisions and re-writes. Once all the running around (food shopping, picking up Mom's meds, and repairing the shower - I swear, I wish they had Rent-A-Guy so I could just pay for one to come over and do things like that. I don't need a plumber - ka-CHING - just a pair of capable hands and that Y chromosome.)

For now - looking forward to focusing on me, me, ME. And getting my urban fantasy baby all dolled up to send out.