Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Another Year Over

Say goodbye to 2008. It's been a wonderful year! Everyone, be safe tonight ringing in the new year. Have you made a list of your New Year's Resolutions yet? I still need to make mine. Ah, well. I still have a few hours left.

Take care tonight and I'll have a drink for you while I sing Auld Lang Syne!

AROUND 5 PM: It's SNOWING!!! I'm still in RI and we've got snow...lots of snow. I think it was supposed to be 6-8 inches. i'm LOVING it! Although, I don't have to drive in it or go out in it except to make some snowballs and possibly a snowman.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

A New Romantic Suspense Author!

Happy Release Day, Elisabeth! To the rest of you, if you like romantic suspense make sure to check Elisabeth's debut, which hits the shelves today!
Share image! Enter today!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Checkin' In

Hi! I hope all is well as you wait for the New Year to take over. Christmas has been...interesting for me. I got some wonderful gifts and have spent some wonderful time with family and friends. I got FIVE Barnes & Noble gift cards!!! Can you believe it? I was giddy as I opened the last couple. I thought about how if I worked it right I wouldn't have to actually PAY CASH for a book until the last quarter of 2009.

I haven't done much writing, but I've done a bit of brainstorming and I've been reading a lot. I've got about 6 pages on the new suspense that's going to take place in Scotland, No Surrender. Today I started reading Tall, Dark & Lethal by Dana Marton. It's my 5th book since leaving Austin. I tried to put it on the blog, but I can't for whatever reason. I'm hoping to get some more writing done in the next week, but if I don't that's okay too. Everyone needs a break once in a while.

My grandfather has been in a nursing home for a week now (after a week in the hospital) and he is continuing to fail. More is wrong with him every few days and he's starting to say things that make no sense. I've been to the nursing home six out of seven days. It's painful enough to watch him go through this, but to be next to my mom and know I really can't do anything to help her is a vicious pain. As for me, I'm all right. I know change is coming in 2009 and I'm just trying to wrap my head around all the possibilities. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and give an extra hug to those important people in your lives.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

I hope it's a wonderful day for all my blog friends. I hope Santa brings you everything you ask for. I have already received my best gift...your friendship. Thank you!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Holiday Travels

I've spent the last few nights watching the Bourne movies as I've revised my manuscript. I mentioned yesterday that Danger was done. By the time you read this, I will have consumed a few Guinness beers and sent my manuscript to my AWESOME CP. Danger will be out of my mind, but I don't think this one will ever be out of my system.

And yet now I'm on my way to RI for Christmas. My grandfather got out of the hospital on Saturday and went straight to a nursing home. He's better, but not well. I'm just thankful I'll get to spend some more time with him. My oldest brother called and made plans to visit with me during my 2-week visit. One of my best friends will be joining my family for dinner. Later this week I'll visit with my aunt, uncle, cousin and cousin's wife (who's pregnant!). In my suitcase, I have notes for Broken Promises and the Scottish suspense, LOTS of warm clothes and 6 romance books. There will be no day job talk or work until I get back to school.

I'll get online when I can and check e-mails and blogs. Until we "meet" again, take care, stay warm (or cold...yes, this is especially for you, Tez!), and enjoy the season.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Um...What Does This Mean?

My favorite show (The Unit) is about to come on with a new episode and I really don't want to watch. I'd much rather follow the insanity my hero and heroine are forced into in Danger!

I'm Done!!!!!

Woohoo! I JUST finished the revisions to Danger! I'm in that "I'm so excited because I'm surely a genius" stage. I LOVE this feeling! I'm going to run some errands and start packing for my trip to RI and then this afternoon I'm going to reread the entire manuscript for any last minute changes. Then it's off to my CP and I get to celebrate...and start pulling Broken Promises together (or play around with the Scottish suspense that my muse is reminding me I have).

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Check This Out!

My blog friend Elisabeth Naughton has her first romantic suspense coming out this month and she's having a contest to spread the word. It's kinda fun, so if you've got a minute or two in between shopping, baking and wrapping have a look.
Share image! Enter today!

Rollin' Along

The start to my vacation has been WONDERFUL! I worked for a few hours at the day job yesterday, but then I came home early afternoon and worked on Danger for hours. Have you noticed the Danger progress meter? It's looking pretty good, if I say so myself! It's still going to be tough to finish the revisions today with all the Christmas shopping I still have to do, but I really want to finish Danger today. My plan is to reread the entire thing tomorrow to make sure it flows and all my "t"s are crossed and my "i"s are dotted.

I'm really excited to keep writing once I get to my Mom's. I thought about taking a break from writing for the next 2 weeks, but then I realized I've virtually had a 2 month break since the day job wouldn't let me do much on my manuscript. So I'm going to take advantage of the school vacation and I'm going to write, write, write! My muse, Caitlin, is VERY happy about that! She's got tons to share with me. I can feel it!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Whhheeeeeeee!!!

I'm FREE! I got a couple more wonderful gifts, my 7th graders did an AWESOME job on their play and now I'm free for the break! Well, okay. I've got to go in for a few hours tomorrow, but it'll be an easy day. I was going to go Christmas shopping this afternoon for a bit, but the weather is foggy and drizzly. So I'm staying home with my Christmas music, my cup of tea and my manuscript!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Thoughts & Prayers

If you're the praying type, please say a prayer for my grandfather. If praying isn't your thing, then consider keeping him in your thoughts. He's 89. We joke that he's got 9 lives because he's had some close calls in his life and he's managed to survive.

Last weekend he went into the hospital and he's still there. Each day they talk about releasing him, they find something else wrong. He's always been a very proud man and going through this has been very difficult for him. It hurts my heart what it's doing to him and to my mom who is an only child.

Early But Not So Bright

Good morning! (It's cold, dark and dreary here, hence the title of the post.) I'm very excited and I wanted to share it with you. Nothing earth-shattering. Just that school is almost out for the holiday!!! I have today and a half day tomorrow, and neither day has any real teaching in it. Kids making up work, packing up the portable for the move, our Christmas party, the 7th grade play of their version of A Christmas Carol. I'm almost done my grading for the semester. I should be able to finish in an hour when I get home tonight. Then guess what? I get to work on Danger!!!! THAT'S what I'm so excited about. Ok, I guess I better finish getting ready for work and head out. I'll catch you later. Have a wonderful day!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Word Woes

Well, it's definitely a Word thing. I can open other applications on the computer and obviously I can still get on the internet. So I'm e-mailing important documents to myself and my friend/ computer expert is trying to arrange a time to help me reinstall Word before my vacation.

In the meantime, my campus is moving to the main school campus. (We've had separate campuses for about a year now.) So we have to pack everything and take valuable items out of the classroom for the move at the end of this week. Guess what I get to bring home? The PC in my room! So, if nothing else I'll be able to work on Danger's revisions (you know, all the revisions I've done by hand over the last week or so AND the last 2 chapters AND the Epilogue). I desperately want to finish it up and e-mail it to my CP just so I can have a true vacation and not worry about it over the holidays. (No, that time will be devoted to reading and working on one of the other two stories.)

But what did I do tonight after dinner? I did work for school, work that I could put off until next week. I finished reading the book I'm assigning 6th grade for break and then I started reading the book for 7th grade. This could easily be done AFTER Danger's revisions. Yes, friends, it's true. Tonight, I was guilty of procrastinating. I know, it's a shock since I've been doing well about NOT procrastinating, but the queen has to retain her title, right?

Sunday, December 14, 2008

I'm Back, Baby!

Yay to my friend who's a computer GENIUS! She played with some buttons, read some instructions on the computer and there ya go! Although, I'm afraid to turn the computer off now.... Maybe not until I go away for Christmas.

The first thing I did when I got on the computer was to back up all my manuscripts, notes, synopses and queries. I won't lose anything important! I won't!

The next thing I did was cruise through some of my blogging buddies' blogs to catch up on what I've missed. Let me tell you, I realized just how much time I spend on the computer and how much time I put into blogging. Hhhhmmm, maybe in the new year I'll limit my blogging time and concentrate on...oh, I don't know...WRITING???

I'll be chatting at you more this week as my workload at school decreases. YAY! I'm off now to continue grading papers.

LATER: Too good to be true. I can use the internet, but I can't go in and do anything with my word documents. Sigh. Good thing I backed EVERYTHING up this time!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Almost....

Almost... done with school for this semester. I'm still hoping to get a bunch of grading done today and tomorrow.

Almost... done with my Christmas shopping. I've got a bunch of places to go today and I think it'll only be a few more nights next week of shopping. Then I can relax!

Almost... done being without my home computer!!! A friend of mine who used to work for a computer company is coming to my house tomorrow to get my computer working again! I can't thank her enough! I'll post from home as soon as I can! (Um, enough exclamation points???)

Almost... done reading one of the books I'm assigning for vacation homework. Every teacher is assigning a book for her class. I decided to read all 3 of the books I assigned. It's only right, after all, that I know what the kids are reading.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

And So It Goes...

Still without my home computer, still no sign of getting it fixed anytime soon. Spent the last 3 days in Washington, DC for a work conference, which renewed my enthusiasm for teaching. (JUST what I needed!) Got a school holiday program tonight, babysitting tomorrow night and I'm going to work like a dog this weekend to grade and record everything I have so that I can start to relax for the holidays!

During my Washington trip, I read one Harlequin Romance book about Christmas and I managed to revise chapter 6 & 7 of Danger AND I started revising chapter 8!!! (Hhmmm, maybe that has a part in my good mood today too!) I hope all is well with you. I'm checking blogs when I can but not leaving messages. I'll keep you updated on the computer...stuff.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Computer In ICU

Well, I went to work on my revisions last night and the computer was acting kinda funny. So I shut it down. And now I can't get back in. It won't accept my password. Reverts back to my old password and then won't accept that either. The box for entering the information shakes. And of course now I can't check e-mails or get to ANY of my documents. And of course I'm not one of those who learned her lesson about backing up stuff the LAST time this happened! I'm afraid to do anything in case I ruin whatever chance I have to retrieve my documents.

But a couple days before I did e-mail to myself my query and synopsis for Danger. I also e-mailed the last revied version of Danger right after I sent my Golden Heart entry. So all is not lost....

I'll keep you updated...

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Christmas is A-Comin'!

I'm in the Christmas spirit! I started my shopping. I've written some cards and plan to write the rest tonight. Yesterday I pulled out the decorations and started putting them up around the house. I found and am LOVING my Celtic Christmas music. Naturally I watched the cartoon version of the Grinch the other night and tonight is Rudolph! My 7th graders have written their own version of A Christmas Carol (my favorite story of all time!) and we're practicing it so they can perform it during our campus Holiday Party in 2 weeks. I love everything about this holiday season and I intend to enjoy every minute of it! Except for the HUGE commercialization of the holiday (which I don't allow to interfere/ruin my holiday), what's not to love about a season of giving?