blah, blah, blah

Blah, blah, blah... that's what I think my kids really hear when I speak to them. When my almost 8yr old got home from school, he immediately went into a fit. You see, his brother had a Happy Meal toy, and he didn't. Through the wails of "that's not fair," I attempted to explain to him that I had a toy for him too. It fell on deaf ears. I managed to locate a new, unopened Happy Meal Toy (totally forgotten about on an earlier visit) and tossed it to him. He stopped whining so quickly, you'd think he had an "off" button.

Half an hour later, I remembered that my second grader still needed to do his homework. He complied reluctantly, but then proceeded to argue with me about the directions written on the sheet and what his teacher told him. He told me that HE didn't need to do the work he missed at school when he stayed home sick on Monday. Sigh. He didn't finish those two sheets of homework until 8pm (yes i fed him dinner).

So, what about writing? Yes, uh, I've been doing that. I've been revising my novels in between childrens' illnesses, Cub Scouts, and school stuff. We are into a third major illness, but I hope it won't be as bad as the stomach bug last week.

And the illustrating... I'm still fighting the blank page syndrome with the illustration thing, but I plan to get over it. It would help if my art space wasn't in the chilly basement.

Plugging away

February is slipping away, and April is rapidly approaching. What's happening in April? I'm going to the Poconos for a conference. This time around, I'm taking the illustration workshop. So, therein lies the problem. I need to get a portfolio together. I have a few sketches. I just really need to sit down and focus now. If it weren't for this blasted cold...

My family is still sick. The kids are getting better, and my five-year-old returned to school today.

I'm not completely wasting my time though. I'm revising my one of my novels again. My other completed novel is evolving. And I'm in search of a better plot for one of my picture books.

Another Venture

Okay. I didn't quite make the word count for NaNoWriMo, but I have the beginning of a new story. I wrote more than my last attempt, so I feel as if I did accomplish something.

Right now, my family is battling the last bouts of a cold that kept my older son out of school for three days and hospitalized my younger son for a couple of days (in addition to missing school for a week). Finally, we are all shedding our germs in addition to copious amounts of snot. And even though the little one and I are still miserable, we are feeling much better.

I just realized something. My stupid cat was licking my germ infested bathrobe tonight. I wonder if cats can catch human illnesses.


So, what is my new venture?

I'm going to start studying illustration. I have an art degree, so I'm not stabbing at this blindly. In April, I'll be going to a conference in the Poconos. There, I will be taking an illustration workshop. In the meantime... it's practice, practice, practice...

Day 24 of NaNoWriMo

I'm almost at the end of the 24th day, and I'm only at 28,181 words. I should be at 40,000. I had a few days where I didn't contribute anything to the word count because I was working on a contracted writing project.

November isn't the healthiest month for my family. We've had snargly noses, coughing, and lots of orange juice. I've pumped garlic into the family at least one meal a day (if I can). Okay, maybe our blood could ward off a few vampires, but it isn't doing a great job on the cold germs. We've also been taking plenty of vitamin C and a little bit of echinacea. I thought I had this cold licked, and then my hubby and the boys came down with the sniffles and sneezes again. I give myself a week before I slip up and catch their colds. Hopefully, I'll have finished NaNoWriMo by then.

To finish on time, I need to write a little over 3000 words a day. So far, I believe I've gotten further than any of my past attempts. I will finish this novel, but it may not be in a month's time.

Still Behind in Word Count

I've reached the end of day 14, and I'm still behind in word count. As of midnight my target word count is 25,000. Can you hear the little voices inside my head laughing? Really, I am kind of catching up, but I kind of feel like a cat being teased with a ball of yarn. The strand dangling from the ball gets closer and closer, and then at midnight the NaNoWriMo people yank it away.

I am making progress though. Each day, I've been able to write a little more than the projected amount needed per day to finish on time. So, if I can keep it up, maybe I'll make it this time.

As of midnight, November 15th, I have written 17,478 words. My seven-year-old told me he's very proud of me.


edited to add --
On another note... you know you're tired when you are zoning out more than you're typing. Off to LaLa land for me as of 2am.

Catching up

I've completed my 11th day writing a brand spankin' new novel for NaNoWriMo month. I'm still behind, but I wrote more than the minimum number of words expected in a day, so I'm counting the 11th as a success of sorts. Right now, I'm at 11,242 words, and I think I'm going to call it a night.

It's amazing how much my brain goes to mush when I'm under pressure to finish something. Of course, I did critique a chapter of a friend's thriller and revised a short story. I also helped my seven-year-old write his first email. He has a friend who moved to Korea after kindergarten. I guess having a penpal is much cheaper nowadays.

Sloughing Along

It's now nearly 3am. Don't believe the time reported below.

Saturday was filled with kids, karate, and Cub Scouts. I worked the bake sale at the elementary school's craft sale. The kids were a tad bit bored. My kids both had karate, and while my husband took his karate class, the kids and I went back to shop at the craft show. I bought books and stamps (the rubber stamps you use for making cards and scrapbooking).

I did a little NaNoWriMo writing and a lot of revising (on a non-nanowrimo project), so I'm feeling productive even though my word count only reached 8926 during my late night stint.

Sleep? What's sleep?