December – April brought mountains of snow, power outages, high winds. You might picture me snuggled all warm in my house by the fire, writing brilliant words by the thousands.

You’d be wrong.

You’d be better off picturing me huddling by the gas stove, wearing 13 layers of clothing and shivering so badly that typing on my Alphie was out of the question. Brain freeze does not inspire plotting nor characterization!

We finally moved into spring, that lasted maybe 15 minutes. Seriously. Summer waddled in and it’s basically the same weather as what we had in January, but no snow – just rain. Not freezing – just 100+ degrees out. Now we huddle around the air conditioner, hoping to stay cool.

And again, writing is a chore. We’ve been having violent electrical storms. Major lightning strikes taking out trees and power. And of course, like a good girl, when it lightnings, I turn off my computer and unplug the network cable.

Is this just all Mother Nature’s conspiracy to disrupt my writing? Could be. But she didn’t count on my Alpha Smart. Almost twenty hours of battery time, recharges in a few hours, and works pretty darn sweet.

Bring it on Mother Nature! I’m still writing!

=)

carrie

=)

carrie

I work approximately 40+ hours a week at my day job, I work 20+ hours a week designing websites. I also design/repair jewelry in my spare time. I moderate online writing classes for a writers group, I write on three blogs, and I write.

For some reason, I’ve also decided to take three online classes this month, and for some other crazy reason, I started writing two YA novels. At the same time.

Yes, I need to be locked away.

But, can you leave me with my Blackberry please?

=)

carrie

Got my synopsis back, with a wonderful crit…thanks Christie! And a few wrinkles to hammer out. I don’t mean iron, I mean hammer.

With a darn big hammer.

But that’s okay. I’m dealing with it fine, and am actually excited to get back to work on the synopsis, because now I feel I have direction. I’m close, this close!!! to having a well thought out synopsis, I’m sooooooo close to having all of the arcs. In just a few well placed sentences – and well-worded! – it’s entirely possible my synopsis will not only make sense, but that it’s RIGHT.

And that’s a huge load off my mind. Huge. Bigger than Refrigerator Perry. (and yes, that’s the only football reference I’ll ever make in my entire life)

So, what’s stopping me from leaping head first into finishing off that synopsis?

Stuff.

You guys have all had stuff, I know you have. Something came up. Family. My dog, my cat. Laundry. Etc. That’s all stuff. My stuff has been work, extracurricular work, and favors owed friends this past week, but the biggest stuff of all?

My new grandson was born on June 21, and transported a few hours later to NICU. That’s big stuff.

Good news is, he’s headed home tomorrow. We’re thrilled. He’ll be recuperating at home with his dad and mom and big sister Ava, but all looks good.

Now maybe Gramma can take a little stress break and finish that synopsis. Er…I wonder if anyone ever thought writing a synopsis would be an activity listed as “less stressful”?

I’m gonna guess no.

=)

carrie

This is closely followed by Oscar, the tuxedo cat, who mews…not meows, that isn’t a typo. He mews. Loudly. Over and over until you pet him. This is generally followed by a tussle as he sniffs at Marmalade.

This is then topped off by Spook, the gray cat, as he wanders from his nest on top of the dresser and jumps into the fray, usually landing on my full bladder.

The alarm goes off, and the parade is now in full swing.

Tygrrr (the striped one) is on the desk already waiting for breakfast. Marmalade and Oscar get into a fight every. single. morning. in the bathroom. Once everyone is fed, Bear (hairy white cat) jumps on the desk and wants treats and petting. Catzilla (mean black one) brushes back and forth by my feet until I get her treats, and then Marmalade pounds on the cat flap until I open the door and let her out. Yes, she knows how to work the cat flap, she’s just making sure I’m getting my exercise.

The little darlings.

Sylvester is usually the last to show. Sylvester is our enormous black, one-eyed cat. He’s usually good with a pet or two, a couple treats, and then back to a nap. He leads the good life.

But into the fray, someone has now dumped a fluffy orange cat at our house. He’s big, he’s very thin, and he needs a good brushing. He’s looking for a home.

As you can see from just the first 15 min of every day of my life spent with seven cats, eight might put me over the edge.

Anyone want a nice fluffy orange cat? I’ve already got an offer to send him to another farm…so if we can catch him…he can go live happily with other (hopefully normal) cats…

here kitty kitty.

=)

carrie

Not as sick as I’m going to be tomorrow, but sick nonetheless.

Tonsillitis is a curse for me and has been since I was a kid, but if you don’t get those suckers removed when you’re a kid, you have agony as an adult getting them taken out!

So, I’m taking penicillin and waiting for it to kick in. Usually takes about 24 hours.

Meanwhile, I should be writing, catching up on homework, designing the horse website and making up a bid for another.

But, I can’t.

I’m sick.

I should be folding laundry, finishing the dishes, putting away this HUGE mess on my desk.

But, I can’t.

I’m sick.

So, maybe, just for tonight, I’ll go to bed early, read for a bit, lights out before midnight, and wake up in the morning and it will all be gone.

Or, I could stay up for another two hours, work on my ms that needs to go in this week, finish off my interview and study my Donald Maas book.

But, I can’t.

I’m sick.

Might even have a fever.

It’s probably best I just go to bed early.

=)

carrie

Anything that can go wrong, will.

And my personal take on it, Anything that can go wrong, will. And then it will always get worse.

Take for instance, my place of work. I love my job, really. Ok, occasionally I’d like to imagine myself doing the scene from Terminator 2 when he says “I’ll be back” and then POW. But so far, I’ve restrained myself.

At work last week, my favorite employee turned in her two week notice. I was crushed. Heartbroken. Tried to talk her out of it. No luck. I sat for a time, before I went upstairs to tell the rest of the staff the bad news. “Oh,” said one girl. “She just told us. And remember how I was going to work every day this summer? Yeah, I won’t be able to do that anymore. Sorry.”

Pow. Murphy strikes again.

A friend of mine asked me to put a bid on his company’s website. I did, and I lost the bid. No big deal. If he would have called and said hey, you lost the bid, I would have said “Ok! Look at all the free time I have for writing now!” But he didn’t. He had his secretary’s secretary email me the news.

Bang. Hello Mr. Murphy. Thanks for the personal touch.

I bought my mom the COOLEST solar light for her garden for Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, it won’t ship until May 18. So, today I tell her I’m sorry, if will be late. No problem she says, she just ordered something for her garden that won’t ship until the 18th either, what a coincidence. Um. After a few well-placed questions, it turned out the solar light was SO COOL, she bought one for herself.

Blap. Murphy, buddy, quit kicking me while I’m down eh?

So now you’re wondering, how on earth is Carrie going to connect the entire travesty that has been her life for the past two weeks and turn it into a blog about writing?

Watch this.

Conflict. Each and every scene you write in your book has to have some kind of conflict. The more the better. I finally got that point. I understood we needed conflict, I got that there was internal and external. I DIDN’T get that it was to be in EACH. AND. EVERY. SCENE.

But now Murphy’s Law has shown me the way. Conflict is everywhere, and yes, it can always be made worse.

It’s everywhere, it’s every day, it’s every scene.

So apply my version of Murphy’s Law to YOUR manuscript and see if your characters aren’t suddenly infused with conflict. It will make their life hell, and your editor will be tickled pink.

And Murphy, nothing personal, but just stay away from me for a couple days eh? Absence makes the heart grown fonder.

=)

carrie

Highs have included finishing the massive amount of web design work that has hit this past week. Starting on Tuesday morning until just a few hours ago, I was deluged with web design work. Tsunami’d.

But I did it, I caught up. Now I get to send out the bills.

I also finished two ads for the restaurant, did 3 loads of laundry and squealed over the dead mouse the cats left at the end of the sidewalk. At least they didn’t bring it in this time.

I also wrote 500 words in my new ms, revised 7 pages of an old one, and went through umpteen emails.

So what could possibly be on the low side?

Eating two ice cream bars.

Oops. (I did workout for almost 50 min to make up for it though)

And a small black moment, that I haven’t quite shaken yet. It’s still circling my head, waiting to pounce. You know how when you’re worn out and tired you always get sick? I always get sick and depressed. I’m not sick this time, yet! but I did get my own personal black moment.

What if I’m just better as a beta reader than a writer?

What if I just don’t have what it takes?

What if I really didn’t burn off enough calories to negate the two ice cream bars I ate?

These are the burning questions.

Something to think about.

=)

carrie

But, I’m getting back on track. Honest.

I had double shifts, I had work trauma, I had back trauma.

But, I’m working on it! Really.

I had a migraine, stomach upset (no, I won’t share the details) and 57 emails that need answering. Now.

But, I’m kicking myself in the rear and getting back on track.

Thursday I only did 280 of the promise-to-myself 1000 words on my evenings off count. Friday, I didn’t do any.

But, it’s okay. Relax. Back in the saddle here.

Today, on my 1000 word count day, I’m already up to 847. No sweat. My running total as of 3:12 on Saturday afternoon is 13,933.

Suh-weet.

I figure I’m about 1/5 of the way done.

Yes, I know I still have a long way to go, yes there’s all the re-writing to be done, and yes, I still have double shifts to get through next week.

But – I’m going to do it.

Stick with me here, and you just wait and see.

Determination is something us asses – especially us smart asses, know a little about.

=)

carrie

I know I live a frenetic lifestyle, zooming here and there, holding down more jobs/part-time jobs/cats than any normal woman should, but it’s always worked for me.

Some days just require more chocolate than others. No problemo.

But the past week has gone above and beyond the duty of lets-destroy-carrie-and-bring-her-to-her-knees.

I won’t tell you about work, because everyone works, and everyone runs wildly because of it – unless you’re a Professional Couch Potato, in which case, hats off to you. I won’t mention the side hobbies, the jewelry, the websites (ok, I might growl about those later), the laundry, etc. Because EVERYONE has the same problems. Right?

But what I am going to whine about (what, you didn’t think this was a whining post?) is people. Ok, and cats. But mostly people.

This past week I’ve had people comment on my hair (ohhhh ….umm..did someone NEW cut your hair? that’s a different look for you, isn’t it?) my clothes (you look so pretty tonight, especially compared to the last time we saw you) my eyes (why is that one eye like that? is that a birth defect?) my weight (yeah, we’ve all put on a few pounds over the winter – some more than others eh?) my shoes (those shoes are about ready for the trash pile huh) and even my bra (oh, is that one of those new silver colored bras? oh no, wait…that’s just gray isn’t it?)

Seriously, people. I realize that most of the time, I’m a public figure. I work out in the public, I should expect a certain amount of “commentary”.

But when does it go beyond commentary and into gosh-bob-that’s-none-of-your-darn-business?

Believe it or not, the bra comment wasn’t the final straw (that was my chiropractor doing ultrasound)

It was actually the your-characters-are-flat comment. (See, you KNEW I’d bring it around to writing somehow!)

I know it was a rough copy, I know it was first draft. But yikes. Critiques can hurt. Or they can make you try harder.

For me, I’m generally inspired to drink four vodka lemonades, eat handfuls of chocolate while ranting wildly about how clueless people are….and then when I’m hungover with sugar blues the next day, I let reality slide in, and think that maybe yeah, maybe I could do better.

And sometimes, it takes two or three of those vodka/chocolate days before the realization sinks in.

And sometimes, by golly, it just never happens.

Today is going to be a vodka/chocolate day. And tomorrow, well, tomorrow my characters won’t be called flat anymore, by God.

But I’ll still be wearing any ugly shirt over my chubby body, which should be ugly enough to cover up my gray bra, reading through my lopsided eye with a bad haircut while wearing worn out shoes.

But tough beans.

At least I won’t have flat characters anymore.

=)

carrie
ps word count? 7066
cats? 3 birds, 3 mice