Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I have so much to thank God for this year.

For His Gift of salvation.
For the family I was born into.  Mom, Dad, Terica and Donna -- love y'all to pieces!
For the family I gathered along the way --for Scott, Nyssa and Natalie, the inlaws and outlaws.  All of 'em!
For my home and other tangible things.
For stargazing with the hubby.
For the chance to do what I love - write!
For my writer's critique group members - both present and past.  The WYSIUR folks rock!
For the BEACH BABES.  You three keep me on my toes and challenge me to do my best, even when it means throwing out chapter 3!
For my editor, Dianne - she pushes me to do more than I knew I could, and she believes in me! Wow!
For the folks at church who love me anyway.
For fuzzy friends who give me a lick to let me know they love me, too.

And in case you didn't catch the pattern, it's the people in my life I'm most thankful for.

I love you, everyone.

The Best Laid Plans....

Sat down to work today -- I'd had my shower, I was dressed in clothes and not pjs, breakfast cooked and eaten, coffee mug by my side.  I got a good hour or so in when

RING

my fearless hunter hubby calls.  His jeep is out of gas. (not his fault, it's a faulty guage)  Could I bring him the jug of gas from the shop?  Oh.  And could I grab the insurance bill? And while I'm at it, could I grab that jury duty check so we can deposit it?

SO

I rescue dear hubby and head down the mountain to cash the check.  I took a different way home and saw a lady pushing her SUV down Hwy 231.  I couldn't have that.  I found a place to park my car and hurried to help.  Within a minute or two there were two guys helping us push, too.  We made it safely to the gas station and all was well.

THEN

got home to find hubby sitting on the porch swing. He didn't have his house key.  I let us in and we had lunch.

Did I get as much done as I had planned?  Not even close.  But hey -- it's not everyday that you get to rescue two people.

Just call me....WANDA WOMAN  (cue theme music)

Edits are done!

Cue the Hallelujah chorus!!!

And in honor of Clara and her quest for a bicycle, I give you a picture of me on my first bike. 

Thursday Update

*Lifts head and looks around.*

I'm still working on edits.  Found out that Reverend and Mrs. Henderson could not stop to admire a clump of day lillies in mid May because in Huntsville the flowers in question are at their best around Father's Day.

Impressed with my researching/editing skills?  Thank the Huntsville Botanical Gardens and the excellent staff there.  They were very patient with my questions.

Onward...

Well, folks, this is it!

I have, on my desk, the galley proof pages for Clara, Huntsville 1892.

What does that mean?  It means that I'm carefully reading my story, word by word, comma by comma, and period by period.  If there are any last minute changes to make, this is the time.

Pressure, much?

I've held different chapters, different versions of chapters, papers marked up by me and my trusty critique partners.  This is something new. Somehow those familiar words have transformed into something else.  I feel like I'm holding a pen above a pan of cement.  Any mark I make will set in that quickly hardening medium.  I have to make sure every mark counts. There are no do-overs.

When I'm finished and the pages are safely off to my editor, I will breathe a sigh of relief.  After that comes the ARCs. And, not too far off into the future, comes the final product.  A genuine copy of my book. 

I can't wait to show you!

Oh Happy Day!!!!!

Today has been a wonderful day! And it's only 4pm!

I am sitting in the Huntsville Public Library where I've just attended a very informative meeting directed by one of the reference librarians.  Mary Moore knows her stuff and she's great at getting that info out!

Snagged the next three Skullduggery Pleasant books.  Hurray! I get to see what he and Valkyrie Cain get up to next.  :)

I am sitting at the library, typing on my brand new laptop!!! No, make that my BRAND NEW LAPTOP!!!  yes, after researching, shopping, sweating and praying -- I have a new laptop.  Scott went with me and we picked it out.  It's sooooo pretty!  I can't wait to fill it with all kinds of funny, wise, sad, happy, hyper words!  (forgive all the exclamation points, but I really am very happy right now)

But even as perfect as my new machine is, I have a bumpy road ahead of me.  I never realized how much I depended on the info that I saved on the old 'puter.  Right now I have one contact in my e-mail program.  It's my hubby's e-mail info.  <3   But the address book is very lonely.  Please e-mail me so that I can add you to my collection.

And remembering all the fun little stops that I made to read up on other authors and editors? No can do.  I'll have to rebuild that list.  And the research sites. And the time wasting.... uh...no.  Maybe it's better that they are gone.  For now.

In the meanwhile, I have a book to write.  Alice, I'll meet you in Birmingham, AL in May of 1933.  Ok?


Keep smiling.  I am.  :)

Laptop stil dying.

I am still sad.


So..... how are you?

Oh No!

My laptop is in pieces on the desk.
Scott, my hubby/laptop mechanic, has to work all weekend.
It rained off and on all day today.
Which made me sleepy.
I am a little less than a thousand words in the hole for my NaNoWriMo novel.
Tomorrow I will be old.

ON THE FLIP SIDE
I have a laptop.
Hubby has a job. He also has a desk top 'puter that I can use.
The trees looked pretty in the rain.
I have a warm, comfy waterbed.
There is always tomorrow to try and catch up with the word count.
I'll still be older tomorrow, but my 44th year looks to be exciting. More on that tomorrow.

Goodnight.

NaNoWriMo Participant

Yep.  I signed up.  And I've met today's word count goal!  Oh yeah!!!

And I've fended off the nefarious plot bunnies today, too.  One tried to sneak up and lay a whole new story on me at lunch today.  I scribbled the story premise down in a small notebook and put it away promptly before it ould breed more madness!

Later!

HAPPY NOVEMBER! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today is Hubby's birthday.  Congratulations on his 48th trip around the sun!  May he have many, many more!  His request?  German chocolate cake, of course.  I'll be baking it shortly.

Today is also the beginning of NaNoWriMo.  In case you don't know -- that's National Novel Writing Month.  I have participated in that madness for years.  Wondering if I want to jump in this year.

And

if I do....

Will I use it to jump start a slowly moving new Alabama Girls novel?  The whole novel won't meet the 50K required to 'win' NaNoWriMo, but it would be a way to kick myself in the seat and give me a tough goal.

Or

I could use this time to write out an idea that has been niggling my brain lately.

Or

I could write both at the same time and thus double my chances of reaching 50K. 

But that might not even be 'legal'.  Decisions. Decisions.

Any advice?

Still sick.

Not me. My poor PC.  I've had lots of advice on things to do. Scott and I have tried some of them but so far nothing has worked.  I think I'll cart the poor thing over to a friend's house today.  They have some background with these electronical gizmos. Wish us luck.

In the meantime, I managed to create a business card. It looks pretty good if I do say so myself.    Wouldn't you love to have one?  :)

Later

Good news and bad news

The good news is: I got the official logo for Alabama Girls from my wonderful editor!  Now I'm busy trying to create a business card.  Yay!

The bad news: My laptop is in pieces on my desk.  I'm using hubby's computer while he works on my poor baby.  It doesn't know it has a hard drive.   :(  

And it's raining.

That is all.

I'm baaaaaack!

And I have lots to blog about.

The weekend of October 15-16, I attended Southern Breeze's WIK conference down in Birmingham.  Met lots of nice folks, reconnected with others, and learned a lot.  A special thank you to Lisa Yee and her writing excercises.  Loved them!

Waiting on an afterward from a local archivist for Huntsville, 1892 Clara. Then, it's off to the press for my novel!  Not the final printing.  I'm getting ARCs!  Want one?  :P  And when some nice people provide some nice blurbs, then the book goes off for a final printing.  Hurray!  The end is in sight!

And so is the beginning.... I AM NOW UNDER CONTRACT FOR A SECOND ALABAMA GIRL NOVEL!!!!!!!!

Yep.  Birmingham, 1933 Alice is being written as I type. Well, not really, because I can't type a blog and a novel at the same time.  Anyway...  More details to follow.

Met the librarian of Lacey's Spring Elementary school.  She wants me to visit her kids and tell them all about Clara.  Imagine that!  I have a school visit before I have a book in hand!  I'll get to see them all in March if everything goes as planned.

In the meanwhile, life goes on and so do I.  Can't wait to share more of my journey with you.

Wanda - you've got some 'splaining to do!

Ok.  So I kind of got distracted.  But I think you'll forgive me when you find out

I SIGNED MY FIRST BOOK CONTRACT!!!!!!

The news is out! Late in January I met with my editor, signed the contract, and received my official deadlines.  Isn't that great?  I have a deadline!  The book has been written, it's in the polishing stage right now.

What's it called? Still doesn't have an official title.  Yet.
What's it about? Clara Landers wants a bicycle but, in Huntsville, AL 1892, two things stand in her way: bicycles cost a lot of money and it's not considered 'ladylike'.  (in a nutshell)
When can you buy it? Not until January 2012.


Other distractions:
I went on a week long writing retreat with three awesome ladies.  We are the "Beach Babes" and we are awesome! Talk about a productive week!
                       and
I've been part of the writing community at writers-bbs for a very long time.  We're talking at least since the mid to late 90's.  The posters have come and gone and so have the moderators.  Well, I find myself the new moderator of the Writing for Children and Young Adult forum.  Me! And it is an honor.  Come find me.  I use the name wandering1

Besides all that, I'm waiting impatiently for the sun to shine again and the air to warm up.

SnowBound!

This is probably the second biggest snow that I remember in my 43 years.  Pretty to look at, but I'll be glad for spring.

The girls were out of school all week.  Except for a couple of doctor appointments, I've stayed close to the house. I was born in Alabama.  I don't drive in this stuff!  I got the truck stuck in my daughter's friend's yard.  That was mortifying! I'm over it now and I learned to appreciate my car's front wheel drive.

Writing?  Well, not until yesterday.  I messed around with my YA talk radio story some.  I think it has potential.  In the light of the terrible knews from last weekend's shooting, I think it might even be relevant.  but I won't try to ride a tragedy's coat tails to success.  I had my idea long before the shootings in Arizona and all the hoopla will be over before I ever finish my story.  Just to set the record straight, here.

Anyway.  I'm sorry I let the blog languish for so long.  Not sure if anybody missed me, but there you go.  You're caught up on my life right now.  Hey! I didn't promise you excitement.  :-)

New Year's Day

If you came here looking for Resolutions, you've come to the wrong place. I mean it's not like I don't want to improve myself, drop a few pounds, join back up with karate and achieve my blue belt, write the next best seller and read at least 100 books this year. Really.  But I'm not going to write up a list and then cringe when I look at it again this time next year.

So I had the burning desire to join the Polar Bear Club.  You know - those crazy folks who jump into a huge natural body of water on January 1st. Unfortunately I decided this a little too late to joing the group in Decatur.  Did that change my mind about the crazy thing I'd set my heart on?  Of course not!  And I'm evil enough to drag my poor teens with me. <insert evil laugh here>

So, and you can verify this on Facebook if you so desire, I called out the challenge to meet at Talucah Landing at 1 pm this afternoon. One crazy person morphed into six crazy people.  Only one of us was of legal age.  And off we ran into the freezing Tennessee River.

IT WAS COLD!!!

Yes.  Well, now I can cross that off my to-do list.  And I might even do it again next year - we'll see. Meanwhile, I wonder if that will be the craziest thing I do this year.  Who knows?  2011 is young yet.

I'm a polar bear!

Joe, Alex, Tyler and Natalie.  Nyssa was on the shore already!

Natalie hurrying to shore.