Did you hear the one about...

The Chicken, the Tan Squid, and the short Squishie one, who spent two weeks in dance recital rehearsal, and then all had a melt down and fell asleep?

I did.

I almost fell with them!

I didn't realize how far down the work/recital/errand rabbit hole I'd spiraled until I was sitting in the audience, watching the dress rehearsal, and it hit me that a friend of mine (who I haven't seen since her baby shower!) had invited me to her son's first birthday party TODAY, and I'd forgotten to negative RSVP.

So, I not only felt like crap, i was going bananashit because Squish was the only one NOT in rehearsal (or camping w/Grandparents) today, and she wiggled next to me all day while we watched the performance. Oi!

So it's been sort of an exhausting day. Or week, really, given the copious amount of, "But you need to go here..." or "Could you just get this..." going on this week. It must have been exhausting, because I've been trying very hard to make the business of writing happen behind closed doors--or, after and before hours, as it were, and I was finally shamed into a confession today.

"I've got a deadline!" I wailed to Mate, and he was, of course, all ears and contrition, but I felt bad. Having a writing deadline interfere with dance recital stuff makes it a lot like, well, a job! And that's not what the family signed on for at all!

However, the deadline is actually on June 30th... I've been getting good at getting things back well before deadline, but guess I can push it a little. The manuscript is for Making Promises, and so many people loved Promise Rock that I'm obliged (as though I weren't before) to make this one REALLY good. People loved Deacon and Crick... I need to make Shane and Mikhail just as perfect. (Of course, the fifth time you edit your own manuscript--twice on your own and three times w/editorial assistance, not only is the mss. NOT perfect, it's pure drivel. And the author is completely insane.)

Anyway, it's still stressing me out. As are the two releases within a week of each other. Truth in the Dark is doing well--really well, actually, and now I'm just waiting for people to start reviewing it and breaking my heart. (I think Vulnerable has scarred me a LOT for reviews, yanno?) And Litha's Constant Whim?

Well, that opens on June 23rd... and then, in July, something a-maaaaa-zing happens. Dreamspinner runs one of those REALLY COOL flash ads, the kind that shifts from book to book to book? And Litha's Constant Whim will be ONE OF THE BOOKS! I still get hot flashes thinking about it.

And then I get queasy. In case you were wondering if i was all full of myself or something... nope. Your girl still has divine-hubris-phobia... and the bigger the coup, the stronger the symptoms... you know... nausea, nail-biting, the desire to eat my anxiety... yeah. All things considered, i think I should start having my family lock myself in my room should I start obsessing over my goodreads standings again... ya think?

Anyway, all that, and the recital rehearsal too.

I think I should add that the father/daughter/daughter dance had me bawling like a baby. Ah, yes, it was GLORIOUS! And I'm buying the dvds, so hopefully, I can have someone help me stream that bit to youtube.

Chicken was mortified btw. It seems that her dance teacher uses her as a cautionary tale. JoAnna's #1 rule is DON'T STOP DANCING! Today, as she was addressing the little kids, she was reiterating this rule, and she said, "Where's Chicken? Kids, this is Chicken. When she was eleven years old, she had on a pair of bloomers under her dress, and every time she danced, the bloomers dropped a little lower. Finally, they were down around her ankles, and I was off stage and I said, "Chicken--kick them over here. Don't stop dancing!" And she did! And that's what I want you to do!"

So there you go. Chicken's pre-middle school memory of having a wardrobe malfunction in front of three hundred people, immortalized in a teachable moment by a woman who actually went down to the basement of the antique stage, put out a fire, and got back in time to lead the adults in their number. I'm starting to see where some of Chicken's attitude comes from.)

Anyway, I just made her take a motrin and go to bed--seems she was climbing around on the catwalk while helping w/props and almost broke her ass. She twisted her ankle instead.

That's my Chicken.

Nai Nai!