When in doubt... ask Bruce...

I've had some lovely days to write, and some really productive days doing research.  Unfortunately, they don't really equal a whole lot of words written.  Suffice it to say I'm plugging along, and that I've had a little lull in the usual rattle and hum, and, well, that doesn't really translate into spectacular blogfodder.  So, once again, I'm gonna scattershot it.

*  Mary Calmes, my beloved Mary, texted me into complete submission regarding the next WIP.  I've posted some examples of her work (in the texting department, that is), and since she betas for me with skill and enthusiasm, those texts carry weight.  Even when they're wearing no clothes.  (These texts ARE wearing clothes, but... uhm... it's JENSEN, so we can live with that.










*  My new, non-porny story is posted now right here, HERE,  and in a few days it should have a spot on GoodReads, and if you love it, be sure to go rate it! And I'd REALLY want to thank Jennifer Morris (HappyTwilightFan) for dressing up a picture I took in Monterey and making it look lovely and very relevant to the story.  As soon as she puts it up in her blog, I'll post the link, but in the meantime, I want to show off her cover.  She made it with a picture I sent her, and her own moon and imagination, and I loves it!:-)



*  This out of nowhere:  I really love the word "stabby" because it seems to be an amalgam of "crabby" and, of course, the accompanying gesture that can often come of crabbiness.  However, my vote is still out on this word's cousins, "hurty", "shooty", "strangle-y" and "poisony".


* Mary (aforementioned, my darling and beloved work wife) and I spent two hours doing research and frantic texts in order for me to write two paragraphs of prose about what my hero does on his job.  Speaking of "stabby" and "hurty"... uhm, yeah.  Sometimes this job has it's moments of hard work with NOTHING to show for it.  If it weren't for Mary, I would probably have made poor Hacon a fast food worker instead of an importer/exporter, and that would have made the story VERY different.


*  Oh yeah-- this woman, L.A. Witt said some things I've wanted to say for a very long time.  I literally lick her toes in admiration.  And I want her frickin' water buffalo.

*  And my guy, Chase, is up at Dreamspinner Press.  Which is good. Because the WIP that Mary sexted/begged/convinced me to start when I'm done with my wonderful, fun, subtle, complex mythology story with one of the most heinous cases of deus ex machina EVER in a story, is going to be the sequel to Chase's story.  I want to write all those other sequels too--but I think Dex and Kane are gonna steal your heart in a passionate, first love sort of way when you're done with Chase.  At least I hope so, because they're where my headspace is.

And that's about all...  I wish my life was more interesting than that--or at least outside my body.  We're going to have some trips coming up, and that's gonna be fun to report--but for now?  Off to visit Leif and Hacon, and their interaction with the fates:-)

Oh--and about Bruce?  I was waffling today, what should I do with my day?  And then I heard this song... and the answer was to write.  Because my heart was moved--and that's what you do when your heart is moved.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

  

Okay, Cup o Porn is having their birthday bash this week, and there will be PLENTY of free fiction if you follow the link above.  My offering--both humble and completely safe for work (and can you believe that?  I'm asked to write for a blog called CUP OF PORN and what do I put out?  A legend, with the most oblique sexual descriptions in the history of romance EVER. I'm surprised Marie and Heidi didn't just shoot my fat white ass flat when I sent that in.  I'm an idiot.  We all know this--and here's proof!)  Anyway, When the Sea and Sky Turn to Blood will be out tomorrow, around 11 a.m., CST, and it's free, along with a lot of other nice stuff that people are giving away, so stop by and enjoy!  (And, once again, I will remind you that if the picture says NSFW, and you're at work, DON'T GO THERE!)  For those of you afraid of falling into the porny land mines (and you should be, because I get stuck there all the time and they blow my productivity to hell while stimulating my creativity at the same time which is very uncomfortable for a woman my age) when the birthday bash is over, I think I'll post this story on my website.  It doesn't really have a niche--it is, as Galad once told me, sexy writing (not sexual writing, but writing you do for the sake of art) and not money writing (which is writing you do that's more popular, which often has sex in it!) So, sexy writing goes on the website, writing with sex in it, you have to pay for.  There's a lesson in there somewhere, I just know it.  Now the thing is, it doesn't mean you don't enjoy writing money writing--it just means you don't get to do off-genre stuff with it, like, say, When the Sea and Sky Turn to Blood, or, Dreams of Terrible Brightness.  Money writing can be EXTREMELY soul fulfilling--I mean, for ME, money writing is FUN--joyous, even when it's ripping my heart out and serving it on a platter.  But more people also enjoy having THEIR hearts ripped out with it, and boom!  You make a little money.

So speaking of  sexy writing versus money writing--

I'm trying to decide what to write!

For those of you who doubt me, the thing I'm thinking (ALWAYS) is QUICKENING.  I REALLY want to write Quickening.  Unfortunately, writing now pays my rent.  (Okay, not my rent, or my mortgage or whatever--but it does pay for groceries and utilities and random toys and Easter loot and birthday parties and... you get the idea.)  So that makes Quickening sexy writing (God, I hope so!) and so shall remain my dirty little secret writing when no one is looking.  So, what do I do write that hordes (okay, dozens!) of people are waiting for so that my family may not starve around Christmas?

Well, I've actually got a lot of choices!  I would like very much to write the fourth (and final) installment of Keeping Promise Rock.  It promises to be shorter than the others, and a little bit angsty, but will have a big, wonderful climax that will be SO happy ever after, people might even forgive me for putting Deacon's life in danger in Book 3.  THAT'S looking like a fun write, and I'm DYING to do it!

I'd also like to write the second (and definitely not final) installment in the weird mystery solving career of Patrick and Whiskey.  I have a great title, a great dilemma, and some really wonderful scenes in my head, and THAT'S looking like a fun write, and I'm DYING to do it!

And then there's the steampunk/batman thing I've got going round in my head, with some GREAT complications and this total world building thing going on and THAT'S looking like a fun write, and I'm DYING to do it.

And, although Chase in Shadow hasn't come out, I've got this sequel planned, for one of the side characters--Dex, whom I think everyone is going to adore.  Pain--lots of pain--and one of those romances where your friend is where your heart is and you never knew it.  THAT'S looking like a fun write, and I'm DYING to do it.

Oh--did I mention Aiden and Jeremy from The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur Bearing Critters?  Yeah-- people want to see the story of the con man and the hometown boy, working at the alpaca fiber farm, and THAT'S looking like a fun write, and I'm DYING to do it.

And there's always my bittersweet dream plans-- Richard Cory and the highland warriors and then there's this guy with a little tiny golden tamarind monkey and plan crashes and undercover detectives and...

Decisions decisions.

I whine a lot about time and deadlines and choices you have to make... but you know what?  Decisions like these?  Make it all worthwhile:-)

Yanno... stuff!

I feel bad, subjecting y'all to those hairy shins for so long (although, I must admit, I sorta like a tangle of hairy shins, visually that is!) so I'm going to blog about inconsequential weirdness for  a few, and try to find a pretty/shiny picture to distract you.  Theryago.  Thor (as played by Chris Hemsworth).  I liked the movie, I think Kenneth Brannagh really wanted to make it totally epic and succeeded, and i think listening to Chris Hemsworth talk was worth the price of admission.  REALLY love his voice--fell in love with him from the moment he played Kirk's dad in the new Star Trek.  *swoon*

But anyway...



*  This is Hello Kitty, in a rainbow outfit.  I dunno why, but I thought she was precious.  Forgive me!



 *  To the right (if blogger/fucker formats right!) are not only a couple of hairy shins, but my two prototype socks (not, repeat NOT the matching socks I knit and whose pattern I documented, which I sent to be photographed) except one of them has been photoshopped to make me look like less like an incompetent moron.  I don't think that was the photographer's intention--I think he thought it was sort of cute, and quaint--nana's homemade socks don't match, get it?  But I have to say that as sort of a representative of my craft, I was more than a little bit embarrassed.  I can live with this picture.  In fact, I LIKE this picture--and I hope anyone who tries to follow the pattern in the story can forgive me if the one on the right in the picture doesn't look like the one on the left!  I assure you that the socks knit up with only one bit of asymmetry-- the fish eye knit/purl pattern on one sock is in the opposite place on the other.  Because I thought it would be cute:-)

Zoomboy greeted me with this, yesterday morning, as he was putting on his shoes:  "Mom, I had a nightmare about a gark.  Alas, he was more aggressive shark than gentle gorilla."  I'm still blinking over that.  It was pretty awesome.

Squish got her teeth worked on--and I got my nerves worked on.  Squish's birth sign is an Aries, and mine is a Libra, and dealing with my stepmom, (although I admire her and love her a lot!) should have warned me that having an Aries baby was going to be a challenge.  It is.  She's absolutely sure that her Libran parents are completely full of shit, do not know what they're talking about, have NEVER known what they are talking about, and if she wasn't telling us where to go in the car or why she can have something to drink when she's still dribbling down her front, she would not be able to live with herself.  *headdesk*  I'm giving her to Chicken during the teen years.  That way, we might BOTH survive.

Chicken got accepted into San Diego Institute of the Arts--where she's going to learn computer animation, and get a bachelors degree in science and... well, be away from me, mostly, but I'm so happy for her.  She's pictured here in the con-dress my stepmom made for her--it's a French Maid's costume, and she looks adorable--and it's VERY anime, and she's thrilled, both with the costume, and with the acceptance.  Of course, both of us are gonna hate that first separation.  It's gonna suck, but my baby's going to go make her dreams come true.  How awesome is that?

And Big T?  Well, bless his heart-- he told us he was taking the bus somewhere today.  He didn't tell us it was to a friend who's in cosmetology school and always looking for someone who wants a $5 haircut.  He looks awesome--and smaller, because baby, that was a LOT of hair!

And other than that?  We went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo tonight, and REALLY loved it.  I mean REALLY loved it!  I got that whole art-shiver thing that happens when media gestalt (that combination of actors, script, cinematography, direction, etc.) REALLY kicks in and makes us shake.  Loved it.  Parts of it were disturbing (there is one scene in particular that has been well publicized that I won't go into) but much of it was really really brilliant, even the melancholy ending, which I sort of loved.

And in book news?  Well, I finished the edit of Super Sock Man--and added a couple of scenes that I thought REALLY added to the original product.  One of them was, uhm, REALLY hot, and the other?  Well, let's just say that it makes the fade from Super Sock Man to Chase in Shadow just that much more believable.  Editing isn't always glamorous, but in this case, I felt the ending REALLY needed work--and then I think I made it work, and I was proud.

Also...

I'm working on a story about the three fates... and the descendent of Thor... and a bike messenger in San Francisco and a workaholic business man.  *happy sigh*  My job does have it's stresses, true--but I do love my job!  'Night!

So, uhm, what do you think?

Because, the thing is, the photographer decided to go with the prototypes and not the finished product.  So, umm, what do you think?

The depth of my political involvement...

Okay, so we saw Beauty and the Beast this weekend, and I was surprised.

I mean, like a lot of parents, I've seen it ad infinitum on video, and you think, "I know the story, I'll sleep through this.  Knitting.  Lots of knitting."  But then, the opening chords hit the sound system, and I was hooked.  Completely.  Just like the first time (well, I slept through some of the dialog--I was sort of exhausted) but every musical number just... God.  Is there ever a word for what that does to you?  What art does to you when you love it?

And then, the song.  Gaston's song.  The song that he uses to incite an angry mob, and the lyrics?  The things the villain says, that the gullible, simple townspeople BELIEVE?  Man, The Simpsons and The Family Guy think they've got a corner on irony, but they've got nothing on a man dying of AIDs in 1991.

"If you're not with us, you're against us!"  "We don't like what we don't understand because it scares us!" "For our village and our lives!"

God.  It's political rhetoric, it's hysterical ranting, it's the popular guy out to grind his axe in someone else's blood.

It's the 2012 election in a fucking nutshell.

And I haven't talked a lot about it.  I mean, for one thing, most of the people reading anything *I* put out would be aware that I think the political candidates for the American Republican party are some of the scariest bunch of potential Nazis this country has seen since Joseph McCarthy.  In fact, they're even scarier, because McCarthy did what he did as a very junior senator, with nothing but a briefcase filled with old memos.  Romney?  Perry?  Santorum?  These bozos are--oh my God--I... *I* am rendered speechless.  Completely speechless.  I'm starting to wish I could establish a Google website, like Dan Savage did for Rick Santorum, except, instead of that wonderful, awful definition, I would have the clip of Gaston, leading the villagers to "Kill the beast!"  Sure, the people being led don't have enough to feed their families, and they're shit deep in ignorance and depression, but one red flag in front of their eyes and they're off to kill someone who has never tried to harm them and who hasn't impacted on their lives EVER.  Which, when you think about it, is EXACTLY what the Republican candidates have been doing to the LGBTQ community for the last year!  (Okay-- a lot longer than that but this last year has been in extremus, and I think even Republicans are starting to see it that way.)

I mean, it's a simple idea, isn't it?  Howard Ashman, asked to write a song for a bully, out to destroy a rival in a fit of ignorance and rage--of course the things that come out of Gaston's mouth are the same things coming out of the mouths of the ignorant during the height of the AID's crisis.  But you'd think we'd learn, wouldn't you?  You'd think that twenty years later we wouldn't still be listening to another crop of Disney villains--over the top, dumber than posts, bragging about their ignorance and their bigotry like it's something to be proud of-- but this time with even MORE power to destroy than the ones in 1991.

I swear--truly--sometimes I think it's all part of a big plot.  That the Republicans keep us ignorant by cutting our programs for everything from education to the homeless, and then when we're nothing more than screaming, brainless peasants, they lead us to blindly destroy something that actually impacts the lives of very few peasants at all.  It's like an instant pudding recipe for instant brainless Nazis, and the fact that no American politician has stood up and called out ANY of these men for actively seeking to OBLITERATE CIVIL RIGHTS FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN BIGOTRY scares me even more.  God, forget learning the lessons of WWII-- obviously, that's too esoteric for this bunch.  Apparently they're not even smart enough to learn the lessons from Disney!

And that's what scares the shit out of me.  It LITERALLY keeps me up at night.  Because it's not going to do me any good to think of Romney, Santorum, or Perry as a cartoon villain when the lives of good people that I care about are being destroyed because one of these bozos are leading gullible peasants to the castle to kill the beast.

Poor Howard Ashman.  It was such a valuable lesson to leave as a legacy.  It was the kind of thing every artist DREAMS of doing before he or she dies--to write something brilliant, and memorable, and worthwhile, something that could change the world.

It should have worked.  Gaston should never have been allowed be resurrected, and to rouse the masses again.

So... Close... To... Done...

My work in progress writing wise is called Sidecar.  It's sort of a paean to the '80s/'90's, and I love it a lot.  It's not as painful as Keeping Promise Rock, and I tried not to go camp on the details that would take us back to that time period.  I remember noticing change, but not participating in trends, and since my characters are up in the Sierra Foothills, I gave them the same sensibility.  I hope the effect is subtle--but not... colorless.

And speaking of not colorless...

You may have noticed I got my cover suggestions for Chase in Shadow.  Yeah-- they gave me chills too.  I went with the one on the top left-- red door, razorblades, guy who looks not quite sane and yet obscenely pretty.  I felt like that captured the absolute gut-whopping "Oolf!" of the book, and it still does, even as Chase looks at me accusingly, because I fucked him up in so very many horrible ways.  So, that could be my most disturbing cover yet, but I was tempted to go with the one on the right.  But, as someone said, "That one looks hopeful!"

This book does have a Happy Ever After-- but the thing behind the red door is NOT hopeful.  I went with the hottie and the razorblades instead (although my love of painted covers has not yet dimmed) because the hottie with the razorblades seemed most iconic of suicidal porn star, right?  Right.


I also liked the one on the left here, with the red smear--but it didn't quite have the "Oolf" factor.  (And something about the pale background left the model's eyes looking not quite so summer-sky blue!  Dudes!) And since I was posting pictures, I thought I'd post a picture of the two models who inspired Chase and Tommy, so you could get a look at what inspired me.

 Spot on.  Almost creepy close, right?  And Tommy... Well, let's just say... yeah.  Tommy is described as Loki-the-manic-sex-god--and this guy does that for me!  Anyway-- so, these are the leads in Chase in Shadow-- and I'm biting my nails until its release.

And in other news?  Well, not much, actually.  I've been writing a lot--and not just on my own stuff.  I recently made the boneheaded move of starting a project with a co-writer (Aleksandr Voinov) as sort of a lark.  It was boneheaded because I'm already hyper committed, but I can't regret it because it's been a BLAST.  It all started when I pwnd Aleks on Twitter (yeah, even he admitted it was masterful-- it doesn't happen often, I'll savor it!) and someone said, "Write together!" and he said, "Wanna?" And I lost my mind.  It's fun-- it's ADDICTING--and that's why I don't think I'll do it often.  I've got a whole big bad queue I've got to mind--but damn.  A new challenge and a new idea?  Always a rush--and Aleks is an AMAZING writer--gritty, erotic, and just damned fun to work with.  I'll let you know when that comes out--our tentative title is Country Mouse, but, yanno, subject to change:-)

And I finished my Art Docent presentations this week.  I know that Matisse was a wild beast, Rousseau was self taught, and Van Gogh died at 38 and loved color, and the sea.  Not bad for a week spent snarling at the family and saying, "Leave me alone I'm trying to work here!"

Oh yeah-- SPN tonight.  Last week ended with this song, and it's been haunting me ever since.  No one's come up with an actual video yet, but the look on Dean's face?  Haunting all on it's own.

Book Shit Goes On...

Okay-- some interesting thing going on in book land--but first, news from the children:

Does anyone recognize the bucket of boat trash poncho?  Still fits but very differently.

Squish:  Mom, that's a graveyard.

Me:  Yes, it's a cemetery.

Squish:  A cemetery is a graveyard.  If you keep falling apart, you'll end up in a cemetery, and we'll have to go say goodbye to you.  But if you don't fall apart, we won't ever.

Me:  0.0  Yeah.  Okay.  Sure.

And Zoomboy?  He just came out and told me, "Look mom!"

Me: You're wearing Superman pajamas!

ZB:  Yeah-- and Finding Nemo underwear!

And THAT folks, is life with the short people;-)


And now, on to book land!

First of all-- I was so reeling from the overwhelming support at goodreads that I forgot to mention this, which is too bad, because it's a real honor, too.

I've been nominated in a couple of categories over at the Paranormal Romance Guild.  If you follow THIS LINK you will get to the ballot, and starting January 10th, you can vote.  I'm so proud of their good opinion-- I've known the wonderful people at the PRG for nearly five years, and they've been so supportive.  If you could go take a look and vote for ANY of the good books you see there, a lot of hard work on their part will be rewarded:-)

Second of all-- take a look at the small writing underneath the title, TALKER.  See anything unusual?  Yup!  Talker is one of the first titles in Dreamspinner's new foreign language line --this is the cover for the Spanish translation, but there will also be French and German, and it's already out in Audiobook (available at amazon.com) and... Gods.  Okay, back when I taught AP, I told students that I was counting on them to go out into the world. I was a small time person, in a small school, in a cowtown, but they were bound for great things.  If anything I taught them had any wisdom whatsoever, they could take that wisdom out into the world and do wonderful things, and I would be a part of that.  So I look at that title, and realize by book is being translated into three languages, and I want to cry, because this is me, going out into the world, to do wonderful things, just like I told them they could accomplish.  For the span of a novella, (or three;-)  I'm not a small time person, in a small school, in a cow town-- for the span of a novella, I am out in the world, hopefully doing great things.  I am so proud.


And the third thing is that I'm a part of this!  I wrote a story--pure fantasy, with no (repeat, NO!!!) SWEARING--I know.  Someone just fainted.  And, of course, my least raunchy story was the one I sent in to Cup-o-Porn.  But here's the lowdown on that story and some others written by some AMAZING authors, and we are all a part of it:-0  Check out the Cup-o-porn birthday bash on January 23 to see some free stories-- mine included.  (For those of you who like my epic fantasy and not so much my more, umm, explicit stuff?  Please keep your eyes closed for most of cup-o-porn.  I plan to look all I want, but I don't want anyone to be shocked:-)

Oh yes!  And I was part of an interview panel over HERE, and if you're interested in things I've learned about the business of writing, here you go!

And that's about all, folks... whew!  Dudes, I don't even have time to whine about my doozy of a day!  Sweet dreams!

Amy

Does Anyone Have a Virtual Sherpa?

So, uhm, the m/m romance group at GoodReads had a ballot for some of their favorite romance reads this year.  My, uhm, name might have come up a time or two.

I can not thank the moderators and supporters at GR enough.  I'm incredibly honored, ESPECIALLY because the company I'm keeping is so incredibly grand.  The other stories and authors on this list were pretty freakin' spectacular.  It's as close to the cool kids table as I will ever be--and the cool kids are still way cooler than me.  But I'm glad that we got to eat lunch together--it was really quite a meal.

Question 6
Best Story that Should/Must have a Sequel
 Something Like Summer by Jay Bell
 Clear Water by Amy Lane
 The Locker Room by Amy Lane

Question 7
Best Title
 Come Unto These Yellow Sands by Josh Lanyon
 How to Keep the Love of Your Life (After Mistaking Him for a Serial Killer) by Maureen Willmann
 I Love You Asshole! By Amy Lane
 Bear Otter and the Kid by TJ Klune
 Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela by Felicia Watson


Question 8
Best Tearjerking scene
 Bear Otter and the Kid by TJ Klune - The scenes with Bear and the Kid in the bathtub during their ‘earthquakes’.
 The Locker Room by Amy Lane - When Xander is throwing up in the bathroom after Chris gets hurt.
 Bloodlines by Andrea Speed - The death of Paris.


Question 9
Coming Out (theme)
 Bear Otter and the Kid by TJ Klune
 The Locker Room by Amy Lane
 Breaking Cover by Kaje Harper




Question 11
Best Tear Jerker (theme)
 The Locker Room by Amy Lane
 Between Sinners and Saints by Marie Sexton
 Living Promises by Amy Lane

Question 12
Best Side/Supporting Character
 The Kid – Bear Otter and the Kid by TJ Klune
 Fly Bait – Clear Water by Amy Lane
 Crane – Honored Vow by Mary Calmes





Question 15
Friends to Lovers (theme)
 Hot Head by Damon Suede
 Bear Otter and the Kid by TJ Klune
 The Locker Room by Amy Lane




Question 16
Humorous (theme)
 Divide & Conquer by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux
 Mummy Dearest by Josh Lanyon
 Clear Water by Amy Lane

Question 17
Young Adult Characters (theme)
 Talker’s Redemption by Amy Lane
 Something Like Summer by Jay Bell
 Bridges by MJ O’Shea





Question 21
Best Sex Scene
 Hot Head by Damon Suede - The couch scene.
 Clear Water by Amy Lane - First time together for Whiskey and Patrick.
 Bayou Dreams by Lynn Lorenz - Scott claiming his mate.





Question 22
Best First Time
 The Locker Room by Amy Lane
 Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela by Felicia Watson
 Wanting by Piper Vaughn

Question 26
Favorite All Time M/M Series
 Fatal Shadows by Josh Lanyon - Adrien English Mystery Series
 Cut & Run by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux - Cut & Run
 Keeping Promise Rock by Amy Lane - Promises
 Promises by Marie Sexton - Coda Books






Gay/Out For You (theme)
 Hot Head by Damon Suede
 Bear Otter and the Kid by TJ Klune
 The Locker Room by Amy Lane





Question 28
Favorite All Time M/M Romance Book
 Keeping Promise Rock by Amy Lane
 Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville
 Bareback by Chris Owen




Question 29
Favorite All Time M/M Author
 Josh Lanyon
 Amy Lane
 Mary Calmes 

Question 34
SciFi/Futuristic/Post Apocalyptic (genre)
 A Solid Core of Alpha by Amy Lane
 18% Gray by Anne Tenino
 Grown Men by Damon Suede
 Kidnapped by Megan Derr
 Out of the Woods by Syd McGinley

Question 36
Long 250 pages or 100K words (book)
 Divide & Conquer by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux
 Between Sinners and Saints by Marie Sexton
 A Solid Core of Alpha by Amy Lane

Question 37
Best World Created A Solid Core of Alpha by Amy Lane
 Dance in the Dark by Megan Derr
 18% Gray by Anne Tenino
 Hell’s Pawn by Jay Bell




Question 40
Most Surprising/Unique Plot Device                
 A Solid Core of Alpha by Amy Lane
 Static by LA Witt
 Hell’s Pawn by Jay Bell

I have to pee, it must be morning...

LOLOL...

Okay, now that I'm done laughing at my own joke, I shall give you a brief report.  Basically?  The kids are back at school and I am writing myself STUPID.  STUPID I tell you-- I am sleep deprived, cranky, and irrational, and the dragon is riding my back so hard I've got bloody stripes down my flesh.  (heh heh heh... see?  Purple prose in a blog... TOLDYA I wasn't sane!)

Anyway, I was a good mommy all winter break-- I only wrote when no one was around to SEE me working, and most of my down time was knitting time anyway, so I could sit and watch Christmas specials and go see lights and make Christmas baskets etc. etc. , which meant I didn't get a lot of work DONE!  And as much as I needed it, as much as I loved the time with my family... well, I was blowing off a deadline.  I'm proud that I was able to set it aside and be mommy, and love it with 100% of my heart... but now?

Now I's gotsta write my little heart out.  And I have been.  But staying up until two in the morning and getting up at 6:30 (because all the soda/water/vitamin water I drank at 1:30 to stay up has hit the fan and I have to pee like no racehorse in history!)  And, well, the inevitable has happened.  I'm a widdo-bit stoned on sleep deprivation, and am about two hours from sitting in a corner and giggling to myself, and then writing another chapter of absolute driveling nonsense in the same way I talk for HOURS if there was someone here to talk back to me.  (Mate has gotten to the point where he recognizes this.  If I crawl into bed at two a.m. and am suddenly all hot to talk about laundry, finances, and child-rearing, sometimes he has to say, "Shut up, Amy, and go to sleep," or we will BOTH be sleep deprived, and that's no fun at all. He doesn't get the giggles for one, and if neither of us is rational, we tend to yell at each other about stupid stuff and then get all sad when we're done.)

But Sidecar is coming along nicely.  It's a period piece (too recent to be an historical) about the 80's... now, everyone knows about the hair and the music, but some of this has made me research shit.  When did we stop air-popping popcorn and start microwaving it?  When did Pert get big?  (At least '86, because Mate used it in his hair and it smelled SO good!)  How much did gas cost?  What did guys do with their hair after the mullet grew out?  How did guys look sexy in the early nineties when they were suddenly wearing oversized plaid flannel?  How would a guy who likes mostly rock 'n' roll seduce a George Michael/Madonna fan into electric guitar?

So I've had fun playing with that--but it still feels detail thin.

So, what's YOUR favorite 80's/2012 time warp?  What details would YOU add, if you were writing Joe and Casey's story?  Because, although the end is in sight, there's still a bit of a journey, and I want this to be so textured, you can smell the Pert!  Let me know-- I'll love to hear ideas!

And in the meantime?  I'm gonna go lie down and pet Steve and giggle to myself until I sleep:-)

Whew! Now that THAT'S over with...

I'm ready to start a new year!

I didn't make a lot of New Year's resolutions-- mostly the whole "gonna lose weight" thing, blah blah blah... I WOULD like to read everybody's blogs more-- I miss that.  You're my friends and I feel I've been neglecting you.  Unfortunately, I make that resolution when there's kids in the house--people, I've got to tell you, the older they get, the more they talk, the less likely I am to, I don't know, have two brain cells fire in sequence without an interruption!

I have to admit.  This weekend, I just gave up.  I gave up on getting work done (which, paradoxically, is when I got a LOT of it done--go figure!)  I gave up on knitting, I just... I dunno.  I sat on the chair and fell asleep a lot.  Got some knitting done, and, well, I guess the kids are calling it "chillaxing", and it seems sort of new fangled and, *yawn*  full of sleeping, but I gotta say, it was oddly refreshing too!

Although, I have to admit... "napping" on the chair with kids on my lap has changed tone in the last couple of years.  For one thing, the kids have become a lot more active.  Nothing is LESS restful than sitting on a chair while two grade schoolers initiate a cold war of bickering, and then follow it up with hand-infantry and full-metal squirming, complete with lethal ass-bones and the occasional boob-popping jab with the elbow.  Be that as it may, it did not stop me from waking up yesterday with Squish on my lap, telling Richard Dreyfuss why he was living his life wrong to end up in that shark cage in the ocean.

"You need to get out of that cage because you should NOT be there.  That is a BAD place to be, and that shark will get you.  You need to get on the boat, because sharks don't go there."  *snicker*  The rest of the movie really WAS  a surprise to her, and I'm ashamed to say, I was so out of it, I let her see it.  by then, Zoomboy was on the other side of me, and she took the bossing to a whole new level.

"You need to look away, because this is icky.  I can watch, because I don't get nightmares, but you get scared.  Look away now--good.  Eww.  The shark bit him and he's bleeding now."

And, of course, by this time, I was fully awake and laughing my ass off.

Another thing that has made this vacation not quite so restful is that Chicken has her driver's permit, Goddess save us all.  We spent an hour yesterday doing three point turns, which was good (although if I hadn't had my knitting, I would have been carsick) and she was...

Okay.  I"m sure my nearest and dearest will tell you I was a worse driver when I was her age--but that is only because my nearest and dearest were of the "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR, A SIGN FROM GOD!!!?" school of teaching driving, and I am more from the "A panicked driver is a driver who will dart into an oncoming lane because it suddenly seems like the right thing to do!" school of driving.  So, while I endeavor not to panic, Chicken endeavors not to ACT panicked, while in the meantime, her voice has risen an octave, her game-face is locked on, and she's telling me how totally calm she is.

*headdesk*

Yeah.  I seem to remember telling her father he was going to teach her.  He seemed to have a good philosophy, too,--it involved him eating a cookie while she drove.  I liked that.  I think he should do more of that-- just sayin'!  (Besides-- he's the one who will be less impacted by the cookie eating.  Again, sayin'...)

But generally?  I'm feeling a little more refreshed than I was two weeks ago, and a little more positive--and a little more certain that once the kids are back in school, I will DEFINITELY be on the write path.  No, that's not a misspelling... writing with them in the house has become a near impossibility.  I foresee a lot of me with my laptop at McDonalds over the summer.  Yay team!

And in the meantime?  Thank you everybody-- thank you so very very much.  Everyone who left comments, both here and at goodreads.com -- you were supportive and wonderful and really really awesome.  I'm starting the New Year VERY clean, VERY shiny, and with VERY much promise.  Thank you.  You all helped that happen.

Amy