Off to Bulgaria

Yep, hubby and I leave in two days for the former Eastern bloc country of Bulgaria with side trips to Istanbul and England. I'm just a packing, cleaning, blogging, emailing, bill-paying, list making woman right now. And still trying to draft a little every day on my current WIP, The Murder of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
Taking along my pillow, snacks, The Writer's Book of Hope, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and a couple light fiction romps for reading pleasure. Hope the inflight food and movie are good. 26 hours of flying and airports isn't exactly a good time is had by all situation.
My folder with hotel confirmations, maps, tour itineraries and phone numbers is *thick*.
Doveezhdenay! (Put that in Cyrillic letters and you get "Goodbye in Bulgarian. As if you hadn't already guessed.)
Kimberley

Ancient Egypt

Thebes, Malqata, Valley of the Kings, Ancient Egyptian gardens, the City of Aten, Egyptian medicinal practices, Amun the god of Kings . . . just a few things I've been researching like a mad woman the last couple of months.

I've got a stack of 15 books about Egypt and King Tut sitting practically under my feet that I read during the summer. I also keep having to refer to many of them as I'm drafting. Yes, I finally started writing the new book. Trying to get words to flow through my brain and out my fingers onto the keyboard is scary, daunting, and this time around even SLOWER than usual. Disconcerting, but I'm telling myself to enjoy the process. Some things can't be rushed. Even if it stinks and will have to be rewritten a dozen times.

I still have this crazy goal to finish the entire first draft no later than October 7th. Yes, two weeks from today. Yeah, right, you're thinking. Because I leave October 9th for Bulgaria to pick up my son from his mission. YAY!!! I'll be gone nearly three weeks so I'm going to start pushing myself.

Meanwhile, The Healing Spell went out to 5 houses. Another project done, and out the door with prayers, hopes, and some fairy dust sprinkled on the envelope. Think that will last until it gets to New York?

Bigger question: will it work? :-)

Under my skin

Oh, the joys and the banes of computers. My computer for online stuff with all my accounts and addresses crashed in March. And I mean CRASHED! Nothing is recoverable. Need to purchase a whole new system. Which hasn't happened yet because of college looming this fall.

So . . . that's why I disappered from my blog. Plus I've had some very stiff writing deadlines. I'm happy to report that I have two complete novels out making the rounds of publishers as of a month ago. With a third nearly finished and a proposal for a fourth and a synopsis for a fifth. Feels good.

I go back to research and begin character sketches end of this week for my ancient Egyptian novel based on the short story, The Mummy Tent, I recently sold to Cricket Magazine. I'm chomping at the bit to get going on it, but I need to keep my attention on this rewrite for The Healing Spell. As of Friday I am *done* rewriting this book. It's going to stay out until it sells. I know there is an editor out there just waiting for it. All I have to do is find her.

Other good news: Got our tickets to go to Bulgaria in October to pick up my son from his mission. We're also going to hit Istanbul, Turkey, and England to visit cousins on the way home. We'll be gone 18 days. But mostly I can't wait to hug my son. It will be 25 months since I'll have seen him - since September 2004. Pick-up day is October 11th at 9:00 a.m. in Sofia, Bulgaria. Needless to say, October will be a non-writing month this year.

It's hot in the house already. A quick shower and then it's time to hit the rewrites once more. The manuscript is lookin' good though. My almost twelve-year-old character, Livie Moulaison, is under my skin.

What's under yours today?

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got home from teaching my class this morning, peeled off my dress and the nylons and heels - and discovered two boxes of pecan/caramel turtles and chocolate truffles sitting on my desk chair waiting for me. And a beautiful card from my darling husband with a personal note that made me cry. He is so perfect! I'm feeling very blessed today. It's always a doubly special day, too, not only is it Sweetheart's Day, but it's my birthday as well.

So I'm forgetting about being another year older and thinking about being loved instead. Hope you are, too.

What's for Dinner?

Ah, the question that never goes away and must be answered EVERY SINGLE DAY! Sometimes feels like the bane of my life. Just got home with wet hair from Misty's Hair Salon and have been worrying this question all morning like a dog with a bone. So I checked out the fridge and discovered three dishes of leftovers. Italian chicken, meatballs with penne noodles and cheese and veggie lasagna. All of them created by *moi* in the past three days. Throw together a salad, warm up some bread and voila! Dinner is served.
Now I can get back to work . . .

Breakfast Musings

I'm sitting here eating my morning oatmeal, cruising email, websites, and my favorite blogs and trying to get my derriere in gear to start work on another project. (*Derriere* being the perfect word since the next project in the queue is partly set in Paris and has lots of fun French phrases sprinkled throughout. Title: IN A PARIS MINUTE.

This weird and aggravating place I'm in is not becuse I don't have plenty to work on. There are two completely drafted manuscripts waiting for rewrites, research, future ideas to outline, but I'm in this awful abyss after sending off one project and trying to get past the inertia to begin again.

This drives me crazy. I was determined last week that I would only take a day or two off and then get going again. I DO have a goal to get a couple more full novels subbed to publishers before spring hits. Never seems to work. It's like I mentally shut down. Just want to rent about five chick flicks and veg out in front of the TV.

I am easily intimidated by other's success and talent.
I am easily overwhelmed by the sheer mental and physical work writing is, especially because a couple of my critiques on the PARIS project are not particularly kind.( I mean I know there are problems but they could have been *nicer*, right?)
Maybe it's pure laziness.
Maybe it's fear.

Or all of the above.

So I make these lists of everything else I got accomplished while I wasn't writing just to make myself feel good. Visits, phone calls, bills, shopping, reading (got through about 10 books in the past week. Some good, some ho-hum), helping kids with homework, cleaning, knitting a blanket for the premie hospital project our church is doing, making homemade chicken soup.

I need to call my mother, too.
She probably thinks I've dropped off the planet.
I have.
It's called the writer's abyss. I'm at the bottom.
Wave if you can see me.

Notes From Your Long Lost Warrior Woman

Okay, okay, don't hit me . . . I know I've been incommunicado (sans blogging) for three months. Three months tomorrow to be exact now that I look at my handy dandy calendar. I'm baaaaack. I hope.

What have I been doing you may ask?

Right around Halloween I kicked my tail into high gear and finished a complete 95,000 word draft of Secret Rites of the Goddess just in time for turkey day and a week long trip to Arizona, our usual hot spot for Thanksgiving.

December was a mix of getting ready for the holidays, deciding to go visit family in Utah (my brothers) for a week, get plane reservations for mom to come back to my house for another week through New year's, cleaned house for company, direct play with the high school kids at church, Christmas shopping - lots of Amazon ordering!, revising the manuscript, college applications for son, Eagle Scout project for same son, trying to get to my desk for more revision work which ended up just giving me heart palpatations I was such a bundle of nerves!!! Having only a few minutes at a time and pages and pages of notes and changes to do does not make for happy revising.

No wonder I got sick on New Year's Day with flu and am just now recovered.

January: Once I sent mom back off to Arizona and spent a few days in bed, it was back to my desk at last.

I'm happy to report that the manuscript is IN THE MAIL! As of 5 p.m. yesterday. Barely made the post office closing. Fingers crossed that *interested* editor will receive it by Friday.

I'm whipped. Logged in about 100 hours the past 2.5 weeks.

Today it's gray skies and flakes of snow. Got son's driver's licence renewed this morning, did a load of laundry, managed an upper body weight workout, prescription pick-up for other son, grocery shopping, emails off to editor and agent and now I'm taking the rest of the day OFF!

ttfn. I promise.