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I have recurring places in my dreams. I don't know that I've ever been to these places, necessarily, but I feel like I could drive right to them.

The first is a store, a craft store, I think, in a shopping strip not far from my house. In my dreams, I always have to get there super-early, like before dawn, so I'm always driving in the dark, and waiting out front for it to open. In my dreams, it's not always open, so I have to take advantage when it is. The place always has seasonal decorations, and is laid out the same way every time.

The second is a big house in the center of town. It's old and it's been converted into something else, in my dreams, it's usually a restaurant or tea shop, but this house is big, too big for it to really be one of those things. And it's an unhappy place. I don't like going there.

The third is a combination ice house (convenience store/corner store) and bar. It's a privately owned place on the far side of town, isolated. It's kind of trashy, and I'm always going there late at night with my grandmother. There are always several men hanging around, kind of scary men, but I'm not scared. (Probably because my gma would kick their butts if they tried anything). I always feel like I'm on an adventure.

I wish I kept better track of what was going on in my life when I dream about these places. I dreamed about the craft place this week and the big house last week. I don't know what that means.

Do you have recurring places in your dreams, places you've never been?

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Turns out yesterday WASN'T my day to blog at Romance Studio. It's Friday. DUH.

I went to bed before 8:30 last night! I was just tuckered. I woke at 3:45 or so, but that's okay, I need to write.

I had some crazy dreams. I dreamed my dad was coming to visit (the second time in a week I've dreamed this.) I dreamed I had a brand new classroom (same kids) and a new principal whose name I couldn't remember, and my cat Dukey (who IRL has to go to the vet today) was in the room. This room had three thermostats, which is funny because my current room doesn't even have one. I also dreamed that my brother and SIL moved into a beautiful brand new house, two stories with lots of windows, and an outdoor fireplace, but their neighbor's house was inches away.

I got another good review for Bull by the Horns. I've been so lucky!



I've been working on meeting my goal of promoting better and sent out two requests for interviews, one at I Do Not Want to Wait, I Want the Book Now! and the other at All Romance ebooks. I actually sold a number of copies of Hot Shot in December (maybe because of the Eppie final???) but had one returned. Weird, right? I didn't know you could return ebooks.

Okay, to work I go!

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I discovered the #10 reason to want to be at Comic Con....Hugh Jackman showed up with a clip of the Wolverine movie, with glimpses of Gambit. How long do you think it will be before it comes out on the web???





Stoopid dog woke me before 5. I think she had to pee. Just as well, I was having some WEIRD dreams. Possibly I should not have had this for dinner:



and then watched Comic Con coverage on G4.

I dreamed I was on a battlefield with The Comedian from The Watchmen (JDM's role.)

I dreamed the dh and I decided to go on vacation after all and we were going to be able to afford it by selling folding chairs.

I dreamed about a poor girl at a prep school, who paid her way as a maid or something, who everyone ganged up on, and one of the prep boys she was in love with risked his life to save her. I don't know if he did or not because that's when the dh and I decided to go on vacation by selling those chairs.

I dreamed it was the first day of school (3 weeks away!) and I slept till 8 and FORGOT it was the first day of school (if only) and two of the teachers came to get me because we were carpooling. THEN we had kids the first day and I wasn't ready at all so I thought I'd get them to help me plot a graphic novel.

Yesterday I dreamed I was going to have to go back to the school from hell (which shouldn't be anymore because Satan retired) but I didn't want to go and I kept telling them I'd worked in two ERs. Like that makes a difference.

And I dreamed I was Jeannie from ER and I was in love with Mark Greene only he had this big Dallas-the-TV-show kind of family and we of course worked together at the hospital so we could NEVER be alone, but the tension was incredible.

So, yes, no more Comic Con coverage or ER for me...

Anyway, I know how to fix the Ghost Hunter story, which will be after Surface, so yay. AND I went to the library to get the new Suzanne Brockmann and the new Linda Howard and I also picked up Karen Harper's Below the Surface. Never mind that I have enough books in the house to last 4 years....

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So I have pneumonia. At my son's insistence, I went to the minor emergency clinic yesterday and that's what they told me. The cough is horrible - Thursday night I coughed so hard I thought I broke something.

The dh picked up my meds - $70 for cough medicine and antibiotic WITH the insurance! Yow.

The bad (other than the coughing that makes me feel like I broke something) is that I put off Mother's Day shopping. My MIL, my mom and my SIL's birthday gifts all need to be bought. Not to mention food/drink for tomorrow's party. And my contract needs to be mailed. And I need to get to the library for some things on hold.

Then my brother's coming to put in the AC unit we bought LAST May (but remember, he hurt his back. He's doing better but is still too skinny.)

Busy day.

Thanks to Trish, I dreamed about cleaning my house and "culling," as she calls it. But whenever I dream about my house, I dream there's an extra room, and in that extra room there is ALWAYS a Rococo (sp?) sideboard. I've never opened this sideboard. Last night, I knew I wanted to keep it, even though it doesn't go with anything else I have, it's beautiful, but when I went to open it, I woke up.

Sigh.

I also dreamed a river ran under our house. Weird.

I watched SPN and Moonlight last night. Moonlight had the music up so loud I couldn't hear the dialogue. And SPN....I guess the medicine was working pretty good by then because I don't think I understood the ending. If Bella needed the gun, why sell it?

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I had a good dream yesterday, which I’ll talk more about later this week, and a weird dream last night. I dreamed I went to NYC with my dh and my dad and my grandmother (the one who died.) I dreamed we left my gma to check in by herself and when we tried to go back to get her, Marianne Arkins was with us in the elevator, which moved diagonally. We ran into Cindi and her friend Corrinna and went to a giant grocery store and Patrick Duffy was there. Other than leaving my gma alone in NYC, this part confused me the most. Why Patrick Duffy?
We never did find my gma before I woke up. Hmmm.

1) Get PS I LOVE YOU on DVD
2) write synopsis for StTA so I can enter PASIC
3) go see Iron Man TODAY
4) get ready for Mother’s Day/Mom’s birthday. I don’t think we’re partying here, but I need to get Mom’s gift and my MIL’s gift
5) write to p. 210 on StTA
6) start revisions on Breaking Daylight, which means I need to round up my notes, which are in different notebooks
7) keep up house

Hey, not too bad!

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The Romance Studio is giving away a copy of Hot Shot today. (Not at 6 AM, though ;) )



I had another really cool story dream, but it was about a spy agency and those have been done to death. And the hero was not an actor, just some guy with wavy blond hair (maybe Dean from Natural Born Charmer??) Still, I'm going to write it down.

My goals this week:

1) Finish Supernatural essay - over halfway there, but the second half will be tougher. I have 7 episodes of Season 2 left to watch and about 7 episodes of Season 3 on the Tivo.
2) Read the three Smart POP books I have to make sure I'm doing it right.
3) Guest blog at Southern Fried Chicas on Wednesday.
4) Find a balance for promo time - it's currently kicking my butt.
5) Renew RWA membership, which wasn't renewed because I never got a bill.
6) Critique group
7) Get stuff for baby shower on Friday for one of the teachers.
8) Keep up house (or at least the room where I watch Supernatural ;) )

Today's the big day for the Golden Heart and Rita calls!!! I know Sarah and Kelly entered - who else should I be rooting for???





More weird dreams - I dreamed I was watching a Jason Bourne movie and Matt Damon was a very awkward and geeky character until the Very Last Scene, where he killed a guy with his own belt buckle. The other dream had Tim Riggins in it, but I don't remember it as clearly. I woke up and started worrying about school. Joy.

I sent in my Wayback query, still have 30 pages to revise. I tried to start my Supernatural essay last night but starting was tough!

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The good thing about today is that we have computer lab for an hour this afternoon. The bad thing about today...I don't know what we're doing between the bell and lunch!

I had some crazy dreams last night - one that the boy was little and all he wanted was Superman markers and milk. Yes, he did used to have Superman markers. Another dream was about the Supernatural boys, where Sam could go into a trance to see the past.

I finished Wayback yesterday - FINALLY. I've also written the synopsis and revised the first 35 pages. I'll write the query today.

Huh....whose picture to use? Well, since I'll be working on my Supernatural essay next....

Okay - funny. I went to go look for this picture, and my blog came up on the second page of Google Images for Supernatural Impala!!!

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I am having a very strange reaction to my cover. I love it, don't get me wrong. But now I'm having trouble revising the story now that I have someone else's vision of Gabe in my head. I keep writing the story and seeing this stranger doing the actions. It's very weird.

I will post it as soon as I have permission.

I did print it out and take it to school yesterday. I showed some teachers at lunch, and I said that the cover model was "follicly challenged." (He had a serious receding hairline, which my cover artist fixed, bless her!) One of the teachers misheard me and said, "He's PHALLICLY challenged?" I protested and they asked how I knew he wasn't. Um, because I CREATED him? I told Cindi and she didn't get it...she didn't know the meaning of either word! Bad, Cindi!

I had strange dreams. I dreamed it was my birthday and just my mom and I were going to dinner at Gristmill, when suddenly the dh and ds show up with my grandmother (the one who died). The dh made a huge deal out of it, and even had a Tim Riggins lookalike (from Friday Night Lights) come eat with us. It was weird. Then later, some reporters were coming to school to talk to us about guns in schools (apparently they found some, in my dream. IRL, other stuff is happening in my district.) and some lady was telling us what to say. It was weird.

My room was 86 degrees yesterday. We couldn't get the AC men to come out until we got a parent to call Main Office. How sad is that?

LOST was awesome last night - the SIX? Supernatural was just okay.


Oops, it's below freezing and I didn't cover my plants!

Wow, you know, I knew it was coming, I should have planned something a little more spectacular!

The dh left at 5:30, and told me to go back to sleep. I was like, yeah, right, because I was already writing in my mind. Well, I woke at 8:30! The coolest? I had this GREAT dream that I went with Trish to the Harlequin offices, and Susan Litman recognized me and waved, and then a bunch of editors and people from the art department took me back and were planning my book. They'd bought it and I didn't even know! The funny part was, in my dream I had this website, and I had links to every story I've ever written, only instead of links, they were rocks that built a mountain, and the editors and art department were so impressed I'd written so much, and I was so embarrassed!

In my dream, the new teacher in my unit and I were also agents, only the agent we worked for knew her and not me. And Susan had cards and I didn't. Weird.

Stolen from Marianne

What's Your Writing Style?


1. Are you a "pantser" or a "plotter?"

Definitely a pantser. I try to plot, really I do. I thought I had the beginning of this new book plotted, and it took a completely different twist.

2. Detailed character sketches or "their character will be revealed to me as a I write"?

They usually come to me fully formed. I don’t go askin’. But as I write, they reveal more.

3. Do you know your characters' goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing?

Usually I know before. It can change through the course of the story.

4. Books on plotting - useful or harmful?

They tend to lock me up.

5. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?

Both. Lately, terrible procrastinator. But there are mornings when I wake up rarin’ to go.

6. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?

I prefer having a stretch of time, but I can do little bits.

7. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?

I’m worthless in the PM. Either early morning or late night.

8. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?

Depends on what I’m writing. Some scenes, I need to concentrate harder, so I need silence, but noise usually doesn’t bother me.

9. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)

Both. Some stories come easier with a gel pen and a notebook. Plus, it can go anywhere and is unobtrusive.

10. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One?

BWAHAHAHA!!!! I don’t know the ending till I sit down to write it.

11. Does what's selling in the market influence how and what you write?

Usually not, though I have written my first paranormal and have another planned, as well as revising another book into a paranormal.

12. Editing - love it or hate it?

☹ Do not want.

I know not a lot of you think Denny/John Winchester is hot, but MAN, is he a great muse. This is the second book I've written with him as the hero and I always know what I'm writing next!

Even with a Tylenol PM, I didn't sleep well....woke about 4, and when I fell back asleep, I dreamed about getting to Nationals. I dreamed we decided to fly, but it wasn't in Dallas. Still, we only paid $48 each, but our flight wasn't till 10:19, and I forgot to pack. We missed the flight because I couldn't convince the dh what time the flight was at, and as I was running around trying to figure out what to do, I realized I'd miss the GH certificate ceremony and I hadn't packed anything to wear for that OR the awards night!

It's a bad thing to wake up stressed.

But I did see Jude Law at the airport and he was charming. I know, totally random. I remember thinking, "I can't wait to tell Janice Lynn!"

I've been reading SO SLOW lately. Part of it is that I'm tired - I read only ten minutes last night before my eyes started drooping. But another part of it is that my reading is kind of fractured lately.

I'm reading this during silent reading at school, which is 25 minutes a day, but we've been skipping it lately because I haven't been able to get the kids to get their work done. Plus we're doing long division - takes FOREVER!



Then I'm listening to this to and from school. I've had it three weeks and just started disc 8 yesterday. It might be better just to read it, then I can skip over Every Medical Procedure. Good Lord.



At home I'm reading these.





I'm almost done with Angel, which is a good book. Dime Store Magic is good, too, but long and tiny font.

Then I walk by all my OTHER books that I don't have time to read and feel guilty. Does it stop me from getting more? Noooo, I got about 6 more this week!

I did read Entertainment Weekly cover to cover yesterday, though.