moar funny pictures

1) work on small town story, get at least to 50000 words
2) revisions on Eden’s Promise
3) get a website – I played with making one last night on iWeb, but it’s a little bright and cheery ;)
4) mail requested partial to agent
5) revise and send Breaking Daylight back to Golden Palm
6) research legend for Surface revisions – started this yesterday, too
7) judge GH entries
8) read 2 books
9) driver’s ed stuff with boy
10) boy’s 3 gigs and probably twice as many practices - 2 DOWN, ONE TO GO
11) lunch with writer friends
12) lunch with teacher friends
13) breakfast with Mom
14) see I AM LEGEND and NATIONAL TREASURE
15) clean house
16) get to UPS, the post office, the dry cleaners and grocery
17) nap as often as possible
18) Christmas baking - brownies, fudge, sugar cookies, molasses cookies and sugar plums
19) get four more presents

I went to see PS I LOVE YOU AGAIN on the way home from school yesterday. Still loved it.

I have a quibble with ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. How come all the REALLY emotional scenes are in a secondary character's POV? The proposal was in Sam's POV and the good news Robin got was in Dolphina's. What's up with that?

moar funny pictures

Yesterday we had a dance at school and I ended up dancing with almost all my ex students. The funny - EVERY one of my ex-students who bought popcorn, came by to offer me some! SO cute.

Last night we went to a one-act play written by one of the SARAs. It was SO good but SO sad! I cried halfway home, just thinking about it. It was performed by the advanced teen acting class and they did a fantastic job.

I'm trying to buy the PS I LOVE YOU soundtrack from iTunes, but it wants me to sign in and I have no idea what the sign in info is, and it won't let me create a new account. I waited till payday and now I have to wait some more. I hate waiting.

Okay, I've sent back the last of the galleys to Smoke. I know Hot Shot will be released on April Fool's Day. Now I need to start promoting.

I know Romancing the Blog has ads along the side of the page that they sell for $30. I've heard banners and stuff like that do well. I see a lot of writers promote on the Wild Rose Press loop and the Samhain loop, but I frankly delete those (200 email a day from both loops - heavens!) I know I need a website and I'll start looking into that next week. But what have you found to be the most effective, promotion-wise?

Off to work, hope we get out so I can get to the 2:10 show of PS I LOVE YOU!!!

moar funny pictures

33 more hours.....

I got the last 3 bags of Mint M&Ms at the store last night. I should never have spread the word ;)

One of the teachers and I decided that if they let us out early enough tomorrow (kids get out before 1, but we don't know when we can leave, which kinda makes me mad---seriously, one day a year, let us GO!) we're going to see PS I LOVE YOU before we go home. I cried a lot in that movie. I hope I don't embarrass her.

So I was thinking about other movies that make me cry. I usually like cheery movies, so this list was hard. The top two are what my son used to call "gray" movies.

1) Mrs. Miniver - great WW2 movie set in England.

2) So Proudly We Hail - great WW2 movie set in the Pacific

3) March of the Penguins

4) Signs

5) Glory

6) Cinderella Man

7) The Lion King

8) Field of Dreams

Help me out, here, y'all.


Not really loving the moustache - must be for WATCHMEN.

moar funny pictures

Yesterday was our only evening with nothing planned. I cancelled tutoring and looked forward to an evening of DVDs and writing on the couch.

My MIL was here. I tried to crochet, but that yarn is AWFUL. Skinny, then fat....ugh. We invited her to dinner, so my evening didn't start till almost seven, and I found out I had the galleys for Smoke in my inbox, so I did 100 pages of proofreading last night. You'd be amazed at how many mistakes I found. She had flowery shampoo one minute and fruity the next. And I'm not the only one reading this! So that was my evening. Then I spent the morning today rebuilding my "soundtrack" for my WIP. When the dh changed the OS, all my playlists went bye-bye. They're still on the iPod, but not on the puter.

In a couple of hours, we'll have our teacher Christmas breakfast. A parent will watch my class. Do you know how HARD it was to find a parent to watch my class? Last year I had three show up and two more volunteer!

At the SARA party, the hostess was talking about how much she likes the show Dexter, about the serial killer, and how she never thought she would like a show like that.

I had the same reaction when I first saw Sex and the City. I never thought I could like a show where the women talked like that, so open and blunt. But the friendships hooked me and I love that show.

When V for Vendetta came out, Trish went to see it with another Noodler and for the life of me I couldn't picture the two of them at that movie. But when I saw it - MAN. It is a GREAT movie.

Recently, Kill Bill was on TV so I Tivoed it. It was a movie my brother and his wife liked and we do NOT have the same taste. But I ended up really enjoying it.

BTW, I've moved Dexter up in my queue. What movies or shows did you not think you'd like, and ended up liking?

We had free passes to the sneak preview of PS I LOVE YOU last night. We got to the theater about an hour before showtime (NOT my idea - I would have been there right after school, ya know?) and the line was scary long. There were about 4 security guards patrolling the line, looking for cell phones and any other electronic devices, including iPods! They made people take them back to their cars! Can you believe it? They did purse checks and wanded everyone, and during the movie 4 security guards were posted. We joked that we thought we were watching a movie, not getting on an airplane.

Anyway, the movie. You know how you look forward to something for so long and you end up being disappointed? (I mean, Gerry started making this movie back when I was regularly posting pictures of him!)

Well, I wasn't disappointed.

I cried a lot but it wasn't maudlin. I'm not a big Hilary Swank fan (okay, I'm not a fan at all) but I really felt her grief in this movie. She did such a good job. Gerry was his charming self, Harry Connick was hilarious and JDM made me proud.



While it was sad as an overall story, there was a lot of humor, too. The audience really liked it (though I wondered if they'd seen the previews, because they were laughing at everything that was in the previews.)

The story was told in a combination of real time and in flashbacks. It was very sweet and romantic, and when I see the movie again, I'm going to learn some of the lines that were just so insightful and moving.

I loved the mom, Kathy Bates, I loved the birthday party - though it had a bit of a kick in the gut emotionally - I loved the Ireland trip and there is one scene in there that made the whole movie for me. When you see it, you will know JUST what I'm talking about. I will definitely go see it again.

It was a hair long at just over 2 hours, and I felt some scenes could have been shorter, but overall it was fast-paced. It covered a little over a year, so I guess it needed that. But it was REALLY romantic and funny and sweet and sad but hopeful. Take tissues.

moar funny pictures

Wow, I woke up 2 minutes before the alarm went off. Feels good. Of course, on the coldest night of the year so far, someone turned the heater down to 60---brrrrr!!!

Third round of American Title starts today! Vote for Trish!



Going to see PS I LOVE YOU tonight and I'm really hoping it's good. At the SARA Christmas party, the hostess and I agreed we only like movies that make you feel good, movies with happy endings. Some movies I'll watch over and over are the first Harry Potter, the first Pirates, Dear Frankie, O Brother Where Art Thou, Princess Bride Pride and Prejudice and Two Weeks Notice.

What are your feel good movies?

moar funny pictures

I am about partied out. Almost brought home another cat last night, but couldn't find her when we were leaving the SARA party.

Man, I’m tired just thinking about this week. The dh is off, though, so I don’t have to worry about the house and dinner.

1) work on small town story
2) revisions on Eden’s Promise
3) fix up Breaking Daylight and resend to Golden Palm so they can send to Leslie Wainger
4) go see PS I LOVE YOU Monday night
5) a play at a playhouse written by one of the SARAs on Thursday
6) dh’s gig (one was cancelled)
7) ds’s 2 gigs
8) teacher breakfast – plan something for parent who’s watching them for that hour
9) kids’ party
10) send out progress reports and ruin some Christmas vacations
11) once school is out – SLEEP!

moar funny pictures

I came home from my Christmas party last night to find Breaking Daylight finalled in the Golden Palm! I have a week to revise, then send it back and it's going to Leslie Wainger. It's been a long dry spell between finals, y'all. This feels GOOD. Wow, and I just got the results for Don't Look Back...if they'd had 4 finalists instead of 3, it would have finalled, too!!

I should get to write today. I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store, and then the SARA party tonight, but in between, no obligations.

Okay, heroes....I was reading this book recently where the hero was just, well, horny all the time. All. The. Time. It went a bit beyond the level of being sexy and was actually a little creepy, especially since he'd wanted this girl since she was 17. (He was about 10 years older.)

When I read Shelter Mountain, I had trouble getting past the hero's bald-big-be-earringed appearance.

I read another book where the hero made unfortunate choices in footwear. Just. Not. Appealing.

And another where the hero was, shall we say, hirsute. I didn't mind that quite so much because I have a feeling my current hero is as well, but I wasn't going to go into that in the likelihood it would be a turnoff to someone.

What hero characteristics turn you off, either physical or not?

Look what Natalie found!

moar funny pictures





So I got my presents wrapped and finished Cindi's scarf last night. I found some I'd made already that I can give to my Secret Santa. I stopped and got my uncle a gift card to Olive Garden for his birthday, which is tomorrow. And I got gift bags for the white elephant gifts (though my gifts are GOOD.) I also figured out the dh can brave WalMart to get his own mother's gift, since he's off next week. And I did the newsletter, the parent letter and the make up work, and turned in the GT nominations and the textbook stuff.

I need to get cash for me and the boy tonight....he's going to the movies with a friend while I go to the Christmas party. The good thing is, I'm riding with Cindi and Lucinda, who live out there by his friend. So as soon as we're done partying, I pick him up and we come home. The bad is that I come home from school, get dressed for the party, go pick the boy up from UIL (crossing the highway) then take him to the friend's, then go to Lucinda's. Not much time to breathe!

Yesterday one of the teachers walked in with a bag of Mint M&Ms. I'd never had them, wasn't all that excited about tasting them, but...oh, my God. I kept finding excuses to go to her room for another handful. They are SO good, and only available this time of year.

My Baby Brother asked me if I was making molasses cookies this Christmas. It's a tradition in our family that I took over YEARS ago. I didn't make them last year and never heard the end of it. So I suppose I will.

When I was a girl, I would make sugar plums. The recipe I had was mostly butter and powdered sugar, with cocoa and oatmeal and golden raisins. The recipe was called Sugar Plums from Sugarland (Texas, you know) It was in an Imperial cookbook. Mom lost it (it was a little cookbook) and a couple of years ago, Baby Brother found the recipe on the internet. Again, OMG, but so rich you can't eat very many and they get thrown out, and have to be refrigerated because of all the butter. But I suppose I'll make those.

I also love iced sugar cookies this time of year. They aren't pretty like the ones Robyn DeHart makes (completely from scratch). Mine are Pillsbury dough and colored Duncan Hines frosting, but yummy.

What are your favorite Christmas treats?

moar funny pictures

First of all, a big WOOT to my dh for getting advance screening tickets for PS I LOVE YOU on Monday. The good - he's on vacation, so we can get there early. The bad - that's the third night we'll be leaving the ds alone. I know he's 16, but hey.

Second WOOT - I'm on the Coming Soon Page at The Wild Rose Press!!!! I don't know when soon is, but I'm there!!!!

Third woot - a partial request from Jenny Rappaport on last year's GH finalist. Need to dust that puppy off!

Last night, the boy played at the high school, which is across the highway from our home. (Okay, across the highway and a few miles, but...) Apparently, though, crossing the highway is now akin to crossing the border. It took me FIFTEEN MINUTES to get 3 miles because of construction - AND I HAD TO DO IT FOUR TIMES YESTERDAY!!!! I had to pick the kid up, bring him home, take him back for the gig and bring him home. EVERYTHING is one lane. ARGH! I remember when all the construction was on the OTHER side of town.

THEN, I FINALLY got my Pirates DVD from Best Buy Tuesday. It had shipped TWELVE DAYS before that. It went from Austin (an hour down the road) to Dallas (3 hours away) to OKLAHOMA CITY, then BACK TO DALLAS. A movie I ordered the ds that was mailed after that, I got a week before. I presume I'll get Harry Potter around Christmas.

What's up with the UPS man delivering in the middle of the night? The other night, the dh came home at midnight, and we had a package!

OKay, what needs to be done before I get out of school:

Progress reports, which means grading and entering grades

Make up work over the Christmas break for failing grades on the progress reports. I NEVER give homework over breaks, but these kids are just....so not motivated, and their parents don't help.

Choose a math textbook for the district to adopt (this is not my job alone, but paperwork is involved.)

Turn in nominations for the gifted and talented program.

Christmas letter about Christmas activities to parents.

Newsletter

lesson plans x2

Finish Cindi's scarf and wrap her kids' gifts so I can give them to her before we get out.

Make a scarf for my Secret Santa. And maybe 2 for the ladies in the office. Lord knows I have the yarn.

What has to be done before Christmas:

Get gift card for MIL at WalMart. I go to WalMart like 3 times a year, and this is NOT a good time. But I need to do other shopping there, too, so it can't just be a guerilla trip.

Gifts for brothers, Mom, stepdad

Find out where Christmas is going to be.

Bake

Wrap

Two Christmas parties, and I have to take food to one of them.


Are YOU ready????

moar funny pictures

Another one of those days where I didn't want to get out of bed. Another front blew in last night, I didn't sleep good because the dh went out with his band....I'm not ready for Christmas, but I'm ready for Christmas break!

The night before last, we watched The Year Without a Santa Claus. (Remember, my son is 16. He rolled his eyes all the way through.) I love the Heat Miser and Snow Miser scenes. The rest I could do without. But we were explaining to this child, who has had VCRs and now Tivo his whole life, what a big deal it used to be when the specials would come on.



Rudolph, Charlie Brown, The Little Drummer Boy...now THAT was appointment TV, because if you missed it, you didn't see it for another year!







There was one, though, that I remember. We just HAPPENED to see it on Christmas Eve when we were eating dinner when I was a kid. It was called The Night the Animals Talked. I've seen it once since, and have only ever met one person who saw it. Have you seen it?

Other than that, my favorite is The Grinch, the cartoon. I can recite it, because the ds watched it so much as a kid.



What's your favorite Christmas special?

moar funny pictures

I watched several movies this weekend.

I saw Waitress, which I'd heard was so good. Keri Russell was great, and I love Nathan Fillion, but the relationship between them bothered me. I knew she was married, and unhappily, when I rented the movie, but I didn't know he was married. And that bothered me. I did like the other relationships in the movie, but it was a little depressing.

I saw Nanny Diaries, which I liked better, but also a little depressing. I loved how the story was presented as an anthropological study, complete with displays at the Museum of Natural History.

We watched the first Kill Bill movie, since it was on Spike. It was very odd, but clever, I thought. The second one was on last night and we watched the first two hours. Not as good - pacing was awful.

We're looking forward to seeing I Am Legend next week, then the following week is PS I Love You.

What movies have you seen? Anything good? What are you looking forward to?

moar funny pictures

I love Christmas songs. One of my favorite Christmas albums is this one:



Another is this one. For years, it was the only Christmas album we listened to.



This is one of my favorite songs. I LOVE the harmony, and I actually remember seeing it on TV when it first aired.



When I was music teacher, I always had my kids do "Do You Hear What I Hear?" I love how that song builds.

When I was in choir, I loved "Carol of the Bells" and the Hallelujah Chorus. For years I remembered my parts.

I love "O, Holy Night," too.

My students loved "Nuttin' for Christmas."

I adore Madonna's "Santa Baby."

What Christmas songs do you love? Which ones drive you screaming crazy? ("Christmas Shoes," anyone???)

moar funny pictures

1) finish Ghost Hunter revisions
2) work on small town story
3) email Susan Litman about judging Merritt
4) Golden Palms announces – my second to last entered contest
5) Start revisions on Eden’s Promise for SHOMI contest
6) 2 gigs - ds’s AND dh’s (next week, each one has 2 gigs!)
7) 2 Christmas parties – school AND SARA
8) Website committee meeting at school
9) Secret Santa starting
10) Grades in gradebook so progress reports can go out next week
11) Keep up house
12) grocery store
13) get uncle's bday gift

Go buy it! This is her American Title finalist - you KNOW it's good!

Tracy is having a contest – enter to win $25 from BN.com!!!

moar funny pictures

I freaked out a little this week (I know - shocking).

I was thinking that my stories are all too different.

I have my suspense - Second Chances and Vanished.

I have my adventure - Breaking Daylight, DLB, Spy Girl

I have my paranormal - Ghost and Vamp Hunters, though I have an idea how to turn Surface into one

I have my futuristic - Eden's Promise

I have my contemp romance - Something to Talk About

All my other ideas trend toward adventure or suspense, though I am LOVING my contemp romance. As in, want to run away and only spend time with it forever and ever (just kidding, but not much.)

The concern is if Susan ends up liking DLB, what else do I have to offer her?

And what do I send to Samhain next?

And WRP?

And should I bother entering Eden in the Shomi contest if I only have the one book for the line?

What about you? Do you write one thing, or are you all over the board like me?

I blogged at Wet Noodle Posse today about my GH call.

I posted the other trailer, but this is the official one. CAN'T WAIT!



Yesterday I wanted to go to Beall's real quick to get a Christmas shirt like one of our teachers had, and to Hobby Lobby for some sequins and sparklies for ornaments.

Ended up at Borders for probably an HOUR. The boy has rediscovered books. You should hear his wish list - Ayn Rand, Victor Hugo, George Orwell. And he wants PRETTY books. You should have seen him with this $75 edition of Lord of the Rings. He lamented the fact that Ron Paul's book wasn't available, and that Borders is the last place people think to shop for gifts. Still, we walked out without buying anything.

I am up early to edit, even though all I want to do is work on my CA story.

And then last night I had this dream....a whole NEW idea!

moar funny pictures

The dh loaded Leopard on my desktop last night and almost killed the dang thing. At one point, he told me he probably lost everything on my user. I hadn't backed up my Nano book or the changes on Ghost Hunters, and I was MAD. But he was able to recover everything of mine, though I went to bed before I saw if he recovered the boy's stuff and his. I lost all my bookmarks, and my cache, so now have to reenter passwords, etc. Now my laser printer is being a jerk and keeps printing empty papers that aren't programmed to print. I don't know if it's out of ink or WHAT. And my inkjet is awful. I think I'm going to go order a new one RIGHT now.

I was able to get all my online shopping done, though, and I BELIEVE I just need Healing Brother (who got good news from his dr last week - he's back to 100%) and his wife, Baby Brother, Mom and stepdad and MIL. I need to check my spreadsheet. Oh, and my Secret Santa at work.

I wrote a lot on my California story, though. I love those magical gel pens!

The dh's gig tomorrow is cancelled (am I wrong to be glad?) and I have a faculty meeting today :(

moar funny pictures

I'm doing this blog on the dh's new laptop because he installed the Leopard OS on the desktop and so it keeps telling me to restart, which I have done. I'm glad I didn't wake up early to write! The bad is I can't recharge my iPod. I'm in the middle of listening to The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo because my ds LOVES that book. So far I find it weird.

I've seen other bloggers do this, so I thought I'd put in my two cents:

Dear Santa,

Yes, I know I've had a VERY good year, this fall especially, so I won't make my list very long.

This year, I would like a FANTASTIC cover for Hot Shot. I know, I was lucky with Smoke because I know the artist, but she still nailed it with the first shot.

I would like some movie money, with all the good movies coming out - PS I LOVE YOU, the new Will Smith, the new JDM in February.

I'd like the Writer's Strike to end so we can look forward to more quality TV when Christmas is over.

I would like more patience. I know you've heard that before, but I hate always looking toward the end goal. I'd like to enjoy my path a little more.

Keep feeding my muse. I love my new book and want to continue doing well with it. But 2008 will be the Year of Revisions and I want to do well on those, too.

I would like more time. I was able to find balance earlier this year, and I've lost it the past few months. I wish I wasn't in a hurry all the time! And all these books - I want to read them!!

I would like more time with my family, too. My son is growing so fast and he'll be gone before I know it. Even now nights with the whole family together are fewer and I hate that. As much as I want him to be independent and his own person, I know our time together is short and I want to enjoy him more.

Not too much to ask, is it, Santa?

(Oh, and if you can find that Supernatural watch I saw online a couple of months ago, that would be great, too!)

moar funny pictures

I got SO MUCH done yesterday. I typed in 5 pages of my small town story, which I'm calling Something to Talk About (StTA), I typed in 20 pages of edits on Ghost Hunters, planted 3 poinsettias, cleaned 2 bathrooms, decorated the Christmas tree, put out the rest of my decorations, watched 3 episodes of The Unit, did more edits on Smoke and then wrote at least 3 more pages of StTA, including a major turning point.

Then the dh went to his gig and I couldn't sleep. Okay, I slept about 3 hours, woke at 2. He'd just gotten home. I couldn't go back to sleep for TWO HOURS. When I did, I had a good dream about the guy from Burn Notice, but it was mostly REALLY weird, and I snoozed the alarm twice. Thank goodness I got my pants from the dry cleaners - no ironing!

Really, he's SO not my type.

moar funny pictures

I got my kids' presents yesterday, ordered Dad's and cousin's. Also got my production copy for Smoke, went through, found some mistakes. Went to bed at almost midnight with hurting eyes. Typed in 15 pages of my small town story (already written longhand) and cleaned my bedroom pretty good. Oh, and read the RWR.

This week I need to:

1) ease back into small town story
2) get Samhain paperwork taken care of
3) finish revising Ghost Hunters
4) don’t stress about Superromance contest announcement
5) buy long distance gifts and dh’s gift
6) faculty meeting
7) dh’s band playing 2 gigs and practicing one night
8) keep up house
9) keep up at school

Hey…I could live with this!

This is my new favorite band, The Arcade Fire.

moar funny pictures

My dh got a new MacBook last night, and while I'm glad he'll be off the desktop, I'm also a TEENY bit jealous. I kind of liked having a laptop last week. So maybe after we get some other stuff paid off, get the car fixed, get some home improvements done....

Today I want to rearrange my books. Not that they're badly arranged, just that they're kind of messy right now. See, I have them organized, to an extent. I have three bookshelves that are separate pieces of furniture, one that's built in, and one that's part of the dh's dresser.

The big book shelf has all my keepers and older TBR books. I weed through every once in awhile. All I want to do in that one today is get out the Santa Baby book.

The built in bookshelf has my writing books and my hardcover TBR as well as my Trixie Belden books. I don't think I'll mess with that one, except maybe to dust it.

Th bookshelf in the middle room has three shelves. One is books I've read, waiting for someone to request them from Paperback Swap. Another is books by New To Me Authors and the other is books by friends. THAT one is overflowing.

The shelf on the dh's dresser is books on someone else's list on Paperback Swap. They've been the same books since summer, so I need to fix that one.

The other bookshelf, which I bought for school two years ago and ended up using when I brought it home in the summer, also has 3 shelves, one for New To Me Authors (these are more recent releases) and another shelf for friends (also overflowing - it's good to have friends, right?) and the third shelf are the Jim Butcher books Stacy loaned me. On TOP of the shelf are more hardcovers.

Okay, other than just having way too many books, I really need to reorganize. But I also need to clean my house. And get my tree decorated. And get back to revising Ghost Hunters. And writing my small town book.

And I need to get to the library and the dollar store....and maybe Michael's.