The Bandwagon

I Need Your Help!

My mom and I have this tradition. Every year I compose a countdown list to the end of school. Every day I email her the list. I started with 15 Days Left, 15 Things to Look Forward To. I include different places to go to breakfast, to go shopping, as well as simple pleasures, like eating breakfast on the back patio and taking naps.

Here's the thing. I'm running out of things! I need about 15 more ideas! I think I've included every restaurant that serves breakfast, every craft store, staying up late...I'm out of ideas! Help! What do you look forward to in the summer?

The Ugly Truth

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Yesterday I came home, turned The Ugly Truth on Netflix, and went to

sleep on the couch. (I like having a familiar movie on when I sleep on

the couch.) When I woke up, the scene where she finds out he's left

was on.

Jennifer Crusie's right. It's a terrible movie. She's a shrill heroine, and

he's an arrogant SOB. So I wondered what might have made it a better

movie, and I thought, "She's the wrong heroine for him."

In the beginning, he's telling women who call in to his show that they're

dogs if they haven't found the right person, and when he meets the

heroine, he says she's not a dog at all.

Maybe she should have been. Maybe she should have been a confident

woman who wasn't slender and blonde and beautiful. Maybe she should

have been a little heavy, a little less-than-gorgeous. Maybe she should

have challenged his own perceptions ofbeauty and love more than she did.

Because essentially he got what he wanted withoutchanging his perceptions,

much like Danny at the end of Grease, when Sandy changeswho she is for him.

What do you think? Did you see the movie? Did you like it? Do you think

my idea is better? (HINT: The answer is yes.)

11 more days of school. So much to do!

You Make It Look Easy

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I've made all my sales since I've been working at this school, starting in October 2007, when I signed two contracts. I've sold 6 full-length manuscript and 4 novellas. One of the teachers said I made it look easy.

Easy.

Trish said she was making a master submission list of all her projects, which made me curious about my own. My list isn't complete, because it starts in 2002, but I submitted Hot Shot 35 times to publishers and agents before finally contracting it with Samhain.

Surface--11 places.

STTA--14 and still looking.

Easy. I guess it seems that way from the outside, though only Sunrise Over Texas and the novellas have been written since 2007. The others were wrangled and revised and shelved and revised....

I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But am I giving up? Nope. Don't have that in me.

I Haz a Sad

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Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a baby daddy--with two different women. He has a 4 year old child with one actress and a baby with another (27 year old actress from One Tree Hill.) I don't know why it bothers me, except that it does. It just seems irresponsible and I don't like knowing it. I guess the last I heard about his social life, he was back with Mary Louise, and that doesn't seem that long ago. It was at least a year, I guess, if he has this baby with Hilarie.

It's not like knowing David Boreanaz cheated on his wife (which Trish told me) but I'm...disillusioned. Maybe if she wasn't so much younger. JDM is one day younger than me. It would be the same as me dating Jared :-/

I submitted STTA to TWRP and realized the book is just a hair too short to go to print, so I worked on expanding that yesterday, and I have three more scenes to work on in Sunrise Over Texas. I'd like to be done by Wednesday.

Goals for the Week of, Nothing, Really

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This is the week before the week before the last week of school. IOW, the last regular week. Next week we’ll have field day and the talent show (though I really wish they’d save all that for the VERY last week. What are we going to do those last four days, I ask you? 14 more days.

1) Finish revisions and send back

2) Newsletter

3) Update website

4) Get back to work on Queen

5) House/exercise

See, nothing, really. I can do this.

How To Train Your Dragon

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First, I was ready to pull the trigger on buying the airline tickets for our trip to CA for my grandmother's 90th birthday, and the tickets have gone up $40 each! From Thursday morning to Thursday night! ARGH!

Second, we took the kids to see How To Train Your Dragon yesterday. We got to the theater early--they'd planned to show it just to us. The kids bought their snacks (OMG, did this theater make money!) We didn't get the discount we did last year, and it was in 3D so we didn't have the money preorder the snacks, which we need to do if we do this again, even if we just ask the kids for the money. So we get the 3D glasses and the movie starts in this big theater and....it's blurry. I moved, thinking it was me. I cleaned my glasses and my 3D glasses. Finally another parent turned to me and asked if I could see it. Everyone just assumed it was them. Another parent and I went to tell the management. They moved us to a TINY theater--not even enough room for all the kids and the parents with us. They had to bring in chairs! Also, the kids swear they saw rats!! But once the movie started, the worries fell away.

What a wonderful movie! I just loved it. It was visually gorgeous. I thought it was very unique despite having a familiar theme (the same theme as GLEE this week, in fact), and I started clapping as soon as it was over. The grandmother sitting with me turned to me and said, "THAT was a movie."

Have you seen it? Did you like it?

Also, don't you think Hiccup looks like Jared?

The Days Are Dragging

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The days always drag now, when I'm not desperate to cram 5 courses in a day, and still make it to computer lab. We're at centers a good chunk of the morning, which is more time efficient, but makes for a long morning. Not to mention Problem Child is in a mood this week. Remember the paperwork I filled out to get him on medication? I won't see any results before the year is out, I'm sure.

Today is a field trip and I'm not taking him, so his grandfather said he'd keep him home. Fine. I'm taking off tomorrow. Four days without that stress, then only 14 more.

Our dryer broke Tuesday morning. The dh got a part for it yesterday, only $40, a bargain, considering we've had the dryer over 11 years. So before we went out to dinner last night, I got a load of towels rewashed and in the dryer. Clean towels--whee! I'm washing another load now, and drying the dark clothes I put in last night before bed.

Dinner last night--my dad sent me a gift card for a restaurant called Biga on the Banks. We were told it was a dress-up place. The dh couldn't wear jeans and had to wear a jacket. I wore one of my floaty skirts. We had reservations, and had a table by the window overlooking the San Antonio River, on the quiet end. EVERYTHING was good, from the iced tea to the way-too-big steak (I'm not adventurous. The dh had bouillabaisse.) to the fruit crumble for dessert. It was the fanciest restaurant I've ever been to, and would definitely return, once I'm comfortable dropping that much money for dinner. The server was Australian and when I told her my dad got me the gift card for my birthday, she had the kitchen write "Happy birthday" on the plate with the dessert, and they put a candle on it for me to blow out. Wasn't that sweet?

Okay, I've been up an hour now. Need to hit the revisions. I'm on the second half of the book, but that's where most of the changes will be.

Oh, and tonight's the season finale of SUPERNATURAL!!!!!!! Can't WAIT!!!

Diet Foods

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I'm not on a diet, exactly, but the boy is, so I've been trying out new diet snacks so not to tempt him with the usual cookies and brownies I make. I've discovered that diet foods aren't so bad right now. I've been taking the Oroweat sandwich thins for lunch, as well as the Pringles and 100-calorie Nabisco sweets. I will say I'm hungry by 4 PM, though.

So when I come home, I have one of these treats. The mousse is sooooooo good, but then, so are the Skinny Cow sandwiches. I've only had one of the truffles.

The other day I celebrated with one of these:

Mmm. I still have my Big Mac and fries, and Chick-Fil-A breakfast biscuits, but I figure I'm cutting corners. What diet foods do you like?

Top Ten Reasons You Should Be Watching Friday Night Lights

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Friday Night Lights is FINALLY back on NBC (though the DVDs are coming out later this month) and I'm falling in love with it all over. Why? Let me tell you.

10) The Taylors' marriage, a true partnership with real problems, but real respect. Love!

9) “Clear eyes, full hearts can’t lose.”

8) Landry—a teenaged actor playing a teenager, a geek who tried out for the football team to get the girl. Best friend to reason #1.

7) Real Texas. Filmed near Austin, uses a lot of product placement from our local grocery chain.

6) Real issues—teenaged alcoholism, parents in Iraq, racism, money issues, both personal and schools

5) Buddy Garrity—the leader of the booster club, usually great comic relief but with his own problems.

4) The music. The first episode I ever saw ended with Coach Taylor walking out on the field to the song “Devil Town.” I bought it on iTunes that night, and then the CD.

3) Tim Riggins—the bad boy raised by his older brother after his parents abandoned them both. He’s gorgeous and sleeps with anything that moves. But your heart breaks for him, too.

2) Tyra Collette, the bad girl who wants more from her life than what her mother and sister have. She’s played by the gorgeous Adrienne Palicki, who does

1) Matt Saracen, the boy who has to balance his time working, playing football (and becoming starting quarterback as a sophomore after the star quarterback is injured in season 1 and taking care of his grandmother who has Alzheimer’s. He sacrifices so much. You just want to take over for him, and relieve him of some of his pressures.

Then there's Jason Street, star quarterback who finds himself wheelchair-bound, Coach Taylor's relationship with his players, past and present, and just terrific writing.

So what did I miss, if you watch? If you don’t, why not?

Goals for the Week of Mother's Day

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Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! I hope it’s a wonderful day, and not like the one Frankie had on The Middle!

This week is busier.

1) celebrate Mother’s Day

2) field trip

3) send out progress reports (almost done with grading…)

4) revisions on Sunrise

5) blog at SPN Sisters

6) Continue working on promo. I have back-to-back releases—July, August and September!

7) maybe work on Queen (I think I have two more scenes to go)

8) exercise

9) clean house (fallen way behind here)

Definitely taking off Friday.

The Appeal of Glee

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I love Glee. I heard a lot about it last year, when Fox showed the pilot, so when it reaired in the fall, I recorded it and fell in love. It's like a drug, seriously. It makes me ridiculously happy. I love the music, especially, and the dances. I love Mr. Schuster and the romance with Emma. I. Love. Sue Sylvester.

My cousin Greg posted to my Facebook page that he doesn't get it, that it must be a teacher thing. I think maybe, because a number of teachers at my school watch and love it. But I know a lot of writers that like it, too. I don't know a lot of guys who like it. The dh and ds were in the room while I was watching it and were snarking like mad, but my friend Susan's husband watches with her. I think it might have more appeal to people who were on the fringe in high school, too.

So what IS the appeal of Glee? Why does it make me so happy? It hits a chord with a lot of people (haha) but I can't put my finger on it.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

After a long time and lots of concern I'd lost it, I got The Call today from Angela James! Sunrise Over Texas, my very first historical, is going to be out in August from Carina Press. You cannot know how happy this makes me. I've been watching Carina on Facebook and Twitter and longing to be part of them, and now...YES!

The call: About 15 minutes before lunch, my phone rang. The kids were in centers and I was doing grades. I saw the area code and stood up even as I answered. I knew. When she said, "This is Angela James," I squealed. (Okay, I have admired her for a LONG time. I think she's damned smart and talented. I won't tell her she's the reason I started sewing again because that just sounds stalker-ish.) She laughed and said, "So, how do you know I'm not calling to wish you a happy Mother's Day?" While that would also be very cool....but then she said she wanted to acquire Sunrise Over Texas.

By now the kids realized something was going on and they were getting noisy and coming to my desk. Later they told me they thought it was Johnny Depp on the phone. Don't ask. I had to excuse myself and shush them, but really, I don't remember much. She said my editor loves historicals, and another person on the acquisition team read and loved it, and that the revisions would be minor. (I got the revision letter by the time I got home and it's not toooooo bad.) She said something else about knowing before RT and she apologized for not getting back to me. I'd sent an inquiry earlier this week and she mentioned that, yes, no news was good news. She went over the contract terms and congratulated me and wished me a happy Mother's Day. I still haven't stopped grinning.

After I hung up I went into the hall and saw the reading specialist and ran to tell her. She gave me a big hug. Then another 4th grade teacher was coming down the hall and I told her. Susan, our youngest team member, wondered what the commotion was so I told her. Only then did I call the dh!!! At lunch I called Trish. I'm like, "This is Mary." It took her a minute (it WAS the middle of the day.) Then I said, "Why would I call you in the middle of the day?" She said, "You sold something!" Much squealing ensued and then we realized we'll both have books out in August. Very DIFFERENT books, but still.

Then I called my baby brother (straight to voicemail) and then my step-dad, since he took me on the big research trip last spring break. I posted to Facebook, told my bosses and the other people at lunch. The kids got a REALLLLY long recess today. Too bad it was so hot!

So, revisions at the top of the list for now! After a dinner out to celebrate, I believe!

Days Off

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We get 10 days to take off during the year, and usually, I use most of them. In fact, when I was at the school-from-hell, I went into my emergency days, which cost me $50 a day and required a doctor's note. Considering I'd used most of my days in October, it was worth it to me.

I debated taking off today. I could have had a retired teacher as my sub and she doesn't even like teachers to leave lesson plans. That would have been cool. But I weighed my need for the day against other activities going on and decided to wait to take it until next week, the Friday after our field trip.

I thought I might take off release days, but this year both were too close to going back to school, one after summer break and one after Christmas. I take off when I'm too behind in writing or have revisions, I take off when I know I need distance from the kids. I used to take off when I wouldn't sleep the night before, but I couldn't sleep during the day, either, so I stopped that. I've already got 2 days planned for next year, right around Labor Day when we're (hopefully) going to CA.

Some teachers don't take them--they get paid for the 5 personal and carry the 5 sick over to the next year. I've been known to carry 2 over, and I've never been paid for the personal days. One of the teachers in my grade level has over 45 days banked! Not me. They're my days and I take them.

What about you? Do you take your sick/personal leave?

Rooting for Success

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And it ain't over. I thought about taking a mental health day tomorrow, but it's still Teacher Appreciation Week and the admins are doing fun stuff, so next Friday might be a better choice. I have to survive a field trip first, though. I called 2 parents yesterday and one of the students got so mad he called me a "h-o-e," (my girls spelled it out for me.) Yes, it's Problem Child. Thing was, he was GOOD last week. He behaved 4 days in a row. BUT his grandfather (who has custody) promised to buy him a new game if he got a sticker on Friday, and he got a sticker on Friday, and no game. Um, THANKS, Grandpa. I filled out the paperwork for the kid to get on medication over 2 weeks ago. Hey, I'd drive Grandma to the doctor MYSELF to turn it in.

We've been having Spurs Spirit Day at school (any excuse to wear jeans this time of year) but I don't think it's helping. They've dropped two in a row.

We got 2 magazines this week, EW and Rolling Stone, with Robert Downey Jr on the cover. Now, I've long appreciated RDJ. The dh, when he was younger and thinner, resembled RDJ so much that when I showed my son a picture of RDJ when he was 5, he thought it was his dad. I loved RDJ on Ally McBeal and I'm really happy that he's clean and having success now. I guess I feel invested in his success because of the perceived connection between him and the dh, but he's one person I'm really happy for.

Another person I love to see succeed is Jennifer Aniston. I don't know much about this woman, but I just loved her on Friends and she seems like a genuinely nice person. I'm not particularly Team Aniston in the conflict between her and Angelina, because I think Angelina is cool, but I really want happiness for Jennifer.

There's an author I know who was a Golden Heart finalist with me in 2007. I remember sitting in the awards ceremony with my fingers crossed that she would win, because I had a feeling it would mean more to her than to me. She didn't, but has gone on to great success, writing her second series now. I don't know why I connected with this writer more than others. I didn't really know her outside of loops and blogs at the time. I'm still her cheerleader, though I'm behind on her series.

Do you ever have connections like that, with people you don't really know?

Roadblocks

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I'm not feeling particularly motivated to write these days. I know I should, so I've been trying

to figure out what's wrong.

In Queen, I don't know what choice my heroine will ultimately make, and what effect either

choice will have on her relationship with the hero. I think this is the first book I've ever

written where they could end the book apart.

In the short story, I'm having motivation problems.

In the romantic suspense, my heroine is flat. Flat, flat, flat.

I'm working mostly on Queen, but am frustrated all around. What do you do when nothing

is going as planned?

The Art Show

I'm promoting Beneath the Surface at Coffee Time this week. Go read an excerpt and comment for a chance to win a gift certificate!

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Mom, BB and I went to an arts and crafts show this weekend. There were dozens of artists (much smaller than it's been in the past, but it was later than usual and in a different location) and we wandered about. The thing was, we were there pretty early, and it wasn't crowded and so a lot of the artists and artisans started talking to us. Well, BB takes art appreciation/history classes and knows a lot about art, and when you start talking to people and know their story, and see how nice they are--well, if we'd had it, we would have spent $1000 each. And the thing is, BB and I, especially, will talk. One artist had painted a map of downtown Seguin, where I spent many summers, with all the landmarks that I remembered, so of course I had to tell her. BB is the kind who would say, "Oh, look at the colors in that one, look at the flow," and the artist would start talking to him about technique, or where they were when they painted it or how they came up with ideas. (Why didn't Mom chime in? She couldn't get a word in edgewise!)

Our other problem is that BB and I are both very sentimental about being Texan. (I'm more so now because of him.) At this fair there were a LOT of Texas paintings. I told BB if I sell my Texas historical, he has to buy me one of the paintings.

How do you fare if you go to an arts and crafts show? Do you feel bad if you don't buy something from someone you had a conversation with? Do you avoid conversation? And when did I get so friendly?

The Impala and those two other guys for @mel4realz on Twitpic

Goals for Teacher Appreciation Week

I'm promoting Beneath the Surface at Coffee Time this week. Go read an excerpt and comment for a chance to win a gift certificate!

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24 days of school. Last year, Teacher Appreciation week was lots of fun, with activities every day. One of the activities was that an aide would stay with the class while the teachers watched a teacher-inspired movie. (We watched Freedom Writers.) We got popcorn and water while we did, and 2 blissful kid-free hours. Not this year, sadly, but we do get free lunch on Wednesday.

1) enter grades so progress reports can go out at the end of the week

2) faculty meeting

3) use my dad’s gift certificate to go out to eat

4) work on short story for Samhain

5) work on Queen

6) start promoting regularly at Coffeetime and elsewhere

7) try not to go crazy with the waiting

8) keep up house and cook more

9) exercise

10) sew?? I have two pieces of fabric, one already cut out!

Settings

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I always have story ideas,

1) Kentucky Derby—something about the glamour appeals to me, and I’ve always loved horses. I know it’s been done a lot, and done well, but I’d like to play with the idea. Maybe a wrong-side-of-the-tracks romance

2) Alaska—I’m reading Trish’s Winter Longing, and I loved Nora’s Northern Lights. I loved Men in Trees and Northern Exposure. I love the idea of the extreme weather and wildlife. Have no plot idea at all, though.

3) Fiesta—something I know well. I even have my heroine. I just have no plot. (I know, when has that stopped me?)

4) Santa Fe—I’ve never been but I’ve heard it’s amazing. No plot or characters but maybe I could go for research

5) Bermuda Triangle—I have an inciting incident, but no characters or plot.

6) Maine, right on the coast. I have a thing for lighthouses, see.

7) The barrier islands, either NC or Virginia—Just because I love the coast and I grew up reading Misty of Chincoteague.

Where is your favorite setting to read? Have one you want to write?

Kitties, Testing and Writing

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On Tuesday, the first morning of testing, the custodian found a box of 6 kittens (too young to leave their mother) that someone had dumped at our school. Can you believe? This is the third batch of kittens since I've been there, one batch being Mama Kitty's brood. Thank goodness they had a PTA program that night because we could only find 2 teachers to take them. See, we get dogs dumped a lot, too, and many of them have taken home dogs/puppies, as well as kittens from those other two litters.

Testing is done for us (well, we have a district test next week, but...) Today we have to keep quiet because 5th grade is testing. We're cramming science for the next 3 days for that district test, then I want to start doing centers again. Not sure if it will be possible with problem child, but maybe if I don't count on centers as grades I can do it.

I'm rewriting the climactic scene in Queen, then have the romantic stuff to do. I also need to add a scene earlier in the book, then go back through one more time to build romantic conflict and find continuity errors. I'm DYING to stay home to write, but the earliest I could do that is the middle of next week. At least there's no more tutoring and I can get home at a decent time tonight. I'm going to check the Tivo early because it didn't record Glee, Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife and....something else. Grrr.

I thought I'd get up early again because Stormy was scratching at the door at 3 AM (this is new). I fell back asleep, though. Yay, me!

#PuppyDogEyesOfDooooooooom Thursday on Twitpic

Book Releases, The Losers, TAKS testing

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Yesterday went by REALLY quickly. We did math almost the whole day in preparation for today's TAKS test. Please please please let some of it have stuck! I came home and tried to nap, since I didn't sleep hardly at all the night before, but I couldn't. The dh and I decided to go see The Losers at one of those theaters that serves dinner, so we drove a bit down the road and had hamburgers and hotdogs and a beer while watching the movie, which I loved, but then, I was loving the whole experience. It was expensive, but we never do stuff like that. In fact, this movie and Clash are the only movies I remember paying full price for. The theater was empty, but that could be that it was Monday night....it was a good, action-packed movie.

Today Elisabeth Naughton's new series releases. MARKED is already on my phone. (Yes, another series to start!) Savor the Moment, by La Nora, is also out. I ended up buying it from bn.com because Amazon didn't have a Kindle version!

I'm going to save my Sam W pictures for a bit. I'm not using him in the book I'm revising and it's making me nervous because I WANT to be working on his book.