Saturday, March 27, 2010

Going Green!

Not a political/environmental statement, I just like green and normally forgo it.

It's looking like we won't be able to get into the new place until Monday. Hopefully early Monday. There are perks to renting directly from the owner, like being able to have pets with no problem. Downside is they generally do all the work on the house themselves and this guy is turning out to not be all that punctuational.

But hey, we'll still be able to move in BEFORE the 1st, which was our big concern.

I have to study like mad tonight and tomorrow for an exam Tuesday. I just hope none of my school stuff accidentally gets packed. It hasn't so far, if it can survive tomorrow I'll be all set.

I haven't worked on Ivory with the grids and post-its in like a week. I want to, I just don't have the room with the piles and piles of boxes. The fact that I want to work on it cements it as a good method for me. :D


Have a good weekend everyone!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Friday's Non-Baking - Moving!

Physically moving, not moving my blog.

How is it Friday morning already?! Time is flying and I'm moving this weekend. I'll finally have an office! YAY!

I've lost the cable for my camera to upload pictures. Lost or it's packed... I'll upload them when I find it. I want to show off my grids and post-its. I can definitely say this process works very well for me. I don't know yet if it will be helpful when planning a new novel, but I think it will.

No baking/cooking to post today, I'll be happy if I manage to actually cook dinner rather than give in and order pizza. Not so healthy, nor wallet friendly.

I'll be in and out of the blogosphere for the rest of the weekend and into next week. Depends on when the internet gets turned on at the new place. I still have to call them.

To-Do List:

Call everyone I have to, to get everything turned on at the new place! Electricity will be nice. Hehe.

Finish Packing.

Move!


Still ya'll later!

Monday, March 22, 2010

New Rule in Our House

Status: Coupons! The Austin Sunday paper always has the best ones, makes it worth the two bucks.

I'm not allowed to use any words over two syllables.

Any idea how hard that is?

My husband calls them 'big' words. I said 'disheartened' and he said 'no big words'.

But he can use the word syllables.

Which, if I can count correctly, has three syllables. He doesn't even like the word fickle. My favorite word!

I'm lobbying to get the rule changed to three syllables on the grounds that he uses three syllable words, so why can't I.

He should just be happy I don't use words like 'quagmire', Even I'm not sure what that means.

It's all in good fun, just astounds me sometimes the words he says I can't use when talking to him.

Gotta love it!

:D

Saturday, March 20, 2010

To Start Over or Not Start Over

Status: Excited because we're moving soon! (About a week away!)

I've finally figured out that I need to do a complete plot overhaul on Ivory. I'm going to start the awesome poster board type method this weekend to hopefully accomplish just that.

Do I want to keep going with the line edits I've done? I'm thinking I should do this plot overhaul, then redo the line edits, as the last half of the novel is worse than the first half in terms of plot.

I don't like the idea of starting over, but I really think that may the best thing to do. Get the novel in good shape, then worry about checking for silly mistakes. Looks like I started this process backwards.

Hopefully with my decision to edit for grammar as I write will help me a ton when it comes time to edit my next novel. I want to avoid this crap altogether.

Any of you scrap edits and start over because you realized you've been doing it wrong? (Not necessarily a bad method, just one that wasn't working for you.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Friday's Baking - Fruit Salad

Here in Texas, it's already Spring. We've hit 80 once so far, and have been hitting 75 pretty regularly. But still only the tiny melons and the dried out strawberries make it to the grocery store.
I have been craving fruit salad for so long I finally gave in to the pre-cut stuff.

You know the fruit that's like $5 for two cups worth? Yeah that.

We bought a big one with apple slices, grapes, gorgeous strawberries and pineapple. Then we bought two smaller ones, the first was grapes and apples, the second was strawberries and kiwis. Mmm. Kiwi.
We mixed it all together and brought it to our friends BBQ. It was a major hit. I think we had maybe 2 cups left at the end of the night.

It was so worth it. I can't wait for the better fruit to start hitting the store. I practically live off fruit salad in the spring and summer.

The picture is not my fruit salad. I will someday do that with a watermelon, but I haven't yet. It was the only picture of fruit salad I could find with kiwi that looked yummy. Mine didn't have blackberries or blueberries. Both are insanely expense down here right now.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Relaxing with OCD

Status: Tired and hungry.

We're moving in a week and a half. We have a ton of boxes packed finally. It feels like we have so much more to do, but not really. The biggest thing is we have to clean the apartment. Can't really do a full cleaning with all this stuff in it.

The half-packed apartment isn't helping my stress level. OCD and messes don't generally get along. I'm not bad, I just like things to be tidy. I don't flip out if my husband drops his clothes on the floor, or doesn't scrap his plate. Doesn't bug me. But if the entire house is 'messy' for an extended period of time, it starts to get under my skin and drive me bonkers.

I know this, so I try to prevent it. Right now, my kitchen counters are clean and the dishes are done. When I start to feel overwhelmed, I simply look at my kitchen and soak in the tidiness. It relaxes me.

The act of cleaning doesn't relax me, the end result does.

The key to a more relaxing life for me seems to be to clean more. Weird. Do chores to relax. hehe.

Side Note: Got five pages of Ivory done today! And about 1,000 new words, found another mini hole. I'm also going to start bubbling that new idea I got the other day. Yes, bubbling. I'm a big fan of bubble webs. I know there's another name. You start with one bubble with a word or phrase and then spider outwards with other bubbles.


My favorite word is fickle. What's yours?

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Religion in Writing

Status: No longer sick. Woot.

I was raised an atheist, not a chanting in the woods atheist, an actual atheist. Believe in nothing but yourself. (That has caused me plenty of problems, trust anyone?)

Not the greatest way to go I've since learned. My only experiences with religion as a child was a collection of bible stories for children, (I'm guessing from my Grandmother) and a summer of my father taking us to Sunday school with the neighbor down the street and her kids. I found out when I was 16, he was having an affair with that neighbor at the time. Soured church for me.


There is a point to this little history of me, I promise.

I went to church with one of my friends in high school, she absolutely hated it, and only went because her parents forced her. I learned some basics that basically everyone would know. Like what a covenant is. I didn't have a clue. The people were great, but I saw the extreme side of Christianity, and didn't like it.

Now that I've grown up a bit, I've started doing my own research. I may be finally coming around, though I doubt I will ever be the person whose at church every Sunday and at every function. It's just not me and I've seem so many fake people at those things that I just can't stand it.

How does writing fit in?

I was driving home from school and had a novel idea. Happens fairly often, what was different was that this one would fit squarely into Inspirational Fiction. I shocked myself. I asked myself if I seriously thought I could, or ever would, write christian/inspirational fiction.

But then I realized that's how it works sometimes. You don't always know where you're headed until you get there. I have yet to find a genre or a niche of writing that really feels right. So maybe this is it. I doubt I'd ever write solely in one genre, I'm too wishy-washy for that.

I can't say I've read a lot of christian fiction. I think my parents managed to make me want to avoid anything remotely related to religion. I'll have to pick some up and find out if I like it.

Side Note: I've started using some of the index card methods to flush out Ivory and find out what's missing as I finish typing up the first draft fixes. NEVER again shall I write a first draft with the true spirit of NaNoWriMo. I have never spent so much time fixing stupid typos in my life, and I will never do it again.


Do you edit as you write, or write then go back? Both? Some combo or something else entirely?

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Still Sick

I'm still sick. I was sure I'd be over it by now. Whatever I have is wrecking havoc on my body.

Started as a cold, turned into the mini-flu and now just won't go away. I feel tons better but am still ill. Random coughing fits, upset stomach 24/7 and headaches.

I now have 3 whole boxes packed...

Thankfully my husband's on leave this coming week. we have time!

I hope everyone is getting some level of spring weather. It's been beautiful down here.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Reminding Myself

Writing is relaxing. Writing is relaxing. I have to keep reminding myself of that fact.

I find myself trying to shove writing into my schedule like it's a chore. Then it's no fun and I don't do it.

I don't handle normal stress all that well. Give me emergency stress, life or death stress, fine. I can handle that. The fact that I'm moving in 2 1/2 weeks and I've got a whole 4 boxes packed gave me a sleepless night.

Of course there's more normal stress than just that, but moving is the biggie.

I always forgot how calming writing can be, especially when I've been doing edits and revisions only.

New idea for me. When I sit down to write, I'm going to set a timer and revise/edit for say 20 minutes, then write new stuff.

I'll let you know how it works! I'll be writing in between packing. At least until I run out of boxes. Which will be soon. Crap I need more boxes...

^_^

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Wacky Wednesday!

You know you've been around the military too long when...

you always stop right after leaving a building, giving your husband time to put his beret on.

you don't call his beret, PC, kevlar or boonie cap a hat, EVER.

you know what NCO, ACS, ACER, FRG, MLC, BCT, SBCT, and about 5 million other things mean.

you automatically know why traffic grinds to a halt on post, it's 5 o'clock, time for retreat.

you are so used to random work hours that when your husband gets a 24hr shift, you don't even blink and ask what he wants you to bring him for dinner.

you enjoy the fact that the military still holds formal balls, so you get to buy a pretty dress and relive prom all over again, good or bad.

you finally meet the one person you truly cannot stand in life, and you have to deal with them on a regular basis.

you see the price of cereal at a normal grocery store and wonder why you ever shopped anywhere but the commissary.

you know what a commissary is and what a PX/BX is. As well as AAFES.

you have learned to treasure every moment you have together, deployments come all the time.

you realize you've been married nearly 4 1/2 years, but have actually only lived with your spouse for barely 2.

you give up trying to explain to people that yes, we get a housing allowance, but no, we're not rich.

and most of all, you get so used to people only asking about your deployed husband, you forget to take care of yourself. Then you remember and splurge on a pedicure and a new hair cut.

Most of all, and this should go for everyone, you learn that laughter is the best part of any day.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

*Cough Cough*

My husband is knocked out. Not because he got in a fight, but because he caught a cold.

I get sick, he's fine. I get sick again, he's still fine. Repeat many, many times. He finally gets sick, guess what? I get sick too.

He's passed out on the sofa with a nasty sore throat/cough/sinus cold. Me? I just realized my throat is tender and after checking I discovered my glands are slightly swollen.

This is not good. Come Monday, he'll be fine. Which is great. Me? I'm on spring break. I'm supposed to be writing and packing all week. If history repeats itself, this minor cold he has will hit me much harder.

Not looking forward to this. If I liked orange juice, I'd be drinking it by the gallon.

I can generally plow my way through a cold. I'm just worried that since basically everything I have to do is at home this week, I may just curl up on the couch and sleep.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Friday's Baking - Chocolate Heavenly Hash

Sounds great right?

Not really. It basically turned out to be chocolate mousse with some angel food cake mixed in for fun.

I can't find my pictures.

To make it, you whip up 3 cups of whipping cream, mix in some melted chocolate and layer that mixture with cut up angel food cake. (More details than that, but those are the basics.)

It looks good. Really good. Not so great. I'd rather just eat the angel food cake.

I'd rather make strawberry shortcake.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Yay! (Joy and Randomness)

My husband passed the board!

The board is the NCO promotion board. You have to pass it if you want to become an NCO. (A SGT, SSG...only ones I know.)

My husband passed and now he's promotable to SGT. YAY.

SGT - Sergeant
SSG - Staff Sergeant
NCO - Non-Commissioned Officer

So what does this mean? At the moment not much. He gets more responsibility at work until the paperwork and his points go through, then he officially gets promoted to the rank of SGT. Then it's more more responsibility and a pay raise.

Don't ask me to explain the paperwork and points, I don't get it. What I got out of it was, if everything gets done quickly, he'd get promoted on April 1st. If not, May 1st. Apparently they only do promotions on the first day of the month. Or the closest workday.

Makes perfect sense, right?

I still want to go buy poster board and organize my plots like crazy. But my husband convinced me to wait until we move, so I'll have more space to spread out. We'll be going from a small 1-bedroom apt to a cute decent sized 3-bedroom house. With a gigantic backyard.

Perfect for a puppy! Which my husband is getting for his birthday in May. I would prefer a potty trained puppy. He wants a cute little baby baby puppy. I've never house trained a pet, nor do I really want to.

To sit, stay, do it's business in a certain part of the yard, sure. I can do that. Deal with random pee spots and other stuff on my floor? No. Sorry. Can't handle that.

I'm concerned for my ability to handle diapers when we finally decide to have kids.

What causes your gag reflex to go into overdrive? Me, it's mainly vomit. Even just in movies. I have to cover my eyes and look away. Just covering my eyes doesn't cut it.

Monday, March 1, 2010

OCD Revision/Outlining HEAVEN

I know I'm mildly OCD, but I never thought it would drive me to almost brave the nasty wind out side for some poster board.

Yes, poster board.

Joy on the Journey did a post about how she's tackling revision.

It is a must see for plotters. Even pantsers should take a look.

Might just be the straight lines and post-it notes, but I am definitely giving this a try.

...

Once the wind dies down. Tuesday we got 5 inches of snow, by Wednesday night it was all gone. I think it almost hit 60 on Thursday, and this weekend was decently nice. Today it rained heavily off and on, now the wind is whistling through my windows. Weather says it's 45 degrees out, but feels like 37.

I really think her process will greatly help me with Ivory. I've tried index cards for the scenes, but it always gets messy and unorganized. I've tried listing out on the scenes in word, again, gets messy and unorganized.

Post-it notes have always been near and dear to my heart, and grids are just peaceful.

Now that you all know how crazy I am, I'm signing off to go make dinner. Maybe I'll stop at the office store after school tomorrow.

Do you outline or just wing it?

Have you tried both ways?

Monday Calm

That's right, a calm Monday. How the heck did I manage this?

All I have on my plate today is homework and housework. Not even a lot of homework, just some reading. Housework is minimal, just maintenance really. I probably should run the vacuum and at least sweep. Which will take all of 10 minutes in our tiny apartment.

I may fit in some writing.

*GASP*

Writing?

On a Monday?

Never!


I have to drop the rent check off. That should take a whole 10 minutes. Maybe a little longer as I do have to tell our apartment manager we'll be moving out at the end of the month rather than renewing the lease. She loves us, we've lived here 4 years without any problems.

I'm hoping, no, praying my husband doesn't call me or come home with any insanity. He does have to get all his Army gear set for a layout, but that's straightforward. As long as he's not missing anything.

Hm. Should have made him do it yesterday. If he is missing anything he could have picked it up on his way home, rather than going back out. Oh well.

I'm going to go finish my homework and then reward myself with writing time. I'm going to work on Ivory some and 2YN. I should set a goal for Ivory. 10 pages of edited typed up and made all pretty. I can do that.

I hope you all have great and productive Mondays!