Sunday, January 31, 2010

Goals

This week isn't super full, the weekend is packed however.

Specific To-Do:

Buying at least 2 books (so I have one for next week).
Do the bedding
Be totally caught up on 2YN and comment on my favorite threads
Bake something yummy Friday. Most likely banana bread.
Do my wrist stretches everyday even though they barely help.


M-F schedule is normal. Only thing special is Superbowl party on Sunday. Woot! We're rooting for the Saints, even though they aren't our team. Our team sadly did not make it this year. (Sorry Debbie! I can't root for the Colts against the Saints.)

I do get to stay late at school TR because of a lovely group project for the next 3 weeks. That makes me not getting home until 5pm at the earliest. Sigh.

I ordered some truffles from The Fancy Lady. Should have them by the end of the week. They look so yummy... *drool*

How's your week shaping up?

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Too Fast

Time is going by rather fast. It's already Saturday night.

I got to everything on my to-do list. My toes are now a nice fire truck red. I like it.

I'm greatly disliking carpal tunnel. I have to be so careful. I have been for a while. But it's like, type up some writing OR play some video games with my husband OR copy notes for class. I can't do all three in the same day. I won't play video games Monday or Wednesday nights because I know I have to take a ton of notes in my classes.

Right now I'm behind on my 2YN over at Forward Motion, because I want to sit and hand write some of that stuff out. Planning to work on that tomorrow.

We've started to get a great group of friends down here, it's pretty awesome. Makes me feel slightly old that we have game nights, but it's fun. We trade hosting yet my husband and I are out of the rotation until we move to a bigger place in March. We have a tiny little apartment at the moment. We'll be moving to a bigger rental house. It's funny. You can get a three bedroom house with a garage in this town (in a decent neighborhood) for the same price as an apartment in the 'nice' part of town.

Kinda crazy. We're not buying due to the whole military thing. And no offense to Texas, I don't want to settle here.

Have to stop typing now. I hope everyone is having or had a great weekend!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Good Day!

No writing, but that's on the list for tomorrow.

Went to my classes, figured out I'm finally beginning to understand my business class. Yay! We're doing a group project and I actually have a decent group rather than being the only one that cares about my grade.

I just made a super yummy stir-fry for dinner.

I did buy a new book, and already finished it. Mercedes Lackey 'Burning Water' I've never read any of her modern stories before and I have to say, I liked it.

Haven't given myself a pedicure yet. I'm thinking tomorrow morning.

I did treat myself to Starbucks and discovered the tea I like in the big size is a whole $2.05 with my Barnes and Nobles card. Woot. Not something to get all the often (I don't need the sugar!) But nice to know it's fairly cheap. For Starbucks.

I'm going to work my latest idea (thanks to 2YN!) later this evening. I'm determined to get back to work on Ivory when I said I would. I'm a big believer in finishing what I start.

How was your day? Or how's it going so far if you're reading this in the morning.

Monday, January 25, 2010

How My Week Works

Inspired by Jamie’s Weekly Goal lists over at The Variety Pages, I decided to work up a sort of schedule.

This is how my week seems to breakdown with school back in session and my husband officially back at work as of today. The Army will of course throw in random days off and random weekend duty, but this is the basic.

Monday – Finish homework day
Tuesday – Class/homework/reading day
Wednesday – Errands/homework day
Thursday – Class/reading day
Friday – Baking/cooking/writing day
Saturday – Family/friends time and homework squeezed in
Sunday – Family time/coupons/reading day

I greatly dislike Mondays, so what better than to finish off all the homework I put off over the weekend.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I have class pretty much all day. Homework and pleasure reading seems to fit in fairly well, but not much else.

Wednesday apparently is my errand day, as that is when I find myself doing my errands. And it’s homework day.

Friday is the start of my weekend, and the perfect day to experiment with new recipes whether with baking or cooking. I don’t feel guilty taking extra time messing around in the kitchen since I have ALL weekend to do my homework. Right? I also seem to spend time with my writing on Fridays. I wish for daily writing, but it doesn’t happen and trying to convince myself it will doesn’t help. There’s something relaxing about Fridays.

Saturday
is a hang-out day. Movies, dinner out with my husband, dinner parties (a.k.a. game nights) with our friends. I try to do some homework in there, but it usually gets pushed off till Sunday.

Sunday. More family/friend time with coupons! Though the local Sunday papers have been slacking on the coupons as of late. This is usually when I finish whatever pleasure reading I’m doing for the week. Instead of homework of course.

I’m hoping my husband will continue his habit of sleeping until noon on the weekends so I have more time in the mornings to do school work or writing.

Of course all the lovely daily chores are mixed in there for fun. My husband’s uniforms get in the laundry sometime Saturday. I hate when it hits like 8pm and he’s like ‘hun, I need my PTs washed…’ SO NOT HAPPENING ever again.

Week of 1/25/10 Specific Goals:

o Pick up a new pleasure reading book. I’ve read everything we have (that interests me anyways, my husband is a mystery fan…I’m not).

o Give myself a pedicure.

o Go to Starbucks and enjoy a 4 dollar iced tea.

There is of course tons more that needs to be done, but these are the ‘fun’ ones. I learned last year that to-do lists a mile long just make me want to crawl back into bed and sleep the day away.

Organization brings calm to my life. Staying organized is the problem.

How's your week shaping up?

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Updates!

Definitely need to invest in some of those gamer headphones. My husband doesn’t realize how loud he gets. He is partly deaf so I can’t blame him.

I officially have carpal tunnel in my right wrist. The doc had to shock me with this evil taser-looking like thing to make it official. (See below.)



Evil-looking isn't it?

I have carpal tunnel, but not bad enough to warrant surgery this doc says. I get to keep wearing the brace and keep doing the stretches. Forever? I see my normal doc next week so maybe he'll make more sense. I didn't ask the doc tasing me too many questions, I was in some weird pain.

Still on break from Ivory. I feel guilt about it, but at the same time, I'm happy to be taking a breather.

Started college again this semester. It's just as hard as I remember it. Only difference is I actually care about my grades and am giving 100%. Maybe I will manage that 3.0. That'd be awesome.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Life Related Ramblings.

I'm tired. My wrists hurt. Trying not to whine.

I'm officially taking a break from Ivory. I should set an end date for my break. How about Feb 19th? Basically a month and that's the day after my first exams.

I just finished my first week of college in the last..2 years? Been awhile. Hasn't changed all that much. One of my professors is tech crazed, the other refuses to touch a piece of it.

As to my wrists...going to get braces Monday, the old ACE bandage trick isn't working anymore. And I have an appt set with a specialist to do an EMG(Electromyography). Then we'll go from there whether we need to pursue more physical therapy or surgery.

I am all for surgery. This has been going on for years and I am just sick of it. Yes, physical therapy can ease the pain. But it comes back. Even with a proper computer set-up. My wrist will be fine, then I'll wake up in the middle of the night and everything below my elbow will be numb and tingly.

It's weird that I'm seeing college as a break from stress, but it really is. No deployment worries, writing is seeming more more fun, and my husband has been doing the housework while I'm at school. :D (He's still on leave, I'm sure the amount of help will decline when he's back at work.)

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave a ':P' face in the comments at me for whining. :)

Friday, January 8, 2010

Writing with Distractions

With my husband home, I'm remembering how well I actually write with distractions. I have so little time to focus, I completely tune out everything around me and just pound out what I have to do.

When my husband shouts out obscenities while playing MW2 (Modern Warfare 2) can break through my wall of silence. I usually end up asking 'do you have to shout that loud?' and I get some reply along the lines of 'that dude just killed me' or something. I'm all for Super Mario Bros. :D He does stop shouting quite so loud for a while after that, so success!

Then there are the times I'm plagued with headaches because me and my forgetful self forgot to take my allergy medicine on time. The only one that seems to work is one I have to take every 4 hours. Bubble house anyone?


 

Original Ivory words gone over (since Jan. 5th): 2,436


 

I am using 'it' way too much today. Not necessarily here, but in my revisions. Rather annoying.

And I just found another spot where there is a missing scene. During my first read through, instead of fixing the gap, I just made a note to fix it later. Not doing that next time around. Way more aggravation than it's worth right now. I just want this done. So. I'm going to bed and am going to look at it with fresh eyes in the morning and hopefully I'll not hate the idea of sitting down to work on it.

(The intense dislike of working on Ivory literally spawned in the last 15 minutes.)


 

What's your greatest distraction from writing? Any tips on how you avoid or overcome distractions?


 


 


 


 


 


 

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Revisions/Editing Fun!

What was 33,000 words is now 25,000.


 

I guess that's not too bad. No, that's not my whole novel, that's the first…now 12 chapters. Originally this far along in the story I was up to chapter 17. I discover some minor pacing issues with my chapters. I had one that was one very short scene, and another that was about six very long scenes. Great job right?


 

I've got just about 65,000 original words left. I'm barely 1/3 done. I thought I was way further along than this. Talk about a kick in the butt to get me moving!


 

I'm thinking I should play the word count game again. How much I can get through in a day. Not going to set goals, I'll just jinx myself. I'm going to keep track of how many original words I go through. I'll post said progress here. Again, not going to set a specific day, I'll just forget I'm supposed to post.


 

I want to get this done so I can start working on those rejections! Really I am hoping for an acceptance, but I figure having a positive spin on the whole process might be beneficial.


 

How is 2010 treating the rest of you so far?