magick musings…

“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.”

~Russell Baker

… to Hell?

Today, here in North Texas, the temperature with the heat index was a roasting 108 degrees.

I walked outside to help GW fix the micro-sprinkler system on our lemon trees and the heat was almost suffocating. Needless (and embarrasing) to say as soon as we were finished, I ran, not walked, back inside.

The rest of the day was spent catching up with household details and getting some writing done.

Friday night we went out to eat with some friends and tried a new Italian restaurant. Their pasta pomodoro was awesome, but the cannoli for dessert was to die for. Even though GW and I shared it, it was still way to much for us and we were so stuffed, we had to roll ourselves out of there.

But great wine, great food, great dessert! And the best of all, great company!

Have a busy, busy week so gotta run.

~Sandy

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

~Winston Churchill

…I attended the RWA National Conference at Disney World in Orlando, FL.

Had such a blast!

Dennie M, Michelle M, and I arrived Tuesday afternoon and got checked into our hotel, unpacked, and headed for dinner and drinks at the Cabana Restaurant on the small beach at the hotel. Sat outside where, surprisingly enough, the weather was very comfortable. We munched on their speciality pizza (I tried the fresh tomatoes and basil one) and it was great! Yum!

Wednesday morning we headed for the Magic Kingdom where Dennie and I rode as many rides as we could until the heat took over and we cried uncle and called it quits. I was game to ride anything that didn’t involve getting wet (you can call me a wimp but at least I be a dry one).

Space Mountain, Big Thunder Roller Coaster, Buzz Lightyear, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean – they totally rocked!

Wendesday night, Nikole B flew in and we ate at the sushi bar in the hotel and, after enough sushi and saki sangria, got brave enough to do karaoke. Michelle and Nikole sang, I pretended to sing (trust me, better that way), and Dennie took pics. Evidently, we were in THE place to be that night, because the next day every workshop we attended, someone mentioned it. Needless to say, I bet that night it was packed to the rafters with others wanting to get into the fun also.

Just for the record, I was not brave enough to try the raw sushi kind. That would take more than a few glasses of wine and by then I would be asleep and not eating anything anyway…

As usual, the conference was not only tons of fun, but so productive. I saw some friends I’ve not seen in like forever. Met some new friends like Raeann Parker from my YA group. (Waving to you, Raeann, and thanks for your help on twitter). Also got to meet some of my favorite authors like Tera Lynn Childs, Ally Carter, Tina Ferraro, Melissa de la Cruz, Sophie Jordan, and many many more.

Listened to Nora Roberts talk on how to suck it up and get the job done and how important friends are. She’s such a hero(ine) and inspiration to me. Every time the thought of how ‘hard’ writing (or life in general) crosses my mind, I hear Nora’s voice in my head and I stop whining.

Laughed hysterically at the Chat with Meg Cabot. I so love her.

Sat with Margie Lawson at the Rita awards banquet. She is one awesome, classy lady.

The YA RWA group had our first business meeting and it was so much fun getting to know them and put faces to the online names. This is going to be a really powerful group in the Young Adult field. Happy to be a part of it.

And congratulations to all the RITA and Golden Heart Winners!

If you are serious about writing, attending RWA Nationals is worth every penny.

Even if it is not at Disney World, LOL!

But it’s great to be back and looking forward to another trip with the hubby in a few weeks. This one is just for fun.

Must pack lighter, must pack lighter…

~Sandy

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

~George Bernard Shaw

The beauty of the internet is that there is so much you can do from the comfort of your home. You can ‘window’ shop, buy, sell, keep in touch, make new friends, find old friends, play games, take classes, all in your comfy clothes and bunny slippers.

Occasionally, I will sign up for a writing workshop that many of the RWA chapters offer, but being so busy, will just print the lessons off and put them in a binder (I’m very organized, ya know). My intentions are to read through them and learn and apply what I can to my writing.

Recently, for the month of June, I signed up for C.J. Lyons workshop called Character Driven Plotting. This time, I decided to be an active participant and actually do the lessons and the homework and -(gasp!) – send them in for review.

I cannot stress how much more I’ve learned by doing this. Like many, I can read something and THINK I have the concept and then just move on down the road. But, by participating, you get such informative feedback that helps take it to a new level. And CJ makes you really think hard and dig deep for motivations and conflicts and emotions.

And for us who are such visual creatures, she provided the script to the movie Die Hard and is using the lessons to dissect the movie which is kinda cool. Unfortunately, now I am dissecting movies even worse now. Poor GW!

But try dissecting Shutter Island. Talk about weird!

Great workshop, though!

I recently reconnected with some old friends whom I have not been in touch with for several years and talked on the phone to one of them for TWO hours the other night! It was great catching up and hearing what everyone has been doing. Hard to believe that their kids are now grown, out of the nest, college graduates, and some even married. Wow! Do I feel old! (Not really, LOL. They may all be older, but not me! Although, I do wonder who that woman in the mirror is sometimes…)

Not much to tell on the cooking front. Haven’t been in the mood to try anything special or different.

Later!

~Sandy

“Not only must you renew your commitment to writing every day, you must work up your nerve again and again.”

~Paul Raymond Martin

…every year our local RWA chapter holds it annual awards luncheon.

This year was one of the best we have ever had.

Friday night was our members only get together and we met at Geri Foster’s beautiful home. The morning started out with strong thunderstorms in our area, so we all held our breaths and frantically checked flight information every five minutes to make sure the guest editors would make it and not be stranded somewhere they were not supposed to be. But they both eventually arrived as did one of our guest speakers Christie Craig.

It was wonderful getting to know Editor Laurie Rauch of Samhain, and Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks. They both were so nice and friendly and funny and it wasn’t long before we were all laughing and having a great time. Ya’ know, editors are real people just like all of us. Very approachable. And they like to talk and visit and meet people and have fun. So I hope they enjoyed it here as much as we enjoyed having them.

Christie Craig was hysterical and if you ever get a chance to hear her speak, don’t miss it. And just ask her the story about a pick’em up truck, a cowboy, and a mattress. But remember not to be drinking a beverage when she tells it. Or you will be snorting liquid out of your nose. I shared that story with GW and even he was laughing out loud.

Rachel Caine was awesome! She is a successful published Young Adult author, a super talented one, and I am so totally in awe of her now. I have read several of her books, but will be downloading some more on my nook for my digital TBR file.

A day of inspiration, motivation, fun, laughter, and a nightcap of the Cheesecake Factory. What more does a writer need?

~Sandy

“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! .”

~Mark Twain

I love Spring, but not fond of Spring Fever.

This weekend, we worked almost the whole time in the yard. Planted 6 knockout rose bushes, 5 hanging baskets and 5 large plantars with various colorful plants. Killed weeds. Killed ants. Took motrin.

I don’t know if it is because we worked so hard or if Spring Fever plays a part in it, but I crash so hard at night. In front of the TV. And then don’t sleep well at night.

So not getting as much writing done as I should. Because I sleep when I should be writing, and then lying awake trying to sleep thinking I really need to be sleeping so tomorrow I can write and not sleep.

I know, doesn’t make much sense to me either.

But, I am writing a little. Very little. But there are words every day added to the story.

Must find more energy and time to write.

On the cooking front: last Friday night, I roasted some corn on the grill and it was awesome. After husking them, I mixed some herbs from the garden into soft butter, added salt, pepper, and a dash of garlic and spread it on the corn and cooked it over the fire for about 8 minutes or so. Even GW said it was pretty darn tasty. I also roasted some yellow squash.

Sunday was GW’s turn to cook and he grilled marinated flank steak and steamed corn in their husks on the grill.

I so love that gas grill!

Here’s a cute joke about Spring Fever:

Four high school boys afflicted with spring fever skipped morning classes. After lunch they reported to the teacher that they had a flat tire.

Much to their relief she smiled and said, “Well, you missed a test today so take seats apart from one another and take out a piece of paper.”

Still smiling, she waited for them to sit down. Then she said: “First Question: Which tire was flat?”

~Sandy

“The fear of rejection is worse than rejection itself.”

~Nora Profit

Last June I finished my first Young Adult novel, When Darkness Falls. Of course, being the way I am, never wanted it to see the light of day. But, Dennie, Michelle, Brenda, Geri (all writer friends of mine) and, of course, GW kept after me as to why I wouldn’t submit it to an editor or agent. “Put it out there. Get some feedback. See what happens.”

But it sucks, I cried. It’s awful, I moaned. It needs more revision, I whined.

So it sat. Hid under my cyber bed for almost a year. I tried to forgetaboutit. And almost succeeded.

Until…

At the beginning of each year, my local RWA chapter has us make our goals for the new year. I diligently wrote out mine. Two of them included:

I really wanted to attend Nationals.
I really wanted to attend Nationals in PRO status.

But in order to attend in PRO status meant I had to actually submit – and get rejected – by an editor or an agent.

And I wanted my PRO status. I wanted it bad enough to take the plunge and send my first novel baby out into the world.

As Dennie, said, ‘It’s a win-win situation. If it gets excepted, you win. You get published. If it gets rejected, you win. You get PRO’. And the benefits of being PRO are so worth it in the long run.

I thought about it for awhile and with Dennie and Michelle and Brenda and Geri, and of course, GW’s prodding and pushing and encouragment, I worked up my query letter, attached the required pages and, holding my breath, clicked the send button!

In today’s digital world, it doesn’t take long for answers and I got mine back swiftly. My first rejection letter! You can’t imagine how excited I was. With the help of our chapter’s president and PRO liason, the required paperwork was submitted to RWA and I received the notice Friday that I now have PRO status in the RWA publishing world.

Now, you may be thinking that getting rejected is a bad thing. Well, it’s not.

So wonderfully put in the email GW sent when I announced the good news:

It is one more step toward my ultimate goal.

Thanks, Babe!

~Sandy

“A sense of humor is just common sense dancing .”~William James
… do it!

I broke the 10,000 word mark on my new WIP today!

I decided that the weekend was not going to end until I did exactly that. And since Monday is going to be busy, (and technically not part of the weekend) I got butt in chair and hands on that keyboard and got’er done.

I can still finish it by June 1 if I stay on course.

Our new guest bedroom furniture was delivered this weekend. It rocks and I am very happy with it. We bought new lamps for the nightstands and now the only thing left to complete that room is window treatments and artwork. Now we’re ready for that special company!!!

We had a very busy and productive weekend. I hate the way Sundays go so fast. Grocery shopping, laundry, gardening, writing, cleaning house. Before we knew it, it was 8:00 pm and hadn’t had dinner yet. GW had bought some talapia so we fried some up and made some veggies go with it and it was an easy meal. I know, I know, we should have grilled the fish, but we were both in the mood for fried.

As soon as the weather gets better, I am going to learn out to cook on our gas grill. Don’t know the first thing about it, but I bet I can learn.

~Sandy

“Until you’re ready to look foolish, you’ll never have the possibility of being great.”

~Cher

…we ran errands. And ran errands. And ran errands.

But we finally found the rugs we wanted for both the foyer and the family room. And they rock! They are the perfect colors and size and it is amazing how they bring warmth to the rooms. Still have so many other things we want to do but it takes time and lots of work. And we want to make sure we get it how we want it.

Then we shopped around and found the bedroom furniture for the guest bedroom. They now make ‘media chests’ which matches the furniture so you can put a television and DVD players and such on which makes it better than the equipment taking up room on a dresser. I loved that idea! I like a place for everything and everything in its place.

The furniture had to be ordered, of course, so it is the same ole hurry up and wait. But I have patience.

Most of the time

We trucked to Home Depot and then to Sam’s Club to stock up on some items we were out of and by then we had worked up an appetite (shopping makes you hungry) so went to eat a late lunch. We had a gift card to On The Border so we pigged out on fajitas and veggies and rice and beans. Yum! We were good, though, and didn’t do dessert.

I did get some writing in. That’s important. I was having some trouble getting started on the chapter I am working on. I wasn’t quite sure where to begin it. Until that little birdie reminded me to just START! It can always be revised. But like everything else, I want it to be picture perfect the first time.

Today it is grocery shopping and then writing. I didn’t quite make my word goal this week, but still have to today to make up for it.

Have a great Sunday!

~Sandy

“Be courageous. It’s one of the only places left uncrowded.”

~Anita Roddick

I have a new goal!

…thanks to Geri for sending me the info on the call for anthology submissions for Samhain.

Theme: Angels! And, just take a wild guess at what I am working on at the present time? Yep, you got it!

And it’s not due until November 1!

Okay, here’s the plan:

By Monday, June 13 – have storyline finished.

By September 30, have 30,000 words completed.

October 31 – have critiques and revisons done.

November 1 – send that completed, polished puppy off to the publisher.

I can do it…I can do it…

Gasp! It feels just as scary to do this as it was to do my Faerie story.

I can do it…I can do it…

On another note, hope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July. Was busy in the morning, but that afternoon feasted on GW’s ribs and then rolled ourselves over to The Chair for an evening of reading, watching fireworks on TV, talking, and laughing. Was too hot to trek outdoors to play for anything more than a late evening stroll around the neighborhood on Sunday after running errands such as grocery shopping and, of course, a quick visit to one of our favorite tool shops and then on to the mall for a few things I needed. I got an urge to buy The Four Seasons Greatest Hits (Franki Valli NOT Uvaldi like Brenda first thought, LOL which I am still not sure who that is) to add to my iPod and now I have a rockin’ folder with Oldie but Goodies that has approximately 115 songs ranging from the 50′s to the 80′s. I have over 900 songs total on my iPod and I love it, love it, love it!

Just give me my iPod and my netbook and I can stay out of trouble for hours. Most of the time.

Looks like time to eat dinner. BTW, the roasted chicken was fab last week! And very healthy. I gave the recipe to a friend and she also said her family loved it.

Stay cool!

~Sandy

“What you will do matters. All you need is to do it.”

~Judy Grahn

Me panicked: Hey, the WiFi on my netbook is not working!

GW calmly: Why not?

Me panicked: I don’t know why not. It was working a minute ago.

GW calmly: Reboot it.

Me panicked: I DID! And it’s still not working. I have to have it. It HAS to work! What’s wrong with it???

GW calmly: I don’t know. What did you do?

Me panicked: I didn’t DO anything! It just stopped working. One minute I was on a website and then it stopped working. I can’t get on ANY of the websites I need to be on. I NEED to have internet access.

GW calmly: Why? The netbook was strictly for writing on.

Me panicked: Um, sure. It is. But I have to have access to the internet! You know, research and everything.

GW calmly: Uh huh, sure. Did you make a point recovery backup?

Me panicked: Point recovery backup? Um, no. Was I supposed to do that?

GW calmly: Well, it helps for situations like this.

Me panicked: But I didn’t know. What do I do now? Does it have to go back to the factory? I don’t want to take it back. I have to have it.

GW calmly: Let me take a look at it. We might have to do a whole recovery on it.

Me panicked: What does that mean? What happens then? Will that make it work?

GW calmly: Yes, it will work. It restores it back to the factory settings.

Me panicked: Will I have to reload all my programs?

GW calmly: Yes.

Me panicked: NO!

GW calmly: Do you want it to work?

Me panicked: Of course! I NEED it to work.

GW calmly: Here’s the problem.

Me panicked: What? What is the problem? Is it broke?

GW calmly: Well, you might say that.

Me panicked: Oh, NO! What’s wrong? Does it have to go back to the factory? Can you fix it?

GW calmly: I already did.

Me no longer in a panic: You did? Cool! Is it working? What was wrong with it?

GW calmly: See this button here?

Me happy: Yeah, it has a little antenna thingy on it. What’s that for? Is it broke? Did you fix it?

GW patiently and calmly: No, it’s not broke. It turns the WiFi off and on. And guess what?

Me sheepishly with a red face: I turned it off?

GW shaking his head calmly: Oh, Babe!!!!

~Sandy