Thank God That For All Practical Purposes, It's Friday!

[queenoftheskies]

Whew! That's a mouth full! Er...a keyboard full? Well, it's full of something...that's for sure. :)

Anyway. The freaky guy at work got even freakier. Seems he hears voices talking to him. Should have guessed.

But, I only have to work two hours tomorrow (HOORAY!) and then I get to head out of town to Nevada for the weekend. Woo-hoo! Even if it's not really days off, it's still out of town. Out of town is good.

Today was crazy with too many things to do and not enough time to do them. Not that that's different from any other day except that there was even more of that today. :)

Went to bed late last night, but for the first time in FOREVER, I actually slept ALL night. Hooray!

Got up EARLY this morning to make homemade lotion/cream for a homemade bath/toiletry items swap. Has to be there tomorrow, so I had to send it overnight. Talk about EXPENSIVE!

And, of course, since it was Thursday, my youngest son had late start day. That meant taking my daughter to high school at 7:00 for 0 period, taking my oldest son to college to wait for his 8:00 class. Taking my youngest son to work with me and then at 8:30, taking him to middle school. I hate late start days.

Then, at 11:15, I had to leave to pick up my oldest son, get him lunch, and take him to his job at the high school.

Then, I had to go back to work and figure out how to cover payroll for the week, stress over that all afternoon, work a few miracles.

And, pick up kids, run a million and one errands after work, and get home at 7:00 tonight. (But, on the plus side, I ran to Barnes & Noble and picked up a book someone on a fantasy writing list recommended that just happens to be written by someone whose LJ posts I really enjoy. Can't wait to read it.)

So, I get home, feeling pretty sick, totally exhausted, and I look at my novel file and groan cause I didn't even get a chance to do any of my writing this morning. Normally I can do at least a page, sometimes two, if I'm on a roll.

So, here I sat, looking at it, whining to my sister, who I was e-mailing (Hi, Dev!), that I just couldn't write tonight. Sniffle...I just couldn't.

So, if it's one thing I've learned, it's that I CAN. So, I did.

Beginning of the End 1029 words for the day

142,408 total words to date

Of course, here's my concern. Getting my writing done this weekend while I'm out of town. I'm going to take my laptop, if I remember (I'm soooo brain dead sometimes!). But, time is the problem. And, I CANNOT miss a day.

Well, I'll work it out.

Time to sleep now. Got to feel better for tomorrow. Going to visit my sister (Hi again, Dev!). And, we're off to Vegas for a show!!! Hooray!

Comments

[kimberlychapman.livejournal.com]

It rained here in Vegas all day today and I heard something about the Strip having had flooding, so be prepared. The forecast doesn't say rain for tomorrow, but that doesn't mean much!

What show are you coming to see? :)

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

You know, we've had rain almost constantly since last weekend. Yesterday was our first clear day. I think the weather must have headed your way and I did hear that it was raining up there yesterday.

I remember, when I lived there, that all the underpasses would flood when it rained...and many of the streets, too! I lived in the northwest, though, up near the Santa Fe and the Texas, and we didn't really have trouble.

My big concern today is that, if it rains, I might run into flooding in the desert...and I drive a Toyota Prius, which is kind of a small car. (My sister lives in Pahrump, so I go the back way, up through Shoshone to get there.)

However, good news is that we're NOT going to the Strip. I hate driving around the Strip, actually, and stayed away as much as possible when I lived in Vegas. :)

We're going to see Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at The Orleans.

Say, are there any good writers' groups in Vegas? Sometimes, I consider moving back up there, and I think I've heard there's a screenwriting group, but I didn't know if there was a group of novel writers, too, or not.

[kimberlychapman.livejournal.com]

You drive a Prius? I'm sooooooooo jealous. :) We considered them when we needed a replacement vehicle a few months back, but there's a waiting list you have to pay just to get on, and it's closed anyway. That, and we might leave the country and don't want to eat depreciation, so we got a decently fuel-efficient 2000 normal Civic instead.

How nifty that you've lived in this area! :)

As for writers' groups...no clue, sorry. Almost every creative or social group I've tried to join 'round here has turned out to be populated by right wing lunatics. It's amazing how people will badmouth immigrants in front of me but then when I let them in on the fact that I am one, first they're surprised (apparently I don't "look" or "sound" like one, whatever that means) and secondly they qualify their bigotry with, "We don't mean you, of course." So I don't join many groups around here because I got sick of that crap.

Even if there was a nice group of left-minded writers, I don't know if I'd be in on it. I'd worry about it being pretentious. Besides, I like to write by myself and then throw it out there for the readers; I'm not big on collaboration. And even if I found a group that kept me happy anyway, chances are they'd be full of smokers or something. It's always something!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I do drive a Prius. I've had her almost 2-1/2 years now and wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. I was lucky to go onto the lot asking for one and they had two there just to see if they could sell them. They ordered another after I purchased mine, but that was over two years ago, and I haven't seen any on the lot recently. I've looked as I've driven by cause my oldest son wants one, too.

I don't see how people can not drive Priuses. Not only are they good for the environment and the pocketbook, but they're HIGH quality cars. I have NEVER had any car repairs on mine. None necessary. And, the important electric components are warrantied for TEN YEARS!

I could happily expound on the virtues of Priuses and Japanese technology all day. I'm ever so happy with mine.

I only lived in Las Vegas for a year and I liked it, but I got homesick for California and moved back. I have been considering moving back to Vegas lately, just to get away from the stresses around here. I enjoy visiting. It helps to know where things are.

I hate bigotry in all shapes, forms, and sizes, and am horrified to learn that people treat you that way. That's atrocious and narrow-minded, and while I realize that many people ARE narrow-minded, I still don't think there's any excuse for it at all.

I belong to some online writers groups and my problem is that there's usually a core clique that makes it difficult to really become part of the group. They usually think they're the best and pat each other on the backs, but exclude others.

I am desperate for feedback, though, to see how what I write comes across to readers, so that's why I continue my search for a really great writers' group. Otherwise, it's hard to find people to offer feedback.

[kimberlychapman.livejournal.com]

I actually don't like feedback from strangers until the book is ready to submit to a publisher. 1) I'm afraid of getting ripped off, 2) I don't trust people easily because in my life, doing that has usually gotten me into trouble.

So I write, then my husband gets to read it and I make changes based on his suggestions (he reads a lot and usually provides good insight), then I give it to a few select friends as test readers. After I listen to their feedback and often make changes based on that, I submit to a publisher.

I worry that a writers' group would be exactly as you describe: cliquey and self-congratulatory. I don't have time for such pretension (see my recent journal entry on this subject (http://www.livejournal.com/users/kimberlychapman/4368.html)).

I suppose if I knew more writers closely enough as friends, then I'd be willing to share back and forth and things. Only, I actually find it hard to give feedback. Some random person once emailled me and asked me for feedback on her poetry, and I warned her that I'm very honest and would give her a real opinion; she said that's what she wanted because she wanted to publish the stuff. But then she got quite upset when I told her that her poetry had failed to evoke any response in me, meaning it was not likely to be published. The poem continually said how she could not describe her feelings, but I told her that the point of publishing poetry (as opposed to writing it for personal pleasure) is to share emotions, so she *HAD* to describe her feelings. I said that was the point of writing, to share with the audience, to use words in an effective manner to evoke a response.

She was very unhappy that I said that, even though I did so as gently as possible.

So now I feel oogy about commenting on other people's work (except students who ask for essay help because they're never personally invested in that stuff).