Carolyn

I posted a 'lite' version of this on Facebook, but expand here because the audience there has a lot of my Siberian Husky friends who aren't interested in writing. Just dogs.


11:10 and I have yet to accomplish anything besides putting up my tree and cleaning the kitchen and making bacon. Haven't even written a word either. Yesterday I attended the NTRWA meeting for what, the fourth time? Or third. I'm joining as soon as membership opens again (January) as I had a lot of fun, and kinda am in needs of a support system for writing. Not that I don't have support systems but this is on a professional level. I'm not a romance writer, but Aneli's story DOES fall into the realm of romantic fantasy, or close enough I think. Just as in other genres and the publishing world itself, so much has changed with RWA since I left it that I feel good about being a part of it again.

Added for here: AKA that they now accept gay fiction, self-published authors are treated as equals, all the old guard have been pushed out by more accepting individuals, etc. etc. This next month this chapter is hosting a talk by Damon Suede who is well-known in m/m romance circles. I met him once years ago and didn't think much about him but he has been a huge part of why RWA has loosened its morality and judginess. I look forward to this talk!

Back to FB version:

As for writing itself, Nano was a success (53k words) and the momentum is rocking along still. The first week of December I continued to write on the fanfic to get to a certain point - 62k of that now(!), but now will pick up on Kian's story, book 2 of my Sirensong trilogy.

Added for here: OMG I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! HE IS MY HEART AND SOUL! I love love LOVE writing from his POV!!!!!! Book one is only Aneli, and I debated adding him but HELL YES I LOVE HIM!!! Ahem. Owl's pov is also part of this book, the #1 stakes character, and whom around all this ultimately revolves but we don't know it yet.

Back to FB version:

For the Nano fic, I had no real outline except roughly in my head. Talk about fun - I'm such an outliner, this nanofic is a heavy challenge to write like this and I absolutely loved it. So I am going to put the nerves aside, and tackle Kian's story in the same manner--no outline save for the loose one in my head. I have been frozen on this book for awhile because though I know the end goal, everything else in between for the three POV characters is up in the air. Writing from the pants for a month (lol) definitely has helped put aside that frozenness. (Frozenness is a word, isn't it?).

I am itching to go back to the first book though and rework the opening - on the drive home from RWA yesterday, it hit me finally on how to rearrange the first two chapters so it opens where it really needs to open. BAM - after almost a year after finishing it... :) Too funny, Brain. But thank you!

MORE WORDS FOR HERE ONLY:

Moving - I own my house, and I hate it. Except for my tree, that is, and that isn't enough reason to stay. I am selling it and moving to a much nicer area. I am a very fortunate person in that I can afford to do this, and selling the house will put a huge chunk into the bank to draw from over the coming years. My retirement from Lockheed kicks in next March, too, so though I will still be working, I plan to retire at 62. My personal goal is to have 3-4 books in this world done by then. That's six years or so from now. I am not a fast writer by any means but I do write long so that is the goal. May or may not self-publish - honestly want the traditional publishing experience but we'll see. Now I am just focusing on writing as much as possible and having fun doing it.

All my published books are now out of print. Kinda sad about that. It was a good ride though.

I do GYWO (getyourwordsout) on here every year and 2018 chose to the habit tracker - pretty successful but not as much fun for me as getting wordcounts down so I am going back to that, upping my goal higher than I've ever done, 250k for the year.

Otherwise that is about it for life - working, having fun with local friends when I can, living the single-life-with-dog life.



Oh and now it is time to go walk the dog almost so I need to take a shower. He is my everything! ;)

Okay so I am really and truly enjoying this show.  I've tired of dark shows (looking at you Jessica Jones--though you were brilliant, I am just worn out by brutality) so after mainlining Eureka, where I would like to live thank you, I decided to finallly get going on this show that I've heard about for so many years.   Am well into season two now and it is really cool to see the variety of situations they come up with.  A time or two a few things have sparked ideas for my story, which is very unexpected.

Today's writing was a continuance of working on the rest of my plot.  It is weird that I can't quite see the ending yet, but I think I sort of kind of know how it is going to go.  I had to come up with something for the hodderscape synopsis -- it may work, but may not, not sure.  I just sure wish I was done with this first draft.  Even though I'm writing one way or the other almost every day, it is just creeping along so slowly.  How do you people write so fast, you who write fast?  My brain just doesn't work that way, though I am writing faster than I have been.  So I guess that is something?  Was hoping it would be done by end of January - end of February is probably more reasonable.  WIsh I could just take a week off, grab my dog and head out somewhere pretty and beautiful to work on it nonstop.  Ah well.  Gotta work. Sigh.

I think Maddox has the right idea.   Night folks.

Well fortunately the good outweighs the bad for the weekend - whole 30 is still going great, I got in lots of great walking and geocaching (55 found so far! YAY!), lots of bonding time with the boy puppy:



Got to see my son and his flatemate and play with their new pet snake, Lucifer.

I LOVE HIM!

So much so my son is going to find me my own pet snake!

Yes, I want my own pet snake. It was so relaxing to just be aware of this fragile creature, looping in and out through my fingers as I chatted with the guys. This is Lucifer!



His eye is cloudy because he is getting ready to shed his skin. Pretty cool.

So all in all, such a lovely weekend. Food went great this weekend, and in fact I have more been dealing with not hungry so why eat? Which I know I need to get enough food. One can't just not eat, right.

Anyway, now for the bad:



Yes. That is my window, held together by the film over it. If not for that it would've been an even more horrible mess. My purse which was stuck under the seat out of sight (though my windows are so darkly tinted you really can't see in anyway) was stolen. Credit card, debit cards, insurance card, driver's license, Maddox's brand-new Geodog tag (grrrrr) and just the worse, my favorite Brighton purse that I've had forEVER. Like... nine years. Those purses just do not die. Now I have no purse at all because I never buy new ones, because I had this one. Dammit!

So anyway. I was at the park, innocently walking Maddox for almost two hours (it was that gorgeous out!) and then we come back to that. *SHAKES FIST*

I had to file a police report, and cancel the cards, but thankfully I have a passport so was able to get to the bank and get a temporary debit card.

So, onward and upward! I am about to make some soup for the week, and it will be an odd one. Zucchini soup. Yes. Weird huh. We will see how this goes. Otherwise, other than getting another couple miles in this morning, I have been quite happily lazy. Somehow it seems less awful to be lazy during the day after getting a good walk in in the morning. No guilt!

Back to my new addiction - Great British Bake Off, Great Irish Bake off and Great Australian Bake Off! There is an American one too! I am up-to-date on the British and Irish ones, currently watching the VERY peppy Australian one. :) So much fun to see the different countries' approaches to baking.

I hate baking, myself, and don't like rich desserts so much (but bread, ooohhhh) but I love these shows.

:) (oh and headaches are gone, YAY!)

Today was a much, much better day. I woke up when the pupsters woke me at 7 (the beasts!) but got up and let them out, and oh! the coolness, the breezes, the lovely aroma of Fall! I made myself a cup of my new coffee I bought (mmm so smooth) and sat outside on the porch and sipped my coffee. Even though it is only the second day, I am starting to realize that I have been masking the true delicious flavors of coffee and my favorite tea (Constant Comment :) with Sweet n Low. No more! I THREW IT OUT! I didn't throw it out the other day because in the back of my head I was fooling myself into thinking that I would get back to it. But I've got a new goal to toss in there - no more sweet n low, ever. No more aspartame, no more ANYTHING artificial. Later if I want sugar I will just use sugar, or Agave. Or honey, or pure maple syrup. Those four are at least natural. Yes?

Okay so back to today. It was 8:15 and I said something to Nick about should I make breakfast or go walking and he said GO WALK! So, we did. Maddox is doing much better about harnessing up. Shelby was asleep in the sun in the hole she recently dug for herself so I decided to leave her at home this time and just took Maddox. He did so well! I am so pleased with him. We walked for almost an hour and a half! He also got his very first geocache!



I've ordered him a Geodog dog tag so he can log his own finds. I am sure he is excited about that. (lol)

Got home and made a recipe I found that looked really good - breakfast muffins!



Ever so slightly healthier than the ones I made full of sugar and flour and such last week. These contain kale, eggs, pretty heirloom tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. So good! Well, the only thing I will change about next time is I will use olive oil instead of the coconut oil the recipe called for. I think my coconut oil is just too rich. So there is a slight sweetness to the muffins I am okay with, but not enthused about.

I also made meatballs! Free range beef combined with chopped up green and yellow onions, and sweet potato and spaghetti squash. That was dinner and it was amazing! That will also be lunch tomorrow with my favorite green beans from Trader Joe's.

I also had frozen grapes today. I kinda love that stuff.

It is the end of the day and I have to say I am very pleased. Got good exercise with Maddox, I ate very well, no sweeteners, had a marvelous nap. Emotionally I feel empowered - as one does when doing something like this at first! What was hard though was not being able to weigh! I have a terrible habit of jumping on the scale off and on during the day, apparently. Not today! *bites nails*

And one last thing I did today was attempt to make Ghee. Well, after totally ruining one pound of expensive Irish butter (sigh) I found a recipe to make it in the microwave then put it in the fridge. SO MUCH EASIER. Thankfully I had another pound of the expensive Irish butter (unsalted, btw). I rather like Ghee.

Today was also my dad's 81st birthday, so I called and talked to him for a long time. He finally, FINALLY is doing email regularly, since he got a new Kindle Fire! I have long wanted him to get with the program re: email and he finally has. :)

So all in all a good day. A very good day indeed.

FALL IS IN THE AIR AT LAST!!!

Prince Maddox

If I pretend to be Dorothy and click my heels three times, will I get whisked away home via tornado?

I wish. I am so ready to get out of here. It has been a good trip work-wise, but otherwise, there really is no place like home.

A revamped Jolly Ball!!!! I took the half-eaten tennis-ball one's rope, and the dented-but-still-fun-but-rope-was-dead Jolly Ball he loves, and created Happiness. Oh, yeah, that is my backyard sans snow. Ugly, I know. I had no idea the price I'd have to pay to own huskies. Paths all over the place and around the perimeter, like sheep trails. Sigh. And grass? What is that? I just have winter rye and whatever else will grow where it can. Damn huskies. (BUT THEY ARE WORTH IT!)



WHHEE!

So. I learned tonight that not only are huskies incredibly beautiful and loving, but they also have ridiculous hearing. I wanted to go for a walk because both Maddox and I were antsy. It was still a little warm out for a walk (81 degrees) but thought just a real quick walk would be okay.

Shelby was fast asleep in my room on her pillow. I snuck out of the bedroom, shooing Maddox out ahead of me.

Two seconds after I clipped Maddox's Halti on (as shown in user pic--it is not a muzzle, more a bridle for dogs or, well, a halter) the wildest caterwauling issued forth from my bedroom! Shelby knew EXACTLY what was going on! Never mind that they had not been taken for a walk since Nick was here last fall! SHE KNEW!!!

Defeated, I decided oh well okay, I will give it a try. Walking one husky is quite the feat (just getting them out the door, they are so eager to run run run run sled or no sled) but TWO? I'd already suffered from a wrenched shoulder once! I sure didn't want that again--I was in agony, ended up twice at a chiro's and a one hour massage that finally saved my sanity.

Anyway, I have to say that I was rather amazed at how well they did. Shelby settled down really quickly, just Doofus boy Maddox was bouncing all over. Typical male.

I managed to take some pictures on our adventure--and it was definitely an adventure. These two are very sweet dogs but they have high prey drives, so the four or so rabbits we saw? Yeah. There's a reason each dog wears two leashes and two collars. I couldn't find Shelby's nice leashes so had to break out two cheapies. Colorful, but not very good. I'll get her a harness and find that other Halti asap as I want to do this soon.

( On to the pictures )

My son and I travelled to Alta Vista, Texas this weekend to get our puppy. The trip was very nice--it was wonderful to spend time alone with Kelly for a change. The weather held for us though we had some wonderfully dramatic skies. This rain we've been having is pretty unreal, and is expected to continue. A real pain for the dogs but their grass is thick and rich and that is awesome for them.

I promised to post some pictures of the puppy and will do so now behind the cut.

( puppy breath )