Bus Stop: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

I was lucky enough to be offered an early reader's copy of Trish Ryan's book, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Finding Faith, Hope, and Happily Ever After. I rarely--rarely--read non-fiction, and I've never read a memoir, but I was enthusiastic about reading this one. Trish was one of the first commenters on my blog and always has something funny and even insightful to say. It's probably no surprise that I'm a devoted reader of her blog, which I highly recommend to anyone who might be reading this blog who hasn't stumbled over there already. (Hopefully there're some of you, because I'd like to think I'm helping Trish's viral marketing (i.e. Blogging Book Tour) through this post.

Go out and get this book.

Even as the happy-go-lucky fiction reader that I am (I don't even read much literary fiction), I highly recommend this book. It was funny, but serious--really it was seriously funny. And even though I already knew about Trish's eventual happily-ever-after, I couldn't help but be moved to shock and empathy at all she went through. I was impressed with her resilience, her determination, her faith, and her attitude. He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not is an extremely readable story of how life and love can take some painfully difficult turns and still end up on the right track. Perhaps we could even say The Highway to Heaven....

Husband of Invention

Thursday night my husband told me over dinner that he had an idea for a patent. This has happened before. Last time he got all excited and then discovered that someone else already had a similar--although not the same--patent. Enthusiasm waned, but to keep his spirits up (and to avoid having to constantly renew it at the library), I bought him a book about patents for Christmas.

He was thrilled with this new idea, which, so sorry, I can't breathe a word of. And spent the better part of the weekend focused on creating a prototype. What makes this really interesting is that it involved sewing. My husband does not--and has never--sewn anything. But this weekend, he sat there, plugging away, calling me in every fifteen minutes or so to thread the needle or fix the bobbin. It was so cute. And he did a very nice job too! He plans to put the prototype to use today and tomorrow, so we'll see. The book is tagging along...

He also found the time to design a logo, research web sites, and all manner of things. I'm so impressed!

I only managed to whip up some of the most delicious chocolate chip cookies you've ever tasted! Inspired by all those cooking bloggers, I'm posting
Before
and After shots.

Above and Beyond

Mini update: The zoo was good, but I got pooped on by a bird, to the delight of all the boys I was chaperoning. First Communion went well too, although the only pictures that came out were the ones of my son with cake on his face and in his teeth at the reception. The writing is good--believe it or not, I still have two pages to go. What can I say...it's an important scene. Oh, and my husband has started reading it and said the beginning moves too slowly. He plans to give me some tips... It remains to be seen whether or not I'll take them.

Thursday is our spring program at Mother's Day Out, and the theme is 'Safari'. The kids will be wearing green t-shirts, khaki shorts, white plastic pith helmets with plastic bugs glued on, and toilet tissue roll binoculars. Should be pretty cute. Our two/three year olds will do the ABC's, the numbers up to ten, the numbers in Spanish, a song about a worm and a butterfly and God, and the one that goes, 'Three little monkeys sitting in a tree...'. They will sit on the edge of the stage, and we will sit right below them, coaching them on the songs. I'm hoping no one has a meltdown when they see their parents.

When we were brainstorming the program and talking about all the animals and decorations, I suggested the director dress as a baboon and volunteered to make the mask. (Last year we did a Texas theme, and she hosted the whole show with a ridiculous Texas accent, a wad of spit trapped in the corner of her mouth.) She whole-heartedly agreed to wear the mask.

So I started searching Google for some ideas and stumbled across these images.
I liked the drama of the brown mask but wanted the coloring of the other. So I asked my mom and mother-in-law for ideas on materials. My mother-in-law said she had some ideas and would get back to me. A couple days later, I get this in my email.




I immediately made it clear that I hadn't actually expected her to make it, but she said she was having fun with it and would like to continue unless I wanted to do it myself. I told her to have at it. And she did.



This is the final mask, made of plaster and fur, and knitted yarn, and paint. Everyone who sees it is amazed. I think it might scare the kids a bit, but otherwise, it's gonna look awesome!

Nuh-uh!

A few little snippets from my day...

1. A kolache sausage gave me a lip blister. I was only trying to bite the bun, but the 'tail o' the pup' peeked out below, and I got burned. And it's one of those devious blisters than you get that leaves no visible trace, so everyone thinks you're a crybaby. But trust me, it's there.

2. I had poop wiped on my forearm today. I was approached by a toddler (in my class) with his arm stretched out, and we collided. At first I thought it was the spoils from some nose-mining, but the immediate and undeniable stench quickly clued me in. (He'd dipped his finger down the back of his diaper. I'm guessing just because he could.)

3. My older son and I have been going to First Communion classes on Thursday nights for about a month and a half. Tonight was the last class, where they practiced processing and technique and tasted the unconsecrated bread and wine. I was sitting, watching the practice with my younger son, and right at the beginning there was some sort of hub-bub with one of the little girls.

One of the ladies helping with the program went over to talk to her and seemed to be making no in-roads. I watched the little girl's mom get up across the church and make her way over. Turns out she refused to swallow the wine. Her mom marched her to the back of the church and to the bathroom (where I could no longer follow the progress of this fascinating turn of events), but when she came back, her mouth was empty.

Then (egads!) they decided to practice it all again (70 kids!!), and this time, the same little girl held up everything. I don't know if she refused to go up again or what, but the director walked up with her to get the bread and another talk ensued. And then they just hustled her back to her seat, promising that things would be dealt with afterwards. I was so entranced by this little drama that I almost missed my own son going up to practice. Never fear though...I'll see him for the real deal this Saturday. And don't doubt even for a second that I'll sitting, all agog, to see what happens with this other little girl too...

I think that about sums things up.
Tomorrow I go to the zoo with my older son's class. I predict some good blogging comin' up!

Good or Bad, I'm Almost at The End

I'm eleven pages from The End...11 pages! And as you can guess, I'm very excited!!! Admittedly, this isn't the first pass, and it won't be the last, but I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be the last big one. My first draft was crafted through the Fast Draft process, and while I'd recommend some version of that process (Book in a Month, Seventy Days of Sweat...whatever), it didn't exactly leave me with a clean, totally workable draft. This is the second draft, and did I mention, it's almost done!!! I'm going to send it out to a few beta readers, make my husband read it, and go back for a 'tweak as I go' re-read.

I really, really hope I like it. I've been writing/revising very steadily since the beginning of the year, and I've been happy with my new material and progress. I was not at all happy with the stuff I edited out (obviously). So now I'm just a tad bit nervous that I won't like this version on the reread. But I'm crossing my fingers and really hoping...

Now...I have eleven pages to get to!

???

Hello?...Is this blog on?...Can anyone hear me?

Are people visiting and simply not commenting on my writerly post, or are people simply not visiting? **

Leave a comment just so I know someone is there and I'm not out here in the blogosphere all on my own.

**This is not to imply that I was not thrilled to read the comments of Kelly and Mary (thanks for stopping by!), and Stephanie J and Liz (hello again!).

Another Writing Post!

I was going to tell you about my fun weekend, starting Friday with my first trip to the Toyota Center to see the Houston Rockets play (very fun), then moving through to Saturday when I went strawberry picking on a perfect spring day all by myself and then treated myself to a fresh chocolate pecan fried pie (yummers!). Today is just at-home stuff but I bought myself Girls in Trucks at Target, and I'm very excited about it, plus I'm taking the boys for snowcones in about five minutes (or however long it takes me to finish up this blog on writing...)

The writing is actually going well--or else I think so (that's another post entirely--woo-hoo! could be two in writing posts in a row!) I am struggling a little though with my transitions. Actually I think I'm considerably better than I was, but I have a long way to go. I have trouble transitioning unless a scene has an obvious stopping point. Particularly if I'm cutting out during dialogue. I wonder if I'm going on too long, cutting out too abruptly, or just wrapping things up in an awkward manner. I have the same problem with writing about everyday stuff--for instance, if a character of mine was making a piece of toast, I'd probably describe her getting out the bread and stuffing it in the toaster, prepping with the plate, knife, butter and jelly, etc. I've just started reading Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and Winifred Watson summed up breakfast (plus toast) like this:

She took off her coat and hat and set to work. Soon the blissful aroma of fried ham and eggs and coffee filled the air. She discovered an electric toaster. Toast took its correct place. She went back into the room.

Something about this paragraph just impressed me very much. She covers to bases without you getting bored, in and out of the kitchen quick as wink. It sums up the character quite nicely too. When I try to skim over the mundane, I've been told (by my critique partner) that she's lost. That's just one opinion, but still.

Any thoughts, suggestions, tricks or techniques on transitioning or ending a scene? I welcome them all...
Now I'm off for a snowcone!

A Weekend Treat

Favorite quote of recent memory:
(from my older son, who wants to run for President, to my younger son who doesn't)
"There's never been a Goodnight President, so what say we give it a go?"

This weekend, courtesy of my in-laws, we got to see Walking With Dinosaurs, a production involving life-size (or thereabouts) dinosaurs and the world changes that affected them. I was very impressed--not only with the enormous, mobile dinosaur models and costumes that worked like those designed for The Lion King, but the lighting and sound as well. They managed to create the feeling of fire and rain and seasons with different gels and spotlights. Really very entertaining--I'd recommend it for anyone fascinated by dinosaurs. My favorite was the stegosaurus, but the mama and baby T-rex stole the show.

My son and a friend have decided to write a series of books together, and the first one was about Walking With Dinosaurs, so obviously it made an impression.

I didn't have my camera, and I hesitate to pilfer pictures, so instead, go here, here, or here to catch a glimpse.

Decisions, decisions...

Admittedly, I haven't been posting much, but worse than that, I can't remember the last time I posted about writing. Seeing as it's listed in the title/description of the blog, I figure there should occassionally be an entry. So here it is...

I have (kinda/sorta) started an agent hunt. At this time, I'm only querying those agents who accept e-queries and are listed as being interested in seeing chick-lit. (If anyone has any suggestions, I'd welcome them...)

At the same time, I'm wondering if the agent route is really my best bet. Time from contract to publication is getting to be longer than a year, and Harper Collins is experimenting with an imprint with a striking resemblence to Print-On-Demand. So...I'm left to wonder over my options: whether I should fall back on my own personal block of ISBN's, my own press, and all the hard-won knowledge that came from self-publishing in 2004 or to try my luck with the traditional route.

My book is not POD--I went through a printer, ordered in bulk, and am now the warehouser, publicist, marketer, contact person, and gopher for the book and my press. It's been a lot of work. But... I'm in total control. Allowing for review copies and early reviews, I can get a book out in five months (or less) from the moment I decide I'm done. I control the cover, the content, and everything else. But that route takes a healthy amount of confidence (or maybe just courage). There's no agent and no publisher standing behind me. It's just me.

And so...I waffle. But while I waffle, I'm exploring my options.

Another Indy

Last December I posted about getting to go 'behind the scenes' with the white tigers at the Houston Aquarium, but this Sunday we got to do something even better!

The same friends with the white tiger connection got us up-close-and-personal with a 5-week-old lion cub! Her name was Indy (same as our new puppy!) and she was sooooo soft and cute and adorable. We got to pet her, and my boys followed her around on her exploration of our friends' porch. I even got to hold her! She nipped my husband too, who's now going around saying he survived the bite of a lion...