Spring is almost over...

What to blog about? Not much has changed, hence the silence.

But finals are coming up (I have 2 papers due this coming week, 2 regular "not final" tests... then the week of May 4th I have 3 finals and another paper due), so I'm hitting the crazy part of the semester. I tried to stay ahead, or at least on track, for each class, but some classes have been easier than others to stay on top of.

So, we're going to Six Flags tomorrow for opening weekend and I HAVE to be ready for my Monday test AND have my Monday and Wednesday papers due. Oh, and read about 6 neuropsych articles by Monday's class. Yay, rah.

Writing? I don't have time for that! But as soon as the semester's over, Mandy and I are starting the plot-fest for SuNoWriMos, our own personal Summer Novel Writing Months. My goal is to write at lesat 50K on a NEW novel between June 1st and July 31st, and Mandy wants to write a whole first draft, though I'm not sure what her word expectancy is. It should be fun! Since I'm taking 12 credit hours this summer, I have to take a smaller writing load, but I seriously need to up the writing time this summer because I haven't ticked a SINGLE item off my 2009 writing to-do list :(

Reading? I probably spend too much time doing that. I've recently read 2 Jodi Picoults that I hadn't read before, and now I have read all of her novels and own half of them. I am reading 2 fantasy novels, as well as Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. And, of course, re-perusing my 3 extra credit books, My Lobotomy: A Memoir by Howard Dully, My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, and A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. They are all good books and I have enjoyed reading them. I probably should have started the reports back in February when I read them though! Just for fun, I am including a picture of my newly-acquired books, thanks to Half Price Books and the Doubleday online book club ☺ I seriously need to finish my schoolwork so I can get to reading. My TBR pile is HUGE!!! To be fair, I guess two of them are re-reads, but I'm still looking forward to them!!



I'm pretty excited for summer for other reasons, too, though. Swimming pools, sunshine, tanning, the end of my advanced neuro class... Angels & Demons (the movie), Star Trek (the movie), and My Sister's Keeper (another movie) all come out in May/June, and I'm stoked! I'm NOT so stoked about allergies, sinuses, and bugs.... but alas, I guess I'll take the bad with the good when it comes to weather. I just can't wait to graduate (May 2010 baby!!) and move to Florida where it will be a lot warmer, a lot more of the time. I'll just have to find a good allergist ☺

Anniversary, Strangers, and ... 7 Days Til NaNo!!

If there’s one night of the year you want your ass to look good and your new bra to fit properly… it’s your anniversary, right? The one night of the year I REALLY want my hair to not be frizzy, and my clothes to not be just a hair too tight.

Yesterday was my 3rd wedding anniversary. And none of the above things actually happened. My new jeans were frumpy, I wore an old bra and an old barely flattering top, and my frizzy hair was in a ponytail. Exciting, right?

Let me tell you, it was a plain Jane night, but we had a good time. We ate at Outback Steakhouse then went to Walmart and bought cookie dough, sweatpants, and popcorn (I'm still wearing my super-comfy sweats!). Went home, cuddled up with all the afore-mentioned items, and watched The Strangers....

Which.

SUCKED.

Everyone said it was SOOOOO good, including Stephen King. As a fellow writer, I adore Mr. King. But, he lied to me. And now the circle of trust is broken. I may never love again :-(
It wasn't scary, or suspenseful, or anything. And I'm getting SO freakin' tired of Liv Tyler (who I have no problem w/ in general) talking in an airy damsel-in-distress voice. She did it in The Incredible Hulk (which I loved) too.

Now that my movie review is over.... 7 days till NaNo!!!!

I'm up to 77K on IE, and there are 6 writing days until the end of the month. Then, at midnight on Nov. 1, I'm starting my vaampyr novel... Yay!!!

I'll check in later with some NaNo tidbits I've been learning. For now, I'm out ☺

Missing Lillie, Seeing Saw, and 8 Days Til NaNo

Due to a really bad Internet connection, I haven’t been able to post my progress on... well, anything, regularly. So, here’s the sitch:

IE is ALMOST DONE!!!! The first draft, anyhow, which Anne Lamott calls the “shitty first draft,” pardon my French. I’m at 76K words out of an estimated 90-95K. This is the longest I’ve ever stuck with a novel. I hope to finish it by Halloween, and some days I get a killer word count in. But others are pretty bland (91, anyone?!). So we’ll see. Either way, I’ll be really close to finished by the time November starts.

Speaking of November… 8 days til NaNo! (As if you didn’t already know that…) I’m PSYCHED!!! My good ole’ reading dummy and I have been going over the plot. It’s gonna be CrAzY! I keep getting tempted to start writing but I’m not a cheater. So, I think I’ll hatch a plan to take a long nap on Halloween so I can wake up and start writing at 12:01am. It sounds good in theory, anyhow. J

My region’s NaNo Kick-Off party is tomorrow evening. It sucks that I can’t go. But I have good reason – it’s my 3rd wedding anniversary!! I’d show you a wedding pic, but well, when you elope at the courthouse… you don’t really have any. I don’t think we have plans but it would still be pretty rude of me to go chill with strangers during the dinner hour.

In other news, my beautiful niece Lillie spent 6 days with us recently. We just took her home yesterday. I cried so hard when I was packing her stuff up to go, and again after we dropped her off. I’d keep her forever if I could. The way things are looking with her parents, maybe I have a chance… Anyhow, the point is, I miss her terribly. She lives a little over an hour away, and after dropped her off, hubby and I went and had some Mexican food. Then on the way home I wanted to stop in and see her again. But I figured that would make me even sadder, so we didn’t. BTW, Lillie’s 6 month’s old (on 11/5) and the best baby ever personality-wise. I love her to pieces. We took her to get her 6-month pics this week, and I can’t wait to get them back on the 6th. They’re SO adorable!! Lillie’s named after my grandma, who died a year and a half ago. Not a day goes by when I don’t miss her. I need at least one Lillie in my life!!

I saw Saw V last night... stayed up late (I’m getting old!) for the midnight showing. It was SO not worth it. Scott Patterson had a bad toupee, or real hair that looked like a bad toupee… the entire movie was flashbacks, and the ending that Myspace said I wouldn’t believe – it was cheap and not at all the “OMG!” ending I had hoped for. Everyone I went with felt the same way. Man, what a waste of prime sleeping time!!!

I guess that’s it for now. I’m really trying to write a pivotal scene in IE and I’m hitting brainfreeze like crazy. I’ve been avoiding this scene for that reason – it’s been ½ written for a while but I can’t seem to find a way to end it. I freakin’ hate that. Maybe I’ll let my reading dummy help….

Adios, Amigos! Until we meet again – which will hopefully be soon because NaNo starts in 8 days!!


Books I’m reading:
No Plot? No Problem! -- Chris Baty (the NaNo book, but it’s really inspring. Pick it up!)
Will Write for Shoes: How to Write a Chick Lit Novel – Cathy Yardley (IE isn’t exactly chick lit but it’s close enough that for $5 the book was worth it. There’s some valuable advice in there!)
Night Embrace – Sherrilyn Kenyon (just for shiggles!)