Twisted Fairytale

Weekends are too short. Even four day weekends. I really shouldn’t complain. It’s been a nice reprieve after a week of work that I’d much rather forget. So, here’s to hoping my first day back tomorrow goes smoothly. Or semi-smoothly. I’d even settle for quasi-smoothly.

I guess a few days makes all the difference. A few days back in a home routine. Back in the mental mode of wake up, write, clean, think about writing, plot, write some more, cook, write, clean again, write. Ha ha. That’s my usual day, sans work. For four days I’ve been in full author mode. It kind of sucks to have to go back to corporate mode, even if only for another day, before I get Thursday off. This is only a two day week for me. For the best, I think. With NaNo starting on Thursday, I think I’d die if I had to work a full week and try and get a new novella off the ground.

So anyway, just checking in with all of you.

Hope you had a great Tuesday!!

What a weekend!

It was exactly what I needed to relax. I slept in late. Read two books. Watched movies. Everything to kill the humming of the week from my poor, exhausted brain. I think it worked too! In preparation for NaNoWriMo, which I’m insane enough to participate in, despite it all, I have plotted a HUGE chunk of my deadline novella. You know, the one I’ve been obsessing over?

I’m so excited about it too! It’s going to be a light hearted murder mystery. I’ve always always wanted to write a murder mystery. But I’ve been too afraid, because, well… I’m notorious for wanting to give everything away like first paragraph. Ha ha. I don’t… obviously. I’d never get very far as an author doing that! Just don’t ever ask me if I’ve seen a certain movie ok? You’re bound to get spoiled big time.

Because I got so much done on that story, I treated myself to writing on my romantic fantasy. I’m about 25 pages into that one. Past 10k already. Can you believe it?! Crazy how quickly it adds up when your characters speak so loudly to you.

Tonight, I plan to get together with my darling, Ansha Kotyk, to do some plotting of a third story I’ve been working on (I know, I must have a death wish). It’s both of our favorites. It has a lot of potential, so I’m going to get it plotted out and polished and start sending it out.

I feel so productive! Yay! It’s been a really great weekend.

Image of the day: island VI by mehmeturgut @ livejournal.

*sung in beautiful operatic soprano*

It’s Friday!Thank goodness! I started my celebration by purchasing C.E. Murphy’s Heart of Stone, which I’ve been reading during my lunch breaks at work, and jumping in head first. I really love it. Although, strangely enough, her heroine reminds me of a good friend of mine! Ha ha. Might be why I was drawn to her from the start. She’s A LOT like her. Not just in her chosen profession but in her biting wit and her relationship with her roommates. It makes me snicker sometimes as I read it. And the irony of it all is, the heroine’s best friend in the book… her name is my friend’s real name! *shakes head* It’s all very confusing.

I have no major plans for the weekend. But I kind of like it that way. I’ll read. Plot. Write. Sleep. Eat. In that order. LOL No, seriously, I plan to just take it easy. I may play football tomorrow afternoon with some friends. May visit my mother *loud groan* who’s having a good friend of mine over for dinner who is coming from NYC. Saves me a trip. Plus I love her and her family so I really want to see them.

Next week I plan to get back on a semi-diet of sorts. I’ve gained a few pounds since returning to regular food and I’m not feeling too great about it. A lot of it is the stress of the new job and emotional eating. But most of it is really just being unable to hit the gym regularly like I was doing, because of exhaustion and time constraints. Which means I’m going to have to just MAKE time. *sigh* Does anyone have time they want to sell me?

Plus, my writing has suffered a bit because I can no longer do the late nights I used to. I’m getting old. I really need a good schedule. Too bad I don’t stick to them. Ha ha.

Happy Friday everyone!

Although I’m not an official TT’er, I thought I’d post a little something in honor of this blog-o-sphere phenomenon. Looking back at my last post, I realize it’s been three days since I’ve been here! THREE DAYS!!? How did that happen? I’ve been eating, sleeping, and working. That’s about it. I feel like one of those string puppets, who are being controlled by an upper hand, their bodies just sort of flailing and moving as best it can to represent whatever the ‘hand’ wants from it! That sounded a lot more like: I’m repressed by the mighty hand of the commercial giant known as the Man. lol That’s not how I meant it. I just meant that I’m tired and feeling rubbery and weird. Ha ha.

Anyways….Haven’t really done much writing, although my brain has been mulling things around. NaNo is around the corner. I can’t believe it’s already November. Am I ready for Nano? Goodness… I don’t know. *bites nails* I think the answer to that is NO. Ha ha. Today at work I did get hit by a stroke of genius for one of the novellas I’m working on. I realized why it wasn’t working and got an idea I really like about how to change it. I sent it to my darling CP, Christina, who I’m assuming will write back with all sorts of great thoughts/suggestions. We’ll see how that goes.

Now, I’m now going to tell you all about my week. This is basically a little explanation about why having your dream job is a lot like marrying the love of your life. Ready?

After the honeymoon period you  begin to see it for what it’s really worth. Sure it was nearly orgasmic to walk the Barnes and Nobles floor at 7am when the rest of the world is not allowed inside. It’s quiet. The books all seem to whisper. The new book smell lingers in the air fighting against the coffee I’m brewing. I still have those moments. Moments when I know Book Heaven and I are meant to be. BUT… there are other moments. Like yesterday. A woman asked me if we had green tea. Yes, we have green herbal teas or the Zen Green Iced tea. ‘Which would you prefer ma’am?’ She says the Zen. I say ok. I ring her up, I ask her again, the Iced Green tea? She says, yes, that one. I make it. Of course the moment I hand it to her she says: (I know you guys know this one…) ‘Oh, it’s iced?’ Um… duh.  Ha ha. Yea, seriously. What’s up with that?

Then of course, today, big boss lady, aka regional manager came to walk around the store and sit and listen to everything going on. Now, it’s not that big of a deal if everyone is doing their job the way they’re supposed to. She’s just checking to see if we’re following protocol. But everyone gets soooo stressed out! Ha ha. They’re tense and jittery and just strict about little things they wouldn’t blink twice about! *shakes head* Figures. Sometimes you gotta take the good with the bad, huh?

Anyway, I get Monday and Tuesday off next week! Woohoo! Can you say four day weekend?! *does happy dance* So let’s see. Things I’d do this four day weekend if I had the money/freedom to do anything!

1. Read C.E. Murphy’s new book Heart of Stone (which is out early!).

2. Write like a bizillion pages to my WIPs. Ok, ok, more realistically, finish my novella, plot out my new one (for NaNo).

3. Do a tip top cleaning of my house so that it’s absolutely spotless. Because a week of crazy work and life has made it look like a war zone.

4.  Hit Cafe Bottega’s for karaoke, appletinis, and home made gelatto.

5. Make a trip into NYC and visit the Museum of Modern Art and some of their old hotels for writing inspiration.

6. Go to the mall! (goodness, how long has it been?!)

7. Rent Heroes DVDs and watch them all in one day.

8. Rent Dr. Who while I’m at it.

9. Have one 24 hour writing session. It’ll be something like 50 pages or bust.

10. Have a 24 hour sleeping session. (see above)

11. Celebrate the return of Scrubs by watching tons of Elliot/JD music videos on Youtube. (Oh my goodness, I’m so embarrassed, my inner fangirl can’t contain herself).

12. Catch up with everyone!

13. Re-energize for next week!
One more days, guys, then it’s Friday! WE can do it!

Really long shift at work today. I did manage to get a bit of writing done, though how good it is, I’m not sure because I was delirious with sleep deprivation. I’m on chapter 5 of my current novella. I hope to get the next few chapters done really soon so I can send it to my CPs for editing. It’ll be relatively short, I think. But I really like the story. I’ll tell you guys more about it soon.

Now I think I’m going to curl up with a good book and try and get some sleep. Still on a fever high from Miss Moning, I’ve decided to tackle Spell of the Highlander. I bought it, started it, and kept falling asleep. NO fault of hers! Just back timing! Ha, ha. So maybe tonight I can get through a chunk of it.

xoxo

So, I’ve been sitting on this novella for a while, the one that I have deadlined for December. I did about 2 different story ideas and they both failed. I gave it a break for a while. Sometimes, when you’re too close to a project, the only thing that can make sense of the madness in your head is distance. I think that was the best plan. Tonight, while chatting with my darling friend Annie, who I’ve missed so much (our brainstorming sessions are impressive!), I was struck with such a FUN idea!!!

It’s going to be the craziest, funniest, hopefully suspenseful/mysterious thing I’ve ever done. But I’m up for the challenge. Got my main characters’ names and it’s time to start plotting.

1- Trying to squeeze 150 pages into 3-4 is like trying to put a circle in a square hole.

2- The story is one long convoluted event in your head. You have to look through it to remember what major events were versus events you just LOVED.

3- It is the be all and end all when it comes to submitting (to agents OR publishers).

*sigh* Darnit.

On the plus side:

I finished mine. So yay for that!

Oh the joy of well written characters. Do you know where I’ve been? I’ve been to Dublin. Down the Dark Zone streets infested by Unseelie Fae. Into Barrons Books and Baubles. Heck, to be honest, I’ve had a tryst or two with Jericho Barrons, in my head. How could I not? The man is steaming hot!

Karen Marie Moning seriously outdid herself in Bloodfever. Although I liked Darkfever just fine, I’m amazed by how quickly I dipped into fangirl mode. For some reason, the characters just came more alive this time, (for me anyway). The chemistry. The action! (oh my goodness, the action was awesome). The world. Her world building skills are incredible.

Thank you, Miss Moning! For making me remember why I love writing/reading! I’ve gotten a bit of my own spark back. I was having a seriously bad writing week. This was a much needed spark of passion. For those of you who haven’t read it yet, DO! It’s worth it.

On another note, it’s FRIDAY! *does happy dance!* What are my plans? To rent a few movies I’ve been meaning to see forever. Veg. Maybe even finish up this synopsis I’m pushing through. Then, if all goes well, maybe I’ll even get 8-10 hours of sleep.

Happy weekend!!

…why I love working at Barnes & Nobles (aka Book Heaven).

I get reminded of books that were on my ‘to buy‘ list that I’d completely forgotten about!!! I also get wind of new releases that I’m going to be the very FIRST to snag! *wait for it… naner naner naaannneerrr*

Ok, that was so immature, but I couldn’t help myself. Ha, ha. Today, while on my lunch break, I was walking around looking at the books, trying terribly hard not to just run my fingers over the pretty covers. I stopped short at the sight of a hardcover I recognized.

So of course, I let out a little *squee*. Because, OMG, I didn’t know that Bloodfever had finally come out! Any of you who read Darkfever know why I’m so anxious for the sequel. The ending was just CRUEL! So, the minute I saw it on the shelf I took it to cashwrap and asked them to hold it for me. I was afraid that in the 8 hours of my shift, the three copies in stock would sell and I’d be left book-less.

Then I caught wind of a new series being released by C.E. Murphy which has got me SOOOO excited.

Oh my goodness. Did you read that tagline? “Vampires aren’t the only creatures of the night…” How much do I love that tagline? So much. Because although vampires and werewolves are all fun and good… it’s awesome to see a refreshing new paranormal twist. This is definitely next on my ‘to buy’ list. Release is scheduled for November.

What about you guys? Reading anything good? Any suggestions? Reviews? Comments? Lay it on me, baby.

Terribly sorry for my sudden disappearance guys. It’s  been a crazy few days for me.

Started on Friday when I decided to see my grandmother in order to get away from life for a little bit. A sort of vacation, since we don’t hang out very often, she’s wicked cool, and she’s not that far, I thought, this is sort of the best of both worlds. So, after a LONG day at work I got myself together and headed out. Hubby dropped me off and promised to meet me on Sunday after he was done with all his weekend duties.

My time with my grandmother was a blast. She’s crazy and so funny and we just laughed and joked around for two days. I saw some old friends for dinner Saturday night. And my cousin asked me to stay with her Saturday, since we also barely hang out. She made me sing for her for about 3 hours and insisted I perfect a song for American Idol auditions next year. She has deemed herself my manager. Crazy woman.

Let’s just say there was some wine involved and lots of laughs. I had a great time.

I came back a bit too late on Sunday and then opened at work yesterday. Needless to say I was shot. Could hardly function. Then I worked a long shift and my legs and feet were killing me. But, trying to be good, I went to the gym.  That only exhausted me further.

These are all the reasons I haven’t been able to post. LOL. A whining list of excuses.

But I’m back. A little sick, but back.