The Write Life

Easter

2009-04-13T19:41:00.005-06:00

Coast Guard Easter picnic

2009-04-13T19:16:00.002-06:00

What we've been up to...

2009-04-13T18:19:00.004-06:00

Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas

2008-11-25T11:56:00.001-06:00

I LOVED this book by Sandra D. Brickner. The humor made me laugh-out-loud, while the depth of Lucy’s spiritual journey made me analyze being true to God’s plan for my life. Sandie has a real gift for weaving humor with spiritual growth, and writes a very strong story. Anyone questioning God’s purpose in their life, and wondering if they might try to “help” Him with His job will benefit from reading it. I was reading late at night and laughing about certain scenes until my daughter asked what was so funny. I read a few scenes to her and had her laughing, too. I’m surprised we didn’t wake up the whole house. It was a great moment. We really laughed over the horse scene. You just have to read it. I loved the recipes included in the book, could visualize being in the story with the characters, and, because I’m originally from that area, I LOVED the descriptions and setting. I miss the Ozarks so much! Thanks, Sandie, for a fantastic, fun read.

Smiling (and teething) and swimming through the storm

2008-09-01T15:14:00.005-06:00

Apparently, running up and down the boardwalk at the beach wasn't enough to quell Jetty's energy, so between squalls, he went out to swim.

Hurricane Jetty leaves a swath of destruction in the pool.

During Hurricane Gustav

2008-09-01T14:11:00.006-06:00

We only had Tropical Storm conditions, but the outer bands are still awesome to see. We've had almost continuous tornado warnings, but we ran over to the beach earlier this morning to take some pictures. The waves were pretty big, though you can't really tell from the photos. "Good" surfing waves around here are usually around 4-6 feet...but today they were at least 12 feet or more.

Before Hurricane Gustav...August 31, 2008

2008-09-01T13:52:00.002-06:00

Lena Ella...L.E....Ellie

2008-09-01T13:47:00.003-06:00

Baby foot.

You took a picture of my foot? While I was sleeping?

I'm not sure I approve.

Lovin' her new blanket.

Between storms...

2008-09-01T13:31:00.003-06:00

We headed out for breakfast on the harbor.

Pretty view.

This seagull decided to join us. I finally threw him part of a biscuit and he was a happy camper. Of course about twenty other seagulls then vied for a spot near us.

Fish?

Or piranas? Our waitress gave Troy a couple biscuits off someone else's plate to toss into the water.

After Fay...

2008-09-01T13:21:00.004-06:00

Nope...not much change! We did get outer bands two days later...AFTER we thought it was past us.

Waiting for Tropical Storm Fay

2008-08-23T18:57:00.002-06:00

Princess Lena

2008-04-02T17:07:00.001-06:00

Dalton's birthday

2008-04-02T16:56:00.003-06:00

Dalton loves to putter on his cars and the yard. For his birthday, he received tools, an engine lift, and an area to work on his car.

Dalton and Dad

Dalton

Jett and his new haircut

Jett and Kiki exploring the back forty.

Lena - three weeks old

2008-04-02T16:48:00.003-06:00

Papa and Lena nap on Easter.

Heather's purchase of a new collar for Jynxie (which he immediately went outside and lost!) brings envy to all animals in the household. They watch with rapt attention.

Cassidy and Lena

Lena holds Jett's finger.

Jetty and Lena

Lena - two weeks old and an Easter picture

2008-04-02T16:41:00.001-06:00

I didn't dig the holes!

2008-03-15T18:30:00.002-06:00

Just because I'm sitting by the hole, doesn't mean I dug it. I'm just trying to get a flea. It was probably those cats...or the BABY.

What? Why are you all looking at me like that?

Mud? On the carpet? Why does that have to be MY fault?

Oh, yeah. Just because a dog gets a little dirt on their legs, EVERYTHING is suddenly the DOG'S fault.

The muddy water doesn't prove anything either. It's a set-up I tell ya. And I don't know how it got on the wall, either.

Lena - one week old

2008-03-15T15:44:00.004-06:00

Lena is now up to 4lbs 14 1/2oz. Preemie clothes still look huge on her, but trust me, that 5 ounces can be felt when holding her.

This is what we all do all day. We watch her sleep.

We ohh and ahh over her stretches. (Is that not the cutest little stretch you've ever seen?!!)

We ohh and ahh over her yawns. Precious!

And...we watch her sleep. Only usually, she's in someone's arms.

Life with Kiki

2008-03-15T15:08:00.006-06:00

Kiki, our new puppy baby of about a month, is acting out a bit with the newer baby, Lena, now one week old.

Did it snow overnight? In FLORIDA???

Nope, that's just the stuffing from a baby mattress that had been stored, supposedly out of Kiki's reach.

This used to be our backwash hose for the pool. Kiki loved playing in the water that came out the end. Unfortunately, when she went back for more, she couldn't find the water, and tore the hose off, and dragged it all over.

Beach ball remnants.

If you enlarge the picture, you can see the confetti color remnants of two swim noodles from the pool, along with a shoe, another beach ball, and some clothing items.

And here -- I think -- she's laughing at me.

Random pictures over the last few days...

2008-03-10T19:59:00.002-06:00

Dalton and Lena

Aunt Tessa and Lena (Dalton's sister)

Dalton and Lena

Lena day four

2008-03-10T16:52:00.009-06:00

Lena and Uncle Kyle, Heather's older brother.

Proud Momma

Aunt Cassidy (Dalton's sister)and Lena

Jynxie thinks this is a bunkbed

Papa Troy and Uncle Jetty check out Lena

Daddy gets ready to change a diaper while Tabitha checks out the baby.

She's so tiny compared to Dalton's hand!

Home from the hospital

2008-03-10T15:50:00.003-06:00

Aunt Catie meets Lena (Heather's sister)

2008-03-10T15:20:00.001-06:00

No more pictures, please!

2008-03-10T15:16:00.002-06:00

Uncle Jetty meets Lena (Dalton's brother)

2008-03-10T14:44:00.007-06:00

Jetty counts fingers and toes. Lena was born on his fifth birthday!

Jett must have decided she was a keeper, because he shared his cake topper, his prized Optimus Prime, with her.

Lena

2008-03-08T23:01:00.003-06:00

January at the beach

2008-01-15T14:58:00.000-06:00

Cassidy, Jett, and Tessa

Notice the sand on his arms and legs. A beach trip always means a bath to follow. He's running and jumping up on the picnic table, and then he jumped back off in pursuit of Cassidy.

Jetty on the move

Two photos at sunset taken moments apart...one to the east...

And one to the west...

January at the beach

Jetty and Cassidy

Seagull Island

2008-01-15T11:36:00.000-06:00

Beach sunset

Looking for treasures.

Jetty said, "Ew. It's a crab shell? That sounds gross. Hurry up and take the picture so you can carry it for me."

Jetty's not so subtle refusal to walk. He said he was just taking a little rest. We'd already walked over two miles...

Tessa

A small make-shift island off-shore.

Random pictures...

2007-09-02T14:38:00.001-06:00

Tessa, Cassidy, and Heather

Cassidy

Heather

Tessa

Cowboy Jett

Haircuts...Three brothers

2007-09-02T14:11:00.000-06:00

Jetty-Before

JT-Before

Dalton-Before

And after...

Kittens

2007-09-02T14:01:00.000-06:00

We have new kittens! I'll post a picture of Tabby, my favorite, and then a group photo. One is white with a black tail and a couple of spots. One is white and black all over, one is solid black. And one has a white underside with a grey striped back.

I think it's funny, but the tabby and the spotted kitten fight over their nursing position and then dare anyone else to try to take it.

Jetty comment

2007-08-25T12:35:00.000-06:00

We were watching a movie as a family last night. Jetty loved it, but at one point he wasn't laughing with the rest of us so I said, "Jetty doesn't see the humor." He sat there a moment before indignantly saying, "I do too see the humor!"

I apologized. He sat a moment longer and then said, "Mom? What's a humor?"

A day at the beach

2007-07-08T13:10:00.000-06:00

Jetty and I snuck over to the beach for a picnic brunch. Here's a day in the life with Jetty at the beach. I told him we'd eat in the pavilion, but we wouldn't be getting sandy or wet. Yeah, right...

2007-07-08T13:09:00.000-06:00

Taking a break between bites and checking out the action near the water...

2007-07-08T13:08:00.000-06:00

Running up the ramp

2007-07-08T13:07:00.000-06:00

And running down the ramp

2007-07-08T13:02:00.000-06:00

Taking a breather...

2007-07-08T13:01:00.000-06:00

Heading for the water

2007-07-08T12:59:00.000-06:00

My little beach bum

2007-07-08T12:58:00.002-06:00

A pretty shell for Momma

2007-07-08T12:58:00.001-06:00

Blue sky and a smile

2007-07-08T12:56:00.000-06:00

Jetty, I said we weren't going to get sandy today.

2007-07-08T12:55:00.000-06:00

This time I thought you said, DO get sandy...

2007-07-08T12:54:00.000-06:00

My bad!

2007-07-08T12:52:00.000-06:00

Hey, remember, don't get wet!

2007-07-08T12:51:00.000-06:00

Heading for the water.

2007-07-08T12:50:00.000-06:00

I'll just get my feet wet.

2007-07-08T12:49:00.000-06:00

Uh, oh. There go the shorts.

2007-07-08T12:47:00.000-06:00

Only the hem got wet.

2007-07-08T12:46:00.000-06:00

I'll be more careful this time...

2007-07-08T12:43:00.000-06:00

Oops, it caught me off guard, Mommy! Really.

2007-07-08T12:42:00.000-06:00

Drats, I tried to stay dry!

2007-07-08T12:41:00.000-06:00

Ack, it's a big one!

2007-07-08T12:38:00.001-06:00

The wave is chasing me!

2007-07-08T12:35:00.000-06:00

You don't SEE my wet shirt, do you?

2007-07-08T12:32:00.000-06:00

If I don't make eye contact, maybe Mom won't notice...

2007-07-08T12:29:00.000-06:00

Jetty and his shadow

2007-07-08T12:28:00.000-06:00

Throwing sand

2007-07-08T12:27:00.000-06:00

Whoa! That one got me to the waist!

2007-07-08T12:26:00.000-06:00

Dratted wave got salt water in my eye.

2007-07-08T12:23:00.000-06:00

Tidal wave! Run for your life!

2007-07-08T12:15:00.000-06:00

I think I'll play it safe and draw in the sand...

Playing after dinner

2007-07-08T12:10:00.000-06:00

2007-07-08T12:09:00.000-06:00

Wesley

2007-07-08T12:05:00.000-06:00

Raul having fun

2007-07-08T12:04:00.000-06:00

Raul -- look at those eyelashes!

Dinner out with friends

2007-07-08T11:59:00.001-06:00

Waiting out front for a table

2007-07-08T11:57:00.000-06:00

Jett and Raul after dinner

2007-07-08T11:55:00.000-06:00

Oh...you said DON'T get sandy?

2007-07-08T11:51:00.000-06:00

Dad and Jetty hamming it up

Tessa self-portrait, playing with color

2007-07-08T11:49:00.000-06:00

A stormy day

2007-07-08T11:44:00.000-06:00

Hotter than hot

2007-07-04T16:24:00.000-06:00

We really did have to drag Jetty out of bed. He was up until midnight with all the pre-camp excitement. By the time we left, he didn't care anymore that all the older kids were leaving, he only said that he wanted to go back home because he was hotter than hot.

Not quite awake yet...

2007-07-04T16:16:00.001-06:00

Cassidy, Dalton, Tessa, and Jetty in front

And they're off!

2007-07-04T16:15:00.001-06:00

Tessa and Cassidy

Starting to wake up...

2007-07-04T16:13:00.001-06:00

Dalton

Barely awake

2007-07-04T16:09:00.001-06:00

Cassidy, Dalton, and Tess, getting ready to go at the wee hours of 9:30 am.

Youth Camp 2007

2007-07-04T15:22:00.000-06:00

Here are the girls on their first day of camp. Hunter, the first person interviewed, is Dalton's cabin leader. He's obviously lost all control of his group! LOL. Probably on purpose. Freedom! As you can see, Dalton is nowhere to be found.

Next segment, Tessa is in the green T-shirt, and Cassidy is in the bright blue. If you look closely, they're the ones getting blobbed, too.

2007-02-01T12:32:00.000-06:00

Jetty and I walked on the boardwalk the other day and as always, I watched for my beloved dolphins. The water, unusually calm, parted soon after we got there, and a dolphin leaped into the air. I pulled Jett from his stroller, and snuggled him on the top rail so he could enjoy them, too. There were several, jumping and chasing each other. An older couple walked by, and I asked if they'd noticed the beautiful creatures, and pointed them out. The woman finally saw them, then after a couple minutes of hard searching, her husband did, too. I enjoyed their excitement, though Jetty, already bored, was back in his stroller and ready to go on.

The dolphins follow a pretty specific track along the inner sandbars, where fish like to swim, so it isn't hard for us to know where to look. For others not familiar with our area, it's harder to see them, because the water is vast and you have to focus in one tiny area. As Jetty sat in his stroller and the older man searched to see the dolphins, Jetty quoted a random -- and new to me -- line from his favorite movie, "Cars". "Turn your lights on, you Moron!" Mortified, I glanced over to see if the gentleman thought Jett was talking to him, since Jett just happened to be facing that direction, but fortunately the man was so focused on the water, he missed the infamous quote. I wished them a happy day and we continued on.

As we walked away, I noticed other couples sitting and staring out at the water, but they missed what was right before their eyes. It made me think of God, and how some people so easily search for Him and find Him, while others have to hunt for a while, and are so enthusiastic to find Him , and yet sometimes God sets Himself right in front of others, and they refuse to see Him at all!

So turn your lights on, and don't miss what's before you on the journey!

Happy Anniversary!

2006-08-01T15:15:00.001-06:00

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Our anniversary was actually yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to blog, so I'll do it today.

We celebrated our 19th year of marriage! Troy took me to our favorite restaurant on the bay. A storm was coming in, so we were able to watch the dark clouds move our way over the water. The sun shone above us, though. It was beautiful.

The food was great. This place only has a few choices per meal. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and it came with this huge pile of onion rings. Troy choose a steak sandwich, also with homemade onion rings. We split a piece of Keylime pie afterwards. Ummm. Perfect. Not too tart, not too sweet. But even with splitting it, we couldn't eat the last bite.

Later in the afternoon, I took Troy to see Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. I soooo love pirates! I admit it was as much for me as it was for him. I'd planned to take him to Miami Vice, but our son wanted to see it with him so bad I gave in and FORCED myself to choose Pirates instead. LOL. Yeah. I'll still see Miami Vice eventually. I love action adventure, too.

I can't decide if I want to do a suspense next or a pirate story. I have about seven pirate stories laid out, but am sort of burned out on historicals. I have nine suspense stories laid out, too, so that's not a problem. I sort of want to sneak a contemporary in before I sell another historical. Decisions, decisions! Maybe I'll work on both. Pirate stories don't really count in that burn out mode anyway.

We have a tropical storm lurking out there again. I love this season!

Happy Birthday, Tess!

2006-07-28T21:22:00.000-06:00

We sang Happy Birthday...

And blew out the candles...

2006-07-28T21:15:00.000-06:00

Tessa had a blast.

Dalton took time out for a phone call -- are we surprised? -- but beat us all at bowling with several strikes and spares. The guy is GOOD! JT did the same last year. He had to work today, though.

Cassidy joined us for bowling between camp and her performance.

Tessa struts her stuff.

Hmmm, how DOES the ball get from there to here?

Jetty got to wear snazzy shoes...which he didn't want to give back when we were finished.

2006-07-28T21:13:00.000-06:00

Jett loved having his own 6 lb. bowling ball.

2006-07-28T21:10:00.000-06:00

Cassidy spent the week at Music Camp, and had a performance tonight. She's in the back row, second from the right. We told Tessa the performance was in honor of her birthday.

2006-07-28T21:06:00.000-06:00

Jett had a great time on Tessa's birthday! He's tired and ready to rest.

We ate lunch at a local mexican restaurant, and went swimming at the East Pass, at Tessa's request. Troy, Jetty, Tessa and I. The pass connects the bay and Gulf of Mexico. It's beautiful.

2006-07-28T21:01:00.000-06:00

Jett's favorite..a firetruck!

And he sat in a Bobcat! And a streetcar, an ambulance, a cement truck...the list goes on and on!

2006-07-28T20:58:00.000-06:00

He wore a sheriff's vest and sat in their boat.

2006-07-28T20:57:00.000-06:00

He held big guns...

Big Truck Day

2006-07-28T20:54:00.000-06:00

We took Jett to Big Truck Day. He sat in military trucks...

Happy Birthday Tessa!

2006-07-28T20:51:00.000-06:00

We had a great day celebrating Tessa's birthday.

Heat and hearing voices

2006-07-27T10:35:00.000-06:00

I've realized I have to jot something down today or that creature that greets me each time I sign on is going to drive me nuts!

We just got back from a drive, and I'm melting. It's occurred to me that though we have air-conditioning in the truck and van, we rarely use it. WHY? I have no clue. Possibly because by the time the air kicks in, we're so drenched with sweat that we have the potential to catch pneumonia when the vehicles do cool down. But they never cool down because our town is only a few miles long so by the time we reach our destination, we're still sweltering. At least with the windows down we have a breeze.

I'm off to do my chapter for the day. I've neglected it for a good week again, and need to get it finished. My goal was to have it done by the end of July, so I have to get cracking. The actual deadline is December 1, but it's hurricane season and you never know what's lurking around the corner. I'd rather have it out of the way.

Troy was laughing at me yesterday because I'd complained that I have this nice outline for my story, but the characters keep wanting to take it different directions and they refuse to cooperate with where I'm trying to take them. So I'm balking at working with them lately. With this publishing house, I have to stay on track with my detailed outline they request up front in the proposal. It's draining. Sort of like constantly battling wills with your children. Troy sees it more like something schizophrenic. Very funny. He just doesn't understand. Actually he does...he said he's glad it's called being an author now when it used to be called mental illness. Again, very funny.

Well, I'm off to whip the characters in line. Maybe. If they'll cooperate today.

Stay cool!

Puss Caterpillar

2006-07-24T10:00:00.000-06:00

Sure, it LOOKS cute and cuddly...and it does rather resemble a venus flytrap, don'tcha think?

Creepy-crawlies

2006-07-24T09:26:00.000-06:00

More procrastination? Yep! But I do have to write a chapter or two today. I only need about four more good writing days to finish this manucript, and I'm ready to be done and start the other rewrites. JT moves home today, so I need to get on it before he arrives and chaos begins. But first! I'll write about our local wildlife, and I'm not talking big like our nightly visiting raccoon or the 'gators that live in the lake across the backyard.

We seem to have been invaded by creepy-crawlies the past week! INSIDE the house, we’ve had two scorpions, four palmetto bugs, and a – I must say this one was cute! – tiny baby lizard.

The first scorpion was in the bathroom. Cassidy called out that there was a tarantula in there, so the scorpion was an improvement over that in my opinion. She just knew it was creepy looking. I figured it came in on an older gate we put up for the kittens so they’d not get out of the front hall – which they clambered right over anyway! – even though we’d scrubbed and cleaned the gate before bringing it inside.

With JT moving home, we needed to clean out the family room so we’d have a place to stage his stuff. We found a palmetto bug and the other scorpion in there. I MIGHT have vacuumed it up, but we aren’t sure. At least we were finished with the cleaning by then, and on the last stages. The girls and I didn’t much feel like hanging out in there much longer. We’d already had a run in with two palmettos. Ewww. They don’t really do anything, but they can sure creep you out when they jump out at you from a box.

THEN Tessa saw a palmetto bug go in our bedroom closet, and they found another in the hall bathroom. (I think it’s the same one, it went into the plumbing to the bathroom from my closet.) I’m reassuring myself with that thought anyway, and not ever getting anything out of the closet again to be sure! This does leave me in a predicament as far as clothing goes. Hmmm. Troy can pick out our clothes from now on.

I hate pesticides, but sometimes in Florida you have to make a choice. I guess we need to spray inside, cause a few carefully chosen chemicals vs. my children getting bitten by a venomous creature, make the choice pretty clear to me.

Saturday we found a large brown widow in the mailbox! Just a few months ago I’d read an article about how spiders loved mailboxes, and made note to be more careful when sticking my hand blindly in there. Tessa told us last week there was a big spider in there, but I thought Troy had taken care of it. NOT. I went out to look at it was right at the opening. We killed it, but now there are egg sacs that need to be taken care of or we’ll have lots more brown widows around.

I’ve seen the widows out back, but not out front. Sigh. It seems the only thing we haven’t seen is snakes. The pygmy rattlers come out in August, but we’ve not had any for a couple years. Other snakes yearly, but not rattlers.

And one other creepy-crawly run in…Tessa was at camp last week and was stung by a creature “that looked like a venus flytrap”. It had dropped off the table onto her lap – some of the counselors saw it but didn’t think it worth mentioning to her? – and when she put her arms on her legs, she smashed it against her arm. Another little boy buried it in the sand so they couldn’t bring it in with them to the medical personnel.

Tessa was checked out by the resident paramedic and nurse, but neither had a clue what stung her. It bothered me that no one researched what stung her because she has a high pain tolerance, and was in tears over this thing. She even missed out on horseback riding! I only knew about the sting because Cassidy told me when calling one night, which they aren’t really supposed to do, but her counselor let her call that once. They did check Tessa's records for a history of allergic reactions and they gave her some Benedryl.

When Tessa got home, I looked at the spot. It was leaf shaped with little holes all over it. I got on the net, looked up Florida stinging creatures, went through spiders, flying insects, and within five minutes found it under the last category, caterpillars. I called the girls in separately and both identified it out of a page full of pictures. It’s called a “Puss caterpillar.”

I looked it up on WebMD, “The puss caterpillar, or woolly slug, is the most poisonous caterpillar in the United States. Its poison is hidden in hollow spines among its hairs. This hairy caterpillar is found in the southern states, ranging west through most of Texas and north to Maryland and Missouri. It feeds on shade trees such as elm, oak, and sycamore. Puss caterpillars vary in size from 1.2 in.(32 mm) to 1.4 in.(36 mm).”

It was shaped like a leaf, and exactly the size of her sting. The little holes were from the stinging spines. The articles all say to rub the area with tape to remove the stingers. Fortunately, her counselor rubbed on some type of calamine type stuff, which must have worked them out.

It’s been known to send grown men to the emergency room in pain. I can’t believe they didn’t check it out! I thank God she didn’t have any worse reaction. I’ll post a picture for your viewing pleasure. I HATE creepy-crawlies! Only living in paradise makes me tolerate these creatures…

Wow!

2006-07-21T13:16:00.000-06:00

I know, TWO posts in one day! I think I'm getting the hang of this blogging thing, and will post more regularly. Yeah, I know, I said that last time, but I really mean it this time.

I added a page about my books on the sidebar. I'll add an "about me" page, too, as soon as I figure out what to write. I hate bios and that type of thing.

We usually go to the beach on Friday mornings, but got out of the habit after all the hurricanes last year. Mainly because most of our beaches were washed away or closed. Anyway, the girls asked to go again today, so we did! It seems each time we've walked over to the beach or met our Fun in the Son playgroup, the waves have been huge. Seaweed has also been bad the past month or so.

But today was awesome! The water was clear and minty green. It was calm, so Jetty could walk out without being bowled over. There were schools of minnows everywhere! And little fish about 5 inches long that nibbled on our toes. Jett wasn't too sure he liked that. But we swam and played and had a great time.

Jetty has learned to swim lately, and at three can now swim underwater, dog paddle and float on his back. He learned today that salt water wasn't quite the same as swimming in our pool. He preferred to stay up in our arms as the waves built and battered him around, but he enjoyed them, too.

We came home and jumped in the pool. Ahhh. I love my beach, but it's nice to have the crystal clear, smooth water of a pool after the salt and sea.

Troy's glowing like a lobster, but the rest of us used sunscreen and feel fine.

Rewrites

2006-07-21T12:47:00.000-06:00

Editing used to be my most detested part of writing, but it's a necessary evil. With my first book, I dared anyone to touch one of my precious words. When I sent in the second manuscript, my editor gently suggested I find a crit partner to help catch things like Point of View changes, typos, etc. I exchanged critiques for years, and I grew and learned a lot by both having my work looked at and challenged, but also by looking at other authors' work and catching their mistakes.

Now I exchange chapters with an author friend -- Hey, Rhonda! -- and after she looks over things, I send to two different readers to make sure the story flows.

Yesterday my agent IM'd me about my latest story, and suggested I add some more depth to the manuscript at the beginning. NOT what I wanted to hear! This story has come so close to hitting the trash so many times, I can't believe I need to work on it again! Argh!

When I first started it, I printed off each chapter as I wrote. One day I signed on to write and the manuscript had disappeared from the computer. I had backed it up on two different floppy discs (yeah, this was a while back!) and both were blank! I cried and ranted and raved. Then I sat down and typed it all back in from my hard copies. NOT fun. This happened a second time a bit later, but only a few chapters disappeared. I began to hate this story.

Then I finally sent it in to my editor, and she asked for some changes. We moved to Florida during that time, and then from an apartment to our house. I did the changes, and found out my editor had switched to women's fiction and no longer did the line I'd written it for. I shelved it again.

Now, this spring, I dug it out, dusted it off, did extensive rewrites, added 30,000 words, and sent it to my agent. The story won't let me go. I wrote the first drafts in anger over abuse I'd seen against innocent little children. It's a hard subject for me. I later pulled away from the anger, and the story grew stronger. I tried to redeem the villain, but she couldn't/wouldn't be redeemed. Well, now I've made peace with her and she will be redeemed in the end. Maybe this is the place I had to get to before the story could work. It's a known fact that abusers most often have been abused themselves. Something awful made them the way they are. In Laurel's case, I had to find out what that cause was, and now I need to weave her pain into the story, and the characters will do their best to help her overcome.

So here I am with yet more rewrites needed. This story has been my biggest and greatest learning process in writing, and I guess I'm not finished yet!

By the time these changes are made, the story will no longer be at all the story it started out to be. Funny how God works, huh?

But it will be better, and I look forward to seeing how it all works out. My prologue has to become part of chapter one. What I'd envisioned adding to chapter one, has to now become the prologue. My mind worked all night honing the details, and as soon as Jettsters goes for his nap, I'll begin.

Until next time...

Where does the time go?

2006-07-05T08:14:00.001-06:00

Has it really been that long since I've posted? We've had a whirlwind summer. We ran up to Missouri in June to "meet" my new nephew. The kids have been coming and going to various camps. JT's moving home in a couple of weeks.

As for my writing, I've acquired an agent and sold another book. I've been busy working on that. I'd planned to start a new book, but this one took me by surprise. I'll wrap it up in another week or two, and will then have a bit of time left before homeschooling starts to focus on the "fun" project. Maybe a suspense? Or maybe a women's fiction. I'm torn. We'll see what comes up.

We had a beautiful, balmy Fourth of July. I hope you all had a great time, too! We sat on the beach and watched the fireworks over the Gulf of Mexico and the bay. It was a huge show and went on for over thirty minutes. Jetty, of course, got bored at the end and started running back and forth to the seawall, along with the other little boys. It was fun to watch, too. All these little shadows of three-year-olds backlit by the huge display of color going off in the background.

Jett's learning to swim like a fish. His latest accomplishment is to jump off the side of the pool or to do a belly flop. He'll stand at the edge and just fall forward. He's a nut! I'll try to get pictures to post.

Dalton's at camp this week, and the girls go next week. It will be quiet!

Paige

Here I am!

2006-03-05T18:40:00.000-06:00

I have a novella to edit, but my arm is throbbing, so I've decided to take a couple of days off from writing. And how do I remedy that? By starting a blog, of course! I love to write, and I love the net. It makes sense. (If you disregard the whole throbbing arm thing.)

So, this is my preliminary stumbling step into the cyber-world of blogging. I'll probably post a hodge-podge of thoughts and insights, but I hope you find something to enjoy or a thought that will pick you up somewhere in here!

Welcome!