Habitually YA

Er-I'm now convinced I'm stuck in the ninth grade. Okay, so here's the story. I go to Sam's, ya know the buy 2000 rolls of toilet paper in bulk store for those of you who may not have one. My husband headed for the tire department and that brought on a bout of clairvoyance for me. I just knew I'd be bored to tears but I blamed it on the smell. Always stick to the nausea claim when looking at tires. It'll get you out of there every time. So, I ended up in the book aisle. No surprise. I grabbed two immediately, one that was on my to-read list, and one that just looked good. Covers do sell. Then I oohed out loud when I spotted the fluffy little flip flop bedroom slippers on aisle 74 (it felt like 74). But that's neither here nor there. We all know how that ended. I made it home with my new treasures, propped up the toesies and began reading my finds. Book one, awesome. It was SHIVER. Loved it. Book two, I'll not mention and that's not because it's a bad book. It's me not the book. I opened it,  read through ten, twelve pages, flipped back, read a word here and there, flipped forward. Sat straight up in bed, searching "what the-." There wasn't a single young adult word anywhere. Then I discovered the problem. It was an adult paranormal romance. Oh! Shakes head. I'm not old enough to read those. Apparently.

I used to read adult everything, even (whispers) non-fiction. I don't even know how this happened but I no longer enjoy much of anything unless it's YA. Well, I do love the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. There's a lot of history and smut. I'm a sucker for both but YA just has a lighter feel. It takes me back to the day, the discovery of new things, all of it. This new read actually mentioned like bills and stuff. Ew. No. So that's it I guess. I'm all YA and I doubt I will ever cross back over. How about you?


 Update for Word Weight Wednesday.

I completely skipped out on Word/Weight Wednesday. Why? Well, I'm up two pounds and down on word count. It's my husbands fault. He wanted pizza for his birthday. Come on, it's pizza. It was good. I'm not even gonna lie. I've been swamped with work. That's the good news and I'm totally grateful for that. So many are struggling in this economy. It's a scary time for all. So if the worst of it is not having the time to exercise occasionally, visit my story, or even  my blogging buddies, whom I miss so much, then I guess I can accept all that while I'm blessed with work. Will be stopping by as soon as I can. In the meantime, tell me what you've been up to.

Um. Owner has been walked.

Okay, so I haven't been posting much the past few weeks. Work has been crazy hectic,which is a good thing and I've been trying to devote my time to characters and revisions. I'm cool with the whole character thing. I feel like I'm dating them half the time, and so far, none of them have broken up with me or even begun that whole its me not you conversation. I'm totally grateful. I mean, when you're own inventions ditch you, things are bad. Like go ahead and fill up the bathtub bad. It's the revising part that makes me cringe and I don't get it. It's not like I'm heading into the office for rectal surgery. It's my story. I know what's going to happen. Er...so most of the time I think I sort of know. Basically the same thing.

So I've been trying the whole outlining thing. Most of the time I write by way of disorganized, chaotic little notes written in various places throughout a spiral notebook. It's always worked for me. Until now. I think I need a better system. And this weekend I wrote a little, pondered a little, and decided to take the dog out at the wrong time. Neighbors were out in their backyard doing the whole family bonding thing on the playground with about 8 or 9 kids. At least it looked like that many. Kids see 150 pound dog. Kids love 150 pound dogs. Dog loves kids. Dog thinks he's more like 10 pounds. Kids run at dog. Dog runs at kids. Dog begins to leap into the air in six foot strides. Kids freeze. Owner of dog rides dog. Owner runs with dog. Owner gets pulled by dog. Picture villains being tied to a horse in one of those old westerns and that was basically me. Owner has no muscles left in her body. I can now hardly hold my arms up to type. Kids? Fine. Dog? Fine. Owner? Not so good. So I thought it would be a great time to hear your strategies for organizing your story. I know some of you have posted about this before. I've read lots of great ideas in the past. Forgive me, but the pain just won't let me remember who, what, when, or where those ideas were. Shrugs. Owe!

Word/Weight Wednesday

Well, I'm down about 4 pounds and I'm seriously considering filing attempted murder charges against Jillian Michael's. The woman is a pit bull with barbells and that shouldn't be possible considering she shouldn't have any thumbs. I purchased her Thirty Day Shred video and began level 1 about 5 days ago. Holy Cow! By day two, I couldn't even sit down without looking like I'd had a stroke or something. I thought about having those handicapped hand rails placed along the walls of the bathroom but I suffered through it. I laughed at those burning quad muscles, actually, it was more like a sob, but hey, I kept moving. That was level 1 people (still sobbing). LEVEL 1! Ack! To be real to you and to myself, I feel so much better, burning muscles aside. It's twenty minutes a day that I can spare and it makes me feel more with it. Alert. And the kids are so impressed when I come stumbling up the stairs after a good workout, looking like a melting ice sculpture. So, if you're exercising, keep it up. If you're not, get up and do it. Just a little a day goes a long way. You'll thank me after day three. Do not address me at all on days one or two. I'm sensitive and I'm not sure I could take what you'll want to say to me.

Now onto words. I've come to a reckoning, a little crossroads in my writing. I've had to admit, out loud, what I did not want to admit. My revisions are not revisions. Nope. Not even close. I'm rewriting and that is a far cry from revising. No wonder its taking me so long. I keep going back into the older version of my story and I'm shocked by how much of it will not transfer over to the newer version. I guess this happens when you change things up a bit, grow a little as a writer. I keep waiting to grow a lot but its not happening yet. It will though. I'm going to shrink my body while I fatten up on skills. I have a feeling one of those things is going to take longer than the other. My husband keeps asking when this story is going to be finished. My reply is usually a snort, followed by spasms of laughter. That seems to be the question I can never answer. How about you? What have you been up to?

Things to Ponder.

I have just cheated my own blog. I've revised yesterday's post and thought I'd throw in something a little more important like what I just found. Our awesome blogging buddy Madeleine Maddocks is hosting a Blogfest over at Scribble and Edit. It sounds like a lot of fun and a little bit of a challenge when you think about it. Head on over there right now and sign up.

Then I found this. It's a great place to go for free exercise videos. Yes, I decided to throw a little aerobics into my mundane life of power walking. You gotta mix things up a bit, and as writers, exercise can fall by the wayside when we're working towards our writing goals. But it's so important that we take care of ourselves. So, with a little help from a free cardio workout in the comfort of your own home, pushing that chair back for twenty minutes is not a big deal. Er, okay so maybe it is. I think I pulled something in my armpit. There is a muscle there. Who knew? My brother suggested I join the gym for support and take a few classes. "In public?" I said. No, no, no. Nobody needs to see me in an exercise class. I have no rhythm whatsoever and I am so glad I took my own advice and stayed in my office. Now I can look like a wet, wounded bird trying to take flight in the privacy of my own home. Thank you little brother. And now you can too. I think we should support each other with our writing but how about our health too. I'm thinking about launching a Biggest Writing Loser group right here on the blog. Once a week, we can share and lean on each other. You can even email me when you're in a drive thru and I'll talk you out of there.I will make you order the apple dippers. I swear I will. What do you think? Word/Weight count Wednesday anyone?