Is this thing still here?

As I write this, one of these little devils has his head resting on my shoulder like he's editing my work.  He's not this little anymore. This is actually a picture of his brothers and sisters.  He's now full grown and 147 pounds. There's nothing like trying to finish a book while a Great Dane looks over your shoulder. He just stands behind my office chair, and every time I turn my head, there's a cold nose on my cheek. After months of this, he got his way and ended up as a character in my WIP. Talk about being assertive. I have to admire his determination. He seems to be more relaxed now, although, he's still supervising from time to time. Has this happened to you? Has someone or something in your life ended up in your writing when you never really planned it that way? Please disclose.


Happy Weekend!

Revisions and Remodeling

I'm supposed to be working on revisions which should be done by now. And I can't even say I'm in the middle of them anymore with a clear conscience. Now I get to work on remodeling instead. Wonderful. NOT! Right when work slows down enough to permit me to write, the dishwasher decides to leak, ruining the entire kitchen floor, cabinets, the downstairs ceiling, and carpet. AWESOME! Okay, so now I get the kitchen I've been wanting for like ever. That part is cool. Waiting on it to arrive is another thing altogether. It looks like I'll be living without a kitchen floor for the next three weeks and doing dishes in a bucket. Does it get any better than that? Hey, it could be worse. It could have been the bathroom that was ruined and who wants to use a bucket in there? Not this girl. So there is an upside to everything. 

Now if I can find some time in between painting and flooring to get back to my characters before I forget who they are. So little time. How about you? Whatcha up to?

It Had to Happen

Letting go is so hard sometimes. And to be truly honest, I didn't like completely let go or anything but I came to that spot in my WIP where I just needed to move in one direction or the other. I was bobbing in the water and I needed to either get out or continue to bob and wait for hypothermia to kick in. I opted for moving on. According to my kids, my toes are unnaturally tiny which I do not agree with. I think they're perfectly proportioned to my body. Either way, bobbing seemed potentially detrimental to them, so I moved on to another WIP. And it feels good. I miss my other characters sometimes. But I think we truly needed this time apart. It's not them it's me. After nearly two years of hanging out, we needed a break to reassess our relationship. So it's not goodbye, its more like see you later. But putting two years worth of work on the back burner is not an easy thing to do and knowing when you need to do that is even harder to figure out. All in all, I've just had to rely on my gut. Now if I can just figure out when I need to go back. Wouldn't it be simpler if your characters could just IM you when its time? "Um...hello there. Fictional hottie that you created here. Um...we were like working up some major chemistry and you like bailed on me. I know that I was starting to sound a little bland and even for a second there I was leaning into that whole Cullen thing, but now that we've had this time apart, I think I can be totally original and just as much into you as you've been into me. Can we just pick up where we left off?" Okay, so maybe that would be a little creepy. But then again, he is kind of hot in a fictional character kind of way. Sighs... What about you? Have you been at one of those way weird places where you wish a character could ping you or is that just me?

Omigosh!

Hellooooo! I'm so excited! I bought a new computer. An I-MAC (choir sang as I opened the box). Holy Lord, I had no idea my old computer was so freaking slow. Blogging had become more like post, watch the wheel, and repeat. And for those of you who still have that whole word recognition thingy in order to post, I nearly had a brain aneurism every time I tried to post on your blog.  It took me like an hour to visit four blogs. Not cool!! After awhile, I gave up and just decided to write and then when I was ready, I'd get back into it. Well, wheel watching was going to cause me head trauma. And apparently, my husband had been planning to kill me if he heard me yell Gah, one more time (that's not nice). So, the hubbs refused to allow me to bang my head into the computer desk a day longer. Like a crazy person, he drove me to Best Buy to buy a new computer. IN A SNOW STORM. How romantic. NOT! Actually, it was pretty scary, even touch and go there for a minute. Rest assured I strapped Mac in on the way home. Hello, safety first. I cannot wait to see what everyone has been up to. I bet half of you are published already and I so missed it while wheel watching. NO MORE! I will be stalking you shortly.

Shouting Out.

It's been just over a month since my last blog. Looks like I'm starting to develop a pattern. Finding the time to blog or blog hop has become next to impossible, and for awhile, I really struggled with it. But I know writers understand. There's the push to get out there, market yourself a little, but I'm not one of those people who can multitask so well. I run a business, a family, and I try to write. Blogging can take up valuable time. Time I need to write, and time I need to spend with my critique partners so that someday I might have something to market besides my name and also something to blog about. So, I thought I'd formally announce a sabbatical even though most of you have already gathered as much. I'm still here, so if you need me, shoot me an email. I'd love to help out if I can. And when I'm done with my WIP, or even find a moment to say hello, I will. Till then, I hope you're well, writing, loving, and learning. Happy writing people. 

Happy New Year!!!

Omigosh it's that time of year again, the time for all those resolutions and whatnot. Mine are a total bore this year. Heck, I'm not even being original or anything. I pledge to myself and my jean closet (it's just a regular closet that has jeans in it, didn't mean to make it sound like I had a whole closet dedicated to jeans) that I will lose ten (15) pounds before summer and hang these fat pants back up in the back of the closet where they belong. I also pledge to finish my MS (again). Yes, again. See I thought I'd finished it before but then everything changed during the revision process, and as it turned out, once I removed a whole lotta crap from it, I ended up with a whole new re-write. I sure hope all the changes make it a better story. We shall see.

Well that's it. See, told you my resolutions were boring and unoriginal. I started to add a new agent to stalk but I am so not ready for agent stalking yet. Maybe next year. Right now I'm too busy with the re-write to even have time for cutting out letters in old magazines to send encrypted messages to literary agents. That and the dog chewed the handles off the scissors. Seriously, no joke. They look like they went through a meat grinder. Quite impressive. So what's your New Years resolution? Anyone planning on adopting a scissors eating very BAD dog?  

Dog Gone...CRAZY!

So, I've been MIA for like ever and to those of you who have not decided to un-follow my blog, I'd like to say I appreciate you still being there or um here. Right now I'm trying to Christmas shop, work, wrap presents, write, and in the midst of all of that, I'm trying to become the doggie whisperer. I know I'm not supposed to feel guilty about blogging or not blogging, but sometimes I just do and probably always will. I prefer self loathing from time to time. It gives me an excuse to have wine. Just kidding about that last part. I never need an excuse to have wine.

As some of you may already know, I have a Great Dane. His name is Cooper and he's just turned a year and a half this month. He's so sweet and cuddly, AND he's lost his freaking mind. While I'm trying to write, he stands behind my chair, flipping my ponytail up and down, trying to get my attention. When that fails, he stands behind me, resting his head on my shoulder in some sort of staring contest I'm not even participating in, and I'm not sure how to convey that to him. Casualties are high in the Mckee household. We've lost two high heels which I won't miss at all. Say what you want, they're not natural anyway so no loss. On a sad note, we've lost a pair of Merrell's which was a bad day. Those shoes were like little pillows of heaven strapped to my feet. Sighs.

Aside from the shoes, we've lost two Christmas ornaments, a phone case, and I think he ate a slipper but I can't prove it til tomorrow. I Googled the terrible two's for dogs, and it turns out, they actually have them. Who knew? I'm worried the poor thing may think his first name has been changed to Damn-it. Other times, I can't even form an actual, intelligible word and its really sad when your dog knows you're making crap up. So this is what's going on in my little world. What's going on in yours?