Category Archives: Uncategorized

I will post a separate blog here, as soon as I find/remember where I put the cord to download pictures from my new camera. Meanwhile, I posted a blog at the 2 B Read authors blogsite. Check it out!

Last week, it rained. Every day. For most of the day. A lot. It was great, since we’ve been in something of a drought. There are mushrooms sprouting all over the neighborhood. There were a few days I had trouble getting much writing done, because it was dark and raining and it made me sleepy. (Of course, staying up late goofing off didn’t help any.)

I think I’m in a better swing of things now, finally. Should have been here earlier, but it’s working now, and ought to come in right on deadline. I’m into the final battle. Hoping the heroine hasn’t repeated herself too terribly much–I’m going to have to print it all out and go back through and check on that… I think I’m going to raise hope, and then dash it again, oh–two or three times. (maybe) I just keep trying to figure out how to raise the stakes higher. I don’t feel like they’re high enough yet, so I’ll goose them again. Elinor’s being a horse’s patoot at the moment, actually. Somebody’s going to have to knock her upside the head, I think. Maybe Harry. Maybe Nigel. Maybe… well, we will see. I just need to make sure she’s not being a repetitious horse’s patoot.

I did go hit the sales at Macy’s yesterday, before the local RWA chapter meeting, and spent my birthday money. They were having some pretty good sales–I got three shirts and a pair of dressy black pants for just over $50. (I paid the tax.) I have clothes to wear. I wanted to go to another store to buy a pair of jeans–I went, but they didn’t have any that were long enough. Maybe next time.

I’ll have to get somebody to take my picture in my new “finery” so I can show you. I was going to post a picture, but I don’t have any new ones. I don’t think I can do a “take a picture every day” thing, but surely I can manage “take a picture once a week.” Then I’d have to download it, though… I’ll try.

Off to type in story.

I have now been to the beach twice. It was fabulous. The first day, the water was a little cool, but still nice. Saturday, it was Perfect for this weenie, no-going-in-the-water-unless-it’s-over-90 sissy swimmer. Not quite bathwater warm, but darn close.

I really love the Gulf because the waves aren’t strong and splashy. I can get out past the surf without much trouble at all and just let the water rock me, and that’s what I truly enjoy. When the water’s warm and the waves are easy, I’ve found my bliss.

The wind’s been really strong from the south, pushing currents right up along the beach–Gulf water, especially in Texas, tends to be kind of gold–well, okay, brown–because of all the Mississippi sediment, changing to green water, then blue water at various distances. This past week, the green stripe has been really wide, with a very noticeable, distinctive color change not far past the end of the jetties. Which is where the shrimp boats have been trawling, and the seagulls, terns and pelicans fishing. It’s really cool to see brown pelicans fly maybe 6 feet over your head, going out to catch fish…

So, yeah, the grandboys were visiting. It was great getting to see them and go play with them. We went to see the Cirque du Soleil “Saltimbanco!” show on Thursday night for the older one’s 8th birthday (He had his birthday at our house last year, too). It was a great show–I really loved the sound-effects mime clown, and the tumblers, and the–well, just all of it, except the two-on-a-trapeze act scared the pee-wadding out of me. But they were great too. After, we went to Chuy’s to eat, because we only had a birthday cake snack beforehand, and I had Elvis Green Chile Fried Chicken. Yum!

I also was trying to get the book untracked. I did get my plot sorted and have been re-writing the opening and tweaking some of the stuff I already had written to make it fit. It’s all in the computer now, and I think I have around 70 pages, which is pretty good. Now I get to start from scratch and write madly. I’m ready for the “Debate” scene, where they debate about what the heroine wants to do.

I am taking a “sabbatical” from the dayjob for August so I can really focus and get this book written–except my parents, sisters (and brother at least part of the time) and their families, plus my daughter and her son, will be coming down for a week or more smack in the middle of it.

I foresee more Taco Cabana time. Yeah, I spent a couple of mornings over there last week. The boys all went fishing or golfing the other two mornings… We ate angel fish one night, because they caught them on their boat fishing expedition, the gray-and-black striped kind. They’re pretty good eating…

Pictures. My goal is to download pictures this week and post some, one day.

So, last week I went to Fort Worth with the fella, to his conference. I hadn’t been able to go in a while, so it was nice to see some people I haven’t seen since the last time I went. I ate really well. We stayed at the Worthington Hotel which is in Sundance Square. It’s been a while since I spent much time in downtown Fort Worth, but it is a really nice place. Lots of good places to eat (I didn’t make it to all of them, though I did go to Razzoo’s twice…), a Barnes & Noble within 3 blocks, and a movie theater next door. Not a whole lot of other shopping, but I really didn’t care.

It was blisteringly hot–topped 100F/37+C every day–but without the island’s 900% humidity, it wasn’t actually too terribly bad. Okay, yeah, it was bad, but not THAT bad. At least, not for a person who’s used to being a little bit sweaty all the time. Somebody from Minnesota, or Idaho–yeah, they might’ve died a little. I went out to the bookstore twice in one hot afternoon. Went to the movie one day. Took a nap. Read books. Oh, and I wrote. I wrote and wrote till I ran out of ideas. I got quite a bit done–except I think I’m going to have to scrap some of it, because my heroes are getting answers handed to them on a platter. They need to work a little harder at it. But I made progress.

This week is Romance Writers of America conference. (I’m working at a newspaper. They make me spell everything out the first time, every time.) I discovered this morning that I booked my return flight on the wrong day, and it’s costing me some bucks to change it. (sigh) Oh well. I am flying out at way-too-early o’clock Wednesday. We got home Saturday night. I have time to wash clothes, pack again, (change my flight reservation) and leave again. And try to make sure everything’s together at the paper for me to be out most of another week. Oh, and the day I come back–the older son and his boys will be here for a week. I WILL get to the beach to swim while they’re here. I will. By hook or by crook.

Of course, the rest of the time, I’ll probably be at Taco Cabana writing. (I don’t really like coffee, and Starbucks doesn’t have enough space, anyway.) Wish me luck.

It was Independence Day over the weekend. And it was hot as blazes on the island. As usual, the actual temperature wasn’t much over 90F (32C), but the sun and the humidity made it FEEL much, much, much hotter. The fact that it hasn’t rained in more than a month (and doesn’t look to rain today, despite the storms predicted by The Weather Channel), does not help

And I still haven’t made it into the water. I really wanted to go swimming sometime last week/weekend, and every time I wanted to go, everybody else had something else going, and I didn’t want to go by myself. I believe in the buddy system. Swimming in the Gulf of Mexico really isn’t a solo activity, even if there is a lifeguard on the beach… I am just going to have to twist somebody’s arm and GO.

I didn’t go to the 4th of July parade downtown. It was too hot, and I didn’t want to go downtown an hour and a half early, and nobody else in the house got up. Which didn’t really hurt my feelings. (‘Cause it was hot.)

But we did go to the fireworks. We headed down toward 39th Street about 45 minutes ahead of time, because they shoot them off out the 37th Street jetty. (It’s paved along the top, so they could drive the Budget Rent-a-truck out onto the rocks.) There was a really strong onshore wind (isn’t that what you call a wind that blows from the water onto the land?), whipping up the sand everywhere, so we had to hunt a little while to find a place where we could actually keep our eyes open and not have sand in them. The kids on the beach below the seawall digging in the sand like puppy dogs did not help, but it wasn’t too bad, once we moved upwind from the sand ramp down to the beach. And shortly after it got dark, the fireworks started. It was a good show–lasted about 30 minutes. I’m not sure if it was longer or shorter than last year, because I don’t remember how long last year’s show lasted. But there were plenty of great big sparkly, splashy, flashy fireworks. It was fun.

I am hoping to have a chance in the rest of the week to plunge deep into the deadline cave and get a bunch of this book written. The fella and I are leaving the boy behind to hold down the fort and keep the dog in the yard to go to a conference of his. I plan to spend my time in Fort Worth writing. And maybe going to some fun stuff. I’m not sure what’s playing in Bass Hall. We talked about going–but I don’t remember if we ever did anything about it. Wish me luck. I have GOT to get some writing done!!

I am definitely not blogging everywhere, but I did blog in two different places this week. Which has sort of left me all blogged out. However, you can Read my blogs from those other places and know what I’m doing.

On Tuesday, I blogged at the To Be Read blog of the published authors chapter of RWA, all about my weekend spent at ApolloCon. So if you’re more interested in my day-to-day life (which admittedly is not that interesting), go read that one.

Today, Wednesday, I have a blog up at the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter’s blog, all about steampunk and what it is. And of course, a blatant promo job of the NEW BLOOD book…

More blogging? Here? Let me catch my breath, ‘kay? I’m going to be busy the next couple of weeks. I need to catch up and try to get ahead… Oh, and I have my page proofs to go over, as well. I have plenty of time, but there’s so much ELSE to be done! Ack!!

I have two pairs of pants in two different sizes from a mail-order catalog waiting for me to send/take them back because neither pair fit. They were too small. I have pants in both sizes in my closet that fit nicely–one pair has no elastic in the waist, no stretch in the fabric, buttons and zips up the front, and fits very comfortably. The two pair that have to go back have both stretch and elastic, but the buttons won’t fasten. They’re made by different manufacturers, which is why–even though they’re supposedly the same size, they’re not.

I cannot be the only person who finds this a huge pain. It’s not an issue just for large-size women like me. Even women who wear size 6 have problems because the Lee Jeans size 6 is not the same as the … oh, Ann Klein size 6. (If Ann Klein makes jeans.) There needs to be some kind of standard–something with a waist/hip/length measurement maybe, like in men’s pants. Women’s pants would need that extra hip measurement, because there isn’t a consistent waist-to-hip ratio. Some of us have larger backsides than others. But there ought to be some way to be able to order a pair of pants–or pull them off the rack/shelf in the store–and have a reasonable expectation that they will go around said backside.

I’ve dealt with the “high-water pants” all my life–it’s incredibly hard for me to find pants that are long enough, especially since I’m not quite tall enough for the “tall sizes” but too tall for “average.” I was really hoping these jeans would fit because they were a whole inch longer than the other pants in the catalog–all of which were for “average” height. But they didn’t, and now they have to go back.

I do understand the vanity issue, that women like to say they wear a size 6–when they only wear a size 6 in, oh, Ralph Lauren clothes, and a size 8 or 10 in some other manufacturer’s clothing. But it’s still a pain. And since I was a size 12 from the time I hit my full height of 5’8″ or so, I can tell you truthfully that size 12 is NOT fat–especially if you’re on the tall side. (We will not discuss what size I am now–but I will never see 12 again…) All I’m asking for is a little consistency.

Why is it so impossible for the clothing industry to come up with a consistent, across-the-board sizing? Anybody out there have a clue?