Monthly Archives: July 2009

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!!