Home from Camping and Hard at Work
Posted: June 21, 2016 Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Odds and Ends, Secret Project | Tags: camp, camping, Demented Souls MC, family, nano, working, writing Leave a commentI managed to farm out 2 of my remaining kids (my niece is visiting her sister) for the next week and all I’m left with is the one that drives. This frees me up for a lot of work time. I can send her to the store and make her do most of my shopping.
The other plus side is, I don’t have to leave the house in the extreme heat we’re having! YAY! I am getting a bit of work done, not as much as I managed in Vegas but a good deal.
I’m seriously considering doing Camp NaNo next month so I can finish this draft. I’m getting there, I’m roughly 3/4 finished… and I’d love to get it done by the time the niece gets home mid-July. Yes, I have something else in the works for once this gets done!
May is here, and Camp NaNo is done
Posted: May 2, 2016 Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Odds and Ends | Tags: camp, Camp NaNoWriMo, family, graduation, kids, prom 1 Commentand though I hate having to admit it, I lost this time around. Between races, graduation stuff, a new part time job and the stomach bug from hell, I didn’t manage to make my goal. On the plus side, I did manage to add more than 14k words to my story. And Prom is done… Now we have the Senior Trip coming up, then, in less than a month, she graduates. (someone, hold me, please!)
Deep breath and move on. I’ll manage and keep writing too.
Busy busy and still writing.
Posted: April 5, 2016 Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Odds and Ends | Tags: camp, family, nano, writing Leave a commentSo much going on! I foresee lots of multi tasking in my future. I had to catch up with my friends and Facebook this morning while I ate, even now I’m writing this while soaking my sore legs and feet in hot water to help the soreness.
On the plus side though, Camp NaNo is going well, I’m not as ahead as I would like to be, but I’m not behind either. Things are cruising along for my soon to be graduate. The shoes she ordered for prom fit, and look as great as she hoped, her jewelry will be here in a couple days, all is good.
I have just one request though, can I get more hours in the day to get it all done?
Christmas and all it’s surrounding celebrations
Posted: December 29, 2015 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: Christmas, family, holidays, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World Leave a commentare behind us. While we didn’t do anything really elaborate, we were busy. There was a stretch of several days that I didn’t get any where near enough sleep to suit me. From making tamales with the family until after 2am, then getting up the next morning to open gifts. I cooked for only 9 this year, but it went well. The day after Christmas we had a wedding and stayed out till nearly midnight only to get up before 5 to go spend time with my mom, sister and her kids.
It was a blast and totally worth it but it left me exhausted. I’ve thought about my story but haven’t had time to open it up or do any work in days. The old man has to work on New Years, so our celebrations will be laid back probably a movie marathon. (I’m thinking maybe the Jurassic Park movies, including Jurassic World!)
How was your Christmas? And what are you planning for New Year Eve?
We’re down to less than a week
Posted: December 20, 2015 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: Christmas, family, holidays, Melissa Stevens Leave a commentfrom Christmas. Am I ready? No. but I am far closer than I was a week ago. I’ve got everything planned out so things should go at least mostly smoothly. Things never go entirely smoothly, but I’m okay with mostly. I’ve got to finish moving furniture… wrap the last of the gifts… start the roast thawing for dinner the big day. There’s more but that’s the big stuff. I also have to work in some writing/rewriting if I can.
What are your holiday plans and are you ready?
Things aren’t going as quickly
Posted: September 11, 2015 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: family, Melissa Stevens, trips, writing Leave a commentas I would like. Not because the story isn’t working or my characters aren’t talking to me, but because my life is too busy. I have too much going on to spend as much time working with the friends who live inside my head as I would like.
Too many kids, too many sporting events, too many weddings and family reunions. Well, at least too many to get the story out as quickly as I would like. Not that I would trade any of it (well, maybe the sports crap in the heat) but I’d like more time to get my writing done too.
Longest Short Week EVER…
Posted: April 4, 2015 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: family, funeral, Melissa Stevens, road trip, spring break 1 CommentSo, I didn’t get home from last weekend until Tuesday morning. I’m used to coming in on Sunday night but due to the previously mentioned death in the family, I spent Sunday night in Tucson so I could travel 3 hours in the opposite direction from home and attend the funeral. It wasn’t all that late when I got back to Tucson, not even 7pm, but I was emotionally exhausted so I stayed one more night and headed home the next morning.
The kids were on spring break, I had no reason I needed to be home before 1pm on Tuesday for writing group… It was fine… Well, that spring break thing is what kicked my butt.
I cruised along, everything fine… then on Thursday I realized it was Thursday, not Sunday or Monday (the old man was working but the kids were home and I had none of the usual routine to kick my butt in gear.) I hit a mild state of panic trying to get everything done, Easter shopping and making sure the family has food for the time I’ll be gone this weekend (just Friday evening and Saturday this week, no racing on Easter Sunday.)
So what made it feel so long? Partly the funeral. There was a LOT of time in the car, which is both good and bad, I tend to find myself thinking about characters and story, sometimes to the point that I realize all of a sudden I have no memory of the last 50 miles.
The funeral itself was draining. All of them are, but more so when the deceased in young. My cousin was only 22 when he was taken from us suddenly. This only leads to more.
Then there was that panic of trying to make sure everything that had to get done before my weekend was done so I can do what I need to do without worrying about the rest of the family.
Either way, it’s the weekend now and I’ve settled in. I’ll be hitting the racetrack in a couple hours. I love the track, there are so many characters to watch and draw from.
How was your week?
Tough week.
Posted: March 27, 2015 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: death, family, kids, Melissa Stevens, sports, tough week Leave a commentSports practice x 2 teams and 4 kids… normal household stuff, meetings, appointments, etc. Add into that a tragic death in the (extended) family and I’m exhausted. I’m headed to Tucson for the weekend to work my horse races, then from there I’ll be headed back to my home town for a funeral. I hate that it takes a funeral to bring my family from all the corners of the earth but I’ll enjoy seeing them again.
How was your week?
It looks like we had errors over the holiday.
Posted: December 26, 2014 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: Christmas, family, holidays Leave a commentI posted that post on Christmas Eve, but it looks like it didn’t actually go live until this afternoon… Sorry about that…
Anyway, we had a wonderful, if exhausting holiday. I was glad to be able to sleep in this morning. This morning I’ve been busy. I got things all cleaned up from guests and new toys, and I’ve had time to get things set up.
Now I have to get back to work. I’m about half way though this rewrite. I need to finish it and maybe start all over again! Hopefully I’ll have news about my next release before too long.
How was your holidays? Did you get what you wanted or get to spend it with family?
Christmas Eve here in the my writing closet.
Posted: December 26, 2014 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: Christmas, family, holiday Leave a commentI haven’t gotten much done lately. I’ve been busy getting holiday stuff taken care of. Shopping, wrapping, food, running here and there, and last minute knitting. It all seems to pile up. I think it’s partly because in my mind it’s not cold enough here for it to be Christmas yet. So it feel like it sneaks up on me every year. I hate the feeling but there’s nothing I can do to change it.
Tonight my family is going to go see some extended family, and have homemade tamales for Christmas Eve dinner. Tomorrow, after we’ve done the present thing, I’ll get up and cook a big meal for us all. I love doing it, and I actually missed not doing it last year.