It’s been a rough couple of weeks.
Posted: July 11, 2013 Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: death, family, life, Melissa Stevens, odds and ends Leave a commentAbout two and a half weeks ago I got one of those calls that everyone dreads getting. One of my sisters-in-law had been in a car accident and she hadn’t survived. She had been a single mom, with three teenage daughters. The oldest was 18 and had been away at college, though she was home for the summer, but the other two have not yet started high school.
It fell to me to relay the news to my husband, as well as his father. I’ll just say there’s a difficult relationship between my father-in-law and most of the children from his first marriage, and leave it at that.
Thankfully, it’s summer and my own children are not currently in school, as soon as I got the first call, I started them packing their things. After I made my calls, I started packing myself. By 6:00pm we were on the road. We drove all night and the trip took 13 hours.
We ended up staying two weeks. It was difficult for everyone involved, making decisions about where the girls should go and how to deal with it (their father passed away several years ago,) planning services, high emotions and general family drama.
I was glad to get home. I’d missed my bed, my own pillow and the quiet comfort of not having to walk on eggshells to keep from inadvertently hurting someone’s feelings.
I’m not quite back in my work groove, but I’m getting there. I’ve been doing a lot of not-actual-writing business. Getting ready for an appearance and household stuff that was just put on hold when we left. I’ll get back where I should be, but it may take me a few more days.
Back to work.
Posted: July 22, 2012 Filed under: Hunt | Tags: distractions, family, writing Leave a commentAfter nearly two weeks of nursing my other half, he’s back to the point of nearly being able to care for himself. He can get up, move around, do what needs to be done, though he milks it for all the attention he can get. It’s time for me to get back to work. Back to working on the next installment in Nickie’s story.
Getting back to work is easier said than done. My house still has 4 other people in it all the time. School doesn’t start for another nine days for one kid, and sixteen days for the other two. The other half will play invalid for another month. All this adds up and the distractions can be difficult to ignore. Thankfully, I have headphones and can turn my music up loud to ignore them all. While the kids are still home they can run errands for their father. I’ll deal with having to do them myself when they’re back in school. In the mean time, I’ll get as much done as I can.
Camp Nano, Day 20
Posted: June 20, 2012 Filed under: Hunt | Tags: camp, family, Nanowrimo, writing Leave a commentI got a very late start tonight, and I had some difficulty in the beginning, but things are moving better now. I’ve managed to make the month to date goal but I’m pretty sure the day is going to roll over before I hit any other goals. That’s okay. I’m still happy with where I stand. Plus.. Sometimes seeing old friends and family is worth the delay.
Camp Nano, Day 11
Posted: June 11, 2012 Filed under: Hunt | Tags: camp, family, Nanowrimo, visiting, writing Leave a commentThe puppy got me up early this morning. He was determined that I wouldn’t sleep, so I sat down and got busy. I’ve made great progress today, a total of 2700 words!! I’m down to being only 300 words behind. I should be able to get that caught up tomorrow, and hopefully get started on working a head and rebuilding my buffer.
At the same time I’m getting to spend a lot of time with old friends and family I haven’t seen in a while. The kids and I are having a great time. I’m not looking forward to returning to the heat at home.
Making time for Family.
Posted: March 25, 2012 Filed under: Fight, Odds and Ends | Tags: family, Fight, rewrites, spring break Leave a commentI recently finished the first draft of Fight, the second book in the Kitsune series, and I’ve set it back on the shelf for a couple of weeks to let my mind rest a little. In the mean time, I’m making some time for family. Taking a trip to visit my dad and grandfather, the kids will be on spring break soon, and the old man is off while the kids are on spring break, the two things together means getting anything done will be next to impossible.
After spring break is over (basically, after Easter,) I’ll pull up Fight and start rewrites. It’s not a simple process but I have high hopes for where the story is going. I’m excited about this installment in Nickie’s story, and already plotting out what will happen in the third book, I just have to keep working to bring it to life. It won’t be fast, and it won’t be easy, but hopefully it will make for a better book. I’m hoping to have Fight available by the end of the summer, but I’ll let you know more as things get closer to that goal.
