Monthly Archives: July 2010

Life goes on

Posted on by Sherri
10

Most of you probably already know my grandma died last week. She was my dad’s mom, the only one on that side who kept in regular contact with me. I made the trip to Arkansas for the funeral with my mom and brother. So many emotions are still jumbled up inside me that I don’t feel I can write about it yet. I just wanted to mention it so you’d know I’m fine since I’ve been incommunicado for a little while.

The kids are all registered for school, and they start in two weeks. I can’t believe it’s that close! We even bought most of their school supplies already, a nicer experience now that I know I can buy the cheap stuff if necessary. The registration was also better than in previous years, because they put the forms online to fill out in advance. The whole thing took 20 minutes instead of two hours, which was heaven for my fragrance sensitivity.

My older daughter is going into middle school, and looking back at when I was her age, that seems to be the most pivotal time in my life. We moved to another town that summer, where the girls already had a grasp on fashion and firm, if unspoken, rules in place. It was a hard transition I was never able to solidify, and so began my life on the fringes of society. I’m glad my daughter won’t go through that. I guess there will be other trials waiting for her, but they will be her own.

So summer vacation is almost over. I’ve met the goals I set for myself at the beginning, which were to finish my book and forget it, and after that, to read a lot, spend time with my kids, and work on household matters. I still don’t have a proper desk, so maybe I’ll make that my goal for the remainder of the summer. That way, when the kids are back in school I’ll be ready to write again.

Have you met your summer goals?

I guess I’ll have to stick with children’s books now.

Posted on by Sherri
5

Printing out a novel for editing uses a lot of paper. Combine that with the kids’ 2-hour-long scribbling sessions, and it makes perfect sense to use my old manuscripts as scrap paper. I mean, it’s still good on one side, and though the kids can read, there’s nothing OMG-terrible in BVA; it doesn’t have sex scenes, per se, but the MC does think about sex in a flippant, jaded way, and there is colorful language. Still, nobody cares about the pieces of story on the other side of the page. The occasional cussword would go unnoticed.

So I thought.

I forgot my 11-year-old is a voracious reader with a vocabulary as big as mine. She wants to read all kinds of inappropriate books, as I did at her age, just because she’s already read everything appropriate in the house. Last night she told me she’d been reading the backs of these scrap papers, because BVA was “awesome.” She said sometimes she even gets several consecutive pages so she can read a bigger chunk at a time.

It’s hard to turn down someone who’s dying to read my work, and who will undoubtedly be complimentary. So after she begged me a while, I told her I would edit out the objectionable parts and let her read it. She’s already bugged me about it twice more this morning.

So now I’m wondering, will this affect how and what I write? I want to write things my kids will love. The hubs doesn’t read fiction anymore, so he doesn’t factor in. Sex scenes embarrass me. It seems like a no-brainer to stick with Middle Grade or Young Adult. BVA is going to YA editors, I think.

Something to think about.

Way to slip the existential crisis in at the end, Sherri.

Posted on by Sherri
6

Somebody just spam-commented every single post on my blog. And though the format makes it obvious it’s the same spammer, it appears each IP address is unique, though I didn’t check all 300 of ‘em, obviously. That’s crazy. Crazy spammers. That’s the biggest reason to love WordPress, their excellent spam filter. All I had to do was hit a button and they were all gone. But if I continue to get that much spam, I won’t be able to check it for false positives like I have been. They are few and far between, but occasionally one slips through. So if your comment doesn’t show up, holla and I’ll go check the spam. I promise I haven’t moderated you. I’ve only ever deleted angry and/or crazy comments, and that totals about four.

I don’t know what in the hell happened to me, but I woke up early this morning, like five o’clock, when the hubs got up for work. I usually sleep right through his morning routine, but not today. It may be that my aching bones made it hard to get comfortable. I’m so old.

My mom turned 59 last week, and my dad will be 60 in August. My in-laws are in their late-60s. My step-daughter is married with a baby, and all my cousins’ kids are grown up with mates and kids of their own. Makes me wonder where the time went. Have I done everything I was supposed to do? I know I have many years left, but I used to believe I had greatness in me. It turns out I’m just a regular gal after all. Even if I do something great, I’ve established my regularness.

It’s pretty nice, actually, knowing I’m regular. Back when I thought I had a special purpose in this world I felt a lot of pressure. Now if I accomplish any kind of greatness, it’s all gravy.

Saturday surfing

Posted on by Sherri
8

On tap for today, in no particular order:

  • sucking up spiders with the vacuum;
  • putting on a bra;
  • buying a bag of Quikrete and some sheetrock to maybe finish out the porch room;
  • more coffee;
  • maybe a movie. Gotta love Netflix + Wii.

So here are some links I’ve come across through the week for your lazy Saturday surfing pleasure. First one came from Marta, about how writers have to be attractive and/or photogenic nowadays, not just good writers. Ack!

Here’s a funny video poking fun at the toxic chemical lobby.

Since I won an autographed copy of Ghost Swamp Blues, by Laraine Herring, I thought it would be nice to give linky love to all involved. I was introduced to this author’s work when Sarah Stockton kindly sent me Writing Begins with the Breath. Laraine’s writing speaks to me on a cellular level, so when she pointed her Facebook friends to a contest on Lisa Romeo Writes, I jumped on it. And it paid off. Woo! Can’t wait to read it.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend.