I am such a goofball

Okay, so I decided in one last desperate attempt to lose the pooch resulting from two babies, I would visit the gym today (stop laughing at me!! :rotfl:). They know my husband by name there. Me? Not so much. I actually got booted out of the system for not coming enough. Um, yeah, the discipline thing when it comes to exercise? Not so good at that. Heh.

Anyway, I’m coming home, feeling proud of myself and there’s an answering machine message.

Cue the flashback: Remember this post where I mentioned that I was chatting with an agent? (Still reeling in shock that she read it in one day.) Anyway, I mentioned that–hey! I’ll be in Atlanta. Maybe we could get together. Honestly, I wasn’t really expecting anything to come of it. Agents are really busy, and conferences can be insane with the number of authors they have to meet.

She called today and left a message. She wants to have coffee :coffee2: in Atlanta with me.

Picture me in the kitchen, doing the Stupidest Dancing Ever.

Now I just need somebody to peel me off the ceiling. ::Smack:: It’s coffee, Michelle. Get a grip!

I will be one bundle of nerves. Gah!

Don’t forget! You can still post a comment in yesterday’s post to win a free signed book at the literacy reception or conference handouts from Reno!

Read…write…win!

It’s contest time again!

And lucky you–there are many ways to win. If you’re a reader, take a look at this list. These are all the authors I will see in Atlanta. What’s up for grabs? An autographed book by the author of your choice! It can be for you or a gift for a friend!

How do you enter? Simply scroll down the page to where you see Sign Up for the Newsletter on the left side of the page. Enter your e-mail address and click Submit. It will ask you to confirm your subscription via e-mail, and then I get a note that you’ve joined. If you’ve already signed up for my newsletter, then you’re automatically entered. I promise I don’t send out newsletters unless there’s Very Big News (e.g. that I’ve sold my first book).

After you’ve signed up for the newsletter, just post a comment to tell me which author you want me to visit at the Literacy Signing and how you want the book addressed. I will draw a random winner from the list of folks on the newsletter roster.

But wait…there’s more!

If you’re a writer, how would you like a spiral-bound copy of the RWA National Conference handouts from Reno last year? Over 300 pages of notes, handouts, worksheets, and tips from authors, agents, and editors. Same rule as above. Join the newsletter, and post a comment.

I will draw TWO lucky winners–one will win a signed book, the other will win the conference handouts. All you have to do is join the newsletter and post a comment (to tell me which one you want–book or conference handouts).

Good luck! The winner will be announced next week.

The biggest idiot on the planet….

….is quite likely me. Guess who was happily trimming tree roots from a hole we were digging and accidentally snipped the satellite cable wire? Oh sweet Lord. Yes. Idiot. Me. So I’ll be digging up cable tomorrow morning and hoping that my darling husband can somehow mend it. I’m not sure. I have my doubts. But I swear, it LOOKED like a tree root. Maaannnn…

Good news: all the B&Bs and hotels are booked for Ireland. Whew! Load off my chest. I’m just hoping that things are relatively close by. I don’t want to spend all my time in a car. But now I can actually think about the sightseeing part. Yay for that! I look forward to studying ancient ruins and thinking about all those hunky Irish warriors who went about, dragging their ladies by the hair. Heh. Like that ever happened. I’m sure that ancient warriors were reminded to take off their armor at the door and for god’s sake, quit leaving the garderobe door open. But I digress.

Now I just have to fix all the various and sundry things that are left to do before WEDNESDAY. Remind me again what I was thinking when I planned these trips back to back?

But on the bright side, I hope to run into many many blog-buddies. I have my eharlequin jammies ready to go for the pajama party. Can’t wait.

In the meantime, I just have to accomplish a few more thousand things. Deep breath. We’ll figure it all out. Now please send out lots of prayers into the universe that the Goddess of All Editors will take pity and buy my book.

And say a little prayer that my husband won’t whack me over the head with a shovel for cutting his satellite cable when he should have been watching Sports Center. I’m sure he’s wanting to right now….especially since I’m leaving him alone with the children for 11 days…:banana:

Perhaps I should buy him a drink in Ireland. Or maybe a few…:drunk:

A mini-vacation

You know, I love my husband. He’s a great guy. Right now, I’m mystery shopping a Hotel That Must Not Be Named. 2 days in a resort, no kids, just me and my laptop. Such hardship. I don’t know how I stand it, sitting by the pool and determining if I’m being treated well by staff members. The best part is, I can completely trust him to look after the kids. There are some husbands who just wouldn’t be so cooperative. I’m very lucky.

I finished my latest book yesterday. I’m letting it rest for a bit so I can clear the cobwebs from my brain. Then I’ll start working on the revisions. I think they’ll be fairly minor this time since I was much better about trusting my gut instincts and stopping when I felt like I was taking a wrong plot turn.

I used to feel guilty when I took a day off to plot instead of write. It was as if I was somehow wasting time. Now I’ve learned that it’s part of my process. That way, when I *do* know where the plot is taking me, I can plow my way forward and churn out 10 pages a day. This is the fastest I’ve ever finished a book, and I fully believe it’s because I stopped along the way to figure out what I was doing.

Okay, gotta get back to work. Staying in a resort is just so exhausting. I think I may have to go find a pool boy to rub my shoulders or something. (And to my husband, if you’re reading this–No, honey, I’m not serious. I would never do that!)

Starting to hyperventilate a smidgeon

Updated: The Romance Junkies contest has started this week. If you happen to see a historical that you like (Hint, hint), you can go vote for it. I can’t say which one is mine but it “might” be up this week.

So it occurred to me yesterday that I do not have 2 weeks before Atlanta and 3 weeks before Ireland. I have one week. Why? Because I’m going down to Macon to visit my grandparents the week before. Which, I’m very excited about since I haven’t seen them in a few years. But at the same time, I’m mildly panicked. Because I haven’t finalized my Ireland itinerary.

I discovered that Ashland Castle would not let us have dinner there. For whatever reason, when the castle is filled, they won’t open the restaurant to anyone else. :loser: Which leads me to wonder why we should go visit?? Maybe we’d be better off taking a day on the Dingle Peninsula.

You know, it occurs to me that I’m the strangest dichotomy of organized and disorganized. I have a binder subdivided by each date with printouts of every B&B we’re staying in with detailed directions. But then, when it comes down to it, I often like to make my plans and then let the wind pull me where it will. I like having a bed to sleep in at night, but there are some places in Ireland where I truly don’t want to have plans. I’d like to just drive around (okay, scratch that–I’d like my HUSBAND to drive me around), stop when I feel like it, and in general have a good time.

I’d like to go horseback riding and fishing. I’d like to wander through shops and maybe buy a sweater that is too hot to wear in Virginia. I’d like to listen to a 90-year-old man tell me stories about the war in a pub.

Maybe we’ll run into a herd of sheep, caught in a road somewhere. Hopefully they won’t become mutton.

I will try my best to hunt down a few Internet cafes, if possible, and blog about my travels. Now I’m just down to finding B&Bs in Sligo, Trim, Mayo, and possibly Dingle if we change our plans. I started packing my suitcase for RWA Nationals next week because I will forget things otherwise. Like, oh, I don’t know…maybe the books I’m planning to pitch! Agh.

If you’re going to Nationals and would like to meet up with me at some point, e-mail me! I’ll pass along some contact info and maybe we can get some folks together for a Blog Party (aka the Gathering of Imaginary Friends).

Who here is going to Nationals?

Needed: a non-fatal sword wound

I’ve been writing like gangbusters and *if* I keep up my current productivity, I should finish this book either tomorrow or Thursday. After I wrote my chapter today, I’m leaning toward Thursday. I discovered that in the Dramatic Sword Fight at the end of the book, I need to hurt my hero. After all, to make the heroine’s day as lousy as possible, she needs her man to nearly die and it nearly be her fault. Don’t you just love story climaxes? Anyhoo, I am in need of a nearly-fatal sword wound?

My hero can be sliced, diced, or stabbed. It should look pretty bad but ultimately he needs to recover. He can bleed like a stuck pig, however (and just how much do stuck pigs bleed, I ask you??). Where should I stab him? Any thoughts?

The Great Ireland Itinerary is starting to come together. I nearly lost it when it came to Dublin arrangements. I can understand paying higher prices to be in the city. Really, I can. But when you ask me to pay $400 a night to stay in the Freaking Comfort Inn, I have a slight problem. :confused2: When a Bed and Breakfast charges you $70 PER PERSON, and there are 3 of us, I have a problem with that. No B&B is worth $210 a night. Sorry. Homey don’t play that.

So after becoming one with Orbitz, Hotels.com, and priceline, at last I decided that since I’d be paying $185 EUROS, not dollars, a night, I might as well spend it A) with all of us in one room so we can split the costs and B) in a castle. So I chose the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel which is just outside of Dublin. So sue me. If I have to pay the price of a small country, I’d better get my money’s worth!

I wanted to stay in Ashford Castle, the spot where Pierce Brosnan got married, but for whatever reason, my darling husband would not let me drop $1500 a night. Gee, why not, honey? So I’ve informed him that we are definitely having dinner there. It may cost our children’s college education, but by golly, I want to see that castle!

But back to my main topic. Any thoughts on sword wounds?

Flea Markets and Editors and MySpace

This past weekend, my grandmother drove with my aunt and uncle to sell her costume jewelry at the flea market. My mom set up a booth and we spent Saturday hocking jewelry. It was fun in a strange sort of way. I learned that teenage girls are the number one buyers of jewelry. But oh, after standing on my feet for two hours, I was dying. When I’m teaching, I’m on my feet all day but it’s different because I’m constantly moving. And I wasn’t even selling for that long!

One of the things that impressed me was the participation by the local churches. They gave away bottles of chilled ice water for free, watermelon, cotton candy, and popcorn. Another group sold hot dogs, Cokes, and chips for 50 cents each. Now that was reasonable pricing!

But the highlight of the weekend came unexpectedly when the editor at Mills & Boon wrote to request 3 chapters and a synopsis of my newer book. I had intended to pull the older version, but she wanted to see the new one. Yay! She wrote a nice comment about my medieval novel that they’re considering, and I was just a little ball of happiness all weekend.

So, my niece tells me that MySpace is the hottest new thing. I’m not quite sure what it is, but I went ahead and made a little spot for myself. Those of you who are active, what’s it all about? What’s different than just regular blogging? And if you have a MySpace account, maybe pop on over here and let me add you to my list of friends? ‘Cuz I’m feeling kind of lonely over there.

Have a great Monday!

Down, down, down in a burning ring of fire…

So last night, I got the not so bright idea to harvest my jalapeno peppers. There they were, hanging so prettily from the vine. I had been awaiting this moment for quite some time. You see, I’m a complete sucker for Arby’s jalapeno poppers. And I thought–Hey! I could grow these! Homemade poppers, any time I want them!

I found a recipe on the Internet, happily sliced, stuffed, breaded, and fried them. Note–new discovery–Arby’s poppers are for wusses. My jalapeno poppers were like biting into flames of Hellfire. Sweet Lord Almighty. I believe I blistered my lips and my eyes were watering. I was quite disappointed in my jalapeno prowess. Sadly, I was only able to eat two. It was then that I noticed a mild stinging sensation on my hands.

Oh yes, I had read about this. Supposedly you can burn your hands from jalapenos or other chiles. Which is why I washed my hands with soap before, during, and after slicing. Not a problem.

Hours later, I began to see that there was, in fact, a problem. I washed my hands multiple times, to no avail. When I took a bath that night, my hands felt like they were going up in flames. What the?? My darling husband kindly pointed out that I had likely opened up my skin pores with the warm water. Doh!

I endured the searing pain as long as I could (okay, ten minutes), and raced to my laptop. Google never loaded so slowly. I frantically typed in the search terms and discovered a lovely little condition called Jalapeno Hands. For which, apparently, there is no cure. Most websites pointed out that you should wear rubber gloves when slicing chiles or jalapenos. Gee, thanks. NOT helpful, people! I desperately searched for something–anything–to help, and at last happened upon one fellow who suggested Purell Hand Sanitizer. Cue the angels singing.

I raced upstairs, grabbed the Purell from my daughter’s room (Okay when you have babies/toddlers, you have gallons of the stuff), and ran into the bathroom. The pump wouldn’t work. I’m jamming the top furiously, “Come on. Come on! I need this stuff NOW!” Finally, I opened up the bottle and poured it over my blazing hands. Ahhhh….relief. Then moments later when the alcohol evaporated, the stinging returned. Noooooo! I poured more Purell on. Ahhh….Let’s just say I used about 1/4 of the bottle. It didn’t take away my Jalapeno Hands completely, but it sure did help.

This morning, there’s still a mild tingling, but it’s nothing like last night. And I will never again forget to wear gloves when handling chiles or jalapenos. I have been suitably punished by the gods of Jalapenos for my actions.

How about you? Ever suffered from Jalapeno burn? What did you try?

A picture is worth 1000 words

If that were the case, I need to upload some photos to my new manuscript! Seriously, though. I have about 19,000 words left to write. I keep thinking that I’ll come up short, but I imagine once I flesh out the scenes (pun intended), I may well end up with the length I need.

Just thought I’d share a few photographs of our weekend. Here is my daughter enjoying life in the sand. And then we saw about 15-20 dolphins swimming around. Yes, I know it looks like a shark. At least, I keep TELLING myself it’s a dolphin. We will think happy thoughts on the beach. Oh, and speaking of sharks. . . here are my husband and son goofing it up at the aquarium.

Have a happy 4th of July! If you go to the beach, try not to get eaten or anything.