Saturday, February 16, 2013
Sick
I know. I missed a blog. Been sick as a dog for the past 24 hours and am barely making coherent sentences. Going back to bed.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
First round!!!
Song of the day: “Gold forever” by The Wanted. It’s a little embarrassing, really. It is soooo boy band that I feel thirteen again. But anyway, despite the complete tackiness of the song, it’s cute enough to stick in my head.
So let’s get to the important stuff first. Yesterday one of the publisher packages went out in the mail. A.T.O.L. (the PNR novel), which had to go with a query letter, synopsis and the manuscript. Won’t hear anything until 12 weeks from now, but what the hey. Ya gotta start somewhere, right?
Then this morning a query letter went on the mail with A.I.L. (category romance), which has about the same time stamp on a response, if there will be any at all. So frustrating, eh, the time it takes to hear anything, and most of ‘m don’t allow for multiple submissions, so imagine how long it takes to try to sell a novel. *sigh* Such are the foibles of the poor writer. Hah.
Fun news that had me bouncing was that I got through the first round at ABNA. How’s that, eh? We worked on the pitch so long that it made it through this round at least, which is a wonderful confirmation that that was good. Yay! Was rather thrilling to go through the whole list (alphabetically) trying to find my name…and next to read the very excited “spoiler” from some palls on the discussion for a, who knew before I did. Hah. Phew. What a relief that we made it this far. Right now I can act semi-dignified, but don’t be fooled, I did some serious bouncing when I found out. Did a bunny hop through the carport and everything. Hah. I kept looking out to see what was taking big brother so long, muttering time and again, “Dude! Come on. Dude!” until about half an hour later he finally showed up and I said, semi cool, “Dude. We got through.”
Big brother: “Huh?”
Me: “We got through.”
Big brother: “Through where?” *I rolled my eyes*
Me: “The thirteenth. Saving Nina. Competition. We got through the first round.”
Big brother gets a clue, grins, and says: “Cool.”
We high five and head on over to check out the pitch one last time. Hah.
Now we’re back to…yes, you know what I’m going to say now, right? WE’LL SEE!
First let’s handle yesterday. I started the day about fifteen minutes later than usual, and then headed out to the top of the mountain to fix the sideview mirror of the Opel. Which had fallen off again, for the gazillionth time, and I couldn’t face the horror of the sibs fixing it, again, with duck tape. Seriously. Duck tape? *shivers*
There was the whole preparing session of the stuff that needed to go out in the mail, which took forever, and then, because my feet had turned to ice because of it, I went up to the storage, to help grandpa put a new constellation together for the wood stacks. The last one succumbed under the weight, so it really was time…and boy was it cold! Really. The temps have been incredibly nippy these past few weeks.
Managed to choke down some beef again *pats self on shoulder*. I think I’m starting to get used to it. At least the structure when the taste is completely smothered by satay sauce. I don’t have the gagging reflex anymore, so yay for me.
News about tenant. It’s official, she’s got a kidney stone of about nine millimeters in diameter. A painful, annoying and downright time-consuming ailment, which’s healing is being hampered by her tendency to forget to drink. Despite the fact that it is painful for her, we are vastly relieved that it is something relatively harmless now that she’s under the doctor’s care. She still is not home, though, partly because of the drinking, and partly because it hurts.
Big brother and I have been preparing for the new job. We picked up the tankless water heater yesterday afternoon, only to discover that we’re going to have to build something around the thing anyway, despite the fact that it’s an outside machine. The place where we’re installing it is in the open air, and bugs are always looking for a spot to crawl and nest into. Since we were in the village anyway, we also picked up the fixed chainsaw. The young man working there warned that we should be careful with it, because it was difficult for him to get parts for this particular brand.
Finished writing the extra scene for V.L. I think it works, but we’ll have to edit it some, tweak it, I’m sure. We’ll see, maybe it will turn out that we’ll remove it completely again, and put something else in there after all.
Am getting too little sleep again. Just don’t manage to get to bed before two in the morning, and that isn’t smart. In particular not since we’re trying to build a rhythm of starting the days around eight in the morning. Let’s see if I can manage earlier tonight.
As to today. I was pretty much KO during the night. What with the cold I dug deep under the blankets and it was so blissfully warm that I just didn’t want to wake up. Hah.
After the morning chores and writing, big brother and I started on planning for the kitchen roof. Yay. We gathered materials, such as roof beams, plating and all that. Considering that the beams were still set in an older construction, we spent more than an hour taking that apart with tire iron and hammer, but they’re loose now, and we should be able to get some of it done by tomorrow.
But then, I also need to take Knight II to the vet, because I don’t like how his ear looks. The swelling appears to be worse again, so I want the vet to look at that. Poor darling is really pained by it, and I don’t like it.
Had to head on out to the job site today to check what all we’d need to install the water heater, including its protection. It should be doable, considering the old one is of the same brand and has all the same connections. It’ll be interesting to see how fast we can do it, in particular since the owner would like us to work on her trees a bit as well, if at all possible within the day. Another we’ll see moment there.
As for what else we did today…well, there was a quick trip to town, which included running into the store to get some French bread for the pumpkin soup Cousin Ed offered to make for supper because I didn’t have time.
Which brings me to the end of today’s blog, really, considering that for the life of me I can’t remember what else we did today. *sigh* What on earth is wrong with my memory, darn it. You’d think that there were enough brain cells left for me to remember two friggin’ days. Hah.
So let’s get to the important stuff first. Yesterday one of the publisher packages went out in the mail. A.T.O.L. (the PNR novel), which had to go with a query letter, synopsis and the manuscript. Won’t hear anything until 12 weeks from now, but what the hey. Ya gotta start somewhere, right?
Then this morning a query letter went on the mail with A.I.L. (category romance), which has about the same time stamp on a response, if there will be any at all. So frustrating, eh, the time it takes to hear anything, and most of ‘m don’t allow for multiple submissions, so imagine how long it takes to try to sell a novel. *sigh* Such are the foibles of the poor writer. Hah.
Fun news that had me bouncing was that I got through the first round at ABNA. How’s that, eh? We worked on the pitch so long that it made it through this round at least, which is a wonderful confirmation that that was good. Yay! Was rather thrilling to go through the whole list (alphabetically) trying to find my name…and next to read the very excited “spoiler” from some palls on the discussion for a, who knew before I did. Hah. Phew. What a relief that we made it this far. Right now I can act semi-dignified, but don’t be fooled, I did some serious bouncing when I found out. Did a bunny hop through the carport and everything. Hah. I kept looking out to see what was taking big brother so long, muttering time and again, “Dude! Come on. Dude!” until about half an hour later he finally showed up and I said, semi cool, “Dude. We got through.”
Big brother: “Huh?”
Me: “We got through.”
Big brother: “Through where?” *I rolled my eyes*
Me: “The thirteenth. Saving Nina. Competition. We got through the first round.”
Big brother gets a clue, grins, and says: “Cool.”
We high five and head on over to check out the pitch one last time. Hah.
Now we’re back to…yes, you know what I’m going to say now, right? WE’LL SEE!
First let’s handle yesterday. I started the day about fifteen minutes later than usual, and then headed out to the top of the mountain to fix the sideview mirror of the Opel. Which had fallen off again, for the gazillionth time, and I couldn’t face the horror of the sibs fixing it, again, with duck tape. Seriously. Duck tape? *shivers*
There was the whole preparing session of the stuff that needed to go out in the mail, which took forever, and then, because my feet had turned to ice because of it, I went up to the storage, to help grandpa put a new constellation together for the wood stacks. The last one succumbed under the weight, so it really was time…and boy was it cold! Really. The temps have been incredibly nippy these past few weeks.
Managed to choke down some beef again *pats self on shoulder*. I think I’m starting to get used to it. At least the structure when the taste is completely smothered by satay sauce. I don’t have the gagging reflex anymore, so yay for me.
News about tenant. It’s official, she’s got a kidney stone of about nine millimeters in diameter. A painful, annoying and downright time-consuming ailment, which’s healing is being hampered by her tendency to forget to drink. Despite the fact that it is painful for her, we are vastly relieved that it is something relatively harmless now that she’s under the doctor’s care. She still is not home, though, partly because of the drinking, and partly because it hurts.
Big brother and I have been preparing for the new job. We picked up the tankless water heater yesterday afternoon, only to discover that we’re going to have to build something around the thing anyway, despite the fact that it’s an outside machine. The place where we’re installing it is in the open air, and bugs are always looking for a spot to crawl and nest into. Since we were in the village anyway, we also picked up the fixed chainsaw. The young man working there warned that we should be careful with it, because it was difficult for him to get parts for this particular brand.
Finished writing the extra scene for V.L. I think it works, but we’ll have to edit it some, tweak it, I’m sure. We’ll see, maybe it will turn out that we’ll remove it completely again, and put something else in there after all.
Am getting too little sleep again. Just don’t manage to get to bed before two in the morning, and that isn’t smart. In particular not since we’re trying to build a rhythm of starting the days around eight in the morning. Let’s see if I can manage earlier tonight.
As to today. I was pretty much KO during the night. What with the cold I dug deep under the blankets and it was so blissfully warm that I just didn’t want to wake up. Hah.
After the morning chores and writing, big brother and I started on planning for the kitchen roof. Yay. We gathered materials, such as roof beams, plating and all that. Considering that the beams were still set in an older construction, we spent more than an hour taking that apart with tire iron and hammer, but they’re loose now, and we should be able to get some of it done by tomorrow.
But then, I also need to take Knight II to the vet, because I don’t like how his ear looks. The swelling appears to be worse again, so I want the vet to look at that. Poor darling is really pained by it, and I don’t like it.
Had to head on out to the job site today to check what all we’d need to install the water heater, including its protection. It should be doable, considering the old one is of the same brand and has all the same connections. It’ll be interesting to see how fast we can do it, in particular since the owner would like us to work on her trees a bit as well, if at all possible within the day. Another we’ll see moment there.
As for what else we did today…well, there was a quick trip to town, which included running into the store to get some French bread for the pumpkin soup Cousin Ed offered to make for supper because I didn’t have time.
Which brings me to the end of today’s blog, really, considering that for the life of me I can’t remember what else we did today. *sigh* What on earth is wrong with my memory, darn it. You’d think that there were enough brain cells left for me to remember two friggin’ days. Hah.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Soap opera
Song of the day: “Explosions” by Ellie Goulding. Gorgeous song, only discovered it recently on Gibraltar Radio, so I’ve really been enjoying listening to it. Very impressive, despite her oddly light voice.
First the sad news. We had to make the dreaded decision again. Rammi, our Rottie mix, whom we got at a local market in ‘97/’98 as a 5 week old puppy. She was so adorable, way back when. Like a little bear, with a matte fur that looked, and was incredibly soft to the touch. So beautiful, so sweet. They had taken her from her mom too early, of course, and she could barely eat when we got her, but she learned fast, the sweetheart.
Rammi was a dog with very little trouble through the long course of her life. Once, when she was about eight weeks old, Yogi, one of our old dogs who hated puppies bit her in the face, which had her end up at the vet, screaming at the top of her lungs. But despite the small deformity she was left with she was an uncomplicated dog. Her only other meetings with the vet were an unwanted pregnancy that left her spaded, and a ripped out tooth, just last year or so. Other than that, Rammi went through life as an incredibly happy dog, and I intend to remember her as such.
The cancer which bothered her, a rapidly growing lump on her left side had tripled in size in the past two months, and since this particular kind was just too fast to operate on (and due to her advanced age) we postponed it to the moment she was starting to be bothered by it…which was the day before yesterday, much to our regret.
So, that awful part out of the way, let’s get back to Saturday. Better get my diary so I won’t mess things up.
There were the normal chores, naturally. Laundry, feeding the dogs and all that jazz.
Not a lot of writing on Saturday, mostly due to the fact that we’re focusing on the query letters we want to start sending out this spring. Three done manuscripts need letters, synopsis and “spotless” three first chapters. It takes time, effort, and repetition. It always does. I am now dreaming catchy phrases, tight paragraphs and descriptions that describe three different books. Gawd, it drives me bonkers sometimes. I actually have to be careful while reading the texts out loud, seeing as my head will just sum up something that was from the first, second, or third round of the letter. *sigh*
We’ve been taking turns going to the hospital, so on Saturday mom faced the hassles of hospital, leaving Sunday to Cousin Ed and me. We had to be near there anyway for market, might as well connect it. Tenant hadn’t improved much, and due to the weekend nothing was being done until Monday.
Had to load up the Land Rover, of course. And we had to make a couple of extra sawhorses because I’m getting sick and tired of constantly having to borrow tables from the market organizer. Also made another foldable top, which is wider than the ones we already have so we can properly display the dog beds. Made some selections since we didn’t want to take the full load.
The day was way too short, I tell ya.
Sunday.
Actually managed to get up on time, and rushed to get myself some coffee. *sigh* Nothing like trying to wake up on a dark, cold morning, eh?
Started the morning baking our own food, and prepare some stuff for tenant. Left on the planned time, then a few minutes out discovered that we forgot the money pouch. *double sigh*
Got set up on market, and soon discovered a strange sort of tension in the place. Turned out that a couple that works there were having relationship trouble, which was (embarrassingly enough) fascinating to watch. Heated arguments, then friends and family trying to negotiate their way through the rough patch. It was like watching a soap opera. Seriously, I’m definitely rooting that all will be well again. There’s kids involved after all.
But okay, it wasn’t all spying and listening (hard not to, really, but I did try) in the middle of the day I retreated to the restaurant to work on the V.L. manuscript, which is one of the three we want to sent out this spring. Am adding a couple of scenes, because I’m not happy with the word count. Had to read through many of the other scenes while I tried to find suitable spots for extra scenes, and I have to admit that I liked what I read. The previous times I read V.L. it was to write and edit it. This was the first time when I could just read the scenes, and they were good…which is always a pleasant discovery to make. Hah.
No roofie this time (phew) though I got myself a little nervous, to the point that I was starting to feel uncomfortable. That was when I had to talk to my paranoid self firmly, rather than get a panic attack, and managed to get myself under control. Not a lot of sales…though I did sell some of my tie dye, yay. But we did get the expenses plus out. Did have some nice chats with other stand holders, a Belgian couple that bought the two tie dyes, and some of the staff at the restaurant. A nice day all in all.
Packing went well enough, despite the fact that most of the heavy stuff had to go on top because of outside parking at the hospital. Arrived there after seven, and found tenant in a new room, claiming that she had just been fed. Apparently she is still not willing to do most of that herself. She was still a bit vague, and complained of belly pain, but all we could do was tell her to be patient and wait for the next day when she was supposed to get a x-ray of her belly. Left her dozing.
Didn’t get home until after dark, and I’ll admit to running on fumes by then. Luckily big brother had already cooked, meaning that we could gather our food and do some computer work before heading to bed. Could barely finish my food, though. Bed was way more tempting.
This morning there was no writing, again, partly due to the whole Rammi debacle, and having Knight II’s ear checked. The latter was doing fine, and I won’t have to bring him back until Friday or Saturday, which was a relief at least. He was on model behavior while we said our goodbyes to Rammi.
Did work on the letters, and packages that we’re going to be sending out. Thankfully. Then, of course, we had to head on out to pick up some donations, and a few groceries.
Got a new job coming up, involving installing a tank-less water heater. Went past several stores in the past week, only to end up at our usual construction company, who had a good one with a nice discount. Will be installing it at the end of the week, probably, depending on the weather and whether the machine will arrive when promised. Then of course, big brother and I will be diving into the manual to see what else we’ll be needing to install it. The rest of the day…seeing as the traveling is quite a distance, and a half day is just not practical that way…will be spent working in the yard, trimming trees and such. Yay.
Well, that’s about it. Time to get ready for bed. I’m running on fumes again.
First the sad news. We had to make the dreaded decision again. Rammi, our Rottie mix, whom we got at a local market in ‘97/’98 as a 5 week old puppy. She was so adorable, way back when. Like a little bear, with a matte fur that looked, and was incredibly soft to the touch. So beautiful, so sweet. They had taken her from her mom too early, of course, and she could barely eat when we got her, but she learned fast, the sweetheart.
Rammi was a dog with very little trouble through the long course of her life. Once, when she was about eight weeks old, Yogi, one of our old dogs who hated puppies bit her in the face, which had her end up at the vet, screaming at the top of her lungs. But despite the small deformity she was left with she was an uncomplicated dog. Her only other meetings with the vet were an unwanted pregnancy that left her spaded, and a ripped out tooth, just last year or so. Other than that, Rammi went through life as an incredibly happy dog, and I intend to remember her as such.
The cancer which bothered her, a rapidly growing lump on her left side had tripled in size in the past two months, and since this particular kind was just too fast to operate on (and due to her advanced age) we postponed it to the moment she was starting to be bothered by it…which was the day before yesterday, much to our regret.
So, that awful part out of the way, let’s get back to Saturday. Better get my diary so I won’t mess things up.
There were the normal chores, naturally. Laundry, feeding the dogs and all that jazz.
Not a lot of writing on Saturday, mostly due to the fact that we’re focusing on the query letters we want to start sending out this spring. Three done manuscripts need letters, synopsis and “spotless” three first chapters. It takes time, effort, and repetition. It always does. I am now dreaming catchy phrases, tight paragraphs and descriptions that describe three different books. Gawd, it drives me bonkers sometimes. I actually have to be careful while reading the texts out loud, seeing as my head will just sum up something that was from the first, second, or third round of the letter. *sigh*
We’ve been taking turns going to the hospital, so on Saturday mom faced the hassles of hospital, leaving Sunday to Cousin Ed and me. We had to be near there anyway for market, might as well connect it. Tenant hadn’t improved much, and due to the weekend nothing was being done until Monday.
Had to load up the Land Rover, of course. And we had to make a couple of extra sawhorses because I’m getting sick and tired of constantly having to borrow tables from the market organizer. Also made another foldable top, which is wider than the ones we already have so we can properly display the dog beds. Made some selections since we didn’t want to take the full load.
The day was way too short, I tell ya.
Sunday.
Actually managed to get up on time, and rushed to get myself some coffee. *sigh* Nothing like trying to wake up on a dark, cold morning, eh?
Started the morning baking our own food, and prepare some stuff for tenant. Left on the planned time, then a few minutes out discovered that we forgot the money pouch. *double sigh*
Got set up on market, and soon discovered a strange sort of tension in the place. Turned out that a couple that works there were having relationship trouble, which was (embarrassingly enough) fascinating to watch. Heated arguments, then friends and family trying to negotiate their way through the rough patch. It was like watching a soap opera. Seriously, I’m definitely rooting that all will be well again. There’s kids involved after all.
But okay, it wasn’t all spying and listening (hard not to, really, but I did try) in the middle of the day I retreated to the restaurant to work on the V.L. manuscript, which is one of the three we want to sent out this spring. Am adding a couple of scenes, because I’m not happy with the word count. Had to read through many of the other scenes while I tried to find suitable spots for extra scenes, and I have to admit that I liked what I read. The previous times I read V.L. it was to write and edit it. This was the first time when I could just read the scenes, and they were good…which is always a pleasant discovery to make. Hah.
No roofie this time (phew) though I got myself a little nervous, to the point that I was starting to feel uncomfortable. That was when I had to talk to my paranoid self firmly, rather than get a panic attack, and managed to get myself under control. Not a lot of sales…though I did sell some of my tie dye, yay. But we did get the expenses plus out. Did have some nice chats with other stand holders, a Belgian couple that bought the two tie dyes, and some of the staff at the restaurant. A nice day all in all.
Packing went well enough, despite the fact that most of the heavy stuff had to go on top because of outside parking at the hospital. Arrived there after seven, and found tenant in a new room, claiming that she had just been fed. Apparently she is still not willing to do most of that herself. She was still a bit vague, and complained of belly pain, but all we could do was tell her to be patient and wait for the next day when she was supposed to get a x-ray of her belly. Left her dozing.
Didn’t get home until after dark, and I’ll admit to running on fumes by then. Luckily big brother had already cooked, meaning that we could gather our food and do some computer work before heading to bed. Could barely finish my food, though. Bed was way more tempting.
This morning there was no writing, again, partly due to the whole Rammi debacle, and having Knight II’s ear checked. The latter was doing fine, and I won’t have to bring him back until Friday or Saturday, which was a relief at least. He was on model behavior while we said our goodbyes to Rammi.
Did work on the letters, and packages that we’re going to be sending out. Thankfully. Then, of course, we had to head on out to pick up some donations, and a few groceries.
Got a new job coming up, involving installing a tank-less water heater. Went past several stores in the past week, only to end up at our usual construction company, who had a good one with a nice discount. Will be installing it at the end of the week, probably, depending on the weather and whether the machine will arrive when promised. Then of course, big brother and I will be diving into the manual to see what else we’ll be needing to install it. The rest of the day…seeing as the traveling is quite a distance, and a half day is just not practical that way…will be spent working in the yard, trimming trees and such. Yay.
Well, that’s about it. Time to get ready for bed. I’m running on fumes again.
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