The Double Recessive

Twitter

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:29:08 GMT

So...anybody else here hang out on Twitter? I was sitting on a seedy street corner with Courtney Summers and she promised it would take me places I've never been. Now I'm thinking about having a direct line inserted into my vein. Seriously, the coolest thing is that It makes it easy to keep up with people while you are bogged down halfway through a revision. :)

And honestly, trying to come up with an answer to "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less is simply an awesome writing exercise.

So make like REM: Follow Me, Don't Follow Me:

http://twitter.com/Emily_YA

It's your choice...but duuuuude, you gotta try it. Totally twittery... ;)

Radio Silence / Buried Under Dogs

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:32:58 GMT

Honestly I doubt anyone's missing my amazingly insightful and esoteric posts and comments, but I've been scanning through everyone else's posts that I've missed recently and trying to catch up on some comments, and just don't want anyone to think I have disappeared into cyberspace - does anyone call it that anymore?

My revision is going well. Here is an excerpt from my notes:

-Ok listen: tomorrow just save as a new experimental doc and rewrite the scenes. Most can be cut and pasted around. Just mention the TK, but don’t fully explain.

F*CK F*CK. This is going to change the car ride and Addy’s thoughts along the way too. Are you sure this is right???

Okay, rewrite ONLY the scene in the woods – just that to start. See if IT works better.

If it does, slam head into desk and do the others too.

-But there isn’t time for this in woods – Addy is only sneaking away. Can’t say TK without MUCH explanation. Need more time. (Course, this is a prob in mall too – but she gets in trouble then).

So yeah, just when you think all you have to do is proofread, these scenes you forgot all about from the beginning of your novel come back and bite you in the arse. Hard.

Oh, and some months ago I agreed to take care of my friend's dogs.

Easy enough, right? Except she's super-dog-lady and I am now running a canine intensive care unit. And trying to revise. I have a really old great pyrenees of my own, and a 5-yr-old standard poodle. For the next TEN days I also have in my house two yellow labs (shedding machines), one of which has cancer, and a one-eyed newfoundland. And my two cats. Oh, and two of the dogs eat raw meat for their food and require ginormous amounts of supplements that she very sweetly arranged into four different SMTWTFS granny boxes - for each dog. There's more, but I'm starting to sound whiney. I love this friend and she'd do the same for me in a heartbeat. They are all very nice dogs and obviously I love animals - it's mostly the time-suck of making sure everyone gets fed/medicated/pottied...and then there will be "accidents."

Anyway, if anyone is wondering...this is where I am. I have lofty goals of finishing my revisions this weekend since I'm kind of tied to home anyway...HA. We'll see about that. I stand at 40% - paralyzed, cutting and pasting... See you soon world...

Write. Reverse. Delete. Repeat.

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:26:12 GMT

Since I'm spending so much time revising and thus, trying to make each sentence in my MS just right, I thought it might be worth mentioning what I have slowly discovered this past year or so... Sometimes all the right words are already on the page - just in the wrong order. I like to blame this on fatigue, or perhaps mild dyslexia, or both. If it gets late enough and I start typing with my eyes closed, the tsegnarts things come out.

Frex: I just spent a good twenty minutes angsting over one weensy line of dialogue at the end of a chapter. You know - those lines that need to say more than all the ones written between it and the first line? So I cat-napped on my keyboard, kicked off my shoes and walked around barefoot, went into the kitchen to hold the conversation with myself in the dark, drank some ice water to try to wake up, and finally sat back down. Then I switched the beginning of the line to the end, and the end to the beginning. It works. Or at least, tonight it does.

So if you're having trouble trying to say what you want to say - take a good look at what's already there. Take an earlier paragraph and plunk it later. Move the dialogue closer together. Delete something! Or rearrange your sentences. Then you can have a bruised forehead like me from smacking yourself, saying "Doh!"

And then, you move on to the next page...

Bogus to Bubbly!

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:04:25 GMT

BOGUS TO BUBBLY comes out October 21st!!
SO &^%!@)$%! EXCITED!!!

Down In It

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:20:06 GMT

I feel a bit guilty about choking off the oxygen to my blog, but these revisions are owning me. And I realized today that I haven't cleaned off my desk in...longer than I'm willing to say...because of this BOOK. Agh! Luckily, S respects this as my space and doesn't care if I crap it up (the food table is another thing). But today I stepped back for a minute and felt the shame. I MUST finish revising so I can send this thing off for crits and rent an EXCAVATOR.

Just to expose myself completely to head shakes and tsk tsks, there are at least three months+ of bank statements and a wedding invite RSVP I haven't sent yet in that thing on the wall (I'm IN that wedding - so um, yeah)...There are Christmas cards, receipts, bills (paid/unpaid), uncountable sticky notes on every surface available (I have a sticky note problem - I stick sticky notes to sticky notes - I have a notebook that I write stuff in, and then stick sticky notes on top of the pages), a three pount free weight, two car registration renewals, an extra laptop battery, a christmas ornament, a birthday hat for my dog, a baseball hat I got for free, ~10 CDs in boxes, 2 loose, a copy of UGLIES I heart too much to put away, oh -- and LOTS of CAT HAIR.

I know what you're thinking...what about that nice black file cabinet...hmmm? I think it rusted shut.

Insulting Neil Gaiman

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:47:33 GMT

Last night I dreamed that I left a Tori Amos concert to run to the bookstore (???)...

I wasn't going to be gone long, but when I got there, I found out Neil Gaiman's new book, The Graveyard Book, had been released early. A helpful bookseller said I should get in line because Neil Gaiman was there in the store doing a signing, (!!!) I figured it would be too long a line and I wanted to get back to the concert, but then she pointed out the line only had about five people in it, so...

Here I should mention that I was sitting in my office chair from home this whole time - wheeling around the store. So I asked the lady to help me get the chair through the stacks, and I got in line. And there he was, signing books, with only five people in front of me! And then they were suddenly gone and I didn't know what to say!

He asked which book I wanted since I wasn't holding one, and I said, "Any one will do." (eeeek!) and then he went on about it not being worth the shipping to get such and such or something, and finally signed a copy of The Graveyard Book for me. I was feeling bad that i hadn't read the new book yet (even though it had just been released that day), but in real non-dreaming life, I've been listening to him on audio a lot (HIGHLY reccommend!). So I told him I listened to his audio...and that I really enjoyed it...except, I said, "You do a really bad English accent."

:-O

I don't remember how he reacted, but I quickly corrected myself and said, "I meant to say you do a bad American accent!" (Awesome! I put my foot in my mouth in my own dreams!!) I back-pedaled, trying to explain myself and not being able to because I really don't think this at all and I don't know why I said it! At that point, I think he wanted me to leave, so he began chatting with the booksellers, and I began to wheel pitifully away in my office chair, feeling stupid that I ruined my one and only chance to speak to Neil Gaiman.

This one goes in the nightmare folder. *sigh*

Fears

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:27:42 GMT

I am only here to procrastinate. With the rewrite finished and only revisions ahead of me, I am gripped by fear every time I open the Word document. I've read all the message boards. I've read all the blogs. I've eaten everything there is to eat (and more). I...haven't done the chores I should do. I know once I get going it will be fine. I hope.

I will remember why I love the story.

The faster I return to it, the faster I can send it to someone - Which is a whole new bottle of bubbly fears. I think this is all the fault of daydreaming. When I can't write during the day, my head goes up in the clouds to lofty places I shouldn't let it go. It explores the uncharted territory of a finished manuscript. I pull it back down over and again, but it is full of hot air. So perhaps my head is the balloon and the MS is a big sharp needle. And this is about to get very, very messy.

Meh.

Finito! Teaserino!

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:30:39 GMT

OMG!! Ouch, my brain hurts:

Mind Fire: Rewrite

58,091 / 58,091
(100.0%)

A few thoughts: I won't even get started on how incredibly BAD the first draft of MF was. Okay, I will... It was loaded with adverbs and people coughing and breathing out sentences. It's characters were so two-dimensional, they disappeared if they turned sideways. I'm not sure WHAT the plot was, or why anyone cared to follow it. I did not have a clue what I was doing when I started it (obviously). I like to think I have learned a lot about writing here at LJ and on the Blue Boards.

I shudder to recall that I sent out actual query letters on that first horrid draft. It was 67k words and 229 pages. The current version is 58k words and 237 pages. Heh.
Once I began realizing all the things that were wrong, I seriously thought about trashing this novel. But I kept coming back to the premise, which I think is too good to let go (at least, I love it).

Anyway, I don't know what - if anything - is going to come of this, but I am proud of myself for finishing it - again. More than that, I have learned that if you dare look at your own work with insight into its flaws, it is possible to rip your beating heart out, stomp on it, and put it back in better shape. Erm...or I've been watching too much Indiana Jones and need to go to bed.

I promised to tease, so here I shall...I think I've hinted at this one before. Wahaha. Soo stoked to have 4th of July weekend for revisions.

He smirked and placed a hand to his chest where she had pushed him. “You know, you flush when you’re angry. It’s very becoming.”

Her eyes blazed. “What exactly is it that you’re looking for?”

His smirk spread into that insufferable self-assured grin. He gestured out of the woods. “Your friends are waiting, Addy.”

Her chest fluttered when he spoke her name. She dug her nails into her palm and glanced over to the costume shop in the distance. She could barely make out one tall figure loitering beside a smaller one outside. Her mind clouded. She gritted her teeth, and wheeled back around.

“No way.” She stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and pointed a finger to his chest. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing Duncan, but it’s been a long day and I’m sick of it. You’re not getting rid of me before I get some answers.” Her voice lowered. “I’ve never met anyone…like me before.”

“That’s it, exactly Addy!” A brilliant smile busted over Duncan’s face. He took both her hands, pulling her closer, spinning her blue figure around. His eyes roved over her white-blonde hair, still-pink cheeks, and parted lips.

Reflexively, she closed her eyes. His mouth mashed against hers, salty-sweet and warm. All breath escaped her, pressed against his body. Then she pulled away and swung her fist into his jaw

The Kiss of Fire

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:30:25 GMT

MF Rewrite:

57,174 / 58,500
(97.7%)

Only the epilogue to go!!*

*erm, and some major editing...doh. But I started June with under 35k! So Boo-yah.

Um, I'll update more when this is done...I'm feeling a bit zombie right now. I realize this looks incredibly boring now, standing back, looking at this post...so I will come forth with a teaser perhaps, and maybe even tell you :
what'sitallabout??

She's Come Down with the YA

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:47:06 GMT

Hee hee.

The title of this blog comes from something Husband said to me the other day. -BTW, am I the only one who pronounces it Why Eh in casual conversation?- Husband has been doing a long metamorphosis when it comes to my young adult writing. At first he didn't take it at all seriously, and there was a lot of Why Eh bashing...but through classical conditioning (and perhaps the long nights alone in the dungeon) he has come to the point where he still doesn't understand it, but recognizes it as an art form. :D

So anyway, we were having a conversation about YA books, and he teased me saying the way I said it, it sounded like some kind of STD. So I was in the right humor, got the mental image and thought it was funny.

And that got me thinking: When did I come down with YA?

I remember almost exactly - I was 15.

The summer between my freshman and sophomore years was a big one. I was leaving some friends behind me (who really needed to go), and being left behind by others (sob). We did not have "the internet" yet, but when we got it that October, my life changed forever. :-) My sister was going to college in the fall and I was struggling to identify myself as something other than Charlotte's Sister. I was terrified of boys, and had been given a 20-year-old's body for a nice kick of irony.

During this time I read and read and read. Mostly YA. Christopher Pike and L.J. Smith were my favorites. Books where boring everyday life is suddenly interrupted by the not-quite-possible totally grab me. But there was not enough YA to satisfy me! I sat up from a book one day and said I want to write this stuff! So I sat down at my PowerMac one night and decided to give it a go.

It was bad. High fantasy about a group of redheads who are persecuted for being redheads. (Hmmmmm....) I got about fifty pages in and hit a sex scene. I turned lobster red. All writing ceased.

Now, there are all kinds of ways I know I could have gotten around this ...fade to black, promote abstinence, fake it... But what the hell was I doing writing high fantasy anyway??

So I stopped, and then we got "the internet" and my sophomore year began, and I started to become a real person. And that October my life became the plot of a YA novel. Someday I'll blog about it.

Anyway, it took me years to come back to YA after all that (I know, and years to get to the end of this post!), but I remember that moment when I realized YA is what I want to do!

So...when did you come down with YA?

Plot and Tea

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:36:50 GMT

MF Rewrite:

52,735 / 60,000
(87.9%)

Yes, the word count dropped again. -sob- But I won't know how I feel about that until I'm finished.

Things along the way this week:

-I haven't made as big a dent in word count, but I have wrassled some serious plot points. SO many loose ends to address - but I don't think I've missed any so far!

-In the last couple of chapters I have had a character appear that was not in the book until this point. WAIT! I know you're thinking that is a big fat no-no, but I promise it works...I hope. Getting to this character is actually part of what drives the story. She's one of those many loose ends. Problem is, I have been so wrapped up in HER, that I've kinda let my poor MC go by the way-side. I wrote these great scenes over the weekend that new girl is the star of, but then I was like Where's my MC??? She's standing right there, but she's hardly said two words in as many pages, and I haven't been letting the reader in on her thoughts at all like I do in the rest of the book.
Damn. Two steps forward...

-Lots of action is fun to write, but sometimes feels sadistic.

-Self-Doubt and I have been having tea. Lots of it. Sigh.

Andrew Simpson Smith

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:17:15 GMT

So I was listening to NPR today about the uncontacted-by-white-folk tribe of people living in the Amazon... and I could not stop thinking about Andrew Simpson Smith from Scott Westerfeld's UGLIES series. (Have I mentioned I LOVE anthropology?) NPR was debating what the tribe calls themselves, and I seriously doubt they call themselves anything. If they don't have much contact with others, there would be no reason to have a name for your own tribe. So I suggest we dub them the Andrew Simpson Smith tribe. Because I <3 Scott Westerfeld. And possibly because I drank too much coffee again and I'm up waayyy too late...damn.

Word Count

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:36:09 GMT

Mind Fire: Rewrite

48,413 / 65,000
(74.5%)

Agh, my eyes are crossed. Added almost 5,000 words this weekend - adjusted the projected word count (don't know how I feel about that) -and the end is in sight!

Interesting things that happened along the way:

-MC's ~boyfriend did something I was really not expecting. Like so much, that we argued about it because it really changed the story. I kept saying like, "Are you really going to do that?" And he kept answering, "Just watch me." And he did. And let me tell you, My MCs best friends are PISSED OFF.

-I had an epiphany about the epilogue - which is a huge relief because the original was tres cheesy. But now I have to figure something out... If the whole novel is written in 3rd person close following my MC...can the epilogue be written 3rd person close - about someone else? (obviously a different important character, but it ties up a lot of backstory that's important about her, and which drove the whole novel). I could write it from the same POV as the rest of the book, but I don't think it would be as effective...
Anybody got some suggestions/advice??

Yams.

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:01:48 GMT

Mind Fire: Rewrite

41,306 / 70,000
(59.0%)

OMG, look at that! This is funny. I'm probably up too late (I swear this is writing related), but my sister is pregnant and she's been sending me these weekly email updates she gets about the growth progress of her baby - Like for instance, this week baby is the size of a head of cauliflower. So I'm kinda tracking the progress of MF the same way. Except I don't use vegetables... But if I did, I'd have to say this week, MF is about the size of a really cool-shaped Yam.

Which reminds me...the very first "report" I ever wrote in school was on the Yam. I picked it from a list of topics...because it was easy to spell. I had actually never heard of yams. My laziness backfired. I learned something anyway. Go figure.

Lip Gloss Lit is Awesome - I won Breaking Dawn!

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:01:23 GMT

Hey, I wanted give a shout-out to Amanda, Mary, and Suzanne over at Lip Gloss Lit! http://lipglosslit.blogspot.com/

Back in May they had a contest to win a brand new copy of BREAKING DAWN.

I entered...and promptly forgot about it. But I WON! And just in case you're curious, in order to win, you had to ask any question they could answer. So thinking about the lip gloss girls, and the prize I asked:

Who is the hottest vampire in literature? Edward, Dracula, Lestat...?

So...what's your opinion on that? Yay Lip Gloss! :)

Noise Cancellation!

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:45:56 GMT

I'm such a geek, but for my birthday this year, I really, really, really wanted some nice noise-cenceling headphones. I have wanted a pair ever since I saw Romancing the Stone with Kathleen Turner when I was a kid. It was still the eighties, but I knew when I saw her wearing big leave-me-alone headphones living in that lonely apartment with her cat, that I HAD to be a writer. ;-D

So...I got some!

I get so distracted by any little sounds when I write - I can't wait to see if they really help!

Fast-drafting! Halfway!

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:27:11 GMT

Mind Fire Rewrite:

38,058 / 70,000
(54.4%)

Yay! Exciting! After seeing what pitiful progress I made last month, I'm now three days into a fast-draft session (okay, fast-rewrite?) and with my goal of at least 1,000 words a day I'm getting serious. I should be close to or DONE by the end of the month! Then tweaking and critiquing! Eeeek!

:-) :-) :-)

This isn't really a teaser...more of a snippet, but:

“Addy? You okay?”

The voice barely reached her. His thoughts were inside hers – her consciousness was flooded. She saw herself, the library, and fire..? Her breathing shallowed.

And then, she knew.

Addy clutched her chest and gasped. Everything went dark.

“That way,” she said, pointing west.

The Stanley

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:26:29 GMT

How cool is this??

The Stanley Hotel - Estes Park, CO

My parents are in town visiting and driving me crazy (like all good parents do) so yesterday we took a little day trip up to Estes Park. We went hiking (to tiny Gem Lake) and it was absolutely gorgeous. Saw a huge herd of elk, some deer right on the trail, and lots of not very wild little ground squirrels.

After we climbed back down the mountain, we popped over to The Stanley Hotel for some light refreshments. Squeee! I just finished listening to the superb audio version of Stephen King's The Shining and so it was extra uber-special to visit the hotel that inspired the story. It was definitely creepy and cool, and I could totally see everything King was thinking. This is a heavy place - you can feel it in the air. The elevator was exactly as he described and gave me the chills. The gift shop had an entire section dedicated the the book and movies, and apparently the hotel runs the two movies 24/7 on one channel. I didn't even know there was a miniseries movie made in addition to Kubrick's phenomenal film - and it was filmed at The Stanley. Cool!

Non-guests are not allowed out of the public parts of the hotel (aside from the lobby areas/grounds, there's a fancy restaurant, but also a nice little cafe in the basement). So I'm working on getting Husband to take me there for some anniversary or something sometime. Just before we left I peeked into the big dining room, billiard, and music rooms. When I approached the music room, I heard a piano playing, which made my hair stand up for a second because I read that people sometimes hear music playing when no one is in there...but then I recognized the tune as "Mad World" by Tears for Fears and saw someone very human playing for a group. LOL.

Anyway, it's sooo cool when you can visit a real location from one of your favorite books and I highly recommend a visit to Estes Park to anyone visiting Colorado. It's a very reasonable drive from Denver, there's tons to do, and everything is so beautiful.

REDRUM!

Hooverphonic

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:53:32 GMT

I forgot how much I love Hooverphonic!

This is their 1996 video for 2wicky that got me hooked. It came on MTV's AMP back when the show only came on after midnight on Fridays (I think) . They are roughly considered a trip hop group, and at the time this came out Husband (then Boyfriend) and I were desperately seeking music like this, though we didn't understand why. We'd wait all week for AMP, settle into my parent's tv room with our then-hard-to-find Jones Sodas and soak it in.

Husband/Boyfriend thought I was ridiculous for immediately running out to spend all my babysitting money on the album based on this one song, but he soon "borrowed" the CD from me and I had to marry him to get it back. ;-)

If you take the most direct route from Denver to Taos, NM you must pass through the San Louis Valley, or "The Mysterious Valley" infamous for it's strange paranormal activity: UFO sightings, cattle mutilations, black helicopters, etc. Somehow Hooverphonic's albums A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular and Blue Wonder Power Milk became our theme music for travelling through the SLV. So that's the roundabout way I got to posting this blog. We hadn't been down in over a year, therefore I hadn't heard Hooverphonic in just as long. It all came flooding back to me. These albums are spectacular. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Bandelier National Monument

Mon, 26 May 2008 05:31:48 GMT

We're Back! Left town early and came back same to avoid everyone else...mostly. I always forget what a HUGE weekend this is for Motorcycles. I don't mind them...except when they make me go deaf in one ear passing me in the street, and when huge groups take up the entire highway and won't let you pass... But here is a pic of my favorite part of our trip - I'm calling it The Magnificent Tree:

This Juniper is ancient, but you can see it's still alive (the green patch growing out of the center). Trees like this seem magical to me. They've been around for so long, even way out in the wilderness like this one. You have to wonder what they've seen. Even though most of it is skeletal, this tree continues to provide for the forest. Its gnarled trunk and branches is home to countless creatures. I <3 this tree.

We camped in Bandelier National Monument right next to Los Alamos, New Mexico. :-D Husband and I got married in Bandelier in 2000. We almost couldn't have the ceremony there because the whole park was on fire at the time:

Trees from the 2000 Dome Fire - Eight Years Later (land recovering)

Super Poodle did great on his great big hike! Eight miles, and he was dragging US! I think he may be the only poodle in history to hike Saint Peter's Dome Trail. He happily leapt over 35+ trees that had fallen over the path (we counted as we clambered to follow). Husband took a pic of us by the Magnificent Tree. I really didn't plan the four shades of blue ensemble. I was cold. ;-) The second pic includes the tree and the volcanic Hoodoo rock formations.



This is the Fire Lookout tower at the top of the burned Dome (where our hike started). I don't know if it survived the fire or was rebuilt since then. The forest service road up the mountain was IFFY even with a 4x4, and didn't even come close to where this was taken. I guess people volunteer to live up there, only coming down periodically for groceries. I was thinking it would be a great job for a novelist. Oh, and this was an irresistible barrel cactus...


Finally, this is the view of St. Peter's Dome and Boundary Peak (farthest/highest on the horizon) taken back across the canyon close to camp. Please excuse my maw, it seems to be in the way of all the interesting photos. And lastly, Super Poodle feeling super zonked at day's end. He's happy to be back on his couch at home and not crammed between our sleeping bags tonight!

VACATION!

Fri, 23 May 2008 04:35:25 GMT

Going camping starting tomorrow!!

It's only a quick two-night trip to New Mexico with Husband and Super Poodle, but it is not work, which is fab-o. :-) And I got a new clippy reading light for after the sun goes down and Husband and Super Poodle are snoring...I'll never shake the late-night writing schedule, even though I'm forcing myself to leave the laptop home. I have wonderful things to read instead.

And this is good because it's quality alone time together before my parents come into town on Thursday. I absolutely adore my Mom and Dad, but they are staying in our 2bd/1bath house with us for eight days. Did I mention there is one bathroom...? And they'll be here for my birthday. And our wedding anniversary. I love my parents. I do. :D

Have a GREAT Memorial Day Weekend Everybody!

Question on Waiting (NA) Tables

Mon, 19 May 2008 13:47:04 GMT

This is something that I've wondered about endlessly, but only just now had the amazing insight to ask actual waiters/waitresses (servers?). If you work in a relatively nice restaurant (not uber-high end, but one where people might not wear jeans, say), do you give less-preferential service to tables not drinking alcohol?

I've never worked in the food industry (by design), but I want to understand this better. Husband and I don't drink. Not for religious reasons or anything like that. We just don't. But we're twenty-thirtysomethings and I know it's expected of us. So I've noticed at some restaurants (not all) that after we both order Diet Cokes, we seem to get a lot less attention than some other tables. You know, we get... forgotten.

It doesn't make me angry or anything (unless they leave us there for over an hour without coming back). But I can almost see it in their eyes when they realize this is going to be an NA table. Face falls...and the busser ends up doing most of the work for us. I almost always want dessert if we're spending the money to go out, but about 50% of the time they try to give us the check without asking. Ok fine, I'll admit it, I'm a dessert junkie and it upsets me if I have to give them back the check and ASK for a dessert menu.

I should add that we always leave a 20% or better tip (for whatever it's worth on a bill without booze), which I know the waiter/waitress couldn't possibly know beforehand, but still...

So servers, do you have some insight for me? Is it all in my head? What's your opinion on non-drinking tables?

Meme

Sat, 17 May 2008 03:00:25 GMT

Um, I'm responding to a mass-tag because it looks fun. :-)

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was 17 and had just moved to Colorado from Upstate New York to go to college and generally run off with my internet boyfriend.

What are 5 things you need to do today?
1. Work
2. Do the Dishes
3. Reconcile my checking account....HA!
4. Avoid Dessert
5. Work on my MS - I've been waiting all day! (and yet I procrastinate)

What are some snacks you enjoy?
Oh god, I'm going to go to an early but contented grave. Cookies, ice cream, chocolate...Diet Coke, Coffee, and Tea in mass quantities.

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
This is such a daunting question. Probably much of the same, but screw reconciling the checking account if there's that much money in it. I guess I'd want a "dream house" where social-phobic husband and I can hide out and speak to people who ring the doorbell through a speaker on the wall. Mostly it'd be fun to have the freedom to be creative and not worry about supporting myself. Oh yeah, and I guess I'd donate a whole bunch and volunteer at disasters and stuff... ;-)

What are 3 bad habits?
1. Biting my cuticles. Ouch.
2. Ignoring bothersome everyday chores for more interesting things like writing and LiveJournal.
3. Saying yes when I should say no.

Name 5 places you have lived.
Syracuse, NY
Castle Rock, CO
Albuquerque, NM
Bailey, CO
Denver, CO

What are 5 jobs you've had?
1. Turndown Maid at a prestigious golf club.
2. Poop Scooper at a dog kennel
3. Person who ties your panties in a knot at Victoria's Secret - for ONE DAY.
4. Retail Slave
5. Nationally Certified Master Dog Groomer

I tag....... everyone too!

Word Count &c.

Fri, 16 May 2008 13:49:45 GMT

Let's try one of these word-count thingies...

Rewrite Progress:

31,384 / 70,000
(44.8%)

This is for my upper-YA novel, Mind Fire (genre still terribly unidentified - magical realism? There are no fangs, fur, or fey, but there are elements of what some might call "magic" - but I don't, because I explain it with science. So yeah, stumped.).

For some reason I feel like I need to point out that there really are already 70k words... I just have to finish rewriting about half of them still...

sigh.

Me = Not a National Security Threat

Wed, 14 May 2008 23:47:10 GMT

Apparently I am sooooo not a concern for the US government. I applied for my passport exactly EIGHT days ago, and when I came home today, it was waiting for me. ??? What happened to months of delays and paying premiums for expedited service? Did someone at the USPS go on break, and their pet monkey processed my application while they were away? I even wondered briefly if it was even legit, but my picture is so horrendously bad that it must be real.

Funny thing is, husband and mother-in-law applied three weeks ago and I was worried about being behind - but they haven't received anything yet. LOL. Good thing we planned ahead for this October trip...