Sunday, February 14, 2010

Digging Out... and Stuff

So I've already posted about Lord Winter (thanks to everyone who liked my photos. Bet you couldn't tell I took 'em with my iPhone!) and I really do love dear Lord Winter... But I'm kinda done with getting flattened by that heavy white cloak of his. Really. I've had my fill of digging out. I mean, I could be the poster child for that 'I'm not very smart but I can lift heavy things' t-shirt, but frankly, I'm TIRED of lifting heavy things. And snow is pretty heavy.

Ask the Demon Chickens, they can tell you. Their pens look like Bob Vila's worst renovation nightmare. Brave Towanda continues to give me eggs. Not to be outdone, Jemima managed one. But Towanda was thrown off the upper perch when it fell (catastrophic roof collapse in one corner caused by, well, a questionable roof and too much snow) and landed in the sitting bucket, breaking Jemima's one tiny egg. That was it for Jemima. She said she'll think about eggs again once the temperature starts staying above twenty degrees on a regular basis.

Writing is sort of like digging out. You get a pretty good path cleared aaaand then it snows again. The good part is that you already had a path dug. You just have to get back to it. And if you have to make a few detours, well, you can enjoy the scenery while you're working back towards the path. Right now my writing path looks a little like the Red October came through doing crazy Ivans. I'm still working on WIPs, but I've gone over my YA once more, changing several things according to some very informative feedback I've received recently. I've now sent it off to my brother (okay bro-inlaw technically) code name Chucky Duck so he can read it. I've also sent out a few more queries because I haven't heard anything on the ones I have out. This guarantees that I will either hear nothing from anyone ever, or I'll have responses from everyone in about six hours. Either way, I've made sure things won't get boring.

Boring makes me think. I have yet to announce that my sister, Fenris, is officially having a GIRL!!! Serious woot going out to her. Actually, GIANT woot... yeah, maybe that ought to be a Godzilla sized woot, because when she got up last Friday, the day she had the appointment to find out the baby's sex for sure... she ended up also hauling the Chuck Duckster into the emergency room where he tried to upstage the unborn baby by suffering appendicitis and undergoing a surprise appendectomy. That's my brother, the quiet, unassuming one... until... Zombie organ attack! Mooohooohaha! Yeeaaah. It was an interesting Friday. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the rest of us were, you guessed it, still digging out.



So in grudging honor of Valentines day (I'm kinda eeew, but I gotta give Fenris and Chucky Duck mad props) I thought I'd change my picture one that shows you the sort of boys I kiss. The ones who never talk back, always ask for directions (from you no less!) and who LISTEN when you're talking to them! I added the full sized image in hopes that maybe I can get Lady Spring to show us a little love already.

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Linger Cover LargeIn Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

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