Summer's Nearly Gone! Yay!

Another image of a woman writer that I like. I'm not sure where it's from. Found among the ruins of Pompei?

Anyway, it's the middle of the three day weekend. I managed to make a little progress on my story that I want to submit this week.

I'm also getting ready to start two stories that I want to submit by the end of September.

I'm so glad it's September. I love the fall. I love the colors, the cooler weather, the holidays, the whole back to school thingy, even if I'm no longer in school!

My favorite time of the year! I've also noticed that lots of good books get released in the fall and it looks like there's a slate of excellent movies coming out this fall.

The sequel to Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett is coming out. Viggo Mortensen, Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Christian Bale and Clive Owen all have new movies coming out this fall. Yum!

So, yeah, I may be one of the few people who's not sorry to see summer almost on it's way out.

Ciao!

Happy Hump Day!

It's Wednesday! Hump Day! So have a happy one. That's an order! From Captain Jack Sparrow himself.

I'm so glad it's Wednesday. That's a few days closer to the weekend.

This new assignment is the pits!

Nobody tells me anything but they expect me to know everything! And if one more person talks to me like I'm stupid just because I'm doing this kind of work I'm going to.....well, probably nothing because I need the darn money, but it sure makes me mad when they do that.

Makes me want to invite Captain Jack to pay them a visit! Grrr!

Thank the Muse for writing. It's the only thing keeping me sane. I have a story that I will submit the end of this month and I have about 2500 more words to write to get it up 10,000 words.

Oh, and don't forget if you're interested in joining the 1,000 words a day club I'll be starting on Septmber 1st just leave a comment stating that. I'll be sending out invites to the blog when I get it up and running.

The club is very informal. The object is to help each other meet that 1,000 words a day quota. And you can write anything. New stuff, revised stuff, practice writing. The idea is to get into the habit of writing every day. You don't even have to do 1,000 words. Just gotta do something.

Okay, speaking of gotta do something I've gotta get ready to make my daily trek to that pit of an assignment.

Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum!

Yeah, I wish!

Ciao!

Riding the Bus? Nah!

I'm going to be starting a new assignment on Monday. Thank goodness it pays more because it's on the other side of the town. Which means more money in the gas tank.

I briefly considered taking the bus. Now, where I live, it's a fairly populous city but it's not what I'd call a huge, spread-out city. The city itself is actually pretty small, geographically speaking, so when I say the other side of town that not's terribly far but it's far enough for this town. And it's definitely far enough for me, considering how much I love to drive. Which is not that much.

Anywho, I decided to see if I could maybe take the bus. Well, the trip one way is about 11 miles and would take about 25 minutes by car.

The trip by bus, however, at least in the morning, would take 2 and half hours!

Yes, that's correct. An additional two hours to travel the same distance. It wouldn't take as long in the evening for some bizarro reason I haven't yet figured out. (Reading this burg's bus schedule is like reading Ancient Akkadian.)

It doesn't take me that long to visit my Mother and she lives 70 miles away. In two and a half hours I could drive to Chicago, for goodness sake!

Look, I want to do as much as anyone to help the environment but the idea of having to get up at the crack of dawn to spend 2 and half hours on the bus when I can travel the same distance in 25 minutes?

Sorry, can't see it.

And they wonder why it's so hard to get people to give up their cars?

Now, I have to say that where I live, it's really hard to set up efficient bus routes. For one thing, it's not a grid city, it's bisected by an isthmus, in the center of which is the state capitol, and the streets wind and twist about it each other like a snake orgy. Trying to set up a straightforward bus route is a challenge.

Now, if I worked downtown, no problem. A straight shot. 15 to 20 minutes tops. But this new assignment is in one of those office parks that are springing up on the edges of cities. Treeless lanes, wide paved streets and boxy modern office buildings with those huge blank windows.

Yeah, I know. But it's a job and I need the money.

As for riding the bus, don't get me wrong, I rode the bus for years before I got a car. Got no problem riding the bus. I get lots of reading done while riding the bus. I listen to my IPod while riding the bus. I leave the driving and the getting around those orange barrels marking road work, and dealing with inattentive drivers to someone else while riding the bus.

But 2 and a half hours every morning!?

Oh, I've put on the comment moderation. I apologize for doing this but, unfortunately, when you write erotica it appears to make you a magnet for spammers. Again, sorry for that but I really want to have the opportunity to screen out the spammers.

Ciao!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

I don't think I need to say more than that!

Ciao!

Job Interview

I have a job interview this morning and another one on Friday.

Have I mentioned I hate job interviews? My head always hurt afterwards and my jaw too from talking so much. And that feeling of being evaluated and scrutinized and judged?

*shudder*

But, at least they don't last forever. People always ask me afterward how did the interview go? Do you think you got the job?

How can I possibly answer that! You really never know until they call you and offer you the job. I've been on interviews where I was absolutely certain I got the job and I didn't. And, vice versa, interviews where I was pretty sure I'd make my self look like the worst jackass in the world and nailed the job.

So, once the interview is over, I try not to think about it until I hear something.

Ciao!

Sunday Update

Since I'm going to be moving at the end of the month my upcoming weekends will be very busy with throwing stuff out and packing up whatever is left over. In addition, I have three writing projects I need to get out at least by the end of July.

I'm doing a lot of non-fiction reading in preparation for the novel I want to start writing in August. By then I will have submitted all my short story projects that have upcoming deadlines.

Still watching my Stargate SG1 episodes on DVD. Almost finished with Season 1. Oh, and I'm in love with Dr. Daniel Jackson. *grin*

Saw Pirates 3 on Thursday thanks to my son who took me with him allowing me free admission and food. I liked it a lot better than Pirates 2 but Pirates 1 is still my fave. But, I will say that Orlando Bloom, who always ran second IMHO to Johnny Depp in terms of hotness in the Pirates movies, comes into his own hot self by the end of Pirates 3. *fanning self*

Also, if you haven't yet seen Pirates 3 make sure you stay for the end of the credits. There's an extra scene at the end that's really lovely.

Ciao!

Weekend Check In

I really, truly wish I had something interesting to blog about for my weekend check in. But, in all truthfullness, all I've been doing is working and writing. I'm not having any ephiphanies about life in general or particular.

I did spend last week, when I wasn't writing or working, watching some DVDs. I never watched, for example, either Stargate SG1 or Angel on television. But thanks to DVDs and my local library, I'm currently done watching the third season of Angel and I'm in the middle of watching the first season of Stargate SG1.

Yeah, I know. Stargate has been running for 10 years. Well, can't say I won't have someting to fill up the time when I want to relax. My local library has the DVDs for all 9 seasons so I'll be able to catch up on the shows.

I'm enjoying both shows very much and love how character driven, in spite of the out of this world plots, both shows are. Being that I'm a character driven writer that's a major plus for me.

I'm rereading the last two Harry Potter books in preparation for the release of the last Harry Potter book in July.

I have yet to see Spiderman 3 but plan to see it probably Memorial Day weekend. Sherk the Third is coming out this Friday and the Friday after that, POC: At World's End.

A new movie theater opened in Madison. Robert Redford chose Madison as the one of the first cities in the country in which to open his Sundance Cinema Theaters. I hestiate to use the words theater chain because one of the things Redford is hoping to avoid is the cookie-cutter style of most theater chains.

Here's a link to it.

Sundance 608.

It's called Sundance 608 because 608 is Madison's area code. I've yet to visit it but I'm very excited about it. As you know Redford started the Sundance Institute, which is dedicated to fostering independent artists and audiences and there's his world famous Sundance Film Festival.

As for my writing, I'm nearly done with my submission for Tuesday, the 15th but, good-golly-Miss-Molly, I've got to get a fire burning under my butt or I'm going to miss the darn deadline! I'm also trying to get up to speed on a submission due on June 1st.

Once again time is flying. Can you believe it's almost the 15th of May!! Does time truly travel at a constant speed or are there times when it cheats and speeds up just a little.

Oh, and Happy Mom's Day!

Ciao for now!

Back to Reality II

The first week of work went okay. Since I've decided to keep my private life and my writing life separate I won't say on this blog where it is I work but let's just say it's a place where there's a procedure for everything and it's also heavily regulated by the government so I'm having to learn a lot about such things.

As for my writing I didn't do much this week, as I've been trying to not only get back into the rhythm of working full-time again but having to ingest so much information from the job during the orientation.

May 1st is this coming Tuesday and I have two projects with due dates in May. Both are short stories so I'll be working on those and I have a novella coming up due at the end of July so if I want to get that done I'll need to start working on it ASAP.

So, all in all, as for my new job, it's a job. I'm grateful for it, but the job of my dreams?

Hardly.

The job of my dreams would be to write for a living. But so far writing has yet, if ever, to provide me with that kind of income. So I work and I write.

Ciao!

Back to Reality

My two weeks off are nearly over. Tomorrow I start my new permanent job. Which means back to the 40 hour work week. Which means fighting for writing time once again

I didn't get as much done, writing-wise, during my two weeks off as I would have liked. I did spend the majority of the time working on a short story for a fantasy anthology (an actual *shock* non-erotic story!), which I submitted last Friday and was, subseqeuntly, rejected on Saturday.

Yes, a very fast rejection, but if you're going to get rejected on a story I'd much rather know sooner than later.

Now, of course, I'm wondering if I should have spent my time off on something else since the story I wrote, as far as I can see, has a very limited marketability, meaning, at least for now, I have no idea where else I can send it.

But, I can't undo the past. What's done is done. All I can do is move on. And move on I shall and I must. I'm going to start work today on a new short story (going back to my erotica) and the due date for submission is May 12th. And I'm also going back to working on my novel (which I somewhat put aside in order to get the rejected short story done in time for the April 20th deadline) and the world-building for my next novel. Also have a number of other deadlines for projects that are fast approaching.

That's what you have to do with rejections. You shake them off (but trust me, they do hurt!) and you go on to the next project.

Well, off to buy new shoes for work and and a couple of items of clothing. Fortunately, where I'll be working is "business casual". Whatever that means. Usually it just means you can dress relatively comfortably and you don't have to spend a pile of money on clothes (unless you choose to and I choose not to). Fridays we can wear jeans so that's cool. I was able to do that on my last temp assignment and it makes Fridays even more of a day to look forward to.

Ciao!

Back to Weekend Blogging

I got the permanent job I applied for and I will start my new job on Monday. So, more than likely, I'll be back to weekend blogging.

I've tried to get a lot of writing done during my time off but I wonder, sometimes, if having a job and having to fight for the time to write actually makes me more productive. Not that I haven't accomplished probably more writing than I would have working full-time, but I think that the struggle to find the time to write makes that writing time even more precious.

Just a thought.

That's not to say I wouldn't mind making a living from my writing and not having to work at all. Not saying that at all.

But, for now, and the foreseeable future, I have to work and write. That's just the way it is and that's just the way I'll have to deal with it.

Clive

As usual, I'm behind on my writing so my weekend blog post is that.....I'm behind on my writing. *grin* And with it being Sunday and back to work tomorrow, I'm REALLY behind on my writing.

So, instead of a post, I'm posting this picture of Clive Owen for Joely and Maria, my fellow Clive Owen fans.

Ciao!