I’ve been missing in action courtesy of a thunderstorm last week. It fritzed my broadband box. I finally broke down and did the dial-up thing. :crazy:

Really busy week trying to tie up loose ends and cram a summer’s worth of fun into one week with my daughter. We did the waterpark, the mall, the pool, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Love Johnny Depp. Best line in the entire movie, imo: “Yes, little boy, everything in here is edible, even me, but that’s called canibalism and that’s frowned upon.” :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

BTW, I’m severely addicted to the Internet. I had serious withdrawals.

:confused:

Jen

I’ve got the cooler packed with sandwiches, a salad pour moi, drinks and snacks out the wazoo. I have my backpack with a notepad so I can work on my proposal and my workshop, The Future Widow’s Club by Rhonda Nelson (which I will read until I’m through–I’ve got to find out what happens!!), and Janet Evanovich’s new Stephanie Plum novel. I’m ready. I’m armed. I’m prepared to brave the water park with The Girl and her friend. :cool:

Jen

I’m back in the land of the living. I’ve resurfaced. And the revisions are done and the book is gone. Honestly, it only took about twice as long as I’d planned to spend on them. And at this point I’ve totally lost perspective as to whether it’s any good at all. Even this morning, when I was getting the manuscript ready to send, something would catch my eye and I’d start tweaking. Honestly, I could spend the next three days *tweaking* (annoying Virgo perfectionist tendancy). I had to make myself stop looking at it and just let it go. :crazy:

The Girl and I are going to celebrate with pedicures and she doesn’t know it yet, but a side trip to a couple of shoe stores. :laugh:

This is hoping that everyone in the path of Dennis has suffered minimal damage. I can’t imagine *riding out* a hurricane or even dealing with the destruction in the aftermath. We’ve just had some fairly torrential rains and I went downstairs this morning to find my laundry room, bathroom, and part of the basement flooded. Considering what some people in Florida and Alabama are dealing with, it was not a big deal–nothing a sump pump and wet vac couldn’t handle–and hey, it’s one way to get the laundry room cleaned up and cleaned out. :crazy:

Hope everyone’s safe and dry…or at least safe.

Just a caveat on yesterday’s blog entry on *real.* I know that I create fictionalized people that live in fictionalized places–yahoo, guess that means I’m not totally over the edge. However, each one of my characters is very real to me–their heartaches, their insecurities, their triumphs. And I can clearly see each of them and where they live. They’re old friends. However, unlike my *real* world, they all find their happy ever after. :rolleyes:

Okay, now I’ve got to shut up because have you ever written or seen or said a word over and over and it starts to look and sound funky? *Real* is beginning to distort….

Jen

This morning I’m really struggling to find my sunny side. I’m angry. I’m angry about terrorists’ blasts in London. I’m angry about Shasta and Dylan Groene and that anyone, but especially children, are touched by such evil. I’m angry that women endure gang-rape in Pakistan because their fathers, brothers, husbands, and/or male cousins do something stupid (pardon me for not fully comprehending the deterrent factor there).

And in the midst of my seething anger, I realize this is why I write romance. Not because I’m angry, but because we all need to stop and remember that in the midst of all the chaos of our world, there is still goodness and love and light. Today, I need to write that happy ending.

Jen

Hope everyone had a great 4th. It was a fairly low-key family day and some catch-up time with friends.

Okay, I nixed the beach trip. Instead of driving down to join our friends at the beach, I spent the day working on revisions. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do…and unfortunately, these revisions aren’t finished yet. :( The Girl was surprisingly gracious about having our beach trip cancelled. Of course, the promise of a when-I’m-finished-trip-to-the-water-park helped soften the blow and we still have our family beach trip later this summer. :rolleyes:

On the bright side, I found a pair of wickedly pointed-toe, Steve Madden, 4-inch stilettos on sale. I’m not sure they’re the definitive shoes (it has to be that magical combination of style, fit, and price) , but I hedged my bet and bought them and will continue to look. And of course I’ll keep you updated as I’m sure everyone is quite anxious that I manage to track down the perfect shoes.

Jen

I hope everyone’s gearing up for a fun week-end, whether that translates to cookouts or spending a quiet afternoon by the pool or plonked down on the couch reading or some combination of the above.
The Girl and I are going to watch the DH drag race. I really need to spend today and tomorrow home alone, working on these revisions. However, I promised them I’d go. I bugger out on plenty of things because I need to work and I just can’t do that to them this time. So, I’ll take it with me and work on the way and get up early tomorrow morning.

BTW, there are a couple of pics from our backpacking trip up now. Check out the Stuff page on my site. One of my favorite hikers I met on the trip was Canyon, the dog. He was a sweetheart and I was glad The Girl snapped his photo.

Another afternoon we’d reached our shelter early in the afternoon when a thunderstorm rolled through. Lightening, rain, and hail. I was glad to be under a shelter instead of out on the trail. Three guys came trudging in, thoroughly soaked–two brothers hiking together and a solo hiker they’d met along the trail. Actually, they thought he was dead because he’d ditched his pack on the trail and was laying face down on a rock (best way to avoid being a lightening rod!). This was Curt. Instead of a tent, Curt carried a hammock with a rain fly–check out the pic.

Anyway, the guys spent the rest of the afternoon drying out and we all enjoyed talking and checking out one another’s gear. I love hearing people’s stories–where they’ve been , where they’re from, what they do, how they came to be where they are. I’m still working on how to ask these questions without the other person feeling as if they’re undergoing an interrogation. :O My poor DH has long-complained that when we go out to eat I’m always distracted by the people at the tables around us. More than once he’s kicked my underneath the table because he says I’m staring. I’m usually just trying to figure out the dynamics and the story behind the people.

On the flip side, when someone says to me, “My life is so interesting. You should write a story about me.” I have to tell you, I feel like a deer caught in head lights–paralyzed by fright and unable to react.

Jen