The Girl is home from school today. I’m STILL working on this book and trying to plan two future projects. I’ll have to say I’m not so great at working through other ideas when I’m embroiled in one. Yesterday the family went and did something–can’t remember what. I didn’t leave the house. Only plan to leave the house to go to kickboxing tonight. I’ll even change out of my pajamas for that. :hehe:

The Girl’s in her room going through some books. I head to the shower because I have the seroiusly nasty sweat going on from kickbox workout. I’m in the shower when a scene pops in my head, complete with dialogue. With the shower still going, I yell for The Girl. She pops into the bathroom.

Girl: “What, Mom?”

Me: “Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write this down.”

She grabs and writes while I dictate.

Me: “Okay. That’s it.”

Girl: “You want me to leave it on the counter?”

Me: “Sure. Thanks.”

Girl: “Uh-huh. I’ll be in my room.”

Hey, if you’re into entering contest, I just added a second contest this month. I won’t even make you go to my goodies section to check it out. Because I’m a nice person , I’ll tell you about it here.

ANTICIPATION, my current January Blaze release, is the focus of Reading with the Hosty, an eHarlequin on-line book discussion. All you have to do is follow the link provided below and join in the discussion to be eligible to win an autographed three-book collection (THE LAST VIRGIN, REALLY HOT!, and ANTICIPATION) plus a $20 Barnes&Noble gift certificate. When you join the discussion, simply mention that you heard about the discussion via my website and your name will go in the pot for the drawing. The discussion lasts through January 31st and the winner will be announced on February 1 in my contest update. Oh, yeah, Harlequin’s also offering a prize though the discussion – yet another opportunity to win a freebie. Don’t wait! Go now! It’s fun and easy. http://community.eharlequin.com/WebX?14@981.qPBlahP6M3N.0@.4a836e62

How do I let myself get talked into these things? What was I thinking? :confused:

The Monster Truck Show is going to be at the Georgia Dome tomorrow night. The Girl and her dad were positively rabid to go. Me? How much interest do I have in the Monster Truck Show which my husband billed as the “every redneck from three states will be there” event? Uh…none. Zippo. Zilch. Nada.

I don’t like crowds. You will never find me at a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. It makes me queasy just to think about it. Anyway, you’ve got crowds. Big trucks = big noise. So, we’ve got crowds, big noise, and big trucks destroying things. I opted not to go. And they wouldn’t leave me alone. They assured me I’d have fun. You know where this is going…I said YES, BUY ME A TICKET. :O I did, however, tell my husband that, in return, he would have to go to an event of my choosing.

Now, the time is nearly upon me. I could be working on my overdue book tomorrow night. I could have taken a break and gone to Barnes & Noble. I could’ve gone to a movie alone. Heck, I could’ve slapped a blob of paint on the wall and watched it dry and pretended a Zen moment. Instead I’ll be at the Dome with the monster trucks, me and all the other tri-state rednecks.

You know, I think my husband’s really going to enjoy it when we go to see the Andrew Wyeth exhibit at the High Museum.

Hel-lo. Would someone please give Nicole Richie a news flash? She’s too skinny. That girl looks gross. About ten pounds ago she looked way better than when she was heavy but she’s crossed the line and it creeps me out just to look at her. And what? It was some big insight that Lindsay Lohan was on the bulemia trip? Pleeeeze. Doesn’t anyone look at these girls/women and say “closet puker?” :crazy: Of course then you have the headline that shouts, “Janet Jackson trades spotlight for fridge” because she’s gained weight. It’s no wonder women are so screwed up about their bodies.

Great writing day yesterday and my third night on the couch. When I’m getting near the end of a book, I sleep on the couch outside of my office. In part because then I can work weird hours without disturbing anyone but it’s also because there’s this thing I have where I need to be physically close to the book and my computer. At this point, I’ve sort of forsaken my real world for the book world and I want that proximity. And no one in my house thinks too much about it. My husband will drop by my office on his way to bed and say, “You on the couch tonight?” “Yep.” :hehe:

I’m pleased with the direction the story is taking. These are the days I love, when things just fly into the story out of left field. Of course I have major points planned when I start a book, but for the most part, I just make stuff up as I go. :O It’s definitely not the easiest way to write and I often wish I was one of those left brainers who has everything planned from page 1 to THE END and it’s just a matter of getting it down on the paper. But I am what I am and my process is what it is and all I can do is embrace it. :crazy: :rolleyes: :confused:

Big writing day today. The Girl and her dad will be gone all day riding four-wheelers somewhere two hours away. I’m armed with half a gallon of Mrs. Winner’s Sweet Tea. Write on!

A good friend sent me an e-mail with a link to the FlyLady’s website. She’s a very good friend and she knows I’m always fighting this organizational/messy house battle (not that it’d have a thing to do with the fact that I live with two slobs who move from room to room leaving a slime trail :(). I’d heard of her before (yet another friend had recommended her once before) and the miracles she could bring to ones life. I’m also a firm believer in the things you need coming to you when you need them, so…I’m thinking it’s a sign that I’m ready for the FlyLady in my life. :)

I really didn’t have a lot of time to fool around on her website so I just became an email subscriber. I’m expecting a daily reminder/tip to pop into my box each day–sort of like my daily astrology reading. :hehe: Uh…I got 13 FlyMails in one day. :crazy: I don’t want 13 emails a day from my best friend–much less the FlyPeople.

But the wiggy part was the content. One asked if I never had people over becaue my house was always a mess? What the….How could she know that about me? :confused:

Then there was the email asking if I had wet clothes sitting in the washer for more than a day? We’re seriously hitting freaky-ville now. I jumped up from my desk where I’d been dutifully working on my book and ran downstairs and rewashed the load of jeans that had been languishing, wet, in the washer and tossed the underwear from the dryer to the clothes basket so the dryer would be available for the newly washed jeans.

Then…I get an email asking where my shoes are–they wouldn’t perchance be laying (or is it lying?) in the floor? (Throw in music from Twilight Zone here for sound effect.) I cut my eyes to the left of my desk. There they are–my running shoes, toed off and in the floor :O… in the kitchen, next to the door from the basement, a pair of my clogs and my kickboxing shoes. :O :O

I’m definitely getting nervous. And defiant. The missive goes on to tell me to put my shoes on my feet cause then my feet will be happy and my shoes won’t be in the floor. Okay, maybe my shoes and my house will be happier if my shoes are upstairs in my closet, but my feet aren’t going to be happy with those shoes on them. I don’t like to wear shoes in the house. My feet don’t like it either. :( In fact, that’s always one of those funky hang-ups I have when I’m writing. Say the hero is going over to the heroine’s house…it feels weird to me to have her greet him at the door wearing shoes because hey, she’s in her house, but I do usually put shoes on them because I think that’s how most normal people live. I should take a poll…how many people wear shoes when they’re just hanging out in their house…oh, well, back to this FlyDeal….

As I said, I was getting a little nervous, but then the clincher zinged into my in-box. Do I have too many books in my house? Are they stacked about? That does it!! I’d begun to have my suspicions, but now I’m convinced–even though I’m no more paranoid than the average Joe (or would that be the average Jane?)–obviously FlySpies are checking me and my house out. :confused: :O :(

It’s the only logical explanation. And it’s wigging me out. My hands were shaking when I unsubscribed myself from the FlyLady e-mail. I guess I just wasn’t ready for the FlyLady after all….