Just popping in to give a quick notice. I will be out of office the rest of this week and over the coming weekend, not sure about next week yet. This means if you email me regarding the Hunters for Hire series or anything else, your answer will be somewhat delayed due to the holiday season. I will get to things as soon as I can once things are settled back down here at home. Thank you for your patience.

~*~

WARNING: Possible incoherent rambling ahead, as I’m having one of those really bad days.

In other quick news, went to see Avatar last night. All I can say is AWESOME. It did not feel like a nearly 3 hour long movie at all and the scenery in the thing was breathtaking. I wanted to sit through it again as soon as the credits rolled. A definite must have on Blu Ray when the DVD release comes due. Highly recommended if you like the scifi/fantasy genre. We have a date to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks sequal later in the week to satisfy the super excited 7 (almost year old. He can’t wait to take his Alvin B-A-B with him to the film, and btw, since he got Alvin, he’s done no wrong—it was all Alvin.

I’m making remarkable progress on finishing up the Monster WIP. The “BIG” scene is coming together nicely, and other than finishing up the last couple of sex scenes and double checking for errors, I’m just about done. Maybe it’s the New Year being upon us that spurred the muse into action. Whatever it is, I’m not complaining. I may work on it later today, but I’m running on little sleep and I hurt like HELL after a full day of running yesterday (movie seats are killer and last minute shopping). Pain pills and my miracle drug aren’t even helping it today, though they do at least lessen the amount of pain I’m in. Just wish it’d make it ALL go away. I’d feel so much better if it did. As it is, I feel like I’ve been hit by a really big truck that then backed up and ran over me a few more times.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is now out and it’s a fun game. The puzzles are a bit challenging at times, but it’s fun to figure them out. Sadly, I’m almost done with it, though that won’t stop me from playing it again—as I still do with Phantom Hourglass, even though I beat it. I’m obsessed with getting all the train pieces just as I was with getting all the boat pieces which I still haven’t managed to do—yet. I’m not ready to give up at this point. And speaking of games, the Lord of the Rings Online game expansion Siege of Mirkwood is pretty neat, though I’ve not yet got a character high enough to explore the newly added areas. Of course, I must confess I haven’t played it since Zelda was released, but that’s just because Zelda is my all time favorite game so it always comes first. I’ve also been playing a bit of the original Sacred, a bit of Dungeon Siege, Diablo II, Titan Quest and Fate. I’ve pretty much moved from console to computer games in the last two years, though I do still occassionally play the Xbox (& 360), Playstation (1, 2, & 3), Nintendo (orig., Super, N64, Game Cube, Gameboy (& color), GB Advance and DS). I even have the Sega systems put up in the closet along with an original Atari. Does it show how much I love gaming? *grin*

Our plan for New Year’s Eve? Hubby found the Lord of the Rings extended edition DVD set for $10 at the pawn shop. We plan to curl up and watch those to ring in the new year. Or have a marathon of the new DVDs (Blu Ray) hubby gets for Christmas. :^)

Oh well, guess I’d better sign off. My arms and hands are beginning to protest the typing. Have a safe, happy, and fun holiday. And if I’m not back before New Year’s, Happy New Year. ;^)

(Comments are turned off due to extended offline time. As always, I can be reached through the contact page, link located on the right hand side of the page, though I may be slow in getting back to you due to the holiday season.)

Yep, it’s hard on the hands, but the muse is chattering away at me. How could I resist?

The Monster WIP is moving along quite nicely. WOOT! Looks like it’ll be over 70K by the time I’m done. That’s 20K more than it originally was. I know. I’m shocked over that, too. I’ve only had one other book come in at over 70K in my entire writing career. I just tend to write short for some reason, so I’m extra excited about this. Mostly, I’ve been writing things out long hand (flows better that way) then transcribing and tweaking a bit as I do. Once I finish up these last few scenes, I’m going to do a final read through for errors and inconsistencies, then off that baby goes to my wonderful and ever so patient editor. I’m not naming a time frame, because that ALWAYS seems to trip me up.

Looking into getting Dragon Naturally Speaking as soon as I can. It won’t work on Madame Mac, but it should work on Red just fine.  No telling how much longer before I manage to get a copy, but it’s definitely on my list along with Office for Mac. I really like Pages, but it’s not compatiable with Word (not fully) and since Word is what the editors use, it’s what I’ll have to use.

I’m still keeping my eye on future tech. I’m so wanting something I can write on but it converts it to text as I go because I’m doing the work twice the way I’m currently going about things, which is a major pain. It’d be so nice to only write (type) it once. Something small but not too small would also be nice.

And with that, I’m heading out. I am in major need of a nap after being up all night writing out a key scene for the Monster WIP. The school bus will be here soon, then I’ll be free and clear for that nap.

Laters,

I thought boo a rather fitting title for a surprise post. I know, I’ve been very silent lately, but the weather, she be a changing, and I’m working on surviving the cold and the pain she brings with her. I also had a very bad bout of food poisoning that I’m still recovering from and have no desire to talk about other than to say I had the problem. Not to mention all those last minute Christmas preparations and shopping that has to be done. ‘Tis a busy, busy, busy time of year.

I have decided a change is in order. It’s come down to the point of fight or flight, and I’m opting to fight. I CANNOT give up my writing. I just can’t. It’s too much a part of me, even if it has become quite the effort to get any words down onto the pages. So, as soon as I have the extra $$$ with which to buy it, I’ll be looking into speech to text software. I’m in the research stage at the moment, but I think I’m beginning to narrow down the list and decide which one I want to go with. It’ll be difficult, but I have noticed something lately. I can talk about my stories all day long without any real trouble (unless in a bad flair up where it’s difficult to say my own name) than it is to type it all out. This is what brought the software to mind. If I just dictate it into a digital recorder, I’d still have the problem of getting it typed up (nope, can’t hire someone to type it for various reasons, number one being an issue of trust), so I’m thinking the I talk, the program types may be my best option. Yes, I realize the software is flawed and much proofing/correcting will be required as well as training the software, but at least the majority of the story will be typed up. I can tweak. I have no issues with that at all.

This has given me new hope where the writing is concerned. I’m actually looking forward to getting the software, bringing it home and getting started. Of course, I won’t be able to talk the sex scenes out loud, which tickles my aunt to no end. She thinks it’s hilarious that I’m going to “censor” (her word there) the program. *shrugs* I do what I’ve got to do. I think I can manage to type up the sex scenes the old fashioned way myself.

Speaking of old fashioned and the like, a funny story involving my mom and a book I noticed on her headboard a while back comes to mind. I’m standing in her room talking to her, skimming the numerous books laying on her headboard to see if I wanted to snag any when a Lora Leigh book catches my eye. I think my eyes widened. I pointed to the book, looked at mom, and go “You bought and read a Lora Leigh book? She writes stuff worse than what I do.” Mom turned red, her eyes widened and in a slightly high pitched voice, she replied, “Well, I know that NOW.” ROFLMAO Her defense? It was in Walmart. However, she did say that other than the parts she had to skip (I didn’t ask how many parts that was) it was a rather good story. Not sure she’ll buy anymore, though. She’s not really into the menage thing. She’s also not into paranormal or scifi, but she reads mine anyway because they’re mine. She reads, says she likes, and we don’t talk about it. I’m quite okay with that. Anyhow, now I giggle every time I see or hear Lora’s name and think of mom. She’s a category romance reader, through and through, though I do think she reads and likes Blazes. So at least she’s slowly coming around to the hotter side of things.

Can’t promise another post before the new year rolls around. There’s still a lot to be done. I’ll also be sure to post my thoughts on the new software, once I obtain it that is. And now back to tinkering with my story. It’s slowly coming together. Not a lot left to go, just hard to type with aching hands, though that may not show with the length of this post. :^P

Toodles.

PS, I’ll leave comments open for a few days before closing them.

Nicky, our chihuahua mix, gets to come home today. The diagnosis surprised me, though. Parvo. Of all things. I guess his size and not quite up to par immune system put him at higher risk or something. Anyhow, he’s made a comeback, though he’s still a bit weak from it all. I have one very happy 7y/o now, and the other three dogs are still in good health. We’re in watch like a hawk mode around here. We won’t go into how much this cost or how we’ll manage to pay for it, but IMO it was worth every penny. The Vet we took him to is absolutely WONDERFUL, and willing to work with us on the whole payment thing, which is great, otherwise, we’d have had to watch our baby die, which was not an option we ever considered for even a moment. All other vets wanted an unknown, high amount of $$$ up front, which there was no way we could have ever done.

The kiddo is home this week, all week, but he’s been really good. He keeps giving me hugs to “make me feel better” and he was seriously disappointed last night when no one showed up at the house, even though he claimed “everybody’s invited” to a non-existent party for me. Then he wanted to put candles on the cake hubby bought and we had to explain to him that we didn’t have enough. Oh well. At least today is a much brighter day than yesterday which dawned dark, wet and dreary. Great atmosphere for a b-day, huh?

Oh well, time to jump off here. I’ve got things to do before hubby gets home and we jet off to pick up the pooch. TTFN

Let’s hope this week is better than the last few days have been, though I won’t hold my breath on it.

To start with, this past weekend was the first anniversary of losing my grandmother—my last grandparent. Then to make matters worse, we end up with an emergency trip to the vet with a severely ill, 5lb 1 & 1/2 year old chihuahua mix, whom they kept. So, I’m sitting here not knowing if the little guy survived the night or not, which he certainly wouldn’t have had the doctor not come in on a Sunday afternoon when he was not scheduled to be on call just to see him. Couldn’t thank the man enough for that. I’ve still got another hour before the hubby is supposed to call in for an update on our fur baby and then call me to fill me in. Another major concern is whether or not whatever is wrong with him will affect my other three babies. I don’t think I could handle all four being sick at once, and thankfully, they all seem to be fine—for now at least. I keep checking on them at frequent intervals just to be sure, though.

So good thoughts and well wishes are much needed right now. It also doesn’t help that my birthday is tomorrow. It’s starting to look like I’m doomed to never have another “happy” birthday again. Last year was super bad and this year isn’t all that great. I fear what next year will bring along with it.

What happens when it’s cold outside, the window is left open, and the covers are down on the bed? You get one frigidly cold bed, which then threw me into total body aches, very intense body aches. Two pain pills later, I still hurt, though it’s down to a dull ache rather than a full on roar. Time for the heating blanket, IMO. So needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep last night, though amazingly enough, I seem to be awake—for now at least.

Sadly, the best laid plans don’t always work out as smoothly as I’d like. I had hoped to get the WIP done before next week (which could still happen) but at this rate, it’s not looking like I’ll make it. Between rain, cold, and new meds, I’m just not feeling it. The “new” meds are funny, in a way. It’s the same dosage, just instead of two pills twice a day, I’m down to one bigger one twice a day. Must be something different in the bigger pill than in the little ones, so I’m having to adjust and it’s not been fun. However, I HAVE to have them and can’t afford a double co-pay for the smaller ones at the same dosage, so I’m dealing. Don’t you just love the insurance hang ups that make life so miserable?

Now with the complaining out of the way, on to something a little more fun. My online gaming experience has changed. I have left World of WarCraft. I know, I never though it’d happen either, but I was really starting to get bored with it. Once you hit level 80 and do most of the non-repeatable quests, what’s left to do? So, until the next expansion comes out, Blizzard only knows when, I’m on to something else, a new addiction. What game is that? Lord of the Rings online. So far, I’m loving it. Early birthday pressie from the hubby. I’ve got four months of game play along with the current game and the expansion that’s due out next month. WOOHOO I did have a mishap with it, though. I was up to level 22 almost 23 and my character died, for the first time. I was trying my best to see how far I could get without a death, and tried to run from the bad guys, but I just wasn’t fast enough and there were too many of them. Oh well, I’ll just start over with the next character I create. Regardless of her untimely death, she’s still a fun character to play and I have no plans to abandon her.

And that made no sense at all to a non-gamer, I’ll bet. Signs are beginning to appear that signal the return of the writing muse. Characters have started to play in my head again. For at least a week there, I had nothing. No scenes playing in my head, no voices whispering in my ear. Total silence, as if the writing didn’t even exist, which is so depressing. Sadly, these spells happen more frequently than not anymore. After the WIP is finished, I’m going to put it all on the back burner, and then let it come as it comes. I’m not going to stress out over something I can’t control anymore. A good friend set me straight recently and told me to relax. Well, I don’t know how to relax, but I will give it a good try. So, I might not write as quickly as I’d like or others would like, but I do the best I can do. Anything is better than nothing, and eventually something else will get finished. I just have no idea how long it’ll take.

And with that, I’m going to bow out. I may tinker with the story or I might immerse myself in LOTRonline. Not sure which. I guess whichever yells the loudest. Of course, as drugged up as I am at the moment, the gaming may be better. Two pain pills isn’t exactly a good writing time. There’s no telling what will end up on the page, as I’m sure this post shows. I’m rambling and jumping subject quite a bit here today.

PS: Comments are closed because I don’t know when I’ll be back online (I was offline for like a week or so) and this way I won’t have to deal with spammers. As always, if you need to contact me or feel the need to comment, just send me an email, addy found on the contact page.

Posting on the blog seems to be slowing down for me. I am totally exhausted, and not just physically.  It seems I find myself facing a dilemma for which there is no easy answer, and sadly, it’s an answer I must come to on my own. Sucks. There have been a great number of ups and downs in my writing career over the last few years, and sadly, I think I’m heading downhill, fast. The bad part is, once I reach the bottom, there’s nowhere left to go.

Cryptic much? Yep, but I think it’s for the best at this point in time.

Right now, I’m just tired. So very, very tired. No amount of sleep seems to help, either.

Oh and I’m closing ALL comments on the blog. I just don’t feel like having to watch out for the spammers. If anyone needs to reach me, just use the contact page to do so.

Well, the weekend went by rather quickly and uneventfully. Our anniversary dinner was take out Chinese. Nothing all that special there, though we did rent The Orphan, which I really enjoyed. For once, I couldn’t guess what was going on, a fact my husband even commented on out loud. Between the two of us, we can usually work out how a show or film is going and how it will end before we’re even half done. Not so with the Orphan, which was a surprising change of pace. We also rented The Proposal, which was another great film in a less spooky, suspenseful way. So if you haven’t seen either, they both get a thumbs up from me.

I spent the weekend eyeballing video games. Don’t get me wrong. I love and am totally addicted to World of WarCraft, however, after two and half years of playing, it’s beginning to get repetitive. I need a change, at least until the next expansion pack comes out. I’m looking at Lord of the Rings online, Spore (played the Nintendo DS version and enjoyed it), Demigod, Sacred 2 (played the first and really liked it) and some others I can’t recall offhand, but I did take pictures of them in the store so I wouldn’t forget. Why pictures? For once, I didn’t have pen and paper handy. I know, the horror of it all. Where I would prefer something non-subscription based to play, I am playing the 10 day trial of Lord of the Rings online and so far, it’s not that bad. I’m also waiting for Diablo III. The second Diablo totally rocked.

I ended up sick again over the weekend, which has lingered on until this morning. Just another reason to hate this time of the year. I get sick even more frequently than any other time of the year, which totally sucks for me. So needless to say, no writing over the weekend, not that I really expected to get anything done since it was my anniversary. I do hope to get the WIP finished up before my birthday, though, and the Thanksgiving holiday because that’s when the hectic holiday season really kicks in around here and I’ll be super busy with all that. Of course, I’ll have edits to do somewhere in there, but I’m not too worried about those. The super hard part will be over—rewrites, and that’s all that worries me at this point.

And with that, I think I’m going to go kick back for a while. If I’m lucky, I’ll feel better later and can get some more words cranked out onto the pages of my WIP. Wish me luck on that. Each word is another step closer to being done.

Oh and a quick note before I go. When I post here on my own blog or on others, I tend to type up posts the way I speak not the way I write out my books. Just thought I’d point that out. The way one is written isn’t necessarily an indicator of how the other is done. I’m just funny that way. :^P WHy mention it now? The thought hit me this morning was I went about my morning blog rounds, so I thought I’d share.

The weekend is upon us, and I’m looking forward to it. Granted, this week wasn’t very productive over all, but it did have its moments.

The new “V” series started this week, and to be honest, it’s too early to make a judgment on it just yet. Give it a few episodes then I’ll have an opinion formed for better or worst. SyFy (that name just icks me out now) played a marathon on the original over the weekend and early part of the week, which I enjoyed. The “new” is missing two things the original had: Marc Singer and Michael Ironside. ‘Nuff said.

Anyone catch last night’s Supernatural? The parodies were so funny and a few were spot on. It was kind of fun trying to figure out who and what they were making fun of in each skit. Then again, I’m the type who likes to watch those parody films (you know, the Not Another Teen Movie and its ilk) just to figure out what they are making fun of, not for the film itself. Is it sad that I knew the majority of them?

Tonight is Ghost Whisperer and Medium. I’m so not digging the whole jump five years into the future thing they’ve got going on with GW. In fact, I’ve just about decided to stop watching it altogether. As it is, I end up watching it several days later thanks to TiVo, because it’s just not worth watching on time anymore. I mean, from a creative stand point, I understand why they made the jump, but as a fan, it aggravates the hell out of me. Medium on the other hand is a fave. Never know what’s going to happen next in that crazy household.

Well, tomorrow is A day. Six years and counting. Hubby is still trying to figure out what else to get me, though I keep telling him, “I NEED a mouse for Red.” This one mouse shared between two computers is so not working for me. Add in a ricky ticky touch pad on Red, and I’m ready to scream, especially if it randomly deletes anymore of my WIP on me.

Something unusual happened last night. I curled up with Sir Sony and read a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’ve not wanted to read lately, because I have. There’s just been a lot going on so reading takes a back seat. Add in the sheer exhaustion I’ve felt lately, and reading has been pretty much doomed since I tend to nod off while attempting to read. I only managed about three chapters (reading slow has its sucky moments) but that’s three chapters more than I have been reading, so that’s a plus at least.

I did manage to write on DB some yesterday. Not nearly enough, but another word on the page is one word closer to the end. The new segment is fitting into what’s already done quite nicely. A few sex scenes and a couple odd scenes and I’m done. The end is so close (and yes, I realize I’ve been saying that for months) that it’s frustrating not to be able to just sit down and knock it right out. I’m doing the best I can, all things considered. I will be so glad when this project is finished and no longer hanging over my head. Let’s hope that day arrives soon.

And now it’s time to take my rambling self and find something else to do rather than rattle your eyeballs off (reading not hearing lol). Off to work I go, I hope. My concentration hasn’t been what it should be lately.

Unfortunately, in the world in which I live, a little does equal a lot. Why unfortunately? Because just a little bit of cleaning ends up taking days to recover from. Sad, I know, but it HAD to be done. I couldn’t even see my desk, and now I have a clean and organized work space. If I had waited on hubby to do it, I still would have had to reorganize everything, which would have led me to the exact same boat I’m in now… Excruciating pain in the left shoulder blade, though I suppose it could be worse. Both shoulder blades could be hurting this badly. We’re currently on day three of this with no signs of it letting up any time soon. Pain meds aren’t making a dent in it, but at least the heating pad seems to help a little.

In other news, I did manage to write a tad bit yesterday despite the pain. When hubby found out, his immediate reply was, “Was it on the story you’re supposed to be working on?” Insert big eye roll. “Yes, dear, it’s on the right book.” He tends to ask me this a lot. I suppose it’s his way of keeping me on track, though it can get annoying at times.

Speaking of dear hubby, when I told him what I blogged about yesterday, he had to jump on his computer and check it out. Hmm, I wonder why? lol He’s such a nut, and then he confessed that he didn’t even read the whole thing. He really makes no sense sometimes.

Anyhow, I have a scene swirling in my head that’s been there since yesterday. I decided a particular occurrence in the WIP needed a bit more explaining from one character’s POV, and boy is it ever being explained. When hubby found out, he sighed and asked, “What part are you rewriting now?” No, no rewriting. It happens to fit perfectly into what’s already written, so :^P to him. Pure expanded word count on this one.

Speaking of which, I’d better get to it while the muse is busily playing.