My Wonderful Hubby...

I've always thought I have a wonderful hubby. And now, it's been confirmed by Jennifer Crusie!

You see, I had to work extra late today, thanks to "Mr. Unprofessional" (see previous post). And this afternoon, Jenny and Bob were in town doing a talk and signing. I have been planning for weeks to go to the signing. But when time came, I couldn't get away. I was too busy doing someone else's work.

When my hubby found out, he took immediate action. He went to the signing, purchased a book and had it autographed. When he explained why it was to be made out to "April" and he didn't look like an April, Jenny wrote, "To April, You have a wonderful husband. Best Wishes, Jenny Cursie". And so, I think that just confirms it. My hubby saved the day and even braved a book store of romance fans to do it. He's my hero!

April

Head Banging...

I got 500 words written tonight. Not a lot by most measures, but it's a bunch for me right this second and it's a little scary, because I'm not sure I have an idea of what I wrote. Guess that means lots of editing tomorrow.

Today has been a very trying day. And it has led me to ask a very BIG question. Why do some people refuse to be professionals? When I think of a "professional" in general, I think of the following characteristics:

1. Responsible
2. Capable
3. Congenial
and...
4. RESPONSIVE!

It's always a surprise to me that some people can't manage to be responsive. When you're working on a project or deal with someone and you're called and asked a question, call back and answer it for goodness sake. When you don't, you imply the following:

1. You don't care
2. You aren't doing what you SHOULD do and therefore don't know the answer
3. You're lazy and lack responsibility and respect for others
4. You're a complete jerk

Ok, that last one was personal, but it's how I feel. Obviously I've been dealing with a very unresponsive person today and it has made me feel like banging my head against the wall. The person in question refuses to return a single phone call to me. I tricked him this evening by calling him from my home phone (he didn't know the number). And surprise, surprise, he answered. Of course, he had to call me back... In just two minutes, he said. Yeah, that was four and a half hours ago. I have left him six messages today. And what's worse, he could take care of the issue in less than five minutes by simply faxing a simple form to another company. But instead he avoids me. Like the plague.

So, tonight I went over his head. I emailed the people in charge and asked if they could assist me with the matter since he has not been able to.

I'm not taking it personal. Another person in our office is having a similar problem with him. They went and sat at his office, waiting for him to come in so they could catch him. He tried to run by, but they caught him. Of course he said he'd call them within an hour with an answer. Did he? Hahahahahahaha, no.

If you can't guess it by now, he won't be getting our business anymore. If we weren't so close to finishing this deal, I'd get someone else to help. But we are and this will be the last one he gets.

This started me thinking though, this situation applies to all professions. If I were an editor and he was a writer, would I bother to publish his book if he couldn't get back to me? No.

Have you had to deal with someone who is totally non-responsive and wondered wtf?

And just to help me relax, here's this:



April

HAPPY EASTER!

I took the weekend off from writing. It wasn't intentional, it just ended up that way.

I spent Friday at our local zoo with my sister, my seven year-old nephew, and his seven year-old friend. Apparently, since it was the last day of public school spring break, here, it was the busiest day of the year. Wish someone had warned us. We spent the day in a swarm of munchkins and 95 degree heat. But we had fun and we played and got to see neat animals, so I'm not complaining.

Then Saturday I did some of my "day work". Then I took the evening off and had dinner with some of my girlfriends. It's been a long time since we did that. Everyone's gotten married or involved with a boyfriend and we've all been busy. It was a nice evening. It ended early so everyone could get to bed early. Some got up for sunrise service.

We didn't go to sunrise service. But we did make it to noon service. You have to love a church with a noon time service! We spent the rest of the day with my family and hubby's family (they live a block apart... Guess how we met:-)). It was really nice. Now I'm full and still unable to resist the thought of eating another piece of Easter chocolate. Mmmmm... Chocolate...



How was your Easter?

April

Hold Me Back...

Ok, I'm officially loosing my mind. It's been nearly 5 months since I received notification that harlequin received my submission. And I've been very patiently waiting. I've found a ton of things to occupy myself.

But over the past few days, I'm finding my nutty tendencies are stronger than ever. My latest worry: that the email addy I sent may get erroneously input and they'll send an email to the wrong address. You see apparently my name is popular. So the yahoo address for my name was taken. So I used my middle initial. Which is L. So, my addy is Aprill... And the other night, my eyes flew open when I thought... What if they send me an email and they don't pick up on the "L".

Crazy? I told you I was loosing my mind, what did you expect. So, I'm going to sit back and do a little distracting "research" to get my mind off my worries... Here's a sample for having to read my dribble :-)


(Did I post this one before? I can't recall. But I doubt you'll have a problem seeing it a second time if I did :-))

Am I the only person loosing their mind?

April

Movable Goals...

So I was plodding along the other day with my writing. And something smacked me right in the head. No, it wasn't Buckley's stuffed reindeer, I made him take that downstairs because he kept knocking over lamps when he slung it across the room. It was a brain storm.

I'm working on this ms and I've been thinking it's going to be a single title, so I've been aiming for right around 100,000 words. And you know what I realized, it's not. It's not a single title. There's not much of any secondary story line (no secondary characters have shouted for their story to be told) and the plot line itself has progressed faster than it should for me to reach the length of a single title. I think it's a Modern Extra. So I have adjusted my goals appropriately. And I feel not nearly as lost. I feel like I know exactly where I'm headed here. And I even think it fits there.

So I guess the lesson here is that you have to be flexible and your goals have to be movable!

What about you? Ever been writing something you thought was one thing and it turned out to be something different?

April

Talking Tunes...

Stealing from Emma who stole from Shannon...

Put your iTunes/iPod on shuffle.
Say the following questions aloud, and press play.
Use the song title as the answer to the question.
NO CHEATING.

1. How does the word see you? When I Dream -Willie Nelson
That's a little creepy... People watching me when I sleep...

2. Will I have a happy life? I Hate Myself For Loving You -Joan Jett
Um... Does that mean no? I don't want to hate myself!

3. What do my friends think of me? The Trouble With Love Is -Kelly Clarkson
At least they love me :-)

4. Do people secretly lust after me? Whip It -Devo
I'm confused... Is this a yes or a no?

5. How can I make myself happy? Obvious Heart -Finger Eleven
Apparently there's a remedy close. Which I will take as a yes.

6. What should I do with my life? Girls Just Wanna Have Fun -Cyndi Lauper
That works for me.

7. Will I ever have children? I Melt -Rascall Flatts
I'm not sure if this is a yes or no. But it certainly speaks for a lot of attempts :-)

8. What is some good advice for me? Wish You Were Here -Pink Floyd
Funny, hubby called a bit ago to say just that. At least he'll see me when he gets home a little later!

9. How will I be remembered? The Peter Pan Overture -Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
As whimsical and filled with flighty fun. Or as someone who never grew up. I'm ok with those, I think.

10. What's my signature dancing song? Heat of the Moment -Asia
Funny. Really funny. But hey, at least I can dance to it.

11. What's my current theme song? Near You Always -Jewel
Apparently I'm being a little clingy and protective. I am still technically a newlywed, so I guess that's all right.

12. What do others think is my current theme song? You Don't Know Me -Michael Buble
Ah, so I'm the mysterious type. I'm cool with that...

13. What shall they play at my funeral? Because of You -Kelly Clarkson
Hmm... The title is great, but according to the lyrics, I really messed up some people! (How did it get back to a Kelly Clarkson with over 150 other songs?)

14. What type of men do I like? Time After Time -Sarah McLachlan & Cyndi Lauper
Great duet. So I guess I like them strong and dependable! Yup!

15. How's my love life? Underneath Your Clothes -Shakira
That works for me.

What about you?

April

Funny Terms...

A good friend of mine recently begged to read the first chapter of my wip. I have a harder time allowing my friends to read it, because in my vivid imagination, they're talking to each other behind my back and saying, "Have you read the crap April's writing? Gee, take a writing course and get clue." But that's not really the point of this post.

She was reading it and there's a part where my heroine thinks the hero is "yummy". She's in a food setting and it just seemed like an appropriate thought. My friend said, "I don't think I like that term in that context." And I thought... how many times have we been out and seen an attractive guy and said, "Yum!" But I said I'd give it some thought. When people give me criticism, I try not to react immediately, but to mull it over. That way I don't make any emotional decisions.

Then I started thinking about all the quirky phrases and terms I've read, used, and said over the years. Here are a few off the top of my head:

1. Brain Fart (you know when you're brain takes a break on you)
2. Yummy (apparently this is quirky;-))
3. I'm such a boob
4. Frickle Frat
5. Got my goose (ok, this one may be a southern thing)

And I wondered if these were terms that were particular to me. And I then I wondered if I used them in my writing would readers think... "huh?" So, I'm curious... Do you have any wierd phrases or terms you use and if so, would you use them in your writing?

April

Mud Slinging...

No, not that type of mud slinging. The literal kind.

I'm finally getting some writing done. And it feels great. I had left off in the middle of something, so I would be able to start back easy without having to come up with a fresh idea. I had even made notes about what would happen next.

Then, as I'm writing along, minding my own business, my heroine starts mud slinging. Literally. Apparently she needed to blow off a little steam and since she was ankle deep in the stuff already, she figured she'd toss a little in the hero's direction. And I thought... What in the world are you doing? You're gonna have to ride all the way back to town smelling like bog and now so is he. And then I thought, Hmm... this could be good.

So I let her sling all the mud she wanted. And it felt great. At least I'm getting some writing done. Right?

Of course I don't recall ever being in a mud fight as a kid. I remember one failed attempt at a food fight in the second grade (not my doing). But other than that, the only thing I did with mud was make mud pies. But I didn't eat them. A kid in my class had two doctors as parents. I learned about tape worms really early. Yuck!



What about you? Ever sling some mud? Literally or figuratively?

Caught!

Well, good news here... The fire bug has been captured. She lived just a few miles from me, in the heart of a large middle class neighborhood. And she was caught because someone saw her try to start a fire at a neighbor's house while she was walking her dog. Sick!

The sad part is that she's married with two teenage children. I'm sure that her family will feel some of the repercussions of her actions. That's always a sad thing. The police have charged her with over 20 counts of arson. Yikes! I'll let you all know if I hear any interesting details about WHY she did it.

The good news is that I feel safer leaving Buckley at home. Who, by the way seems to be doing well. He hasn't experienced any ill effects from the bite last month so hopefully the meds got everything! We gave him a hair cut this weekend because it's getting so warm here. He seems to be enjoying it, but he looks so little without all of his fluff!

I'm attempting to get some writing done. But I spent the last 3 hours trying to install our new printer driver. I had to install and uninstall it over and over. But it works now, so I'm ready to go!

What about you? Gotten any writing done?

April

Voila...

Here I am again, back from the depths of Strepp Throat! My medicine made me woozie, so I didn't get much writing or reading done. Hard to do that when the letters move around in front of your eyes!

But I did get to stay home, cuddle with Buckley and watch the tube for a few days. Which means some of my brain may have leaked out ;-). I caught a few shows I hadn't seen before. Like Texas Swat. Interesting cop show... And for some reason I can't recall the rest right now. Residual effects from the meds I'm sure.

Today I am breaking out of the house. Hubby and I are going to run errands. Because even though I worked Thurs. & Fri. I didn't get out of the house the whole week except for that and I have a major case of cabin fever. Plus the weather turned beautiful here. Today is supposed to be mid-80's.

So even though I didn't get any writing done this week, I'm not stressing. I just can't do what I just can't do. I'll crunch next week and make up for some of it.

On the fire bug note: The authorities have apparently decided it IS a woman. And they have a FBI profile of her. It seems something dramatic must have happened recently in her life. Big surprise there. They don't think she knows the victims. They think it is is random selection. And they have now connected her to 17 fires in my area. But the suspect there may be as many as 30... I think Buckley will come along with us on our outings today.

What are your weekend plans?

April