Castle in the Clouds

I need to go start dinner, but before I shut down the computer for the night I just have to say..."It's done!" Yes, the novel that would not die is finally done. It's probably far from perfect. It could probably use another go round with the red pen, but as of right now...it's done! Done. Done. DONE!!! Final word count after revisions: 113,527 That's approximately 472 pages in Courier New 11-pt font.

I love winter break. I took a few extra days off this year, which means I'll have enjoyed two whole weeks of vacation when I finally return to work on Friday. Today I've played Heavenly Sword, cleaned off one of my scrapbooking tables, and started organizing my books. Weird, I know, but it's helpful to have an idea of what you have and where its located when you're trying to complete a few different series. Now it's about time for the kiddos to head off to bed. Yay!

I can still say this because Christmas won't officially be over for us until tomorrow. We have one more party to attend. We're supposed to be at my in-law's around 10ish tomorrow morning to do Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa. Yesterday was spent at home, playing with our new toys and enjoying each other's company. The boys were spoiled (as usual). Not that I can say much about being spoiled because I'm right there with them. Spoiled rotten. I had figured I'd be waiting at least a year or two before the hubby would ever agree to buying a PS3. So imagine my surprise when I opened up exactly that! We watched our first BluRay movie and played a couple of games yesterday. The graphics are amazing. Seriously, I think I'm still in shock. I really did not expect anything that expensive this year. Not after our recent investment in a replacement TV for the living room. This means I also feel GUILTY because I did not spend that much on the hubby. At l

Sorry the updates have been rather...late. Now that school is over I should get back to into the routine. For now, here's some quick updates: I was awarded scholarship funds for the writing conference in May. It should be enough to almost pay for the entire trip. I just have to remember to bring in receipts and whatnot. I have received my final grade for my first graduate class. I think it's a solid A. Maybe an A- if the teacher grades funny. I still haven't put up the Christmas stockings. That's happening this weekend. My little guy is counting down the days until Santa arrives and the stockings under the tree are a major concern for him. He's afraid Santa will forget to fill them if they're not hanging from the banister. In one day and four hours I will be on vacation! I got The Dark Knight at the work Xmas party! I can't wait to watch it. Both of my kids have had the flu this week. Ug. At least it seems to be a quick one and doesn't ling

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. What's the next big project? What do I really want to write? I know I want to write fantasy. What kind though? I'm inclined to try my hand at another epic novel, yet there's a part of me that wonders how much fun it might be to tackle urban fantasy. If I decide to stick to epic fantasy, I already know the story I'm going to work on. If I decide this is where I'm going to spend the next several months, I'll have to reimerse myself in Ancient Egyptian research. Oh, the hardship! I love pretty much anything to do with Ancient Egyptians. If I decide to work with urban fantasy, I'll be starting from scratch. No vampires, though. Not this time around. Something different. Of course, none of this can happen until those final edits are done. I'm forcing myself to stay on task here.

Last night was our last night of class. Yay! We had cookies, talked writing for a bit, and then did a reading. Yeah, mine sucked. Should have picked a more recent story. The problem is I start a lot of stories but I rarely finish them. The one I read last night was only 9 pages, which was a good thing. The bad thing was I don't even known what year I wrote the darn thing in and my style has dramatically changed. Let's just say there was a multitude of inward cringes, if you know what I mean. Ah well. Reading done. Class meetings done. THWADS done. The only thing left is to do is polish the short story and turn it in. The suggestions from my group members are minor and shouldn't take more than fifteen or twenty minutes to incorporate. Maybe that's what I'll do next. Finish my final assignment and await judgement. Once this semsester is behind me, I can focus on my novel edits. I'm a little over halfway done. Part of me thinks one good weekend would knock it out.

My Artist Originally uploaded by Krheiser Around 1:30ish this morning my little guy turned 8. I'd give you the exact time but my memory from that long ago morning was messed up by copious amounts of drugs. All I really remember of his first few hours is moaning that my skin was on fire. I remember a lot of other things, though. I remember that his sugar was off and they were keeping a close eye on him for the first few hours of his life. I also remember how sweet and gentle his big brother was when they first met. (The picture of that moment sits framed on a shelf in my office, so the memory has been sufficiently reinforced). He's my hot head. The competitive child who's determined to win or, at the very least, to do well. One look at his little face on the soccer field or basketball court and you know. You can see the channelled anger and frustration. He doesn't give up; he just tries harder. He's also my little artist. A notebook and some markers go a l

* Age when I decided I wanted to be a writer: Hmm. I'm going to guess and say I was probably 9 or 10. Maybe earlier. * Age when I “wrote” my first story: Again. 9 or 10. * Age when I got my hands on a typewriter: My memory sucks. I'm thinking the old manual typewriter arrived right around age 12 or 13. Maybe earlier. Eventually I upgraded to an electric and then an electronic typewriter. * Age when I wrote my first novel: 15 or 16 - it was a historical romance that I wrote on the back of scrap stationary from my mom's office. I remember it had a green masthead. * Novels written between age 4 and age 34: Guessing here. I'm going to say roughly 5 completed novels with many stories who died in infancy. * Age when I first submitted a short story to a magazine: I've never submitted to a magazine. * Thickness of file of rejection slips prior to first story sale: I've only put my stuff out there a handful of times. Rejections can be counted on on