Chicks-n-Scratching

Archive for November, 2009

I don’t see how I can avoid it. I mean, really, how can you have a Thursday Thirteen today and not have it be related to Thanksgiving? Well, I suppose you could, but I’m not. So, here are thirteen things for which I am thankful.

1. My family – both born and made. My mom and dad – well, they’re great. My dad is the absolute best. My little nuclear family is awesome, too. DH and Munchkin both bring so much, there’s no way I can express it all. But I’m definitely thankful.

2. My turkey – I mean both raw materials and finished product. We get an all-natural, pasture raised, organic turkey. The flavor difference is really impressive. But, aside from the bird itself, there’s what I do to it. Brine, roast, yum. I generally do a pomegranate glaze that is…really good.

3. Alton Brown – who taught me how to brine a turkey. I modify his brine by using a different spice and aromatic profile than he does, but the basics are the same. Thanks.

4. Our home. In the current situation, I am particularly grateful we have a home and, at least for now, a way to pay for it.

5. This site – which puts it all in perspective. Plus, I laugh like a loon at this stuff.

6. Sweet potatoes. I looove sweet potatoes. And look – I have yet another excuse to eat them. Hooray!

7. Romance Divas – which opened up a whole new world of information on writing – the business and technique, the community and the art. Where else could I have found…

8. Emily. A good CP is a rare and fabulous thing. I am so thankful I have a good CP.

9. Twitter. Okay, that may seem weird, but it’s true. Twitter has allowed me to ‘meet’ people I wouldn’t have ever met in real life.

10. Romance books. You have no idea how many times romance novels have saved my sanity. Come to think of it, I’m not sure even I know.

11. My cats. I have awesome cats. They make me smile, laugh, and roll my eyes. Plus, you know, cats are supposed to be good stress relief (I think that might be the feline PR cats).

12. The interwebs. I am grateful that the internet exits because it means I can work on my dissertation from Virginia, I can update this blog, I can order books and gifts and whatever strikes my fancy, I can converse with people I never would have spoken with otherwise, I can keep in touch when I would otherwise not bother, I can do copious amounts of research in a fraction of the time. The list is endless, as is my gratitude for it.

13. You. I am thankful for you- the person reading this blog. Thank you for taking the time to visit our site, to read this entry, and (hopefully) buy our books. Without you, what would be the point of this little exercise? It would be so much mental masturbation, rather than the sexy give and take of intellectual intercourse. Mmmm. Much better.

Poor Neith, she has been struggling to hold this blog up while we others frolic in our hectic lives. SHe has her own life, has had some good success and is narrowing in on finishing her dissertation, so KUDOS NEITH!

Now Kate writes everything for everybody, works 12 hour shifts, and helps run the Samhellion. Jodie lives down under and is dealing with University studies and little ones. Then me, who has no excuse except life exploded this summer.

I am still writing (a lot) and treading water but feel like I will never learn how to swim.

That. Stops. Now.

It is my birthday. A new year for me. So I make a better commitment to blogging, to being better at fulfilling these seemingly smaller commitments because honestly, life is about the small things. Those are what you remember and what count.

November 28th is when the Samhellion offers my Thanksgiving freebie LATE FOR DINNER, featuring JACE AND DAYNA. They also have a Christmas freebie coming from the Samhellion but the final issue in the series, the New Year’s Eve installment will only be available on my website.

Speaking of, my website is going through a growth period, shifting and fine tuning, a new one will launch (please baby Jesus) in January and I hope to stir stuff up here on Chicks a little, too.

Wednesdays will now be reserved for PROMO! of ourselves or other great finds. I am also going to try and bring in some guest authors in 2010 to fill some spots.

Today is my birthday. What am I doing? I am going to put the final polishes on a submission and send it out to my editor. Fingers crossed!

I made a decision this week – to go back to the gym. Let me be perfectly clear – I really, really dislike exercising. But. I have hit a point where I’m concerned for my health, so back in the gym it is.

So I had to figure out which gym and what I was going to do. Ugh. What do I want out of this? What gym would help me do that?

I made a list (that surprises you, right?). Needs: (a) child care on site. Have to have some place to stash Munchkin when I’m sweating. (b) pool. Not for me. *shudder* That’s for Munchkin, too. And maybe DH/GN if he ever decides to join. He likes swimming. (c) bikes. You’d be surprised how many gyms have very few bikes. I like bikes. My KNEES like bikes. My Knees do NOT like stairclimbers or treadmills or elliptical trainers. My knees also do not like most lower-body resistance machines. This makes my life difficult. I am a challenge. In any case, many bikes were a must.  (d) location. The gym must be easy to get to. No, I mean REALLY easy.(e) affordable. I can’t go throwing money at this. I have to work it into my very tight budget.

Then there were the Wants: (a) long hours. I get insomnia. Sometimes I get a wild hair and actually WANT to go to the gym. For those occasions, a gym with long hours would be great. (b) some pampering stuff – a sauna, maybe onsite massage. That sort of thing. (c) classes. eventually, when I’ve improved my endurance, I will want some classes. Clearly, this isn’t NECESSARY at this point, but it’s nice. (d) variety. I like to switch things up – so a variety of resistance equipment is nice. I compensate for my lack of variety in cardio with variety in resistance. (e) nice people. I could, theoretically, manage in a gym that was full of people with whom I don’t want to speak. Doesn’t sound much fun, though.

So those were the lists. I checked a few gyms, called around. A lot were out of the running on the child care and pool needs. That actually took it down to three possibilities – the Y, American Family Fitness, and Gold’s Gym (yes, the two locations nearest me have pools AND child care). AFF lost out on bikes. The locations I visited had maybe a half dozen bikes outside the spinning class, and the spinning room is closed except for classes. Gold’s has probably twice as many bikes outside the class, and the classroom is open for individual use if no class is scheduled. The Y had 10 bikes or so, so they were borderline. The Y lost out on hours. Both AFF and Golds are open 24 hrs during the week and long hours on weekends. So, Golds hit all the need buttons and several of the “want” buttons.

We’ll have to see how it goes. Lots of thinking time on a bike doing cardio.

Okay, maybe I exaggerate slightly. But it is disgusting. Gray, rainy, cold, dreary nastiness. I have such a problem focusing and getting anything accomplished on days like today. All I want to do is curl up with a good book and a mug of hot chocolate.

I did manage to do some things today – some wash, some internet stuff, started pumpkin butter (still messing with the spice mix on that, but it’s good). I’m not focused enough to do decent writing today, which sucks. I need to get my crap together and finish some of the WIPs I have hanging around and finish the last chapter of my dissertation. The. Last. Chapter.

What about you? Does weather affect your productivity?

Here’s what’s on my plate right now: Finish the Stinking Dissertation ™. Do edits for Trusting Destiny (whenever they arrive). Do crit for critique partner (time sensitive). Finish Twice as High (and rename). Do a new installment for Mercy. Do the blog entries. Do publicity for upcoming Dec 7 release This Fire in the Hearts Afire anthology. Clean house. Do laundry. Be Mommy. Be Wife. Dinners. Breakfasts. Lunches. Shopping.

You get the idea. So there are all these things to get done, and a very limited time in the day to accomplish them. How do you prioritize these things? For a long time, Mommy/wife was trumping everything, but here recently, I’ve been doing a big push to finish the dissertation. And it’s working. But now a lot of other stuff is on the plate and I’m finding that the dissertation is sliding. I can’t afford to let that happen, so I’m rearranging some other things to put the dissertation back at the top of the pile. It needs to get done.

My new approach is this: I’m giving my mornings to the dissertation – from the time I put Munchkin on the bus until lunch. Then, over lunch (like now), I’m doing blogging and maintenance things. And starting a new load of laundry. Then in the afternoon, before Munchkin gets home, it’s writing things. Right now, that means the crit partner stuff. After that is done, it means Twice as High, then it means new things. If, at some point, the edits for Trusting Destiny arrive, they get precedence in the writer spot. Then, when Munchkin gets home, i can do Mommy things (combined with house things and wife things) until it’s Munchkin bedtime. After that, its publicity, blogging, and writer things. And maybe some sleep. Possibly.

How about you? How do you prioritize things?