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I'm a bad blogger. I keep meaning to post writing updates; I often have random ideas and think, "Hey, that would be a good post." But I don't get around to it.

We entered our 'busy season' early last month, and I'm trying to keep my head above water. We made it through the spring birthday season (Husband and I, plus two parents, a grandma, a brother-in-law, and numerous friends) and mother's day. On the writing front, I submitted short pieces to four separate journals and attended two events in San Francisco by the HCNC for my research. (At the second event I chaperoned a survivor, which was an honor and a great experience. A story I wanted to share, but alas, the moment is gone.)

But soon we enter the real pandemonium.

In three weeks we're heading home for a long weekend, which will include sister C's 18th birthday, sister A's baby shower (which I'm helping to plan), a graduation and graduation party. When we return, we have a wedding and baby shower the same afternoon. July brings my baby niece, a wedding and sister B's birthday (on the same day, incidentally), as well as my ten-year school reunion, which I may or may not attend.

For some reason I thought this would finally be our quiet summer. Ha!

On top of all that, Husband and I devised a new work schedule for me. I was struggling with my edits, so he created a goal-oriented incentive program to keep me on track. I work well on a deadline. My aggressive goal is to finish this revision by the end of May. (For which I will receive a nice dinner, a pair of shoes, AND a new outfit!) If I reach this goal, I will have revised over 130 pages in May. Suffice it to say, I have not slept much the past two weeks.

All of this is to tell you I am sorry for being a bad blogger, and I promise to return to some kind of regular schedule after I finish this draft. Also, I have not forgotten my pay-it-forward recipients. I am almost finished with the gifts and will have them in the mail shortly! I'm signing off for now, but hope to see everyone in blogland again soon.

Rattled

Headlines have been dire. In the bay area alone there were four police officers killed last week, followed by another family murder-suicide this week. (Not to mention the surge in violence across the country or the ever-present economic woes.) Today I experienced my third minor quake! Imagine a giant stomping on the floor above you whilst moving giant-sized furniture, because that's how it felt.

Amongst all the bad news lately, I've found solace in a book. Where else? I just finished reading Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

I adored it!

It was a beautiful, heartfelt story of family and first love. As the title suggests, the story is bittersweet, but although it's heartbreaking, it's ultimately redemptive. Ford paints a picture of life in WWII-era Seattle and touches on the tragedy of the Japanese internment camps as well as the rampant prejudice and discrimination during that time. He handles these difficult topics delicately and captures a pivotal moment in American history. The underlying story of Seattle's jazz movement adds depth and breathes life into a little-known world.

Jamie Ford is a writer to watch. Grab a copy of the book; you won't regret it!

Finally, I have two people signed up for the Pay It Forward gesture. There's an opening for one more. Go on, you know you want to join...

Cheerful news in publishing:

A Long Winter

Grrumble

Yesterday started off with a whimper. Literally. The dog woke Husband and I at 5:20am when he jumped on the bed in agitation. He never does that because he knows he's not allowed up there. Husband got up to take Drew potty and to find out what had scared him. Everything appeared normal until Husband noticed Drew's stomach grumbling. As soon as his stomach made a noise, he would jump up and run away from it. He didn't know what it was! Husband filled me in on the details and I happily drifted back to sleep.

It didn't last. When Husband went out to the car to leave for work, he discovered that someone broke into our car and stole the stereo, breaking the air vents in the process. Grr. I've had that car since I graduated high school and it was my first big purchase. Luckily the car suffered little other damage and the windows and door were spared. I feel violated knowing that while we slept someone robbed our car outside our window. Needless to say I woke up every time I heard a noise last night. It didn't help that the police were unwilling to do anything unless we actually saw the robbery. The most we could do was file a police report in order to deal with our insurance. Great. I'm sure those police reports really detour robbers.

After we discovered the robbery, we thought maybe Drew was scared by the burglary outside, but normally when he hears a noise outside, he barks, so I don't think he actually heard it. He confirmed my conclusion yesterday afternoon. His belly began rumbling and grumbling in earnest because he refused to eat his breakfast. With all the squeaks and growls, he started hiding behind my feet! Drew is not naturally timid, tending to be inquisitive and friendly instead, but his reaction gave me the giggles. He stuck close to me all afternoon and jumped up every time his stomach squeeked, which unfortunately for him was every few seconds. I felt sorry for him, but it was so entertaining. Even at two years old, he is such a puppy sometimes. After a bad morning, Drew managed to cheer me up as usual.

With a face like that, how could your spirits not brighten?

Woo hoo!

Penn State may have whooped our butts.

But.

We BEAT the number one ranked team tonight.

Go Beavs!

p.s. Did this distract you from the largest U.S. bank failure ever or the ongoing economic meltdown? No? Me neither. One can try.

Elevated

The temperature rose from a high of 70 degrees on Monday to a boiling 100 degrees today. I could barely sleep last night--and I'm a hot sleeper. I finally gave up and got up slightly early this morning because it was already 70 degrees at 7am. I spent the morning at the library doing more research, then edited a short story in the afternoon, which I'm hoping to send off soon.

Normally, I don't let the heat stop me from enjoying my evening tea, but with my system in shock, I caved in and dragged Husband for a walk to pick up cold drinks. The heat felt nice without the sun beating down, like a sultry July evening when the air is thick and soupy, but even now, at 11:45pm, it's 79 degrees.

I suppose I better get used to scorching steering wheels and my legs sticking to seats if this was caused by global warming. On the plus side, I won't have problems getting up earlier, though I may fall short on sleep.

In other news, California's Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage. All in all it was a productive, smoking hot day in California.

Super T!

Unfortunately my PG Tips hasn't been enhanced, but it is Super Tuesday. People across the country are voting, including the peops of my resident state, California. Truthfully though, Super Tuesday made me tired. It's exciting to watch the results, and I'm thankful I have the chance to vote, but they've been building up to this election for over a year and the endless campaign ads annoy me. And we still have to wait 9 months for the regular election. Plus, I just spent hours reading the legalese for the measures on the ballot and came out more confused than when I started. But. I hope everyone living in the (super!) states votes today.

Now I must untangle my brain from all that legalese reading and get cracking on my words. (Better late than never....I did finish chapter 10 yesterday. Result.)

The Write Stuff

I had the most unproductive weekend ever, and it was fabulous. I planned on cleaning, and grocery shopping, and doing laundry, and catching up on my word count. But. I didn't do any of it. (Shh.) Probably not best, but it felt great to be lazy. There's always another day for work. I guess every once in awhile laziness is good. Today I'll have to work extra hard, but that's what Mondays are for, right?

This afternoon I'm off to the library for some serious writing time, interspersed with a latte-fueled writing session to keep it interesting.

But first, in the news...

I just watched a story about foreclosures in the U.S. A city in California's central valley takes the not-so-lucrative title of foreclosure capital of the nation. In Stockton, CA--about 80 miles north of San Jose and 80 miles east of San Francisco--apparently 2 out of every 3 houses on the market is set for foreclosure. Unbelievable.

More unbelievable? Rumors that New Kids on the Block are planning a comeback. Do they got the right stuff?

California Living

I had a whole post planned for this evening, however while we were at dinner celebrating a friend's birthday, we experienced our first earthquake! We've been living in the bay area for four years, but there have only been small earthquakes, and they've all been too far away for us to feel. This quake hit about 10 miles from our home and was a 5.6 magnitude. Not bad. Actually it was just right. If it would have been bigger it would have gotten really scary, but as it was, we felt the ground shaking and rolling, but nothing worse. The lamps were swaying, but nothing crashed to the ground. I had the biggest adrenaline rush though, worrying that it would get worse. I didn't really know what to do if it did. The funniest part was after the earthquake. There were about 10 of us at dinner, and most were from California and had experienced earthquakes before, so they immediately started taking bets on the magnitude. They were pretty close too, most guessed it was around 5.0. As soon as the shaking stopped, business went on as usual in the restaurant too. I did feel bad for poor Drew who was home alone. When we came home he was a bit more agitated than usual. Anyway, it was about two hours ago, so I'm still on a small high. Everything is fine though, so don't worry.

On the mend

Just popping in for a quick 'hello' and to thank everyone for the well wishes. I am finally on the mend. The cough is still hanging around, but the intensity has gone down, and I'm starting to have energy (and an appetite).

Two comments:

The Red Sox beat the Rockies 13-1 in the first game of the World Series. We're off to a great start.

A fascinating research book that I ordered weeks ago finally arrived in the mail today. Can't wait to dip in...Oh alright then, off I go.

The Red Sox Are Going to the World Series!

*cough* *cough* *cough* *cough*
Okay, I'm heading back to the couch to take care of this nasty cold/bronchitis that's kept me down since Thursday.

Woo Hoo, GO Bah-sten!
*cough* *cough*

TV viewing down?

"In TV's worst spring in recent memory, an alarming number of Americans drifted away from television the past two months: More than 2.5 million fewer people were watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox than at the same time last year, statistics show."
- from this article

Alarming statistic? I think it deserves a big hurrah! Americans watch too much tv. I know I do, and I don't watch nearly as much as most. Hopefully these people are turning to other activities and not just streaming their shows on their computer. Of course it's likely they are spending more time online socializing on myspace or facebook or watching their shows on their DVR and not out in the garden or reading. One can hope though.

In the news

I'm at a coffeeshop trying to give my writing a jumpstart, so rather than write a thoughtful new post I thought I'd direct you to two articles that I found very interesting regarding current affairs in the US:

Iraq disrupts tornado recovery efforts
Poll: Most Americans back Congress over Bush in war funding fight

Normally I avoid political discussions on my blog, but these articles were too interesting to ignore. I also forgot to note that one week ago was the three year anniversary of Bush's "Mission Completed" speech. Speaking of which, apparently an anti-war group arranged for two planes to circle over the republican debate site last week trailing banners that read: “Republicans, Mission Accomplished?”.

Aye yi yi

The east bay has some of the worst traffic in the country on a good day. People commute from cheaper areas east of the bay area into Oakland, Berkeley, and even all the way to San Francisco. The area of the Macarthur maze is one of the worst culprits for traffic every day. And now it will be even worse. This morning a tanker exploded on a freeway interchange between 80 and 580 and the freeway overpass collapsed onto 880 S below. Look at the pictures in this article. The damage is astonishing. Luckily the driver was only injured and no one else was hurt. I imagine it will take months to fix.

Ugh and sigh and oh bovver

I'm a bit short on creative blog material today after watching and reading updates on the senseless Virginia Tech shootings. Apparently the shooter was an English major, and as the husband kindly pointed out this morning, all English majors are nutters. Thanks, love. The news has already brought to light a very disturbing play he wrote for one of his classes. It will be interesting to see if we will learn why he took these actions, but then again even if they come to some sort of conclusion, I will never really understand. I still don't understand Columbine or the Thurston shooting in Oregon or any of the other shootings.

The other reason I am lacking creative material for the blog is that I've clamped down on my novel writing. For awhile I let myself go unchecked with no deadlines because I feared deadlines would cramp my ability to write, but indeed it seems to have worked the opposite effect and I cannot seem to finish anything. I have now set a due date for the (polished) first draft of the book, though I'm not silly enough to post it publicly, and I think it is more than doable, but at the same time I will definitely have to pick up my pace. I am also setting mini goals, such as I want to finish my current chapter by this Friday, so I am panicking a bit and trying to get down to business. Just a note to a certain reader (you know who you are): this does not mean the chapter will be ready for you to read this Friday, that date remains to be determined. Anyway, you will not be ready to read it as you will be driving halfway across the country to see me. (Hurrah!)

To lighten the dark mood and get a good laugh, check out these two great videos from Comic Relief :

Poor Daniel Craig.

Dr Who? In which David Tennant--who I only recently discovered through Struggling Author's blog, despite him starring as Barty Crouch Jr on Harry Potter 4 (with his creepy tongue-flicking actions)--plays a substitute English teacher with 'unbovvered' students. The Shakespeare speech alone is worth watching.