Hang in There

I'm ready to start my next book. It will be a sequel to When the Runway Went South. I have enough material based upon my true life adventures with this house.

Since last August, I've had a clothes dryer burn out; a new dishwasher, stopped up kitchen sink, a two new lawnmowers from Sears go bad. (They fixed the last one, but I will never do business with Sears again. Hidden in their website's fine print, they will not accept returns after thirty days of purchase. Since we purchased the second one in November and we didn't use it until March when it became the smoking James Bond of the neighborhood, they would not let us return it.) A strut in my husband's new car broke, my washing machine died, the water pipe underneath my house backfilled and had to be re-routed to the price of $$$$$$. The roof was replaced forcing us to park our cars on the street. While on the street, my car, which was given a clean bill of health last week, got stuck in Park. We called to have it towed, but they can't tow it if you can't put it in Neutral. So, the driver took apart my console and found the spring to unleash the gear shift handle. It was still drivable, but I had no brake lights. It's now at the repair shop. $$$$

I know there are those of you who are going through worse things than this and I pray for all of you. I'm just asking for good things to come our way. Please?

However, I did get the synopsis done for my next book. Now, I'm fine tuning the first three chapters for submission.

Frustrated!

I've always been a planner. I think I was born with a 'to do' list in my hands. I try to be accomodating when things don't go as planned, but I'm Sicilian and passionate about everything.

I have two manuscripts I'm working on since The Sin Bin. The first was rejected because I 'told' rather than 'showed'. I've reworked it and now feel confident that it's great. The killer for me is the synopsis and the blurb. How can I write en entire book, yet struggle with a 'hook' of three sentences and write a three page synopsis? Argh!

Second manuscript needs a lot of work. I mean a lot! I'm not at all pleased with the relationship between the hero and heroine. It's too complacent. I need to breathe life into it. And the timing is all wrong. I've got them jumping from one thing to another without continuity. I know what I want to 'show' and have to find the right words. Both situations needs lots of concentration on my part.

With that being said, I've got a lot of work to do with my career. I'm anxious to get those two books out there. But, NOTHING in my life is going according to my schedule. FRUSTRATED!

I run our household. That should be my second job but for the last couple of months, it has become my primary job. And I don't get paid! It started in March when we had a devastating hail storm and had major damage to the house. Dealing with the insurance (which used to be one of my careers) and repairs being done has become a nightmare. I never know when the repairman are going to show up and I have to scan the receipts to the insurance adjuster to let them know I'm using the partial sum of money to really get things repaired. I did not pocket the money and run away to Las Vegas or Bora Bora. Until every penny is accounted for with the first insurance check, I will not get the second advance. I have 365 days to complete the repairs but still.

Moving on to cars. There are three in our household. Mine is a 2002 with only 56,000 miles on it. It's getting up there but it still runs fine. That car went in this week for a Service A check and they couldn't find anything wrong. Yay!

My daughter has a 2006 Mazda with only 48,000 miles on it. She works in Customer Service and needs her car to go to work.

My husband bought the car of his dreams two years ago, a 2009 Mercedes Benz S550. Because it was an older model, we bought a 5 year warranty package on it and we've used it. It has all the bells and whistles on it and guess what? They all go wrong at one point of time. For the first year and a half, I was petrified to drive it. The only thing I haven't driven in my life is a pick up truck and am normally not afraid to drive anything. But the way my husband has carried on about his baby. I sucked it up after the last repair when the strut broke. I'm no longer afraid.

His car went in for a Service B and of course they found two oil leaks and had to replace the spark plugs and belts which was a two day process.  He took my car (I will not be without a car!) which meant I had to drive my daughter to and from work for three days straight. When the 2009 was complete, I had to have a friend meet me at my daughter's work so I could drop off her car and take me to the repair shop to pick up the 2009. I became so confused about where everything was in the cars...especially the windshield wipers. I know where mine are, but I forgot about my daughter's car and realized she needed to new ones. I couldn't see out the windshield. Trip to the auto store.

The 2009 has the automatic windshield where it senses the amount of water on the window. My husband didn't tell me he had turned it off because it hadn't rained in a while. Fortunately, I went back to the repair shop where they told me where the switch is. I bet they had a good laugh on my account!

I couldn't find a block of time to work on my books. I praying for normal. Please!

School is Out

Which means our library will be filled with bored kids who have no place else to go.

When I'm writing, I need quiet. I can't listen to music because since I'm a trained musician, I listen to music rather than concentrate on my characters and story line. I can't do both!

At home is usually quiet except for the telemarketers. Yes, we still have a landline. We want to get rid of it, but our older relatives only know of that number and not our cell phones. Yes, I've reported the numbers to NOMOROBO and the Do Not Call but that doesn't work. Lately, I've been on a list of the best health care coverage. I'm covered under my husband's work coverage. Who knows what the options will be with all of the turmoil in politics? I receive about ten calls a day which is why I like to go to the library to avoid them.

But during the summer hours, kids and even parents don't follow the library rules and the staff is just happy people are using their facility and won't say anything. I bought a huge bottle of ear plugs at CVS which I'll use at home and the library!

On another note, it's funny how Facebook can change your life. The first job I had when I graduated from college, I was a Claims Supervisor at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois in downtown Chicago. A great deal of my employees were adjustors and batch and file clerks (all paper back then), the majority of them were from the inner city. They were a great group of workers with the exception of a few but I liked it.

Yesterday, I checked my many FB pages and I stumbled across a name from the past. One of my employees! I hadn't thought about him in decades! Yet, he liked my page. Of course I was nosy and checked him out. He was a good kid, about six years younger than me, but he managed to get into trouble out of work. My manager fired him because of it. I tried to stick up for him but I could only go so far.

Fast forward and I hope what he wrote on his page is true because I want to believe it. He managed to go to college and get a degree and a good job. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I see another story in the works.....

Remembering my Hero. Dad!

It's been hard to concentrate on writing this week. I've put in good hours but you have to understand. I love summer! I've been looking forward to this time of year since January.

Granted, I have to finish my current novel. It's my personal goal. No one is asking for it and I'm not under contract but I want to get it out there for submission.

Also, Memorial Day always makes me cry. I was very close with my father who was a LT Commander in the Navy in WWII. I almost lost him but he survived to come home and be the greatest dad ever!

He passed away from Prostate Cancer in 2007 and I still miss him to this day. I discovered a therapy of planting when this holiday rolls around because I like bringing things to life. My father loved to garden and would grow the best fruits and vegetables in his own garden and a community garden as well. I know I inherited that trait from him.

This week, I've planted over 84 plants in his honor and they are thriving so far. Yes, I do take it personally if one of them dies! I'm tired and my back is killing me, but it's so peaceful to look at my garden as it comes to life.

As of  Tuesday, I'll concentrate on writing and making my father proud of me!

Setting Realistic Goals for Writing Time

At times, I am too hard on myself. I feel like I should be glued to my chair and my laptop non stop writing. But I've learned that life doesn't work like that for me. I love my family and friends and want to make time with them too. I approach my writing as a career/job. I put in my time and when I'm done, then it's me time.

As of late, things are not going as planned. I don't mean that in a bad way, but I need to be more assertive of my writing schedule than I have been. I've written eleven books in five years, so why am I struggling with only two of them in this last year?

Maybe it was the five weddings, (four out of state) I've been to this year. Long lost family and friends coming for a visit; two years of appliance breakdowns and waiting for repair and service men between the hours of 8 - 5 to appear at my door. (Kind of breaks down a writer's concentration even though it's fuel for a new book...)

Oh! And let's not forget the many tornado warnings we've had this year and hanging out in our 'Fraidy Hole. (The closet under the stairs). That's not good for my concentration either.

Today, I'm making a new resolution to take advantage of my time to devote to writing. I'm going to let the creative process take over and embrace it fully.

After this tornado warning subsides. Sigh. Back to the 'Fraidy Hole. Again.

Getting into a Writing Mindset

I have tried writing every day since last Sunday and got all the way to Wednesday. Sigh. Things happen in my life that I can't just put aside and I have to deal with that crisis as it comes up.

Even my horoscope has told me to make writing a priority. So yesterday, I sat in my office raring to go and my husband came into my office very upset and emotional about an issue at work. First off, he's the level one. I'm Sicilian and fly off the handle at every turn. For him to come up to my office in the first place is a definite cry for help. He and my daughter are the most important people in my life.

We decided to tackle this issue together and the more he talked about it, the calmer he became and we came up with an idea how to tackle this without name calling and taking the high road. By lunch time, he had calmed down enough for me to get back to my writing.

Back at my computer, I started to write and got to maybe two thousand words and then my mind became a complete blank.

I'm taking today off to enjoy myself. I mowed the entire lawn while it was a cool 75 here. I had a leisurely breakfast and I will chill.

The lesson I learned is that people should not write emails while angry. I don't care what anyone says. Words hurt and cannot be taken back.

My Characters are Driving Me Crazy!

It's been a challenging week at the Kasznia's. Way too much stuff going on in the household. Makes working on the book take a back seat and I feel badly because I really want to finish this story and get it submitted!

I looked forward to Saturday because my daughter worked and my husband had a tee time. Five hours for me! Whoo Hoo!

I put a load of wash into my eight year old front loader and it didn't sound right, but I ignored it like I have since September when it started making that noise. Everytime I've started it up, I've crossed my fingers and said a little prayer.

I ran upstairs to my office and start writing and I'm on fire! The characters are talking to me as if we're trying to catch up with each other! It's great!  The signal goes off and I get to a stopping point and run downstairs to transfer the wash to the dryer. I load the second load and the control panel blinks at me. Huh? I pushed the OFF button and it didn't register. Now I'm pushing all the buttons and the door locks. My clothes are locked inside and I can't get them out! The control panel is blinking like it's possessed and I'm freaking out! How do I get the door unlocked?

Okay. I can do this. I used to fix computers and the best thing to do is to unplug it and plug it back in. Will I get electrocuted because things are still blinking? I ran back upstairs and texted my husband on the golf course. I know he can't drop what he's doing but I need someone to talk to about this. No answer. Hmmm.

I run back downstairs and the control panel is dark. But the door is unlocked! I snatched my clothes out of there in case the machine decided to change it's mind.

It's official. I need a new machine. I went online and looked. Home Depot had the best prices but it's still a lot of money. Since we've been married, my husband and I buy major appliances together looking at all of the options, making sure we've made the best decision. I did it once and he became very upset and hurt that I made a decision without consulting him. Won't do that again!

Checked my phone and there's no response to my text. I can't sit still and writing is out of the question at this point. I drove to Home Depot to see if I could look at the machines I saw online. They don't have the ones I wanted on display. Why would I expect they would?

Back home and now I'm really worried about my husband. Is he okay? It's not like him not to respond to my texts. Is he dead? Did he lose his job and they disabled his cell phone? Is it off? Did he leave it in the car? (If I did that, he'd read me the riot act!) Bingo! He left it in the car. I was not nice.

He got home and we ordered the machine online and it will be delivered on Wednesday. I told the family, there are plenty of bath towels to use until then but there's the, 'but it's my favorite towel' song and dance. I had choice words about that too!

My husband took me out to dinner to make up for it and I had wine and relaxed. At three in the morning, I woke up because I had a dream about my characters, I ran upstairs and started writing until five. I went back to bed and slept until seven. When I read what I wrote, it made no sense and didn't fit into the story at all. I bet they're having a good laugh at me while I'm rewriting the scenes! I'll get even with them! lol!