irrelevant (and sometimes questionable) ramblings

And not the good, motivating kind, either.

Sorry, gang. Between the horrible, horrible flu bug that attacked me (and stuck me in bed for four days straight), the resulting dehydration headache and exhaustion, and parenting issues (it shouldn’t be the Terrible Twos…more like the Excruciating Eights!) I am so sub-par right now it’ll be work to climb back up to normal.

I am attempting to get back to routine, but it’s not easy at the moment, especially when I tire very quickly and I’m trying not to overdo things (got the Wee Peanut to think about…). As an example, I walked to the local library and post office earlier today and now I have the energy of a wet dishrag. I know it was good to get some fresh air, but I’m wiped. *snort*

Anyway. Life around here is chaotic as usual. I’ll try to be back as soon as I can to update you on all things Starr and/or at least try to entertain a little. No promises.

Somewhere along the line I picked up a cold that has steadily gotten worse. I am taking my poor congested self to bed where I can lie miserably until I eventually fall asleep.

Just call me Little Miss Sunshine.

Ugh.

I’m sick again.

Nothing major, other than half of my head being completely congested. Blast it all. Don’t know where I picked up the germs, likely the Offspring, but I’m annoyed. My hands are raw from washing already and I try to be *so* careful when I’m out and about.

(Note: I am not a germophobe, just trying to stay healthy — considering I can’t take anything to make me feel better. Gurk.)

Anyway. There’s stuff I wanted to talk about. Maybe after a good night’s sleep I can post again and chat about my thoughts. We’ll see what happens.

Catch you on the flip side, regardless.

Here we are in a new month (the month of Luuuuuurve, don’tcha know!) and it’s time to look at a new project.

I’ve decided (foolishly or not, I’m uncertain) to pull out an old story and look at revamping it. (Anybody out there remember my discussions about Pumped? It’s okay if you don’t. I’m not offended!)

I’m feeling partly excited and partly overwhelmed with this project. Excited because I really do like this premise and the core of what I’ve got here. I think it could be a terrific book.

And overwhelmed because I need to go through the 20-some K words I’ve already got and do some rearranging, pruning and rethinking. It’s akin to trying to shove cooked spaghetti noodles into a tiny Ziplock bag. I have to remember to take it one tiny step at a time and not try to see the whole picture right away. (I’ve set the word meter at zero for now, until I prune and edit and see what I’ve got left from the original attempt. I *know* there are bits I want to definitely save already, but I don’t know what the word count is for those sections at this moment.)

The other overwhelming part is I’d like to try and get this one to 50K words. (EEP!) This’ll be my first full-length project and I want to do it because a)I think this is the story for it (at least right now) and b)it’s time to push myself. So it’s time to break it down and put it into manageable, bite-sized pieces and take it one day at a time.

I know it’s totally possible. I just have to remind myself repeatedly about that fact.

So in the words of Peter Pan, leaping off the window ledge, “Here we go…!”

Open letter to the teenage boys who stand in the street outside our house and smoke pot before going to school:

Attention Doorknobs:

The girls you want to get don’t like loser potheads who have no ambition and can’t see beyond the immediate gratification of the day, and who subsequently have no future. You’re killing the few braincells you’ve got left in there, and you will never get laid. Quit that shit while you’re ahead.

Signed,
A Concerned Citizen

…have nothing to do with this post.

We’re in the middle of another deep freeze (thanks, Mom Nature!!) and apparently my brain has also been affected by the cold.

On that note, I am crawling into my bed and snuggling under the big duvet.

I would like to report something exciting, but being knocked up has pretty much trumped all else at the moment. Saturday will involve examining baby paraphernalia with B.E. (ie. starting a registry and selecting the items we’d like), Sunday will involve home-type stuff, and Monday will herald the start of another project. Stay tuned!

Mostly.

Last night gave me a half-decent night’s sleep, and the Offspring went to school with a minimum of fuss this morning. Not bad.

Higher Learning is now in the hands of the E.E., and so today I am focusing my energy on cleaning my office, doing laundry and generally tidying the house. In a day or two I think I will pull out an old story that is written, but is too short and needs to be expanded (and probably *could* be expanded to full novel length — ie. 50K words, even!). I like the premise and think the plot is pretty strong, so it’s just a matter of re-envisioning it to deepen and strengthen the story.

I like the idea of turning this into my first full-length novel. It would be a real challenge, but I think it would be very satisfying. The bare bones are there, it just needs a lot of flesh to fill it in.

I will keep you posted.

On that note, however, I need to get the first load of laundry for the day in the machine. Oh, what a life of glamour!

Catch you on the flip side, gang!

Clan Starr went road-tripping this past weekend, and while we had great fun, it’s awesome to be home again — despite the freezing rain going on.

Can I tell you just how glad I am that school wasn’t cancelled today? The Offspring had vinegar in her veins this morning or something, ’cause boy was she grouchy. Sheesh. I’m SO glad I was able to shuffle her off to school.

In the meantime, the book has been critted (thank you, D!) and I’m off to tweak and polish and EMAIL! Then it’ll be in the hands of the Editor Extraordinaire and I will do some housecleaning and eventually look at another project. Ah, the joys…

Before I get started, though, I think I need a mid-morning snack for fortification.

Without a half-finished book hanging over my head, I feel somewhat lost. At least I have for the past day or so. Higher Learning is off, awaiting a critique from a most excellent pair of eyes, and then it’ll come back for me to perform surgery upon. It’s not quite the same feeling as sending a book off to the Editor Extraordinaire, but it’s similar.

In the meantime, I have things I could do (and in fact, I have actually done some of them) but don’t seem to have a whole lot of energy to do them. (Gestating might have an effect, there, actually. )

But regardless, clan Starr is road-tripping this weekend, with a par-tay for Yours Truly’s dear brother, and there is some preparation involved in that. But anyway. Here I ramble. Obviously I’m also rather tired and should probably get to bed.

At 9:30 in the evening.

Dear God, I’m such a party animal.

*insert rolling of eyeballs here*

At 34,859 words, the first full draft of Higher Learning is now complete. W00T!

The next thing to do is a re-read and a tweak, and then it’s off for a fresh pair of eyes to look at. Depending on the feedback, there’ll probably be a ton of stuff for me to fix (because it *is* mostly mule puke anyway), but once it’s all done and polished again, it’s OFF to my editor extraordinaire!

Then I’m taking a day or two to clean up this office-cum-baby’s room, and after that, it’s back to the drawing board to see what’s going where next!

Phew!