Stuff and bits

I worked out yesterday, cardio and upper body, and now I hurt. That’s what I get for not really working out for a month, I suppose…. Hopefully I’ll have time after the signing tomorrow to get there and do some leg work.

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The rest of the War went like this: Saturday morning we parked the car near the equestrian area and stopped by to see the horses, and I was thrilled to discover the Celtic Games were still going on. The gorgeous redhead who’d been giving the talk the day before was next. She’d unbound her hair, and it flowed down past her butt. She wore a brown leather vest and dark green, formfitting riding pants, and had blue streaks on her cheeks. She was a Celtic Horse Goddess, I’m telling you. And she rode beautifully (you got points if you did the games bareback). The tests were gathering golden apples, something with a lion (I couldn’t see the far end of the riding area), rescuing a stuffed sheep, gathering flags, and riding a winding, twisty course with a full goblet in one hand.

That day I bought the Gothic quatrefoil silver ring with an amethyst that I’d been ogling, and the dark blue plaid linen, and pins to go with the peplos I’ll make out of the linen, and remembered to order a commemorative GWW goblet from our friends Christel Illusions. More importantly, I got to hang out with Maren! Maren, whom I haven’t seen in a coon’s age! (What is a coon’s age, anyway? Far too long, that’s what I say.)

That night we went a-wandering, and I learned that the problem with ogling someone you don’t know at an event is that you never know when you’ll be hanging out with them the next day. Horse Guy’s name is Landon, , I believe, and he’s from Australia and is utterly charming, and the Celtic Goddess rider is Virginia, who thinks she’s seen me around a lot, was delighted to finally meet me, and gave me a big hug when we parted. Um. Maybe I have a doppelganger? Ken says it’s just because I’m a babe. Sheez.

We also ran into Simon, who was quite drunk, and Eilidh, who was also quite (and unusually) drunk, and many other fine folks in various stages of inebriation. I had a couple of drinks that I now can’t remember the name of, and they were tasty, but barely affected me.

On Sunday we packed up, wandered on site for a bit, then headed south to Alpine, CA (south of San Diego) for a Styx concert! But that’s a topic for another entry….

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Busy but fun day. Went grocery shopping, made another yummy sandwich for lunch (current fave: whole wheat and oat bread, a bit of ham and more of turkey, light mayo, mustard, Swiss, avocado, and pepperoncinis. Yesterday I toasted it. Today I didn’t.), then toddled over to help Morgana decorate her house for Halloween. (It’s her year to host the party and, as you all know, Halloween is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.) After that we went to the county shelter to see if a friend’s cat was there; she moved out of the area last month and one of her cats got out in the process, and there are two fitting the description at the shelter. Alas, the shelter closed an hour earlier than we thought, so we’ll go on Monday. On the way home (well, sort of. If you’re us.) we went to Big Lots and Michaels and one of the Halloween stores. Since I’ve been meaning to buy cat ears, I did so (black with boa feathery insides), along with a black boa so I can make a tail (I’m going to wear my see-through velvet burnout dress and satin waist cincher for the party, so I might as well add some sort of theme to it).

Then Morgana came over for dinner, and then I put together a little display for tomorrow’s book signing: a two-part folding frame that stands up, with one side being our New Author Spotlight ad from Romantic Times and the other side being the review of A Little Night Music.

In between that, Teresa called for a quick confab about the novella, which she’s now sent to me. So I must get to work.

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Currently Reading: Ill Met by Moonlight, Sarah Hoyt
Lately Listened To: Chopin Interludes
Recently Watched: Without a Trace

Sunday's signing

Here's the lineup of authors for the book signing at the Barnes & Noble in Encino on Sunday from 12-2:

Eden Bradley
Leigh Court
Sarah Dale
Linda O. Johnson
Cheryl Holt
Carolyn Hughey
Cassidy Kent
Harley Jane Kozak
Kaitlin O'Riley
Brenda Scott Royce

Hope to see some friendly faces there! Remember, with the voucher, a portion of the proceeds of anything you buy will go towards the Los Angeles Romance Writers of America chapter...

Whether I want to or not

Over the last two days I have worked on the collab novella, brainstormed two ideas for an upcoming story, and begun fleshing out an outline for Teresa’s and my RWA 2008 workshop proposal.

I have also been struck with a brilliant idea for another novel, which I do not need right now. I can’t schedule it in until sometime next year. Argh! But it’s totally cool! And has, of all things, vampires in it!

Sigh.

All of this when the last thing I’ve wanted to do is actually write. Stubbornness and professionalism actually do prevail on occasion.

Today I’ve also taken a bath because my back hurt, made a tasty but lowfat chicken tetrazzini, gone to the Shire meeting, and curled up to watch TV with my beloved. E-mail…feh, let’s not talk about that.

Onwards.

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Currently Reading: deciding on the next book (damn, but Robert B. Parker writes fast reads!)
Lately Listened To: uh?
Recently Watched: CSI: Miami, Supernatural

It's dangerous to be me sometimes

So tonight after dinner, we were finishing up the show we were watching (Pushing Daisies) when something onscreen made me think of mint chocolate chip ice cream. (I don’t think ice cream was actually onscreen, though. Work with me here.) So I said to Ken, “Oooh, mint chocolate chip ice cream!”

And we groaned, because there was no ice cream in the house. We contemplated walking to the store, but I’m resting my back today in the hopes of resuming the gym tomorrow. We continued on with our evening, both of us working on computers in the main office.

Then a journal I was reading sparked something in my brain.

“Oh no,” I said. “I’ve just had a very bad idea.”

“Oh?” Ken said. “Bad?”

“Very bad.”

Because Ken can read my mind, he said, “Does it involve ice cream?”*

I sighed. “Brownies.”

Ken laughed. “We can put mint chocolate chip ice cream on brownies,” he noted, because he is a wise and sage man.

So he trotted off to the store for more eggs (because I’d use them up in the recipe) and Ghirardelli bittersweet morsels (a must for my brownie recipe) and, of course, mint chocolate chip ice cream.

I ate too much of the batter and felt a little wibbly, but the brownies were awesome. A tasty end to a kind of weird, unbalanced day.

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Currently Reading: Family Honor, Robert P. Parker (about to start)
Lately Listened To: uh?
Recently Watched: Bionic Woman, Pushing Daisies, CSI: NY

*Most of you were expecting something sex-related, weren’t you? Psych!

Diving into the wreck

So. After about a week or so of no writing, thanks to War prep and the War itself, I now have a nice full plate of projects. Which is good because after a week or so of no writing, I’m itching to dive in to something!

The projects this week include:

• A winter-themed novella with Teresa. It’s due 10/21, but we’re shooting to have it done by 10/14. It’s been accepted on proposal, but we haven’t seen a contract yet, so I really can’t say much more about it except that it’s very spiffy! We brainstormed the basic outline today, and I’m to write the first part and send it to her tonight. Fun!
  
• An outline of Teresa’s and my workshop proposal for the RWA 2008 National Conference. So many people asked us about how we collaborate at this year’s conference that we decided to do a workshop. The proposal is due 11/1, so we need to get started on this now. The first step is to make a list/outline of everything we’d want to cover.
  
• A short story for an editor who’s pitching an anthology to Cleis Press. The first two stories they get will be included in the proposal. I don’t need to be first, but the challenge excites me.
  

Next week involves these:

• Starting Designed for Love over with Sarah. She’s writing a new beginning, and we’ll go from there. Deadline is 12/31 because I want to hit the Beautiful Trophy Challenge and possibly the January Novel Workshop deadline.
  
• A lesbian ghost story for an anthology, due 11/1.
  

And what about High Spirits, you ask? I want to finish up the RWA outline and the first short story by Friday, so I can get back to work on HS over the weekend and continue to work on it when DFL is on Sarah’s plate. Deadline is still 12/31, for the same reasons at DFL (the trophy, at least. I can’t take two novels to the Novel Workshop, so I’ll have to choose).

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Here’s a great writing quote I found recently:

“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” (E.L. Doctorow)

Yup. You just gotta trust that.

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Currently Reading: R is for Ricochet, Sue Grafton
Lately Listened To: various Marillion
Recently Watched: Heroes

Hide and Seek

Over at Lust Bites today, the luscious Alison Tyler is talking about a new anthology edited by herself and Rachel Kramer Bussel, Hide and Seek. I note this because both Teresa and I have stories in the anthology, and it's quite a delectable book! So if you get the chance, check out the column…and pick up the book! It's in stores now. You know you want to....

Edited to add: Lust Bites contains salacious images and naughty language. Peruse at your own risk!