Title?

Teaser Tuesday: Bird

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:38:07 GMT

I'm working on that Victorian fantasy I talked about forever ago. Well, I guess I can't say I'm working on it so much as I'm toying with it.

Here's the opening paragraph:

Ellie rubbed the curse mark on the underside of her wrist. It appeared on her thirteenth birthday, a sure sign she’d inherited the curse through family lineage. It wasn’t her fault, but people looked at her like she deserved the curse, like it was a punishment for some terrible deed. When in fact, she had no idea where the curse had come from. Neither did her parents.

Photo Challenge

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:39:05 GMT

I love the photos I've seen in recent posts. What a great idea,cynthialord!

I have a few photos I'll post from recent bike rides downtown.

Son and I got stuck in the rain two weekends ago. We took shelter under a park pavillion while some kids ran and played in the rain. Son does not like to be wet, however, so we stayed still till the rain let up.

Marina and carferry in the background

Son looking over the harbor

Statue in the park of a little girl holding her mother's hand as they wait for the train

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:25:16 GMT

And one more picture to lighten the mood (and because it makes me giggle).

Son eating a lime...

Flooding!

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:14:37 GMT

We survived the Great Storm of '08!

Turns out the tornados were really the least of our worries. It hasn't been confirmed yet if any actually touched down. We heard officials from the National Weather something-or-other came up to look at the damage to verify the tornados, but I haven't heard what they found. What caused the most damage was the rain. There's flooding everywhere. They also evacuated the state park fearing that the dam might collapse. It's holding so far, thank God. I'd hate to see the damage that'd cause.

A lot of people are out of their homes right now. A family just four houses down from my parents have three feet of water inside their house. My mom and dad's living room was flooded. Thankfully, we live at the top of a huge hill, so flooding wasn't a problem here, however, rain DID leak in through our roof! It's a bummer, but really, compared to the other things going on here, it's minor.

Mr. Jen and Son drove around taking pictures today and I have one picture taken from the newspaper. I'll post below.

Here's the bridge just a mile from my parents' house. I've never seen the river so high. Those are trees sticking out of the water!

Another of the river...

That river, when not flooded, is no wider than a car.

A van stuck in Walmart's flooding!

This picture was taken a block from our house. The road completely washed out and into the marina next to it.

Mr. Jen and I want to get out tomorrow and take more pictures. I guess that'll depend on whether or not we can get past road blocks. We'll see!

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and comments on my last post. :) I really appreciated it! I'm glad everyone here is fine. From the sounds of it, no one was injured, but it's too bad so many people have flood damage.

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:59:33 GMT

We're under a tornado warning here right now. Apparently, two tornados have touched down, one ten miles east of here and another fifteen miles northeast. And my mother is freaking out. She has a tendency to exaggerate everything, for one, and freak out at the slightest problem.

And I know a tornado warning is something to take seriously, but being where we are, tornados, especially violent tornados like you see in Kansas and wherever else, are not common. It's like issuing a rain warning in the desert. But just when I think it won't happen here, it will and maybe I should take cover? I'm definitely NOT going into the basement, if you can even call it that. It's a tiny room beneath the kitchen where we found a mummified cat corpse when we first moved in. I've never been further then the steps and I'm certainly not going down there right now and hunkering down for an hour until the warning lifts.

Where else are you supposed to take cover during a tornado? Bathtub? Closet? Mr. Jen told me to go into Son's closet with some pillows. Oh wait, he just called me and told me to go NOW. I guess I'll hunker down.

Breaking Dawn

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:24:55 GMT

I don't know about you guys, but I've been checking Amazon.com obsessively for the new Breaking Dawn cover. It's finally up! I like it. It's a bit different from what the other covers were, but I think it tells a good deal about what the book will be like. Check it out:

I'm considering taking a vacation day from work the day the book comes out just so I can lay in bed all day and read.

Teaser Tuesday

Tue, 20 May 2008 23:59:10 GMT

From Possession---A conversation between Ashley and Kahne

Ashley wasn’t sure how to phrase her next question. She decided to spit it out before she thought too much on it. “Are you evil then?”

“Evil is a concept, Ashley. It has no measurement.”

“That’s not really an answer.”

“It’s the best I can give.”

“So if you were given a choice between torturing a kitten or saving it, which would you chose?”

“Are we really discussing this?”

She held her ground. “Yes.”

He sighed, scanned the passing traffic. “The answer depends on the kitten. Is the kitten hexed? Perhaps it's a werekitten that's just gone on a killing spree.”

She frowned. “No. It's just a normal kitten.”

“And what am I saving it from?”

She thought for a second. “It’s stuck in a tree.”

“Then no.”

“No, what?”

“No, I wouldn’t torture it and no I wouldn’t save it. Neither. I have better things to do than to go around saving kittens.”

“That wasn’t an option.”
His jaw flexed. He set his hands low on his hips. Veins bulged between his knuckles. “This is maddening.”

Many a thing

Tue, 20 May 2008 01:27:56 GMT

1. I'm quitting energy drinks tomorrow! I binged all weekend, cut back yesterday, only had one today, and tomorrow I'll have none. Seriously, if I quit smoking, I can quit energy drinks and stick with it!

2. Allow me a moment to be a crabby bank teller: Don't bring eight deposits and two tax payments to the drive-thru thereby holding everyone else up because you couldn't get off your butt and walk inside to the lobby! ESPECIALLY when the business you own is a health club!!!!

3. I miss The Hills. ;( August cannot come fast enough.

4. Did anyone see the Supernatural finale on Thursday? What did you think?

5. Has anyone read The Host? I'm having a hard time getting into it. Does it get better?

6. I read Holly Black's Ironside and Melissa Marr's Ink Exchange both within the last week. I loved them and I'm sad there won't be another story with Kaye and Roiben, but at least there will be more Marr books! Yeah!

7. Possession is almost finished! (And I'm afraid it sucks!)

Revising Possession (For the last time!)

Mon, 12 May 2008 23:41:48 GMT

Sounds like there's a lot of revising and drafting going on right now! Must be spring and the idea of renewal. I know I've finally got the inspiration back to write. I haven't talked much about it, but I've been revising Possession the last few months and I'm nearing the end. I'm at about 40,000 words revised and a lot of that is completely new. I hadn't meant to completely rewrite most of the book, but I'm glad I did. I think it's better because of it.

Now that I'm nearing the end, I'm thinking once again about querying. This revision was inspired and based on one agent's feedback. She said if I decided to revise to keep her posted. Should I offer her the revised version on an exclusive basis? Like two weeks or something? It seems only fair, but I don't want to box myself in either. Hmm...any advice?

Interview with a Character

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:10:15 GMT

I rememeber a while ago (months maybe?) someone on my LJ list interviewed their characters as a way to get to know them better. Was it britlitfantwin? I remember enjoying the post and had said I'd give it a try but never got around to it until now.

I interviewed Kahne, because he's more interesting and complicated and hardly ever talks about himself. How's a writer to get to know her characters if they won't talk?

So I dragged it out of him...

Good morning, Kahne! I thought we'd start this interview out by playing a game.
Games are for children. Do I look like a child?

Um...okay. No game. Let's start with the basics then. Boxers or briefs?
Did you just ask me what kind of underwear I prefer?

Yes?
*silence*

I'll take that as boxer briefs then?
*scowls*

Okay, tell me what you like to do in your free time?
*looks out the window*
I like the rain. I like to run. And chocolate.

You like chocolate? Interesting. I'd never expect a demon to enjoy chocolate.
I prefer "damned". I am not a demon. At least not in the terms populated by literature or cinema.

Oh. Okay. So back to the chocolate. What's your favorite kind of chocolate? Dark chocolate? Chocolate with caramel?
Ice cream.

Now you're talking. Have you tried the ice cream at Shoreline Sweets? They make it right there and---
I've tried it, yes, though I wasn't able to fully enjoy it because---

Because what?
I was interrupted.

By who?
Not who---what. An eleven-year-old pest.

A little kid interrupted you?
*grunts* It wasn't a kid. If hell were a real place, it would have crawled out of the bowels of it.

Oh-kay. So I guess that means you probably don't want children?
I'm dead. I can't have children.

Right. But if you were alive, would you have wanted children?
Probably not.

And staying with the whole "let's pretend" idea, if you could be any animal, which animal would you be?
A crow, so I could spread my wings and fly out of this absurd interview.

Haha. You do have legs, you know. And you said you like to run. You could run out of this interview.
Good idea.

I have a problem...

Sun, 04 May 2008 19:25:23 GMT

...with energy drinks. As in, I'm addicted to them. This I realized the other day when, at work, I decided I needed an energy drink at ten a.m. and walked over to the gas station to acquire one.

One of my co-workers says, before I leave, "Won't you just crash later on? And feel worse?"

And I said, "Well, yeah, but that's why I'll buy two."

I'm getting better though. I can go several weeks without one if I really set my mind to it. But once I buy one, just one, I'm on a fast roller coaster down hill. I'll drink four in a day! And when I wake up the next morning, I feel hung over!

It's terrible. I'm so addicted. Why can't I be addicted to broccoli? Or brussel sprouts? Is that so much to ask?

Finally! A Tuesday I can Tease!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:10:57 GMT

I've been working on the Possession revision slowly but surely. I got a lot done this weekend, but yesterday? I rearranged two paragraphs and wrote enough fresh material to fill a teaspoon.

But maybe that's for the better. Maybe taking my time on this revision instead of speeding through it will make the book a million times better. I can hope, right?

And to celebrate my slow but steady progress, I think I'll post a teaser. This was something I wrote over the weekend. It's a completely new scene to the book. A lot is changing. Even Kahne and Ashley feel different, though I'm having a hard time determining whether or not that change is for the better.

Enough talking from me!

**I trimmed it down a bit because it was too lenghty! But I wanted to get all the good bits in there. :)

Kahne grabbed the TV remote, dropped it on the floor and crushed it beneath a heavy leather boot.

“Hey!” Ashley said.

“Watch.”

Within seconds, the plastic hissed and popped letting loose a cloud of thick, black smoke. She wrinkled her nose, expecting the smoke to smell acrid. Instead, it smelled like vanilla and black berries.

“What was that?” she asked.

“A witch spell.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah right.”

“You believe I’m a damned spirit possessing your best friend, don’t you? A witch is more believable, I would think.”

Well, when he put it that way…

She changed the subject. “How did you know the remote was spelled?”

He went back to the window, pushing it shut. “The smoke you saw? That was magic. And it smells like a witch in here.”

“Why would a witch spell my remote?”

He double-checked the locks on the window, pushing up on the frame testing its purchase. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not a witch, after all.”

There was something wrong with this situation—her taking the spell and the topic of witches with so little reluctance. If Kahne told her Jesus was real and that the Holy Grail existed, would she believe that too? She just might, because if demons and witches were real, maybe everything else was too.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked suddenly. The question stood in the room between them like some unfitting statue.

Ashley stayed up against the wall farthest from him. “I’m just wondering why you’re here.”

“I came to bring you something.” He nodded at her dresser.

Somehow, she’d missed the small purple box when she first came in the room. Now, she took it in her hands, eyeing Kahne. What if this was another trap?

“Go ahead,” he said. “It’s for your protection.”

Josiah Leming---One Last Song

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:50:10 GMT

For those American Idol fans, do you guys remember Josiah Leming? The 18-year-old kid who lived in his car and traveled the nation playing his music? The one who got booted off before the final 24?

Over a month or so ago, I found his youtube page and discovered his new songs. I fell in love with them. From there I found his Myspace and downloaded about five of his songs. He's amazing. I can't hear his song "One Last Song" enough. I could listen to it a million times a day and never get sick of it.

Anyway, I just read an article that he's reportedly signed a record deal with Warner Bros. I'm so excited. I'll be the first to buy the album! I think he's better off without American Idol.

Have a listen.

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:41:38 GMT

Happy Easter!

Mr. Jen, Son and I enjoyed a cool, rainy walk at the state park a few weeks ago, but I'm SO ready for spring!

Dude! It's Tuesday!

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:07:29 GMT

I didn't see many Teaser Tuesday posts today. Where is everybody?!

I posted the opening to this project a while back. I set it aside having no idea what I was going to do with it. Well, I *think* I have it, but that could change. Here's a bit more after that initial opening.

I was not in my room, but a room the size of an auditorium with three metal walls the color of brass and one wall of blue.

It was just me in that room. Me and the bed.

I threw aside the sheets, put bare feet to the cold metal floor. Standing, a white nightgown unfolded behind me, dragging over the floor.

I went to the wall of blue, pushed my fingers against it. It was entirely glass.

“It’s the Window Sea.”

The voice startled me and I whirled around, the nightgown catching at my calves.

The man standing there was little older than me. Maybe twenty or twenty-one. He was pale, not sickly like, but cold-like. His eyes were like that too, blue and cold in color, but not in character.

“Um…” My voice came out hoarse, shaky. I cleared my throat. “I’ve never heard of the Window Sea,” I said. “And where am I, exactly?”

“You died,” he said. “Don’t you remember?”

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:17:19 GMT

It's been forever since I posted for Teaser Tuesday. I don't really have anything to post though. I haven't written much in the last few months. I'm starting to get depressed about it, though I will admit to enjoying the free time I've had. I've watched A LOT of movies, including ones such as In the Land of Women, Waitress, Alien VS. Predator 2, National Treasure 2 and Resident Evil 3. All very good movies, excluding AVP2, which was a total bore. I was all excited, entering that theater, thinking I'd get a healthy dose of sci-fi and alien on predator awesomeness. But no.

Anyway, did anyone happen to read Kristin Nelson's blog yesterday? About the blogging soldier that died and had a friend post his last entry? Well, it inspired something in me late last night and I started to write. It's not even one page yet and I don't even know what it's about. The important thing is, I wrote and I wrote something I actually like.

If you’re reading this now, then I’m already dead…

Willa closed her eyes. She didn't want to see the online post anymore. The white text seemed too bright against the black background, like a fluorescent light shining in the darkness.

But instead of finding relief behind her lids, she saw an image of Lincoln, of him three nights ago, staring at her the way he did when he knew he was about to disappoint her.

“I’m leaving for a few days,” he’d said. “Maybe longer.”

“Where are you going?” she’d asked.

He wouldn’t tell her. Instead, he ran his hands through his shoulder-length blond hair, tied it back with a black rubber band. “I’ll call you when I can.”

What she’d gotten instead was an email just an hour ago with a link to an online blog.

The first and only post had a date of April 12^th, a time of thirty minutes past midnight.

If you’re reading this now, then I’m already dead…

Teaser Tuesday

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:32:13 GMT

It's been a while since I posted on Teaser Tuesday. I've been working full-time since I started at the bank. I'll go to part-time after the holidays. Anyway, I haven't written much either, but I fantasize about it! I've been playing around with a lot of stuff, in particular that project I started on a Sunday afternoon after watching the movie Macbeth. The one about death. Here's some more of what I wrote after that opening scene, condensed so that it's not too long.

I scanned the street beyond the shooter, hoped for someone to saunter past, to save me because I couldn’t save myself.

And then Crowe Santos appeared, suddenly, like an afterthought brought on by the wind. He withdrew a gun from his leather jacket, pulled the trigger. The bullet popped from it's chamber. Blood splattered across my face. I flinched and when I opened my eyes, my would-be attacker was face down on the sidewalk.
“Are you all right?” Crowe asked, but it didn’t sound like he truly cared.

I nodded a lie.

I was far from okay.

“Go home, Janie,” he said. “Clean yourself up. Forget this night.”

“Okay,” I answered.

I would never forget that night for as long as I lived.

Yeah Books!

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:55:28 GMT

It's been entirely too long since I made a big purchase of books from Amazon.com. But now that I'm working and getting a steady paycheck, yea-ha! I'm buying some books, dang it!

I just hit the submit button on my order.

I bought:

Thirteen Reasons Why
I've been wanting to read this book for months now. I requested it at the library, but it took them like six weeks to get in Story of a Girl and I can't wait that long for Thirteen Reasons Why.

The Luxe
A Victorian era version of Gossip Girl! What's not to love?

Glass
I'm such a huge fan of Ellen Hopkins. I read Crank so long ago. I'm excited to read the sequel.

I can't wait to get my order in! It's my Christmas present to myself.

In the meantime, I'm reading Son of the Mob, which is really-really good so far. The voice is great. I also have Rebel Angels, Ironside, The Chaos King and The Book Thief.

It feels like it's been so long since I just read book after book after book. I guess I've been focusing too much on writing. Now it's time to take a break and get back into some reading.

Stretching the Writing Muscle

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:25:24 GMT

The writing break went well! I think I needed it anyway, considering I was starting a new job. After overloading my brain with all these new bank rules, it was nice to come home and just surf the Internet or sit down with a book. I finished Bloom, as I said and started Vampirates and Story of a Girl, which the library FINALLY got in. I was bugging them weekly. They're probably happy to get rid of me!

I also watched lots of TV and some movies. I watched an Australian indie remake of Macbeth. I love Australian indies. Ever seen Somersault? SO GOOD. The guy who played Macbeth in the remake was a main character in Somersault. His name is Sam Worthington and he is so yumm. He's been cast in James Cameron's new sci-fi movie, Avatar, so I think we'll be seeing more of him in the US.

After watching Macbeth, I was instantly inspired to open a new document in Word and just started writing. The thing with Australian indies, they have this haunting quality, quiet and poetic. I just love them. At least the ones I've watched and perhaps it's true too for US indies, but I haven't seen many to know.

Anyway, here's what I just wrote and I love it. It felt so good to stretch that writing muscle after a week or so! That really isn't long at all, but, whatever. For me it is!

This is a story of death. Of the literal and figurative sense.

Because I saw them dead and because I am not the same as I was when this story started.

Where did it start, exactly?

Where all stories start.

On a day.

On a day that began like any day.

Perhaps it was a Thursday though I can’t remember clearly. After the beginning, the titles of the day blurred together like lights outside a carousel. They were just a flash of golden smudged against the darkness.

But on that day, I twisted shut the lock on the front door of my father’s chocolate shop and that was where the ordinary ended. It was a distinct end, an audible click in the night.

The next sound that reached me, carried on the crisp cool wind of autumn, was a gunshot.

(And since this is technically a teaser, consider it my teaser for Tuesday. I'll be working all day Tuesday, so I won't post.)

Bloom by Elizabeth Scott

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:56:05 GMT

I read Bloom (Elizabeth Scott) yesterday and really loved it. Maybe I loved it so much because it reminded me of Dessen's The Truth About Forever. BUT...the similarities also pulled me out of the story a few times. Like that Lauren's boyfriend is perfect in every way. That her father works in land development and has a hard time communicating with Lauren at all. Or that her one parent is never home and her other parent (Mom) is out of the picture.

(Some spoilers below)

Despite the similarities that stood out to me, the book was awesome. I rarely read a book in a day or two anymore, but I stopped pretty much everything to read this book. I loved Evan, loved the way Elizabeth wrote !!!!!!SPOILER!!!! that first kiss scene between Evan and Lauren. I felt like I was there, I felt like I could see and feel Evan through Lauren. The writing through the entire book was wonderful, smooth and easy to read, easy to get inside Lauren's head.

Some of Lauren's inner monologue was repetitive and the ending was a bit too easy, but if I had a rating system, like if I used bat-shaped Peeps to rate how much I loved a book because I reallyreallyreally love the bat peeps, then I'd give Bloom 4 Bat Peeps out of 5.

Next up on the reading pile: Midnighters (Scott Westerfeld)

Still trying to read: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:45:02 GMT

I cleaned out the closet today and found a whole bag of stuff my mother had given me. It was full of school projects, report cards, teacher letters, etc.

I found a poem that supposedly I wrote in 4th grade. My mother insists I wrote it. I would have been ten, but I don't remember writing it. I have to wonder if some other cool kid wrote it and I just took the credit. Or maybe it was published somewhere and I just copied it?

Anyways, here it is: (If this sounds familiar let me know!)

Found and Lost
A wizard's hating pet.
Rather shortish.
Somewhat slimy.
May be hungry or angry.
Please feed nightly.
P.S. No Reward.

A dragon breathing spu(?)
Flails his slimy feet.
Would eat 100 small children nightly if we let him.
Please come get him.
P.S. Reward.

And then, when we were younger, my best friend Lacy and I used to send each other greeting cards all the time. We'd try to be the one who found the funniest. Lacy sent me this one:

"I quit jogging because it was bad for my health...(open card )
My thighs rubbed together so much, my underwear caught on fire."

That was us! We hated gym class. We hated running the mile. I should send her a greeting card tomorrow. I think she'd love it. We haven't done this in forever. I've already planned to send a card to her older sister. Both of their parents have passed and my parents "adopted" the girls years ago so they both come to our family Christmas party. The older sister, Crystal, doesn't like making plans so when Lacy asked her if she was coming she said, "I don't know." But she has to come! It's a tradition that we all buy each other gag gifts. Last year I bought two boxes of chocolates and took a bite out of every single one then rewrapped the boxes. And my gifts this year will be equally fun!

Anyway, I told Lacy I was going to send Crystal a ransom card using magazine clippings to write my message.

At Walmart today I picked the card out. On the front it says, "Just a friendly hello!" And on the inside I'm going to paste a picture of Lacy with a note that says, "You better be at the Christmas party or your sister gets it!" Crystal has a twisted sense of humor. She'll love it. (I hope!)

Other Funny Thing: Mr. Jen went to Walmart today wearing two different boots!

Bad Car Karma

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:12:08 GMT

There's a thread on Verla's right now about what kind of small cars are reliable and I posted to say don't buy a Chevy Corsica and realized while typing that my bad car luck is a lot worse than I originally thought.

So I'm going to talk about the cars I've had in the past and what went wrong with them because it's actually pretty funny.

The first two cars I owned were Chevy Corsicas.

Funnily enough, this picture I found on the Internet with the caption: Corsica---Found Dead on Highway

My Corsicas were both maroon and I think a bit older than the one pictured above, but Corsicas haven't evolved much, so what you see is pretty much what they look like from 1988 to 1994.

My first Corisca was purchased in 1998 by my father as a surprise for getting my driver's license, except my Corsica (with a hefty price tag of $500) didn't run and had no hubcaps. Nevertheless, it was my first car and it was better than no car at all.

My dad, being the ultra cool mechanic that he is, fixed the car for $45 and handed the keys over. My brother and I decided to take a ride down to the beach to show off my new wheels. "Make sure you have your cell phone," my dad said. "Call if you have any trouble."

My brother and I piled in and started that baby up. We didn't make it further than the mulberry tree in our front yard. I called home. "Dad," I said, "we have trouble."

After a few more minor fixes, the car was running. I owned that car until last year, but there were many more problems with it. It was moody in the rain. If it started pouring, I stayed home, because I didn't like stopping at a stoplight and having the car stale on me. I developed a few tricks after a while. If it was raining and I HAD to stop at the stoplight, I put one foot on the brake and one foot on the gas to keep the engine going.

I also replaced a starter in that car, a heater core, two mufflers, a thermostat, and countless spark plugs. Near the end, only one door opened from the outside and that was the back door on the driver's side. When we sold it, we took $75 for it because it was so badly rusted, it was ready to break in half, literally. But I loved that car, which was why, in 2004 I bought one identical to it. Of course, we were in a hurry to get another car and I had very limited cash and this seemed like a good idea.

The very same day I bought Corsica #2, I drove it home in a cloud of smoke. The power steering line had broke. My dad fixed it, but from then on, it always had a leak in the power steering fluid. I used a quart once a week otherwise it'd make this loud sound like a fog horn beneath the hood. Also, since I bought the car in late September, I didn't find out till late October that it had no heat.

In that car, I replaced two starters, a thermostat, a muffler, three gas lines, and a transmission. And the doors broke in this one too, except the driver's side didn't open at all so I had to climb through the passenger side. That car never did have heat either, which totally sucked. You'd see me driving in the middle of winter with my window down because everyone was breathing too heavily and fogging up my windows.

The car I have now is a little bit better than the Corsicas. It's a Pontiac Grand Am, which means it's prettier than the Corsicas. And it had heat! And AC! Except the AC only lasted a week once ownership went into my hands.

Oddly enough, last winter, I broke my driver's side door, which meant I was AGAIN climbing through the passenger side. I got that fixed, thank God. I've also replaced a thermostat but no starters. Just weeks ago, however, my brake line went out. I blogged about that. My dad fixed it, only for a DIFFERENT line to go out four days later. My dad fixed that line and then the back lines went out the next morning. I'm convinced my dad hated the very sight of my face for those few days.

But now everything is working! Well, except for my left front headlight, since the deer smashed that out. It'll all be fixed in two weeks. And very soon I will be buying a new car. I'm tempted to let someone else pick it out so my bad car karma isn't attached to it. Or maybe I should try a foreign car like everyone suggested on Verla's.

Teaser Tuesday

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:29:59 GMT

With AA out there and Possession still under consideration, I thought it was time to take a break (a little break). I've been reading more. I read Nickel and Dimed over the weekend. I just started Midnighters yesterday and really like it so far. I'm about halfway through A Great and Terrible Beauty. I'm on week four with that book now. It's not as terrible as I thought, but it's not exactly capturing my attention either. I mean, it's good. I particularly LOVE Gemma's voice, but nothing seems to be happening to keep me reading. Anyway, I've been working slowly on the Victorian Fantasy. In the last week, I added another 1,000 words to it. I've also started about four other new WIP! I just like playing with new things and I think it'll be good for me.

Here's a piece of another sci-fi YA: (inspired by my car-deer accident, no doubt!)

They found the BMW bent around a tree, a deer injured at the roadside.

My mother loved deer. She had an odd talent of summoning animals. They gathered wherever she was. Maybe that deer, that night, had sensed her. Or maybe he’d just been running scared from something else.

It didn’t matter now.

The deer was dead. So was my mother.

(Notice how it's in first person. It's very weird, considering I haven't revisited first person since last summer when I wrote Possession. For some reason, this book just *wanted* to be in first.)

It's Monday

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:31:43 GMT

Agent Lady from Friday hasn't emailed me back yet. I'll snail mail the MS over tomorrow, absent email be damned!

Hopefully she'll still read it because I'm rather low on AA requests and I have to take all I can get.

In other news, I got a call today from The Bank.

Bank Lady says, "Hey Jennifer! You haven't taken that other job yet, have you?"

I'm trying not to laugh as I say, "No." The other job is Walmart, I think, and with lilrongal's help, I've read Nickel and Dimed. I'd be an idiot to take that job!

"Oh good," Bank Lady says. "Well, you did really well on your testing on Friday and we want to send you on your second interview. It's the final step in the hiring process and it'll be less formal. The manager and head teller at the East Branch just want to meet you and ask a few questions. Does that sound okay?"

I'm like HELL YEAH! I didn't say that, of course...

The job is at the East Branch, which, I'm actually pleased with. The East Branch is smaller and smaller means less imposing. And I'm already scared out of my mind about the whole thing. We played Monopoly Saturday night and I screwed up the money like a million times! How will I ever do a REAL bank job?

But anyway...my friend Lacy (who works at another bank) assures me that after a while, the job will be no big deal. You learn and you get better at it. I hope she's right.

(Despite how scared I am and how much I'm craving an easy job---like at Staples or something---the bank job really makes the most sense. I'll mostly work while Son is in school---total bonus there. Mr. Jen has weekends off, I'll have weekends off [except for Saturday mornings every now and then] and the pay is pretty dang good. I just have to get over my initial fear of screwing up. And I also have to get the job first!)

The List of Happenings

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:30:44 GMT

There were several things I wanted to talk about in this post, several things that don't relate at all to each other. So I'll just make a list.

1. I hit a deer Sunday night. It's the first time it's happened to me. Really, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. In the newspaper, in the police records section, sixteen car-deer accidents were reported over the weekend. Ours could have been A LOT worse. Thankfully, no one was hurt and my car is still drivable. I have collision insurance, which means my car will be fixed for free. Yeah! It dented and scratched the hood, broke the grill and really smashed up the front fender, but that was it. Like I said, it could have been worse. I mean, that dang thing darted right out in front of me. There was no stopping. I remember thinking, Oh Crap. What if a hoof comes through the windshield? But there were no hooves, thank God. The scariest part was watching that deer roll off the hood of the car and then thrash on the side of the road. Luckily it got up and took off. I hope it's all right, but I'm pretty sure one of its hind legs was broken.

2. After submitting resumes and applications all over town for the last two months and receiving not one flippin' phone call, I now have two interviews this week. One at a local bank and the other at Walmart. My friend asked me tonight if I had the option to pick, which job would I go with and I had a hard time answering. The reasonable answer would be the bank---better hours, better pay, holidays off!, the opportunity to advance into a higher paying job. But I think I'd have more fun working at a place like Walmart, plus I know a ton of people who work there. I can name seven right off the top of my head. Plus I like buttons and scanners and I've always wanted to operate one of those awesome button-intensive registers. We'll see. Maybe I won't even have to choose. Maybe neither will like me.

3. I revised Possession again this weekend. I don't know why. I had already decided I was going to retire that book, but then I started thinking about it again and I couldn't STOP thinking about it. I rewrote the beginning and a few chapters in the middle. And then I status queried on a few of those agents who still had it or who had expressed interest in a revision and two of them got right back to me. One asked me to send over the newly revised edition via email when previously he'd asked for it by snail mail. The other agent wants me to email in two weeks. I also sent out four new queries. I'd thought I'd exhausted the list of agents for Possession, when really I'd exhausted the list I wanted. But this is the same thing as going for only the popular guys at school when one of the lesser known guys might actually be the better fit. So I have to try.

4. I don't think there was a four. How about...Happy Halloween!!!

This Mom cannot wait to go trick-or-treating tomorrow night. I love me some chocolate.