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I suppose I should post a little update on life.
In December of 2007, I'd fallen and hurt my knees. In the following months, I could barely walk. I went to a orthopedic surgeon who told me that I had arthritis in my knees and that I would need a knee replacement at some point. He also warned that at my weight of nearly 360 pounds that no one would do such a replacement. After months of not being able to move, I decided to do something drastic about my weight. In June, I had gastric bypass surgery.
Between being immobile, gearing up for the surgery, and then dedicating my life to making the most of the surgery, I had decided to take a break from writing. I didn't want a deadline looming over me, keeping me from focusing on my health. I started going to the gym every day, going food shopping every other day, and cooking healthy meals. Currently I'm down to 200 pounds, having lost nearly 160 pounds total. My goal is around 130 pounds by the end of next year.
I'm feeling great health-wise. Yesterday I went to see STAR TREK and was pleased to realize I fit comfortably in the seats. I felt no need to get candy or popcorn or drinks. I didn't have to dash to the bathroom halfway through and miss any action. After the movie, we walked around the mall and I bought a shirt at Coldwater Creek that was just a large. Prior to surgery, I had to shop online since nothing in even plus size stores fit anymore.
I started back to writing some time ago, but I discovered once you let the chipmunks off the hamster wheel and wean them off crack, getting them back up to speed again is tough. The project I was in the middle of is completely stalled. I've been working on another project, trying to relearn old habits. So far I'm not at a comfort enough place to pitch anything and be stuck with a deadline. I'm worried that if I'm not ready for said deadline that I'll fall out of the healthy habits I've built over the last nine months and lose headway on my weight loss.
In the spirit of things come in threes, another major life change is my husband has been laid off from his job. We're embracing this as a time of reinvention. We've decided to follow a dream and spend July living in Japan. While we're there, we're going to investigate the possibility of living there. If that doesn't work out, we've talked about the possibility of moving somewhere else in United States. Needless to say, things are in the state of flux in our house. :)
One possible future project is a novel set in the world of TINKER. So far I have no plans to do more with Ukiah or Jerin. The other projects I've been working on are with new worlds and new characters. Once I feel ready to work under deadline again, I'll let you know what project I've pitched and sold. |
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The paperback version of ENDLESS BLUE will be out on the 26th of May. |
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We've decided to go to Japan in July. |
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I will also be at Readercon.
July 9-12, 2009, Burlington Marriott, Burlington, MA
http://readercon.org/ |
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These are the conventions I'm planning to attend this year:
Boskone, February 13-15, 2009 Westin Waterfront, Boston, MA
http://www.nesfa.org/boskone/
Lunacon, March 20-22, 2009, Hilton Rye Town, Rye Brook, NY
http://2009.lunacon.org/
July 9-12, 2009, Burlington Marriott, Burlington, MA
http://readercon.org/
Worldcon, August 6-10th, Montreal, Canada
http://www.anticipationsf.ca/English/Home |
| » This must be someone idea of a joke... |
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Kid got back to school on 5th. Found out that besides Martin Luther King, he has the day after off too -- a four day weekend ten days after he got back to school. Next month he has a week off and its a short month.
Add in snow days, and its like "does this kid ever have a full week of school in winter?"
Sigh.
Jan. 18th, 2009 @ 08:25 pm
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| » Point point point point |
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Continued the structuring a novel discussion on other blog novelcrafting.com
I'm working on the next part to put up tomorrow.
Jan. 9th, 2009 @ 10:08 am
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| » BOOTS |
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I GOT BOOTS!!!! I'm so excited. I'd been getting this foot care catalog -- no idea why. Normally I just pitch it -- its all bunion care and corn treatments, stuff I don't get. But then I noticed that they had EEE dress boots. EEE BOOTS!!! I've never seen anything wider that EE, so I chanced it ordered a pair even though I normally take EEEE. Hey, I've lost weight, surely my feet were somewhat skinner. AND THEY FIT!!!! (Although they didn't look like they would when I first took them out of the box -- its not even a snug fit!)
Of course I immediately to their website and ordered MORE SHOES!!!! I ordered a pair of Mary Janes, a pair of dressy sandals, a pair of pumps....and I think a pair of causal sandals.... I lost track. I haven't had anything but tennis shoes for AGES. I'm making special room for them in my closet. SOOOOO excited. Now I just have to find places to wear them....
Jan. 8th, 2009 @ 03:37 pm
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| » Answering a comment |
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sproggenfree asked: (and hopefully doesn't mind I take this to top level...)
Is it possible, later on, when one has (presumably) more writing chops, to revise and sell one's first novel? If the basic idea is good, I wouldn't think you'd just abandon it.
My answer:
( Read more... )
Jan. 7th, 2009 @ 11:16 am
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| » New Writing Blog |
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Hi all, after a prolong silence, I've decided to break up my blogging to two different areas. One is going to be more day to day (or week to week, knowing my output) stuff. The other is a blog on the craft of writing, and nothing else.
The new blog is www.novelcrafting.com and the first post is up. I plan on updating that blog every couple of days.
Jan. 4th, 2009 @ 05:22 pm
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| » child child child chick child.... |
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At every street corner, on the way to the gym this morning, there was a flocks of children waiting for the bus. Children in the front yard. Children in the front yard. Flock of wild turkeys in front yard. Slooooooooooow down. Yes, yes, an entire flock of wild turkeys, no more than a hundred feet from the last herd of kids waiting for bus. The turkeys glance up as I slow down as if to say "What???" I continue. Another hundred feet, and yet another gaggle of children waiting for the bus.
Oct. 21st, 2008 @ 11:00 am
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| » It's done -- well -- mostly.... |
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The basement project is done. For those of you that could care less, a break...
( Read more... )
Oct. 20th, 2008 @ 10:46 am
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| » This is taking longer than I thought.... |
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So the flooring guy was here by 8 am and started a long day of work. 3 o'clock now and not one piece of the flooring is down...
This is going to take a LOT longer than I thought.
Apparently there's lots of prep work involved to get down to bare cement then level it all and sand and...and...well...you get the idea. On the plus side, he's got rolls of the vinyl downstairs and the long rolls looks rich and wonderful. I'm very excited. http://www.armstrong.com/resflram/na/sheet/en/us/prod_detail.asp?itemId=96949.0 is the pattern we picked. I hope it looks as good as I think it will.
Oct. 14th, 2008 @ 03:18 pm
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| » Avast ye matey |
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We've decided on "Adventure" as a theme for the downstairs and started to collect stuff that could suggestion adventure. First piece of the collection -- a sail boat -- arrrrrrrr shiver me timbers. The vinyl floor goes in tomorrow and then Friday we're getting the area rug and coffee table to finish up the room. I'll post pictures next weekend. Hope everyone had a nice holiday. We spent the morning making sure the basement was stripped of everything for the floor people. Insurance is going to cover the bulk of the cost as all the work is the result of the small flood. This evening, I'm going through our travel pictures and picking out "adventure" photos.
Oct. 13th, 2008 @ 07:00 pm
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| » If you clean it, they will come |
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And sprawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
No sooner than my office was clean than Dot decided that she must sprawl across the top of my hutch.
Oct. 9th, 2008 @ 08:55 am
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| » Painters still at work |
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I've been busy in my office -- cleaning. I decided to post pictures.
( Read more... )
Oct. 8th, 2008 @ 02:57 pm
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| » Painters Ahoy |
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Today the painters arrived to paint the basement. We spent the last few days frantically clearing the last of the mess to make way for them. We're going mostly with a cream color with accent walls in blue and white trim. There's three areas down there, and we're using the blue to create two separate areas off a 'hallway' area. After the painting is done, we're putting down a vinyl that looks like wood flooring. Hopefully it looks nice. I want to hang art to make it feel even more homey and lived in. (It would help if that cats would stop throwing up down there.) I'm thinking of doing retro travel poster with focus on trains -- kid LOVES trains. I'm kind of on hold while the painters are here -- didn't go to sleep until nearly 2 last night doing last minute cleaning, got up early, can't nap -- so I'm too exhausted to write. Think I'll look at posters. If I get ambitious, I'll post pictures once we get it done.
Oct. 6th, 2008 @ 09:46 am
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| » Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm here |
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I haven't been posting to this blog because I've taken a break from writing. This year has been rough and it seemed easier to ride out if I let some of the balls I'd been juggling drop. I'm starting back to writing now, and I'll be posting reports once that ball is up and flying with the rest.
Major highlights of the last few months:
My mother had both her breasts removed to try and head off the breast cancer. Shortly before her surgery, she learned that her other brother has cancer. Uncle Dick died last year. So far, news on my other uncle has been cautious but good.
My father been in the hospital for the last three weeks. This is second bout with congestive heart failure this year. As an attempt to help him, a new pacemaker has been installed, and they lasered one of the control centers of his heart which was misfiring, making his heart race. Yesterday was the most recent of the fine tuning operations that they've put him through.
We had a minor flood in the basement. It took the things we had piled in the basement after moving in that we didn't know what to do with. Boxes and boxes of stuff got wet and mold started to grown. We got a dumpster and hauled out a ton of stuff. Unfortunately there's still a pile of stuff I'm not sure what to do with and the painters are coming next week. Last week we had drywallers in who ripped out the molding drywall and installed new drywall. Sometime I need to drag my husband to the carpet store down the room and pick out the replace flooring.
Also my husband's car died. This required a week of playing taxi and going car shopping and doing all the needed running to buy a car. We're now the proud owners of a 2008 Prius. Then my car decided it needed work too. I had to have the power steering pump replaced, but there was a long list of other things that need done. After talking, we decided that we need to replace my car too. Waiting for checks to come in before heading out to pick out a car. Might get a Prius for me too.
Another major project has been me getting more exercise and losing weight. It's chewing up a lot of time; I'm trying to spend at least an hour at the gym everyday, sometimes up to three hours. I'm doing weight lifting and water fitness classes. This weekend I'm meeting with a trainer to try core training. Unfortunately, its also draining lots of energy -- almost every day requires a nap to get through. Went to the doctors yesterday and talked to him about how tired the working out is making me. He ran blood tests -- results pending -- and told me to drink more water. Bleah hate water (and things like crystal light, and I've cut out diet soda) but looks like I have to drink more.
My friend and first reader Ann Cecil came up to visit last weekend. Did major house cleaning to get ready. Still need to find a new maid service as the last one quit. Yes, quit. My son is a messy person and I tend not to be able to keep up with him. Apparently he was too messy for the maids too -- at least in twice a month dose. Had a lovely visit with Ann and she urged me to get back to writing...which I have....kind of.
Zac has been Zac. He's too big to use force no anymore, so I've been trying to control him in other methods. Most recent was to pay him to do things like put on clean clothes (sigh, yes, I couldn't get him to put clean clothes on in the morning and he was starting to smell -- teenage boys!) As part of this effort, I've been trying to get him to the mall once a week so he has a good reason to need money. Only...he's been thwarting my attempts to get him to the mall. Argh!
I'll be reporting in as I get my life back together. 6:45. Zac is out the door for the bus and I need to get dress to go to the gym. This morning its weight lifting and water fitness both. And then a nap. And more water...
Oct. 1st, 2008 @ 06:12 am
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| » Fear |
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I have what I like to think as a very rational fear of heights. I'm usually only afraid when there's a real danger of falling. Usually.
For example, I love to look out the windows of airplanes. I feel safe. I also love standing in skyscrapers and peering down at the streets below. In the Tokyo Tower, there was a section where they put in thick piece of glass that you could stand on and look straight down through the floor. It was fun watching adults be to terrified to go near the "invisible" floor but I didn't feel any fear standing on it and looking down.
Yes, I'm only usually only afraid of heights if there's a chance I'll fall. Stepladders bug me -- the taller the worse my fear is. One of those mini-ladders with three steps gives me pause. I'm shaky on six foot ladders. Anything over eight, and I have a death grip on the sides.
The ironic thing is that the fear grew as I got older and wiser and spent an unusual amount of time in positions where I could fall. My dad was a contractor that did siding, awnings and roofs. From twelve until I was twenty, every summer I would be up flimsy extension ladders or on steep pitched roofs. There's nothing like being on a third story roof and the fine grit from the shingles acting like marbles under your feet, making you slide toward the edge with nothing to grab to stop your fall....
Yup, I earned my fear.
Since its very rational, normally I don't let it bother me. The other day, however, it reared a very irrational head.
I'd gone back to Pittsburgh to visit my mom before her surgery. On the last night in town, my parents were committed to something, and I was free to meet with friends. Making a date with the House of Mews, I headed out to Monroeville. Turns out that the bridge over the Allegheny River at Oakmont was under construction.
Normally when you're on the turnpike and hit this bridge, you come up over this hill and as you come down into the river valley, you see a wonderful vista of the bridge which is like a half mile long towering several hundred feet over the Allegheny river. Normally I cross over it just thinking "wow, what a pretty bridge."
This time, I came over the hilltop and saw that my lanes were detoured onto the other deck and my side of the road ended abruptly at the edge of the valley. All that was left of the eastbound lanes were the tall support columns, sticking up like massive stone trees out of the valley. My heart lept into my throat and I was TERRIFIED. Shaking, I drove cautiously down the detour lane. I couldn't even look at bridge piers. They had the same intense fear that a monstrous face at a second story window would generate.
At sixty miles per hour, it only took a minute to cross the river and climb the hill beyond and be past all signs of construction. In a minute, all my fear was gone. The incident, though, left a mark.
Last night I had a chilling nightmare about having to drive on bridges under construction. When I woke up, I was so disquieted that I got out of bed and found something else to do... like post on my livejournal...
Jul. 11th, 2008 @ 07:35 am
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