Lynn Raye Harris

Imagine my surprise to realize, just yesterday, that National is July 11-14 and not at the end of the month like I originally thought. Never mind that I’ve been registered for months, or that I bought my plane ticket months ago. I’ve been telling my family that it’s the last week in July.

Duh.

So I realized that I have 6 weeks to get back into one of my evening gowns. I am NOT buying a new one. Six weeks is usually enough time, so we’ll see what happens. Ten pounds ought to do it, though twenty would really make me happy. I don’t really know numbers though because I haven’t been on a scale in a long time. Not because it upsets me, but because I use the scale at the gym and I haven’t been to a gym around here yet.

The diet has officially begun. So has the exercise, and today my chest hurts from the 45 push-ups I did yesterday. My abs hurt too. Ah yes, the price of too much good Southern cooking must now be paid.

My house is not quite a disaster area, but it’s not completely done yet either. I still have boxes to unpack (not many). I still have decorating to do. And I have six weeks to finish this book, write another proposal, and get yet another idea in the formation stage. Can’t go to National with nothing to talk about.

*sigh* Better get busy. Aloha.

On the search for interesting things to talk about, I pop over to Tess Gerritsen’s blog. I haven’t made the blog rounds in a long time, having been occupied with my move, so I’m beginning to branch back into my favorite reads again. Always trust Tess to deliver. Though we’re members of the same RWA chapter, I’m sorry I never got to meet her in person. She’s a pretty smart lady.

Finally, I leave you to ponder Creepy Fact #5: the animal with the shortest lifespan is the aquatic gastrotrich. It lives only three days. Only three days to accomplish everything it needs to do in a lifetime.

You, on the other hand, have fifty years ahead of you. That may seem like a long time right now, but it isn’t. I’m a gardener, and we gardeners know that we’re allotted only a limited number of spring plantings in our lives, only a certain number of seasons to try out new plants.

So here’s the final lesson from my creepy facts file, a lesson brought to you courtesy of the pitifully short-lived gastrotrich: Don’t waste a single planting season. Plant the seeds of your future now by nurturing every interest, every hobby. And always have something new growing, something you’ve never tried to grow before. Because you never know. It could end up being the most beautiful plant in your garden.

Head on over to Tess’s blog and read the text of the speech she gave for the University of Maine’s graduation. Much to think about, whether you’re 22 or 42 or 82.

How did you spend the weekend? Saturday, we went boating on the Tennessee River. We watched balloons taking off from the balloon festival in Point Mallard Park, then we docked and went to eat BBQ at Big Bob Gibson’s. Sunday, we went to a fish fry and shrimp boil in Decatur, in a very lovely garden, and Monday we moved some more stuff from my parents’ house. Whew, life is busy here in Alabama, but I’m loving it.

Yeah, it’s been a while — again. But things are coming together finally after several months of upheaval. We’re in our new house. Our household shipment arrived last week after being in storage for nearly 8 months. My desk is set up beside a window. My Internet connection is on. I itch to get back to work.

Random snippets:

1. I love Alabama. Yes, I do. It took awhile, but this is a FABULOUS place to be. Check out Kiplinger’s June issue and see why Huntsville is one of the top 25 cities to call home.

2. This is my first American Idol season. I am irritated. The finale should have been Melinda and LaKisha, IMO. Jordin is good, but not as good as she will be when she matures. And she comes from a privileged background. I’d prefer the million dollar contract go to someone like Melinda or LaKisha, women who come from humble backgrounds and who can sing so beautifully. Jordin gets a little screechy for me. Love Blake’s innovative side, but he’s not a great vocalist. Such a disappointment watching A.I. for the first time.

3. Iced mint tea is pretty awesome. I haven’t had it in years, but had some at a garden tour last weekend. Great!

4. Do I really have this much stuff? We shipped 10 crates from Hawaii, and had another one in Baltimore. Over 14,000 pounds of stuff, lots of which goes in the kitchen.

5. Love my new LG Steamwasher! Quiet, efficient, and pretty. Ordered white but got red because of a mix up by Home Depot. The red costs $100 more per appliance, but I got the upgrade for free. Not upset by that at all!

6. National is approaching. Pluses: I’m registered, plane ticket purchased, roomies who kindly invited me to share, the prospect of seeing friends from Hawaii and elsewhere, and all the stuff I’m going to learn. Minuses: Southern cooking. I’ve gained weight and I need to get rid of it. No, I don’t know how much. I haven’t stepped on a scale, but I’m guessing it’s in the vicinity of 15 lbs. And I need to do it before National if I want to fit into the clothes I already have. Why buy a new evening gown when I have several!? Must stop eating grits and fried green tomatoes.

7. I miss working on my book.

8. It’s very hard to type with a cat lying beside the computer and randomly attacking fingers and screen.

Once again, I’ve fallen into the morass and failed to write a new blog post for 19 20 days. I hate this! I’ve been busy, naturally. Found a house, bought it, waiting for it to finish being built, waiting to close, waiting to get my household goods, etc. Keeping up with my husband, who now wears suits and ties to work everyday instead of a uniform. Now you wouldn’t think that would be such a biggie, but the utility uniform of the military, aka the BDU (battle dress uniform), doesn’t need much attention. Wash, dry, run an iron over it, wear. Easy.

Now, however, shirts must be washed. Slacks must be pressed. Jackets must be coordinated. Ties are a whole new challenge. The hubby used to iron the uniform himself. Now, however, I seem to have taken over the suit and tie thing, mostly because I’m the color-coordinated one I suspect. Oh, and because I don’t have to get up and drive 20 miles to work every day. *sigh*

I haven’t written a word in more than a month. I missed my last RWA meeting because I was too busy, too exhausted, and had more house paperwork to sign. I somehow stupidly decided to pursue a graduate certificate (don’t ask) which is currently demanding up to 25 tasks per week and 100+ pages of reading. It’s over this week, thank goodness, and I’m not sure if I’ll take the next class in sequence or just say forget it for now.

Found out that one of the entries I judged for the GH is a finalist. Yay! Never managed to get off my butt and get my own entry into the GH, though maybe this year I’ll finally have it together. Did I ever mention that I’m going to Dallas for National this year? I’ve registered and bought the plane ticket, and been taken in by the wonderful Writing Playground group as a roomie. And, dammit, I’m getting myself in gear and writing again NEXT WEEK. As soon as this stupid class is over, I’m writing. My wonderful critique partner probably thinks I’ve abandoned her. I’m almost afraid to email her to find out.

Hey, so now that it’s Spring, what’s your favorite thing about it? I’d forgotten how much I love the new colors when everything is so fresh and tender. The trees and flowers here are just gorgeous. Alabama is turning even prettier than I’d thought it would be. We’re pretty pleased with our decision to move here, even if we miss our Hawai’i ohana.

Aloha y’all.

Well hell, has it really been more than 20 days since I posted? Life has been hectic! First, the hubby rejoined the work force. Second, all the things we’d put off, like getting license plates for our cars, changing our cell phones, going to Florida to visit the inlaws, etc, had to be accomplished now that we know we’re staying here. And we won’t even talk about the house hunting (still doing that, in fact).

I haven’t had a chance to work on my WIP in weeks now. Isn’t it amazing how when you put the WIP aside it can take forever to get back to it? The trouble all began with the computer crash (which, I can happily report, is working just fine so far). That threw me off stride, naturally. And then things just started to happen that week that pushed me farther and farther from being able to have the quiet time to work.

This week is still hectic, but I’m hoping next week will be better. Hope you are all writing and getting lots done. Aloha, y’all.

Hope your celebrations were fun and safe. We stayed up until midnight, said Happy New Year, and went to bed. My parents were in bed much earlier, my mom sicker than a dog (having caught a bug from my dad who is now over it — I wonder if we’re next).

We drank our wine earlier in the evening, with dinner, and toasted friends, family, the coming year, and our lost kitties. Miss Kitty passed on New Year’s Eve 2004. Thumper joined her on Dec 26, 2006.

It is indeed a brave new year for us. We’ve transitioned from the military to civilian life, from the tropics to the South, from living thousands of miles away from family to living in the same house. It’s been amazing.

What does the new year hold? Hopefully, new opportunities — a fulfilling career for Mike, a lot of writing and submitting for me, a new home, and continuing good health.

I don’t usually make specific resolutions, so I suppose I won’t start now. I intend to write more, to submit my work, to attend chapter meetings, to go to my first conference, to work harder and become more focused on my goals of publication. 2007 is the year to put up or shut up. I don’t have to get a contract, but I should at least have some rejections to show for my trouble. This is the year I submit my work. No more letting time get away, no more saying I’ll do it later or I need to make things perfect first. Write, submit, repeat.

How about you? (Photo courtesy of bigfoto.com)

Okay, so you can tell I’m fiddling again. I switched to the new Blogger, so we’ll see what happens. If I was linking to you previously, I will do so again! It’s just going to take me a little bit of time to figure this all out, so don’t worry, I’ll get your link back up soon.

Aloha, Mele Kalikimaka, and bye y’all.