Zoo’s, not mine, although I’m way jealous.
First, he got the little fishy on the line – here little fishy….
And then Kenny (fishing guide) urged the nice little fish closer to the boat…
Kenny wants to show you the little fish
Category Archives: Home Life
Why your mom shouldn’t plot your books
So my mom calls me yesterday and is all like, Did you see that a SEAL team rescued that captain?
I tell her that I’ve been following all of this forever at this point and say yes.
Then she’s like, you know, I was washing dishes when I heard it and I stopped to watch the story. And then I turned back to washing the dishes and I thought, you know, this is something Stephanie should write about. She should write about the SEALs.
(This is the point where I tell my new readers that my mom has never read any of my books.)
She continues, And then I thought, wait, I think she does write about Navy SEALs. But I don’t think you have a plot like this. You should write this exact plot. It would be so timely. And all the work is already done for you…
things get in the way…
So, Zoo has tonsillitis and I’m hoping that the antibiotics work so he doesn’t have to have them out. Mainly because he’s telling me he won’t have them out until after his fishing trip at the end of April.
I’m guessing he doesn’t realize that he’s not going to have much of a choice.
So I’ve got that going on, coupled with several days in a row of no nursing for the kid. Add in a book due soon, copy edits and two different sets of revisions and well, I might’ve just hyperventilated. Seriously.
If everyone would simply go to sleep at a decent hour and sleep through the night, I could make some real progress. Which brings me to my next point.
Okay, I personally do not like the Teletubbies. But the kid does. Loves them. Finds them soothing. They help her sleep. 
And the DVDs are being discontinued.
We kill DVDs around here. Mainly, because my daughter likes to grab and bite them and then, well, they don’t really work all that well. My mom’s been searching eBay for them but man, come on Teletubbie people – it’s so not right to pull the plug on these little dancing idiots. Think of the children!
Think of the parents who can’t get their children to sleep. Like me. A sad parent with a pissed off Delta Force hero just waiting for me to get him out of trouble. Or into it.
I’m going to have to start a, bring back the Teletubbies, club or something.
I’m betting Delta Force hero wouldn’t mind helping. I’m imagining him marching into the Teletubbie offices (well, not offices with Teletubbies in them because that would just be silly. And kind of funny) and demanding their secret stash of unsold videos. Maybe I could send a team in on a covert mission to recapture the little dancing idiots.
What can I tell you – I’m desperate.
Comment of the day
This is a lovely conversation the husband and I had a few days ago. I laugh every time I think about it, but that could just be me.
Me: Did Gus just go outside?
Zoo: Yes.
Me: Did he do anything?
Zoo: Yes.
Me: Then he gets a cookie.
Zoo: No one gives me a cookie when I go to the bathroom.
Gus, the unpublished photos
You know, I’d say TGIF except that I work more on the weekends these days than during the week, so it all kind of blends together. But I think I’ve finally got a handle on what I’ve been wrestling with on Cam and Skylar’s story. They’re both pretty private people and they haven’t wanted to talk to me, but I’m pretty persistent. And finally, at some point yesterday, I was actually writing instead of just futzing around and fixing older scenes. I actually woke up wanting to write, so that’s always a good sign.
Speaking of, it’s time to get a move on with said writing. But I’ve gotten some requests for more Gus photos, so I figured today was a good day to show some of them.
And yes, I looked again – I can’t help myself.
Free Will Astrology for Aries – week of April 2nd:
There’s plain old everyday lightning, which travels about five miles, and then there are superbolts — strokes of lightning that are a hundred times stronger than a normal flash and that can travel over 100 miles. In the coming weeks, Aries, your power levels could be more like these superbolts than your usual output. I suggest you take advantage. Just assume that you’ll be able to shed more light and attract more attention than usual.
Seriously, I hope this is true.
Any good weekend plans?
the, not so itsy bitsy, spider…
The scene – my den, just before American Idol starts. Thanks to my superior spider seeking eyesight, I spot a spider trying to make a break for it across the ceiling molding.
Me: Zoo! Come kill the spider. And bring a chair. Because I know you’ll try to jump and grab it and it will fall on the floor and you’ll be all, I can’t find it now.
Zoo brings over chair, stands on it, reaches for spider and still manages to make it fall to the ground.
Me: You need to catch it or it will spend the rest of its days seeking revenge on those who wronged it! (What? You know you’d say the same thing if you were me.)
Zoo: Well, you’re the one who gave the execution orders, so I’m guessing you’re screwed.
The spider was never found last night. it could be anywhere. ANYWHERE!
Dear People in charge of scheduling The Unit,
Did you not realize that football would screw it up every single weekend, forcing me to stay up way later than I need to? Especially since DVRs are not smart enough to figure out that they need to tape 1/2 later in order not to cut off half the episode?
Seriously, someone needs to plan better.
Oh, and Dear PBS and every other channel that features kid shows -
What’s with cutting off Boobah and Teletubbies from your roster? Because I need to DVR them so when the kid wakes up in the middle of the night (we’re at 4 weeks now and counting) I need to be able to click a remote and show her her favorite programs instead of fumbling for a DVD. So please, for the love of all that’s good and holy (and for a mother in desperate need of uninterrupted sleep), please put these two shows back on the air.
Thank you.
***
Anyway, we lived through the 8 hour Verizon Fios installation. When I called Cablevision to cancel my serivce, I was really honest about why I canceled, told them I’d asked repeatedly for better quality signal and to clean up the mess of wires outside my house (which Verizon did in 5 seconds). Of course, Cable ignored what I said, talked about the high fees I’d incur with the new service and said they’d take me back and cut my bill in half for the next year.
Dear Cablevision -
Next time, offer that before people leave. Also, stop leaving messy wires outside people’s houses and telling them that the internet loss isn’t their problem. Do that instead of telling me that I’m going to be paying more with Verizon and I’d respect you in the morning.
Thank you.
Ahem.
Anyway, in spite of all that, I’ve got about 6K or more done, between the proposal and the synopsis and the revisions (which are just about done, way ahead of the Dec 1st due date so yeah!)…looks like I’ll be getting to Syd book 5 sooner than later, which is awesome. Are you doing the Sven thing? How’s it going for you?
How was your weekend?
Okay, off to do some massive writing / revision / proposal clean-up. And pray for the return of Boobah.
Steph T.
shifting gears
Sven yesterday: 1226 words + longhand synopsis (synopsis is hanging at about 1500 words)
Today, I got some light revisions for Chris’s book (Hold On Tight - book 3 in the SEAL trilogy) thumped against my door – I’ll be motoring fast on those and then all three of the SEAL books will go into copy edits at the same time. That’s both great (since they’re so closely connected) and horrid (mainly because I hate copy edits and doing 3 sets at once could easily topple me over the edge.)
But I’m relieved that my editor liked the revisions I’ve done thus far – majorly relieved.
So I’m going to try to finish the proposal and get a nice chunk of the revisions done as well. Except, of course, the weekend promises to be busy, since we’re having Verizon Fios installed tomorrow (which I’m hearing can be a 6 hour process) and I have a dinner tomorrow night.
I must make use of today and tonight.
Gotta run.
Steph T.
no surrender
Dear stupid bureaucracy-ish people I dealt with all day yesterday who sucked up all my time, energy and generally made me want to beat my head against the wall,
I know you’re lying. And trust me, I can confuse you far more easily than you can me. Just ask Larissa or my editor about my powers of confusion.
All best-
Steph
***
BTW, if you’re dealing with annoying, lying people, I’ve found it best, if possible, to either record them if it’s allowed in your state and / or put everything in writing (via email) and save all responses. That way, the inaccuracies (read: lies) can be recorded very easily for future reference. Oh, and when you’re on the phone, play Time Is Running Out by Papa Roach in the background (I refuse / to surrender…)
I’ve got a raging migraine – hopefully, meds and coffee will all kick in soon, since I need to get my ass in gear.
Anyone see Brothers & Sisters this past Sunday? My DVR didn’t record it for some reason and I love that show – anything major happen? Is Kevin accepting the Rob Lowe guy’s job offer?
Okay, onto Sven stuff.
I managed 1179 words on the Cam proposal. For a while, I was actually losing words and for most of the day I was at a negative number, which drives me nuts. By 9PM, I finally finished up.
I definintely wrote more, since I worked on the synopsis in bed (longhand) – and then, since kid was up at 3AM (she has officially become the child who needs neither sleep nor food) I wrote about 4 pages longhand on the story as well. So hopefully a good start for day two.
Except, of course, I’m at the point of the proposal where I’m thinking, this is the stupidest premise ever and will never hold together. Parts of it probably won’t, but I’m already so far from my original idea that I know, somehow, it will all work out.
Maybe.
Ish.
Steph T.
two words
Food. Poisoning.
Ugh. I knew the Indian food Zoo brought home last night was different. It wasn’t bad tasting, but I told him that I thought there was a new ownership. The chicken looked…not chicken-ish. Reminded my of the time, when we were still dating, of a particular dinner at his parents’ house. They served lamb, which I’m not a huge fan of – and this lamb tasted even, well, gamier, than normal.
As we drove home, my face began to break out in a rash, and I showed Zoo.
Zoo: Huh. I wonder if it’s from the goat.
Me: The goat?
Zoo: Yeah, that wasn’t lamb. My dad didn’t tell anyone because he thought my cousins would be freaked out.
Although, to be fair, I didn’t get sick from the goat.
Anyway, yucky night, have been tired all day. Getting work done though, since it’s a school holiday and things were quiet around here. Larissa and I got our Taming The Fire cover – we’ll show it off once it’s all finalized but it’s very pretty!
Steph T.
