The Sigh Heard Round the World

Whew! Mom read Armadillo Season and didn't hate it. Actually she liked it. A lot. Why do I sound surprised? Well...AS is set in a small Texas town not unlike the one she happens to live in. The content is about race and what happens when you are suddenly not who everyone thought you were. It's not like any of the characters are real people or anything, but you know...a borrowed mustache here, a character trait there. I was worried she was going to think I was commenting negatively on people she knows, or the town (it's not actually set there) or even the whole state of Texas. But she didn't.

I love David Sedaris, and whenever I travel I listen to one of his audiobooks. If you've never heard David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall, you owe it to yourself to go out and get a copy. Hilarious. Anyway, he has a bit about how he is just a junk collector who reuses the junk the he finds along the way. The only problem is that the junk that he collects is bits and pieces of other people's lives that he picks up dusts off and uses as it suits him. People start to not tell you things after a while.

On this date: In 1911, Machu Picchu is discovered.

Time Carving and Other Intangibles

So Walter Mosley has a book out called This Year You Write Your Novel that was excerpted in O Magazine this month. It was an interesting article, with the bottom line being that you have to set aside a certain amount of time (three hours was the example) EVERY day to write. On a vacation in the Bahamas? Write before breakfast. Kids need attention? Carve out time anyway.

The theory is that if you go a day or more without reconnecting to the world you're creating it is too hard to get back into it. I buy this theory completely and know I could finish my WIP in no time if I could find time. I'd love to be the type of writer that gets up at dawn, sits down with a cup of coffee and cranks out a few thousand words before everyone gets up. Only a few problems with that scenario.

First off, oldest son J gets up at about 5:45 every day regardless of when he goes to bed. That would mean that in order to get a good couple of hours in before he got up, I'd have to set my alarm for about 3:00. (Don't know about you, but I get my best work done when there is nobody around that might need something from me.) Now, I'm useless unless I've been up for a good hour or so, which means that I would have to get up around 2:00. Taking a shower always helps me wake up, and then I might as well wash my hair, so that would have me getting up around 1:30. Of course, if I was up, the pets would want to be fed and wouldn't leave me alone so I'd have to take some time out to feed them, which would back the clock to about 1:15. Being as I now turn my light off at around 1am because I am a staunch night owl, this would only alter my schedule by about 15 minutes. Not too bad.

All excuses aside, I've been thinking a lot about this, so I'm going to seriously carve out some time. The hours from about 9pm to 12am sound about right. Sometimes I wish I was a morning person.

On this date: In 1984, Vanessa Williams gave up her crown as Miss America.

And the Earth Moved...

In advance of the big Harry Potter midnight release, the universe sent the Bay Area a pretty big earthquake at 4:42 this morning. Did I feel it? Youbetcha. Did the kids? J was up and in my room within seconds, but T and his sleepover friend just huddled in their sleeping bags and snored right through it. Being a (mostly) lifelong California resident, it's not that unusual, but this one was big enough to sit up and take notice.

So what did I take away from this? To live every day like it was my last? Well yeah, that, but also that I need to buckle down and finish my WIP so that I can sell it and get a new foundation so that the house will stay put during the big one. Nothing like the wrath of the universe to get you to sit down and open up that dusty file.

Happy HP day!

On this date: In 1987, my littlest sister was born. Happy Birthday Jess!

Back to Normal

We're all back now - most of the bags are unpacked and about half the laundry is done and that seems about right. Being with the boys 24/7 has made me long for a vacation from my vacation.

I recently took a break from kidlit and read a great book called If You Lived Here by Dana Sachs. It's a book about nothing and everything and even though there isn't so much in the way of plot the characters really draw you in. Every night I looked forward to picking the book up and getting reacquainted with the characters. I don't write kick-a** plots, but I'd love to write characters that resonate with people like these did me.

Reading this also made me realize that I need to rework my WIP in first person.

On this date: In 1929 Hunter S. Thompson is born.

All Inclusive

Just goes to show that they celebrate everyone in Texas.

On this date: In 1999, JFK Jr. is killed in a plane crash.

What I Saw On My Summer Vacation

We stumbled on this minutes-old calf and its mother on our friend's ranch today. Way cool.

Did You Know...

...that if you Google my name now, Six O'clock in San Francisco comes up on bookfinder.com and allbookstores.com! That is so cool! I was showing my mom some things on the internet when I came across this info. There is an ISBN number and everything! (Sorry for all of the !, but I'm pretty jazzed.)

We're still shooting for a Spring 2008 delivery. I'm hoping to see some of the art in the next month or two, which really has me biting my nails. Randy DuBurke, my illustrator, has done some great stuff in the past - we even had his title Catching the Moon before I knew who he was, so I'm more excited than nervous. It's all a lot like being pregnant - you know something is brewing, but you won't really believe it until you see it.

On this date: In 1985, the first Live Aid concert happened in London.