Hmmm . . .

Can I just be an ostrich and put my head in the sand?

People Watching

Scenes from St. Augustine -- Look! It's Patrick and Cody! Patrick is the horse (he's a retiree from an Amish farm up north) and Cody was our fabulously wry, witty guide for ghostly carriage ride. This was sooooo much fun. I've always wanted to do one of St. Augustine's famous carriage rides, but we were always a) too busy or b) on a shoestring budget when we went.

I'm not sure if it's the writer in me or not, but I love people watching. I look at everything--how they dress, how they move, how they talk, how they interact. (Then, usually, I get caught staring and they give me weird looks. I don't mean to stare, I just get drawn into them.) While we were visiting SA, I was surrounded by people watching opportunities. People come from all over to visit. I do mean all over, because the DH and I picked out the following languages around us: Portugese, Spanish, Russian, Greek, Vietnamese and Japanese. You heard accents from all over the United States (and some British accents). Families, couples, friends.

Some of my favorites:

1) The three teachers on vacation together who were on our Ghost Trolley tour. Oh my God, they were hilarious. One was the DD and two had indulged in a few too many martinis, but they were so much fun. They were having fun and you wanted to be drawn into their good time.

2) The young family atop the Castillo de San Marco. The dad was valiantly trying to get his 2-3 year old daughter to drink water and stay hydrated. They were just sweet.

3) The honeymooners we saw on a different night in front of the Castillo. They were taking photos of the sign, canoodling, celebrating being in love. Very, very cute.

4) Watching the local teenagers hang out on St. George Street on Friday night was interesting. They were really different from our local teens (not in a bad way, just different). Actually, all of the local were interesting, from the 1960's hippie guy who hangs out on St. George to the street performers, to the guys who sit in front of the local hangout bars and hollered to Cody as we passed on the carriage ride. Oh, the stories behind all those locals . . .

I think what I liked the most, and what I sometimes crave when I go on my binges about wanting to live down there, is the sheer level of diversity. There's not a lot of that here, although you get into social and class and color differences that lead to tension.

What about you? Are you a watcher? Or a watchee?

Alive But Writing

Elisabeth tagged me days ago. I'm buried in the WIP right now, loving it, trying to make major inroads on it before I have edits in May/June for my September release.

So six random things about me:

1) I really need to update my website. (I'm working on it, I swear. But I've been writing, I swear.)

2) I love to cook.

3) I can roof a house.

4) I actually enjoy reading my students' research papers. They picked topics they were passionate about and it makes for interesting reading.

5) I will probably end up getting a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership. Not that I'm being coerced {cough} or influenced {cough} in any way. {cough-cough-Mary-cough-Connie}

6) I have a total addiction to Harlequin Presents.

Why Math Is Scary

Believe it or not, I find the idea of math fascinating. Hence, my friendship with Connie the Math Guru. I wish she'd been my high school math teacher. I think I'd have done better.

She amazes me with what she can do in her head. Like she could tell me, if my sales numbers stayed on the same pattern, what I could roughly make this year in royalties. Without a caluclator, she did this.

But math can be scary, too. Like over at Query Tracker, there are over 2000 registered users. This, of course, does not count the ones who don't register.

And 37 success stories.

You do the math. I'll wait. (I had to find my calculator to do this one. There's a reason I'm an English teacher and Connie is the math guru.)

1.85%.

That's really scary, when my request percentage is only 7.

I think I'm going to stick with words. Words can be scary, in the right hands. But they can be warm and wonderful and emotional. They can be terse and suspenseful and exciting. They can be sexy and hot and sensual. And they can be angsty and painful and aching.

I have 2075 words on the brand-new WIP. I think that's the math I'll stick with tonight.

What about you? Is math scary or fascinating?

Yet Another Weirdness

My students tell me all the time how weird I am. I usually shrug, agree, move on with teaching.

I've discovered yet another weirdness in my personality: I don't celebrate.

Over at writeminded, Sharon is blogging about celebratory traditions. I know Carol has a bottle of bubbly stashed in the event her requested H/S manuscript sells. Mary blogged about all the things she did to celebrate the release of her first book. Elisabeth and her DH went to dinner to celebrate her recent three-book deal.

Okay, here's my weirdness. I didn't celebrate selling my first book. Or my second. Or my . . . you get the picture. I haven't celebrated book releases. I was chosen STAR teacher at school. You guessed it -- no celebration. Birthday and wedding anniverary in February? No celebrating.

I do things for my Monsters on their birthdays. The DH gets some kind of celebration around his (birthdays were a big deal in his family). But I am not a celebrator (its that a word?).

Yes, I'm weird. What's your weirdness?

Wondering over Breakfast

Just how do they make Poptarts, anyway?

Now that there are whole grain Poptarts, I can have childhood nostalgia for breakfast and not feel guilty about it.

Oh, man, that sounded like one of those cheesy advertisement voices from Feed.

Well . . .

I was going to rant about how I don't watch American Idol and therefore don't really like to read recaps on author blogs, but some of my friends do them and, you know, that might be a tad rude.

So then I was going to blog about my new roof, which we just finished today. But, I thought, that might be a tad on the boring side.

I could post an excerpt from Anything But Mine but you know, I'm going to be posting those for the release date . . . TOMORROW!

I could tell you how I've been sick and my Monsters have had the flu.

How behind I am on grading. (Did I mention my grades are due tomorrow?!)

Or . . .

I could . . .

Tell you the absolutely true, completely traumatic story of how the lovely and gracious and talented Maya Banks threatened to kill me!

She did. For real. Earlier in the evening. I have the email as proof. And there might have been some cursing going on in there, some of that language, I -- as a good and prudish English teacher (Hey, seniors, stop snorting! I am your STAR teacher; therefore, I do not curse. Much. And only when I write. Or when I'm working on a the roof.) -- would never use. And since I'm fairly certain she doesnt't live anywhere near me, I can say . . . bring it on, baby!

I would start a huge blog kerfluffle and maybe even bring out the rabid fangirls . . . but I think she might have more than me.

I'm going to grade papers now.

Stuff

I think Monster #2 has the flu. Headache, sore throat, cough, fever, body aches. We saw the pediatrician on Friday and they did a flu swab. Said they'd call if it was positive. No call, but the kid sure has flu symptoms.

I'm in the first round of edits on MOU and I get to within 20 pages of the book's end and realize, "Oh, my God, I have a plot hole." Not a small, pinprick hole. One of those you could drive a truck through.

So . . . I'm rewriting the end of my book.

Great.

What are you up to?

Sunday Check In

The closet in the master bedroom is finished! Whoo! Hey, after months and months and months of renovations from hell, I'll take my successes where I can get them.

Paper #7 is turned in. One more to go in this class. I'm just about 1/5 through with my master's degree.

Trying to finish A Life Unlived (Mad and Ash's book). Will let you know how that goes. ;-)

Sunday Morning Musings

It's Sunday morning, I was able to sleep past nine o'clock (that can be rare on weekends in this house), and I have coffee. I'm good.

The DH fixed my dryer yesterday, so I can tackle the mountain of laundry, thank heavens! Grades are due tomorrow, so I'll probably be grading notebook tests today, entering and exporting. I need to make a Septemer calendar for my students, but they might end up with a weekly one instead.

Homecoming is staring me in the face -- two weeks until Homecoming Week. It's a very good thing I didn't make plans to go to M&M in Atlanta, as the dance is that Friday night. It's not like I can skip it, either. I have a fantastic student government president this year and that's made planning for HC much easier. At this point, we have a theme, a venue for the dance, a DJ, a list of things to do and committees. I feel like I have more of a handle on it this year than I did last year, when we held the first one (we're a really new high school -- we didn't have alumni until last year so we could have a Homecoming.).

One Act is looming, too. I've started auditions, but with kids adding and dropping at practices, I still don't know how many actual actors I might have so I haven't even chosen a play yet.

And I'm haunting my email, looking for my HOTM edits from Anne the Editor Goddess.

In terms of story progress, I'm at 63,752 words, exactly 75% of my targeted 85K. I have seven plot points to go, so I'm not sure if that will take 22K or if I'll end up at around 80K. Either way, this rough draft will need serious marination before I go back and revise, edit and polish. In the meantime, I'm trying to think my way through Ash's book. I know the story of the romance. I know the suspense story. Now, I just need to figure out where the darn book begins. I can't get a handle on the opening scene/event, which is really unusal for me.

Need to write today, too. Fell short yesterday and only wrote 700 words. It was like drawing blood, finally gave up and went to bed (I was wiped out). Feel more refreshed this morning, hoping that will make a difference.

Hey, quick question for you . . . do free reads by an author make a difference in whether or not you buy his or her books?

Huh.

Not sure if this is me or not.

Snagged from Lydia:







Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?
this quiz was made by Lori Fury

Escapism

I should be editing. Or grading research papers (I'm almost finished with those! Whoo-hoo!).

I could clean the bathroom. Or work on the WIP.

I'm not.

I'm looking up recipes for the spring luncheon I'm throwing with a friend next month. I'm perusing the menu at the Spot of Tea, just in case I do manage a getaway over the summer. (I'm really hoping we can make that happen -- I so want to see the Pompeii exhibit.) I'm over at Blogthings, taking quiz after quiz after quiz. (It's as addictive as Bebo, I'm finding).

Oh, wait! I can go play webboggle!

What do you do when you're really looking for a little escape?

***

Your Quirk Factor: 43%

You're a pretty quirky person, but you're just normal enough to hide it. Congratulations - you've fooled other people into thinking you're just like them!

How Quirky Are You?

You Will Be a Cool Parent

You seem to naturally know a lot about parenting, and you know what kids need. You can tell when it's time to let kids off the hook, and when it's time to lay down the law. While your parenting is modern and hip, it's not over the top. You know that there's nothing cool about a parent who acts like a teenager... or a drill sergeant!

Would You Be a Cool Parent?

Stuff and Nonsense

Received my second set of edits on Truth and Consequences today. Not too bad. I'm always nervous to open the file. I think my poor editor thinks I'm psychotic the way I ask if it's okay to open them.

I'm supposed to be grading tonight, but darn! I left the key for my papers at school, and I didn't bring home any research papers. What shall I do?

Fish would probably love for me to get him out of the incredibly uncomfortable situation I left him at the beginning of ch. 2 of the WIP. Hey, he let his mouth get him into it, so I figure it won't hurt him to suffer a bit. Besides, I have edits. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

Tons going on at school -- gearing up for student government's spring project, my poetry anthologies going on in my junior classes, state testing this week. Testing is exhausting. I can't really do anything but watch the kids, and I get bored easily. I do a lot of mental plotting. Makes the writing easier when I do get back to it.

Saw this over at Steph's. (Did you know she's afraid of butterflies?) Decided to steal it.

You Should Get An Asian Inspired Tattoo

Mysterious and expressive You like to show off, but you also like to keep some allure

What Tattoo Should You Get?

Found this while I was at blogthings. This is crazy-accurate:

The Part of You That No One Sees

You are balanced, peaceful, and sincere. You're the type of person who goes along to get along. And you're definitely afraid of rocking the boat. Underneath it all, you fear your world falling apart. You'll put up with a situation that you don't like in fear of changing it. Disruptive and forceful people intimidate you - and sometimes exploit you.

What's the Part of You That No One Sees?

Not very flattering, is it?

By the way, I'm setting up an author page at bebo. You can find me here.

It's Official

I have lost my mind! I'm entering the fray once more, after a year or so of absence.

I'm blaming it on the mind-numbing experience of administering the CRCT . . . to seventh graders! There is a reason I teach high school. It's the one year I taught six and seventh grade language arts.

More to come on my bout with temporary insanity . . .