San Juan Capistrano

Thanks to my Great Aunt Helen, we've got somewhere to stay until we leave next week for New Zealand. Jim is busy studying, Elizabeth is teething, and I am writing and reading like a furious monk who can't have any more beer until he'd copied the Old Testament into Swahili. (Ok, I know, I don't really drink much beer, and I don't think Swahili has much of an alphabet.) You get the idea. Although I've virtually been given the go-ahead to write my book, I still fear that I'm taking the story in the wrong direction. What if I'm wasting time? What if it's too over-the-top in certain places? What if it's not all that interesting? What if my writing isn't a good in the middle and end as it is in the begining? AHHHH!!! My husband is a dear, however, and continues to encourage me. We just went over the plot, and it was nice to have someone else go through it with me. He says it sounds exciting, but then again, he's my husband. What if the ending is horrible? Hopefully, any editor will be able to help me out there and let me know when certain sections aren't working. I'm betting that the editing process will take a bit more than a fortnight. (I read Shannon Hale's Austenland last night, so I am still breathing out Regencyese.) So speaking of good books... Yes, Austenland. I little book of chick power. I could NOT put it down. I tried. I went to the kitchen to make myself some late-night oatmeal (Ms. Sick Teether is nursing like crazy, and oatmeal helps me make more milk, in case you wanted to know...ok, maybe not, but I said it anyway). I decided to read a bit of it while eating said oatmeal, fully planning on getting back to MY story after the chapter. Jim asked when I was going to start writing. I said I would, later. Then at TWO A.M., I finished. Voila! Shannon Hale is so good at storytelling, it's scary. I have also recently read Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind, by Suzanne Fisher Staples. I had to read it because that wonderfully encouraging editor said my story reminded him of it. It is beautifully written... ;-) I was completely immersed in the Pakistani world while reading it, but I was a little disappointed at the end--it was over too soon! Ms. Staples is really good at describing things in a different sort of way, usually referring to the way the light bent at that particular moment, or sounds, like the jingling of copper bracelets. Everything became real and clean and illuminscent. I can only hope my story comes out at well! I'm printing off a chapter I wrote back in late spring, before I changed the plot, because there is a part of it I want to use in the next chapter I'm about to write. It's the point in the book when the Moriori gather at Te Awapatiki to discuss the Maori take-over. They have to make the decision if they should fight back and defend themselves or stick to their code of non-violence and try to make peace with the Maoris. Fortunately, I saved all of my work on iDisk because my lovely computer is in storage. Again, here's my ad for alphasmart: get a Dana. If you can't afford a laptop, or don't want to deal with lugging around much more than you need, a Dana is perfect. I've even found it easier to type on than my at-home keyboard.

Wow, my Aunt's printer is S L O W. I'm only trying to print off 12 pages. Ok, it's almost done... now, back to writing!

An edit

Yes, I took out the editor's name in the previous post. I was getting cold feet and started to worry that I had jinxed myself by naming him, so... voila! Name removed.

Jim, Elizabeth, and I went to dinner tonight with some friends from long ago, and although it was a buffet, we spent most of the time chasing after the roaming pink monster. She wore herself out and didn't eat much (no surprise there). At this present moment, she is passed out wearing nothing but a diaper and two hair ribbons.

Tomorrow is my last day on Air Force duty. Yay! My skin was starting to turn camouflaged from wearing my BDUs every single day.

Off to bed... I'm going to have to wake up an hour early each day to finish my book on time. Since she wakes up at 0400 and nurses for a half hour before falling asleep again, and we all get up at 0530, that's my one window. That is, IF I can keep myself awake.

Wish me luck, and pray that Elizabeth doesn't wake up between now and 4. (She usually wakes up at 1 or so, but I'd like to start skipping that one, if possible.) Someone tell me their kid did this too, please. I'm tired of hearing everyone else say, "oh, my son/daughter slept through the night when he/she was only three months old." I haven't had a SINGLE night yet where I was able to sleep the night through... If my novel turns out whacky, it's due to severe, prolonged sleep deprivation.

zzzzz

The Most Glorious Email Ever

This is a photo of me, absolutely excited (and with a horrible hair cut).

I called Jim from work this morning:
Jim: Do you know who ******* is?
Me: Yes.
Jim: He sent you an email.
Me: It's just a mass email, probably.
Jim: It looks personal.
Me: No way.
Jim: It says, "Dear Ms. Matthews"
Me: What?! (followed by yelping and shrieking)

Yes, a rather prominent editor emailed ME. I couldn't believe it! He went on to say that I was runner-up in the SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant, and that he had been one of the judges. He also said he thought my writing was "beautiful" and would like to see the rest of the manuscript.

I was shocked, full of glee, and shaking. Someone likes my book! And not just someone, but an editor! I sat in on a discussion of his at the LA conference this past August and kept thinking that he and his staff were exactly the kind of people I want to work with to make my book a great one. I just didn't know how it would ever happen...

And to think that yesterday I was this close to volunteering to go to Iraq for some financial security. (Not that selling a book will solve our money issues, but it would take me longer to finish it if I were away and working all the time.)

Of course, I didn't focus well at work today, and I couldn't wait to tell my mom. ("See? Writing isn't a lost cause...")

Woohoo! I'm not insane to think I can do this!

Still Kickin'

No, I'm not dead. I actually wrote a blog message on Friday, but Jim's laptop and my Dana aren't working well together. (If I could convince him to buy a new computer, like a Mac, we'd be in business).

I've been working seven days a week, and it has been draining me. I feel guilty about being such a wimp, though. There are millions of people world-wide in much worse conditions than I am in, working seven days a week for years on end, and here I am, complaining about a few weeks of it.

I miss spending all day with my daughter, though.

Friday night was "Parents' Night Out" so Elizabeth spent the evening at daycare while Jim and I went out to dinner. We debated about seeing a movie, but decided it would be more fun if we went to the bookstore to write/study. I loved it - we got to sit down, together, throughout an entire meal. We got to browse the bookstore without running after Ms. Toddlypants. I got to sit down and write an entire scene in Rohana's tale.

Sunday was depressing because I spent eight hours in a building attacked in 1941, presumably full of ghosts of men who had been sleeping in their beds that fateful Sunday morning, ALL BY MYSELF. I didn't see a single soul the entire time I was in there. (Maybe that's a good thing: No souls = no ghosts.) Anyhow, today was much better as there were other people living and breathing nearby, with tinkling brains.

Only one week left. We leave next Tuesday for San Diego, and then Jim will brave the Physics GRE. I know he will do fantastically well on it. :-)

Aloha

Yes, yes, I've been away. I have been insanely busy. I mean that literally - I have gone insane...

Just before we left San Diego, Elizabeth swallowed a penny. That alone took an entire day. We sat in the ER for a few hours, then got x-rays, then sat in the ER for another few hours. Then she had surgery. There were 20 people there for it - all of the pediatric surgeons, the ear-eyes-nose-throat surgeons, the anaestheticians, and their residents. The scariest part was when I had to hold her down while they gassed her. Part of me thought, when she passed out instantly, that it'd be nice to have one of those at home for those non-napping days, but most of me just cried. It was horrible lifting her limp body and placing her on the surgery table. The docs quickly ushered me out to join Jim, and within twenty minutes, she was out of surgery and completely fine. By the time we got home, we were all exhausted - but not so tired that we didn't scan the area to make sure there weren't any other items she could suck down.

Then, on Sunday, we left our house. It was empty, too - everything had been put in storage. We jumped on the plane and flew to San Fran and then to Honolulu, and have been here since. I started my Air Force Reserves job on Monday, which was quite a shock to my system after a year of being home with Elizabeth. By Friday, we had gotten into the swing of things. Jim has been taking care of her all day, but starting this Monday, she will be going to day care for four hours a day (he needs to study for his GREs). I've been trying to finish up my homework during lunch hour, but I haven't managed it yet.

And writing? No. Nada. Nothing. I haven't even looked at my manuscript in over a week. I have, however, been thinking about it. As soon as I've got a free minute with more than 5% energy level, I'll write again. Maybe next weekend, during my lunch break. (I have to work 7-days-a-week after next Friday or the USAF won't pay for the hotel.)

We are here until the end of September, when we return to San Diego for a few weeks prior to our New Zealand trip.

Oh, and I may have to go on Active Duty in November for 6+ months. I just found out that I'm highly vulnerable to another deployment to Iraq, even though I've already been. (The only people who are free from getting called up are those who have been involuntarily told to go before, so my voluntary deployment doesn't get me out of the hot water.) I'm trying to see if I can just stay here for six months (they need people here, too), and get a waiver of some sort to keep me from going back to Iraq. It's not that I'm afraid of going - I just don't want to leave my family. If I didn't have a child, I might have volunteered again just to get it out of the way.

*Sigh* I am looking forward to a change in the Administration...

Nearly all Packed

I put this pic in because it's just too cute. Isn't she adorable? *gushes* Even though she likes to scratch at my face, bite, and not take naps, she's still cute. :-)

Packing... hmm... Well, I didn't do much throughout the day because the Queen didn't take a nap and kept wanting me to hold her. When Jim came home, she was happier and let me put her on the floor as long as we played music and danced.

This morning, Elizabeth and I met up with two writing mamas from my critique group. They're both writing fantastic novels and have progressed far beyond me at this point (but their kids are a bit older and they're not moving - that's a reasonable excuse, right?). Cindy is writing a great fantasy steeped in Chinese folklore, and Kirsten is writing a very smart, dark-humored psychological tale. See? I have smart friends - and smart friends make me feel smarter!

I called my best friend Kelly, who lives in England, and told her all about the SCBWI conference. I was talking about the time when I will send my manuscript out, and trying to sound confident (to psyche myself up), I said, "I think Scholastic will like my book because it will be great - as long as I keep working on it until it's great." After I said it I realized it sounded a little arrogant, but what I meant was that as long as I give it my best effort, and really work at it so the pages are well-crafted and the story itself is better than anyone else could make of it, it will be great.

I have to remind myself this at times like these... when the only time I get to write is at midnight, blogging.

Yes, I know, I could be writing instead. Well, I will - when my copyediting and grammar lab homework is done and the house is packed up. You see, I can dip in and out of blogging much easier than I can my story; it's mindless most of the time. Besides, when the only time I get to write is at midnight, my mind is a little too sore from a day's work to do any justice to Rohana.

SCBWI, Denver, Disneyland, and Packing-up

Yes, quite a long list, so I'll list out the highlights of each event:

SCBWI LA Conference:

I got there too late on Friday to partake, but I did have a blast Saturday and Sunday... The best part of going to the conference was that I got motivated and encouraged to finish my book. (I will do a great job, as long as I don't give up!) I got to see Walter Dean Myers and Kirby Larson - I'm a fan of both writers. I met up with Laini Taylor and Jim Di Bartolo again, which was great because they're funny, friendly, and (here's that word again) encouraging. :-) I also met some new people that I'm planning on keeping in touch with... Having Jim and Elizabeth there in the hotel made it stress-free for me, and they had a great time at the pool (even though Jim forgot he had his cell in his pocket).

As for networking and learning things, Laini and her husband Jim introduced me to some very nice people at the By the Light of the Silvery Moon party. At one time, I got to speak some (very weak) Russian, and when I asked if the gal was a writer, she replied, "No, I'm an editor." So... editors are real people, too! I enjoyed talking with everyone that night, and then the next day, I got to sit in on a workshop with Arthur A. Levine and Rachel Griffiths (the Russian-speaking editor). Listening to them talk about their imprint (well, Arthur Levine's imprint) inspired me. I think, just maybe, they would like my book. (When it's ready.)

I had to leave early, unfortunately, so I missed a lot of activities on Sunday night and Monday, but I felt like it was all worth the money, the time, and the temporary feelings of ineptitude.

Then on Monday, Elizabeth, Jiji, and I drove to Denver. Only, we only made it to Utah on Monday. We didn't get to Denver until Tuesday night. The main reason we went out there was to deliver the cat and the car to my parents so they can both be watched while we (Jim, Elizabeth, and I) go circling the globe the next few months. Elizabeth and I flew back Friday, and then yesterday, we went to Disneyland.

It was Elizabeth's 1st birthday, so we had to do something grand. (Besides, we hadn't been in ages.) The first hour we were there, she cried, but then calmed down after I realized her toe had been mangled in her shoe (my fault). After that high-intensity period was over, she had fun in the It's a Bug's Life area, splashing in the water. We met up with a friend from college, did the birthday-day cupcake thing, and spent the rest of the day walking around. It was a completely different Disney experience for me, since we weren't trying to ride all the rides (I think we rode three). The best parts for Elizabeth were the little shows with live animals and princesses. I was surprised that she paid attention - she was enraptured, especially when Belle was telling a story. We stayed until the fireworks... and by then, she was zonked in her stroller.

Today, which is our 2nd anniversary, we are moving stuff into storage boxes. We'd be done by now, but the company that dropped them off yesterday only dropped off one (we ordered two), and they aren't the advertised size. I was (just a tad) annoyed, especially since we couldn't get ahold of them today to fix the situation. So I called a different company which is going to deliver two (bigger) boxes this afternoon. Anytime now... In fact, now would be good, since Elizabeth is napping...

I apologize if this whirlwind of events wasn't told in all that of an interesting manner, but I'm tired. Really.

I plan on emailing the writers I met at the conference, as soon as I can. My computer is getting boxed up today, but I'll have Jim's to use, and then we'll be off to Hawaii for our next job-adventure on Sunday, so I'll be out of commission until I figure internet, etc. at the hotel.

Ciao! Or rather, aloha.