Novel Slow Going - thank you life

Thanks to stressors in my life over which I have no control, Ravaged Heart is still going incredibly slowly...mostly because I've had a hard time making time to write, and when I do my brain is so scattered I have a hard time focusing on anything. I'm currently at 43,000 words, which not even half of what I want the finished novel to be. Yes, I know, write to tell a story, not to make a certain word count, but let's face it, novels typically need to be a certain length if they are going to be marketable. So I need about 90,000 words, give or take (preferably give) a few. I wanted to finish this before NaNoWriMo, which is less than 2 months away. I'm not sure that's going to happen. However, the weekend before NaNo begins is my writing group's weekend retreat, so I'm not giving up yet. A full weekend of writing should lend itself to massive word count.

Two weeks ago I printed out what I have written and read through it on paper. Sometimes helps to do that rather than read on the screen. Made some minor edits, but mostly just reread to refresh my memory and hopefully get the juices flowing again. I think it worked, but I'd know better if I had more time. There are scenes/plot points I need to add. I'm currently in the middle of a fight scene, so I should be able to pick up and keep going with it. Stopping in the middle of a scene often helps, because at least I can just continue what I was working on the day or week before, rather than starting a whole new chapter with a blank page staring at me.

I'm Global!

I use SiteMeter to track hits on my blog. It's had hits from Belgium, Sweden, Australia, Brazil, and Germany recently. In the past it's had hits from England, and I think a few others I've forgotten. How cool is that! If you're one of these people, leave a comment if you want, let me know how you found my blog. Heck, no matter where you're from feel free to let me know how you found me. I'm curious and excited to hear about it!

Washington, D.C. part 2

Friday we slept in and headed to the National Archives once we were up at about. We got there around 11:45, but the next showing wasn't until 1:30 so we decided to skip it. Then we headed to Ford's Theater, then across the street to the house where Lincoln died. Then lunch at ESPN Zone, then on to the International Spy Museum. That was really cool, but it was too crowded. They had interactive displays, and there were just too many people to get to play with most of them.

Since vacations are supposed to be relaxing, we went back to the hotel for a while and I took a short nap. Then we drove back to DC to Union Station where the Moonlight Monument tour was leaving from. We should have taken the metro again as we got a bit turned around, and traffic out there is ridiculous. We didn't have time for dinner before the tour as we had hoped. We had seen most of the monuments already, but it was cool seeing them at night all lit up. We got some great pictures of the nighttime view of DC. We also got to see the Vietnam Memorial which we hadn't seen yet. I had seen it 12 years earlier when I was there with school, but wanted to see it again. I found the name of someone my Dad had given me to look up, his childhood neighbor's husband. If you don't know how the wall is organized, they have a book at the beginning with everyone's name in alphabetical order. You look up the name, and it has a number next to it, such as 35W 61. that means it's in the 35th panel on the west side, on the 61st line. Very easy to find the name you're looking for. We also got to see the nurse's memorial.

Saturday we again slept in a little, then back to DC. We saw the Museum of Natural History, which was so cool. After that back to the hotel, grab the car, and head to Baltimore. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Again, traffic getting to Baltimore was ridiculous. The line at HRC was ridiculous. Hour and a half wait. But, while we were at the HRC in DC we bought a membership all access card, which gives you 10% off, and lets you skip to the front of the line. So we were seated in 10 minutes. The card doesn't, however, make the chefs cook faster, so we had a long wait for our food. Because we were running behind, and knew how awful traffic was, we didn't get to drive past Charm City Cakes. That was a little disappointing, but I'd rather have made it to the concert on time. We got there just a few minutes before Queensryche took the stage, so we made the right decision to skip CCC.

The Dream Theater Meet and Greet was at 7, so we unfortunately missed most of Queensryche, since we had to get in line by 6:45. What we did see was great though. For the M&G they first sent everyone through line to have their picture taken. Then we went through a second time to get something autographed. I got a Tshirt signed by the whole band. I was starstruck, and didn't say much beyond "hey, how's it going." It was almost better than xmas for us. So cool to get to meet our favorite band.

The next band up was Zappa Plays Zappa. It's Dweezil and others doing Frank's music. I was skeptical, but they were absolutely amazing. If you ever get a chance to see them, do it. They are all so talented. It was a great show. Then of course Dream Theater. We were second row center. Could almost reach out and touch them. So amazing. One of the best concerts of my life. They played a lot of their new music, and it was fantastic. It was the perfect end to a fabulous week.

Sunday we again woke early and started the long drive home. We made it home around 10PM, and while we were sad the trip was over, we were happy to be home with the kids again. Tiberius was super excited to see us, and Emmy had gotten noticeably bigger in the week we were gone. Kitty was Kitty, happy to see us but properly aloof at the same time, as cats will be. It was nice to sleep in our own bed with the kids, though if Emmy gets much bigger we're going to need a king sized bed to fit us all.

Washington, D.C. part 1

I wrote this last Thursday while we were in DC. but since the hotel didn't have wifi didn't get to post it. This week has been crazy catching up on stuff at home, so this is the first chance I've had to get this up.

------------------

This week has been fantastic so far. John and I woke up early Monday morning – earlier than I get up for work most days – and drove to Washington, D.C. We took our time, making stops for lunch, dinner, bathroom breaks, looking for an Amish Flea Market that turned out to only be open on the weekends. We made it to the hotel sometime around midnight. Nothing fancy, just a Days Inn, but it has a bed and a shower, which is all we really need. Not to mention a 7-11 across the street for Coke Slurpees and a Baskin Robbin’s/Dunkin’ Donuts next door. I miss Dunkin Donuts in St. Louis, and there are far too few Baskin Robbin’s.

Tuesday we slept in, then hopped a bus to the Metro station at the Pentagon and rode into DC. (We’re staying in Arlington.) From there we went to the National Air and Space Museum which was the one thing I really really wanted to see while we’re here. I’m a space geek, and getting to see all the NASA artifacts was absolutely amazing. Words can’t describe what an incredible experience it was for me. After that we walked around looking at monuments. Washington Monument – unfortunately all the tickets were sold out so we couldn’t go up in it. World War II Monument was incredible. Lincoln Memorial has way too many stairs but is impressive. Korean War Monument – did you know the statues’ faces are sculpted from photographs of real soldiers? Then on to Franklin D. Roosevelt Monument, Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Then back to the hotel.

By this time my left knee was hurting and I really needed to rest. It was also 90+ degrees that day and we were exhausted. We stayed at the hotel the rest of the night. I took a nap, we ordered pizza in and were just lazy.

Wednesday we woke up early again to make it to the Capitol in time for our 9:10 tour. I must say I was disappointed in the tour. We couldn’t take many pictures, we had to stand in one place while we listened to the tour guide talk, and it was very short. One nifty thing was we walked past the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate. Why is that cool? He’s the only person in the country who has authority to arrest the President. From there we stopped by our Congressman’s office (Troy Akin) to get tickets for the Senate and House Galleries. While there we commented on our disappointment in the Capitol tour, so one of his interns took us on a more in depth tour. That one was impressive. We got to see the old Senate chambers, which later became the Supreme Court chambers, got to take all the pictures we wanted, and just had more time in general to see more of the Capitol. Thank you, Mr. Aiken’s intern whose name I forgot for a great tour.

Before that, however, we had lunch at Tortilla Coast, a fabulous restaurant on Capitol Hill. After the second Capitol tour we went to the Supreme Court for a “tour.” It wasn’t so much a tour as a 30 minute lecture. We sat in the court and listened to a woman talk for 30 min. It was pretty boring and very disappointing.

By this time our legs and knees were showing signs of giving out, so we decided to get dinner then head back to the hotel. We walked to the Hard Rock Café, then took Metro back to Arlington, and spent the rest of the night lazy at the hotel.

Today it was up early again for a tour of the Pentagon. That was a good tour and very interesting. Our guides were great, had a good sense of humor, and very informative. We walked about a mile and a half just on that tour. Then we toured Arlington Cemetery. Kennedy’s grave with the eternal flame, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and changing of the guard. That was a very moving ceremony. Arlington House (memorial to Robert E. Lee) has a gorgeous view over DC. Our knees and legs were still tired and sore, so we went back to the hotel, grabbed the car, and went to lunch at Rock Bottom Brewery. Delicious food, I had lemon chicken and white cheddar mashed potatoes, but the beer wasn’t anything to write home about. Then we drove to Iwo Jima, then back to the hotel for a nap.

Feeling much refreshed after a nap and shower, we headed out to Blues Alley Jazz club to see Hiromi’s Sonic Bloom. Hiromi is a fabulous jazz pianist, and her band is very talented as well. The show was amazing, and I had fantastic crab cakes for dinner and a bottle of overpriced champagne. We opted to leave before the second set. I would have loved to see them play more but we wanted to walk around Georgetown for a while. We found the steps from The Exorcist and ran up them, then had a drink at The Tombs, the bar from St. Elmo’s Fire. It’s a nice, unassuming place that I could see myself hanging out at if I lived here. I had a summer tea, which is sweet tea with vodka. Most bars in St. Louis err on the side of caution (or stinginess) when making drinks, and you would never know there was alcohol in the drink. Not The Tombs. I could taste the vodka, but it wasn’t overwhelming. The drink was fabulous, but I only finished half. Then back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we’re going to see the International Spy Museum, Ford’s Theater, National Archives, then we’ll see from there. Going to take a Monuments by Moonlight tour tomorrow night.

Saturday we’ll probably drive down to Mt. Vernon and have an easy day. Queensryche goes on at 6:00 so we’ll hit the concert by then. The show is in Columbia, MD, about an hour north of Arlington and close to Baltimore. Since we’ll be so close to Baltimore, we’re going to make a side stop to drive by Charm City Cakes. Unfortunately they don’t allow random people to stop by and tour the bakery, which I completely understand, but if we’re so close I at least want to see the bakery of the man who inspired me for my second hobby (next to writing.) Maybe we’ll catch a glimpse of Chef Duff through the window. Then backstage at 7:00 to meet Dream Theater. So excited and can’t wait to meet them and see the show.

Now, it’s off to bed for me. The hotel doesn’t have wifi, and the network cable in our room doesn’t seem to work, so I might not get this posted until we get back to St. Louis. Night all.

Puppy Sleep Deprivation

New puppies mean waking up a million times in the middle of the night. For the first few weeks Emmy had to go out every 2 hours. Which meant we were very tired. John and I take turns taking her out, but even so, when she wakes up whining to go out, it wakes me up whether it's my turn or not. So between that, and taking her out a half dozen times in the evening, it made for a very tired me. And she's just so darn adorable all we want to do is play with her. So no writing got done.

Then we had our monthly writing day 2 weekends ago, and I got back in the writing groove. I'm still not writing as often as I'd like, but at least I'm back to it. The monthly write-in was tonight with the people who do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) here in St. Louis. I wrote about 2000 words, but they were very hard-won words. I worry that when I go back to read them again I'll axe most of what I wrote. I have a lot on my mind right now, and my head just isn't in a good place. I know where the plot will go, but not how to get there, so I fought and fought, and had I now know it would be bad for my laptop, I would have banged my head on the keyboard repeatedly. It was one of those night. Thankfully they are rare for me, but when I look forward to something as much as writing days, and it is such hard going, it's very frustrating.

I also have to go to physical therapy 3 times a week for my knees. My left knee has been hurting for no discernible reason. My right knee hurts because of a partial tear to the PCL I got in a motorcycle accident 6 years ago. I figured since I was going to get the left one fixed up, I may as well work on the right one while I'm at it. So between a full time job, PT 3 times a week for an hour each, plus doing my exercises twice a day, Kung Fu 2 nights a week, puppy training class once a week, I haven't had a lot of time, and when I do, I've been pretty exhausted. It will pass though, and life will get back on track. Must stay positive.

Speaking of NaNo, it's 4 months away. That should in theory be plenty of time for me to finish Ravaged Heart, so I can start November with a clean slate and a new novel. Not sure what the next novel will be yet, but I really hope I get this one done in time. The point of NaNo is to start a new novel, and I don't want to put this one on hold if it isn't finished (at least a rough draft), but I want to be able to participate as well. So wish me luck and lots of inspiration between now and then.

And 3 weeks from now I'll be in Washington, D.C. Because of the aforementioned "things" on my mind, I am unable to make my trip to China. Too costly right now, and I have to pretend to be a responsible adult. DC will cost a fraction of what China would, so the last week of July that's where I'll be. Going to see Dream Theater and Queensryche on Aug. 1, and have backstage passes to meet Dream Theater, get autographs and a picture with them. So excited. I'm tempted to pull the old high school trick and hang a countdown calendar on my desk at work. Yes, I may have recently turned 30, but I rarely feel nearly that old. It's all the mindset. :)

Growing Family

Last Sunday John and I went to Petsmart to get kitty litter and other miscellaneous kitty supplies. We came home with this:



C.A.R.E was there doing their adoption day. I've looked at many puppies at many Petsmart adoption days and always left empty handed. But it seems if I have some encouragement, that steel will goes right out the window. There was a cage with 3 puppies, 2 bigger than the other. We tried to pet the little one, but the other 2 kept pushing her out of the way. John told the volunteer that he wanted to see the little one. I knew this was a very, VERY bad idea. You can't hold them. If you do, it's all over. So he held her for a while. Then he handed her to me. Oh dear. Then he asked if I wanted her.

"We really shouldn't."
"But do you want her?"
"We really shouldn't."

It went on like this for a while. As it was going on, I was still holding her. I should have known better. But I had to try to be responsible. I failed. Finally:
"Do you want her?"
"Yes."

And it was all over. So yes, it was a bit of an impulse adoption. But I've thought about what it would take to have another dog, the work it will take, and all that stuff, so it's not like we're going into this blind. And we're very happy with her. Maybe even more important, Tiberius absolutely adores her. He's the best Big Brudder. She's 4.6 pounds, he's 86. He's very gentle with her. He lets her chew on his tail. And when she wakes whining in the middle of the night in her crate, he hurries over to make sure she's ok. He is thrilled to have someone to play with besides the cat, because while kitty will sometimes play with him, more often she runs and hides. Emmy is always ready to play with her Big Brudder. They love each other and get along great, and she's so sweet and adorable. So I'm very happy with the decision to bring her home. I'm also very exhausted. Waking up every 2-3 hours in the middle of the night to take her outside to potty is tiring. I can't even nap when I get home from work, because Tibs and Emmy are making too much noise playing, and I don't want to put her back in the crate since she's been there all day. So I catch a few mini-naps when she's sleeping and drink lots of coffee. I haven't had any time to write this week, but that's what comes along with a new puppy, and that's ok.

Emmy is sleeping under my desk right now and Tibs is next to my chair. Very cute.

Updates to My Website

I added a page to my website. You can now read excerpts from some of my work. Right now there is one essay from "In the Moment" and one unpublished poem. I will add more as time goes on, and will post here whenever I do. Feel free to leave comments here about what you think.

http://www.jenniferksights.com/excerpts.html

On a separate note, Ravaged Heart is coming along nicely. The official word count right now is 16,000. I hope to write more tomorrow, but tonight am a bit too tired for anything besides technical website stuff, and even that has taken what is left of my brain power. I'm not a web designer, but I can take a template and tweak it to include my own content. However, I haven't found a good web design program for the Mac (I haven't looked too hard either though), so for the basic changes I've been making, I'm doing straight text editing in an .html file. Hurts the eyes after too long. So if you know a good free or cheap program for Mac, please let me know. Something similar to Dreamweaver would be nice.

Writing and Working Out

I joined a gym. I decided I needed more activity than just Kung Fu twice a week. More aerobics. My cardio is horrible. I can barely jog a mile. So I decided to take an aerobics class at the gym. I'm in worse shape than I thought. Five minutes into the warm up I was huffing and puffing. But I stuck through the whole hour. It was a great workout. Keep this up and I'll be running a marathon in no time. OK, not really. I have no desire to run a marathon. But I'll be in better shape. The workout left me pretty tired. "They" always say not to workout before bed, because you won't be able to go to sleep. I understand the theory of the endorphins or whatever running through your system, but I never have that probelm. A good hard workout and I'm ready to pass out. I took a half hour power nap on the couch after a shower, then got to work writing. 1500 words. I'd like to write more, but I'm tired, and my head hurts a little. I think I'll play with the puppy for a while then see how I feel. But still, 1500 words is good progress. I still don't quite know where the novel is going, but every time I write it flows out easily, and I just can't get enough time to write.

Cutting Chapters Already

I had about 9000 words on the new novel. I was trying to figure out how to bridge a time gap. Then I realized I didn't need the first few chapters and had to cut them out. So there went more than 2000 words. Wrote a little more, realized I could salvage some of what I cut, just in a slightly different manner. So after an hour of cutting, re-adding, and writing, I'm back to 8500 words. I also spent some time yesterday freewriting on what I think the main plot of this novel should be and have a much clearer idea of where it might go. I say might, because as Divided Heart showed me, my characters have their own ideas and take the story in entirely new directions that I never imagined. Can't wait to see where they'll take me in this novel.

New Projects

I finished editing my paranormal novel, which now has a title. Divided Heart. I've sent out 6 queries so far, and received 1 rejection. That one came within less than 48 hours of e-mailing it, and said "please know that I give serious attention to every letter, outline, and writing sample I receive." When an agent receives dozens upon dozens of queries a week, I'm not sure how they can give that much time to each one in less than 48 hours. Oh well, nothing to be done about it. I'll just keep sending more. I have a very good feeling about this novel, and know it will be published.

I also began writing the sequel, which amazingly enough already has a title. Divided Heart was written, edited, revised, edited some more, revised some more, and it still didn't have a title. So it is surprising that this one had a title when I had only 1 chapter written. I don't even know what most of the story will be. I know bits and pieces, and more is forming in my head, but ask me to write an outline of it and I'll stare at you with a blank face. The first one had no plan until I was typing, and that's how I think this one will be too. But that's alright by me, I like being surprised by my characters.

Oh, you want to know what the title is? Ravaged Heart.

My writing group's monthly meeting was this past Saturday, and it was a very welcome meeting indeed. As always, I got a lot of writing done and received some very helpful feedback. We also discussed some business ideas. More details when they're ready to share. I can say we will be putting together another anthology of poems and essays. No publication date yet though, as it's in the very early stages of planning. Other exciting things were discussed as well. So stay tuned.

And now I'm off work on more query letters, and the new novel.