Today was my first day at work since the move, and I was more productive than I expected to be. I've worked out a deal with the kids and grandkids to leave the house at 9:00 every morning and work somewhere else until noon since there's no way I can establish the focus I need with everyone under one roof and two grandkids who (thankfully!) love their Ooma and want her attention.
This morning, I spent the first hour at the beach, which was tough duty!
Even though I spent three months here in the spring, I'm still endlessly fascinated by my surroundings which seem exotic and foreign to me.The city crews were out this morning putting up Christmas decorations, and I'm completely in awe. I haven't yet adjusted to Christmas, flowers, and palm trees.
After my laptop battery was just about depleted, I loaded everything up, turned on the GPS and looked for the nearest library. Valerie and I had scoped out a couple of libraries yesterday and I found one on the other side of the county that had plenty of space to work and convenient cubbies with electrical power but no internet connection, which makes uploading workshop discussions or answering questions a bit problematic. The library we found yesterday looks like this ... in November! Amazing!
Anyway, I managed to get today's discussion on suspense written while I was working this morning, but didn't make it to the actual writing of a book part of my day. Tomorrow, though, will be another day at the beach!
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from the blog On My Mind Today
Got a late start on the packing this morning, probably because Val and I stayed up until nearly 2 am. Since I'm not a night person, staying up that late always knocks me. We dragged out of bed at a little after 9, and took another hour to get the cobwebs out of our heads before we actually did anything. I spent the day working in my office, going through massive amounts of accumulated stuff that felt like important items in my life a month ago and has suddenly become trash. We hauled a load of stuff to the dump (free today for fall cleanup, yay!) rounded up all of our pictures from all over the house, which we're going to wrap and pack tonight while we watch yet more of the backlog on the DVR.
First up, an episode of The Forgotten which I'd really like to see do well, but may need a bit of a shakeup on the writing staff. Some of the dialogue is pretty lame. But I really liked Christian Slater in My Own Worse Enemy which suffered a cruel and untimely demise because it was an excellent show -- smart, fast, unique, and entertaining -- but it had the misfortune to be on NBC. Just look at the network's schedule for the last few years and you'll see that I'm right. If it's a good show with intelligent writing and good acting, NBC will axe it. I keep hoping that Enemy will show up on the USA Network, but I have yet to see my hopes realized
NBC's track record makes me worry for Trauma, which I think has a lot of promise -- and not just because my cousin is part of the sound-editing team on the show. I've only watched the pilot episode so far, but the sound effects were pretty amazing ... oh, and the story was pretty good too. I think the actors will come into their own and I'm hoping the show will get a real shot.
Next up: Modern Family, which is the only new sitcom I've even bothered to look at. So far, it makes me laugh, so I'm giving it a thumbs up. Last year my sitcom of choice was Worst Week, which made me laugh until I hurt for the first 4-5 weeks and then lost steam. Too bad, too. Those first five weeks were really funny.
But enough of that! I really need to get back to work. I have to be out of this house and have it completely cleaned one week from tonight. No time for lollygagging!
The big cross-country move is on schedule. We leave here in just 8 short days. In the past three weeks, I've had my moments of panic--moments when the reality of packing up all I own and heading off cross country on a giant leap of faith seems so huge and overwhelming it takes my breath today. But until today, even during those occasional "What am I doing" moments, this move felt like some kind of dream.
Today, as I arranged to have my utilities shut off -- not transferred as I've done a dozen times before, but stopped! -- the dream became a reality. This move is the right thing to do. I know it. Everybody around me knows it. But that doesn't stop those moments of panic from hitting every now and then.
Tomorrow, the serious packing begins. My books have been sorted, packed, and donated. Tomorrow, I'll pack the rest of my office.
Tonight, I'm catching up on some of the shows stored on my DVR.
I'm on the fence about NCIS: Los Angeles. I think both Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J are doing a good job. The rest of the cast feels kind if disjointed, and the writing's a little uneven but I'm willing to give them time to pull it together. But this team of government good guys doesn't feel like a team of government good guys. I get that the show's creators don't want it to feel like an exact duplicate of the original NCIS, but sticking these guys in a villa and having them run around like a bunch of hot dogs with no direction and nobody in charge doesn't really work for me.
I've moved The Good Wife off my to-watch list and onto Thanks But No Thanks! The show's trailers made it look like something new, unique and interesting--the life of a political wife in the wake of her husband's public scandal. But that's not it at all! It's just another mediocre lawyer show. Yawn.
I held onto Ugly Betty for a couple of years, but abandoned that one like a rat jumping off a sinking ship. It was charming for the first season, a little tired in the second, but by season 3 I was getting seriously annoyed. I mean, really! Wouldn't you think the girl would learn something about fashion after three years? Become just a smidgen less naive after three years in Manhattan? Not our Betty! And a person can only make the same mistake so many times without coming across as TSTL (too stupid to live.)
I've also abandoned the Walkers of Brothers and Sisters this year. A cast full of thoroughly unlikable characters doing nothing but arguing week after week. It's sad, really. I really wanted to like it, and yes, I know they're supposed to be dysfunctional, but nobody ever learns anything. Nobody ever changes anything. This week Nora screws up everybody's life by being too controlling. Everybody freaks out. Nora apologizes tearfully, and then she does it all over again the next week. I'm okay with a little bickering, but constant stupid bickering without relief just gets old. I thought about crossing it off my life last year, but decided to hang on to see if the producers would redeem it. They didn't. 'Nuff said.
And now, I believe I've procrastinated just about long enough! More soon.
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from the blog On My Mind Today
About 18 months ago, my daughter, son-in-law and only granddaughter moved across country when Ian was reassigned to a new base by the Air Force. Because I've been a single mom for most of my kids lives, we're especially close, so saying good-bye was really difficult for me. I was excited for Vanessa in a way. I've never wanted my kids to live narrow lives, so I was happy that she got to broaden her world, meet new people, and experience new things. Living away has been good for her in a lot of ways. She's growing into an incredible woman, and I'm so proud of her. But that didn't stop me from wanting to be closer, to help when I could, and to maintain a close relationship with her and the incredibaby.
Earlier this year, Wonder Baby #2 came along, and I was lucky enough to spend three months with them, helping out, bonding with the new baby and cementing my relationship with her big sister. it was pure heaven, not just because I got to be with people I loved, but because the area where they're living is truly beautiful. I met many nice people while I was there and other than the humidity, I thought often that I could be happy there.
In fact, my oldest daughter and I set a goal of moving somewhere closer to them by October of this year, and we had every intention of meeting that goal. But then life happened, and plans went askew, and we finally resigned ourselves to staying in Utah for a few years longer. Maybe, we told ourselves, we need to be here, not there. Maybe we should just stay in case Ian gets assigned overseas. Maybe my mom needs me here. Maybe it's just not meant to be.
Last Friday, while I was happily researching for a fun new mystery series I'm working on, the mailman came to the door with a registered letter. Seems our landlady has sold the place we've been living, and the new owner wants us out. He gave us until the 23rd of October to pack up and move. After the shock began to wear off and my head began to clear again, it occurred to me that since we have to pick up everything we own and put it on a truck anyway, maybe we should be in Florida when we take it all off the truck again.
Little by little, the idea began to gel. I did some research. Lots of research. We thought a lot. Talked a lot. Cried a lot, and talked some more. By Sunday afternoon, the decision was made. In spite of myself, I'm actually going to achieve my original goal to be living in Florida by the end of October. It's a little overwhelming, but very exciting.
In this time of economic stress, here's a little bright news for lovers of the romance genre. It's not surprising, really. Bad times or not, people need entertainment. The arts, in whatever form, are important. It nurtures our souls, breathes life into a dying spirit, and strengthens us to go on another day. Without music, art, and literature, the world would be a sad and dismal place.
This news isn't exactly hot off the presses, though. Earlier this year The New York Times reported that romance sales at Harlequin were up 32 percent over last year. And Barnes & Noble reported that although book sales in general were expected to drop slightly, sales of romance novels were up.Even USA Today
got on the bandwagon, reporting that sales at Harlequin were up 13.5% this year.
All of this is terrific news for those of us who write romance novels for a living. We love our readers, and we appreciate the loyalty you show your favorite authors and their books. In fact, we happen to know that we have the best fans in the world, bar none.
It's also terrific news for those of us who love to read romance. Some of us might write it, but we're readers first and forever, and we're as fiercely loyal to the genre and to our favorite authors as any other reader.
Recent stories on the nightly news indicate that the economy might be taking a slight upturn, and if that's true, I think it's the best news we've had in a long time. But before we forget what it's been like the past few years, I just want to say thanks to the readers who buy the books I write and who make it possible for me to do what I do. You're the best!
I'm blogging today at Finish the Damn Book about who and what inspired me to write.If you get a minute to stop by, I'd love to know where your inspiration came from.
Is the multi-published, award-winning, and best-selling author of around 30 books. Sherry's books run the gamut of mystery, contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and time-travel paranormal romance. She's the highly respected teacher of online writing workshops and a frequent guest speaker at writing groups across the country.
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