Back and Stuff

So I'm back from England. It was a pretty great trip...and in case you were wondering what I was up to-

I drank a lot of beer...

My husband and I ran around London like two crazy kids in love, while our children were 2 1/2 hours away, being spoiled rotten by their grandmother.

(That's me with sexy boots on ...yes, getting my sexy on)

I went to Stonehenge and froze my lady nuts off...

I drank some more beer...

I even did it all fancy-like, with my finger in the air...

I was introduced to the most remarkable of hair styles...

My daughter and I played around in a castle...

Um, and maybe I drank some more beer....

(Don't judge me...)

And many other things happened, like this remarkable man in Covent Garden, London....

In the end, I had a blast. Now to get back to the grind...I'll see you all in The Practice Room!

Crackle, Pop, and Short Stories

So it's been over a week since the cold from HELL, and my ear is much better. I'm off antibiotics now, I no longer have that "full feeling," and my ear is popping when I want it to. But one thing that is driving me crazy...it crackles and pops (yes, like the cereal) everytime I move my jaw a certain way or when I swallow. The only time it does NOT do this is when I'm chewing gum (which obviously I'll be doing a LOT of on the plane). I googled it, and from what I can see, some say it's actually the tube in your ear healing and you're on the road to recovery, and others say it still indicates a problem...in any case, I'm hoping it's the former and not the latter. This is my first experience with an ear infection...does anyone have any input? I am all better congestion wise so I think the trip on the airplane will be fine, but I'm still nervous. I left a message with my doctor, but I really don't want to go in and pay another co-pay. Ick. Ear issues suck balls. My kids will complete their round of antibiotics tomorrow (because they had ear infections too, remember?!), but I'm definitely taking them in on Thursday before we leave. If the infections aren't gone, there is no way I'm leaving this country without another round of antibiotics in hand.

Today has really been dragging. Packing is almost complete, dinner is done, but this house is a mess. I should be cleaning, but I'm not. Which means I should be writing. I think I might really kick start my writing again with some short stories. You guys know how I love short stories. I'm thinking that'll be an excellent way to unwind tonight, and maybe even forget about my ears for a while.

Now...what kind of short story to write. Suggestions, anyone? If I get a good suggestion and use it, I might even post the story to my blog. :-) So suggest away...

London Bound

In 10 days I'm leaving for London and I'll be gone for two weeks. I just wanted to give you all a heads up, in case you are tempted to start another Bring Back Dena Daw Day.

While some of you know why I'm going, I guess not all of you do. So I'll fill you in. My husband is from England and I met him when I was fifteen through a pen pal service. That's right. The worst kind of geekiness. To make a long story short, we spoke for years, via letters, the phone, e-mails, aim (yes, back when people used it). In 2000 I went and met him for the first time in London. Not to sound cheesy (but I'm about to hit you with some serious cheesiness), I fell in love with him on sight. Not to mention his accent. THE ACCENT. The panty-dropping accent that my parents should have (and did) fear. Ah, young love. And hormones. And fish and chips. I was in Heaven.

And this girl right here:

Had her first kiss on the tube in England. And no, I haven't changed much since then. Well, not since that last picture that had to be scanned in. You know, because digital cameras were only owned by rich people back then.

Anyhow, I'm getting off topic.

After he graduated from Exeter University, he moved to South Carolina because that's where I was going to college. Six months later, we were engaged. A year and a half later, and 6 days after graduation, we were married. So a lot has happened since then. Not to mention two kids, moving to another state, and purchasing a house. But, despite all that's happened, I'll always remember him like this:

The young English boy with the amazing accent who always smelled like leather, beer, and Radox.

This post is dedicated to you, Rich!!!

Look how far we've come???

And no one thought it would last.

*Sorry Rich, I had to post the picture with the crazy eyes. Because it's just the icing on the cake, really. And by the way, I'm not really sorry.

So obviously, England has a special place in my heart. It's also where Richard's entire family still lives. And where his parents and grandfather live...so we're off to visit them. I will miss you guys (in ten days...remember, I'm leaving in 10 days so you still have me for a little while...you don't have to cling to my virtual legs, people)...

Anyhow, there's my story.

What's yours?

Forced here by tree rats.

I am coming out of a cold induced coma, and for the first time in a week I am motivated to do more than blow my nose and lay in the bed moaning about how my ear hurts. My entire family has had an ear infection (yes, all four of us) and we've all been jacked up on antibiotics and nasal decongestant and the last thing on my mind has been writing, to be honest. I'm feeling a lot better today, so I think I'm on the road to recovery. I'm pretty sure the other moms at Abi's preschool think I've been regularly hitting the bong in my free time, because for the past few days my eyes have been all kinds of pink and unpleasant and crack-whorish. Hitting the bong sounds a lot more pleasant than what I've really been up to, which is wading through the river of snot that's coming out of my nose. Seriously, where does it all come from? WHERE?!

I have a lot of people to thank for getting my big diseased a** back on this blog. Mainly, Jon, who organized "Happy Bring Back Dena Daw Day," in an effort to get me back in the practice room, or even just back to daily (or semi-daily) blogging. I'm sorry I've been so MIA. As far as writing goes, I actually sat down a couple of weeks ago and randomly wrote a picture book, which I ended up hating, but I really enjoyed the process. It made me sit back and think...why am I not doing this every day? Why is my book 15K (more or less) away from being finished, and has been about 15K away for months? Why can I not get my butt in gear and motivate myself? This kick in the butt from Jon (and all the wonderful writer friends that participated in sending me sweet and slightly threatening emails) was what I needed. It reminded me that I wrote 40K words this past summer for the first time in my life because I had support from people- people that believed I could do it, and people that are doing it too. I guess I thought that you guys would have forgotten about me, and it means a lot to me that you haven't. You're not just letting me quit, and you're not letting be a casualty of writer's block or simple laziness. I am inspired yet again!!! I WILL FINISH THIS BOOK!! YES! YES I WILL!

I think one of the thing that has been discouraging me (that I haven't really told anyone about) is just receiving all the rejections from my picture book Sally Circle. Stupid, I know, since rejections are part of this whole process of becoming a writer. I know this, yet I've let it get me down and second guess myself. It was the first time I'd ever submitted anything, and I always said that I'd never do it for fear of being rejected...but hey, I've been rejected many times, I've come to the end of it, and here I am, ready to start this bitch all over again! Ha Ha!!!!!! (I left out the bwa this time, for fear that it might be getting old).

Anyhow, I'd like to leave you with a menacing message that has been sent to me in an effort to get me re-join the writing ranks, just for your amusement (despite my personal discomfort).

Although I do think that using someone's deepest fear against them is decidedly low....(AHEM MARISA)...

anyway, enjoy

*Special thanks to Amy, Jon, Heather, Tina, and Marisa.

Prodigal Me

Okay, so here I am. And yes, this is going to be a real post. You know, as opposed to my fake ones. Just to catch up, I started out NaNo month rather well- on the second week in November I only had about 15K words left (give or take 10K) until my book, The Fall, was completed. Well guess what...November came and went, and I still have 15K (give or take 10K) left. So yes, basically I failed.
Over the past 2 months I've also gained about 10 lbs. Again...fail.

Granted, I've had some pretty good excuses. Every Fall my husband's family flies from England in chunks (mother and boyfriend, father and step mother, sister and brother-in-law). This usually goes on until the beginning of December. This time it ended early...as in the second week of November...but since then, honestly- I've just been recovering. When people are here I don't do anything but eat like I'm the one on vacation...and this is bad. Because typically they want American food. You know, like this.

Anyway, so that's really just an excuse...because I should be Practice Rooming. I should be finishing that dang book so I can start on the MG one...the one that's been shelved (in the virtual sense) for the past few months. This isn't easy, folks. I mean it was easy to get started...it was easy to jump into it and get excited about it- but somehow, things happen and life changes and before you know it, you missed your deadline. You lose your motivation. Then you struggle to get it back again. Which is what I'm doing now. Which is why I'm writing this post.

I know I need to start blog surfing again. I know I need to be chatting with my critique partners, reading more, writing more. But I can't think of it as homework either. It's like I have to fall in love with my book again. Fall in love with writing again. Somehow, starting in September, I got derailed. Sidetracked. Somehow, when I was away, one of my favorite bloggers went on hiatus and I dropped out of The Practice Room and I lost touch with my writer peeps.

Basically, I need all of you back. Do I need to stand outside your houses with a boom box? Because I will...if you live on the East coast...and in North Carolina....an within walking distance to my house.

Writer Humor...and yes, I'm still alive!

Inspiration.