Weekly Happenings

So, it’s been over three months and nothing much to note. My son turned one on June 11^th (already!) but other than that, not much else to report.

Anyway, I figured I’d break the blog silence by doing a weekly happening type thing. As the title suggest, it’s a hodgepodge of random things in my life this week.

Writing Happenings

1. I’ve still been working on my novel, Before the Dawn, although I haven’t written any new chapters. But I did work on my outline for the remaining 8 chapters, so I have more of a guideline. My critique group told me to skip the scene I’m having trouble with and write the next one. It’s simple, but I hadn’t really thought to do it.

2. Sometimes working on another project helps me break my writer’s block for the current one. I’ve been working on character building for another story set in the same world as Before the Dawn, but two centuries later. If anything, it’s helping to get more world building done.

Currently Reading…
3. The Sister Queens by Sophie Perinot. Set in the 13^th century, it’s a historical novel based off the lives of Marguerite of France (wife of King Louis IX) and her sister, Eleanor or England (wife of Henry III). I love a good historical, but at times I get lost in this one with all of the names of the characters. It spans twenty years and there are A LOT of names. Also, there’s too much sexual stuff, enough that I find myself skipping chunks because I don’t want to read about their bed adventures. Not my kind of thing. I’m not quite finished though and it’s still intriguing to read despite the flaws.

My Life
4. Tommy’s getting closer to walking.  He walks very well if you’re holding his hands or if he uses his push walker. He zooms across the room then!

5. My family’s coming to visit for the weekend. I haven’t seen them since Tommy’s birthday a month ago. We have some fun things planned for the weekend, mostly going to a local dairy farm/restaurant/petting zoo. It should be fun!

So, that’s my week. How about yours?

The End is Approaching!

You know, someday I’ll actually keep up with this blogging thing again.

Yes, I’m still getting that first draft done, BUT I have figured out what was stopping me, been working on that and it’s coming along. I have about 9 chapters left to go, give or take, and when that’s done I am rewarding myself with a subscription to Ancestry.com. An odd reward? Maybe, but I’ve inherited my parents’ desire to keep up on the genealogy, especially now that I have a son of my own. Perhaps my recent addiction to Who Do You Think You Are and Finding Your Roots also has something to do with it 🙂

Anyway, the end is approaching and I am getting excited!

I avoid thinking about all the editing and worldbuilding I have to do after this first draft is complete. Must focus on one huge step at a time, right?

I’m Not Sure Where the Time Went

Seriously. I blinked and it was March.

Anyway, sorry for the blog silence (again)but February was a mess. The first week I was up with my family as my grandma’s health was poor. She passed away on February 2nd. And for some reason trying to get back to a normal routine the rest of the month was almost impossible. It was hard to want to do anything short of the same old, same old, every day.

Then the end of the month came and I got sick. Of course. February is the month of illness for me; the last time I had a really bad cold was LAST February while I was pregnant and couldn’t take anything. I’m still getting over the sniffles but at least I can (mostly) breathe.

Needless to say, I massively failed in my goals for the Winter Writing Festival for the 2nd year in a row. I always do so well the first two weeks and then BAM! Life comes and takes me away and then I can’t focus again.

Anyway, that’s been the last month’s recap for you. I am trying to get back on track with the writing as well. It would be nice if this silly draft would be done by say, summer.

Who am I kidding? We’ll say by the time I’m 30 at the rate I’m going 😛

 

NaNo Once Again!

It’s that time of year yet again! 🙂 It will be my fifth year. Hopefully I’ll win this year; last NaNo I only got to about 10K–the first time I’d lost. But I was so sick the whole month, what with morning sickness and all. I hope I can get to the goal this year–it’s the first time as a mom of an infant.

I’m being a rebel again–starting an old NaNo project from scratch. It’s the one I wrote two years ago, the one about the Yuki-onna, or snow woman. I’ve been trying to write a rough outline, because I’m just not one of those seat-of-your-pants writers, but having a hard time with it. If I don’t have something, my novel will make absolutely no sense. I think that’s what happened the first time I did this story–I only had an outline for a few chapters and after that it completely went to the wind 😛 We’ll see–I have less than two weeks. We’ll see!

Still Here–I Promise!

I know I keep disappearing off the blogosphere but I am still here! Promise 🙂 I’ve almost found a balance between mommyhood and writing. I was trying babysitting for a bit too but that didn’t work out–it was too much for me right now and I was too exhausted at the end of the day to do much of anything.

Trying to focus on my book again. It’s always hard to get back to it but I never forget about it. I still want to try my hand at some short stories too but it’s been very rough waters there 😛 The one idea I had for a short story is turning more into a novella, LOL.

 

Time to Focus Again

It’s been a month into my “new” role as mommy and I think I may finally be finding a balance 😛 Plus, Tommy is having less grumpy moments and more happy awake time 🙂 He’s been smiling at me now and it’s so much fun to see that and see how much he’s changing.

Anyway, I haven’t focused on my writing since the early part of May and it’s about time I start again. If I don’t, I’ll never get back into it.  Plus I need to get back into blogging and reading everyone’s blogs.  So I hope to start getting back into the swing of things!

Officially a Mommy!

My son was born this past week 🙂 June 11th at 9:08 PM, weighing in at 8 lbs, 9 oz and measuring 20 1/4 inches long.

Ready for the birth story? Even if you aren’t, here it is anyway!

Contractions started sometime last Friday (6/10) but they didn’t get really painful–just strong and uncomfortable. I only got about an hour of sleep that night! The following morning they were strong enough to head over to the hospital just to get checked out. They measured the contractions and baby’s heart rate and my doctor was there already doing a c-section for someone else and he told me to stay. Good thing because the contractions started getting borderline painful about an hour later. I was about 5cm then and they gave me the epidural then.

Oh, the epidural…That was an experience 😛 Phil nearly passed out and had to sit down; I nearly passed out as well and threw up a bit. It worked most of the day…until the last stage. For some reason, the pain med wasn’t strong enough. They gave me two extra doses and it still didn’t help. By then the contractions were almost unbearable…I was crying through them wondering why the heck the epidural wasn’t working.

They were going to try and redo the epidural but by then I was progressing very quickly. The urge to push took over and that was pain beyond words! I wasn’t expecting to “go natural” but that’s essentially what happened. UGH.

The worst pain was near the end when he was crowning and what they call the “ring of fire” started. I won’t go into details–I think the description implies enough! My doctor almost didn’t make it to delivery too. He didn’t think it was progressing as fast as it was, especially considering I’m a first time mom. But from the time I started pushing until I gave birth was only 30 minutes,  which is almost unheard of in first timers (according to the nurses). Most women are pushing for a good hour or more if they haven’t had a baby before. But darn it, I wanted him out and it was thanks to God’s strength I was able to push through it so quickly!

Little Thomas’ weight was also a bit of a surprise because I’m quite small. The nurses were amazed he was that big and said I was all baby. again a surprise he was that big because I’m quite small. Anyway it’s definitely something to remember–and I am gonna make sure the epidural works next time. I am so not one who likes the natural way especially after experiencing it 😛

Just a few minutes old

Six days old, wearing his "muscles" shirt 🙂

Some Fairly Big News

Nothing writing related–in fact I’ve been doing pretty poorly on that account–but it is something that will be changing my life forever.

A few weeks back, I was sick all the time and couldn’t figure out why. Well, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive 🙂 I didn’t want to announce it yet though because anything can happen in the first trimester. I was pretty sick for awhile, unable to even keep liquid down. The doctor put me on anti-nausea medicine and now I can eat again, although I still get pretty queasy past 8 PM (my “morning sickness” hits in the evening).

This past Monday, I had to go to the doctor for another reason (because the meds were given me some other,  um, unpleasant side effects :P) and while there, she wanted to do an ultrasound to see exactly how far I was along. The ultrasound tech had an opening less than an hour after my appointment, so I scurried around calling my husband and he rushed up there for the appointment.

And we got to see our little one for the first time! He/She had a very strong heartbeat–you could see it on the screen. I have to admit it was a bit overwhelming seeing it and knowing there’s a little person growing inside.

I’m almost nine weeks along, so I’m still pretty early. I would really appreciate your thoughts and prayers for baby’s safe delivery in the coming months. My EDD is June 16th, so he/she will be an early summer baby 🙂

Anyway, that’s why I’ve been MIA for awhile and haven’t really written anything for NaNo this year. Kind of been pre-occupied 🙂

Fast Draft: Day 2

Today’s section was much easier to write than yesterday. I wrote about 3100 words today–all new words–so my mind is about the consistency of mashed potatoes right now.

Still, today’s section was oh so fun to write. Naomi found out that not only does she have to go by a completely different name, but she’s to be married (in a trial marriage, as a guise for her protection). The end of the chapter she found out her intended was none other than Ryuji–the man that has made every moment a literal hell for her.

Good. Times. 😛

Putting my characters through such strife is fun. Or perhaps I’ve just grown a bit tyrannical with this chapter. :insert maniacal laughter here:

And with that, I am off to relax and prepare for the premiere of Glee tonight.

Yet Another One

I feel like the cat in this picture. Unaware of the characters that wait to ambush me.

I love how characters  literally come out of no where and ambush me.

I think writing my first draft helps to stimulate the creative juice and then it doesn’t stop. I came up with an idea on a whim while I was trying to fall asleep–I swear that’s when all the ideas come alive–and most of the time I forget them, but this one–this one has teeth and claws and won’t let go.

The strange thing–it’s a contemporary setting. My first one ever. Though of course there’s some world travel in it; I just can’t seem to stay away from traveling to another culture at some point, even if it’s for a relatively small segment of this yet-to-be-fully-formed idea.

Oh and it’s gonna be a romantic suspense. Although I’ve no clue how to even begin writing one of those, nor can I remember the last romantic suspense I’ve read (on a related note, can someone recommend to me good romantic suspense novels? Thanks :)).

No character names as of yet, but I do have three main ones that have developed. And I pretty much have their personalities too. Some what.

Also, this book is one I’m thinking will be “just for fun”–meaning I’m writing it solely for the purpose of getting the story out and no intent on publishing it. Saying that already puts some sort of stress off me. 😛

Sigh. But I must relegate it to the background while I finish my first draft. Then perhaps I’ll take a little break and focus on this one just for fun. We’ll see!