Month: June 2011

atthequillsmercy

Owwwiieee… Attack upon the clutter and various other updates

This Sunday was spent helping my husband clean out the garage. =_= I am sore but not as sore as I thought I would be hauling totes of collectables up and down stairs.

The really cool thing was seeing all of my Granny’s old jewelry and nick-knacks. I remember playing with them when I was a child. Some of them even still smell like her! Part of me never wanted to part with any of the stuff I was rooting through, including my old stuffed animals and toys. Remember Hess trucks? I have one. U-Haul truck? got that, too. Small army of stuffed bunnies? Do I EVER! 😀 But then the darker part of me thinks "I could make a small fortune on Ebay on all this vintage jewelry…"

A lot of it I will NOT be selling. This is my Granny’s stuff. Off limits. My stuff however; and Ma’s collectibles, those are fair game.

I am frightened, FRIGHTENED, by the sheer volume of Xena and Star Trek merchandise my Ma managed to amass over the years. I’ve got the green light to unload the Xena stuff but I’m holding off on the Star Trek stuff. Ma has the complete set of dolls still unopened in the boxes. I’m waiting till we have the choice of either sell those or lose the house.

In health news, I haven’t lost anymore weight but Ma is not doing much better. Granted, she’s moving around the house and driving ok, but she’s still not able to do things like NOT lay in bed all day. She HATES it. I use that word with complete impunity here – hate with a capital ATE. I know how that feels when I’m laid up with a cold or a sprained ankle so I can’t imagine how it must feel when there is no end in sight to your sickness and you go from doing whatever you want to virtually bed ridden in a matter of weeks. It sucks.

So far, there has been no change or new reports from the doctors. Ma is back on her chemo and walking around with an oxygen tank but she’s more mobile than a couple weeks ago.

As for me? I need to get my shit together. I need to get driving and get as self-sufficient as possible so I can take care of Mom the way she took care of Granny. I know I must have told myself this a bajillion times but I still keep letting Ma do what she wants but she’s not able anymore. She needs rest.

I haven’t heard back from the editor on my story yet. I’ve already emailed her the changes twice and that’s more than enough. I don’t want to get annoying. ._.

I think that’s everything… *ponders* Eh, if I forgot something, you’ll just have to get another update from me. So there. 😉

atthequillsmercy

Photos and Feeling Inspired.

Did I ever mention I dabble in photography? And by "dabble" I mean "Oh! That’s pretty!" and I grab my camera. Sometimes something pretty awesome comes out of it.

Continue reading

atthequillsmercy

What… A… Day…

Today was not easy. I went with Mom to the pulmonologist and he decreed her eligible for the oxygen machine… That we already had delivered. 9_9 And because Mom had the doctor’s appointment, she didn’t take her shingles meds in the morning, leaving her in pain. I dunno which would have been worse: nausea and dizziness from the meds (I would have driven the car) or the pain? But hey, she made the call, for better or worse.

We have a follow-up with him in two weeks.

But getting home was a nightmare. I could see tears in her eyes from the pain. It was just unreal… By the time I got her home, medicated, and laying down, I was in tears myself. It took the rest of the day for me to just calm down and try and get some work done. It really is the shingles messing with her. When Mom takes the medication, she’s… Is "fine" really the word to use for slightly less excruciating nerve pain?

On the plus side, I got a positive response to my query! I’m making the changes the editor asked for and will resubmit the short story to her by Friday.

Tomorrow is not only my daughter’s birthday, but also the Summer Solstice. 🙂 I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do anything fancy but I did leave out an apple as an offering today. Better to strike while the iron is hot, right? I did spot a statue that would be perfect for an outside altar (till I can afford the one I really want) but I will be totally honest, I do NOT have my head together to plan much beyond "Edit story. Child needs birthday cake." So you’ll have to forgive the lack of interaction from me. If you can, I’m sure the gods will.

I do feel my duty as a daughter could have been done better. I really froze. I need to be slightly less of a complete spaz and get my shit together. >_< Mom needs my help and since I never would have made it this car without her, she deserves my best.

atthequillsmercy

Vacation Day One

I’m off till Thursday for the combination of my daughter’s birthday and Litha (Summer Solstice). I spend ALL DAY yesterday doing laundry so I wouldn’t have to spend my entire vacation doing it and could maybe get caught up on my writing. Funny thing: I get more writing done when I have to go to work than when I’m home all day. It’s just too much distraction chasing my daughter around all day and finding ways to keep her entertained.

And I’m thinking of having another kid?! I must be out of my mind!!!

Anyways, today’s plan is to accompany my mother to the doctor. Depending on when we get out, I may take the kid to the park or just go home and write while she naps. I have no idea. @_@ Watch, I’ll end up cleaning the floors instead of writing. >_<

atthequillsmercy

And now, we wait.

I sent in the query for the lesbian thriller anthology today. Even though you’re supposed to query with the idea first before beginning work on the story, I personally felt better having it nearly complete beforehand. Even if the idea is a bust with the editor, I still have a story I can use elsewhere. I have a few final edits to make but I’m holding off to hear from the editor.

I’ve been getting back to work on GH and having a complete ball with it. It’s SO much fun working on it again, I can’t even tell you. XD Of course getting another 5 star review on Dreamhunter doesn’t hurt, either. 😉

I also have become enamored with this video:

As a fan of Gaga and Judas Priest, I had a complete fangirlgasm. It’s really well done. 0.0

Won’t some generous fan make a fanvid or fanfic of my characters one day? A girl can dream… 😉

atthequillsmercy

One step down! And more on those crazy books.

The typed rough draft of the lesbian thriller entry is complete!! MwahaHA!!

Oh, it needs so much editing it’s not even funny; but it’s there and I’m happy. ^_^ Because I can work on Greenhouse again! YAYZ!

But looking at how things are going I may be able to submit on Saturday.  If I’ve learned anything is that I’m not exactly the best at writing mysteries/thrillers/noir-thingz but that could change if I ever decided to do another one.

If I do? There will be dragons in it or SOMETHING!!

On a slightly less productive note, I finished my first foray in to 10 Fantasy Sagas That Are Wronger Than Twilight with The Cat’s Fancy and yeah, typical romance. Nothing overtly horrid. Nothing to see here. I also finished Pleasure Unbound, by Larissa Ione and, again, another ‘meh’ on the "wrong" factor scale. I mean, I can see where someone who hasn’t read supernatural romance may be put off by the "Wow, it’s page 5 and they’re screwing already cause he’s an incubus but she’s just had her guts stitched back together" thing but after about 10 of these, you expect it. Especially if you’ve written and read about incubi before. It’s as if a shark bit you, it’s what they DO: Have sex with women. Give me an incubus who’s made a vow of celibacy. Now THAT would be odd.

Now I’m reading Touched by Venom, by Janine Cross and already we’ve got people getting high on dragon venom and whipping each other with their junk hanging out so I’m already heading towards "What have I done to my brain" territory. Not quite. That’s reserved for the Beauty books. XD Yes, I will keep linking back to that and YES, there are spoilers for the series there.

As for my Mom, things are still going the same. It’s day by day, week by week. So, there really is no sense being overly depressed about it. She’s here NOW and that’s what matters. 🙂

Better get back to work then, eh? Time waits for no one! 😀

atthequillsmercy

Doctor update

No good news from the doctors. 🙁 Sadly, it’s just a matter of "when" not "if" but I always knew that. Her cancer is terminal, inoperable, and comes with a whole host of complications.

Ma could live the next two years or be gone by the end of summer. There’s just no way to tell. In the meantime, me and my husband are taking on the tasks she uses to do, like driving the kid around and laundry and such.

It just blows my mind that this is the second time I will watch a parent succumb to lung cancer. And neither my Mother nor my Grandmother smoked a day in their lives.

atthequillsmercy

For Future Reference… Advice on giving me reading suggestions

10 Fantasy Sagas That Are Wronger Than Twilight

A friend of mine sent me this article. Now, just FYI, you can’t sent me articles like this without me instantly thinking of this as a challenge. XD Immediately, I sent off to interloaning these books from wherever they could be gotten, and reading them as they come in. You think I would have learned my lesson from The Sleeping Beauty books but no. (thar be naughty bits behind that link… and spoilers)

I’m almost finished with #3 The Cat’s Fancy by Julie Kenner. It’s a typical romance so far. Nothing really creepy about it. Cat loves man. Cat turns herself human to woo man but is only a human at night. If he was giving the cat smexy eyes, I would pause but eh, it’s a fairy tale. No bestiality in sight so it’s a palatable romance if you like that sort of thing.

I’m not going to slog my way through the entire list. I don’t think anyone reading this blog could pay me enough to read another Laurel K. Hamilton book after reading Cerulean Sins a few years ago. About the 8th time she had to feed the "ardeur" I just stopped caring because it jarred the story so much. And you know it’s bad when a perv like me sits back and thinks "Are you done having sex yet? Because there’s some sort of plot I was interested in." Usually it’s the other way around. XD Like with the Immortals After Dark series I’ve been reading.

Hey, all the books I read can’t be Bradbuy. I make no excuses for my trashy reading choices, thank you very much.

In other news, I’m still working on the lesbian thriller. I don’t think anyone really believes I’ve written a single word of it considering I keep talking about the damn thing in every other way but "I finally finished the effing thing!" But I have till the 30th to turn it in for the anthology. It’s gonna be a rainy weekend so I’ll be spending it typing whatever I finish writing tonight and tomorrow. I wanna keep this one shorter than the steampunk one.

I guess if I wanna get it done, I should focus or something silly like that. 9_9

atthequillsmercy

Current events – My Enduring Apathy

I don’t care about Weiner’s weiner. There. Dick joke completed.

Seriously here, I have nothing to do with that penis so I am very sick of hearing about it. The only penis I care about is the one I come in direct contact with – The one I married. THAT one has real consequences and I SHOULD know where it’s been and what (or who) it’s doing.

Should a man be responsible for his penis? Yes. It should be kept clean and only shared with those who ask. You should protect it with a jacket in harsh environments. But I no more care about Weiner’s penis than the nice young man who helped me at Starbucks or the guy who comes into the library and reads nothing but The Post (for the lulz, you see).

So, remember media: The dick jokes will get old and there is a little matter of people losing their jobs and becoming homeless and shit. Why not talk about that for awhile?

… Now I have "Every Sperm Is Sacred" stuck in my head… Damnit… XD