Post Delay

I had intended to post about vampires today because I’ve been on a vampire kick reading-wise lately. There’s just something about those blood suckers . . .

Anyway *wipes off drool* I just happened to notice the top shelf of the bookcase opposite my desk holds nothing but vampire romances. This is the custom built book case that’s 96 inches wide. That’s a lot of vampires. And that’s not counting the ones that are on the shelves upstairs or included in anthologies in a different bookcase.

I have actually read the original Dracula, and I really have to wonder, how did the vampire go from the horrific creature Bram Stoker created to a romantic icon?

This question intrigues me to the point where I’m actually going to do some research into it. I really want to know how this happened.

So, I’m putting off my post about vampires until later in the month. Maybe it would make a good Halloween post . . .

How Abnormal Are You?

It was a lonnngggg weekend my friends. Not long as in holiday weekend, but long as in utterly dismal that seemed to stretch on into infinity. So in honor of the weekend being over, I give you a quiz.

You Are 48% Abnormal

You are at medium risk for being a psychopath. It is somewhat likely that you have no soul. You are at high risk for having a borderline personality. It is very likely that you are a chaotic mess. You are at low risk for having a narcissistic personality. It is unlikely that you are in love with your own reflection. You are at medium risk for having a social phobia. It is somewhat likely that you feel most comfortable in your mom's basement. You are at medium risk for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is somewhat likely that you are addicted to hand sanitizer.

How Abnormal Are You?

Yeah, I'm aware the colours are a little on the sucky side, but I got tired of messing with the html coding. Just take the quiz!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

It’s cold and I’m tired and cranky. Did I mention it’s cold? My number one kitty minion is mad at me because I’ve shut the windows. Hello cat, that’s one of the reasons I built the extra wide bookcase in my office, so you guys could still lounge and look out the window when it gets cold out. Did you really think that window was going to stay open all winter?

I am so tempted to turn the heat on, but we haven’t had the furnace serviced yet. If it didn’t mean opening the Door Of Death (aka the craft closet door) I would root around for some knitting needles and some wool to knit myself a pair of fingerless gloves. With matching slippers. And ear muffs.

Did I mention it was cold?

On the other hand, this is the perfect weather to curl up with a good book. My “to be read” bookcase is overflowing with books. Something needs to be done about this. I should start reading all these books, not letting them languish, collecting dust and cat hair. It’s my duty to read them. And once I’ve cleared out my “to be read” bookcase I’ll have plenty of room for . . . uh . . . more books!

Field Trip

Today my BFF and I made a pilgrimage to Toronto for Word on the Street, the annual literary Festival that takes over Queen’s Park. Imagine, if you will, a line of tents stretching into infinity that hold representatives from magazines and publishing houses, self published authors, writer’s organizations, discount books and magazines . . . you might come close. For a better idea of what went on, go HERE

We parked at the Yorkdale shopping centre and took the TTC in, probably the easiest time I’ve ever had getting to an event in Toronto although it did involve a lot of walking and stair climbing before we even got to Queen’s Park.

The weather forecast was for cool and overcast weather with the chance of a drizzle. The weatherman lied! It was sunny and hot hot hot! After meandering up and down the displays for almost three hours with the sun beating down on us, I started to feel a bit light headed. Could this be because I didn’t think to bring any water with me? The sun has never been my friend. So while my BFF stood in line for fresh squeezed lemonaide, I sat in the shade trying not to puke.

After about ½ an hour we felt up to continuing. Lunch was a slushy for me and an ice cream for BFF. We were on the home stretch. Just a few more booths to go and we were done. Our butts were truly dragging by the time we got back to Yorkdale.

On the way home we decided we felt up to solid food now, so we stopped in Oshawa on the way back for some New York Fries. Oh, my! Did I park in front of Chapters? What a shame. Now we have to pass more books on our way in and out from the mall. I still had money left over from my day and treated myself to the latest Lynsay Sands vampire book. How apropos - I’m about halfway through re-reading her vampire series.

The perfect ending to a perfect day.

If you want to see the loot list from Word on the Street, you’ll have to check out my writing blog.
:-P

Things to remember for next year:
water
hat
water
wear something cooler and bring a jacket if I have to
water
go directly to the Harlequin tent before all the good books are gone
and there was something else . . .
oh, yeah, water

Que Sera Sera

Let’s just pretend yesterday never happened. ‘Kay?

There must be some kind of energy sucking virus going around and I apparently have a double-dose of it.

I had an meeting with my career counsellor this morning - I’m still undecided whether it was a good or bad meeting. The woman is pretty clueless, but she appears to be trying to be a little more open minded.

After that I decided to get my hair trimmed. It was getting kinda raggedy looking. The hair dresser didn’t take as much off as I thought she would, but to be fair I told her to take as little as possible.

When I got home again I found a letter address to me from the Attorney General’s Office waiting. Eep! My first thought was, this can’t be a good thing. I knew doing taxes for other people on the side would come back to bite me in the ass. But no, it was a form to fill out and return regarding jury duty. Most people I know have never been called to jury duty in their lives. This will be my second time in five years!

And now, here I sit. Eating gummi worms and procrastinating. What a life.

Hump Day Blues

I’m tired and cranky and headachy. My energy level is at an all new low. Writing was a real struggle for me today, as was pretty much anything else.

I opened up Driving Into Forever because I thought it would be easier to work on because I’m just re-writing it, but I was wrong. I thought it would be more like just heavy editing but instead I’m actually re-writing the whole thing. Most of it’s being scrapped completely. And why? Because of the other two projects I’m working on.

That’s the problem with writing. It’s a learning process. The more I write, the better the writing gets. By working on the other two projects it’s easier to see where I went wrong with the first one and the re-write is becoming a much better story.

But it was still a great effort to get anything done today. Even blogging.

The Rooster Crows

Just as the weather has been changing lately (from hot and humid to crisp and clear) so have my sleeping habits. In the winter months when I was on a midnight shift, I had no trouble sleeping during the day. But once I was off that shift I became a day person again.

I like the mornings and I’ve never had any problems getting up early. If I have a good reason to that is. When you have to set your alarm to get up and go to work, it’s a whole different ball game than when you can get up any time you like. It leads to staying up later, which leads to sleeping in later . . . A truly vicious cycle.

My most productive time seems to be the afternoon, from lunch to about supper time. So the time I get up in the morning shouldn’t make any difference, right?

Wrong. I miss the early mornings, when everything is just waking up and it’s quiet and peaceful outside . . . And the reason I don’t really get anything done before lunch is because I get such a late start. I don’t get much accomplished in the evenings either, other than reading or watching TV, there’s a lot of wasted time there.

So I’m going to try an experiment this week. I’m going to set my alarm and get up at a normal time and then come into my office to get to work. Writing is my new job. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Ask not for whom the rooster crows, my friend, it crows for you.