Thursday, January 14, 2010

Random Downtime

I spent all of my writing time on revisions yesterday. I completed four chapters and half of chapter five. My fabulous accountability partner, Beth, emailed me on her progress and asked about mine. When I had to stop and write it out, something clicked. I was really proud of myself, and her too! I closed my email by letting her know I would reward myself with guilt free TV time(American Idol addict), and asked her what she would do. She had plans for some enjoyable activities as well. This is a good thing.

Thanks to Nathan Bransford, I found two really awesome ways to help people of Haiti during this tragic time of disaster. I hope you will help to spread the word on these easy ways to give to those who have nothing. Doctors Without Borders is a group of doctors that fly all over the world. They are already on the ground in Haiti. You can donate through their website by clicking on the link above. According to the White House webpage, you can text "HAITI" to 90999 and $10 will be donated to the Red Cross. You will see the charge added to your cell phone bill. Quick and Easy, no credit card required.

I found a mouse in my house. And no, I was not at all amused. Here's the story so everyone can laugh at with me. I was sweeping my kitchen for the third time(the young prince is not so neat with his food or anything else he may find that could be destroyed and left littering my floor....I digress)when I heard a little squeak. I looked and there under the stove, I had accidentally, unknowingly, swept a tiny mouse against the side of the stove. I panicked, dropped the broom and hopped on to the kitchen chair in approximately 1.2 seconds. It was so gracefully done, in fact, that my ENTIRE family came running to see if I had somehow fallen off a table or something. The court jester laughed at me.
"It's most likely scared to death of you," he says as I'm trembling from the chair and staring down the tiny mouse under the stove.
"Okay, I understand that. But what if it touches me?"
"If it's scared of you, how is it going to touch you? Just leave it alone."
I look at him like he's crazy. My princesses are guffawing in the corner. "Mom's scared of a little mouse."
"Mom, he's cute, look at him."
"I am looking at him. He's adorable. He's also full of germs and diseases and he's probably left his little mark all over my damn kitchen." My voice has now risen to a full on shriek.
"Honey, come out of the kitchen."
"I can't sit around with a mouse in the house!"
"Mom, you rhymed!" offers Princess Kayla proudly.
I'm going to pass out. Finally, the court jester looks closely and realized I killed the poor guy with the broom. I didn't mean to, and as he was carried out the door by the tail, all tiny and cute, I felt like crying. I had a whole kitchen to clean now. Damn it.

image found here.

Just to put things in perspective.... We are kind of like..in the American Idol for writers contest every time we query. So far, the judges of AI have seen 19,000-that's nineteen thousand auditions in two cities. 50 something have gone on to the next round. I will not even do the mathematical statistics on that....but it sure makes me realize how well my writing must be to speak out above a crowd of "more writers than ever."

7 comments:

  1. I can't allow myself to dwell on the fact that agents reject something around 95% of what they read. It's stops me in my tracks if I do. ;-)

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  2. The numbers are scary, aren't they? But not as scary as a mouse in the house. We used to have a serious rodent problem in our old house. It was on ten acres, so lots of field mice. Anyway, I hate the little boogers with a passion.

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  3. The odds may seem scary, but remember the general rules when it comes to writing that Robert J. Sawyer lists in this excellent article On Writing.

    I'll paraphrase here.

    Say you start with 100 writers. Rule 1) You Must Write - only half of the 100 writers will actually sit down and write the novel. Now you have 50 writers. Rule 2) Finish What You Start - only half will actually finish the novel. Now you have 25. Rule 3) Don't Tinker Endlessly with the Story - only half will stop editing it forever and ever. Now you have 12. Rule 4) Send it out - sounds simple but only 6 people will actually send it out to an editor the other half will give up after the first rejection. Rule 5) Keep sending it out till it finds a home - of the 6 only 3 will follow that rule. Rule 6) Start Work on Something New - now you are down to 1 or 2 people from the original 100.

    Good rules to write by and are based on Heinlein's 5 Rules.

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  4. I had to laugh with you. I did the exact same thing just after I got married and found a mouse in my new house. My husband laughed at me for days because I got on top of the table:)

    Thanks for the link to help the people in Haiti.

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  5. Melissa G: Sorry if I brought u down with those numbers! See Angelia's comment! :)

    Susan: Thank goodness I'm not the only one. My whole kingdom is still cackling at me.

    Angelia: Where would I be without your wisdom? Honestly! Thank you.

    Melissa: I would have broke our little table, but if I could have I would have been hanging from the ceiling. LOL

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  6. The numbers can be depressing, so I try to ignore them as much as possible. :) Just do my best & keep plowing forward!

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  7. It's not so much the rodent itself, but the massive CLEANING that I would have to do once I found him that would upset me so much. And you should see me with ants - I hate those m-effers!

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