Weekly Random Rollup

#1. This week's been a little wonky. Here in Utah we've got this little holiday called Pioneer Day. It's basically the day the pioneers decided to settle what would come to be known as Utah. July 24th every year. And in Utah, it's like Christmas and the Fourth of July put together--except BIGGER. Which is all fine and dandy, except when it falls in the middle of the week, as with any holiday falling in the middle of the week, it throws off all the routine of the entire week.

#2. The holiday's nice, leading to a 2-day work week at the day job, and while much of the rest of Utah is off gallivanting with me, I forget that it's not a holiday anywhere else in the world and that stuff still needs to get done. But now that it's Friday, let's get us back to schedule with a general Friday, Happy Dance!

#3. The Avengers is on Netflix. Do you know what this does to my productivity? Revisions seem to be taking just a little bit longer, because I just can't pass up hanging with Iron Man and the gang! I thought I was doing pretty good since I finished watching all the available episodes of both Supernatural and Fringe in the last few weeks. 

#4. Something awesome: sharing eats with friends! The lovely Nichole Giles is visiting from Texas this week and we had a chance to get together for dinner, share some food, and just catch up in general. Thanks for making some time for me in your busy visiting schedule, Nichole!

#5. I've finally discovered the delicious properties of steamed artichokes. I've never made them before and was a bit nervous as to how to go about it, but thanks to some helpful friends and easy to follow web instructions, the family and I have found that we LOVE artichokes, especially dipped in melted butter or a yum mayo+balsamic vinegar sauce. Oh, the goodness...

All right, well hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Weekly Random Rollup

#1. Didn't I swear I was going to be a better blogger? It would be nice if I actually, yanno, followed through, huh? It's almost halfway through Friday and I JUST realized I didn't have this post up yet! Ahh, silly me.

#2. I think tattoos are cool. Not all tattoos, and not on everyone. I just think the ones that have special meanings are the best. They can be sweet and simple, or amazingly detailed. The talent that some of the tattoo artists out there have is astounding. But, alas. I will never get a tattoo. Why? Because I'm a chicken. There, I said it. So in the lieu of actually going under the needle, I've started doing this to myself and my children. A red heart on the side of a foot and a promise on a pinky! Gotta love fine point sharpies!

#3. We have a dog. She is a boxer. Her name is Lucy. But we had an "incident" yesterday, so for the foreseeable future, she shall be known as The Damn Dog or TDD for short. The incident, you ask? The Damn Dog ran away. So we moved a few weeks ago and we've not done a great many walks in the new 'hood with TDD, given that she runs around like a maniac in our huge backyard nowadays. Yesterday, she slipped out the door and took off. She is Husband's dog, but conveniently Husband was at work when this happened. So 3 miles, 4 parks, 2 neighborhoods, and 7 really nice strangers later, 2 chickies and I finally caught up to her. Ugh. Don't let that cute face fool you. She's trouble.

#4. Speaking of moving, this is IT! Tomorrow is the DAY! By that I mean, we'll finally have finished getting all of our crap out of the old place and either over to the new one or into the trash. I CANNOT wait! We've unpacked all the stuff we need to live on, but there's all the stuff that makes a house a home that's left and I am just looking forward to making our new house more homey! Also, in case any of you didn't know, moving sucks. And I don't think I ever want to do it again.

#5. Blogging's kind of tough, isn't it? Over the years since I started in ... 2008, Holy Crap! I've been blogging on and off for FIVE years and I didn't even realize it!! ... Anyway, I've sort of been wondering what do you like to hear or read or discuss on a blog? I mean, there's so much information out there on the interwebz, what do you find interesting? Open forum, kids, voice your questions, concerns, any bloggy thoughts you may (or may not) want to hear from me, or even just share any emotional outbursts you may have! I'm open ears!

Listening from Utah... Have a great weekend!

Weekly Random Rollup

#1. I swear I'm going to be a better blogger. Said me, for the billionth time. This is one of the things I miss most, though, the sharing of randomness of my week. So while I'll try to be better blogging during the week, I'm going to commit to this! I've even decided it needed a new snazzy name, the Weekly Random Rollup. (Okay, maybe not that snazzy...) AKA, stuff that happens that doesn't get its own post and may have been mentioned in 140 characters or less at some point during the week.

#2. I owe you guys a post on my recent travels. Mostly so I can share the beautiful stuff I saw while I was on the road traveling for #dayjobtrip. And I've recently been on the road far more than I like, but hopefully as we ease into the summer, I can spend less time on airplanes. We've already talked about how this year's summer plans include a big fat STAYcation. There's no place like home! Anywhere cool you've been recently, or are planning to go this summer?

#3. Over the last couple of months, I've been to so many awesome book signings in SLC! Nichole Giles, Sara Zarr, Margaret Stohl, Stephanie Perkins, Ally Condie, Shannon Hale, Natalie Whipple, and Elana Johnson! They are wonderful to meet and if you ever get a chance to see them live, you need to go! This is one of the (many) reasons I LOVE living in a writerly mecca!

#4. Supernatural has recently, like in the last year, become one of my fave shows. One of the reasons it took me so long to watch is because I'm totally chicken when it comes to things ghosty and haunting related, so it took weeks, WEEKS, I'm telling you, for me to make it through the first episode. But Dean Winchester was there, encouraging me to overcome my fear every step of the way. Oh, that smolder...


And now that I'm (im)patiently waiting for season 8 on Netflix, I've started watching Fringe. Which, to be honest, is like the slightly unbelievable and probably highly unreasonable scientific explanations for anything that would've happened on Supernatural. Plus, yummy Peter Bishop with his witty and sarcastic remarks definitely makes you want to believe.

#5. I cannot believe it's July already. JULY! How has this year flown by so quickly? I feel like we've seriously not done enough in the first half of the year and are going to spend the second half of the year making up for it! Does anyone else feel that way?

We're off to find things to fill the weekend! Have a great one, all!!

Holy Heat in July or Due Dates-How to Deal?

I just realized it's been over 3 months since my last "real" post. 3 MONTHS! The year is just slipping away and I feel like I'm scrambling to stay current!

It's been a hot, hot summer since the solstice, and I know I'm not alone in saying that. There have been a couple days where I've considered opening the fridge and building a tent around the door, a la The Simpsons.

Adding to the temperature outside, is the one inside, the one rattling in from my email inboxes, dayjob and writerly.

What am I speaking of? Oh, I'm pretty sure every single one of you knows!

Due dates. Deadlines. Drop deads.

Whether you're agented or not, on submission, querying, or simply trying to get the words out for your first book, there's something to be said about giving yourself (or being given) a completion date. And how you handle it.

With 6 months of 2013 left, I'd love to hear how you guys are dealing with the heat, both outside and when it comes to your writerly projects! Share and share alike! I'm sure there's a lot of us who could benefit from some tips and tricks!