Joely Sue Burkhart

I really was last night.

Okay, I wasn’t fully asleep, but I was definitely in bed and I was having a hard time getting my brain to shut down.  Pretty standard the last few nights–no wonder I’m so tired during the day.  It’s not full blown insomnia, but I’m definitely losing sleep and going to bed early would not help.

While I was trying to relax and fall asleep, I started writing poetry in my head.  Not for the first time, I wished I had a Stephen King typewriter mind-machine thing that could write down what I was thinking, because of course this morning I can’t remember more than the basic theme of the poem.  Maybe I did dream about it, because it’s all rather vague, or maybe that was deliberate on my mind’s part.  You see, in the poem, I was a ghost.  I was there around my family, but nobody could see or hear me.  I distinctly remember the impression of banging on glass with my fists, trying to get their attention, but still, nobody heard me.

*shivers*  No wonder I’m tired this morning.  Maybe it’s a good thing I don’t remember the actual verses.

Revision Hell is put off until after the move is complete.  There’s no need to rush now, as I got the ”Dear Author” letter yesterday.

Tracy was kind enough to let me write up a guest post for the Bookroom Reviews blog here.

So we’ve been trying to match the paint color throughout this house so we could touch up all the knicks and scrapes the monsters left behind.  First time, we took a small piece of wall (That Man planted the bedroom door handle into the wall, long story) to Lowes and had a quart of Valspar made.  The paint lady thought the finish was flat.

When it dried, it was obviously not the right color or finish.  Some walls looked okay until the light hit, with an obvious sheen difference.  I went snooping out in the garage through several old cans and found what I suspected was the original 5-gal painter’s container.  It was an egg shell finish, not flat.  Back to Lowes, bought another quart in the same color.

This one was even worse.  I didn’t need a light difference to see the obvious touchups. 

The paint label was really faded, but I finally made out Sherwin Williams “Nomadic Desert.”  We ran up to the closest store on Sat. and they had closed half an hour earlier.  Sigh.  Made another trip today but the paint guy recommended I bring in the old paint can because believe it or not…they have two kinds of egg shell paint.  Sigh.  Drove back home, picked up the nasty old can, and drove back.

Of course, I couldn’t just buy a quart of THIS paint — I had to get a whole gallon.  *grumbles*  However, it was totally worth it.  I repainted all the spots tonight and I swear, I can’t tell where I touched up.  The only spot I really need to work on yet is the monsters’ room.  Evidently, Princess Monster likes to lay awake at night and scratch paint off the textured bumps.  It might be easier to re-paint that whole wall…

I was a cleaning maniac all weekend.  The master suite is almost move-out ready:  cleaned, organized, kids’ toys picked up, etc.  Packing up the bathroom essentials will be one of the last things we do.  Both bookcases are mostly done with just a few scragglers that wouldn’t fit in the box.  Today, I finished the monsters’ room.  *dies*  It was soooo messy.  Everything is organized and for the most part, packed, except their most favorite toys.

I didn’t finish the storage unit like I hoped, but I got more cleaning/organizing done than I planned, which is good.  (I didn’t have the van Sat. so I couldn’t make the large trips like I’d envisioned.)  Slowly, we’re getting there.  If nothing else, this move is forcing me to reorganize and declutter, which is a good thing.

Tracy at Bookroom Reviews posted a review of Beautiful Death:

Beautiful Death is a fast-paced science fiction, action, and romance book, all in one.

Joely has a gift of great imagination, including the apocalyptic future world that she created. I could even see this book as a movie.

Thank you so much, Tracy!

The winner of Lynn Viehl’s Twilight Fall giveaway is….

BETHANIE!

Bethanie, please e-mail me your snail mail addy and I’ll send your copy!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Happy Independence Day, America!

Today was another major day of cleaning, packing, and organizing.  I have one massive bookshelf entirely packed now, as well as several containers of toys out of the monsters’ room.  We (that is significant) reorganized the garage to make it easier to get stuff out of the house and still park the van inside.  I have a dedicated corner for donation items (already made one delivery load yesterday) and another corner for trash.  That Man even cleaned out his closet and eliminated several bags of old shirts, etc. that I can donate.

A long sweaty day, requiring a second shower tonight after the local fireworks display (which was AWESOME–they shot them just a block or so away so it was like our own personal display while we sat in our driveway.  Too bad we’re moving.  *rolls eyes*)

Tomorrow, That Man is taking the monsters over to his parents’ house and I’m staying behind to continue the packing.  My #1 task tomorrow is to tackle our storage facility and identify as much as possible for donation.  Hey, we haven’t used it in nearly two years–maybe I can get rid of it now.  Especially while That Man isn’t looking…

I even sorted toys tonight… Barbie, animals, books, etc. into containers with labels.  They won’t stay that way for long…

P.S. and while no one is looking tomorrow, I do plan to reward myself with a little writing, too.

It wasn’t exactly midnight…but around 11:30 p.m. last night we had a rescue mission.

Just as I was getting ready to go to bed, Princess Monster (she was allowed to stay up extra late since school is out.  She *loves* staying up late by herself.  I have no idea who she gets that from.  *innocent look*)  took the dog out for me and came rushing back inside.

“MOM, there’s a hurt bird outside!  We have to help it!”

I’ll admit, even after seeing the little creature, I wasn’t sure what we coud do for it.  When she’d first seen it, the bird was lively enough to hop around that at first she thought it was a frog, but it couldn’t fly.  I didn’t personally see it with wings beating or anything, so I don’t know if it got hit by a car and a wing is broken or what happened.  I hesitated to try and catch it, especially so late, with all the craziness going on as it is…

“Mom, remember the song about the nightingale?”

Oh, this monster knows exactly how to manipulate me.  She reminded me of the Christmas song about the hurt nightingale which becomes Maria’s offering to baby Jesus.  On the right day, it can make me cry.  So I sent her inside for an old towel.  While she was looking for a box (you wouldn’t think that would be so hard since we’re moving, but I’d used up nearly all the boxes I had!), I easily caught the bird in the towel.  He didn’t even try to hop or fly — probably petrified to death.

I ended up using one of my larger boxes and carefully set him inside, towel and all.  We got a little dish of water in case he was thirsty.  The little guy made it through the night, and the two youngest monsters are enthralled with the little bird.  Later today I’ll call our local conservation office and see what they recommend we do with him.

Here’s a picture of the little guy. I have no idea what kind of bird he is. 

ETA: I talked to the conversation office and they recommended setting him outside beneath a towel to see if he was merely in shock. Once he recovered, he would simply hop out and fly away.  I went out to the garage (with an eager troop of monsters) with another towel, opened the box, and the little bugger hopped/flapped out.  Chaos ensued.  We opened the garage door, and with just a little gentle shooing, little birdie flew out and across the street to our neighbor’s yard.

Yay!  I think he’s recovered.

Of course, Littlest Monster had gone outside barefoot and stepped in the bird’s departing gift of poo on the garage floor.

Wailing ensued… 

Whew boy, I’m just flying.  *snort*  809 words, 16,944 polished.  I started the evening off by cutting several paragraphs from that new section I added (foreshadowing became big dark glob) and then connected it to the old draft.  The next few sections *should* go quicker because I don’t foresee adding anything new, but who knows.

Packed 5 more kitchen boxes (2 were small, spices, etc. that I won’t be using between now and the 18th) and finished cleaning the garage out.  This holiday weekend, I’ll be cleaning out our storage unit to donate as much as possible (hey, if we haven’t used it in almost 2 years, why keep it now?) and then moving some of this clutter out of here so I can keep working.  I’m also doing some touch-up painting, crossing fingers that the matched paint actually matches and doesn’t look horrible…

Only 803 words tonight, but they’re new words for a brand new scene that I need using the new character I added yesterday.  NSR is up to 16,185.  Plus I packed 4 boxes of kitchen stuff and set aside 2 boxes of yard sale/donate items.  Yes, it’s official.  We’re moving.

It’s no secret that I adore both Lynn Viehl’s blog and her books.  I’m celebrating, because Twilight Fall releases today! 

I’ve been a Darkyn fan since the beginning with If Angels Burn.  While I can’t afford to give away the whole series like I did for Evermore, I did buy an extra copy of Valentin’s story that I’ll put up for grabs this week while I’m in Revision Hell.

Because I blew my postage budget with the last contest, I can only afford to send this copy to US residents.  (I do regularly have contests for anyone on the planet, but not this time, sorry!!)  Simply comment on THIS POST ONLY by midnight CST Friday, July 4th to be entered, or you may e-mail me once at joely AT joelysueburkhart DOT com with “Lynn Viehl” or some other identifier in the subject so I can easily find you if you fall into my spam folder.

ETA:  As always, I do not retain your name or address if you enter.

So much for going to bed early.  *growls at self*

NSR is up to 15,376 polished words.  I added a red herring character which required a little research, and then wove him into chapter 4 before moving onward.  I’m still going at a snail’s pace but oh well.  I’ll take it!

Not planning on any early writing tomorrow, but maybe I’ll wake up early.  Heh.  Oh, the delusions I create for myself…

…is up at All Romance Ebooks here!  Also, look for the “Girl on Fire” ARe ad in the July issue of the Romantic Times, and you’ll see Isabella’s lovely cover.

Watch for a review at Book Room Reviews later this week, and I’ll also be guest blogging with them Monday, July 7th.  Tracy just had a wonderfully crazy weekend reading books like a madwoman for a Read-A-Thon.  Now that sounds right up my alley!  Maybe next year…

Yeah, I know I missed a bunch of days, so this technically isn’t “three” but life happens.  In fact, life happens a lot, and if this month goes the way I suspect, I’ll be extremely lucky to get any revisions done at all.  But I made a commitment to myself when I shipped NSR out, and so I must work on it as much as I’m able.

This morning, I got up early before work and took a survey of where I am.  I managed to add about 4K since I started Revision Hell.  Not much at all.  However, I smoothed several things that were bothering me.  Eliminated some redundancy.  Dropped a few more hints early, weaving them in hopefully seamlessly.  I re-arranged some sections that were out of order. 

Some good changes.  I’m back to the Evil Day Job today and will just have to see how the week progresses.  My sleep/writing schedule is in tatters right now, and I’m sure if I flip back to this time last year, I’d see the same thing.  With the summer hours, I want to stay up late, but the kids are out of school, so they stay up late, which means I don’t get started on MY stuff until even later.  If I’m not careful, I’m up until midnight every night, and I start work at 6:30 a.m.  Not good.  I really need to be in bed by 11:00 if possible, but that hasn’t happened yet. 

You’d think it would be easier to get up Dark & Early with the sun, but it’s not, because my body wants to stay up late.  Ideally, I’d move to a D&E writing schedule and leave the nights completely open to chance, but I just can’t seem to get up that early.  I’m going to experiment this week and see if I can get to bed earlier.  Unfortunately, that might cut into this week’s progress.  If I oversleep in the morning, and make myself go to bed early, then I won’t see any numbers on the writing. 

I’ll just have to see what I can do.

BUST.

I should have remembered that a day of vacation–with That Man and the monsters underfoot–means no writing time whatsoever.  I tinkered with NSR a little, maybe a couple of hundred words, but I’m seriously behind.  At this rate, I won’t really get a good start until Monday. 

I started reading a VERY high concept book that was VERY disappointing (not by anyone I “know” on the blogosphere, so nobody worry!).  I couldn’t even make it 50 pages.  What a waste of a good idea.

We watched The Bucket List, which made me bawl.  Not a feel-good bawl at all.  That Man’s got the new-ish Rambo movie Tivo’d too, which he’ll probably make me suffer through tomorrow.

On the bright side, at this rate, I’ll be EXCITED to return to work on Monday.