Category Archives: ROW80

Tying Up Loose Ends

This has been another week of closures, of varying types. We closed on our student rental house on Thursday, which was delightfully easy compared to the last purchase. Having to deal with one incompetent, ball-dropping person on the last one dragged out the process; luckily there was no one like that this time. So now we’re looking to see if we can find some short-term tenants to occupy the place until our next-school-year’s committed ones move in.

We celebrated with–wait for it–a trip to the pet store. We bought Isis a giant rawhide bone, which occupied her all evening. We were both tired afterward–my husband had run around doing errands all day, and I was my normal tired–and my husband decided it was the “best $20 we ever spent.” LOL!

“This is gonna take awhile…”

Yesterday was somewhat of a beginning, for an end that came a couple weeks ago: the last meeting of my RWA chapter. We have no one qualified to run for president, so the November meeting was our last. We’re having a holiday party next month, then we’re done–at least as an RWA chapter. But there are other writing groups in the area, including a very small one my friend Jim Winter started a while back. We invited another of my writing friends yesterday, and for the first time ever (since I’ve attended at least), everyone was in attendance (well, except for the guy who moved to the west coast). Four professional writers and two relative beginners eager to learn, talking about writing and business and all sorts of nerdy stuff--great fun, as always.

What I read this week: Still going to wait on that, because I’m not much farther through any of it, and all is good and deserving of attention. I’m still working on The Indie Author’s Power Pack, and also started a new book on Adrenal Fatigue that the author offered to me for free after seeing my blog a couple weeks ago. That has some good info I haven’t seen before, so I will be discussing it when I finish. I’m still working on the same novel, too. Enjoying it, just slowly due to the nonfiction reading.

ROW80 Update: The writing was also a finishing up of some loose ends–I completed not only the scene I was working on last week, but the next two as well (none were long scenes). My goal was to finish one of them and write at least 3,000 words; I exceeded that and wrote around 4,000. So a big win for me! However that brings me to a turning point. I have now finished all of the completely new scenes the book needs, and now need to go through and start working in changes elsewhere throughout the book. Some of this will be deletions, too. So my goal this week is to get through 1/4 of the book–at least marking where new sections go, if not actually writing them. I am hosting Thanksgiving, but my family is small and my mom, husband, and daughter share in the cooking, so it’s not stressful, and am hoping the time off will help.

What about you–have you tied up any loose ends lately? Or see any in your near future? How are you doing on whatever goals you might have, whether writing or otherwise? What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

Trying New and Old Things

Isis relaxing in the doorway of the computer room

This has been a week of catching up, on several fronts. I’ll hit the writing further down, but it’s also been a recovery of energy for me. Last weekend was such a busy one, it really took it out of me, energy-wise, so this week has been a lot of rest until yesterday. Fortunately, my energy levels had improved again by then, because my husband and I hosted a birthday dinner for one of my best friends from college and her partner.

This may not seem like a big deal to many people, but when you’re one of those not gifted with the hostess gene (I’m convinced there’s such a thing), it’s not trivial. Add fatigue to that, and a spouse who normally helps but is hindered by having the use of only one arm… well, let’s say I’m glad I know these friends well enough that I don’t worry that my house wasn’t spotless for them.

Which was great because that left my energy free for food preparation. My college friend went vegan about three years ago, so that involved a bit more planning as far as the menu went. Being vegan is something I can’t imagine doing–just getting enough protein is something many find difficult, but my friend is healthier and more active that she’s ever been in the 25+ years I’ve known her, so that doubles my interest in being supportive of her choice. Meanwhile, her partner, whose birthday was a week before my friend’s, was really looking forward to a good steak.

So while my husband was literally single-handedly grilling steaks, I was grilling Cilantro-Lime Tofu on the George Foreman grill. That’s definitely new to me, as neither me nor my husband like tofu, so we’ve never cooked it. I’d found the recipe a few days earlier and it sounded really good (even to me), so I figured I’d give it a try. My friend scarfed it, so it must’ve been good. 🙂 I tried a bite, and indeed, it wasn’t bad at all. However, the rest of us enjoyed our steaks.

The other somewhat-new thing I fixed was roasted squash. My daughter introduced us to this a few weeks ago, last time she was home. She went to a farm market and bought a butternut squash, and an acorn squash, and fixed the former that night. Yum! We still had the acorn squash, so I did the same with it. There wasn’t much of it, but what there was, was good.

For dessert, my husband had requested apple pie. He loves Mehaffie’s Pies, which are an old Dayton standard, but they don’t list ingredients on their website, and when I researched, I found that most store-bought pies and pie crusts contain lard, whey, or both. So to ensure our pie was vegan, I went back to another old standard–my grandma’s pie crust (aka Classic Crisco pie crust), and made it myself. It was a bit of work, but well worth it–the pie disappeared quickly!

What I read this week: I started The Indie Author Power Pack, by David Gaughran, Joanna Penn, Johnny B. Truant, and Sean Platt. I’m about halfway through the first book, Write, Publish, Repeat, by Truant and Platt, and have already picked up a ton of good ideas to put to use once I ramp up production and get more books out. I believe this is a limited edition, and is currently $.99. If you’re an author–regardless of publishing path–there is a lot of useful stuff in here. Highly recommended.

I’m also reading a novel, but am not far enough in to discuss, so leaving that for next week.

ROW80 Update: My goal last week was to go through my WIP to see what I have, where the new scenes fit in, and what’s still needed. That’s done, and a big relief to see I only need three more new scenes, unless something pops in and surprises me–which would not be a surprise. I also finished the scene I was working on, which only needed a few paragraphs. So this week, I want to get back on track with producing new words, and finish a new scene or 3000 words.

What about you–what new things have you tried lately? Any old favorites you’ve dug out after a long time? Read any good books lately? How are you doing on whatever goals you might have, writing, ROW80, or otherwise? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Life Comes Before Writing

Sometimes the rest of life keeps us from writing, or for those who aren’t writers, from doing the other things we want to do. Sometimes that sucks. Sometimes, it’s okay. Because sometimes, we just need a little break from our writing (or other pursuits), and the fact is, experiencing life is what informs our writing. hockey That was the kind of week I’ve had.

My writing had already ground to a halt because I need to go back and figure out where some of the newer material I’m adding to the novel fits in, and what else is needed. And by the time I started figuring it out, life got busy. Friday night, DH and I drove out to the daughter’s college town to take her winter coats to her, which she will very much need next week. We took her and a friend out to dinner, then went to a hockey game. A good time, and we won, but it put us home rather late.

Yesterday, I had my RWA chapter meeting–always fun to see my writer friends, but also a good chunk out of my day, as it’s an hour drive each way. fire

After that, I needed to help DH clean house, to prepare for having friends over to celebrate a long-time-coming milestone: the seventh anniversary of selling the bar we used to own. Why it’s a milestone is because it means we no longer have to keep any of the paperwork for tax purposes. So we had LOTS of paperwork to get rid of. Since we don’t own an industrial-grade paper shredder, the only remaining suitable way to get rid of it was to have a bonfire–or, since we’re in city limits, two approved-size fires. We had six shopping bags full of paperwork, and it took over three hours to burn it all! But it was worth it, and great fun too.

What I read this week: I am currently beta-reading a science fiction novella a long-time friend will soon publish. And wow is it fantastic! Some fascinating aliens with some rather interesting anatomy, not to mention cultures, politics, and war–and funny twists on some sci-fi tropes. Since it is not yet published, I won’t name the book or author, but when it becomes available, you can bet I’ll announce it here, especially since the author is planning to offer it for free as an introduction to his new series.

ROW80 update: This week has been pretty much a bust for writing. No matter; I’ll get back to it this week. But before I can really get into producing more words, I need to get the story more organized and figure out which scenes go where, and what’s still needed. People who write out of order as a matter of course–I don’t know how you do it, and I am in awe! So that’s this week’s goal. On the puppy front–yes, Isis is still a puppy, though now, no one would know it to look at her. She’s now eight months old, and weighs over 80 lbs.! She doesn’t seem to realize that, however, as evidenced by this pic of her being a lapdog: Isis lapdog What about you–do you sometimes find that life takes over your want-to-do activities? Are you okay with it? That’s something I’ve had to learn. How are you doing on whatever goals you might be working toward, writing or otherwise? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

A Blessedly Uneventful Week

Isis as Loli Rottie

Sometimes we all need one of those! I’m sure for many, it wasn’t uneventful, simply because Halloween was part of it. Me, I haven’t really gotten into Halloween much for many years. With our daughter away at school, neither me or my husband even thought about it much this year–to the point that, the day before, we realized we hadn’t even bought trick or treat candy! That was just as well, because buying it too soon = we eat half of it before trick or treat comes. So DH bought it on Friday, we had all of maybe 15-18 trick-or-treaters, then plenty of leftovers. 🙂

Isis did dress up a bit, however. We found this Sweet Lolita hat in our daughter’s room, and it was too perfect not to try on her.

It got cold here in Ohio this week! Taking Isis for a walk yesterday was quite chilly, and today, the Camaro gets its winter tires put on. I remembered to bring in the daughter’s potted roses, so now they are sitting beside my writing computer. They must like it there, too, because within days, they started sprouting tons of new leaves.

What I read this week: The Slots of Saturn by Dean Wesley Smith. This is the full-length novel that’s in Smith’s Monthly #7, and is the origin story of his superhero character Poker Boy. What’s interesting about the Poker Boy stories is how fun and entertaining they are to me, who has almost no interest in poker. That’s a testament to the worldbuilding and storytelling: Poker Boy’s superpowers relate to the skills he has that make him a champion poker player–his ability to read people, for instance–but there’s very little actual poker in the stories. And lots of details about the world of casinos that work with his powers that make the stories just plain fun.

ROW80 Update: My goals were to write 5 out of 7 days this week, and to get 3,000 words down. I got the 3,000 words (barely!), but wrote every day. For some reason, it was a struggle to stay in the chair, even though writing is fun. Next week, I have a lot going on Saturday, so won’t be able to put much, if any, time in on the book that day. So it will be a push, but I’m shooting for the same goal.

What about you–do you enjoy Halloween? Do you dress up, or go to parties? How’s the weather been where you are? And how are you doing on whatever goals you might have? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Hunting Lots of Things

This week has been all about hunting. For the past few weeks, I’ve been taking Dean Wesley Smith’s online workshop on writing Productivity, and a lot of that is about hunting down more time to spend on the writing, and hunting down ways to silence the inner editor so we can get more words out of the time we do spend. Only time will tell how successful a hunt this is. It’s helping so far, but this is one of those I expect to be ongoing.

And, after closing on the apartment building a couple weeks ago, we’re now looking for a student rental house in the town where our daughter goes to college, to rent to her and three friends. We drove out there to look at a few today, and took Isis, rather than leave her crated all day.

On the way out, we stopped at some farmland/wooded property a family member owns, where my husband likes to go deer hunting. He wanted to see if the deer blind he left there last year was still there. To our surprise, it was. So that was a successful hunting trip.

For the house hunting, we did find one we really liked, as did all four of the soon-to-be tenants. It’s still early in the game to tell whether that was a successful hunting trip. A couple of the houses were vacant, so Isis got to tour them with us. For the others, she stayed outside or in the truck with someone. She was popular when we went uptown and got a bite to eat at one of the restaurants that had a patio, and by the time we left, she was totally tuckered out! On the way home, we stopped by my brother’s place, and he and DH checked out something on our truck. Isis managed to find enough energy to try to help:

Working on truck

What I read this week: I started a new book that I’m really enjoying, but am less than halfway through it, so I’m going to wait until next week to discuss.

ROW80 Update: My goals for this week’s writing were to write 5 days out of 7, which I did. I forgot to mention it in my goals, but I also wanted to write 1500 words or finish a scene. I did not finish the scene, but I did write 2,000 words, so that one is also a win. Going to stick with those same goals for this week.

What about you–have you gone hunting for anything recently? Was it successful? How are you doing on whatever goals you might have this week? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

In Closing…

No, not quitting the blog. I mean that more as a summary. Also another kind of closing, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

ROW80 is officially on hiatus this week, and will start up again tomorrow, Monday the 6th. I didn’t get near what I wanted on my goals, mostly due to “life happenings.” One of those was my husband breaking his arm, but my continued working on fatigue and my own productivity was in there as well. When life happens, you can’t beat yourself up over it, just dust yourself off, get up, and move on. Easy to say, not always so easy to do. One thing I learned was that even opening the file and saying, “just write 100 words” always adds up to much more than I expect, so that’s a tool I plan to use again when life happens.

The other happening was that DH and I bought another apartment building, and had our closing last week. That brings us up to three buildings. Managing them is DH’s job. Fortunately, much of that is talking on the phone, something that doesn’t require the use to two arms. This building is right next door to the first one we bought and have owned for over ten years, and we bought it from the real estate agents who handled the sale of the other two, and the price was right so it was a no-brainer. Where it became a life-happens event was that we somehow got saddled with a loan officer who was totally incompetent and dragged the process out much longer than it should have been, and caused me to keep having to dig up additional paperwork (sometimes the same thing more than once), when it should have been once and done. But it’s over now, so all is good. We went over there one evening and met the two tenants who’d lived there a while, both really nice people who seemed like the good kind you want–i.e., take care of the place and pay on time.

What I read this week: Kill Game, the novel in Smith’s Monthly #6. This is a cozy mystery, and I’m not quite done with it, but enjoying it very much! There is a nice bit of romance in it, common for cozy mysteries, and I like how this one is very genuine, not forced, and works perfectly with the characters and the story. I also like that the main characters are in their 50s and 60s–retired cops who play poker and solve very old, cold cases. This one has lots of fun twists and surprising things that weren’t discovered when the case was initially investigated, much due to advances in technology. While poker playing is what brings the characters together, there’s none of it in the book, which also suits me, since I don’t find it interesting and the actual play wouldn’t affect or impact the story. The novel should be out standalone in a couple months–a good, fun mystery read!

I didn’t get much writing done at all until last night, when I managed to get almost 1,000 words. It’s amazing how fast and easy the writing goes when you can kick the internal editor out of the way and keep them out. That is what I want to work on this coming ROW80–to kick the internal editor, critical voice out of my head and keep it out so I can get a lot more written this time.

Which leads me to this round’s goals, which I am again keeping simple: Finish the current WIP and get it to the beta readers. That’s it. I also like ROW80 founder Kait Nolan’s goal of writing 20 days out of 30, so I’m adopting something similar: I want to write–something, even if only 100 words–5 days out of every week. So we’ll see how that goes!

What about you–how are you doing on whatever goals you might have, whether writing or not? If you’re participating in ROW80, what are your goals for this round? And have you had any “closings” or openings recently? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

What Inspires You?

My husband’s arm is healing well, we found when he went to his first follow-up with the surgeon this week. He obviously still can’t use his arm, but can move it, and doesn’t have much pain unless he’s doing that a lot. So that’s good news! We also got to see for the first time what all the surgeon put in there. 😯

Broken arm

A bendable, stainless steel plate, and ten pins, in case you’re curious.

Otherwise, not much going on this week until yesterday, one of my writing friends came over for some lessons in formatting ebooks. Or rather, her husband got the formatting walkthrough, while Stacy and I got some writing talk in. Then we went to dinner afterwards, with my husband. Always fun, and I always like helping other writers.

What I read this week: I finished Indentured Hearts on Sunday, and wow, what a finish! A truly villainous antagonist, a life-or-death situation, and an ending that lived up to the can’t-put-it down beginning and rest of the book. Then I started Smith’s Monthly #6, and read the short stories and serial segments. This is Dean Wesley Smith’s monthly magazine that contains around 80,000 words of fiction every month, including a new novel that he typically writes in about three weeks. One of the stories was written in another writer’s established world (with permission) that I wasn’t familiar with, so I didn’t get into that story. And another one seemed more like a sociological essay on something that might be possible, and while interesting, didn’t come across as much of a story to me. But there was also a new Poker Boy story, plus a Seeder’s Universe story, and those are always fun and entertaining. And in any case, it’s always interesting to read Dean’s work after reading his Writing in Public blogs where he discussed the writing of them.

ROW80/Writing Update: ROW80 Round 3 officially ended this past Thursday. Did I meet my quarterly goals? Nope, not even close. I wanted to have the current WIP finished, but it wasn’t having that, ending up being much longer and more complex than I’d planned (and grew like this several times from the short story it was supposed to be at the beginning). Also, life stuff. Still, I’m not disappointed–the book is shaping up nicely, and is still moving forward, despite the life stuff. This past week was another one where I felt like I got almost nothing done at all, but upon checking, I got 1500 words in, so yay! There are some more life things (fortunately, good ones) planned this week, so I don’t know how much I’ll get done. If I get another 1500 words in, I’ll be happy with that. Although more would be better. ROW80 starts up again next Monday (Oct. 6), so if you’re a writer and would like a nice accountability challenge that fits in with whatever goals you set (and you can change them), consider joining us!

Finally, What Inspires You? Karen McFarland asked this question on her blog a couple weeks ago, and tagged me as one of the folks to answer. Thanks, Karen! To answer that question, a lot of things inspire me. History, for sure, especially some of the amazing people from right here in my own backyard, like Orville and Wilbur Wright, Charles Kettering, and John H. Patterson. Beautiful places, especially the surprising ones that aren’t that far away, like Cumberland Gap National Park. And of course, the wonderful fiction I read. Like Karen, I find a lot of inspiration in music. And for me, the most inspiring, best writing music comes from Canadian electronic industrial band Front Line Assembly.

Most of their music has a very cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic feel, yet it somehow goes as well with my historic time travel books as it did with Hangar 18: Legacy. But even within that, their music is widely varied from album to album. Lately, my favorite, favorite is the instrumental Airmech soundtrack album. Yes, Airmech is a video game–but those who aren’t into gaming, don’t be fooled–this is not the game music of old. This is more like epic, symphonic movie music. The complexity and multi-layeredness of the title track is just stunning. Even my mom might like it! This video is really fantastic too, and captures that post-apocalyptic feel found in much of their music:

Another of my favorites, and probably more “typical” FLA (if there is such a thing) is “The Storm,” from their Artificial Soldier album. I love the retro movie and TV footage in this one!

Of course, my puppy Isis inspires me too! Yes, she’s close to 70 pounds now, and still a puppy at seven months old! She just discovered Goldfish TV this week:

Fishy TV

And how she can sleep in this position, I don’t know, but how can anyone resist?

Isis weird sleeping

So tell me, what inspires you? I’m not going to tag anyone, but would love to see from my other blog friends who haven’t already been tagged. If you participated in ROW80 this round, how did you do? Even if you didn’t do ROW80, or aren’t even a writer, how did you do on whatever goals you might have? How was your week? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

When Life Imitates Art

It has been a crazy week. Two or three people might’ve noticed that I didn’t post a blog last week. Rather than wax lyrical, I’ll get right to the action: I was at the hospital with my husband, who broke his arm Saturday night.

The short version of how he did it is, he fell some ten-twenty feet or so down a ravine leaving a festival. I was with a couple of friends and had planned to meet him in the parking lot. He shouldn’t have gone into the dark, wooded area between the festival and parking area, and a rent-a-cop security guard definitely shouldn’t have directed him there, but that’s what happened. He came stumbling up out of the woods on the other side looking like he’d come out the wrong side of a UFC match, and his arm is broken in five places.

The creepy thing? In my second novel Time’s Fugitive, a guy fell down into a ravine because it was dark, and broke his arm. I wrote that probably eight years ago, but still… weird! At least there weren’t bad guys chasing my husband.

He is due to have surgery Tuesday–couldn’t have it last week, because his arm is scraped up and that needed to heal somewhat first. So I have been playing nurse and not getting much writing done.

It’s amazing how many things are difficult, if not impossible to do with only one arm. Opening a granola bar package. Getting toothpaste. Tightening a loose towel rack. All things he tried to do while I was at work, things most of us take for granted. But he’s doing OK, and he’s keeping a good attitude about it. We are grateful to have family and friends to help, too.

We are just thankful it wasn’t worse. To put things into perspective, one of my husband’s best friends had a major stroke a couple days earlier and most likely will never walk or speak clearly again. He’s only 51.

What I read this week (and last): Revelation, by Maria McKenzie. This is Book Three in the Unchained Trilogy, and mostly focused on Selina, the granddaughter of an escaped slave whose actress mother appeared white and “passed” as such. At the end of Book Two, Masquerade, she’d convinced Selina that life would be so much easier for her if she did the same and pretended her black relatives didn’t exist. Revelation takes Selina through the second, third, and fourth decades of the twentieth century, through marriage, motherhood, and reconnecting with her dark twin brother. Unlike her mother, Selina is a sympathetic character, for we see how she’s constantly torn by the choice she made, up to where the book ends with her great-grandchildren in 1998. A fantastic, enjoyable read and highly recommended!

ROW80 Update: Before my husband’s injury, I finished a scene, and most of another, which I finished this past week. I hope to get another done this week between helping him, so we’ll see how that goes.

Do you have any examples of life imitating something you’re read (or written!) in a book? Have you read any good books lately? How are your goals going, whatever those may be? Please share–I’d love to hear from you! Also, any prayers and good thoughts for my husband and his friend are welcome!

Do Cheap and Free Books Kill Sales?

This has been one of those weeks where not much has happened–and I’m fine with that, although I wish more writing had happened. The weather has been hot, humid yuck–typical for Ohio in August, and something we’ve had much less of this summer than most. I think that’s contributed to this past week being a tired, headachey one.

I did have a follow-up appointment at the hormone therapy clinic, where the nurse practitioner upped my dosage on some of my supplements when I told her I’d seen some improvement in my adrenal fatigue, but not as much as I’d hoped. So we’ll see how that goes.

My husband and I also went to a friend’s for a cookout last night. Our friend asked us to bring Isis, since her kids had a blast playing with her the last time we were there. So we did, and we learned not hold our glasses near the floor, even after our hostess brought out a doggie water bowl.

Isis Drinking Wine

There has been a lot of discussion on one of my email lists about a small publisher that’s in financial difficulty right now due to depressed sales, and what the causes of that might be. Everyone agrees that this publisher’s ebooks are priced too high, but what’s the right price? Some say that the proliferation of free and $ .99 books have taught readers not to pay more, that there are enough free books on Amazon, why ever buy? Others disagree. Of course there are some readers who indeed only download freebies or buy $.99 books and bundles, but there are also those who want specific books and authors and are willing to pay for them–within reason. I definitely fall into the latter group. But it does underscore the importance of finding readers who really enjoy my work, and want to buy it.

This whole free book thing is even more of a consideration with the launch of Amazon’s new Kindle Unlimited program, where readers can pay $9.99 a month and read as many books as they want, of those enrolled in the program. My science fiction romance Hangar 18: Legacy is in KU, so if you’re a subscriber, you can give it a try for free!

What I read this week: I finished Forbidden by Zoe Winters, and thoroughly enjoyed it! I started a new one the other night that was really good–one that pulled me in so much that, even after I couldn’t keep my eyes open and turned out the light (and the Kindle), I couldn’t sleep. And not in a good way–stuff in the book kept tumbling through my mind. So I started another one last night, but am not far enough in to discuss yet. Both are by authors I love, so I have no doubts I’ll finish them, but the first I’ll have to read earlier in the day, which I have difficulty finding time for. I also read a research book, The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America by Dale Taylor. Good stuff for my WIP.

ROW80 Update: I did not get as much done this week as I wanted. I got most of one scene written (might be able to finish tonight), but I’d hoped for two. Since tomorrow is a holiday, I’ll try for that again this week.

What about you–do you think the massive amounts of free and cheap ebooks available makes people less likely to buy? What’s the weather been like lately where you live–and does it affect your health? Whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing with whatever goals you might be working toward this week? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Return to Routine

There is something about “back to school” time that gets people back into a frame of mind of getting things done that aren’t yard work/fixup type of tasks. Even those who don’t have kids in school–either theirs are past that, not there yet, or they don’t have any (or just have the four-legged kind)–seem to drift back into a regular routine way of thinking once the yellow school buses hit the road come August.

That is definitely true for writers, particularly those with kids. Dean Wesley Smith calls summer the “time of great forgetting” for writers–as in, they forget all those goals and great plans, and he has very few people signing up for workshops, fewer emailing or asking questions on his blog, etc. Having the kids home from school definitely slowed my accountability buddy. Easy to understand, as she’s a stay-home mom and her kids are young enough to need the extra attention. Mine is in college, so that wasn’t as much an issue for me (especially since she seemed to spend most of her time at friends’), and I managed to ramp up overall output (though not to what I’d like yet), and took a couple workshops too.

But we took the daughter back to college yesterday, and even I feel that sense of needing to get into a more solid routine. DH and I want to do more meal planning, something we’ve been really bad at lately, resulting in a lot of conversations like this:

Him: You hungry?
Me: A little. You?
Him: Yeah. Anything sound good to you?
Me: I can’t really think of anything. What about you?
Him: I don’t know.
Me: Well, what do we have? All I can think of is a bunch of frozen stuff.
Him: Yeah, me too. So what sounds good?
Me: I don’t know. Anything sound good to you?

Isis after bath So we end up going out to eat far too often. That needs to stop.

The house already seems quieter with the daughter gone, even though she spent a lot of time away at friends’ places over the summer. I will admit I don’t miss her clutter, though. DH and I have enough of our own.

We kicked off the new routine by giving Isis a bath. She didn’t like that too much. No photos, because I was busy holding her while he hosed her down and washed, but she seemed none the worse afterward. 🙂

What I read this week: Forbidden, by Zoe Winters. This is the latest in her Preternaturals paranormal romance series, one I’ve enjoyed for a long time. Ms. Winters is excellent at pulling together couples who have tons of conflict between them–in this case, a vampire priest and an angel who was the vampire who turned him. Though I’m not yet finished with it, as expected, this book does not disappoint!

ROW80 Update: I spent the earlier half of the week reading Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat and planning what scenes I need to add in to my WIP. It’s a book on screenwriting, but 90% of it applies to commercial fiction as well. Lots of good stuff there and already useful. My other goal was to get one of my new scenes written and I did, though it was a short one. Still a win! This week, I want to continue with the new scenes, and am shooting for two.

What about you–whether or not you have kids, do you feel ready to settle back into a routine once school’s back in session? Do you plan for dinner, or do you have conversations like me and my husband? Read any good books lately? And whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing with whatever goals you may be working on? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!