Taking a project off “hold”

Today they were painting the unit doors in my building, which meant I had to leave my front door propped open (so the paint could dry) almost all day. It’s disconcerting to have your door open. It made it almost impossible for me to concentrate. Combine that lack of focus, with the fact that my dh asked when one of my WOH (works-on-hold as opposed to a WIP work-in-progress) would be finished, and I found myself opening a file I hadn’t looked at in months.

I read the entire thing (which roughly translates to the first half of the book) and I discovered something about it: it ROCKS.  Okay, maybe not all of it but at the very least 75, maybe even 85 percent of it is awesome. I tabled this project when I got too caught up in “everything” that was wrong with it. Now that I’ve got some distance from it, I can see EVERYTHING that is right with it.

I’m officially moving it from my WOH list to my WIP list.

Call me crazy but…

Someone sent me this link http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080715204734.htm to an article in SCIENCE DAILY with the headline:

“Psychiatric Forensic Patients With Tattoos More Likely To Have Antisocial Personality Disorder”

Really?

They’re freakin PSYCHIATRIC FORENSIC PATIENTS — doesn’t that by definition mean they’re anti-social — inked or not?

A new week

Last week was a tough one for me on the writing front.

Monday — a rejection on a full

Tuesday — a rejection on a full (detecting a theme?)

Wednesday — blessed silence

Thursday — an email from an agent asking if the project is still available and then nothing  — WTF?

Friday — a rejection on a full

Over the wknd though, I was merrily rolling along on my WIP — hopefully that will set the tone for this week!

X Files

I was never a fan of the X Files, but DH was, so this wknd we went to see the movie. It was okay, BUT it had the funniest scene I’ve seen in a while. I could tell you what it is, but then someone might abduct you.

Brain, brain go away

Remember that little rhyme, Rain, rain go away, come again some other day.

I’ve got a new version, Brain, brain go away, bother me some other day.

It’s bad enough that I’m working on two WIPs simultaneously (neither is going particularly well) but today I had a BLOODY BRILLIANT idea for a play (a dramedy, so not only a different form and therefore a different way of thinking, but a different genre). I’ve got the title, the premise, the characters all rolling around in my head and I’m doing my best to ignore them (which I know from experience never works — which is why I’m already working on two suspense novels at the same time….). Save me!

No socks, no shoes, no…spackle?

The hallways of my building are being painted this week. This is annoying for a few reasons:

1) Our condo smells like paint

2) One of the painters is a whistler. I am not a fan of whistling. Neither is the Dog of Death who keeps barking at the whistler. This makes it even more difficult than usual to stay focused on my writing.

3) One of the painters seems to have a thing about painting barefoot. Every time I step outside my door, there are his shoes and socks lying in a pile. And there he is — barefoot. Why?

THE GREAT AMERICAN SERIAL KILLER MUSICAL

I have a dream. I want to write THE GREAT AMERICAN SERIAL KILLER MUSICAL. This is a dream I’ve had for a few years now, but I’ve never shared it with anyone, because quite frankly I get enough askance looks without purposefully inviting more.

Just think about it for a second, wouldn’t it be cool?

You are here — yeah, that’s helpful

An old friend (meaning we went to junior high and high school together) told me that to this day she can’t pass a Directory in a mall without thinking of me. We were once terribly lost in a mall (we’re both directionally challenged) and came upon a Directory. My friend rushed toward it like it was the first watering hole we’d come across in a desert. I wasn’t so sure.

“Look Jen,” she trilled (seriously, she still trills, it’s getting old) “It says, YOU ARE HERE.”

I rolled my eyes up into my head (something I still do that drives HER crazy). “I know I’m here. But where the hell is here?”

That’s where I am with my WIP. I know I’m “here”. I just don’t know where the hell I’m at.

Every Midnight by Maggie Jagger has been released!

My pal Maggie Jagger’s debut novel has been released by New Concepts Publishing. Yay Maggie!

Heiress, Lizzie Tempest, has accidentally ruined a man she hates. Unfortunately, she must marry the Beast. Lizzie is so afraid of catching syphilis that she makes a pact with him. She promises to meet his sexual needs every midnight if he is faithful to her and does not approach her during the day for licentious purposes. Lizzie soon learns she can’t trust her own body. It enjoys betraying her every midnight. 

http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/everymidnight.htm

Product Placement

We watched the season premiere of Burn Notice last night.

About halfway thru DH says, “The poor Cadillac.” (the car was taking quite the beating, shot at, etc.)  and I said, “It wouldn’t have happened if Cadillac had bought advertising time during the show. The car would have been okay if it was a Saab.” (Saab commercials ran during every single commercial break.)

Sure enough, at the end of the show, the main character is given a….aw, come on, you can guess this…a Saab.

While product placement often annoys me, it completely worked with this show that is so “wink-wink”

If only Mr. Coffee had jumped at the chance too….