DS & Surgery

Tomorrow’s the big day! Our son is going in to have his sinuses drained. Specifically his sphenoid sinuses. He’s advanced to chronic sinus disease (triggered by allergies) and this is the first surgery he’s going to remember having. He’s worried, but resigned. It’s a day surgery, so we hope to have him home again tomorrow night.

Hopefully this will help with his migraine issues as well, since the pressure build up seems to trigger them on a near-constant basis. Thank goodness his neurologist gave us a new prescription before Christmas break that finally gave him some relief and returned his personality and energy levels.

We’ll be contacting people and updating information once we get home tomorrow.

Holiday Madness

Happy Holidays! You may remember a post I did last March titled A Case of the Megrims, where I wished I was doing research for either a story or my Regency Resource pages, but instead I detailed the problems our son was having with a sinus infection.

Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. The CT scan the day after that post showed positive for a sphenoid sinus infection. An MRI in May still showed signs. After a prednisone taper, he had a moon-face and far too much extra weight compared to pictures taken a year previously. A trip to the allergist revealed mold and dust mite allergies resulting in two daily prescriptions. But finally, he was feeling better. We had a good 4-5 weeks in May and the first bit of June. Then he caught a type-A flu just in time to miss his 5th grade promotion ceremony and promptly shared it with me. This was likely swine flu, but we both recovered.

The boy spent the summer and beginning of the school year in and out of headaches, usually triggered by the heat. We won’t talk about the utter failure of Boy Scout camp where the heat reached 112˚F and we ended up with a single merit badge in art for $300. So, except for the heat, we thought we’d start 6th grade with this behind us except for a few bad days scattered early on in the year.

Then came the end of October with the Santa Ana winds. No local wildfires this year, just lots of dust and dry heat. The first week of November, I could sense something was different. The raccoon eyes were back and his personality was fading fast. I took him to the pediatrician and told him it was just like before. Double dose/double round of antibiotics later, and no improvements just a climbing absence toll.

Finally, at the end of November we were scheduled for another CT Scan. Yup, same thing. So we next scheduled an ENT visit. She didn’t think the infection would cause headaches, but based on the 3 scans, she recommended surgery, which we assumed was next and we really didn’t want another round of prednisone. So, he’s been out of school about 6 weeks. Guess how long it is until his surgery is scheduled. Another 6 weeks.

We have a meeting next week with the school nurse, counselor and maybe some teachers to see what we can do to catch up on this quarter that he’s missed. The problem I see, is even with what little he’s managed to finish, I’m not sure he’s going to retain any of it. Especially since, we have no interim relief.

We also have an appointment with a neurologist since he seems to get classic migraines with this non-classic location. However, the pain-relief meds he gave him, aren’t doing jack-squat for him. Progress feels very slow and it’s very stressful to watch the life sucked out of my kid like this.

So… what’s all this mean for me as a writer? I may get some sort of story fodder from it, but mostly I have a lot of distraction on my hands. This at the same time I really, really want to finish this manuscript. Oh.. and toss in the usual holiday madness of decorating, baking, shopping, and parties. Yeah… progress on the manuscript is slow.

I started tracking my wordcount back mid-October. I’ve managed to add an additional 25k to the novel, not a great daily or weekly average, but it is forward progress. Will I make 90k by New Year’s Eve? Doubtful. Will I finish the story as I have it laid out? Possibly. Right now, I’d need 1800 words a day to make 90k by then. However, my story looks like it’ll run about 350 pages, and I’ve been averaging 225 words/page. So that sounds like 78,500 words total. Not bad for a first draft with lots of dialogue runs and lots of places that need some more emotional punch.

Kinda like why I always wondered why Chris Baty picked November for NaNoWriMo, I’m kind of wondering why I stacked the deck against myself here. But you know what? I don’t think it matters when you choose to work, there’s always going to be some external force that will be much easier to blame for your procrastination. Just write it.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

67 Days

I decided I’m not going to do NaNoWriMo again this year. I’m taking a slower approach and hoping to complete the first full draft of my Regency, Beneath His Touch, by December 31st. This gives me 67 days to write another 56k words to end up with 90k total. When I’ve been able to sit down and focus, I’ve been able to write a bit over 1k words a day. This is lower than the 1667 words a day for NaNoWriMo. To finish this book in November, it would take around 1900 words a day, something I’m not willing to commit to right now.

Unfortunately, I’m not a crazy college student with all the free time in the world on my hands. I have two middle schoolers who are in need of a bit more direction and support to make it through this next quarter while trying to keep up with martial arts and scouts as well. Not to mention all the normal holiday fanfare in the next two months that will fall on my shoulders.

But that’s what the group, Accountability Corner, I belong to is all about: balancing life with writing. Lately, we’ve been trying to think of our writing as starting a small business and what all needs to be done to make it successful. I still feel like I’m very much in the R&D and early product development stages. I know what I want, but I’m not quite sure the prototypes are living up to my expectations. It was surprising to see how many activities we could tie to the ones listed for starting a small business and even more so, how many of them we were already pursuing. Some of us more than others, but we were all headed in the right direction.

Speaking of R&D, I’ve been doing a lot of research lately. Not necessarily Regency specific research, although a lot of people have been visiting my Regency Resource pages, but I’ve been reading voraciously this year. I could only recall about 79 books that I’d read last year, but this year I decided to keep track with GoodReads and set up a shelf for books I read in 2009. I’m surprised that I’ve read 105 books so far and I have another two in progress as well. I tend to keep one book in the car to read while I pick up the kids and I forget to bring it in, so I pick up and start another one in the house. I’m curious to see how far I’ll get on that count in the next 67 days as well.

So, what are YOU going to do in the next 67 days?

Focus Point

out of focus In photography terms, a focus point refers to the small brackets, lines or circle in the middle of an autofocus point-and-shoot camera’s viewfinder that indicates where the camera is pointing. In broader terms, I like to think of it as what I’m currently putting my energy toward: be it a project, a routine to reinforce or an outlook to cultivate.

Lately, my focus point has been my son and his headache(s). We’re still dealing with this on a daily basis. He has made it to school this week for the state standardized testing, but today was a real fight to get him there. “Mom, this is my second worst headache. EVER!” *sigh* He was feeling a bit better over the weekend and the past two days after school he’s been miserable. He complained yesterday that he spent an hour and a half in the health office and even got sick, but the health tech wouldn’t call home because he’d missed so much school already. Hopefully, she’ll call today if he feels as bad as he says he does.

So what’s this have to do with writing? I have no focus lately. I’m still only about 15 pages into this book and I’m fighting for ever word. I don’t think I can say I’m actually experiencing writer’s block in the traditional sense of the phrase because to me that implies that you’re putting in serious effort in trying to get something onto the page. It feels more that I don’t know where I’m trying to go with the story so, I’m muddling my way through a heavy fog.

One of the things, I’d wanted to work on in my mentor program was learning to build a road map I can trust. I feel like I’m still a ways from that point. It feels like there are too many unanswered questions in the “yes, but HOW do I show this happening” part of my “working outline”. I like my characters to surprise me, but I find I still need a very detailed roadmap in order to get anywhere.

I know I have focus issues on the best of days. Having so many less than ideal days in a row is frustrating to say the least. Maybe I just have the attention span of a fruit fly, but there’s got to be a better way to work with it instead of continually against it. I need to find a way to deal with constant interruptions to keep track of where my thoughts had been and where they should be going.

I think this is why the snowflake method was so appealing. The idea is to constantly build on what you’ve already got. With Revealed, that approach seemed to work rather well. I suspect the trick is making sure all of the basic elements are present from the beginning.

Anyway, off to write something down…

Happy B-day to Me!

No big plans today, no big post like last year. I haven’t even decided where we’re going out for dinner tonight. In the last year, I haven’t noticed “life began at 40”, but hey, it’s still early, right?

Two best gifts so far? An actual plan to make DS feel better and DD comes home from camp today!

Another of the Romance Divas (or is that two people?) shares my birthday as well. Two of my friends from Cub Scouts do as well. Definitely a good day in many ways. And hey, Sebastian Bach and Jamie Hewlett were born the exact same day, that’s still kinda cool.

Falling Apart?

Stressed Zebra Cartoon I honestly don’t think it’s quite that bad. It just feels like it. I’ve got a lot of stress going on in my real life (with the boy’s never-ending headache(s) and the girl off at camp on her own) plus I’m hating how the second part of my opening chapter is going. It feels like that poor zebra over there.

I love the first section which I posted for Excerpt Monday, but I’m just not feeling this one. Part of it’s the POV shift to the hero and I don’t have as good a grasp on him right now. I know, I need to just push through it and keep going, but mustering the motivation to do it is difficult.

So what have I been doing instead of writing? Reading, of course. Nothing in my genre in the past couple of weeks, but a lot of science-fiction, fantasy and some contemporary romances. It’s all been new stuff, maybe I need to go back and reread some old friends and consider it some much needed chicken soup for my much battered nerves.

It will get better and I know I just need my space back. I don’t usually have the television on during the day and I’m just realizing what a drain the cartoons and silly sitcoms have become.

A case of the megrims

George Cruikshank's "The Headache" depicting the torments inflicted by the demons of colic, depression, jealousy, and indigestion.

To have a case of the megrims was to have a headache. Often from the descriptions in diaries, these may have been migraine attacks or at the very least serious tension headaches. Darkened rooms, an absence of sound, relief brought on by a cool, damp cloth on one’s forehead or the back of one’s neck — these symptoms are all too familiar by today’s standards and even in my own house lately.

I wish I was writing about this in only a Regency Era research mode. However, for the past month, our son has been knocked down by a string of recurring headaches. Using a 0-5 scale, where 0 is none, and 4 is nauseous and 5 is throwing up, we’re talking he’s had a 4 or 5 level headache on 19 days of the last 30. This also happened last spring as well, so we suspect there might be some seasonal allergy involved making him more susceptible beyond just what is brought on by bright sunlight, loud noise and skipping meals. The boy’s head will hurt to the point where he’ll be sick from the pain and he gets horrible dark circles under his eyes.

It was interesting to see the change in the weather (from always clear and sunny SoCal to overcast and raining on Sunday) also brought a change to how he felt. On Friday evening, it was like someone flipped a switch in his personality. I hadn’t realized just how suppressed his usual sunny disposition had been for the past three weeks. He was suddenly smiling and silly and himself again. Unfortunately, as the weather system passed, so did the brief respite as the switch flipped back and he’s become a zombie again.

He has a CAT scan scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. We’re just hoping for an explanation of why he’s affected this way and a way to minimize the restrictions this places on his activities, like going to school.

Exhausted…

Sorry, no fancy image today.

I’ve been so tired this week. It’s crazy. We camped out Saturday night and I didn’t sleep well, as usual. Only it was worse than usual, because my legs ached from hiking to the bathrooms and back several times and they decided to cramp. There was also a lot of standing around or sitting in camp chairs or on the freezing cold cement benches. It was weird because I really didn’t have any responsibilities so I felt at loose ends the entire time.

I’m still fighting with my keyboard. Apple replaced it and it worked fine in the store, but decided to revert to its evil ways as soon as I got it home. It’s going to be a while before I can take it down to the other repair shop that hopefully won’t charge me the price of a new one if it’s the logic board. Luckily, I can use an external USB keyboard with it and it’s fine, except it’s bulky and not very comfortable to type with in my lap. Bleah.

Despite all this, I’m working hard with my mentor trying to build a better road map. It’s a difficult process when you have to kill your darlings or change things around from what you’ve had in your head for over a year or more. I may be losing some of the secondary or lower characters but I’m gaining focus. I’m still having issues on how to weave side plots in and around the romance plot in interesting ways.

I’m still intending to work on the Maass workbook with Revealed, but most of my attention has been going to the mentor program project lately. I’ve been thinking of the questions from the workbook as I rework the plot for that one too.

Working in the evenings has been impossible since I’m trying to get the boy back in the habit of doing homework and that’s about as easy as herding cats. He’s still not caught up from his week out of school. It’s been a nightmare trying to get the current night’s work done starting around 4pm and giving up around 8 or 9 pm to eat or send him to bed. Taking him back to the dr. today for a follow-up on the headaches.

Stop this crazy ride…

merry go round This week has been insane. It seems like everything that could have gone wrong, has and if it hasn’t yet, it’s waiting to do so until just the right moment.

Dealing with crazy vendor issues with the rental property we own. Trying to get an estimate for some work done there totally ruined my day yesterday. I was going to take off and go to the grocery store around noon since I usually go on Sunday and hadn’t made it there yet (I finally got there around 6pm tonight, actually). But I ended up having to wait for one of the estimators to call me back, only he didn’t. Then I had to run errands and pick up my new prescription sunglasses and it took 45 minutes to convince them I couldn’t see out of my left eye with my new progressive bifocals and for them to figure out that lens was in crooked. MUCH better now.

It was also DD’s 12th birthday. EEEEEEK! One year left. *gulp* So I spent a crazy amount of time running around to pick up some last minute presents for her. We have to return one. Borders was out of the Extended Edition of HSM3. 😛 The grocery store wasn’t, if only I’d gone there on Monday! And for her birthday we always go out for Chinese food. Usually PF Chang’s but just as often a smaller local place that’s really good. We were smart and made reservations last night. We JUST made it in time too.

Today was supposed to be more low-key, and in many ways it was, which was nice. I spent the morning working on changes to Chapter One of the project I’m working on with my mentor. I didn’t get as far as I wanted to though. I kept having to deal with more phone calls about the rental property. The pool guy called to tell me the tenants were moving out — property manager reassured us only 2 of the 4 were, don’t panic. Phew. That mortgage is barely covered by the rent.

So, I was planning on picking up groceries again today, only my friend Romance Diva friends, Dana Belfry, who called at 11 am to ask what I was doing for lunch. She sounded disappointed when I said I’d just popped leftover Chinese into the microwave. Turns out she was down in my neck of the woods (or in SoCal does that translate into “my wing of the mall?” Anyway…) So we went out for lunch at Claim Jumper (I drooled over the bread pudding for you, Mother!) and she brought me a big box of books she’d picked up for free and didn’t want. Out of 13, I’ll probably read over half of them. Someday. My TBR pile is too big as it is.

So what did I pick up in the grocery store? Yep. Another paperback. LOL

So, I’m sitting here, the kids have gone to bed and I’m going to now try to focus on getting more of Chapter One revised. I don’t think I’ll finish, but I need to get further along than I am. Must. Go. Write.

The TeePee Cake

Blue & Gold Dinner teepee cake I figured since I talked about it so much, I better share it.

The cake was baked as part of my son’s annual Blue & Gold dinner for Cub Scouts. Each year a different theme is chosen for the cake decorations. We’ve done sports & games (a 3-d chess piece), space (a 3-d Vader’s Tie Fighter & Death Star), animal kingdom (a 3-d Mayan pyramid with animals & trees stuck on it), and patriotism (the Washington monument with fireworks, 2-d thanks!) in the past.

So this being our last year, I said, “OK, we can try 3-d again.” And I convinced him that we wanted to do a teepee. I don’t know if I’ll work with fondant again, but it was definitely a learning experience.

The cake base is a tube cake and a 8″ layer with a layer of 3 texas-sized cupcakes and a single one on top of that. Then I took a couple bamboo skewers to use as the poles and cut a hole in the fondant. The first attempt resulted in much torn fondant. The second with a hole in the center and a slit out to the edge still wanted to tear as gravity pulled it against the skewers. Hence, the second apron at the top reinforced by the three holes cut into the center.

I would have liked a bit more decoration on the teepee itself, but Dh usually does the fine artistic details on top of my structural base, but he had a horrible headache yesterday and we ended up leaving it more “functional than decorative”. The firepit is made from white M&Ms and the fire itself is pretzel sticks, Cherry & Orange Wildfire Fruit roll-ups and a few red M&Ms for coals. The log beside it is a tootsie roll. The grass is just green decorator sugar and the scuffed dirt is chocolate cake mix.

The cake was part of the live auction last night and I ended up spending $40 to get it back. 🙂 I’d told the kids they could bid up to $25 each on cakes and DD decided she wasn’t bidding this year. It’s all for a good cause and I was happy to finally have a cake in the live auction instead of just on the side for the silent auction. A very sweet ending to the night.