Post Script

MOVED!!

2006-06-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

If you still come here... and Lord only knows why you would, but if you do... come visit me here instead!

How To Relieve The Stress Of An Office Job

2006-02-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

Here at EDJ (Evil Day Job, for those of you non-writers out there) we order our office supplies from a catalog company that, quite frankly, is generally dirt cheap. To sweeten the deal, they occasionally offer treats and premiums when you order specific items or have an order totaling X amount of money. We've gotten everything from movies to Mrs. Field's cookies.

As I was flipping through my catalogue this morning, though, a new, fun premium jumped out at me. It seems if I buy a bunch of envelopes, I can get a vibrator.

Um, excuse me. Personal Massager.

Who am I kidding? It's a vibrator. Complete with six attachments (some of which look decidedly NOT business like-- well, not our sort of business, anyway), a swivel handle and a head that adjusts to four positions.

Somehow this frightens me. Cookies I can see. Label makers, cool. Even a stuffed teddy bear here and there is a cute little extra to put in with your Post It Notes, White Out and laser printer cartridges. But a vibrator? Apparently said company thinks us office workers are a little too stressed out and need some tension relief with our envelopes.

Makes me wonder about the laptops I was looking at buying from them. Wonder what I'd get with that.

Me? Pretentious?

2006-01-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

I have been accused of being an intellectual. By my boss. Which begs the question, since I don't know jack, how the heck can I be an intellectual? Her response? Since I don't think I know jack, I am therefore a humble intellectual.

No, it doesn't make sense to me, either.

On the other side of the coin, I have been accused of being a grammar nazi. Okay, on this point I will acquiesce. I get all wound up about grammar and punctuation. Not that I can use all of it correctly, but darn it, you should! I'm odd that way.

So am I pretentious? No, I don't think so. Not completely, anyway. When my sister shared a "romance" book with me because she thought I might like it, I felt very un-pretentious. Especially when she said she was currently reading The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Now no one past high school or, perhaps, college lit actually reads Shakespeare. Unless they are trying to look termally pretentious, that is, which was exactly what she was doing. Don't get me wrong, I like the bard. But to actually read all that old English is enough to give anyone a migraine. So I'm not pretentious.

At the same time, I value education above almost anything else. I believe a Bachelor's degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on in additional salary over a career, but got one anyway because it meant something beyond a couple of letters behind my name. It meant I was educated. I'd love to get my Masters or even my PhD for that very same reason. If I weren't run ragged by three boys, that is. See? Pretentious.

And the grammar thing: just for the record, you never make a plural by using an apostrophe, then and than have different meanings, as do there and their. And adjectives and adverbs are different, the latter generally ending in LY. I cringe everytime I see that commercial on TV where they tell me to "Think Different." Hello! DifferentLY! Gees! And I tend to be a tad free with the five-dollar words, although ask me how long it took me to spell acquiesce above before I finally had to use the spellchecker on Word.

So I can't spell, have questionable knowledge of the semi-colon and split infinitives right and left. At least I know what a split infinitive is. Now. Took me a while.

At the end of the day, when I sit on the couch with my ratty jammie pants and perfect grammar, eating nacho cheese straight out of a can while watching CSI, I can take comfort in the fact that I am not at all pretentious. I can just talk good.

Or is that well?

You realize you're getting to "a certain age" when...

2005-12-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

1. Guys significantly younger than you are old enough to be hot. See Joaquin Phoenix.

2. The sixth grader who had a crush on you when you student taught his class is married.

3. And has two kids.

4. And a PhD.

5. Your workstudy student calls you "mature."

6. Your kids are pushing puberty.

7. One of your college buddies is going to be a grandma in January.

I could go on, but my stamina ain't what it once was. I think I need a nap. And maybe some prunes.

Boys will be Boys-- Except when I'm in Charge!

2005-12-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

There has been some controversy as of late about controlling children in public places.

As you may know, I have kids. Three boys, to be precise, and trust me when I say my boys are decidedly boys. They are wild and rambuctious, as boys should be. At home. Outside. NOT at a restaurant or store.

Mothers are boycotting suposedly "children unfriendly" establishments because they feel that if their little angels make a peep, they will be asked to leave. Au contraire, ladies. I doubt anyone feels that way at all. They say kids will be kids, that they have meltdowns from time to time. I agree. They do. But that's not what we're talking about here.

Everyday I see more and more examples of bad parenting. Let me correct this: NON parenting. You have to actually do something to be considered a bad parent. These people will gladly let their little urchins run wild in restaurants and stores. Perhaps they will occasionally shoot a "stop it, Johnny" at the kid, but they won't do anything about it. And the kid knows it. So why bother behaving when being a brat is so much more fun and Mom and Dad ain't gonna do diddly about it!

So my kids are perfect, right? Ha! I wish. And, by the way, neither am I. But when we are in a public place, particularly a restaurant, my children stay put. They are not even tempted to go running around. That is, until they see other kids doing it. Then temptating gets to be too great. This is when I give them fair warning, then get them out of the situation.

For example, we used to dine fairly frequently with a couple and their three kids. However, everytime these supposedly well-behaved children finished a meal (or even before they finished) they would be crawling on the chairs or rolling around on the floor wrestling one another. The parents never said a word. My children, of course, wanted in on the fun. I got the dirtiest stares from this woman when I would tell my kids to sit down. After a few times of this, we just stopped having dinner with these folks.

So I'm preaching. Yes, I totally am. People, businesses are having to remind you to take care of your children? How ridiculous is that?

Because George Bush Hates Scandinavians

2005-12-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

We had a natural disaster. We had a massive, hellish ice storm and blizzard that hit the entire eastern part of this state. Let's take stock:

- Tens of thousands of people were without electricity, warm food and adequate water.

- Some of those tens of thousands had no water at all because the pumps ran on electricity.

- Shelters were opened and people had to be transported to them, sometimes on the backs of snowmobiles.

- Many people died. Many others were injured trying to clean up after the storm, or while trying to help others during the storm.

- A week later, tens of thousands of people still do not have power, hot meals or adequate water.

Now let's take stock of what didn't happen:

- Number of rapes and murders that occurred in shelters during the disaster: ZERO

- Number of stores that were looted: ZERO

- Number of $2,000 debt cards distributed to people affected by the storm: ZERO

- Number of people whining about how all this happened because George Bush hates Hutterites/Scandinavians/Generic White Guys: ZERO!! ZIP!! NADA!! Not a damned soul!

Now, obviously, one cannot really compare the blizzard to Hurricane Katrina. However, when our Governor heard of the storm, he responded. He made sure people were off the Interstate and closed it down. As opposed to having resources available before the storm and deciding not to do diddly about it. Our Governor punished people who were stupid enough to go out in the storm and get stuck by sending their moronic behinds to jail. As opposed to enabling them by saying, "You're right. It's not your fault. Um...no, not mine, either. It's THE GOVERNMENT! That's it! The Government!"

New Orleans will never be the same again. We will recover. Obviously, they had it a million times worse than we did. And very good people tried their best in terrible conditions. This post is not aimed at them.

No, this post for the yahoos like the Governor of Louisiana who could have done something before people were injured and stranded and didn't, then chose to blame someone else for their mistakes. This post is for the people who took those $2,000 debt cards and bought bid screen TVs, but still bitched about not having food and water. This is for the absolute Darwin-esque losers who shot at the helicopters that were trying to clean up Kathleen Blanco's mess.

Oh, and for our local refugees from New Orleans? Well done, folks. You withstood a northern winter storm in true style. And didn't whine about it for a second.

Snoozin' and Losin'

2005-11-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

I think I have established by the two month gap between blogs that I am, in fact, a bad blogger. My excuse? I have a million of 'em, but who really cares? Suffice it to say that my kids were sick, my mom was sick, and now I have a cold that's not really bad but enough to wipe me out pretty darned well.

Whine whine whine. Yeah, I know. I'll get over it.

So the effect of all this busy at work, busy at home, busy with parents thing is that my writing has slowed way down. I'm doing NaNo this year simply to get my rear end in my chair and write every day. If I could count the words I've written in psych reports for the evil day job, I think I'd be at 50K already. But no such luck.

As for submitting ANOTHER TIME AROUND and LET'S DISH... well, that's not happening much, either. I got a big fat rejection on the Dish from an agent who will remain nameless simply because after having it exclusively for three months, I asked her if I could submit it elsewhere. She got ticked and told me in no uncertain terms that she didn't appreciate that. Too. Damned. Bad. Glad I found out about that before I would ever need to work with her, if it came to that. Not that I mind the rejection, or even the time it took her to read it, but to demand an exclusive that long is ridiculous.

So I need to get off my duff and start sending it elsewhere. Another agent has a partial right now, and I know from a very reputable source that this woman is fabulous with a capital terrific, so I am anxiously awaiting her reply.

Then there's "writer drama." What is writer drama, you ask? Try joining a writing group sometime. Guaranteed there is at least one whack-o in it. In my case, there were several, and two of them in particular had gathered quite a following. Sometimes, when the crazies take over the asylum, it is better to get while the gettin's good. I didn't. I tried to stick it out, tried to do my job, and landed smack dab in the middle of writer drama. The wronged party was wronged further, the culprit now has an even stronger following, and I've managed to tick off a good number of people. Still, I have learned exactly who I value in this business, which is worth more to me than some writing group.

So now it is time to re-group, as it were. To get my cobwebs out of my brain and to dig in and get serious again. Life gets in the way, and sometimes that's a good thing. After all, my kids are only going to be small once and my brain will keep cranking out fiction for as long as I live--God willing! The fact that I am no longer as desperately hungry for a writing career as I used to be is the classic double-edged sword. Good in so many ways, but it dulls my sense of urgency. Of getting my tuchus in that chair and writing no matter what.

It's off with me to find a happy medium. Right after dinner. And dishes. And Cub Scouts... OY!

Cate - The Bad Blogger

2005-09-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

So it's been well over a month since we visited. My bad. Between one family health crisis and another, blogging just hasn't been in the cards.

So what's been happening in Cate's writing world? A lot. And not so much. Depends on how you look at it. Since I last dragged my behind in here, I've finished LET'S DISH. Not only finished writing, but did a lightning-fast edit to get it off to an agent who requested a full copy of the manuscript. Yay me! Since then, I've heard notadamnthing, but that's not unusual. Writers must, above all, be patient.

I hate being patient.

After forcing myself to take a week off (and wondering for that entire week what the rest of the world does when they're not feeling guilty about not writing), I stepped up to the plate and started writing a new novel tentatively titled TAKING HER MEDICINE. Bad, bad title, I know. I'd give you a quick plot synopsis, but shortly after starting it, I was off to Mayo Clinic for the third time this summer with my youngest.

So I'll reveal a little personal info here. I am the mother of three absolutely GORGEOUS boys. Yes, I am a little biased, but I should be. I'm their mom! They are all three brilliant (again, biased, but others have told me so, too, so I have a little data to support my foregone conclusion), but that doesn't mean we don't have our issues.

My oldest, now 10, has a rare genetic disorder the details of which I won't bore you with. Suffice it to say the end result is autism-like behavior and abilities. But he's sweet as sugar, I tell ya! My middle child is healthy as the proverbial horse,but had a bit of a rough start and an appendectomy a year ago. My youngest was the healthy one of the bunch. Up until last spring, that is. That's when he had a seizure and, well, we started living at Mayo Clinic.

So I was on my way back from Mayo with the little one after hearing the absolutely fabulous news that yes, he has a brain tumor, but it's benign and slow-growing and will likely never cause a problem. I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing, thinking we could relax for awhile. That's when the phone rang telling me my mother-in-law had fallen and could we get to the hospital as soon as possible. We no more than get her settled in and on the road to recovery when my mother starts having health problems.

Sound like fiction? I wish!

So a lot of bloggers are talking today about how to write when the world is falling apart around you, be it from terrorism, floods, hurricanes, or personal issues. The short answer is sometimes you don't. Sometimes you just can't. Sometimes that has to take a back-burner to whatever is going on. Then again, sometimes it can save you, which is what I found.

I started writing again shortly after my oldest began showing difficulties due to his condition when he was about 3. It was my escape, my way of getting away from the negative things reality had thrown my way. I just dabbled, mind you, putting some thoughts onto paper. But it was writing. It helped me cope with what I needed to do for my son. I kept writing at that point, doing more and more every day until I got to where I am today.

I try to write every day, but sometimes it doesn't happen. At this point, though, it is a job to me and I know I need to put in the hours. That helps, too, not letting myself wallow in the everyday grind and the crap that the real world dishes out. So TAKING HER MEDICINE isn't going too far right now, but it will. I will refocus and my characters will start talking to me again. And then I'll have a whole new world to escape to.

Checking in from the Land of Edits

2005-07-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog. Eh. That's typical for me. I will, however, try to be a tad better about it. Try being the operative word there.

So I'm in the middle of editing book number 4, A.K.A. Let's Dish. Edits are a scary process, because you realize just what garbage you wrote in your first draft. You realize that you called the same character by three different names, and forgot that character A already knew in chapter three what he "discovers" in chapter seven. But that's not really the scary part. Nope. Not even close.

The really scary bit is when you read a page and make no changes. When I actually like what I'm reading. That's when I really start to question myself. Madness? Oh yes, definitely.

I tend to gauge myself by a friend of mine, who, when editing a manuscript, tears the living heck out of it. Plot points change, the story changes, the characters change and refine. She might as well just start with a blank page and completely re-write the thing (which some people do, believe it or not). I tend to open the computer file from my first draft, save it as an edit file, and start chipping away; working with what I already have. My plot is pretty set in stone by then, the outcome mostly determined. Sure, a scene or two may change, get deleted, get added, but it is by and large the same book in general when I am finished editing as it was when I finished writing.

So who's right: my friend or me? The answer is not all that simple. As she is multi-published and I am, as of yet, not published at all, I would be inclined to say she is. However, I've already learned that the process is so individual for everyone that there is no right and wrong. Some writers have to plot out every nuance in detail before committing the first words to a page. Others, like me, just start typing and see what happens. Sometimes that's an ugly thing, but there are bits of mad genius in there, as well. Or at least I hope so.

So I try to ignore the little voice in my head that tells me I'm doing it wrong and just forge ahead. From what I've seen, I'm not doing too badly so far. Of course, tell me that when I've just finished a chapter and not torn it apart. I'll most likely tell you I'm a hack and will never find a publisher. But I keep at it. I guess that what makes the difference, in writing or editing, not the process.

I hope so, anyway.

Everyone Wants to be a Writer

2005-06-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

While my primary writing groups exist online, I do occasionally manage to get to the library for the local writers' group. This is a fun bunch, though none professionals. That's okay, though. No problems there. Now, most of them are poets, which doesn't give me a whole lot of input, but that's okay, too. (I totally don't get poetry, by the way. What makes one thing poetry when it doesn't rhyme, doesn't have beat, and isn't even really a metaphor is beyond me, but that's why I write fiction.)

So at writers' group the other night, we got to talking about how everyone wants to be a writer. "I could write a book," we hear a lot. Okay, I say, so do it. It's a long, lonely, thankless process that, for some unknown reason, a lot of us feel compelled to go through.

A year or so ago, a friend of mine wanted to write a book with me. With. Me. Now let's set aside for a moment that I like the solitude of writing and that I don't play well with others. Because of the circumstances that my friend had found himself in, I figured he needed a new outlet, so I decided to encourage him. "Give me an outline," I told him. "Better yet, start it, see where you go with it, and then I will take a look and make my input."

As I figured, about a month into the process, he lost momentum and quit. Unfortunately, this is the way often for people who try to write a novel. See, no one really wants to write a book. People want to have written a book.

When I finished my first novel, I thought I should be excited. And I was, just not as much as I thought I would be. When I finished my second, it was rather and anti-climax. Now I've finished my fourth, and I am honestly rather unfazed by it. Now when I finally sell...

...it probably won't be as good as I thought it was going to be. Oh well. I'm willing to take that risk!

Number 4 Done!

2005-06-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

This is how out of the blog habit I am. It is taking me over a week to get to posting this:

I've finished writing my fourth complete novel.

Now that seems really anti-climactic for me. Yeah, so I've written four and am still not published. However, I also look at this as I am still at it. That, and I do have requests from agents and editors from my last round of submissions, wanting to see more of my work. You just know they are the first ones I'm hitting up with this book.

Keep an eye on the site, as this weekend I want to be posting an excerpt from said latest book. I have the first three chapters almost edited, and am just about to unveil them to you: my loyal buddies and readers.

So stay tuned! Much more to come out of me. Nope, sorry, ya can't shut me up!

WELCOME TO POST SCRIPT

2005-05-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

Blogs. They're addictive and can be time-consuming, but here I am after a 6-month blogging hiatus to do it all over again with a new blog.

For those of you just finding me for the first time, I was a regular blogger for two years. Almost daily, I would tap out my humorous thoughts (at least humorous to me) on subjects as varied as my kids to politics. The whole presidential election gave me blog fodder for months!

However, I soon found that some days I would blog, but wouldn't do any other writing. That and I had taken on new job responsibilities. There's a double-edged sword to being good at what you do 9-5. I let the blog go to concentrate on my actual writing.

And yet here I am again! As content for my first honest-to-goodness author site (Yay! I own my own domain name!) I wanted to ressurect my blogabilities. No, that's not really a word.

For those of you who don't know me, I know there is an About Me page on the website, but I thought I would provide a breif introduciton here. First and foremost, I am a mother of three beautiful boys, ages 9, 7 and 5. They drive me nuts most days, but they are my lifeblood. I'm also married to a mostly-wonderful guy, although--well, he is a guy. Clueless. But I love him, anyway.

When I'm not dealing with my four children--ah, family--I write. I'm pre-published at the moment. Note the pre-published as opposed to unpublished. This assumes a level of optimism that can wax and wain, but as I am on the cusp of completing my fourth novel, I am again in the midst of an optimism surge. An upswing, if you will.

Now what will you find on my blog? Oh, I figure a little of this and a little bit of that. I tend to have a short attention span and can only "talk shop" so long, so I will probably include a lot of personal glimpses here and there.

Feel free to hang out and check out the site. Also, comment freely. I don't mind honest criticism (and earn it often--I tend to put my foot in my mouth a lot and my spelling--well, you'll see about my spelling if you hang out here long enough). However, I do mind spam. Please keep useless garbage to yourself, thankyouverymuch. Otherwise, welcome and have fun!