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August 17 Deadlining hereSorry guys, meant to get those pics up but then I got corrections and proofs and of course I have an end of month deadline I'm scrambling to get done now, so it will be the beginning of September before I get the rest of the pics up now. Hope everyone is well.
Lynsay July 28 Settling inWell it’s been a while, but then it always is with me (grimace). Life has been terribly chaotic for the last several years. I keep hoping that will change soon, and finally I think it might. I have arranged my deadlines in a way I hope gives me more time. We shall find out by fall if it works.
In the meantime, we have settled into the new house which was quite a chore. Just filling it with furniture was a task and a half. Unfortunately, a lot of our furniture in our lovely old Victorian house was antique, so when the buyers asked if they could purchase some things we said yes. The new house is more contemporary in style and the furniture wouldn’t have suited it. But that meant we got here with a lot less furniture than we had before. That was kind of good in a way, this house is actually smaller in some ways than the old one. There are only three bedrooms not five and so on . . . Although we have the two offices instead of bedrooms . . . hmm. . . Anyway, we had to buy a lot of things when we got here. Bedroom sets, the office furniture for both offices, living room furniture for the upper sitting area, etc. We also had to have blinds put into my office and Terri’s to discourage Mr. Spice from spooking me by staring in the windows at me at night when I couldn’t see him and then coming in to tell me so. That was kinda freaky if you ask me. Made me paranoid he was standing out there looking in all the time. Ah well.
Amid the madness of furniture shopping, delivery, return of furniture (because we seemed to always have the wrong furniture show up, or have it show up late, or show up damaged. Seriously, I was starting to think we were cursed. For a while there it seemed like every delivery was a screw up of some variety or another). Then there were the various installation guys coming and going, as well as problems with our email provider, internet provider and so on (you know it never rains but it pours. I swear Terri and I spent two weeks straight just dealing with phone calls trying to straighten out the internet and email issues) On top of all that, we also had a death in the family, my lovely Gran. She was a sweetie and feisty as they come, fighting the cancer to the bitter end. It was hard as hell to watch knowing you couldn’t do a damned thing to help her and it took me right back to my mother’s death fifteen years ago.
Right, so, to change that depressing subject, following shortly on the heels of all that chaos and the tragic loss of Gran was the scramble to get everything set for the RWA conference in Washington. Apparently I maybe ran myself a little ragged. Too much stress for too long maybe, wore down the old immune system and the Monday night before we were to leave for the RWA I landed in hospital emergency with pneumonia. It came on quite suddenly. Sunday I woke up with burning irritated sinuses thinking allergies were acting up or some such thing, then Monday I woke feeling not too well, still I had running to do for the conference and appointments as well, so headed out, but by the time I returned a little after 5:30 I felt like a train had hit me. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed, but Terri and Dave took one look at me and put their heads together and the next thing I knew I was on the way to emergency. The diagnosis was pneumonia with spasming lungs and bronchi adding to my inability to breathe and the bluish look that had Terri suggesting Dave take me straight to the hospital. We left the hospital shortly before midnight with half a dozen prescriptions and permission to attend RWA so long as I took it easy and got to a doctor at once if I encountered trouble breathing. etc..
Yes, I went to RWA with pneumonia. Not the contagious kind, a lung infection. However, the first day there Terri came down with strep throat and the two of us were a pitiful pair, lol. I’ve never been so happy to see the end of a trip, but I got home about as sick as I’d been when I left. It’s been bed rest since then with the threat of a return to the doc’s if I didn’t, so I spent a week banned from the computer and going crazy with nothing to do but relax, lol. I don’t relax well. Haven’t done it in so long, it’s like a form of torture. Or at least it was at first, after the first couple of days I started reading though and it got better. Now I’m doing much better, still have a bit of a cough and runny nose, but otherwise fine. So I thought I’d start on emails. . . WELL . . . I’ve got a lot recently pointing out that I have never posted pics of the new house, that the pics of the new old house were still there from three years ago, but none of our new home in the country, so I’ve come to post this and put them up. Right now I have pics mostly of the offices (mine and Terri’s) and the little seating area outside our offices and the views from them. I shall endeavour to take pics of the rest of the house and get them us as well soon. In the meantime, this is a start. By the way, we just love the new house. Having actual offices to work in is lovely and it is so peaceful and quiet out here. There are wild bunnies our at all hours of the day munching on grass, chipmunks everywhere and quite often around dusk a family of deers charge across the lawn headed for the woods. Then there are voles, moles and raccoons as well as an array of quite the loveliest birds I’ve ever seen. There are Cardinals and Blue jays as we had in town, as well as hummingbirds, orioles and other birds we haven’t identified yet but all seem to have lovely plumage. So, here’s a pic of my office. No it’s not usually this clean. At the moment my desk has about a gazillion things on it.
This next pic shows a little more of the office
These next two are my view from my desk window behind my computer.
This is the right side of the office. I think it’s a bit blurry, sorry. The French doors with the copper colored blinds in the back left corner of the pic lead into Terri’s office and the rest of the house.
Ugh, this is the more healthy office equipment. Yes, I’m trying to incorporate more time on healthy pursuits. Actually, that’s a portable I have there on the treadmill, I’m hoping to be able to type while walking so that I don’t just drop using the treadmill when under the pressure of deadlines.
This is Terri’s office from my french doors. You’ll notice she’s hard at work. (Grin)
Terri is my assistant. She is also my sister and hates getting her pics taken as much as I do, but I just had to show you how relaxed she is at work. Doesn’t she have cute toes? LOL. Seriously, she says she likes her job, but the fact is she’s a joy to work with.
This is the Immortal Hunter poster. It was made for a conference and then my editor kindly sent it to us to do what we wanted with it. Terri likes it in her office. I’ve told her she doesn’t have to hang it there if she’s tired of it, but she said she liked coming into work to his handsome face every day so . . . shrug
The long hall to the rest of the house. It really is quite a distance, you can see the entrance to it in the pic above beside the blue boy there and it’s about two rooms long. Twenty-seven or thirty feet or something. It’s kind of the adjustment place, I shed my work worries as I walk up that hall to enter the rest of the house.
So enough about the offices, now come the views outside. We have a table and chairs set up outside the outer entrance to both my and Terri’s office and believe me we use it. Sometimes we have lunch out there, but most of the time so far it has come in handy when we were having all those troubles with the internet and email and trips to the hospital to visit Gran and so on. Both of us would be about ready to start shrieking and yanking out hanks of hair after arguing on the phone for several hours with someone and then one or the other would say “Outside!” and we’d rush outside and plop on the chairs and just listen to the little pond and the birdsong and rustle of trees and look at everything and calm down enough to head back in. We both love that spot. So here they are for your enjoyment, the views of and from our little break area outside. Sometimes that includes Mr. Spice on his nifty riding lawn mower.
So that’s it from me for now. I shall be back soon with pics of the rest of the house
Hope you’re all well Lynsay March 24 As Promised...
And, as promised, the cover for The Immortal Hunter, which is published next Tuesday.
TuesdayWhat news is there . . . Hmm, well the cat is going squirrelly. I think all this boxing and removing of boxes is stressing her out. She’s taken to suddenly bolting from the room like someone dropped a hot iron on her tail. Dave and I are trying to pat and soothe her as often as we can, but we’re rarely sitting down for such occasions. The other night Dave found her in the tower bedroom and sprawled on the carpet beside her for a hello and soothing pets. I found them both there and joined the party, sprawling on the carpet as well for a couple minutes, lol. But we didn’t stay long before going back to our work. In an effort to keep her from stressing we have been making sure not to touch any of her stuff and pack or move it. The plan is to wait till the day we take her, put her in her carrier, quick gather up her things, take her to the new house and set her things out then let her loose. Of course, at the end of the day we’ll have to put her back in the carrier and quick regather everything to take her back home because we can’t actually sleep at the new house the first night or so. So she’s getting to visit and adjust while we organize what we can there before the furniture arrives. You probably think we’re being silly or worrying too much about a kitty, but she is a member of the family. She also has a tendency to throw up when stressed and the carpets there are all WHITE. We are trying to preserve both our cat’s sanity and the new carpets. There are loads of concerns about the kitty and the new house. Her tendency to get sick (which she also does after eating too fast), and the fact that there is a lovely large Atrium there at the base of the living room and I am so driving myself crazy trying to think of ways to make sure she doesn’t think the Atrium is a new larger kitty litter (Groannnnn) I’m also worrying about the plants in it. Which reminds me, I need to look at the pictures of the atrium and research the plants to see if any of them are poisonous to cats. Speaking of the cat, she noticed me sitting for a change while I have a coffee and type this and so has come to sit beside me for comforting. Guess I’d best give her some cuddles, then get back to the last of the packing. We go to the lawyers this afternoon to sign papers and then it’s just a case of driving Mr. Spice crazy till Thursday. Hope you’re all well and happy. Lynsay
P.S. I’ll ask Mr. Spice to post the cover for The Immortal Hunter up here for me. It comes out next week so I guess we should put it up. Did we even think to put up The Rogue Hunter? Sheesh. I’ve been so behind on EVERYTHING. Can’t wait for this to be over and order to return to my life . . . Well, okay, my life has never really had much order, but it’s never been this bad either. March 21 Saturday AfternoonWOW! You guys are still out there. Wow! Well, I really appreciate the encouragement. Guess I shall have to make an effort to post more often . . . Especially since I’m getting letters of complaint from readers about my NOT posting. I do notice though this is from people who don’t comment here either (she says, raising her eyebrows and pursing her lips in a prissy fashion) LOL. Okay, so I’ll try to post more once we’ve moved and life settles down to some calm. Seriously, that’s all you’re getting for an apology. I had trouble getting anything done this last year. It was hell having to rush out of the house every other day while it was for sale. Imagine yourself trying to get your work done while having to spend every other day driving a squalling cat around the town while people wander through your house. Boy did I go through the headache pills. And the viewers never made their tours of the house quick in-and-outs. They all seemed to like to linger well past the allotted time. Imagine trying to get your invoices done with such interruptions, or teaching a class while constantly having to rush outside for fire alarms. That should give you an idea of what this last year was like. AND it made Mr. Spice and me INCREDIBLY CRANKY. I’m surprised we survived. I swear I am NEVER selling a house again while I live in it. I shall either live in the new house till I die or I shall have to have enough money put aside that I can buy the next house and move to it while the old one sells. . . So, guess I’m living in the new house till I die . . . which is fine with me. Tori the house elf (also known as Terri my assistant) and I both have offices in the new house and they’re away from the rest of the house there. This is actually the first time I shall have an office and it gives me shivers of pleasure just thinking of it. To celebrate the occasion I bought office furniture. Well, you know, I would have had to anyway, but I went to a Mennonite store and ordered proper, solid oak furniture to be built. I have been informed the building part is done and the last of the furniture is being stained and finished for delivery this week. I even designed a printer table (they didn’t have any so I took one of their TV tables, redesigned it a bit, added a drawer and cupboards, and they are turning my redesign into a printer table. I also did a bit of redesigning on the desks and such but nothing very notable) The offices shall be LOVELY. Working there shall be lovely. I am hoping to get loads done in the new environment; peaceful, out in the country, Mr. Spice, deer and other critters to look at out the window. It’ll be great. In that new environment I am hoping to get loads done, including posting more often on the blog . . . although, truly my life is really so boring I don’t know why you want more of it, lol. Oh, gees, I almost forgot to say . . . we move this week! YAY!! I can’t wait. This last week shall be torture, though. GAD!! But then we can settle in the new place. YAY!! WOOHOOO!! YIPEEE!! Seriously, I am as excited as a kid counting down the last week to Christmas. I’m sure everyone is when they move to a new home. But I bet they don’t drive their husband’s as crazy as I am making Mr. Spice. LOL. February 28 Random thoughtsI need a life coach or something. Somehow over the last three years my life has fallen into chaos and I can’t seem to re-gather the threads and pull it together again. It’s been ever since moving back to Canada. There was that ridiculous year of nothing but writing. Literally. I got up, wrote all day and evening, eating the meals Dave brought me at the computer even, and then went to bed for four hour naps a night before getting up to do it again. Actually, I guess that was two years not one, but anyway, this last year I’ve been trying to reclaim some me time so my life isn’t all work. I’m also trying to sleep eight hours a night because I was told by various sources that shorting your sleep like that is bad for your health. However, while I’ve managed to work myself up to sleeping 7 or 8 hours a night (trust me, it was a painful process. My body wasn’t used to sleeping more than four hours and didn’t think it needed it and so would wake up at the four hour point, and then – if I did manage to get back to sleep, would wake up every ten minutes after that until the eight hours had been reached.) Back to the point however, while I now have myself trained to sleep eight hours a night and am no longer grumpy as heck doing it (I was a miserable cow at first. HATED it.) I don’t seem to be able to get ANYTHING DONE. Seriously. It’s like sleeping has stolen my concentration or ability to focus. Mind you, there have been some distractions to help with that, the main one being that we put the house up for sale at the end of last April and—DEAR GOD—as distractions go, that was a DOOZIE. For some reason everyone and their brother wanted to see our house . . . their brother, their sister, niece, nephew, next door neighbor , etc. Honestly, we never had less than three showings a week but often as many as five or six. And of course, they never came at the same time or one behind the other so we could vacate for a day and be done with it. It was every other day and so on. Having this many showings is apparently quite unusual. Houses just up the street were going weeks without even ONE showing. I don’t know why the heck everyone wanted to see it. Mind you it is a beautiful house with a turret and stuff. Still it made working almost impossible. It seems like the time was spent constantly cleaning or driving around with the cat in the car while people toured the house. It got so impossible to work that I checked into a little motel for a month to get two stories done back to back. While I complain about all the tours and how disruptive it was, the house did sell just before Christmas and I know how fortunate we are to have had that happen. There are many houses that have not sold and are reducing their asking price. As I say, we are very lucky. We were also very lucky in that the purchasers gave us a very long closing time which gave us the chance to find a house and so on. That’s all we did for the end of December and all of January, house hunt in a bit of a panic because while the purchasers were generous with the closing date there was a deadline and we didn’t want to just take a house out of desperation but wanted the “right” house. Fortunately, at the end of January we found a house we both love and were able to buy. Since then we’ve been packing and trying to tend to matters of the move. Between that and some family concerns it’s been impossible for me to concentrate on things I should be concentrating on. Namely work and I’m starting to feel a bit frustrated. I sit down to get to it and my mind is off chasing movers in my head or reminding me I have to do this or that for the move, or that I should call and check on one of the two family members I’m presently worrying over. Yeesh. I guess maybe it isn’t really a life coach I need. I just need to get through the move and get settled and see if I can’t concentrate better once that’s done. This living amidst boxes in one house with your eye on the house you’re moving to . . . and with such disruption is for the birds. In fact, I suppose this is perfectly normal. According to Maslow’s theory of human motivation, food and SHELTER are the first and foremost concern on the hierarchy of needs and will be a focus until they are satisfied. So, I shall just do what I can for now, and hope it improves once we’re moved. . . And if, once the moves over, I still find I’m struggling, THEN I’ll look into a life coach to come kick my butt into some sort of useful routine. Lynsay, who is really hoping it’s been so long since she posted that no one reads this anymore and so won’t witness her little self counseling session, lol. October 05 They Always Come In Threes
I know, I know, you don't have to tell me. I don't post anything here for ages and then, when I do, I'm encouraging everyone to hasten off and read my posts in some other location. And, do you know what? I'm doing it again. This time I've done an interview and, once again, I'm offering the chance of winning a signed copy of The Rogue Hunter. http://amberkatze-amberkatze.blogspot.com/2008/10/author-interview-and-contest-with.html Off you go, then and good luck Lynsay October 02 Another Guest Blog
Once again I'm parking my thoughts on another website. This time it's at http://yankeeromancereviewers.blogspot.com/. So, what are you doing still hanging around here? Lynsay September 22 Why Not Take A Little Trip?
Instead of writing a new entry for my own blog I've done a guest blog elsewhere. It's almost like having a vacation and since they always say a change is as good as a rest I thought I'd jump in with both feet and see what kind of splash I could create. So, instead of hanging around here, why not drop in at http://paranormalityuniverse.blogspot.com/ and see what's happening there. Lynsay September 12 Just a boring check in
Well, no I did not die or fall off the face of the earth. I have just been terribly negligent about posting, but then, it was because I was working. Something that has been rather difficult with all the showings we were having. Fortunately, that has temporarily slowed down while parents get their kids off to and settled in school. No doubt it shall pick up again in the next couple of weeks as people scramble to buy and get moved before Christmas. As for me, I finished the last book and mailed it out the end of August (the third historical for Avon) and have since been scrambling trying to get caught up on all those emails from readers that I neglected while on deadline. I finished the last of them tonight. There were only about three hundred of them (emails are often slow just before the next release, and then I get a rush that slowly drops down to a drizzle after three months or so. This is the slow period). Of course, that 300 doesn’t include the business ones, or the fun ones or the ones from friends or the loops I’m on. I have been scrambling, but it is done. I have also been reading A Bite To Remember and Vampire, Interrupted to get caught up on Tiny again in an effort not to make mistakes with his character or anything. I was quite surprised to find I enjoyed the stories and got caught up in them. This is surprising because by the time I finish each book I am sure it is a complete load of Dog Poop. Yes, you heard me. Each one I send out I think is the worst bit of drivel I’ve ever written. This is, apparently, a common phenomenon. At least among my friends. Emails from my writer friends often start with the refrain “I’m on the last quarter of the book, the part where I’m sure it’s crap and wonder what I am doing calling myself a writer.” This is sad but true. Anyway, I could have sworn those books sucked, but it turns out their all right. I used to be able to write. Maybe I can do it again (grin) And that’s what I’m up to next. I am on to the next vamp (Tiny’s story as I mentioned), and then I’ll get a bit of a break, the first I’ve had since returning to Canada. And a real break this time, not a couple days doing research or something like that, but actual months before I have to write the next one. I am thinking that this will be when the house sells and I will be up to my neck in boxes and packing and then rushing about canceling power, phone, etc. and arranging it to start at the next place. Ah well, better that then trying to do it while ON deadline, right? So that’s all the news I have. Boring, aren’t I? Oh!! I know Mr. Spice has mentioned the Raccoons that have been visiting at the lower sunroom window (They actually climb up on the logs stacked up outside the window and look in at me like I’m a zoo attraction, which I suppose, for them, I am) But he hasn’t got a picture or mentioned the other two visitors we had. One was a skunk, which I did not see (Dave did while I was away finishing the last of my last deadline). I am now on high alert every time I go out, watching for the little beggar. But the other was just the other night. I was typing away when I noted movement out of the corner of my eye and glimpsed what I thought was the raccoon come to visit. I picked up the phone and used intercom to buzz Mr. Spice, glancing back to the little fellow only to freeze. It was huge, the size of a mama raccoon, but it’s nose was pointier. . . and then it saw me sitting there looking at it, and I swear to God it got this “Oh Sh*t!” look on it’s pointed little unmasked face, and turned to scuttle off the logs and across the deck, it’s long rat like tail trailing behind. It was a POSSSUM. Holy GAWD!! What next? Unfortunately, by the time Dave came to the door (He now just rushes to the door to see which creature I am calling about, I never buzz for any other reason) the little fella was gone around the corner. Well, big fella. The funny thing is, the sighting kind of shook me up. It was the surprise factor, I think. I am used to raccoons, but this was new. When I mentioned as much to Mr. Spice, he laughed and said, “Why? The only thing he’d do is play dead.” And for some reason that reminded me of the cartoon Over the Hedge. I liked that movie!! LOL. Anyway, that’s it from me. While I write interesting stories, I live a very quiet life. OH! Accept, once I get this story done I shall be flying off to points south. At least I hope the story will be done by then. Anyway, my publisher is sending me down to Alabama at the beginning of the month for a signing at some sort of conference. Haven’t got all the details, and then at the end of the month they are flying me somewhere else, Chicago I think, but I’m not sure yet. I will be flown down, picked up and taken to a warehouse where I shall be chained to a table for two or three days while I sign 3000 to 5000 books. They are hoping I can do 5000, but the minimum they expect is 3000, and then I will be carted back to the airplane and flown home for my poor fingers and hand to recover. It is some kind of promotional thing the distributor is doing. Presumably, they will occasionally unchain me to feed me, or bring me food at the table, though if they do it that way, I’ll probably end up with it all over the books. I am definitely a clumsy gal. Dave just shakes his head--and tries not to laugh toooooo awfully hard--as I trip, spill and stumble my way through life. Can’t help it, I’m always off in my alternate universe plotting in my head and paying minimum attention to the world around me. That’s it from me. Hi guys and I’ll try not to leave it so long before the next one. Actually I should be getting the cover for The Immortal Hunter soon and Dave always makes me post it (actually, he puts it up and says, “Get in there and say something” LOL) so will probably do another update then.
Lynsay June 28 Just an update
It’s been so long since I posted, nobody probably checks here anymore. That’s all right though. Anyway, I thought I’d update on what’s been happening and what’s upcoming. So, let’s see . . . well, we spent a good portion of the time after returning from St. Lucia prepping the house for sale. That translates to decluttering and a bit of painting, nothing major. And then we put the house up for sale in May. It perhaps wasn’t the best time to do it, I had two books due June 1st, but when do I NOT have books due? Whatever! So, we put it up for sale and the showings started. Every showing we had to clean up, pack up kitty and evacuate the premises. IT WAS DRIVING ME NUTS. As was Mr. Spice who was also being driven nuts, so was in turn, adding to making me nuts as well. So, I packed up the computer and moved to a motel for a month. Mr. Spice and Emma sometimes visited during showings, but otherwise it was very quiet and productive. It was also really annoying to be in a little motel room when you do have a lovely big house you could be working in (grimace). Ah well. I came back a week and a half ago. My editor and agent are already reading the latest Argeneau I sent them. They’re half way through and both claim to love it. They kinda have to say that though, don’t they? I mean, it’s my agent and editor. The story gave me a hard time. I wanted light, it wanted dark (as it often seems to do when I’m revealing Argeneau family secrets). I finally gave in to the dark and then it wanted to go for an extra 30,000 words. I had to cut it back and managed to cut 20,000. But that was the best I could do, my editor will have to see what she comes up with. And now I’m working here around showings. Miss Terri (aka Tori the house elf) has moved out to her own place . . . Did I mention miss Terri has a boyfriend? She’s had him a couple of months now and his name is . . . wait for it . . . DAVE!! Seriously, lol. She’s dating a Dave. It gets a bit confusing when we’re yipping now cause we sometimes confuse which Dave she’s speaking about. Ah well. We like him. We had dinner together and he’s a nice guy. So . . . hmmm . . . I think that’s all the news I have. Oh, except we’re supposed to be going to RWA in San Francisco. I am saying supposed to because there’s this Murphy’s law about if it can happen it will . . . and I’m thinking that someone will offer to buy the house and give us a short deadline that coincides with the conference or something and forces us to not go but to be waist deep in boxes instead. I’m hoping not, but you just know something weird will happen. If not though, Tori, Dave and I are all going to be in San Francisco the end of July. Well, that’s it for me. I’m off to torment my historical guy. Hope you’re all well
Lynsay May 23 Single White Vampire & The Rogue Hunter
As promised, here are the covers for my next books - The Rogue Hunter - to be published on September 30th and the reissued Single White Vampire - complete with entirely new cover art.
That's all for now. Normal service will be resumed as soon as I've finished writing Argeneau number 11 Lynsay March 26 The Rogue Hunter
Finally, in exasperation I started going through the last couple or three months trying to sort out what had been going on. Well, there was my trip to the tropics but I’d posted about that. Then there were the three books that came out; The Accidental Vampire, Vampires Are Forever and Vampire Interrupted. All of which placed high on the New York Times lists as well as lists like USA Today, Publisher's Weekly, Borders, etc. AND they stayed on those lists for weeks so that I’ve pretty much been on the lists every week for three months now. So . . . there was Christmas, a trip to the tropics with my booty-shaking runner-upness (see previous blog), Easter, and my books entering the New York Times list at #10, # 6, and # 3 . . . Nothing much happening, right? LOL. But really, that hardly makes for an interesting tale and my working on corrections for The Rogue Hunter, which, incidentally, is the title of the next book in the Argeneau series and is published on September 30th. . . or corrections for the next historical which I don’t yet have a cover for . . . or my working on writing the next immortal and historical at the same time . . . Well, that’s hardly entertaining to you guys and that’s about all I’ve been doing, that and cuddling up with Mr. Spice for a couple hours a week to watch American Idol. (Yes, I know. We’re sad creatures, but hey, music, cuddling with Mr. Spice . . . and then I go back to writing <Grin>) So, I guess I’ll stop boring you guys and get back to it. (Mr. Spice has come in the office at least three times since he asked me to do this. I think he’s anxious to get the information posted.) But first I want to thank you guys for all the support and encouragement and lovely letters you’ve been sending, and thank you VERY much for getting the Argeneaus so high on those lists. I never imagined this when I started writing.
Thank you. Lynsay
p.s.
My publisher has asked that I don't show the cover illustration until they've done some additional work and got the promotion stuff underway - hence the reason that the picture has now disappeared.
L.
February 22 Shake It, Baby, Shake It
Well now, I’ve been trying to figure out what to blog about for days now. Well, I know what I want to blog about, but it’s wayyyyy too silly and you’ll all roll your eyes and shake your heads and-- Well, heck, I’m used to that so I’ll tell it anyway, lol. So, as you may have heard, Terri, Jackie and I went to St. Lucia for a week. It was warm and sunny there, lovely people, palm trees, sand and sea . . . I shall post a pic or two for you to see how lovely. Anyway, we had a nice time. We flew in Sunday, explored the town of Castries Monday, going to the Market and so on. Then we had a “chill on the beach” day Tuesday. I actually got to READ A BOOK!!! OMG!! It was such a pleasure. Anyway, the next day, Wednesday, was a spa day. The three of us went in for pedicures, manicures, facials, massage, the whole works. I swear, by the time the girl was done with me every muscle in my body was a soggy noodle. Since I’m usually as wound up as a clock and simply find it impossible to relax, this was no small thing. Thursday was mega day. We ended up booked on two excursions, sort of by accidents. We had a bit of trepidation about this beforehand. One was an all day cruise/drive. It started with a cruise around the island on a catamaran to a small village where we all got off and piled into several very nice passenger vans which then drove us to a town called Souffre (Gad I hope I spelled that right) There the air was heavy with the unpleasant scent of sulphur and the locals rushed out with their wares, necklaces made of lave rock and so on. From there we continued up into the hills to a collapsed volcano that we could walk right into. Not telling more about that cause you know it’s gonna be in a future book. Then we went to a cocoa plantation and saw how cocoa is dried and so on to make 100 % pure chocolate for Hershey’s. You know I bought a stick. Yes a stick. It’s a little bigger around than a broom stick, but only about six inches long. It’s solid and heavy and smells SOOOO yummy. I was also given some spices with it and a recipe to make hot chocolate that calls for grating some off the stick, adding the herbs and spices, boiling and so on. I haven’t tried it yet, but will. After that we had a meal at the plantation, followed by a chocolate desert that was lovely. Then we all piled into the passenger vans and were returned down the mountain to the catamaran. We sailed back, pausing for a swim in a cove along the way, sailing back into the cove by our resort at 4:30. This left us exactly half an hour to get off, walk back to the resort, go to the bathroom and then rush back for the 5:00 sunset cruise. I should mention here . . . Yes, it was a long excursion, an all day deal. But that wasn’t the big worry. You see, rum punch is a big drink on St. Lucia, especially at the resort. It was everywhere and usually free, and it was the drink of choice and on offer on the catamaran. There were other offerings like Bounty rum and bananas (don’t ask. I never quite worked out the banana thing). Anyway, the point is, it’s hot on the boat. You are mostly exposed and under the bright sun, and Jackie had warned us that she’d seen the cruise before and that it always rode out with a quiet, conservative type group and then came back into harbor at night with a singing, laughing, cheering and carousing crowd. Which would be fine, except that the same thing tended to happen with the sunset cruise too, and she was concerned about our being on one and the other and . . . well, you get the idea. I told her not to worry, yes it would be a long day out in the sun and sea air, and yes the rum punch would flow, but we would pace ourselves. It would be fine. We could do it. I am very proud to say that we did. WE WERE AWESOME. While everyone else started on the rum punches as soon as we boarded at EIGHT in the MORNING, we stuck to bottled water. I then switched to diet coke, not going near the rum punch until the cruise ride back in mid-afternoon. I’m pretty sure Jackie and Terri were too, though I didn’t police their drinks. We were a little wind swept, a little salty from our swim and happily tired when the first cruise came to an end, but otherwise fine. We were a little late getting in and only had about 15 or 20 minutes before the next cruise so hopped off and went to use the washrooms at the resort while the catamaran was taken out, cleaned and restocked for the sunset cruise. Unfortunately, because we were running from one cruise to the other without time between to change, we were a little underdressed compared to the others. We were in swimsuits and cover ups, with sunhats rosy red cheeks and probably redder noses from the sun while the rest were in evening, island casual; pretty much a dress shorts and polo shirts kind of thing. We just shrugged. What can you do, right? The sunset cruise was a gift and we couldn’t just give it a miss was our thought and afterward I was terribly glad our mother taught us good manners and to be polite. I would have been sorry had we missed that cruise. There were a ton of yummy hors d’oeuvres and, of course, the customary rum punch. We - A little low on energy after our all day excursion - indulged in both and started to chat and interact with our cohorts on this latest cruise. We were the only ones on it from the first cruise (No one else would have dared two in a day I think, lol.) We were having fun, enjoying the tour of the bays and the setting sun and yipping with everyone when they headed back out to sea and then called all the women up to the center of the catamaran to line up in rows with one of the crew members, a young woman, before us. While the boat gently pitched on the swells, we were expected to keep our feet while at the same time emulating a dance she showed us. It was a shake your booty contest and it was all about the hips, moving those while keeping your upper body still, sort of like you do in belly dancing but with a lot more. . . umm . . . shaking of your groove thing. Well, while Terri’s voice rang in my ears with “We’re Canadian, we don’t do that” (ROFLMAO) I copied our instructor’s stance, spread my legs, bent my knees a bit and proceeded to do my best to emulate what she was teaching, lol. As a dear friend of mine put it, I SHOOK WHAT MY MAMA GAVE ME! And DAMNNNNNNNN, when the music stopped, one of the male crew members went along, pausing behind each of us for a clap vote and do you know WHAT? DAMNNNNNN!!! I made it to the finals. It meant I had to do it again and stuff, but DAMNNNNNNNNN! I was one of the last three contestants and a runner up before losing out to a cute little 18 year old. The men had to line up and do it next and then we arrived back at the resort, the second cruise now over. The minute we landed we headed back to the villa to change before our dinner reservations. The first thing I did when I got in was to call Mr. Spice to tell him that he had a booty shaking, hottie of a wife who could get her groove thing on well enough to be a runner up in a contest. He—being a man—had no concept of what this meant. He did not understand the earth shaking import behind this news. His response was a droll “I’m more impressed that my wife made 3 on the NY Times.” Clearly, the man has his priorities ALL MESSED UP. Sigh. Anyway, the rest of the trip was lovely, but I was glad to come home to Mr. Spice. He may not understand the importance of a booty shaking wife, but he’s still a sweetie. Hope you’re all well. Lynsay, the booty shaking NY Timer.
February 01 Hello AgainI started to write this blog last night while cooking. Yes, cooking, shocking as it is to everyone in this household, I finally took a turn. Usually Dave and Terri man the kitchens here at Spice acres while I write, but I got the story done and sent out Monday and, not having any corrections at the moment, have been running around trying to get ready for the trip to St. Lucia. However, I also ran out and grabbed the fixings to make a homemade Lasagna. It turned out lovely, by the way (Thank God!!! It’s been so long since I cooked I feared I might set the house on fire or accidentally poison everyone, but no. YAY!!) Only now they’re thinking I should help out with the cooking more often. Hmmm. That wasn’t very clever of me, was it? LOL.
Actually, it turned out okay, but I suspect the compliments came more from love of me than love of my cooking, if you know what I mean. Family are lovely that way. Well, except me. I can’t lie worth a poop. If something tastes horrible or looks horrible, or reads horrible and someone is cruel--or foolish--enough to ask my opinion, I will get this wide-eyed, deer in the headlights, “OH GOD!” look on my face and say, “It’s nice,” in this high, panicked type voice. Don’t know why. I think it’s because when we were kids we were told, “Everyone makes mistakes and we won’t be angry at you or punish you for that, but lying about it is bad and we will be very angry and punish you twice over for that.” Much to my parent’s dismay, I took this too heart. I think I made my poor mother crazy. I would skip class to hang out in the bathroom smoking and writing (Yeah, I was a geek delinquent. Other’s skipped out to go OFF school property and party, I skipped out and headed for the girl’s washroom because I just had to write this one scene . . . I was and still am a very sad case (grin) Anyway, I would skip out and then later when I went home and Mom would ask how my day was, my answer was , “Okay, I skipped Consumer studies and English.” (The English class I skipped was the only BAD English teacher I ever had. I shall explain later.) Mom would get this expression, it was priceless, It was part “I can’t believe you’re telling me this” and part, “Oh crap, because you ARE telling me this I CAN’T give you real hell.” I really don’t think my mother knew quite what to do with me. Actually, now that I think of it, she often had this somewhat befuddled look on her face that was very similar to one Dave often gets around me. Hmm. Terri sometimes has it too, but after all this time, more often than not just shakes her head and walks away. Anyway, that’s my explanation for why I don’t seem to be able to lie. I never bothered as a kid, got no practice and simply can’t be bothered to learn how now. Although, I do think it would be nice to be better at it when it would save feelings, like when a new recipe tastes like dog food but you know the person worked hard and don’t want to hurt their feelings even though they do have taste buds in their mouths and probably know it’s dog food too. Then it would be good to be a better liar. So . . . Back to the bad English teacher. First I shall say that I had some WONDERFUL English teachers. Especially Mr. Brady. There is a man I would love to find and thank. He really nurtured and encouraged my writing. Unfortunately, the school where he worked is no longer a middle school but a grade school and I couldn’t find him through the searches I’ve tried. But I digress, back to the crackpot English teacher. That sounds rude, but truly, she was a bit of a flake. The woman kept taking me aside and telling me she thought I should drop out of high school. I thought she thought I was a moron or something and couldn’t pass her class and found it terribly demoralizing. Then, one day, maybe 3/4s of the way through the year, my History teacher came to me with an essay I did on Napoleon for his class. He told me he’d been sure I’d plagiarized my essay. He said, he was so sure I’d just lifted it out of a history book that he’d checked the reference books in the school library and--not finding anything like it-- finally took it to my English teacher to ask if this really could be my writing. I believe I flinched when he said this. I mean, this is the same woman who kept telling me to drop out of school. I figured she’d trash me. But, he then added, “She said, ‘Nope, that’s her work. Actually, it’s sloppy for her. She can do better.” Well, you could have blown me over with a feather. She’s saying things like that to him, and then telling me I should drop high school? What the heck? (Heck is not the word I was using at the time.) I was something like 16 or maybe 17. Teenage angst was riding my back and those horrid hormones were messing with the brain . . . so, I stormed off on a witch hunt. I found her at her desk in her empty classroom. I flung the A++ paper on her desk with all the dramatic flourish only a teenager can pull off and said, “What?” She raised her eyebrows in her usual supercilious manner, but said nothing. Well, that was it. I was all righteous anger and, “What’s this crap about I can do better and I’m an excellent writer and meanwhile you’re telling ME I should drop out of highschool?! What the hell is that all about?” “It’s about your future,” said she, perfectly calm. “I do think you should drop out of school. You will be a fine writer someday, but you need to suffer for your art. I think you should drop out of school and experience what’s it’s like to truly live.” I think my jaw actually fell off my face. I mean, COME ON!! What kind of crack pot crap was that to spout to a teenager? Suffer for my art? What? Did she mean live in the gutter? Become a drug addict? Try prostitution maybe? I stared at her, thinking she was completely screwed up, and then I’m afraid I told her so. She’d caused me no end of misery with her constant prodding at me to drop out, I’d taken it horribly, feeling more stupid and useless each time she returned a story unmarked and said I should drop out, so I blasted her one. Don’t regret it to this day. So that was the one bad English teacher I had. Considering we moved a lot when I was a kid, and then you have a different English teacher each year, I’d guess I had more than 12 English teachers before university. So one bad one is pretty good. Not even ten percent, right?
Well, I’m off to do last minute shopping before the trip to St. Lucia. Be sure to stop in and say hey to Mr. Spice who will be here all by himself with Miss Emma, the cat. I’m sure he’ll enjoy the peace and quiet for a day or two, but . . . well, come on, the place will be a tomb without Terri and I here to annoy him. LOL. Hey to all! Lynsay
January 20 Health, a boring subject so feel free to pass on to Mr. Spice (grin)I am sitting here irritated with myself. Why? Because of this attempt to sleep 8 hours a day and take at least an hour or so out of a day for me-time (read time with Dave and biking for my health) rather than work from the moment I get up until the moment I go to bed. This nonsense really slows me down in my writing. I mean, sleeping a whole eight hours means at least four hours less of writing a day and sometimes as many as six or seven or even eight because I previously ran along on four hours sleep a night and sometimes as few as two or none, skipping bed altogether prior to this to get a story done. And then the hour or two of me-time takes more time away from writing. This is, of course, all an attempt to be healthier. You see, I read in the paper that disruptions in sleep have been linked with the risk of diabetes. Weird huh? I thought to myself, Nahhhhhh. And then I started testing this theory and here’s what I found. After only 4 hours of sleep my blood sugar is over 8 (sorry, I’m not sure what the U.S. equivalent is, but 8 is basically a very bad count for fasting blood) After 5 hours sleep, I wake up with a blood sugar over 7 (also bad). After 6 hours it’s 6.8 (still not great). After 7 hours I am running 5.8 (this is a good number) And after a full eight hours of sleep I generally wake up with a blood sugar level of 4.8 which is excellent. Yes, it is usually the .8 and yes it is regular as clockwork that way with a variation of maybe a point or so. Huh, I thought. That’s kind of weird. I guess I have been wrecking my health with this no or little sleeping business. No wonder my blood sugar was off the chart after months and months of all work and little sleep. So, I determined to sleep 8 hours every night as the first step to taking better care of myself. And, oddly enough, while I used to wake up chipper and chirpy on 4 hours sleep, with 8 hours of sleep I often wake up kind of grumpy. (I will deny that if anyone else says it, but it IS true.) I’m not sure why, I suspect it’s because my body is used to having thick, sugary blood and that it is just a temporary thing until my body adjusts to these lower, and healthier, levels. Despite that grumpiness, once I had got that going and settled into sleeping 8 straight hours a night (this is harder than you would think. For the first week or two I kept waking up at the 4 hour point, ready and raring to go and had to force myself to go back to sleep, where upon I would wake up at the 5 hour point, and then the 6 hour point and so on until I snapped the leash and let myself get up at 8) Anyway, once I stopped waking up every hour and started sleeping 8, I then added the bit about “I will have me time.” I actually planned to have weekends off like most people do, and then evenings off too, but I’m just not that good. I intend to, plan it, and then I get annoyed because I’m not writing as quickly as I used to when I had those extra hours without sleep and so I stay working longer than planned and . . .well, you get it. But I am trying. We’ve also switched to a healthier diet with lots of fiber, which, embarrassingly enough, also takes away from my time. I am considering setting up an extra computer in the bathroom so that I can continue to work despite those irritating visits to that room. Honestly, has everyone else always spent so much time in the “john?” I’ve been told this is normal and that my previous state of hardly ever visiting it (It took six months for me to notice there was no wallpaper on the wall in there before this) was the abnormal state and that everything I used to eat must have been immediately shifted into the fat cells prior to the fibre business and now it is not. (By the way, I am saying this all as delicately as possible. And I’m sorry to say it at all, however, if there IS someone else out there like me, I really want them to know this stuff, cause you just have no idea what you are doing to your body if you are doing what I used to do.) The point is, SLEEP. It is important. And eat fiber, it too makes a hell of a difference and nowadays with all these fast food and frozen options it is just too easy to miss out on fiber altogether as well as foods with anything at all close to a nutrient in it. And if you don’t get the fiber and nutrients, your body will just store away what you are eating as fat and send you out to eat again because it is lacking both. I used to also skip meals, eating once or twice a day thinking that surely, the less you eat the better the chances of losing weight. Not so. I am presently eating twice as much as I ever have in my life and about twice or more often (pretty much every three hours like a baby) and I have lost about a pound a week for the last six weeks or so and that with only biking once or twice so far because I am too worried about getting this book done. WEIRD. And why didn’t someone tell me all this nonsense ten years ago? Or twenty even? I am thinking they should teach kids this in school or something because it isn’t rocket science, but goes against all logic. Eat more, gain less or even lose weight? Sleep more and lose weight? I would have thought the extra hours awake would have used up more calories and helped with weight loss, but apparently I knew nothing when it came to my own body. The good news is, I know it now and am doing it. . . Still, I get irritated at that loss of time for writing and because it takes longer to get a book done than it used to. However, I am hoping that the long term benefits will make up for that. I mean, I may write less in the short term, but more in the long term cause I’m not working myself into the grave. So that’s my boring blog today. Health. UGH! Oh, and we had to get a tire changed cause we had a slow leak (Lovely Mr. Spice did it while I went to the doc’s), and Gran and Aunt Leigh and Uncle Wil came to tea Thursday which was a nice break in the week for me so that’s how I justified not taking today off. I had time off Thursday so working Saturday is okay, right? (grin) Tomorrow I’ll have to find a different excuse not to take time off cause I really want to get this book done and out of my hair. At the same time I don’t want to finish it and have to leave the characters behind, so I end up in this struggle . . . But that’s another story. Hope you’re all well and getting your eight hours.
Lynsay January 03 Happy New Year!Well gees, here it is a new year and I’m already behind (grin). The house elf Tori is off in her room, yipping on the phone, Dave is in the tub, and I’m taking a time out from work to say hello. And it pretty much will be just a hello because I really have little in the way of news to share. Our Christmas was lovely and quiet. We spent Christmas eve at Jackie’s with her crew, and then Christmas day at Leigh’s with the rest of the family. And then boxing day, Jackie and hubby and kids came to visit with us. I have a lovely family by the way. If there is anything in the world you can be jealous of me for it’s my hubby and family. I expect I’ll never win the lotto and be a millionaire cause I got lucky in the family jackpot. And that’s okay with me. Other than that, I did take a day or two off to play games with Dave. Anyone who reads Mr. Spice’s blog knows that the big laugh this Christmas was that he and I each bought the other a Playstation 3 and games for Christmas. The second playstation has been returned (The one I bought unfortunately, since I now have to sort out what to get him instead) but surprisingly enough, we didn’t double on any of the games. That, at least, was fortuitous. Anyway, my editor had admonished me just before Christmas to STOP WORKING and take some time off, so I did. The day after boxing day we went shopping which included a stop at Chapters to sign the books in stock ( you didn’t really think I could completely quit working even for a day, did you? LOL. And I will admit here that I kept up working on emails every day too) Anyway, we also hit various shops and while Tori and Dave did some shopping, I came home disappointingly empty handed. There was just nothing I really wanted. I spent another day tending to health stuff, and then a couple of days playing with the Playstation with Dave, but am back to work now, finishing off this historical. I’m hoping to have it done by the middle of next week so that I can take some time out and prepare for the trip to St. Lucia I’m taking with Jackie and Terri at the beginning of February. Can you guess where the Vamp I’m writing for March is based? (grin) Now why would a vamp be in sunny St. Lucia? LOL
So that’s it from me. All the news I have. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Years and are raring to go for 2008
Lynsay December 25 Merry Christmas
Well, I've tried to post at least three times since returning from Vegas, but each time I got the message that it couldn't be "done at this time." I've finally installed the writer thingy and hope that makes a difference. So, today was a bit of a crush. Last minute shopping and then baking (This year that meant a trip to the bakery was done because we just had no time to bake, grimace) and then we were off to Jackie's for a Christmas Eve visit. Unfortunately, in all the rush between shopping and wrapping diabetic girl here forgot my tester and so we left earlier than intended because I couldn't tell if my blood was dropping or what was happening. Bleck, never said I was organized. Anyway, we get to see them again boxing day, so. . . Now the gifts are all wrapped and under the tree. Dave has just wandered off to bed saying that the sooner he goes to sleep, the sooner it will be morning and we can open gifts (grin) and the house elf, Tori, has snuck off with the wrapping paper for last minute wrapping of her own. Now I'm just writing you all a Christmas greeting here before I toddle off to bed behind Mr. Spice. I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and get to enjoy this time with your family. For those who celebrate an alternate holiday this time of year, Happy Holidays to you. Everyone stay safe and healthy and enjoy your time off together. Lynsay |
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