The Daily Grind

We're slogging a lot around here. Danny finishes graduate school in just over four weeks. And people, it's been a long haul. For the last long while (a year and a half? Two years? Time immemorial?), he's been working 40+ (and for a while, 50) hour weeks, then coming home and working on calculations and concrete/steel/wood/snow load/seismic analysis.

I, on the other hand, am working through a follow-up novel that's giving me mood swings. It's not the book's fault - if I wasn't 20,000 words behind where I wanted to be, things might be a bit different. Oh well.

In the meantime, my home hasn't been anything resembling since well before Christmas, and likely won't be until Danny's school is over, and possibly not until the book's done. Usually having guests over forces the issue, but we're both so swamped with work that we don't really have time for any sort of social engagement.

This is sad, because I've been wanting to throw a cupcake party for, like, four months.

In other news:

1. Plain Jayne has officially entered its second printing.

2. The second-edition will feature the Pub Weekly quote on the cover. (Yay!!!!!)

3. Honestly, I'm more excited about this batch for that very reason.

4. Hoping a quote from the Booklist review might wind up on the third printing.

Reminder -

1. Valentine's Day signing at Powell's on Cedar Hills. Yeah, I know the date sucks, but it's in the afternoon...and okay, it does cut into Sunday Afternoon Naptime, but if you're in the area, do it for a friend. Or Toledo. Frankly, I don't care why, but you'll be remembered in heaven for it. A good time will be had for all, I promise. You won't even have to park illegally, seeing as it's the Beaverton location.

2. Oregon Christian Writers Winter Conference 2010. Longest title ever? Probably. But it will be grand and lovely. The conference will be held at the Salem Red Lion on Market St, from 8:30-4pm (don't even think about leaving early!!!!), on February 20th.

Robin Jones Gunn is keynoting (and which means it will be PHENOMENAL. She's a terrific speaker, and let me tell you, not every writer is.) She'll also teach a workshop on getting unstuck. Love it. Linda Clare will be teaching "Essays for Anthologies," which will be super cool, and Kathy Ruckman will be teaching "The ABC's of Writing Children's Picture Books." I'll be teaching a workshop about writing an ensemble cast, which I'm totally excited about!

3. Lastly, found this AMAZING (sorry. I'm in a good mood. I promise to be cranky and lay off on the caps on the next post) blog post here by Laini Taylor (of Laini's Ladies, who also writes) about brainstorming. Great exercises. And great writing quotes, from which I found my favorite writing quote of the day:

"A writer is someone to whom writing is more difficult than it is to other people." - Thomas Mann

Sigh. So true! Back to work anyway!