Weekend Wrap Up!

We're back from the Wilds!

We took Mr. B camping this weekend! We were supposed to have K5 and him, but K5's schedule is out of hand so we had to settle for having her last week. 

But, damn, it was hot! Thankfully the camper has air conditioning. And thankfully, Mr. B has some good sense and decided not to be a "foil baby" in his tent. He crashed in the air conditioning with us, and it was good. He slept in and so did I! It was just the three of us in the Wilds and it was so much fun! 

Met up with J to pick him up outside of the mega-mart Friday night. Ended up shopping at the mega-mart because I needed a new air mattress. (Did I post about that?) We finally got out of there, came home, and ran around like crazy people trying to get everything and the dog packed. (The rv and the truck were packed like wild monkeys packed them)

Got to the Wilds late, made dinner (sausages), and got set up enough to sleep. Saturday was our friends anniversary/pool party. Which was a blast! Got to see friends we haven't seen in a while and swim. Mr. B got to hang with his friend who will be in middle school with him, and the anniversary part of the party was so sweet. (Think wearing your wedding dress for the first time in 25 years sweet!) The pool was also sweet and I got in with my regular clothes on and I have no regrets! (I forgot my suit)

We got back to camp late, made some food because there was nothing Mr. B would eat at the party and they had a ton of food. (Even though all he does is eat! I'm not kidding!) The dog fell off the bed while B and I were playing Rummy (he beat me so hard), and there was a lightning bug in the camper. 

After breakfast this morning, we packed up and came home. Did Mr. B's laundry because there was a lot and they don't have a washer and dryer. Dropped him off at home. Got back and started editing the old man story. 

Managed a lot of pages and added a lot of words. Got the laundry done. Took a shower. And now am prepping for the work week. Oy! 

And that is all...

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday - On Saturday

It's a beautiful day out there! Actually, the weather this week has been very nice and I love it. Not looking forward to the high temps next week, but...yeah...it's summer. 

Let's get to the list:

1. Living through the work week. It was a brutal one. 

2. Having K5 overnight. She wanted to go to work with us and since her schedule is as crazy as ours, we made it happen. She helped Pappy with some stuff and earned some cash. We had a nice dinner the night before and she even got up on time. It was fun, but definitely not enough time. 

3. Sleeping in this morning. Man, I needed that. 

4. Making progress on my story. I just got through the whole thing again. I need to add a bunch more words, so hopefully I can make that happen on this next round. The story needs some empty places filled in, so fingers crossed. 

5. Plans with friends we haven't seen in ages tonight. We've had this planned for a long time. Except I forgot and kind of double-booked us, but we figured it out. He's already got the meat on the smoker and we put together some veggie kababs to add to our meal. 

That's about it for now!

Behave!

Retreat: The End

Things are wrapping up now. 

It's been a very lovely weekend. We have had lots of laughs, lots of serious, and not so serious, conversations. (There's a teepee in this house for kids, and we might have taken pictures in it) The writing, editing, and brainstorming we've done has been immense. Every single one of us has made fantastic progress. 

The family that owns this house lives right across the street and they stopped over this evening to say hello. They are the nicest people and we had a very nice conversation. Their kids are adorable. At first I was a little annoyed when I found out they like to say hi to their renters, but after meeting them, I'm glad to have met and talked with them. 

I did get through the entire manuscript and am over halfway through a second run. I had to cut quite a few pages of repetition and things that didn't fit, well, it was a lot of pages, so I need to add about twenty thousand words now. Which is fine. I still love the story and I'm so happy to be back in it.

I think I'm done for this retreat though. I'll be packing up and hitting the road in the morning, so I highly doubt I'll post again.  

And that is all...

Behave!

Retreat: Day Three

 
Last full day! 

I slept in, which was awesome. It's a gorgeous day. 

After I finished my book yesterday, I thought I knew what I was going to do next. Turns out, I didn't. 

I putzed around with a short story I'd started before last retreat, started working on the Sector series, but it was not going well, and I ended up opening the "old man" story. And that's what I need to be working on right now. 

I'm five chapters into editing and so far it's going well. I know it gets rough coming up, but that's okay. I don't know if I'll finish the edit this weekend (see previous about rough), but I do love this story, so...

Here's some pics of our view:

Lovely, right? And Cows!

Behave!

Retreat: Day Two - Done!

The book is done! Whoot! 

I even took a nap, though it was a brief one. 

I will let this sit until I return home and then edit this last section to send for critique. I need a little space from it so I can edit with a clear head. 

The work stuff I thought would affect my time today didn't happen, so that's good. I only had a little bit of day job stuff compared to the parade I expected. 

I have titles for the newly completed book and two other projects waiting to be edited. And now I will move on to the next thing on my list! 

That is all! 

Behave! 

Retreat: Day Two - First Full Day

Woohoo!

I slept pretty good and I slept in, which was amazing. That's not to say that I wasn't up a lot during the night. But it's fine. I can nap if I need to and I probably will, more because I can. Ha! 

I made good progress last night. I got a lot of words! I will finish this book! Maybe today? And then I will decide what to do next. I have an idea of what needs to be done, so there's that. 

I also need to get some titles nailed down, but that's on our agenda list to take care of, so I'll get there. 

It's a glorious day so far. The sun is shining. It's not super hot. The view here is incredible. I'll try to post a picture of that later. We also have a visiting kitty. We've named her "Debbie". She's very cute and dramatic. And obviously someone's pet as she's well cared for. 

And that is all for now!

Behave!

RETREAT! Day One!

Finally! 

I am here in a lovely home surrounded by my writing friends! We have unloaded our cars, chosen our rooms, put away our food, and chosen our spots in the living room. And now it's the talking part...

I will finish this book this weekend!

Tonight is our traditional "Nacho Dinner" and I am looking forward to sleeping in a little tomorrow. The bed looks super comfy!

That's it for now!

Behave!

I Suck!

I didn't mean for so much time to pass. It's just... life, I guess. 

It's been kinda crazy. Well, normal for around here. 

We went to the Wilds for the holiday weekend. It was a blast. My kids were there together for the first time in years! We had Little B in the camper with us and he did really well, except for being too excited to fall asleep at first. But once he settled, he slept well and he slept in. Then, just as we were preparing dinner Saturday night, the wind started, blowing pollen and making us all cough and sneeze. Then the rain. A lot of rain. It finally stopped, we finished dinner and got the clean up done before it started to rain again. The rain was fine. The mud was not. The grandboys parents went home and Mr. B stayed with us. And since it was supposed to continue to rain later Sunday into Monday, we packed up and came home after the picnic. And then it didn't rain. But it was fine. It was nice to be back home and have time to get stuff done before heading back to the day job. 

Since then it's been day job, stuff, more stuff...

I'm almost done with my book and it will be done by this time next week, because... I'm going on retreat! I am looking forward to it a whole lot! My original plan was to finish before I got there, but that's not going to happen (see above about stuff). I'm close, so I will finish and likely get through my critiques on section three and edits on the last section. I have no idea what I'll do after that. We'll see. 

And that is it for now! 

Behave!