Tag: family

Keeping my New Year’s Resolutions

The First Day of 2013:

Today I meditated and performed a ritual to welcome in the first day of the year. This goes with my goal of doing more rituals for my faith in the coming year. I meditate almost daily, but actual ritual is less frequent.
I worked on Affliction which is the next Anita Blake novel. I’m in the end game of the book, but I’m having to throw out part of my outline and redo plot points from here on out. The major mystery has remained the same, but the clues and how-to catch the bad guys have been impacted by the book to date. I’m an organic writer which means the book grows and changes. The writing goals are always part of my new year thinking.
Then the rest of the family was finally up and we had breakfast together. That’s another goal, to do more family stuff and enjoy the real people in my life more this year. That includes friends, as well, as family.
Jon and I went to the gym and worked out. That hits the exercise goals that we’ve set for the year. I’m proud of us for going on New Year’s Day, I think it’s a first?
I think I’m out of daylight for reading part of a book that I did not write today, but I’ll try tomorrow.
I did make a start on planning my next tattoo which I’m wanting to get this year. I’ve been working on the idea for about two years and finally think I’ve found an artist to help me design it.
There are other goals for the year, but I’ll stop here so that I can go to bed with Jon, and cuddle on this the first full night of 2013.

The Second Day of 2013:

Jon and I went to the gun range. We put rounds through my two new hand guns that have been languishing in their boxes since my wonderful husband bought them for me. One of my goals for this year was to go to the range more.
I went to the gym again today, and along with the weight lifting, squats, etc . . . ran! I’m running more and better every time. I did not appreciate it before I injured myself and couldn’t run. Now, every time down that track is a gift.
My sister, Chica, had her foot surgery today, and that gets her closer to the goal of being completely healed this year. No more accidents!
I have not hit my writing goal for the day on Affliction. I’ve written, but I haven’t hit the point in the chapter I wanted to be at before I went to bed.
There is no time to read for pleasure today. I’ve given up on that until tomorrow. I’ll try again then. That whole reading for pleasure is a New Year’s resolution that usually dies a quick death. I’m determined this year to do better than last, but as I type this I can’t choose reading someone else’s book over working on my own, especially with a deadline fast approaching. Since I’ve spent most of the last decade on deadline maybe that’s why I stopped reading for pleasure. Hmm . . . it does seem to be a pattern. *laughs*

Happy Yule and Merry Christmas to all!

I woke early This Christmas/Yule morning eager to write. I kissed my husband, Jon, awake and then let him curl back under the covers and sleep. Trinity had spent Christmas Eve with her father, so she wasn’t due to be dropped off until around noon. My sister, Chica, and her partner were still asleep in her room. Even the dogs had decided to sleep in, Mordor rolling an eye at me, and going back to sleep, which lets you know how early it was, truly a moment when nothing was stirring, not even a mouse, well, and a writer.

I did what I do every morning and entered sacred space with candles to mark the quarters, the directions of North, East, South, and West. I also light a candle for Spirit, which not everyone does, but the candles for God and Goddess are always lit. I gave thanks for this beautiful morning and time to myself to think, reflect, and create.

I worked on Affliction which is the next Anita Blake novel, but first I worked on a brand new story idea. I’d written down a few sentences of it days ago when the idea first waved it’s hands at me, so to speak. To my surprise it was the first thing that came to me this morning. I guess, it shouldn’t surprise me too much since it is a Christmas story. I believe it’s my first ever Christmas/Yule story, and if things continue a pace the story is shaping up to be safe for all ages. So many of you have asked for more stories of mine that can be safely shared with younger readers that apparently my subconscious has been working on it. We’ll see if I can actual behave myself for pages, though honestly the beginnings of stories are fragile things and just because you start a story is no guarantee that you will finish it. I think every writer has more beginnings than complete works, it’s the nature of ideas to come on strong, but not necessarily have staying power. This one feels promising, because the idea is fresh and exciting having just come to life this morning. (I don’t count a few lines of an idea, they can wait a decade to become a story, or never be more than an idea.)

After I’d written as far I could see in the new story I wrote on Affliction. I had to drop back and add a bridge chapter which is exactly what it sounds like it is, a chapter that bridges from the action at the end of one chapter and the action at the beginning of another. Sometimes in my eagerness to get to a scene I get ahead of explanation needed, or even character introductions so that you get people talking that are brand new with no background at all, or characters that new readers wouldn’t know just dropped in, so you have to back up and explain a little. The two brand new characters that I’d introduced have been in my mind so long that I just forgot that they’ve never actually made it on stage before. I’ve had that happen a time, or two, usually with minor characters, or minor major characters, that I keep putting in the series and they keep getting cut before the book goes to publication. We’ll see if the characters make it to the final round this book.

Breakfast pancakes, bacon, and cinnamon rolls thanks to Chica and her partner. Trinity had joined us by then with her present booty from her father’s side of things. Jon had found one more present for her, “A Muppet Christmas Carol,” her favorite holiday movie which somehow we had on video, but not on DVD, since we no longer have a VCR that was a problem. Jon braved the mall yesterday so we could watch her favorite movie together this morning. We’ve already watched two of our favorite movies leading up to Christmas; Red, and Die Hard. Ho, ho, ho, now I have a machine gun! *laughs*

Chica and her partner are about to be out for family obligations, but Trinity, Jon, and I are getting to do what we most want today.Trinity has chosen to play her new SIMS game on computer. Jon wants to read and play video games. We’re taking turns choosing favorite holiday music to be our background noise. Currently listening to Excelsis – A Dark Noel a wonderful Goth Christmas album. It’s the first album Jon recommended to me that I went out and purchased. 🙂 This was my pick. We started with the Clancy Brothers Christmas Album which is one of Jon’s other favorites. He’s always had one of the most eclectic music tastes of anyone I’ve ever met.

Oh, I almost forgot my choice for the day is to write and read. I admit that I may overindulge on sweets for a change. I also reserve the right to do treadmill depending on how the writing goes, if the muse and I are making pages I’ll likely just write.

Once Chica and her partner return we may go back to choosing another favorite Christmas movie to watch, but welcome to the holiday as celebrated by a happy bunch of introverts. I hope you are able to do what you most want to do this day. Bright blessings between my family and yours and a very Happy Yule and a very Merry Christmas to all!

Real Love

Valentine’s Day dawned as the coldest, snowiest day of the year so far. Jon, my husband, and I were cuddled up in the dark, drowsing, and waking slowly, when the third time he hit snooze on the alarm, I remembered that it was our day to take our daughter, Trinity to school. Suddenly, our leisurely morning was thrown into scrambling for clothes, and getting ready to face the day. We made it with enough time for Trinity to discuss the unfairness of not having a snow day on Valentine’s Day. “Not many kids will be at school,” she said.
“You’re going,” I said.
She said, “I know life isn’t fair, but I’d still like to have a snow day.”
“It’s Valentine’s day don’t you want to see your boyfriend?”
“He probably won’t be there.”
“Text him and see.”
She did, but didn’t expect a reply, because he’d be sleeping in, because he wasn’t having to go to school in the snow. It turned out he was already at school, early, so she was in better spirits about going to school in the snow. Meanwhile my sister, Chica, is in the kitchen in pajamas and a robe with our little dogs bouncing around her feet. Okay, Keiko, our recent puppy mill rescue, a 3-year-old Japanese Chin bounced and fluttered, and danced. Sasquatch, our 11-year-old pug just sat there staring up waiting for food. He loves my sister, we joke that he’s her boyfriend, but he’s a pug so he loves food, too.
Trinity has already opened her cards that we left out for her last night. Chica has given me my sister card. I’ve given her all her cards – one from all of us, one a piece from the dogs, and one funny sister card from me. (I like cards a lot.) I’d already given Jon one card and a small stuffed animal days ago for Valentine’s Day. I’ll be giving Jon his big present after he gets back from the school run.
Chica is getting ready to feed the dogs, and the chickens putting out the different kinds of food. Jon bends down to help get Keiko’s food bowl, and then stands up abruptly and says, “Crap, my pants split!”
He goes running past for the stairs to change so he can take Trinity to school. The three of us, Trin, Chica, and me, are left trying not to giggle. Then we realize there’s no time, we have to take Trinity now or she’ll be late. Crap!
Jon was going to drive Chica’s four wheel monster jeep, but . . . “Do you know how to drive my Jeep?” Chica asks.
“I guess so, what’s different about it?”
“It’s four wheel drive.”
“I’ve never driven four wheel drive.”
“Crap,” she says, and starts putting coat and snow boots on over pajamas.
I put my coat on, grab purse.
She can’t find keys because Jon took them upstairs with him, but she finds the spare set, then . . . “Grab the dogs, they haven’t gone out yet.”
“They’ll mess in your car.”
“No they won’t. They love riding in the car.” I’m not sure it’s good logic, but I tuck Keiko under one arm, Sasquatch follows at our heels and we scramble for the door with Trinity trailing.
Jon comes bounding down the stairs in fresh jeans, sunglasses in place, keys in hand. “Let’s go!” He moves past gathering Trinity in his wake, and Chica and I are left gaping at each other at the door.
Into the silence I say, “No woman could have done that.”
We agree that no woman we know could have possibly stripped and changed that fast. We stand there for a moment longer in our winter gear, Keiko dangling from my arm, looking at us, as if to say, “What’s going on?”
Sasquatch barks from other side of a door further in the house, he’d missed a turn somewhere and gotten left on the wrong side of a door. Curse that lack of opposable thumb.
And that was our start to Valentine’s Day. It was a good start, because love, real love, isn’t about the flowers and chocolates you get, or the stuffed toys and cards you buy, or the romantic dinners planned, or even the hot, monkey sex – love is getting the kid to school, being able to pitch in when things go wrong, and just having each other’s back. We did all that this morning, and we got Valentine Day cards, too. When Jon got back from taking Trinity to school, I gave him more cards (Did I mention that I really like cards.) and his present. Chica went to work. Suddenly the house is empty and ours. The rush of the morning recedes leaving us with our happy, but chaotic day. I hope your Valentine’s Day is full of real love from your family, your pets, your spouse, partner, lover, friends, and all the many people that we have in our life that love us and supports us. Because love, real love, is about living for each other every day, not just on the holidays.

Kiss the Dead Done; Writer Restless

I’ve been working on deadlines through December, or on tour, and working on a deadline, for the last ten years. This year I worked my ass off and finished the latest book, Kiss the Dead, the day before Winter Solstice. It took two weeks of working all day and into the night. 10PM was early, 1 to 2AM was more routine. I wrote ‘The End” at 4AM, and the book was done. I had Solstice, Christmas, and Yule, off for the first time in a decade. I was thrilled, my family was delighted. Jon, who had stayed in his office most of the nights I stayed up, in case I needed something, got to sleep in with me. I was beyond beat, and sleeping was a wonderful thing. It happened to coincide with Trinity, our daughter, being off school, so for the first time in years I was going to be able to take time off when she was off; yay!

The next day when I woke I was energized. I cleaned off two of my desks and begin to organize my office. There’s always debris from a book, and the office is trashed like a crime scene, if you substitute paper, and sticky notes, for blood and bodies. I felt great!

What I didn’t realize is that I’d spent the last decade training my family to be happy hermits. Trinity is playing on her new DS; Jon played WOW, World of Warcraft in his office; Chica, my sister of choice, went to see her birth family. I tried to get them all interested in going out and seeing a movie, but they’d had enough of people and out, they wanted hermit time and in. I’d asked Chica before she left, and she wanted to come home and just relax, so no one wanted to go out of the house to do anything. So, I was in a house of happy hermits, and I wanted to DO-SOMETHING!

I went to my office with the dogs, Sasquatch and Keiko with me. The dogs had gotten into the routine of being in the office constantly, so they loved it. Keiko is a rescue from a puppy mill, and this is her first Christmas in a house, so she thinks the world is all about being in my office with me into the wee hours. I meditated, and that helped. I texted some friends, and it helped some. I didn’t want to call, because I wanted to give people time with their families, but honestly talking was not what I wanted. I was beyond restless. I read in one of the many books that had been waiting for me to have the time to read, rather than just write. I drank tea, read, cuddled in the big leather chair in my office with the dogs; it was good. But I was still so restless I couldn’t stand it. If my gym had been open I’d have gone, but barring that I got on the treadmill for an hour. I have missed a lot of gym time due to the book deadline eating the world. The treadmill was good, very good, and took the edge off, then it was time to join Chica, Jon, and Trinity, for dinner, and conversation, oh, and presents. Trinity had been with her father over Christmas Eve and part of today, and we’d waited presents for her. Honestly, I had the major present that I’d wanted, the book done, and time off with my family while we were all off from school and work. I just hadn’t understood that going from a schedule like that to down time would be such an adjustment. It’s always an adjustment, but never this bad, and I hadn’t realized that everyone else would be wanting to be quiet and alone-ish, though I should have figured that. It was logical for them to want to de-stress from being out with so many people all the time. I’ve been in my office, alone for weeks, so out was what I needed. It was interesting and perfectly logical, but I so didn’t see it coming. Oh, no, Jon, hadn’t been out with too many people, he’s just naturally more solitary than I am by nature.

So tomorrow, I will make plans to do something, go somewhere, because things will be open. People can come with, or I can go by myself, but either way, I’ll be better prepared for this sense of restlessness that always comes in some form, just never quite this bad. I blame the gym, I think I’ve gotten used to moving my body when I’m restless. Sitting and reading alone, no longer refreshes me. Or maybe sitting and reading is just too close to sitting and writing, and I need something else over this short break.

Halloween 2011

I went to bed with stars shining overhead, and woke with them still gleaming in a pitch black sky. A wisp of pale clouds trailed across the darkness like some huge remnant of ghosts that must have marched through someone’s dreams trailing cobwebby veils and offering to dance. There was the faintest touch of chill in the air, an autumn kiss. It is five days before Halloween.
Everyone thinks that this is a big time of year for me, since I write paranormal thrillers. I recently had a woman ask me what kind of paranormal I wrote, and after much going back and forth, I finally realized all she wanted to know was it vampires, werewolves, or something else. I told her all of the above and more, and she seemed happy. What does someone who writes about monsters do this time of year? Well, this year, I will be at the Annual Anne Rice Vampire Lestat Fan Club Ball on October 28th in New Orleans. Yep, I write about vampires and I’m going to a vampire ball in New Orleans, it seems perfect, doesn’t it? But my husband, Jon, and I are only staying a short time in New Orleans after the ball, because we need to get home to our daughter, Trinity. She still thinks we’re cool enough to hang out with on Halloween, and we’ve vowed not to miss spending the actual day with her until she decides that she has more grownup plans that do not include parents. All our other friends with teenagers tell us that this dreaded moment will happen soon, but right now she wants the holiday to be a family one, and that works for us.
Halloween has always been one of my two favorite holidays, the other being Christmas. I loved the dressing up, the trick or treat, the candy, the walking around on the chilly Indiana nights. One year we actually had snow and I had to wear a coat over my costume, I was so bummed. It doesn’t get that cold that early here in Missouri, and that’s just fine with me. Snow sucked much for trick or treat.
But its not me being a vampire writer, or going to the Anne Rice Vampire Ball, or having a child, or even nostalgia that makes Halloween truly special, it’s the fact that it’s one of the major holidays for my religion. We’re Wiccan, as in pantheistic, nature honoring, God and Goddess worshipping, as a rough overview. It’s like trying to explain being Catholic in a single sentence to someone who doesn’t know anything about it; try it sometime, harder than it sounds. The most important thing that every Wiccan agrees on is this; “So long as you harm none, do as thou wilt.” That harm none part means you, too, by the way, so harm no one, not even yourself. That means that every decision should got through this filter. You can do what you want, as long as you harm no one, not even yourself. Some Wiccans carry that to animals, and go Vegetarian, or Vegan. Not me, and my family, we’re carnivores, but one of the things that most Wiccans value greatly is their independence from having to follow the same rules that everyone else follows, we’re sort of the anti-organized religion, which is why the one bit of “harm none” is about all everyone can agree on. Our household are eclectic Wiccans, which means that even among ourselves we don’t all do the same thing at our altars, or call on the same Deities on a regular basis. Group rituals must be agreed upon, but beyond that it’s very individual. Halloween is All Hallows Eve, Samhain, for us. It is a time when the veil between the worlds is thin, and most Wiccans do a ritual to honor their dead. It is saying good-bye to the recently dead, or making peace with someone that did you wrong long ago. It can just be an honoring of the dead in general. For us, we still do a more typical American celebration of dressing up, trick or treat, and watching a marathon of Ghost Hunters, or favorite scary movie. I think this year we’ll be watching Ghost Hunters and whatever location wins their contest to be a live investigation on Halloween night.
But I’ll see some of you guys in New Orleans on Friday the 28, for the Anne Rice Vampire Ball, hosted by Voltaire, the musician and all around performer and artist, not the dead philosopher. It’s the vampire ball, but it’s not that kind of vampire ball. There will be other wonderful musicians, costumes, and fun to be had. Come on down to New Orleans, dance with some vampires, or at least people who write and sing about them, beyond that, can’t guarantee anything, but it is New Orleans, and it is two days before Halloween, you never know.

Playing as hard, as I Work

I walked into my office this morning with night still thick and black outside my windows. As I got up yesterday to make sure I hit the treadmill, so today I got up early to make up for the fact that I didn’t do a second work session last night. I chose to spend time with Jon and our daughter, Trinity. The three of us often sit in the family room puttering on lap tops, or iPads, or reading. Yesterday I was reading Death in the Long Grass by Chapstick, and a particularly good part made me read a bit out loud. Then somehow, at mostly Trinity’s request, I ended up reading almost a chapter out loud, because once the action starts it doesn’t really stop, and in between jaw-dropping real life adventure, he’s funny. Who doesn’t love humor mixed in with your blood and near death escapes; certainly not me? Then Chica was home, and she was fixing dinner, and I hadn’t seen her all day except as a hi, bye, in the morning before she went to work. I wanted to talk to my sister, and then . . . Well, you see how it went. I love my family, and love spending time with them. So, when I woke in blackness, knowing just by the quality of it, that dawn was not that close I got out of bed to go work. I played last night, so I could look at this as my penance, or I could say it’s a trade. I didn’t regret anything but the television watching last night. Even one show is too much with my schedule right now. But, a lot of my schedule is fun!
I used to think my life would get less busy someday, but Jon took me aside about seven years into our marriage, and said, “You keep saying it’s going to get less busy, but it doesn’t. It’s been like this since we got together.” He touched my shoulders, turned me to look up into his eyes and very seriously said, “I think this is it. This is your schedule, and it doesn’t get any easier.” My husband is a very wise man sometimes.
A few years back I was more successful than I’d ever dreamed of being as a writer, but I was pretty miserable, because all I was doing was writing. One memorable day I finished an Anita Blake novel in the morning, sent it off to New York, and began the next Meredith Gentry book that afternoon. Even I, with the stamina of a bull Elk, *laughs* could not keep that kind of schedule going forever. One thing I did was consolidate both series at one publisher. Now, no matter which series I’m working on, I’m making my publisher, Penguin Putnam happy, before this it was like dating two men who knew about each other, so you weren’t cheating, but they both wanted all your time. Eventually if you burn the candle at both ends you meet in the middle, and poof, no more candle. I needed a better way to burn, one that didn’t use me up.
So, what did I do? Well, I took one year where I did just one book, not two. That’s why there wasn’t a Merry book this year, but I’ve said, a lot, that there will be a Merry book in 2012, but it does mean I’m back to having to write two books in a very short space of time. I know, I know, every writer should have it so hard that they have two New York Times best selling series, and that they hit #1 a lot, so much so that their publisher wants more! It’s a great “problem” to have, but try my writing schedule for a little bit, then come talk to me about what is, and isn’t, a problem. I’ll manage it, but one thing I couldn’t bear to do was to go back to the punishing schedule I’d been on for the last few years. So, what to do?
I decided to play as hard as I work. Which means, I read to my daughter yesterday when she asked, as she remarked on things she was doing on the internet, and as Jon shared some of his findings on the inter web. It means I talked to Chica for a bit. It means this weekend Jon and I are going to visit friends out of state. Yes, the deadline is looming, but there’s always a deadline looming, and that’s just the way of things, as Jon said, “This is it. I don’t think it’s going to get any easier.” Since I couldn’t take away from my work schedule, I added things that were fun to my schedule. It seems counter intuitive to add to an already impossible schedule, but it was either add, or subtract and that would mean you guys would get fewer books with more time in between them, besides when I don’t write for awhile I get a little odd. My muse and I are heavy use items, and it works for us. 🙂
I have traveled more for pleasure this year than I have in the previous five, or longer. I had cut all the joy out of my life and whittled it down to the work, in a vain attempt to keep it all going, but you can only whittle away so much before you begin to cut into things that you need. By adding my more playtime to my insane schedule I have been happiest I have ever been. My muse and I have gone from feeling dry and empty, to a full well of ideas and inspiration. Writing isn’t just about putting my butt in a chair and making pages. It’s also about finding what inspires me. Not just ideas, I’m one of those blessed writers who finds ideas every damn where, but that breath of the divine that fills my metaphorical sails and helps me keep going until I’ve reached the shore. Before I figured out what I needed I was like a ship in the middle of a calm sea, out of fuel for my engine, and with no wind, I was left trying to paddle a very big ship. Ships aren’t meant to run on paddle power alone; no wonder I was tired. *grin*
Today I woke anxious, convinced I’d wasted last night, and how dare I do that with a book needing to be written, comic stuff due, and the deadline for the book coming at me like a train barreling down the tracks. How dare I waste my time, and not WORK! But I got up in the dark so I could start work early, because I didn’t burn the candle last night, I got up to burn it this morning. It’s the compromise, and I have no regrets about where I spent my time yesterday. I mean, what do I regret? Reading to my child? Um, no. Talking to my sister? No. Spending some serious quality time with my husband? Nope, no regrets. I walked into my office in the darkness and was happy to be there before dawn, happy to be getting to work, and not wanting to trade anything from last night, except the television watching. No more of that for awhile, I’m afraid. There will come a time when the deadline eats the world and I won’t be able to choose to talk, or visit, or read aloud to my family, but that’s a couple of months away. Until then, I’m going to enjoy my family, my home, my life, and the friends and people that help renew and inspire me. I can be successful beyond my wildest dreams, and still enjoy my life. It just takes planning, time management, and a lot of play dates for me, not the child. *laughs*