So it is Friday...

Well for the most part I think I have survived the week in decent shape. I mean I started the week with a mountain of work ahead of me ... and now I sit at the end of the week dang near the top of the mountain.

All I have left from my giant list of things to do is my writing. Which some of it is enough to make anyone think twice about getting there in time. I have about 12k worth of writing to do. And I have three days in which to do it.

I have one short flash to write, which I sadly have no clue what to write about. And then 11 chapters to write on Pieces of You.

I should be able to make it. I mean I am the one who wrote 110k in the month of november. And I did it with a smile on my face. I think I can write a measly 12k in three days. Thats only 4k a day, pretty much my average for this past november. My best day was 10k in november, had two of those sort of days in the first week.

So it can be done :)

Lets get it going. *dons on cape*

~Allison

Still Standing...

So here I stand with just a few days to go in the week. How am I shaping up heading into the weekend? Pretty dammed good actually. I have finished most of my inventory all of the website, the short story is cleaned up and ready to go.

What I have left to do for the week:
~Finish inventory (8 pages to go)
~do some school work
~Write the last 11 scenes of my novel.
~write a flash fiction for Friday

Yes I realize the last thing on the list has not been there all week. However, it is something that I said I would do every week this year. I dont intend to let myself go on this.

Here is the game plan for the rest of the week until Sunday night.
~Finish inventory this morning, take it to work this afternoon and get it off my dammed coffee table... its orange folder annoys me just looking at it.
~spend the rest of the day working on school work
~Tomorrow morning, write my flash fiction
~rest of tomorrow and all of the weekend, write the 11 scenes of my novel.

I think I can do it. 12k words, 8 pages of inventory and a bunch of math problems. No problem for the much loved hero.

*sigh*

Time to don on my spandex pajamas and cape.


~Allison

Exhausted...

That is where I sit now. My body is begging for its bed. My eyes drooping. But I still stand tall and will keep rolling today at all costs.

I have in the past two days managed to get two of the projects done on my list of things to do. I finished and brought live the new site. Click here to have a gander at it.

And I have redone the short that I needed to for the short story contest. Took a story that sat at 631 words to 1931 words. Flushed it out nicely I think.

After getting the site live last night I was up until 130 this morning rewriting the short. Which is why I am so out of it this morning. As it is thought I am going to have to take a trip downtown and hand deliver the story to The Star. I would have to mail it tonight and pray that it made it there by Friday. Not a chance I am going to put that much faith in our postal system. So one way or another I'm trekking downtown one day on the weekend.

I want to go back to sleep, but there is still far too much to do.

What I have left on my list of things to do is:

~Finish the inventory, which I did start on Monday, but it got pushed aside while I did some other things.
~Get some school work done. God I feel so guilty for not having done anything in two and a half weeks.
~Write like the wind to finish the book I am writing. (11 scenes left to go)

So there you have it folks. The miracle worker still has what it takes. Just need to put my back into it and get it done.


~Allison

OMG... Can we say INSANE WEEK?

Yes folks we are nuts. Well no allow me to correct that. I am nuts. Completely and utterly.

This is what I have on tap for the week:
~Get the inventory done by hand
~Rework the short story "The Stew" for contest and edit.
~Get some homework done, i have not been doing it for two weeks. Bad me.
~Finish writing Pieces Of You. I have 11 scenes left to write.
~Build a website, get hosting for it and get it live.

Plus housework and working two jobs.

Sometimes I think my life thinks I am a miracle worker, and in some cases I am. I have been known to work miracles in the past but this is a huge thing. Not sure I can do it ... if I do it will mean i have to focus and I seem to have none since last Thursday.

Going to have to find some and fast. House work done for the most part already today. Two kids are off to school.

Now should I start off with the small stuff or tackle the big thing first? Ill flip a coin and get to it.

~Allison

Thank God Its Friday

Another week is in the books, and I cant help but wonder where in the hell all the days went. This week flew by, which in some ways I am thankful for it. The kids still dont seem to be their perky cheerful selves, Ky is now sick with something, Hope is still whinier than usual, and Aj seems to have gotten herself a head cold to boot. Oh well weekend equals rest time for them so Hopefully we will have them patched up by the time Monday rolls around.

Now onto the other things I have been coping with as of late. We all know that I have a boss from hell. Well I have been trying to get year end wrapped up for the last couple of months. The process really should not take this long however the fact of the matter is is that it is hard to get any decent amount of my work done there. I mean I am constantly having to correct the other peoples mistakes. Which apparently is my job (my boss and I had a discussion about this late last year. I tried to show him how not to make a mistake I was always having to correct and his response was, "my job is to make money and your job is to fix my mistakes." A real charmer huh?) And I am constantly waiting on people to get their stuff done. I am constantly having to look for invoices that disappear. And all this is just so I can do MY job. Then I have the added bonus of having my dear boss bring me all sorts of things that are NOT in the job description of the bookkeeper. Which of course have to take priority over what I SHOULD be doing. As he says he doesnt have time to. Apparently I do. So that being said, because I am running short on time, having to super-multitask etc I am making errors, things are being forgotten, or are getting overlooked.

Which brings me to yesterday. Accountant came in to do year end. I was all happy because I thought we were in pretty good shape. Turns out everything is a goddammed mess. According to her. For four out of the 10.5 hours I was there yesterday she was saying “Oh my god” over and over again. With comments like “I cant work like this” spliced in. And when I try to explain things to her she is sitting there like “Don’t blame everyone else.”

Problem is I am not “blaming” anyone. I am stating a problem, and wanting a way to solve it.

See my boss isn’t the type who likes change. Generally speaking, his way is always better than the rest of ours. Even if his isn’t working out, or isn’t an ethically acceptable method. Yes newsflash, my boss isn’t all that ethical sometimes. If he can screw someone he will.

So yes bringing him a new way of doing something isn’t going to go over well if it goes over at all. Even if he accepts the idea, he will not bother to change what he is doing, he will just expect you to fix his mistakes for him.

See the vicious circle here? I do. AND I WANT OUT!

*sigh*

The unfortunate fact of the mater here is that I CANT leave for a number of reasons. Sound responsible, respectable reasons. Good money, flexible schedule and most of all stability.

So stuck I am for the next three years at least until my kids are old enough to be on their own for a few hours until Scott and I can get home from work.

*BIG sigh*

It will get better. Someday. I promise me.

At least after tomorrows hell shift I get the happy thoughts of going out with a couple of friends of mine for dinner and then a NaNo Winter Reunion for some bowling.

Then home to my hubby and kids for the rest of the night. Wish me luck tomorrow folks. Im going to need it.



~Allison

Writing seems...

To have its days. I love to write, create and sink myself into a world of my own creating. IT is a wonderful feeling. Like a warm snuggly blanket on a cold winters day.

And to tell the truth I have written far more in the last month and a half than I have in any year previously. Most of it has been in my blog here, but a lot of it has been dedicated to finishing up the novels I have on the go. Which is surprising as I dont normally work on them until the early fall or late summer.

But lately the act of putting my thoughts on my screen is like trying to make my kids do what I want them to do when they are supposed to do it. In other words hard as hell.

Not that I dont love my kids and my words, but man some days I think it would be easier if I knew how to make em work the way I wanted them to. Not that my kids are horrible little monsters, they arent, they are kids all the same though. Same with the words I write. When I get into a groove they flow like water and usually make a decent amount of sense.

*sigh*

I want to be able to consistently put words on a page and them to make sense, but somedays it still feels like I am not writing but rather giving birth to yet another stubborn kid :)

~Allison

Monday Monday.... Cant Trust That Day...

And yes. I realize that. Before any of you even say a word I know that it is no longer Monday. That it is in fact Tuesday. I realized that about half way through typing the second Monday in the title.

However, it feels entirely too much like a Monday this morning. So therefore I shall leave it as is because in spirit after a long weekend a Tuesday tends to feel like a Monday.

So, a friend of mine came to me this morning with a link to a contest being put on by the Toronto Star. Short stories, under 2500 words. Firsts prize is $5,000 and the tuition fee for the Humber College Correspondence Writers program. Second is $2000 and Third is $1000.

Now I could write 2.5K worth of wordage in an afternoon, but i am also seeing that the contest deadline is on the 28th. I need to be able to edit the dammed thing as well. So that being said I have a bunch of shorts that I think are decently plotted if they were tweeked just a little bit. And cleaned otherwise.

So that being said I am off to take a look at the one I think is most appealing to me at the moment and then run from there.

~Allison

And its Over...

Just about as fast as it began this wonderful weekend of mine is done. So much for a long weekend. Seemed more like a blip on a screen than a full on three day weekend.

So what ever became of my Saturday date? It went well. Dinner was nice, ate far too much but that is the whole point of spoiling yourself! Scot was totally thrown for a loop. He said at one point the words "shit she got me again" went tumbling through his mind when our beloved babysitters came barreling up the stairs telling him to get out. HA! We didnt end up seeing a movie because he didnt want to see any of the ones I did and I didnt really feel like seeing Avatar after all. Not to mention the fact that it was sold out. So we ended up walking around Walmart for a bit ended up getting ourselves a few new things that we wanted rather than needed without our kids underfoot, which was nice for a change.

Then we had a romantic walk home in the falling snow. It was nice we went to Timmies and grabbed coffee and took the long road home. Only problem is was I was wearing dress shoes and it was a touch cold, but totally worth it!

Yesterday it was back at it again after lazing about in bed opening our Valentines day bags. We all made our own out of decorated paper bags. It was nice. Daddy made some for his girls, and I had some cool recordable ones I had found. And of course the kids had ones for each other and for us. I got the TV series Castle Season One on dvd and a bag of Hersheys kisses, the caramel kind.

After that I ended up taking Hope to the doctors because she still wasnt doing much better. Good thing I did because it ends up poor kid had an ear infection. My poor Hope. Either way she is now on the mend as we have some antibiotics in her now and shes looking mucho better.

Last night our neighbour decided that she was going to kick Scott and I out for a coffee for Valentines day so what do we do? Go Geocaching of course! Timmies, donuts, maps & flashlights in hand we headed out around 815 last night to try and find three caches --- in the dark!

Lucky for us between the clues and some good thinking we were able to find all three that we were after last night :) Two hours and change later we came in the door laughing our heads off and flying high with exhilaration at having found not one but three of them in the dark!

They were all really a trip to find to tell the truth. The first one we found we had almost given up looking for. My flashlight just happened to catch it the right way and reflected the light. Tiny little thing about the size of a golf ball. Score 1/1. The second one we found again by chance. One of the clues had been "Big Tree" and I had been looking at a couple of big trees when Scott yells over hey check this one out. Next thing you know I am reaching my hand up INSIDE the dammed tree. Well my heart skipped a beat when my hand hit on something that MOVED. It was the cache attached to a retractable cord. Ingenious I tell you! The last one for the night was just as tricky as we knew we were looking for a stump in a small woods. the path through the woods is well lit. But off the path, well its anyones guess. Again my Eagle eyed hubby located a couple of possibilities. Sure enough one of them was it. Another nice mounting job there too.

Today was Family Day. So what did we do? We went Geocaching again, with the kids of course. Took off at around 130 and didnt walk back through the door until around 5. Long walk I tell you but we had fun. Went after five caches and found two of them. Either way the kids had fun hiking around our area. The fresh air did us all some good and the exercise couldnt be beat.

We ate dinner watching a movie and then it was back to the grind stone for all of us. Back into weekday schedules and routines. Thankfully enough we get a somewhat normal week this week. I am pretty sure no one is going to be home sick. At least I hope not.

Other than that this weekend I didnt do much of the writing that I had hoped to get done. I mean I did get some long long long blog posts in but other than that I cant say as I even really wanted to write. Just wasnt in the mood, and writing when not in the mood does not work out too well. So instead I read.

Not that I did too much of that ut I did read some more than i normally would have. I was doing some research actually. On smut.

Go ahead, laugh. But seriously SMUT SELLS. Its one of the biggest sectors in the publishing industry. Romance is I mean. I call it smut because well, after reading half a books worth I can help but wonder how in the hell these characters could think of sex all day! HONESTLY!

*sigh*

So yes I might just try my hand at some smut in the near future in an effort to break into the industry just a bit. Will have to see. Either way the smut books I recently acquired are mildly amusing.

I guess I should go and return to writing what I actually should be writing. What say you? A chapter of fantasy and a chapter of suspense before bed? Sounds good to my ears too!

~Allison

Saturday...

So I went out last night to get rid of the cabin fever I was feeling. It was AWFUL! The farthest I made it yesterday was to the end of the driveway. Then my neighbor called and invited me out for coffee. I jumped at the chance just to get out of the house. Not that I dont love my kids but yesterday I felt a little trapped. I didn't even get to walk the kids to school or home because Hope spent the day sleeping.

Anyways went to grab coffee and then did some retail therapy. I needed some pots for a bunch of plants the kids gave me for my birthday. See they were three plants in a small pot shaped like a pumpkin. It was very cute. And the best part of it was I havent killed any of plants yet. Which is huge with me and indoor plants. I seem to kill most things indoors or my cats eat them. Either way. My cats haven't eaten them and I havent killed them, but they were out growing the pot. So it was either transplant them into bigger pots or watch them suffocate themselves. So aside from three new pots I bought a small ivy plant for each of the two big pots. And then I bought a small african violet for the small pot. The whole set up looks really nice on my fireplace, where my cats dont go, and the sun light streams in from the big back window.

So while repotting my plants, I sat and watched the opening ceremonies for the olympic winter games. And what a show that was. A sight to behold for sure. It even better knowing that I too had been a part of history. We had been lucky enough to have been trying to cross the street when the torch came along. We were a mere car lane away from it. So to see the that flame still burning miles from where we saw it. It was magnificent. And the performers! WOW! the sets, the music, the last performance speech (not the blooming politicians and CEOs)it was all so much. I stood for my national anthem, i cheered for my team, I clapped for the performers and I had tears in my eyes.

The best was sharing it with people who matter to me. The kids, Scott and my friends and family. It was so wonderful sitting here last night with everyone.

And onto today.

It started off slow this morning. Lazy Saturday morning in bed with my kids. It has been nice having not to rush off somewhere, not to have to worry about getting people off to places. Except for Scott. He is the SLOWEST human being on the face of the planet when it comes to getting up and getting moving.

He wanted to go out today to get a gift for me for Valentines day, which is fine, but what he doesnt know is that we have a reservation for 6:15 tonight at Canyon Creek Chophouse for dinner. He also does not know that the babysitters, our beloved Nortons, will be here at 5!

He just left a half an hour ago. It was 2pm. I dont know this whole surprising him thing is for the birds. He is SOOO hard to surprise sometimes.

On a completely different note he is also completely horrible at gift buying. I mean he does it and does a good job at what he does buy, but he hates shopping and is always and forever asking me what I want him to buy me, which of course defeats the purpose of surprising me. Its not like I am complaining, I always get what I would like to have, but I love surprises and he just doesnt get it that that is the best part of it. At least to me it is.

Ah well. Why am I sitting here whining about it when he does more than most men do. That and I actually have someone who loves me. That is what matters in the end. And I know that. I just would love one surprise. Just one.

Anyways I should get back to writing here, as I do have a lot of that to do before the sitters get here, and I would like to have something on paper (screen) before I leave tonight as once we get dinner done we are going out to see a movie. Wonder what movie we will see. I want to see Book of Eli, or Edge of Darkness or maybe that other one -- god I cant think of the name of it now! Extraordinary Measures, thats it! Or maybe we might just be like everyone else and go see Avatar.

Who knows? But I know we shall have a lot of fun doing it. So there :D

~Allison

I CAN HAZ FRIDAY!

Oh my gawd! I am so happy its friday! AND its a long weekend friday which makes it entirely that much better!

The only damper is my poor dear Hope has succumbed to the bug that has been plaguing her since Wednesday afternoon and is now snuggled in her bed with her LuLu Bear. Poor kid.

So needless to say plans for anything today are shot. No work for me, but that means Im in for a bit tomorrow morning. Maybe. I might not bother. Have to see how I feel in the morning. Im allowed to be run down too and this week has been hell on earth for me.

Well no there has been worse weeks for sure. But in recent years I think this is one of the worst sick weeks. The only other one that comes to mind is the time when I had two of them with strep and one with scarlet fever. Yes you heard me correct. I said scarlet fever.

No its obviously not a dead disease because one of my children clearly had it.

Any ways that was one hell of a fun week too. Spent the majority of it sitting snuggled on the couch with the kids watching CSI Miami.

I think some CSI is in order for today as well.

That is so long as I dont kill Ms. Attitude. That was one thing I didnt miss when AJ was sick. But as it would seem shes stock piled the TUDE and is now giving it out left right and center. GRRR!

Thank god they leave for school in about 15 minutes.

Either way. I am home today and will make sure that I get lots of writing done :) And maybe some school work which has sadly been neglected all week. Oh! And I have to get a concept idea out for a friend of mines website on the weekend at some point so I suppose I should do that as well.

Lots to do! Catch yall later!

Oh and for those who are looking for my Flash Fiction Friday post you can now find it and all of my other flash fiction here


~Allison

Four Days Down, One To Go

So I am still standing after another day done at break-neck speed. The good news is that I made up for the lost time I lost earlier this week at work. Bad news is my poor Hope ended up having to come home at lunch. She slept and slept all afternoon and seemed fine after that.

For those of you keeping count, thats AJ home for three days, and Hope home for half a day.

All I have to say is that when it rains in my life, it doesn't just rain it bloody pours. I was lucky yesterday as I called in the heavy cavalry to help with the kids. My beloved husband, also known as Mom's Back-Up, took a sick day to help keep things running smoothly and on time yesterday so that I could get things back on track at work. He was my hero of the day.

Thankfully enough I sent both young ladies off to school this morning. So that means as long as I dont get a phone call at some point today from the school telling me to come get one of them, then we can assume the worst is over and life will go back to its normal brand of chaos.

I never realized just how important routine is to me until the last few days. It is not just the kids that need the structure; its me as well. Without the structure of a routine I dont seem to get a dammed thing done around here. If I am stuck running here and there rather than sticking to my schedule I end up getting behind on things and then I feel like I cant get caught up. The flip side of that is if I try to keep up with the schedule while running here and there I go just about nutty trying. Its just not possible and I just end up wearing myself down.

So that being said I am behind all over the place with my writing, I have not done a stitch of school work all week. And the house work is decent, although it too is a bit behind.

So thankfully it will be friday soon and I will have a three day weekend to recoup the loss of energy as Monday is Family Day and I am starting to think that a PJ Day is needed for the five of us.

Maybe we might squeeze in a hike through the parks in there. Have to wait and see how the rest of the weekend plays itself out.

Ok, off to get some other work done now, writing, school, house work. It never stops.


~Allison

Halfway Point

So its Wednesday. It is snowing out for once. I am tired.

AJ is doing much better after another wild day yesterday. She went to school after being off all day on Monday because of a stomach ache. But that didnt last long. She called me about an hour into the day and said her chest was burning.

So after a good sized AJ/Mom showdown on the phone (she didnt want to come home, tried to play it off like she just wanted to let me know and that she was going to be alright.) I went to get her.

Once we got home the burning feeling got worse. I figured it was the cold outside irritating it so i sent her to her room, where it is warm. Well that didnt go over well and she ended up working herself into a frenzy that made everything worse.

Long story short she has minor tonsillitis and a minor chest infection. So she is off again today.

This however is not the case for me. I am headed out the door to go to work all day to make up for the two days I have missed. My beloved husband is playing nursemaid today, poor guy. NOT! He has it easy to be truthful. She at least can rest easy today and we know what we have to do for her. Yesterday was hell on wheels for me and there was no such a thing as rest.

*SIGH*

I guess I should really be getting my gear packed to head to work now.

Off I go...

going now...

Really...

*poof*


~Allison

No Rest for The Wicked...

...Or me either Im afraid. Despite my clear lack of proper rest the night before I did not get to bed until 1am this morning and then i some how found myself awake at 6 this morning. No I didnt have to be drill sgt mom or anything of that sort. Just woke up early. Managed to get myself back to sleep again for another hour, but now I am even more tired than I started out.

I should have just stayed awake.

Now I am stuck feeling groggy and sleepy and well just plain yucky. The yucky is due to other reasons, also the same reasons i was woken up this morning. We wont go into that though.

Either way, I am going to have to find a way to make it through the day without missing a beat.

I have writing to do. Yes I gave in yesterday and started a fantasy novel. I am going to write it in blog format. I am going to try and get the first couple of parts up and running soon, but it will be by invite only. So if you are interested in reading a WIP Fantasy, not to mention my first attempt at such let me know.

Either way. Im going to spend the day writing. Not in the mood to study. But then again I might just end up doing that. Who knows. Alls I know is that I have to go to two jobs today and some how keep myself vertical and mentally sound through it all.

Wish me luck.

~Allison

Ever Have Those Moments When...

Sometimes there is too much and then at the same time not enough?

I am having one of those moments today. I mean I have a lot of things to get done around the house, things that I want to get done, things I have to get done and things I should get working on. Not to mention the fact that I actually have some uninterrupted time to get them done as AJ is home sick today.

The problem? I just cant seem to bring myself to work on any of it. I mean I have books that need to be finished, but I find myself thinking not of the books that need to get done but rather on starting yet another to work on.

And then there is the things I want to get done, like cataloging my massive book collection on GoodReads.com but that isnt a priority at all.

And then there is my math homework I should be getting done. And currently that book is sitting on the fireplace staring at me in a way that only a text book can.

What may you ask am I actually doing with all this spare time I have? Abso-farking-lutely nothing at all. I mean I am fiddling around with this game or that game online. And I am watching a video on youtube here or there. Oh! And I am checking my email at every chance I can for fear I miss that "important" one.

I have cleaned the kitchen, done the dishes, made dinner, did a load of laundry and made reservations for Canyon Creek Chophouse, where I am taking my beloved Scott on Saturday night for Valentines Day. Oh and I have been running up and down the stairs to check on AJ every now and then, and have gotten both Hope and Ky off to school. I will be picking them up shortly.

But other than that. I fail.

Hmmmm... at least I have written another blog entry today! Yay~

~Allison

On Getting Older...

I spent all of last week preparing for a surprise birthday party for our beloved Uncle Ralph. See my Aunt Barb had to fly out last week to tend to her elderly mother who had taken a bad fall and was now in the hospital.

My Uncle does everything in the world for the kids, me and Scott, and there wasnt a chance in hell that I was going to let his birthday pass by without the pomp and circumstance that it deserved. Usually Aunt Barb has it covered, but with her in NS, there was only me and Grams left to make sure that things didnt get over looked.

Well it was a day late due to some unforeseen problems, but there were a few things that had happened over the last few days that gave me pause and made me think just a bit.

None of us is getting any younger. My Uncle is now in his early sixties, Aunt isnt much far behind, Grams is a whopping 90 years old on her next birthday -- me? Im 30 this year.

Which brings me to the grim reminder, that life is bloody short. Some of us may be lucky like my grams and live a good long and healthy life. And let me tell you folks, she isnt slowing down. Well lets be honest here, physically shes slowing down, but she still goes and does. She doesnt just sit there on her hiney and do nothing all day. She goes for walks, visits people and fiddles on her little computer.

But not everyone is blessed like her. She is special, no doubt about that. But who really knows when it comes to the rest of us?

Look at my Aunt Barbs mother, she was up until a year or so ago was a bright vibrant eighty something year old. And this weekend she passed away.

Life is too short my friends. Hang onto the moments that you have now. Dont let them go for anything. Dont miss even one. Take a hold of the life that you have embrace it. Love it.

But most of all.... LIVE IT.

~Allison

Relaxed...

I spent the evening last night doing nothing at all. I mean I sat here talking with friends, watching television and reading things on the internet. Oh and I had a kick butt game of crazy eights with Hope! It was great.

Sure I didnt finish the second chapter of math for school. Truth be told I wasnt planning on starting that big giant book until next week, so Im not behind in school.

I only wrote about 500 and something words yesterday, but truth be told I wrote enough the day before to cover me for it. So Im not behind there either.

Today however is going to be a different story all together. I have a very large list of things to do, and a very short amount of time to get it done.

Things to do:
~Bake 1 9"x13" cake
~Do a small amount of grocery shopping for tomorrows birthday party.
~get out party decorations for other people to decorate the house tomorrow morning
~get dinner ready for tomorrow morning so that I might pop it in the slow cooker
~tidy the house
~write a flash friday
~do some math homework
~work in the afternoon
~go update the file on quick books at work after dropping kids off with Daddy in the evening.
~come home and ice the cake
~sleep

Then tomorrow I have to go in first thing in the morning and go finish up year end. Fun. I have to finish this all up as fast as possible, as tomorrow is my uncles surprise birthday party and I cant be late. Considering its at my house.

Ha! Off I go!

~Allison

Victory is Mine!

I finally finished the novel I started writing about half way through NaNoWriMo 2009. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The most chaotic by the seat of your pants writing marathon you will find. The premis: Write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Me? I wrote 110,014 words last year. 101,633 words the year before and 86k & 51k the two years before that. I love the month of November, mostly for the people I have met and become great friends with, but partly because of the fact that it is the only month in which i get to let my creative side run my life.

And when I say run my life I mean run my life. The only thing that takes precedents over NaNo is my dear hubby's birthday which happens to fall near the end of the month. Poor guy. I honestly feel sorry for him because it is ridiculous month for him. He's got to be the one to make up for all my slacking. HA! Im not that bad but there are times when i look up from my writing and wonder how in the hell my house got messy. Either way it is a good month for me.

This year however I have taken a different approach to my writing. Generally I am not writing at this time of the year. I usually write in the fall, September to December. Normally I am working on finishing prior novels (Note: I have 8 novels started to date. Five of which are now complete first drafts) and then in November I have to start another novel, or two as the last three years have proven. So here is what my stack of writing looks like:

Sacrifice Of Innocence (1st Draft Done)
Dragon Twins (NaNo06 1st Draft Done)
Pieces Of You (NaNo07 1st Draft 2/3 Done)
An Insomniacs Dream (NaNo07 1st Draft 2/3 Done)
The Widow Maker (NaNo08 1st Draft Done)
Under The Raptors Eye (NaNo08 1st Draft 1/3 Done)
Only The Willing (NaNo09 1st Draft Done)
Venomous Hearts (NaNo09 1st Draft Done)

Then I also have another plot worked out for a 9th book called The Perfect Bite, but I have yet to pen a word on that one. Which is alright of course because I can work on that one come November :)

Either way I have 80,000 to 100,000 words left to write on the books I have already started. So that should keep me busy for a few months anyways :) I am working on finishing up Pieces Of You now that I have finished Venomous Hearts. Then onto the mess of An Insomniacs Dream. (Its in pieces still from almost three years ago! I havent touched it since NaNo07 ended. Not in good shape)

My goal is to have all the started novels completed by the end of May or there abouts. I can do it. Ive just been lazy other years and this year that is not going to fly what so ever. Writing is going to become a priority for me.

Everyday a word begs to be written and this year I am going to answer.

~Allison

Drill Sgt Mom is in the house! Take Two (Day Two)

I am tired. Or at least I was yesterday. After about five hours sleep and a full day of things to do I was beat. I was still going to get up at 6 this morning, just to prove a point. But truth be told they were good yesterday, not really too much attitude at all. I mean AJ was not impressed with me yesterday morning but after she made a comment about -- well let me show you how the conversation went;

Her: You are picking on me!
Me: Im not picking on you. You are the only one still throwing attitude at me.
Her: Well I just dont like being woken up at 6 in the morning
Me: Well I dont like disobedient and disrespectful children, so I guess we are even.
Her: *silence*

After that there was no problems. Truth be told they didnt hold onto their attitude at all. They were fine when I went to go see them at lunch time and after school they were on the ball and did what they had to do.

I wasnt in the mood to be mean. They learned their lesson. So I decided to write them a letter instead of waking them up. I tacked it to my bedroom door, and told Dad to let them know when they woke up that there was a message from Drill Sgt Mom.

The message read;

I am going to let you off early this time so long as you get yourselves moving. If you pull this again it will be there days and I will not be letting you off early.

Sincerely,

Drill Sgt Mom

Needless to say they got the point and were downstairs long before i was. I think I am going to leave that letter there on my door for now. As a reminder of DMWM :)
(Dont mess with Mom)

Me on the other hand despite being insanely tired I got a lot of things done yesterday. I wrote my usual quota and did a whole unit from back to front in school. Now I can get into this massive text book that got delivered earlier this week. Its about an inch and something thick and weighs a ton. I have to go through the whole thing. There must be something like 3000 or 4000 thousand math problems in it.

Oh! And I started working on a christmas gift the other day. I am going to write up the pattern for it. It is a checkerboard for one of my nephews. I thought I had made all of the blocks I needed but only ended up making half as many! HA! And I am supposed to be the accountant and I cant even figure out how many black and red squares are on a checkerboard. (For the record there are 32 red and 32 black).

Either way I sewed up the blocks I had already made and it is looking totally fabulous! I am hoping I will be done by the end of the week.

As for work. I went to my evening job last night. Was a wash. I am just not sure. I mean I am trying to get the appointments, but no one is biting. As for the bike shop. Welll I have to work this friday, which is not something I am looking forward to. I mean I am in the sense that I will get more money for it, but, who wants to be stuck with my boss after hours on a friday night when he wants to go out. Not me. But it has to be done.

The good news there is that I am almost done year end and the worst will soon be over. He doenst think that I am. Not sure what he thinks I am doing there, but he seems to think that I have this insurmountable pile of things to do, and that there isnt a chance in hell of my getting it done by the time out C.A. comes in on the 10th.

God the man has no faith in me what so ever. Thats half the problem of working there. But I do so love a challenge and my boss definitely classifies as that.

Ah well I have blathered on enough for one day. Time to stop hiding from the cat litter which needs to be changed today. *gag*

~Allison

Drill Sgt Mom is in the house! Take Two (Day One)

Clearly the kids thought I was kidding the last time we went through all of this. They were still acting like fools yesterday morning. Took a million and one years to get down and then fooled around at the breakfast table. It was a quarter past eight when I finally gave up and told them if they wanted they could be late for school, and that I wasnt warning them again.

They got to school after second bell. Which means that classes start in about five minutes.

You would have thought that after school they might have changed their attitudes just a bit. Nope. They continued then too. Just continuing to fool around instead of doing what they were supposed to. I didnt even bother to get angry. Didnt bother to yell. I just gave them all the rope to hang themselves with.

They were up bright and early this morning. Six in the morning comes early for foolish children. Every single chore that had not been done the day before, all the mess they left all over the house. Every last thing was done this morning before breakfast.

At least they didnt have the guts to tell me that they were too hungry to do their chores. Or how unfair I was being. They pulled that last time. I told them clearly they could wait, as it didnt seem to matter the day before when they wanted to fool around instead of getting up and getting moving.

Mind you the attitude of my beloved eldest still raged. She decided that I was picking on her. I told her that she was the one still throwing attitude at me. Not her sisters. She said she was doing that because she didnt like getting up at 6 in the morning to do chores. I simply replied, And I dont like disrespectful and disobedient children who dont follow the rules of the house.

She didnt have an answer to that.

They are just getting to their breakfasts now. Still a bit more left to get to. It is recycling and garbage day so there is still that to go out the door. The dishes are being done this morning for me. As the rule with chores is if you dont do them right the first time, you have to redo them. So every chore in house from yesterday is getting redone.

Its pushing quarter to eight. This ought to be interesting.

Oh and if they are mad at me this morning, I wonder what they are going to think of me tomorrow morning when they are back up at six?

Did I fail to mention that the last time I did this they were warned that if they pulled this stunt again that it would be two days that they had to get up early and do chores?

Bet you they dont remember that. I do.

~Allison

Where do the weekends go?

It seems to me that the weeks get longer and the weekends shorter. There never seems to be enough time to just sit and relax, aside from all the running around that also must be done. It seems to me that the weekends are merely there to tease us and taunt us with a rest period worthy of that which we accomplish during the week.

I always find myself racing through the week praying for the weekend to hurry up and get here so that I may sit back and relax. Sit and watch a movie or play some video games, without having to rush off somewhere.

And some weekends I get just that. Other weekends, I am racing off to face the world with some other agenda in mind. Not that I mind visiting with friends and family. They are the things that help keep my hold on reality. Aside from that which i get from my kids and dear hubby.

But at the end of it all, no matter how much fun I had and the relaxation I got from spending time with those who matter to me, I cant help but wonder when I will have some time to rest. Just rest. Not have to worry about this that or the other thing.

I know the answer. It is the answer that has been passed down from generation to generation.

You can rest when you are dead.

While this may be true, Id rather much be alive when i finally get some rest. To enjoy it. You know.



~Allison