A Writer Writes

Finally! I'm back on my LiveJournal. I lost my password and had it e-mailed to me, but then I couldn't get online!!! I feel like I've been gone forever, but I'm sure it's only been about a week.

Not much is going on. I'm in the middle of changing jobs...kind of. I am working for the same company, same job description, just in a different location.

I'm writing. VACANT is a thing of the past. It's just not working. So I've taken elements of Vacant and I'm making it the fourth Cranston novel. I've already got people looking forward to reading it. I'm less than 20,000 words in, though, so it may be a little while.

The count down to Nano has officially begun. The Forums are down and Registration begins in a week and half. We're less than 6 weeks away from D-day now (or should I say N-day).

The cat spent all night with us last night. It was raining, and I think her hidey-hole is leaky because she always comes to us on rainy nights. I finally had to let her out this morning because we don't have a litter box here.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty good. It's grey outside, but I think it will be a good day anyway.

Here I am sitting at home again when I should be at work. But I have a sick kid today, and I didn't want to leave him home alone.

I hate having to miss so much work. I may as well sit back and watch dollars drop off my paycheck. Thanks to my cold from Hell last pay period, this is going to be the smallest paycheck I've had in a while.

I didn't get much sleep last night. My oldest son fell alseep on the rec-room floor, and I know he didn't set his alarm. I was awake before 4 a.m., afraid that he wouldn't be up on time. Then I was up at 5:30 getting him up, then at 6:15 making sure that he was still getting ready for school, then again at 6:45, making sure that my daughter was up and my son was out the door and headed for the bus. Then I slept until 9.

My parents are coming to visit in less than two weeks. I'm looking forward to it. When we lived in New Hampshire, we were so far away from everyone and it was difficult for anyone to visit us. This will only be the second time in nearly 16 years that my parents will have visited me instead of vice versa. The first time was over 14 years ago, just before my oldest son was born.

I still haven't figured out how to fix the date on my LJ page. It looks like July 31, 2006 is the longest, most confusing day on earth.

Time to get up and pretent to be a housewife. My place is a pigsty, and I have no good reason not to be cleaning it up.

I am so stressed and tired right now, but there doesn't seem to be anything that I can do about it.

My oldest son was accused of stealing a bike the other day. The family of the kid who's bike was stolen decided to press charges (over a $70 bike!!) and the police came and arrested my son. He is 14, and it was disturbing to be at the police station where he was getting fingerprinted and have his rights read to him. We talked to my son and asked him what happened and have reason to believe that he did not steal the bike, but it is our word against theirs and they are still pressing charges whether we think he did it or not.

Charges were supposed to dropped if the bike was "returned". The bike was located, and while I have not heard an absolute confirmation, supposedly it was located in a neighboring town. Too far away for my son to steal the bike, ditch it and walk back to our town to be home in time for dinner. Impossible.

Now we are waiting to see what happens. I've called the police a couple of times to see what is going on now that the bike is back, but they have yet to return my calls. I'm afraid I'm going to be annoying. I can't just sit back and let this go.

My son is not an angel by any means. I am not the type of parent who thinks their kid is all that and would never do anything bad (or must have been led astray and influence by someone else. I always loved that excuse). But if the kid is going to get in trouble, I would prefer that it be for something that he actually did. I don't want him having this black mark against him if he doesn't deserve it.

I'm tired and frustrated and I wish this would all just go away.

Okay, I can't imagine WHY all of my posts say that I'm posting on July 31. I keep trying to change the date but nothing is happening. They all say July 31. I don't think I was even posting yet on July 31. I'll have to find someone who can explain this mess too me.

I've not managed to get any real writing done in the past few days and it looks like today isn't going to be any different. I need to sit down and get working, but something always happens, whether it is my being called into work or just stuff around the house.

It's been raining here tonight, so the cat keeps showing up looking for a dry place. She's been well fed and she took a nap with me on the bed. She's been here something like three times tonight. I wish I could just keep her, but we can't risk having her here.

I was up early to do windows today so I'm beat now. I'd like to sleep in tomorrow, but I've got so much to do before work I can't see that anything is going to get done.

It's late and I need to get to bed. I've got a ton of new clothes for Bepe sitting up on the couch and I need to help her get her room and closet taken care of so that we can put a dresser in her room for her haul.

School actually starts at the end of this week. I can't say how eager I am for that day. We're down to the wire, the kids getting their school physicals, school supplies, new clothes, etc. I'm just looking forward to the day that there is a little more of a structured schedule at home.

With everything "getting back to normal", I am going to try getting into shape. I know exatctly where the kids are going to be and when. I'll have a little more of a schedule of my own. They won't be sitting at home eating whatever diet foods that I bring home. I'd like to lose some weight and be able to actually wear more of the clothes that I sell. I'd also like my picture on the back of my books to look good. (There isn't one now, don't bother looking). I may keep an update on how that's going right here.

Not much else going on. Still working. Still writing. Thinking about killing one of my kids if he doesn't stop pushing whatever button is making that beepy sound.

I'm tyring to get some more writing done, but VACANT doesn't seem to be flowing as smoothly as some of my other stories. I've done my research. I know what I want the story to say. But it doesn't seem to flow.

Bepe and I went to a Bat Mizpah today. I have wanted to go to one for a long time. I found it interesting. Eliora has such a presence about her. There was talk after the service about how she could easily be a cantor and perhaps even had a future as a rabbi. Even her elders who were performing the ceremony commented on her on what a command she had during her recitations and chants. She did well.

It is raining, and much cooler than it has been. As hot as it got a few times this summer, it has not been that hot a summer overall. We've gotten a lot of rain, which is good as the snowpack melted so quickly in the early heatwaves that we had in the spring. After being struck by lightening, though, I am not really all that wild about the thunderstorms.

I have a few days off of work. I need to repair my feet. I'm finding it more difficult to stand at work.

Not much else going on.

There is no denying it now, though I find it amazing that people are still trying. John and Patsey Ramsey are completely innocent of their daughter's murder.

It amazes me what these people have been through. I will admit that I was one who felt that they were guilty until I read more on the case. Then I only felt intense sorrow for a family who only wanted answers and instead stood accused.

But it's all over. This pervert is coming to back to America to answer for what he did and answer some questions for everyone.

With the murder of my aunt 24 years old, I am encouraged when I see a cold case finally close. There is always they hope that our case could break next.

I hope the best for John Ramsey and his son. I hope that they can have some peace in life now.

I guess when one thing goes wrong, it all goes. Just like a cloudburst or a flood. Once it starts, it's impossible to stop it.

My day started with Caleb stealing my bus pass again. I had to use some of my collectible quarters to ride the bus to work. Now he isn't home. He's with Johnny. Chances are, he's lost my bus pass. It will cost me 3 bucks a day to ride the bus, and I won't be able to risk using money to go anywhere else. I can't get another pass until the end of the month, unless I want to pay full price for a pass that I am going to use for only half the month.

Then I get to work and realize, with a certainty, that any promotion, any recognition, any advancement that was hinted that I had coming is not. Made the work day really seem worth it, if you know what I mean.

Then I walked out of work and left my computer there. Damn. Now I can't do much of anything because I can't remember my passwords to anything. They are all memorized on my computer. Now I am on Jeff's and have no idea what they all are.

I'm hoping tomorrow is a hell of a lot better.

Before Friday I had managed to get 7000 words of VACANT written.

Now it's Monday morning and I still have only 7000 words of VACANT written.

It was a bad weekend. Or, kind of a bad weekend.

Friday night, I went to a website to do a little research and the web site, somehow or other, shut down my computer. The big problem with that was that my Microsoft Word was open with my novel that I was in the process of working on. I wasn't able to save anything. I stayed up until 1:30 am trying to recover my data and went to bed unfulfilled.

Saturday I had to be at work at 2:00 pm, which means leaving at 1:30.pm. I worked until almost 11:00 am to get my data recovered and finally succeeded--just in time to go to work. I wasn't home until after 11:00 pm and I had an unusual Sunday morning shift so there was no writing on Saturday.

Yesterday I went to work, then went straight to my in-laws for dinner. Home late with a headache and a cuddly stray cat who didn't want to go back out into the rain. No writing on Sunday night.

So, here it is Monday. I'm trying to catch up on everything that fell behind on the weekend, including all of my journaling. I plan to take at least an hour to write today if it kills me.

Starting now.

It took me almost three chapters, but my latest book has a title.

The titles of my books are amazingly important to me, or rather, when I think of them is important. If I don't have a title by the time I'm four or five chapters into the book, then there is a problem and I need to do some replanning.

The new book is going to be called "VACANT". It's a story my boss wanted me to write about, well, a vacant house.

I've started the book, and I'm only 5000 words into it. I've been tired and I'm finding it difficult to keep my mind on my writing. The kids sitting downstairs with the TV on doesn't help, I'm sure.

Tonight is CSI, so it's a safe bet I won't be getting much writing done tonight, either!

One of these days, after my 14 year old son has been missing for about three days, we are going to call the police to report it and have a hell of a time explaining why we didn't call sooner.

The kid likes to wander. Sometime he doesn't come home. Though we tend to know where he is, we can never really confirm it. I can't get the kid to leave a note or make a phone call to save my soul. Today, I told his uncle I didn't know if he was coming to a social or not because I didn't know where he was. The uncle told me he'd already heard from him. *I* hadn't heard from him yet!!

I have a story idea for my next Cranston book, but I am busy with an as of yet untitled book right now. I'm only about 4000 words into it, but it's going when I have time to write. If I don't come up with a title soon, I may have to do some replanning.

I'm pretty well done with the research I'm going to do for the next book I'm going to write, though I am sure I'll have to go back for bits and pieces of info. But I'll depend on Nano for a bit of that.

I'm not quite happy with the plot, and there sis some backstory that I'm going to have to shave out. I'm also finding that the main character's purpose in the story has changes a bit.

I have learned more about witchcraft than I think I ever wanted to know, but given the faulty information I'd received in the past, I found my research interesting. I've located several spells (yes, spells) that will come in handy in the book and certainly add to the story.

I want to do a little more brainstorming before I start writing. I wanted to have a little more of a rest than this, but I haven't done much in the way of writing in the last few weeks. I'm getting antsy and I'm ready to start writing again.

Right now, though, I'm ready for bed. I have a headache and bratty kids. Now a good combination.

I've begun research for another book, but I'm not quite sure how this one is going to come together or what it is going to be about, exactly. I can only say that it is going to be a supernatural story.

I've begun to reasearch Wicca and I am already overwhelmed. I had no idea how many facets Wicca has and I have no idea where to even start my research (I've started reading Wicca and Witchcraft for Dummies. Does that sound desperate?).

My ten-year-old son is in watching Power Rangers. I can't understand the attraction of that show, especially since he has seen so many movies with quality acting. The cost of the pyrotechnics must have kept the studio from being able to hire real actors.

I spent hours today doing absolutely nothing, but I did learn that a drive that I can do in around a half-hour takes two hours on the bus. It wasn't something that I was planning to learn, nor was I happy to learn it.

I go back to work tomorrow to work on the floor. I'm not really looking forward to it as I would much rather do visuals. I was in the store today, but I wasn't able to check out my section because I was in a hurry. I know that the ensembles still need to be filled. Maybe I'll get a chance to do some of that tomorrow, if Chevy doesn't have time time to do it.

It was a dull day with a lot of wasted moments. A shame really.

The desk is clean, as well as my dresser, though yesterday afternoon was black and miserable and no amount of cleanliness could make it happy. My oldest son flew into a rage and ran down the stairs banging small holes in the wall with a tool that he had in his hand. Needless to say, my husband wasn't pleased to come home and find the holes.

The night was pretty well ruined, everyone down and out and not wanting to cross dad any further. The kids watched some television, my son worked on fixing holes in the wall. I sat here in my office with my computer, though I would rather have been in bed what with having to be up so early, and all.

I'm tired and frustrated today. I would love to sit with my kitty purring in my lap--it's very relaxing--but no one has seen her in a while. She's a stray that we keep company with and she comes here to eat and be loved on, but it's been almost a week since any of us have seen her. (She's the kitty in my avatar). We have foxes in the neighborhood, and sometime the coyotes are come close to town. I worry about her sometimes.

Rest, of course, being a relative term.

I have finished and published my third detective novel and I need to take a break. Rest is not going to mean sitting back.

I have my office back since we have wireless in the house now, and I need to do some rearranging. My office has become a catch-all for things I'm not currently using, and my dresser has become a catch-all for the things I neglect to take downstairs. My calendar is not up-to-date, and information I have on my boards downstairs is no longer necessary. So, guess what I'll be doing with my "rest"?

I won't stop writing during the rest. I could no longer stop writing than stop breathing (I know that's possible, but, if I'm not breathing, I'm not writing either). I have this journal that I have just started, and I have a journal at home that I am keeping, writing in it with a quill pen. Julia Cameron talkes about "the sound of paper", and, I have to admit that as much as I like the speed and convenience of typing, I love to write longhand and hear the sound of my pen scratching across my paper.

I have other work to do as far as my writing is concerned. I have research to do, scenes planned, etc. It's not exactly putting pen to paper (or fingertip to keyboard, as the case may be), but it's all part of the writing process, nonetheless.

It's time to stop procrastinating and get started cleaning up my desk.

So, here goes. A blog. On purpose, having nothing to do with my books or an such business. I feel foolish and adventurous at the same time.

Who am I. I am a 37 year old woman who loves to write. I love journals, stationery, papers, inks and, of course, my laptop. I am currently keeping a handwritten journal in a beautiful book that has gold lined pages, a printed red silk cover and a braided gold cord to tie it shut. I write in it with a red feather quill dipped into red ink. Obsessive, yes, but it affects the language of the journal and I want that one to have a decidedly "Julia Cameron" flavor to it. Stately. Somewhat mystical.

I work at an upperscale women's clothing shop. I do a lot of work on the floor, but my heart is in visual management which is the work behind the scenes. We are the people who put the clothing on the racks, the marketing in the windows. We dress mannequins, set out tables in aestically pleasing arrangements and run around the store trying to slap customers with our yardsticks when they mess up our displays. It would't go over well with management.

I have been married 15 years and have three kids, the oldest of which will be starting high school this fall. I'm still trying to figure out how he got that old.

I am interested in noveling and have self-published five books. I write under my own name, particularly for novels I complete with the National Novel Writing Month contest. I am also doing a detective series under the name K.T.McLey. All of my books can be found at www.lulu.com/kellitomko if you are interested. Or not.

It's time to run. Need to get dinner ready for the brood.