Jennifer Lyon


Monday, November 17th, 2014
Weekend Roundup

I had a good weekend. Saturday was shopping and lunch with a friend. I loved helping her begin her search for a dress for her daughter’s wedding next summer. She did the same for me for CPA Boy and Special K’s wedding. Then we had a great lunch (no dessert, big surprise, I didn’t want dessert, LOL) and talked like girlfriends do. Also she’s NOT a writer–I love my writer friends but it’s nice to get totally away once in awhile.

Sunday I cleaned then spent the afternoon thinking about my book and here’s the thing: It’s time to make the hard decision, one I’ve been subconsciously avoiding. A scene I love isn’t working. I knew this instinctively weeks ago and refused to listen to my gut. I kept trying to MAKE it work. That really annoys me. But being annoyed or mad at myself is a serious waste of emotional energy and time.  What I can do is learn from this. NEXT TIME, DON’T FIGHT MY GUT. Like all writers, I’ve developed an instinct from many years of experience and I need to respect that next time my instinct (gut) is trying to tell me a hard truth. So this week, I’m fixing it and moving forward. Finally.

And in fun news; we might get a special visitor this weekend. I’ll give you three hints. He’s super cute, cleans my kitchen floor and loves lizard hunting:

It’s Bailey Dog!

Bailey thinks work is stupid

It’s not for sure yet, Middle Son is still making some plans. But it’ll be fun if it works out–it’ll be the first time we have Bailey since Wizard retired.

So how was your weekend?

13 comments to “Weekend Roundup”

  1. Viki S.
    November 17th, 2014 at 3:45 am · Link

    I’m glad you had you had a great weekend. Shopping for wedding clothes is always so hard especially when your the mom. It’s nice that you two are there for each other. Did she find something or do you have another shopping day to look forward to? Did you pick up anything nice for yourself?

    It must have been very hard coming to the decision to back away form that scene you’ve worked so hard on but if it’s right you know it.

    Yippie! Bailey coming to visit – that means more fun Bailey dog stories and maybe even photos :).

    We got 10 inches of snow Friday so the electrician never even bothered to call to come hook stuff up outside. Other than snow blowing and shoveling we didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.

    Have a wonderful day :).



  2. B.E. Sanderson
    November 17th, 2014 at 6:11 am · Link

    Too cool that you had fun shopping with your friend. Ugh about that scene. Snip it and put it in a special file so you can take it out and pet it every once in a while. Or use it after publication as a surprise for your readers – ‘hey, here’s a snipped scene you might enjoy’ kind of thing. Yeah, fighting your gut never turns out well. (Something I need to remember, too.)

    Bailey! Yay! I hope he gets to come visit. And then you can take more pics and share. =o)

    The weekend here was pretty quiet. We did some raking on Saturday – until it started to sleet – and then yesterday it snowed (not much but enough that I didn’t want to go out into it – even if it was pretty to look at from inside). I got caught up with my goals for NaNo yesterday after slacking off a bit last week. It took three sprint sessions of about 1500 words each, but I did it.



  3. Kat
    November 17th, 2014 at 8:24 am · Link

    Yea shopping for celebration clothing is fun. Doing anything with a friend is great.

    All of us need to pay attention more to our women’s intuition. It would save all types of frustration and aggravation and not for just writers.

    Oh yea I love the snippet or deleted scene ideas that BE suggested. It would be great if you would share them here.

    Viki My daughter is so wishing for snow. My Parents live up your way and are digging out too.

    This weekend I gave my kitty her treat. She likes yogurt. We did not have the snow but my husband gets cold more often now that he does dialysis so we had the heat on. I finished a fall wreath I was making for a friend and began another project. I am getting into my winter crafting mode which is a good thing.



  4. Ashlynn Pearce
    November 17th, 2014 at 9:38 am · Link

    Glad you had a great time with your friend. It’s nice to hang with a girlfriend. I haven’t done that in some time.

    Don’t you hate it when your gut is right?? PFFT! Like it knows. Okay, yeah, so it’s almost always right and maybe we should listen to it more. I try to listen to mine, even if I don’t like the answer.

    And Bailey over with the first time Wiz is retired? You know what that means? He will get used to it, see how much fun a dog is and come to the BRILLIANT conclusion that you guys need a dog!! Oh yeah, this will work. Trust me. ;)

    Me? Going to try and get FUEL edited while I feel totally overwhelmed by the biz side of actually getting it out there. Can I go back to JUST writing?? 8-O



  5. Jenn
    November 17th, 2014 at 12:00 pm · Link

    Viki, ten inches!! Wow that’s a lot of snow to shovel :-( The electrician ticks me off, calling is the professional thing to do.

    We found one possible dress, but we plan to shop again after the holidays. There’s still plenty of time. I picked up one make up item to try (and I love) but otherwise I wasn’t interested in looking for myself. We were having fun, and I loved hearing the wedding plans. I’m thrilled for her daughter.

    Bailey will be fun! But if he can’t come over, we can go see him anytime. Wizard stopped by to visit him this weekend.

    Stay warm in all that snow!



  6. Jenn
    November 17th, 2014 at 12:04 pm · Link

    B.e, good idea on the scene, I’ve done that before.

    I’ll take pics if he’s here. I’ll try to get some good ones or have Wizard do it. Bailey doesn’t really like cooperating for pics though.

    Awesome on being caught up on your word count! Congrats! And you made brownies this weekend :-D See? I remember the important stuff. I’m trying to cut back just a tad, but that won’t last.

    Enjoy the snow from the inside where it’s warm!



  7. Jenn
    November 17th, 2014 at 12:09 pm · Link

    Kat, you always come up with clever crafts and gift ideas too.

    Bet your kitty was happy with her yogurt treat. That’s what I had for breakfast :-)

    That’s true about all of us listening to our instincts. Good point.

    Hope your husband is feeling okay and winter isn’t too hard on all of you.



  8. Jenn
    November 17th, 2014 at 12:15 pm · Link

    Ashlynn, I don’t get out with friends enough, and it sounds like you don’t either. We need to do it more! Seriously, Wizard is my best friend which is great, but sometimes we need friends outside our family.

    You’re clearly smarter than me to listen to your gut. I think a lot of time, I’m trying to take the path or least resistance OR I know there’s an emotional time bomb coming and I’m trying to avoid it.

    I hope Wizard feels that way if Bailey comes over :wink:

    The biz side of things is overwhelming. I wish I could tell you it gets easier, but nope…we just have to learn to compartmentalize. I’m still working on it. Good luck with the edits!



  9. Silver James
    November 17th, 2014 at 12:52 pm · Link

    Yeah…no guts, no glory. Or something. :lol: You might keep that scene that doesn’t work in the book, but then offer it as a free read here on your site or as an example of why you loved it but it didn’t work when you talk about writing. Because I want to read it. You knew I would!

    Weekend? Chapter meeting=mostly good. Snow and cold. LOTS of words to catch up on the WIP for NaNoWriMo. And now I’m procrastinating because I need to get out in the cold/snow/ice to go to the bank. I keep waiting for the sun to melt some of it. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!



  10. Silver James
    November 17th, 2014 at 12:53 pm · Link

    OH! And I got my workshop proposal submitted to RWA Nationals. :)



  11. B.E. Sanderson
    November 17th, 2014 at 3:06 pm · Link

    LOL, yes, I did make brownies. And I promised to share the recipe…

    Basic Fudgy Brownies

    3/4 cup butter or margarine
    3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    3 eggs
    1 1/2 cup sugar
    1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
    1/2 cup flour

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease sides and bottom of 8 x 10 baking pan. Gently melt butter in medium saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa powder until well combined. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until light and frothy. Add cocoa/butter mixture and stir to combine. Sift flour over the mixture and gently fold in until just combined. Bake on the center rack for 30 minutes. (Toothpick inserted in center will not come out completely clean.) Do not over bake. May serve warm after 10 minutes, or cool completely before cutting to store.



  12. Jenn
    November 17th, 2014 at 11:20 pm · Link

    Silver, yay on the workshop submission! I hope yours is picked!

    Hope you were able to get out to the bank.

    I’m so sick of these scenes :-) I just want to get moving on the book. I have bunch of scenes in my head that need to get written.



  13. Jenn
    November 17th, 2014 at 11:22 pm · Link

    Thank you B.e.! Those sound simple and delicious!



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