Saturday was filled with Turbo kisses! He’s so affectionate with us now. And I love that when he gets here, he runs up the sidewalk, comes right in, says hi and just starts playing. He knows where his toys are, and what he’s allowed to play with. But boy, he was so tired after playing, going up and down the stairs, having fun with Maggie, swimming, eating chocolate and more playing. They left at 7 and he slept through until 8 the next morning.

Saturday was a bright spot in a hard week with the fires, and two police officers ambushed and shot while sitting in their car.

Sunday Wizard went racing, I struggled all freaking day with the last plot point driving me crazy. I need to nail this down today. If I can’t, I’ll be asking anyone I can find for help! A good night’s sleep might help me crack this code though.

That was my weekend, how was yours?

TGIF! Let’s go right to sharing five random things about out week:

1. Today is 9/11, the anniversary of the horrible terrorist attack that killed so many innocent people in the U.S. I will always be grateful to the first responders and civilian heroes who worked so hard to help those who survived, and take respectful care of those we lost. I went to the ground zero in New York a year after the attacks and will never forget how errie and surreal it was. And I’ll just mention while I had the opportunity to pay my respects in New York, I don’t forget the people that lost their lives in at the Pentagon or the field in Pennsylvania.
2. In a more cheerful note: I have baby bell peppers and tomatoes growing!  I didn’t take pictures because it’s awful outside.
3. By awful, I mean the smoke from all the fires in CA hang like a gloom that blocks the sun. We are not close to the fires here, that’s how bad it is. It’s not just CA, the whole West Coast is battling raging fires. Here’s a picture from walking Maggie the other morning about 6:45 am. Normally, it would be bright and clear, and I’d need sunglasses to walk toward the sun like this. It’s gotten worse in the last couple days. Everyone is feeling the effect of so much smoke, and I have a scratchy throat and burning eyes, which is not fun with contracts. Much worse, firefighters have been injured, there’ve been some deaths too. And it’s all so sad.
4. I’m 3/4s of the way into the book revision and have cut well over 50 pages from the first half. I have one more plot problem to figure out how to fix, and the rest is clean up. Another week to get that done I think. Then I’ll have to go through and edit because I’ve made so many changes and moved stuff around. After that, I’ll arrange copyediting.  I’m doing this, and so happy.
5. The plan is to see Turbo tomorrow! With the fires, plans are subject to change, but that’s the plan while writing this.

Now I’d love to hear five random things about your week! I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Sometimes Wednesday needs a cowboy:

Yea or Nay?

Happy Labor Day to everyone in the U.S.

Our weekend was HOT. It’s a blazing 115 degrees as I’m writing this on Sunday. No fires near us, but there are major fires throughout the state. One of my kids had to cut a weekend trip short due to a fire, but they are safe (and very wise).

I got through a big scene that’s the midpoint in the book revision, and feeling good. Lots more hard work to do but I’m on track now, and determined not to get derailed again. Discipline is as important as creativity in the writing process.

And I made my first ever key lime pie: Here it is cooling before I put it in the fridge to set:

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

TGIF! Time to share five random things about our week:

1. I was so convinced yesterday was Friday, I almost forgot to write this blog.
2. On Monday I was baking and prepping dinner for daughter in law’s birthday, so I didn’t try to write. Instead, I handled time consuming crap I’d set aside. Stuff like filing for a VAT exemption as a US citizen from the IRS for my German publisher, and that department of the IRS is currently closed due to Covid. It’s a hamster wheel of endless fun right there, LOL. I also handled a time-consuming request from another publisher.  I was thrilled to get that stuff off my desk.
3. I’m finally on task with revisions. Happy Dance! I refuse to fret about all the wasted time trying to figure things out as it’s all part of retraining my writing, revising, editing and marketing muscles. My motto now is to Believe and Keep Going!
4. Yesterday I did an upper GI x-ray series doctors have been after me to do for years. More progress in my exciting life I’m not having any sudden, new or worrisome symptoms, this is just sort of the medical housekeeping item given my history with stomach issues. The worst part was drinking a version of foaming alka seltzer that tasted like lemon flavored battery acid, chased my some thick goopy vanilla stuff. The two best parts were (1) having great technicians that helped me contort like a pretzel while drinking that stuff; and (2) that I can sign in and see all the images on my computer. And yes, I’m weird.
5. Turbo will be gone this weekend He’ll have a great time with his parents and cousins, but I’ll miss him. It’ll be two weeks without seeing him. However I’m planning his next chocolate surprise when I do see him (which I already told his dad, who laughed). The upside of not seeing Turbo this weekend is I’ll get more revising done.

That’s my quick and borning Friday Five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend, and for those with a three-day holiday weekend, stay safe and enjoy!!

Yesterday, I went back to working on revisions, and I finally got it through my head to stop trying to reinvent the book. Logically, I knew this all along, but I couldn’t get my inner perfectionist witch to stop obsessing.

So I dropped a house on the witch and killed her

Okay, not really. I drowned her in wine.

Well I would have if I didn’t have the pesky habit of stopping after one glass, or in rare cases, two glasses.

Instead we compromised, I promised her she could work on the problem at the end of the book because that’s a pure plot issue and she’s good at those. But this pacing problem in the first half is pretty much grunt work, and a little bit of shifting internal motivation, and I got that. We struck a deal, and the witch is leaving me alone and slice, dice and revise. I’m stoked and refuse to let that perfectionist witch get in my way again until I need her to solve plot problems.

I’m easily a third into the revision now and doing this!

And shifting focus slightly, yesterday I saw a meme on FB and shamelessly stole it.

I’m choosing to be Witch #2. How about you?