Lube it up!

Rob and I took our cars in to the Starkey brothers, who run our neighborhood garage, for oil changes. While we waited, we had breakfast at Norma's (that's two days in a row!).

I worked hard today on my revisions and finished the second pass through the ms. Now comes the big revisions, which I can't do until I make some decisions. I'm reading a great book on plot to analyze what I have and figure out if I need to add more twists and turns and red herrings. (I would tell you the name of this book, but it's in the other room. But the author's last name is Bell. I think it's a Writer's Digest book.)

Nice walk to the post office, nice yoga class. We had a big fire in downtown Dallas today. Rob and I could see the smoke on our walk, and we wondered if it was just really black clouds or an actual fire. Found out later it was the latter.

Thanks for reading,
Kara

New Phones

I have finally convinced Rob to enter the new millenium and get a cell phone. Sprint called and offered us humongous discounts on new phones just because they like us. Yes, okay, I know this is how I got into trouble with the alarm company (still not completely resolved). It sounds too good to be true. But so far I haven't spotted the catch. The deal they are offering us is pretty much what's on their website for new customers.

Between that (researching phones and stuff) and more alarm company stuff, I didn't get as much revising as I would like. I am on p. 253 of 400 on this second pass.

Nothing else going on, really. We went to the library. Tonight we walked out to Norma's for dinner--seems to be our Friday-night pattern now. It's so yummy but not very healthy! Most everything is fried.

Have a great weekend,
Kara

More revising

I am going to sound like a broken record for a while, I fear. So much to be done. But this first, tedious part goes well. I'm on p. 186 of my second pass, inputting changes and "margin notes" from my hard copy. Doing some light revising but nothing heavy-duty yet. I am contemplating combining two characters and axing out an entire subplot and substituting another. I'm afraid I don't have enough red herrings.

Date night we walked to Grill 400, where I had Caesar salad and tortilla soup. A not-too-imaginative choice, but really, really good. I love soup, even in the summer.

Nothing else shaking. Quiet day, perfect for writing.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kara

Uneventful

Very, VERY quiet day. Rob was gone all day teaching bridge and T'ai Kwon Do, which means he didn't drag me out for a walk. The phone did not ring.

All of which means I got a lot of work done. I am making the first of what will be many passes through my manuscript, making the most insignificant changes first, and I am already at p. 232. That's a lot of work. Feeling kind of blobbish, though, what with no exercise except TV yoga. But I guess that's not nothing. It's about 40 minutes, since I do some warm-up before the show starts.

Hope all is well with you,
Kara

Done with Read-Thru

Finally. Maybe I have a book here. I'm not sure, but I know it needs work!

After lunch, Rob and I walked to Kidd Springs Park, where we saw the yellow-crowned night heron again. (Not sure why he's a night heron since I've only seen him during the day, walking around in plain sight.) There was a great egret, too, hanging out with all the ducks and turtles. But it was a hot walk. We were scurrying from shade spot to shade spot.

Not much else going on. I cooked a nice pasta with broccoli and red bell pepper and I gave the kitchen a good clean, but beyond that I was pretty much a couch potato. There wasn't anything good on TV and yet, I watched.

Thanks for visiting,
Kara

The Read-Through Continues ...

Like a bad dream. Oh, I knew this manuscript was rough, but I had no idea ...

On the other hand, there are scenes that I truly love. Really good scenes. But a bunch of really good scenes strung together don't make a good book. This is going to take some work. ::sigh:: I've made it past p. 300 on the read-through so I should be ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work soon.

The weather was cooler today. It looked like rain, but in the end we didn't get any precip. Still, walking to the library was pleasant. And on the way we saw a fledgling Western Kingbird sitting on a line while its parent fluttered all around catching bugs and feeding them to the baby. It was so cute, even Rob (who usually rolls his eyes at my bird obsession) found it charming.

We ate dinner at Norma's. Pam, the manager, said they were getting new tables, and that they would be red. Eek, that's scary. Norma's is one of those places that we count on to always be the same. I'm used to cheap Formica woodgrain-pattern tables.

We ordered bacon-and-egg sandwiches, but they came without the egg. The waitress was very embarrassed. She said she accidentally put the orders in as BLT. She quickly procured some fried eggs for the sandwiches. It turns out the price is the same, whether you get an egg with your bacon or not.

Have a great weekend,
Kara

The Read-Through

I unfortunately only got through 127 pages of my first read-through. It's not horrible, just slow. Because this was a really, really rough draft, and I didn't stop for anything, there are lots of grizzly transitions, names that change halfway through, horrid inconsistencies, giant holes in my research, and stuff that just flat out doesn't work. Bad writing.

Fortunately, as Nora Roberts says, "I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank page." I'm just making margin notes right now. (I printed the whole thing out so I could read in my recliner because my back is sore, maybe from yoga but I'm not sure.)

For Date Night Rob and I went to Chile's. I had a hamburger, yum. (I only ate half of it--it was huge. After ::mumble mumble:: years, I have learned to not clean my plate. Then we went looking for red-winged blackbirds, which live in the ditch between Lowe's and the Interstate. There they were, lots of 'em. They are so pretty.

My own sweet little bird, DaVinci, is doing much better these days. He had developed some bare patches on his wings--he was yanking his own feathers out while he made this weird 'BIK BIK BIK' noise. I suspected it was some sort of stress thing or a nervous habit, or boredom, so I bought him some toys and things to keep him busy. But the thing that really did the trick was millet sprays. He LOVES eating millet off a stem, rather than in a seed cup. I guess it makes him feel like a wild bird. If I forget to give him his millet spray in the morning he makes this HUGE racket until I do. His feathers have grown back in and he is a little bit fatter, too.

Da Vinci is 20 years old so I worry about him.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kara

Wahoo! Finished!

It's rough, and it's ugly, but it's done. 395 pages. Whew!

That is all I have to say! I've been resting on my laurels all day.

Thanks for joining me on this joyful occasion,
Kara

MOB Page-O-Meter:

395 / 395 (100.0%)

Thanks for making the effort

I really appreciate those of you who visited those other blogs and made comments. Some really good comments, too. Romancing the Blog turned into an interesting discussion.

I am so close to the end of my book. The suspense stuff is all done, the bad guy dead, and now all I have left to do is conclude the romance. This book is going to have an ambiguous ending, because I want this to be a series. Think Stephanie Plum and Joe Morelli. I might finish tomorrow, maybe Wednesday.

Not much else going on. My new herb garden survives. Lots of nice birds came to the yard today, including a baby blue jay and a chickadee and some little gray bird I probably will never identify. All I know is he wasn't one of my regulars.

Yoga tonight involved a lot of sitting. I've never worked so hard just sitting still in my life. It's amazing how many muscles you can engage just sitting straight.

Thanks for visiting,
Kara

MOB Page-O-Meter:

390 / 400 (97.5%)

Another 10 pages pass muster

Every two weeks, as I meet with my critique group, I hold my breath. Surely this is where the book falls apart. But my most recent offering (pages 30-40 in this draft) got a green light from my tough-as-nails critiquers.

We drove all the way to Patience's house in McKinney today. She has summer childcare issues. Then we ate lunch at Ruby Tuesday, my first time. I had a "salad" that was really more fattening than a burger would have been, even without dressing. Fried chicken bits, avocado, crumbled bacon, cheese, over a bed of greens, with a piece of garlic bread. Yum, but talk about calories! Yeesh, I was trying to be good.

I wrote only a couple of pages today, between when I got home from critique and when I had to go to yoga. After checking in on the owls, of course. The Texas owls are seldom seen these days, but the California owlets are hilarious to watch. They're just about ready to fly, and they practice pouncing on each other in the nest box. They are cuter than kittens.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kara

MOB Page-O-Meter:

369 / 400 (92.3%)

Freaky sky from yesterday

The photo doesn't do it justice. It was freaky weather.

Another quiet day today. Clearly I don't have enough going on in my life. So I've decided to rent a beach house for a month, next fall in the off-season. You can really pick up some bargains on the Texas Gulf Coast if you go during weird times.

Rob thinks I'm insane, but I'm doing it. I've always wanted a beach house, but with the hurricanes being so prevalent lately I don't want to own one. And I think one month a year would be a good compromise. If it's for a whole month I can bring my babies (furry and feathered) with me. Most beach houses are equipped with WiFi--I just have to bring a laptop and some clothes.

I'm doing it.

I did the usual today--yoga (with the girls on TV), wrote my pages, watched the birds, went for a walk. Miracle of miracles, it hasn't rained today. Of course it immediately got hot! Rob was gone all day teaching bridge and T'ai Kwon Do.

I am very close to finishing my book. I am working on the climactic scene now! What fun.

Thanks for reading,
Kara

MOB Page-O-Meter

352 / 400 (88.0%)

Storms and more storms

When Rob and I went for our walk today, it started out sunny. But as we headed back from Kidd Springs Park (where I saw a yellow-crowned night heron, cool!) we could see these huge thunderheads building in the north, and the sky was black on the horizon. We walked fast.

We made it home in plenty of time so that we could sit on the front porch in our porch swing and watch it pass. Lots of lightning and thunder but only light rain and no wind, so it was relatively mild.

Then, as I'm leaving my yoga class around 8:15, we get another round and the sky was the most peculiar color I've ever seen. It was orangy red all over. I tried to take pictures of it (while driving in the rain) but they didn't come out too well.

I really love the rain but maybe a couple of days to dry off would be nice? Everything is so waterlogged--the yard, the deck, the flowers, everything. Ah, well, much better than drought.

I had a pretty good writing day--at least I got my pages done and I'm closing in on the end of my book. So happy, can't wait! Probably another week and I'll have it done.

Thanks for reading,
Kara

MOB Page-O-Meter:

342 / 400 (85.5%)

Sad News

My sister called this evening and said she thought her cat was dying. She had no idea what was wrong. He was fine yesterday, but when she got home from work he was really, really sick. I told her to bring him to my house and I would drive her to the emergency after-hours vet office. Unfortunately, by the time she got here, he was gone.

Poor little Tiger. We took him to the vet anyway and paid $54 to have his cremated and his ashes sprinkled at a pet cemetery. The scary thing is that my sister has another cat, and now she is afraid it might get sick, too--since she doesn't know what was wrong with Tiger. They were both indoor cats, so hard to say.

Sorry to be so depressing, but I just got home. Hard to think about anything else. I did do some other things today. Went to Wishcraft, went to lunch, and then tracked down the Monk Parakeet colony in Addison. It wasn't hard to find. Someone told me it was in a live oak tree in a certain parking lot. As soon as I reached the parking lot I could hear them shrieking. And there they were, four big, bright green shrieking parrots. They were bigger than I thought--much larger than the grackles with which they were sharing their tree.

When my friend Becky (with whom I had just eaten lunch) drove up and opened her car door so she could see them, they flew down from the nest and dive-bombed her, then flew off. She said birds don't like her--I guess she's right!

After that I got my hair cut. I took a picture in the mirror of myself and the stylist, who is someone I used to go to many, many years ago and just rediscovered. I think I like the cut. It's not as short as it was. I am posting a picture on my website (www.karalennox.com) as soon as I am done here.

Thanks for visiting,
Kara

MOB Page-O-Meter

325 / 400 (81.3%)

Drama on the owl nest

Okay, I'm obsessed with watching the barn owls. But something awful happened. Someone was running loud machinery very close to the nest box, along with banging and clanging and yelling. Mrs. Owl fled in terror and she stayed off the nest all day long. (Not good for the eggs!) I figured she might abandon it for good. Then after dinner I checked and she had somehow managed to lay a third egg. She is now sitting on the eggs and screeching for Mr. Owl to bring her some food.

I don't recommend watching nest box web cams. I am heartsick at the thought of those eggs never hatching, but chances don't look good.

I had a good writing day today. Gradually closing in on the end of the book--maybe 60 more pages to write. We had another humongo thunder storm today, lots more rain. But it cleared up enough after lunch that we could take a walk to the park. We saw a big brown hawk hanging out in the woods. Rob saw it perched in a tree, but I, of course, couldn't spot it until it flew. I'm sorry to say I did not see it in enough detail to identify it.

I received foreign copies in the mail today. UNDER DEEPEST COVER, paired with a Barbara Dunlop book, in a Mills & Boone package (that's in the UK). So if I have any readers in the UK, I'll bet the book will be released there in the next month or two! Let me know if you see it on the shelves.

Oh, oh, one last reminder: My contest deadline is MIDNIGHT, THURSDAY MAY 31. Go to my website, www.karalennox.com, and click on the contest button. You can win a beach bag, towel and flip flops, sunscreen, and two books.

For all you contest fans out there, you can also visit www.booksforabuck.com and enter two contests. For the first, click on the "Newsletter" link. You'll find the contest there. They're giving away a $10 gift certificate for Fictionwise.com, which is an e-book distributor. For the second contest, click on the banner at the bottom of the page. That prize is nice, too.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kara

MOB Page-O-Meter

321 / 400 (80.3%)

Judy's Wishcraft Farewell

One of my Wishcraft members, Judy, is heading off to Austin in a couple of weeks, so we threw a cocktail party in her honor. (Wishcraft is my goalsetters' group.) I rode the train to the end of the line, then Becky (another member) picked me up and we drove to Dean's house in Allen (Dean being yet another member). We ate a lot, drank wine, and took pictures. I've only known Judy a short time but she is such a dear person--I just hate it that she's moving away.

I did the last few little revisions on GOOD HUSBAND MATERIAL and sent them to my editor. Then I did a little writing. No birdwatching to speak of--it's been raining all day! This is the strangest weather. If it keeps up I'm afraid we'll all turn into ducks!

I got some writing done on the train. I just love riding the train.

Thanks for visiting,
Kara

289 / 400 (72.3%)

Another deluge

I just can't believe this rain and the cool temps. We had another violent thunderstorm today, another deluge, more flash flooding. But I do love the rain. After this terrible drought we've been in, I can't get enough of hearing the rain. We still have a long way to go to replenish our reservoires and aquifers, but we must be making progress by now!

Today I went to critique and lunch. So far the group has read about 30 pages of my newest book (MOB book) and it's holding up. It's getting some of the most positive feedback I've ever gotten from a critique group. Makes me nervous 'cause now the pressure is on me to not screw it up. (I know, that's a helluva way to look at things!)

Yoga was just me and my teacher, Cheryl. She changed the class schedule recently. Between that and the rain, I guess others were discouraged from coming. But it was nice to have a private session. I did a headstand and some good backbends, which are things we don't normally do in a regular class because a lot of people can't or don't want to do them, and they require a lot of individual attention from the teacher.

I also finished my line edits today. I just love my new editor. I agree with 99.9 percent of the changes she made. She really made this a better, tighter, more elegantly written book.

I wrote two whole pages today.

The owl isn't sitting on her new egg much. I guess she's just not sure what she's supposed to do, and that irresponsible daddy owl hasn't been bringing her much food that I can see. This just seems so sad, that they waited so long for an egg and now it probably won't hatch.

Glad you stopped by,
Kara

MOB Page-O-Meter

280 / 400 (70.0%)

New bird!

I saw 21 different species today, my best day ever, and mostly in my own backyard.

The new bird was a little blue heron, at Kidd Springs Park. Also saw lots of baby ducks! So cute.

I also have my online nest boxes I keep an eye on. There's a pair of barn owls in Italy, Texas, that I've been watching for a while. They mate and mate and mate, but never lay eggs. The female is quite a character--always demanding presents from her beau (in the form of dead mice) before she'll mate, though she does always seem ready for action. Well, today she FINALLY laid an egg. It was exciting. The regular viewers of the nest box cam were beginning to lose hope.

If you want to check in on the egg, here's the link.

And finally, I did actually write today. Ten pages on the MOB book, wahoo. Still a long sprint to the finish line.

Dinner at Norma's tonight. We are just so lazy sometimes.

Kara

MOB Page-O-Meter:

278 / 400 (69.5%)

Proposal sent to editor

Glad that's out of the way. My editor kindly agreed to accept my manuscript via e-mail, which saves me and my agent lots of postage. (It doesn't really save trees because my editor will ultimately print out the manuscript.)

Now I'm back to work on the MOB book. I spent most of the morning inputting changes from previous critique group sessions and polishing and printing the next ten pages for my meeting this week. Later on I was able to write a few new pages. It's nice to be working in fresh territory again.

My porch is done! Today Arturo packed up his ladders and empty paint cans and disappeared, but not before making one final appeal for me to paint the rest of my house. (What, do I look crazy? This has been a nightmare.)

The rest of my day was the usual stuff; birdwatching, walking, mosaic. I'm working on my full-scale pattern for the table-top now. I've never done anything even close to this big, so the logistics are a bit daunting. But if it's a disaster, I'm sure I'll learn a lot from it. All mosaic artists have to learn some how.

Thanks for visiting,
Kara

MOB, Page-O-Meter:

268 / 400 (67.0%)