Today I hit the neighborhood garage sales with a friend. Yes, I found some good stuff but holy hell it rained most of the day and never got above 60. We actually had to go back to her house and change clothes because we were drenched. I could actually wring out my shirt - yeah, that wet. I just know I am going to catch pneumonia. I am on the couch under a blanket. Hot tea might be in order. Please send soup...

Last night I worked on ebay listings late because of the holiday. Now I understand why my old bosses hated it when I missed work for whatever reason - vacation, holiday, sick day, etc. I fell behind and now I am playing catch up. At some point I will have to write but it's looking like that might happen more on the weekends instead.

I know a lot of people try to write every day. I can't do that. I'm trying to get this ebay business going so that I can write more. In order to do that, I have to shop, clean, photograph and list items and pray they sell. That takes time. If I was a vampire like a Cullen, then I would never need sleep and could be productive 24 hrs a day. Plus I would glitter in the sunlight. Who doesn't want that attention?!?

So this process is taking time but I'm making progress.

It's great that we are getting rain. It seems like every year we teeter on the edge of a drought. I just wish it wasn't 5.5 inches over the course of a weekend. My sump pump is screaming at me. My yard is saturated and I squish around out there when I have to take Molly outside. Poor girl can only walk a bit then has to sit so I'm sure she doesn't like the muddy soaked grass either. We are under a flood watch until Thursday. I know several states are far worse off than we are so I'm not going to complain too much. Hopefully the water is recessing for people and they can get back to their lives. This much rain is simply too much all at once.

So the squirrels and bunnies know that Molly is no longer a threat to them. Today we were sitting outside and this squirrel was about 30 feet from us eating a nut. I had a tennis ball and chucked it at the squirrel merely to scare him off because Molly was beside herself wanting to chase him. Missed him by a mile but the ball bounced off the side of the shed and nailed that squirrel. He looked up when he heard the noise and WHAM went airborne! I couldn't help myself. I bust out laughing. The squirrel scampered off. I could hear him chattering at me. Ha! I yelled after him...quit teasing Molly through the sliding glass door! Asshole squirrel!

I probably cry more during this weekend than any other weekend throughout the year. Having been a military brat, I have been around soldiers and veterans more than the average Joe or Joette. Posts thanking the service people make me cry, commercials on veterans make me cry. I should have joined the military right after college. My dad's best friend tried to get me to join...even dangling a job at The Stars and Stripes but I had plans. Now I don't remember them but oh how different my life would have been! Now I can't think of anything I did that was worthy other than writing and that's only been recently. If I could go back, I would have joined the Air Force. Followed in my father's footsteps. It's a scary yet fantastic life to have in the military. Oh but the places you will go. So this weekend I give thanks to the men and women, past, present, and future who have and will sacrifice so much to protect us and our interests so that we continue to have our freedoms and follow our dreams.

Today I thought of two really nice, shy women I met at the fair. One was in the process of reading Jolt and she bought Frizzell's book Stick and Aptaker's book. I wonder if she read them and if she liked them. As long as one person out there likes your book, it makes it all so worth it. I was asked if I read all fan mail and respond. Oh hell yes I do! Fans are great. We wouldn't be successful without them. So if you feel like you want to reach out to any writer you admire, please do. We want to hear from you. We want you to feel comfortable with us. We are shy like you and we know it's not easy. Remember the power of words. Reach out to us and say hello. We love it!

Tomorrow is a day of photography. Soccer games in the morning and graduation parties in the afternoon. I did add about 1,000 words to the WIP but I had to stop because I am just exhausted. Mols has to sleep in a cage in the living room to prevent her from walking and I have to sleep out on the couch so she can see me. If I leave she whines. My heart can't handle that. A piece of my soul dies every time she cries. I can't imagine being a parent of an actual child. I would never survive his or her childhood. So now I'm watching Shark Tank. I have soooo many ideas I would love to pitch. I know there is a millionaire inside of me somewhere. Sure hope she shows up sometime in my lifetime. Should would make my life so much easier.

So yesterday I managed to squeeze out about 2200 words. I'm at 3000 so far with only 65,000 more to go. It's starting to take shape and my characters are becoming defined. Yes, in such a short time. A few things popped up that surprised me...like the reason why my character is late to class on the first day and why she works at a diner instead of a five star restaurant. Very cool. I like this character a lot. She's a smart ass, brave and very confident. She's about to be derailed though and I'm kind of excited to find out how she handles it.

So it's a good thing I didn't spend $ on the Lambda trip because Molly is going to need two new knees. That's going to be expensive. She will have to go to an orthopedic surgeon after her sprain heals. Sigh. I really picked a bad year to walk away from a fat salary. Taking her to the bathroom kills a piece of me everytime. I hate seeing her like this but I know she will get better.. She has to. She's my baby!