I finally did it!!

I mastered MySpace!

So, now..uh…does anybody want to be my friend?

You can find me here.

And what’s the best thing about MySpace? Found via Sherrill I can find blinky Heffalumps…

Come on, how many websites can you go to that post sexy nekkid guys one day and blinking Lumpy’s the next?

Why is it that the more time I have to do something, the less it actually gets done?

Why do things not exist unless I put them on my To Do list?

Why can stupid teenagers from all over the world figure out this MySpace stuff but I can’t?

Why does greasy pizza from Costco sound better than anything else I can think of to eat right now?

Why does it sometimes slow down so much in the blogosphere that there’s not even anything to steal and I have to resort to asking stupid questions?

Why…why…why…

My laziness must have carried over into yesterday because apparently I forgot to blog (and I could have sworn I did). Oh well, I must be beginning that descent into madness. Whataya gonna do?

And to top it off, I really don’t have anything to say either.

So I’ll just post a few pictures that I took at the Cherry Blossom/Kite Festival the other day. They prove that spring really is here!

Here are some cherry blossoms just starting to…well…blossom.

You can see that there weren’t very many trees in full bloom.

This one is one of my favorites. You can see lots of kites, plus the WW2 Memorial, the reflecting pond, all the way down to the Lincoln Monument. I was sitting at the base of the Washington Monument and the kites you can see in the sky here are only a miniscule amount of the total.

So, how do you know that Spring has arrived in your part of the world?

That was me yesterday.

I barely even looked at my computer yesterday. Only replied to the one fairly urgent email I got, didn’t read any blogs, any news - NOTHING.

We flipped open the futon and spent pretty much all day relaxing (well, we did go to the grocery store but I don’t know if it counts since we were home by 11). Napping and watching TV was the bulk of my day.

But on Saturday, we went downtown (to DC) because it was the first day of the cherry blossom festival! There weren’t many blossoms to be had but it was still a pretty nice day, slightly chilly when the wind blew, slightly too warm when the sun was out.

There was also a kite festival, so the sky from the Washington Monument halfway down the Mall was filled with kites. Very cool. So, we walked around the tidal basin from the WW2 Memorial, past the FDR Memorial, to the Jefferson Monument back to see more kites at the Washington Monument (I think its funny to give directions like that).

But anyway, I’ve decided that my blog needs more pictures so over the next few days I’ll be posting some (have to upload them first).

What did you do this weekend? Plans for the week?

EDITED TO ADD: If anyone is having problems commenting, could you please email me so I can try to figure out what’s going on. Thanks a bunch! Email is on the Where’s Emma page of the sidebar (I’d post it but i’m afraid of Spam)

I don’t know how you feel about it, but you were male in your last earthly incarnation.
You were born somewhere in the territory of modern Borneo around the year 825.

Why do I have a feeling that I was really an orangutan?

Your profession was that of a handicraftsman or mechanic.

What the hell kind of mechanic was I in 825? I’m mean my guess is that there aren’t too many mechanics in Borneo NOW, let alone 1200 years ago.

Your brief psychological profile in your past life:
Seeker of truth and wisdom. You could have seen your future lives. Others perceived you as an idealist illuminating path to future.

Yeah, me, an idealist. Uh-huh.

The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:
Your lesson is to develop a kind attitude towards people, and to acquire the gift of understanding and compassion.

Well damn it, I don’t wanna.

Do you remember now?

I remember…remember…long orange fur?

Find out your past life here. Poached from lotsa people.

I had to get up early today (and yesterday) to take the Hubster to a meeting.

It’s seriously right next to our apartment, like I can see the fence not to far away, but to get there you have to go all the way out to the main road and then probably about a mile down the main road.

I suppose some of you are used to long distances like that, but not me - I live in the city! I like things to be right there!

And the worst part is, we don’t have a drive though Starbucks. Two days in a row I was up and out of the house (which out of the house itself is a major accomplishment for me) before 9 and nothing, nada, zilch, I got nothing to show for it.

I mean, I’m not actually going to go in a Starbucks before 9!

So, that’s when I realized…I mean trust me, I knew I never liked my apartment, if nothing else the number of days without water would make me hate it, but I think it’s a little to suburban for me!

It’s a HUGE complex, but you really don’t see that many people around. We’re set pretty far back on the road, and even though I can see the BW Parkway (where millions of people travel everyday) and see the fence to NASA Goddard (where millions of people work everyday - okay maybe thousands - all right, after cutbacks it’s still open I guess is the most positive thing to say about NASA now) I’m totally isolated.

In my old apartment, if I was going somewhere - to the mall, or the grocery store or whatever, I passed things - like the drive through Starbucks. Now, if I’m going anywhere, I don’t really pass anything. There’s nowhere to stop just for the fun of it.

Twenty minutes from downtown DC and I’m strangely isolated!

So tell me about where you live? City, Country, *gasp* Suburbia? Do you like it? Would you want to live anywhere else? What’s the appeal to living in the country? Suburbs? This confimed city girl would like to know!!

Look at my new VP cover.

I’m so excited. I love this cover!!!

I’m blogging at Torrid Temptations today so come on over and say “Hey” and tell me where you get your Recommended Daily Allowance of Eye Candy.

First, some business…tonight I’ll be chatting with my fellow Torrid authors at the FAR chatroom at 9pm.
Tomorrow, I’m blogging at Torrid Temptations and have an author day at Love Romance ebookclub as part of a month of VP authors.

Whew.

I got the first mock up of my cover for Secret Agent Man today. It’s the best cover I’ve ever seen in my life!! Well, but I think all of my covers are so I may be a bit biased. Still I adore it. Trust me when I say I’ll show it off as soon as possible!

And thanks everyone for running with my cookie analogy yesterday. And much better than i did, too!

Good news, my newsletter should finally be going out today! Only a week late.

I got a ton of stuff done yesterday. It’s amazing how much you can actually do when you actually, you know, do it instead of just avoiding it.

But I really need to get back to the whole writing thing. I did a synopsis yesterday, but haven’t had a big chunk of time to sit down and start writing the last Fate story. I don’t want to start unless I have most of the day in front of me. When it comes to the middle I can write in bits and pieces, but not so much at the beginning.

Hmmm, maybe I’ll ignore the other stuff I was going to do today, postpone that stuff ’til tomorrow, and spend today writing.

Sounds like a good plan to me. What about you? Can you write in snippets of time or do you need long stretches to really flex those writing muscles?

Stupid spring - they’re calling for an inch of snow here today.

Anyway, today I want to talk breifly about writing processes. I know everyone has their own process and in the immortal words of Susan Elizabeth Phillips that process is to be protected to the death (okay, so I’m paraphrasing).

But, I still want to talk about it. Mostly because of Tess.

She’s doing this 30 drafts in 30 days thing where she goes through and looks at scenes individually and, I dunno, magically whips them into shape or something (obviously I don’t really get it ’cause it’s not my process).

But here’s the thing, it obviously helps her, it’s making her unblocked, but the thought of looking at my book and picking it apart by scenes absolutely terrifies me!

I’ll admit this once and never again - I don’t even know if I could separate my books into scenes. I look at a book as a whole. Please don’t think I’m picking on anyone’s process ’cause I’m not, if anything I’m impressed by people that can do this ’cause I can’t.

To me, picking apart the scenes in a book is like picking the chocolate chips out of a chocolate chip cookie (or perhaps eating the white stuff out of the center of the oreo first). The food all ends up in the same place, but I prefer my to eat the chocolate chips with the rest of the cookie, and dunk the whole oreo in milk, not just the chocolate parts.

*sigh* Only someone on a diet can compare writing to cookies.

So tell me about your process, and what kinds of things do you see others doing that you don’t understand?

Yay…spring. Of course they’re forcasting snow here tomorrow, but I’ve learned my lesson this year. I don’t beleive in snow until I see it.

And I’m totally raring to go today. I can’t get things done fast enough. Apparently my week off last week did me some good.

Of course, I am adding stuff to the list quicker than I can get them crossed off so it may be a long fruitless day, but hey, at least stuff is getting done. And from here on in my schedule looks a bit less hectic, too, which is nice.

A completely covered calendar just makes me twitchy.

So, here’s my weekly to do list:
*But Wedding Shower present
*Mail Baby present (not to the same people thankfully)
*Pay Bills
*Monthly newsletter (you know, the one that’s supposed to go out the 15th)
*Finish making giveaway for newsletter (oops)
*Web updates (the ones that were supposed to be done 3/1)
*Catch up on email (last night I managegd to get through all the emails that needed replies - MOSTLY - but today I have to send all the emails that originate from me.
*Edit VP Confessional & Submit
*Edit 2nd Fate story & Submit
*”Plot” (I use the term loosely) & start writing 3rd Fate story.
*Finish judging contest entries (by “finish” all I really mean is actually putting the scores on the scoresheet - they’re already completely judged).

What’s your plan for the week?