How was everyone’s week?

Mine wasn’t as productive as I’d hoped, but it was still fairly nice. I wrote, but not as much as I would have liked. I read, but again, not as much as I would have liked.

Yesterday we went to see the Pirates of Penzance at the NYC Opera. It was very good, and the pirate king was quite obviously influenced by Captain Jack Sparrow!

Saturday we went to a suprise part and did a little bit of shopping (a lot if you ask the hubster).

Like I said, last week I wrote a little and I read a little. I didn’t get nearly as much of that “other stuff” done. I didn’t judge contest entries (bad Emma, bad). But I did book flights to both Florida (I’m going on a cruise with a couple of friends) and Dallas.

And I watched way too much television.

But, I feel refreshed for the most part and I’m ready for another week. I really do like blogging, but I may take hiatuses every so often. It was fun. Though I really missed my blog buddies!

So, what did I miss?

I’ve pretty much been neglecting…well, everything, lately.

So, because of that, I’m going on a blog hiatus. I’m blogging at Word Flirts tomorrow (Sat the 10th) but other than that, you can find me back here on Monday, March 19.

I hope you all have a fabulous week!

I did absolutely no writing yesterday. In fact, I didn’t do much of anything.

I stayed in bed later than usual ’cause it was snowing (which seemed to be enough of a reason to me). And then showered and dressed (such that it was, in jammie pants and a sweatshirt) and did my usual morning rounds of blogs and groups and such (though they all seemed kind of slow to me).

Then, I called my friend ’cause it was her birthday. We talked for a little while and then she had to go put her cranky baby to sleep. But she called back. Then we talked longer.

Then it was lunchtime so I made myself some chicken salad (it wasn’t very good but my friend was making it and it sounded good).

And my TV was broken. Well, the cable box was and rather than telling me the time it said r046. So I had to fool around with that for awhile and eventually unplugged it. That made it reset itself (the reset button wasn’t working) and I felt the need to stand there and watch it as it reset and did all this weird loading crap.

And then my friend called me again.

And then, I figured, since I’d gone to all the trouble of fixing it, I could at least watch some TV. So I turned on Law & Order and that show just sucks the life out of me. And one hour turned into several.

And then my friend called again.

And then, it was only an hour until the hubster was going to be home so I figured there was no use starting to work then. So I watched Phil of the Future on the Disney Channel and learned a good lesson about friendship.

And then the hubster was home.

He made me dinner (tacos) because I had a headache. Then we played with Google Earth for awhile (looking at the big houses in the Hamptons mostly) and then we played a game and then it was bedtime.

So I’m just not sure when I was expected to fit any work in during that time. Maybe I’ll do better today.

So, our new thing here at Chez Emma is playing with Google Earth.

I have a Mac, and when it was first out, they didn’t have Google Earth for Macs. And the hubsters computer was so ancient that it wouldn’t work on there. But now that he has a new computer, we can play.

It’s totally the coolest thing ever.

You can fly around the world and look at all sorts of places. Disney World is really fun to look at, as is Sea World. I’m pretty sure you could make out a whale in the water at Sea World San Diego (or it could have just been a shadow).

I think I’ve visited every place I’ve ever visited in person via Google Earth. It’s totally addicting.

And then I like to tell myself that it’s great for research. You know, if I need to get the feel of the terrain of a place?!?!

Have you ever played with Google Earth? Any places to suggest that I look at?

So, the hubster has Good Friday off, and I may be able to convince him to take another day or two off around Easter, so I’m trying to convince him that we should take a nice trip somewhere.

Granted, we did move last summer, but otherwise we haven’t been on a relaxing vacation anywhere since about this time last year (we went to the Maryland shore for a weekend).

Anyway, I’d like to take a little trip (hubster remains mum about the whole thing, and I say if he’s not going to tell me anything then he gets no say) but I can’t decide where to go.

I definitely want to go north from NY. I’ve lived South and East already.

I was thinking Niagra Falls, but that’s about 7 hours away so I’m not sure if that drive is worth it for just a day or two. Boston is a possibility, I think that’s about 5 or 6 hours (maybe less, I’m not sure).

Nantucket is 5 hours and two ferry rides, Cape Cod is about 4 1/2ish hours. I’ve never been to any of those places, so they’re maybes.

But rather than actually figure things out myself, I decided to ask you. Where should I spend my 3-4 day weekend? If you had the time where would you spend it?

1. Judge contest entries
2. WRITE

Yep, I’ve got nothing on my calendar at all this week. A couple of birthdays, but the cards are already in the mail. Which means I have a whole lot of writing time.

While the weekend was pretty beautiful, it’s supposed to be cold this week. Damn it, is it going to be spring or not?

Yesterday I organized my computer desktop and pretty much whole computer and I backed everything up (I only have 460 GB left on my 500 GB external hard drive). So I’m excited to write this week, but it might be a little rough finding where I hid everything!

I’m hoping that since I really have nothing else I’ll be able to finish something (no, I don’t know what yet, I’ll decide that tomorrow).

What’s on your to-do list this week?

I say I’m going to be lazy, but only kind of. Mostly just kind of because I still have a zillion contest entries to judge. And lots of other stuff to do.

And really, I have to clean up my computer. It’s a mess. I’ve got files stashed everywhere.

The hubster got me my great new External Hard Drive for Valentines Day (woo romance) but my computer is in such sorry shape that I haven’t moved anything over there yet. That’s a goal for today.

As much as I complained about the icky weather on Friday, Saturday was actually a beautiful day. Mid-50’s and sunny. I got a new bird feeder with a suction cup and I suctioned it to the window right outside my office so I hope I get birdies (although watching birdies might mean no work so I might have to rethink things).

Anyway, this is a bit of a ramble so I’m going to get on with my laziness. What’s everybody else up to this weekend?

Today is definitely a stay in bed with the covers pulled up and a nice book and maybe a steamy mug of hot chocolate. It’s rainy and windy and icky.

Still, I managed to rouse myself.

And no bed for me (though I’ll probably sit on the couch with covers) because I’ve got either writing or contest judging to do. If I don’t want to make myself even more cranky, I’ll probably write.

Yes, contest judging makes me cranky. Very cranky.

Cranky to the point that the hubster suggested I not volunteer to judge any more contests…like ever.

But seriously…here are the weird things that I’m seeing, not just once, but multiple times in various contest entries…

1. Apparently calling your chapters chapter one, chapter two, etc, is passe. I’ve seen them numbered by day, date and time, even random other ways. Seriously, Chapter one is fine.

2. If you’re entering a contest in a specific category, you might want to make sure your entry has something to do with that category. (And no, this isn’t a cat. coordinators fault they’re really entered that way). This goes for the specific contest to (Ie, if you’re entering an erotic contest, your book should probably have some eroticism).

3. Across the boards, I’ll make this statement about my contest entries - the ones with the great titles, suck balls, the ones with the awful titles are pretty great.

Anybody else have other bizarre-o contest problems? Anybody else cranky?

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit!

Did I tell you all that I sold a werewolf story to LSB? Well, I did. It’s called A Wolf’s Eyes. It’s actually fairly old, I pitched it in Reno (and I suppose technically it still might be in someones slush pile, but going on 2 years, I’m giving up on it).

No idea when it’ll be out yet, but I’m still pretty excited about it.

In other LSB news, I think we’re just about finished with edits on the Edge of Night Anthology which means hopefully we’ll be getting a release date soon. Obviously I’ll keep you all updated.

In other selling news, I think I’ve found a home for two of my displaced Venus Press books, but I’m not going to give you any more info until I’ve got a contract in my hot little hands.

And lastly, after three days of Diva chats, I’ve finished the short I started on Monday. I think with edits I’ll be able to get it up over 10K. Anybody has any suggestions as to where I should send it?

It’s kind of hot, but mostly just a story leading up to one steamy love scene. Hmm, maybe I’ll worry about that after revisions.

Now it’s time to get back to either the story I started a few weeks ago (which is doable) or I still have that unfinished NaNo project hanging around (apparently 50K in 2 weeks was too much).

But I don’t think I’ll be getting much of anything accomplished today as I’m off to have lunch with a friend. (Add in all the time I spend checking into my loops and groups and chapters and blogs and…well, my day is shot, lol).

But I have absolutely nothing to do this weekend!! Ah, bliss!!

Any writing news in your neck of the woods?