The Great Wrap-Up...

I thought I would use my Fridays to do either a "Friday Funnies" or a wrap up of what has been on my mind during the week, what has been going on with me, etc... Just an amalgamtion of stuff.

So this week, I will do a wrap-up... Beware... I am a bit long-winded today!

Serenity23. I FINALLY got a chance to meet The Fabulous and Infamous Super Shoe Queen Blogger Serenity23. I had breakfast with her and another blogger, Heartdrops.

Serenity was passing through town, on her way to Charlotte, NC. She was moving there from Baton Rouge. I have NO idea what brought this on, but I am sure we will talk about this someday.

Serenity is an "Oldgirl-in-training", a "Baby Oldgirl", and has been a bit "disturbed" by it. (Yes... that's a serene way of putting it. She has been snapping HARD on me about it all.) She has been sitting on the curb, clutching her "oldgirl-in-training" secured credit card with the $10 dollar limit and the 50% interest rate, frowning hard, to say the least.

She's been wailing about receiving her Original Oldgirl Platinum Plus card.. I knew she was serious about getting her Original Oldgirl Platinum Plus card when I read this on her blog...

"I strongly believe that if something is in God's will for me, then it won't be almost impossible to obtain. Meaning, I won't have to do everything under the sun to get myself to Charlotte. I'm not saying things will be easy as pie, but I'm saying things will be plain for me and I will have his favor in getting where I need to be and getting what I need to get there."

I got HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY when I saw that. I knew that it was about to go down. She later went on to say:

"When I decided to stop worrying about moving and the new job and turned it over to God, it was only a day or so before my hopes had come to fruition. I also spoke about not living in my apt one day past the month of March. Well, I'm moving out on March 1st."

Girl, you jacked my faith up a notch with those statements!! Now THAT'S what I call getting results and answered prayer.Really though.

Now, I am of the firm belief, and many have agreed with me in various discussions that one does not know what the heck is going on until one is 30 years old or close to turning 30. It's like, at that age, a light bulb goes off above one's head, as if one knows that one has to FINALLY get serious and handle one's business. One begins assessing oneself and one's life, and the path towards one's goals become a bit clearer.

(Yeah, that sounds like some Kung-Fu, grasshopper, teacher craziness... but you get my point.)

I think you are figuring that out, Serenity... You're even inspiring me to step out and make some life-changing decisions of my own...

Additionally, something happened which I consider to be the most FASCINATING conincidences in the world. I have a character in my manuscript that has the EXACT same temperment and circumstances as Serenity23, all the way down to having the very same job (paralegal) and having a son about the same age as the character's son. I think I met Serenity23 about 6 months after writing that character, and I nervously asked her to read some parts that involve that particular character (Um... girl, can you take a look at my Nicole character?). Serenity schooled me on the paralegal profession and how she likes to straight up snap on anyone who annoys her (LOL! I still don't think my character is as BRUTAL as she is... one time she said "I'm MUCH meaner than that, Lee", which absolutely HORRIFIED me.). Her thoughts and advice REALLY helped me to shape up that character a bit... much more than she would ever know.

Thanks, girl!!

You're on the fast track to earning your platinum plus card, gal!

Writing Progress. The first draft of Sweet Heat has been completed for over a month, now. I haven't really looked at it again, as I needed a little mental distance from it. I printed out the first 450 pages (the point at which there seems to be a natural break in the storyline) of it and sent it to Niche.lle Tra.mble, who offered up a manuscript critique that I won last year on ebay. She sent 2 pages of intense notes and thoughts, and it was chocked full of stuff that just had me thinking about how to redo many sections. It's funny how someone can make one or two suggestions, and it opens up a whole box of ideas...

I can't wait for my marked up redline manuscript to come back some time next week... I plan to spend the remainder of the year on my rewrites (Yes, I'm just that slow.)

I will leave you with a small excerpt... My female protagonist Vaughn in bed with my male protagonist Samuel.

I’m a hard ass sleeper. I can sleep with the lights on, the radio blasting, or in the midst of a rowdy crowd if need be. My Mother always said “A freight train could plow full speed right through this house, girl, and you would sleep right through it.”

Nothing interrupted me once I’d been sleep for a couple of hours. Nothing at all.

Yet his warm breath wisping lightly past my ear woke me immediately...

Whoa!! LOL!!!

That was from the only sex scene in the manuscript. I've gone through that before, being bone tired, sleeping hard, and my man breathing on my neck, and waking up to realize that, um...

It's about to be ON!

It's about to go DOWN!

And it was something that my readers were waiting on. I can't stand sex scenes, especially if it borders on erotica. I look at anyone who can write that type of stuff on a whim a bit strangely. But I was told that I handled it tastefully. Nevertheless, I was deeply disturbed. Took me a month to figure it all out... Not sure if I want to do that again.

I ran all around at work, though, poking my head into office doors and labs, and yelling that first line...

"I'm a hard ass sleeper! I'm a hard ass sleeper!"

Yeah... but not THAT hard of a sleeper.

LOL!!

Of Lamps and the Locals. (An example of what I go through at home a few times a week.) So I went to Kroger on Thursday evening to get a prescription filled. I also went by the 'Shed, since I was down that way, and picked up something for dinner. Well, I am driving up my street, on my way home, and I see Tiny. I roll down my window to speak.

"Where you been, Lee?"
"To the store and to get something to eat."
He has a pleading look in his eye. "Are you about to cook?"
"NO!" I yelled. I was NOT sharing any of my food. It was too doggone expensive!
He still has that pleading HUNGRY look in his eye. I didn't care. The only thing I'd eaten all day was a piece of cheese toast at six that morning on the way to work.
He sighed hard. "I'm going to get something to eat, then."
"Alright, see ya later," I yelled. I let up my window, and I drove on up the street to my house.

So, later, I'm in the house, watching TV, yacking hard on the phone with LadyTee, and eating dinner... and I hear the doorbell ring. I answer it, because I know who it is. It is Tiny.

"Lee, did you take the lamp from the garage?"
"Yeah, man, I did. That's my living room lamp!"
"Oh, okay, can I have it back? "
"NO!" I yelled. He'd borrowed the lamp last week due to needing more light in the garage, and never returned it. I got sick of walking around my living room without a lamp. (I have top lights, but I like very low lighting.) I retrieved it from the garage last night.
LadyTee chimes in. "Who in the world are you fussing at, Lee?"
"That fool Tiny. That negro always want something."
Stan, my next door neighbor, saunters out of the house.
Tiny yells to Stan. "Stan, I need a lamp!"
"Don't do it, Stan! You better charge him, Stan!" I yell. "He will keep your lamp, Stan!"

I slam the door and go back in the house. I hear them talking outside. Stan says he has a lamp, but he is going to the gym. I feel bad about yelling at Tiny (is the Oldgirl gaining some compassion? Heck no! THE HORROR!), and I grab a bedroom lamp and go to the back door leading down into the garage. I open the back door and I see this:





Scared the heck out of me. I thought Tiny had ran over someone in my driveway. I imagined having to help Tiny dump a body over my fence. I quickly realized that it was Mr. Thomas, one of the "locals" in my hood. He is mostly known for yard work, and he stained my porch last year.
So Tiny yells, "No Lee, that's alright."

Good, because I need my lamp.

"Tiny, what is he doing?"
"Oh, he's tightening up my oil pan."
"Oh," I said.

I give Tiny a look that says, "You are crazy as hell."

"Oh, and Lee... you have some oil leaks. Go get an oil pan so Mr. Thomas can put it on and tighten it up."

*silence*



Tiny and I have had this convo before. Mr. Thomas is cool and all, but AIN'T NO WAY a crackhead is touching anything on my Zoom-zoom (Mazda). Man, I can just see myself rolling down I-85 and my whole engine and transmission just falls out of my car.

"Uh, no, Tiny. That's alright. I will go to the shop and have them fool around with it."

Like I said... Ain't no way a crackhead is fooling with my car. I've got nothing for love for Mr. Thomas, but...

And speaking of Mr. Thomas... He rang my doorbell at 8:00 p.m. and asked if he could edge up my yard... for $15.00.

Uh, I don't think so. I gave him 5 dollars. He better be glad I'm not Hen-Dog... who will only pay $2.00. The last time I paid Mr. Thomas $15.00, he didn't do a good job. He took off running, and I didn't see him for a couple of weeks...

I learned my lesson.

So that's my week's wrap up. Yeah, I should've made this three different posts... but I didn't.

One long post! You know how I do! LOL!

Have a great weekend!!