I'm still here, really....

and just can't believe how little time I've had to blog lately. So much has been going on and I've barely had time to breathe.

To recap:

1) I finished my first two Library and Information Technology courses just over a week ago (did well, so I'm happy). My next course (Digital Collections) starts on Monday - it's the only one I'm taking this term.

2) I'm still employed at the Sechelt Public Library and loving it :) It's so cool to be able to greet patrons by name, have a general idea of their reading interests and apply what I'm learning in school in a hands-on way.

3) On Easter weekend we went up to Whistler to see and ski with a cousin of mine I hadn't seen in 30+ years. She was there with her family and it was sooooo cool! We had a fantastic time and it turns out she and I have a lot in common - she's interested in family history, history and books (ok, so our whole family is into books). She even works as a tour guide at a heritage home in the area where she lives. How neat is that? The following week they came up here to the Coast to see our place and spend the night befor heading back to the UK.

4) Though my writing has taken a bit of a back seat, I'm still working on at least two of my mss. I make notes, especially while I'm on the elliptical and hope to get back to actual writing in May.

5) Our family is expecting another addition soon - nephew # 4! So I'm madly knitting a hat and hoping it's finished by the time he arrives. Started it only last week as I've been so busy with school work most evenings in the winter, I didn't spend any time knitting.

6) I had to make the tough decision NOT to attend RWA National in DC this summer. It's a matter of timing - in that, with school AND my job, I just really can't afford the week in time it would take to go. I'm rather disappointed as my critique partners will all be there and I'd hoped to share a room with them. But that's life.

7) We actually have some grass growing out on our septic field - so far it's pretty sparse, but it's a start. And we hoping to get some more gardening done this summer. Almost all my perennials made it through, though it appears the Evening Primrose was a victim of our harsher than normal winter (as in longer, colder and snowier). OTOH, the daffodils we transplanted (courtesy of my m-i-l) all flowered - yay!

8) Of interest to fellow hockey fans - Go Canucks!! We're driving around with our Canucks flag flapping in the breeze :) Round Two starts tomorrow.

I think that's about it.

I'll try to make the rounds of everyone's blogs as time allows. Right now I'm tethered to my desktop computer while waiting for a new power adaptor for the laptop to arrive from Dell. I've been spoiled by my laptop and the ability to surf from anywhere in the house, so have gotten out of the habit of spending loads of time in my office, though I still use it to do school work.

Hope you're all keeping well :)

Teresa

Currently Reading: Divas Don't Knit by Gil McNeil
Link of the Day: Library Link of the Day

My NaNo total etc..

As you can see from the badge in my sidebar, I finished with 15, 387 words. Not bad, considering I only managed to write on 8 of the 30 days. An average of 1923 words per day. I really wish I could have found more time for writing, but things were crazy over the last month. So I'm going to let go and just be happy I managed to achieve what I did :)

Life is super busy overall right now, between work, school prep, writing, Christmas prep (I'm knitting quite a few gifts) and just housekeeping, I don't have much spare time. Grey weather has affected me somewhat, but I'm taking my Vitamin D like a good girl and working through the blahs. It's hard to believe we're at Christmas yet again - our second in this house! Hopefully we'll find a good tree for the deck over the next couple of weekends.

I'm so looking forward to starting school. Working at the library has been a real eye-opener for me, making me realize just how right I am for this kind of job. Why didn't I figure this out earlier? Oh well, better late than never :)

Back to writing - Deborah Cooke/Claire Delacroix had a great blog post the other day about Boulders (the huge obstacles that tend to arise in the middle of most mss). What do you do when faced with those plotting obstacles? I try to play the What If game, as well as examining the story elements Deb talks about.

I always love to hear how other writers deal with the elements that plague us as we write our masterpieces.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Stately Pursuits by Katie Fforde
Also Currently Reading: The Write Type by
Link of the Day: Top Ten Plotting Problems by Alicia Rasley

My workspace...

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!!

Melissa asked about what my workspace looks like. After organizing it a bit, I managed to take this pic:





It's been a busy week so far. I worked Monday and Wednesday, while on Tuesday I stayed home and did some organizing in my office, prepping for when I'll be a student again as well as some more NaNo work. This morning Sean and I took the car in to have its winter tires put on - it was nice to spend time together on a weekday morning.

This weekend there's a big craft fair AND a big pottery sale. We'll be attending both, in search of Christmas presents (I'm trying to buy local). I'm also knitting a hat for my middle nephew:

From November 2008

From November 2008

In between all this, I'm hoping to fit more writing in and at least break 15,000 words for NaNo this year. Better than nothing!

Oh - and I just found out I'm off the wait list and into the second course I wanted - Records Management - yay!!

How about you? Are you busier than ever?

Teresa

Currently Reading: Lucy in the Sky by Paige Toon
Link of the Day:Viking Kitties (an oldie, but a goodie)

To read or to knit...

After dinner last night, we decided to enjoy the fire in the living room, before watching Rome. I was going to get the book I'm reading for review, but suddenly I knew I just had to knit instead. For those of you who both knit and read, do you find this? That the urge to do one over the other can sometimes be compelling? Do you understand it?

I'm working currently on a cool slouch sock for myself, knitted on two regular kneedles rather than circulars/dps (those of you on Facebook can see the sock in my Stitchbook box) and I was working on turning the heel. Having never done it before, I was a tad nervous. Maybe that compelled me to pick up needles/yarn instead of my book? The urge to finish that part?

Feedback definitely appreciated :)

Teresa

Currently Reading: Book for review

Monday catch-up...

We had a busy weekend, with a visit from family and me knitting like a fiend. See the knitting result below:





Yep, it's my first mitten!!! Kit - thanks so much for mentioning the pattern :-)

Last week I queried three agents - we'll see what happens with that. I'll maybe submit to a couple of others this week.

Re: Writers Project Organizer - yeah, I know I can download freeware, but this has other good features and I like to support indie software engineers. The programme is at a really decent price right now PLUS when I ran into problems, the developer worked with me to get it right and even updated the programme as a final fix. This kind of service we never see from major software companies.

Also up this week is definitely getting back into When the Heart Believes. I'm been putting that off too long and MUST start working on it again.

And now, kitty pics (click on the thumbnails to see them full-sized):












Teresa

Currently Reading: Dark Angels by Karleen Koen
Link of the Day: Craft and Nothing But Craft at Romantic Inks

Addicted to knitting...

Had I known just HOW addictive knitting can be, I'd never have started again! I have to keep away from the knit store, or I'm tempted to buy more needles and yarn. Succumbed yesterday after Kit told me about a cool pattern for mittens. Now I've started them too. And I found a book with a cool pattern for a Beginner Sweater made with Paton's Divine (I'm going to go with Regal Red). Though I bought the book, I resisted the urge to buy the yarn for now. Must finish other projects first. Really. I HAVE to.

On the writing front, I submitted my partial to another agency yesterday. And am trying out a cool programme for tracking my mss and their submissions. It's different than either WWP or PFN in that you log info about your mss AND add in info about Agents/Publishers. It's totally cool. Plus it has a 30 Day Demo - no restrictions! And right now, the price is right.

Ok, goal for today is to submit again. And go through my notebook for WTHB to get back into it. I woke very early after a nightmare. This on top of an already broken night of sleep, so we'll see how well I do. At least the sun is shining today, which does help :-)

Happy weekend, everyone!

Teresa

Just About Finished Reading: The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Annette Blair
Link of the Day: Watch the trailer for Night of the Huntress by Kathryn Smith