Melancholy

Today is a day of melancholy contentment. I am sprawled out on a cot near the window staring out into the boring day waiting for family to come back from shopping. Normally, I would be playing a game or reading a book, but today, I am a cat staring out at the world I want nothing to do with.

1 Reader And Counting

I am super excited; finally 1 person has finished Silent Symphony! Granted, it was my husband and I threatened serious bodily injury of he didn't read it, but let's not get hung up on the details. And to be fair, several friends and family have started out, but unfortunately many are super busy with life and such nonsense.

So this is a special thanks to all my beloved readers thus far. I will also have this list in the front of my book as well.

To my friends: Cristina, Dya, Andrea, Kevin, and Zerline, thank you so much for taking the time to give it a try. I hope you enjoy and are engaged throughout.

To my family: Lissa, Rose, Matt, Dee, and Mommy, I hope my story lives up to your wildest expectations while maintaining some assemblance of sanity. Just remember, this is far from my wildest tale told...and I did NOT steal cookies from the cookie jar... *shifty eyes*

And finally, to my darling husband: when this story began, I had nothing in particular in mind. I simply wanted to expand upon my storytelling. But now that it is finished and I see the beginnings of these relationships, I am reminded of how much I love you and of all the tiny things that have made our 7+ years together wonderful. I love you and hope you enjoyed my trip down the literary rabbit hole.

Moms are Awesome

Moms are Awesome for so many reasons, but here is my reason today.

When I was in first grade, my daycare played The Newsies frequently and as a result, and I am not kidding, I developed a New York accent. Sadly, I am from California and here professionals call that a speech impediment. My mom took me to speech therapy classes where I met my childhood bestfriend, Nicole.

In the fifth grade, I had shingles, ring-worm, and strep throat simultaneously. I was quarantined for 21 days. My mom stayed home and ensured I got all my homework done...in the process discovering I was illiterate and suspected I was dyslexic. Add that to the "cage-sour" and ADHD and I am legitimately shocked to be alive right now.

But despite the headaches, my mom never gave up on me. She figured out how to pay for me to go to Sylvan Learning Center, where a team of awesome albeit expensive tutors helped me go from a 2nd grade reading level to a 12+ level in about 3 months. Sadly, spelling and grammar are still dodgy at best.

Nevertheless, I went on to high school and AP English where my papers routinely "bleed" and the most common tragedy was the comma. But I passed the test with a 4 and went to college to become an environmental civil engineer. I took a Science Fiction/Fantasy class my fourth year where my final project was to write a short story. Mine was 20 pages long and only needed to be 5.

I graduated Magna Cum Laude with honors and a BS in civil engineering. I have since started working with an environmental consulting engineering firm and in about 4 months, I wrote a 143,000 word book. My husband's words were, and I quote, "you're a wordy little bastard, aren't you?" referencing DBZ Abridged season 1.

The gist...none of this would have been possible if not for an amazingly supportive and annoyingly persistent mom who put her entire single-mom life on hold to raise me, guide me, nurture me, and kick me in the ass occasionally. So for all you mothers out there, first, a toast to being epically mom, and second, keep up the hard work, even when you would rather curl up and cry. Your children will benefit from it and their futures will be brighter for it.

Chilly Days & Temporary Insanity

The weather today is a brisk 48 degrees,  cloudy, rainy, and slightly windy out at the pilot. We are waiting for parts before we can turn on the system, but in the meantime, I am enjoying my lunch and suffering temporary insanity.

As a native Southern Californian, I have always loved the rain for a variety of reasons, primarily because it is relatively scarce in the Los Angeles area, but also because I have always been able to bundle up with a warm blanket, jacket, hot drink, etc. and go out into the rain on my terms. But now that I am a "big girl" out in the "real world," I can't just pull the blankets back over my head and snuggle in.

In LT, there is a point where one of the characters is trapped in the elements for am extended period of time, and I think I know understand exactly how this character should react. Stuck out here in the cold has made thoughts of anything but warmer things rather illusive and I would imagine hallucinations rather prevalent at a certain point. On a side note, perhaps gloves might be in order prior to the coolest winter days.

Empty Houses

As I mentioned in PTSD vs. Higher Education, we have been in search of a house.  Well, I am pleased to say, the search is over.  I am currently sitting on the floor in the front room of our brand new house in surprisingly pleasant Hemet, CA.  Truth be told, I have hated Hemet proper since I was a child riding in a painfully slow car up Florida Avenue on my way to the mountains for camping, but now that I am a Hemetite...its growing on me...like a fungus.  I can't get over the view from our front yard.  The foothills, the riverbed, the peace.  Admittedly, I am jumping at every unfamiliar sound, but in time I think I will like it here.

Unfortunately, I am supposed to be at my day-job at the moment, but instead had to take paid time-off to babysit my house.  The previous residents had a water softener system which they elected to take with them upon leaving the house.  Unfortunately for us, they simply unhooked the piping and left the water off.  Now for those of you not in the potable water industry, potable waterlines are never supposed to be left open to the air.  Apart from contaminates, critters like dark spaces with available sources of water, hence my water pipes are the ideal roosting place for spiders and the like.  Furthermore, since none of the pipes have been sealed off, turning the water back on would result in flooding in our garage and kitchen.

As part of our registered complaints upon taking possession of the house, we requested they complete the removal of the system including proper sealing of the potable water system and the removal of the filtration system upstream of the water heater.  Our agent even took pictures of the "offending" parts, however the seller is claiming they have not received the pictures, but will be stopping by the house sometime between noon and 6 p.m. to correct their improper plumbing.  Yay for me!

So I am sitting and will likely continue to sit on the floor of our house with no available facilities for six hours with nothing but my phone to keep me company while my husband and little brother hang out playing video games in Colton.  While I enjoy the peace and quiet, the flies, lack of food, restroom inaccessibility, and the loneliness are overbearing.  At least I have time to work on my synopsis for Silent Symphony.

Audience?

I must admit the main reasons I have not blogged in a while are (1) I have suffered a small case of writer's block, (2) I have been very busy working my day job, and (3) I have been rather disheartened lately about my writing in general. In the back,quiet, more rational side of my brain, I fully understand how crazy people's lives can get, but the louder side of my brain is crying out saying "look what I did!! Be proud of me and enjoy my work."

So to appease my simple-sided self, if you are reading this, do me a favor and leave a comment. I would love to know how many actually read this and how many views are just tracking sites.

Work & Pleasure

My work has been interesting lately.  I have a new project that started up on Monday and I am in the process of getting everything fully operational.  One of the most challenging parts is being completely useless in the entire process.  A bunch of guys with a lot more experience than I possess have taken over a large portion of my tasks which works out to be exceptionally beneficial in the long run for a variety of reasons, but has left me feeling rather obsolete.

On the plus side, terrifying, new challenges are cropping up which at least pose interesting puzzlers. This entire situation gives me new perspective on how my characters should react when they feel useless. Ali especially will have a hard time with this throughout the story.

I am really looking forward to working on LT this weekend and maybe working on my synopsis as well. Ms. Jackson clarified her submission requirements, so I need to drastically reduce my synopsis to 1 or 2 pages. My little brother had been reading SS in his free time so I look forward to his comments and will likely need to make substantial revisions. I'm toying with submitting first, just to see her comments before revising, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to give her an unfinished product.