Happy holidays from Great Wolf Lodge! (aka why there's no #WIPWednesday this week)

Hubs and I surprised the kids with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas this year, so even though I'm terribly behind on Tall, Dark and Deported, I haven't been writing this week. I have, however, probably swallowed more chlorine than anyone should in a lifetime and gone on a million magic quests in the last two days.

If you aren't familiar with Great Wolf Lodge, it's a chain of amusement park style hotels in the Midwest that have huge indoor water parks and a gazillion other kid-friendly activities. Pretty much hell on earth for parents, but a dream Christmas for kids. *g*

My kids have been having a blast, from the log cabin they're sleeping in inside our room and having ice cream hours past their bedtime to the water park and the magic quest game that has us racing up and down hallways and stairwells for hours a day solving puzzles and casting spells with wands. I'm going to need a vacation from our vacation, but with the Tall, Dark and Deported deadline looming, that's not going to happen. Mommy needs a drink.

Happy Holidays (or should that be Howlidays?)! I'll see you next week for #WIPWednesday, and I promise I won't come empty handed.

WIP Wednesday: arts and crafts interlude

I'm a little burnt out on writing, to be honest. So I didn't accomplish much since last week on the manuscript fronts, though I did get in a few good quality thinks about where a few of the ones that are stalled are going to go. Every once in awhile I think it helps me to step back and just take some time to do other things and let my words rest. *g*

The break meant I was finally able to get the plan for my kitchen remodel finalized with my contractor, and we went in and ordered my new cabinets last week. I'm now tasked with the impossible feat of choosing a type of granite for my countertops--right now it's between uba tuba and black pearl, but that might just be because it's fun to make my contractor say "uba tuba". I take my amusements where I can get them. I'm probably going to make the mature choice and go with black pearl, because adults don't choose several thousand dollars' worth of granite for countertops just because it has a funny name.

When I'm not writing I love to paint and tinker. I didn't want to let myself get too far off my writing schedule, so painting was out. Instead, I tackled a project that's been on my radar since early spring--I made a terrarium.

Maybe Pottery Barn doesn't realize
you're just going to put dirt in it?

I've been lusting over something like this one from Pottery Barn or this one from Gardner's Outpost

What's more distressed about this
Gardener's  model: the paint or the price?

for a while, and either would look great in my new kitchen. (Which isn't even under construction yet, but a girl can dream. In about a month to six weeks I'm going to be very, very irritable while walls are being moved and the kitchen demo is going on, FYI.) But at $200-$400 for the Pottery Barn models or $150 for the other one, a terrarium costs much more than I could justify spending, especially since it's something I could make myself.

See, I do this all the time. I find something interesting, but I balk at the price because it's something that I'd be capable of making if I had infinite time. Which I don't. So I always pass on things because I plan to make one later, and then I never do it. But this time? This time I did! It even has hinges on the top to let the little doors open so I can reach inside.

Mine isn't quite as fancy as the deluxe models, but it is actually more my style. And it's going to go perfectly with my new white Shaker-style cabinets and dark granite countertops. Best of all, it's going to stop the cats from eating my herbs and then puking them up around the house for me to step in later. WINNING.

The entire thing cost me less than $10 to make, which is fortunate because that cabinet bill just about made me laugh until I cried.

Failure to Adult

Like it says on the tin, as the saying goes, today's post is about me and my general failure to adult as it pertains to me missing #WIPWednesday last week.

Not that my propensity toward bad adulting is news, mind you, but I've been doing so much better lately. Hubby and I updated our will, switched financial planners, started a few new mutual funds, refinanced the mortgage and finally called an exterminator to come capture the gigantic woodchuck who claimed our backyard as his two years ago.

So you know, adulting. I've been doing it. Especially in light of the fact that I started my first non-freelance job in years last month, which has involved a lot of actual adult expectations like not wearing pajamas all day. I'm working at a library and loving it. I mean, how could I not? I'm pretty sure I was born to talk about books, and now it's literally my job.

It's been hard adjusting to scheduled work times, though. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty sure I'd cry if I actually did the math and figured out just exactly how much of my new salary was going to the childcare expenses we didn't have when I was working from home. But I digress.

Last Wednesday's failure to adult was epic, not because it was huge but because it went on for pretty much the entire day. It started with me dashing out of the house without shoes because I was already late for my early morning all-staff meeting. It was my first one and the director was going to be speaking, so I didn't want to be late. (I did realize my lack of shoes before I pulled out of the driveway.)

All the coffee, all the time.

I was so harried, in fact, that I didn't have my morning cup of coffee at home. Those of you who know me can attest to the fact that I'm not fully functional until I've had at least one, the stronger the better. Well, in my campaign to be a better adult, I'd finally broken down and run a cleaning cycle on my Keurig. With white vinegar. Anyone see where this is going?

While I did the responsible thing and ran a few cycles through the machine with the vinegar, at some point I must have stepped away to break up a sibling wrestling match or rescue kittens from a burning tree or possibly I just got distracted by something shiny, as I am wont to do.

Anyway, I didn't run the full reservoir of vinegar through the machine. Fast forward to the next morning as I dash out of the kitchen with a freshly brewed travel mug in hand, sans shoes, and bolt for work. I didn't check the traffic like I usually do, and I paid for it by getting myself stuck in a traffic jam that very nearly made me late for my morning meeting. You know, the one with the ENTIRE staff of my new workplace.

Usually by the time I come in for the day someone has opened the parking lot, but since it was still early the automated arm was down. Not a problem, necessarily, since I have the card to open it. But I have tiny T-Rex arms, which meant after several failed waves of the card by the machine I had to actually put my car in park and get out to open the damn thing...while my co-workers piled up at the entrance behind me, waiting for me and my tiny arms to get my shit together.

On the bright side though, I was on time. I congratulated myself on getting there before the meeting started, and I settled myself into a chair and even gloated a bit that the shoes I'd tossed on after running back inside for a pair even matched. Adulting! I was doing it.

And then I took a sip of my coffee, right as the director started speaking.

The coffee that had been brewed using white vinegar instead of water because I'd walked away mid-Keurig cleaning.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the taste and smell of vinegar? I can't stand it. I won't eat most hot sauces because of it, and walking into a place that serves fried fish with malt vinegar is enough to make me gag.

And I'd just taken a healthy swig of vinegar coffee. With cream, which had curdled and had the delightful mouth feel of day-old vomit.

Somehow, I managed to swallow it and not do a spit-take during the director's speech. And after absentmindedly taking a second sip a minute or two later (see above statement in re: Bru's functionality without caffeine), I even put it under my chair so I wouldn't forget and drink it again.

And then a spider came down from the ceiling and landed on my hand. I somehow managed not to scream and brushed it off, earning a concerned look from one of my coworkers but otherwise escaping notice. Until the fucker came back, and I noticed him crawling up my sweater. After frantically smacking myself in the breast, I decided my co-workers' opinion of me probably couldn't suffer more than it already had, I turned to the person next to me and muttered something about a gigantic spider of doom. She just smiled and swiped its silk out of the air and tossed it to the side, which I totally could have done if my introduction to it hadn't involved it swinging in front of my face, ninja style.

Anyway, my day didn't get much better from there. I was stuck with the taste of curdled milk and vinegar in my mouth for most of it, helped along by the fact that I'd forgotten my lunch in my shoeless dash out the door.

So by the time I came home, I was grumpy, starving and still more than a little queasy because my kitchen still smelled like the delightful hot vinegar coffee I'd had the misfortune to swill that morning. Which is why there was no #WIPWednesday last week. Do you absolve me of my sin, dear readers?

Lost: Motivation. If found, please return!

photosteve101/Creative Commons

Last year went out with a bang for me, but 2015 has started with a fizzle. I'll admit that scheduling three new releases in December was probably a bad idea--I was majorly burnt out by the end, and my WIPs have been stagnating because of some pretty ferocious writer's block.

We've also been struggling to get my son's med dosages right, and he's floundering a bit. Screaming tantrums and wild mood swings don't make it easy to write--and I'm including mine in there along with his. It's been a tough road lately, but we're coming through the other side soon, I hope.

He was absolutely amazed to see that my latest novel, Playing House, was dedicated to him. He knew it was about a character who had autism, like him, but he didn't realize that he was a big part of the reason I wrote it. So that was a bright point last month, getting to see the look on his face when he read the dedication. (And then promptly begged to read the book, which I had to yet again deny. He's an avid reader and wants to read all my books, but I've told him he has to be at least eighteen. And I've also promised that when he is eighteen he's going to want absolutely NOTHING to do with Mama's books...*g*)

I spent November getting a good solid start on my first YA book, so that's high on my WIP list for 2015. I'll be looking for a few good betas for that, since it's not a genre I'm hugely familiar with, so if you're good at YA pacing and dialogue drop me a line. Maybe if I had someone asking me for updates I'd be more likely to finish it up sooner rather than later!

Between the three book releases, holiday madness, and my son's struggles, I didn't have a lot of time or motivation to write in December. I started a lesbian short story (my first in that genre, and something I'd really like to finish even if I can't find it a publishing home), dabbled a bit on a paranormal manuscript that I've been pecking at for years, and shuffled things around in a few other WIPs I've been procrastinating on. I logged a total of about 10K words across those projects. All in all, not a great month.

The kids are finally back in school, even though the weather has caused closings and delays. Hopefully that will be behind us soon and I can get back into a regular writing groove--I miss it, and I'm worried at this rate that I won't have anything out in 2015!

I need to figure out how to unlock my motivation for 2015. My current plan is to fake it til I can make it...basically getting myself in front of my laptop and writing anything I can, even when I don't want to. What do you do when your motivation is nowhere to be found and your WIPs are piling up?

(No really, what do you do? Because I'm open to suggestions... *g*)

Finally back up to speed! (And that speed is slow. But still.)

The view from the comfy chair in my study. Where I
spent a lot of time recovering from that pesky pulled ab.

I know I'd posted that I was good as new and back to writing, but then I had a recovery set-back that quite literally landed me on my ass for two weeks. Who knew you could pull an ab muscle? Or that I even had ab muscles under all this untoned glory? Apparently it's a fairly common complication when patients get back into exercise after a hysterectomy with muscle repair. I've always had a love-hate relationship with running, but when I ended up on the sidewalk throwing up after 2 miles? Yeah, definitely hate-hate.

But I really am all mended now. I took the good advice that a few of you gave me and took it easy, and I'm happy to say that I'm back to running again (but not a 2 mile sprint two months after major abdominal surgery...that was not my brightest idea). So I'm back up to speed, even if that speed is much slower than I'd like it to be.





I spent a few days in April in Portland with a great group of Dreamspinner Press authors at the annual Dreamspinner Press Author's Workshop, and I came home revitalized and ready to get back to writing.

While my progress on training for a half-marathon are slow thanks to my surgery and set-back, my creative muscles are working overtime plugging along at a merry pace on my latest manuscript. I'm settled back into a normal writing routine, which has brought a flurry of productivity both on Playing House (the third in the Dropping Anchor series) and in other areas.

The Barnacle in her
sparkly Anna dress.

Does anyone else have a spike in general creativity when they're writing regularly? When I make the effort to get my butt in the chair and write a certain amount daily I tend to suddenly have urges to start other creative projects. (And not as a procrastination method...in addition to the writing! *g*)

A poorly lit shot of my great
new chevron headboard.

So far I'm 25K into the Playing House manuscript, and I've managed to make my daughter an Anna costume (from Frozen), rescreen a patio door to allow for a nice cross-breeze while I'm writing in my study, build an adorable headboard (from scratch!) for my bedroom, experiment with making my own organic hair styling wax (it's working pretty well) and deodorant (it's not), and make wildflower seed paper with the kids for their teacher cards. (You can plant the paper flowers they made and real flowers will grow. How cool is that?)

Hair wax...in old
Easter eggs, since
I didn't have
containers.

What nonwriting things do you do when your creativity is spiked?

Back in the saddle

I try not to focus much on personal drama here, since I'd much rather talk about my characters than myself. But I wanted to explain my inactivity, both here and to a lesser degree on Twitter, over the last few months.

Me with my Bon Voyage Uterus
button. We sent it off with a bang!

I found out two months ago that I needed a total abdominal hysterectomy, and it threw me for a loop. I'm a healthy 34 year old runner and yoga devotee with two small children. The news that I needed a surgery that would by all accounts leave me exhausted and fairly immobile for months afterward was not welcome at all.

The good news is that Hubs and I are happy with two children and hadn't planned on more. In fact, part of the reason I needed the hysterectomy was how poorly my body handled those pregnancies, so aside from a slight freak-out about being this young and losing my uterus and cervix (did I mention I'm 34? 34!!) and three months off my half marathon training schedule, it wasn't a huge upset. Especially since my surgeon was confident she'd be able to save at least one ovary, which is apparently all you need to keep you from going into menopause. (Spoiler alert: she managed to save BOTH, because my surgeon is kick-ass).

My giant pink sparkly uterus.

My friends and I decided to send my uterus and its entourage off with a bang, so we had a Bon Voyage Uterus party that involved twelve of us going out in public to drink and have a raucous good time while sporting fabulous uterus buttons and toting around a giant pink sparkly uterus to hang from whatever table or bar we were near. My 7-year-old son even helped me make tiny uteruses that hung from our drink straws by their fallopian tubes. It's safe to say we made a pretty big splash--people approached us all night to find out what we were doing and toast my faulty uterus.

Party favors!

Since my surgeon made it clear that the only option for my surgery was a full abdominal incision (I've had two c-sections and a previous uterine surgery, which makes for a lot of complications), I decided to give my hysterectomy a silver lining and pair it with a tummy tuck. See, I managed to lose all my baby weight after both kids pretty quickly. But I'd been heavy before those pregnancies, so even after getting back to normal I'd still been overweight. But in the last two years I've lost 50lbs, which left me with a lot of extra skin. My plastic surgeon and my OBGYN surgeon agreed that this was the ideal time to deal with that, since both surgeries require an incision in the same place.

Fabulous slippers made of maxi pads
from my friends to wear into the OR!

I had my surgeries two weeks ago today. After a few days in the hospital I was able to come home and take up residence on the couch, but I've needed a lot of help around the house. Having a preschooler and an autistic first grader is a lot of work, and with the restrictions my surgeries have placed on me (no lifting more than 5lbs, no bending, nothing that engages my core, which is harder than you'd think, and a lot of rest and relaxation), things have been tough. Luckily my husband has been a star through all this and I have a great group of friends and family who have come to my aid. The thought that I have four more weeks of this is daunting, but I'll be released to drive next week, which will make things a lot easier. Yay!

Through all this I've also been trying not to neglect my writing, which is hard when my laptop exceeds my lifting limit and I can't sit upright for more than an hour without needing a nap. But I'm happy to report that a group of us have put together a fabulous anthology of short stories that focus on workplace romances titled All in a Day's Work, and that has been queried, and I'm hopeful about it getting picked up. I'm also in the second stage of editing for my short novella Branded, which will be part of the 2014 Dreamspinner Daily Dose in June. It's a fantasy historical, which is a big departure from my contemporary comfort zone. It was fun to world build and make up names!

Finding Home will be entering the editing queue soon for its mid-summer release, and I'm starting work on the third novel in the Dropping Anchor series, Playing House. I have a June 1 deadline with that one, which I admit makes me nervous. I hadn't planned on this surgery and its bodacious amount of recovery time when I promised that one, so it's going to be tight. But I love these characters, so that makes it easier. I'm excited to immerse myself in their lives again. We'll get to see a bit more of Niall and Ethan (Island House) and Ian and Luke (Finding Home), but the primary focus in Playing House will be Frank and Warner. When pediatrician Warner decides its time for the couple to adopt, it sends Frank into a tailspin. He'd never planned for children, and he doesn't think he can raise someone else's child. The two men have to navigate the ups and downs of this monumental decision--and the effect it will have on their future together--but they don't have to do it alone. The cast of characters we've seen throughout the Dropping Anchor series are there to help them through it, and Frank learns a lot about himself and what he's capable of with their assistance.

I'm also thrilled to announce that I'll be at the 2014 GayRomLit in Illinois as a Supporting Author. I'm so excited to be there alongside a fabulous list of Featured and Supporting Authors, and I'm looking forward to the chance to meet with readers for the first time.

As you can see, there's a lot going on for this recuperating author. Fingers crossed that the healing process is a quick and easy one! I'm back in the saddle, but the horse isn't moving faster than a walk. *g*

Top 10 things I've said this polar vortex

The kids did some snow
experiments before the
temperature plummeted.

This post also could have been titled "The reason my manuscript isn't finished yet," since the uber cold weather and foot of snow has extended the kids' winter break and kept them home this week. 

These are precious days I'm losing, since Finding Home is due Jan. 15. I'm in the home stretch, but it's hard to write with a chorus of "MOMMY!" and "S/he took my..." in the background.

We sent Hubs out in his ski gear to blow
bubbles when it was -13F. They froze!

We live in the Midwest so cold winters are nothing new, but this blast of arctic air is more than even we hearty Hoosiers can handle. Indiana's in a deep freeze the likes of which I've never seen, and I've lived here on and off for the last thirty years. Luckily we haven't been part of the tens of thousands here in Indianapolis who have lost power during the cold snap, so at least there's that. We do have a few frozen pipes (they haven't burst yet, fingers crossed!) and a definite case of cabin fever, though.

Since I'm not writing useful words for my manuscript, I thought I'd at least share what's going on here in the Baker household instead.

Top 10 things I've said this polar vortex:

10. Did you remember to leave a faucet dripping?
9. Put on some socks.
8. I don't care if you don't like them, in this family we wear pants when it's below zero.
7. Get off of your sister/brother.
6. No seriously, put on some socks.
5. Please don't cancel school, please don't cancel schoo...shit.
4. Yeah, well, that's what happens when you run in the house.
3. If I have to separate you two myself no one is going away happy.
2. DO YOU WANT TO LOSE A TOE? PUT ON THE SOCKS.
1. Go to your room.

 U.S. friends, wherever you are, I hope you're staying warm and safe. And if you're one of the lucky bastards in Anchorage where it's 32 degrees, don't forget the sunscreen when you go out in your bikini. 

Renaissance Bru and book release goodies questions!

Lady Barnacle and Sir Bub had an awesome time.

We've been busy here in the Baker household with the start of school and the weekly October birthdays, but I'm finally out from under the stress of planning an enormous joint birthday party for the kiddos that involved taking twenty children and their adults to a Renaissance Faire a few towns over. Needless to say, the momentous occasion of the Barnacle turning 4 and the Bub turning 7 was feted with appropriate grandeur. For reasons I still don't understand, I found it necessary to not only make elaborate favors for all the guests but also make my own costume. It's important to note that I'm deathly afraid the sewing machine my in-laws gave me a few Christmases ago, so I made my costume with hot glue. And it rained all day. I count myself very lucky that my costume didn't disintegrate...but what a story that would have been, eh?

I've been lazy about blog and website upkeep in between frantic birthday planning. It's hard to type with hot glue burns on your fingertips, anyway. Plus I was busy getting Island House through its final edits, redesigning my web banners, and writing a few new things that are in the submission pipeline now. But think of it this way: radio silence from me usually means more books are on the way! And look, you get a picture of adorable children and me and Hubs making fools of ourselves to make up for it. *g*

On that note, I'm pleased to announce that even though my holiday novella wasn't picked up for Dreamspinner Press' Advent Calendar this year, it was contracted as a stand-alone release in December 2014. Delayed gratification, thy name is Late Bloomer. It'll be worth the wait, I promise! I'll also have a few more future release announcements later in the month.

I'm also ramping up for release parties  and general hullabaloo for next month's release of my first novel, Island House. I'll be doing a release party on Dreamspinner Press' blog and probably taking over its Twitter for a bit, so I'm looking for ideas from you about what you as a reader look for in a release extravaganza. Do you like contests to win a free copy of the book? Do you want book-related swag? Charm bracelets? Gift cards? Post cards and magnets with pretty men on them? Posts introducing the characters? Snippets that didn't make it into the book?

Throw me some ideas for what YOU'D like to see happen during release week for Island House. This is my first book in paperback, and I'm excited to do it up right!

Back from the beach, heading to the Bay

The beach, just a few steps from our door.

The beach!

 My blog and Twitter have been a bit dark lately, even though I have the best of intentions (I did, I swear) of updating while I was on vacation. It'll be easy, I thought. I'll get so much done at the beach! The kids will be worn out from playing in the water all day, and I'll get to sit out on the big porch and listen to the waves crash while I finish my latest book.

In a perfect world, my kids would be angels and I'd be done with my Christmas anthology novella submission for Dreamspinner Press. The one that's due Aug. 1. (Oy.) But I don't live in a perfect world, and I don't know why I always romanticize vacation so. The Bub and the Barnacle are hyperactive whirlwinds at home, and they're twice as bad on the road. In reality, I actually lost 2,000 words on my latest manuscript because my laptop battery had a heart attack of some sort (sob), my kids slept about a total of 12 hours the entire week, and I now have first-hand knowledge that the going rate for a hooker at the gas station in OMG-is-this-actually-a-town North Carolina is $20 for half an hour.

Dark and foggy at 1 p.m. Guess
this is why they
call them the Smokies?

("Mom! That guy is paying money to spend time with that lady! Can I ask people who talk to me for money?" "No, son. No.")

Road trip shenanigans.

We also had less-than-perfect weather for our drive. We're Midwesterners, so mountains are a foreign concept. Driving through them in the rain and fog with two bored children who like to try to out-shriek each other with inane noises when they're bored? Not something I'd recommend.


We did have fun, though. And now I kind of want to write something historical with pirates after spending some time out on the open sea on The Black Dagger with a fierce (but tiny) pirate crew.

The Barnacle, who opted for a fierce
pirate mustache with her doo-rag.

The Bub, firing water cannons off a pirate ship.

In a few days, I'm dropping the kiddos off with the in-laws and heading off to San Francisco to visit friends and belatedly celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary (hey, Hubs and I are getting it in before our 11th, which is in August, so it counts, right?). I have every intention of writing, Tweeting, and blogging while I'm gone, but you know me... *g*