The new design is courtesy of the fabulous Andi Mancuso of Andi Mancuso Studios. Andi is fantastic to work with. If you need some web design help, that’s where I suggest you start looking. Really, go now. Look at the portfolio. It’s okay, I’ll wait.

Also new and improved: My consistency! Hey, at least I’ve posted more than once this month. It’s a work in progress, alright? Speaking of which, back to work.

L has a weekly “Guided Reading Home Study”. Each night we do a different activity based around a book the teacher sends home. For the past month or so, the last homework assignment for each week has been the “New Ending Story Log”. Wherein, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed, the boy has to make up a new ending for the story.

I try to stay out of this as much as possible. I love to make up stories, and I’m not just talking about the ones I use to weasel out of speeding tickets. Umm, nevermind. Forget that last bit. Anyway, I try to give the kid his space when it comes to this exercise.

These are some of the new endings he’s come up with recently:

I’m so proud.

I’m racking my brain for short story ideas, because I really want to put something out on submission by the end of the month, just to prove to myself that I Can Do This. So far, not much luck. It would help if I could find my idea notebook, I suppose. It’s probably buried under a pile of laundry somewhere.

1) Finish revisions on the current work in progress by March, and have a query letter ready before the Desert Dreams conference in April.

2) Complete at least the rough draft of one more novel this year. That’s aiming low compared to other writers I know, but I’m not them!

3) Write and submit one short story a month. This is probably the hardest one for me, but deadlines do have an amazingly positive effect on my output.

4) Update this site promptly with new publication info, and update the blog on a regular schedule, weekly if not more often. I’ll have a new look for the site later this year, which is super exciting. Hopefully that will keep me motivated!

So what sort of resolutions have you made this year?

Let me introduce you to Brandon. He’s a sax player, tall and gangly, a bit of a geek with a chivalrous streak, and a prankster who’s being sent to the office for swiping the oboe players’ reeds. Who can blame him for that, I ask? Have you ever listened to a novice oboe player? It’s not something I recommend, unless I can recommend it to be considered a form of torture under the Geneva Conventions.

I’m picking up some momentum with this middle section of the book, finally. Throwing challenges at Dani in both the magic and mundane arenas is giving me a chance to really explore her personality.

This scene hit me upside the head with a club and took off running. The characters developed in ways I never planned, a character who wasn’t supposed to be there suddenly stole the scene, a character I hadn’t even conceived of yet just popped into existence. Kieran’s history gained several layers of new detail. The elves became much more fey and wild than I’d anticipated and less comprehensible to mere humans like poor Danielle.

Best of all, the new version of the scene forced my two protagonists into a very difficult situation regarding their personal relationship. Are they strangers forced to work together for the common good? Friends? More than friends? How can they tell when there’s an enchantment clouding Dani’s judgment?

Now I need to go back through the manuscript and change several scenes to reflect this new development (and Kieran’s newly detailed personal history) and make notes on how this affects the as yet unwritten final scene of the book. How exciting!

It doesn’t hurt that this sudden explosion of new details netted me nearly 3000 words before lunchtime.

ETA: And finished out the day with 4068 words. Good thing, too, since a sick toddler kept me busy the rest of the week!

I don’t, for the record, read much horror. And I can’t stand horror movies for the most part, as my imagination likes to run wild with the ideas and images presented. I’m beginning to realize that this isn’t because I have no horror in me.

Apparently I have too much.

I imagine you can guess which of these actually woke me. At least he waited until after 6:00 today. Instead of bothering with the game, we opened up the blinds in the living room and sat admiring the rain.

I’m a pretty lucky lady.

Oh, and for all of you now stuck with a coffee jingle from the 80s cycling through your brain, You’re welcome.

Anyway, my point is that the iPad feels crazy futuristic. This morning I sat at the kitchen table, drinking my coffee while I flipped through news stories scraped from my social media sites. Hubby, passing through the kitchen, stopped to comment on what a very Star Trek moment it was. How true, and how awesome!

This tiny little device (relative to the laptop I’ve been lugging around) not only serves up all the interesting news and entertainment content I could ever want, but it lets me do my writing from wherever I happen to be. Currently that would be in the living room, watching the boys play.

Of course the device isn’t perfect, but so far I’m loving it, and don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. That may change the next time I desperately need access to something served up via Flash. Right now, I’m willing to take that risk.

Oh, and that movie coming soon that you suspect may not be as good as the source material? Yeah, you’re right. Trust me, I know. I’m from the future.

Writer Mama is a compact little book focused on balancing the needs of a family against the demands of a freelance journalism career. It’s a very practical guide written in clear, no-nonsense language with a friendly tone that made me feel like I was reading a lecture from a well-intentioned teacher.

Unfortunately, this is not an avenue that particularly interests me. I was looking for general information on balancing family life and writing, but most of the book focuses on the specifics of defining a journalistic niche, querying editors for freelance assignments, and the nuances of pitching non-fiction works. I’m a fiction writer. I may branch out at some point, but it’s not really on my immediate agenda. As such, a great deal of the meat of this book was of little value or interest to me.

However, there were several sections I found both interesting and useful even for those of us on the fiction side of the fence. The chapter on negotiating sets out the details of the most common types of rights sales, which apply to short fiction as well as non-fiction. Another chapter provides sensible advice about attending writing conferences. Not only why you should go and what to expect, but also what to wear and the most important items to carry with you during the day. This actually has me investigating the local writer’s association, hoping for a conference to check out.

Other topics of interest to all writers include proper bookkeeping for business purposes, building a platform and name recognition, developing multiple income streams, and polishing a book pitch. Some of her tips are fairly obvious, like maintaining a blog or website to build name recognition, but on the whole each of these sections offer the same kind of solid advice as the rest of the book.

All in all, this is a well-written and well-organized guide to freelance journalism for the stay-at-home mom. If I decide to give non-fiction writing a whirl, I’ll definitely pull this book off the shelf again for advice.