Howdy folks! Yeah, I know, you thought I fell off of the planet, didn't you? While it was busy doing its thing, rotating every 24 hours and revolving around the sun once a year, I did not fight the gravitational pull and go flying off the Earth. Didn't happen. Would have been quite the story for some science magazine if I had, huh? Anyway, now that I have put your fears at bay, I know you will rest easier now.

I have, however, been a busy bee. Day job work, of course, has been keeping me hopping. And as much as I wanted the design muse to pay me a visit, it hasn't happened. Instead, the writing muse has taken up residence and shows no signs of going away... So... every scrap of every spare moment I've had, I've been writing. Working on my book. I've written 156 pages since mid-November. Nearly 78,000 words. And I'm not even close to being done. It doesn't sound like a lot for the amount of time that has passed, but I didn't write at all in December and hardly any in February. And it's been so off and on that I'd say I've spent about a month within that time actually working on it, some days more than others. Some days not much at all.

When I get an idea, I don't know what the end result is going to be. I probably do everything completely backwards, but so far (I'm writing my second book), it has worked for me. I write whichever parts I feel like (I started writing this book in what is the equivalent of chapter four, then went back later and wrote the chapters prior to that) when I feel like writing them. If I get stuck, I move on to another part. I leave myself notes in ALL CAPS to go back and write bits in later, along with my thoughts about what needs to go into that slot. For me, it's like I have the germ of an idea and I need to just let it fly and see where it goes. I didn't even come up with a key part of the story until earlier this week!

Which brings me to a public announcement of what may be supreme idiocy: I don't plot my story in advance. I don't do any sort of outline. For this one, I had a very short list of factual statements I knew would be truths in this fictional world I created, but beyond that, I just took off and started writing. I usually have an idea of what sorts of people the characters will be, but I often find myself getting to the point where they start writing themselves and saying things that I don't expect in the midst of dialog. That is when the muse is really working, really cranking, to the point that it feels like my fingers on the keyboard are just a conduit to get the story out of my brain... sometimes in ways I couldn't have imagined when I started. It's hard to explain and I don't feel I'm doing a good job of it. But sometimes, it writes itself and I have no idea where it's coming from!

I'm not sure if this is a weird way of writing or not. The writing seminars and things I've gone to -- the authors always say organizing yourself beforehand is important. But for me, I find it much easier and better to just fly by the seat of my pants. Does that mean they're right and I'm wrong? I don't think so (although considering the advice was coming from published authors, maybe they are... I just haven't shopped my already-written book around yet, so who knows if it sucks or is good -- we'll see what Robin says when she finishes it... I haven't gotten feedback on it in a few years and she was lucky enough to snag a copy yesterday).

In keeping with the vein I mentioned above of the story writing itself and not expecting how it unfolds, this second book is turning out a LOT racier than the first one. I'm not sure what that means, or if the different characters dictated it, or what. I certainly didn't set out to write it the way it has shaped up, so I wonder where that came from or why it is that way. Am I weird for not knowing? I'm trying to decide if I keep it that way or tone it down. I probably won't even make that decision until I'm done with it. Maybe not even until after I've had a few people read it for me. We'll see, I guess.

In the meantime, I have day job work calling and a big argument scene for my book buffeting around in my brain, just dying for the end of my regular work day so I can actually spew it out into the Word document that houses my creation thus far. (And yes, I've got it backed up about five different places.)

So pardon my infrequent comings and goings here. The muse has moved in, and I'm going to hang with her as long as she'll stay. I hope it is for a while and I can actually finish my first draft in the next month or so.

Both Robin and Melinda tagged me on this one via email... so here goes:

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:37 a.m.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the movies? I don't even remember. Seriously. Neither one of us likes to go out to the movies though -- we'd rather watch stuff on DVD at home.
4. What is your favorite TV show? Right now, it's Lost. But I change on this frequently.
5. What do you eat for breakfast? I don't eat breakfast usually.
6. What is your middle name? Marie
7. What food do you dislike? cauliflower
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Robert Plant & Alison Krauss "Raising Sand"
9. What kind of car do you drive? Ford Explorer
10. Favorite sandwich? ham & cheddar on rye
11. Favorite item of clothing? my Styx t-shirt I got when I saw them live last time... the artwork on the front looks like a tattoo.
12. Person dead or alive that you would like to have a conversation with? my grandparents, both of them. I have so much to share with them since they passed away last year.
13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? Scotland for a return trip, but there are so many other places I want to go: London, Paris, Italy, Germany, Vancouver... the list is long.
14. What color is your bathroom? the one upstairs is in blues and terra cotta; the one downstairs is in blues and pale yellow.
18. Favorite Sport to watch? football
19. Farthest place you are sending this? I don't know... I have not figured out who I am tagging yet.
20. Who do you expect to send this back to you? Not sure, see answer to #19.
21. Person you expect to send it back first? Not sure, see answer to #19.
22. Favorite saying? "and such" (which my husband started saying a while back all of the time and now everyone else is too)
24. Are you a morning person or a night person? I'm a late afternoon/early evening person!
25. What is your shoe size? 11
26. Favorite food for Dinner? a big chef salad.
27. What did you want to be when you were little? A writer
28. What are you doing today? day job work and emails.
29. What is your favorite candy? pretty much anything chocolate
30. What is your favorite flower? blue hydrangea, calla lilies, lavender (for scent)
31. What day are you looking forward to most on your calendar? a few weekends from now when my parents visit. OH! And the next Altered Art Chicks meeting, because we haven't all gotten together since JANUARY!
32. What are you listening to right now? the sound of my furnace, the dog across the street barking incessantly (shut up already!), the quiet hum of one of my external hard drives.
33. What was the last thing you ate ? potato chips with my sandwich for lunch
34. Do you wish on stars? sometimes
35. Do you believe in Angels? Yes
36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? periwinkle blue
37. What is your pet peeve? rude people, unsafe drivers, people who have an unnecessary sense of entitlement about something
38. Last person you spoke to on the phone? my husband Mike
39. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes -- both of them rock!!
40. Favorite soft drink? Cherry Coke Zero
41. Favorite restaurant? Rock 'n' Joes
42. Siblings? 1
43. Favorite day of the year? Christmas
44. Favorite day of the Week? Saturday
45. Spring or Fall: Fall
46. Hugs or kisses? both please!
47. Chocolate or vanilla? chocolate
48. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? this doesn't really apply since I'm posting on my blog but I hope whoever I tag plays along.
49. What is under your bed? out-of-season clothes, shoes, and heaven knows what else... extra bedding, I think.
50. Who is the friend you've had longest? Susie -- since sixth grade (since I fell out of touch with Colleen from 1st grade)
51. What did you do last night? watched TV with Mike, did some Sudoku puzzles
52. Favorite smell? the smell of wood smoke on a crisp fall or winter evening, lavender, my husband (really!)
53. What are you afraid of? losing people I love.
54. How many keys on your key ring? 3
55. How many years at your current job? almost 8.
56. Favorite city to visit? Toronto
57. How many towns have you lived in? 9
58. Do you make friends easily? Close friends - not really (although sometimes I just click with someone).

Okay, now I get to tag some folks... I think rather than get specific, I'll tag my lovely and talented readers. If you play along, either link me back to your blog in the comments or reply in the comments directly with your answers! Can't wait to read yours!

You know, I've been doing laundry for a long time now. I always thought I was pretty good at it -- I mean, as good as a person can be with laundry. But lately, I've been questioning my abilities. I'm starting to think I'm so-so (dare I say merely mediocre?) at this clothes-washing thing.

Pretty much, if it's a clothing item, it gets washed in cold. I've been this way for as long as I can remember -- don't forget, I'm very tall and I can't afford my pants or my sleeves to shrink up at all, so I wash in cold. A lot of my stuff, I hang-dry, because, as I said, I cannot afford shrinkage or I walk around looking like none of my clothes fit.

I remember in high school, man, it was hard to find clothes for tall people like me. I wanted so desperately to have cool clothes (thank GOD cropped pants were in then is all I can say), and so often, I was reduced to pulling my jeans out of the washing machine, standing on the bottom hems and tugging the waistband up as hard as I could, trying to eke out a few more millimeters in length. It worked, sorta. Either that, or I really did look like I was waiting for a flood and I just don't remember. The "pulled" jeans would be hung on a laundry line in the basement to dry. I still hang-dry my jeans and pants today, although I've found it a lot easier to locate long hem lengths as I've gotten older, so I no longer have to do the "pulling routine."

Back to my current laundry problems. There is nothing wrong with my clothes, since I hang dry a lot of them. But lately, I think either Mike is growing longer arms, or I've gotten bad at doing his laundry. At least three shirts have shrunk in the last few months. I dry anything I put in the dryer on the low/delicates setting, so it's not like my dryer is that hot. And like I said earlier, I wash everything in cold water. I cannot for the life of me figure out why this is happening all of a sudden. Is the man like Stretch Armstrong? Or are some of his shirts suddenly developing a shrinking mind of their own? I have no clue. I've stopped drying those particular shirts in the dryer and have done a modified "pulling" routine on the sleeves (using both hands, with no standing on the garment necessary). Then I hang-dry them.

Poor Mike must think I'm doing something funny to his clothes all of a sudden. Either that, or I'm married to Stretch Armstrong after all. But only in the arms.