Happy New Year's Eve

Hi all,
I want to wish everyone a happy and safe New Year's Eve. Do you do anything special on this night? We used to host huge parties but not any more. They are just so much work. So I will be cuddling with the hubby tonight. Most likely, we will not make it to see the ball drop. Usually, one of will wake up and then wake the other up with a kiss and then back to dreamland for this house. Tomorrow, I will cook a big meal with some nice wine. I like the time together more than the big party scene.

Peace Out,
MRD

Call me Ms. Procrastinator

I feel that I should be made queen of Procrastinator-land. I am a huge procrastinator. I think that I actually have raised it to an art form. I will push off something that I don't want to do until the very last minute and I do it in every aspect of my life. Let's see some examples:

HOME- I hate doing dishes. I don't have a dishwasher, as I have blogged before. For a brief few years of my life, before we got our house, I did have one and my kitchen was one of the cleanest in the land. It was actually the major selling point of the place. When I saw it, all nice and shiny in the kitchen, it was like the heavens opened up and a choir of angels was singing. Now, since I have to use my two hands, the kitchen is perpetually a mess. I am not proud of this. It's a fact. So instead of doing dishes right now, I am blogging. Later, instead of doing dishes, I will be revision my manuscript. I might even take the husband to see a movie and out to lunch instead of doing dishes.  Who knows? I know that it has to be done either today or tomorrow.Don't think that I am a slob. The rest of the house is immaculate.  It's just those damn dishes!

WORK- I am on vacation this week, so it has been work-lite. I could have taken work home but I have devoted one week to my writing. In my work inbox, I received an e-mail from the university where I taught a class last semester. They want me back to teach the same class for the Spring semester. I am procrastinating responding. It was a lot of work. I know that there are a lot of people out there who think that teachers have a cushy job, blah, blah, blah... Well we really don't. I am not going to get on my soapbox here about that topic. I used to hate Tuesdays because of this course. I would have to drive 70 extra mile to get to the college and home. I hate bridges, so I would dive extra to avoid them, especially at night. My car really stinks.  I need brand new tires and the thought of driving on those dark windy roads frightens me to the core. So, if I hated it so much, why am I not sending a response rejecting the offer. I already have committed myself to supervising the homework club after school. I don't know why I haven't sent the letter yet.

So reporting from Procrastinator-land, my name is Marie Rose Dufour, and I'm signing off!

MRD

Shoveling really stinks

OMG! I have actually been down for the count for the past two days because of shoveling. The husband's back was acting up and couldn't do anymore shoveling. So, I had to do it. My neighbor usually takes pity on us but his snowblower died and he also wasn't feeling well. I was totally on my own. I don't want to sound bitter but all my sister had to do was put on Facebook that her snowblower wasn't working and my brother loaded his up in the truck and went over to get rid of the snow in her driveway. When I asked if he could just do the pile at the end, which I offered $20 for his gas (I can almost guarantee that my sister didn't offer), I was told that he had already put it away and wasn't going to struggle to get it into the truck again. I said a giant FU to the universe and did it myself but paid for it. My arms hurt so much yesterday that I could barely fasten my bra! I spent the whole day yesterday napping on the couch. I even had sandwiches delivered for dinner. I am feeling better today. Although, my mother reminded me about my birthday coming up (I would rather not celebrate it.  Thank you very much.) So a few errands to run today and then some much needed writing. I feel like I'm falling behind on my goal of getting this manuscript out by the end of the week. I think that it is realistic but not writing yesterday made me feel behind and unproductive.

Peace Out,
MRD

Snowed in

I don't know how much snow is covering my driveway right now but I would have to say that it is over a foot and still coming down.  The husband went out last night and shoveled at least 6 inches but you can't tell right now. We are officially having a blizzard. So, the first day of my vacation is going to be spent indoors. I plan on doing some writing. I have been doing a lot of revising on my manuscript and like it more and more. I actually had an epiphany about the "head popping".  What I am going to do is make it dialogue. So instead of hearing what is going on inside everyone's head and having a passive paragraph, I am going to make it active. I also think that it would be a good example of "showing, not telling".

It is a brief blog today but I hope to do some work before the husband gets up and asks me to help with the shoveling.

Peace out,
MRD

Happy Holidays

It has been crazy here in the house. At 2:15 today, I will be officially on vacation until January 3rd. Ironically, I go back to work on my birthday, which really stinks. I wish I could tell you that I am totally prepared right now for Christmas but it would be a lie. I still have to buy a few things but thankfully most of what I need to buy are gift cards and I can get them all in one place. I still have to buy a few things for the husband. I haven't decided if you is on the nice or naughty list this year but I will still probably cut him some slack.

We have been having snow showers for days, I was hoping for a snow day because I despise the white stuff but that was a no-go! All of the kids at school have been crazy with the holiday and vacation coming.  I keep on telling myself that it is almost over! I actually can't believe how quickly this year is going by.

I have been diligently revising and editing my manuscript. I am hoping to send it out to new publishers next week. I think that this time I will be sending it out to multiple ones at the same time.  I am determined to have this published.

Have a great holiday and new year,
MRD

After rejection, comes reflection

After complaining about not getting a response on my manuscript, I sent an inquiry letter in which I received an almost immediate response. The editor had read my partial and requested  the whole manuscript. I thought that this was a good sign because they wanted to see more of my writing. Ultimately, not even a few hours after I sent the completed manuscript, I received a rejection e-mail. So, I started reflecting on the feedback. Here it is:

The Good (Always start with the good, isn't that universal?)

1. The editor really liked my base story. The basis of the story was solid and she wanted to read more about it. Since the basis is the bones of the story, I took this as a good sign.
2. It wasn't rejected right away.  The editor wanted to read more of the manuscript.  I consider this another good sign. To me, it means that my writing doesn't TOTALLY stink.
3. She really liked my hero. She thought that he was a well developed and interesting character.
4. The editor liked my sex scenes.  She thought they were incredibly hot.

So the "goods" made me feel optimistic.  Then...

The Bad (With the good, always comes the bad, but I consider it part of the reflecting process of becoming a better writer.)

1.  The editor thought there should be more "meat" to the story.  I understand this. So, I am taking this as meaning that parts of the story should have been more developed. I actually agree with this. After reading, my manuscript, I feel it needed "more".
2.  She didn't like my female heroine as much. She thought that she needed a lot of work. This is one of the places that needed to have more "meat". I don't think that she was as well developed as the hero. (I wonder what it means that I write better about men than women. Could I always be thinking about men? Hmmm...)
3. The editor found a few places confusing because I "head pop". I will have to revise my manuscript with a lens on point of view, apparently in a few places, there is not one clear POV.
4. Lastly, I need to proofread my manuscript better.  This, I totally understand. As anyone who has every read anything by me knows, this is the weakest part of my writing. An example of this mistake happened to me this morning. I responded to an e-mail using some one's pen name instead of their real name. I sent a follow-up email, blaming the lack of coffee and the fact that it was 4:30 am but who am I fooling, it was because I didn't proofread my writing before I hit the send button.

All in all, I think that the "good" is very solid and the "bad" is fixable. So this week and especially next, when I am on vacation, I am going to work on my manuscript and send it to another publisher.

Peace Out,
MRD

Have you ever?

Have you ever just stared at the computer screen and nothing? I have been staring at the computer for about an hour and I have no ideas.  To be all fair, my staring at the computer screen has nothing to do with my writing.  It has to do with my day job.  I have to create agendas for some meetings this week and I have no idea of what to talk about.  This block only started this year.  I was transferred against my wished from a place I had been working at for 7 years.  To say that I was devastated would have been an understatement.  Half of my job is creating relationships with people.  With my old place, the relationships had already been established and serious work could be done.  I just know if I have it in my to start all over again. I am seriously thinking of a job change. I have never been in this position before.  I have always loved my job, some days more than others but I have never dreaded going into work in the morning like I do now.  It is days like today that I like to dream that someday I will become as famous an author as Nora Roberts, Hannah Howell, Christine Feehan, and Sherrilyn Kenyon.  Then, I would be paid for doing something that I love to do.

Step one.  Get something under contract.

Peace out,
MRD

What is the etiquette?

Here is the deal.  I submitted a story 7 weeks ago to a publishing house.  The initial response from the company stated that I would receive an answer in 5-6 weeks.  Do I continue to wait?  Do I drop them an e-mail? Do I start submitting it to other publishers?  What is the proper etiquette?  Being a newbie with this sort of thing, I would appreciate the advice.  Sometimes I think that writing the stories are the easy part and the hard part comes after it.

Plans didn't go off as planned yesterday.  The husband's insomnia stuck again but at least this time he was quiet about it.  Anyway, I headed off to Toys R Us with my mom.  So my niece and nephews are done.  My niece is now at the awkward age of 10.  She is no longer a little girl but not yet a teenager.  It was so much easier to buy her a baby doll.  She wanted Monster High Dolls. These are some of the ugliest dolls that I have ever seen. I found her some but not exactly the ones she wanted.  I am going with my sister's recommendation and bought them.  I made sure that I requested a gift receipt just in case she wants to exchange them.  I am sure that it will be fine.  The nephews both were easy but I'm sure that that will change in the coming years. 

Peace out,
MRD

Let's try it again

For the record, this is the second time that I am blogging this post.  The first time, last night, the cat deleted it by walking over the keyboard when I stepped away from the computer.

Yesterday was my husband's birthday.  For the past week, he has reminded me every day that "It's not every day that you turn 41." Ok.  So I had big plans.  I was going to get out of work early, fix him a nice dinner with filet mignon, wine, bakery sweets, and get his truck fixed.  I should know when I have specific plans, things usually go down the toilet.

Here is what really happened.  Not only did I not get out of work early, my meeting went over 90 minutes.  So I was running super late.  I ran into the bakery for the first stop and picked up two eclairs.  Little did I know that they were banana eclairs.  Who makes banana eclairs?  The husband does not like banana but ate them anyway because he was a starving fool by the time that I got home.  The next place that I went was the butcher shop to pick up the filet.  He brought out 2 nice 10 oz. pieces.  The only problem was that they were frozen solid.  What????  So I had to run them under water for 30 minutes before they were defrosted enough to cook them.  By the time that I was done, my husband actually had fallen asleep.  I wrapped up dinner after that.  Because I was so late, I missed the mechanic who according to the message on his machine, is taking a long weekend, so no truck.  The only thing that went right was the wine that I purchased and drank alone.

So which brings me to day, I took a personal day to make up for the disaster of yesterday.  I am taking him to a movie.  His choice is Tron in IMAX.  Maybe, I can smuggling in the rest of the wine!

Peace out,
MRD

Why I love romance

Romance, including Erotica, is a genre of possibilities.  I love the fact that those possibilities are out there in the world. It may not happen a lot in real life but it is out there. 

Some of the things that I especially love:

1. In a romance, you can have such an intense orgasm that you are screaming out loud.  Now it might be a sad thing to admit, I have never screamed while having an orgasm. I am not saying that I don't have them.  Don't get me wrong but never the screaming kind.  Have you?  But I love that somewhere in the world, there is someone who that actually happens to, even if they are fictional characters.

2.  I love how sex in romances are so incredibly hot and heavy.  No one is tired from their day job.  No one has to have "timed" intercourse.  There is no one that just goes with it, even though they are not in the mood.  A friend of mine has a 3 minute rule.  You have 3 minutes to get your partner into the mood or you wait for another time.  She jokes that all she has to do is show her husband her boobs and he is in the mood.  In a romance, you are "wanted" more than anything, even wine or chocolate.

3.  I love a happy ending.  There should be more happy endings in real life.  Why not? If all of this bad can happen why not a lot of good.

4.  In romances, no obstacle is insurmountable.  There is always a solution.  No one is perfect, everyone has flaws including the characters but they don't let things get them down forever.

5.  I love the fact that a slightly rounded, "older" woman can find romance with a hot looking younger man.  He doesn't care about her age or her rounded parts.  In fact, they turn him on.  (Oh, Tim Riggins would you be my cub?)

I guess ultimately, romances allows us to dream.  So everyone who writes romances lift your head up high.  You supply people with dreams and it is a wonderful thing to be the supplier of dreams.

Peace out,
MRD

Not going to be bringing my "A" game today

I came home yesterday and the husband was in a terrible mood.  It was one of those moods that with him just spirals and spirals.  Nothing goes right until he falls asleep.  Everything, even the slightest thing annoys him and further spirals him into a bad mood.  Normally with these type of moods, he also gets insomnia.  I think that he riles himself up, so that no matter what he takes to sleep, it doesn't work.  He also doesn't help himself.  He expects his sleeping pills to do all of the work.  I really don't think that it is how it goes.  You should be trying to relax, so that it does its job.  So all night long, I heard about everything that was wrong in his life.  His truck needs to be inspected.  He needs new glasses.  His back really hurts.  He needs to do something about his teeth.  The teeth are a big issue.  He supposedly needs to have 5 of them in the front replaced because of gum disease.  Here is the problem.  We only have one person working in this house.  I have excellent health care.  The procedures that I have gone through lately, the co payments have not been crazy but terrible dental coverage.  We are only allowed 1200 in dental a year.  What they want to do with my husband has been estimated at 11,000.  I don't have the rest in my back pocket.  I really wish I did.  So every time that he gets into one of these moods, he brings this and various other things up.  It is quite defeating.  He finally fell asleep around 1 am which is when I fell asleep.  I can already tell, it is not going to be a good day at work.  This curriculum work needs all of my brain power.  I can't even brainstorm which means that I am busy.  So the coffee better be flowing.

On a good note, I finally posted my grades for my college course.  So I am officially done with my first "professor" experience.  It will leave me a lot more time to do writing or cater to a crazy husband.  Who knows?  Hoping for the former!

I am still waiting on an answer for one of my submissions.  It has been over 6 weeks now.  I am going to start revising it and sub it out to different publishers.

Peace out,
MRD

Finally complete

My list is finally complete!!!  I can't believe it.  Yesterday I cleaned like a rock star.  I even took down the curtains in the kitchen and in the bathroom and washed them.  I don't know what came over me.  I am also done with all of my correcting for the college course that I taught.  All I have to do is now tally all of the grades and submit the final grade.  I will do that tonight.  Boy, what a weight is off of my shoulders.  I hadn't realized how time consuming that it would be.  Never mind how much gas I would spend and wear and tear on the old car.  I enjoyed the experience but don't think that I will do it again next semester if asked.  Of course, I haven't been asked yet, so it is easy in theory to say this.  When they are dangling more money in front of me, let's see how quick I am to say no.  I preparation for this income to go away in a few weeks, I have signed up to teach in an after school program at my school.  It pays far less than teaching the college course but I don't have to do any additional driving.  I think of this as a plus.  Half of what I made weekly went right into my gas tank.

I am in training/curriculum writing all week.  I tend to get my best ideas when I am in these types of workshops.  So I am looking forward to having the ideas flow. 

Peace out,
MRD

The good and the bad

When you make a list, it really can go a variety of ways.  You could accomplish everything on your list.  You could accomplish only a few things on the list. Or the very last option, you could have performance anxiety and accomplish nothing on the list.  I fall in the middle option. I accomplished a few things on my list.

Things that I accomplished:
1.  Going to Dunkin Donuts for coffee.  There has to be priorities.
2.  I went food shopping.  I will probably have to pop in again today because I forgot a few items.  I really should make a list for grocery shopping but that would be too organized.
3.  I decorated most of the house.  It looks good and with the candles in the windows, I can now hold my head high with the neighbors.
4.  I made the buffalo wings for my husband to take with him last night.  I also dropped him off because parking where he was going is nuts.
5.  Went to Rite-aid to pick up my husbands prescription for sleeping pills.  I really don't know why he takes them because they don't work.  He has been up all night playing Call of Duty Black Ops, a few feet from me and my laptop, as I write.  This is a problem for me on different levels.  I like to write on my laptop.  I have a home office but don't like to write on the ancient desktop there.  When he is playing his stupid games, I can't concentrate on writing.  So lately, he has been cramping my style.

The rest of the list, I didn't accomplish yesterday.  But the good things about lists is that you can pick up where you left off.  I have already cleaned the bathroom, taken down the curtains and am doing my first load of laundry.

Another thing that I did yesterday that wasn't on the list was go and drop off more money for an oil delivery for Monday.  As I was getting decorations from the basement, I decided to look at the oil level.  It was getting low which seems kind of quick but I don't want to run out.  So I went and made arrangements, with cash in hand, to have more come tomorrow.  I really wish there was another way.  Solar or wind power would be great.  I hate relying on oil to heat my house.

Peace out,
MRD

So much to do

There is so much to do today.  I am starting to get anxiety about it.  When you work five days a week, you have such an expectation for the weekend.  I think that we forget that it is only two days but we try to cram so much within those 48 hours.  So I figured that I should make a list.

To do list:
1.  Dunkin Donuts- You have to start the day off right.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or so they say. Since I don't have much in food in the house, I am going to have to get some much needed coffee.

2.  Clean house-Start with the kitchen that it s total pit, if someone came to my door, I would have to pretend that I am not here.  The kitchen is such a mess.  I mean scary mess.  When I talk about my dream of getting a dishwasher, there is a reason.  I would rather scrub toilets than wash dishes.

3.  Go food shopping.  I am pretty sure that the husband is out of milk which is a crime in my house.  I am toying with the idea of getting a cow.  It would probably be cheaper.  My husband calls milk, "the nectar of the gods".  Go figure!  I'm more of a pinot noir woman but variety is the spice of life.

4.  Go to Rite-aid and pick up the husband's sleep pills.  Why?  I don't know.

5. Start decorating the house.  It is starting to look pathetic compared to the ones on the block.  Even the husband mentioned something about it in bed last night.  If I was more awake at 1 am when this conversation took place, I might have reminded him that he doesn't work and there is nothing stopping him from decorating when I am in work all day.

6.  Make buffalo wings for tonight.  Husband is going to a "guy thing" and volunteered to bring some wings. I can throw them in the oven while cleaning or decorating, no big deal.

7.  Correct papers for my college class.  I have three sets of papers to correct and input the grades.  I will be totally finished after that!

8.  Get in some writing time.  I am going to sub out Fated Mates to other publishers.  I have been waiting on one publisher for 6 weeks now and getting antsy.  So when the husband is doing his thing, I will have the house to myself and should be able to do some writing. 

Or pass out from trying to accomplish my list.  I will let you know tomorrow what I have accomplished.

Peace out,
MRD

Wall bangers

Doing research is part of my job, so when I committed to writing erotica I decided not only to read as much as I could (not a hardship) but also read about writing erotica.  What I have read over and over again is that readers do not like reading about wall bangers.  My question is why?  As a reader, I don't mind them.  As a matter of fact, I find them really hot.  What is there not to like about a hot, muscled man tunneling his hands in your hair.  He twists your hair around his hand and pulls your head back, lifting your lips. You gasp in pleasure with just a hint of pain.  He takes advantage of your parted lip and bends down to kiss you.  No, not just any kiss, he devours your lips like he is starving.  He is starving for the taste of you.  You taste better than a fine wine.  You are so desperate for each other that he lifts you up and plunges into you over and over again, against the wall.

See, nothing wrong with that.

Peace Out,
MRD

All I want for Christmas is home improvements

My house is old and outdated.  All I want for Christmas is some remodeling done.  The problem, in one word, is my husband.  Our house it the house that he grew up in.  So every change takes away from the house that he shared with his parents.  In the six years that we have lived there, I have been able to make improvements in a total of 2 rooms and considering that the house is the size of a doll's house, it is not a major accomplishment.  The first room that I was able to change was the living room.  Picture it, gold shag carpeting and orange and green velvet wallpaper.  A friend of mine called the wallpaper "carrots and peas."  I tore up the carpet and behold, hardwood floors! The walls are a beautiful Moroccan Red now.  He was happy with the outcome.  After a few more years, I was able to convince him to convert the old den into a home office.  Down came the textured brown tweed wallpaper to be replace with a nice sunny yellow.  There were hardwoods under that carpet too, so up came the brown and gold indoor/outdoor carpeting in that room. Again, happy with that outcome.  Now I am at a standstill and it is killing me.

You have to understand, I come from a house where my mother remodeled every few years.  My sister is constantly painting the rooms in her house.  The fact that my husband's parents hardly ever changed anything in all of the years that they lived their is foreign to me. 

So this brings me to the kitchen.  The wallpaper (yes more) is shot.  I picked out this wallpaper in 1988!  I had just met my husband and his mother asked me what I would choose.  Now, what I liked then is nothing like what I like now.  How could it be?  I was 18 years old at the time.  Small blue flowers on a white background and a chair rail of baskets and hears appealed to me.  I was in love with love at the time.  What did I know?  I also permed my hair that is curly to begin with!!  My idea is make the wall between the living room and the kitchen a half wall and then paint the kitchen and the hall.  I can't tell you how many ways that this idea was shot down.  I haven't even started on the white linoleum counter tops with gold fleck that is so old that it has lost its shine.  Or the flooring that was fixed with huge roofing nails because it squeaked.  The fridge that I have to defrost with a hair dryer every few weeks or the stove that 2 burners or no longer working.  All I want is a half wall and some paint.  WTF.

So the battle begins.

MRD

Need a weekend to get over my weekend

Boy did I have an interesting weekend.  It was filled with highs and lows. I have to say that going to the local chapter of Romance Writers totally invigorated me.  It was wonderful to meet such a wonderful and supportive group of people.  I had to say people because there was one man in attendance.  Let's hear it for the men in the house who love romance!!!  They treated me like I was one of their own.  Normally, when you go to meetings filled with strangers, there is a warming up period but that was not the case.  Everyone was so friendly and supportive, wanting to know about my own "writing" and my real life job.  It was so wonderful.  I was  a little star struck. I finally met Amber Skyze whose writing is amazing. What I couldn't believe was that Hannah Howell was part of the group and was as normal as normal can be (Of course what is really normal?).  I can't tell you how many of her books are on my shelves in my office.  I would embarrass myself.  I just couldn't believe it.  I met so many wonderful authors.  I spent some of Saturday night when I couldn't sleep (will explain) researching their books.  I came home and started writing ideas down.  Wonderful.

Couldn't sleep Saturday night.  Husband was going through a bout of his insomnia.  So I basically got about 2 hours of sleep.  When he is miserable, everyone is miserable.  Not the best trait but I have accepted that.  As he stays up longer and longer, the more he rants about everything that he feels "sucks" about his life.  Finally, he passed out around 7 in the morning.  I unfortunately was so tired that I never made it to my sister's house for breakfast and it was my week to pick up the Dunkin' Donuts.  No one was happy about that.

After not having any sleep, I now had to attend a "thing" as my aunt called it at her house with my mother.  The "thing" was meeting a cousin that I had never met before.  My mother's family is very fragmented for reasons that I will not go into, so this cousin wanted to meet all of my family.  My mother conned me into driving with her because she wasn't feeling well.  She also promised that we would be home at a decent hour.  I agreed but wasn't very happy.  The lack of sleep was starting to get to me.  So long story short, the decent hour to get home came and went and I didn't get home until 8.  The husband was ticked and all of the work that I planned on doing went undone.  To say that I have dishes piled up to the ceiling would be just about accurate (I am starting a dishwasher fund, if anyone is interested in donating!).  I am unplanned for my class tomorrow night, even though it is the last one.  And I am so unprepared for work today!  But I had to do some writing.

Peace out,
MRD

Daydreaming/Brainstorming

Yesterday, I attended more professional development on teaching children how to write expository and narrative texts.  Great information but I have to say that my mind was constantly daydreaming/brainstorming about the the story that I am writing, Saddle Up. I was totally consumed by the scenarios that I was creating in my mind.  It was killing me that I could not write them down.  The presenter, like any good presenter, walked around to keep the participants engaged. So sitting there writing a sex scene was totally out of the question.  Also, we were all sitting quite close together. So all of the people around me would have know exactly what I was writing.  We are a very intimate group.  Very few people who read this blog know my "real" name.  It is not that I am ashamed at what I write.  I am actually very proud of it.  It is just that with my day job, writing Erotica would be frowned upon. So I keep it private. I couldn't wait to get home and do some writing.

On another note, I am totally excited today to be attending the local chapter of Romance Writers.  The topic of conversation is going to be on brainstorming, I am excited about learning about something that will benefit my writing. I also can't wait to meet an author that I have read and have become "email" friendly with, Amber Skyze.

This morning, I also just finished a book by Tina Donahue called Lush Velvet Nights.  I highly recommend this book. I really enjoyed that her main character Nathan had to work through insecurities from his past before embracing love again for himself. 

Peace Out,
MRD

Writing Workshop

If you can believe it, I have been in a workshop all day on teaching children how to write.  Of course it is a program that the district purchased and we were learning how to implement it but it was very informational.  It taught me different techniques on how to teach expository writing.  Talking about writing made me think about all of the writing that I want to do and how I have been slacking a bit lately. Not that I want to make excuses but job number 1 has been crazy.  We are going to be partnering with a nonprofit group for educational reform, so I have been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off and bringing a lot of work home.  Job number 2 is winding down.  The last class of the semester is next week and I can't wait. I enjoyed teaching it but the hour ride home at night was a killer.  I am unsure if they ask me again, if I will do it. So I have not had a lot of time to do writing but I have been thinking about it a lot.  I am also waiting to see if my first story will be rejected. I was told the expected wait time was five to six weeks.  This week, I hit the five week mark, so I am getting more and more anxious every day.  I can't check personal e-mail at work, so every day, the minute I get home I am checking to see if I have received any news.

On another note, I was watching one of my favorite shows last night. The show is Psych.  They did a homage to Twin Peaks last night.  While the show was funny as usual, I have to say that I probably missed more than half of the jokes because I never have seen Twin Peaks before.  I had absolutely no background knowledge so instead of some of the things being funny, I just found them weird.  I don't know why I felt like sharing that but I just did!