magick musings…

‘Never resolve one conflict before presenting another.’
Paul Raymond Martin~Writer’s Little Instruction Book

Hmmm…maybe the good Lord has read Martin’s book. We no sooner suffered through Katrina’s wrath before Rita reared her ugly head. Beaumont, Texas is my home town and we have been glued to Fox for days watching her slowly make her way to the southeast Texas coast. We rescued my mother in law and brought her up north to be with us for a few days while keeping in touch with other family and friends as they braved the crowded roads to safety.

My oldest son is a police officer in Beaumont and it was mandatory for him to stay in town. After sending his wife and the twins to his in-laws lake house 3 hours away, he helped load the police vehicles and equipment on one of the ships in port and readied the city for the onslaught. Many of the emergency personnel weathered the hurricane at one of the local hospitals. He called this morning several times with updates. I asked him if they could feel the hurricane winds while in the building and he said yes and that the water in the toliet bowls were sloshing around. Pretty powerful, huh?

He has called several times since with information on homes and properties that we have passed on via cell phones to those waiting to here the news. Just call me the command post. 😎

Most everyone we know will return home with not much damage at all. Some not at all.

My son is a good and caring man. He has yet to call with the condition of his own home. He has been so concerned about the others.

But one, good positive thing is that my mother-in-laws place is still liveable. Need I say more? :thumbsup:

Just got back from four days out of town visiting my son, daughter-in-law and the two year old grandtwins. Believe it when they say grandchildren are so much more fun then the originals. They love you unconditonally. They want to snuggle with you. They think you are cool. And they will eventually grow up and give your own child what you have always dreamed of him having – teenagers of his own! 😈

I’d forgotten how hot and humid it was in southeast Texas. And the love bugs! Sheesh! For anyone having the good fortune of not encountering these, they are small, harmless black bugs that fly in tandem and make a horrid mess on your automobiles as you travel down the highways. Have no clue as to what they are good for except they must be an important part of the food chain. As a child, we use to try to catch them. That’s before I discovered WHY they were flying in tandem. As soon as we got home, DH spent two hours scrubbing them off the vehicle so the paint would not be ruined. I felt so sorry for him having to do that after the long 5 hour drive, I unpacked his suitcase. Who says I am not a good wife.

I heard it was a bit cooler here on Friday. But it was registering 100 degrees when we got back in town. So looking forward to the fall. My favorite time of year.

Catching up on emails, found out that Cece sold Once In a Blue Moon to Liquid Silver Books! You rock, Cece! Congrats! And Caroline Clemmons had a birthday while I was gone! Hope your birthday was extra special, my friend!

Since I don’t see my family but every six weeks or so, I didn’t get any writing done and just spent time playing and visiting. Felt guilty on the way home thinking that most writers would have found a minute or two to pound out 15 or 20 pages.

Have the dreaded President’s column to do! 😕 I hate doing it because I never feel I have anything worth saying.

Tomorrow I am starting Candace Havens workshop called Fast Draft through Romance Divas . It is a week long course that teaches you to get through your first draft in a fast and efficient manner. Sounds interesting and something I definitely need. Can’t wait!

Stole this from Mik

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Laser Nova Your Superpower is Shape Shifter Your Weakness is Men Your Weapon is Your Plasma Ring Your Mode of Transportation is Capsule

I actually did do my writing yesterday just not on my WIP. Took out an old short story I haven’t worked on in over a year and played with it a bit. I have that Christmas short that I need to finish. Also, have some characterization ideas for my WIP. I am not as fast or prolific as my friends Mik or Dennie or able to balance my career and family as well as Colin does, but I will get better with time.

This writing every day thing keeps the juices flowing. Who knew?

Given the opportunity, a writer will fiddle with a piece of writing forever.
~Paul Raymond Martin, ‘Writer’s Little Instruction Book

Nobody I know does that! 😳

…”Writing is a matter of desire, not discipline. If you want to write, that’s what you’ll do. If you want to write, you’ll rearrange the circumstances of your life to make it possible. If you want to write, you can’t not write” Paul Raymond Martin~Writer’s Little Instruction Book

So many of my writer’s friends say that not to write is not to breathe. So many times I let that passion die while I am off doing other things instead of sitting at the computer and writing. I think about it, I plot it, I worry about it, but do not regularly write. If you do something for 14 days in a row, I hear it becomes a habit. I am going to sit at my computer and write for 14 days in a row. I have put that in print, so now I have made it a goal. Let’s see in two weeks if I have developed my ‘writing muscles’.

Yesterday, one of the doctors told me she wished she could be a writer. That the idea of just staying home all day and create and make lots of money would be fun. And so much easier. If she had the time.

No, I didn’t slap her. She is actually one of my favorites to work for. And I didn’t tell her that I would love to be a doctor – when I had the time.

I did reply nicely that, as I was there at work and not home writing, it was just a wee bit more difficult than it would seem and according to a report in the RWR, our national organization’s monthly report, not everyone who writes will make a living at writing – much less a living comparable to a doctor’s salary.

She just looked at me. Maybe she detected a slight sarcasm. Who knows.

Today was an awesome day! Two good friends from my writers group and I went to the Omni Imax theater and saw Mysteries of the Nile. Very interesting and exciting. Sort of like white water rapids meet King Tut. I would have loved to make the trip down the Nile with the crew in the movie. But only if there were showers and port-a-potties at the end of the day. The scenery was beautiful. And at times you really felt you were there on the inflatable boats braving the rapids, the heat, the crocodiles, the fabulous yet vicious waterfalls. Mik found the website for me here after we got home and will check it out.

Then had dinner with my DH and two good friends at a great Bar B Que place not far from here. Texas is known for its ribs, beef, and pork and this was terrific. The hot bread was to die for. And the dessert! OMG! Chocolate cake with two kinds of cheesecake interspersed between the cake layers followed by a dark chocolate frosting. My weight watcher point allotment is shot for the month!

I count my blessings every day for friends, family, more than enough food to eat and a warm bed to sleep in every night. My prayers to those who are suffering the pain and loss from Hurricane Katrina.

Your book collection – the dog eared favorites read over and again and unable to part with. Or the autographed ones you waited in line to meet your favorite author and have it personally signed. The ‘research’ and the ‘how’ to collection that took years and hard earned money to obtain.

Priceless family photos – the one of your grandmother on her wedding day. Your child’s first Christmas. The last one taken of your mother before she passed away.

Your new furniture that you saved for years to buy. And finally got that room decorated just so.

The computers, the clothes, CD & DVD Collections, the cards and letters given to you throughout the years saved in a drawer.

Your house…

Your vehicles…

Your job…

A loved one…

Everything…

Gone.

I can’t even begin to imagine.

My thoughts and prayers with those affected in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.