A Fresh Start

Now that I have a few days off for the first time in weeks, I'm working on a number of things that I couldn't do while under time pressures at home and at work. It's been a doing-everything-at-once kind of day, but I have accomplished some things:

Housework. You probably won't care about this, but John does. I finally got caught up with the dishes, and put laundry away, and emptied some trashes. I was way behind on such things while I was working so much. When I was home, the last thing I wanted to do was clean.

Archiving. I was sure I would get a bunch of Musings entries archived on Outpost today, but all I actually got done was to make an HTML table of my entries from March through May, 2004, with links to the Blogspot versions of those postings. Actually, the May part isn't even in Outpost yet, but the fiction entries are already in Messages. They've been there all along. Still, I've made a start, and I've got Sunday and Monday to do more.

Anemia? What, still? The Red Cross rejected my blood again today, and for the same reason as last time: there's not enough iron in it. I was surprised, but I shouldn't have been. I've mostly been eating out of vending machines for a week and a half. Well, I figured this was as good an excuse as any to go eat steak! So I made my first visit ever to Texas Roadhouse - that is, unless you count my photo shoot for the third-ever Round Robin Photo Challenge, "Construction" (right). The place has been open for quite a while now, but there's always a wait to get in, at least at dinnertime. Going at lunchtime on a Saturday afternoon, I got right in!

Setting the Scene. While I was at the restaurant, I pulled an envelope out of my purse, and did what I used to do all the time in restaurants: I started writing a scene for a novel. This is the first time I've done this inat least a year, probably longer. And it was a first in two other ways. It was the first scene I've written for the third Mâvarin novel, tentatively titled The Mâvarin Revolutions. It will also be the first scene in the book. At least, that's the plan.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow. When I worked at Worldwide Travel, I was across the parking lot from a barber college. I wasn't always satisfied with their work, but it sure was convenient! Before that, I was going to a Hair Dynasty at El Con Mall, but that dynasty ended a while ago, after El Con became the mall equivalent of a ghost town. There is at least one hairdresser outlet at Park Place Mall, but they're always too busy to take me. Result: since leaving WWT, I haven't had my hair cut once - until today. The other night I scoped out a new place to get my hair cut, between Safeway and the chicken wing place. Today I actually went in.

"It says on this paper that you're here for a Mohawk," the stylist said as she led me to a chair. "Is that right?"

I laughed. "Do people still get Mohawks?" I asked.

She assured me that someone got one there just yesterday.

Anyway, she advised me to get six inches cut off, which is exactly how much I wanted to get cut off. I explained about one side curling up more than the other, and she compensated, getting it right on the first try. The haircut accentuated my gray hair, somehow, although not as much as the first picture shows with the flash reflecting off it. I kind of like it.

"Don't wait so long next time," the stylist said as I left.

"I won't," I promised.

And I won't.

Marketing Heirs. One of the things I've done tonight, aside from typing up my scene from Revolutions, posting an entry to Inspirations and my Heirs excerpt to Messages, troubleshooting FeedBlitz concerns and adding Bloglet forms to three sidebars, is to research possible markets for Heirs of Mâvarin. Writer's Market.com was glitchy, but I found another site that links to publishers' guidelines. This one for Baen Books looks especially promising. My Heirs manuscript exceeds their preferred length by 30,000 words, but that's not a huge problem, I'm guessing. Baen seems more concerned about too short than too long. Plus he actually prefers electronic submissions. Don't be surprised if I work up the nerve to send my reformatted file to Jim Baen and co. before the long weekend's over.

Yeah. New book, new hair, and a new start on sending out my beloved first novel.

I've had a good day.

Karen