Puppies are Here!

May 22, 2009 by

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting (but was actually only 65 days), we’ve been blessed with the arrival of 5 little Olde English Bulldogges.

The biggest blessing, however was that our wonderful vet was able to safely deliver them via c-section and save all of the puppies as well as our Lily after complications developed. After what I believed to be unusual behavior, we took Lil to the vet on Wednesday for a check and they discovered one of the pups was wedged in sideways putting the whole litter into fetal distress.

In their distress the pups had already clawed up her uterus causing some internal bleeding and infection. Once they were into the c-section, it was still touch and go, both with Lily and with the ‘little girl’ but I’m happy to report mom and babes are doing just fine.

Pictures can be seen at my flickr account.

Filed Under: Bulldogge puppies, Life Tagged With: , ,

Inspiration and Distraction

May 18, 2009 by

Sometimes inspiration from new projects come from the oddest places, been it almost universally comes together the same way.

Nugget + ‘What if’ = new book idea

I’ve blogged here before about how often a lyric of a song will sparks an idea for me. Not that I want to write a story around a song, one line will strike a chord. Maybe it’s really poetic. Maybe it conveys a deep emotion in a way I’d never heard or thought of. That nugget will float around in my brain and bump around with some other thoughts.

Then comes the ‘what if’. What if someone felt like that, but… or and… Sometimes it’s ‘what if the complete opposite of that happened.

The nugget doesn’t always come from a song lyric. It might be a particular line on a TV show or maybe a overheard conversation at the mall. It might be an observation I make while waiting to pick my kid up from school or while watching a sporting event.

But it’s when the inspiration hits that can make it a distraction. Like in the last couple weeks I’ve had a tiny nugget dancing around with a what if, and I’ve begun plotting the next book. The only problem is, I’m not completely finished with the current one. This is not too unusual. I can only be locked down in the edit, edit, edit stage so long before those creative juices kick in and I have to write something new. Something fun.

I’m getting there though, If all goes well, I should be completely done editing by the end of this week, and then I can work to nurture the new idea.

For the rest of this week, look for more blogs on my plotting process and editing process… and hopefully an announcement of the birth of the bulldogges.

Filed Under: Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , ,

And Then There Were Two…

May 13, 2009 by

Or so there will be after tonight.  And if it’s not Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert in the finals, I’ll…

Yeah, I know.  I’ll bitch and moan a lot but there really isn’t anything I can do.

Kris making it to the top three and pushing Allison home last week was one of those huge travesties that seems to happen every year on the show, but Kris in the finals. Wow, I just can’t imagine it.  There’s no denying that Danny and Adam have been ‘my boys’ since the beginning, but the main thing I think they both have over Kris is consistency.  They’ve brought it every week. Kris has only ‘brought it’ about 1/2 the time, and when he’s off…man is he off.

So who do I think is going to walk away the next American Idol? Though everything would indicate Adam, there’s still a little voice whispering it’s going to be Danny.  Honestly, I would be happy and content with either one. I’d feel like America got it right.

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danny-gokey

But I am looking forward to tonight’s show. One of my favorite things of the whole season is watching the homecoming celebrations. I realize the contestants have full schedules on those trips and not everything makes AOL, but this clip in particular from Danny Gokey’s (video from someone who was there) was of particular interest to me. Just another reason Danny is cool.

Filed Under: Music, TV Tagged With: , , , ,

Upcoming RWA Nationals/Lily Puppy Update

May 12, 2009 by

After having such a productive writing day yesterday, I felt as though the wind was sucked from my sails today.  I had a large agenda, but the worl had to stop so I could wrangle with the RWA site.

This one day a year–when editor/agent appointments for Nationals is opened up to PAN/PRO members–is the only day when their site just can’t handle the traffic.  I’d given advice to the new pros in my local chapter this week: When the site crashes, don’t panic. It always happens.  Suprising, I was able to take my own advice and I even tried to continue working while hitting refresh every few minutes in the background.  Of course, with attentions divided, everything took a little longer that it should have.

I wasn’t able to access the appointments until nearly 1pm (was supposed to be 9am) but once in was able to get my appointments scheduled quickly.  The appointments I booked were with those who were high on my list, so I’m pretty happy…or I will be when I destress.

After getting Katelynn from school, we went to pick up Lily from the office.  After getting the report that she hadn’t been eating or drinking, and coupling that in with the fact that her milk started coming in yesterday, I decided to check her temprature.  It had dropped, which prompted a call to the vet, who decided she wanted to examine her and do an x-ray.

Puppies still weren’t real visable on x-ray so the vet decided to another ultrasound.  The growth between last Thursday and today was pretty amamzing.  Incredibly we could see puppie toes, and one of them wagging their tail!  She only looked at the one side, because she wanted to confirm heartbeats in the three she was on x-ray, which she did. But I got to think there are at least two on the other side.

The latest guess from the vet is this coming weekend, but theoretically we could be into next week.

Here’s hoping I’m able to get good night’s sleep so I can catch up on everything that I had to let slide today.

Filed Under: Bulldogge puppies, Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

Published at BC: Dave Harris of Retro Rewind

May 8, 2009 by

This past Monday I had the absolute pleasure of hanging out on the phone for awhile with Dave Harris of Retro Rewind.  I’ve always loved doing interveiws, and I shared  5 of my all time favorites here are few weeks ago, but this one was even better because we focued on one of favorite topics

Anyone who knows me knows ’80s music holds a special place in my heart. So, this was a blast…

Everything old is new again. It may be a cliché but the main reason these sayings hang around is there is a lot of truth to them. As we mature, the memories we make somehow get entwined with the songs on the radio; it only makes sense that we want to hold on to both.

In 1997, Dave Harris conceived a radio show that would highlight that music of his youth – the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Ever since, it’s continued to evolve, grow, and survive in an industry that can be very difficult to maneuver in. On Saturday nights (from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern) you can tune into Retro Rewind, whether it be in the traditional way or through their website…(Continue Reading).

Filed Under: Blogcritics Links, Music Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Puppies! Puppies!

May 8, 2009 by

Those that follow this space closely know all about Lily and her (okay, our) prusuit of motherhood.  53 days ago lily visitied her (boy)friend Freedom down at Blair’s Bullies.  Even though we’ve been pretty sure for a week she had a viable pregnancy, we were able to confirm it today at her vet appointment.

Nearly 10 pounds heavier, the x-rays were inconclusive, but an ultrasound showed at least 4 -5 beautiful little bulldogges.  I know what you’re saying, how can I tell how pretty they are by an ultrasound…well, we just know.  I mean, just look at our beautiful momma!

Lilly07

A week from Monday is her ‘due’ date (though it’s a little more tricky with dogs than humans), and we have another vet appointment on Wendsday.

Stay tuned for updates and hijinx reports!

Filed Under: Bulldogge puppies, Life Tagged With: , ,

Growing Pains and Unattainable Self-Satisfaction

May 5, 2009 by

Sometimes I wonder if there isn’t a whole lot of truth to that moody, recluse artist image and stereotype.   Are we by nature just never satisfied? At least with ourselves and our art?

I have been working on my current novel for awhile now, and in recent weeks felt like I could see the finish line.  After a few distraction early last week, I settled in to do what I thought was going to be a final read-through and spit-shine.  You know, catch those last couple typos and maybe change a word here and there. Instead I find myself totally ripping apart entire paragraphs and questioning the relevance of each and every scene.  If you’re saying to yourself, ‘well, that’s exactly what you should be doing,’ well then, you’d be right.

But it’s caused me to wonder if I’ve actually growing and improving with each and every page I write, or am I caught in a circular trap of just never being completely satisfied.  Does word choice b really work better than choice a… or am I just being a little self-indulgent now?  Personally, I think it’s a little bit of both.

fountain_pen_1

I do think I’ve grown — more so with this project than any other. Part of that is because I’ve had some wonderful critique partners working with me, and part of it is because I think things are just starting to click. But I also think it’s part of our nature (er, okay, maybe it’s just me) to never be completely satisfied. I will never be able to read any project I write from beginning to end and not make a single change, whether we are talking about 256 words or 256 pages. The trick is not getting caught up in that strive for unattainable perfection. The day will come when as I edit I will want to substitute one word for another, but will accept that there really isn’t anything wrong with what I wrote the first time.

Or at least I hope so!

Filed Under: Life, Writing Life Tagged With: ,

Published at BC: Exclusively For You: Still Flyin’

May 2, 2009 by

Last week (April 21) Still Flyin’ released their debut album, Never Gonna Touch The Ground on the Ernest Jenning Record Company label. Technically, the band hails from San Francisco, but its fifteen members come together from all around the world…(Continue reading)

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: ,

Published at BC: A Sampling of Old Californio’s Westering Again

May 2, 2009 by

If you were one of the lucky who had the foresight to give old Californio’s debut release Along The Cosmic Great a chance, then you know what a treat they are. On these pages is a second chance at luck – two video clips previewing cuts from their April 7 release Westering Again… (Continue reading)

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: , ,

Published at BC: From Us To You: Two Songs From Andrew Belle

May 2, 2009 by

The Blogcritics redesign and relaunch celebration continues! Today we have an exclusive treat for our music lovers: two tracks from Andrew Belle’s EP, All Those Pretty Lights.

Only 24, Belle has a long, bright future ahead of him. Though his is best known in his native Chicago where he’s been tearing up the stage at such local haunts as Rockit Bar, you’re probably more familiar with Andrew Belle than you thought… (Continue reading)

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: , ,
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