The One with the Prom Dress & the Dog

I thought I had made my last prom dress last year when my daughter graduated. Then her friend came to me late this past winter and said, "Morgan's dress was so awesome, will you make mine?" So, here I am again, two weeks before prom, and I haven't even cut it out yet. One would think after one Winterfest dress, two prom dresses, three bride's maid dresses, and two hand-beaded wedding gowns (and no, they weren't both mine-I would never do that more than once - get married, that is), all of which I was still working on just hours before the event, that I would have learned my lesson on procrastination. I think I was even still working on my girlfriend's wedding dress right before she walked down the aisle-she was wearing it at the time. Oh well, I am what I am, and I always finished them in time. On the plus side, this prom dress is a much simpler design than Morgan's. I'll be ready for Shekinah to try it on Tuesday evening.

Unfortunately, my writing will be put on hold for a week. Not a good thing for me. Sewing is a mindless activity for me; it doesn't take much brain power to do it, so my mind wanders, and I will be second guessing my writing and re-thinking too many things. This interferes with my ability to finish even though the book is plotted out to the end. However, I have been getting better. I force myself not to edit new stuff for at least a week. Otherwise, I'm doing nothing but editing and never reach "The End". I'm hoping to have an excerpt up here shortly, so all of you can encourage me by telling me how great it is ;)

On a sad note, I just learned that my mom's two year old Golden Retriever, Shelby, has lymphoma. Apparently, it is extremely common in Goldens (1 in 8 according to caninelymphoma.net). So far the dog is none the wiser. Though the vet has given her about 4 - 6 weeks, she is still tearing about the property and terrorizing our 15 year old Golden. Regrettably, treatment is very expensive, and the MSU Vet Hospital said it would probably only give her two more years. And, due to the side effects of treatment, she wouldn't be a very healthy, active dog for those two years.

So, my second blog ends on a sad note, but I will be encouraging my parents to get another dog. I'm a firm believer that dogs are good for people...as long as the people are equally good for the dog. To all of you with pets, I wish you a long-lived and healthy one. To all of you making dresses, I wish you good luck on meeting your deadline.

The Pilot

Welcome to my blog! (Gee, I wonder how many people begin with that...)

She sits staring at a blank blog page wondering what to say.

I am the type of person who normally has a lot to say, but, of course, now that I have a place to say it, I can't think of anything I want to say (or perhaps it's more accurate to say I don't know where to begin). Go figure! I'll start with the basics. Me.

I'm an aspiring romance author. I have been dreaming up stories since I picked up my first romance--Kathleen E. Woodiwiss' The Flame and the Flower. Right now I'm working on a werewolf paranormal romance (working title Through the Shadows). I love wolves. I love hot alpha men. It seemed logical to marry my two loves. That's not to say my wolf is the only thing I'm working on. I have several wips (works in progress), not all of them paranormal, though all of my focus is on TTS at the moment. And in the back of my head is the jabbering of a secondary character from TTS demanding his story be next. Escape the Shadows? Hmm...

I've never been shy about telling people I write. Most people give me that look that says, "And, what's your real job?" I ignore this look as it's unproductive and detrimental to my characters' well-being. I spend a good 8 hours a day writing. I think I can say in all honesty, I am a writer. Some people are encouraging and excited for me. Others would be more pleased if I would expend my talent to writing children's books rather than sexy paranormals. Oh, well. If you can't please everyone...I guess you all know how that ends.

The good news: I have no husband to get in the way of my muse. I have a daughter, but as she is also an aspiring author--and an honors student at ITT in the Criminal Justice program--(sorry, the mom in me had to do it :) she understands my obsession; a psychotic Siamese Fighting Fish--my daughter believes he's plotting to murder us; and a Fat-Tailed Leopard Gecko, neither of which care what I do beyond feeding them.

And now the muse is calling to me, so I'll end my ramblings for now. Here's hoping you weren't too bored to return another day for an update on my journey through the shadows.