Today I went to my RWA chapter meeting, the first time since March. The two times I happened to be traveling this spring were on meeting weekends. I presented part of the program on judge training for our contest/critiquing. Super critiquer Annie Solomon was the other presenter. It was nice to see everyone and to go out to lunch with the girls. Afterward, I dragged my friend Monica to Barnes & Noble so she could get J.R. Ward’s Dark Lover so she can get hooked on the series like me. She ended up getting the first two, Jessica Andersen’s new book, the first in her The Final Prophecy series, and a Katie MacAlister book. I was sad to see, however, that yet another B&N has removed the series romance (Harlequin/Silhouette) books from their shelves. Sigh.

I meant to put up these pictures a few weeks ago when my rose bushes were blooming. Still, they’re too pretty not to share.

Did you hear the sigh of relief today? That was me after I finished my chapter outline for my new YA book. I’ve now sent it off to my friend Monica for a read before I make final edits and send it to my editor. Yay! Of course, then it’s on to revisions on my second Harlequin American and my Supernatural essay. I did get good news from my YA editor. Heartbreak River came back from the copyeditor so clean that it’s now off to the printer! I may have bound galleys next month!

Thursday was my birthday, so I took that day off. Hubby took the day off from work. I had lunch with friends, then hubby and I went to see Prince Caspian, which I really enjoyed. In fact, I’m basing the hero in this new YA on Ben Barnes, who plays Caspian. Then I zipped into Books-a-Million to pick up my friend Jeanne Adams’ debut novel, Dark and Dangerous. Finally, we went out to dinner at Olive Garden, which was yummy. It was nice to have a day off to just play in the middle of hectic deadlines, and I think it actually helped me be fresh enough to power through to the end of my outline last night.

Okay, I’ve mentioned before how much I LOVE Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series and how I’m eagerly anticipating the movie Twilight this December. So, I did a little squee when I saw the gorgeous new poster for the movie and discovered there’s a new trailer available for viewing. You can see these at the movie’s new Web site, and you can also download the poster image as your computer’s wallpaper, like I did. Now the image below of Bella and Edward will greet me each time I turn on my computer.

I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. Ours was nice except that our little five-month-old nephew was in the hospital with bad bronchitis. He got to go home today, though he’s still a sick little boy. Hopefully, he’ll continue to get better over the next few days. It’s so hard seeing a baby in the hospital, especially when you can’t explain to him why all this is going on.

On the good news front, I got a release date for my second Harlequin American, The Willow Creek Cafe. It’ll be out in May 2009. I’ll be working on revisions to it after I finish my outline for my next YA novel, which is what is on the docket this week.

Okay, time for last week’s book winner — Cindy Procter-King! Cindy, contact me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing info, and I’ll get your books out to you.

Up for grabs this week:

The Hidden Years by Susan Kearney
The Greek Tycoon’s Unwilling Wife by Kate Walker
Angel in My Arms by Colleen Faulkner

I already blogged about my adventures in mowing this week, but after two days of helping my brother-in-law and sister-in-law move into their new home I should have some muscles. And if I haven’t lost at least some weight, I’m going to be seriously irked. I even skipped dessert and a candy bar when I had the chance. Gotta do something to make sure I can wear my conference clothes come July.

It was a lovely weekend for moving. Warm, blue sky. The rain didn’t move in until hubby and I were on the drive back home.

It’s catch-up week for me — cleaning the house, running errands, paying bills, yard work, culling stuff to go to Goodwill, etc. I’m also going to work on handouts for the workshop I’m doing with YA author Julie Linker at the RWA National Conference this summer and start work on a new partial that will my agent will offer my editor at Harlequin American as my option book.

Okay, this week in books…

The winner of this week’s books is Tori Lennox! Girl, you come out of the woodwork and win. Send me your mailing address through the Contact page on this site, and I’ll get your books out to you.

Up for grabs this upcoming week are:

Key of Valor by Nora Roberts
Behind Enemy Lines by Cindy Dees
Milkrun by Sarah Mlynowski

Moonlight was back after an extended, writers’ strike-induced break, but it was well worth the wait. I’ve blogged before about how I like vampire shows, so it was a fun fan moment at the end of tonight’s episode when two of those shows had a bit of an intersection. During a scene between Mick and Beth, “Lucky” by Biff Naked started playing. I recognized it from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album soundtrack. Of course, when the episode was over I had to fire up iTunes and play the full version of the song.

In other TV news, the last two weeks of Survivor have been wild. Last week’s blindside of Ozzy was a brilliant strategic move. Ozzy was one of my favorite players from his original season. While I still liked him, at least the editing made him seem cockier and full of himself this time around. Then last night, another blindside of someone sitting with the immunity idol but not playing it. Poor Jason was just lied to and lied to. I never understood why everyone disliked him so much, and I was pulling for him. Alas, the bitchy patrol got together and ousted him. Those girls have got to realize that everyone on the jury is totally ticked at them. Of the people left, I’m rooting for Erik first, then Amanda, then Cirie, then James. I’d love them to be the final four, would love to see the other three girls voting out one after another over the next three weeks.

So, yesterday could have been called Adventures in Mowing for me. Hubby normally mows the lawn, but he’s been traveling a lot for work. I’ve only mowed one before in my life, and that was just the front yard. Yesterday, I decided to be ambitious and mowed both the front and the back, all while wearing an oh-so-stylish surgical mask because of my allergies. I seriously hope I sweated off about ten pounds because I was pooped when I was done. I’m doing this with a push mower, people. I came away with sore hands and two blisters on the insides of my thumbs, but I felt oddly good to have tackled the lawn and won. But I think I’ll leave the weedeating for hubby.

And finally, in writing news, I finished up my second round of revisions on Heartbreak River. All I have to do after posting this blog post is to do a spell check and then e-mail it to my editor. Wahoo!

So, you all know about my home Internet woes the other day. Last night, the Internet in my hotel room didn’t work so I had to go to the lobby to check e-mail. Today, I get to the conference hotel for Romantic Times, and guess what. You got it — the Internet signal in my room doesn’t work! So, I’m in the lobby again. Oh well, at least I’m not paying out the nose for access like I usually do at conference hotels. Have you ever noticed that the more expensive the hotel, the smaller the room and the less you get for free? Hmm…

I’ll post this week’s freebie books up for grabs tomorrow (I left the list up in my room and I’m too tired to go get it), but last week’s winner is Rae Ann! E-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing address, and I’ll send the books to you.

Guess where I am. Yep, I’m back at Panera Bread because my Internet is out AGAIN! Not that I’m frustrated or anything. The guy from the cable company is coming in the morning to figure out why the cable Internet has suddenly decided to lose its freakin’ mind. And get this — at the end of the call during which I’m detailing all the problems we’ve been having with the cable Internet connection, the customer service lady says, “We also offer home phone service which can save you money. Is this something you’d be interested in?”

Come on, seriously?

My response: “Not with the problems we’ve been having with the Internet service.”

In writing-related news,  I’ve finished re-watching and taking notes on the first season of Supernatural for my essay. I’m starting season 2 today when I get home from the lovely free WiFi here at Panera. I’ll finish watching season 2 this week and refresh my memory on what’s happened in season 3 and start writing the essay this weekend.

It’s my hubby’s favorite time of the year — time to pull out the mower, clean the sparkplug, and try to get the beast running. Okay, no, that’s not really his favorite activity, but here he is nonetheless mowing the lawn. And I just realized he blogged about the experience too, and I have to admit his post is way funnier than mine.

It’s the time of year when I weed the flowerbeds (started yesterday, can’t continue today because it’s pouring rain), cover them all with new mulch, and clean up all the fallen limbs and leaves left over from the winter. I love seeing all the trees and grass and plants greening and flowering — even if I sometimes have to wear a surgical mask while working outside because of my allergies. So what if I look like a doctor in gardening gloves.

It’s also the time of year when everyone is suddenly stricken with the need to fork over their credit cards at Lowe’s or Home Depot. We’ll be headed there this weekend for mulch, new landscaping timbers, and other assorted home improvement items. Whoever thought up the concept for a home improvement warehouse business was a genius. I think even the guy selling hotdogs and drinks outside Lowe’s is making a good chunk of change.

In writing news, I finished my final read-through of the September book and sent off my few and minor edits to my editor. On tap for today — write an article for the Romance Writers’ Report, watch some episodes of Supernatural and take notes for my Benbella essay, start a Bebo account, read some of my friend Annie Solomon’s latest manuscript, and rent a car for my trip to the RT convention. But first, a quick trip to the library to get an audiobook (Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian) for my RT trip.

I have now done three loads of laundry in my new laundry room. I know, it’s a thrill a minute here. Ah, the exotic life of the published author. Snort!

As promised, here are the before and after shots. Caution, the before shots showcase extreme ickiness. Bleh.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It’s a small room, so it was hard for me to get a good angle to show the entire room at once. But you get the idea. No water damage! No mold! Non-leaking water heater! It’s so new that you can still see the paint drying in one of the after shots. Seriously, you don’t realize how often you turn on a faucet and expect water to come out until you can’t and have to go stay in a hotel until you have running water again.

First off, my pal Mary’s book Hot Shot is out from Samhain Publishing today! In celebration, she’s guesting with us over at the Romance Bandits blog. Swing by if you have the chance.

In my writing news, I’m working on my AAs (author alterations) on my first book, A Firefighter in the Family. This is the last time I’ll get to look at it before it goes to press (squee!) and thankfully I’m not finding many edits. I think that’ll make my editor happy. And I like to keep my editor happy. I’m also working on ideas for my option book (what will hopefully be the first book of the next contract). I want to get that partial written before I head off to the Romantic Times conference later in the month.

For some reason, our Internet service has been intermittently wonky lately. I REALLY don’t want to change service providers because I’ve got screaming-fast cable Internet, so I hope the wonkiness doesn’t continue. For when it goes on the wonk, I’m glad there’s a Panera Bread with WiFi nearby. I spent 3 hours there yesterday! And since the hubby was out of town, I grabbed my dinner from there on the way out. According to him and his brother, Panera is “chick food.” 

The big upheaval of the last week, however, has been a surprise room re-do. We have a large-ish house, especially for two people, so in the winter we close off the back part so we don’t go broke with heating bills. Natural gas = not cheap. So we don’t go back there much in the winter and keep the temperature at about 55 so the pipes don’t bust. But the other day when hubby came home from a business trip, he zipped in the back door to use the back bathroom. This bathroom happens to be where the hot water heater resides. You see where this is going, don’t you?

Imagine the hubby’s surprise when he opens the door to find the room soaking wet and, I kid you not, mold growing up the walls. He says, “What happened back here?” I, clueless, wander back to see what he’s talking about. My mouth falls open. The water heater evidently had a leak but not so much that we didn’t still have hot water. The room was dripping from the ceiling, the border was peeling off, the mirror had come loose from the water, fallen and broken all over the sink and floor. The sink cabinet was ruined. In a word, it was DIS-GUST-ING!

The next day, I called contractors and got bids. Thankfully, one was able to start work last Friday. Since the room had to be gutted anyway, we decided to convert it to a laundry room. Looks like it’ll be done today, so tomorrow I’ll post some before and after shots for your viewing pleasure.