Of writing, dying microwaves, new music and super cool friends

I’ve been busy little writer chick this weekend, working on those revisions to the book for Harlequin American. The light at the end of the tunnel (i.e. the end of the first go-through) is in sight, and I think I’ll reach it either tomorrow or Tuesday. Then it’s time to print it out again, then start over to smooth everything out and make sure it makes sense after all the great slashing cuts. So far, I’ve cut 25 pages!

Yesterday was my local RWA chapter meeting, and it was really, really fun after a decade of attending chapter meetings to announce my first sale in person. Much clapping ensued, and I was grinning from ear to ear. It was also fun that we had good attendance and some new potential members there.

While typing in revisions this weekend, I’ve been listening to a new music discovery — the Dutch band Delain. They have connections to another favorite Dutch band, Within Temptation, and are in that vein of symphonic rock. Check out their MySpace page, where you can hear a few of their songs, two of them in the video format. My favorites are “The Gathering,” “Sleepwalker’s Dream” and “See Me in Shadow” (down in the videos). That last one is how I discovered them. Someone had set a fan video to that song on YouTube.

I blogged before about how fantastic my friends are, and how many of them had sent me presents to celebrate my sale. I wanted to report on a couple more. Mary not only sent me that awesome First Sale T-shirt, but she sent me this great necklace, which I wore for the first time yesterday. Sorry, I couldn’t take a picture of it. Each time I tried, I couldn’t get close enough to it without blurring the image or the light messed up. Mary rocks, by the way, and when she sells, I’m going to dance up and down my street, no matter how hot or cold it might be outside. Dianna Love Snell sent me a couple of gifts that were truly awesome in that they made this sale thing feel a little more real. She sent me this Cross pen, which I’m going to use to sign my contract when I get it, and a roll of “Autographed by the Author” stickers to put on my books. Squee! I get chills just thinking about that.

This weekend, the hubby and I also had to say goodbye to an old friend. The microwave we’ve had during our entire nearly 15-year marriage finally bit it.

But I’d say I got my money’s worth. I bought it in the summer of 1991, while I was a college student and doing my summer internship at a weekly newspaper and living in a crappy old apartment with my younger sister. College student doing internship = poor, so I paid a stunning $25 at a yard sale for this beauty. She’s made her home in five apartments, one dorm room, and one house since then, but this weekend she said, “You shall warm up no more pieces of pizza or leftover potatoes.” When hubby tried to warm up some nachos, he turned the timer knob and nothing happened. We just looked at each other and made sad faces. After a moment of silence, I headed off to Wal-Mart to get a replacement. Wow, if it lasts 16 years too, I’ll be 53 when it bites the dust!

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