more pictures. a.k.a. Toddler rules the camera

She built these tracks herself, with minor fixes from me to make it so we could actually drive over the hills.







I take a picture while she tries to get the camera from me.

Then, the camera was all hers:









This was the pile of clothes that she wasn't wearing.






Then she decided I didn't need socks.

NaNo is tomorrow! (part 2)

I've been thinking far too much about my NaNo novel. It might either keep me focused or else make me get really tired of it before I get done. I've always been a "pantser" instead of a "plotter" so we'll see.

The workshop I went to last weekend with Deb Dixon was really good, even though my brain froze at 3 and it went until 5. I do have notes, including ones she handed out, general ones about the topics, and ones about my upcoming NaNo story.

Of course, talking and reading about Goal, Motivation, and Conflict, I was sitting there thinking it was obvious and that I understood my characters, but trying to make a chart of their "GMC" is pretty hard. Like how do I know if something is internal goal or external motivation or wait... what?

So now some pictures out my front window:


Rose bush (where I just saw a mouse)


I noticed a couple of days ago that my red maple was suddenly RED


Yes, we still have leaves and grass. We don't generally lose the rest until late November when it finally frosts.

NaNo is tomorrow!

Which means that Halloween is today!

The kids are ready, I guess. I'm not. I wore my "human" t-shirt to the Harvest Festival, so maybe I could put that on again.



The school's Harvest Festival was Friday. Here are my lovely children ready to head out.


Ninja and Beaver again.


Ninja, beaver, dinosaur enjoying an unhealthy snack.


We did the haunted house (pirate ship theme this year. I loaned them my pirate shirt and vest, so I don't have a costume) first and then DS2 started insisting he wanted to go home already. DH had dropped us off and had gone to do an errand, with the intention of coming back and hanging out with us. By the time he got there, we were all pretty much ready to go.



This morning in a "ponkin" t-shirt.

writing it right

So... In meeting with my critique partner and in trying to edit a first pass through the were-fox novel I wrote in a month, I am discovering that it really is 2 books with the same characters. So do I try to expand each half to make a series of short-ish books? Or do I cut most of the first half out and/or repartition it as backstory?

I loved this book as I wrote it. I dunno. Maybe two books. The first half could almost be YA fiction, but the second really couldn't.

This is why authors drink.

I love writing, I just hate making my books readable.

Sunday rambles

So far today:

I've spent far too much time hoping someone would post something funny on facebook.

I printed out Raley's coupons and went grocery shopping. With sales and coupons, I saved a lot of money, but still was well over $50, which is the cutoff for getting 50 cents off per gallon at their gas station. The Toddler behaved as she ran around in a Christmas sweater and charmed people.

We got two fairly large "ponkins" at $1 each (coupon!) and then paid whatever per pound for a smaller white one. I'll probably still take them to a pumpkin patch next week when they have half days due to conferences. Maybe even Apple Hill?

There's a neighbor across the way cutting with a chainsaw. I might take my computer and move someplace quieter, ie not right by the front window.

They are predicting a little rain for this afternoon. It looks, feels, and smells like it and there are already a few little sprinkles.

I'm getting excited for NaNoWriMo. I have an outline that I want to read over and add some things to. I'm also reading a book about Louis XIV and might even get to Mme de Sevigné's letters. Maybe. I got distracted yesterday by a contemporary romance by Jill Shalvis that I bought when it first came out about 3 weeks ago and which has been langushing, unread, until now. I also went through my library requests and put a freeze on everything that I could that's not a movie for the kids, etc. I'm already returning more books than I read these days.

We just had grilled cheese for lunch. "Grilled" in the sense of toasted under the broiler, because the Brits call that the grill. See? At least I amuse myself, right?

Peepee and poopoo in the potty sometimes seems like the biggest moment of the day, you know? Toddler's, not mine...

TMI again

DD seems to have figured out how to poop in the potty.

She still wets her 'unnies' just slightly (or sometimes completely) every single time.

PICTURES

A friend wanted this out of her yard, since her baby is 8. So we paid her and went and took it apart and I put it together alone, which took more brains than brawn, which is why it took me an extra half hour or so.









DS2 mowing. $10 for the whole yard, including trimming. I might pay more, but I have to do a lot of supervising and nagging.



I got a box of books and stuff from a blog I read, Book Binge, which was giving away stuff. So my pink-clad girl got the sunglasses and hat, at least for a few minutes. If they had fit better and if she ever ever ever kept a hat on, I would consider letting her keep them. The books are MINE, though!

picking and choosing.

They had some other ones, and I'd really like a monkey with a typewriter, but these are good.