Blech

Yes, I've been absent. Again.

Yes, I have a dear friend waiting patiently for me to read her book (I am. It's good. I WILL finish it soon. Promise.)

But. I have been sick. Like a damned dog. And the wife, too. She had bronchitis and did a five-day run of antibiotics -- the kick-butt kind. Luckily, the roller derby league is on a mini-hiatus for the holidays, so she's not missing much.

Me? I don't do doctors, unless I'm dying. So I'm waiting it out. And waiting.

Oddly enough, I have been working on the new book. I knocked out a couple thousand words this past week -- not much, sure, but not bad considering. I know it's a rough draft and I know that I seem to have difficulty painting characters in depth (according to response to TDYDK), so I'm focusing on that. I will likely have to go back and fill in some depth once the actual rough draft is finished.

Sigh. I'm done for tonight. I hope to blog more very soon. Surely this can't last forever. Right?

I love me some italics!

My lovely wife, who is also reading The Devil You Don't Know, looked up at me sweetly the other night while we were lying in bed (she was reading the manuscript; I was watching baseball) and said: You really like italics, don't you?

I said: Who? Me? No way!

So, she showed me the page. And seemingly every other word was italicized. Whoah. I hadn't realized that.

I do like to use italics to emphasize certain words because I strive to make my dialogue as realistic as possible. But after she pointed it out, it became clear that I ... overdo it.

It's apparently a tic, like a written whole-word stutter or a lisp. I can't help it, but I can go in and change most of them. So that's my next step in the never-ending saga of trying to get TDYDK ready. I'm going in and changing three-quarters of the italicized words back to normal.

Grrrrr.

I'm also waiting to hear from three beta readers who haven't checked in at all in the three weeks that they've had the manuscript. Since I've never done this before, I don't know whether I should be worried, pissed or not concerned. So I'm going for hopeful. As in, I'm hopeful that they are taking their time because they want to do a good job since the book is so good.

Yeah. That sounds good.

Sorry for the limited posts over the weekend. It was school play weekend for the 12-year-old, which proved quite stressful and hectic. And I'm still not feeling good yet. I'm not sure what's ailing me, but I'm starting to wonder if it's allergies. I have been exhausted, had a headache, sore throat and a cough for two weeks now. Blech.

Have a wonderful Sunday night and we'll talk again tomorrow.

Sorry for the short post

I've been a little under the weather the last 24 hours or so. Nothing serious, just a headache and a rather blah feeling.

Thanks to everyone for your comments on my Now what? post. While your opinions were varied, you all made some salient points and I do appreciate them.

I think I'm going to go back to writing the bigger, darker novel. For now. It just feels right, as Gina said.

Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind. And probably I will, at some point. But for now, I'm plowing ahead.

It beats sitting here sweating out the beta readers.

More tomorrow, provided I'm still upright.

It's Friday!

I apologize for the marked lack of blog posts this week; I've been under the weather all week and, well, just plain tired.

Oh, and I have this shiny new video game ...

Anyway, I'm alive and well (sort of) and while I got very little actual work done, my Cubs are 6-3 in the young season in MLB 2010: The Show. That goes to prove that video games can be far more satisfying than real life.

I intend to get back to revising big-time on Monday, although the next couple of weeks will be short ones, since I will be covering the Illinois state boys basketball tournament the next two weekends (Fridays and Saturdays all day/evening) for the Associated Press. Hey, I gotta pay for that video game somehow!

We're also getting back to the Friday Family Movie Night this evening with a screening of An American Werewolf in London. I haven't seen it in years, so it will be like watching it for the first time. I only hope it doesn't frighten the 12-year-old too much. He's getting a little large to fit into our bed! (Just kidding, son. Seriously).

AAWL wasn't my first choice. That would be Night of the Comet, one of my favorite cheesy 80s flicks. But our local video store doesn't stock it, so I guess I'll order it online. In my mind, there are few better things in life than a couple of Valley Girls out to save humanity. Know what I mean?

So, there's my post for the day. Now I'm off to play some digital baseball. I'll be back Sunday for a more in-depth post. So consider yourself warned.

Feeling blah

Sorry for the lack of a substantial post today, but I've been feeling like crap since yesterday. I suppose it's some kind of bug and I'm hoping it will pass quickly.

Thankfully, I have that shiny new video game to keep me company!

I hope to be back to full speed tomorrow. Thanks for understanding.