Rachael

One of our favorite working positions

Angie asks after looking at the last post: "Are you using a second keyboard? Do you type in your lap or just don’t like the notebook’s keyboard?"

You can see in the above picture that I have a pull-out keyboard tray in my desk. Lala talked me into getting an Apple wireless keyboard and mouse, and I LOVE THEM. I love the touch of the wireless keyboard so much that I can hardly bear to use the laptop keyboard ever (the "y" was always wonky, and I’ve never gotten around to getting it fixed). The small keyboard is so light, and I only have to think the words, and they’re typed. I swear, it’s almost magical. Highly recommended. The cat, not so good for wrist position, but what are you gonna do?

OMG, why are the internets so slow? Seriously, I can barely load gmail. I’m hoping that it’s our connection or something like that, and not my computer. Isn’t this when computers are supposed to take a dive? A day before final draft completion?

Aargh. Trying to email myself a copy of the novel file (my tertiary backup) and it won’t go. I did send myself one yesterday about three hours before day’s end, so worst case scenario it won’t set me back that much, but this is nerve-wracking. (Finally. It sent. Whew. Commencing Time Machine backup now, as well.)

So yesterday, on the porch, with that wine, I completed this final version. It was a doozy, too. I added in a whole new character and turned the straight-up romance into a light romantic suspense. Major parts of the middle and the last third of the book is practically all new. I added about 25,000 words.

Today and tomorrow (when I’m not going to the marathon expo today or running the half tomorrow) I’m doing the final sweep-through. Tidying up. Making it pretty for people (editors) so when they peek in they like what they see and want to see more.

I love this book. Someday, after its sold and in print (positive thoughts, people), and reviewers are being snarky about it, I will have to remember this. But I love it. It’s mine. I’m so proud of it.

And when my Future Editor sends me their revision letter? I will jump back in again.

But really. Now I’m ready to start plotting this year’s Nano. Monday. Monday I get to start doing that, right after I email the Book to my agent. But it’s a battle every night to keep myself from starting to plot while I’m falling asleep. Must. Finish. This. First.

Heading over into novel-land now. Almost there!

Motivation to write
Originally uploaded by Yarnagogo Rachael

It’s five o’clock somewhere. Oh, here! It’s got to be 75 degrees out here and gorgeous. I have music, writing, windchimes, wine, and Clara is chasing cheeky squirrels. All is good. My all-day writing stint just got exponentially better.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Oh, this makes my heart soar.

California Teachers’ Union Donates $1 million dollars to fight Prop 8.

The California Teachers Assn. donated $1 million this week to defeat a
ballot initiative seeking to ban same-sex marriage in California,
joining the ranks of wealthy gay rights activists and Hollywood
politicos as one of the major donors to the campaign.

"For us, it’s a civil rights issue," said the association’s President
David Sanchez. "We don’t believe people should be treated differently."

That’s amazing.

Also amazing is this movie trailer:

And I’m in it! From an earlier blog-post of mine:

    And it was odd — there were a lot of us extras, all dressed in 70s
clothing, trying to be cool. Sean Penn was doing the same thing. We
went through the whole thing a couple of times — he came out onto the
dais in front of City Hall in Civic Center and gave the speech. We
cheered and yelled and then he exited the stage. The director yelled
cut.
    But then: After two run-throughs which we thought had
been real, the director said "Take ONE!" Sean Penn, just walking onto
the stage, was a different person. He WAS Harvey Milk (believe it or
not). We were in his pocket. His speech, which we’d already heard a
couple of times, was world-changing. We would have done anything for
him. The cheering and whooping were real. The tears were real. The
pride I felt when the pretty boys on the balcony unfurled an early
evolution of the Pride Flag was real. The fact that people were there
as extras who had been there the first time….. Amazing. So lucky to
be part of it.
    So you might see me. But if you don’t, please know my voice was one of the voices raised in support.

In the trailer my sister and I are stage right. I couldn’t see us, but maybe in the movie we will? Don’t really care — it just looks AWESOME and I’m so excited to see it.

Whatcha doing? Huh? Huh? Whatcha doing?

I might have had some coffee. Maybe a bit too much, I don’t know. I only know a few things this morning, and they belong in bullet form. Yep.

• I’m still feeling good. The eating thing isn’t hard at all yet, which is bizarre. I think it’s made easier by the fact that I’m used to dietary restrictions due to my allergies. No sugar? Okay. It’s also made easier by the fact that I’m Not On A Diet, and I’m not allergic to the things I’m avoiding. So instead of looking at chocolate cake (which I am allergic to) longingly as my coworkers eat slices of it, I’m just choosing not to eat the kinds of ice cream that I could eat if I wanted one. I’m not eating refined sugar like that. But I could. I could have a baked potato if I wanted to. Or sushi with white rice. But I’m choosing to do the glycemic index thing, keepin’ it low. Keepin’ it real. SO MUCH MORE ENERGY. We’ll see how long it lasts. (But even though I’m Not On A Diet, not like that, the loss of 6.5 pounds in the first week makes a nice, if surprising, reward.)

• After work on Monday, I went to a sheep ranch to do a little research for the book. It was RAD. What a fun thing to research. Lala may want chickens (ew) but I want a miniature sheep someday. Unfortunately, they don’t do well alone (I just learned this) — they become can become depressed and aggressive when alone, and since I can’t imagine having more than one, I’ll have to let that dream go. But someday, somewhere, we will have those sheep. And Lala will have her chickens. And I will not clean out the coop, she will. I do not like chickens, except to eat. (They should be humanely treated, though. Yes on Prop 2!)

• While we’re at it, vote No on Prop 8! The fact is that polls show we’re losing, and it totally depresses me that I’ll lose again the married I just got. I am only buoyed by the fact that polls also show Obama way out in the lead. Now, if 8 goes through AND we get McCain? I’m moving to Italy. Their president is crazy but a flashy dresser, and the coffee is better. (The story about the Mormon middle-class family who withdrew fifty thousand dollars from their life savings to donate it to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign? It makes me sad.  "’It was a decision we made very prayerfully and carefully,’ said Pam
  Patterson, 48. ‘Was it an easy decision? No. But it was a clear
  decision, one that had so much potential to benefit our children and
  their children.’" Why do they hate me and Lala so much? Really, why? Makes me sad, but also makes me think they’re just hateful idiots.)

• Half-marathon! This weekend! Last chance for a pair of hand-knitted socks (every ten bucks gets you a chance…). And thank you, to all of you who have donated so far. With my whole heart, I thank you for what you’ve done, and I will be thinking of you on Sunday. I hope I make it the whole way. I’m pretty damn nervous about it, actually. Really damn nervous, but I’m trying not to think about it.

• I want to get the book revisions done by Monday, and I have to work at the J.O.B. a lot between now and then, including a MIDNIGHT SHIFT (what was I thinking?) and a half-marathon, so I’ll be MIA for while. Between working and Working and running, I’ll be a busy girl. But a happy one.

Mwah!

I ran from Southshore in Alameda around Bayfarm Island and the model airplane field and back. This is the view, and trust me, in person, it’s stunning.

T-minus nine days till the half-marathon.

And I am SO stoked. I ran eight miles this morning, and I FINALLY GOT IT RIGHT. No blisters on my insteps. The cure, for me, is three-fold, all thanks to tips from y’all:

1. Smartwool socks. I can’t believe I wasn’t using them before. They’re only single layer, but they feel awesome, and they’re wool. What’s not to like?

2. 2nd Skin blister band-aids. I know they’re not band-aids, but you get the picture. I’ve used them before, many times, but they usually skid around too much to be effective.

3. Duct tape. Specifically, over the 2nd skin and all the way around, so that I taped the tape to itself on top of my foot. Also, this particular duct tape is pink, and I might have stolen it from a bar after a performer left it behind (they were so long gone! And it made a great bracelet! I’m still twenty years old!), so I think it just works better.

Also, I just felt great. I ran probably ninety percent of the time, which is WAY up from my recent pathetic attempts at running that turn into a half-walk half-run shamble about half-way through.

I attribute this to food.

I’m trying something new, my friends. No sugar.

I KNOW! It’s horrifying! Avert your eyes if you must, I totally understand. There’s something on cuteoverload that you should probably see instead.

For those of you still reading (you brave souls), I’ll Biden it for you: No sugar. You heard me. Let me say it again. No sugar.

Oh, lord have mercy.

I’ve just been feeling so dang crappy lately. All the time. For the last two months I’ve had an almost constant nagging headache that flares into a migraine every ten days or so. I’m exhausted to the point I’m reminded of when I had mono in college. I’ve been to the doctor, it’s not a tumor. I just put it down to working a hell of a lot, both at the j.o.b. and at the writing, but I think I was wrong.

I have always known I had a problem with sugar, but (also in the last few months) it became a monster I couldn’t control. I thought about sugary things all the time. And you’d think I’d be okay, since I’m allergic to soy lecithin, and that rules out eighty percent of all things good, but you’d be surprised at what I found to sugar myself up with. Sweetened condensed milk. Brownies from TJ’s. All-natural ice cream. I craved sushi everyday, and I’m convinced it was about the white rice (I like how I put that in the past tense. I always crave sushi. Crave it right now).

Carrots, for the love of god. That was the breaking point, actually, three days ago. I’d torn the house apart, looking for anything sweet, and realized there was nothing sweet that I wasn’t allergic to. So I ate carrots, which I don’t even usually like, and felt temporarily better.

Then I crashed with the headache again. Ask Lala, I haven’t been very pleasant to be around lately.

Two days ago I stopped eating sugar. Last night I made brown and wild rice with broccoli and chicken with tomatoes and mozarella cheese (recipe from the Sonoma Diet cookbook). This morning I ate 10-grain hot cereal from Bob’s Red Mill (I used a drizzle of honey because otherwise, it’s just noxious, but that’s the only small amount of processed sugar I’m allowing myself).

Then I went for the run, and dudes, I ran! (I ran so far away…. you’re welcome) I kept running. I felt seriously great. I still feel great. I haven’t had a headache in two days.

I’m not saying this is the cure, and I’m not saying I’m going quiet into that good night. There may be a tantrum or two coming up. But it’s worth a shot. No refined sugar for a month, low-carbs, lots of whole grains, and we’ll see how I feel after that. But if this is how I feel after two days, well, then. Hi. Nice to meet you, energy. Sit a spell.

I never, ever thought I’d say this, but I think I might like the editing process even more than the first-draft writing process. I love the pell-mell pace of writing fast, but this tidying up suits me. (I plan on getting this novel all cleaned up and pretty by October 20th, so My Agent can send it out to the world while I take ten days to plan the next one, which will be thrown against the page starting November first in a mad Nanowrimo rush.)

I have a sheet of paper next to me when I work, covered with pink Post-its with things that I know I have to work on/work in, and I move them around a lot. I’m gobsmacked every other day when two of the Post-its collide and make a new one, or when something on a Post-it gets handled in a way I didn’t expect.

There are the Trouble Post-its, yes. The ones I look at and wonder how on earth I’m going to get them onto the Done pile.

But this is kind of obscenely fun. I never, ever thought I’d say that. I thought I wasn’t a rewriter. What’s next? Frogging sweaters?

Hell, no. I’m not THAT different.

Someone likes it when I work listening to classical music:

    Miss Idaho likes to perch on pillow-tops.