September 3rd Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! It’s HUMP DAY, and the last day of summer break. School starts tomorrow, so after I’m done working today, Dani and I are going to be doing a whole lot of running around. She wants to stop at Verizon to get her phone fixed, at Kohl’s to get a new outfit for tomorrow, and I need to stop at the grocery store because after having the summer off, tomorrow morning, I need to start making sandwiches again. YUCK! The smell of cold cuts in the morning turns my stomach.

This week is insane, and it marks the start of a hectic fall for me. Last night I had my critique group, and surprise, surprise, we had a film crew taping our session. Apparently there was an email I missed warning us it was happening last night. I have to say, I completely forgot the camera was even in the room with us, so I guess that’s an inclination of how good the director was, totally unobtrusive. They are coming back next Thursday for our writing group, and now that I know what it is going to be like, I have no reservations.

I already told you what today is going to entail. Tomorrow I have a reunion committee meeting to go over continued planning for our November class reunion; the first one I’ll actually be able to attend, so I am REALLY looking forward to seeing my old classmates again. On Friday, I have our church women’s group meeting to plan for our November church bazaar. I’ll be doing a lot of the work on the silent auction portion of the bazaar, which is going to be a neat trick since I’m pretty much booked up every weekend between now and Thanksgiving.

The only thing I have planned for this weekend is a celebratory dinner for my in-law’s anniversaries – yes plural, my sister-in-law’s anniversary is Friday. However, Saturday will more than likely be filled with shopping for the list of required school supplies Dani will get on Thursday when she returns to school.

Book wise, things are pretty packed as well. The 9^th is the filming for the TV show. On Monday, September 15^th, I’ll be appearing on Ron Shaw’s radio show on ArtistFirst Radio Network at 8:00 pm. It should be a blast, so I hope you tune in. Saturday and Sunday, September 20^th & 21^st I’ll be back at Canterbury Tales Forever; and Saturday, September 27^th I’ll be at Milford Alive.

I’m not sure yet which authors will be joining me at Canterbury Tales (I’ll let you know when I find out), but my friend, Kathi Kurz, will be coming with me to Millford. Actually, I’m going with Kathi (even though I’m driving), because I would never have known about the festival if it wasn’t for her.

I am going to be waking up extra early Saturday and Sunday, and probably all week as well; and on Friday and Monday, after everyone is out of the house, I will not be moving from my chair. The publisher is calling for an update next Friday, and FTQ is still not finished. If I keep my blog down to a minimum over the next week, it will give me roughly forty hours to finish up Faerie Tale Queen. Considering this is first draft, that should be enough time.

This whole going with a publisher is a double edged sword. Having to be creative under a deadline is stressful, and can very easily cause writer’s block. However, having to be accountable to someone else’s deadline, forces my butt into a chair and makes me write. It’s easy to brush off deadlines I set for myself – not so much when there’s someone else involved.

On that note, I should start rereading what I have written already so it will be fresh in my mind to start the next chapter as soon as I wake up tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

Since I haven’t done one in a long time, today’s challenge is a photo challenge.

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.