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Blog Archives June 2007 |
June 1, 2007--Road Trip Plans So let's pack a lunch and load up the GPS with geocaches! We're going on a road trip! Ah yes, and we have to stop for pie on the way home. Country Cousins' pie is the BEST ever! I challenge anyone to top it. You know, I wonder about road bullies. I really do. Driving on the QE2 in Alberta is an interesting adventure. I also find it varies on how you are treated depending on the vehicle you drive. The older, smaller, rattier nondescript car you drive, the worse you are treated. The bigger, nicer and newer vehicle you drive, the better you are treated. That highway is like a little snapshot of our society, eh? Here's to no road bullies tomorrow! June 1, 2007--Still Which brings me to my I-Have-No-Self-Esteem Moment of the month. First of all, I need to ask you this: do you fit in? Do you fit in wherever you go? For me, those questions are moot because I don't think I have ever really, truly felt like I fit in. (With the exception of my immediate family.) School, work, social networks, I've never truly felt like I fit in or 'click'. Sure, I have friends. It's not like I am socially incompetent or something, I just am one-of-those-things-that's-not-like-the-others. Not too long ago, I went to a party where people were talking about stuff that I 'see' or 'think' or 'believe' or is 'up my alley' and I was like, WOAH! This is friggin' great. Unfortunately, I don't really know the people and will likely never see them again and I think in some ways, they thought I was the 'mainstreamer' in the group. Which is so heart wrenching, because, yes, in some ways, I am, but at heart, I'm not. For example, it didn't matter where their quirky conversations turned, I was right there with them. And not just nodding my head and B.S.ing like a wannabe. I could out alternative them in three sentences of life background, if I was so inclined. But I guess I'm not. I'm just different. So, basically, I'm feeling sorry for myself today. It has been a few weeks (months) of trying to expand my social network and I feel like I just can't find people like me. I have never really fit in anywhere, so shouldn't I be used to it by now? Answer: yes, and does it really matter whether I fit in or not? Oh yeah, I was making a point about Facebook, wasn't I? You see, I finally signed up. I'm not part of any networks, I haven't let Facebook into my e-mail to badger my friends, I don't have photos of me (evidently, I am the photographer in the family), but I have hooked up with some old friends, which is nice. I was so pumped when I 'made friends' with some old buddies. They won't turn their backs! It will be like old times full of laughs and backhanded compliments and pointed barbs. Maybe I am just needy, but my 'friends' just don't seem to care about being anything more than having me listed as a 'friend' on Facebook. It's like they are collecting 'friends', but don't want to actually get reacquainted or take an actual, genuine interest. And no, it's not like I asked them to come straight over to my house and stay a week so we could get reacquainted. I sent simple, nice, hey-how-are-you e-mails and not-much-is-new-here-with-the-exception-of-x-y-and-z, and no reply. I wrote little notes on their walls, made kind and I-connect-with-you comments on their photos. Did I come across wrong? Is it me? Is it? Is it? (Okay, that's me being all needy.) So, does that mean that I don't even fit in on Facebook? I mean, if I don't even fit in in the cyber world... This is where I suck it up and go to bed. G'night. June 2, 2007--Car Chronicles: Part One: Road Trip We finally got everyone together and hit the road around 11ish. Seeing that our speedometer was acting a bit wacky, we pulled over at a geocache to see if we could wiggle the wire. Well, honey it got wiggled...and broken. Because the speedometer wasn't working, the odometer wasn't either. So as my hubby said, "free miles!" Unfortunately, it still consumed its diesel as per usual. And, just because it didn't think that it was going somewhere didn't guarantee that it wouldn't break down. But, we'll get to that. Geocaching. Yes, so, us girls went to find the 'treasure' with the kids while the guys excitedly tinkered (and broke) the car. Whatever. At least it is definitively broken now so we can get it fixed once and for all. The kids chose to trade some items for some tattoos. And then went on and on about how they needed water to apply the tattoos. Very nice tattoos. But you know, with all those mosquitoes, at least I got to see if rubbing the inside of a banana peel on the bite eases the itching. (It does.) Back on the road...got to the grocery store to pick up the meat and cheese and veggie trays for the art show opening. The people there were so excited that we finally got there to pick them up that they forgot to give us the crackers. Being sorta slow and chatting between our vehicles, we were still outside a bit later when they realized and came out with our crackers. Sweet. We are at one with the universe. On to Carbon! We arrived early, cookie bag depleted and red hot from the black interiored car with no air conditioning. I knew I should have ridden in the other car. They have AIR! All is well, the kids are having fun getting rides up the handicap chair lift on the stairs. After a lovely picnic out in the gallery's garden and of course, admiring the art and visiting with people, we headed off for pie! YUM! The moment we have all been eagerly anticipating. So, we are about 10km from the gallery and a zillion from home and have not yet gone 'the 20km out of the way for pie' when bang! A burst of smoke comes billowing out from the front passenger side. Loud squealing fills the air. Great. Just great. I had a feeling that we were going to breakdown today. And not just because my hubby the tech god was having computer and GPS troubles this morning. See, I have the soon-to-be-proverbial black thumb of tech troubles and he has magic tech fingers. I kill the cars and...well, I kill the cars. So, when I had the magic tech fingers this morning and he was doing the driving...well, you know how to spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E. So, I hop out of the car and pop the hood. Well, the smoke is already gone. Just like that. Smells like rubber. Tire is fine though, that is the first thing I checked. So, we all peer in there and everything looks okay. But I tell you, that smoke just about had the guys speed dialing the tow truck. (It was quite impressive, really. I wish I had taken a photo.) So, I started up the car, after telling them to get their heads out from under the hood. Everything seems good. Typical. The car is like that. Someday I will tell you about the trip where our 2 hour trip turned into 10 due to a loose block heater cord. Yeah, that messed things up in a superficial sort of way. The car always acts all dramatic over some tiny, little, stupid thing. That car has a weird sense of humour. It's not nicknamed 'Schiz' for random reasons. On we go. And then hubby tries to steer. Ugh. That is hard! Damn, it was the power steering! Gone. So, who knows just how bad it is, but we drove it home. We have no mercy on our old beaters. Currently, we have a list about as long as our arm for repairs on that poor car. And last night, just spend $1600 on airfare to visit family this summer. Yeah...so not exactly flush for making repairs at the moment. Yikes. Needless to say, we drove home daydreaming about new cars and when I got home, I called my grandma to see if she is thinking of trading in her Saturn yet. She is getting close to the 5 year trade-in mark. Although, since she is in her late eighties, she is wondering if it is smart to buy a new car. Do it for us, Grandma! Do it for us! You can do it! You'll be driving until you are a hundred! (Really, she is a FABULOUS driver. We once figured out (through degrees of separation) that she has pretty much taught everyone in the extended family how to drive. And I might add, our accident record is quite good--as in we don't hit things--other than animals. But that is mostly my brother. He makes up for the rest of us humane types.) So now we begin saving up for replacing our old beaters...<Sigh> June 8, 2007--The Car Chronicles: Part Two: Done Digging So basically, it will be like living with a terminal patient when we get our car back. We will tearfully be remembering all the good times and feeling guilty (almost) for refusing to give it an engine transplant. There are just too many things falling off of it to make it a good candidate. It's a good thing I never got around to putting those new bumper stickers on it. Hopefully we'll get the car back next week. I left my coat and hat in it. We've been borrowing my father's Grand Marquis which we have been babysitting. And that thing is Grand alright. You could put another person between me and the driver's side door--while I'm driving. Unfortunately, when you are used to a diesel that goes 800km on about forty bucks, the Grand Marquis is not so grand at the gas station, or at least it is grand, but your feelings of financial generosity are not. I suppose we have gotten the $6000 or so we paid for it eight years ago. Let's see, we bought it in November of 1999. It is June of 2007...so we've owned it for 91 months. That's only $65.94 per month! Yes, we got our money's worth. Especially if someone still wants it for $1500 or $2000 or something. Then it would only be about $43.96 a month. Dang! That is pretty good! In a way, I am a bit relieved to be done with that car. It doesn't like me. It leaves me places. And it wants repairs, like, every year! (If you are reading this oh wonderful hubby dear, yes I love the car. It is nice. It's just time for it to go. I'm sorry, but really, deep down inside, that is how I truly feel.) And besides, our Shadow starts with immense amounts of neglect. So now begins the car buying game. Put on your tough buyer face and jump in. Actually, when it comes down to it, I really like buying used cars. Waaaaay more than buying a new pair of jeans--that is torture. Only problem is that any decent car seems to cost over $10,000. I think we have raised our expectations a bit. The $1500 cars just don't have the same appeal after you discover that tow trucks can NOT haul the whole family (including carseated little ones) from wherever you have broken down to the shop. So, the whole financial part of the equation sort of blows. If I had say, $15,000 to blow on a car, oh my god! I would have SO much fun!!!! Hey, anyone want to buy a book? Or three? June 11, 2007--Car Chronicles: Part Three: Never Say Never Anyway, curious what the 'never' is? Well <gulp> it is actually two things. We said we would NEVER buy a NEW car and we would NEVER finance a car. At least the whole never buy a mini-van thing hasn't happened. Whew! That could have been a close one. So, yes. I turned my back on my husband in the Toyota dealership for five minutes. Apparently, that is long enough for him to stumble across a new car (discounted because of tiny hail damage dings) and fall in love with it. Enough to not only buy it, but to finance it. We were looking at used cars, but out here used cars are crazy prices! So, as we discovered, we could put another five grand into a car, give ourselves a bit of financial breathing room (by using the dealerships financing which is better than our line of credit, which we would have had to use for a used car) and have a car that should be problem free for years. Craziness. So are you curious what we bought? Are you? Are you? I am so pumped! We bought a tiny little sedan called the Toyota Yaris. Essentially it is the Echo with a new name and a new body and a trunk. And a carseat fits in the back quite nicely, which is a nice change for us. And it is cheap and gets 41-51 mpg (Canadian). Sweet! The only problem with any car is that my hubby is going to have it used up in no time flat. (He will be commuting 100km per day next year to get to and fro his new job. But at least he won't be nearly as worried about getting there. He has always been really paranoid about that--to the point where I used to have to drive the 18-year-old gas car the 120km for my daily commute (and have the nonplug in parking spot) whereas he took the diesel car (with I might add--not only had working doors but also had more than AM radio (it had a CD player)) for his 60km commute. No, I'm not bitter. Not at all.... I mean, it doesn't matter that my cars mostly got me to work and if his car didn't start at minus thirty, he'd take mine and I'd have to call AMA and be late for work. Anyway, this car is so cute and so sweet and so amazingly nondescript (it is silver) that I will NEVER be able to find it in a parking lot. (There is that 'never' word again.) It's a good thing it is already dinged, otherwise my hubby would moan over every new scratch and ding...oh yeah, he'll do that anyway. :) I can hardly wait to drive it everywhere! Except for the miniscule clutch that is so springy and well, new, that I stall it all over the place. On the test drive, whenever I started out anywhere, all my hubby heard was, "Did I stall it? Is it still running? I can't hear anything." So, finally, tired of stalling it with its tiny little clutch and tiny little sweet spot, I floored it and released the clutch. Wow! Hello? Dealership? Yes, could we get a new car? This one doesn't seem to have any rubber left on the tires. Yes, well, there are some nice little strips on the pavement over in Springbank. Um, yeah, I don't know how that happened. Really? Well, I don't think I want to buy a car that has been treated that way. I mean, afterall, I am a lady driver. I think I heard something from the salesman that sounded an awful lot like, "Drive it like you own it, not like you stole it." But that was when he was telling us how we should break it in, not um, how to test drive it. So, in a few days we should get our Golf back from the shop, all fixed up and happyish. (It needs a head gasket, I think.) So, if you know of anyone who wants a good little, economical car and doesn't mind putting a head gasket in, we've got their car! And then we'll get the Yaris. Such a cool name. Now we have to think of a name for the little guy. Maybe we should call it 'Doug'. June 16, 2007--More on Facebook Interesting tidbit though. I was listening to DNTO (Definitely Not the Opera) on CBC this morning and they were yakking about Facebook. Interesting thing is that Facebook (aka Crackbook and Fbook) holds the status of being the worst for its privacy policy on the worldwide web. Not exactly something that you strive to achieve. How exactly they came up with that 'fact' I am unsure. If you do a search on the Internet, you find lots of rants and accusations against Facebook. And that makes me wonder, is it simply because Facebook has gotten incredibly popular and is growing exponentially every day? Or is it for real? When I signed up, I was very hesitant. There are very few ads on the site and there are lots of places to put in piles of personal information. Some of it is theoretically only accessible to your 'friends', but still. People can print your photos that you put up there (again only your 'friends'). But, still. There is a part of me that doesn't trust the whole thing. How are they making their money? Everything is for sale on the Internet these days and nothing is truly for free. And Facebook prompts you all the time to scan through your email for friends. Basically, you let Facebook into your email account--you give them the password (for a one-time shot)--and they index your address book and pester all your contacts to join Facebook. So what is the truth about Facebook? Maybe I'll go see if Jack will be my friend. Maybe he has some answers. Car Chronicles: Part Four: Selling the Beloved Golf Alas, the time has come. The Golf is back and all clean and happy with its little for sale sign. What to ask for it? Playing the selling game. Don't like this part so much. So far, three queries and one broken viewing appointment. A no show. So nice of him to call and cancel. Not like I had anything better to do with my time. But what do you do with a great little, economical car that is ready to go thousands of kms more if you fix the head gasket? Problem is, that costs about a grand to fix. (I found a great shop who will do that plus some more work for that price.) Who wants to buy a car that needs to go in the shop for a bit, even if it means you will have a great car in the end? Do we fix it ourselves? Then what do we charge? So, we'll see what the next week or so brings. I'm just feeling impatient. I know what I want and I want to get to it. Same with my career. Facebook Update: This is weird. I went looking for Jack Layton on Facebook and who the heck knows? There are a bunch of global groups that you can pop into that are about Jack Layton, but I don't know if any of them are really Jack's. Do you know what I mean? Like is he on there himself? Or is he just pretending to be hip and cool? I looked on his website and the youth area doesn't scream out, 'hey I'm on Facebook, look me up'. So what is the deal? I don't know. I thought it would be cool to be 'friends' with Jack Layton. I thought maybe he'd do a little blog thing on his wall and so I could get to know a bit more about him and his political platform. So, I guess I am a little disappointed. Maybe I missed something. I'm still new to this Facebook thing and all its little nuances. June 19, 2007--Random Bits and Ends We pick up the new car tomorrow! Yipeee! And with the Golf, we've had more calls and another no show. Tonight we have someone who is considering buying it coming over to take a look--a friend. Cross your fingers for us. What is it about today's society that we don't care much about others and are hesitant to extend common courtesies? Is it the commonness of six foot fences? We don't need our neighbours and they don't need us? I mean, not ten years ago if I had a breakdown on the road, cars would stop to make sure you were okay--heck, even if you weren't broken down they would check. Now you can hang out at the side of the road with the hood up and nobody will stop. They assume you have a cell phone and will call and pay a stranger (tow truck) to help you and that you don't need them. Maybe we are too rich. Maybe we are removed from others and their realities. We have big fences, distant emails where we feel we can say anything (we didn't say it to their face, so the meanness doesn't count), cell phones, fancy everything. Why borrow the neighbour's drill when we can go buy our own? Why call on the neighbour to feed your cat when you leave when you can pay someone? You wouldn't want to be indebted to someone. God forbid. Maybe I'm just being cynical, but I see change coming...and this time, I'm not sure if I like it. (Or maybe I'm just getting old.) Found another friend on Facebook. Or rather, she found me. Still researching agents. Considering joining Backspace. Looking for contests. Seems like winter is the season, not spring-summer for entering. I was listening to Coffeehouse on Sirius radio and there was good ol' John Lennon and that got me thinking. It must be hard for Yoko Ono and pretty much anyone with a famous significant other who lives in the spotlight and then suddenly dies. Like John Ritter's wife--so much hubbub around his death. And I was thinking, it must be hard for Yoko to get over John. (Lennon, not Ritter.) I mean, he was suddenly taken from her, just right there on the street. All is good and then literally, BANG, he's gone. And here, years later there are reminders of him popping up where ever she goes. She must never know when to expect his voice or face to pop up. It's gotta be hard. What is it about Kraft Dinner that is so appealing to little kids? June 20, 2007--Car Chronicles: Part Five: Advertising the Golf So the car chronicles continue. And have I talked about that little voice you hear in your head from time to time? No, not the one that tells you to run that road bully off the road or to throw yourself off a bridge, but the little one that says, "Wait until Wednesday to put the ad in Auto Trader." Yeah, that one. I knew I should have listened to it. Not a biggy, but still. Listen to the VOICE! I would have saved myself $37 if I had. Oh well. It's like that time I went to Calgary when the voice was saying not to. That cost me a lot more money and time than this did. So, if you want to save money, listen to the voice. (We listened to the voice when it told us to move two years ago. We did and everything fell right into place. And now look our crazy house is now almost twice the price we paid! Insane. So, folks, listen to the voice!) Anyway, we sold the Golf. Sniff, sniff. Such a good car. All Amour Alled and clean. Such a good car. Anyway, it's gone. The lady who's car we were going to buy--her son--bought the Golf. And it totally suits him. He is going to love it! My hubby says that he is going to totally get chicks in that car. It was sort of sad to see it go. We bought that car right after we got married eight years ago. Lots of memories in that little car. Today we were supposed to pick up the Yaris. But, of course, problems. It is not ready. So we exercise patience. Hubby is going to blow a gasket! (He just called and he is not impressed. He's like, 'it's been two weeks! This service sucks, what are they doing?' And I get that, but it has actually worked out well for us so far, so whatever.) Anyway, apparently one of the air conditioning pieces didn't come in, so there it is, all apart in their shop. Poor dejected little thing. They offered a loaner, but we still have the trusty Shadow and Big Mama (Dad's Grand Marquis). The Grand Marquis is also known as the Mighty Hunter and Daniel Boone. (My dad hit a deer driving it to Ontario one summer, picked us up at the airport and ran over a raccoon.) So, maybe Friday we will get the car. Hubby is eager to road trip. Either for pie or for sandals. (My vote is pie--costs less.) So anyway, when you buy an ad in Auto Trader, the ad doesn't go in for a week and then several days after it has been in the magazine, then they put it online (unless you pay $7.50 for them to put it online right away). I felt a bit ripped off. I have cancelled the ad, and even though it hasn't been put in the magazine or online, they are still charging me $37. Even though they didn't actually provide me with a service. That seems like a bit of a rip off to me. And the Red Deer Advocate, they just put 'sold' on the ad and keep running it for the whole week that they made me pay for. I always wondered why idiots advertised their vehicles as 'sold'. I always thought, 'really, was there that much demand that you had to pay money so people would stop calling?' No, it is just them milking you so they don't have to give you a part refund for the ads in the week that you didn't use. Rip Off! I sort of understand that once things are set up for publishing, you don't want to start pulling ads and rearranging, but some of this is just them yanking my money out of my pocket. So, there you have it. June 21, 2007--Ultimate Frisbee and Six Foot Fences Ooo. A little sore today from playing Ultimate Frisbee last night. As I arrived at the field, so too did a group of teenaged boys. At first, I thought we might have to fight them for the field, but I soon realised that they were here to play. As they tossed their cleats on the ground and began stretching, I must admit, I cringed internally. I mean, I'm not bad at Ultimate Frisbee. I'm actually pretty decent. But, stretching? Cleats? Oh boy. I bet they can jump like Golden Retrievers too. Besides, I thought this was a bunch of teachers (and me) hanging out, playing casually, for fun. And even when I am not working on fighting down a sinus infection, I'm not much of a runner. I just never have been. I've tried, but it is the whole lung thing. Asthma just makes it hard to go all out with running. But anyway, faced with these young pups who undoubtedly could run the field like it was a small living room, I was wondering if I really should have stayed home with my penicillin. And then they chose teams. Young vs. Old. I was on the old team. Great, this should be humiliating. The age cut off was 25 (!!!!!), leaving ten youngsters and eight oldies. So, we did some swapping to make it nine versus nine. For defense, I tried to choose the guy who looked less likely to be able to run. And of course, I picked the runner. Once he figured out that I would go long to the end zone when we were on offence, he'd take off to pick cherries at his end zone, which left me nicely open. Unfortunately, when they would get possession again, my guy would be down at the other end of the field and where was I? Pretty much as far away from him as possible. I did manage to do a cool, sliding, hat flying off catch the Frisbee just before it hits the ground for a touchdown. We won ten to eight. In your face you young pups! I was reading my husband's Discover Magazine today and I found an interesting article by Douglas Rushkoff (Driving Used to be About Taking on the World, Now it's About Being Tucked in for a Nap). You know how the other day I was complaining about how we seem to be separating ourselves from our neighbours? Well, he was discussing things along a similar vein. He was talking about fancy cars with GPS navigation systems (no need to ask others for directions), DVD systems (kids don't realise they have left the house), parking assist and how all those fancy features are taking the joy of doing the task of driving somewhere. (Car companies would no doubt argue that they are putting the fun into the task of driving somewhere.) Rushkoff argues that by simplifying or removing all these sorts of tasks is similar to saying that the task has no value. The newest features of vehicles (like parking assist, cruise control, cars monitoring eyelids for fatigue and cars that can call for help) have turned drivers into a "pampered child" and our driving activities are being "hovered over by a vigilant electronic mother, scanning the road ahead for danger" (Discover: April 2007, p. 73). He does have a point. The quote I like best from his article is: "Increasingly detached from the tasks and surroundings of our daily lives, we are also less connected to the civic, social, and physical reality on which we depend" (Discover: April 2007, p. 73). I hear you brother! I totally, whole-heartedly agree. In some ways technology and the wealth we are enjoying is separating us from each other and making poor behaviour more and more acceptable. It is a scary idea. Where are we heading? Will something stop us? Will we reconnect with others again? What can we do? I know that big, new, cozy vehicles are a problem--look at how we treat each other on the road. We bully, we break rules and we don't care, because we are safe in our vehicular cocoon. Onto the more personal, Rushkoff talks about listening to ipods or talking on a cell phone in public spaces. By doing this we are removing ourselves from the spaces we are in (sidewalks, buses, etc) and therefore, making "these spaces even less interactive or friendly than they were before." He really put his finger on it for me. What do you think? Another thought... I got an email today from a friend. One of those chain letter ones and I passed it on to some of my friends, even though I don't usually do that. You see, it had a theory about why a friend comes into your life. Friends come in to serve a purpose (to fulfill a need or help learn a life lesson). To fulfill that purpose, the friend might come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When put that way, it makes sense to let some long-time friends go, even though it is hard. There is a feeling of obligation to keep in touch and keep in contact and to remain good friends, even though it is obvious that neither party has anything to offer the other any longer. And thus, friends drift apart. I suppose this email appeased the guilt I have in letting some of my old friends and acquaintances go. June 24, 2007--Car Chronicles: Part Six: Someday Our Yaris Will Come So we wait, and wait. We are moving into week three now. On Friday, my hubby was like, "Hey, let's go to Mazda!" I was a bit tired from laying cement sidewalk blocks and was like, "Groan." So, we went to Mazda. And we drooled over the sexy Mazda 3 sedan. Sexy, baby! And then we test drove it. Humuna, humuna. Very cool car! I LOVE the way it drives. We seriously contemplated dropping the Yaris (they haven't even taken our deposit over at Toyota). But, it comes down to money. Do we want to spend $21,000 (plus 6% GST) on a new car? No. That's why we went with the Yaris, because you got a new car for a used price. So, to spend an extra 5-6 grand for a nicer car is tempting, but then you think, well, this is actually a third of another Yaris and the Yaris is more economical and the government will give us a grand back when we buy it because of its 'greenness'. And well, we are cheap buggers. So, life lesson: don't go test a nicer car when you've already decided on a basic, economical one. Especially when the little things that we weren't thrilled about in the Yaris, the Mazda had. Oh well. Maybe next week we'll get the Yaris. (Hope so, dad takes his car back so we'll be back down to one.) And did I mention that irony of ironies...the Shadow seems to have a gasket leak? (The Golf had one too.) Argh! It never ends! (And dad's car seems to have developed a tire leak.) I think I am cursed. Side note: Dad is at Grandma's cottage and just set up his webcam (and high speed Internet) on his laptop down at the dock. That's not all. He called us on our computer so we could see him go jump in the river. Just to rub in the fact that he is there and we are here. :) June 25, 2007--New Books! We went to Chapters yesterday to buy a book for a friend for his birthday and we bought a ton of books. No wonder we are broke all the time! We spend! We did save a lot of money. I got four novels for the price I would pay for used ones. (And they are new. It was a buy three, get the fourth free. (And they averaged the prices of all four to give you money off instead of you getting the cheapest one for free.) Plus we got to use our Chapters coupon for $5 off, plus our irewards! So, basically, I paid about $6 a book instead of $10. I like that! Here's what I got: The Nanny Diaries ~ Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus Let's hope that today is Yaris pick up day! Cross your fingers for me! June 27, 2007: Car Chronicles: Part Seven: Our Day Comes A story I am working on seems to be set on being a short one. I even added a second character perspective and it is still acting like a small story. Although, it is just the first draft. Yet, the one I finished before this was twice the size. A friend read it and liked it. (Whew. She's going to give me some feedback this weekend. Since she is an English teacher as well as the market for the book, I am glad she didn't say it stunk. Then again, maybe it does but she worries about remaining friends. Har, har.) I pre-plotted the story I am working on now and it is sitting around 50,000 words with maybe another 10,000 to come. The one I finished before this was a whopping 110,000 and is acting like it wants a sequel. That one I wrote by the seat of my pants and was so much FUN to write. I loved writing that one. So what is my preferred method? Good question. I think it is writing it as it comes. |