Busy Bee

Okay, yes, so I missed yesterday. Sorry. It was a busy day. A good for me kind of busy, though. I got a LOT done. The work schedule from hell is now over, and I can concentrate once again on being J.B., and all that happens to entail. Which, despite what the people closest to me think, is a lot.

I'm in between two projects at just this minute so I thought I'd check in. This question was in my Trivia ezine this morning, and I was pretty proud that I knew the answer. With Bragging Rights. Do you know?

Only one actor has ever been awarded an Oscar for Best Actor in two consecutive years. Can you name him? For Bragging Rights, name the films for which he won the awards.

I'll give you a hint. He's one of my favorites, and I've probably mentioned him here before.

I'll post the answer in the Comments after you guys have had a chance to make a few guesses. I'm pretty confident some of you will know right away, like I did, but I'd be interested to see your answers.

With the soundtrack from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in the CD player, I'm off to do some other J.B. things now. Today's one of those perfect days to get things done and enjoy yourself at the same time. Go do that.

=) JB

Is it Friday yet?!?

I haven't had a week this long in ages. I know what you're thinking. I'm a wimp.

You would be correct. I am a wimp. Actually, that's probably not the right word. Spoiled is probably the more accurate term.

After I quit my job three years ago (three years and 10 days, but who's counting?), it didn't take me long to become accustomed to the FREEDOM of being able to putter around town in the middle of the day, run errands (making six stops and being back home in less than half an hour), and write whenever the heck I wanted to - for hours on end. The day job does get in the way a little bit sometimes, but at least it's not an hour's drive into the city, slave away at a desk/computer/telephone for eight hours, drive an hour home, fix dinner and then fall onto the couch because I'm just too darn tired to do anything else.

If you do this every day, more power to you.

Like I said, I'm spoiled.

That's not to say I'm not working. We've been in this neighborhood before. The kids (and yes, sometimes the WGH) ask the age-old question, "What do you do all day?" and I go on a rant and tear, waving my to-do list in front of their faces. Being a writer is work, plain and simple, and woe to he who says otherwise.

I actually did run errands on my "lunch hour" today, with the WGH, and we even managed to cram in a bite of lunch. Imagine that - a lunch hour where you actually eat lunch. If I'd had to run all the errands we ran today on my lunch hour at the old job? There would've been zero time for the "lunch" part.

Life is good.

And yes, I'll say it again - spoiled. Rotten like the lemon meringue pie I accidentally left hidden away in a drawer for two weeks when I was 12. Yeah, someday I'll have to tell you that story.

Today, praise God, was the last day I had to work eight hours. Tomorrow I work four. Yes, I know, it's Friday and Friday is normally my day off. We're still in the make-up zone. But after 1 pm tomorrow, I'm done until Sunday afternoon, and I plan to spend the entire weekend glued to this chair, writing and editing and taking care of a few other various and sundry items that have been patiently awaiting my attention.

Heeee-woo.

Read a book. It's good for you. I'll be back again tomorrow.

=) JB

Lock up your daughters ...

Okay, probably I shouldn't say that. Especially in the context that I'm referring to my very own offspring.

Yes. It's here.

The Boy passed his road test yesterday. He now has his driver's license. Life as we know it will never be the same again.

Oy.

The Tall One was a very gracious big sister today - she let The Boy drive her car to Subway to pick up lunch. Said he did fine. Better than she expected, even. We're not quite ready for him to fly solo just yet. But, the WGH must be the most unselfish father on the planet - for Father's Day, he bought his son a car. One of those cheap-o, previously owned (by one of his assistant managers) jobs that requires no collision insurance. What a certain car dealer we know from Sunday school calls a "bumper car". Actually, it's kind of cute. Just don't tell The Boy I said that.

I stayed up way too late last night (and the night before, come to think of it). Trying to cram 24 hours' worth of stuff I needed to do into a 16-hour day. Again, this is why I quit my full-time job.

I love being a writer. What I don't love is trying to juggle everything into a time frame that's turning out to be a bit unrealistic. Thank God I have an understanding, patient and encouraging critique partner. Among other things.

The really good news is that I have managed to bump the word count a bit, fleshing things out, and have a really good start on filling in some plot holes that need to be taken care of before JT gets hold of this thing. It's coming along, coming along ...

Finished reading Big Brother Brett's THE CLEANER the other night (now on sale at a bookstore near you!) and loved it just as much this time as I did when I read the sneak preview several months back. I even got a mention in the acknowledgements - how cool is that? I have to write a review on it for RTE, which may or may not constitute a conflict of interest, but the mitigating factor here is that when I read it this time, I concentrated on it with my critical eye - looking at not just the story but at how it was written. For now, that's all I'm going to say. You'll see the review when it goes up.

Tomorrow is my last day of having to work around an eight-hour day. Hah! Never again, she says smugly. Never again.

Read a book. It's good for you.

=) JB

Pearls of Wisdom

I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.
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In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.
quotes by Pearl S. Buck, U.S. writer (1892-1973)

Today starts my three-day stretch of working eight hours a day instead of four on the "day job". This is the price I'm paying for taking a vacation last week. It could be worse. I could still be at the old job, where instead of working an extra 12 hours in three days I could be working an extra 40 just to get through the mountain of paperwork that would've been waiting for me because no one else could do my job while I was out.

I don't miss that job.

Now, I'm not going to get started on a diatribe about how much better my life is since I quit working full-time. I don't have time to wax philosophical this morning. Suffice to say, it is.

Music of the Moment. While we were away last week, my second Harry Potter CD arrived. I'm actually listening to the first one again at the moment, but at least now I can alternate them. Yes, I'm a geek. Just ask my kids.

Work beckons. Actually, I have to look up a few things on a really nice guy I'm supposed to interview (yes, it's on the to-do list), so I'm off ...

Read a book. It's good for you.

=) JB

The First Mile

A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life.
- Saul Bellow, Canadian writer (1915-2005)

The Flora and Fauna. This morning I resumed my walking regimen. Well, half of it, anyway. While we were on vacation last week, we spent a good deal of time walking around the various places we visited, and I thought, okay, if I can handle this, I can handle the 2-1/2 mile jaunt around our neighborhood. I made it once around the circle this morning before my whole body went into rebellious mode and said, that's it, I'm done! So, I'm pacing myself. Once around every day this week, then next week I'll resume the twice-around.

Thoughts. One nice thing about getting back into my routine is that the sights and sounds of a "country" morning like we have where we live are conducive to stimulating thought processes. I settled in with the manuscript and made some decent progress in adding words to the total count. Plot holes are starting to fill in. Things are beginning to make sense. The deadline is looming, so I'm devoting as much time as possible to writing.

The To-Do List. Of course, I have about a bazillion other things that need my attention, so I've resumed the practice of making up a to-do list. This week's is a full page.

For those of you who have missed me, I appreciate your checking in. One of the things on the list is to make it in to the Lunch Room every day.

Wish me luck.

In the meantime, read a book. I managed to get three of them done last week and am almost finished with the fourth. Catching up is so much fun.

Until tomorrow.

=) JB

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

I know it's been far too long since I've been in the Lunch Room, and I apologize.

We are currently on a long-awaited, much-needed family vacation. I promise (promise, promise) I'll be back on Monday with the latest goings-on in both the Thompson household and the JBTAuthor study.

In the meantime, read a book! It's good for you.

I'll be adding these to the Bookshelf as soon as we get home, but the ones I've read so far this week are: Fever Moon (Carolyn Haines), Death by Pantyhose - a Jaine Austen mystery (Laura Levine), and I've just started reading The Cleaner by our Literary Triplet brother Brett Battles. Reviews will appear at ReviewingtheEvidence in future.

See you Monday!

=) JB