Monday is coming! Monday is coming!

It's finally here and I'm a little too stunned to take it in. 

Back in July, when I first got The Email (it wasn't The Call, but close enough for me) I was so excited I could barely breathe. No kidding. I passed out a couple of times. Lucky I didn't bang my head too hard. 

Somewhere in August, when all the edits were done, the thrill started to wear off. I had new stuff to get excited about. The blindingly rapid response to another submission to Freya's Bower for one (5 minutes. It's got to be a record.) 

Then Monday, after having lunch with a friend, I got home to pencil in that we planned to meet again the following Monday and it hit me. The following Monday was Labor Day and she probably won't be free for lunch? No. I mean that too, but the following Monday is the Monday. The Monday I've been waiting all my life for.

The day my book comes out!

So I've been walking about two inches off the ground while simultaneously feeling sick for days and it's reaching a crescendo. By Monday, I should be curled into the fetal position, moaning and floating two inches off the ground.

What would I have done if I had been scheduled for December release like I was supposed to be?

One Ring To Rule

And the Rain, Rain, Rain came Down, Down, Down

The rain is killing my ability to function. For the past several weeks it's ranged between hot and sunny and cool and sunny. Note the trend. This morning when ADT woke me up to put me on hold so a service rep could sell me something, it was 55 degrees and gloomy. I wasn't informed that August was ending early. The gloomy never left. The sound track of the day has been dripping. It isn't raining hard enough to help either. The grass is the traditional brown and the light, constant rain won't change that.

What the rain is doing is setting a chill in my bones that makes me want to curl up with a good book. Or perhaps a bubble bath and a good book. Any suggestions?

Just Say No To the Refresh Button

Submitting a manuscript just shoots a whole day for me. Never fails. First there's the goofing around I have to do while I work up the nerve. Trolling forums, checking my email, trying to talk a friend into lunch. Anything to burn a little time. Then I have to read 

the submission guidelines repeatedly, 

follow them,

fix the mistakes I made because somehow, I always do,

compose the cover letter / email,

try to decide if I'm being too flippant or just flippant enough,

check to make sure I followed the guidelines again, 

and hit send.

No, that part doesn't take all day. It just feels like it does. After that I have to step away from the computer. Otherwise it's refresh, refresh, refresh. The last two things I subbed were responded to really fast so today, instead of doing something constructive, like laundry, I haunted the internet and kept checking my email. Hot Sunday afternoon be damned. Why haven't they emailed back yet.

So here it is nearly six pm and all I've written is 1k. Good for some folks, but I've been averaging 5K for the past several days and I already know what the next couple of scenes are. Sigh. After dinner, I'll buckle down and do what's good for me.

Just say no to the refresh button.

You're Invited To a Shower!

Raise your hand if you're chilled by those words. That little card comes in the mail and all I can do is think of a reason not to go. I'm not sure how many of these I've managed to avoid. Probably not enough because I have 'sucker' tattooed on my forehead. I had the perfect excuse for this one until a few months ago. "Oh sorry, I'm going to be out of the country." When that fell through I resorted to "oh sorry, I don't have a car. I won't be able to get there." My mother offered to drive out and get me. She wasn't being helpful. She knew what I was doing and she was determined to foil me.

See, this shower is important. My brother, at 46, is getting married for the first time and he is such the marrying kind. My sister married 17 years ago and I moved in with my husband that same year. We married 6 years later. My brother has been jealous ever since.

When he started dating Sue seriously, we (the family) were very excited. She's a really nice woman and great to him. Better than he deserves. I'm looking forward to the wedding. And the marriage.

But I still hate shower games.

An Embarrassment of Produce

My husband plays guitar. He's pretty good if I don't say so myself, but when you practice something three hours a day, you better get good at it or you're doing something seriously wrong. This guitar habit of his has landed him a bi-weekly gig at a local farmer's market. Now, at this gig, he plays for tips. Toward the end of the day, when the dealers are packing up, they leave their tips in the form of vegetables. High quality, locally grown, organic vegetables.

The first week he got a couple of zucchini, a couple of yellow squash and a head of garlic. We ate the zucchini and the squash and made a dent in the garlic. It was tasty and we were pleased.

The second week he got a small bag of potatoes, several more squash, more zucchini and a few other miscellaneous veggies. We did our best by it, but there's still a couple of potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini left.

Last week, they really liked the tunes. We walked out with four bags of vegetables and that's because we gave one bag to the friend who played the break. 

Now, with focused concentration I could probably eat all the vegetables, but the bulk of what I have is zucchini and eggplant. Good sometimes, but not everyday. This is not to say that I'm ungrateful. I'm just not that big an eater.

I am loath to throw out the food under normal circumstances and this is really good stuff. However, I'm not sure I can eat it all before it goes bad and I'm thinking the tips might continue to increase with the harvests. I will be drowning in zucchini by September. Anybody have any tips for freezing or pickling zucchini?