Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 294

Small-Town Friendliness (in the city)

This is turning out to be a rather unproductive week. I don't feel like I'm getting much done, but then I have to remind myself that I'm in brainstorming mode, so it's harder to track when I'm "working" because it's running constantly in my subconscious. Still, I'm not exactly focusing, and I have had a lot of non-writing work to do. Sometimes the administrative/business stuff just has to be dealt with. I think I could also have some lingering tiredness/stress from being out of town two weeks in

Research and Procrastination

This is not turning out to be a very productive week, in spite of the enormous to-do list. I guess I'm still a bit tired, and the to-do list is time-consuming and distracting. I think my subconscious is also in high gear, which makes me inefficient in anything requiring logic or focus. I did start trying to outline the plot of the Misty Idea yesterday, only to realize that even though I have the opening scenes mentally written and the ending planned, I had no idea what happened in between. There

Book Report: Airplane Reading

I think I'm almost recovered from the trip. Even the blisters are fading. But this is why when I need a vacation for resting and rejuvenation, it almost has to be a "staycation" because I utterly exhaust myself if I actually travel. The only way for me to travel and come back refreshed would be to go to an utterly boring place where activities mostly involve just enjoying being there. I think I could come back rested and relaxed after spending time in a cabin by a lake in the woods, where I migh

Back from New York

I'm back from New York, and am in my usual exhausted state after a trip like that. However, I'm mentally all revved up to work. The blister I got the day before the trip was a bad omen because I ended up with even worse blisters by the end of the first day, thanks to the fact that one pair of shoes hurt my heels, but then the other hurt my toes, so I just couldn't win. I think I may try what I've heard is a Boy Scout trick and wrap the most blister-prone parts of my feet with duct tape BEFORE I

Shoes and Travel Agendas

One more day before I'm off to New York. I found a new pair of sneakers yesterday that was not quite what I wanted but probably the best I could have found without spending an entire day. I do have to ask what the deal is with sneakers not having laces anymore. Only the serious running shoes and the Converse style shoes had laces. Everything else had elastic faux laces. Have we reached the point where we're too lazy to tie our shoes? The elastic makes it harder to get the shoes on without the so

Girlfriends Cyber Circuit Presents Megan Kelley Hall

I think I've finally got my life more or less back to normal -- just in time to go abnormal all over again. However, I believe I have my agenda for the trip planned out. I just have a few errands to run in preparation, and I need to find a new pair of shoes. My good "fashion" sneakers -- in other words, not big, white running shoes -- have pretty much died. It was one thing when the suede on the outside frayed, but when the holes in the lining at the heel appeared, I knew it was over because tha

Back (for a few days)

Apologies for the somewhat curtailed blogging last week. My uncle passed away, so I headed over to East Texas for the funeral and related family events, then stayed away longer than I planned because while I really wanted to be home, I didn't necessarily want to go through what it took to go home. I've also been thoroughly fed because those Southern church ladies really know how to put together a post-funeral meal. Then once we were back at my parents' place, we just had to go the next day to br

Balancing Time

I may not be online for most of the rest of the week, so there may or may not be any posts, and Friday's Virtual Vicarious Vacation will likely be posted late (if at all) because I'll be out of town and away from the photo CDs.

I still have writing posts about research and editing in the planning stages, but this one came to me, so I went with it. I originally wasn't planning to address this topic in a writing post because I thought the appeal wouldn't be wide enough for all writers, but the more

Out of Step

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you missed a memo somewhere along the way? I may be having one of those weeks. It started in church Sunday. I'm in the choir, so I get a pretty good view of the entire congregation, and this Sunday, it seemed like there must have been some kind of organized effort for everyone to wear blue. I know a lot of the kids were wearing blue t-shirts because they'd had music and arts camp the week before, and this was the Sunday when they sang a son

Monday Movies: The Good and the Awful

Happy Monday! I had a wonderfully boring weekend -- just finished up re-reading the book prior to sending it off, then relaxed and read and napped. I think I needed that. Now I just need to think of a title for the book. I've got one stuck in my head, and I don't think it's the best one, but it's currently blocking out everything else.

In spite of not going anywhere or doing much of anything, I didn't do a lot of movie viewing this weekend. Saturday night, the Disney Channel showed Ratatouille, w