Erika Mitchell's Blog, page 29

Busy and Sleep Deprived

Oy, I always get so sad when I go too long between blog posts! Back in the sweet, halcyon days when I was pregnant with Aidan and knew so much less than I know now, I thought I’d have loads of time for blogging. Surely I’d have more time to blog when I stayed at home, yes?

No. No, young Erika. Just no.

Oh, well. I’m sure many of the people who used to read my malcontent ramblings about my evil erstwhile boss are long gone, as are the people who started reading because they enjoyed my pregnancy updates. All that’s left are you hardy souls who don’t mind waiting a few days (or weeks) between blog posts (or maybe do, but decline to email me about it).

So what have I been doing? Well. Let me tell you.

I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo, where and when I can. Sometimes that means writing 100 words while Aidan watches a documentary about helicopters, at other times that means cranking out 3,000 at a Starbucks while Wes watches the kids.

I don’t think I’ll make it to 50,000 words by November, but that’s okay. To be honest, I’m just proud of myself for writing in the first place what with the daily shenanigans of raising two tiny humans. The story I’m working on is pretty cool, and I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s the kind of story that sticks with me pretty easily, so if I can’t write for a few days at a time I have no trouble picking back up where I left off.

As for what else I’ve been doing, I’ve been supporting Wes as he starts his own business (you can check it out here, it’s pretty cool). He’s basically working two full time jobs right now, which means he rarely sleeps. He just got back from Las Vegas, where he attended the Microsoft SharePoint Conference to launch his company.

It’s pretty exciting stuff, starting a company. He’s designed this amazing SharePoint application software thingie that is making people’s heads explode all over the place. Microsoft is pretty excited about it, too. They showed it off in a huge presentation at the conference. Crazy!

So that’s what’s going on with me. I’m working on my hobby (writing), and Wes is working on his hobby (entrepreneurship). We’re busy and fulfilled and sleep deprived and chock full of exciting stories about how busy and sleep deprived we are.

Blood Money is All Grown Up

Well, it’s finished. Done. Complete. My manuscript, my darling favorite story ever, has passed muster with my editor and has been sent to my publisher. It’s out of my hands and soon to be in the hands of paying customers everywhere.

I feel proud. And happy. And unabashedly excited for people to read it. Blood Money has had a long road, but I’ll always remember it as one of my favorite pieces.

Why? Because the characters are special to me. The story was such a surprise to me. It was the book that taught me how to craft a novel, and even though it’s changed quite a bit since I wrote the first draft two years ago, I’ll always recognize where it came from in what it is now.

You’d think that I’d want to take a break from writing for awhile. I mean, I’ve been feverishly editing and revising this book for four months, to say nothing of the extensive editing and re-writes I did for the two years prior to now.

And yet, I’m not craving a break. What I’m craving is another first draft. Whereas I’m thrilled that Lily is my last baby and have no desire to keep having children so I’ll always have babies to hold, I have a deep desire to create a new book. I want that challenge again. I want to meet new characters, and watch them get into trouble, and stay up all night wondering how they’ll get out of it.

I haven’t completed a manuscript since April 2011 (yes, I keep track of that sort of thing) and I’m ready. I have an idea that’s so excellent it woke me up a few months ago, and I want to turn that idea into a book.

My very first manuscript ever (Blood Money) is all grown up and going to the publisher, so now I need a new book to bring into the world and then polish and then revise and then re-write and then maybe, just maybe, release into the wild.

It’s also possible that I need therapy to figure out why my books are like children.

My New Book Cover is Here!

I have been trying to share my new book cover for hours now, and every time I get going on this post my kids need something. The thing is, though, this book cover is really cool and needs must be shared, so unless one of the kids catches on fire in the next few minutes or so, I will finish this post, dang it!

I posted the book cover on my Facebook author page. You can check it out there even if you’re not a fan of my books on Facebook, but if you feel like “Liking” me while you’re there, that’s cool too.

Please head over and tell me what you think. Personally? I love it. It’s just so legitimate looking, all mysterious and sinister and OFFICIAL.

Man, being an author is so freaking cool sometimes.

Ron Swanson For President

I was raised by two parents who both firmly believed it was rude to talk about politics. My mother believed (ans still does) that what we hear from politicians is predominantly lies, and my father believed the discussion of politics just led to strife, which he avoided at all costs whenever possible.

It’s not surprising, then, that I have a wide mistrust of politicians in general. As far as I can see, politics turns people into fractious, contentious enemies who are more concerned with being right than in doing what’s right.

What I’m confused about, however, is why anyone would vote for either of the two candidates who are running on the Democrat or Republican ticket. They lie, obfuscate, and manipulate, and as far as I can tell from the debates they have no concrete solutions for the mess America is in.

What I would like to hear is: “America has a deficit of X, I am going to decrease spending by Y in order to pay off this deficit in Z years.”

What I do hear is: “We have a deficit of X, because it’s Y’s fault, I’m going to cut taxes for Z, and I’m going to increase funding for Q, and I’m going to pay for V for everyone, and please don’t think about the fact that none of this makes sense because I don’t want you to realize there’s no way to pay for all this while cutting taxes.”

But that’s the problem: We aren’t paying attention. Everyone has their own pet projects that they want to make sure receive plenty of government funding, so no one wants the government to make any cuts in funding. But no one wants to pay more taxes, because we’re already taxed to death anyway. But we have a HUGE deficit and can’t possibly keep spending like we are, because our currency is already imperiled and in danger of collapse.

So there you are. You have two politicians telling people what they want to hear (I’ll pay for YOUR special cause!) and no one’s wondering how any of it is possible.

If America were a friend of mine, in terrific debt with a spendy lifestyle, I would tell my friend to cut any non-essential spending and live sparsely and pay off that debt as aggressively as possible. A debt-free, stable existence is infinitely preferable to a non-sustainable habit of spending more than you make.

I suppose what I’m essentially saying is: Ron Swanson for President. That guy’s got it all figured out.

Perception Makeover

Things have been crazy-bananas busy for Wes and I lately, so we decided earlier this week that it was high time we scheduled a date and got the heck outta Dodge for some much-needed relaxation and reconnecting. We lined up childcare, picked a restaurant, and then waited.

We were scheduled to leave the house at 6:30, so at 6 I sat Aidan down for some dinner. He kept telling me he wasn’t hungry, and a few minutes later I found out why: He was sick. In fact, he was sick all over his dinner plate.

Wes and I looked at each other and sighed. He called our babysitter and canceled, I hoisted the very sad toddler upstairs for a quick bath.

It’s worth noting here that I was in full hair and makeup. It took me an hour to do my hair and makeup, all so I could clean vomit off the floor. Yay me!

An hour later, both kids were in bed and Wes and I were sitting down with some pizza. Even though I kind of wanted to cry (I kept looking at the clock thinking, “We could be eating appetizers from Wild Ginger right now!”), the pizza was tasty and it was pretty nice to just sit there on the couch together eating dinner in peace.

It reminded me of how Wes and I used to sit on the couch and eat dinner together every night for four years before Aidan was born. At the time, it didn’t seem like much of an indulgence.

Now, though, it’s a pretty cool treat. I am endlessly amused by how parenthood continues to re-shape my perceptions and assumptions. It’ll be pretty cool to see how many things I’ll look back on fondly that, at the time, I barely spared a second thought for.

And My New New Book Title Is…

The manuscript formerly known as Enemy Accountant is now known as… Blood Money.

As I’m sure you’re tired of hearing, Blood Money is due to be published in February of next year. I don’t have cover art yet, but rest assured that as soon as I do I’ll share it everywhere. I’ll also be posting the first chapter on my author website soon, so keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, here’s a brief teaser about what the book’s about:

Blood Money tells the story of Azzam al Abdullah, an Iraqi-born accountant living and working in London for Sun Corp, a corporation serving as a front for global Islamic extremist terrorism. When his employer finds out Azzam’s been informing on him to the CIA, a woman from Azzam’s past is put in danger. Azzam has to choose: Save her life or take Sun Corp down for good.

I can’t, can’t, can’t wait to share this book with all of you. It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever written!

Scaredy Cat

I dislike scary movies. At one point in my life, I thought I liked them. I would go to scary movies with friends and cringe and clutch their hands and then laugh about the whole thing afterward.

But around the time I turned 19, I realized that watching scary movies makes my stomach hurt and makes me jump at noises and shadows and gives me all new things to have nightmares about. I realized that I don’t particularly like feeling that way, so I swore off scary movies then and there.

It’s a good thing, too, because I managed to miss Saws 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. I feel confident I dodged a slew of bullets there.

Unfortunately, even scenes from scary movies have the ability to freak me right the heck out. I was at the gym last night (yay!) and watching one of the TV’s. A commercial break showed a preview for some new scary movie and it really bummed me out, because there was one scene in particular that was really disturbing and I knew it would go home with me.

Sure enough, I was walking up the stairs to go to bed and felt the heebey-jeebeys go waltzing up my spine. I got that crawly feeling like there was something on the stairs below me that was going to reach out and get me so I sprinted up the rest of the staircase and dove under my covers.

It’s a good thing my kids were already in bed and couldn’t see me acting so foolish.

Still, I can’t deny the fact that scary movies mess me right up. They override all the good sense that tells me I’m safe in my locked-up-tight suburbs house and instead insist that there are dangerous things lurking in the shadows, that nightmares are what make my stairs creak at night.

What I want to know is, why do they do that to me? Why does even just one scene from a scary movie freak me out, but other people can watch scary movies in the dark by themselves and then sleep soundly afterward? Is it a threshold of thrill thing, or am I just a huge wuss?

Not Entirely Jazzed

Last weekend I finally bit the bullet and bought some new pants. When I lost all that weight last year, I bought some cute jeans and then made the foolish mistake of giving my larger pants to Goodwill.

I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe I thought the weight would just magically fall off me after having Baby #2. Maybe I was just so stoked about how I looked and felt that I wanted to purge my closet of all reminders of my larger size.

Maybe I’m just that exact flavor of foolish.

Whatever my reasons, my bigger jeans are gone. What’s not gone is the baby weight. I’ve never been more sure of this fact than when I attempted to get dressed for church a couple weeks ago and realized that none of my jeans would make it up past my thighs.

To say this put a damper on my morning is putting it lightly.

Last weekend, Wes stayed home with the kids so that I could go to Old Navy and swallow my pride and buy the biggest jeans I’ve ever had to purchase for myself. I tried on jeans one size larger than what I was able to wear before Lily’s pregnancy, and when those didn’t fit I made a sad face and went two sizes up.

Woe. Is. Me.

Making matters worse was the fact that this Old Navy didn’t have dressing rooms with doors, just little enclaves with big curtains for privacy. Not only was I mourning my svelte body, but I had to do it while telling little kids to stop opening the frigging curtain already.

(Parents, please don’t let your tiny humans roam the clothing store unattended. They might just be making a recently postpartum mom sincerely worried about the prospect of flashing the entire store with a body she’s not entirely jazzed about at the moment)

But whatever. I have jeans now. And because I was so bummed about my GIGANTIC LEGS I bought Lily a cute, fuzzy, pink hat with ears. If I can’t look cute like I used to, at least my beautiful baby can look cute in her pink hat with bear ears.

My gym membership starts up again in October. I can’t freaking wait to fold these humongous jeans up and store them on a very high shelf forever. But not give them to Goodwill. I shan’t be making that mistake again.

Busy Living

I suppose I should probably post at least once during the month of September, huh?

Man, oh man, this has been a busy month. The housecleaners are gone and Aidan’s classes have started back up again which means our family is officially back in the swing of things. I’m juggling All The Things, which means I have less than no time for blogging (because if I’m blogging that means I’m not folding laundry, making meals, feeding the baby, playing with the toddler, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, or some other equally pressing thing).

This is a shame, though, because aside from all the standard-issue stay at home mother toiling some fun stuff has been happening. Like, for example, my next book idea came to me at 2 a.m. a week ago and I’ve been brainstorming it nonstop since then.

My editor also gave me the rest of the edits for Enemy Accountant, so I’ve been working on that whenever I can.

And last but not least, I’ve decided that, sleep deprivation or no, I’ve got to get back to the gym if only to maintain my sanity. I realize I might not lose any of this insidious baby weight until I wean Lily in a year, but my brain and body need exercise anyway. So that starts next month.

It’s all so busy and exciting around here, sorta kinda, and would probably make for excellent blog posts, which is ironic because the very things that would make for excellent blog posts are what keep me from blogging.

I guess it’s not the worst thing in the world that I’m so busy living my life I have little time to write about it, no?

Super Shiny-Clean

Maybe you remember this or maybe you don’t, but my second book is due to be published by Champagne Books in February of next year. Hooray! Exciting! A ton of freaking work!

You see, I’m finding that the trouble with editing a soon-to-be-published-book is, well, editing it. Again. For maybe the umpteenth freaking time.

When my book was born, the first draft was my absolute pride and joy and the very best thing I’ve ever written. Until I dusted it off a few months later for proofreading and found that it was in dire need of some serious tweaking. I performed the tweaks and thought I was done. Then, I took some classes and realized that the entire freaking structure of the book was wrong.

After some serious deleting, slicing, dicing, rewrites, and still more proofreading, I decided it was ripe for sending out to friends and family to read. They all had suggestions and edits, so I scrutinized my manuscript yet again.

Only then did I send it out to publishers for consideration. Champagne Books liked it and referred me to an editor, who has just sent me revisions for the first half of the book.

So now I get to go through my book for the fourth or fifth time and try try try not to start hating my own writing because oh my gosh I’m so sick of reading my own stuff ahhhhhhhhh!!!

But this is the publishing world, no? The book has to be excellent and super shiny-clean to pass muster and be released into the wild. I’d just never realized how much work went into the book before it got published.

All this work just makes me eager to start a new book, though. I can’t wait to go hog wild with a sloppy first draft all full of irregularities and tense changes. Let the creativity flow and the chips fall where they may and leave the rigid days of manuscript polishing behind for just a little while!

But first, I have to finish my edits.

I can assure you that should you choose to buy my book when it comes out, it will be exceedingly polished and really easy to read.

I should know, I’ve read it myself about half a dozen times.