Nursewriter

Time Flies

2008-10-06T04:35:00.003-05:00

It's been almost a year since my last post. I would never have guessed it. Writing is going, not exceptionally well, but it is moving along. Work is still work but enjoyable. My husband is still my best friend and my son is still an amazing kid.

I guess in that light, there wasn't much to blog about.

I did become a certified lactation counselor (CLC), open a blog for writers seeking medical knowledge, and repaint most of the interior of my house. There's something.

Proud Mommy, Keep On Writin'

2007-11-02T19:59:00.000-05:00

My son has been participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) activities for three years now, starting at the age of six, but this very night, something momentous has occured at my house. Namely, he participated in his very first Forward Motion "Word War" - pics to follow!

So proud. Squee!

Caught the Bug

2007-10-28T12:08:00.000-05:00

Methcillin-resistant staph aureus - aka MRSA. Yep. Got it. It cropped up on the sixth day of my second honeymoon and has been plaguing me ever since. I've been off work since it was cultured on the 17th. Two courses of antibiotics, a rather painfully botched attempt to lance the abscess, and two weeks later, it's still hard, swollen and occasionally painful.

2007-10-17T19:03:00.000-05:00

Driving the Dream

2007-10-17T18:24:00.000-05:00

I've decided to blog the trip and any future vacation/driving trips/etc. on a new blog face. Please see Driving the Dream for more info and pics. Warning, it's going to be a bit bandwidth intensive.

Completing the Journey

2007-10-13T08:40:00.000-05:00

Honeymoon 2007
Day 1

After working all night at the hospital, sitting around until 9am was a bit of a chore, but I found a few things to occupy myself with until Aaron arrived. As soon as he got there, I repacked a few things in the car and congratulated him on remembering to pack almost everything. Who needs a comb anyway?

About midday, we hit St. Louis and decided to actually go up the arch this time. To be perfectly honest, the walk there was the best part. Pictures to come.

The ride to the top was... interesting. We went up in a tiny little, egg-shaped compartment with 5 people stuffed inside. The view from the top was merely ok though.

From St. Louis, we continued on to Kansas City, MO. The barbeque was nothing to write home about, but then, it was difficult to find a place that actually sold barbeque. We ended up at Famous Dave's on the strength of Gary Burbank's suggestion.

We really enjoyed the drive and just being together though, so after our 14 hours of travel, we collapsed gladly into a very nice, clean hotel room just outside of Kansas City.

Hit the Road, Jack

2007-10-09T02:46:00.001-05:00

Good news: the wonderful charge nurse on my unit has made arrangements so I can leave a day early on my vacation. Aaron will be picking me up around 9:30 and we'll be heading into Kentucky on the way to St. Louis.

Bad news: this means Aaron will have to pack the car all by himself. Yikes.

More from the road, when I get a chance, including pics(assuming Aaron remembers to bring the camera.)

Nah, just kidding. He's a brilliant man. I'm sure he'll do just fine. :)

On the Road, Again

2007-10-03T21:08:00.000-05:00

Aaron and I have both been so busy over the last couple of months that we never got a chance to sit down and plan our anniversary trip. Between that and the special number this year - the big 10 - Aaron asked me yesterday if I'd consider finishing our honeymoon. Ten years ago, we were rather rudely interupted when we totalled our car in Gillette, Wyoming. The plan is to drive back out to Gillette and continue where we left off, making our way east toward Ohio by way of the Badlands, St. Paul/Minneapolis, and a handful of other landmarks.

Here's hoping that finally finishing the trip won't mean the honeymoon's finally over. The last ten years have been wonderful and I hope the future holds more of the same.

On the writing front, I'm still working toward my goal of getting this revision finished by Oct 31, to clear my writing calendar for NaNo in November. It's looking like a strong possibility that I'll be working on Sevenfold.

Seven, Little Scouts

2007-09-30T03:47:00.000-05:00

Rather than cluttering up my main blog page with stuff about the novels, I've devoted a new blog to the trilogy. You'll find it in the link next door.

In other news, Anthony's scout camp was a success, from the standpoint of him having had fun. From the sleeping and staying warm and dry front, not so much. In any case, he ended up crying toward the end of the day from missing his old pack. I think it was the marching songs and the pack-feel more than anything else. This group is composed of dozens of individuals, doing their own thing rather than the tight knit group we're used to. I spoke with the CubMaster and the Scout Leader about getting more involved and about getting the boys doing more teambuilding exercises, like marching chants and whatnot.

Seven Curses for the Muse

2007-09-29T12:18:00.000-05:00

Seven senses, seven gods, and seven realms of magic

So sayeth my muse while I was working on the revision of the 2004 BIAW fantasy novel, which has gone through several title changes over the years, but was until yesterday morning "Deadly Empathy".

Now, however, it is going to be "Seventh Sense" which is a much cooler title, imo. The curses for the muse? Those would be for books 2 and 3. Yep. A rotting trilogy. I never wanted to write sequels, (still don't, for the record), so I'm cursing my misbegotten muse because this idea won't leave me alone! Maybe I'll snip a bit of the world-building here later today, so you can all curse the muse with me.

Seven senses, seven gods, and seven realms of magic

Do you know how much work that is going to be?

It Is Down to Me

2007-09-27T16:14:00.001-05:00

Generally I like to work on writing and on my revisions with Forward Motion's chat running in the background (and often the foreground, helping me procrastinate), but as the site is presently down for relocation, I'm stuck doing this all on my own. Great. No Problem. Except I've finally hit a spot in this revision where I could use a bit of help from a few fresh ears/eyes. Dialogue can be such a tricksy hobbit.

Snippet from Seventh Sense

Because You Live There

2007-09-26T23:49:00.000-05:00

My husband has got to be the sweetest, most ridiculous man in the world. After watching an episode of "Heroes" on TV, we were discussing the show and he said if he had super powers, he'd be like Hiro - go out and save the world. When I asked him, "Why would you want to save the world?" he immediately replied, "Because you live there."

I was on the very verge of melting into his arms when he followed up with "And that's where I keep all my stuff." - ala The Tick. :P

Head Colds and Perdition

2007-09-26T18:16:00.000-05:00

Remind me to thank my husband's cousin for bringing home a nasty little cold with him last week. Yep. Bringing it home. To my house.

I mentioned to my husband not that long ago that I was under the impression when I married him that I was marrying only him, not every male in his family. At the moment, there are exactly three adult men living in my house and needless to say, it's getting a little crowded. So now, instead of Goldilocks and the three Blairs, we have four Blairs, a Rogers, a dog, a cat, and two fish between our walls.

On the flip side, I dug out my 2004 BIAW (Book In A Week) novel and was stunned to find out it was better than I thought. Definitely worth the polishing I've been trying for the last three weeks to give it. At the moment, I'm working on Holly Lisle's One-Pass Revision method, and my pages really DO look like they've been savaged by rutting weasels. Joy!

Goldilocks and the Three Blairs

2007-04-18T18:53:00.000-05:00

Last week we welcomed our newest addition - Goldie, aka Goldilocks. Yes, it's too cute, but then, so is she. She's a 2 year old Golden/Chessie Retriever with a sweet temperment and good manners, though she doesn't know any training commands as yet.

A Mountain of Molehills

2007-02-27T17:21:00.000-05:00

So today was a parody of errors, both on my part and on the parts of others. In any case, it was all together frustrating. The email I sent from the hospital on Sunday evening after Frances and I saved my thumb drive file never arrived, though I have the sent message in my GroupWise (which doesn't keep attachments in sent mail, btw), and it was deleted from the computer to which I had saved it at work. Beautiful. I'll have to try to recreate the whole thing.

Then, I finally got around to picking up my special order shirt from the gift shop, only to then leave it behind on my unit when I left work and not realize it until I got home. I tried to get my pager fixed, but "they" (a mysterious group who apparently works "downstairs" at the hospital) couldn't find anything wrong with it, despite the fact that I have missed at least 4 pages. And then, as if the day weren't rotten enough, I received a call from my husband within 5 minutes of walking in the door that he is ill, stuck in traffic, and I'll have to go back out for my son, who, by the way, got in trouble at school because he and dad didn't manage to get his assignment folder back in his backpack this morning.

At the very least, I managed to finally get over to nursing recruitment and get the documents I need to have my school loans forgiven. Except that the last step in the process couldn't be done because the office in charge of that step closes at 4pm and I arrived at 4:05pm.

Gah!

Diversity and a Tooth Ache

2007-02-26T19:18:00.000-05:00

Today I spent about 7 hours in Diversity Awareness training. Diversity is an interesting concept, but I'm not sure that it works in its present models. When diversity teaches you a dozen new racial slurs you had never heard before, there might be something wrong with the methodology. I don't think I ran across anything that was really new, but some lessons were reinforced:

1. Conformation is a dangerous thing
2. Children can be cruel, but adults can be much crueler
3. Those games they always have you play to show how homogenous the people in your life are never actually represent the truth.

The truth is, we all have diverse groups of friends and family and colleagues. They may all have the same skin color, but the differences aren't minor - gender, religion, educational background, profession, socioeconomic status, and dozens of other labels can be used to separate people. Differences should be celebrated, because they make us the individuals we are, but there comes a point when we have to realize we're more alike than we are different, or we end up standing alone.

What's the Date?

2007-02-20T21:38:00.000-05:00

Oh, right. The 20th. That would be my birthday. Yep. I completely forgot what day it was today and asked someone for the date.

So. Today I turned 30. I guess it's a lot like when I was a first grader. I remember thinking how great it must be to be a sixth grader. They seemed so much more grown up, so big and so smart. And then I got to the sixth grade and realized it didn't feel any different than fifth, which hadn't felt much different than fourth. Life isn't about milestone markers. It's about growth, and I grow every day. Being 30 doesn't feel much different to me than being 20, though I can look back and see how I've changed. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Mine.

Though I can say it would have been better for my ego to turn 30 on a day that wasn't also Fat Tuesday.

Better Worlds

2007-02-19T22:52:00.000-05:00

Well, today was worlds better, even if the world is still the same mess it was yesterday. Maybe I am just in need of a little spring. The temps outside ran into the high 40's(F-scale) and it was almost warm enough to go about in a sweater, which I did anyway just out of spite. The ice melted off all the trees though, which is a sad thing, since I never did find the charger for the camera battery. The sunshine hitting them in the afternoon made them look like they'd been dipped in silver. Guess I'll just have to keep the picture in my mind.

Anyway, work tomorrow. Or rather, class, which I enjoy less. Still, must be up early and it's already pretty late here. May the weather and my weathered spirit both continue to find a little warmth and sunshine.

PS Tomorrow is the dreaded day. If nobody dies and my life doesn't tumble into ruins, I'll call it another year well-past. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Booking Blues

2007-02-18T22:38:00.000-05:00

This is so silly, and yet, so depressing. I feel like crying over this mess I've made of my writing. I just can't seem to do it anymore. Everything I've written this week feels stilted and only marginally literate. I know that my nursing is taking a lot out of me and the well isn't bottomless, but this is getting ridiculous. I am sitting here in my husband's recliner with some decent music on low, and my laptop on board, and yet all I can think of doing is having a good weep about being such a useless waste. Bleh. I don't even feel like reading. Or being awake at all.

Hell, maybe I'm just tired. Here's to better tomorrows.

Ice Storm 2007

2007-02-18T21:55:00.000-05:00

A few photos from the Midwest USA ice storm in February 2007. These were taken near my house after dusk. As you can see, Greebo (my cat) has the right idea of how to spend an icy winter day.

A few more pictures

2007-02-18T20:26:00.000-05:00

The little turtleboy is my son, Anthony. The amber-sky Iwo Jima photo was taken through the lenses of a pair of $12 polarized sun glasses on the same day as the blue sky photo from my previous post.

Landscapes and Landmarks

2007-02-18T20:16:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of my favorite digital pics, taken by my husband or me over the last couple of years. Enjoy!

Squicky Details

2007-02-18T13:24:00.000-05:00

Wowza, people are nuts. When something as simple as whether golden hair is the same as blonde can start an out and out war in chat, there is something wrong with the world. I figured I'd be better off moving along. With that note, I'm wondering what to move along *to*. My writing lately has taken on an almost dreaded quality, and I'm not really sure if it is the project itself (Curse of Magic) or if there is some flaw in me. I have been putting a lot of energy into nursing lately, as it should be, while I try to settle into my new position. Maybe the well is just not as full as it used to be.

Eagle Maniac

2007-02-18T03:24:00.000-05:00

Yep, it's after 3 and I'm still up. What can I say?

But since I am still awake, I figure I should chronical one of the strangest series of events I have ever seen. It happened today, without warning.

Aaron and I were sitting in the living room together, and Greebo (my cat) was laying curled up beneath the big window. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something big and brownish in color hurtling toward the window. Before I could blink, I heard a THWUMP! followed by the sound of flapping wings. Aaron looked at me and said, "What was that?"

"A bird just tried to fly through the window." I was in a sort of shock, I guess, because I got up and looked at the feathers and talon-marks in the center of the glass, and it took me a moment to see the big, beautiful (but a little stunned looking) bird of prey sitting on a frozen tree branch in the center of the yard, not 15 feet away. After a couple of minutes, the bird flew off, and I told Aaron I thought it was an eagle or maybe a hawk. It was probably about 2-2.5 feet long and had an amazing wing-span of I'd guess close to 5 feet or more. Perhaps the bird mistook my 13lb monster for a rabbit or something, but in any case, I looked up photos until I identified the bird - a golden eagle. They are uncommon but not unheard of in this part of the country/state.

Not 15 minutes later, I was on the phone with my mother-in-law when I heard another noise and walked to the breakfast nook windows to look outside. The eagle sat in our tree again, before eyeing me at the window and soaring off. There in the snow right beside our doorstep was a bird of another sort. It was blue-gray and tan, with a wingspan of about 15 inches. On its back were spots of blood, and it just lay there as the snow drifted down onto it, shivering. Such a pitiful sight.

Aaron, bless him, did what I couldn't do and gave the poor thing mercy after discovering that it was losing alarming amounts of blood from a gash on the neck.

All in all, we're fine, but that eagle certainly had an unprofitable day of hunting. If I believed in omens, I'd be worried, indeed.

It's 2am, I must be crazy

2007-02-18T02:11:00.000-05:00

That's right. 2am. Creeping up on 2:15, actually. And here I sit, altering this old blog to make it viewable by the public. Of course, I can sleep in tomorrow, but Tuesday I have to be up at 430 in the morning. Yep. I'm nuts all right.

In any case, I now have this up and a list of a few of my favorite author's websites there as well. If you swing by and happen to see a link of your own in my list, I'll probably be more flattered than you.

As for updates, I'll try, but really... who knows? (and The Shadow isn't here, so that doesn't count.)