No Sleep Tonight!

Since sleep is completely out of the question, I decided to blog a while. Hurricane Ike might have made landfall in Galveston, but he's leaving his mark in my area too. We've had gusty winds, heavy rain (occasionally) and more tornado warnings than the law should allow. Thanks to Ike's outer bands producing thunderstorms and tornadoes I'm going to have a very long night. So far today we have had three tornado warnings in area alone. (Those are just the ones I happen to hear, I'm sure there were more.) Our surrounding parishes have had their share too. At one point my son and I were in the closet (not that it would do much good, I live in a very old tiny house and there are no doors on my closets- only curtains. Every room in my house has windows. So a "safe" place is not in my home. We only get in the closet because I feel like I have to "do" something. So instead of writing or even reading today, I've been glued to the weather channel, local news channel and weather bug to try to stay one step ahead of these tornados. Did I mention that I am abolutely terrified of tornados. So much that I frequently (even in good weather) have nightmares about them. Hmm.. I wonder if dream interrpretation would say I have them because my life is out of control. LOL. Could be.

One the lighter side I'm going to a ball tomorrow. A virtual one that is. Harlequin Presents International Ball will be held in Second Life at the Dessert Prince's Island. Or something like that. I have never used Second Life before, but since I had to sign up and make my avatar to attend, I explored the site and all I can say is: How Cool! This is the neatest thing. You get to make your own clothes, avatar, and explore all kinds of places. Thanks to Jenny from the e-harlequin board, I finally managed to find the Abbey Courtyard where Harlequin has set up books, and a virtual tiki island. I've taken the liberty of taking a snapshot. See how cool! That's my avatar- Jaci Lannack (you have to pick a ficticious name) looking at some of the awsome presents books. If you are a member ( or want to be) of Second Life, then come join the fun tomorrow at 4:00. Maybe I'll "see" you there. I plan to take pics so check back in a few days and you can see the party for yourself.

Yikes! Here Comes Ike!

As one fellow moves on another one moves in. Last week we were weathering Gustav as he stormed through our state leaving a mess that hasn't completely been restored. Today we are all hunkered down and bracing for Ike. Again, I'm thankful that I'm in the northern part of the state, but as Ike makes landfall (within the hour) near Galveston, due to his monsterous size he will also deteriorate Lousiana's Southwest coast. At the moment several parishes are under water due to surges, as well as Texas counties. Here in North La, we are once again expecting torrential rain, flash flooding, tropical force winds and my worst nightmare-tornados. So for the next couple of days I'll be monitoring the weather via The Weather Channel and hope we don't get it too bad up here. But, of course in preparation I've stocked up on can foods, water and flahshlights. Now, we are in the "wait and see" mode. Of course my thoughts and prayers are with our coastal neighbors as well as those inland also in the path. Everyone stay safe and wait this monster out.

Unwanted Guest at Party - Hurricane Gustav

My son turned seven on September 3. I can't believe how fast the years fly by. This year he didn't get to have much of a party. Due to family health issues I hadn't planned a big bash anyway, but considering the unwanted guest this year it is a good thing. We simply had a small gathering at Granny and Papaw's. He enjoyed his gifts and cake.

Hurricane Gustav marched through our state the week of his birthday ( a day or so before) wrecking havoc from one end to the other. Many coastal residents evacuated through our area. Our little town has never seen soooo many people. I'm just glad they were able to get out of harm's way. Though we are in the northern part, we still had major problems. One wouldn't think you had to worry about hurricanes this far inland. But, we do. Go figure. Luckily, my particular parish seemed to have dodged the bullet sort of. We had plenty of rain and tropical storm winds (not your ideal weather for a child's birthday) . We also were under several tornado watches. Our neighboring parishes ( even those just a few miles away) weren't so lucky. Many flooded, had major power outages and downed trees and power lines. One parish in particular less than an hour east had water waist deep in most of the parish. Schools were closed across the state( none of us are complaining about that- LOL) for at least two days (some parishes more). Basically, it was a nightmare and the southern part had it two fold. We still have power outages across the state, but things are slowly getting back to normal.

Now we all have our eye on Ike. Yikes! Another major hurricane heading this way. At this point, no one knows exactly where in the US it will make landfall, but the weather map show its path straight toward Louisiana's coast. Again! It seems we have another hurricane that has a beef with our coast. Right now its a wait and see process. But, I'm stocking up on water, batteries and canned goods all the same as I nervously watch the weather and its projected path. Of course, my thoughts and prayers are with those who have to evacuate each time too. I hope they all get out of harms way this time too. Ike seems to be monster at this point.

Squirrel Overboard!

Well, last post I complained about the wasps and yellowjackets in my pool. I guess I shouldn't have fussed so much, cause now the local wildlife think they have a lovely spa. This past week we had two severe thunderstorms and the pool basically was trashed with huge limbs, leaves ect. Instead of taking on the major cleaning, I decided to drain the pool until next year (I intend to build a screen fortress around it next time.) Anyway I removed the huge limbs and left just the smaller debris. I happen to check on the draining process today and found a poor squirrel stranded in the water. His little paws clinging to the side with just his head above the water. At first glance, I thought he was dead since he wasn't moving. Frozen with fear I suppose. I move the rim and he shot across the pool like an Oylympic swimmer. Unfortunately, he could not find a way to climb up the side and get out. Thanks to the wonderful thunderstorm I have several large branches lying around my yard. I grabbed one and threw it into the pool. After deliberating for a few minutes our swimming squirrel finally grabbed a branch and practically flew out of the pool., drenched like a rat and shot up the nearest tree. So long. Farewell. Goodbye. :) I tried to take a picture before the major rescue, but its hard to see. He's the brown blob clinging to the side.

It's Official!

My little boy has finally lost his first tooth! He's thrilled as you can see by his big grin. Especially since the tooth fairy paid him a visit! He also has another wiggly friend ready to come out!

I'm obviously not going to do any better this year in keeping up with my blog. I have tried. Truly I have, but for some reason it is just not in the stars. June was a busy month. I worked on edits, started a new novella and taught summer school. July wasn't any easier. I finished my novella, worked on more edits and have had to deal with a family emergency.

Unfortunately, summer is now almost over and I haven't even felt like I had one. My son and I did manage to get a pool ( one of those lovely inflatable ones that never seem to work right on my land). We enjoyed it a few times until the wasps decided that I had bought them a watering hole. Now, we are not able to even get in it. The last time we swam, a week or so ago, I chased out three yellow jackets and two wasp. Then three more wasp came in to claim their water. I killed three and as I was finishing the third one off, a fourth one flew in for retaliation. Luckily, neither one of us was stung, but I've basically given the pool to the wasp and yellow jackets now. My son is NOT a happy camper, but what can you do?

Two Contracts- One Book

A funny thing happened on the way to check the mail....

Submitting books, stories etc. can be a long, long process. Some publishers (most publishers) take months (some that run precariously close to a year) to evaluate a manuscript. As a fairly new writer trying to establish my career, I (like most authors) submit the same story to several publishers at once hoping one of them will be interested. So it's not uncommon to recieve several rejection letters at once. Some even in the same week. Something along the lines of ; At this time we do not feel that this story is suitable for (you can fill in the blank here with said publishers name). Since this is a fairly common practice (unless your already well-established with one or two publishing houses) I don't worry too much. However...

It is a rare treat to be accepted by more than one house for the same story, book etc.

Yesterday, I recieved a call from my editor at Red Rose. She wanted to know what happened to my contract for my book Home is Where the Heart Is.

Uh-- well, I never recieved it. Actually, I didn't even know it was accepted at the time. So, after clarifying that little misunderstanding (apparently it had been accepted several months ago and she had sent the contract via email.) I guess it's lost in cyberspace since I never recieved it. Anyway, I joyfully told her I would sign and return it immediately after she resent it.

As a courteous writer I e-mailed the other publishing houses to explain that I had just recieved an offer for my book and would they please take my submission out of que. I really didn't want to waste anyones time.

Well, today I went to my snail mail box and to my utter shock I found a contract from one of the other publisher's I had submitted to. For privacy reasons this publisher shall remain nameless. Yep, a nice thick package with all the legal jargen and a request for a few minor revisions.

So here I am with a contract on my desk top from Red Rose whom I had verbally agreed to publish with over the phone and a paper contract from another publisher in my hand. I didn't know whether to feel honored or just plain stupid. LOL. Needless to say since I accepted Red Rose's offer first Home is Where the Heart Is will be published with them. Sadly, I will be making a phone call tomorrow to explain why I can't accept the second publisher's kind offer.

I suppose two accpetance letters in the same week defianately beats two rejection letters. However, next time I might wait a wee bit longer before submitting the same material to more than one publisher.

I Didn't Keep My New Year's Resolution

Hello friends,

I promised myself that I would do a better job in keeping up with my blog this year. And I intended to. No, really, I did. However, life has a way of changing your plans. For the past month or so I have had major and I mean major computer problems. First, keep in mind that I have 7 computers. Rediculous... I know, but keep reading. Needless to say most are dinosaurs. One was given to me. It won't load any softwear, nor will it connect to the internet. So it's basically, useless. Two were bought off ebay. Sloooooow as Christmas, but I had high hopes for at least one of them. Unfortunately, it decided to shrink the screen size to about a quarter of my screen, then if that wasn't bad enough it had the audacity to loose its icons. Again, another useless one. The other that was bought off ebay will not recognize my wireless card and will not open my editing programs. Another useless piece of equipment. :( My "good computer" the one I depended on refuses to charge the battery. I had to log on, quickly check e-mail and log off before the battery went completely out. It's been hanging onto about 6% for a while. The other computer that was supposed to be a good one- it was fairly new- took it upon itself to black out the screen and not power up. I, being the handy woman I am, promptly took it apart to find out what was wrong with it. It is now in pieces- many, many pieces in a plastic bag. :( I have a desktop that my parents are using for games. It works great, except it won't go online and I can't use it with my wireless card. Yes, I took part of it apart to see if there was any possible way to make it work. Nope. Not a chance. At least it is put back together ok. :) Sooooo after several weeks of struggling with pieces of unrelenting computers, I decided it was time to get another one. Unfortunately, I can't afford a new one the moment, so I decided to follow in one of my favorite author's footsteps. ( Debbie Macomber tells of a time when she had to "rent" a typewriter to write her books. This was of course before she was a sucessful bestselling author.) Sooo, I went to rent a laptop. NOT a good idea. It was supposed to be fairly new, but it doesn't have my editing program on it, also it hangs up and somhow "forgets" that I'm connected to the internet. I frequently get the "page cannot be displayed" message. So once again I am battling a computer crisis to finish my deadlines. Nothing like adding "technical difficulty" fuel to "deadline" flame. :)

So, you see I have the perfect, but not necessarily most pleasant, excuse for not keeping up with my blog. :) Hopefully, I will be able to get a new "working" computer soon. Fighting the technological demon is not the best way to produce fresh, creative plots and lovable heroines/heros. But, hey. I'm still trying. :)
Cheers