TODAY is the BIG day!

Well, my husband and I arrived home late last night from one last summer trip.

We (just he and I) went camping for four days to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary. Last year was the first time we took a camping trip by ourselves ... and we LOVED it! And ... the kids didn't die while we were gone, so we thought we'd try it again this year.  We were thrilled to arrive home and see that the house was still intact and the kids survived without our parental nagging.

Now, this morning the kids are all off to their first day of school, my husband is at work, the dogs are playing ... and ... I am supposed to find my mojo and get back to my manuscript.

Except things keep distracting me ... like:
1. the laundry
2. the dirty dishes
3. the bills
4. the weather forecast (seriously, supposed to be 98 degrees today ... YIKES!)
5. the unanswered emails
6. the blackberries that need to be picked AND eaten
7. and on and on and on

I need to focus, focus, focus.

What helps you get into the zone and focus on your writing?

Cruising to Alaska

As you are reading this, we are probably getting ready to board the Holland America cruise ship heading for Alaska. YAY!

My husband and I will be joining his parents to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

I may or may not have internet access. So, I've pre-scheduled some *very* interesting posts (right?!) while I'm gone. If I have internet access, I will post some pictures from the cruise.

Have a GREAT weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday! :)

The VOICE in Your Head

So, while flying today (Wednesday), I read about 150 pages of SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. Talk about VOICE. She's got it nailed. ... oh wait ... no pun intended (hahaha - speak/voice - get it? hahaha) ...

I even kept reading up until the point where people undid their seatbelts and started piling into the aisle of the airplane. Then I put the book away and headed into the terminal.

An interesting thing happened while I walked... maybe it was just because I had to pee so badly... but maybe it was because the writing was so great.

I realized the VOICE in my head matched the-style-the-flavor-the-feeling-the-tone of the book I'd been reading. I may have laughed out loud at myself. I thought it was pretty funny. Or scary. Maybe I'm just a crazy person who thinks too much.

But, I thought, WOW! That's great writing if the voice carried over into my own thoughts after the setting the book down.

I love to read. I know many times, characters from a book stick with me for quite awhile but I think this is the strongest a voice has ever carried over into my head.

How about you? Have you had a certain book with such strong VOICE that it influence your normal thought process? Tell me! :)

Travelling to SLC

Tomorrow, I leave on a business trip to Salt Lake City, Utah.  Travelling in winter time from Idaho to Utah is always a sketchy idea. If it's not snowing, raining, or fog covered here, then it is in SLC. Flights are often delayed and roads can be tricky.

Yay me.

I'd much rather stay home in my pj's and write all day... or read all day... or both. :)

But, I'll take a book with me and my laptop with me, and I can do both - - while waiting in the airport for a delayed flight. HA.

I suppose I should find my winter coat before I leave...

I'm wondering if the characters in my book like to travel. Do you like to travel? Always?