Do you want to know a secret?

So, another thing my friend Pam Asberry did in her blog was give me an award.

While I failed in my miserable existence of passing the award on to other bloggers (most of the ones I follow are the ones she chose anyway), I need to follow the other requirement of telling you ten things about me that you wouldn't know. They're not really secrets, but I made you click and read, right?

1. There are certain songs that make me cry. Every time. If I ever had to perform them, I would have to practice a bazillion times. But, I love them and always stop what I'm doing when they come up on the computer or on the radio and I've worked them into my novels, with my characters performing them (Rob used to be in a boy band and they do various charity and fund-raiser shows). First is Warren Zevon's "Keep Me in Your Heart" which he recorded right before he passed : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMTKb-pgxGI  Next is one I've referenced here before, Edwin McCain's "I Could Not Ask for More": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPXRJkla7fI Finally, one I haven't heard on the radio in a long time, England Dan & John Ford Coley's "Love Is the Answer": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH8PVPel15M&feature=related There are others, but those three come to mind right now.

2. In one of my previous lives, I ran a bookstore. It wasn't always the dream job that everybody thought it was. I worked 65 hours the week of my wedding. I spent many late nights finishing returns and strip lists (for mass market paperbacks). But, I got to meet many super people, including my husband and doubled my library with my employee discount.

3. In that capacity, I got sued by the local group, Citizens for Decency. Actually, I was named in the suit against the store, because we carried a little book called Joy of Lesbian Sex. The woman minister who was so outraged about it didn't say anything about Joy of Gay Sex or More Joy of Sex, but they were right next to the religion section. The suit was dismissed, but the entire chain was rearranged, with the Sex Ed books going on the other side of the store next to the nature books. (Truth) Oh, I also got interviewed by The Gay & Lesbian Alliance, where I gave the quote, "I have something to offend everyone in this store."

4. Since 1995, I've been obsessed at various levels with counted cross-stitch, spending waaaay too much money on patterns and supplies.

Wedding sampler I did for one of my Framing Goddesses.
5. Since about 2008, I've been obsessed at various levels with beading and jewelry making. Oh, good. Yet another expensive, time-consuming, sedentary hobby.

6. Back in 2005, when my husband and I boxed all the books so he could refinish the floors, we had 65 boxes. Let's add another 40 in the intervening years. So little time....

7. I'm the biggest fangirl. There are pictures out there of me in a "Star Trek" costume and video of me "filking" (singing with science fiction lyrics substituted).

'Nuff said. Geek.

8. I was in dance squad and flag corps in high school, then on several drill teams in grade school and Job's Daughters (Masonic organization). Oh, freshman year in college, I took Arthur Murray Dance Studio lessons.

9. Speaking of Job's Daughters, I am Past Honored Queen and Majority Member of Bethel #74 (now defunct), International Order of Job's Daughters. I gave my doll and charm bracelet to my niece.

10. I graduated from DePauw University in 3 1/2 years because of classes I took at the local junior college during high school. Good thing, they cut my financial aid for my senior year. I did not go to my class reunion this year and I'm not telling you which one it is. I will tell you, Jane Pauley, Erma Bombeck and the CEO of IBM at the time spoke at our graduation.

Thanks, Pam! We live to amuse, so I hope you all enjoyed. Tell me a secret about you in the comments, please!

Goals and catching up on business

I still consider myself new to this blogging thing and I'm not as regular about it as I would like. My apologies. I don't post at scheduled times and I'm not as active checking in with other blogs as I should be.

One person who has motivated and inspired me is a high school buddy that I've reconnected with on Facebook, Pam Asberry. She has her personal blog called Sometimes It's Cloudy, Sometimes It's Clear:

http://pamasberry.blogspot.com/

And she's started a new project with some of her fellow romance writers down in her home area of Georgia:

http://writerslipp.blogspot.com/

Love the lips!

Plus, she works with her Georgia Romance Writers of America group and contributes to their blog AND at least one other I know of. My head hurts. While I was The Queen of the 300 Word Essay for my local writers group and SF club back in the day, that was still only one per month for each.

So, a few weeks ago, when Pam posted some of her goals for the rest of the year, motivated by a non-fiction book she read, I wrote down my goals on some scrap paper. I promptly put them in the drawer of the desk and forgot about them. That's how I roll and I don't even have the excuse of antibiotic brain now! Anyway, I thought I'd better get my act in gear, having just applied for A Real Job that IF I were to get it would scare the @#$% out of me.

Sorry I don't have the cool video embedded, like she did. As I said, I'm still learning and to be honest, I have the link somewhere, but I need to spend some time cleaning up my notes. *sigh* Another thing I'll put on the goals list, promise. I do remember that the goals, in order to be more effective, need to be "I will..." statements and have a definite date attached to them. Simply by writing them down, they are more likely to be accomplished, right? They need to be doable, which means I need to get off my fat @ss and stop playing Jewel Quest III all afternoon, while watching bad TV.

So, here are some goals for the remainder of 2011:

1. I will finish one large needlework project by 12-31-2011. I love stitching and have several that would only require a little more effort to finish.

2. I will be more active and watch my diet to lose at least 10 lbs. by my doctor's appointment the first week in September (let's say 9-1-2011). Really. It's not that hard, Julee.

3. I will get the boxes of cross-stitch magazines and craft stuff that I no longer have need of or want to the place that sells them on eBay for me by 9-1-2011. I've made several hundred dollars so far this year off of stuff that had been in boxes in the garage, not seeing the light of day for years.

4. I will clean and organize the dining room, kitchen and living room so that we can host a Christmas party this year, say before 12-23-2011. The dining room has been a storage room for the past year. I will include re-upholstering the six chairs I spray painted black last year.

5. I will find full-time employment I enjoy by 10-1-2011. The TV station my husband works at is being sold, so this is an issue.

6. I will finish editing Seven Days by 7-31-2011, so it can go to my beta readers.

7. I will finish writing at least one other novel-length manuscript by 12-1-2011. Shouldn't be a problem, because I pretty much have Seven Months done, except for putting it in first person.

8. I will research and query at least three agents by 9-31-2011.

9. I will research and make a decision about self-publishing by 10-31-2011.

10. I will get my writing notes re-organized and get at least five notebooks transcribed into the computer and saved on flash drives by 10-31-2011. 

How 'bout them apples? All reasonable. I've got them written in my purse notebook and on a card I'll keep by where I write. Only 4 and 5 depend on others--my husband has to finish the bookcases in the dining room and a total stranger has to decide to hire me. So, these are my mid-year resolutions. How are you doing?