I've lost my memory!

I went to work on my book today...

I plugged in my jump drive--the cute red one that I put my HOT book on. It was empty.

I raced to the downstairs computer and plugged it in again. EMPTY.

I put it in the other downstairs computer. EMPTY.

I put it in the laptop. EMPTY.

Sigh...

Fortunately (or not), I had backed the story up on my hard drive late last week. I only lost 1/2 a chapter and some minor edits, but it was an especially difficult chapter. I had the hero stuck in the heroine's house and I couldn't get him to leave. I had finally solved that dilemma and moved on to the awkward scene where the hero got asked to Preference by ANOTHER GIRL so heroine asks ANOTHER GUY in front of the hero. Yeah, pretty soapy. Well, I made it through the hormones and heartache only to have it get lost. Maybe they aren't supposed to go with the WRONG DATES!

You know, if they would only COMMUNICATE!

I had an interesting conversation with a fellow novel-writer the other day. She was listening to me complain how my characters are getting a little too real in my brain and how schizophrenic I was feeling, trying to live in two worlds. She told me it was normal (at least in her experience). She described trying to have a conversation with her husband and hearing her character's voices in her head, working out dialog in the background. Yeah. I totally get that now. No wonder writers are freaks!

Anyway, moral to my story... BACK UP EVERYTHING!!!

High School Musical 3

Scout and N auditioned for HSM today in Farmington. It was a big deal for Scout who wants to be an actress (pronounced act-TRESS) someday. She came out of the audition electrified. She's a lot more like me than I realized, I guess. N came out mortified. She is so uncomfortable in front of a crowd but she keeps doing it, something I applaud her for. Not many 11 year-olds would face their stage fright by trying out for a musical! Scout said N did awesome on the dance part. N said Scout did awesome on the singing part.

The auditions were a little comical. They planned to double cast the show but they were overwhelmed by the response. There were over 300 kids who auditioned (they promise a part to everyone who auditions, BTW). I bet 275 of them were girls. And of them, 250 were shorter than N. It will be interesting to see if they make it (they obviously have to cut some kids!). Anyway, there was such a dearth of boys auditioning that I called and got my dear nephew Kenny out of bed. Since elle_cosette is out of town at the writer's convention, he was taking the opportunity to catch a few extra z's. I compelled him and his older brother Paul to give the kids in Farmington a break and come show 'em how it's done in Centerville. I called my Mom at 11:15 and asked her to hurry over there and pick up the boys and race them to Farmington by 12, the deadline for auditions. They got there at 11:55 (thanks so much for dropping everything and doing that, Mom!) only to find out there is a non-refundable $15 audition fee (thanks for paying it, Mom!). Oh yeah, all parents must volunteer at the practices and performances. I can't wait for elle_cosette to come home and find out what I did! I think I just gifted her with a pregnant cat. It is a gift that keeps on giving.

We found the phone!

Yippee! N found my phone. Booo! It was in the dryer. But it is clean. But it was already clean because it was BRAND NEW.

Thank goodness for American Express and it's Buyer Purchase Protection Plan! Tomorrow my replacement phone will be here.

One more thing...

Oh yeah, I forgot one more thing... Where the heck have the kids taken my cell phone? It's going straight to my voice mail which tells me they were taking pictures and video with it and now it is gone. grrrrrr

Random

Two random items are keep bugging me this morning, making it impossible to write:
1) Why did they stop making Buckwheats? Everyone I've ever mentioned them to agrees with me that they were the BEST breakfast cereal ever made but they quit making them. WHY?!

2) (and the real reason I can't write today) I was having trouble getting one of my main characters literally in the door of the other main character's house. Now I can't get him out again. Why wont these "people" and I use that term loosely, DO WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO?

Ahhh... Quiet

It has been very quiet around here lately. That's because all my kids are in school all day and it is great. Yes, there was that moment at the grocery store as I was following a young mom with her three little girls, all with their own little carts, helping rotate stock from one area of the store to the other, that I had a twinge of sadness that my babies are growing up and they don't do that anymore. But I got over it. There was another moment when I got the $150+ worth of groceries home and I realized I had to bring them in and put them away myself. But I did it and there were no arguments. What was the point? I knew I would loose anyway.

The quiet has given me a lot of quiet time to write. I am 5 chapters into my book and am still loving it. I go to bed at night, thinking of the next step in the plot, then wake up in the morning with the ideas flowing. I type all day, taking breaks to vacuum or occasionally eat, then write some more. I still think it is crap--it is poorly written and very formulaic, but I am having fun. When I come to roadblocks, I like hashing it out with my older girls. They aren't much help as their sarcasm gets in the way, but they make me laugh and I appreciate their willingness to be a part of the process. I also WAY appreciate elle_cosette's help. I am loving the quotes she sends from her writing book, and the tips are very helpful.

Anyway, enough of that! Back to writing!

Banana Cookies

When I was in Yellowstone, I mentioned I had a bazillion black bananas in my freezer, waiting to be made into banana bread. Jayne Garner heard me and suggested banana cookies instead. This is her recipe. I've made it twice since them, tripling the recipe each time (big family, lot of neighbors, etc...). They're wonderful. Give them a try.

Banana Cookies

1/3 C shortening

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1 C bananas

1 ½ C flour

2 t baking powder

½ t salt

¼ t soda

½ t vanilla

1 C chocolate chips

Cream shortening and sugar, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes OR for convection, 375 for 9 minutes.