Fess Up Friday (the short hair edition)

That's right, I have chopped off my hair for Locks of Love, the official summer hair cut. When I get a pic I like, I'll maybe switch it out so everybody can see. I've gotten "Amelie," "retro," and "babydoll" as comments, if that gives you any idea.

Wasn't sick at all this week, but I did somehow lock myself out of my bedroom while I was in my pajamas. Thank goodness for those painters and their paint knife after my letter opener broke.

So, I'm doing better with cutting down on my t.v., though I did watch AI and I have to say that, all respect to Danny Gokey, but the voters got it right with Adam and Kris. And Kris! He totally showed Adam up, which I didn't think was possible. I had just been saying that though I love both "Heartless" and "Blame It on the Alcohol," both songs were pretty silly performed live on AI. A lot of posturing and rough negotiating with all of the synths or whatever. And as if he heard me, Kris performed an acoustic "Heartless." Whoa! Freaking whoa! And not only was it just a freaking great arrangement, it also demonstrated how amazing the lyrics are (that was clear in the original, but with a stripped-down version, they just jumped out at you). So even though I was unfortunately wrong with the top 3, I was spot on about the top 2. And you know what? Kris could win this, he really could. And Adam's gonna have an amazing career no matter what, so it's all gravy.

But you know what I've been overdosing on this week? Reading! I read 3 young adult books in like 2 days. The last, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, I read pretty much straight through last night/this morning. Thought I'd read a chapter as I was trying to fall asleep and got so consumed with the story, just had to know what happened, that I read until I finished at 5:31 this morning. And of course, it's the first in the series and of course the next isn't coming out till September. Oh, how will I ever wait to find out what happens next? Somebody send me an ARC! So even though my site says I'm reading, The Song Is You and that is true, I'm usually reading like five or six things at once. But The Hunger Games. Seriously, read this book. It is inventive and brutal and gorgeous, about a future society in North America that sends 24 "tributes" from its 12 districts to fight until only one survives. I love how some of the best characters in these brutal future-society books (think John Marsden's Tomorrow series) are kick ass girls like Ripley and Barbara.

The socializing - I'm still doing quite a bit of that. Drove up to Baton Rouge for an "Electric Ladies" lunch celebrating David Madden (see pic) and went to Bud's Broiler for the first time and the Insectarium. Overall, however, I'm doing pretty good at saying no to invitations (sorry!!!! I promise I'll be less of a hermit soon!!!).

But that's enough about how I'm failing to use my time wisely. Let me update you on all the progess I've made.

New words:

5.10 = 1,547 (3 scenes)
5.11 = 3,179 (2 scenes)
5.12 = 613 (1 scene)
5.13 = 558 (1/2 scene)
5.14 = 599 (2nd 1/2 scene)

But it's not all about new words. I actually generated a significant amount of new words and scenes since last October, in preparation for filling out the parts that needed more. I have one complete draft and lots of loose material to work with. So the greatest part of the work I've been doing has been splicing the new work and the old material together, or editing. So, how's this for linear thinking - I made an enormous jump and I have about 180 pages "done." I'll continue with my splicing and hope to have a few days or a full week at the end to do one more pass to make everything connect and work the way I'd like it to. Makes the book sound like a machine, doesn't it?

During all the test runs I've taken it on, the book is performing well. Just like a top-end sports car, purring and growling enthusiastically, just revving up to show off what it can do. A friend recently asked me how the writing was going and for the first time in a long time, I didn't sigh and shake my head and offer a lot of excuses. I grinned and chirped, "Great!" And meant it. That feels so good.

Toni sponsored a book-giveaway on my blog. Someday I'll be more democratic with my book-giveaways, but this time instead of making y'all work for it, I gave the books to people I knew would love them. So the copy of Allison Brennan's Sudden Death went to Pam Gauxtreaux and the copies of Toni's first two books (they're gonna be re-released this summer under new titles) went to Kristin Sanders.

So, to conclude, a few items that grabbed my attention this week:

This is a GREAT idea (Amazon to reprint books).

This makes me incredibly sad (Coconut Beach).

And this is fascinating (Dan Baum, New Yorker, a story told on Twitter).