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If this is Angela Groff from Winchester, which I think it is, email your old friend Del Zimmerman at delrayzimmerman@hotmail.com. Would love to be in contact just to say hi and check in. Hope you are well. God bless!

All that weather excitement came to just about nothing in Iowa City. The temps plunged about 20 degrees in an hour yesterday, but we had no thunderstorm, despite the "dangerous weather" predictions, thank goodness.

You-all staying in the Concourse hotel? Can't remember if they have a pool, or not. When do you arrive? There's a kind-of welcome party thing on Friday afternoon--I hope we can meet there!

Oh. Phew! I love Havers--such a great character and totally grew on this reader.

I just got back from Madison (two day professional conference), first time leaving the kids with a sitter overnight (John's in SF for a conference). And they were fine, and so was I.

Looking forward to WisCon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this meth addict. This was something happening in the book, or...?

Way to finish that essay, Angel! Have you considered the IROSF (Internet Review of SF, I think)? They pay 70 bucks for articles...

Sorry to hear about the kids getting sick. My Maude is always bouncingly healthy, but Theo was worrying us there for a while. His doctor said he needed his tonsils and adenoids taken out, but I said no to that, so we're waiting until July to see how he does. Of course, he hasn't been sick since visiting the ENT doctor, so here's hoping!!

I hope yours, especially Ethan, feel better soon. Take care.

Yeah, Angel, I do know. Trust me, I do.

Congrats for finishing! When you have kids as young as yours are, finishing anything is a victory. :)

They will get older and it will get better too. It's hard to remember that when you haven't slept in three days and all of them are sick.

If I ever manage to type it in, of course you get to read it! I've never really written an essay before, so I'm a little insecure.

Yay for the essay! I think you're perfect to write that. Do we get to read it?

*hugs*

I hope your grandmother can go peacefully, Angel.

Good luck with the essay and I sure hope the kids are on the mend. Mine's getting a referral tomorrow to an ear, nose, and throat specialist because of his recurring tonsillitis (6x since November). I sure hope he doesn't have to have 'em out...

I'd love to read an essay on writing with kids, etc. It is, it really is tricky, and sometimes I worry that I'm neglecting them if I chase them off to the playroom so I can have *five minutes* to myself, to think.

Thank goodness spring is coming and they can play outside!

I think the essay is a good idea too. One reason I waited so long to start writing again is for exactly those reasons--lack of support and their not being enough of me to go around. I couldn't handle the job, the kid and the writing.

FWIW, I admire how much you get done with three kids. Don't every doubt yourself about that. In the situation you're in, a hundred words a day is a victory. :)

That essay is a FANTASTIC idea and I think needs to be written (and read) and possibly talked about at a panel in Worldcon. Crossing my fingers for that!

hugs

The antique mall sounds fabulous :) I love looking at antiques too.

And Andy's quote is awesome. I think he's very right. Something of the author slips in the style.

Sorry about your grandma.

You're right. Why expect life to be neat and tidy?

I check everyday to see if you put up a new post. I relate to all the struggles you have with the kids and trying to balance it with the writing. I would miss it if you stopped posting.

I should have commented before, I know, but I'm usually too busy balancing work, the kid and writing.

Hello Angel! I would miss your blog if you quit posting because you're an inspiration to me, wrangling three little kids, homeschooling, and still managing to write.

Random stranger raises hand--I was here. I have my browser set up to indicate when you've made a post.

I'm a fellow writer, and I enjoy reading writer's journals. I can't remember how I found yours, though.

Why do you want to scrap the blog?

Well, actually I can understand, I went through a hiatus of not posting about a year ago.

But I like it when you post. I haven't been checking as often lately because of, you know, deadline in less than a month, but I like your observations and (dare I say) travails with the family and just being a Writing Mom. I think it says a lot about this thing called writing, and even more about this thing called motherhood.

But if it's a distraction for you then I can understand not wanting to bother.

But *I* read it.

:)

Mmmm - gingerbread latte. I think they took that off the menu after the holidays, though :-(. I know they stopped making the actual *gingerbread*, the kind you eat, which made me sad the other day when I went. The crumbleberry coffee cake wasn't nearly as good.

I loved that little snippet you posted :) And I also love gingerbread latte or whatever at Starbucks, although I have it without the coffee. Write on!!

Sarah -- if I ever finish it, you have a deal!
(And I did finally buy my own package of markers. Which Garrett tried to steal this morning. But I defended them.)

Here's my new writing motto for the new year:

"I hid the purple marker, but I know where it is."

Yeah.

Hey, if you need a reader for the WIP, I owe you one, so send it along. Take care!

Ugh. How awful. Feel better soon, all of you, and here's to a happy, *healthy* new year!

We've been flu free so far, and now school is out for two weeks, so we're hoping it passes us by.

Merry, merry Christmas, Angel!!

Angel!! Egads, I'm glad it's subsided though. No, you can never be too paranoid with the handwipes and gel disinfectants.

And those flu shots are of no use unless you're really old or really young. They target only a specific strain of the flu, and it doesn't mean you won't get it, but just supposedly the symptoms won't be as harsh (this isn't even counting those reactions where flu shots actually give you a rather bad flu). But that's for a *specific* strain. There are, as you know, many strains of it. And those shots don't protect you from *those*.

Plus, it's synthetic stuff. And shooting yourself up with synthetic stuff isn't good by any barometer. Better to get the darn flu and build up a proper immune system.

That said, I am *glad* it's on its way to over at your place so you can hopefully have a flu-free Christmas!

*hugs*

So I'm a little behind on the comments thing, but...

Oh my God, Amber, can you even *hear* now??? Yikes!!! I didn't know they gave tubes past the age of, like, 10. *eyes her little non-sleeping boy in a new way*

Thanks for the well-wishes, y'all. I would say that we're all doing better, but I don't think I have enough to knock on.

I hope the kids are feeling better, Angel. Poor muffins.

Aw, Angel!!! I hope you and the little one get better soon. But, on the bright side, 1000 words is REALLY GOOD.

I'm sorry Maenad bounced; but I fully believe you'll get to do your own anthologies one day and not for vanity. But because you'll be a Name. :)

And - thanks Sarah!! I'll check it.

ah tubes. my last set was (no kidding) when I was 22. Hard to believe it's been a decade without them since they were a huge part of my life for all my formative years. I'd totally forgotten about them, until you said 'tubes' and then i had visions of those tiny blue plastic bits, covered in ear wax on my pillow.

i know, gross, but you know, it's a distinct and utterly formative childhood memory, and since (oddly enough) i have so few of them, i treasure it.

cool.

Too late, Karin, already read _Burndive_ and sent you fanmail so look out.

Oh, Angel, you poor MOMS with the sick kids. I've got 'em too--Roseola for Theo and flu for Maude (and me too, last week). Argh. I'm taking the day off work tomorrow to stay home with the both of them. And very little writing getting done, alas.

Hey, way to go with the poem sub!

Go you! Yay!!

(I can't get into my other mail. It's being a total slug. I hate it with a passion).

PS:

Angel, the phone rings here ALL BLOODY DAY! It's so annoying.

Sorry for not posting earlier, I was in DC!

MOMS = Mother of Mega Stardom :)

YAY on the novel, Sarah!!! Keep writing!

And I hope you got a copy of BD. :) But read it after you've done your own novel! I'd rather see you finish your book :)

What's the MOMS? I'm sure Angel is it, whatever it is.

Thanks, Angel, for the good novel vibes! *I* think the world needs an elemental magic novel--let's hope the world thinks so too, when it's finished. I'm about 70K in right now, with 20-30K left to do, depending on what I decide to do with the ending. This is my first one, y'know, and it's turning out to be a really fun process. You're an inspiration, Angel--keep telling me to write novels, okay?

Just as a note--I am off to the Ninth Circle of Hell (aka the Mall) to go to B&N to get my copy of Burndive!!! Purposely waited til the end of my novel challenge month so I'd have the time to sit down and really enjoy it.

Look at you go with the new book! :)

I am totally not impressive. Really. Writing is just a self-defense mechanism. ;-)

And Sarah's novel is sure to be wonderful, because the novella it's based on was nifty, and the world needs an elemental magic novel. :-)

Sarah! A novel!! YAY!!!! What's it about?

And Burndive is out now on the shelves. :)

And Angel constantly impresses me. She is the MOMS.

Hiya Karin! (Hi to Angel, too!). Yup, have sold a few, which has been *nice*, to understate completely my feeling about it. And I'm working on a novel, my first one, and it's zipping along *nicely*. I'm planning on being really mean to my protag today, hahaha. Speaking of novels, though, !!!!I CAN'T WAIT TO READ _BURNDIVE_!!!!!!!

Phew.

November, right? Oh, I am so at B&N the day it's released. Yeah!

And as for you, Angel, I'm so impressed that you're writing in the midst of baby and homeschooled children. I hope the story is going well, and the sequel novel!

Hi Sarah!!

I'm so bad with the email but I've been thinking of you and wondering how you are doing. I could swear I've seen on the OWW updates that you have been selling some short stories -- you go girl! :D Yay!

Hi Angel! I'm so glad you put a comment thingy on here, because I'm always wanting to comment on your blog...of course at the moment I can't think of a thing to say. I did laugh at the shower cleaner comment because isn't that the way it is? Sound as if you're busy-busy, getting some good reading and writing done. I hope I'll get a chance to read "Black Dog" because it sounds *good*. Take care!

I think it's off to a fantastic start! I was immediately hooked by those couple paragraphs on the Monkeylint. So was Nancy! She was like, "Did you read Angel's excerpt??"

So, yeah. Maybe it's time for Kolya to shake a leg. :)

It's not even that the Audioslave track is so spooky; it's just that it's got this ghost-y howl at the beginning of it. I suppose my real problem is the stuff I insist on writing.

And it does appear to be turning into Kolya's novel. *le sigh*

LOL re: Audioslave

This is why I am seriously probably not going to see GOTHIKA when it comes out. The PREVIEWS were freaking me out.

Sooo glad you're writing again! :)

Black Dog!

Girl, I love it. Keep it going. w00t!

That is all. :)

Dude, I just learned how to burn CDs like -- only a couple months ago. So yeah...we're ahead of the curve eh LOL :)

Ah, I don't care. Einstein didn't know his own phone number. We spend our time learning other things!

And I don't mind doing the computer stuff, when I'm in the proper mood. Otherwise it's just annoying. That's why I could never do it for long periods of time. I don't have the patience (so says the novelist, but yano, it's different when you're making up *stories*!). As you know. :)

Art is a wonderful way to feed the soul. Arts and crafts. I dig it. :)

THat's always the kicker -- time spent fooling around with the computer stuff (which I like to do sometimes) is always time you have to subtract from writing, usually. LOL Which is why I *just* figured out how to burn CDS on my new comp that I've had since May :-).

Unfortunately the learning curve for website building is often frustrating. Hence why I barely know much about Dreamweaver and I've been using it for a year or more now. I had my sister build the template. It does take a lot of sit-down time and I'd rather be writing.

Yah, comments :-) Cool, huh? Credit has to go to Marsha for adding this site to her blog, though, because otherwise I would have been stuck in Frontpage hell!

You said:
what it means to be *from* somewhere, and how that makes you who you are. And when you're in-between like I am, who you are gets complicated. I suppose that's why I write about identity so much in my fiction.

* I'm inbetween too :) The life of a second-generation immigrant, or whatever they call it. Born in one culture, raised in another...

* Yay for ideas on SC3! :)

Yay! You got Comments!! :) I was going to ask you if you would do this, but I didn't want to contribute to stress. :)

I really should email though...and stop being lazy. :/

Welcome to my board.