Sometimes I want something so badly that I can taste it.  That’s pretty much the driving force behind my writing.  This opportunity to be published with the Christian line of Harlequin is one of those things I can taste right now.

Last night, I finished up the edits of the manuscript, printed it off, and later on this morning (when the post office finally opens) I will mail it off.  It’s hard to let the manuscript go when I have so many hopes attached to it.  I keep wondering if I couldn’t improve it just a tiny bit more… and if it’s really good enough to get past the committees it will need to get through.

But there comes a point where you have to let it go.  I’ve made all the requested changes.  I’ve gone through the book thoroughly, twice.  I’m confident that the book is significantly better than it was before.  Now, I’ve got let it go and wait for the response.

Waiting won’t be agony, however, because I already have another project on my plate.  Another Christian publisher has requested me to finish up a romance novel manuscript that I queried a couple of months ago.  I have six to eight weeks to finish the manuscript (which is very doable for me.)  I’m excited!  I’m looking forward to using all the things I learned from the Harlequin editor’s notes in this new book.

It’s a good feeling having a book finished and a brand new book to write in front of me.  I don’t know how to describe it to you…  It’s like being sixteen again and being able to eat anything you want and never gain an ounce or have indigestion afterward.  It’s the feeling of being a hungry sixteen year old at potluck… and no line ups!  Yes, it’s a good feeling.

Yesterday, I received the edited manuscript for my novel Zacchaeus.  This book is due out this year, I believe, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it in print!  I’ll give you a bit of a teaser…

Zacchaeus has a sister-in-law who is nothing short of a shrew.  Every family has one, and Tzofit is theirs.  When Zacchaeus’ brother dies, widowing Tzofit, it falls to Zacchaeus to marry the woman he loathes. It doesn’t help matters that Tzofit hates him just as intensely.

There is a zealot bent on murder.  There is a centurion  bent on adultery.  There is a debtor with no hope of ever climbing out of the pit he’s dug for himself.

And at the wedding dinner of a two people who detest each other, an unexpected guest arrives…

I can’t wait to hold that book in my hands!  Hopefully, you’ll pick one up, too.  This is definitely my best book yet!

Now, onto my other “wee little man.”  Jr has been growing up on me in so many ways!  He’s picking up more and more words every day.  Last night on the phone, he told his Nana that he was shy.  It was the cutest thing!  It’s amazing how quickly they go from pointing out objects they know to identifying feelings.

He’s been learning his numbers lately.  He can count from 1 to 12, and he can identify numbers 1 to 10 in a book.  It’s so cute to watch him learning things.  He’s also just a hair shy of being potty trained.  So many things at once…  It seems like yesterday that my patience was being tested with constant puddles on the carpet…

Yeah, that’s something I probably shouldn’t bring up to him when he graduates high school… “Baby, it seems like just yesterday that you were making puddles on the carpet!” 

This picture taken by the Hubble telescope amazes me.  These are two sister galaxies somewhere far, far away from here.  Maybe there is life there. Maybe there isn’t.  Maybe this is simply an example of one of God’s eon-long creative bursts.

There are a couple of things that got me thinking in this picture.  The first, is that perhaps those who believe in an evolutionary creation have a very interesting perspective.  I’ve always favored the seven day creation, myself, because I love the view of God taking such personal interest in his work.  But looking at this picture, if God took several million years to carefully and lovingly form the end product of our little galaxy before ever even beginning the process of planting life there…  does that diminish God?

Maybe not.  Maybe it just makes God so much bigger than us… so much vaster than us… that when He savors something, it takes longer than we can even comprehend. That turns my view of a literal Genesis on it’s head.  I like the idea of a literal interpretation of Genesis.  It’s simpler.  However, if Genesis isn’t literal, perhaps it takes more faith, instead of less, to embrace a God so much bigger that our only way of fathoming Him is through legend.

I’m not saying that I’m giving up on my long held views just like that, but I’ve got something to grapple with, that’s for sure.

The other thing I noticed in this picture is that even on the most enormous scale of galaxies, each containing millions upon millions of stars, there is interaction.  These two galaxies are interacting with each other.  I’m not sure exactly what is happening between the two, but they are connected.  They rely on each other.

Interaction.  Co-existence.  Created for each other.

This is my personal proof for soul mates.

I received an answer from Harlequin about the novel I had revised for them.  While I still did not get my “Yes, you are a genius” answer that I was hoping for, I did get a positive response.  The editor liked the story, and if I make some more specific changes, she is willing to look at the book AGAIN!

This is exciting!  It would have been incredibly easy for them to say, “Nope, not up to snuff.  Declined.”  However, there must have been enough good in the book for them to be willing to look at the book again.

So my work is cut out for me.

Last night, I finished editing my latest manuscript.  I’d gone through it, let it sit, and went over it again to find that it was good to go.  So I emailed it off, feeling fantastic.

Laying in bed with my husband, I got to thinking about the manuscript. What if I completely removed a section and rewrote it from a different point of view?  Would it improve the book?

So I got out of bed, dashed to the living room and started up my computer.  After doing some fiddling with the manuscript, erasing an entire section and settling in to write, I realized that no, the first way I did was much better.  The scene just didn’t work from the other perspective when you got down to the mechanics of it.

So I closed the document (without saving my numerous, unnecessary changes), turned off my computer, and crawled back into bed next to my husband.

“Did you do it?” he asked.

“Yep,” I said.  “But it was a dumb idea.”

“Ok,” he said, pulled me close, and we went to sleep.

My son (who is barely two–have I mentioned that?)  just learned his alphabet.  It’s the cutest thing!  He has a little wooden board that he can pull the letters out of, and he picks them up one by one and announces them.  I’m just so proud of him!  He’s very bright, just like his daddy.

The last few mornings, Jr would wake up and run past our bedroom, out to the living room where his puzzle was waiting for him.  I’d be getting out of bed listening to him call out “B!  F!  Z!” Such enthusiasm!  The enthusiasm has waned, however.  He knows his letters, and no longer wants to repeat them endlessly, so it’s time to introduce some more fun things to do with letters.  I’ve already been showing him the sounds letters make, but that isn’t quite cool enough for him. So tomorrow I will attempt to interest him in some short words.  You never know, it might be the trick!  All I can do is try and see if he thinks it’s cool or not.

So that has been keeping me busy on the parenting front.  Teaching him things is just so fun, but keeping up with him is a challenge! I was perfectly content to enjoy the alphabet for a month, but apparently he isn’t.  So I’d better catch up, or he’ll lose interest and go find something else to learn.

On the writing front, things are going well.  I’m still sick with this bug, but I’m getting some good work done.  I’m now working on Chapter 16 of the first draft of my current novel, and I’m really enjoying myself.  I’m on the last quarter of the book, and that is where everything starts to pull together and pick up speed towards the end.  This is a fun stage to be at!

Well, I’d better get back to work.  Just wanted to give you a quick update!  (and, you know, brag a bit about my little guy…)

I recently came across a Will Smith collection of interview moments.  You can watch it HERE if you are interested.  In these clips, Will Smith talks about his belief about personal greatness.

He says, “There is no reason to have a Plan B, because it distracts from Plan A.”

I’m going to paraphrase the next bit:

Will Smith says the only difference between himself and say, me, is that he’s willing to die on a treadmill.  I might keep going on the treadmill next to him, and I might get tired and stop.  But if I keep going, he’s darn well willing to die on that treadmill!

Now, I’m no Will Smith, but I can relate to his drive to succeed.  In the arts, those who make it are never overnight successes.  There is no such thing.  People succeed because they are just dumb enough, or bull headed enough to keep trying after all the logical, sane, balanced people have stopped. Of course, I believe in keeping my priorities straight.  My family comes first.  Every time.  No exceptions.  But when it comes to my writing, I’m willing to write as many full novels as it takes to get me into the market of my choice.  I’m willing be rejected as many times as it takes.  I’m willing to push myself and keep those books churning out.

The hope?  The hope is that I manage to “make it” in a bigger way than I’m making it now.  They say that writers don’t retire, they die.  So I guess you could say that I’m committed enough to die on the treadmill!  I don’t have a Plan B.  Here’s hoping that works out for me!

But I can pretty much guarantee you that Will Smith’s suit will cost more than any car I drive.  I’ll just be happy to keel over on his treadmill.

Wow, I haven’t blogged in a really long time!  I don’t have much of an excuse.  Well, maybe I do.  I’ve been parenting a potty training, diaper-free toddler, I’ve been a wife, which is less work, but still takes energy, and I’ve been working feverishly on my next novel.  I hadn’t realized that I’d taken such a long break from blogging.

My son is learning his alphabet, which is so cool!  He can say almost all of his letters.  When we were in the mall the other day, he was picking letters he knew out of signs.  Barely two, folks!  I can’t be the first mother to be certain that her little darling is a genius. But still, it’s a step before learning to read, and I’m as proud as proud can be.

For the last couple of days we’ve had the tummy bug in the Ntihemuka house.  My husband, so far, has stayed healthy, but Jr and I went down for the count.  While we are on the upswing, we’re still kind of woozy and weak.  I’m not at my prettiest.

However, my novel is coming along nicely.  This is Book 2 of the Mary trilogy.  The first book, Mary: Call Me Blessed, came out last year.  I’m on Chapter 12 out of about 20 chapters.  I love my characters, and the plot is flowing.  I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.  Even sick, I’m getting a bit of writing done.

However, this is quite enough productivity for now.  I’m tired.  I’m weak.  I’m still kind of sick.  I deserve to swoon, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t poke me while I’m down….

The potty training is finally working!  After six months of trying and trying, going through the motions and having my son still not care for the process, we seem to have success!!

I can’t really say that the success is because of anything brilliant I did on my end.  Truthfully, he started  getting an awful rash in his diaper area and diapers were making it worse.  So without being able to use diapers, we went to training pants exclusively.  At night, I didn’t put anything on his little bottom, and let him sleep on a towel in case he wet.  It was really all we could do with his rash.  We’ve now had two dry nights in a row.

So I’m not sure if the rash urged him along, or if it was simply taking away the diapers completely…  Or maybe it was just that he was ready.  But we’re pretty close to being potty trained over here, and I’m thrilled with my little man!

When I bought our last box of diapers, I hadn’t realized it would be there very last diapers we ever had to stick on the grocery list.  I kind of wish I’d realized it, so I could have savored it just a little…  For all of my eagerness to get my child potty trained, I’m a little wistful about no longer having a baby in the house.  It’s both exciting and sad at the same time.

We’re having one those weeks where’s he’s growing up in fast forward.  From staying dry to singing along with the ABC song (in his own way, of course) to developing a desperate love affair with crayons and coloring books…  I can’t believe how fast he’s growing up!