Erin's Procrastinating Page

It's a month of moving for me. We moved out of our old house, moved into a new house, and now I'm moving blogs. :D I know this blog has been mostly silent for the past few months, and I apologize for that. For the new blog, I'm hoping to set up a schedule that will motivate me to stick to it on a regular basis. If I start to slack off again, make sure to get on my case!

Why the new blog, you ask? It's all related to my quest for professionalism. In August I will be working on more edits for my novel, and by September I hope to be querying literary agents. I'll be using the pen name E. M. Rowan, and I want that name to start surfing the Web. The name Butterscotch isn't really helping me out any. :D I'm also starting an author website under my pen name, so that site and the new LJ will be linked and connected in a way. The site is purely professional though, and the LJ is more informal. I hope to have both up and running by Friday. *fingers crossed* And if they are, it will just be because of Tage. :D

So butterscotch82 is no more...this is my last post under this name. I hope those I've friended will follow me to the emrowan blog! I'll be adding all of you to my Friends list, so the purpose of this post was to explain who I was, and who I now am. :D Please add me! Thank you!

*waves*

I interrupt my two-month blog silence to bring you this HAPPY BIRTHDAY broadcast!


Tage is my long-lost twin, a true kindred spirit, a friend of my heart. She is loyal, unselfish, and wise. She makes me laugh and cry (in a good way), and she's always there to listen or help me with anything I need. I owe her my sanity and everything else I accomplished this past year. So I hope you have a fantastic day, twin! Love and huggles!

P.S. Her birthday is tomorrow, the 22nd...which I knew all along. ;)

I promised you more, and I always try to deliver on my promises.  :)  I guess this is official blogging day for me--once a month whether I need it or not!  *snort*  What have I been up to the past few weeks?  Nothing particularly happy or exciting, but time-sucking events nevertheless.  A shout-out to Jenny, who I haven't emailed in weeks!  *cries in shame*  I haven't forgotten you, and thank you for your emails.  For some reason I have a terrible time replying to emails.  

This month has been stressful; not only has Jeff been busy, but Sam has been giving me headaches every time I babysit her.  It is always something with her.  For a peek into my life, here's a recap of today:

This morning around 4:30 am, Jeff woke me up by asking, "Did you hear that?"  I hadn't gotten to bed until 1 am, so I mumbled something incoherent, not caring at that point if a burglar was breaking into our house (as if we have anything valuable to lose, *snort*.  As long as they leave Arthur, I probably won't notice anything else missing).   Jeff said, "I think it was an earthquake."  Poor Jeff just had a nightmare, I thought.  I promptly rolled over and went back to sleep.

The news this morning proved it:  an earthquake originated in West Salem, Illinois, registering 5.2 or 5.4 (strange how the news people can't agree on scientific facts) on the Richter scale.  We're about two hours north of West Salem, so Jeff woke up to the sound of our bedroom mirror rattling--no damage to anything in the house.  However, my parents only live 20 minutes from West Salem, so I was rather concerned about them.  I called them this morning, and they were fine.  They both woke up and felt the whole house shaking for a long fifteen seconds.  Dad said it sounded like a herd of buffalo on the porch.  Amazingly, they couldn't find any damage this morning--nothing fell on the floor or anything.  The news said West Salem had some busted pipes and structural damage, but no one was injured.  Apparently the tremors stretched to Alabama, Washington D.C., and Ontario.  All in all, I'd say everyone was pretty lucky.  I think it's the first earthquake I've ever experienced in my life...and I slept right through it.  *snort*  Jeff's never going to let me live that down!

I know I haven't blogged in forever, and I have a lot more to say...but Arthur just woke up from his nap....more later.

This is my chance to share the love and SQUEE about a great book that's just been released...

I battled a wicked case of PMS today, made ten times worse by being stuck in the house with two cranky, sleep-deprived toddlers.  You're probably already scarred by the first sentence, so I won't go into the horrific details.  Needless to say, by the time Jeff got home and Sam's dad picked her up, I had to get out of the house--there was no question about it.  And so I decided to go on a bike ride...despite the fact that I haven't ridden my bike (or really aerobically exercised at all) since November.  I guess I figured, I've already been through torture today...a bit of self-inflicted torture isn't going to make much difference.  Famous last words.  

Last fall I got into the habit of biking two or three times a week.  I live on a highway, but it's a semi-rural area, so the roads around here are marked off in one-mile squares.  So last year I'd bike half a mile east, one mile south, one mile west, one mile north, and half a mile east to arrive back at my house--a four-mile loop.  If I'd been in a good mood today, I would have just gone a mile or so and turned back, since it had been at least four months since I'd done the loop and I've eaten a lot of food since then.  *snort*  But no, I was hormonal and not thinking rationally, so I attempted the whole loop.  It might have been okay...if not for the 30 mph winds.  For the mile going west, I had to get off my bike and walk, because I just couldn't find the energy/strength to fight the wind.  The one good thing about biking in high winds--when the wind's behind you, you might as well be flying.  But the other miles just plain suck.  By the time I got home, my legs were Jell-O and I was somehow freezing and boiling hot at the same time, LOL.  And you know how sometimes, it takes a day or two before you get sore from working out?  Yeah, well, not this time.  I'm already sore...and it's only been four hours!  *rolls eyes*  I'm totally blaming this on the PMS, and not at all on my own ignorance.  

Actually, there was one productive thing that came out of this fiasco.  It's what usually happens when I get away with nothing but my iPod--musical inspiration.  :D  For a long time now I've been trying to fit Snow Patrol's "You're All I Have" into my book's soundtrack, but I couldn't find the perfect spot for it.  But today when I was biking and listening to that very song, the answer suddenly hit me.  It's not only a perfect spot, but it also solves another problem I was having.  You may ask, "And does that one song really matter in the big scheme of things?"  The answer:  Um, no.  But when you're struggling just to edit one measly chapter, you take what you can get.  ;)

So tomorrow (assuming I can walk), I'm going to create a good day for myself in order to make up for this crappy day.  I'm going to Border's, where I have a copy of Rogue by Rachel Vincent on hold for me (SQUEE!!).  Then Arthur and I are going to the library, where we will bask in the glow of millions of books.  From there we will proceed to Smoothie King, where we will splurge on blueberries (for Arthur) and energy boosters (for me).  And all will be well with the world again.  ;) 

A few months ago, ecabs had the idea of starting a fansite for frost_light(Jeaniene Frost, author of Halfway to the Grave, and the soon-to-be-released One Foot in the Grave).  I read HTTG and instantly became a fan, and I'm an even bigger fan of Frost herself.  She's just so friendly and witty.  So when asked if I'd like to help with the fansite, of course I said yes!   As the administrator, ecabshas been working hard to create the website and forums.  marcyjoand I are moderators, and we've also been writing extra stuff for the website (biographies, character info, etc).  

After a lot of hard work, the forums are now open to the public!  The website is still under construction, but you're welcome to come see what ecabshas done so far.  At the bottom of the site you'll see the link for the forums; go there and register if you'd like to join our forums.  We're hoping for lots of interest and good discussions!   :)

In personal news, I just returned home from a big Easter weekend of visiting my hubby's family.  I did manage to get a little bit of editing done, and I'm hoping to accomplish more in the weeks to come.  We're all fighting colds here, but I think we're finally getting better.  Hope everyone had a happy Easter! 

 I haven't had much time to read lately...which is why I've been listening to audiobooks.  I have a love-hate relationship with audiobooks that someday I will go into much detail about.  But for now I'll just say that it's nice to listen to a book while doing mundane chores (dishes, cleaning, brushing teeth, etc etc).  It appeals to my motherly multitasking side.  


After this post, I plan on disappearing again for awhile.  I MUST get back to editing, or I'll never finish it.  My original goal was to finish by the end of March, but I'll be lucky to finish by the end of April.  One thing in particular I'm struggling with--one of my characters has cancer, and I don't know how to confirm those related details.  This is cancer in the 90s, so I can't just read up on current methods.  And it's awkward and uncomfortable to ask previous victims of cancer.  Ideally I could talk to a doctor or specialist...but how would I find one willing to help me?  If anyone has any thoughts/ideas/advice, I would greatly appreciate it. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone....and Happy Easter on Sunday!     

 It feels like three months since I last posted...but I guess it's been about three weeks.  March has been INSANE for me.  The first week or so I was neck-deep in editing my novel (editing is a GINORMOUS topic that I'm going to have to tackle some other time).  The second week of March I was busy with domestic duties--cooking, cleaning, organizing, child-rearing--because my in-laws came to visit on the 13th, and they stayed til yesterday.  One of the reasons they came was so they could babysit Arthur while I went to the Hearts at Home conference (for mothers) on the 14th.  


Gotta run...Arthur is waking up from his nap.  More later...

Whenever I've been away from LJ for more than a couple days, I start to get uneasy.  I don't know why I feel obligated to keep an updated blog.  It's not like anything bad will happen if I don't....so why am I haunted by blog demons??  And it's not like anyone needs to hear every excruciating detail of my life.  My friends might feign interest, but that's just because they're loyal by nature.  ;)  I think I'll blame the two evils in my life--procrastination and perfectionism.  Why do something else when I can blog?  Why bother keeping a blog if it isn't perfect?  *snort*