A random day

Just like I said in the subject, today is a random day. The mother-in-law is in town and tagged along with Myles during a trip to Lowe's. What was supposed to be a quick trip to Lowe's to get a sprayer and bug spray to spray around the foundation of the house turned in to much more than that. They came back with a new grill. Ay yay yay. Yeah. That's usually how things turn out with her. Now, she has decided that we need to grill out tomorrow, so they just left to go to the store for meat, which means they'll come back with a freezer-full of stuff. Literally. But I'm not complaining. :)

While they're gone, I'm using this as an opportunity to watch Moonlight, which I set to tape on the DVR. Oh my God this is a good show! I'm sooooo gonna watch it again. I HIGHLY recommend it. :) Oh yeah. I can't gush about it enough. :)

And when the Myles gets home, he'll be happy--I made him a home-baked punkin pie (Yes, punkin is spelled that way on purpose...My nickname is "Punkin" and I have no clue how it even got started). And I made some punkin cake. Yeah, I'm in a punkin and baking mood. So he'll benefit from it. :) I'm thinking some peach cobbler sounds good, too. And here in a bit we're heading to Mountain Jacks for dinner, so that means I'll get filet mignon tonight. Oh yum. Sounds good to me. :)

There's not much else going on today. I'm working a bit on one of my own stories, reading some submissions, and maybe I'll get to some editing later, but I'm going to spend the majority of the day working on it tomorrow.

So, that's all for now, folks. Other than the fact that the pinched nerve in my shoulder is bugging me again. Blech.

When you submit a story...

For the love of God, don't bother the editor about it a week after you sent it. Seriously. The automated reply says to allow eight to ten weeks for a response. We try not to take that long, but understand, you're not the only one whose story we have to read. At any given time, we've about about thirty of them. When you email us and "nudge" us, it doesn't make us want to read your story. It annoys us and makes us want to reject it. Yes, I said it--reject it. The story may be good, but when you bother us, it makes us wonder what it will be like to work with you, and possibly your agent, during the editing process. It's not JUST the story you're selling, it's you, too. Your story can be wonderful, but if if you make us dislike you, your story will get rejected. There are always more stories behind you. Remember that.

Oh wow, it's been a day

Yeah, it's been one hell of a day. I'm so sore, stiff and tired. I soaked in the tub for a while, and it helped for a little while, but now the pain has returned. I'm guessing I'll be in bed VERY early tonight. Um, like 8:30, which is as soon as it gets dark. :P I've got a lot of emails and editing to catch up on tomorrow, but I'll make it. The painting I have left to do is minimal, but then I have to clean up. Ugh. I think that's the part that sucks the most. But, thank the Lord, it's almost done. I'll post pictures once it's all poifect and perty. :)

Addios for now!

A VERY tired Ann

To edit or to paint the house, that is the question

And, well, painting the house won. :( Yeah, I'd rather edit, but now it's 8:15 in the evening and I'm finally sitting down to get some edits done. I'm guessing not too many will get done, given the way I feel right now. Blech. Plus, I now have two painted cats. They just wouldn't stay away! So, a striped down the top of each of their heads kept them hiding from me all day, which served its purpose in keeping them away. :) And I just send the Myles to pick up pizza, so thank God I don't have to make dinner tonight. I don't think I could handle it. LOL Wow, that's sad. So now, I'm off to do some edits on Rebecca Goings next book, Hearts Unbound. Wonderful story, by the way. And it's out in November from Samhain, of course.

Toodle-oo!

No, you haven't already ATE.

This is one of those annoying little things that just gets to me. Please, people, learn what a past participle is and how to conjugate your verbs. :) You have already EATEN, dammit. Eats, eats, ate, eating, and EATEN. The past participle of eat is NOT ate. :P And you have not drank a lot; you have drunk a lot. Gar. Is it just people in Indiana, or is this some sort of widespread virus?

Oh, and seen, yet another one that is misused. Except, in this case, it's the opposite of above. :OP You did not seen them at the mall yesterday; you SAW them. You have seen them in the past. Gar. I have actually received manuscripts where the author described something as "She seen the sun on the horizon." Yeah, that's pretty much an automatic rejection. Just a side note. :) For those of you who care.

Okay, I'm done with past participles today, though I'm sure that's NOT the last you'll see of my rants regarding them. I think the whole "seen" thing is one of my biggest pet peeves ever.

Ooops

Yes, I know--I'm not the best at keeping up on blogs. But I'm working on getting better. Besides, it's not like anyone really cares about every little detail of my life, right? :)

Actually, I was really busy with the FH this weekend, getting ready for my future mother-in-law to be here next week. At least I'll get a long weekend from my "real" job. But I digress. What started out as a simple paint-job on the upstairs hallway turned into a HUGE ordeal. The color we chose was too dark, so we needed new lighting. Also, we decided we didn't want to continue the dark color downstairs, so we made a trip to Lowe's to get a bit lighter of a color. I also found out that when Myles--fiance's name--has to be in the attic in 110 degree heat in order to cut a hole in the ceiling to install a chandelier in the stairwell *breath* and he gets covered in insulation and dirt and sweat...he likes to get "lovey". Yeah. Insulation-covered hugs are NOT pleasant. At least I could revel in the fact that he got an allergic reaction to the stuff. *evil smile*

I'll post some pictures of all my hard work soon, as it's still in-process. Doors and trim this weekend. Oh boy!

And a side note--cat's do NOT make good helpers when hanging lights and painting. Yeah, not so good. :)

Ooooh, my first one.

I suppose I could use my first post telling you about myself; who I am, what I do for a living, my likes, my dislikes, and all of that irrelevant bullshit. But I don't think I'm going to do that. I'm sure those are all things you'll learn if you continue reading my blog. I'll let you figure all of that out for yourself.

Yes, I'm an editor. A very picky one. :) I got into this job because I love books. I love to read, I love to critique, and I especially love to tell people when they've done something wrong and pointing out their mistakes. So, what could be better for me than being an editor? Absolutely nothing. I love what I do. Even though I have a full-time "real" job, I've managed to take this on as well. Though, of course, in a year I'll be drastically cutting the hours of the "real" job, or quitting it entirely in order to edit full-time. And be a stay-at-home mommy, too, when my better half and I start to have kids in about a year.

Other than that, there's nothing else you need to know for now. I'll reveal all my quirks and oddities in due time. :)