Start-of-summer update
Hm, I haven’t made a substantive post in a while, have I? So let’s see, what’s been going on here the past few weeks or so?
We went to my youngest sister’s wedding the end of last month, which was great. The drive down and back was fine (got to drive a brand new Chevy Malibu-handled very nicely, had decent space, and I refrained from Repo Man jokes throughout), the wedding itself was gorgeous, and it was great hanging out with my dad and his SO, my younger sisters, my uncle and his SO, my cousins and their kids, my now-brother-in-law, his whole family, and a whole lot of family friends. We managed to go to the Smithsonian on Friday, so the kids got to see the Natural History Museum there and had a great time, and on Saturday seventeen of us trekked out to hit the zoo, which was crazy. I also got to meet and spend time with my middle sister’s boyfriend, who seems really nice and fit in with the family nicely. All in all it was a really nice trip.
jendaby and I are busy finalizing details for our next trip-a portion of which will be kid-free! We’re going down to ShoreLeave in the middle of next month, and from there to Miami, where we’ll meet up with my dad and his SO. Then jendaby and I will fly out to Vegas! We get five days there, just the two of us, while my dad and his SO hand our daughter off to my middle sister for a fun week in Orlando and then drive or fly back up to NY with our son. We’ll meet all of them up there, and hopefully have a few days with everyone before they have to return to their respective homes as well. It's our first vacation, just the two of us, in six years, so we're very excited.
On the day job front, things are fine. We’re supposedly moving our entire division to another building on July 1, but they haven’t given us any details yet and it’s already approaching mid-June so they may push that back a bit. We're back on summer publishing hours, which is excellent. Get in at the same time as usual in the morning, stay a little later in the evening, and get half-day Fridays as a result? I'll take it!
Writing-wise, things are good. Busy, though. I turned in the latest YA project last week, a few days ahead of schedule. Today I turned in the first tie-in novel of the summer-much thanks to slothshaman and Peter for reading it over and providing useful comments, including both catching the same plot hole! I’m waiting on outline feedback for two different upcoming projects, neither of which I can talk about yet beyond saying that one’s the second tie-in novel of the summer and the other is a YA tie-in trilogy. I’ve got pitches and sample chapters out on an original YA project and a WFH middle-grade project, plus an original fantasy pitch from a buddy and I out with an editor. I’ve also got sample chapters to write for another middle-grade pitch, and I’m waiting for details on a new children’s book project. I think that’s about it for now. :)
Otherwise-not much. I’ve got my writing schedule mapped out so I can get work done but still have time to spend with jendaby, the kids, and our friends. We’re going to be starting Movie Nights up again soon-everyone local, take note. We haven’t gamed the past two weeks because we were out the first Friday and Mook was out this last time, but hopefully we’ll be back to that this week. I need to make plans to go see G.I. Joe and Transformers 2 in the theaters-both are films I want to see on the big screen. I’ve got that speaking engagement with the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County this Saturday. The kids are good, though our son broke our daughter’s glasses this weekend so we need to get those replaced. I’m making an appointment to see my doctor, both for some recent neck pain and for some recent sleeping issues. All our TV shows are now done for the year, except for Pushing Daisies and Harper’s Island, so we’ll probably be catching up on movies this summer as usual. My daughter also has only three weeks of kindergarten left-it’s going to be a crazy summer!
Okay, I think that covers it. Hope everyone else is doing well, and that your summers are starting out nicely!
We went to my youngest sister’s wedding the end of last month, which was great. The drive down and back was fine (got to drive a brand new Chevy Malibu-handled very nicely, had decent space, and I refrained from Repo Man jokes throughout), the wedding itself was gorgeous, and it was great hanging out with my dad and his SO, my younger sisters, my uncle and his SO, my cousins and their kids, my now-brother-in-law, his whole family, and a whole lot of family friends. We managed to go to the Smithsonian on Friday, so the kids got to see the Natural History Museum there and had a great time, and on Saturday seventeen of us trekked out to hit the zoo, which was crazy. I also got to meet and spend time with my middle sister’s boyfriend, who seems really nice and fit in with the family nicely. All in all it was a really nice trip.
jendaby and I are busy finalizing details for our next trip-a portion of which will be kid-free! We’re going down to ShoreLeave in the middle of next month, and from there to Miami, where we’ll meet up with my dad and his SO. Then jendaby and I will fly out to Vegas! We get five days there, just the two of us, while my dad and his SO hand our daughter off to my middle sister for a fun week in Orlando and then drive or fly back up to NY with our son. We’ll meet all of them up there, and hopefully have a few days with everyone before they have to return to their respective homes as well. It's our first vacation, just the two of us, in six years, so we're very excited.
On the day job front, things are fine. We’re supposedly moving our entire division to another building on July 1, but they haven’t given us any details yet and it’s already approaching mid-June so they may push that back a bit. We're back on summer publishing hours, which is excellent. Get in at the same time as usual in the morning, stay a little later in the evening, and get half-day Fridays as a result? I'll take it!
Writing-wise, things are good. Busy, though. I turned in the latest YA project last week, a few days ahead of schedule. Today I turned in the first tie-in novel of the summer-much thanks to slothshaman and Peter for reading it over and providing useful comments, including both catching the same plot hole! I’m waiting on outline feedback for two different upcoming projects, neither of which I can talk about yet beyond saying that one’s the second tie-in novel of the summer and the other is a YA tie-in trilogy. I’ve got pitches and sample chapters out on an original YA project and a WFH middle-grade project, plus an original fantasy pitch from a buddy and I out with an editor. I’ve also got sample chapters to write for another middle-grade pitch, and I’m waiting for details on a new children’s book project. I think that’s about it for now. :)
Otherwise-not much. I’ve got my writing schedule mapped out so I can get work done but still have time to spend with jendaby, the kids, and our friends. We’re going to be starting Movie Nights up again soon-everyone local, take note. We haven’t gamed the past two weeks because we were out the first Friday and Mook was out this last time, but hopefully we’ll be back to that this week. I need to make plans to go see G.I. Joe and Transformers 2 in the theaters-both are films I want to see on the big screen. I’ve got that speaking engagement with the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County this Saturday. The kids are good, though our son broke our daughter’s glasses this weekend so we need to get those replaced. I’m making an appointment to see my doctor, both for some recent neck pain and for some recent sleeping issues. All our TV shows are now done for the year, except for Pushing Daisies and Harper’s Island, so we’ll probably be catching up on movies this summer as usual. My daughter also has only three weeks of kindergarten left-it’s going to be a crazy summer!
Okay, I think that covers it. Hope everyone else is doing well, and that your summers are starting out nicely!