Today I planned to post pictures from my new office. I even cleaned it this morning (somewhat), took a bunch of pictures, and figured out how to upload them to my iMac (very easy, wow!) What I can’t seem to do is resize them. All the pictures are huge and too big to upload into wordpress. And they would take forever to load on your computer, too. I don’t have a program on my Mac that is a photo editor. iPhoto doesn’t seem to want to resize anything for me (though I can edit the photos.) So I figured out who to export and thought that in Preview I could resize . . . nope. The only way I would be able to do this is to email the photos to myself (which will probably crash my email–see, I deleted them off the camera already) and bring them up on my husband’s PC and adjust them in photoshop, then write my blog there. But it would take me an hour at least, and I need to finish this book (SUDDEN DEATH.) They are revisions and I have the last 50+ pages to edit and a couple scenes to write and I want everything done by tomorrow. So we’re going to have to wait until next week for pics of my office . . . I’ll take new pictures on Monday after my fabulous housekeepers come in and make my office shine.
So I don’t have a blog topic for today.
I will share the fact that I still write better and faster when I’m not sitting here in my beautiful, nearly complete office. I don’t know why that is. I think it’s mental. No surprise there…I’m a bit of a mental case sometimes! I can write here, but it takes longer. Still, that’s better than last month when I COULDN’T write a word in this office. Now that my bookshelves are in, my books are in them, and I have some furniture and it feels like an office, I’m getting there.
But I did go to Starbucks last night because I really, really needed to get a lot of work done. And I may have to escape tonight as well. I really want to get this book done. I have another to write . . . and the littlest Brennan who starts Pre-K (4 year old class) on Tuesday is off for the next two days. I have Go, Diego, Go playing in the background (I have a tv in my office) and while I can blog, read emails, and even write up a blurb or read to the sound of television, I have a hard time writing the actual story. For that, I prefer rock. Hard rock. Loud 🙂
Oh, funny story. Yesterday was Brennan #5’s last day at preschool before the changing of the classrooms. If I’m late to the school, I have to traipse into the office, get them tardy slips, then walk them to opposite ends of the school (Kindergarden and 2nd grade.) I did NOT want to be late, and it was nearing the point of no return. I told all of them to get into the car (they did) and I finished up the lunches, grabbed my purse and ran out. We were halfway to the school when #4 said, “Number Five isn’t wearing any pants.”
Grrr! He was still in his pajama top, no bottoms because he doesn’t like wearing them to bed. Just a Mickey Mouse top and Buzz Lightyear underwear.
Fortunately, he had a change of clothes in his cubby at school and I dressed him there. He also had an extra pair of shoes in the car . . . I was lucky. Very lucky.
Next week starts sports. I’m doing sports through the school primarily because all the practices are after school, at school, and I don’t have to drive the kids everywhere. Brennan #1, in high school, already started in the summer, and her first volleyball game is tomorrow at 5. I hope to at least make half of it, but the little kids (4, 5, 7) have a hard time sitting through a full game. But we’re going to try. Brennan #2, junior high, starts volleyball next week. It was supposed to be this week, but the coach had a family emergency. Brennan #3–my smart and smart ass 7 year old son–wants to play golf. They have a special program at the school and I tried to get him into soccer or basketball, but he picked golf and he’s adamant about it. The thing is . . . I think he might be pretty good. He has incredible hand-eye coordination (video games) and he has patience. Brennan #4 is starting soccer. And #5 is too young. Thank God. Because I don’t know if I can handle any more! Next year . . . well, I’ll worry about that then. Because #5 is, out of all the kids, the one who NEEDS to be playing sports. He’s active and aggressive and needs to get rid of that energy.
One good thing about the sports program because it’s at the school, there’s three days a week I don’t have to jump up right before 3 to get the kids. They practice from 3:15-4:30 and that means I’ll have more writing time. Except for games, of course, which I don’t want to miss.
What does this have to do with writing? Hmmm, nothing, really, except time management. I can juggle family and writing pretty well . . . but don’t throw anything else at me or I’ll probably scream. Like my inability to post pictures of my office here. Next week. Promise.