Nikki Loftin

Archive for August, 2009

Waking Up Where You Want To Be

Oh, my.

I came across the loveliest site today — a film project where fifty people are asked the same question. Here’s the link.

Check out Brooklyn. It’s wonderful.Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Are you back?

So did you wake up where you wanted to be this morning? If you didn’t, why not?  I spent the last decade waking up where I wanted to be… but not waking up who I wanted to be. But that’s all changing. The writing? Going well, thank you very much. I hope to have some good news to share soon!

Happy Sunday!

Does This Essay Make Me Look Fat?

My mom and I still go shopping together. I know many of you will think that’s sad, but let me tell you one thing: it’s hard to find a shopping buddy who will honestly tell you when you’re offending the Gods of Fashion. Think about it. Do you think your husband will answer the question “Does this make my butt look big?” with any degree of honesty at all? Not if he wants to stay married, right?

Well, I am discovering that it’s as hard or harder to find a writing buddy/critique partner who will tell you when your writing needs to lose a few pounds, or step onto the treadmill, or go back into the closet and start all over again. For one thing, those types of comments have to come from somewhere beyond friendship, from love and respect, and a deep desire to see the one whose work you’re critiquing succeed in a massive way. There are crit buddies, and there are crit buddies. And the good ones are the ones who sometimes make you cry… and sometimes make you write another thousand words in an afternoon.

That’s why I have decided I will do anything, up to and including donating a major organ, to keep my best crit buds happy.You know who you are, people, and now you know that you have me right where you want me: in your debt forever.

Just don’t tell me my essay is “fantastic” when it really needs to lose twenty adverbs.

Dragonfly Migration

The dragonflies are migrating today! Right past my upstairs windows, thousands and thousands of them. Gorgeous. I wonder where they’re going. Mexico? Central America? Somewhere (gasp!) even warmer than here?Does anyone know?

I finished a new essay that’s close to ready to send out… and I have a darling little girl coming over to play with Hinky-Punky so I can write this afternoon… and we had biscuits for breakfast and pesto pizza for lunch and it’s Saturday… and Dave swept the house this morning.

Can a Saturday get any better?

Not without chocolate. Now there’s a thought.

School-Related Insomnia

School starts in a few days, and I can’t sleep.  I know, it’s not school for me… but in a few, short, blessed days, my precious sons will return to the classroom and I will have the opportunity to concentrate for more than an hour at a time on my next novel.

I think my excitement is why I haven’t been sleeping. Either that or I’m officially an old person, with complaints like insomnia, bunions, and arthritis.

I prefer to think of my ailment as a symptom of impending professional success.

So what have I been doing instead of sleeping? Yeah, well, not writing. Mainly tossing,turning, mentally calculating how fast I can get my novel done so I can start on the next one (If I write 5,000 words a day, I can finish in five weeks…snerk!), and untangling the plot snarls in my head.

I’m worried that when school finally starts, I’ll be so tired, I’ll just curl up for a long nap every day instead of writing.

Nah.

Now, where did my stinkin’ kid hide that Andrew Clements book I was trying to read? Honestly, why doesn’t he just play video games or ride his bike or something? What is it about MY books that make them so irresistible? Off to search….

Reunion News/ Damaged-Toe Blues

Ouch! Ouchouchouch! I finally discovered something more painful than a last-minute rejection from an editor: spraining/breaking my big toe.

Even worse? Damaging it right before I was supposed to put on the most divine four-inch heels ever, and dance the night away at my high school reunion.

Last night, I met up with hundreds of my old (yeah, we are all old now) friends in Round Rock, Texas for an evening of fun. I’ll post pictures soon — I’ll be the one doing the heron impersonation, standing on one foot and trying to smile through the pain.

But which pain? The actual toe itself, or the pain of not being able to wear the fabulous shoes?

Here’s irony: I trained for and ran three half-marathons last year, always worried about the horror stories of “runner’s toenail.” I emerged unscathed, but my slip in the bathroom last night will keep me in closed-toe shoes for a year.Yuck.

Good News For Everyone!

Hi, y’all ! Yesterday was something special.

First off, my talented photographer husband got a great boost: his photo was chosen as the Austin winner of the Scott Kelby Photo Walk 2009 Contest! Check out his photo here. He could win even more, but he says not to hold my breath.

Yay, Dave!

Then, I got a nice email informing me that an esssay I wrote is a finalist for the Cup of Comfort for Mothers anthology. I’ll know for certain in a month or so, and I’ll post more if it all shakes out. If so, publication is set for spring 2010.

Yay, me!

And to top it all off, it rained buckets yesterday! A real, thumping-it-down gullywasher. The driveway looks like the Grand Canyon this morning, but we don’t care.We’re in the worst drought in a century down here, and we need it.

Yay, rain!

Also, I’m writing up a storm. I’m halfway through a humorous story for 3-5 graders. It’s short, <2,000 words…. anyone want to be a Beta reader for this one? I’ll have it done in a couple of days — I started it a month ago, or so, and it’s finally all coming together.

Here’s prayers for an even better week next week!