So I’m going to change my blog to document my writing journey. Not on a daily basis, but weekly updates. The good, the bad, and the crazy. I promise it won’t be boring. Wait until you see what my writing life is like!
But first let’s do catch-up.

January 2008 to May 2008
Writing:
1. Dyanne Davis, a valued friend and excellent writer, took the first three chapters of my paranormal and pointed out major plot problems. That occured in January and it took me until late April to figure out how to change my story. Not touching my voice or the major plot but other stuff. She now has it in her hands, or computer. This is a lesson for all unpublished writers, patience. Dyanne said the story couldn’t, shouldn’t be forced, yeah, yeah, easy for a multi-published author to say. But, she’s right.
2. I attended two really great conferences and they were local. My RWA chapter, Chicago North and Romance Slam Jam. These conferences fell on back to back weekends. Wow! Talk about a wealth of information, authors, and new friends right in my backyard. Not to mention, I got to stay at hotels for two weekends. The best thing about these conferences, they were two sides of the same coin – romance writing. My Chicago North Chaper is predominantly white, and Romance Slam Jam, black. So I got – everything! I became acquainted with quality, friendly authors, willing to share their experience.
I don’t think my guys, husband and son, missed me, they didn’t call. Although my son was playing tennis and I hated to miss those matches. I came away from both conferences for requests, have I sent them? We’ll talk about that later. But they’re on their way out, as I type. No really they are.
3. I’ve put together a daily schedule: writing comes first. Taking a shower, brushing teeth, and dressing come first, but you know what I mean. Writing comes before folding clothes, cleaning the bathrooms and before cooking. I journal in the morning, light a Yankee Candle, and turn on my computer. My girl pal, Cheryl and I were at a local cool mall and found a Yankee Candle store. I bought a wishing well candle stand and as soon as I figure out how to upload a picture of it, I will. My ritual includes on weekdays, watching Perry Mason reruns, then I write for two hours, break, read for an hour, nap time 2:00pm, run errands and then back to it from 9pm to 12 or longer. Friday night, is Doctor Who and Battlestar Gallactica. Saturday, Torchwood, Sunday, The Tudors. Thank goodness all the other shows I love are in reruns. Not the tennis season though. It’s French Open time right now! No, I can’t tape and then go back and watch. I’d rather stay up late and keep my writing commitment.
4. I write in quiet, if you can call movies I’ve seen twenty or more times, quiet. The Chronicles of Riddick, 300, Tombstone, V for Vendetta, Smokin Aces, you get the idea. Noise, but I don’t pay attention because I could recite the dialogue from start to finish.
5. I have a local critique group, Beth, Sloane and the others I haven’t seen in almost a year. I miss them and will try to catch up with them this summer. I joined a new online critique group and I’ll talk more about them in my weekly update.

Life:
1. My son is graduating from high school, June 1st. And then it’s off to college. I had a couple of days to experience him not being home. IT SUCKED!! When he’s here, he’s quiet, busy online XBox, but I know he’s here. Of course, when he leaves this means more commitment from me to writing. After I cry for a couple of weeks.
2. Tupac said we need to change the way we eat. So before my waist and southern region grows bigger, I’m changing my food habits. I’ll update you on that too, because writers sit, writers eat and we don’t eat well. When I get into the zone and write, I don’t want to get up from the computer, I don’t want to cook, I want something simple, like nachos and salsa, chips, peanuts, etc. Who wants the celery and peanut butter, or apple, an orange, fruit?? I do, but I’m too laz-hungry to cut it. No more!! And no more fried foods. I’ll let you know what food plan works best for me.
3. I love tennis, but due to a ‘change in direction’ my tennis team decided to take, (i.e. dump the captain, moi, before the end of the season), I’ll be playing at another club I belong to. And I’ll be ‘tell me when, where, and with whom am I playing’ player. This change is really good, because instead of sweating over lineups, attitudes, and what to eat after a match (there’s a definite theme going here with food), I can just practice, play AND concentrate on writing.
4. I’m trying not to surf the Internet – aren’t we all. I’ll sneak in little cool stuff I find to buy, to make my life simple so I don’t have to worry about anything except writing. Like what, Yasmine? You ask. Okay, I’ll tell you about a couple of purchases. In the interest of going lean and mean, I bought a small Hobo International handbag, called Raquel. At zappos, they have free shipping and no sales tax for some areas. It has eliminated the need for a wallet, because it has credit card slips inside and because it’s dual sided, I keep personal stuff, like lipstick, face powder on one side, and on the other business stuff, my business cards, pen, paper, house keys. There’s a zipper middle section where I keep my cash – no wallet. No money.
And my iPhone. Oh yeah, the iPhone was a great investment. Internet, phone, and my music all on one device. See, simplicity. And when people ask to see a picture of my children, I pull up a slide presentation.
Oh yeah and another little investment, I think that’s what I’ll call these things, was a matte silver empty lipstick palette. How many lipsticks do you carry? How many are in the bottom of your purse? For many women, one may give you the color you want, others like me it takes two. Again simplicity, I can slice off, with dental floss, six of my favorite lipsticks, pat them down in the container and carry it around. $15.00. That I found at Alconeco The less stuff I haul around, the less I need a big handbag.
So my Internet finds, writing and personal, I’ll share with you. Especially if it has my favorite four letter word – SALE
5. I’m trying to find a job. Really, Greg I am. I just accepted the position of freshman sophmore girls coach for our local high school. It’s for four months and I will be working with the coach for the varsity girls team! Again it fits my writing time, since I won’t be at the school until afternoons. Boy have I got some drills for those girls! And during June, I have to take and pass the online classes so I can be certified a coach.

So every week, I’ll keep you posted and we’ll see what happens by end of 2008. I may be published, I may be close, I may not, but I’ll still be writing.

If you stop by, please add what gets you through the writing life. And they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. What’s playing on my computer? Jill Scott.

T-shirts have been taken to a whole different level. The first three I listed are owned by JGirl. I’m guilty of buying her a few but not the third one. When I was her age, my t-shirts had, Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud!, not I’m Gay and You’re Not! stitched on it. Tshirts are a way of expressing opinions, beliefs, a place to eat, or good old fashion humor. JMan receives t-shirts every time he plays a tournament. They make great cleaning rags, because he won’t wear them. He doesn’t wear shirts with sayings, shirts with dragons maybe.

T-shirts are popular because they’re easy to wash, reasonably priced, and come in a multitude of colors and sizes. It’s so easy to get up, put on a shirt that says Monday, even if it’s really Thursday, and get going. The shirt can express exactly how you feel, without you opening your mouth, stare a person down, or frown. Unless of course the shirt says, I Feel Pretty. You can cite your college affliation, a picture of your grandchildren, your pet dog, or your latest book cover. I had a shirt from a Las Vegas hotel that said, Gamble, Gamble, Gamble, Shop, Eat, Gamble, Gamble …. across the front. Yep, it expressed just how I felt about Sin City and the fun I had every time I went. Not so much the gamble part, but the eat and shop is right up my alley. T-shirts contain memories, family reunions, a tribute to a great basketball run (that would be The Chicago Bulls, of course). They throw them into the crowd at sporting events. You can make ones with glitter and spice up your wardrobe. Wet t-shirt contests are very popular I hear. Calendars have been dedicated to women wearing nothing but t-shirts. It is socially acceptable to go on a field trip, children and seniors, and see fifty people wearing identical shirts. It makes it easy to find your group if you wander off, children or seniors. And it identifies for everyone else what group you came with. This is the main reason I don’t wear t-shirts. I can’t stand seeing someone wearing what I am. It goes back to my Catholic school navy blue uniform nightmare. Last year, I purchased purple tshirts for my tennis team with their names on the back. I still haven’t worn mine. Sorry ladies, but they were cute.

I don’t approve of all the sayings on the shirts, some are rather outrageous and obscene and the wearer is trying to promote a particular political opinion or belief to provoke a comment and/or draw attention to themselves. I haven’t seen any yellow happy faces on t-shirts, unless I’m at Wal Mart. However there are many shirts with silk screened pictures of Tupac, P Diddy, various bands, movie stars, etc. Think it and you’ll find it. Autographed tshirts are a big thing. But my question is: once you have the shirt covered with signatures, can you wash it? What do you do with it?

There is a distinct difference in t-shirts worn by girls and guys. Girls wear shirts two sizes too small, with large bright letters, and are meant to intentionally draw the males attention with some risque remark. JGirl wore her Skinny Bitch shirt to breakfast when she was in town. I didn’t say anything and the fact I kept the menu glued to my face had nothing to do with my not wanting to be identified as her mother. Our waitress was definitely impressed, she wanted to know where she got it.

When I sell my first book, my family and friends, will be ‘encouraged’ to wear a t-shirt with a Phoenix on the back and my book cover on the front.

Guys wear t-shirts eight sizes too big, with small lettering, so you have to get up close and personal, squint to read it, so you can be amused, insulted, or confused. And the sayings on their shirts aren’t as snappy as the females. Note: if a guy is wearing a shirt with the second saying from the above list – run away!

So Welcome to 2007:

May we roll our 2006 successes into 2007 and multiply them many times over,
May our family and friends be at our side to enjoy, encourage and keep us humble,
May our faith in our gifts increase and humility knock us upside the head when it expands too much,
May we see peace, or at least progress toward peace, in our country and the world,
May we not repeat old mistakes, but make new ones to teach us new lessons,
May we let go of slights imagined or actually made against us because life is too short to waste valuable, limited brain cells,
And may we see ourselves in others and appreciate them as we do ourselves.

Happy New Year

Yasmine Phoenix

Anyway, the mall thing is kinda cool because as I said you watch people dynamics, and as writers we’re all about observing people. I can even make up scenarios. Men usually find the comfy chairs and stare out into space while their wives shop. I started this evil habit a few years ago when I was Christmas shopping and got very tired, and sat down. A mother was yelling at her daughter, because she’d somehow gotten bubble gum in her hair and it wouldn’t come out. Then another mother came by dragging two HUGE bags, telling her kids to keep up with her as they dragged their feet, twenty steps behind. Next was a young couple, evidently in love, holding hands. Well they were holding hands until she stopped to look at engagement rings and gave him a ‘knowing’ smile. I try to figure out what’s going on in the shoppers minds, besides counting off the days until Christmas Eve. I feel for the clerks, trying to spray everyone who passes by with perfume and look friendly standing on their feet for nine hours, as people dodge them without even saying hello. I say “Hello, just don’t spray me.”

I’m still working on my goals for 2007. I’ve got the usual. Get an agent, find a publisher and be published. Oh yeah, finish the book and the next two in the series. But my first step is to clean my office. You know erase the clutter before New Year. This I take very seriously, even if the space looks like it did pre-2007 three days later. I know I need to be better organized and I’ve purchased my tools already. I developed my system in 2006 and I believe if you’re going to be accountable, you should like what you use, then you’re more likely to actually use it. I debated between Day Times, Levenger and Franklin Covey, Franklin won out. I purchased the two page a day format, entitled The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Each month is wire bound and every day there is an encouraging quote at the top of each page. I chose a two page a day format, because I use the second page to write down everything I do that day. It’s 8 1/2 by 11 and lined. Boy has it got a lot of lines. The first page has appointment schedule, and a prioritized daily task list. Cool. The calendar fits very neatly inside the purple folio, Molly, gave me for Christmas.

But I went even further, I have a 2007 Far Side desk calendar. So why you may ask did I buy a second calendar? Well, in this one I write a more detailed description of what I work on every day. And only writing. I put what page or chapter I started working on and where I finished. This way I can pick up the next day where I left off or make a note about some research or web work I need to do. I also clip a copy of my weekly goals to it to chart my progress. Guilt kicks in if I look and see I haven’t done any work for a couple of days. The cartoons are great. Then there’s one more calendar. Ya sick of me yet? This is a pretty flower design desk calendar, August to July. I keep it on my desk and every appointment, family, personal and writing is on it. I can see my entire month laid out and what to do if I have too many appointments ijammed up in a small period of time. I try to schedule JMan’s tennis matches, any doctors’ appointments, spreading them out so I know I have at least four to five hours to work every day. Yes, I even put our family weekend movie dates on it. I could tell you I use different color ink for each subject, but by now you probably figured out I did.

We won’t talk about the Blackberry, at least I can check emails, surf the web and it’s got games on it.