How can it be so hard . . .

I'm a talker. Give me a topic, and I can talk circles around it. I'm even getting to the point where I can talk to just about anyone, at least for a few minutes. (Leah, on the other hand, was born at that point. She can go to the bathroom in a restaurant and learn the life story of whoever else is in there in four minutes or less.)

So how can it be so difficult to write a few words here every day? Maybe because no one's giving me the topic. I have to think of that all on my own, and first thing in the morning, thinking can be tough.

I used to be a night person (and deep in my heart, I still am). Stay up until 5 or 6 a.m., sleep until 2 or 3 p.m. No alarm clocks, no distractions, just blissful rest. I loved it.

But somewhere along the way I had to switch my schedule to something that approximates the rest of the world's. I don't think I've been truly rested since then. I still want to be curled up in bed asleep at 9 a.m., not trying to be creative or witty or even coherent.

I think I am at least coherent here. If I'm not, don't tell me and burst my bubble. And if I'm boring you to sleep, don't tell me that, either! If I can't sleep, can't nobody sleep! Rachel8:46 AM

Stopping points

There's a school of thought among some writers that you should always stop writing for the day at a mini-cliffhanger -- something that will pull you back into it the next day to make the getting-started easier. I've never really given it much thought -- when I'm ready to stop, I stop, no matter where I am or what my characters are doing.

But last Thursday, near the end of the day, I began a scene with Damon Long and a new character who came out of nowhere -- she was originally intended to be nothing more than a voice on the phone -- and really grabbed my attention. I stopped a page or two into the scene, but kept thinking about it, foolishly figuring that it would be so easy to get into on Saturday. (Friday, of course, was a day off for lunch with Leah and the Bobbi ladies.)

Saturday turned out to be a day off, too, thanks to the oily stuff used on my eyes by one Bobbi lady. Spent much of the day with eyes closed and eyedrops running out the corners like tears. Oh, wait, those were tears!

But Sunday, I eagerly sat down at the computer, reread what I'd written on Thursday, and started typing. I wrote 3 or 4 pages, then stopped and reread that scene from the beginning. It just didn't work. Threw that out and started again from a totally different direction. Got 3 or 4 pages, reread, and threw out again. Played a few games of Free Cell, then took a break for lunch.

Now, by this time, I normally have 12 or 13 pages written. Instead, I was actually at a negative page and a half. Not a happy place to be in, especially when I'd stated my new goal on the motivational loop as writing 80 pages this week, and I know I'll be out of the office next Saturday!

Finally, the light bulb came on: this scene didn't belong at that point in the story. Damon's got a schedule to keep, and showing up then threw it all off. So I cut that scene (saving all the various pages in case they're of use when the time is right), and started a new scene. And it works!

Too bad it took most of my day to figure it out. There goes my goal, she says with a regretful sigh. Rachel8:45 AM

The Art of Titles

On our motivational loop that I mentioned earlier, some of our members posted the titles of their works-in-progress in their year's goals, and some of them are too cool! I'm title challenged, and would love to be able to come up with something catchy that fits the book, thrills editorial and marketing, and intrigues the reader.

So far I'm zero for three on titles -- no surprise, considering I never called The Assassin and Deep Cover anything but "Selena" until the powers that be named them. I wasn't wild about The Assassin (and still am not), but I didn't have any alternatives to suggest. For a time, they considered calling it In Deep and I really did like that. In fact, you'll still find it listed a few places as The Assassin: In Deep.

I'm calling this third one Target. The only three titles I could come up with are Hard Target, Soft Target and Deadly Target. I really like all three, especially the last, though I won't get attached since I'm sure it'll come out as something totally different. A hard target, militarily speaking, is one that's been fortified, which fits Selena, and soft . . . militarily (is that even a word??) is a target that's not fortified, like a hospital or school or office building, but the basic meaning of the word also fits Selena. And deadly . . . of course that fits her!

Guess I'll find out before too long what its real name will be! Rachel9:02 AM

Bleary, dreary and rain

Leah and I made our regular visit to the Bobbi Brown counter at Sak's yesterday, and had a ball -- came out looking even more gorgeous than usual! I love makeovers -- love the attention and the products and the welcome we get. (No kidding -- when the ladies who work there see us coming, they start clapping their hands. "The girls are back! Warm up the cash register!")

Naturally, I walked away with a whole bag full of new colors and products. Love the Summer Tan pot rouge, which I can use all over my face, including on my lips, for a nice, warm, summery glow. And the lip combination the artist used was great -- had to buy all three of those products, too.

And I learned something new: oil + Rachel's baby blues = big-time no-no. One of the girls removed my makeup with an oil-based remover, and my eyes didn't stop watering and hurting for more than 24 hours! Hey, remember -- I was a tomboy! Who knew oil could cause such distress?

But my eyes are better, and it's been raining off and on all day. Our part of Oklahoma hasn't had any measurable rain since October 1st -- we are parched -- so we're all dancing with joy. I hope it keeps up for days! Rachel2:01 PM

Girly Girls

It's probably no surprise that I was a pretty extreme tomboy when I was a kid. We lived a few miles out of town and roamed the countryside every free minute, climbing trees, swimming and fishing in creeks, swinging from vines, crawling through caves.

I pretty much grew out of that stage, but I was never real concerned with appearances. I still prefer jeans to dresses, boots to heels, no pantyhose to any pantyhose, and I'm still not much on shopping except when it comes to Bobbi Brown.

It's all Leah's fault. One day we were running around town after having lunch with one set of friends and waiting to meet another set for dinner, and Leah said, "Let's go to Bobbi Brown and get a makeover."

Once we got there, I found out what she meant was, "Let's get YOU a makeover." And we did. And it was fun. So much fun that when I walked out an hour later looking like . . . well, a girly girl, I had $500 worth of Bobbi cosmetics in my bags. Since then . . . let me put it this way: I used to share my income equally with the IRS and my agent; now Bobbi's getting her cut, too.

What brings all this to mind now is that I'm meeting Leah for lunch tomorrow . . . but first we have an appointment at Bobbi for a makeover to try the newest products. I can see another bagful of cosmetics in my very near future!

Being able to beat up all the boys who lived within two miles was a lot of fun -- but, I've discovered, so is being a girly girl. And I'll smack anyone who says otherwise.

(Okay, you know there's a big grin here!) Rachel9:30 AM

Suffering from TMI

TMI: Too Much Information.

I started reading a new book last night -- my first by a much-published, award-winning author . . . and, most likely, my last. There might be a good story in there somewhere, but it's buried in Too Much background info.

I won't go into specifics because . . . well, because I don't want to make enemies of her or her fans, but sheesh! It's like reading a textbook. We know waaaay more about the hero's and the heroine's occupations than anyone who doesn't actually do the jobs should be forced to learn. We've been inundated with history -- of the location, the central aspect of the story, and numerous current events. It's all written in a dry, dull way, and because of its inclusion, the author's wasted pages that could have been devoted to the developing romance. I'm halfway through the book (okay, so I started skimming the boring stuff on about page 40) and I don't feel as if I know or understand either character. It's a sad thing when you've read 180 pages of a book billed as a romance and can't remember whether "Susie" is the heroine or her sister!!!

This isn't the first time I've come across this problem, of course. One memorable book a few years ago (and I won't name names here either!) was a sharp, funny contemporary set in Louisiana with a Cajun hero. The interaction between him and the heroine was entertaining, he was hot and sexy -- and did I mention hot?? -- and the author wasn't overdoing the Cajun dialect as authors with Cajun characters so often do.

When suddenly, right in the middle of one of those sharp, funny scenes, the hero goes into schoolteacher mode. "The Cajuns are descendants of the Acadiens, who originally lived in Nova Scotia. In 18-blah blah, they were forced to relocate . . ." It went on for a full page -- the condensed history of how the Cajuns got to Louisiana. (If I have what few facts I've mentioned wrong, sue me.) It yanked me out of the story so fast that I almost got whiplash.

Maybe I'm not the typical reader, but when I want to know what time it is, I don't want to be told how to make a watch. Choose a few careful details to give a sense of authenticity, but don't feel obligated to use every bit of the research you've done. Just tell us what we need to know to understand your story, please! Rachel8:41 AM

Motivation

RWI -- the best writers' group in existence -- has started a new loop to help motivate and inspire us. It was the brainchild of sister Leah, who seems to think she needs more motivation. (Maybe a kick from my size 8 boot would help!) ((Just kidding, Leah . . . kinda.))

We've always set monthly and annual writing goals in RWI, but it's really easy to forget from one month to another, and as for yearly . . . I can't tell you how surprised I was to find out last month that I'd actually met my year's goal because I'd long since forgotten it. So I joined this loop, where we'll post weekly goals and cheer those who make them and encourage those who don't. I've got two very tight deadlines and thought every little bit might help me keep at it.

Though, I admit, I gave myself an easy goal this first time out -- just 50 pages on Selena #3. In fairness, it's very early in the book (like second scene, chapter one!), and it's been months since I wrote what little is written (we needed it for a teaser in the back of Deep Cover), and the first chapter of a book is the toughest for me -- I write and write and write, and throw out, throw out, throw out.

But every once in a while, even the biggest loser -- which I'm not! -- gets a break. I read those original pages and picked up right where I left off. With six days to go on this week's deadline, I'm already a third of the way there.

Better enjoy it while I can, because, starting next week, that goal's got to get tougher and tougher until these books are finished -- hopefully in plenty of time to relax and enjoy the kiddo's wedding to his gorgeous fiancee this spring!

So, speaking of work, better get to it! Rachel8:34 AM

Books and JulieQ

I mentioned earlier that we brought the bestselling Julia Quinn to Tulsa to speak to our writers' group on dialogue. Since I'm a huge fan of hers, it was such a pleasure to meet her in person.

Listening to her made me pay closer attention to the dialogue in the books I'm reading, and I've found that a lot of the authors need to hear Julie speak! Last week I read one western historical -- my favorite type of historical -- where everyone spoke in dialect. Julie says dialect is fine, but it's got to be balanced, and this book was definitely lacking balance. I was so tired of "gonna" and "fixin'" and "gittin'" and "varmint" by the middle of the book that I could have cried.

The next one I picked up, the hero and heroine, who both came from vastly different backgrounds (to say nothing of different countries!) both used the same odd little phrases repeatedly. And in the one after that, the Italian-American hero both thought and swore in fluent Italian and spoke in very formal English -- no contractions, no slang.

Hmm . . . I think maybe I need to put my to-be-read pile aside and go back to reading my latest JulieQ. She does dialogue -- and everything else -- so well!

I've been told my dialogue sounds realistic. I admit, some of the credit for that goes to my husband and son. I've been known to write a line, then email it to one of them to put it into language appropriate to the character for me.

Of course, some of the credit goes to all those years I've spent eavesdropping on other people's conversations! Hey, I've been an observer all my life. Isn't it only fair that now it's paying off? Rachel8:26 AM

MORE COOL NEWS!!

Wow . . . I just found out this very minute (well, okay, two minutes ago) that The Assassin has been nominated by Romantic Times Bookclub for a Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Romantic Intrigue of 2005!!!

I'm so excited!!!

I'd heard that the nominations had been made public, but since no one said anything to me, I assumed (with my lip poked out!) that even though both my books had gotten 4 1/2 Top Pick status from RT that I hadn't received a nomination. But when I was typing the previous post about Pat Rouse being a former RT columnist, I thought why not look and see who did get nominated, and there I was!!!

How totally cool is that?? Rachel9:09 AM

Cool news!!

Books Are Fun, a division of Reader's Digest that does book fairs for corporations, universities, hospitals, government agencies, etc, bought Deep Cover! My editor says they do very little non-NYT-bestselling fiction, so this was a surprise all around.

Also, some of you are probably familiar with Pat Rouse. She wrote a column for Romantic Times Bookclub magazine for years, and she does PR for a number of authors.

She also does a list of her favorite romances of the year, and has just released the latest one, and The Assassin is on there as her favorite romantic suspense!! Cool, huh???

Here's the complete list:

PAT ROUSE’S ROMANCE TOP PICKS OF 2005

FAVORITE ROMANCE OF THE YEAR - Tie
BREAKING POINT (Ballantine) – Suzanne Brockmann
HOT TARGET (Ballantine) – Suzanne Brockmann

Favorite Debut Contemporary Romance:
MY HERO (Signet Eclipse) - Marianna Jameson

Favorite Contemporary Romance: - Tie
NOTHING MORE TO LOSE (Berkley Sensation) – Kathryn Shay
SOMEONE TO BELIEVE IN (Berkley Sensation) – Kathryn Shay

Favorite Hot Contemporary: JAMIE (Zebra) – Lori Foster

Favorite Debut Romantic Adventure: - Tie
FLIRTING WITH DANGER (Avon) – Suzanne Enoch
ON THE EDGE (St. Martin’s) – Cindy Gerard

Favorite Romantic Adventure/Intrigue: - Tie
THE HUNTER (Avon) – Gennita Low
CRAZY COOL (Dell) – Tara Janzen

Favorite Romantic Suspense: THE ASSASSIN (Dell) – Rachel Butler

Favorite Debut Comedic Mystery: SOFIE METROPOLIS (TOR/Forge) – Tori Carrington

Favorite Debut Romantic Comedy:
SEX & THE SERIAL KILLER (HQN) – Jennifer Skully

Favorite Romantic Comedy:
MATCH ME IF YOU CAN (William Morrow) – Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Favorite Debut Historical:
MY LORD BEAST (Five Star) – Mary Lennox

Favorite Historical Romance:
ONE NIGHT OF SIN (Ballantine/Ivy) – Gaelen Foley

Favorite Historical Romantic Adventure: - Tie
ACROSS A WILD SEA (Signet Eclipse) – Sasha Lord
IF YOU DARE (Pocket) – Kresley Cole

Favorite Debut Hot Historical: PASSION (Berkley Sensation) - Lisa Valdez

Favorite Hot Historical/Unusual Setting: - Tie
DESPERATE TIGRESS (China/Leisure) – Jade Lee
MUSIC OF THE NIGHT (Italy/Signet Eclipse) – Lydia Joyce

Favorite Time Travel/(Contemporary):
ONLY WITH A HIGHLANDER (Pocket Star) - Janet Chapman

Favorite Debut Paranormal/(Contemporary):
TIGER EYE (Leisure/Love Spell) – Marjorie M. Liu

Favorite Paranormal Romance/(Contemporary Vampire):
DARK LOVER (Signet Eclipse) - J.R. Ward

Favorite Debut Futuristic: THE CHALLENGE (TOR/Forge) – Susan Kearney

Favorite Debut Series Romance:
MONTANA SECRETS (HSR #1307) - Kay Stockham

Favorite Series Romance: - Tie
THE CAPTIVE’S RETURN (SIM #1388) – Catherine Mann
AWAKEN TO DANGER (SIM # 1401/Jan. ’06) – Catherine Mann Rachel8:47 AM

Do you hear what I hear?

I came to the conclusion in December that only Christmas music by Harry Connick, Jr., Elvis and the TransSiberian Orchestra should be allowed to play in public places. (Oh, yeah, and Cheech and Chong's song about "Santa Claus, the fellow with the hair on his jaws," or however it goes.) Some of the versions I heard of Christmas songs last month were horrendous.

Unlike every other author I know, I'm not a movie fan. Don't care much for old movies or new ones or anything in between. Oh, I have my favorites, but for the most part, I can live without movies. But music . . . I'd rather listen to music than just about anything. Rock, blues, jazz, zydeco, folk, country, classical, gospel . . . I love it all. Except rap, but then, I'm not convinced that's music, so it doesn't count.

Some writers burn a "soundtrack" CD for their books. I don't do that -- I can't listen to music while I'm writing anyway -- but there are songs that just "belong" to a book. On The Assassin, I was writing along, coming up on something like page 50 and Tony and Selena hadn't yet met. (So much for all those rule-makers who say the hero and heroine have to meet within the first 10 or 20 pages.) I just couldn't figure out how their first meeting was going to take place, so I was doing what I do to totally relax -- working on a jigsaw puzzle and listening to a compilation of old blues greats. Near the end of the CD was Etta James, singing I'd Rather Go Blind -- I think that's the name; I'm not great with titles. The line goes, "I'd rather go blind than to see you walk away from me." I love the song, and I had it on Repeat so it played over and over, and suddenly there was Tony's voice -- which sounded remarkably like my husband's -- saying, "I'd rather go deaf than hear that song again."

There it was. That was how the meeting went.

I find tremendous inspiration in the blues. Seeing B.B. King in concert was one of the highlights of recent years for me -- he is the king. I love Bobby Bland, Etta, John Lee Hooker, Sippie Wallace, Gary Moore and dozens more.

But there's also a Meat Loaf song that belongs to one character, and an Eric Clapton song that belongs to another, Sarah McLachlan for yet another and Pat Benatar's Evening is the perfect song for a book I haven't yet written.

Hmm . . . better get some writing done cause now I've got a real need to pull out some CDs and get inspired! Rachel9:36 AM

Strange days

This has been the weirdest winter I can remember. Oklahoma always has mild days stuck in the middle of the winter -- they give us hope that this, too, shall pass. But this winter takes the prize for mild. It seems we've had more days in the 60s and 70s in the past six weeks than in any three winters combined. Take this morning -- at 8 o'clock, it was 56 degrees . . . when our normal high for the day would be in the mid-40s. Unless a cold front moves in, it'll get even warmer through the afternoon. Weird.

We're in a long drought here, too -- haven't had a decent rain since the beginning of October. Between that, the warm temps and the high winds, we've made the national news a bunch of times with our wildfires. Nearly a half million acres have burned since early December. While I normally love the smell of wood fires, the slightest hint of smoke puts me on edge these days. No fires have come near our house, but we're still antsy. There was a big one a while back outside a little town west of here -- it's about four miles from our house through the woods, and the wind was blowing in our direction. Even with the windows and doors closed, there was enough smoke inside the house to make breathing a little difficult.

When we lived on the East Coast, I kept a hurricane evacuation list handy. That night with the smoke, I lay awake, watching out the window, and came up with a fire evacuation list. The puppers come first, of course -- oh, joy! I have experienced getting all five of them into the truck at the same time, and it's like trying to herd cats! Then my list veered off onto computers, photo albums, portraits on the walls, my kiddo's art work, awards, my collection of Mardi Gras and Carnival masks . . . and Robert's thinking, "Camaro. Camaro. Camaro." Boys and their toys.

But the sky is dreary and gray right now, so I'm praying for rain. Not too much. Just a nice soaker rain that lasts . . . oh, about fifteen days. Rachel8:09 AM

Selena and Tony are back in action!

I got the okay from my editor this week on the revised synopsis for the third Selena book!! My routine on the first two books was to do really short synopses (or outlines), and then do lots and lots of revisions on the manuscripts. So this time I suggested a more detailed outline, hoping to head off some of those revisions. Instead of a couple pages, I turned in 15 or 16 -- and that grew to 23, I think, with the revisions.

I have to admit, I have mixed emotions about plotting the book so carefully. I kind of like not knowing where the story's going to take me, and it's really cool to be surprised by things that happen along the way. Like in Deep Cover, I didn't have a clue until somewhere around Chapter 6 who Sonny Yates really was. I was typing along, and I just realized it and thought, "Oh, wow, that's neat!" And one of my other villains in that book wasn't a villain until I was almost at the end. I was mowing this pasture we call a yard and it just popped into my head that I had the wrong person doing the bad things.

On the other hand, though, I hate revisions. HATE 'em. With a passion. In my dream world, I would never ever have to revise anything ever again. And if plotting in more detail helps cut down on how much time I spend in revision hell, that's A Good Thing, right? And I can still remain open to little "aha" moments, like with Sonny. After all, the synopsis isn't carved in stone.

Later! Rachel8:36 AM

Other people's blogs

There's this great old song -- don't remember by whom -- that goes, "Other people's lives always look much better . . ." Too bad I don't remember most of the words, because now it's in my head and I'll have to get it out.

Anyway, I had a little free time online the other day, so I checked out a couple other author blogs. I read this one that was quite entertaining. Taken at face value, you'd believe this author lives a far more interesting life than most of us -- travel, excitement, chaos, something always happening.

However, I happen to know this woman, and know much of what she posts about is every bit as fictional as her books (though a good deal more creative). We're not talking short little posts here, but long, complicated stories that run in installments about the thrill of being her.

It boggles my mind that she would spend so much time fabricating a life for a blog. Granted, I like my blog; I want it to be worth a few minutes of people's time. But I've got books to write, family and friends to spend time with, a life to live. Why in the world would I spend even sixty seconds making up a life? Does she think anyone really cares?

Rachel, too busy living to lie about it Rachel8:45 AM

Julia Quinn

Romance Writers Ink -- the most fabulous chapter in all of RWA -- brought Julia Quinn in this weekend to present two workshops for us, and they were great! Though I've spoken to her online, this is the first time I've ever met her, and she is a sweetheart. She writes the best dialogue in the romance business, so I was excited to hear her speak on "Dialogue: It's More Than What You Say."

Leah, Robert and I picked her up at the airport on Friday evening and stopped for dinner on the way to her hotel, so we had a nice chance to really talk. Then on Saturday, she did the dialogue talk -- the best I've heard on the subject -- plus one called "JQ Talks Business." Interesting stuff!

Hopefully, I can incorporate some of what I learned into the current book. It's so nice to be writing real stuff again. (I don't think of revisions as "real" writing -- I've already written it once, so how could it be real the second time around?) It seems I spend so much time revising and rewriting that I just kind of get sick of it. The real writing, though, makes up for it. Then it's fun again.

I'm also doing some reading. Got my RITA books to judge yesterday (this is the granddaddy of all awards for the romance genre -- got mine entered and am keeping fingers crossed!). They used to give you six or seven books all in the same category, but then they started mixing them up. This year I've got short historicals, long historicals, novellas, single titles . . . lucky I like just about everything!

Well, guess I'd best close this down for now. Later, gators! Rachel9:06 AM

Oh my gosh!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted here. Lots going on, as usual, but not so much that I couldn't have posted from time to time!

My New Year's resolution -- first one I remember ever making -- was to post every couple days or so. Ha! Here it is the 16th, and I'm making my first post of the year. See why I never make resolutions?

In November, besides working, sister Liz and I flew to Las Vegas to visit our other twisted sister, DL. We had a ball! We went to the Strip, of course, but did no gambling. Excuse me? Gambling?? When there's shopping and sightseeing to do??? No, no, no.

However, I thought the Strip was pretty darn impressive. This was my first trip to Vegas, and though I've seen the Strip hundreds of times on TV, I wasn't prepared for the real "wow!" factor of seeing it in person. All those lights! All that money! All those people! It's almost obscene, the money that flows in and out of that place.

I was blown away by the Chihouly ceiling in the Bellagio lobby (at least, I think it was the Bellagio). I've loved Dale Chihouly's work (fabulous blown glass pieces) since the first time I ever laid eyes on a piece, and I just stood there for a time staring at it (hope my mouth was closed!) until DL or Liz gently pulled me away.

The fountains, the Eiffel Tower, the volcano, the food, the shopping . . . it was all incredible. But not quite as incredible as Red Rocks and the mountains and Hoover Dam. I was quite impressed by all those places. Liz and I can't wait to go back and go hiking. Maybe this time we can get sister Leah to go along.

Of course, the best of all was spending time with Liz and DL and her hubby. He's a real sweetheart. We kept telling her how lucky she was to have him. (Actually, we kept patting ourselves on the backs on what good taste all three of us have in husbands.)

After that trip, I'd been home for a few days when our daughter-in-law-2-be called to say she had our kiddo's Christmas present for us and we had to pick it up within the next week. It was airline and concert tickets to San Antonio to see the TransSiberian Orchestra!!! What an incredible kid! We saw them in Tulsa last year and had a blast, but they didn't come this year. (We could have driven to OKC, but something came up and we didn't get to.)

So we flew to San Antonio on Friday morning, went to Riverwalk and shopped, then caught the concert that night at the SBC Center, where the Spurs play. It was incredible! Lasers, fog, snow, pyrotechnics -- all absolutely incredible. And the music . . . oh, my gosh, if you've never heard TSO, get a CD. NOW. They are the best. Think classical music on acid. It was amazing to see the people in the audience, ranging from kids to grandparents, all enjoying the show equally. Really, you'll love them. I promise.

The next day we toured the Alamo, which was really impressive, then had time for lunch before heading back to the airport. It was a quick, but fabulous weekend.

Christmas was fine. We missed the kid, since he's still in Afghanistan, but we saw the d-i-l-2-b (and they've set a date!!!) and Bailey, her adorable pupper. (Robert keeps telling me the breed, and I keep forgetting. Something that doesn't get bigger than six or eight pounds.)

Hmm . . . think that's enough for now. And I really do plan to update this baby more often. It's just that I'm having a real hate/hate relationship with the Internet right now. I'm trying to adjust my writing schedule, and once I get online, it's so darn hard to get back to work. I've got to find something that allows me to keep things up to date but without interfering with the work that buys my chocolate!

Anyway, don't give up on me. I will be back. Hopefully much sooner than two months! Rachel5:17 PM