It’s where I am, of course! Austin, to be more specific.
This is sort of a long-overdue update post. The last nine months seem like they’ve been some of the longest of my life, and not a lot (any?!) blogging got done. I’ll make this post a sort of summary, and see where it goes. Perhaps more detailed posts will follow…
Update #1
We left Costa Rica! Holy crap, right? Back to the good old USofA. Something I never really imagined we would do quite so soon. We spent about 14 months in Costa Rica. Some of it we loved. Some of it we hated. All of it was very enlightening in many different ways. I haven’t blogged all that much about why we left Costa Rica and why we came back to New York, but that is a post in itself. The memories were much too raw for a very long time, so I put off writing about it and I tried to let my heart settle down and decompress. We came back to New York last May, and it’s taken almost this long to gain some perspective. Stay tuned for more on this topic.
Update #2
We just arrived in Austin Texas. And boy was it a long road to get here! Our whole family endured life in a really bad living situation. I was mistreated, my husband was mistreated, we’ve been a bit poor of money, and we lived an isolating existence for 8 months. And I thought Costa Rica was isolating! Ha! So we took a big ole road trip from New York to Texas. Interesting stuff. Stay tuned for my posts on how this Yankee is adjusting to life south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Update #3
I am a feminist.
What? You already knew that, say you? Well, here I am telling you that if it is possible to be a feminist by degree, I’ve increased my feminist identification by at least 1000%. That’s what happens when you escape a situation where a man threatens your right to speak and uses the police to threaten you, simply because you are a woman. That’s what happens when you live 8 months in a home where you and your daughter are treated with less respect than any man in the house. It shouldn’t have taken that much to make me angry, but it did. And my story is nothing compared with what so many women face every day. I know that, and I wish I had gotten angry sooner. More details in later posts. [Note: none of these crimes were perpetrated by my always loving husband, co-blogger here. He is always my biggest lover, friend, and support!]
Update #4
I’m trying my hand at writing. Not just blogs, but fiction. And not just fiction. Romantic fiction. Not just romantic fiction, but erotic romance. Are you figgeting in your seats right about now? Well, you should be! This is hot stuff, baby. Hot.
But seriously, I think the seed for this endeavor was planted in Costa Rica, when we met a lovely friend Judy Griffith Gill, who told me a little about how she became a romance writer. I even read one of her excellent books while we stayed at her house. I don’t generally read romances. I’ve been mostly a non-fiction sort of gal for the last few years. Then, a few weeks after we came back to New York I slept at my older sister’s house and happened to grab a romance that she had sitting on her shelf. It really pulled me in, and for some reason it made me want to write. I’ve had the urge to write before, but never this strongly. And a story practically popped right into my head.
For the last 6 months I’ve been reading every romance I can get my hands on. All sorts of romance. Regency, contemporary, paranormal, virgins, babies, all sorts of types! Partly I was just researching the genres to see where my story would fit. I was also seeing what kinds of romance I actually enjoy reading and considering what kinds I would like to write. I’ve been reading hundred and hundreds of romances for months, and I’ve really enjoyed it. There are a few genres that I most want to explore. Erotic romance, for one. I like plenty of sex, and I don’t like too many euphemisms. Give it to me straight any day! I’m also a little shocked that I like werewolves a whole lot. I think I just might do a werewolf story next. It’s kind of strange because I always saw werewolves as more of my husband’s interest. Maybe now that I see the softer side of the werewolf (or is it the harder side?), I like them, too! I’m also interested in contemporary romance.
I’m chipping away at my story whenever I have the time. My laptop died, so it’s been kind of difficult. Hopefully that will be remedied soon. I’ve got 20,000 words down on the first draft so far, and most of the rest of the novel somewhat planned out. I’m using Scrivener for Windows, and I love it. Stay tuned for more details on the writing, and a link to my writing blog as soon as I have it up and ready!
That’s pretty much it for the update. I’m still pursuing childbirth education, and my inspiring husband is working at the same for the dads with his Birth For Men business. It’s slow-going for me, faster for Arp. With Baby B still under the age of 2, I’m having a hard time carving away time to work on my business. It’ll happen eventually, though. I’m sure of it.
[Photo credit: Houstonian]