My crazy boys....and a quiet night.

So, as I shared earlier, winter is lingering.... Yet my boys--16yo, 10yo and the hubby--are at a scouting campout this weekend. Yes, camping. In the snow. IN TENTS! CRAZY!!! While I admire their...adventurous spirits, I'm quite happy to be here at home, inside, where it's warm and dry. 

I'm hoping all the layers of clothes and many blankets and sleeping bags are keeping them sufficiently warm. *worried mama frown here*

With them off, it was just the girls (14yo and 12 yo) here for the weekend. Then, the 12yo decided to go have a sleepover with my niece, who is 4. She wanted her big cousin to come have a sleepover before their family left on their big trip out of the country, and my girl was more than happy to oblige. She is really fantastic with kids--opting to spend her spring breaks with aunts and uncles helping care for kids--and it's so much fun to see what a nurturer she is. So, off she went. I know for a fact they are having tons of fun, including dress up and hair styling, because they FaceTimed me a bit ago to see how I was doing and to tell me about their night so far. :-) 

Now, it's just me and my older daughter. And we're both on computers writing. So it's oddly quiet here at Chez Jarman. I plan on taking full advantage and getting a lot done. :-)

Hugs
~J

The First Half of Summer Vacation

Holy crap, how can it be July already? Things have been nutso in Chez Jarman - but that's nothing new, eh? (And there's my Yooper coming out thanks to my 2 week trek into the wilds of Upper Michigan)

Summer started off with a bit of stress. My 11 year old ended up in the hospital to get her appendix removed. Thankfully, she is doing well and pretty much back to normal. Having the kids home for the summer... Well, that has cut into my writing time more than I anticipated. I think I tend to overestimate how much I can accomplish with a houseful of people. But I am managing to write every day. Even if it's only a couple hundred words.

At the end of June, I had the pleasure of spending a week with a group of author friends at a cottage on Lake Superior in Upper Michigan. It was amazing and I'll be doing a separate post on that right after this one. :) I have pictures and everything.

The following week, the hubs and kids met me up there and we camped for 5 days at the state park on Lake Superior. I loved it, but man, the Lady Lake Superior threw some fits. One night, the storm that came off the lake completely took down our tent. Leveled it. Thank goodness my parents live only 10 miles from the park. So they were lucky enough to get a call from me at 1am saying, "Unlock the doors; we're heading over." We had another night that storms rolled through, so 2 out of the 5 nights we spent at Mom and Dad's. But other than that, it was a beautiful week spent enjoying the area. I miss living up there, and certainly didn't appreciate it enough when I was there.

Now, I'm back, catching up with the day job and getting back into the swing of working every day again.
LOL

The rest of the summer is just as busy with family camping with the hubs' side of the family, bringing our oldest to base camp (boy scouts) to spend 6 weeks training as a counselor, Authors After Dark in NOLA at the beginning of August, and hubs and I are planning a weekend away alone to celebrate out anniversary at the end of August. Come September, I'll be sighing in relief when the kids head back to school. Even though the school year is busy as all get out, I'll have my days back. And I'll REALLY have them back because I'll no longer be doing childcare during the day for my 3 year old niece. Her baby sister is arriving in September and their mama has decided to stay home then. So, in theory, I'll be able to get loads more done, right? LOL

Stay tuned for pics and tales of the Yooper Writing Retreat. :)

Hugs
~J

Catching up!

Wow, it's been a crazy couple of months. Sometimes that goes without saying with this family. LOL I cannot believe it's already the middle of October! I've been making holiday plans...how insane is that?

What HAVE I been up to? Some good, some not so good things. My youngest daughter had her tonsils removed. Definitely a mixed blessing there. She'd been sick most of the summer and fall, so it needed to happen. But the recovery took a bit longer than we'd anticipated. The really good news? She's fully recovered and back in school. Here's to a super happy rest of the year!! (and beyond. LOL)

We've had some icky sickies rolling through the house - which is pretty typical in the fall with back to school and all those germs.

The hubby has been traveling A LOT for work, so that's been challenging, but believe it or not, the kids have been fantastic through it. Sure, there have been some bumps (with teenagers/preteens that is so to be expected!), but overall, they've been awesome. Lucky mama here.

With those challenges - I've still managed to write. Woot! :-D Not as much or as quickly as I'd like, but I'll take it. I'm finishing up a paranormal (witches) that will come out from Resplendence Publishing early next year. I'll be sharing more about that (and other upcoming projects) soon. :)

And that's what's been happening with me.
Hope everyone had a great weekend and your week is off to an awesome start. :)

Hugs
~J

Rambliness & what my day really looks like. LOL

All I can say is I'm sooooo happy that the kids' spring break has officially started! Most people mistakenly think that spring break, with all the kids hanging at home, would be chaotic and insane. Actually, it's the opposite. Oh, I'm not saying my routine doesn't change, because writing steamy sex scenes when a kid can wander by at any moment puts a bit of a cramp on things. BUT our schedule, as a family, is much crazier when school is in session. None of the kids are over-scheduled - the hubs and I are very adamant about kids being able to just be kids - but with activities for four kids, *I* find myself over-scheduled. LOL

Most of the time, it's a balancing act. My husband is all kinds of awesome and does the early morning running (choir practices etc that meet before school) while I'm still warm in bed. Bless him. And the evening stuff we juggle, and he does more than his fair share of it when I'm on a deadline. And yes, I know how damned lucky I am.

Now, the hubs is out of town for work this week and next. (Though he's coming home tonight - in about 4 hours! Yay!) for the weekend. So I'm happy the kids are on break because I'm on a deadline right now and doing the normal running solo would likely have broken me. LOL

I don't know how some people do it, really. I'm in awe of the authors I know who balance everything with seeming ease...or at least much, much better than I do. I wish I could say a day in my life flows seamlessly, that I get the kids off to school, put on my writing hat and it doesn't come off until the kids get home. At which point, I cook a fabulous gourmet dinner which NO ONE complains about in my spotless kitchen, then put my feet up and relax with the family. :-/

That is quite far from the truth. LOL There's a lot more running around, distractions and harried looks upon my face. I often forget to pull something for dinner out of the freezer, resulting in quickly thrown together meals. LOL But for the most part it works and I'll keep working on the balancing act of it all. Because even through the craziness I know I'm lucky as all get out to be doing what I love every day.

I know other authors struggle with the juggling too - even the ones who, on the outside, look like they have it all together in a perfect routine. Heck, not just authors... I think everyone, to some degree, have to work at balancing their lives. Whether it's family, work, school, etc. I know I'm always looking for news ways to make it all work, because let's face it, what worked last year, or even last month, may not work for the situation we find ourselves in today.

Okay, I'm need to get of and feed the kids, who are starving and clearly wasting away. And yes, I did forget to pull something from the freezer today. LOL

So I'll leave you with a question. What do you do to balance everything going on in your life? Are you a scheduler, list maker, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-through-the-day-er?

Hugs!
~J

My weekend (AKA I need sleep!)

It is 3am. (We just sprung forward and lost an hour. Oh woe!) I wish very much I was sleeping and have a feeling I'll be wishing that all through this day.

Honestly, my sleep schedule is so messed up, despite my efforts to regulate it. LOL I'm a night owl, always have been. But I've been trying to retrain my brain to understand that I can actually write when the sun is shining. Much harder than it seems! Comes from all the late night writing when the kids were teeny tiny, I think. Really, though, writing during the day, when ALL the kids are at school, would really be ideal. I should be taking advantage of the situation, no? Well, I am trying, and my body/mind is revolting.

Friday, I wrote during the day, but then the book was really flowing and I ended up writing until 2am. I would have kept going but I was soooo tired. So I saved, shut down and headed to bed. And laid awake for the next 4+ hours. Normally, I'd get up and do something when I can't sleep - write, read, even clean - but I was just exhausted and my head hurt. So, I just stayed in bed and played over the ending of the book I'm writing in my head over and over again. :-\ I managed to squeeze a few hours of sleep in, but then had to be up (and alert!) because the oldest kiddo had friends coming over.

As a group, for Spanish class, they had to make a cooking show (and yes, they had to do it all in Spanish). Somehow, it was decided it would recorded on location at Casa de Jarman.

So much of the day was spent with three teenage boys rehearsing and filming the making of churros, then editing it for DVD burning. I will admit they made me laugh, despite my sleep deprivation, and they did a fantastic job.

And the churros were muy delicioso!

After they boys went home and things quieted down, I settled in to get writing. I managed to get some good words down, but then got a headache. Not surprising with lack of sleep! So I decided to make it an early night. Fell asleep quickly, and proceeded to wake up every 45 minutes or so. And that brings us to now - 3am and can't fall back asleep.

I can't really complain, I suppose. I've gotten a lot of writing done this weekend despite the less than ideal sleep schedule. Now, I'm going to try to quiet my brain and see if I can catch a few more zzzz's. If not, maybe I can squeeze in a nap sometime today. :-)

Hugs
~J

Insanity...

Holy crap... This week has been I-N-S-A-N-E. The day job is busy, busy, busy. I've been trying to keep the house in order (a completely impossible task, it seems), and we're prepping for a long weekend of camping starting Friday. Color me thrilled. :-

I have lists coming out of my ears - I'm big on lists. List of meals for each day, list of things needed from store, list of things to pack, list of things that need to be accomplished before we leave. It's overwhelming, but the lists help. At least I think they do. Helps me put it all in perspective.

Not a ton of writing has happened... Okay, I'll be brutally honest: No writing has happened the last week or so. And I don't like it. No. One. Bit. Mostly it's been out of my control. Work has to be done (whether for the day job or at home - the kids want to eat every day for some reason. Go figure). Limited computer/online time as some wicked storms have rolled through. Two weekends ago nearly 30 tornados touched down southwest (I think...I'm directionally challenged); here, we just had major rain and weird/scary looking skies. Last weekend was worse for us. Massive rain fall - our road was flooded, water in the basement, branches down etc. Could have been worse though. I know this. I think of those who lost their homes and everything they own in the tornados/storms, and I'm grateful all we suffered was lose of electrical stuff for a while and a bit of mess to clean up.

So I'm trying not to be pissy about the not writing...but I am. LOL I said, trying. It's hard not to be bothered by it. I love writing; it's my passion. And having to put it on hold sucks. But this will pass. And I plan on writing this weekend. Granted, it'll be long hand as I'm not taking computers campings, but sometimes writing in a notebook sparks something. In fact, when I'm 'blocked', I'll often grab a notebook and pen and things start to flow. I'm not going to question that - it just works for me. LOLOL

Gotta run. More to do. Everyone, have a great night!

Best,
Jess

Start of another week...

...the last week of school for the kiddos. I look forward to and dread summer vacation every year.

I love summer--don't care for the cold Midwestern winters--but with 4 kids, our crazy schedule is just as crazy in the months of no school. Sports and camps and all that jazz. The hubs and I try to do as much as we can *with* them, because we know the time is coming with hanging out with Mom and Dad is going to be the last thing they want to do.

But it's all good--I've planned out my summer schedule and know exactly what I want/need to accomplish. For me, it really helps to get my plans on paper or on screen. I need that right in front of me, reminding me of what needs to happen, otherwise--I'll admit it--I totally flake and at the end of summer vaca, I'm sitting there scratching my head, wondering why I didn't get more done. LOL

I've been updating my website (after giving this blog a bit of a makeover), which is a hair pulling experience. Drives me crazy every time, but in a warped way, I enjoy it. Best feeling ever when it turns out the way I want it to--it's just the journey to that point can be a bit frustrating.

I'm still working on Seth (the next Into the Shadows book), and that is coming along so well, I'm kinda scared. LOL If all goes well, and darn it, it'd better, I'll be sending off to my editor by the weekend. Wooot.

I guess I'd better get back to it. :)
Happy Monday, all!
~J

No sleep, but lots of words

I could not sleep for anything last night. Don't know why, but it was not fun. LOL Bright side, I pulled out a notebook and started writing. Didn't feel like staring at the computer screen so I wrote long-hand. Sometimes that's what works for me, what gets the words flowing. I don't know for sure how many words I ended up writing, but I have 20 handwritten pages. We'll see how much that translates into when I type it all in.

The youngest son is off to day camp this week. He didn't want to do a "sleepover" camp, so I'll be dropping him off each morning and picking him up each afternoon. I think it'll be really good for him though. All too often he's hanging out with older kids (his sibs), so being with kids his own age will be great. Already when I dropped him off, he had become fast friends with a little boy who shared his birthday. LOL

Don't know how much I'll accomplish today, but I'm bound and determined to get more writing done. The laundry is nearly done--thank you, hubby!--but I do need to get it all put away and tackled the *gasp* bathrooms. Ick, ick, ick. But it needs to be done, in a big way!

Hope everyone's having a wonderful Monday. :)

~J

Birthdays and Fireworks

I had a fabulous weekend. Friday was my birthday--we won't mention age in this post at all, thank you very much ;-) --and of course the Fourth on Saturday. The hubby and the kids made me a cake. I got a cool game for the Wii. :-) And otherwise had a lazy, lazy day. I didn't go on the computer, I didn't do house or yard work...nothin'. I read and and lounged around. Just lovely.

The Fourth was low-key. My family lives in another state, and we weren't going to travel again a few days after getting back from vacation. :) Most of the hubby's family was out of town for the holiday. So his sister & her fiance stopped by and we grilled out. Another of his sisters came by for a bit later (he has 7 sibs so really, most were out of town!) It was great. Very relaxing, though I did miss my family. I'm looking forward to our next trip up there later this summer.

But the relaxation is over. LOL Gotta jump back into the current work-in-progress. The goal is to finish it by the end of the week and submit to my editor. Of course, then it's on to the next project--the next Fey book! Yay.

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend.

~J

Good day

Wooohoooo, heat wave in Minnesota! It was lovely today, and the snow's melting. :) We're supposed to stay in the high thirties for a couple days--I just don't know how I'll handle that after all the subzeroes. :)

Today was great. My neice and nephew visited, and I don't get to see them nearly enough. My brother and I only live a little less than 2 hours apart, but with all of our kids, it's tough to find time to visit. I was so happy they came and snapped a gazillion pictures. My mom sees them less than I do, so pictures were a must. Plus my girls and my neice are the only granddaughters so we just had to take a girl pic. :)

To make everything even sweeter, the hubby took all the kids shopping. You just know that birthday money is burning a hole in the oldest kiddo's pocket. hehe So I am home...alone...in the peace and quiet. *content sigh*

I'm taking the easy (aka lazy me) route for dinner and just popping in some frozen pizzas. The kids will love it. LOL Then, I'm holing myself in my room and writing. I'm *this close* to finishing the menage story. If I can get a few solid, uninterrupted hours of writing in, it'll be done, done, done. :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. :)

~J

Random thoughts...

LOL No snarky comments about how all my thoughts are random. :)

This week has been good. I've definitely caught up on my sleep. I napped off and on all day yesterday. *sigh* I love a good nap.

I'm almost caught up on my work for the day job. Still not exactly where I want to be, but close. Have I mentioned how much I love my job? I get to work at home--in my flannel jammies if I want. :) I have an awesome boss who is very understanding when something happens with the family (like the sickies). Can't beat that. And I make my own hours for the most part. Very cool when you have a young family.

I have most of the house clean for the birthday party this weekend. Though that will be my focus tomorrow. The kids' room will even be clean. We are switching rooms around. See, we have 3 rooms for 4 kids. So half the year, the girls get their own rooms, and the other half the boys do. Now is the boys' turn for their own rooms, so they are stoked about that.

Writing is happening in small spurts lately. Not surprising with everything else going on, but I'm hoping for some solid writing hours next week. I'm finishing up a novella-length menage story--which I am loving. I have completely and utterly fallen in love with the heroes. In my mind, the heroine is pretty damned lucky, though at times, she'd disagree with me. :)

I'm also working on the next book in The Fey series. That has been a hoot to write too. Lots of twists that I didn't expect, but that's a good thing. :) I think they make the story even better. Let's hope my editor agrees. hehehe

So I'm off to finish up a project for the day job, then it's to bed with me. :)

~J