lost weekend

Too tired to blog - I woke up in San Antonio at 6:45 so I could have breakfast with Laura before she went to work. We went back to Supper, which was delicious again - I had some potatoes and some smoked salmon, which made me v. happy. Then we parted ways, and I hung out and finished my coffee before going back to her place to repack my stuff, take care of some business, and send a couple of emails before heading off on my next adventure.

I drove up to Austin in the middle of the day to avoid rush hour on either end - I'm visiting my friend Sherry, who also writes historical romance (although she's been doing YA and mystery recently), so we spent the day hanging out. She made lunch when I got here (an awesome shrimp curry), and we spent the afternoon chatting (although I had to take a twenty-minute nap at some point because that's how I roll). Then she started cooking dinner, but we took a break to go to some high-up lookout point so that I could see some of the hills/water near her house (two things I don't associate with Texas, even though I'm theoretically aware that Texas has both hills and water in some locations).

Then we came home, she finished making dinner, and she and her husband and I hung out and discussed books and tech and life. And now I'm desperate to sleep so I can write tomorrow - goodnight!

some some some i some i murder, some i some i let go

I had a great day in San Antonio - so great that I'm mildly annoyed that I'm leaving tomorrow, but I have other plans that I want to pursue, and I'm sure the next stop will be as great as this one. I woke up this morning later than I planned, laid in bed for a bit, and then showered and walked over to Pearl, where I had lunch (because I missed breakfast by ten minutes) at Supper (which serves all meals, contrary to its name). I had a salad with chicken that was quite excellent, although the Coke I ordered with it was perhaps my favorite thing since I hadn't had soda in awhile.

Then I sat in the Hotel Emma lobby for several hours and worked. They had a couple of tables that felt almost like the old-school library tables at Stanford Library, which I haven't been to in far too long, and it made me quite happy to be sitting inside working. Granted, I didn't get enough done because I was distracted by the constant dumpster fire of Twitter + texting Katie + texting Sherry (who I am staying with tomorrow) + calling my parents since I wasn't able to talk to them yesterday. Yes, it sounds like I'm blaming all of them; no, it's no one's fault but my own.

I walked around the Pearl area for a little bit when I needed a break, and then I secured a seat in the bar/lounge area and ate tater tots and had a glass of rosé and wrote for another hour, and that writing was pretty great (mostly because my phone battery died and my laptop was on the verge, so I was writing longhand in my notebook and couldn't be distracted by anything but my own thoughts). Then I walked back to Laura's, making it inside approximately forty-five seconds before it started pouring (that's not an exaggeration).

I hung out here for twenty minutes or so and charged my phone, and then Laura got home from work and she, Matt and I went out for dinner (Mexican - a place called La Fonda). The food was tasty if you like Tex-Mex - it's really amazing how all-in tex-mex is on the queso situation, and more amazing how all-in Laura was, since she wanted me to try both the regular queso dip and the different, no-less-delicious queso fundido (melted cheese that is somehow not a dip, because it's a cheese that was basically melted in a griddle and starts to reform into stringy unmelted cheese as soon as it's off the heat).

So needless to say, I ate a child's weight in cheese, and I also had two margaritas, and it was all quite delightful. Then we came home, Matt went to hide from us, and Laura and I spent a couple of hours talking about life and career stuff and personality tests, and it was pretty much exactly the conversation I probably needed tonight (since I'm weighing several options: go all-in on writing romance, keep writing something non-romance (which may mean taking on some part-time consulting work or something to pay the bills if that book doesn't sell), get involved in politics/community work, or do something else entirely). sssanyway. More to come on all of that as my thoughts become more clear, tanks.

And now I need to sleep - Laura and I are having breakfast before she goes to work tomorrow, and then I need to pack and take care of a couple of things before heading back to Austin. Goodnight!

if you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain

I continue to be reminded that having midday plans is bad for productivity...but (spoiler) today's midday plans were worth it. I spent the morning doing administrative stuff that had to get done - mostly sending cover art files to Audible for the books they bought (uh, did I mention that I sold audiobook rights to the first four books? the contract is signed, so it's safe to announce it - the deal had been in the works for awhile, but the audiobooks won't be out for another few months, so don't get too excited yet). I also took care of some more swag-related activities for the thing I'm going to in Milwaukee at the end of the month, which was unusual for me since it means I didn't have to pay rush shipping for the stuff I ordered (I'm so on top of it!).

But I had to stop working and drive down to the Mission for lunch, which I was totally late for because parking was way worse than I expected (probably because half the streets had street sweeping from 12-2pm today, so all those spots were temporarily unavailable). Since I couldn't park, I picked up my friend instead, and we went over to Valencia and had salads at Grub. The friend, whom longtime readers have all heard of, was Gyre - he had been at my former place of employment for thirteen years (shocking), but he left recently to take a way more exciting and intriguing job at Lyft. This was the first time I'd seen him since January, and when I saw him in January he made no mention of quitting - but he seemed vaguely dissatisfied. But it had still come as a shock when he emailed me a couple of weeks later to say he had quit. And today he told me it was all my fault - although I don't really believe that, since he left to make more money in a better job rather than to write romance novels, but I'll take credit if he'll let me.

sssanyway, it was awesome to catch up, and great to see that he found such an awesome role for him. It also gave me hope that I could eventually find gainful employment again if this writing thing doesn't work out (which it totally will, I'm just being dramatic), since our network is incredible. So hopefully now that he's settled into his new role, we'll go back to having more regular lunches again - but today was a good start.

After that, I was itching to write, so I went to Coffee Bar, which I hadn't been to in ages, and was wildly productive for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, I had to leave when my parking was up, and I wanted to get back to my neighborhood before traffic got bad - so I came home and proceeded to fuck around most of the evening, which means I should have gone out instead, but I didn't. However, I bought groceries and made a semi-elaborate dinner for one (spaghetti carbonara, with an egg yolk cracked into the middle when I served it, along with a glass of rosé because Ritu had texted me about rosé earlier and I was missing her and our boozy east coast escapades). I always feel like cooking more when I'm coming unblocked on a book, so I'm hoping this is a good sign.

But then I blocked myself - I really should just not plan to write at night, I think. But that's a lesson to learn again another night - right now I'm going to go to bed and try to rouse myself out of it earlier than nine a.m. tomorrow. Goodnight!