The spring teaching semester is over, as is my Dancing With the Stars obsession (see below) as of tonight, and I should be a whirling, writing dervish… and yet I’m not. I am distracted these days and can’t seem to focus or get disciplined, which is frustrating but entirely my own unfocused, undisciplined fault.
I love for my lists, as anyone who has read my blog for any amount of time knows already. I not only make lists here, but I keep notebooks in which I make list after list after list. I find list making to be comforting-- and also rewarding, if I’m actually crossing things off my list. Which I’m not at the moment. Alas.
But the thing about not writing is that even though the words aren’t going down on the page, the ideas are still percolating. So while I’m thinking about writing and not actually writing, I suppose I’ll go watch the last hour of Dancing With the Stars and enjoy Gilles one last time.
I haven’t received my copy yet, but I have heard from editor Sacchi Green Girl Crazy is on its way!
Girl Crazy includes my very dirty (ahem) story, “Muddy Waters.” Here’s a taste:
I was completely out of my element and scared out of my mind. Against my better judgment, I had foolishly fallen in lust with an outdoorsy girl with taste for extreme sports and after three months of tame dates, she’d insisted I try something she liked. So, instead of sitting in a coffee shop, sipping double shot espressos while discussing Molière, which would have been my preference, I was bouncing around in a Jeep that had once been bright yellow and was now mud brown. It was mud brown because we were driving—bouncing, more like it—through mud. It wasn’t just the Jeep that was muddy—Becky looked like a spa treatment gone horribly wrong and I could only imagine that I looked just as bad.
While I clung to the Jeep for dear life fearing the flimsy seatbelt was inadequate to the task of keeping me contained in the vehicle, Becky bounced and whooped like she was on a thrill ride, her once-blond braids caked with mud. We were out in the country somewhere south of Baltimore, some place I’d never been and didn’t even know existed until Becky had brought me here along narrow back roads that gave way to gravel roads that ended in wide open fields dotted with wildflowers and scrub brush. After a three-day summer rain, the fields were little more than one big mud pool and Becky thought this was the greatest thing in the world. Which made me question her sanity—and mine, for going along with this.
“Isn’t this freakin’ awesome, Kate?” she yelled over the sound of the engine and the wind whipping through the open Jeep as she made donuts in a particularly deep mud bog. “Man, I’ve missed muddin’!”
I forced a smile and was rewarded with a splatter of mud across my teeth. “Oh yeah, it’s great,” I shrieked, hoping that was a bit of rock between my teeth and not a bug. “Don’t know why we didn’t do this sooner.”
Becky ran the Jeep up a slight incline and we went flying over it, into another mud bog at the edge of a stand of trees. My stomach lurched and I closed my eyes, which only seemed to make it worse.
“You okay?” she said, bringing the Jeep to a stop. “You look kind of green.”
With my eyes still closed, I nodded slightly. “Fine, fine. Just a little queasy.”
She patted my arm. “You’ll be okay. You just need to get out and stretch your legs. C’mon!”
I groaned as I struggled out of the Jeep. I hoped she wasn’t planning on taking me on a thirty-mile hike through the woods. Standing next to the Jeep, I bent over and took some deep breaths. All I could smell was the earthy aroma of mud. Not a pleasant smell.
Becky was messing around at the back of the Jeep and singing “Sweet Home Alabama” when I finally was able to get my stomach to agree not to discharge its contents. I watched as she removed a cooler from a webbed cargo net, along with a rolled blanket. My heart leapt—it didn’t look like we were going hiking at all! There was a goddess.
“Thirsty?” she asked, holding out a partially frozen liter-sized bottle of water. “I’ve got power bars, too.”
“Always prepared,” I muttered, taking the water. “I don’t suppose you’ve got a beer in there. Or a bottle of tequila?”
She laughed and gave me a one-armed hug as she chugged from another water bottle. “You’re so cute. Such a city girl.”
Despite the grungy state we were in, she kissed me. I tasted the cold of the water and the slight gritty texture of mud that was smeared on both our mouths. I pulled away and wiped at the back of my mouth with an even dirtier hand. “Yes. City girl. City girl needs shower before she makes out.”
I will readily admit that I share more than a few traits with the protagonist of this story. But I had a lot of fun writing it and my research involved looking at a lot of pictures of Jeeps in mud and reading forums about the sport of mudding.
I’m a dirty, dirty girl.
I submitted grades today and the semester is now officially over! The number of F’s this semester was horribly disappointing. Is it me? Is it the students? Are people freaked out by the economy and taking college classes even though they’re not prepared to do the work? I really have no clue. I made only minor changes to my syllabus this semester and I don’t think I’ve slacked off that much on the feedback I provide, though it has definitely tapered off as I’ve come to realize too much feedback seems to overwhelm some students-- and some students never even read my notes! Still, disheartening to fail so many people even when there were a few real standouts this semester.
Onward to summer! Plans abound, though you know what John Lennon said about life and plans… Still, in the interest of my sanity (and the sanity of those around me), I must make plans. Thus I give you, What Kristina Plans to Do On Her Summer Vacation:
--Because of a scheduling problem with work, Sheri wasn’t able to come down last week and we missed the Springsteen concert. Sadness! However… we are still planning a getaway at some point in the near future.
--Jay should be home in about a month! Good news! Of course, he’ll only be home long enough to unpack from deployment before he’s headed off to Mississippi for three weeks of training, but he should be home for much of the summer. I will not talk about his schedule for the rest of the year because it has the dreaded D (deployment) word in it and that word gives me hives. But we have a ton of stuff to do around the house this summer, including a couple of rooms to redecorate, so it’ll be good to have him home for however long he’s here.
--The RWA conference is fast approaching. I will be in DC July 14-19 and I am already starting to make a schedule of things I need to do during those few hectic days. If you’ll be in DC in July, let me know! I’d like to meet up with as many writer friends as possible in betwixt editor appointments and workshops and tours.
--Writing! Oh, the list is extensive. First up, novels! I have one to finish, one proposal to write and a couple more ideas spinning around in my head. One of them is based on my characters in “Cutter,” a story I wrote for D.L. King’s The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica. I am so delighted with that story and how it turned out that I would really like to expand on it.
--More writing! Short fiction, many erotica anthology deadlines in the coming months. But also some new things. I’m determined to submit something to Glimmer Train this year. I have also let this year’s goal to write more nonfiction fall by the wayside, so I need to work on that.
--We’re in the process of refinancing the house, so hopefully that’ll be finished up this month. It’s ridiculous the amount of time, money and paperwork that is required to do something so simple. But the combination of a lower interest rate and a lower mortgage payment makes it worth it, I suppose.
--I’m also in the process of organizing and decluttering the house. It’s amazing how much crap we’ve accumulated in nine years here. Last year, it seemed like we might be moving and that made me start thinking about paring down the book collection. I lost interest when the housing market went crazy and we decided to stay put. But I’m back at it-- I’ve already gotten rid of a lot of books and I’m working on other areas of the house, too. I have no illusions that I’ll get it all done by the end of summer, but I’m starting to make a dent.
--I would really like to get some flowers in the yard-- or at least on the deck. I’m afraid there’s nothing out there now except a bunch of faded and cracked pots overgrown with weeds (and a few perennials). The gazebo also needs a good scrub down before we can use it this summer. Cookout, anyone?
--Then there are the little things I’ve been putting off for months: a much needed massage, getting a new library card (my old one was stolen with my wallet last July), getting new glasses-- or at least getting the ones I have now adjusted so I’m not constantly pushing them up on my nose, buying some belated birthday presents, finally getting a new washing machine (and dryer) to replace the washer that is currently banging around in the laundry room like it’s possessed.
I know summer is supposed to be time to relax, but it seems I have a whole new list of things to do during the hot season. 
Maybe I’ll make a pitcher of homemade lemonade to go along with some of the household chores. Mmm… lemonade.
Yes, yes, I have been neglecting my blog. I swear I have good reasons, but I should be back around more often now. I hope.
This is the last week of the semester. Can I get a hallelujah? I will be very happy to get the last of the essays graded and the final grades posted. I don’t teach in the summer semester, so I have about a three month break. And what shall I be doing on that break? Oh my, so many things! If I weren’t so darned tired, I would dance a happy little jig just thinking about all the things I’m going to do starting next week.
I have a couple of big projects in the works for this summer. A novel, a novel proposal and a couple other things I can’t talk about yet because there are still details to work out and plans to finalize. But… fun, challenging stuff. Enough writing to keep me busy for the rest of the year, in fact. So, we shall see. I think it sounds like I may be looking for an excuse not to teach in the fall. Hmm? But no, this is just my way. One thing slides off my plate and I have to put three more things on it. My plate isn’t quite full right now. It will be… in a week or two. By the end of the year… well, I’ll need a second plate, I think!
Despite all these projects and whatnot, I am taking it easy this week and playing more than working. It is my birthday week, you see. And though I’m keeping it totally low key this year (as opposed to years’ past when it’s been a week of decadence and tequila shots), I’m still intent on doing a little pampering, a little shopping, a little eating and chatting and reading and relaxing and movie watching. There will likely be some writing in there too-- because that’s what writers do-- but it’ll be in small doses, tying up some little things and brainstorming for the big things.
I love spring. I love new beginnings. How about you?
What’s it all about?
Life. Love. Writing. Editing. Sex. Books. Romance. Movies. Friendship. Photography. Teaching. Coffee. (Lots of coffee.) Travel. Feminism. Academia. Insomnia. Memories. Experiences. Rants. Raves. Reviews. Chocolate. Mmm… chocolate. Musings of an insomniac writer. Want to know more?
