Sunday, March 13, 2016

week not in review-updated but still not the WIR

Where oh where did you hide the Week In Review?





Sorry readers, this is one of those weeks where the WIR had to be sacrificed for the actual work of being an agent.

I'm knee deep in an editing project that has a good chunk of my eyeball time and
pretty much ALL of my brain.

I am hoping to am lying in a puddle weeping with despair about the talent i
get to the that damn writing contest
 later in the day
so results will go up on WEDNESDAY
but right now and I'm still just sitting here murmuring
"lie lay lay it's is it is affect effect ofuck"

In other words: editing.

Have a bloody Mary the strongest drink you can for me. I need it.



PS Dena Pawling's idea isn't half bad! 
"Because the contest entries have become more and more difficult to judge, and your time this week is already full, I propose you choose all the entries as winning entries, and then send all of us a copy of John Frain's manuscript.

You're welcome."

49 comments:

Lennon Faris said...

No worries, happy Sunday! We've got the perfect rainy gray day over here to work on writing and editing. Hope everyone else's environment is just as conducive.

Serious question though: whiskey sour, hazelnut coffee, or hot cocoa to accompany said writing? It's rough.

DLM said...

On the way out with a girlfriend momentarily, as it happens, to one of my favorite places. Mine may be a mimosa or a local cider (or both), but I shall raise a something to you, Janet!

Lennon, the hazelnut has an intriguingly literary ring to it, but hot cocoa is totally my bag (with Baileys!).

E.M. Goldsmith said...

I missed entering contest due to proofing and obsessing over new query. i still can't imagine how our amazing queen does as much as she does. So do as you must, Janet. We in the reef will make due.

Small rant: Daylight savings stinks! Why does Spring get to borrow an hour from winter? Also, Benjamin Franklin was only joking when he came up with daylight savings. Ok, done ranting, back to being a writer. I hope.

Megan V said...

Happy Sunday! Thanks for being you QOTKU! :)

I hope you all are enjoying your daylight savings. As it happens, I am not saving daylight. Hooray no time change! Unfortunately, there is still not enough time in the day to accomplish everything I'd like too. The past few weeks have been especially busy here as well. I won't have a Bloody Mary for you though—it's not my flavor—but I'll certainly toast to you. I think I may follow in Diane's footsteps; a mimosa, cider, or cocoa with Baileys sounds lovely. *digs around* ah well, it looks like all I have is some leftover wine.

Cheers anyhow.

E.M. Goldsmith said...

Lennon, start with the Hazelnut, then progress to Hot Chocolate and then the whiskey sour and finish with as much Scotch neat as you can and remain conscious. Soon after you will be clear on how Hemingway did what he did.

Carolynnwith2Ns said...

Oh wait, that's right, you have an actual job. And too think, some believe you are here for education purposes only.
We'd love to know the project within which you are losing your marbles. Anybody we know?

Aw shucks I just got another free pass to Carkoon. It says I cannot collect two-hundred dollars by passing go but I do get a bloody Mary.

Where's my flip flop? Ah ha, now I remember.

Theresa said...

Janet, I hope that despite losing an hour, you'll manage to get caught up with your work.

Happy spring and happy daylight saving time.

Donnaeve said...

Cheers, QOTKU!

I love me some DST. More porch time!

I'm in the same boat - sort of. Supposed to be writing and I can't stop editing myself! Bring on ALL the drinks. If I drink enough, then I will be able to effectively ignore my mistakes/overuse of certain words/and comma angst.

Sherry Howard said...

It's so funny to see this today, JR. When WIR wasn't posted this AM I wondered how in the world you kept up with all of this anyway. It's not as if you engage in the blog half-heartedly. YOU ARE ALL IN!! It must be exhausting at times. As much as we all enjoy your words of wisdom, we realize your j o b has first dibs on your brain power. My thoughts before I saw this (motherly) were I hope that JR is taking good care of herself!

Marie McKay said...

Thanks for fitting in a competition this week. Like everyone else, I don't know how you do it!

Dena Pawling said...


What? You work hours other than M-F 9-5? Who'd'a thunkit?

Because the contest entries have become more and more difficult to judge, and your time this week is already full, I propose you choose all the entries as winning entries, and then send all of us a copy of John Frain's manuscript.

You're welcome.

Have a great week. And bon voyage Amy!

Kregger said...

To borrow from the vernacular,
it's
Sisters before misters
and
Bros before (?)
now it's
Dollars before hollars!
You got that right, QOTKU

Cindy C said...

Our days sound a little bit the same, although you're editing and I'm grading. But I sure could use a drink about now. Instead I'm just taking a bit of a break before I get back to typing "take a look at your sentence structure" another 9 times. (Guess how many papers left to grade? You got it--9!)

I shouldn't complain since I just had a week off for spring break but oh the grading it never ends.

Hope everyone is enjoying (or at least surviving) their Sunday!

Scott Sloan said...

Roger THAT!
The QOTKU has *hic* shpoken...

Lance said...

Good luck with the editing, Ms. Janet. We rely on you to do your work so that you can continue to lead us along the dark and bumpy road through the forest. I tried several stories for the FF contest, but could not get past a theme based on giant, blue kale worms. Maybe next time. Looking forward to the results of another contest with awesome competition. Thank you for all you do.

Brian M. Biggs said...

Not to worry. I'm not sure how you do all you do anyway. Thanks for everything. Big wind storm coming to the Willamette Valley today, expecting power outages. We'll have a fire and a bottle of Chardonnay. Hope you can relax with your spirits.

Celia Reaves said...

The QOTKU can spend her Sunday as she chooses; so say we all. Good luck with the editing, O Queen.

Just this week in my critique group we got to arguing over whether it should be "the place where they had laid Frank" or "the place where they had lain Frank." We decided on "the place where that had put Frank."

The struggle is real.

Celia Reaves said...

...and of course I have a typo in my post! I'll send you a Carkoon postcard if you spot it.

nightsmusic said...

Oh great QOTKU, I knew when I saw that dog, whom I love but who bodes no good, that something happened. I'm sorry you have to do your real job! I thought you lived to teach us poor woodland creatures how to move forward in the publishing world. But alas, Real Life does tend to interfere. We will still be here when you're done, though I can't guarantee this thread won't devolve into...other things while you're gone.

Craig F said...

Best of luck to you my Queen. I say that because I know editing. It starts simply enough. Then you realize that if you change this in chapter ten you can cover that flat spot in fourteen, but you have to go back to three and change that. That in turn causes the timetable in seventeen to be off a day so you go back to two and and adjust the days in New Orleans.

Damn I hate editing too.

JulieWeathers said...

Janet,

I hope you get all your stuff done and get a chance to relax.

Lennon, whiskey straight and neat ala Jack Whyte.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0JWWPoWDFE

Hope y'all have a good week.

Lisa Bodenheim said...

We'll still be here, O QOTKU, when you have finished.

My week's been busy and yesterday was just bizarre. Glad to be home from work now and hope that this week will be, not back to normal, but better.

Is there a full moon or a new moon or something happening out in the ozone?

nightsmusic said...

Lisa, sunspots. I blame everything on sunspots. The moon is waxing crescent and only 4 days old so you have a week or so to go...

BJ Muntain said...

I prefer the gibbous moon, the moon that is neither new, nor full, but just kinda on the pregnant edge of half.

Like Arizona, Saskatchewan doesn't do daylight savings, and that makes me happy. Some people think it's because Saskatchewan is 'backwards'. I like to think of it as Saskatchewan not getting involved in something stupid. But the real reason is that you can't get enough Saskatchewanians to want to do DST to pass a vote.

allierat said...

Nightsmusic, oh, yes, those sunspots. I say a lot of things "are due to the effect of sunspots over Terre Haute, Indiana."

When I was little and asked my dad, "What cha doin' daddy?" he'd often reply,"Making hyangs and wangles so the squeegees won't get 'em. Wanna buy some?" I think it meant about the same thing.

I loved the line from one of the FF about the wind at your back not having gone over a pig farm first. I will think of that whenever I smell pig shit this spring. Oh, those warm southerly breezes...

Smooth sailing, Amy!

Smooth editing, Janet!

nightsmusic said...

I hate DST. I really do. I'm a horrible sleeper and it takes me a month for my rhythm to get back into the time change. Ugh. I'd move to Saskatchewan if I could convince the husband. Or Arizona. Some state that doesn't participate anyway. It's dumb and useless.

Panda in Chief said...

I wish we had some daylight to save. What we have is torrential rain, with promise of wind later this afternoon. What fun. I just love power outages.
Cheers, all.

french sojourn said...


Yep, it's been one of those weeks.

Now for 50 shades of Bordeaux red.

Cheers Hank

Theresa said...

SiSi, I'm right there with you, finishing up the bulk of my grading before spring break starts in another week. Then I'll only have a small stack of grading to deal with during break.

And now it's 4:30, so I'm eyeing that bottle of wine....

Jennifer R. Donohue said...

I spent last night and today watching a season of America's Worst Cooks (or whatever), and reading the new Patricia Briggs book. Not writing. Well, a little bit of writing at work yesterday, during my library program. But not productive today at all. Nuh-uh.

Lennon Fairs: really, you just kind of described a day's progression of writing beverages, why pick just one? (though perhaps START with the cocoa and finish off with the whiskey sour?)

(yeah, it's late for this comment to matter)

AJ Blythe said...

Anyone who has a problem with Q7 on Feb 11 needs to read today's post.

Two more weeks and we stop saving daylight. Rather chuffed about that, but not so much the cold that will follow. Actually, it should be here now but we've been having a rather wonderful heat wave =)

Colin Smith said...

Awww--I was looking forward to seeing 2Ns butt on the subheader. Wait. That came out wrong... um...

Here's Julie's link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0JWWPoWDFE

Have lovely, rewardingly productive day, Janet! :)

Brian M. Biggs said...

Panda in Chief, do you live in the Willamette Valley?

Unknown said...

Don't I know the feeling. Good luck! To another Reid bestseller!

Her Grace, Heidi, the Duchess of Kneale said...

I don't mind. Somewhere you're being a good agent for one of your clients. I hope some day an agent is as good an agent for me as you are being right now.

I'm sure we can come up with our own WIR in the comments.

Timothy Lowe said...

I am officially sending you an e-shot of bourbon, Janet. Hope you don't get e-drunk off it.

Awesome entries in the contest as always. Have a good week everyone...

Amy Schaefer said...

Aww, I finally take a break from doing my taxes/registering my girls for school next year/juggling the banking/packing/running around in a panicky circle, and there isn't even a WIR to distract me? Don't tell me I have to go back to my real jobs! Quick, someone get me a paper bag to breathe into. I have less than 48 hours left! NOT READY!!

Craig F said...

But, my Queen, by Wednesday DST will be dragging at you even more. It usually takes me a little over two weeks to get mt ducks back to quacking in unison. Do trust me that ducks can not harmonize. Maybe if I got rid of those freaking ducks DST would be easier.

Just wait until Friday on the contest. It will make the winner's weekend better.

Brian M. Biggs said...

Or wait until Thursday and we can be green with envy.

Lennon Faris said...

Yep, writing contests are for fun! You should never stress about something fun. Oh wait, we're all writers so we do that every single f***ing day!

Good luck on work, Janet! I'm sure we can all amuse ourselves with writerly things till you return with sage advice and s(h)narky humor. Now back to drinking (I chose coffee, though I did debate hazelnut mocha latte with baileys) and writing and editing.

Matt Adams said...

I just wanted to wish Amy good luck and following seas. That southern ocean can be a nasty patch (i'm told) so remember one hand for you, one hand for the boat. And know you are the envy of many.

Donnaeve said...

I've visited Amy's little paradise (likely unbeknownst to her) and read some of her entries a while back...which made me realize sailing the ocean blue is a beautiful thing to do, but also D.A.N.G.E.R.O.U.S.

I was impressed at her boat fixin' skills.

Smooth sailing, yes. And I will miss your comments and FF entries.

LynnRodz said...

Any excuse to have another kir royal. This one's for you, Janet. Cin cin!

Unknown said...

I second Dena's brilliant idea! (John, this has been an inspired viral campaign for your book -- your marketing people are truly top-notch.)

Take all the time you need, Janet, and don't feel any pressure from us motley characters!

Steve Forti said...

For the record, I'd read the hell out of John Frain's manuscript, too.

BJ Muntain said...

Now I'm sad I didn't enter. I want to read John Frain's manuscript too :(

Carolynnwith2Ns said...

It's after 1am, can't sleep. I'll read Frain. Please let it be boring so I can konk out.

Karen McCoy said...

I'll definitely read Frain! His flash fiction inspires, and I'm sure his novel does too.

Her Grace, Heidi, the Duchess of Kneale said...

Despite my Tummy Bug from Hell (with accompanying head cold and fever) I managed to enter the contest. I'm afraid to go back and read what I subbed. Anyhow, for my effort, I fully expect Frain's ms to land in my inbox some time soon.

I did a lot of things when I was sick. I vaguely remember some of them. Not sure if they were the results of feverish dreams or illness-induced chutzpah. Something about taking the neighbour's cat to the vet and asking someone for fifteen thousand dollars.

I dread what I don't remember.