Still Alive

But not all that excited about this blog. Obviously.

I went through an entire soccer season w/out one post? Tons of drama occured, but it's pretty hard to articulate any of it in a meaningful way. After the fall season, none of my kids were cut, got injured, or insisted on quitting, so that's a positive.

Right now, the indoor season is in full throttle. One of my kids, the 12 yr old, has had a couple of weeks where she was either playing some indoor game (within one of the many indoor leagues she participates in) or attending a practice every day of the week except Sunday. Then the Christmas holidays arrived -- thank God! -- and I was knocked back into reality, and we put on the brakes. My daughter was getting a little burned out, but I was fried. This is the off-season, supposedly.

See, this is boring, all this soccer stuff.

So, on to more interesting stuff. . . .

I finally finished my work-in-progress that's been in the works for 6 plus years. Novel #2. My publisher sneakily called my agent and told her that they are thinking of terminating my contract because I hadn't delivered a manuscript after all that time. Now, this is def soccer related because the primo reason why my book was tossed on the backburner for so long is precisely due to my soccer mom habit. How can I write for 4 hours/day when I'm spending at least that much time driving my kids to soccer practices? Come on! I've got priorities!

Also, in my defense (not a lot of cause for that, I know, but I'm still going to give it a go), my editor hadn't given me a deadline. I had asked her for one a couple of times, but she just didn't. "No worries!" she said. "Just get it to me when you want. I understand that you're busy with five kids and a husband in Iraq (that excuse only involved one of the 6 years of negligence on my part)!" HOWEVER, I do well with deadlines! I understand them. If I know that Kid #1 has to be at Field A at Coach-Specified-Time, I bust my butt to make it happen.

So, I got my deadline, finally. On December 12th, my agent told me that I had to turn in my completed manuscript by Jan 15th. Very considerate timing! So, yes, despite the holidays, the Christmas shopping, the wrapping of presents for five kids plus, the baking of cookies, the making of Christmas dinner, the drama w/ in-laws, the contending w/ bronchitis and one kid w/ walking pneumonia, I made my deadline. I stayed up until 2-4 AM for two weeks, pounding away at my laptop. So, don't know how it's been received, but at least I did my part.

Also, I got a puppy 2 days after Thanksgiving, and I'm allergic to puppies. So that chaos was dumped into the mix. But that will be the subject for a different post. I'm sure I can find a way to make it fit the theme of my blog -- where soccer touches life. Like last wknd, when the puppy tagged along to a soccer practice in 30 degree temps . . .

~Hasta.