Getting there. . .

I'm slightly less stressed than yesterday, yay! I managed to read a book I needed to review, write the review, pay the bills, get the dog license paid for, do the dishes and laundry, take the kids on a nature hike and take the baby (okay she's 3, but she'll always be my baby!) to and from camp. AND most importantly, I did a big chunck of my edits.

I have a love hate relationship with edits. I love the fact that they make my book better and tighter. I hate the fact that I miss so many stupid things and that some times the edits are a bit extensive.

Like this time. It's not so much that I need to change so many things as much as that I need to add more things to make it clearer and a better book. I want it to be a better book. I really do. Honest. It's just that I get a tad defensive from time to time. It's a constant struggle for me to stop defending my decisions and really look at what my editor has to say. There's a reason she's the editor and I'm not. When I'm objective about it, I realize how right she is. When I'm feeling defensive, well, that's another story. . . Luckily, when I'm feeling defensive I make sure I don't do anything about it. Can you say career suicide?

Anyway, I'm working on edits today amidst all the other chaos that is my life when it starts to storm. I'm trying to keep an eye on the lightning to see whether or not I should turn off the computer and decide I'm okay.

I go back to edits and my dog decides she needs a little comforting because of the thunder. She crawls under my desk. Now, I have a tiny desk with only a small box like area for my feet. My dog is a Siberian Husky. A big, hairy Siberian Husky who is huddled in my only leg space.
I'm sure it made a great picture to someone who wasn't sweating her brains off and getting panted on by a scared, hot, shedding dog.

Nope, my life is never dull. . . Nothing like 3 kids and a dog all scared of the storm to keep you from getting defensive over edits! Hahahahaha.

Now, if I can just get them finished before we lose power. . .

Please hit me. . .

If I ever try to do more than RWA and RT in one year. In fact hit me hard.
Twice.
I am so far beyond stressed right now, I'm a gibbering idiot. I have so much to do that I'm juggling everything and not doing it all that well.

On the other hand, I'm getting to see my friends and growing as a writer and that's good, right?

You see, at home I am not Arianna Hart, writer of romantica and bubbly personality. At home I'm mom and have to take kids to camp, teach summer school, help my 6 year old learn to read and do a million other things. When I'm with my writing buddies I'm Ari, sassy, sarcastic and fun to be around. I can talk about writing and ploting and promoting and all sorts of other things that get lost in my "regular" life.

I love both parts of my life, but when I try to blend the two, it's a lot of work. I'm attempting to get ready for RWA and make sure my workshop is organized and professional while my 3 year old whines at me for Goldfish Crackers and my other kids beg me for dinner.

And you wonder why I'm stressed.

I sometimes wonder if other occupations make women feel so split? Are there police officers who feel like they are completely different people when they put on that uniform? What about doctors? Do men ever go through this identity tug of war?

And anyone have any idea what I should make for dinner?

Sigh, looks like my moment of being Ari is officially over and now the kids are calling for their mommy to make them dinner! It was nice while it lasted. . .

Kindergarten teachers do not get paid well enough!!!

There is not enough money in the world to compensate kindergarten teachers for what they do. I teach high school juvinile delinquints and I bow down to anyone who can entertain 20 five and six year olds and still remain sane.

Yes, I realize I should be talking about writing, or passing on what pearls of wisdom I've accumulated since I started writing, but honestly this bears mention. Today I gave a party for my middle daughter's kindergarten class. A pool party. There were 18 children there. I had only invited the girls in the class, but a few extra siblings joined in. Do you have any idea how much noise 18 five and six year olds can make in a pool?????

Now, least you think I'm insane, the reason I did this is because when my oldest daughter finished kindergarten I had a party for the girls in her class. Including my daughter there were 7. Unfortunately, my middle daughter's class had 12 girls in it. Not only that, several of them have sisters that are friends with my other daughters, so they came along too. The result? 18 children to 5 adults.

We were completely out gunned.

On a positive note, they all had a good time and my children collapsed early in sheer exhaustion. Talk about your silver linings!!!

Okay, I'm going to bed now, I'll look for pearls of wisdom when I get back from my mini vacation (2 days). I may have to look very hard, I'm not sure how much wisdom I actually have, except, never invite 18 children to your house for a pool party. . .

Good night!
Ari

Yikes!!

Wow! It's been a long time since I blogged! Can you tell I've been running a million miles an hour lately?

Let's see, what's up with my life. . .
Well, my dad came home from the hospital Monday YAAAAAAAAAY! I'm so glad he's home again. I don't know what I would have done without all the support I get from my on line buddies. I really appreciate you all so very much!

Okay, in addition to running around like a lunatic with my darling daughters, I did manage to finish another book. YAYAYAYAYAY! It feels so good to finish one off. I'll miss the characters, but it's almost like they bang around in my head until I get them on paper, then once I'm done they quiet down a bit. Until the next set of characters wants their story told. I still need to go over it carefully because I have bad habits, but once I've gone through it a few times I'll send it to a friend of mine to see what she thinks. After I make the corrections she suggests, I'll send it on to my editor and hopefully she'll like it!

This weekend is Father's day and boy am I going to be busy. Go figure. . . I'm so glad I get to go see my dad at home instead of in the hospital.

I guess that's all that's going on in Ari World. Hope y'all haven't forgotten me since it's been forever since I've blogged! Take care!

Ari

Back from BEA

and boy am I EXHAUSTED!!!
Sound familiar? I seem to always expend too much energy at these conferences, but it's so much fun!
Let's see if I can remember everything that happened.
On Thursday morning I schelped to the train station with my luggage and climbed abord Metro North New York bound. It was a beautiful ride! I read a book, listened to my CD, and no one talked to me for almost two hours. Ah, bliss!

I grabbed a cab and headed to the Hotel Penn. to check in. By the time I dropped my luggage off, I had to practically run to the convention center to meet the folks from EC at noon to get my badge.
I arrived at the ENORMOUS Javits Convention Center, but there's no one there to meet me. Panic ensues. Luckily, the very nice lady at the counter had my name and printed up a new badge for me. Meanwhile, I've called the EC offices and left a slightly panicked message there and tried to call the only other cell phone number I have for EC management. No answer there.
Anyway, I wander around the convention center trying to find the other EC folks, looking lost and not a little confused. Eventually, after many stops to ask directions, I managed to find them! Hooray!!

Things only got busier after that! The next three days were a whirlwind of activity. We had to set up the booth (which kicked butt! see pictures soon) organize a million books, figure out who had what where, and get all the nifty keen promo items ready.

I got to meet hundreds of people in the industry from libraians and book sellers, to authors and book buyers. Every faction of the literary world was represented. In a rather odd twist of irony, Ellora's Cave's booth was near both the inspirational and children's books section on our floor. It certainly made for some raised eyebrows! I talked to people who loved our books and to people who thought we wrote books about India. (The Ellora's Caves are in India) I explained over and over again that we wrote ROMANTIC erotica, that there had to be a happy ending and a love relationship and that we didn't write "filth". I felt like the official Romantica cheerleader!

Was it worth it?
You betcha! I have no idea if any of the people I spoke to will even remember my name by the end of the week, but at least I was out there discussing something that was near and dear to my heart. I got to sign copies of my books and tell people about them and hopefully my enthusiasm for my publisher and my books caught on. If nothing else, I got to get out of my house and talk about books for a weekend, and that made even getting stuck on the train on the way home worthwhile. (We were stuck with no power for three hours! It was hot as HELL!)

Now I need to gear up for RWA Nationals, and that's starting to feel like arming myself for battle more than preparing for an industry conference. . .

Lisa, half of Ashlegh Raine, in front of the Cerridwen part of the booth. She has the best clothes!! 

Ari and Mary in front of our booth 

Heather Osborn and Mary Wine in front of the "Lord Shiva" part of the booth. Talk about scenery. . . 

Good News and BEA Bound!

Hello Everyone!!!
Yikes! It's been forever since I've had a chance to blog! Things have been a bit hectic around here for the last few weeks. As some of you may have heard, my dad has been in the hospital for three weeks. He had three different surgeries in ten days' time. Luckily, this should be the end of it, THANK GOD! He went to a rehab hospital today and should be home next week YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!
Last Thursday my younger sister came into town with her two children to help out my mom and visit with my dad. Because I live next to them I get to see my dad almost every day, so I kept my niece and nephew while my sister helped out my mom.

I can tell you right now, anyone who has more than three children has my complete and utter respect. You have earned your way STRAIGHT INTO HEAVEN!!! I was lucky in that they all played well together and were really good kids, but man!!! To add to the confusion, my oldest two daughters had their Irish Step Dance recital and my middle daughter had her sixth birthday party while I was watching the other two kids. I think I spent an entire week doing laundry, cooking, and pouring drinks and cereal.

Writing? HA! I didn't get any of that done. My house looked like a tornado had torn through it, and I must have washed enough dishes to stock a restaurant or a prison!!!!
I love all of them, really I do, but dear God am I looking forward to going to BEA tomorrow! I'm going to have four days of adult conversation and no cooking or cleaning YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!

When I get back I'll tell you all about it. I've never been to BEA before, so it should be very cool to see what happens! I'll make sure I take some pictures!

Take care everyone and thanks for your kind thoughts and prayers!!!
Ari