I’m over at Melissa Snark’s blog today answering some questions.
Please stop by and say “hi”.
You can find us at: http://bit.ly/10RHLuB

So depending on where you live, you may or may not have heard of “Snow Days”. What these are, are days when the school buses don’t run due to inclement weather. The problem with this is that less than a quarter of The Daughter’s school is bused, and yet when the buses don’t run no one goes to school.

At the beginning I tried sending her (we live on the same road as the school, a 1.5 km walk) but she would seriously end up at school with about twenty other kids and do nothing all day.

Today is a “Snow Day”. The problem with this? The roads are stone dry!! There is a weather warning…but this is the same weather warning from yesterday that said the storm would be here last night. (Not here yet. It is waiting for my two hour drive tonight!)

I understand why the buses don’t run….who wants to be responsible for that many children on a snow, slippery day? And yes it is dry now, but it “might” be slippery later, and then how do you get all these kids home?

I know The Daughter is not going to want to go to school. When I wake her she is going to say “but mom, no one else will be there”. And she is right. The teachers still have to go in. But the bused kids won’t be there, and every other student will use the same line on their parents “but mom…”

If only I could get all the parents at her school to read this blog (wouldn’t that be nice)…but if they were reading this blog right now, I’d say “Hey, let’s send the kids to school. Remember when we had to walk…both ways, up hill, barefoot in a snowstorm?!” Let’s build a little character in them. We have to work, why shouldn’t they?

But it won’t happen. And The Daughter will say “but mom” and I’ll let her stay home, and the next kid will say “but mom”, and so on, and so on, and so on.

Yesterday, I received my Galley Files from my editor, Eilidh. For anyone not in writing, Galley Files are the pre-print finals that need one last review before going to publication. This review is for typos only, not last minute “oh, can I change this?” Eilidh said to ask a friend or family member to help, so I decided it was finally time to ask The Husband to read Silver Blade.

Now some authors may use their spouses regularly as editors in one form or another, and while mine would make a great non-fiction editor, I did not even bother to have him read something as “silly” as a paranormal romance. Paranormal? Not since he read Harry Potter to The Girls. Romance? No! Paranormal romance? Hell, no!!

“You just need to read it for typos,” I said in response to the doubtful look in his eyes. “No changes. No comments. And no, I will not change the heroine’s name.” (Which is coincidentally the same as His Ex. Not because I was paying tribute to His Ex in any way, but because the name worked so well with my story.)

This morning The Husband comes down greeting me with some of the sexual descriptions in my book. “You did write about me,” he said with a smile. (I knew he would focus on the sex scenes, hence another reason I didn’t want him reading my story.)

But then he shocks me and says “I was surprised. It was very good.” Pardon? Did he say very good? “I didn’t think I’d like it. I didn’t even think I’d finish it. But I did. I wanted to see what would happen. And I really liked it.” Would you say that again, I’m not sure I’m awake yet.

Then he questions me about a couple of the scenes, and the paranormal world in general. In other words, he really did read the whole thing. And he thought it was good!! So now I’m really proud because he would certainly be one of my toughest critics.

I guess he can still surprise me after almost ten years of marriage.