Monday, August 6, 2012

Where I've Been and What's Next

Trying to get back into the groove of things this week. I've been gone for the past TWO weekends. First, I went to visit my BFF in Tennessee. We have known each other since kindergarten. She has watched me go from little girl to teenie-bopper to punk-rocker to grunge-industrial to work-out obsessed to college science nerd to married with kids....most of it long distance since she moved right after high school graduation. She was also the very first one to know about me writing Finding Angel (even before my husband, yep), and she was my first beta-reader. And a dang good one--because she loves me enough to tell me the truth!

Here we are, right before I left to come back home. Beastie 2 traveled with me, so she took the photo. I think I may have a professional photographer on my hands, if she's this good at taking pics at nine years old:


 She also took pics of Barbi's many cats....


The gray and white one is Shakespeare. Yes, if you have read Finding Angel you will recognize him :). And the other is his brother, Yankee Doodle. I have a feeling he's going to appear in a book somewhere, too. He's....unique. ;)

This is Mia. She liked to hang out in the guest room with me :).


And this is Macey Grace, who was Beastie 2's favorite:


And here is Beastie 2, after the trip, in the airport, when we found out we would be stuck there for a few hours because our flight was delayed due to weather....


Funny how the real pout becomes a silly pout when Mommy's trying to get a picture of the real one ;).

A few chaotic days at home, and then the family turned and headed to St. Pete Beach for the weekend, to spend some time with other friends:


That was the view outside our seventh floor hotel room.

And this is Beastie 2 and her friend, who I found out wants to be a writer. How cool is that? She skateboards, too, and I got to see a video of her doing her thing. Cool kid :).

And here is Beatie 1 (on the left) with his bud. This was pretty much the view of them most of the weekend:


He's going to be so mad at me for posting that picture, but it was about the only one I could catch of him. They were either in the water or noses in their Nintendo DSs. 

And now we are back home. It is time to get our homeschooling rolling again. (Can you hear the kids in the background boo-hissing?) And time for me to get back to editing the sequel to Keven Newsome's next book in the Winter series. So far, it's a great story! Not that I am the least bit surprised. If you have not read Winter, well, what's the hold-up????

As for my writing, I've taken these last couple of weeks off completely. My brain was nearly fried from all the editing, after finishing Seeking Unseen and rewriting so much of it! Much-needed break. Updates on that project should be coming up soon. Still hoping to make a Sept 1st release, but I have a feeling it will be a bit late. Not much to finish, but we do it RIGHT at Splashdown, not rushed, so just hang on a little bit longer...



6 comments:

Jeff Chapman said...

Looks like you had a good time. What breed of cat are Shakespeare and Yankee Doodle?

Kat Heckenbach said...

Shakespeare and Doodle are Oriental Short Hairs. They are so lanky, with rather longish noses. And a distinctive meow I've never heard any other breed make. They are so cool!

Shakespeare is really distinguished in his behavior. Prim and proper. Doodle is like, well, the idiot sidekick. But he's SO sweet :).

Kessie said...

Sounds like you had a great vacation! Nice to see pics of your family on here. Makes you and your blog more personable. :-)

Kat Heckenbach said...

Thanks, Kessie. I try to give a glimpse into the old personal life now and again :). Proud of my Beasties! They are growing up way too fast, though!

Carol Linsky said...

Barbi looks great and y'all look so happy to be together - bet there were long nights of talking!

Beastie 2 took some fantastic pictures!!! Love those kitties:))) Maybe she can take a picture of Patches some day, if he'll stop screeching and stalking her long enough:(

Love you,
Mom

Kat Heckenbach said...

Well, she can always take a picture of the bedroom door and say Patches is on the other side ;P.