Tim Donaghy & Michael Vick

For those of you who don't already know this, I am a HUGE basketball fan. HUGE. I am a Phoenix Suns fan through and through all the way down to my license plate. (Shawn Marion is the man!)

Having said that, I was very surprised when I ran across an article in the Arizona Republic . The article basically said that a Maricopa County attorney is interested in finding out if Tim Donaghy gambled on the two playoff games that he reffed in Phoenix. (Lakers vs. Suns/Spurs vs. Suns) They said they were thinking about pressing charges. (Gotta love Suns fans) While I am all about punishing this guy for screwing up my team's chance at the NBA Finals, I guess it never dawned on me that the state had that "long" of an arm. I'll be interested to see how it all plays out. On the FBI's end, Mr. Donaghy could be looking at a maximum of 25 years and a fine somewhere in the range of $500,000.

On the NFL front Michael Vick has agreed to a plea bargain for his part in dogfighting. His role as financial backer and, from more recent reports, executioner for at least eight dogs by trying to first hang them and then when that didn't work he held their heads in a bucket of water until they drowned. Most of the comments that I have read and heard think that this is disgusting and he shouldn't be allowed back into society, little alone the NFL, however, the NFL has a history of signing a convicted sex offender and another player who served time for killing someone while driving under the influence. Stephon Marbury who thinks that dogfighting is a sport, bless his tiny little heart, thinks that all should be forgiven since we don't give hunters a hard time. *sigh* The max that Vick is looking at is five years and $250,000 in fines.

Am I the only one who thinks what Michael Vick did is ten times worse than what Tim Donaghy did? If not, why? I think the punishment for what Michael Vick did to those dogs does not fit the crime.

I'm a bad blogger

In all reality it probably doesn't matter that I'm a terrible blogger. I'm pretty sure that no one reads this other than me anyway. But just in case . . .

My book is at a stand still. I'm still pushing things around in my head and recording them on my groovy cool little digital recorder thing, but I can't remember the last time I put anything on paper. The closest I've come to writing has been commenting on Jennifer Apodaca's blog. (If you haven't checked her out you should.) Between my two jobs, my two kids, my two dogs and the fact that I require approximately 6-8 hours of sleep per night, I don't get a lot done. I'm a slacker and I know one day I'm going to be sorry that I didn't get my very first book written. Maybe when my kids move out . . .

In the meantime, I'm still plotting and coming up with brand new complicated story lines that I'm not sure I could ever pull together into a cohesive story, but I'm willing to spend my entire commute working on it.

Research . . . Ugh!

I have this really great idea for a new book. I'd go into details but right now it's all still in my head, except for what I've recorded with my handy dandy micro recorder thingy that my husband bought me for my birthday last year, but basically it's not on paper. The plot for this book is a little more involved than my other stuff so it's going to take a lot more research to get it right.

I hate research. I am not a people person and sometimes doing research requires talking to actual people. I may need a doctor for this one (the research, not my health). I can probably get a lot of information online, but I just know I'm going to have questions, so I'm going to have to find a doctor to help me out on this one. I have no clue how to go about doing that. Do I just look somebody up in the yellow pages and say "Hey, I have some questions, can you help me out?" (I'm open to suggestions or referrals.)

Calling All Basketball Fans!

Basketball season is finally upon us!!!! I could be more excited if I had season tickets, but since that's not going to happen I AM SUPER READY!

I am a Phoenix Suns fan through and through. Shawn Marion (my personal favorite and the most unappreciated player in the NBA) is going to have a stellar year, but then again, that shouldn't surprise anyone. Amare Stoudemire is back on the court (woo hoo) and eventually he'll be the player we all know him to be. Raja Bell, what can I say? My favorite Raja moment was in the playoffs when he clotheslined Kobe Bryant. Does that make me a bad person?

I will admit, while I am a huge Suns fan I don't follow other teams so my opinions are extremely biased. Having said that, Sports Illustrated predicted the Phoenix Suns to win it all this year. Keep your fingers crossed!

For those of you who are saying, yeah right, they started out the season with a bang going 1-1 against the LA teams, it's a long year baby.

I am not familiar with Marcus Banks or Jalen Rose, our newest pick up, but I plan to spend some time getting to know them on the screen.

As I wrote this blog over a month ago and never published it, let's just say the Phoenix Suns started off a little slow this year with a 1-5 record, however, as of yesterday's win against the Bobcats, we are now on a 10 game win streak!!! I LOVE THIS GAME!

My problem . . . well, one of the many

I've been trying to figure out if my story has enough conflict in it and I'm not sure it does. My characters want to be together and there isn't anything really keeping them apart except for themselves. She's not very trusting with a long history of making extremely bad choices in men and he's made a promise to keep up the pretends with his soon to be cheating ex-wife for the sake of the woman that they both love (her mother) who is dying from cancer.

Initially I thought that this would be enough of a "problem" for them but I don't think it is. The story has stopped dead in it's tracks. I'm not giving up though, I will think of something. If nothing else maybe my characters can help me to create a deeper conflict. Lord knows that they have helped me stray completely away from my initial timeline.

Posting my Progress

I originally said I was going to use this blog to track my writing progress for my first novel. I have been a bad blogger, I know I haven't been doing this, but in all fairness (my first excuse) there hasn't been a whole lot to tell. I'm currently stumped at 11,000+ words.

I sat down on Sunday and looked over my (incomplete) time line and have discovered that I have already strayed. My current goal is to go back over my time line and rewrite it to reflect the changes that I have already made. Then, hopefully, I'll be able to move forward and get back on the writing track.

I feel like my book is missing something. A secondary plot maybe? Is this a requirement? I've been reading a few agent blogs and I think a secondary plot might be very important. I'll have to think about it. I also think that I might need to stop reading so many blogs and concentrate on what the heck I'm doing.

SO, here's to getting back on track. I'm going to try to be better about actually blogging my process. Really.

Things I have learned . . .

In my grand quest to become a published author these are the things that I have learned so far:

1. I have learned that I could use about 5 more hours in the day to get everything accomplished that I think I need to.

2. I have learned that I need a bigger house, (or at least another bedroom) so that I can have a quiet place to sit and think and oh, what a concept maybe even write. This way I wouldn't have to escape from my house to get anything done.

3. I have learned that if I spent as much time reading as I do writing I could probably be done by now. (Okay, maybe not.)

4. I have learned that most authors are very supportive of struggling authors. I have read some rants from authors that will remain nameless on how "everyone thinks that because they can read they can write." Okay.

5. I have learned that writing is hard work and there are some days that I'm not sure I should be doing this. But the days that I think I can are what keep me going.

I'm sure I've actually learned more than that, but at this point in the morning I'm not sure I've had enough coffee to remember everything. Maybe I should start writing it down as I go. See, the ideas just never stop!