Tomorrow’s the day. At the butt-crack of dawn, I’ll be on the road to the airport in North Little Rock. Then many hours later, I’ll be stepping off the plane in Seattle, where hopefully, I’ll be met by my writer buddies who will have arranged a rental vehicle to get us to our retreat cottage.

And even though I’m the Queen of Focus, this past week has been a bust so far as writing is concerned. I can’t keep from thinking about what to pack, what I want to take to work on—and the many ways I can think of to dodge cooking duty. That’s not something I ever mastered. I burn Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup.

Let me reflect on what I have managed to accomplish, and my setbacks, for the month. Then I’ll give into the urge to turn giddy with excitement about my working vacation.

On August 1st, my “Brief” Eye of the Storm was released by Harlequin Spice.

The first was also the day I received acceptance on The Out-of-Towner for an upcoming Cleis Press anthology, entitled Girl Crush.

From August 9 – 15, my sister and I conducted the annual Write 50 Books a Year free workshop at Rose’s Colored Glasses.

This month I wrote a short story entitled The Obedient Wife and submitted it on August 14th for the Cleis Press anthology Fairytale Lust.

On August 18th, I received a “reject, but would like to see revisions or something new” from an editor I’m targeting. After spending a day wallowing in disappointment, I brushed myself off, enlisted help from a friend, talked to my agent, and came up with a new plan of attack.

This month I wrote chapters 2-9 of my neverending story about two firemen and two best girlfriends. I submitted the story, tentatively titled Juicy, on August 21st.

The rest of this month, I finished a chapter on a futuristic, worked on revisions of a paranormal proposal and dabbled with new projects plotting, but nothing else is finished.

So, yes, an eventful month and a productive one, but I did come in two chapters shy of my goal for the last project. Which if I factor in the two EXTRA chapters I wrote on Juicy kinda evens out. So I could claim success, right?

Now that I’ve bored you to tears with my report card, I’ll sign off. I have clothes to iron, shampoo and conditioner to pour into travel bottles, and undies to find.

I’ve preposted blogs for the entire time I’ll be gone, along with several chances for you to win stuff, so be sure to stop by. I’ll be “live” again on September 10th.

Love ya! Adios!! ~DD