You have no idea how long I've wanted to post this!

Yeah so it's been an interesting couple weeks... Sorry for the lack of writing but the thing is what was occuping 98.7% of my little brain, I couldn't publish! And after that, there's not much left to write about! So we'll start with the very exciting to me but less important in the grand scheme of things news -- I passed 50000 words! Woohoo! Today admittedly. Close, but not quite, the last minute. But I made it :) Haven't put anything up on smashwords in... well a while. Will get the rest up there - probably on the weekend. Till then, craziness ensues. Then the far more important news! Sorry Stephy, I'm not getting married. And Lynn I'm definitely *not* pregnant >;-P hahaha But I AM starting my farm. Finally :) As of Jan 1 Graduate Riding School will be operating out of Gorstella Farm (that'd be the old Myrddin and/or King Oak for those of you who've been around a while :) 2 arenas, 2 sandrings, great hacking and xc course. I am quite thoroughly thrilled!!!! hahaha and a HUGE THANKS to everybody who's helped make this possible!!! Really appreciate all your support :)

GRS gets a new home!!!

It's official - Graduate Riding School will have a new home, Jan 1!!!!

I'm thrilled to announce we'll be operating out of Gorstella Farm in Halton Hills - roughly 17th Sideroad and Trafalgar. The facility offers 2 arenas, 2 sandrings, 75 acres for hacking (complete with a river!), xc course, and a heated viewing lounge!

If you'd like a tour, give me a shout :)

You and I wake up in jail...

47,295 words and I am going to bed. Will pass 50K tomorrow :) Or today, technically. hahaha Oh and I would just like to say, most fun fb status message ever! (names removed to protect the guilty - but thanks all for answers, made my night. I'm still smiling :) You and I wake up in jail together. Using only 4 words what would you say to me. - we are awesome people! :) - ‎"Me? Ok. But YOU?!?!?!?!? - well that was fun - do you have water? - Same time next week? - ‎"LAUREN, I'VE MISSED YOU! :)" - I need a coffee! - well! we're in VEGAS - Don't tell my husband!! hahaha I have awesome friends :)

Cat-in-a-box

If you have a cat that's even slightly inquisitive you'll like this one:



Have to admit I laughed at the bunny box :) N I love the constantly hissy tail. "I'm not happy about this, but I'm going to pretend it's what I meant to do!"

Finally updating a new draft :)

New smashwords nano-novel is 20 in queue so should be up in a couple hours :) There are a few gaps in it that will definitely break up the flow somewhat *g* Sorry about that -- tis what you get for reading a work in progress! And thank you for tolerating it :) 1 more day of insanity and then I can get caught up.

An untitled post

So I swear I haven't jumped off the face of the planet. Yet. Just been extraordinarily busy! Nano is still on track, albeit slowing down. Going to make a big push for the last 10K this weekend. Will put up a new Smashwords tomorrow eve :) Little Lissy's proving herself to be a superstar. I just adore her. She picked up the whole on-the-bit thing super-fast (ok so a LONG way from confirmed, we're up/down and all over the place stage. But she got the concept and can keep it longer and longer each ride). She's up to about 1/2h rides of mostly walk/trot with a short canter each way and as of today, little jumps. She has also mastered the art of standing still for grooming, mounting, adjusting tack, dismounting, etc. Something I insist on from my schoolies. Esp beginner level schoolies!

Thanks Alyssia!

Just wanted to send a huge thanks to Alyssia for donating a large box of horse supplies to GRS when I purchased some used tack from her. It is greatly appreciated! So thanks :)

Woohoo! 40,000!!!!

So several years ago I did a nano (that was a particularly horrible piece of writing might I add) in which strictly for word-count purposes, every time my mc met a new person (which happened fairly regularly), she felt the need to tell them everything that had already happened. This made for the most boring novel ever, but it did get me to 50K. This nano, I just had a scene where my character legitimately should've retold the entire story and then some and I summed it up with something like "she told the story" and seriously considered adding "see the last 30000 words". hahaha the comparison just struck home how much more fun it is when you're actually enjoying the story you're writing :) Tonight I passed 40K. And that's not counting the part of the story I wrote (like think pen and paper wrote) on the subway the other day *g* Sweet! Latest smashwords version is #431 in queue. 

Shetland Pony Grand National

Too cute not to share. As Jael mentioned, it's like racing teddy bears :)



I want the one who dropped his rider and kept jumping *g*

Random babbling

So when you start your day getting killed by a ghost, the rest pretty much has to get better right? Sheesh. Yes that is the type of week it's been. Highly entertaining but yikes! That particular dream that woke me up this morning would've actually made an excellent flash if I'd written down the script right away. Now it's too far gone from my memory and way out of my realm of stories I usually write so I suspect if I tried to force it it wouldn't work at all. A bit of a shame cause other than the fact that it was *me* in it, it was quite a good hallowe'en type story *g* Lissy is settling in nicely. She is super-cute and seems to be loved by everybody except Sienna *g* Classic eh? Very underweight and under muscle, but she's quiet and tries hard. We're just doing short rides and building up fitness. Si's almost there. Bruise is slowly going away. One of those things that's a relief because you know it's nothing serious and frustrating to be out for so long because of nothing serious! She trots out sound on her own now, but is still short w/ a rider. So no riding yet :( Booo. Hopefully next week sometime. Lissy :) -- photo cred to Rebecca hahaha have a project that I'm quite enjoying at work but that had one piece that was frustrating me to no end that I finally resolved today -- hahaha feeling pretty proud of that at the moment. Things have been totally crazy at work, riding, and coaching. And of course nano. Need time to just take a breath. I think I can schedule that on Sunday :) And speaking of fun projects, spent all day Tuesday touring Hamilton museums. Some days I love my job :) Waiting for other people to arrive at a meeting at Dundurn Castle Nano is coming along. Not quite as quickly as I'd like, due strictly to lack of time, but it is coming. New smashwords is uploading as I type... Number 1140 in queue *sigh* so it'll probably be ready mid-afternoon tomorrow... Considering going to the all-night writing session this weekend. hahaha haven't been to any of the social events this year at all, but I figure if you're only doing one, that's the one to do :) Will likely depend how much I have to do on Sunday though! This week's www.TheoryThursday.com is a show checklist. Not so much theory as useful reference material. Feel free to comment anything you feel should be added!