Stuff happens

The writing has begun to move along. Probably just in time for me to switch to something else for a deadline. I typed in the opening pages of the new book, and decided that I needed to trash the first 3 pages (an improvement over the 50 pages that had to be dumped from the One Rose book I finished last month). I can feed all that information in--and probably ought to--while the story moves along. And some of it probably doesn't need to go in.

Thursday night, I took seven local kids to a Mercy Me concert in Amarillo. Because we're an hour away, we had to leave by six to get there on time. Problem was, several of the kids didn't get out of baseball/softball practice till right at six, and understandably didn't want to go to a concert in a dirty practice uniform. We left town about 15 minutes late with an Excursion full of hungry kids--some did eat ahead of time, but most of them had no time to do it. They scarfed down the few Girl Scout cookies I had, a small bag of Chex Mix and a small bag of green salsa Doritos one of them provided.

Of course, by the time we got to the "big city" (hey, compared to our little town, Amarillo IS big...) all the close parking was taken, so we had to hike a ways, then while I ran around to pick up the tickets, they ran to the concessions for food. Anyway, it was an excellent concert. Okay, even when I was their age (high school or younger) I never did like bass cranked up so loud it made the body vibrate. I still don't like it. But other than that, it was great. We saw most of the rest of our town there--lots of visiting went on during intermission, and lots of singing along with the bands. Lots of fun.

School night, I was trying to get them home as early as I could, so--since they were still insisting they were starving--we drove through at McDonald's. I'm truly impressed they could keep our mass order straight. One young lady got an ice cream cone. When they handed it to me, the very tall ice cream proceeded to topple over, and I had to catch it in my bare hands. It didn't melt too much before the clerk brought me a sundae cup I could fold the ice cream in and stick the cone on top. And the sweet child who ordered it was sitting in the farthest back seat in the vehicle. Even with all the napkins, my fingers tasted sweet all the way home.

And I still got some good writing done on Friday, even with all the late hours.

The son (a high school senior) is acting in the college's spring play--last performance is this afternoon, so I'll sign off now. I am finally taking the camera with me so I can get pictures.

The State of Being a Bum

I am wallowing in bumness. The writing--when I do it--is going well. Problem is, I'm not writing like I should be. Hoped to get a proposal done this month. Ha!

I know I usually take quite a bit of time off after I finish a book, but I had hoped to manage to take a bit less this time. And I have started the new book. The time off has been sporadic and sprinkled into the midst of the attempting to write, and filled with vital and utterly boring things like taking the computer to the shop after a power outage killed it. And playing online games. And reading books. (I'm almost caught up on all the Luna releases so far...still have 2 to go, I think.) And making chicken 'n' dumplings for a bake sale. And stuff.

Tomorrow, I have to get serious. Wish me luck.

Starting New is Always the Hardest

I'm trying to get untracked on this new book. Wrote 6 pages Monday, was going great guns, had lots more that I knew where it was going. Tuesday was a bust, because Monday afternoon, the computer died (more on that in a minute) and I had to cart the computer into Amarillo to the fix-it shop to get it fixed. Today, when I went back to write, I got a whole page and a half out of all that stuff I knew about. Then it was time to switch POV, and Phhttbbbttt! Nada. Everything I thought I had I didn't. No clue what needed to happen next. So I quit and went to play on the internet and let the brain percolate.

The reason the computer died--apparently the garbage truck driver (this is a small town. There's only one. Only one truck--there may be two drivers) was either hungover or--well, something, because a block or so down from my house, he clipped his second power pole of the day. This time, instead of just leaning the pole over on its lines, the power lines snapped. He was lucky he didn't electrocute himself. (I have it on good authority--from the mother of a young man who did this to himself and didn't die--that you just ain't the same after.)

Anyway, even though the electricity just blinked off for a few seconds, my computer wouldn't boot back up. At all. I had all my story stuff backed up, but I hadn't backed up things like website bookmarks or e-mail addresses, or things I needed to reply to, or notes for articles. ACK!!

So, I'm doing this on the backup computer. Because it lives in the son's bedroom, he thinks it's his, but it isn't. I miss my split keyboard (if there are typos, it's because my hands feel all squished together and I keep sticking them on the wrong keys) and my trackball mouse.

And I'm still not writing.

ACK!!! It's been too long!

I've been away too long. After the Christmas craziness, I vanished into the Deadline cave--you know, that place where you eat, breathe, drink, sleep the book, when you never leave the house, forget every appointment, meeting and whatever you're not dragged to bodily, all in order to Get The Stinkin' Book Done On Time.

Yes, I did get it finished, I finished it on time, and it's not so stinkin' after all. In fact, it's pretty good, if I do say so myself. We shall see what the editor says.

Now it's time to start another book. I hope I manage to do better next time. I really didn't intend to cut off ALL outside contact when I descended into that cave. The next one's about curses, and though I'm not a real fan of ghost books, it may have a ghost in it. If I can't figure out a way to get rid of her. Wish me luck.