Thankful for so much

Thanksgiving isn't quite here, but we're staying home with the boys (of all varieties--plus a couple of girlfriends) and I'll probably be spending most of the time cooking (at least before Thursday), so I figure I'll get my "Thankful" blog post in now.

So, first of all, I am supremely, supremely thankful that Hurricane Ike didn't leave us homeless like it did so many of our friends and co-workers. And that we have been able to help the little bit we have.

I'm thankful for my new book contract, that I'll have a book coming out in the new year and two more to write. (Ack!--but I'm still thankful.) I'm thankful for my readers. Y'all are the bestest.

I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful that the spouse is in a (so far) recession-proof "industry." When people lose jobs, they tend to go back to school to learn how to do new stuff. Those who run the schools are needed. I'm thankful the kids are all in education too. I'm thankful my parents are (mostly) in the "cheerful" stage of memory loss, and that my sister is close by.

I'm thankful the island is sorta starting to get itself put back together. I'm trying to do business here, to support the folks struggling to hang in there. Mostly, I can. I think I can even get new lenses for my glasses here. I'm grateful I can still see. (Went to the opthalmalotlorthekrhksjht... okay, I got lost in there, somewhere. The eye doctor. Went today. I'm still a little sun-sensitive... but I can see!)

It really has been a good year. Maybe even a great year. Lots of ups and downs, but I think the ups are winning.

So, what are you thankful for?

Still plugging away

I'm plugging along--at life, as well as the writing. I'm very tired today. Had trouble sleeping last night after my local RWA chapter meeting. (I love getting to see everyone and talk writing at least once a month.) I think I drank too many Cokes with caffeine too late at night. Anyway, after tossing and turning, I got up and read Jeri Smith-Ready's THE REAWAKENED.

It was one of the two books I got at Borders' "Buy One Get One Half-Price" coupon thingie (My other book was AN INFAMOUS ARMY by Georgette Heyer. I have broad tastes.) and was really NOT the book to be reading in the middle of the night when one needs to go to sleep. I read the whole thing.

But I still got 3 pages written today. I was going to be happy with two. I got up late, didn't have much time to get writing in before heading off to work, and just didn't think I'd get much done. But hey! THREE pages. And I got 5 pages Monday and 6 pages Tuesday. I've been having so much trouble getting Anything written, for a while there I was happy to have a mere half-page done. Maybe it's because I'm able to be a little more consistent with getting to the desk, or maybe...I don't know. But I am pleased with my progress.

The workshop last night had me thinking a lot about my process. The author presenting the workshop claims to be a "pantser," someone to whom plotting does not come naturally. But dang, she plots her books WAY more than I do, and--while I Cannot write as a pure "fly into the mist" type, I can't write down what scenes go in what chapters either. If she is a pure organic writer, she's probably using this plotting-by-chapter method to keep herself on track, but my books don't have that much structure that early.

They have structure, but they don't have chapters. I don't know where my chapter breaks fall until I put the book into the computer on my 2nd draft. I know my turning points, and I write from one to the next, but if I tried to decide ahead of time what scenes will go into what chapter--I never know just how long a scene is going to be before I write it. It might expand way beyond what I think it will be once I get into it--and then have to be shortened. Or maybe not. I was thinking in an earlier place that I would get some action into the story by having a riot--but something else happened instead. And my heroine had to be rescued. Hmm. The scene I'm working on now will have a riot-ish occurrence--so this would probably be a good place to show her competence, and that she can rescue the hero as well... Okay, good. Thanks for helping me with that.

In other news, there is a brand new stoplight--not a post-hurricane repaired one, but a brand, spanking new one--on my way to work. I haven't decided yet if I like it. I seldom go through it during rush hour--and yes, we do have one. So the stop sign really worked better for me when I was using it. But everyone else is probably glad of not getting run over by rush hour. ;) On the rest of the island, we're still dealing with "sometimes the stoplights work, and sometimes they don't." Oh well.

I'm going to draw names for the ARC giveaway for my newsletter subscribers after Thanksgiving. The Texas grandboys, and our boys, will be home for the holiday, so I'm not going to think about promo stuff till then. I'll try to blog next week. Who knows. Maybe I'll make it back here before then.

Whew!

The writing is going better this week. (Knock on wood. I sure don't want to jinx anything by saying so.)

Yes, I only got 2 pages written yesterday, but I finished a love scene, and those Always take me longer. And today, I got 6.5 pages written. Aftermaths are always easier.

I was limited to 2 pages because I had to take the computer in to the shop. (There is a "spare" in the boy's room.) All the places on the island that I knew about got flooded, but a Computer Geeks shop on the mainland sounded good, so I carted it in (they even do housecalls, but I wanted to take it in) and left my baby in their hands. They've already called me to discuss what the problem probably is, so...maybe I'll have it back soon. I'm contemplating getting it upgraded. We'll see how much that will cost me.

And on the way back, I got to drive across the New Side of the Causeway. The southbound lanes are finished and I drove across. It was pouring rain, the wind was blowing really hard, so I was having to concentrate on staying in my lane, rather than looking around. I have a high profile vehicle, so the wind can really catch it and blow me around--and it did. But it was nice to have lots of room, normal width lanes, emergency lanes, and all that. It's really going to be nice when it's all done.

Today, we were supposed to have a 70% chance of rain, but all the rain must have fallen yesterday. It's gorgeous outside...

And I'm driveling. So I'll stop.

One Step Forward, Two--Sideways?

The traffic light at Ave. O has gone out again. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

I'm excited because I can go pick up mail more often, now that they have trailers with P.O. boxes in them at my post office. Of course this new substitute mailbox is so tiny, we have to pick it up often... I am waiting on books (no surprise) and meds, so I hope they get here soon. Soon-ish.

And the causeway is almost done! I think the southbound lanes, which have been under construction since long before we moved to town, have already opened. It will be another few weeks while they re-stripe the northbound lanes (both north- and southbound traffic have been traveling on that side) to give us emergency lanes and shoulders, but it is almost finished. I am not the only person who will be happy. The causeway suffered no damage in the storm--except for some newly planted palm trees that got smashed down and a busted up sign or two. The roadway--even the part under construction--was just fine. Okay, it had a lot of boats and sand strewn all over it, but once they moved the boats, no problem. (They were still moving boats early this week...) (Lots of boats on the causeway.)

I'm in a good mood. I got 6 pages written today. Doesn't sound like much, but that's my "usual" number (especially considering I only wrote 1.5 yesterday)--though I'm still striving to get more, even with the interruptions. The switch from Daylight time falling at the same time as returning from New York's Eastern time has me waking up early, so I get to work earlier and can get more done.

Also, I went to get the new LKHamilton book, Swallowing Darkness, the day it came out, as well as J.D. Robb's Salvation in Death, and am happily devouring same.

Life. It requires laundry. And groceries. And people who cook food. I had better go take care of some of those things.

Warmer weather

Back home again under sunny skies and WARM weather. It got up to 80F yesterday. But I need to finish the story, right? The one about the trip to NYC.

We're up to Friday, I believe. I had good intentions about writing in the mornings while I was there. But good intentions often flounder when faced by--well, good books. And a soft bed. And other temptations. I didn't write diddly-squat. Not one stinkin' word, much less a good word. But I shall persevere. (Just not today.)

See, right before I went to New York, I did some reviews (look me up on Good Reads or Shelfari) which I share with an online loop (Romance Readers Anonymous--look it up at Yahoo! Groups) and with Sarah at the Smart Bitches site, and when I sent it to Sarah, I mentioned that I would be in her neighborhood, and maybe we could get together sometime. She e-mailed me back, and when I checked e-mails online on the fella's laptop, I saw it, called her, and we set up lunch together on Friday. So I had TWO business lunches in NYC.

I left early, because of my getting-turned-around issues, so hopefully I wouldn't get too lost and would have time to find the place and not be late. And of course, despite my little out-and-in dance at the subway doors, I got there early, so I had time to walk around the block and look at all the fancy schmanzy jewelry stores. I was almost afraid to look at some of those things too closely in the windows, they were so fancy and expensive looking. It was really fun talking to Sarah. She thinks in a lot more depth than I do--or maybe she's more conscious of it than I am. It was a fabulous lunch. (I had pizza--I don't get to often, given then fella's allergies.) We'd never met in person, but it was as if we'd been friends--for months, anyway. Lots of fun.

She suggested walking down 5th Ave. to see the stores--so I did. Until my knees and hips gave out--I still shop till I drop, but the drop point comes a lot sooner these days.

Friday night, we went to see To Be or Not To Be--a play, not a musical. It was very good also. We just had the best time going to see plays and shows. Let's see--Friday was the dinner with his board of directors. Went to a Tuscan/Northern Italian restaurant and had a fabulous dinner (veal crepes for appetizer, beef w/polenta, etc.) in great company. We went before the show, which I liked a little better, I think, than going afterward.

Saturday, we slept kind of late, then went out to find something for the grandboys. We shopped around the hotel, in Times Square, (I got a Times Square mug for me--had tea in it today) then went down to Chinatown to shop some down there, and have lunch. (General Tso's chicken, this time.) Looked at a lot of stuff, but didn't find anything we really wanted to buy. So we rode the subway back uptown, stopped here and there. New York has some really fancy stores and boutiques. It also has a K-Mart. (We found at least one.) Saw Madison Square Garden. Got myself sorta un-turned around. Saw a fur wholesaler, but what would I do with a fur in Galveston? It barely gets cold enough for a sweater... We finally picked up some gifties for the grandboys, and went back to the hotel for a nap. I took one, anyway.

Saturday night's show was Hairspray. That was the fella's pick. We each picked one musical and got tickets before we left home. Then while we were in town, we decided on the two other plays. We sat on the extreme outside end, but we saw everything just fine. It was a fun show.

But when it was done, we had to go back to the hotel and pack up. Which meant I had to decide what to do with and where to put all those books I got. I've read 2-1/2 of them by now.

Sunday was taken up with getting home again. We left the hotel early to avoid the marathon. Yes, the NY marathon ran that Sunday (that's two marathons I've had to avoid this year), and for several days before hand, there were people in spandex wandering (and sometimes running) all over town. Speaking in all sorts of languages. Even Welsh.

Anyway, we're home again. My brain is more or less functioning. The post office has set up new boxes in trailers behind the downtown postoffice which is still closed, so I don't have to drive off the island any more to get the mail. Gradually, life is getting more and more back to normal. Now I just need to get back to a good writing schedule.

NYC, Day 2

I'm not awake yet. That's okay. I'm going to try to blog anyway.

So, yesterday was my visit to the Tor offices. Since we'd gone on a sort-of dry run on the subway past the stop where I needed to get off to visit, I took the subway down, but came up the wrong exit and didn't know which way to turn from my exit. I'm usually not too directionally challenged, but I have had a hard time here keeping myself oriented. I don't know if it's the height of the buildings and being unable to really keep track of the sun, or what, but every time I come out of the hotel, I have to stop and look around and figure out which way is uptown (north) and which way is downtown (south). And then I can get where I'm going. And I always think it's the other way than what it is--or at least a lot of the time I do.

Anyway, I got turned around when I came up from the subway, and walked the wrong way for about 5 minutes, then turned around and went back. Finally wound up calling Heather. Somewhere in all this, I missed the fact that the building I was looking for was actually the Flatiron building, and wound up walking all the way around it to make sure it was the place I was trying to go. But I made it! And everyone was impressed that I took the subway to get there. :) (Even me!)

I have pictures, and I will post them. Discovered that when I changed batteries in the camera before I left town that I put in an almost dead one. But I have another to put in, so I can take more pictures. Anyway--I visited with Heather a while. We talked to the publicity people and the sales people--they'd just bought an ad for New Blood in RT, which makes me happy. I might get some book excerpt brochures to share around. Just got lots of ARCs to share around, so that makes me happy too.

We went to lunch at an Indian food place, and talked food and traveling. Heather and I have both been to St. Petersburg--the one in Russia. She was there the year after I went. Then we went back to the office, and I got to meet the art guy (he wasn't there when we went by before) and he had official cover flats. See, they're doing the title and my name all glossy, and the rest of the cover in matte, which makes the title and the name look Very Cool. It jumps out at you. AND, my name and the outline around the title is actually in a metallic gold, not yellow. And that is Very Cool too. So I got a handful of those too. Sign up for my newsletter. I'll be giving away some copies of the book soon. When I get home and pick up those boxes of books. (To sign up, send an e-mail to gail @ gaildayton.com with Subscribe in the subject line.)

And after all that cool stuff, Heather took me to the lobby, where there were books lining most of the walls, and said "See anything you like? Take whatever you want." Well, geez...that was like setting a miser loose in Aladdin's cave, with the genie gone. I tried to limit myself. After all, I only had a small totebag to carry stuff in. And I still had to pack them in carefully to squeeze them all in. And when I got back to the hotel (on the subway), I had to stop off in the lobby and unpack my bag to get to my wallet where the room key was.

But that was just the beginning of the day!

I took a nap. And read about half of one of the books (the hardback, because I'm afraid it will make my suitcase too heavy). And then went with our friends the Kellys to see The 39 Steps, which yes, is based on the old A. Hitchcock movie, but done as a comedy spoof. Lots of fun. Then out to dinner, with cheesecake. Yum.

More fun on tap today. Will post tomorrow--or whenever I get around to it.

New York, New York

Here I am in New York. No Pictures, because I am using the fella's laptop and I don't know if I can download pictures. Besides, I haven't taken any yet. So--

This is my second time (ever) in NYC. The first time was five or six years ago, so needless to say, we don't come here often. Impressions:

Manhattan is an island, not a sand bar, like the island I live on. Lots of water and lots of other islands. Not much in the way of surf--but then I haven't been out to the "beach" islands.

There doesn't appear to be any such thing as traffic lanes. If a driver can squeeze a car into a space, he squeezes, forget where the lines are painted on the street.

Lots and lots of people, lots of languages. Galveston has as much variety, but not nearly as much quantity.

It's really hard to sleep on an airplane.

We got up way, way before dawn so we could drive across Houston to the Other airport to catch an early flight. It is actually possible to avoid all traffic slowdowns if you're crossing downtown at 5 a.m. And we had to leave the island at 4 a.m. to get to downtown Houston by 5. Yes, it is that far. Houston comes all the way out to meet us (okay, there are nearly a dozen little towns/suburbs once you reach Galveston County, but it's city all the way.) I kept trying to sleep on the plane, but it kept not working.

We checked into our hotel and rode the subway down to Chinatown for lunch, because I was in the mood for Chinese. We wandered around and goggled at the buildings and stuff in the stores and such. NYC doesn't have as much Chinese-styled architecture as San Francisco, where I was back in July/August. (This laptop keyboard is weird. Keep missing letters and spaces.)

We rode the subway back to Times Square, where our hotel is, and went looking for a drugstore or some place where we could get drinks and stuff for the room. Then I took a nap. I was really tired, and wanted to be able to stay awake. Because we went to see Spamalot. (Or is it Spamalot!?)

It was totally wonderful. Loved "The Song that Goes Like This" and "What happened to My Part?" and--well, just all of it. Clay Aiken was "Brave" Sir Robin. One of the understudies did Lancelot, and he was so good I'm scared to think what the --overstudy?--the regular guy would do with it.

Anyway, it was heaps of fun. And then we went out to dinner at a Brasilian restaurant, Brazil Brazil. That was quite good too.

Today will be a full day--not quite sure what it will be full with, but... I might be able to report back tomorrow. If I can figure out how to get on line, and stuff.

Busy, busy, busy

Been working the dayjob a little extra because of some trips I've been making, so it's made it tough to get by here and post a blog. And it's been tough to get the writing done. I am just CREEPING along. Bleah.

Went to Waco this past weekend for a writing retreat. Critiqued some stories and got a crit. Did some fun writing exercises which might turn into stories later. Others helped me get a handle on characters. It was peaceful--except when the trail riders were giving out awards just outside our cabin-shack where we stayed.

Don't have much to share, actually. I'm kinda brain dead. So I'll just let you know I'm still alive. Still plodding through the book. Been out of town, fixing to go again. And working a lot. So. That's my life.

Galveston's Library

One of the places in Galveston that was badly flooded by Hurricane Ike was Rosenberg Library. It's near downtown, where 10 to 12 feet of sea water came in from Galveston Bay, and all that water completely wiped out everything on the library's first floor. Basically, the entire children's library. This first picture is a view looking in from the door. The spiral staircase leads up to the adult section, and the children's library is, I believe, off to the left, if the camera's facing the direction I think it is. You see all the CDs in the right foreground? Mud and salt water isn't good for CDs.

They lost the entire children's collection. Not just books, but shelving and chairs and DVDs and CDs and finger puppets and everything. The wave action picked up everything that wasn't fastened down--and some things that were (I think I see part of the front counter in this second picture.) and tossed them around. They do not even have shelves to put books on, so they can't really accept donations of actual books. But if y'all have a few dollars to spare--even just $5--that would go a long way to getting Rosenberg Library to the point where they CAN get books (and other materials) back in the hands of the kids.

Right now, the children's librarians are doing mobile storytimes. It's a "You provide the place and kids, we'll bring the stories and fun," kind of thing where people can call and request a librarian with a story. Even with their facility in this kind of mess (and they are beginning to get the mess cleaned out--beginning to), they're providing services.

Parts of Galveston, like my neighborhood, escaped with very little damage. Other parts--well, they look like these pictures. (You can see the layered mud on the floor in this last picture--a lot of the books and other materials were sunk in that stuff.) There are so many needs here, so many people that need help. This is the one that speaks to me. Books have made a difference in my life. Books need to be available to make a difference in the lives of the children of Galveston.

Y'all can visit Rosenberg Library on their website, where there is a donation button, or you can send a donation to Rosenberg Library, 2310 Sealy Ave., Galveston, TX 77550. (Any donation is tax-deductible.) Anything is appreciated.

Thanks, y'all.

NEW BLOOD - The Cover

This is it. The official cover for the upcoming book. New Blood by Gail Dayton, coming from Tor Books in March 2009.

I really like it. Note the Victorian-era type font for the title. See the spiffy steampunk-y gears and such in the background. Note the heroine's white dress. And yeah, there's blood on her skirt. But there are no vampires. Just magic.

It's totally different from pretty much everything out there, and ought to catch a few eyes. I'm hoping they're willing to give it a chance. And the blood? There's really not that much spilled in the story. Drops here and there. Well, except during the sword fight. But it's not like buckets-o-blood or total gore or anything. It's a really good book.

Nalini Singh says so. And y'all like Nalini Singh's books, right? After she read it, she send me an e-mail. "Read it. Loved it. Must have more." Yep, she said that. Thrilled me no end. So anyway, that's the cover.

I mailed my page proofs back on Tuesday. I drove across the causeway to do it Monday, without realizing it was Columbus Day--did not have a clue it was a holiday--but I was still able to go pick up the router and cable we needed to set up the back-up computer, so it wasn't a total waste of the drive. I drove back across (it's only about 3 miles of bridge, but it's another 10 miles to reach "civilization") Tuesday and picked up the mail and got directions to the Hitchcock post office, which is supposedly easier to find than the La Marque post office. I also rewarded myself by going to the closest mall and buying Robin D. Owens' new release (Heart Fate). Then I promptly got lost trying to find the Hitchcock post office. Which was dumb, because it is right there on Hwy. 6. But I turned the wrong way. If I'd turned the other way--if I'd even LOOKED the other way--I probably would have seen it. Anyway, I turned back before I got all the way into Bayou Vista (an actual town, but without its own post office), so didn't take too much time. I'll know for the next time.

Because, even though they're talking about bringing in trailers to give out the box mail at the downtown post office in the next week or two, and have "mobile post offices" to sell stamps and stuff, they still don't have the machines to weigh and dispense parcel postage. If I need to mail a manuscript or books or contest winnings (which I NEED to do, for a contest at the 2 B Read blog), I still have to drive to a "real" post office. Which also gives me an excuse to go back to the mall and browse the bookstore... :) (Not that I really need excuses...)

Still with the slogging on the book. They're about to discover the second murdered body. They stayed up all night hoping to thwart the murderer, but Nooooo-- (Bwah-ha-hah! rubbing hands snidely whiplash-ly) No, it's another dead body. This one deposited by an actual demon in a popular park.

So. In island news--we had a rainstorm Monday, and a whole bunch of the stop lights that had actually started working normally Quit, again. I think every stoplight on 53rd street had finally started working right, then the rain came and boom! None of them worked. It was back to 4-way stop sign rules. I think all but one were working properly again today. Avenue O is still being a little hinky. Before-Ike, it was the Avenue Q stoplight that went out every time it rained. Oh well. Three steps forward, one step back.

We went out and drove around the West End over the weekend--the devastation there is just heartbreaking. I got pictures of ONE of the giant trash piles on the island. I'll put them up once I get them downloaded.

Return to semi-Normalcy

So. I'm going to open with the good news.

I just got word. THE ETERNAL ROSE, the 3rd book in my One Rose trilogy, won the 2008 Prism Award for Best Fantasy. (THE BARBED ROSE (book 2) won the Prism in 2007, fyi.) Needless to say, I am totally chuffed. It was fabulous news to come in the wake of all the hurricane disruption.

The dead refrigerator is gone from our front curb. So are the branches off the "pine" in the back yard and the other branches. We didn't have much in the way of trash, compared to so many folks. There are two huge, huge vacant lots--one off Broadway near the "entrance" to the island, and one off Seawall somewhere. (I drive by the one on Broadway on the way to work. Haven't been by the one on Seawall.) Anyway, both of these lots are used as a collection spot for the trash and debris picked up by the city, before it's taken off the island by two contractors. The trash is piled 10-15 feet high and covers almost the entire lot that I've seen. The other one is in similar state. They're removing trash from the lots as fast as they can fill up the trucks and drive them off, but more keeps coming. And it doesn't seem as if they've made a dent in the trash and debris piled outside the houses I drive past every day.

On the other hand, MY life is pretty much back to normal. Dolly the granddog is home. We finally have all our services back, including internet. The computer is doing strange things (like spontaneously shutting down/restarting every 10 to 20 minutes or so), and may have to go in to the shop, but we have hot showers! And drinkable water! And cable television. All the amenities.

I only had to drive across the causeway to work in the Texas City newspaper office for three days once I went back to work this week. The newsroom moved back to the island on Thursday. Now we only have to make the trip over the causeway to pick up mail. They're delivering first class mail to houses on the island now, (which means no magazines, etc.) but the post offices, including the P.O. Boxes, won't open ... well, the downtown post office, where our box was, is "closed indefinitely." However, picking up box mail at the temporary place is a lot easier than picking up residence mail. So we'll probably keep doing that for a while, till they start delivering ALL the mail to houses.

The grocery stores are open. Target is open. The junior college and schools are back in session. I feel so utterly grateful that we came through this with so little damage and disruption. Especially when I see all around me people who are dealing with the loss of everything they own. Still, as so many of my friends have said, "It's just stuff. Stuff can be replaced."

And I still have a book to write. I have been slogging along this week. Four pages most days, though today, I only wrote one. I got my page proofs yesterday. These are the first proofs I've ever gotten that actually look like book pages. (Harlequin sends these really funky looking things...) So I wrote one page, and got to work on the proofs.

Because of the disruption on the island, the proofs got returned to Tor the first time they sent them, so my original deadline's been extended, but I think I ought to be able to get them in the mail by that date, if not back to them. And I still want to write at least a half-page every day before I start working on the proofs. They're pretty clean, so it shouldn't be too tough.

Now, I just need to get back into an exercise routine. The beach is pretty much gone, near my house, and they're trying to keep people on the island side of the seawall, anyway. The rocks are still littering the sidewalk, so it's not really fit for bicycle riding. I'll just have to head over and walk. The weather's starting to cool down a little, so the walking will be pleasant. I've been a real slug while I've been evacuated...

Finally going home

The fella went down last Thursday--to avoid the 10-mile long backup of people trying to get to the island on Wednesday. No electricity. No gas. No drinkable water--but flushable toilets.

I went down on Saturday with my sister and niece, so they could pick up her car. It was a totally gorgeous day. The surf was almost non-existent. We got a mini-tour of the city--mostly just what was around our neighborhood. Then I got the fella to drop us off at the seawall just up from our house so we could let the niece walk down the jetty.

See all those rocks in the background? They're at the bottom of the seawall, which is where we're standing (on the top). They were covered up with sand before the storm. This is one of the few places along the seawall that still had sand, and it's only there for about half the distance between jetties. I'll see if I can get a couple more pictures onto my dad's computer, so I can share them with you. Our visitors just stayed for a little while. Maybe an hour. Then they had to take their rescued, non-damaged car, and go back home. I stayed.

The weather was really nice. It was cool out on the seawall where the breeze was blowing, but it got hot walking back to the house. Still, it was cool enough that I could take a nap after our company left and didn't get overheated at all. We waited a little late to cook supper that night. We were pushing it to get everything cooked on our grill before we lost the light. We dined by candlelight.

Sunday, we moved the refrigerator that belonged to the rent house out, because it was just totally gross. It was the only thing that had to go. Our own refrigerator grew a little bit of gunk, but this one... It dribbled gunky water when we had to tip it to get it out the front door, and made the whole house smell like dead fish. Had to wash it up with Clorox solution. That helped. A lot. We found out that even though our neighborhood only had a few houses with minimal damage, the city had told the power company that there was too much damage to turn the electricity on.

Just one street over, in houses that back up to the houses across the street from us, that is true. (See pictures.) But not in our street. So the fella (and at least one neighbor) called the power company up and told them the correct information. By 4 p.m., we had electricity. We're still boiling the water to wash dishes and drinking the bottled stuff. The gas isn't on, so we don't have hot water. Fortunately, the cold water is closer to lukewarm (though with the cooler weather, it's not as close as it is in August...) so cold showers aren't that cold.

Let's see, what else did I do on my island visit? Oh, we packed up stuff the son will need at college. They transferred the local campus students to the main university campus, and he managed to get into an apartment, so we needed to bring up more clothes, his computer cords and peripherals, and some linens. That went into my car.

Most of the damage on the island was due to the storm surge. The previous two pictures are of the neighborhood right next to ours. The water action took out a lot of brick and stone walls. Wind took out others. If just the top was knocked down, we figure it was wind. If the whole thing was down--water.

The tree lying on its side on the junior college campus is a pecan tree which didn't get knocked over by the wind. It looked fine right after the storm. But the salt water that covered the campus killed the tree, and three weeks later, it just gave up and laid itself over. Looks maybe like the roots died, because not much of them came up when the tree lay down.

I took some pictures of the Strand district downtown, but I had the camera turned sideways, and I can't find a program on Daddy's computer that will turn them right side up and save them, and when I get home later this week, I won't have internet access. I don't think. All of the buildings downtown took on water. All of them have a lot of damaged contents. But I don't think any of the buildings themselves were damaged structurally. They don't look damaged. But I'm sure you know how much that's worth from this non-expert.

This picture here is of the seawall at one of the seawall parks near 45th Street. I think this is the one with the 1900 Hurricane Memorial at the far end (off to the right) that was in so many of the "Live from Galveston" weather reports during Hurricane Ike.

Anyway, down below the park areas, a whole lot of rock and broken concrete and rubble was piled as...protection? Support? Not sure why it was piled up there. But the storm waves picked up a whole lot of it and deposited it on the seawall and street.

You can see three benches in the right foreground. Those are concrete benches. There were quite a few of them at these parks. The benches got floated around and totally rearranged during the storm. Handrails got ripped off the staircases going from the top of the seawall to the beach. Boats floated up onto the freeway. There's one stuck on the walls in the median between the north and southbound sides. Damage everywhere. And yet, lots of places didn't take much damage at all. (Like my house.)

I feel utterly blessed. I don't know why my home and our belongings were spared, but I am so totally grateful. I'm grateful for friends and even acquaintances who have worried and wondered and for all the doors that have opened to take us all in. Even (or maybe especially) the evacuation kennel looking after Dolly the granddog.

I'm going home to stay probably tomorrow. Dolly should be home by Saturday. The boy has his new apartment put together. His class schedule still has two classes at one time, but hopefully he'll get that worked out soon. (His classes meet only one time per week in marathon sessions because they're having to squeeze them in wherever. One class meets at the Methodist church on campus.) The Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Kroger grocery store on the island are all open, as are a few gas stations. We're still boiling water, but life is beginning to come back together. Thank God for all the blessings he's given.

High and dry

I tried to post another blog the other day, but the electricity blinked out for a few seconds at the parents' house, and I never did get back to it.

So. The word is Very Good about our house. We did not get any water inside, not even in the garage, that we could tell. So my baby sister's car is fine. We can't get it out, but it's fine. See, we only have a key to the front door of this rent house. The front door is a double door that had to be barricaded against getting blown in by a 2x4 bolted down to the door frame. (The bolts are permanently installed.) So we can't get in the front door. And with the power off, we can't open the garage door. We now have a generator (imported from Kansas, because apparently you can't buy a generator in Texas for love nor money), but haven't been able to get across the causeway to do anything about it. One of the trees got a little torn up. There are some shingles missing from the ridgeline. That's about it, for our house. But the island is in such bad shape, there's no point in going down yet. (Besides the fact that they won't let us come.)

The sister on the cruise--the cruise ship docked in New Orleans. They rented cars and drove to Austin to put the kids on a plane so they could go back to work.

Our church had essentially no damage. The only one on the island in that kind of shape, I am told. Friends who rode out the storm on their boat came through okay, though the boat was damaged. Another friend, who lives on the mainland where they said just to hunker down, had two big trees fall on their house and they had to evacuate their house in the middle of the night when the winds were blowing hard. But they're okay and their pets are too.

They are going to start classes for A&M Galveston on the main A&M campus next week. I've got a temporary berth for the boy to stay, until he can find something else, or until they move back to Pelican Island. They're talking about being back on their own campus by the end of October.

I've gone up to stay with the in-laws for a while. I like to see the fella face to face at least once a week. He did go down to check things out yesterday (which is where the house report came from), and Galveston College is in great shape too. The storm broke 5 plate glass windows. Two in a hallway, one in a faculty member's office, and two in classrooms with little besides desks in them. Their buses didn't even get messed up.

It's going to cost a fortune to get everything put back together. Hopefully, not too much in terms of time.

I'm trying to get some writing done, and have actually been doing pretty good at that. Ten plus pages to the good this week.

Y'all take care.

All Weather Channel All the Time

I am sitting in my parents' house in a little town SE of Austin, watching Hurricane Ike on the Weather Channel. I like the Weather Channel, because their reporters are actually on Galveston Island. In fact, they're staying in a hotel not far from my house. So when they do their live reports from the seawall, I can see how high the waves are splashing up, and how high the water is coming over the seawall, and see just how likely it is that my house is underwater.

So far, the waves are just splashing. But the surge hasn't hit yet. If the surge is 25 feet, like they're talking, my house will probably be under water, up to the roof. We're all safely tucked away. I have all our pictures in boxes in the back of my SUV, and I brought the computer with me. But the thought of losing everything else we own gives me a pang. However--they're only things. The son went to visit his girlfriend and took the granddog, who is staying in an evacuation kennel because she can't stay in the dorms.

I'm taking the chance to help out the parents. Took Mama shopping for upholstery fabric to get her living room chairs recovered. They haven't been re-done in 30 years. Now if I can just make sure she remembers which was the perfect fabric we picked out. (I wrote it down, and marked the page in the book. Now need to show my sister and niece, so they can make sure.)

Be praying for the idiots who stayed on the island--about 40% of the population, from what the news is saying. And they're saying this hurricane could be bigger than "The Big One" that hit in 1900 (on my birthday).

My sister is out on a cruise ship which will linger off Cozumel until the port opens again--probably coming back in a day after they were originally scheduled. My other sister's car is in my garage, because the one on the cruise ship drove it down. So if our house goes, the borrowed car will go too. Oh well. So, yeah. Prayers. For people first, then for, well, stuff. I'm safe. The family is safe. What else do we need? Bless you all.

Pre-Bug-Out Post

Just a quick post here to let y'all know that--while at the moment Hurricane Ike is forecast to land a little north of Matagorda Bay, Ike is big enough that his outside edge will scrape the island pretty hard. Least little bit of turn to the north, and we'll get hit even harder, so I'm packing up the computer and all my totebags with manuscripts, and my two portable hard drives and my CDs of grandbaby pictures, and I'm heading for Austin.

The boy is already gone with the granddog to see his girlfriend in Waco. Need to plug in the head editor's phone number so I can call and let them know I'm not coming in...

Wish us luck. We're driving out tonight. Got to pack.

Hurricane Ike

So, now we're waiting to see whether Ike wants to come to Texas. He's tracking our direction, so far. If he comes ashore at Corpus Christi or south, I might not have to leave, depending on how strong a storm he is at that point. If he comes ashore in Texas anywhere north of there, the fella's probably going to make me leave town (again, depending on how big a storm it is--anything Category 3 or up, I'm gone). I'll take the new car and my computer and all my manuscripts, and go stay with the parents. We'll know by Wednesday morning.

Oh, and it's my birthday today, but we didn't do anything. I think I'm going to hold out for dinner at Gaido's after Ike passes. Probably won't get it, but I might get lucky. We'll see.

Got 3 whole pages written today. It has been a really hard grind. But at least I got Something. Maybe tomorrow will be better. And maybe I can still get stuff written, even if I have to bug out. It's really hard to write at Mom & Dad's though, because Mama wants me to talk to her, and keeps forgetting if I tell her I need to work. (sigh)

And we have an extra car here. My sister in Idaho brought her family down to go on a cruise, and they borrowed the other sister's car to drive over from Austin, and it's now parked in our back yard. Four cars. Three drivers. If Ike does come, we don't have enough people to get all the cars out of Dodge. (Sigh again.) We're just hoping the storm surge is 17 feet or less. The seawall is 17 feet high, so it can handle that much surge. More, and we're probably flooded.

Think south.

Writer's Block, or The Lazies, or...?

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's not writer's block. I don't get that very much. I do, however, suffer tremendously from The Lazies, and from The Stupids. (The Lazies are pretty much self-explanatory. The Stupids--that's where your characters are stupid, the dialogue is stupid, the narrative is Stupid, the Plot is STupid, and EVERYTHING IS JUST STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!) (Have you ever noticed how stupid-sounding the word "stupid" is? Especially when you say it three times fast?)

There is also another category of "not writing," however. It's the "I don't know exactly where the story needs to go next, and I need to not-think about it," category.

Yeah. I know. That doesn't sound real...professional. It sounds all Procrastination-y, and Making-Excuses-ish. But...

I have found that sometimes I need to back off and let the swamp--er, the subconscious--(okay, yeah, the swamp. My subconscious is a swamp, okay?) have the story for a while and chew on it. (My swamp has alligators. They chew things.) Sometimes, I need to consciously not-think about a story, let the swamp have its way with it, and then when I go back, the story is there and ready to go, and if I try to force it when it needs to go to the swamp and ferment a while, it's worse than if I ignore the story and don't think about it and don't write it. If I let it go a day or two, then I get farther when I come back than if I sat at the desk and Made myself write. Makes no sense, but there it is.

And yet... maybe I AM just being lazy, and avoiding the work. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. Do I need to be castigating myself for laziness, or am I actually accomplishing something, even if it might not look like it?

This is where I've been the last day or two. I got a whole 2.5 pages written yesterday. That's it. Wrote nothing at all on Monday. Today, I didn't even go sit down at the desk--except to put on my socks. Because I'm not really sure where the story needs to go next. Do I need to write a time passage-transition scene? Do I need some other scene? The book is too dang long already. I need to have a villain scene in here somewhere soon--some kind of adventure/danger-type scene. But I have no idea what it ought to be, or whether it ought to be the real villain or the red-herring villain. Or maybe the real villain manipulating the red-herring villain. Or the RH villain doing something, and the real villain gloating. Or something completely out of left field. This is one of the things that my swamp does really well--come up with ideas for this sort of thing, so I kind of think this isn't just the Lazies--though they probably do play in here a little...

I have discovered some things my hero needs to realize, and one thing my heroine needs to learn, so that's been good. It's just time to figure out some specifics, and now that the swamp has had time to chomp on things a bit, I may need to do some free-writing to figure out what exactly needs to happen next. Maybe the writing will come faster.

Since Gustav turned out to be a non-event here--no evacuation order for the island or anything--I went swimming with the guys Sunday. It was fun. Didn't even have big waves. It was the kind of ocean swimming I love best. The older son came down for a visit, and the two boys went out to try to ride the skim board on Saturday. We have scraped knees--sand will really take the hide off you--and sore ankles. There were some pretty spectacular falls. I laughed. We sent the older son home to Dallas Sunday a.m., though, just in case Gustav decided to skim along the coast. He did help clear out the garage so the new car could fit in. But as it turned out, we didn't even get any rain. (pout) We're still low on rainfall for the year.

We did get some big shells. I found my biggest clump of rose-colored barnacles yet. Big as my fist. I was out walking with Dolly the granddog--let her off the leash so she could run fast--and had fun trying to hang onto my shells and get her back on the leash. She did come back and hold still for me to do it--but she played "can't catch me" at least once, first.

My internet is out at home. I have to take the computer in somewhere to get it fixed. Grr. And I'm not even sure where to take it. Haven't been happy with the 2 places we've taken the boy's computer so far. Best Buy may be next on the list.

And I have to go to the dentist tomorrow morning. Had a dumb filling come out. Maybe I'll have time to take the computer somewhere after that. May as well "waste" the whole morning. Maybe I can get LOTS written on Friday. I can only try. Maybe by then, I'll know what I need to be writing...

Hurricane Gustav

Gussie will just not make up his mind. While we anxiously wait to hear whether he's going to smack down New Orleans again, or turn left and try to blow our little island away, Gustav is out messing around with Cuba, heading for the Gulf. Folks are shutting things down, just in case, so they don't have to come back and do it over the holiday.

I haven't been out to the Seawall yet today, but yesterday, there was no wind whatsoever. The water was like glass. We'll see what the next few days hold.

Today was a better writing day. I got 5.5 pages written.

I would have done more, but I had to stop early to head out to lunch with the newsroom folks because the Mainland Editor has taken a new (better paying) job, and today was his last day. Lunch was at the Original Mexican Cafe (Restaurant?), and I had some excellent fish tacos (fried, battered fish with crispy corn tortilla shells--I'm amazed at the variety in fish tacos). It's in an old house in the historic East End, not far from the medical school, and there's NO parking. I did finally find an easy-to-get-into spot about a block away, in the shade, even. And then I had to go to work. I have had lunch out several days this week. I guess I need to go ride the bike tonight to make up for some of that, huh?

The older son is flying down tonight to pick up our excess car. With one car per driver, when you add a car, you get an extra one. Better to let him have it than trade it in and get virtually nothing on the trade-in. We will see whether he has to evacuate with us.

Off to put more pictures in for Monday's Applause section...

Day by day

Not such good writing day today. Got 2.5 pages. Sigh. Much of it probably cuttable. Mostly transition-type stuff, which sometimes you need, but... Tomorrow, can go visit the dead zone. Play with metal machine cog critters. Need to give them cogs.

Beach was beachy. Saw a couple of catfish just washed up lying dead on the beach. Lots of crab prints. Lots of crabs--didn't pay attention before. A guy had a couple of St. Bernards out walking--they looked like they had played all they could stand to play and were almost too tired to walk home again. The water was ultra calm. No signs whatsoever of Gustav.

Boring blog post. Sorry. Feeling boring today.

Newsroom Faradiddle

Well, I can't seem to make Blogger upload a photo from another site, so I'm just going to have to make links to the pictures.

It seems that Clay Walker, the country music singer/star, has a house somewhere on the island. And he was at Home Depot the other day, buying bug spray for mosquitos, which have become a sudden problem due to recent rains. And the photographer with the newspaper where I work part time took his picture. And it didn't make the front page.

This has been a huge topic of conversation in the newsroom this afternoon. Yes, it apparently really is Clay Walker. Although those of us who did not have a clue as to who Clay Walker is (because we don't listen to country music) had to go look him up online to be sure it was him. There is much discussion, and laughter, and "Really?" and okay, some "Who's Clay Walker?" Anyway. That's the cool weird thing going on at the dayjob today.

I wrote almost six pages this a.m. New, fresh-as-a-daisy pages. With ranting. (The characters, not me.) Now, we are about to go into exposition. Over breakfast. The story, she progresses.

We are watching Hurricane Gustav to see whither he goeth.