Well. That was fun, actually.
I fear I bought a dragon.
And a mini rosemary sourdough loaf.
And soap (lavender honey oat).
And pocket warmers.
And a catnip-stuffed tarot card (“The Moon”) for the cats to fight over.
Also, I wrote a poem.
And now I want to sit on the deck with a nice glass of red wine.
Which is what I believe I will do.
Behold, the water dragon.
For those keeping track at home, according to the Chinese zodiac I am a water dragon.
Friday. Though Google swears otherwise, it’s raining. No, really. It is. I don’t say that it won’t quit raining, later, and the day star emerge from its cloudy boudoir to burn off the fog, but right now, it’s raining.
I have an invitation from Boskone to attend as a panelist in February, which I’ve been angsting over for the last week, trying to pummel myself into going and — I just can’t. I mean, I went down to Baltimore, because Steve would have had it so. BaltiCon after all had been our home con, not to mention that I personally owed a life-debt. But the thought of packing for a con, traveling, and arriving in order to perform inadequately on panels — even doing a reading, and I love to read to people — makes me want to simultaneously curl up into a ball and scream.
So, I’m guessing that answers that, and I had best just send my regrets.
Sarah will be by in an hour to clean. I fully expect to finish my in-depth reading of the first half of the WIP this morning and begin making Adjustments to the file. I’ve decided to pull the questionable sections for now and just concentrate on the main line, since that’s what I know, and keep on writing until I either reach the end of what I know, or the end of the book. Then I can piece in these other things. And it certainly won’t be the first time I/we built a book that way.
I am still planning to go to the Block Party this evening. I figure to go downtown earlyish, get a desert at Holy Cannoli and dawdle over a book until the festivities begin.
I had almost forgotten that today is the start of a Long Weekend, freelancers not always indulging in Long Weekends.
Who has plans?
And, once more, “I Fought the Law,” this time from the Bobby Fuller Four.
Proof of life photos here
Taking a smol break to rest my brain, and do PT homework.
So, I have a ticket to see “Frozen” (the play) at the Waterville Opera House in November. Still waffling on the Tommy Dorsey Christmas concert.
I think I have A Plan for being able to attend tomorrow afternoon’s block party (read park) downtown.
The play I saw on Sunday was called “Unabashedly” which was appearing for the first time anywhere, ever, in Waterville, Maine. Someone asked if I had liked the play, and! I’m not sure? I was confused at first when we’re introduced to two men who are living together, and for most of the play I thought they were a couple. This was kind of a good thing because it looked like the play was going in the direction of one of those two men — Dave, coincidentally an alcoholic, sober for 6 months — falling in love with a newly hired (female) coworker, and I was interested in if we were going to be talking about one of the established couple being bi and how the three of them were going to resolve their feelings. Turns out that the two guys weren’t gay, only friends.
The play was being sold on the “relatable characters.” Having once been vilified over a matter of days regarding my lack of empathy for Thomas Covenant, I admit freely that I know nothing about which characters are “relatable,” “true,” or “realistic.” I was, personally, annoyed by the characters in the play. Yes, all of them. But that is, I hasten to assure everyone, Just Me.
I also know nothing about plays, which often seem to me to be leaving most of the story out. So speaks the novelist.
That said, I thought this one was a bit thin, even by the rules of its own genre. About three-quarters through the first act, I actually thought I was just going to leave, though I did decide stay to the end, and I left feeling good. I felt good because the play had delivered a Happy Ending, which is always satisfying, even when the Happy Ending is a cliche, and you could see it coming a mile away, after you got unconfused about the relationship of the two initial characters.
So — more than you wanted to know about did I like the play.
I am looking forward to seeing “Coyote v Acme” this afternoon, but before that!
I need to do some more work.
What are you looking forward to, today?
So, FB is accessible this morning to the desktop through Ungoogled Chrome.
It is, for the record, Friday, sunny and cool, with the ‘beans calling a high on the day that falls well short of 80F.
I have Stuff to do today, and the boys in the basement need a day off. Also, if I’m reading the note on the torn-off corner of the potato chip bag right, more beer. Lucky for them, today’s Stuff includes a grocery run.
Last week, I guess it was, I was talking with the visiting nurse — same guy whose been here four out of the last five years, and at one point he said something along the lines of, “But you didn’t have a plain vanilla husband. Some of these guys . . .” and he let it drift off. And a week later, I’m still struggling with this, like I’m still, occasionally, struggling with something another guy said to me, a decade or so ago, now, I guess. He was telling me about his first marriage and how it ended, and how his second marriage started, and where it might be going. He was thinking about moving south, come retirement, and his wife had agreed, only he had lately come to understand that “south” to her was Portland, and not South Carolina. And he said something along the lines of, “Well, I guess we could call an end,” and I probably frowned at him, because he said, “No, look. It’s not like we have anything as tight as you guys have. It’s just . . . convenient.”
Now, I happen to think that I’ve been lucky in love, and in most of my life, but I also like to think that I — that we — weren’t the exception to some kind of universal order, stipulating, as we must, that love — and luck — is idiosyncratic. So, those two little stories — they bother me.
Well.
Who else is doing errands today?
Tuesday. Sunny and warm. I’m exhausted, which has been a Running Theme since my last bad back episode. I’m really not sleeping well, and I recently recalled that, one of the gifts that Steve gave me was the ability to sleep. Before I met him, I slept, eh, maybe four hours a night? Because there was too much to be afraid of, and nobody to share the watch with me. Apparently, I’m reverting to type.
Well. that’s lowering.
One thousand six hundred and thirty-ish new words this morning, which brings the WIP to 41,900 words, total, which seems slightly surreal, but — onward.
The garbage truck just went by, so I’m for getting the recycling bin back to the garage, then doing my expanded duty to the cats, and — lunch.
Needlework this afternoon at the library, and I decided that, indeed I do need to be a member of Waterville Creates. I let the membership drop when Steve died, figuring it was an extraneous expense, but — apparently not. Which means that, while I’m downtown this afternoon, I need to drop by the Arts Center to pick up my membership packet.
I also remembered why “Coyote vs Acme” seemed so familiar to me — ‘way back in 2022 or so, there’d been word of this movie on the make, and in 2023, Warner Brothers decided the film would make them more money by being a Tax Break, and shelved it. The film makers went to war and only now, three years later, has WB allowed them the right to put the film into limited distribution. I remember saying to Steve at the time news of the Tax Break came down, “Are they nuts? That thing’s gonna earn the asking price on the next solar system.”
Sigh.
Hope everyone’s doing well on this fine Tuesday in August.
So I was slightly confushed. This morning’s tour was of Messalonskee Lake aka Snow Pond. No sand cranes sighted this trip, but lots of loons, some terns, and a few eagles.
Always nice to be on the water. Cap’n Gary was very knowledgeable about the lake, the history, and the famous people who live on the shore. Three hours may have been a tad too long, but I couldn’t say I was bored at any point.
Photos here
I have also been to the library, the car wash, and the gas station. I need to do my duty to the cats, and then I b’lieve I shall try making one of these blueberry smoothie things.
How’s everybody doing today?
Woke up early — too early — after a not-very-good night’s sleep. Honestly, it was more like I decided to give up pretending to sleep than anything like “waking up.”
Wrote 1,100ish words bringing the WIP to 34,530. I’m getting very close to the point where we leave Sactizzy behind us, and I’m going to have to sit down and Plot, which likely means the word count will come way down, way fast. Still, it’s kind of nice to have written a full third of a novel in eight weeks — no, wait. Six weeks, taking ten days off by reason of backache.
Speaking of backaches, a kind friend ordered me a heated mattress pad, which was delivered today. Now I’ll be able to keep my back reliably warm when it hurts. And I’m pretty sure it’ll come in handy during the winter, too.
I had a haircut scheduled for the afternoon. Why, you ask? This is why:
While I was out, I donated used batteries to the jar at Holy Cannoli and stopped at the grocery store for milk and grapes.
Here’s the after-haircut picture:
And a picture of the WherethehellyouBEEN Committee, which had convened in my absence. Or because of my absence:
It’s supposed to rain this evening, though not tomorrow, so I’m holding out hope that the nature cruise will come off tomorrow morning without a hitch, and that will be an Official Writer’s Day Off. If the captain has better weather information than I do and the cruise is cancelled, then Saturday will be a Writer’s Day Off and I’ll go to the gem show in Belfast.
The glamor!
For now? I’m going to have an early glass of wine and curl up with a book until it’s time to serve up Happy Hour.
Proof of Life. Writing this morning, movie this afternoon. Movie is Hadestown.
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So that’s 1,085ish new words for a WIP total of 31,220ish.
Someone asked the other day if Trade Lanes had “ever been written.” I’m writing it now.
Now to do my duty the cats, call for a haircut, catch-up the blogs, and see about a pre-movie snack.
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Came around the corner to find that Rookie has made an art installation.
Saturday. Sunny and not quite so hot as previous days.
I’m trying to up my daily word count, at least for this bit right here, where I really feel like I know all of our old friends Who, What, Where, and Why. So! The goal is 1,000 words for each writing session.
I do have some more Writer’s Days Off upcoming. Monday or Tuesday, for instance, I wish to visit the lavender farm in Appleton. And on Saturday, the boat tour of the Messalonskee I signed up for in Coldest January, will finally take place. Also, there’s the gem show in Oxford on Sunday. Which is almost looking like Too Much Fun, but! Summer is short and Winter is long.
Speaking of word count, today’s efforts produced 1,098 new words, for a WIP total of 22,110. Ish.
After lunch, which is up realsoonnow, I need to change out the cat fountains, feed the cats, scoop the boxes, and do some bookkeeping. A Theme!
Tomorrow, I may be able to return to writing after lunch, if I’m very ambitious this afternoon.
So! box lunch out of the freezer today. Yesterday’s hot dog from FiveGuys hit the spot, and the vanilla milkshake, too, so I should be good on the radioactive poison front for the next few months.
The cats all joined me in Steve’s office for my writing session, and they’re all still there, napping in sun puddles, and living their best lives. Or so I hope.
How’re you doing today?
What went before — Tuesday: Saw Disclosure Day.
I have … mixed feelings.
On the one hand — looks pretty, gets on its bike and rides, and — granting that I have no idea what it means — the actors did a good job. And a plea for empathy is always in order, especially now, when empathy — Well. Paraphrasing Gabriel in Good Omens 2: If we have empathy, how will we know who won?
There are two Steven Spielberg movies that have been benchmarks of their kind for me, since forever: one was ET, the other was Close Encounters.
I really liked ET even knowing at the time that the storyteller entertained a vastly more positive view of humanity than I did.
Close Encounters? Made me nuts on so many levels.
Disclosure Day sits in the middle — ET‘s earnest belief that innocence and goodwill shall triump; and Close Encounters’ Imma scrape every nerve you have and leave you shaking with rage.
There was some good storytelling, and some o-so-stupid storytelling born of sheer wishful thinking on the part of the storyteller.
On the plus side, a bit of the movie was set in Sykesville Maryland, which happens to be in my old neighborhood. “Silver Spring 20 miles.”
Gotta go get something to eat.
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Man, the car’s GPS hates Bath. I dunno, maybe it gets its brains scrambled by all the noise and metal and whatnot at the Iron Works.
I’m somewhat chagrined to find that, after a lifetime of people asking me if my blood pressure was always this low? It’s now high enough to require drugs — lisinopril, which Steve took, though a lesser dose, because it was treating a different condition.
I did have a very pleasant drive coming and going, down Rte 197 and thoseways along rivers and past lakes, through a pretty day with a blue sky. I did stop at the Maine Maritime Museum and took a stroll around the grounds to both soothe my temper (ref uneasy relationship between GPS and Bath), and enjoy the day before driving home.
Chores have been done, and I’m getting ready to knock off for the day.
And tomorrow — I write.
How’s everybody doing?