Tag: writing

People are strange

Editor Talizea Kennebec on duty:


Tuesday. Mizzling and cool. Trash and recycling are at the curb. The lawn guy arrived, did his thing, and vanished into the grey day.

Wrote a little over 900 new words, tweaked other words. The WIP Entire now weighs in at 46,275ish words, and it’s really feeling like A Thing, even while I feel like I’m channeling more than usual. I sit down at the keyboard thinking, “I got nothin‘,” and a thousand words later . . . Well. The fingers know, I guess. Or, like I said before, maybe Steve finally worked it out.

Regarding the genders and alikeness of numbers (yes, I’m still on this), someone at another place where I hang out said that when they were asked as part of an autism test how 7 and 9 are alike, their answer was “Seven and Nine are nothing alike” (implied, “as anyone over six can see). “Seven is (one color) and Nine is (another color). Seven is all angles and Nine is curvy, and they’re just not alike at all.” The suggestion being that this was, perhaps, a Bad Question for an autism test.

Frankly, I don’t think there are any Good Questions for an Autism Test, once someone has gotten to An Age, and made the accommodations that allow you to function Good Enough.

Honestly, if someone asked me, right now, in any context, how seven and nine are alike, I’d say that both are odd numbers. If I’d been asked when I was a kid, and before I knew the . . . I hesitate to say the “correct” answer, so let’s go with “the answer that would get me in the least amount of trouble”, I would probably have said that both were larger than five, or something along that line, this by way of trying to figure out what the adult wanted me to say. And to stay out of trouble. Kinda the driving force of my childhood, staying out of trouble. Not that I managed all that often.

I’ve managed to skin by in the Functioning Good Enough Competition by being an artist. People expect artists to be weird. Better, it’s seen as a Feature. Except by those people who haven’t thought it out, of which there are a surprising number, but even then, I have My Art to back me (as in, “You asked me here to give you a Creative Answer. Well, you got your wish, whether it ‘sounds crazy’ or not.”) Everyday Life is still an occasional challenge, but by this time in my life, I’ve had a lot of practice, and a Really Impressive Store of answers that will get me in the least possible trouble.

All that said–gotta do some chores.

How’s everybody feeling today?

Today’s blog post title loosely brought to you by The Doors, “People are Strange“

Sunday

Coon cats first:  The Breakfast Club

Sunday. Looking like it’s trying to make up its mind, is it going to rain.

About 1,000 new words on the morning, bringing the WIP to 44,150. Ish. May or may not write tomorrow, depending on how early I get up, I guess. Book club at 1; PT at 2:30. Lunch sometime or ‘nother.

The cats tried to tempt me back to bed after breakfast and I won’t say they weren’t persuasive, but — work to do. They finally came in to keep me company about the time I knocked off, and there they are all still.

Got mundane tasks to get rid of, some research to do, and some lunch to rustle up. Enough to keep me occupied, but not enough to be overwhelming. I’ll take it.

What’s doin’ at your place, today?
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Sigh. All the old war wounds are aching tonight, which is my cue to back slowly away from the keyboard and pour a Wine Venti.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. Remember to hug the people you love.

See you tomorrow.

Nobody told us it was gonna work out this way

Saturday Cat Census here
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So, that was fun. Decided to make hummus. Got a lemon out of the freezer and left it to thaw. Went to the pantry — and there were no garbanzo beans/chickpeas. Well, damn. Went to the grocery, which alert readers will recall I just visited yesterday. Bought four cans of garbanzo beans, which for some reason are cheaper than chickpeas. Came home and made hummus.

So, yanno — yay! Hummus.

By the time I clean up my mess, it’ll be Happy Hour.
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And before I forget, I want to give the author of the following excerpt from Carousel Sun a gold star. And somehow “this terrible thing” is so much more terrible, for not being said out.

Have I mentioned how much I love Vassily?

“It is simple.” He glanced at me. “Understand, I did not think that; I did not believe my uncle, the priest, when he said to me that it is simple. Worse than this, I did not care. I was . . . very bad. I did bad things. I hurt people.

“Then, on a day, I met my Alisa. And I stop being bad. I am . . . transformed, you see? It is her. She makes me good.” He paused.

“I was new, but the past . . . it follows. Bad deeds want blood for balance.”

Another pause; and a tiny sigh.

“My Alisa, she says, there is a program. We will get jobs in America. We will lose the past, she says. I say, yes, we will do this. And so we sign the papers and are told that Samuil will come for us on a day, to bring us here, to America, with all the rest.

“Two days before Samuil is to come, the past . . . finds me. I had, before my Alisa transformed me, I had hurt, you will say, a wrong person. I did it for money. That person had . . . a protector, a lover. He found me. He found Alisa . . .”

He bowed his head abruptly, shoulders stiff. I wanted to tell him to stop, to not go there, that I hadn’t meant . . .

He raised his head.

“So, this terrible thing. My Alisa is dead. I am . . . It is . . .” He catches his breath in what sounds like a sob.

This evening’s blog post title brought to you by Mr. John (Cougar) Mellencamp, “Lonely Ol’ Night.

Puzzling Thursday

So, yeah, Facebook is apparently broken, returning to Firefox the following error code:

Error Code: SSL_ERROR_RX_RECORD_TOO_LONG

I’m advised to tell them this, but, yanno, don’t really have a clue how.

The app isn’t broken, but for communication purposes, I prefer to access FB via desktop.

That aside, and moving on to the Important Stuff:  1,350 new words written today, in two shifts, bringing the wordage of the WIP entire to 44,490. Ish.

In and around the writing, I renewed the stock at the Flying Fish Saloons, performed my duty the cats, and did PT homework, as much as Conditions Allow — I broke a toe yesterday, go me.  Taped all the toes together with paper tape, so I’m in pretty good shape, and no more nor less than the clinic might do. Yeah, I’ve broken toes before.  Inconvenient things, toes.

I’m almost finished listening to Carousel Seas, and I’m lost in admiration for the writer.  The characters, big and bit, are terrific through the whole series — I especially like Vassily.  And Anna Lee.  And Jess Robard.  And — well.  Also, the slow reveals and the interconnectedness of the plots are excellent.  In my completely impartial opinion.

I may have done myself — we may have done ourselves — a disservice by not making time to reread our own work.  It might have helped us not fall into the expressed opinion that we were cheesy writers of cheesy, shallow scifi and fantasy.

Well.

Aside from all that. . . we’re keeping on keeping on, me and the cats.

And hoping you’re the same.

 

Sleepy Tuesday

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.

“Sir? Can we go?”

How the work day began:

All righty, then. Sunday. Sunny and warm, with a soft breeze.

Tali does good work. She got 1,020 new words outta me on behalf of the characters, and the WIP has broken 40,000 words.

I hereby declare this Good Progress.

There were exactly eight people in the audience at yesterday’s 4:30 show of Hadestown. I decided to do the thing right, and actually got a small bag of popcorn — buttered, of course — to go with my water. I haven’t had buttered popcorn for … probably decades. It was good.

I had, I thought, oversupplied myself with tissues, but it turned out that I had just enough.

Even though, yes — I know how it ends.

This time I was able to watch some of the stage work, which I really like to do, and also to admire the work of the chorus, and of the Fates — in particular the Fate who played the accordion. Good Ghod, that woman was menacing.

Also, the reason why Hades made that particular condition came home harder for me this time.

So! An afternoon well-spent. I stopped at the grocery on my way home and bought a frozen pizza to have with my wine. That was good, too.

Socks are currently drying, and I? Have had another brainstorm, which I will be acting on after lunch. Disposable litter pans complete with litter are A Thing, and if I take a few on, then I can make sure that the cats have clean facilities while the Magic Dust is working without having to Disinfect the World every day. I do believe my brain used to work faster than this, but I guess I ought to just be pleased that I got there, eventually.

The page magnifier arrived just a few minutes ago, and initial testing indicates that I made a good buy. For everyone who is trying to Help by suggesting that I get a Kindle or reading glasses —

1 I have a tablet with the Kindle app (among others), and it works swell. Only — Not All Books have electronic editions. And it happens that I have several of that class of book that I need to read.

2 I have reading glasses — all kinds of reading glasses! — and I agree that they Ought To Work. Only, they don’t. I have, honest, tried.

2A I had cataract surgery some time — a year, or more, I think — before Steve died.

I think that catches us up on the day. I’ll be going out after lunch, then coming home to work on stuff for my class. Tomorrow morning, I need to pick up the Magic Dust from the vet.

So! How are you spending the day?

Saturday on the run

Saturday. Raining.

It’s been a scrambling sort of a morning. I got a call from Rookie’s vet last night at just about their closing time. She wanted to tell me that Rookie has roundworms. (I thought this was a kitten thing, but apparently roundworms can stay dormant inside a cat for a long time. Who knew?)

Anyhoots, the vet was putting up some Magic Dust that I am to give to all three of the cats in their Happy Hour treats, starting Monday. This discovery means, among other things, that I’ll need to disinfect the existing litter boxes, and the best way for me and my back to accomplish this is just to change to new litter boxes, then clean the old ones thoroughly at my leisure, while they are locked away in the Goblin Room where No Cat May Come.

This meant that this morning I went to Chewy, as the path of least resistance (I only need one new litter box, as it happens; I have two that I can disinfect and make ready today), but Chewy can’t expedite, and — long story short, I’m hoping Fish Tails in town can accommodate me with an XL litter pan, and I’ll give them a call when they open at 10.

Also, it came forcefully to my attention last night that I really can’t read paper books anymore, so I need a page magnifier, which means? More shopping! Honestly, getting old is for the birds.

So, now having finished my shopping and my breakfast, I’m going to finally start my writing day.

How’s Saturday treating you — yes, you! — so far?
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I found a third, though smaller, “extra” litter pan, which I swapped out with one now in use, disinfected it with the other two “extra” XL litter pans, and so! All is in readiness for the Great Litter Pan Swap-Out, as soon as the first dose of the meds is administered.

I am at this point Completely Discombobulated, and have made the Executive Decision to Declare an Emergency Writer’s Day Off. I will be showering, eating lunch, and then going to see the 4:30 show of Hadestown.

Because I can.

. . . It comes to me that my current Smol Disagreement with the WIP is that I Wanna Know How It Ends, and guys in the basement aren’t forking over. Which, let it be said, they never do. Possibly, I’m a Tad Anxious because this is Steve’s Book, and I don’t wanna screw it up. OTOH, and in all fairness, we are presently on this road because Steve didn’t know how it ended, either.

Be a writer, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.

Friday winding down

About 1200 new words on the day, for a WIP total of 39,215. Ish.

I may have written a scene that will be found to be superfluous, but, let it stay for now. I recall, when I was writing Diviner’s Bow, I sat down one day and wrote about Bodhar-on-the-River, who the headman and headwoman were, and what were their estates, where exactly was this River, the make-up of the village population, the fact that the headman had built his own airplane, and so on. And when I was done, I re-read it and I said to myself, “Self? WTF, Self? I don’t need this.”

. . . and about 40,000 words later, I found out that — surprise! — I did need that.

You gotta wonder how people have the nerve to write books on writing. Like any of us know what we’re doing.

And! All that said — everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I’ll check in tomorrow.

Lookin’ to the weekend

Friday. We here in Central Maine reside under a Heat Advisory until 8pm. Tomorrow, thunderstorms are forecast and may bring some relief.

Sarah came by this morning and cleaned the house, and there was much rejoicing.

The last couple days, I’ve been sitting with the WIP, sharpening this and that, and doing some research (beta readers will recall the uppercase HERE’S and/or IS THIS RIGHT?), so, only about 900 new words so far, but I intend to go back to it this afternoon, now that All The PT homework, one’s duty the cats, and lunch is accomplished.

I seem to be Unsupervised until Tuesday, which means I not only have a Big Chunk of time to write, but also to read. In Between It All, I’ve barely cracked the bookclub book, and I really need to get to that. I did read it before, but it’s been 10 years or so, and I’m particularly interested in seeing how it holds up. I was riveted the first time I read it.

Speaking of reading, last night I finished reading Diviner’s Bow, which brings me to the end of the Liaden Universe® novels. On the whole? I’m impressed, and while it’s not by any means Perfect, it’s pretty damned good, and I will be proud to say so to anyone.

We did tend to err on the side of thinking people are basically honorable, and we’re attached to the ideas of equality for everyone, as well as this notion that love is neither cheesy, nor a bug, but a Feature that encourages people to rise to, and maintain, their best selves.

Well. What can I say? It’s fiction.

I think that’s all I’ve got. Oh. I need to decide if I’m actually going to go see Hadestown again. I’m inclined, and if I’m going to, I need to buy a ticket, so I’m committed.

And that is all I’ve got.

What’re your plans for the weekend?

From Facebook:

Rookie, August 5 2024

Rookie, August 5 2026

DIY

Well. Where are we? Tuesday? I think so. Sunny, damp, and going to be warm. Trash and recycling at the curb.

Wrote about 1,000 words this morning, bringing the WIP to 37,050ish. Yesterday was a bust. I hardly got the computer up before I was engulfed by a meltdown, and the less said about that, the better.

I have a date with a PT this afternoon, and I have to buy nails, and probably a stop at the grocery wouldn’t be a bad idea. Craft club this evening.  I missed the last two weeks, so I really don’t want to miss tonight.

Regarding the nails… I noticed the other day that the back door of the garage was sagging open, which was…disquieting. I thought I knew that the back door was held by a latch-and-loop, secured by a manual lock, but, when I went out to look, there was only the latch — loop and lock both gone. (We pause here to wonder if there ever was a lock and loop, and all I’ve got is that I can’t imagine that there wasn’t.)

There is a bolt into the ceiling on the inside of the door, which is not engaged, and I really don’t quite dare stand on the big plastic bin, even after I clear off all the Stuff on top of it, and try to push the bolt home.

There’s a hook-and-eye on the bottom of the door (behind the plastic bin), and that seems to be the only system actually working, but one hook-and-eye can only do so much.

I produced a half-measure, using the only nail I could find (why are there no nails in this house?), but I should probably come up with a better solution, going forward. In addition to nails.

I see that Hadestown  (the filmed edition of the London play) is held over at the Maine Film Center (aka Railroad Square, downtown)–three shows a day through August 13. If you haven’t seen it, I can’t urge you strongly enough to remedy that oversight. I’m of two minds about seeing it again. If I do, I’ll be better prepared on the Kleenex front.

I think that catches us up. In light of that date with the Physical Therapist, I need to do my duty to the cats, and find something to eat for lunch.

What’s happening with you today?