Tag: writing

Tools down

So apparently there’s an app that lets repair people know when you’re sitting down for lunch. Also, Rookie growled at the generator guy. Who is still working, having found a need to install a new battery.

Computers have been taken offline and the lights are out pending the “simulated power outage,” after which I suppose I will sign a paper and then Wander The House resetting all the clocks.
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End of the day. It’s raining. I am Utterly Frazzled. I don’t say I’m at the edge of an…Undesirable Head Space, but I can see it from here, and it ain’t pretty. The cats have pulled in, which is very good of them. Perhaps an early glass of wine, after I finish up here.

Anyhow, that’s 1,260 new words on the day, bringing the WIP entire to +/-16,220.

Tomorrow, I need to make those correx to Kin Right, and also name a couple characters in the current WIP. I’m … kind of impressed that we managed a short story and a book without giving Uncle Rusko a last name. I, mean, I like Rusko; he’s a good man, and he’s good for Tranh. He deserves a last name, amirite?

Before I sign off for the evening, and hoping for a better day tomorrow — have a snippet:
Bry Sen had a black eye.
Mac Gold had a broken arm.

Of puffins, whales, and the futility of doing good

So, yesterday, I finally went and booked myself into a combo whale watch/puffin cruise.  That will be next Thursday, and I’m under orders to present myself to Cap’n Fish at crack o’dawn thirty so we can get underway.

Which brings us to — today!

Friday. Raining for a change. Sarah’s due in a couple minutes, and the generator guy is supposed to stop by to do his annual inspection of Station Systems.

Breakfast was cream cheese on toast with a side of cherries. Lunch will be leftover lentil-and-sweet potato stew that I managed to screw up when I was making it (put in twice too many lentils, and no, I’m not really sure how that happened). Still, it can be recovered, and so it shall at lunchtime.

So, the blood pressure med returned an amazing result for, eh? four days? And I’m back into alt. Stress is a remarkable force.

I found just recently that a person of known ill repute is seeking to align with my life’s work in order to make themselves seem legitimate and lovable. Said person has a history of harassing me, and the problem with the current tactic is that the target can’t even talk about it without sounding crazy, which is quite apart from the damage that can’t be blocked. Because the way these things work is that my lustre will not bestow grace, but will in turn be tarnished by this person’s actions.

I’m also in receipt of a contract for an interview, and my first reaction on reading it was “I wouldn’t sign this if it was a contract for a story.” Which, in essence, it is. So, that’s set aside for another reading in a day or two, in case the words rearrange themselves.

Also! I realized last night that I have made two errors — possibly three errors — in Kin Right that I ought to fix if I can, so have written to Baen Traffic with a query. And lucky I am that the book’s scheduled so far out.

Let’s see, what else?

Ah. The birds who nest in the rain gutter have returned, and Rookie is climbing the screen. Rookie being much bigger than he was last year this time, I expect the screen to shortly be in ribbons, so! New screen on the list.

Plans for the day include — writing! At least I know what the next scene is in the WIP, so there is that.

What’s the cat doing at your house, today?

Speaking of cats — yesterday, I had to call in my counselor, who was able to get me settled enough to write.  I may be making another call this morning.  Thank goodness I can pay her in tummy rubs.

 

Episodic Monday

Foggy Monday morning at the Cat Farm:
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I have a rosebud!

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Monday. The fog’s burned off and the morning is sunny and cool.

I’m a little drifty this morning, for some reason. OTOH, yesterday did have its Moments.

Breakfast et — the last two slices from the loaf, toasted, with cheese, and the last of the cherries. A theme. Bread, I can do something about — all the ingredients are measured out and sitting on the countertop, warming to room temperature. I’ll commence in mixing and kneading and whatnot after I sit with my notes and glower at the screen. Cherries will wait on the morrow.

I’m nearly finished writing the scenes I had, ahem, “plotted” and now I need to sketch in some scenes going forward, so I can go forward.

Why is writing a novel like crossing a stream on stepping stones?

Started reading Dragon in Exile last night, which — the beginning is a little rockier than I recall. Of course, I recall that the first scene I wrote was of the traveler arriving at the front door amidst a light summer snowfall, and taking a moment to decide if it would be better to use the palm plate or pull the bell rope.

And! That’s the bell for the third cup of tea, which shall accompany me back to Steve’s office to assist in the Glowering at Screens.

How’s your Monday starting out?
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Did some glaring, did some editing of what I wrote yesterday, added some new words. WIP currently stands at 13,610 words, more or less.

Bread’s in for the first rise, and I? need to find something to eat.
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And Useful Internet Find of the Day: King Arthur — how much does it weigh?

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Does anyone here trade with crows? I seem to have a family in the big pine tree and we might as well get to know each other.

How do I set up a trade station?

What are the drawbacks?
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Yeah, this’ll do

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OK! By request, this is the recipe for the loaf I made today, and by Gumby, Imma make it again, so this is for me as much as it’s for you. Again, I have taken a “Harvest Grain Bread” recipe from King Arthur and adapted it by (1) decreasing by .5 cups the unbleached flour, (2) increasing by .5 cups the wheat flour, and (3) subbing in 1.25 cups of lukewarm milk for .25 cup of dry milk and 1.25 cups of lukewarm water.

If you want the actual recipe, it’s here

BELOW IS WHAT I DID; reflecting the changes discussed above.

2 cups (240 g) (King Arthur) unbleached bread flour
1 cup (113 g) (King Arthur) golden wheat flour (this is what used to be called white whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup (74 g) (King Arthur) Harvest Grain Blend
1.5 teaspoons (9 g) table salt
2.5 tablespoons (28 g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1.25 cups (283 g) lukewarm milk (I used skim, cause that’s what I had)
3 tablespoons (43 g) unsalted butter, softened (OR 3 tablespoons (35 g) vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients and knead (via hand, electric mixer or bread machine) until the dough is smooth, elastic, and satiny.

Put dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover bowl with lightly greased plastic wrap, allow the dough to rise for an hour (or let the bread machine complete its cycle). The dough will be puffy, but it will not have doubled. That’s OK.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface, shape a loaf, put it in a lightly greased 9×5 loaf pan, cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let the bread rise until the top is about an inch from the top of the pan — between 1 and 1.5 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350F

Bake bread for 35 minutes or until an internal thermometer registers 190F. Take the bread out of the oven, and out of the pan to cool on a rack.

Try not to slice it before it’s cool.

Store leftover bread (yes, there is such a thing), well-wrapped, at room temperature for three days. Freeze for longer storage.

NOTE: The foregoing is canon, but honestly, after the loaf’s cool, I put it in a plastic bag and tuck it in the fridge. If I know I’m gonna be slow on bread use, I sometimes cut the loaf in half, put half in the fridge and half in the freezer.

Sunday, with thunderstorms

So, this rolled in this morning:

Great thunderstorm.

Yesterday, Wunderground had told me to look for “violent” thunderstorms today, but this morning Google wimped out with “rain showers.” I pick my teeth at you, Google.

I am reminded to be So. Very. Thankful. that we managed to afford to put new windows in my office, and that I followed through with the new sliders in Steve’s office. The rain is much nicer when it stays where it belongs and/or when I can open an oblique side window and sit in the comfy chair and have the Rain Experience, and taste the ozone on the wind.

The rain’s slowing down, now, which I guess is just as well. I need to go do my duty to the cats and then find something for lunch.

1,255ish new words today, for those keeping track at home, bringing the WIP entire to five-ish words short of 13,000.
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So that was a little less fun. I noticed a puddle on the kitchen floor in front of the oven, figured I’d spilled something and in the process of reaching for a paper towel, saw a big puddle on top of the (happily glass-topped) stove. Seems the rain came in through the vent. That’s special.
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So the big farmhouse up the street from me apparently has an offer on it, asking price in the neighborhood of $525,000. Because I’m incurably nosey, I took the photo tour on Zillow. It’s in pretty good shape, but, as I said, big, also old; and big, old houses are hard to heat. Sits on about 2.5 acres, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, gorgeous library with built in shelves and a fireplace, swoopy driveway that must cost a fortune to keep plowed. Possibly — I’m not as up on neighborhood history as I might ought to be, but as the house bears A Name — it was the farmhouse that had been in place before the land was sold for a development, and here I am, and all our neighbors.

On t’other side of me, down a few doors, another single-level house, though not so Interestingly Configured as, and on a slightly larger lot than, the Cat Farm, about 10 years older, newly fixed up by the people who only bought it a couple years ago. Asking price just about twice what we paid for this house, 8 years ago. I hear it’s a seller’s market. That’s news, I guess.

I’m wondering if Amazon warehouse soon to be built very nearby is going to bring housing prices up or down. When the mall went at Owings Mills, house prices skyrocketed, because all the folks who came down from New York with Macy’s saw bargains, and bought two — one to live in and one to rent, pricing the locals (which Steve and I were at the time) outta the market.

Well. That was interesting. Time to change the second cat fountain, and then make some rice to have on-hand. I’m bumping bread-baking to tomorrow.

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So, I finished reading/listening to Necessity’s Child last night. I very much like Necessity’s Child, though finding out that the one thing I thought was Absolutely Rock Solid going in — wasn’t. That said — wow is that a tight book.

I don’t remember much about writing it — except the ending which fought me because, as above, I was insisting on the wrong ending. I do remember that Toni wanted me to give her a … proposal thingy, which I did to the best of my (very) poor ability, and then, as she and I were discussing what I had proposed in email, I Thought of Something that I had overlooked, which altered the direction of the story, and thus the proposal, threw that into the discussion and said, “And, see? Already it’s changing.”

Toni threw up her hands at that point, I think. And, yeah, the story does bear some small relationship to that proposal: The Bedel and the steam tunnels. And I think the school.

Speaking of proposals — trying to get lesson plans into shape for my class in the fall, I am once again confronted with the inherent dishonestly of classes that promise to “teach” worldbuilding or voice or characterization or any other fiddly little bit of craft. The bald truth is that you can’t just teach one piece of writing a story; you’ve got to teach it all, just like you have to write it all. Characters live somewhere — that’s worldbuilding — characters are doing something, hopefully for a reason — that’s plot. Yes, breaking the Fourth Wall is a Bad Thing. Only? Every single first person story written since the Dawn of Forever breaks the Fourth Wall at the very first “I” — because who is that character talking to, exactly? Herself?

Well.  It’ll be interesting.

Time to say g’night, folks.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Saturday’s plans are peaceful and calm

Saturday. Raining for a change. Another good, long night of sleep, and my blood pressure where it “should” be. I am inclined to regard all medications with suspicion, and experience has shown that I am wise to do so. Levothyroxine has tested beneficial — a rare exception. I may have to make a second exception for Lisinopril, if this keeps up.

There has been a Question regarding the current book club selection, which is Sourdough by Robin Sloane, not Angela Slatter.

I don’t honestly know who Angela Slatter — no, wait, here she is. Australian. Graduate degree in Creative Writing, started doing the commercial fantasy thing in 2005, a number of titles under her byline, including Sourdough and Other Stories. I do believe her work has eluded me thus far. This does not mean it’s bad work — I can’t have an opinion, having not read it. So many books, as they say, and so little time. Also — old age speaking — it always give me pause, when I realize that someone who started doing something in 2005 (say) — the year I turned 53, and Agent of Change, 16 — has had a 20+ year career.

The morning so far was my first cup of Russian Caravan Tea while I sat in the glow of the Happy Lite with Tali on my lap, and Firefly on the back of the chair. Breakfast toasting now. I’m going to have to make bread — I’ll put that on tomorrow’s list.

Today, I plan a lazy day of writing, much like yesterday.

What are your plans for the day?

Fragmented Friday

This morning, some of us slept in:

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Friday. Juneteenth, I’m told.

640ish new words written, bringing the total words to 10,700ish.

Stopping for lunch. Rook and Tali helped me do my PT homework, and Firefly oversaw the writing part of the morning. My duty to the cats has been performed, and now I need to eat lunch and go outside with my chair for half an hour and weed.

Speaking of the new meds — my blood pressure dropped 30 points overnight (taking it from Scary High into the vicinity of what I consider to be Normalish) and I don’t know whether to be impressed or horrified. That’s some quick work, if it isn’t a fluke. I guess we’ll see.

How’s everybody doing?
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Today’s Done-To List:
1 Wrote 670ish words
2 PT exercises
3 Duty to Cats
4 Walk
5 Cooked and ate lunch
6 Weeded side of garage
7 Worked on “lesson plan” for the characterization course
8 Washed dishes
9 Read 20 pages of book club book (Sourdough)
10 Updated FB

Still to-do
1 Answer a couple of notes
2 Feed cats
3 Compile blog entries and post
4 Serve Tali Happy Hour right now (ahem)

Thursday at home

Thursday. Rainy and cool. Sitting in the comfy chair in my office with an orange cat on my lap. Drinking my first cup of tea.

First load of towels is in the washer and in a minute, when Tali lets me, I’ll get up and get some breakfast and then I’ll go write for a while.

Yes, that’s boring. I can probably use some boring.

How’s the day shaping up at your house?
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Lunch break. I have done my duty to the cats, and also due diligence on my new medication, which leads me to believe, given the other Real Medication that I take daily, lisinopril needs to be taken at lunchtime. Since linsiopril holds out the tantalizing possibility that it may induce dizziness and I should be cautious on stairs*, cat box cleaning is hereby shifted to before lunch, rather than after.

I’ve had a pretty good morning of writing, and intend to go back to it after lunch, since I haven’t finished my scene yet.

I don’t know that I’ve mentioned this before, but Rookie da Cookie has taken to curling up with his head on the pillow next to mine at bedtime, which I’m at the moment finding adorable, and also canny. Tali sleeps tucked up under my right arm, and Firefly sleeps across my ankles. This way everybody has room, nobody gets swatted in the face with a tail (including me), and there are therefore very few midnight squabbles.

. . . and it looks like lunch is warm.
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*I remain amazed by the people who scold you for being Old and At Risk for Falling who then prescribe med after med that “may make you dizzy.”
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And that’s a wrap. For local definitions of “wrap.” One thousand six hundred fifty-five words, bringing the WIP Entire to!

+/- 10,660 words.

Time for a cup of tea and a cookie, is what I’m thinkin’…

Marchin’ Monday

What went before:  So, Sunday afternoon. I’m a bit late getting lunch, which I guess will be hummus and crackers, because — easy, and late.

The WIP now stands at +/-8,230 words, which might make some arithmatically gifted persons to suppose that I had written 2,500 words today. While I grant the appearance, the fact is that I only edited two pieces of Steve’s work to fit them into the frame I’m building. Still, progress is progress, and it’s looking like — ow!

Sigh.

Tali likes to sit under the lip of my stand up desk and nip my elbow occasionally, to keep me on my toes. I think that one was a little harder than she had intended.

Continuing — progress is, indeed, progress, and — fingers crossed — it’s looking like the WIP will be breaking 10,000 words this week, by hook or by crook.

So! Lunch, then correspondence, including filling out my “paperwork” for Wednesday’s doctor’s visit.

No, the fun never does stop. Why do you ask?

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Monday. Raining like a raining fool when I got up, now sullen and damp.

Wrote a couple hundred new words, to kick an existing scene into a shape that will align with the next scene upcoming. Outlined the next two scenes so I can hit the keyboard typing on Thursday, which will be my next writing day.

Out to bookclub in 90 minutes or so, then back home to bookkeeping and getting the trash and recycling into the garage so it can acclimate itself before it’s moved to the curb tomorrow morning.

. . .brief pause while I go outside to Speak Sternly to the groundhog, who is as big as a baby black bear, stoopid rodent.

I finished reading (listening to) Ghost Ship yesterday and am into Dragon Ship. I hadn’t recalled that Joyita appeared so quickly, and I’m reminded again about Cresthaller, which I really ought to rectify. In my spare time.

The listening to the books is working out amazingly well. Lately, my vision is too blurry by the end of the day, when I typically read for pleasure, to even focus on an ebook (I had to give up paper books a couple years ago, because I couldn’t focus on the page), and — bonus! I can “read” and do something else, or just sit resting my eyes. I suppose I ought to try listening to a new-to-me book at some point, to see if that exercise is as pleasant, else I’m going to have to find another way to read. Always exciting, life.

So! How’s the beginning of the week looking from your side of the world?

Here’s how Firefly’s Monday is going so far:

Saturday writer

So, that was a day. Eleven hundred fiftyish new words written, bringing the WIP to +/-5700 total words. We’re smokin’! Ahem.

Stir-fry for lunch, fresh batch of hummus made, last load of clothes in the dryer. Getting ready to pour a glass of wine and read a bit before Happy Hour and my own dinner–hummus, I think, since I’ve got fresh.

Tomorrow, with luck, will be another writing day.

Looking ahead to next week, that’s book club on Monday, crafts on Tuesday, and a morning run to Bath to see the doctor on Wednesday. That was a quick turnaround on the appointment, FWIW.

I remind myself that I really want to achieve a whale watch this summer, so I guess I’d best cast around me for a likely cruise.

Rookie has employed Tali as his agent, to inform me that it is now time for Happy Hour, and, indeed, it’s later than I thought it was.

So! Everybody have a good evening; stay safe.

I’ll check in tomorrow.

Writing along…

Where are we? Wednesday? That sounds right.

So! Wednesday, sunny and gonna be hot, again. I’d thought that tomorrow I’d declare a Writer’s Day Off and go view peonies, but tomorrow the ‘beans are calling for thunderstorms. No sense going to a peony farm in a thunderstorm.

Was up and writing a little early, which actually works well for the balance of the day, since I have a noon-time appointment.

Today is an exciting day as the WIP breaks Three Grand! We’re currently at +/- 3,340 words, and have visited two master traders at their letters, including one from Master Trader’s pin’Aker’s cha’leket, who’s a fashion designer. And also Midys Herself.

Next up is Jethri at Sactizzy. I hope to get him off of Meldyne as quick as I credibly can.

Steve had gotten hung up with the details of the conference, which — boy, do I empathize. I had suggested a clean break in one of our how-do-we-make-this-book-work conversations, which he rejected, and, looking through his drafts, I can see why. I think involving the master traders early and getting some of the backstory from them will move things along on Jethri’s line, and let him get moving.

I think.

I tell you what — it’s good thing that writing is easy.

I may need to go out this afternoon, and pick up tag board so that my class, if I have a class, can make themselves name cards, just like we do at cons, and thereby make the teacher’s life easier. Also should look for some puzzle glue or tape or sticky backing so I can display my jigsaw puzzle and remember that I can too work jigsaw puzzles. It just takes me 15 times longer than anybody else.

So! What’s happening on your edge of the world today?