Relaxation

For the moment, I find myself at a comfortable place with the workload of my dayjob. For the past 2 weeks I have been working 10 or 11 hour days, leaving me with little time for anything else. But today, I had the blessing of working from home, which meant no one could randomly stop by my cube and talk to me. I didn't have a 40 minute commute each way to eat away part of the day. And I got to sleep an extra hour. That was slightly marred by Tiberius peeing on the bedroom floor, because I was too lazy to get out of bed earlier to let him outside (he's 7 months and mostly potty trained). But aside from that, the day was good. I got a lot of work done (not that I haven't been otherwise), and I felt I was at a place where I could log off at 6:00 instead of 7 or 8, or later. (My normal quitting time is 4:00.)

I cleaned my desk. It serves 2 purposes. A desk for the days I get to work from home, and my writing space. I was piled high with books, papers, and clutter. I organized it, cleaned the dust, and it feels much more harmonic now. Cory is playing Halo 3 online with some friends, so I have the entire evening to myself. I took a hot bath, long enough that the water cooled and I had to refill it with hot water. I finished a book I had started weeks ago. And it was only 8:00. Feeling refreshed, I sat down at my laptop. Not my work laptop, but my Mac.

At our Saturday writing session (which I will write about in another blog) I had written the scene I had been dreading. It came quickly and easily. I read it to the group. I had ideas to make it better. So I sat down at my Mac, and edited it. One step closer to finished The Moonlight Cafe. Now I have 2 interviews to find time for. One I believe I can set up in the evening, as the gentleman is retired, but the other must be done during the day, as I don't want to intrude on this lady's personal time, and my questions relate to her job. That will be the tough one to squeeze in right now. But once I talk with her, I can write the last scene (or 2) that needs to be written. The other interview will let me verify facts, and true up a few items. Finish the editing, and the novel will be complete. I am aiming for the first of the year for it to be complete. I have 4 days off for Thanksgiving, and the entire week between Christmas and New Year. I plan to edit a lot during those times. The new year will find me madly sending out query letters. If I dare to hope and dream, 2009 will find me with a contract, or at the very least an agent.

It's 9:20. I'm going to go play with the puppies. They miss me from all the work I've been doing lately. The night is a bit chilly, but perhaps I'll bundle up and take them for a walk. Tiberius still needs to learn to walk politely on a leash, so walks with him are not much fun right now. Time and patience. That's all dogs require. And love, of course.

Free Rice

I found an awesome website today. You absolutely MUST check it out.

http://freerice.com/index.php

It's a cool little word game. They give you a word, and you choose from 4 definitions. For every word you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to Thrid World Countries. All the details are under the FAQ on the site. It's a fun resource for learning new words. I definitely recommend it. And pass it on to everyone you know. Get smarter, and help feed a hungry person. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Thanks for passing this on Tina!

Real Work Interferes

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. My income-bringing job has been interfering with my writing something awful. We've been working on a big project all year, and it's going live in a few weeks, and of course we're nowhere near ready, so everyone is putting in a lot of overtime. Gotta love corporate America. By the time I get home from work, I grab dinner, log back in and do a few more hours work, then go to bed. Not much time for writing in between.

Because of all that, tomorrow will be even more appreciated than normal. My writing group is meeting for a special Saturday session. Our Mondays are open to anyone, but once in a while we have a writing day with the original 5. We have developed such a close bond as writers and friends that we want time with just the 5 of us once in a while. So tomorrow we will meet at Mary's house in the morning, have bagels and coffee (mmmm, coffee,) and write until we can write no more (or at least until the real world calls us back to it.) I am always excited at our special writing days like this, but because work has been so hectic, I am even more excited than usual.

I think in my last post I talked about a scene that I had been dreading writing, but my writing group gave me inspiration. I still have not had time to write it. When I have had a few spare moments, I have been editing. I think I am about a third of the way through with the initial edit. Once I complete that, I will go back one more time and read the entire manuscript out loud to myself so that I can hear how the writing flows. Sometimes something looks great on paper, but once you hear it you realize how awkward or choppy it is. But tomorrow I will work on that missing scene. I had some notes on it to go by, and some research I will either do tonight, or print out to bring with me tomorrow. I plan on relaxing the rest of tonight, take a hot bath and read, maybe do some of the aforementioned research, and get a good night's rest so that I will be ready and creative in the morning.

I also have a bit more research to do. Again, work has been interfering. I have 2 people I need to call to ask questions and verify some facts. Perhaps I will do that Monday. I am off work for Veteran's Day. I am planning on going to the zoo with Cory, but I think part of the day will have to be dedicated to those phone interviews. I am very much looking forward to spending the day with Cory though. Going to the zoo is one of our favorite things to do. St. Louis has a wonderful zoo. And it's free, other than parking.

I will try to post more often, but until this project is complete, I can't make any promises. Thanks for bearing with me.