Slow But Still Going

I've been outlining again, this time concentrating on emotions, cause you know how hard it is for me to connect with emotions of any kind, especially people I've made up. ;-) Just before dropping off last night I rooted around for a pen around the bed and made a couple of notes.

And I have to get chapter 12 done this week, or else. ;-)

While waiting for my computer to be returned to me this afternoon I put down some words, with a little more feeling than before. *g* The morning was totally busy in the office, but its really slacked off. Today I'm feeling really into the story and wanting to see it finished like, right now.

TIred Of This

BIG storm last night - we've had an awful lot of those. Lots of bright, loud lightning which of course woke me up about 11:00, and I noticed the power was out AGAIN. Then I couldn't go to sleep because of the sound and light show, and worrying about the alarm going off. Pewter snuggled up to me, I had to stop tossing and turning, and I got a couple (literally) hours of sleep. The alarm woke me up an hour early AGAIN, so I didn't realize for a half hour that the reason I was so tired was that I had gotten up at 4:00. The lights were still out when we left at 7:30.

Yesterday I got a little mean with Kelsey. I keep forgetting how they're feeling, and how more forcefully they would react to a situation than I would. It's hard for the Show No Feelings girl to make her characters react.

Long, Hot Weekend

I did some writing, but mostly it was too hot. I was especially stupid on Sunday, when I burned a large trash (downed wood) pile in 90+ degrees. Did I mention I'm stupid?

Hey, Remember Me? ;-)

Yeah, I'm a slacker. Work on the book has been so slow that I didn't really have much to talk about. I'm still working on it but it's damned slow and so very frustrating.

Parker and Kelsey are in chapter twelve, exhausted, without a plan and just about at their end. This is when they meet a couple of people and the story goes in a different direction. I don't know how well this will work, but I thought I'd give it a try. I always meant for them to meet these guys, but this part has always been kind of nebulous in my head.

Thoughts

It occured to me this weekend - this very long, hot, overworked weekend - that I learned a lesson in the flood that I can use in the book. Even though I could feel my shoulder being injured, I kept shoveling water and mud and rock because it had to be done. The thought that I should stop never entered my mind because It Had To Be Done So I Could Not Stop. Somehow, with the re-write, I've got to work that into both Parker and Kelsey's stories.

At least I'm out of the sling and able to type with relatively pain. Thursday I'm getting needled by my acupuncturist and that will hopefully speed the healing. Money is going out of my checking account at an appalling rate, mostly for vacation spending a month ago. *sigh* I've been really wanting to buy stuff but putting it off (like an external hard drive for back ups). Maybe I'll be able to bring myself to pull the trigger now.

WET!!!

We're not drowned, but that was one long fucking weekend. I'm still in a bit of a daze, actually. But we had it easier than a lot of people around us. The back room flooded to six inches around midnight Saturday, and we got it dug out at about four thirty. It took that long because it was too much for the shop vac so we hauled out the five gallon buckets and threw/carried water out as fast as we could, into the lightning and continuing heavy rain. We couldn't keep up with it till the rain let up about three. Then we went to bed and slept a couple of hours until it started again and before we could get into the back room it was flooded again to six inches. This time, though, it was light enough for me to go outside - in the rain and lightning - to find out where the drain wasn't working and put the shovel to good use. About ten thirty we got the rooms cleared again.

We didn't lose the hot water heater or the freezer, but just about eleven Saturday morning - AFTER I made coffee, thank goodness ;-) - the lights went out and stayed that way till dinner time Sunday. In the meanwhile, Birdie was working on putting things right on the hill, and I was at the bottom working on our washed out driveway. The new ditch we dug at the bottom worked GREAT, so there were only a couple of "smallish" ruts (smallish compared to it being completely washed out, which it would have been), but at the road it was impassable for the car, and the county road was washed out about halfway across just up from our mailbox, and nearly all the way across just around the corner downstream. I spent a couple of hours re-digging the ditch, filling in ruts, hauling riprap in the wheelbarrow to put in our drive, and digging gravel out of the creek to fill it in some. I managed to make a path and gave out. We got the clothes out of the washer (from Friday night) and hung them out to dry. It was kinda funny, trying to figure out where to tie the rope.

Irony: the sun was so strong yesterday we've both got sunburns. Both of us are physically challenged this morning with repetitive motion stress. I *should* be wearing a sling, but was embarassed to wear it this morning. I get really tired of people asking me if I saw the doctor so he could tell me to wear a sling. No, I didn't see a fucking doctor, I don't need someone to tell me my shoulder is hurt. *growl*

Anyway, we're here, and we were lucky compared to a LOT of people all around where we live. It's a lot worse than the fucking news is letting on. So fucking what most of central Indiana just had a hundred year flood. It's Indiana, so the morons in a boat in the Carribean gets more tv time.

Writing: I got some good writing done on Friday at work and was really looking forward to using my new laptop this weekend. Ha.

Rain And A Day Off

Wednesday was the worst rain and flooding I've ever seen in Bloomington, and I've lived here more than 30 years. People still talk about the snow of '78. Now they'll talk about the flood of '08. Thursday morning I woke up feeling horrible, so I stayed home, laid on the couch and slept a lot and messed with my new laptop. The only bad thing about new computers is how much you have to set everything the way you like it, and load the software you generally use. I put Casino Empire on and fired it up. It's a goofy little game that normally takes about a minute and a half to load on the old laptop. It shows a line of showgirls and runs "funny" witticisms along the bottom while it's loading. Yesterday it loaded so fast I literally blinked and missed it. I tried typing on chapter twelve, but that made my head hurt worse. Didn't even watch tv or a movie.