Happy to be running out of excuses!

I've been writing on my work laptop (bad, bad Dragon) or my home desktop, but it's a challenge to use two different machines, even with the wonders of technology they have today with USB drives and data cards. If I'm using the laptop, there is often the lure of my email from the day job to distract me, and on the desktop there are chat programs and web site things I can play and learn with for hours!

In December I bot an Eee PC to use for writing. The little machine came with Linux, and while it's a fine OS, I just didn't want to learn something NEW while I'm supposed to be writing. It's not like I need an excuse to be distracted by technology, but it happens. Often.

Julia Hunter, a fellow writer and friend of mine, turned me on to this little Netbook at the 2008 ECWC and then volunteered her DH to help put the XP OS on it for me. Mr. Tech made it all happen, even adding MS Word so I had no excues not to WRITE, and he turned it over to me today - YEAH!

We hooked up at a local coffee shop and chatted a bit about the technology, and some things I was hoping to do, then we went to work. Julia wrote an article on body language while Mr. Tech grumbled about connecting to the computer in his office on one laptop and while poking around in his Zune list on another! (Yes, he had two!) Together Julia and Mr. Tech bring multitasking to a whole new level.

And I wrote. It's the first time I have committed a whole hour to my current WIP since the end of NaNo 2008 and I was thrilled when the fingers stared to fly over the little keyboard and my ideas were making it onto the page! YEAH!! Mucho thanks to Mr. Tech and Julia for the conversation, inspiration and assistance, I hope we can make a regular coffee shop thing in the future.

I'm happy to have the Weee PC (the current nickname) dedicated to writing. I'll be looking for a new meter for the current WIP, the second in the series, but I have until the end of the month to make the 10,000 works for my January goal, so I think I will begin NOW!

Meter Makes a Move - FINALLY!!!

FINALLY - I can move the meter on my current WIP above the 10k mark. YEAH!!

I've been adding a few words to the document here and there since the last report in early July, but nothing of any weight that was worth mentioning or updating the meter code.

Today I did a bunch of brain storming with Aura on her book and she's on her way to some very interesting twists and turns with her current WIP.

Then I kicked in on my own work, this weekend I've added an impressive (for me) 2,000+ or so words to my WIP.

10,084 / 85,000

(11.9%)

Words seem to flow like water, now!

In the morning, I finished one of the four books I've been reading. I found an advance reader copy of Cherry Adair's White Heat on eBay and couldn't resist. I've never seen one before and was thrilled to be able to read the book before it came out. I have had the hard back on pre-order for a long time, and expect to re-read it before the conference in October.

I worked some, answered a few emails and was going to work on a form but became distracted by my email and ended up surfing the web a bit then I just sat at the PC for several hours yesterday, working on nothing in particular.

I wanted to write, but the words didn't seem to want to come. I talked with Dub about my inability and his words of encouragement prompted a Q & A session with my hero.

At first he was not very forthcoming, but then the answers started to flow. After that, I started working on Chapter 2 and it was after 11pm when I came up for air. One and a half scenes, 1,638 words later I had to call it quits for the night. I'm sure it will need a good polishing, it always does, but the point is the words did flow - finally. I'm headed back to the waterfall to see what else comes out.

6,200 / 85,000
7.3 %

Lazy Weekend - sorta..

I feel a little bit guilty for not writing this weekend, but then I didn't work either. Neeper spent the weekend with Aura and Mario so we had the house to ourselves all weekend. Seems like she had a good time with A-button and B-button (Mario's Twins - to be renamed later, maybe), but I asked that the computer time be limited, and I'm not sure that was enforced. Out of my control, water under the bridge .. moving on.

I spent most of my time sewing a pair of PJ's for Neeper. It's been a long time, and I was feeling the need to be crafty. Dub worked on Saturday, so I spent some time with George, Brad and Matt (and the rest of the Ocean 11 & 12 crew) while I was cutting, pinning and stitching.

The PJ's are a custom 2 piece job with a longer than usual shirt and shorter than expected (capri length) pants. I intended the shirt to be long, sleep shirt length, so it could be worn on it's own or with the bottoms - and that works pretty well. I didn't want to fuss with buttons or snaps, so I stitched the front together and called it done. It looks a little bit like a Kimono, but she likes them - so all is good. I have muchos more fabric to work on, but this time I'll take measurements before I start cutting. ~ grins ~

I did a little laundry and other chores while I was at it, but mostly me and the cats!

I'm amazed, actually, that I felt much like doing anything. Friday night, after dropping off the Neeper in Seattle with Aura - I picked up Dub and we went to our favorite local watering hole. No wait, I met him downtown, I had a couple Jack/Coke combos while I waited for him to be off work. THEN we went to our favorite local watering hole and Zach was a nice bartender and gave me TALL Jack/Coke combos while we played video games and waited for our dinner. Bar Burgers at the BEST!! Several Jack/Coke combos later, Dub drove me home and I poured myself into our lovely (almost 45 days old) king size bed! AH... and I was out! This was early, actually, around 10:30 or so if I recall correctly.

I tried to watch TV, but I was exhausted and so J/C'd that it didn't pay to stay awake. Dub was in bed a little while later cause he had to work the next day. AH.. what a wild life.

Sunday, not much doing. I whipped the PJ pants together in morning but I needed to measure for the elastic. (oops) It was rainy off and on, and I cat-napped in the office in between chores but that's as close as I was to the computer all weekend.

Monday was total craziness again, and today has been just as weird. I guess I COULD have taken advantage of no interruptions and put some more words on the but it was damn nice doing must what I wanted.

This will not help me finish the MS on time, but.. WILL help me keep what little sanity I have left.

More words on the morrow!

Why I find time only on Sunday

It seems like I can only seem to write on Sunday, and I'm not sure why that is.

Sure, there is time during the week, but I guess I don't use it as well as I should.

There is dinner, shopping, laundry, homework, dishes, pets, bills... pick one.. not to mention the boob tube. And I'm working on a waking program with my Aunt to help motivate her to move more.

Every other week I spend time with the ladies of my family yacking about this and that.

Saturday's there are often things to do like driving to Everett for a book signing *waves to Pat, Anne, Yasmine and Alexis* and then finding you can't drive your way out of the Everett Mall area without checking the map. It took twice as long to make it home as it should.. I was very turned around, and there was not sun that day. (I couldn't tell my south from east with the sun behind the clouds.)

So today my Ex Roomie called and said she needed some motivation and would I be up for some timed writing. SURE!! After I finish with Capt'n Jack Sparrow, sez I.

We kicked in a little later, and between the research and general goofing around, I managed to put over 1,000 words in the computer today - and that wasn't even editing what was already there! YEAH!!

So Sunday is the day, but if that's the case I'm going to have to put more than 1,000 words per day.

I'm glad the meter moved today, I'll take the progress I can make, and be happy with it for now.

How'd you do today?

4,509 / 85,000

(5.3%)

The Mother of all excuses for not writing this weekend.. pun in tended.

It's been a little while - things have been hectic and nearly non-stop both at home and at work.

On the home front, Aura moved in with her man - we will call him "Mario" for now. Mario sold his condo in Everett, and bot a house in Marysville - which is still a long long way from the community where I reside at the southern end of Lake Washington. We helped move most of Aura's stuff out then in two weeks ago. I don't think any of us knew how much "STUFF" she'd accumulated over the 4 years she's been here. And I'm not even talking about the 6 boxes of unread books (probably more like 8 all told) that were packed and moved. When we were done, there was an empty wall in the pool room (I have a pool table in my living room), a blank spot in the TV room (so then the TV is in the dining room), and the Master bedroom was now empty (I gave it up to her when she moved from Florida, so she could lock herself in her room to work on her book if it was necessary, but so there wouldn't be puddles on the floor. ~ Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! ~)

We cleaned away the accumulated dust and cat hair then re-arranged the furniture in the front two rooms while we decided what to do with the Master bedroom. I have plans to make it an office space or den, somewhere I can go to work from home or where I can write. Neepers computer is in the pool room at the moment, so we've also talked about putting her computer in the office.

Then, all hell broke loose with one phone call on Friday evening ..... Yeah, Friday, April 13th! Buffy called and said that she'd bot a ticket to come home (to stay) and would be arriving on Sunday, April 22nd, and would that be ok Mom? STUNNED. I did my best to contain my shock while we were on the phone and then after we hung up, I sat on the couch for several minutes watching my office plans melt into nothing.

See, when PFC left for boot camp in August 06, he didn't pack his all his stuff, so his room has been mostly untouched (and unusable) since his departure. Sure, he comes home every chance he can, and uses the mess as his base of operations, but there is no way anyone else could use that space... for anything. Before Buffy left for Florida in October 06, we had planned to pack up the rest of the PFC stuff and use his room as the new Neeper space. Having a 10 year old in your room tends to CRAMP your style when you're a social diva like Buffy. So when Buffy left, we allowed Neeper to keep the 'girl' room, and left the PFC mess as it was, as I had a hard time going in there without thinking about how empty the house was and how much I missed my kids. Of course, this was all when we still had Aura in the Master bedroom. Are you following?

SO, this weekend, we decided with Buffy returning we should go with the initial plan and clean out the PFC room (move his desk, bed, TV and bookshelf) into the Master/Office/Den/Guest Room and make the switch to from PFC Mess to Nice and Neat for Neeper. PFC can stay in the guest room when he's home, and when he's not around, it can still be an office or den.

MANY boxes of DVD, VHS, game systems (I think I counted 6 consoles), books, computer CRAP and electronic gizmos later we can see the floor, but the desk(with 2 computers) and bed still need to be moved. Oh, and the posters - the rooms walls are covered with Anime posters. We're going to prep and paint (maybe Tuesday or Wednesday) then look for a new bed and dresser for Neeper to start her bedroom transformation.

So, being a Mom is my excuse for not writing this weekend.

Buffy ~ Mom can I come back home and go to school, I didn't believe you when you said it's tough out here in the real world.
PFC ~ Mom, can you store my stuff for me while I'm in the Marines?

One of these days, I'll be able to start actually writing my book... instead of thinking about it while I'm supposed to be working.