Sunday Update - 2026 Week 33?

 I think it was week 33, but what do I know?  Anyway...

Last week was not the best week by any stretch of the imagination, but it also wasn't my worst week, so what the hell am I bitching about?

I only wrote 1629 words last week.  Again, better than nothing.  Things happened.  I fell down a blackhole of not feeling good about myself.  And, as you can see from the last sentence, I'm having word-finding difficulties, which makes writing not good.  Also, I got it in my head that a couple of characters need name changes, and I got stuck on that hamster wheel.  (It's still spinning like the hamster is mainlining Red Bull.)

Marketing was depressing.  I moved 12 copies of SSS.  I did wake up this morning to two overnight sales - DE and WIOH - but that only gets me 70c profit.  "I'm rich! I'm rich! I'm a wealthy miser!"  But seriously... Not sure what I'm going to do for the coming week.  Something.  Nothing?  :shrug:

I thought about reading this week, but right now, I'm afraid if I pick up a book to read, I'll be less likely to want to write.

As for activity, I watered the plants 3 times, exercised twice, and spent some time reorganizing the spare room.  Let's not talk about weight.  I'm fat.  It's affecting my joints which lessens my gumption to exercise, which makes me hurt more, which makes me... It's a vicious cycle.  The short invective is I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT.  :mumbles:lazyfatfuckgetoffyourass

Speaking of being fat, baking happened.  I did a batch of OCC cookies, but being lazy, I turned them into bar cookies.  They turned out okay.  Then Friday, I made pizza.  Also last week, I did a vat of BBQ pulled pork that turned out pretty yummy.

In case you missed it, Lumpy died.  Hubs found her under the sunporch first thing in the morning, so we assume she died in her sleep overnight.  He moved her body into the woods using our firewood sled, so nature could run its course.  Nature is, of course, a bitch.  Trying to keep a more positive perspective, Lumpy's genes now run through the majority of this herd, which strengthens it and makes it better.  In this way, Lumpy will live forever.  Her daughter, Sissy, is now one of the leaders of the herd, and Sissy's twin, Sonny, is one of the leading bucks.  Sissy's son, Scout, is the new buck on the scene, and will be breeding next year along with his wingman, and probable cousin, Ranger.

In garden news, I had moved some plants out of the greenhouse and the garage to give them more sun and fresher air.  They were doing fine.  Then something started eating my redbud trees and digging in my carrots.  I put the trailcam out, and it was a fucking squirrel.  The redbuds are back in the garage.

The rest of the garden is okay.  It's been too hot for flowering or fruiting, but there's hope that once the temps drop, I'll start seeing peppers and tomatoes.  The heat killed my last potato, though.  And, like I implied, the carrots are pretty much toast.  Here's hoping next year will be better.

Okay, I think that's it.  Life is life, and all that rot.  Have a great day and an awesome week.  I'll try to be more betterer this week so you have something positive next Sunday.

Thursday This n That

I was getting ready to head off on my errands when I heard something outside that made me turn and look out the window.  There were vultures on top of my car.  I called out to Hubs.  By the time he walked from the office to the front, even more vultures had landed on my car.  There had to be a dozen on it and several more on the ground around it.  He opened the door and they didn't fly away.  We actually had to go out and chase them off.  I was thinking some critter had died either under or in the engine compartment of my car.  (Flashback to years ago when I had a packrat making a home in there.)  We opened up everything.  I expected the smell of dead rodent to hit me.  Nope.  No smell.  No body.  Nothing.  Meanwhile, our trees are full of vultures and they aren't inclined to leave.  I'm not into omens, but the whole drive to Wallyworld, I was wondering if my car would die.  I made it home in one piece, the car did fine, and when I got home Hubs was fine, too.  No clue what the hell that was all about.

Also, yesterday morning, the coyotes were going crazy out there. Their yips and yodels and shrieks kept getting closer until suddenly, the sound stopped.  A few seconds later, a single coyote howled like a wolf would howl.  Then it did it again.  Then a third time.  I figure they caught what they were chasing and the one 'yote was calling the others to breakfast.

And then yesterday afternoon, the squirrels were freaking out.  The gray squirrels here do a sort of 'cough cough, squeeeal kind of call.  Several of them were doing it at the same time off the back of our yard.  It was weird day for animals, lemme tell ya.

No, it's not a full moon.  It is, in fact, a new moon.  Not sure what that means, in reference to all of the above.  Right now, everything is quiet, but it's early yet.

Yes, Halloween is approaching.  Yes, everything above really happened.

In other news, we watched an awesome movie yesterday - The Whole Truth.  It stars Keanu Reeves as a defense attorney tasked with trying to get a teenager acquitted of the charge of murdering his father (a vile and nasty man played by Jim Belushi of all people).  It was tense and twisty and twisted, with an ending we certainly didn't see coming.  Wow.  (And holy shit, when I was getting the link for the movie, I found out the mom was played by Renee Zellweger.  I thought she looked familiar, but she barely looks like the gal in Jerry Maguire.  :shocked face:)

Okay, I think that's it.  Got anything for me?

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 23

The first week of June went by... whoosh.  And today is already whoosh.  Of course, I got up late, so part of that can be excused.  The rest?  No Excuses.  I'm not really sure how much reading the minutiae of my life interests anyone else, but these posts help me, so there you are.

Anyway, there hasn't been much in the way of writing or editing lately.  Sorry about that, too.  As for marketing... Well... FB, in its infinite wisdom, decided to limit the amount of posts I can do in a row.  I can get 5 out before it tells me that in order to avoid 'spam', it won't let me post anymore for a while.  Not clue as to what amount of time that is.  An hour later, I might be able to get another post or two out, but not always.  The next day I can rinse and repeat with the same or worse outcomes.  Still, I managed to get posts to most of the groups I belong to and Friday, Project Hermes took off - moving 121 that day alone.  Still, with the other drab days added in, I gave away 161 books.  I'll try again tomorrow with Wish Hits the Fan.

Reading went okay, I guess.  I DNF'd more that I would've liked.  See yesterday, but also stay tuned for next Saturday's Wrap Up.

I made oatmeal raisin cookies this week.  Woot.  They turned out a little dry this time around, which sucks and is weird because it's the same damn recipe I've been using since I was a kid.  I also did a round of pulled pork.  Yummers.  I might make pizza today.  Or Cuban sandwiches.

On the activity front, I did three walks for a total of 2.7 miles (27.6 miles for the year so far).  I also moved some plastic tubs around and went grocery shopping.  (And if you don't think shopping is exercise, you're not doing it right.  Or I'm doing it wrong.)  Weight: 173.8

The deer are all getting un-pregnant, although we've only seen babies with Sissy and Lumpy so far.  They'll come around eventually.

I think a couple of my tomato plants might have buds.  Other than that, they're growing big.  Nice plants, but make with the fruiting already. Sheesh.  One of the pepper seeds I planted has germinated and is about an inch tall.  I think it has a friend that is trying to peek through.  Two plants producing green peppers would work for me.  The trees are doing well.  I lost one dogwood to what I assume was a squirrel digging in my pots on the deck.  It also got a cedar tree.  It dug in my walnut and my hickory, but those are fine.  Stupid squirrel.  I have weeding I need to get to this week, which I should've started doing last week.  I'm blaming the rain.

Speaking of rain, we've gotten about 2.5 inches in the past 7 days, with more on the way this week.  Enough already.  Sheesh.

And that's about it for me for now.  I'm sure there's more, but I'm about done sitting at the computer for this morning.  Time to start the day whether I want to or not.  Have a great day!  And feel free to tell me all the minutiae of your week.  =o)

Friday This n That

 Yeah, yesterday got busy first thing and while I did mean to post, it was later by the time I remembered.  Sorry about that.

One of the things I was busy with was Wallyworld.  Man, was it busy in there yesterday morning.  It's usually pretty quiet on a weekday morning, so not sure what was up with that.  Some old dude clipped my elbow with his cart and didn't even say excuse me or sorry or anything.  As I said on FB, I hope all of his Depends have a manufacturing defect.  Anyway, I loaded my cart with groceries - including all kinds of meat - and made it out of there for just over $200.  I take that as a good sign.  There aren't any specific prices I can point to - other than whole turkey breasts for 97c a pound, which could be due to Easter's approach - to show that things are getting better, but I'm optimistic.

The weather's gotten nice here.  I'm trying to walk every day.  2 days in a row so far.  Woot.

We were without phones again.  On the third day, I finally called the phone company - because apparently no one else does that but me.  They said it wouldn't be fixed until the 14th.  As I was headed out yesterday, I crossed paths with a Brightspeed truck coming into the neighborhood and the phone was fixed by the time I got home.  Dial tone!  Yay.

The birds are being really LOUD this morning.  Looking for love and all that.  It's like a big, avian single's bar out there right now. Bow chicka bow bow.

Speaking of love, Hubs saw a baby squirrel yesterday.  Yep, it's about that time when mama squirrels kick their babies out of the hole.  Which ought to remind one that after bow-chicka-bow-bow comes waa-waa-waa, so if you want the first and not the second, there are things that prevent that from happening.  Use one or several.

DYING EMBERS is still free, but only through the end of today.

And that's it for me today.  What kinds of this n that things are it for you?

Thursday This n That - Thanksgiving Edition

Despite what you and the folks at WKRP might think, turkeys can fly.  Wild turkeys can anyway.  I think the big, white, domestic turkeys have been bred to have such large breasts that they can't fly anymore, hence the carnage at the Pinedale supermarket.  

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I am sad for you.  Go forth and find the episode online* and watch it.

This is a wild turkey:

This is not:

Both pictures taken the same day (11/27/14) and both are hens.  The top turkey went on to live her life.  The bottom turkey went into our bellies.  And there was much rejoicing.

Hubs really does make the best turkeys.  Today, he will be using his magic on a 14.5 pound Honeysuckle White.  It's been thawing in the fridge since Saturday and is ready to go.  Mmm, turkey.  

I was telling the folks at work the story of the one Thanksgiving where we had a whole rafter of turkeys in the yard while our own turkey was in the oven.  They were all like 'I'm not sure I'd be able to eat a turkey with all those turkeys watching'.  We had no problem with it.  And neither did the turkeys. LOL

Speaking of turkeys, here's another picture.  It looks like that big ol' turkey is about to attack that poor, defenseless squirrel.

Don't be fooled.  This was taken a second after the squirrel had attacked the turkey and that tom is trying to get away while the squirrel acts all innocent.  Shortly after, the turkey left to find easier food to eat.  

Anyway, I hope you all have a glorious Thanksgiving Day, with loads of food and the people you love.  :HUGS:  And that neither the turkeys nor the squirrels give you any trouble today.  ;o)

* I found it for you.  (Actually, someone on FB posted it.)  It's not the whole episode, just the good part.  You're welcome.

Snoozy Squirrel

 In lieu of anything else, here's a snoozy squirrel...

Ah, the wonders of a good digital camera and a sun porch that overlooks the woods.  He's a good ways up in the black oak off the back of the house.  Zoomed in on him through the window after Hubs spotted him.  

As hot as it was for a bit there, I don't blame him for sacking out on a cool dead limb.  (And no, that's not his foot hanging underneath the limb.  It's a bit of branch.)  Usually the squirrels sit on that bit and bark at us.  It was too hot for barking.  

BIrdy Day

We've been having all sorts of birds stop by the feeders lately, so yesterday, I grabbed the camera, sat in my chair by the window, and snapped a bunch of shots.  Here are a few...

That's a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks.

Those are a female and a male, respectively.

An immature male summer tanager.  Isn't he pretty?

And a female summer tanager.  Here she is again... this is my favorite pic of the day:

Finally, because we love her so, here's Mama Boom.  She's a fox squirrel who's been hanging around a lot lately.  Something happened to her tail and she's only got half of it now.  She's so big, so looks like a groundhog when she's running across the lawn.  And with her short tail, she looks like a prairie dog when she sits up.

Most likely, Mama Boom has babies around here somewhere.  I hope so.  We need more fox squirrels to run off the gray squirrels.  (Fox squirrels are awesome.  Gray squirrels are furry-tailed rats.)

Hope you enjoyed the photos.  Have a great day!

I Am a Vegetable Today

I am a vegetable today.  I can't seem to muster the will to do much of anything, including writing a blog post.  So here's a picture...

Chilling Out

Sometimes you just have to lay in the grass in the shade and chill.

Another Horrible News Day, Another Picture

It's time for another picture...

Taken in Colorado back in 2012.

Thursday This n That

Sleep deprivation... It's real and it's deep, man.  There is not enough coffee on the planet today.  I think I need a java IV.  STAT.

Have you noticed the vape commercials on TV?  "May contain nicotine."  They can't advertise cigarettes on TV, but they can advertise that?  I also saw an ad for something like a nicotine pouch you can put in your mouth.  But they can't advertise chew.  Now, I'm not advocating getting rid of those product ads.  I'm just saying if they can advertise, the others should be able to also.  I find the hypocrisy irritating.

Speaking of commercials, have you noticed they've upped the number of them?  Used to be like 3 maybe four commercials every fifteen minutes.  Now it's like 5-7 every ten or so minutes.  And if it's an old show from back in the fewer commercials days, they chop it up and suck parts out of it to allow for the commercials.  Or suddenly an hour long show is like an hour and fifteen. 

The neighborhood guinea hens amuse me.  The other day I was driving out and saw them all sprawled in one of the neighbor's driveway, sleeping and doing their feathers and just generally chilling out.  They're such funny little things.  Of course, sometimes I have to stop and remind them to get out of the road.  Move along, ladies, before someone squashes you flat.

Which reminds me of a funny thing I've seen around the webs.  It goes something like 'Be decisive.  The road is paved with flat squirrels who couldn't make a decision.' 

Speaking of which, I hit a squirrel a couple days ago.  It came from the other side of the road and stopped in the middle.  Then it gave me this horrified, scared look and proceeded to run in front of my car.  I had hoped it would manage to be in the middle of the car, but one of my wheels must've got it because I could see it in the rearview, laying there in the road.  If it had simply stayed where it was or run back the other way, it would've been fine.  But no.  Stupid suicidal squirrel.  And I know there are millions of squirrels, but I always feel bad when I hit one. 

I also feel bad when I hit butterflies.  Lucky for me, it's fleeting or I'd be driving around feeling bad all the time.

I finally remembered to clean my computer vents.  It's running much quieter now.  Whew.  I so do not need a crash right now.

And on that note, I'll let you get back to your morning coffee.  Bottoms up.

Thursday This n That

I went fishing on Tuesday afternoon and despite what all the fishing reports are saying about bass only being deep and only biting on specific lures and junk, I caught a good sized bass, close to the ledges I was fishing from.  On a worm.  Actually, I was reeling in to cast out again and just as I got the worm almost out of the water, the bass attacked.  It was like Jaws.  Out of the depths it rose and BAM!  It was a keeper, but the water's been so warm I didn't think it would taste awesome, so I threw it back.  Only caught that one fish, but it was worth it.

I really need to vacuum.  The dust bunnies are whispering 'Viva la Resistance' in the corners and shadows.  I must put down the uprising before it explodes into anarchy.

Yesterday, I pulled out of the driveway and something was up ahead in the road.  From that distance, I wasn't sure if it was a leafy branch or a dead critter.  As I drove ahead, I was saying 'don't be a dead thing, don't be a dead thing, don't be a dead thing'.  When I got a little closer, it moved.  It was a broad-winged hawk with its back to me, its wings spread over whatever prey it had in its talons.  I had to stop the car before it moved, but it took off, critter gripped tightly beneath it.  Which was really cool until I noticed it had a chipmunk.  And I was all like "Chester!  Nooooo."  But hey, hawk's gotta make a living, too.  And hopefully, it wasn't actually Chester from our yard.  It's hard being a chipmunk in a woods full of predators.

Yep, nature's a bitch sometimes.  Why the hawk couldn't have come over and eaten one of the dozens of rotten gray squirrels in our yard is beyond me.  To borrow a phrase from Chik-Fil-A, 'Eat Mor Skwirrl'.

Gray Squirrel = Furry-tailed rat.  Would you believe Land Pigeon?

I've been thinking of all the things I've given up since we made the dietary changes earlier this year.  Fried chicken.  French fries.  Tater tots.  Hashbrown patties.  McDonald's.  Little Debbie snacks, especially the Nutty Buddies.  Mountain Dew.  Fritos.  Sugar in my coffee.  Doughnuts.  Muffins.  Danishes.  Candybars.  Bratwursts and smoked sausages.  French onion dip.  Sour cream....  I don't really miss all that.  Much.  I'm still holding onto ice cream, pizza (although I buy the little ones now instead of full-sized), and peanut M&Ms.  Except the M&Ms are dark chocolate now.  I still eat chips and crackers, but they're all baked now.  And hamburgers - 93% lean and made at home on the Foreman Grill, so the fat drips away.  Let's not talk about cheese.  I can't give up cheese. Ain't happenin'.  I do try to eat less of it, though.

Okay, that's enough out of me.  What've you got?

This n That Thursday

It's 11:15pm. And I'm up to my ass in alligators, which is why I'm writing this post instead of sleeping.  Tried sleeping an hour ago.  Didn't work.  So I'm up again.  Weeee.

Yesterday (err, Tuesday) I got the first edit suggestions from my editor for Wish in One Hand.  As much as I've gone over and over this manuscript, you wouldn't think there'd be so much color, but it bleeds.  Which is good.  It's what I asked her to do.  But any thoughts of this being an easy edit have flown out the window.  I have scheduled myself to start working on this Saturday.

Actual yesterday - which was Wednesday - I got a note from a reader who is also a writer.  She loved Dying Embers, but she found a few flaws and would I like her to send them to me. Hells yes.  There are seven of them - all perfectly legitimate and totally derp on my part.  Those I'm scheduled to fix tomorrow and then I will upload the fixed version to all the outlets.

Last night, right before I shut the computer down for bed, I got the initial cover art for Wish in One Hand.  There are a few little things I hope he can fix without too much trouble and a couple other things I can adjust in the manuscript to fit the cover art.  Otherwise, it's quite lovely.  Still, this is the reason I couldn't sleep.  I had to play with it.

I have interesting things getting ready to bloom in my garden under the cedars.  Last year I planted wildlfowers in there.  I don't remember these, but they must've re-seeded themselves because there they are.  I wonder what the blooms will look like.  I also have scads of marigolds from last year that re-seeded themselves.  I do love marigolds.

The other day, our resident rabbit - BunBun* - was eating at the corn piles with a couple does.  Until one of the does noticed him. She walked over to sniff him and he scooted away.  A while later, he was in the front yard munching grass.  The doe followed him, intent on sniffing the bunny.  He scooted back down the hill to the corn.  She followed.  Today, I looked out and no deer or rabbits, but we had one squirrel at each pile of corn and on the middle pile, one little chipmunk.  I wish I could've gotten a pic of that.  I shall call him Chester and he shall be my Chester.

I removed two turtles from different points in the road.  I also saw a lot of them on the highway.  Luckily, on my way back, no smushed turtles.  The local papers here have 'watch out for turtle' warnings.  Must be turtle migration time in the Ozarks.

And now, I believe I've worn my brain out.  One hopes anyway.  Sometimes I wish there was a switch to turn the brain off (you know, everything but the autonomic functions - I want to sleep, not die).  How I would turn it back on again... that's the problem.

What this n that do you have for me this week?

*for some reason, I feel the need to pronounce BunBun with a French accent, so it sounds more like BonBon.

The Legend of Suicide Squirrel

Once upon a time, when I was in outside sales in Michigan, I had an appointment in a little town out in the middle of nowhere.  I'd never been there before so I looked at a map and took what I thought would be the most direct route.  And it really did take me through some pretty country.  Pretty, but lonely - which I am totally cool with.

Anyway, there I am, driving down this straight highway with no one else around when I see ahead in the distance at the top of a small rise, a squirrel sitting on his hind legs staring across the road.  I remember thinking that at some point as I got closer, he would run across the highway or run back into the ditch.  He didn't.  He just kept sitting there, looking east in the perfect squirrel pose. 

When I approached the point where he couldn't run across the highway without getting flat, I still figured he'd save himself. 

As my front tires passed him, and I could no longer see him, I assumed he'd skittered off.  I mean, squirrels have a healthy sense of self-preservation... Or so I thought.

Until then my back passenger tire made a soft thud.

In the rearview, I saw him laying on the side of the road - not moving.  Mr. Squirrel had indeed committed suicide by car.

I can only assume he decided enough was enough.  He'd had it with a life of gathering nuts and hiding them only to discover he could never find them again.  He'd reached a point where he couldn't stand one more day of endless running around, eating acorns, and chasing other squirrels.  As he stood there beside the road, I wonder if he was thinking 'the very next car that comes by, I'm ending it', and I just happened to be the next car. 

I felt really really bad about hitting that squirrel that day.  Since then, I've come to terms with it.  In the end, there really wasn't anything I could do.  I couldn't swerve because he wasn't in the road until the middle of my car.  There was no way to anticipate he would do that.  One cannot discern the mindset of a normal squirrel on any given day, let alone a suicidal squirrel on a gray Monday morning. 

Fear not, Suicide Squirrel.  You will live on in my memory.  Enjoy your eternity in the big oak tree in the sky.

I just wish you hadn't been such a little asshole and picked my car to run under.  Seriously, I felt really bad about it.

Squirrely Quandary

Imagine you're walking past your bathroom window, and you see this:

Yes, there's a squirrel in the window well. 

Surprising, no?  Well, imagine that particular window is approximately ten feet off the ground, with no nearby trees, and a two foot overhang complete with gutters from there to the roof.  How'd he get there?

Well, he must've climbed the siding, you say.  Except the siding is painted and kind of slippery on a good day.  Today it's misting and everything is slick with moisture. 

We're kinda of stumped as to how he got up there.  And he was kinda stymied as to how he was going to get down. 

In the end, after several aborted attempts, he went over the side.  It wasn't graceful by any stretch of the imagination.  In fact, he fell most of the way...

No worries, though.  Mr, Grey Squirrel ran to the closest tree and scampered up it, where he was seen cleaning his fur moments later in a whole "I meant to do that" fashion.

Screwy squirrels.

I say he climbed the siding.  Hubs thinks he found a way off the roof to that spot.  Either way, I think we've got a member of the Flying Wallenda family - squirrel edition.

Boom Boom

I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine.  Boom Boom is a big fox squirrel.  In a yard overrun with gray squirrels, he is still the king of the yard.  And he does not like his neighbors.  Or maybe it's just that Boom Boom - like Joey from the show Friends - doesn't share food.  He'll run off any gray squirrel that comes anywhere near where he's eating.

Yesterday, we put a big pan of squirrel food in the yard.  In no time, the gray squirrels were there and had been run off by Boom Boom.  Crouched over the plate, he let everyone know it was his food.

Enter Henrietta - our resident hen turkey.  She came strolling into the yard and headed right for the food pan - because, hey, turkeys and squirrels eat pretty much the same stuff.  And a mix of corn and sunflower seeds was on the menu.  Yummers.

As she approached the feed, we were pretty sure she was going to run Boom Boom off.  No matter how big Boom Boom is, Henrietta easily outweighs him.  But when she got close to the pan, Boom Boom lowered himself to the ground and WHAM... he jumped at her.  Scared the shit out of poor Henrietta.  Every time she got close, he attacked.  Until she got to the point where she'd tentatively take a seed and then jump away.  At one point, she wandered away and then came back.  This time we thought for sure she'd screwed on her courage and would give Boom Boom something to think about, but no.

She did get it one good karate kick, but Boom Boom wasn't deterred.  It was his food.  And BOOM BOOM DOESN'T SHARE FOOD.

Eventually, Henrietta wandered away for good - no doubt in search of easier vittles.

Here's an action pic of the bout.  Don't let the image fool you. Even though it looks like Henrietta is the aggressor, Boom Boom struck first and this was snapped in the seconds afterwards when she was trying to get the hell out of the way.

Ah, life in the Ozarks.  Every day, it's something new.

Crispy-Brain

Well, we're supposed to close on a house tomorrow.  And if all goes according to plan, we're supposed to move next week.

Of course, this means my brain is absolutely fried.  And the whole crispy-brain phenomenon is having a cascade effect. 

I can't sleep.  Correction, I can't nap.  Every time I lay down to take a snooze, my brain kicks into overdrive.  Case in point - yesterday after running around town dropping books off at various locations, I was freakin' tired.  So I hit the couch for a little down time.  I closed my eyes, and the brain starting whirring.  I fought it for fifteen minutes.  And then got up and brushed the window blinds - because that was driving my crispy brain nuts.  Of course, the same thing happens at night, but I do manage to coax myself to sleep.  (Last night I went to bed at 8 and slept 'til five - I was that tired.)

I can't remember shit.  Okay, so this isn't anything new.  I'm brain-damaged and having a leaky memory is just part of life for me.  But with my brain all crisped like a barrel of pork rinds, it's even worse.  I find myself finishing a lot of statements with "...if I remember correctly..." because I seriously doubt I'm remembering anything correctly.  (If it isn't written down, that is - which encompasses about 90% of my life.)

My focus is kerput.  I remember telling myself yesterday morning that I needed to do the laundry.  Then I started repacking books for delivery*.  Then I thought about the fact that I needed to get the Kid's computer wiped clean so I could give that to the neighbors - which led to cleaning a USB stick so I could transfer anything she might still want.  I got that project started and went back to the book thing.  But I had to call the title company.  And Max needed food.  And the outside kitties did, too.  Long story shorter than it would've been otherwise, I never did get the laundry even started.

So, you see what I mean.  I've got the crispy-brain.  Here's hoping I'll be back to what passes for normal for me by mid-April.  (After the move and the unpack and the delivery of furniture... etc. etc. etc.)

* With as many books as I have to unload, no one will take them all, but everyone has put in requests for certain genres or authors.  Since I already packed them all up, I had to go back through and cherry pick.  Paperbacks and large print for the old folks home.  Romance for the bagger gal at the grocery store.  'Scary' for my friend in the produce section.  Suspense for my friend the cashier.  Newer hardcovers and easy-to-resell for the library.  I love sorting books, but this is getting a little beyond that.  The good news is I made most of my deliveries yesterday, and today will be 'here's a box of assorted books - do with them what you will'.

Is it any wonder I'm totally loving my Kindle right now?  A hundred books all in one tiny, light-weight gadget.  :happy sigh:

The Specific Gravity of Manuscripts

Yeah, I'm probably not using the term 'specific gravity' anywhere close to right, but I'm a writer, not a scientist, Jim*.

This morning as I was surfing through the blogosphere a friend mentioned that she dropped her 30K WIP to start something new and sparkly.  She also wondered whether it was the right thing to do and whether this happens to any of the rest of us.  In my comment to her, I said something about how you have to go with what's pulling at you the hardest, which of course led me to think about how, in our world, each manuscript seems to have its own gravitational pull.  And since you can't defy gravity, you have to go with whichever story is pulling at you the hardest.

Think about it.  Here we all are, swirling around in our own little universes - drifting this way and that until some story pulls at us hard enough to make us want to sit down and write it out.  If it's an awesome idea, it eclipses every other idea.  We have no choice but to stick with that manuscript until we either finish it, in which case it loses it's gravity.  Or for some reason the story's pull weakens enough to let something else's gravity pull us away.

Now I could go totally geeky and come up with some kind of formula to show how this manuscript has more gravity than that manuscript.  (X cubed time Y squared minus I is greater than Z).  But I always sucked at math.  

You can fight the pull, of course.  It takes a lot of work.  It takes more than a fair bit of belief that no matter how much another story is pulling, the one you're currently in orbit around is worth finishing.  And then also tenacity and sheer stubbornness help.  Basically, in this business, your engines have to be strong enough to hold you in place when you need them to, or to let you break free when the situation calls for it. 

Still, sometimes you're stuck screaming "I'm givin' her all she's got, Cap'n!**" and still get sucked into the black hole that is a new, but scary and unknown, idea.

And that's okay, too.  Who knows what wonders you might find in there.  ;o)

One thing I have learned, though.  The longer I do this, the easier it is for me to note the new and sparkly ideas on my star chart and promise myself to explore them later so I can finish what I'm already working on.  Even then, though, the stars call to me and sometimes they whisk me away.

How about you? 

*Gratuitous Star Trek reference since I'm going all scientific on your asses.
** Yeah, there's another one.  If you didn't know I was a geek before, you do now.  Geeks of the World UNITE!

No Donuts for Me

I didn't get a confirmation letter yesterday and the announcement just posted that all letters have been sent, so it's official...

I didn't make it into the final phase of The Baker's Dozen contest over at Miss Snark's First Victim.  So, no donuts for me.

Ms. Squirrel best illustrates my feelings over this:

A little grumpy is allowed, right?  Not too grumpy, though.  I really only had a 19% chance.

And, since I did tell a few people I'd post my entry if I didn't make it, look for that tomorrow.  K?

ETA:  In the end, I decided the only person responsible for my own donut acquisition is me.  So I went and got a half dozen.  Mmmmm, donuts.

Totally Geeking Out

I posted this to Facebook, but since I'm still totally geeking out, I'd thought I'd share here, too.  I just watched a redtail hawk eat a squirrel and I got pictures!

Here's him in the tree where I first saw him.  I didn't know then he was hunting.

Then he took off and I thought I'd lost him (which is what usually happens), but he'd landed just across the street in a neighbor's yard.  It took me a second to realize why he'd landed on the ground.  But if you look, there's the squirrel laying in the grass to the right of him.

He snatched up his prey and took off for the park.  And I got lucky with this shot:

I never thought he'd stay where I could take more pictures, but I thought 'Doesn't hurt to try'.  I went back to the house and locked it up, then walked the block to the park.  Sure enough, he was sitting there, munching away.

I snapped quite a few pics of him eating.  For me, it was the coolest thing ever.  I mean, this hawk has been hunting around the house for the past week or so, but I never dreamed I'd get such awesome action shots.  It felt like an episode of Wild Kingdom.

So, yeah, I'm totally geeking out. 

Oh, and rest in peace Mr. Squirrel.  Sorry about being all happy and junk about your demise, but that's how the circle of life works.