Sheila's Guests and Reviews

I had all these wonderful plans. 1,000 words a day on textnovel? That was surely do-able. And I could keep writing my favorite WIP at the same time couldn't I? After all, it's easy enough to read more than one book at once. Plus there's that piece that I'm doing the research on--must be time to put metaphorical pen to paper there (or finger to keyboard). And the book reviews... Then there's the incredible news that a bookstore wants some books from me and please will I mail them--suddenly none of the million boxes I've failed to throw away are quite the right size. And there's the final edits and checks on those Lulu books that I want to start selling in summer. I should order them soon... And the cooking, and the cleaning, and the shopping and the washing and persuading the son to revise for his exam, while sympathizing with the other son who hasn't time to do anything else but revise. And the dandelions; I really ought to cut some of those dandelions ...

I thought I was the patient one. I patiently hadn't done the yardwork yet when the wind suddenly fell on us and spun the patio dry. It was pretty dramatic. So was the thunder and lightening, but we weren't worried--we'd already switched the computers off. Except the Vista one was updating still. And the power went out. Now we're playing that uphill game, trying to get our Windows back. The world outside the glass in the family room has gone dark. And the world in the computer went light and dark, light and dark, light and dark... till we found a way to stop it from restarting and said yes to the option to repair itself. That was hours ago. But it seems my son's the patient one after all, relaxed and unconcerned while the computer says "preparing to install" unchangingly. Of course, if it fails to install, it's me will be reinstalling Windows tomorrow, but at least I won't have to clean the patio.

I think I used up most of Thursday's excuses yesterday. Headache - yes. Housework - tons of it. Laundry - well I emptied the dryer, but I didn't get round to the washing; maybe tomorrow. Yardwork - I cut the grass, which is growing too fast; ran out of time before I could weed the flower beds. Shopping - forgot the bread. Internet - I posted day 48 of my Revelation drabbles; posted 49 today. Family - that's what distracted me from yardwork. Dog - she's a wonderful exercise machine, so of course I took her for a walk. I didn't get to the editing. But I made lots of lists while working out how much I might complete by the end of the day. And reading - that's what I did at the end of the day. (An excellent book, that I found through Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem while wandering the blogosphere a little while ago.) Today we saw Star Trek. It was great. So maybe I'll find more time to write tomorrow.

1. Headache 2. Housework 3. Laundry 4. Yardwork 5. Shopping 6. Internet 7. Family 8. Dog 9. Editing, and 10. Making lists Oh, and 11: Putting the things in the list into the right order. I could start on that now if I hadn't got such a headache. But the laundry basket's overflowing on the floor; we're running out of juice; the grass is too long; it's time to change the sheets but the son's still in bed; and my best friend's dog really is a perfectly wonderful exercise machine. They tell me walking's good for headaches - good for inspiration too - and it's much more fun than lists. So maybe it's time to phone my friend, or her dog, and enjoy the sunshine before I tell the son to rise'n shine for lunch. P.S. Reading's my top excuse for delaying all the items on the list.

The sun's shining. The weeds are growing. And the grass is waving in the breeze. Meanwhile, book two of Hemlock hasn't grown any bigger since last I looked, this time last week. I really need to get writing... ...really need to get weeding and mowing the lawn. Green things grow faster than words, and I guess that's just life. So I'll dream a few more scenes while I mow, with the scent of seed and sneezing in the air. And the weeds I was pulling last week? They're bigger and stronger and wiser now and their roots go deeper under solider ground. But I'm lucky because my stories grow longer roots too when I'm away from writing, so at least I know they'll be waiting for me when some typing time finally comes round.