Wednesday, May 29, 2013

I Took Advice!

Normally, I'm as stubborn as a box of rocks. Advice? Not generally. And not only am I as stubborn as a box of rocks, I think my head's made of up rock, too. After all, I can pound it against a problem for it feels like forever, and not see any progress. Yet, I'll keep going at it.

Isn't the definition of stupid the act of doing the same thing, but expecting different results?

So...I decided to do something different. I listened to all the great advice that came to me after my Sunday Lament.

You know what? It worked. I walked away from my problem child WIP until yesterday afternoon. All of a sudden, while I was doing something else entirely, the problems were fixed in a cascade of information that just tumbled into my brain. It was amazing.

For anyone out there that's had a spinal adjustment, it felt just like all the vertebrae in my spine rippling into place. (That makes me giggle uncontrollably, but my osteopath says that's a normal reaction. Not crazy. Whew!)

So, I want to shout out a big "THANK YOU!" to everyone that helped me, especially Bear, because, like any good bear, he's always got warm and fuzzy hugs when you need them most and he gave good meditation advice. Irene and Elizabeth, I would have thought I was crazy, walking away from a problem until you two urged me to do it.

I feel like this was a real group effort.

We Did It!!!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

My Brain Hurts!

Actually, it doesn't hurt - it feels like an electrified ball of barbed wire. How's that for an image?

I'm not in pain, but I've been dissecting my WIP so much, twisting bits here and there, that I'm completely lost. I have no idea what I'm doing with my story right now.

Quite frankly, I'm in a moderate state of panic.

Has anyone else been in this situation? Do you have any advice for me?

I've not been able to write a word, and I can't see my way clear.

Aaaarrrggghhhh....

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Laugh Out Loud Funny!

My writing partner Olivia decided to gift me with an email attachment of Daffy Duck. What she DIDN'T know about was all the other cute bits attached to it.

Now, Daffy and I have never been more than polite acquaintences; I always got on better with Bugs and Marvin. But this...this you have to see for yourself...


Sorry I couldn't get that to align properly or get it up higher. I've never inserted a picture into a blog post before. But I thought this was absolutely gut-busting funny.

The most amusing part is that it really applies to a character of mine, although I haven't really brought that out in her. Time to make a few personality cuts and let the psycho dribble!

See everyone on Sunday!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Flesh and Heat Don't Go Together

It's harder having an epiphany before you wake up. At least, before you wake up and have caffeine. I discovered this yesterday, the hard way.

Some background is necessary here. It's pretty evident that I like coffee. So does one of my roommates. We have a 12 cup coffee pot. It was an ancient beast, and it finally decided to die. I gave it a decent and heartfelt burial.

About 7 years ago I had yet to be hooked on that lovely little bean. My dad came down for my college graduation. He loves coffee too, so I rushed out to get a little 4 cup pot just for him. It was one of the things I took with me when I got divorced. Jon didn't drink coffee.

So, since the big one crapped out, I dragged the little one out for emergency purposes. Freshly ground beans - the fragrance of a good morning.

Yeah, right.

In my eagerness to pour this lovely little elixir of life, I pulled out the carafe at an angle. Now, it's a small pot, right? It doesn't weigh very much. Neither does the actual machine. Consequently, the whole damn thing started to move.

Naturally, I decided to hold it down to keep it steady. Not a good idea. Because I didn't grab the plastic with my fingertips. No, not me. Why would I do anything smart?

I grabbed the hot plate with my fingertips. Every single one on my left hand. Just before I had to go teach my first Saturday class this semester.

Ouch isn't the word. I sat for half an hour with my fingertips in a glass of ice. It's not the way I thought I'd wake up yesterday.

But just think what a great scene it will make for something!

Between fixing computers and my shift linkage breaking, I haven't done any writing for the past few days. But sitting here, watching Iron Man, I think I'm going to shake things up by blowing up something. Should be fun.

I'll let you know on Wednesday.

Happy writing, all!

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

The Innate Viciousness of Inanimate Objects

Yeah, the title pretty much says it all.

Now, you all remember what was happening with my computer a couple of days ago, right? (Interject here: "But wait, there's more!") While I was working with my writing partner at Starbucks yesterday, iTunes started to grey out my songs. You know, where they put an exclamation point inside a circle and it says you don't have access because it can't find the song. Yeah. That one. Randomly and not all at once.

And I have playlists that go along with different things/major characters for the book I'm working on. Grrr.

Guess what I can't access right now?

The only good news is that once I delete a song (if it's a purchased song through iTunes) I can download it again from the cloud. Then it becomes operative again. Usually. I think there was one last night that failed.

Anyway...

So, I pack up my stuff and run home to try to fix said computer. This was around 1:30. First, I ran a malware program. Didn't find a thing. Then I ran AVG Free edition. Found the usual complement of cookie stuff, and those were fixed/quarantined. Then I ran an iTunes diagnostic. This didn't end until around 9:00 last night, as the AVG portion was still scanning when I went to go do some accounting work until 8:00.

The major bummer about this entire thing is not the time it would take to delete and reload from the cloud. Nope. The problem is the stuff that I uploaded from CDs - CDs I no longer can find.

I really need my John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band stuff, because that music is really tied in to a particular character for Immortal Blood. I may have to  open up my very thin metaphorical wallet and spend some more almost nonexistent money.

There's the best reason I've thought of so far today for NOT getting a venti, skinny caramel latte.

How's your day going?

Sunday, May 05, 2013

Cinco de Mayo

Yup, here it is the 5th of May, so I'm kicking it in with mariachi music in the background. It's also my very sweet ex-sister-in-law's birthday. Happy birthday, Tracey!

My computer's been redlining for the past couple of weeks, so I've been doing some backups and deletions over the past couple of days. I'm down to 41 gigs free, but that's still not enough room. In the process, though, I've found some book notes that I thought I'd lost, so I've spent the past few days incorporating them into Immortal Blood. It's been fun. The dialogue still strikes me as good after getting some distance. I also found a scene were a shapeshifting wolf tries to convince a mundane that she's real while explaining about "real" furry conventions.

It made me chuckle, and gave me some impetus for the next few days. I love having a direction.

Right now, though, my direction's heading out to the kitchen to make some pico de gallo for tonight.

Hasta Miercoles (I think that means Wednesday...) Regardless, everyone have a great time with the parties tonight!