Into the ether....
I'm currently writing this entry on my laptop at the coffeeshop using wi-fi technology. Yes, we finally purchased the technology for both our machines. (See previous entries for the differences.)
I'm...shocked.
Saturday, November 15, 2003
Currently reading....
Words
The Gates of Hell by Paul Doherty
The Silver Drum (Gin No Bonhonnierrie) by Princess Chichibu. (Scroll down to the princess' entry.)
I try to read at least a chapter a day in either book (preferably both).
Blogged In, blogged out
Some housecleaning on the links. With the exception of of Weblogs from FM, I've alphabetized the links.
Still want to expand the Fitness links....
Friday, November 14, 2003
WWW
Words
From today's journal:
Date’s 11/14/2003. Time’s 21:10:15. At the coffeeshop.
I’m amazed. Lots of folks in here at this hour. What’s even more interesting is the number of students working on school work this Friday night. Many must either have reports or tests next week.
When I come to the shop, I sit among one of four spots. I’m at the third best spot. It’s located near the main entrance. It’s distinct from the others by its high chairs. The other three spots currently have students at them. I’m irked that the couple sitting at my favorite spot is not using laptops or any other electronic device to take advantage of the electric outlet next to them.
Tonight is a writing night. Yeah! I missed Wednesday’s session and my mind feels a bit befuddled.
Huge influx of customers into the shop. Most are high school (or younger!) kids, probably from the high school across the street. The shop’s more crowded than on Thursday night.
Time’s 21:27:25. I’ll be starting on my WIP shortly.
We’re planning to purchase Wi-Fi cards and T-mobile accounts for our laptops in the near future. The reasons vary (and so will our Wi-Fi capabilities) but they all stem from our more mobile lifestyle. Part of me questions it, though: do I really need or want such capability? I can honestly answer “no” to the former and “yes” to the latter. The opposing answers have caused conflict in my mind.
Ah, well. Deep breath. I don’t have to worry about the issue until that moment of purchase.
Time’s 21:35:17. I’ll start the WIP in a few minutes.
Ah. One of my favorite spots is emptying. But do I want to make the move at this time? Nah. I’m comfortably ensconced at the “high chairs” spot. I can easily outwait the customers around me who will leave after they’ve purchased their drinks. Besides, the music above me drowns out the crowd’s screeches, giggles, and laughter. I also enjoy looking at the night-fallen stadium outside the window directly in front of me.
My mind returns to my WIP. I know and feel I don’t want to work on it tonight. Already I’m having doubts about it. And that’s okay. I can doubt; this time, though, I won’t fall for the temptation. One method I learned over the past couple of years to “overcome” the doubts is to concentrate even more strongly on the scene in front of me.
Be right back (BRB). Refill time.
Time’s 21:45:32. Back.
Hmmm. I’ll start at 2200. I can get at least four pages (1000 words) before the store closes at midnight.
Plans for this weekend. For Saturday, I currently plan to write shortly after I wake up. I hope to get in four hours before we leave for late breakfast/early lunch. After lunch, we’ll look for a housewarming gift. We’ll then head out to San Bernardino/Riverside to our friends’ new residence. We plan to leave early since R. has to work all day Sunday (and night.)
Sunday I’ll be busy with housework: tossing out trash, washing clothes, food shopping, etc. I also will need to devote time in hunting some important paperwork for RLI to send to our accountant next week. I plan to put some serious time in writing. At least four hours. Hmmm. Should I write in the morning or in the evening? Morning probably. I’ll be fresh. The only difficulty would be not to think about the rest of my chores. It shouldn’t be too difficult: the shop’s filled with plenty of distracting noise.
Time’s 21:55:53. Time to write (or close enough). BRB!
Time’s 22:17:28. Back briefly. 310 words in 15 minutes. Whoa.
Time’s 22:33:07. Back briefly. Whoa. Reached an interesting point in the scene. Major jump in wordcount. Cool. But there’s going to be some major editing in the second draft as well. These flashbacks are beginning to get annoying.
Time’s 22:53:38. Back.
Break. Massive jump in wordcount. I’ll easily break 25k by Sunday night. Cool.
And irrelevant. I used NaNoWriMo to jumpstart my writing again and it did. Whether I make the wordcount by month’s end or not is irrelevant.
Time’s 23:10:07. Hmmm. BRB. I can feel myself crashing from the caffeine.
Time’s 23:21:27. Back.
Though I won’t have much time, I’ll resume at 23:30. I should be able to get at least a page (250 words) before the shop closes.
Time’s 23:23:59. Back.
Change of plans. I’m going to go over the outline. It’s been a while.
Time’s 23:46:15. Back.
Ugh. Having set the parameters for the setting of my work-in-progress (WIP), I have to work within them. This causes me to perform some mental gymnastics when I must justify certain elements in the story (i.e., hand scars, etc.) That’s okay. It forces me to be more imaginative.
It’s getting late. Will start closing up shortly and head home. Overall, I’m pleased how the novel’s coming along. I now see that, at this present rate, the first draft will be huge. I will be performing a lot of surgery during the second and subsequent drafts. And that’s okay.
Later!
Weights
Was supposed to work out (shoulders, arms.) Made excuses and ate out instead. Ugh!
Learned something new. Apparently my body can't tolerate high levels of grease like it used to even with fiber. Well, that's good. I'll just have to be more careful when I want to down a greasy hot dog/egg/cheese/hash brown croissant :-)
Whatever
Schedule lunch with my friend Kevin next week. The drycleaner's boiler broke on Thursday so I'll have to stop by Monday night to pick up the remaining clothes. Oh! Money. Got paid today. Also, the security line of credit should be available now. I'll have to check. List for household improvements is long....
Finding the time.
Sigh.
Finding time to write is always an on-going struggle for writers (whether published or otherwise, though I think the former have a slightly easier time since they can usually say, "your inane interruption is costing my advance. I'm going to start charging you at a per interruption rate if you don't leave me alone.")
One of the first casualities in pursuit of the Muse is usually a social life. I usually only see my friends once a month. Right now I'm struggling how to see one friend next week. Current schedule is:
Monday, November 17:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 back, chest
Fitness 1930-2030 Cardio, abs
Housework 2130-2200 toss out trash
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Tuesday, November 18:
Work 0900-1800
Lunch out 1330-1430 work on bills
Write 1930-2200 at coffeeshop?
Housework 2200 take out trash bins
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Wednesday, November 19:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 shoulders, abs
Dinner out opportunity
Write??? 1930-2200 at coffeeshop?
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Thursday, November 20:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 arms
Fitness 1915-2030 Cardio, abs, stretching
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Friday, November 21:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 Legs
Write 2000-0000 at coffeeshop?
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Tuesday or Wednesday seem to be the best. Course they're both writing days. I'll have to push the writing till the later hours. Ugh. Hate to do that. I'm already only getting--on average--six hours of sleep which I know is contributing to my depression.
Well, I'll figure out something. I've learned long ago that while imaginary folks are interesting, they can become intolerable without "real" folks to counter-balance them. That is, until I'm tired of the real one ;-)
Thursday, November 13, 2003
A happy fatigue
Weights
Cardio class was intense tonight. So tired. But it's a happy fatigue. Now I just need to get my quads and the rest of my legs massaged. Oh, honey.... :-)
One of those sad postings
Though I have a "no angst" policy for my blogger, I'm making an exception to Holly's goodbye to Forward Motion posting:
Cold Water and A Sword
My thoughts
I'm saddened and yet understanding. I wish the best for her and plan to purchase her wonderful books as they come out. Like many of the FMers, I've grown a lot as a writer and a person from Forward Motion and continue to frequent the site.
That's enough angst for the rest of the year. Back to writing.... :)
Schedule
Tentative schedule for this and next week:
Thursday, November 13:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 Weight-training
Fitness 1915-2030 Cardio, abs, stretching
Housework 2130-2200 Food shop
Write? 2200-2300
Read 2300+
Friday, November 14:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 Legs
Housework 1830 Pick up clothes at drycleaners
Housework opportunity Pay bills
Write 2000-0000 coffeeshop?
Read 0000+
Saturday, November 15:
Housework at least two hours toss out trash, reduce piles, organize books
Write at least four hours
Business RLI stuff important
Event one hour get a housewarming gift
Event 1700+ Attend housewarming party. Leave early.
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Sunday, November 16:
(R.’s on-call all day and night)
Housework at least two hours toss out trash, reduce piles, organize books
Write at least six hours coffeeshop?
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Monday, November 17:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 back, chest
Fitness 1930-2030 Cardio, abs
Housework 2130-2200 toss out trash
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Tuesday, November 18:
Work 0900-1800
Lunch out 1330-1430 work on bills
Write 1930-2200 at coffeeshop?
Housework 2200 take out trash bins
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Wednesday, November 19:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 shoulders, abs
Dinner out opportunity
Write??? 1930-2200 at coffeeshop?
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Thursday, November 20:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 arms
Fitness 1915-2030 Cardio, abs, stretching
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Friday, November 21:
Work 0900-1800
Fitness 1330-1430 Legs
Write 2000-0000 at coffeeshop?
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
Saturday, November 22:
Housework at least two hours toss out trash, reduce piles, organize books
Write at least four hours
Read opportunity at least one chapter in books
ToDo today
Work. Wanna see if I can make significant headway into the handbook. Would like the first draft complete by year's end.
Workout. Two sessions. Shoulders & arms in the afternoon; cardio in the evening.
Will try to write a little this evening.
Call my friend Kendall about his new car.
Read. At least one chapter of The Gates of Hell and Silver Drum each.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Write Wednesday
As I pointed out in earlier entries, I have accomplished with NaNoWriMo what I wanted: to write regularly. Though I'm feeling really sleepy right now from dinner, I'm settling to write at least a couple of pages and more.
I, too--as mentioned by SBB's entry on why he blogs--use the blogger to warm up before writing. Like jumping jacks or treadmill before stretching before lifting weights, I feel the writing mind has to be "heated" into the right mode. A blog's one way to do so.
Blogged In, blogged out....
Added some more blog links. Still determining the list. What I need to do is start looking for blogs who share my non-writing interests (e.g., fitness, role-playing games, etc.) that I would read (near) daily.
Blogcleaning
Played around with the links. Moved and changed Starlines and Real Writers...Bounce.
Now I'm on the lookout for new blogs for daily inspiration (and occasional laughs) and links to fitness sites. The latter has grossly been neglected. This site is called "Words, Weights, Whatever". I'll review my personal fitness links to see if any would be appropriate.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
WWW
Words
None tonight except this blogger entry.
Oh! Want to put down what books I have read recently and currently reading. Finished Worldmenders by Biggle, Jr. yesterday. Currently reading the Gates of Hell and Silver Drums.
Weights
Cardio. Went to the Lake Forest Bally. Not bad. Will need risers the next time I go, though.
Oh! The tendonitis is gone. Also, I think I know what caused it.
Whatever
Work was okay today. Still debating to seriously look for new job.
Visited Clark tonight. Greg couldn't make it. Something to do about his honey.
Clark and I grabbed din-din afterwards. It's been a while since we had a chance to chat together. Talk revolved around books and political issues (which is something I rarely discuss). And family. Good conversation.
Sad news
Bummer. Sheila Viehl, Holly Lisle, and Rob Flumigan have closed their bloggers.
Monday, November 10, 2003
Time’s 20:29:22. Prepping up. Be right back (BRB).
Time’s 21:44:07. Back.
Whew! So many words! Another major flow. Over a thousand words (four pages). My fingers are exhausted but I’m pleased.
Write
Gonna do something a little different this time. I used to post my journal entries to my blogger but stopped some time this year. (I’ll have to look over the blog’s Archives to find out where I stopped.) For a change of pace, I’m posting tonight’s entry(ies?) up for the world to see.
Will I continue to do this in the future? Don’t know. One day at a time….
Time’s 20:11:50.
As I stated in a earlier entry, I’m aiming for at least 500 words (two pages). I’m forgetting NaNo: it’s served its purpose. I’ve currently schedule to write tonight, Wednesday, and Friday night. I hope to put some time Saturday before my friend’s housewarming party. I definitely plan to write on Sunday: R.’s on-call all day and we won’t see each other until Monday night.
Time’s 20:14:59. I’ll start at 20:30:00.
WWW
Words
Scheduled to write tonight. Aiming for at least 500 words (two pages).
Weights
Worked out this afternoon. Two back, two chest. Hmmm. Interesting side-effect. My left arm and hand don't feel quite so stiff.
Whatever
Busy morning that died in the afternoon. I hope tomorrow is the same thing.
While I can still type....
Taking meds to reduce the swelling in my arm. While it works (for the most part), some highlights over the weekend:
Saturday
Saw Brother Bear. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Got paged. Irritating. Who actually works in corps during the weekends? But I was able to test my access to work's e-mail system for the first time. It worked!
(There was an interesting side-effect from the page. My spouse agreed to my earlier suggestion to get Wi-Fi on my laptop. Now.)
Sunday
Skipped my favorite cardio class again.
Drove down to Mysterious Galaxy. Met the author David Brin who signed my rpg supplement. Cool!
Obviously--though I planned it--I did no writing during the weekend.
