Dave is Home

Dave is home, and he's been gone for several days, so I will declare early that there will be no progress on the story tonight.

New Rug!

I had a very productive evening, hacking out five paragraphs in addition to an appreciable quantity of dialog. As a bonus, I feel pretty good about most of what I wrote tonight. I am sure that substantial revisions are waiting, but the spirit of this section rings true.

In other news, I just bought a rug, which will reside in the living area of our apartment and do its best to try to class this joint up. I will also be hunting for a "new" coffee table on Craigslist, and buying an actually new slipcover for the chair, which is starting to look a little too loved. Plus, the blue chair won't really go with the new carpet.

Sometimes you just need to redecorate, even if it is on a budget. And this is totally one of those times.

Today was Better

I had a much better day today and got about three miles of walking in, which made me feel good but also tired. No progress on the writing front.

Eh

Only two paragraphs tonight. I'm still exhausted from yesterday and my heart's not really in it this evening, but at least I got something on the page.

A Softer World: Making the World a Better Place, One Ounce of Snark at a Time

A Softer World: 109

Fail

Long, difficult day. No progress.

Where Art Thou, Choco Taco?

First, the business news. I hacked out four new paragraphs plus some dialog tonight, which pleases me, although I am still leery about how I'm going to wrap this story up. At least I figured out that a character needed to die (harder than you might think).

Now, onto a more pressing issue: the lack of Choco Tacos in Austin, Texas. I first encountered this desert at the Court Street BP Station in Athens, Ohio. The sustaining treat of my college years, it was the perfect ending to a long night of studying Greek and watching B-Horror. When we moved to Austin, the bastion of Mexican and Tex-Mex, a place where people see an animal on Discovery Channel and wonder how it would go with salsa, I assumed that the Choco Taco would be waiting for me.

And yet I have spent seven years peering into cold cases, casting longing gazes at freezer-chests, only to be rebuked. Tonight I found myself in a 7-11, only to strike out yet again. A search for Choco Tacos on Klondike's website confirmed my worst fear: there are no Choco Tacos in Austin, not even at Wal-Mart.

And that is a crying shame. It's ice cream and chocolate in a friggin' waffle cone shell, for crying out loud! This blessed confection is so earnest it inspires snears. Shouldn't all of hipsterdom be swarming these things? Doesn't my fellow man long for that perfect marriage of sweet and crunchy cold that is the Choco Taco?

Come on, City. You're letting me down.

Long Day

Not a bad day, but a long day. No progress.

Coming Towards the Close of Draft One

I managed three paragraphs and a fair amount of dialog tonight, which pleases me as Dave's workshop is still in full swing and there are still things to do tonight. I think I'm coming to the end of this draft, and I can't quite decide how to bring the story to a close. I suspect I won't know what happens until I'm typing it.

Socializing

Went to a work party with Dave tonight. Good time, but no progress.

Finally!

After two nights of avoiding the typewriter, I sat down this evening and hammered out SIX substantial paragraphs. The story is winding down, and its getting pretty graphic. I wonder if there's a way to post it to the blog without marking my entire blog as containing "adult content." Another thing to look into.

Dave's been off at a workshop since before I got home. I made my own dinner, walked the dog, and tried out most of a German lesson on the BBC "Languages" website (free and pretty cool). It would be nice if the German lessons take, but I suspect I might need an additional visual aid, like flash cards, if I'm to get the spelling and vocabulary down.

Ooo, subject of the dog walk, Kingsley had not one or two but eight admirers this afternoon. Boston terriers are awesome beasts, and this particular Boston knows it. He's a happy beast-man.

All the apartment belong to Beast-Man.

Guest

Out of town visitor tonight. No progress.

Day After a Thunderstorm

I barely slept at all last night, and felt like a zombie all day. No progress.

A New Record

Reading over the past week of posts it appears that I have fallen into a one day on/one day off pattern. This may not be a bad thing, provided one day on/ one day off doesn't lapse back into off/off/off. Tonight I managed nearly a page and a half of new writing for what I consider a difficult scene. I may be approaching the end of draft one, which is exciting but also worrisome. More often than not I'll type something and scowl, but I just have to keep reminding myself that getting the ideas onto the page is what is important right now. I can worry about perfecting the story during the editing process.

Dave has a conference this week, which will present some challenges to my writing routine. The only thing to do is soldier on.

Win Some...

Long day today. I'll have to take a pass.

And I'm Back!

After sleeping for about 13 hours, I felt much better and enjoyed my Saturday. We got the errands done, and then I came home and tapped out two sizable paragraphs and a small amount of dialog. Now it's time to relax, enjoy a little Jameson and dye the Easter eggs.

Bleh

Not feeling well tonight. No progress.

Minor Miracles

I came home a few hours early from work with a throbbing headache, and spent that time laying around in the dark. I declare it a minor miracle, then, that I managed to hack out a single paragraph this evening, and have no guilt that my progress was so limited.

Insert Sad Trombone Noise Here

Today is the first day since I started this project that I have not made any headway on my story. Four hours of restless sleep and a full day of work will do that, I guess. This just means I'll have to work twice as hard at it tomorrow, but at least I had a really productive Monday and Tuesday.

A Surprising End to a Long Day

This has been a long, but fairly mediocre day. I won't bore you (or myself) with the details. Days like this usually leave me feeling sort of drained and limp. Imagine my surprise when I tapped out three paragraphs plus dialog; almost a full page! Good work, self. Now let's see how much of that survives editing.

On a side note, late last night Dave pointed out that my Royalite lacks an exclamation point. Given that I've had this typewriter for months now, I don't know how that detail escaped my attention, save that I haven't needed the exclamation point yet. After a little investigation, I figured out the trick: you type the ' then track back one space and add a period, creating a "!"

Chalk up another one on the arcane Ludite knowledge board.

Thank Jeebus It's Monday

First off, I am so thankful that today was not the sinus-fueled pain-scape I lived in yesterday. If you've not experienced the torture that is a blinding, dizzying sinus headache or migraine, imagine a really bad hangover. Now imagine that throwing up doesn't help, and you get to have zero fun the night before to earn that pain. Awesome.

If you've never had a hangover (you lucky, virtuous person you), try to imagine what it would be like to have a mouse with a cheese grater living inside your forehead.

I stayed in bed until 2:30 PM yesterday, which was super late even with time change. I rallied around 3 and managed to get some chores done around the apartment, cook galumpki and take the dog on a short walk. Not a useless day by any measure, just not one where I could deal with loud, repetitive noises. Here's looking at you, typewriter.

I am happy to report that one day on the sidelines did not deplete my creative energies. Tonight I typed out three paragraphs plus about a half page of substantial dialog. This is all for the good.

I've also had a small measure of success on my other project, the one I had promised to elaborate on in the Sunday post: I am on a mission to trim my weight down. How bad is it? Let's put it this way. I see many, many people every day who are worse off than I am, but I am not okay with the current shape of me. This isn't just a vanity project.

And so in the interest of bodily improvement I've joined My Fitness Pal. Although its not all sunshine and rainbows, I can't deny that the program has helped me keep better track of what (and how much) I shovel into my maw. I'm down three pounds after the first week. If I can keep this up for a month or so, it'll be time to buy some new clothes :-D

GD It, Sinuses

Terrible headache today. I tapped out two sentences but can't deal with the noise the keys make. I'll take a pass on this until tomorrow.

Saturday

Not really in the mood for a post tonight, but here's the report for posterity: one paragraph and some dialog.

Dance, Bear, Dance!

Two new paragraphs and some dialog tonight.

Keeping this blog has brought a difficult truth to my attention: I don't like sitting down to write. I'd rather take a nap. Once I'm doing it though, when the keys are clicking and I get my focus, I'm very keen to be doing what I'm doing. It's like running, without the calorie-burning and tiny shorts! Which is good, because the world is tough enough without me inflicting the sight of my big rear at a jog on innocent bystanders. Ever notice how marshmallows plump their way out of smores? Yeah, that would be my thighs in shorts. No one needs to see that right now.

On a related not, I'm on a mission to get my weight down. 30 lbs+ would be ideal, but I'm taking it a pound at a time. More on that Sunday.

Also, Costco is Awesome.

I really didn't want to write tonight. Nothing terrible happened, only the usual inertia that I usually feel by this point of the work week. I didn't want to post "Nothing today" and feel defeated already though, and so forced out two paragraphs. I don't know if they'll survive editing later, but I suppose that doesn't matter. At least the blog is fulfilling its role in the process.

We went to Costco tonight, where we loaded up on apples, fish, and various forms of our good friend the chickpea. Dave talked me out of some chicken breast, arguing that 6.5 pounds was an awful lot of what would probably be tortured, bland chicken. I put the bag back into the freezer.

Important note: should the zombie menace ever befall Austin, Costco is the place to be. It's build like a fortress, well-stocked, and has limited and easily secured exits. The memory of the zombies in Dawn of the Dead returning to the mall gives me pause here, but let's be practical. If there are zombies all over the place, wouldn't you rather deal with the sort of zombies who used to spend a lot of time shopping/grazing at Costco then, say, the lean mean corpses swarming gyms and running trails? Or the creative, hyper-attentive zombies banging on the doors of Hobby Lobby? I know I would. Give me the slow, easily distracted undead any day.

Wednesday Time

So I actually had progress of a sort; two whole paragraphs and a sense of narrative direction. Woooo! USA! USA! I was ready to transition into the next major plot point of the story, fueled by sushi and a shot of whiskey and feeling good.

And then Dave came home in a funk, and the typewriter went away for the night. Better luck tomorrow, I guess?

Off to See the Wizard

Its almost midnight, the wind is blowing and I'm standing outside my apartment complex on a busy street, waiting for the dog to do his business. This wouldn't be great normally, but the whoosh of cars behind me and the string of sorority sisters leaving the frat across the street has me doubting my clothing choices: a blue, stars and moon-covered robe thrown over a t-shirt and sweat pants, and my husband's shoes, because I couldn't find my own kick-ons and these were by the door. "Well, that's attractive," I imagine they say to each other. Probably in a voice like my step-mother's.

I look like some sort of vagrant wizard, praying to the god of canine regularity to end my public shaming.

I'm 28 years old, overweight and under-stimulated. I can feel 30 creeping up behind me, and while I'm thankful for what I do have-- the dog, my husband, and not living with my parents-- what I'm thinking right now is "Is this really it?" When I was in my early twenties I used to joke that the 18 year-old me thought I'd be training elephants or doing something similarly fantastic by now. The 28 year old me just wants to finish a few short horror stories.

I don't think this blog will change my life, but I hope it will help me stay accountable. Every day I will list whether or not I pulled off some writing, and maybe a post. So, blog, here's to you: the new record of my progress (I hope).