So, I was pretty much bouncing up and down, waving the acceptance letter of a major publisher around in jubilant excitement when disaster struck…The alarm went off and I slam wide awake to a dreary rainy morning in Southern Spain with a pack of dogs going completely bonkers around me. Talk about disappointment! Man, it had seemed so real.
Dreams are so very cruel that way, especially when they’re so specific. There you are, happy as can be on a bright sunny morning with the best possible news you can get right there in your hands, only to be forced back into depressing reality with the shrill sound of an electric clock screaming in your ear. I seriously considered smashing the damn thing from sheer frustration.
But, be as it may, the new day has arrived and it’s time to rise and shine…even when it doesn’t. (Neither do I, for that matter, but it’s the thought that counts.)
Rain is pouring down buckets, the sky covered with thick heavy clouds that seem to be locked in place by the sheer size of them, and the temperature is appallingly low.
Still, I need to get to the house, and since I was stupid enough to leave the umbrella down there, dangling from the coat hooks, after the last rainstorm, I have no choice but the brave the elements and hurry my way down the rocky path.
Upon arrival in the house, I find the chill to be abysmal, and the first thing I do is turn on the heater before I head for the radio, only to find that part of the power in the house isn’t working because there’s a short somewhere that the sibs were unable to locate during the night.
With a grimace I decide to have breakfast while I wait for big brother to arrive and see to the matter. I eat only a little, since my stomach’s iffy again, even after a good night’s rest, and am just about to put the coffee machine on when grandpa and big brother arrive.
While the coffee percolates, big brother sets out to find the cause of the short, and I start hauling out the night’s laundry for hanging. The batch from yesterday and the day before that still isn’t dry, and with these two batches added, the lines are rapidly filling up.
Big brother, however find the cause of the short, and heads on up to the patio exit where exterior lanterns are causing the fuses to break.
It’s wet everywhere, and like every winter, small flooding affects the pantry with an inch of water over the tile floor. Rather than battle it now, when the rain is still pouring down, I lock the door and head back for the kitchen where big brother and I discuss the lousy weather and the disruption of the plans we made last night about what we needed to do today. They’ve all been smashed, and so we have to make new plans instead.
First thing’s first. My lower back is killing me, due to the fact that Trin Trin was cold tonight and demanded that she be allowed sleep on the bed. This in effect brought her in a tight embrace, in which she kept pushing me into an unnatural bend (backwards, of course) literally dislocating my spinal cord.
So, I want to do a workout, if for no other reason than to get my muscles in working order so they can pull it all straight again.
It’s effective too, since fifteen minutes into the workout the pain in my back subsides, allowing for a full session that lasts until well after the younger sibs awaken and join us in the house.
Considerably relieved with the pain gone, I take a quick shower and then set up the computer for today’s work.
For the next few hours big brother and I work on the historical romance we’ve been editing for the past few weeks, and while I finish the final scene that is to replace the removals we start to see some progress in a project that’s been interrupted time and again. The new ending’s much better, and creates a rather sweet note for the finale.
One more full edit–because of all the new scenes–and it should be ready to send out. Yay!
That done, along with a quick scan of any commands that really shouldn’t be in there (it’s a disadvantage of working with a file that used to be a WP in the past, you won’t see the commands unless you work in outline) and then knock off so I can start on dinner.
There are some leftovers from yesterday’s meal, consistent of mashed potatoes and carrots, and since that won’t be enough for a solid portion for everyone, I add a rich salad, while making the mashed potato carrot mix into crispy burgers.
It all goes down well, the crusts adding to the taste, and the salad filling any gaps the burgers leave. Once everyone has eaten, and allowing the food to digest for about half an hour to digest, I return to the kitchen for cleanup.
Since yesterday the sink for the dishes is finally ready for use, allowing for easy washing and way more space on the rest of the counter, the chore isn’t half as troublesome as it was before. Next, I spend a while cleaning out shelves and checking supplies (tomorrow’s grocery shopping day) before the serious pounding from outside draws all our attention.
The rain is coming down so hard that it is almost deafening on the corrugated aluminum roof of the courtyard. Thunder rumbles furiously in rapid succession of blinding slashes of lightning, making the power fail entirely at least seven times during the remainder of the evening.
Though I find risky to use my computer battery when I’m not sure when the power goes back on, I settle behind the monitor anyway.
Since the rejection letter for the second short vampire story, big brother and I have been wondering what to do with it now, rather than letting it gather the proverbial dust in some file.
We’ve been playing with some ideas and taking those to heart, I make the decision to expand the story into a full-length novel, so it’ll be suitable for more publishers than just those bringing out novellas and short stories.
A scene is playing through my mind, and since the TV isn’t working anyway because the storm is blocking reception, I have two solid hours for writing.
It comes quite naturally, a completely new scene that suddenly casts an entirely new light on the story that we slaved on for several weeks. It changes it from a simple vampire romance into a political thriller with the hint of paranormal added to the mix.
I always find it intriguing how that works: One scene, describing a new angle of a character and transforming it almost instantly. I actually think that it’s going to work out really well in the end, and I’m more than curious how the story is going to turn out in the end.
By the time midnight arrives I’ve written four pages that set the scene for a new beginning of the story, and I’m pleased with the progress. The way I figure, I might actually manage to get the story eked out just by writing approximately ten of these scenes.
Shutting the computer down and carefully putting it back in my bag, I start preparing to take my dogs up to my cabin, and need to wait only twenty minutes before the rain lets up long enough to allow me to get up the path without getting drenched in the process.
The dogs storm through the door posthaste. They’re as pitifully horrified about the wetness and cold as I am, and soon each and everyone of them are inside, waiting for me to feed them. Rolling my eyes at their eagerness I get the feeding over and done with and then do about half an hour of reading before I start getting ready for the night.
At last I push the power button and settle in for the last typing session, in the shape of this Blog before I log onto the Net for the nightly fun stuff.
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