Well, it was a long day, and since I cheated on the Blog yesterday, I guess I should get back to the usual schedule in explaining what all happened today. Where to start, where to start? I know, the usual place. Duh!
So, I wake up this morning, feeling downright grubby from a night that was once again way too short (I don’t know what the heck’s wrong with me, but I keep being late at getting to bed) and downright grumpy as I go through the morning rituals, stretch all the kinks from my back and then head down to the house, muttering complaints at the dogs.
The dogs surge forward at a less sedate pace, naturally. The bloody idiots never do anything at a sedate pace, unless of course they need to get inside fast and they really don’t want to. Oh Gawd, you should see Chaos when he has to get into the courtyard because I need to go somewhere and he has to stay at home.
He will meticulously crisscross over the entire path…it’s like nine or twelve feet wide and fifty long…sniffing literally everything his nose comes upon. That Basset is a master and drawing things out. The funny thing, though, is that he literally does it in slow-mo, every muscle, every limb, heck even his eyes. It’s hilarious…if I weren’t in a hurry.
But anyways–by the time I get to the house and, rather delightedly–notice that there’s no laundry to hang of fold today, I head inside to have a quick breakfast so I can start on the edit once more. For the moment we’re not doing the rewrite type of edit, but more a technical scan for typos and such, which inevitably occurred while we rewrote most of the scenes.
We scour many pages during the hours that pass and I write about one page for yet another scene that will later be integrated into the story. It’s an interesting scene, really. It basically describes how the female protagonist’s (MPD patient, if you will recall from previous posts) personalities begin to realize that it is time for them to stop existing.
It will be a somewhat sad scene, since I’ve gotten rather attached to the multiple characters that live inside the heroine, but it needs to be done. The story requires a happy ending, of course, and for that Nina (that’s her name, by the way) needs to become whole again. I think I’m going to cry a little by the time I finish this scene because at least two of the characters do not wish to cease their existence.
Ah, the turmoil of an author. Killing off characters (which is basically what this is) is like tearing a piece out of your heart without an anesthetic.
On the UP side, I’ve received my first two independent test readers’ responses to the prologue and the general consensus was: “Oh My God! You…you horrid, horrid person (I’m keeping it polite, mind you. Hah) You should have warned me that was so damn awful, I cried! What the hell happens next?” which is of course thrilling feedback for me, since that is the whole intention of the prologue.
One of the test readers actually complained that she had this awful pain in her chest from emotion, while reading the first three pages and that she kept wondering when things were going to turn for the better…Ah, the worry, so very rewarding. But the first scene is supposed to be so all-consuming that the reader is left emotionally drained and chomping at the bit to read what happens next. Mission accomplished! Yay.
So, with that bit of good news I’m suitably bolstered to tackle today’s building and head on out into the hot spring day (it was actually hot today, which is the first this year, hooray!) to return to yesterday’s digging spot. I’ve yet to deepen the gutter for the foundation and decide to get to it while one by one the sibs exit the house to join me.
Since this second section of the wall needs to be built from the ground up once more, it is a task that puts a heavy burden on all our backs. Sixty to eighty pound rocks get hauled over and dropped in their places while middle sister starts mixing the cement for our task. I gotta admit that I am more than happy that I have been working out so much this past year, ‘cause if I hadn’t I would be a wreck tonight.
Fifteen heavy rocks later, little brother and I do most of them, but little sister certainly does her fair share, we’re ready for the cement…or so we thought. Big brother doesn’t agree, however, and rolls half of them away to deepen the gutter a bit more until he is satisfied that it is deep enough. It’s not like the massive wall would have shifted even an inch with the one I dug, but what the heck, if he wants to do some more digging, that’s his prerogative. I’m certainly not going to stop him.
Of course I am the one who has to put the rocks back in place, but by then the cement is coming in so there is little time and breath left to complain about it. Hah. For several hours we pour, lay and fit the newly laid wall until, about and hour and a half before sundown the sand and cement supply has depleted.
With the wall up to our knees, we are quite happy to finish up today’s building, and though the heavy work isn’t over for big brother and I, we exclaim a sigh of relief. After we have led the dogs into the courtyard, and middle sister has hosed down the tools and containers, it is time to head out to get a new supply of rocks.
In the company of grandpa and mom we climb into the car and drive off to our regular spot in the woods where digging debris have left a large supply of rocks just waiting for us to pick them up and use for the wall. Hah. It takes us about fifteen minutes to load the truck bed up to full capacity…we find this particularly gorgeous rock that is literally shaped like a stool and so heavy big brother and I need to lift it up together, and then get back into the car to return home.
Luckily, the younger sibs are already waiting for us by the time we return and working together it takes only little time to unload the heavy burden out to throw them onto the rapidly dwindling pile. We’ve found a good batch today: Lot’s of straight edges and angles that will allow for easy building during the next session.
That done, we return to the house where the dogs are eagerly awaiting our return. We throw a couple of frozen pizzas into the oven for dinner while little sister and I start making a couple of pies for our friend Dannie’s birthday tomorrow. What with two guests coming, (the birthday girl and a mutual friend) we promised to make a cherry chocolate cake and a cheesecake for the occasion.
While little sister sets to the task of preparing the cheesecake (made with yogurt, because we forgot to buy the proper ingredients, grrr) I make the cherry chocolate log. Rather than bother with the actual baking I use a cheap basic cake as a basis. Cream gets whipped, chocolate melted, cherries drained of their juice and chocolate butter mixed. On the overall, both treats take less than an hour to prepare, which is good since by the time we finish I’m seriously lacking in my energy levels. Hah.
With the pizzas as dinner, I only eat a couple of small slices because I’m really too tired for a proper meal, we watch a bit of TV…”Dude, where’s my car” was on. Talk about stupid movies, hah…before it is time to retire for the night.
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