Song of the day: “Glow” by Gavin James.
Gorgeous song, really, just not a good one to have stuck in your head when you
don’t know all the lyrics yet. Hah.
So yeah, I have been slacking on the blog part,
but getting used to the new job has been taking a lot of time, in particular
since I am also trying to maintain some sort of regular schedule writing the
new book…which is news, too, I guess. What with everything going on, and stuff
with the previous book, we finally managed to dive into a new project. Girl in the Mist has officially sold more than 5000 copies, by the way. This is awesome!
Research has been tremendous fun. Seriously,
there’s nothing like digging into psychology once more and seeing how to make
my hero’s psyche work despite all his problems. You do not want to know the
amount of hours I have spent online digging through psychology papers and
medical texts so far. It’s fun. I am definitely thinking of getting some of Jung’s
books. Fascinating stuff. The fact that we are, distantly, related, only makes
it more fun, I guess.
Been writing steadily. I try to do at least 500
words per free day, but if I can 1000, or over. It brings the manuscript up to
35K words now, so we’ve got about a third of the total going now. It’s a very “thoughtful”
story. A lot of it is about the inner turmoil and thoughts of the characters,
and boy, one of them is seriously messed up. During the few weeks I was not
working as much at the day job, I was getting a lot more done, though. At the moment I am working
quite a bit, meaning that usually I lose the first day after a row of workdays
to kinda recovering. Hah. Ah well, it’ll quiet down again. We do what we can in
the time we have, right? It’s all anyone can do, really.
This is going to be the first non-romance I
ever wrote, which is going to be a challenge. The story is developing nicely. Got the
characters fleshed out now, backgrounds and everything. The plot has had
several brainstorms and we’ve got the majority of the plot holes worked out…part
of a session at the gym, where we ended up brainstorming, while pumping iron. Can’t
imagine what folks must have thought of us talking so avidly while working out.
Hah
Been working out quite a bit ever since we got
back from the States, by the way, except for the past couple of weeks, because
just a day before my birthday I got sick at heck. It was bad. I had the shivers
the night before going to the company new year’s breakfast. Man I haven’t been
that cold since two years ago at our previous house. My teeth were chattering for
a couple of hours, my every muscle clenched, seriously, by the time I had to
get up I had to pop a double dose of aspirins against aching muscles and
bruised-feeling ribs. Strangely enough I wasn’t feeling all that awful after
the work breakfast was over and headed to the city to pick up my friend Dee so
we could go visit the Horecava.
The Horecava is a big annual event in these parts.
It’s a place where professional hospitality people come together to look at
innovative new ideas, ranging from food, equipment, and everything that has
anything to do with the hospitality branch. Didn’t make a full day of it, over
there in Amsterdam, but Dee and I wandered about the place for a solid five
hours, at least. Did taste lots of new stuff. Like black bread…didn’t like the
taste of though, and after asking what they had used as coloring (octopus ink)
I wasn’t surprised. I already wondered what I knew that particular taste from
and once I knew, I could identify it as black pasta. * sigh * Anyways, was able
to skip both lunch and dinner because of the event.
Found a 20 bucks bike at the thrift store that
I am going to fix up so I can use it at work. At the moment parking is a
disaster, meaning employees have to park a 10 minute walk from the building.
Gonna park my new-old bike there to save some time rather than hauling it along
all the time. At the moment I am still using my good bike, which is just not
smart. Poor thing gets dragged in and out all the time.
Been doing quite a bit of reading lately. I consider it research, as in checking out the competition, and it has helped me relax a little during my off days.
Dad visited a couple of times since my last blog,
and I spent Christmas eve at his place. All occasions were lovely in their own
way. Christmas an intimate, just direct family occasion. The first visit was
basically all about going through the massive collection of pictures that we
took in during our US trip. Gawd, I took
sooooo many pictures. We didn’t even get through all of them.
Last visit was the late b-day party I threw for
myself. Figured, hey, I’m friggin’ forty, the big 4 0, and I’m going to bloody
well celebrate it. Organized a little winter bbq thing, but regretfully four
people (one couple) had to cancel last minute. Such a pity, but it was still a
wonderful evening with talk, food and laughter throughout. Worked out
regardless of the cancelations and ended up with enough leftovers not to have
to cook for several days. Hah.
Gave myself a present of good professional chef
knives, for my b-day. Only four, so far (they’re expensive!) but I thought,
what the heck, I might as well start that off well. Doubted about getting a proper
bag for them, but those are expensive, too, so instead I got together materials
from two old purses and sewed a folding bag that does really…especially for
now. I might get an actual bag in the future, but for the moment I am rather
enjoying this one. Worked out perfectly!
Have scheduled a trip to Finland this spring.
Best friend T is going to have her first baby, so totally want to meet her. Will
only be a short 5 day trip, so nothing big, but still so cool. Will be so nice
to see T again. It’s been more than a year now. And she’s have a “mini-me” to
show off, which is fun. But anyways, April is still off a ways. It’ll be fun to
see how big brother manages on his own at home, those few days...not that it’ll
be all the different for him. He’ll be working most of it anyway. Hah.
Did quite a few cooking experiments, one of
which a sauerkraut potato match with stir fry red cabbage, onion and cheese
through it, which was lovely. Did devilled eggs for the party, including a dip,
satay for the veggie/chicken/chickpea meat replacement sticks, and finger food.
Did drink a bit too much wine at the party, especially I made a spicy fruit
punch of sangria wine. Yummy.
At work I am rapidly learning all there is
about barbeque. We’ve got a couple of massive “Green Eggs” to grill stuff on,
and I get to work with them a lot, despite enjoying the Wok section more.
Anyway, I now know how to grill Entrecote and steak rare/medium/well done, gambas,
rib fingers, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and chicken satay sticks. I’m also
learning all about frying fish, both salmon and white fish. I even know how to
prep mussels now. Hah. Still enjoy the job, even though the days are long and I
get pretty tired from it.
Been having some health problems lately. The
friggin’ cold has been a pain in the behind. Had a shoulder/collarbone for a
while there in the end of December. My hip has been trying to pop out of the
socket a couple of times, so I am hoping to pick up some more kickboxing again
to strengthen the muscles there. And my foot. Grrr. Stupid thing. The right one
has been a problem again since those last weeks at the previous job. Seriously,
there was so much walking going on there due to banqueting, that my old Plantars
Faciitis problem came back, and it has yet to clear. Seriously, I should just
get rid of that effing foot and be done with it. *wink *
We have had some deplorable weather. Lots of
gray skies. Lots of rain and yes, this past week even snow and freezing temps.
Before the snow it was rather lovely for almost a week, though. Not a cloud in
the sky and the sun shining brightly in icy temperatures. It was lovely to have
that sun, which will hopefully return soon, if only for a day or two. All this
grayness makes you forget that there is such a thing as the sun…and working
inside a humongous building with windows that are too far away to actually
enjoy views, or daylight. * sigh*
Had a weird experience the other day where some guy, online, started chatting, wanting to know if I wanted to go on a date with him, despite us having started a “conversation” over whether or not he wanted to buy something that I was selling online. Hah. Seriously. You do not want to know the amount of indecent proposals you get when you’re online, trying to make your presence known for the purpose of a writing career. What is it with folks thinking that FB or IG is a dating app…and then with the tacky pick up lines as they try to convince you they are looking for true love, it’s just silly.
But anyway,
that about wraps it up. Nothing else of interest going on. Lots of stuff
happened, I am sure, but these were things that stuck, so to speak.
Seeya.
