Song of the day: “Que sera sera” by Doris Day…again. WTH? It’s a fun song and all, but seriously. Never thought I knew it well enough for actual singer, but there it was, all proper and complete. Ah well, guess the brain stores more than I ever give it credit for.
The day starts bright and early and I’m sore all over from yesterday’s somewhat enthusiastic exercise session. Hah. I don’t mind, all those aches and cramps tell me I did an excellent job with the routines. Once I’ve rolled out of bed, let loose the dogs and finish up with the morning rituals, I’m heading down the mountain as usual…feinting Trin Trin’s enthusiastic attacks with the tube and jumping aside in the nick of time when Knight II threatens to bowl me over: the idiot still hasn’t learned any manners regarding entrances.
Waking fully and coherently appears to be somewhat of a problem today…don’t ask me why, but for the majority of the wonderfully warm morning my eyes refuse to open properly. It takes three coffees, (black, no sugar and stiff…seriously, I’m getting worse) and a long debated decision as to which project we’re going to submerge into now that the edit is over and done with.
The lists get a thorough examination; the shorter sections of a variety of books get dismissed in regard to time playing a big part of the decision. Ten books with over 20.000 words get cut down to those over 30.000 leaving us with a wonderful number of five. This is when it comes down to seven stories. No simple romances for now, since it’ll limit the publishers to Silhouette and the likes. The Western, which is slightly ahead of the others with close to 40K, gets put aside as well; it’s too much work and a prequel to another book to boot.
This leaves four: “Gifted” a paranormal thriller; “Hunters” a romantic thriller; “Benefit of a Doubt” a police “the Fugitive” style story and “Calamity’s Luck” which is basically a romantic comedy.
All of them too close to my heart for me to make a choice, so at last we decide to flip the proverbial coin and settle on “Hunters”. Now, this means that for the next few weeks we’re going to have to edit the fifty or so pages I wrote for it…very sporadically…since I started with it in ’98, and then start adding scenes to it once the story has surfaced from the far recesses in my brain. Who ever knew I even had those, hah.
Honestly, I can hardly remember the beginning. Except for the broad strokes the main character, the basic plot, it’s all a blur. If anyone had told me ten years ago that there would be a time when I wouldn’t be able to remember every single detail of one of my manuscripts, I would have laughed and scoffed the idea, but there you have it. 102 stories later (finished ones, projects in the making and fun ideas that I wrote down for the heck of it), I am starting on a journey of discovery in a story that comes from my head. Talk about unraveling.
It is actually not half bad…the first five pages, that is…I can see that my style has improved over the years. I need less words to “say” something in a way that a reader can understand it, and yet my writing has become more detailed and accurate. It is a nice realization to have, really. It means that I have vastly improved on my skill and that the few spelling errors I made back then, because I was still learning the complexities of the English language, no longer happen. Ah, improvement is a wonderful thing to notice.
But anyways, during the course of the morning, we go through the prologue until six hours after waking up it is time for some activity. The continuous sitting during the “edit from hell” has made me itchy, so after tackling a third batch of laundry, I get out the cleaning supplies. Armed with those, I head outside to mount the narrow ledge running along the length of the veranda.
At first, my intention is to go through the pantry, but before I can do that, I need to attach a lock on the pantry door (on the inside) so the dogs won’t be able to follow me. I’ve just finished putting it up, when I realize that what with the construction we started with several months ago, the fence is now temporarily obstructing passage to the front of the house. Drat.
Well, at least the lock is in place.
Time to think of another way to get to the front of the veranda then, because I really want the glass clean.
For the past few weeks we have been unable to see whether it is sunny or cloudy outside, that is how dirty the windows are, so now, with this waiting period ahead of us, I am determined to do some of the very necessary chores all ‘round. The windows are part of that, just so we’ll be able to enjoy the view for a change.
It is not an easy task. The first problem that I encounter is that, through the side door, I can’t get on the ledge (it’s about twelve feet from the ground and I don’t particularly like heights) due to a thick pillar that obstructs the way. Next, I try the terrace door, of which one of the locks has rusted enough to require big brother’s strength for opening.
Then, when I’m finally on the ledge, comes the fun part. I’ve got two feet of ledge to stand on while tackling the dirty windows, and it is by no means pleasant. I manage in the end, however, and soon, with the help of the sibs, we have the inside clean as well. Green. The reed, fig tree and eucalypti are actually green there. Wow! We can see green through the glass. The thought alone still makes me marvel.
That done, and having treated the washing machine to a proper cleaning as well, I head outside to move rocks away from under the carport, (during the rock hauling days, it seems ages ago, all the big ones got dumped there) so the Defender will be able to fit there…right after we’ve removed sand and rock from the ground.
There are some massive stones to move, but I manage…even though muscles that have been immobile for several weeks (and are sore from yesterday’s workout) are screaming, “Nononononono!” and, “Don’t do that, no it’s too heavy” when they really aren’t…such whiners, muscles. Hah.
The dogs love this particular chore, of course. There is nothing they like better than get in the way while you’re hauling massive amounts of rock and need to navigate your way around, over and past the them. They seem to get a huge kick out of the fact that your back complains, and that they get nudged aside every time they’re in the way. Bunch of idiots.
Once the rocks are removed, and with big brother there to get the heaviest that really are too heavy, we shovel up the sand and then start to dismantle the lower part of the roof as well, because the front of the car won’t fit there either. The adjustment, consistent of raising the roof four inches, the Land Rover fits and we can head out for a fun little trip across bumpy country roads just as soon as we’ve caught our breaths.
This is actually the first time, since buying the vehicle that I get to drive it, so I’m possibly thrilled when it’s my turn to take the wheel at a particularly steep spot. The Rover doesn’t have a single problem with the rocky path and cheerily chugs on as if nothing is different from a straight blacktop road. I gotta admit that the engine sounds magnificent, and I’m actually a little disappointed when the impromptu trip comes to an end with the arrival home.
Once there, we go over the car some more, discussing what repairs should be done still, and then we’re heading inside for dinner and another short session behind the computer. The evening quickly comes to an end, leaving me more than ready to head on up to my cabin.
Once there, big brother and I spend some time discussing possible plots for “Hunters” while my dogs eat their meal. There are some nice, still somewhat loose ideas bubbling up, but other than that the night arrives and it is time to start working on the blog.
Yep, we’re slowly getting back to the basic routines, and that always feels wonderfully reassuring. I guess old age is starting to make me a creature of habit. Hah.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The past week in a "few" pages.
The new car: Land Rover Defender. Isn't it a beauty?
Ah, I couldn't decide which side to pick...
...So I took three. Hah.
Right, I've showed off the new car. On to the promised recount, shall we?
Let’s see if it works a little better today. I gotta say that it is very hard to get back into schwung after having detoured from the usual routine for a week. Now, if I’d been lounging during that time, I might compare it with returning to work after vacation, but since this blog thing is supposed to be my recreation, while writing books (and editing them) is the actual work, I don’t suppose that would be the right comparison to draw. Hah.
So let’s start at the beginning:
Thursday, around 11:00 PM.
The mail arrived. I did some goggling, surprise…or more accurately shock the most prominent in my head as I reread the message over and over again, bounced around a bit (driving the dogs insane, ‘cause I was walking around in a bit of a fugue). I headed into the house, called up to the second floor where the younger sibs were practicing their Spanish, and tried to be audible over the sound of the dogs barking.
Little sister peers around the corner, looking a little startled at my undoubtedly weird expression. “What, what?” she demands, thinking the worst, I’m sure.
Finally I made some sense and pleased smirks start to spread over the faces of the sibs, while we try to figure out how this publisher can already make this request, when the damn letters were send just four days before, a day prior to the car wreck.
It’s amazing that I (we, actually) managed to get the letter right at last, since in the past they seemed to leave an impression at all.
Writing letters where you need to distil a two-hundred-page book, into one is a serious pain in the butt…but the hard work paid off and that first step worked out. A minor victory, that’s how I want to look at this, no matter how it turns out.
It hits us then, we still have a shitload to read through before we can actually send it.
Considering that we hadn’t planned on actually hearing anything this early…the letter thing usually takes ages (2-6 weeks) so we had intended to take our time, just not to have to twiddle our thumbs in the meantime…we had another 27 chapters to go through.
It was hard, but in the end, we managed to calm down enough to settle behind the computer again and read until it is time to retire for the night. This is when I shortly put a pause in the daily reports on my blog, ‘cause we’re going to need to fully focus. From this day on; no more Internet, no more distractions, just WORK. Yikes.
Day one: Friday, morning, five hours after bed time.
We want to have the read through done on Tuesday, but put an extra deadline up to Thursday, 9 PM at the latest, no matter what, so we have to start cracking.
Edits get done, four chapters read through…out loud, mind you. My voice won’t ever be the same, I swear…and calls are made for the Land Rover we have found on-line, (I mentioned that last night, didn’t I?) so we can go check it out on Saturday morning. Though I would have liked to postpone the entire car thing, I do know that we need a car for emergencies and the car is an absolute gem that is just too good to pass up on.
Sixteen hours after starting the edit, bleary-eyed (pretty optimistic about the progress) and with only enough pauses to eat a quick snack have a dip in the pool and to stretch achy limbs, we go to bed and pass out for what is left of the night.
Day two: Saturday, early morning, four and a half hours later.
Time to head out to go look at the car. The owner could only agree to a meeting this early and on this day so we head put a hold on the edit and go to town.
The address is hard to find, what with all the one-way streets leading to the location. Luckily, the seller anticipated as much and had his assistant meet us at a well-known supermarket, so she could lead us there.
I am a tad disappointed when I see the car; it doesn’t look as pretty as it did on the pictures, which the owner explains is because he has hardly used it for the past two years. Apparently, he wanted to start an adventure business two years past, and when that didn’t work out, he decided to sell the vehicle.
It’s a ten-year-old Land Rover Defender, 110” long, 5 cylinders, and Turbo Diesel engine and actually went through a huge load of trouble back when the present owner bought it. He basically had to replace the entire engine and the gearshift mechanics, before he finally had it functioning. And boy, did that engine sound sweet. It had a purr-roar, and I loved sitting behind the wheel during our test drive. It felt like it ate mountains. Hah.
So, we looked at the Land Rover, checked out the obvious faults, calculated all that still needed to be done, and made a decision: I asked the owner how set he was on the asking price, which was when negotiations started.
We only had saved the amount a thousand under the asking price and said as much. There was a moment of silence, and then the owner thought fast, saying that if we paid the outstanding road taxes, amounting up to 200 euros or so, (anything more than that and he’d pay the difference) we had a deal.
It would stretch the budget considerably, but considering the lower price, we agreed.
A small contract was set up, a deposit paid and an appointment set for Tuesday where we’d meet at a gestoria, which is where such matters are arranged ‘round here.
That done, we head on home, taking only a moment to catch our breaths, have a dip in the pool ‘cause it’s bloody hot and then head inside to resume the edit.
By this time, all I remember of that day is the moist heat. Gawd, it was horrid. It felt like I was melting straight into my chair.
For the next couple of days everything’s a bit of a blur, I remember that there was, heat, frustration, discussion and actual arguments over difficult scenes (came across three of those, darn it) that had me want to scream on several occasions. And jubilation whenever we found ourselves breeze through particular scenes that felt so smooth it was like melting ice on the tongue. I love those scenes, they made this past week less like hell, I suppose. Also, the short jog we fitted in, just to clear our numb heads for a bit, was absolutely divine.
Day four: Monday, around five in the morning.
We spent nineteen hours struggling with one scene and breezed through four more that were great; we realize that we’re not going to make our Tuesday deadline, and have no choice but to turn in, lest we’ll be wrecked in the morning when we’re supposed to go to town to finalize the sale of the Defender.
Day five: Tuesday, early morning, four hours of sleep.
Considering I need proof for being a registered resident in order to buy the car, I head for town hall where I get the astounding news that somehow I am not registered. I don’t get it, and am more than a little freaked out since I’m supposed to be at the appointment in less than thirty minutes. I don’t know what the heck went wrong after I was registered there thirteen years ago, but the only way I could get that particular note was for mom to come to the town hall and have me registered.
Some rapid phone calls are made, the appointment postponed for another hour, and mom is picked up from home while I swear a blue streak at silly bureaucracy that makes everything far more complicated than it should be. First of all, why need registration for buying a car, second, why is it so bloody difficult to get that done, third, what the heck did they do with my first registration? It seriously p**sed me off, I’ll say that much.
Luckily, the mess is dealt with within half an hour, after which I drive mom home and then head for the coastal town where we’re supposed to meet with the seller, only forty minutes late. Aaargh.
The paperwork is dealt with, money exchanged for papers, and chatting exchanged about Spanish bureaucracy being a pain in the behind, before the deal made and we’re on our way…new car and all…to the insurance company to make sure everything is arranged for.
Got a bit of a break there, by the way. With the new insurance our agent managed to find for the car, we’re going to be saving up to 600 € a year, which is a rather pleasant thought, on the overall. Hah.
After an hour at the insurance agent’s office, we’re back on our way home where we spent about half an hour admiring the beauty we picked up…that of course won’t fit into the carport. The darn structure will need to be adjusted for the Land Rover to fit inside, but what the hey, we love the car too much to mind.
The edit continues; we have more than sixty pages to go, with the “real” deadline looming straight ahead.
Day six: Wednesday.
The day ended late with a rather brilliant edit (17 hours with no more than a one hour break throughout) that brings us to the end of the manuscript. In the morning, I finished a rewrite of a scene that kept stammering during the rereads, and since I am unable to get enough distance from a recently written scene we leave this particular one for the last possible moment, hoping that with the rewrite it will be less problematic to get through. I don’t know what it is with this particular scene, but we’d edited it three times and each and every time we ended up completely frustrated, with no idea as to what is causing the disruption. There are moments in this particular one that make me want to chuck the entire project in a rather asinine response to something that should be minor, in light of the rest that works so very well. Hah.
Bolstered with the completion of the manuscript, we hit the sheets a little after 5 AM, hoping that a good night’s rest of six whole hours will allow us to start fresh in the morning.
Day seven: Thursday. Deadline day! Yikes.
The majority of the day is spent going over the errors found by our five-brained team of proofreaders, writing the short letter to the editor apologizing for my tardiness and going over the synopsis. When we finally start on “The scene from hell” we have six hours left.
It’s pure horror. Our minds are mush from the past week of too little sleep, too much reading, rewriting and genuine prickliness from being this close to the deadline with, what turns out to be, too little time to get this final scene done to everyone’s satisfaction. Admittedly, there at the end we still haven’t figured out what makes big brother get stuck on this particular scene, but at least grammatically it is sound enough for us to feel up to sending the entire “crap” out, fifteen minutes after the set deadline of 9 PM in the evening. Aaargh. Personally, I have no trouble with the scene, but apparently, this is not the ruling consensus. Weird, how one scene can make all the good ones fade. Sucky emotions: They make no sense at all. A book’s supposed to have ups and downs, grrr.
Everything is double checked, the address, contact information and God knows what…it’s all a blur, really…and then………..the send button is pressed. Done! Out! Over. It’s out of my hands now. *deep sigh*
Nerves are screaming, when I finish checking the send-mail box, quickly shut down my computer and put it away in order to head out into the fresh evening air for a much-needed breather.
Time to put it from my mind. Not much I can do by worrying, so I better start focusing on other stuff. We’ll just have to wait and see how it goes from now on.
Luckily, the next day (Friday that is), I had to drive our tenant and her caretaker to the hospital, for an appointment, which earned me a wonderful relaxed hour. I’d taken a book and my MP3 player, so with the rental’s AC on it was a comfortable time spent doing what I love: Reading.
The trip was pretty long, considering the hospital is at least fifty minutes either way, but what the hey; I’ll look at it as if it’s practice, hah.
Once I was back home, I went through the majority of my messages for an hour or two did some fun chats online and then it was time to depart again. It was the last day we had the rental, and though the Land Rover will do the trick in emergencies, we decided to do the groceries for the next two weeks, so we won’t be pressed for those while the car is being checked over and then tested for fitness on the road.
Big brother and I are both looking forward to being able to start learning the workings of the car. It is a type that just screams for do-it-yourself work, and we’re definitely going to try. Most of the basics have already been dealt with, lights, the broken mirror, the backseat that was loose. Fun stuff. Hah.
So anyway, yesterday we did groceries with the rental car.
The rental is definitely not a good car for us, by the time we’re done with most of it, the entire back was filled to full capacity and little sister was squeezed between them in the back seat.
Well, I guess that about sums up the week that passed. Today I took the opportunity to do my usual morning chores and a good workout of seventy minutes or so, which was a pleasure, to say the least. Nothing like working with muscles when the brain’s been overtaxed so much. Worked a bit…very randomly…on the computer, mostly organizing the mess on my desktop and in my files, and then started on dinner. Ratatouille with macaroni, which I left to sudder while big brother and I headed up to the carport for the adjustments it needs in order for the Land Rover to fit in.
The extra support beam is removed, substitutes are put in at a higher level and the ground gets chopped with a pickax until at last, about half an hour before sunset the car easily slides in, looking pleased, or so it seems. Hah.
Well, I’m going to see if I can manage to turn in early.
Ah, I couldn't decide which side to pick...
...So I took three. Hah.
Right, I've showed off the new car. On to the promised recount, shall we?
Let’s see if it works a little better today. I gotta say that it is very hard to get back into schwung after having detoured from the usual routine for a week. Now, if I’d been lounging during that time, I might compare it with returning to work after vacation, but since this blog thing is supposed to be my recreation, while writing books (and editing them) is the actual work, I don’t suppose that would be the right comparison to draw. Hah.
So let’s start at the beginning:
Thursday, around 11:00 PM.
The mail arrived. I did some goggling, surprise…or more accurately shock the most prominent in my head as I reread the message over and over again, bounced around a bit (driving the dogs insane, ‘cause I was walking around in a bit of a fugue). I headed into the house, called up to the second floor where the younger sibs were practicing their Spanish, and tried to be audible over the sound of the dogs barking.
Little sister peers around the corner, looking a little startled at my undoubtedly weird expression. “What, what?” she demands, thinking the worst, I’m sure.
Finally I made some sense and pleased smirks start to spread over the faces of the sibs, while we try to figure out how this publisher can already make this request, when the damn letters were send just four days before, a day prior to the car wreck.
It’s amazing that I (we, actually) managed to get the letter right at last, since in the past they seemed to leave an impression at all.
Writing letters where you need to distil a two-hundred-page book, into one is a serious pain in the butt…but the hard work paid off and that first step worked out. A minor victory, that’s how I want to look at this, no matter how it turns out.
It hits us then, we still have a shitload to read through before we can actually send it.
Considering that we hadn’t planned on actually hearing anything this early…the letter thing usually takes ages (2-6 weeks) so we had intended to take our time, just not to have to twiddle our thumbs in the meantime…we had another 27 chapters to go through.
It was hard, but in the end, we managed to calm down enough to settle behind the computer again and read until it is time to retire for the night. This is when I shortly put a pause in the daily reports on my blog, ‘cause we’re going to need to fully focus. From this day on; no more Internet, no more distractions, just WORK. Yikes.
Day one: Friday, morning, five hours after bed time.
We want to have the read through done on Tuesday, but put an extra deadline up to Thursday, 9 PM at the latest, no matter what, so we have to start cracking.
Edits get done, four chapters read through…out loud, mind you. My voice won’t ever be the same, I swear…and calls are made for the Land Rover we have found on-line, (I mentioned that last night, didn’t I?) so we can go check it out on Saturday morning. Though I would have liked to postpone the entire car thing, I do know that we need a car for emergencies and the car is an absolute gem that is just too good to pass up on.
Sixteen hours after starting the edit, bleary-eyed (pretty optimistic about the progress) and with only enough pauses to eat a quick snack have a dip in the pool and to stretch achy limbs, we go to bed and pass out for what is left of the night.
Day two: Saturday, early morning, four and a half hours later.
Time to head out to go look at the car. The owner could only agree to a meeting this early and on this day so we head put a hold on the edit and go to town.
The address is hard to find, what with all the one-way streets leading to the location. Luckily, the seller anticipated as much and had his assistant meet us at a well-known supermarket, so she could lead us there.
I am a tad disappointed when I see the car; it doesn’t look as pretty as it did on the pictures, which the owner explains is because he has hardly used it for the past two years. Apparently, he wanted to start an adventure business two years past, and when that didn’t work out, he decided to sell the vehicle.
It’s a ten-year-old Land Rover Defender, 110” long, 5 cylinders, and Turbo Diesel engine and actually went through a huge load of trouble back when the present owner bought it. He basically had to replace the entire engine and the gearshift mechanics, before he finally had it functioning. And boy, did that engine sound sweet. It had a purr-roar, and I loved sitting behind the wheel during our test drive. It felt like it ate mountains. Hah.
So, we looked at the Land Rover, checked out the obvious faults, calculated all that still needed to be done, and made a decision: I asked the owner how set he was on the asking price, which was when negotiations started.
We only had saved the amount a thousand under the asking price and said as much. There was a moment of silence, and then the owner thought fast, saying that if we paid the outstanding road taxes, amounting up to 200 euros or so, (anything more than that and he’d pay the difference) we had a deal.
It would stretch the budget considerably, but considering the lower price, we agreed.
A small contract was set up, a deposit paid and an appointment set for Tuesday where we’d meet at a gestoria, which is where such matters are arranged ‘round here.
That done, we head on home, taking only a moment to catch our breaths, have a dip in the pool ‘cause it’s bloody hot and then head inside to resume the edit.
By this time, all I remember of that day is the moist heat. Gawd, it was horrid. It felt like I was melting straight into my chair.
For the next couple of days everything’s a bit of a blur, I remember that there was, heat, frustration, discussion and actual arguments over difficult scenes (came across three of those, darn it) that had me want to scream on several occasions. And jubilation whenever we found ourselves breeze through particular scenes that felt so smooth it was like melting ice on the tongue. I love those scenes, they made this past week less like hell, I suppose. Also, the short jog we fitted in, just to clear our numb heads for a bit, was absolutely divine.
Day four: Monday, around five in the morning.
We spent nineteen hours struggling with one scene and breezed through four more that were great; we realize that we’re not going to make our Tuesday deadline, and have no choice but to turn in, lest we’ll be wrecked in the morning when we’re supposed to go to town to finalize the sale of the Defender.
Day five: Tuesday, early morning, four hours of sleep.
Considering I need proof for being a registered resident in order to buy the car, I head for town hall where I get the astounding news that somehow I am not registered. I don’t get it, and am more than a little freaked out since I’m supposed to be at the appointment in less than thirty minutes. I don’t know what the heck went wrong after I was registered there thirteen years ago, but the only way I could get that particular note was for mom to come to the town hall and have me registered.
Some rapid phone calls are made, the appointment postponed for another hour, and mom is picked up from home while I swear a blue streak at silly bureaucracy that makes everything far more complicated than it should be. First of all, why need registration for buying a car, second, why is it so bloody difficult to get that done, third, what the heck did they do with my first registration? It seriously p**sed me off, I’ll say that much.
Luckily, the mess is dealt with within half an hour, after which I drive mom home and then head for the coastal town where we’re supposed to meet with the seller, only forty minutes late. Aaargh.
The paperwork is dealt with, money exchanged for papers, and chatting exchanged about Spanish bureaucracy being a pain in the behind, before the deal made and we’re on our way…new car and all…to the insurance company to make sure everything is arranged for.
Got a bit of a break there, by the way. With the new insurance our agent managed to find for the car, we’re going to be saving up to 600 € a year, which is a rather pleasant thought, on the overall. Hah.
After an hour at the insurance agent’s office, we’re back on our way home where we spent about half an hour admiring the beauty we picked up…that of course won’t fit into the carport. The darn structure will need to be adjusted for the Land Rover to fit inside, but what the hey, we love the car too much to mind.
The edit continues; we have more than sixty pages to go, with the “real” deadline looming straight ahead.
Day six: Wednesday.
The day ended late with a rather brilliant edit (17 hours with no more than a one hour break throughout) that brings us to the end of the manuscript. In the morning, I finished a rewrite of a scene that kept stammering during the rereads, and since I am unable to get enough distance from a recently written scene we leave this particular one for the last possible moment, hoping that with the rewrite it will be less problematic to get through. I don’t know what it is with this particular scene, but we’d edited it three times and each and every time we ended up completely frustrated, with no idea as to what is causing the disruption. There are moments in this particular one that make me want to chuck the entire project in a rather asinine response to something that should be minor, in light of the rest that works so very well. Hah.
Bolstered with the completion of the manuscript, we hit the sheets a little after 5 AM, hoping that a good night’s rest of six whole hours will allow us to start fresh in the morning.
Day seven: Thursday. Deadline day! Yikes.
The majority of the day is spent going over the errors found by our five-brained team of proofreaders, writing the short letter to the editor apologizing for my tardiness and going over the synopsis. When we finally start on “The scene from hell” we have six hours left.
It’s pure horror. Our minds are mush from the past week of too little sleep, too much reading, rewriting and genuine prickliness from being this close to the deadline with, what turns out to be, too little time to get this final scene done to everyone’s satisfaction. Admittedly, there at the end we still haven’t figured out what makes big brother get stuck on this particular scene, but at least grammatically it is sound enough for us to feel up to sending the entire “crap” out, fifteen minutes after the set deadline of 9 PM in the evening. Aaargh. Personally, I have no trouble with the scene, but apparently, this is not the ruling consensus. Weird, how one scene can make all the good ones fade. Sucky emotions: They make no sense at all. A book’s supposed to have ups and downs, grrr.
Everything is double checked, the address, contact information and God knows what…it’s all a blur, really…and then………..the send button is pressed. Done! Out! Over. It’s out of my hands now. *deep sigh*
Nerves are screaming, when I finish checking the send-mail box, quickly shut down my computer and put it away in order to head out into the fresh evening air for a much-needed breather.
Time to put it from my mind. Not much I can do by worrying, so I better start focusing on other stuff. We’ll just have to wait and see how it goes from now on.
Luckily, the next day (Friday that is), I had to drive our tenant and her caretaker to the hospital, for an appointment, which earned me a wonderful relaxed hour. I’d taken a book and my MP3 player, so with the rental’s AC on it was a comfortable time spent doing what I love: Reading.
The trip was pretty long, considering the hospital is at least fifty minutes either way, but what the hey; I’ll look at it as if it’s practice, hah.
Once I was back home, I went through the majority of my messages for an hour or two did some fun chats online and then it was time to depart again. It was the last day we had the rental, and though the Land Rover will do the trick in emergencies, we decided to do the groceries for the next two weeks, so we won’t be pressed for those while the car is being checked over and then tested for fitness on the road.
Big brother and I are both looking forward to being able to start learning the workings of the car. It is a type that just screams for do-it-yourself work, and we’re definitely going to try. Most of the basics have already been dealt with, lights, the broken mirror, the backseat that was loose. Fun stuff. Hah.
So anyway, yesterday we did groceries with the rental car.
The rental is definitely not a good car for us, by the time we’re done with most of it, the entire back was filled to full capacity and little sister was squeezed between them in the back seat.
Well, I guess that about sums up the week that passed. Today I took the opportunity to do my usual morning chores and a good workout of seventy minutes or so, which was a pleasure, to say the least. Nothing like working with muscles when the brain’s been overtaxed so much. Worked a bit…very randomly…on the computer, mostly organizing the mess on my desktop and in my files, and then started on dinner. Ratatouille with macaroni, which I left to sudder while big brother and I headed up to the carport for the adjustments it needs in order for the Land Rover to fit in.
The extra support beam is removed, substitutes are put in at a higher level and the ground gets chopped with a pickax until at last, about half an hour before sunset the car easily slides in, looking pleased, or so it seems. Hah.
Well, I’m going to see if I can manage to turn in early.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tentative return.
Okay, let’s see if I can do a rundown that’ll give you the broadstrokes of the past week.
So where’d we leave off? It was the day after the wreck wasn’t it? Yes I do believe that we were there. The car is a complete write-off, which we were hoping wouldn’t be the case, but what the hey.
We basically hit the Net, and started to see what was out there that would fit into our budget range, and would be a tad more useful than some Seat or other small car. Even the rental we acquired on the day of the accident can hardly get up our mountain, so that type won’t do.
Lots of sites got hit, locations looked at and there it was, a gorgeous blog right here on blogger where a family had photos up of a wonderful, ten year old Land Rover Defender. It had already earned its badge of honor by having traveled the exact same distance as our beloved Ford Ranger and was only a twenty-minute drive from where we live. Almost seemed like kismet.
Be that as it may, we were in the midst of admiring the photos, trying to work a bit on the read-through edit when I glanced at my mail and saw the subject line mentioning “manuscript”. I was pretty confused about the entire thing, since I couldn’t remember sending out any queries (other than the snail mail) out, and I doubted that they had even reached their destination yet.
It had been a hot day, and the evening wasn’t any better, and I was trying to figure out who the heck was writing me, for the full friggin’ minute before the page was finally loaded: And there it was, an invitation from the publisher’s editor to send the manuscript so she could have “a look at it”.
To say the least, I was stunned. Thrilled, sure, but stunned as well. I read it, reread it, since I didn’t believe it, and then reread it again. Let’s just say we were all delighted, and then it starts to settle in…what with the expectation of not hearing from any publisher until at least two weeks after sending it we haven’t exactly finished the read-through edit. Oh my god! I almost had cardiac arrest.
So that’s when it started: We got to work…which is where I’m going to quit the sum-up for today, because I’m still exhausted. Yes, it was a busy week, and I think I’m going to need some recovering time before I can get fully back to my usual schedule.
It might be a good idea anyway, considering that not much other than waiting will be reported in the next few day. This way I can stretch the info out a bit and still write something down every day. Hah.
So where’d we leave off? It was the day after the wreck wasn’t it? Yes I do believe that we were there. The car is a complete write-off, which we were hoping wouldn’t be the case, but what the hey.
We basically hit the Net, and started to see what was out there that would fit into our budget range, and would be a tad more useful than some Seat or other small car. Even the rental we acquired on the day of the accident can hardly get up our mountain, so that type won’t do.
Lots of sites got hit, locations looked at and there it was, a gorgeous blog right here on blogger where a family had photos up of a wonderful, ten year old Land Rover Defender. It had already earned its badge of honor by having traveled the exact same distance as our beloved Ford Ranger and was only a twenty-minute drive from where we live. Almost seemed like kismet.
Be that as it may, we were in the midst of admiring the photos, trying to work a bit on the read-through edit when I glanced at my mail and saw the subject line mentioning “manuscript”. I was pretty confused about the entire thing, since I couldn’t remember sending out any queries (other than the snail mail) out, and I doubted that they had even reached their destination yet.
It had been a hot day, and the evening wasn’t any better, and I was trying to figure out who the heck was writing me, for the full friggin’ minute before the page was finally loaded: And there it was, an invitation from the publisher’s editor to send the manuscript so she could have “a look at it”.
To say the least, I was stunned. Thrilled, sure, but stunned as well. I read it, reread it, since I didn’t believe it, and then reread it again. Let’s just say we were all delighted, and then it starts to settle in…what with the expectation of not hearing from any publisher until at least two weeks after sending it we haven’t exactly finished the read-through edit. Oh my god! I almost had cardiac arrest.
So that’s when it started: We got to work…which is where I’m going to quit the sum-up for today, because I’m still exhausted. Yes, it was a busy week, and I think I’m going to need some recovering time before I can get fully back to my usual schedule.
It might be a good idea anyway, considering that not much other than waiting will be reported in the next few day. This way I can stretch the info out a bit and still write something down every day. Hah.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Resurfacing.
Ah, I’m back, and man do I have a lot to share. Regretfully not tonight, however. It’s been a harried week and I’m going to take this evening as one of rest and relaxation as a well deserved present for moi. Hah.
I got lots to tell though, and I will get to it, just as soon as I’ve got it all down and my brain functions again.
Tomorrow!…I hope.
I got lots to tell though, and I will get to it, just as soon as I’ve got it all down and my brain functions again.
Tomorrow!…I hope.
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