Turning in for the night

I made it to 35.2K but now my brain is threatening to revolt and force me asleep whether or not my hands are at the keyboard. But it's been a good day - 5000 words overall. If I can do this for 3 more days, I will win.

I was doubting for a while that I would be able to make it, but now there's a glimmer of hope that has returned....

To infinity -- and beyond!

:P

G'night...

Novel morph

Somehow, when I wasn't looking, my novel turned into a fantasy romance novel instead of just straight fantasy. Was it because of the GSS, I wonder?

Well, who cares anyhow - the love triangle makes for good word count! So far, I've done 4K today and I'm not going to bed until I do at LEAST another 2k (that would put me up to 36K total). So raise a glass to romance!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a quiet and mostly mellow day around the house today. I thought I might get some writing done today because it's a holiday, but I ended up sleeping in pretty late and didn't really get mentally moving until after lunch. Oh well.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious as usual - with the turkey done on the Weber (if you need instructions on how to do the best turkey in the universe, leave me a comment....), mom's pan gravy (always a treat), my mashed potatoes (healthy and delicious - who knew it could happen???), butternut squash (one of my favorites), green beans (also good), citrus salad (yummy, although I wish there had been oranges in it as well instead of just grapefruit), cranberries (it isn't turkey without cranberries), Martinelli's sparkling cider (it isn't a holiday without Martinelli's), Kendall Jackson Chardonnay (I'm sure it was wonderful, but I didn't have any because I'm volunteering tonight and wine makes me super sleepy), apple pie (very good, although apple pie isn't my favorite), and cherry pie (my favorite pie ever, although the sauce could have been a little thicker...).

It was very strange to have only the four of us at Thanksgiving dinner (myself, mom, dad, and grandma) but this has kind of been the year of strange holidays for me. Last Christmas was the first one I ever spent without family of any kind - my ex had moved out about two months before, so going to his family's' was out of the question, and I was getting ready to move from Texas back to California, so I couldn't afford a plane ticket back to see my family, and they had commitments out in CA that were binding so they couldn't come out to spend it with me either. It ended up being OK - I had Christmas dinner at a nursing home with a friend of mine and a client of hers (a senior citizen that she does elder care for) and his family. I found it to be a very strange circumstance, but the day was pleasant overall.

There's a lot that I'm thankful for this year. I wish that I had a brain to computer hookup because I had a whole huge long list that I was composing in my head as I lay in bed waiting to go to sleep last night. I'm sure if I sat down and really focused on it, I would probably remember most of them. Suffice it to say that despite this being the year of divorce, bankruptcy, cross-country moves and a doggie illness that has required a HUGE financial commitment (doggie MRI's aren't cheap) I am finally starting to feel like a human being again, doing things that are fulfilling, developing my own friends and interests, etc. I know I still have a lot of growing to do before I'm where I want to be for the next phase of my life, but for the first time in a long time, I feel hopeful that I will be able to actually get there and in less than a million years from now.

Dear readers, I wish each and every one of you a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and I am thankful that you have taken some time out of your life to spend with me and mine.

Catching Up!

I've done a good bit of word count over the last couple of days, which I'm really proud of. Yes, I caved and added the GSS (gratuitous sex scene) which was more difficult to write than I expected. It's too bad about those kittens... (ooh, was that my outside voice???)

Anyhow, I broke 30K tonight, which I'm extremely happy about. If I keep this pace up over the next week I will actually have a shot in hell of finishing. I would have kept going tonight except for a couple of things...

1. Denny's is a great place to work on my novel but, as Scott pointed out in one of his posts, a very *very* bad place to eat. My tummy had words with me this evening after I had dinner there. That was a distraction.

2. I moved to the local Barnes & Noble Cafe after I left Denny's but there was a guy there who looked uncannily like someone I dated back in high school. I finally determined that he was speaking in a Russian-ish foreign language to the gal he was with, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't my ex-boyfriend, but that really threw me for a loop. Again, a distraction.

3. My carpal tunnel decided tonight would be a good night to act up. I know, I know, what the heck am I doing typing *now* if I can't type on my novel... Well, I'm wearing my brace, which helps, but I also know this post is only gonna be so long.

I'm glad we're not having a huge thanksgiving extravaganza this weekend, so I'll have plenty of guilt-free time to write. I just have to make sure I block out some good chunks of time to spend at either Round Table - the other place besides Denny's where I seem to get a lot done, and my tummy doesn't even complain at me about it - or Starbucks.

Fourth grade office politics

Do any of us ever really leave the fourth grade?

On Saturday nights, I volunteer for the local crisis hotline. Well, this past weekend, I got there early (unusual for me, since I usually get there about 5 minutes before my shift starts), and happened to start chatting with the two gals that were on the volunteer shift before me. At first it was normal office junk - what kind of calls we'd been having for the evening, etc., and then it got into more personal stuff, like one of the gals was asking me about how my singing was going. (I'm a singer, in case I haven't mentioned it before)

At any rate, one of the gals just "happens" to mention that she knows there's a certain hotline volunteer who has a crush on me. Now, I don't know about any of you, my dear readers, but when someone tosses that kind of thing out onto the floor, I'm gonna pick that ball up and take a look at it. She apparently did not expect that reaction (what planet is she from anyhow?) and was surprised as all get out when I started grilling her for details.

At first she started waffling (well, I never said it was another volunteer... no, I never said it was a guy... I didn't say it was a crush... that kind of crap). And, of course, the other volunteer who was on shift with her started in on her too, trying to get the information on my behalf. The paid staff member on duty with us that evening admitted that she knew what the first gal had said was true, and she had known it for months but never would have said anything for precisely this reason - smart girl! Just as I thought I was starting to get somewhere on finding out who it was, the hotline phone rang. Frustrated and annoyed at the whole "crush" conversation, I decided I would answer it, and began talking with the person who had called in on the crisis line.

As I was talking to the person who called in, I could hear the conversation/argument escalating in the background to the point where I had to plug my non-phone ear just so I could hear what the person on the phone was saying and be able to respond intelligently. Meanwhile, the volunteer gal who was on "my side" was passing me notes (!!!) about what the other gal had given up as far as information. Eventually, the sound in the background died down enough that I could unplug my non-phone ear and my conversation with the hotline caller wrapped up. When I turned around, both of the volunteers from the previous shift were gone, leaving only me and the paid staff member.

Based on the information I had gotten from the notes passed to me (!!!) as well as my initial instinct, I guessed who it was and asked the paid staff member if I was correct. While she neither officially confirmed nor denied, I could tell that I had guessed correctly.

It's very flattering to know someone has a crush on me, but knowing really doesn't change anything because a) I'm actively staying single for at least another month and a half, b) he is living with his female partner and their couple of kids and c) even if he were single, I'm not sure I would be interested. I just found the whole conversation to be so very... elementary school. The whole "I know something about you that you don't" thing really bugs the crap out of me and I would have been really mad if I hadn't found out.

So, folks, the moral of the story here is... if you have a secret you don't want me to know, don't dangle it in front of my face.