No one was harmed…

The last few days without Internet and phone were interesting.  Pioneer days…almost.  I had electricity, and even though I wasn’t supposed to have satellite television, it was mysteriously there until Wednesday, three days longer than it was supposed to be on.  Go figure.

Monday was the last very hot day.  Tuesday it rained, and I actually couldn’t go anywhere.  I tell you what.  The old place felt very empty with everything packed and ready to go.  The last loads were staged and planned so that the very last one was the business, clohing, a suitcase and Gizzie. 

Or so I thought.  When you have so many closets you forget one, you end up with more in the last load.  I still think I forgot a place, but who knows?  I’m sure I will think of it later, but it doesn’t matter.  I’m done.  “The End”, as they say.

I had to laugh.  Just as I thought, when I moved the sofa, Gizzie’s secret stash appeared.  I threw away the popsicle sticks, bottle caps, mucky old M&Ms, dead ink pens and old hair pins, cleaned up the earrings I lost, washed the change he had piled in one spot and washed his toys and put half of them away.  It’s amazing.  Just like any child, when some of their toys go missing, it’s like having new ones again when they suddenly appear.  He was happy as a clam for days!

I spent time at night with him snuggling and brushing and washing him.  We have a non-traumatic way of washing.  I have a couple of old wash cloths, so after a good brushing and getting the hair cleaned up, we take a bowl of warm water and a washcloth and go over everything, including ears and toes.  It’s a lot like petting him, but with just enough wetness to call it a bath.  It works like a charm.  The last thing I do is spritz a little freshener and detangler.  I’m not keen on his smelling like vanilla, but the smell only lasts an hour or so, and he thinks he’s been to the salon!

I have today and tomorrow to commit to a plan for the Write A Banned Book event in September.  I need to get at it! 

We have been a long time in limbo, and while I have been working “under the radar”, we will finally be back to normal business on Monday!  Lots to do in a few short days, and I’m looking forward to it. 

(P.S.  Don’t forget The Fellowship Fund – link to the right – still exists to support the insanity.  When it has built up enough, we’ll share the fund with others experiencing the insanity!)

Hecknicity

Well, that was then.  This is now!

I was determined to slot writing time into my schedule for the rest of my life, no matter how hectic it became, and believe me, it’s been hectic.  The hecknicity* was incredibly intense over the weekend.  Hence, I lost a little in my faith in myself.

Sure, the Stewarts are on vacation, and I’m not writing.  It’s just that right now my fingers itch to write and I do. not. have. time. 

Tyres will be ordered tomorrow.  Car repairs that Richard cannot handle will be scheduled for early next week.  THEN, we’re on!

The Stewarts will meet me probably on the 16th, and we’ll pick up on our research and discuss what elements apply.

Are you ready for Banned Book Month?  Are you psyched for the Write A Banned Book event on Writer Connect?  I am!  I will participate.  I’ll have a couple of weeks to pull together my plan and strategies, and then it’s a full out run for 30 days.  After that, despite the wedding, I’m going to give NaNoWriMo all I’ve got in November.  50,000 words will probably be half of The Nothing Man.

Note the new word I learned below.  I thought I made it up, but lo and behold, I didn’t!

*”Hecknicity” (pl. hecknicities) is an obsolete English word that is rarely, if ever, seen in modern English publications. This word is not present anywhere on the internet, nor is it heard commonly in any English-speaking areas throughout the globe. However, it has appeared in many medieval texts. A definition follows:

 – Definition-

Hecknicity (h�k-nĭ-sĭ-t�): (n.)something that causes many deaths and or injuries, something causing much distress or frustration.

Origin- (Latin/Greek)

“heck/hec” (form of hect/hecto)-Greek: a hundred, many
“nici/nic”-Latin: death, kill, deadly, murderous,destructive
“ity”-Latin: suffix used to form abstract nouns expressing act, state, quality, property, or condition corresponding to an adjective

Questionable Dedication

It seems this summer – to me, anyway – that I am not dedicated enough to writing to make this work.  Perhaps it is because of all that is going on.  Perhaps it is because I looked at the schedule for the rest of the year and just about died. 

The last few days are an indication of what is going on right now with work and my life, and it’s not pretty.  Case in point:  I worked until 3 a.m., got up at 7 (nevermind it was because of the tree people grinding branches at 6.45), and after a trip outside to confirm it’s too hot and humid to be out there, I dug in.

My head is splitting.  I shut off the phones until I could glue the parts back together. 

I sincerely believe this will be a week of working until midnight, at the very least, and possibly longer.  Whatever possessed me to schedule three books a month for the rest of the year is beyond me.

Ah, well.  The Stewarts have opted to take the month of August, anyway.  They want to be prepared for the Write A Banned Book month event that will be held on the Writer Connect site.  They reason (and correctly) their story would have been banned many times over.  They’ve been reading a little Upton Sinclair.

I’m trying not to burn the candle at both ends.  Burnout attacks quickly if you do that. 

Relax, Maggie.  It will all happen as it should, and when the Stewarts come home, you will be ready.