A Gilded Monday

We don't, of late, get them very often. The sun is shinning in a blue heaven covered with sheer, gauzy clouds. It is still cold at 43F but when you can look out on such a day from a warm room it is bearable.

I feel o.k. Which, when you think about it, is a slight improvement. I didn't feel o.k. last week. The neck is a bit better. I've stopped sitting on the sofa for several days now. Saturday night I used the kitchen table again but moved to one of the living room chairs. I put a cushion on the coffee table and put my feet up and got my portable computer table. I spent the afternoon there yesterday watching t.v. and crocheting. 

I also took acetaminophen for pain and I think it helped a bit. I slept better the last several nights but that never last. One takes what one gets. 

I am still working on the novel merge. It is a laborious process. I have about 12,000 words to go. I will be so glad to get done with it. I still need to decide on how to open this story. I have the beginning of the story but the opening scene has to be a very big hook and that's where I'm having problems. I have to convey this is a psychic spy in that first scene and it is harder than you think. I can't say  he's a psychic spy. I have to show it. So, challenge but one to be dealt with later, thank goodness.

I went to church yesterday morning and last night. I'm so out of practice doing that and I now get so sleepy by 9 p.m. that it was very difficult. I thought about doing that Saturday service instead of the Sunday night one before and I may revisit that. I may try it and see how it works first. 

Tonight I will go home and make every attempt to finish the novel merge and be ready to start on the real work after that. My idea is to work on some sort of outline first. I really need to get the full story arc in my mind and then take each section. 

Now I must get back to work.

Mama Knew Everything

I am just about to get back to work on my novel but I saw this article and could not resist to post my thoughts about it.

Stephen Hawking "We Must Colonize Space"

In the mid-1960-'s when the United States Space Program really took off my Mama (grandmother) and I were watching something on the television about it. Probably one of the lunar landings. I've never forgotten in all these years what she said.

"The only reason they are rushing to space is because they are looking for a place they think will be safe. They know that this old world is not going to last. They want to be sure they get off before it happens because they think they can escape it but they can't."

Stephen Hawking is considered one of the most brilliant minds of our times. He is an atheist.

My mama was a devout Christian. Long before Hawking had figured out his version of the secret to the universe Mama knew it already and she didn't need a doctorate to figure it out. She read it in a Book because she knew Someone.

Mama really did know everything!

WRoE Progress Report: A Page of Kat's Book

I took Kat's advice this morning and made a back up of my NaNo 2011 The Dream Stealer. I probably have one and it is still in Google Docs but just to be safe I made another. I took a word count in Open Office and it came to 53,220 words. Then, per Kat's advice. I deleted the text I've already pasted to Scrivener and the main work in progress (WIP) - The Dream Stealer. The NaNo version is now down to 40,834!

I've only copied 1/5th of the thing! In the Scrivener version there are 25,738 wds! Allowing for differences in word counting methods between programs, I had around 15,000 words to start with.

I also have to allow for the fact that some of what I have is totally useless. Some of it is not actually going to be used because it is meaningless for this story or is just bad writing. So, let's be conservative and say another 10,000 words won't appear in the next version. In Scrivener I can actually put them in my slush folder, a folder for stuff I don't know what to do with, that stinks, or doesn't belong for other reasons.

I've been up since 7:30. I went to bed at 9:30 last night. I was just exhausted. It is happening a lot of late. I didn't write at all because I could barely stay upright. I've been off my diet now for several weeks and I think it is telling on me. Must get back to low carbs. Got to say it appears to be the best thing for me. I felt better.

So, now I get back to copy/paste and hope I can get this done in a few more days. I've lost time this week but I'm learning something about how I procrastinate, what gets me off track. I think I'm moving ahead two steps and back one but that's still progress. Being aware, keeping track and a having to follow a performance system seems to be something I do better with...at least at the moment.

It's 43 degrees here today. I want to go get a peppermint mocha but will wait until I've done my work. I have a really bad back ache this morning, from my neck to my lower back. I'd give anything for a really good back rub today. I can't get comfortable in any position at the moment. I was on the sofa trying to work but it became unbearable. I'm in the kitchen now, sitting on a cushioned chair. It is only moderately better. I can see the day ending badly if I can't get some relief.

I'll catch up later with everyone. Have a good day.

The Piano Guys - I missed this one!

WRoE Day Three Progress Report

Actually yesterday was day three. I didn't get to a post last night but I suspect the day after is more appropriate of a progress report for the day before. 

I was so tired when I got home. I had stopped at the grocery store, going a couple miles out of the way because I went to the wrong store first. So it was nearly 6 p.m. when I got home.

I immediately made some cream of chicken soup. I ate and watch something. I read blogs. Then, I got a hot shower and sat down. Worked on another square, which I kept messing up , miscounting stitches and doing the wrong row. I finally got it going but did not finish the square. I watched another show and then made myself get up and work on my novel for an hour. Unlike Monday night, it was so overwhelming. There are just pages and pages of new stuff I have to sort and put into place. I still don't have the story order well structured in my head so it makes it hard. Does this go here? Or is this later? That doesn't seem to be usable in the story at all! Will I need this or should I make a slush folder for it? 

That's what I spent most of the hour doing last night. And going through it to be sure I had marked all those already moved. I found early on that everything I move to the main work I have to change the font color in the NaNo work to let me know I've already moved it. That way I don't waste time re-reading scads of stuff I already dealt with. I have at least 45000 words to go! I don't need or want to keep continually going over finished sections.

I finally gave up. I was too tired to be effective and found myself confused by the disorder. So, I shut down and went to bed. I was even too tired for bed and tried to read a bit but exhaustion won after about 15 minutes. I don't remember falling asleep. 

Now, I'm getting ready to head for work. For the record, I'm still in the early stages of WRoE and working out my schedule and my determination. It is a difficult plan. But honestly it is the only thing that will work for me. I learned that not doing the writing first, before everything else, is probably bad. I have to have an hour at least to work and waiting until I'm blind with tiredness won't do it. I knew my job drained me but I think this holiday showed me just how much. I put a lot of energy in getting through the day. The days of being able to go 18 hours at capacity are over. I did it for NaNo but I felt terrific for most of October and all of November. I am having pain issues at the moment so a deterrent.

Tonight is writer's meeting and I won't get a lot done before that but there is nearly an hour before the meeting so I will probably work on it instead of crochet. 

I do not know if I'll update daily. May just keep a record for myself somehow and post on the Accountability day. 

All I can say is it is working all right, if not smoothly.