In pursuit of checkmarks

I have not been blogging, have I? 

I've been doing a new thing.  Every morning I make a list - in pen, in a journal - of things I need to do.  Every item gets a priority A, B, or C.  I start with the As, and when I finish one thing, I consult the list, and look!  Another thing. 

It's amazing how this keeps me on the straight and narrow, and how much happy I get from being able to make a check mark next to something like Plan birthday party for Pebbles, or Call your mother.  That said, I have not written Post chitchat on your blog, until today.  Today, I actually did that.

Check.

So, I hope you are all well.  I am, even if it means I'm not exactly caught up on my reading.  I guess I'll have to put that in my list for another day.

Dear internet:

Stop calling me, I am trying to work.

I have stuff to do, I need to focus!  Just leave me alone goddammit!

They get younger every year

I just had a perfectly coherent conversation about molex power splitters, P4 connectors and secondary exhaust fans with a very short customer who had his boots on the wrong feet.

He had his piggy bank under his arm. It contained $4.96.

Thank heavens that is exactly how much you need to buy an IDE ribbon cable and a 90mm fan.

Waiting

It occurs to me this afternoon that I am waiting.

I do my work stuff, waiting for my work day to be over so I can go home.

I wait for the evening to be over so the kids will go to bed and I can relax and watch TV.

I wait for the TV show or movie to be over so I can go to bed.

I wait to fall asleep so I can get up and go to work.

Gawd, how depressing is THAT? I didn't even notice I was doing it, but there it is. I suspect that I'm not particularly looking forward to anything in the near future, and I'm becoming a very dreary person.

I guess early March is a good time to screw up your mojo, pull yourself together and remember to take part. Ready, set, GO!

Where is bee?

Gah, the sequel

Things remain tricksy this week. We had to call our lawyer about that woman who threatened me, because she's now going around saying that I threatened her. Whatever, I have witnesses. People who know me think this is very funny. I don't.

I'm now three weeks away from my projected end date for A Hand To Hold. I will have the whole thing penciled in by then, I expect. If not, it still goes in the drawer for a while. Then what?

I've been working exclusively on AHTH for over a year now. I have a few ideas for new stories to choose from, but first I'm planning to reread The Witch of Badenock. I want to apply what I've learned in the past year and a half to that story - specifically now that I've assassinated my inner critic and replaced her with a cheering squad comprised of my muse, my dreams and my inner child - all on large doses of caffeine. I still love that story, and now I just might not be afraid to tell it.

Actually, I'm kind of excited.

Sunday was beautiful - sunny and plus 6. We went outside and washed the car, and soaked up some much-needed rays for vitamin D. Of course that means that now the Beloved are all sick with one thing or another, so I'm planning an early escape today. Cross your fingers for me that it works out! We're having chili with jalapeno corn bread and fresh cold milk for supper. Mmmm!

Hope you're all well and happy. Take Care.

How are things, you ask?

This week has been a bit of a drain and a strain, and the writing suffered for it. 

I refused to give a refund to someone - to make a long story short she simply wasn't entitled to one.  She told me I didn't know how to run a business.  She said I should get a degree.  She said I would be very, very sorry.  She told me I was mental, and childish.  She called me - ready for this? - she called me a skank!  And then she went outside to her car, got an empty coffee cup, and threw it at our door. 

A family member is angry at me because of a decision I made.  I am sad, but I am not changing my mind.

Little Boy has his first detention today.  Apparently, his best friend slammed a door on his fingers, and so he punched his friend in the stomach, and knocked him into a wall where he bumped his head.  It's interesting to note that the Vice Principal, on calling my husband, was audibly relieved to find that we supported her decision to punish the little Berserker, and indeed said Little Berserker is finding that there really are a lot of nasty chores that need doing around the house and yard this week.  I'm grateful that his BF's mom says, never mind, they're boys, these things happen sometimes.  And the BF has already pretty much forgotten the whole thing.

And unrelated to all this, I said something stupid and insensitive and I feel rotten about it.

So this morning, I said Cindy you need to write.  So I got myself out of bed, and made some coffee, and laid my fingertips on the keys.  That's when Pebbles woke up.  She would not go back to sleep.  Then Little Boy came in and spilled my whole entire cup of coffee on the carpet.  That's when I taught my children an important life skill:  How to say SHIT.  And hell, it was going to happen sometime.  Why not today? 

So I'm just going to wander off and answer the voicemail now.  I have two beta reads going, I hope today I'll finish my comments on one and read my way into the middle of the other.  I'm going to listen to Joshua Radin, especially this one: