Time, Space & Oreos

So today has turned out to be a productive day for a Friday.

I took the time to crank out some wedding photos that, admittedly, should have been processed by now. I had no sooner finished over 400 of them before Bryan called and we hit the gym for a workout on the basketball court. My game started off pretty sweet when I hit two threes and six free throws before I missed my first shot. After winning the first round of 21 my game went downhill from there and I lost the next two.

Now I'm back at the house and the first thing I notice when I walk in is how much extra space the new refrigerator takes up. It's not a lot, but it is noticeable. The refrigerator has, I guess darkened the kitchen, but in a good way. I like that we replaced a white appliance with a black sided refrigerator with stainless doors. I also like that it has plenty of space in the freezer. It's a bit taller, though, so I have to stretch more to reach the Oreos on the top of the 'fridge.

I have about an hour now before Bethany should be getting off from work. I'm going to see what I can get done on some of my writing projects.

If It Ain't Rainin', It Must Be Snowin'

Chalk this one up to the notion of "It's always something."

We woke up this morning to find that our refrigerator wasn't cold and that our freezer was on the way to thawing out, neither of which is a Good Thing. Apparently our recent string of luck with household appliances and motor vehicles is holding true and I'm fairly certain there's a hole in the muffler of my Jeep.

But I digress.

So after rushing a lot of meat to Covington to a friendly freezer, I spent the day looking for, purchasing, accepting delivery and installation and then restocking the freezer with our still frozen meat. Oh, I almost forgot the best part. We were fortunate enough to find a slightly larger side-by-side refrigerator and freezer combo than our old one. The added width wasn't a problem but the extra height sure was. Fortunately the cabinet above the refrigerator had up to an inch and a half that I could cut away without fear of getting into the actual cabinet space itself. I borrowed a reciprocating saw and went to work.

Have you ever used a reciprocating saw? 'Cause if you haven't, you should. I highly recommend it. It's fun. I now want one for Christmas. That saw will cut most anything any time and anywhere. There's no limit to the damage you can cause with one of those. Fortunately, Bethany hasn't looked at the cabinets above the refrigerator yet...

Looking For A Way Around The Block

It was a busy Wednesday for me, so much so that I didn't get to set down to blogging like I'd planned to earlier today. But there's still 50 minutes to go before midnight and therefore my resolution is still intact.

I've been thrown for a loop by Brimstone, the Pendergast novel that I've started reading tonight. Pendergast has tea with a character that was supposedly from The Cabinet of Curiosities, two books prior to Brimstone. I don't remember her at all and I have a very, very good memory when it comes to things I read. I've been completely thrown for a loop and I've appealed to Patrick for help. Maybe I just missed her.

A good deal of my thought this past week has gone toward my writing career. Since I'm unemployed, I do have some time to focus on it. I'm caught at an awkward point between novels. With The Crownless King I wrote something very intensely personal and with a character that had a great build toward becoming a hero. I want to write something like that again. But everything can't be like that, can it?

Blood & Steel is about 75% completed (first draft, that is). However, I feel like I kind of lost the thread of the story somewhere, as if I stopped listening to Sam tell me his story and started filling it in with my own. I haven't been able to recapture the feel that I had for it.

I guess this is what you would call Writer's Block. Any thoughts on how to get around it?

A Resolution

Welcome to August.

I heard something interesting on Barnes & Noble's Meet the Writer podcast. It was an older podcast and it featured an interview with Ridley Pearson. It seems to me that I've read something of Ridley's in the distant past, though I'd have to look it up to tell you. His most recent claim to fame is his collaboration with Dave Barry on Peter and the Starcatchers and the series that follows.

He talked briefly about his writing process and his advice to writers was pretty simple: Take a set time, every day, and write. Make it happen.

I realized I don't do that. This blog is a prime example. I blog when I feel like it, when some random adventure comes my way or, sin of all sins, when I have time. I realized today that if I'm going to be a successful writer I need to write every day. Without exception. So I'm going to start doing that. This blog will turn into a Monday-Wednesday-Friday publication and my August resolution is to have a minimum of 12 regularly scheduled posts by the end of the month. That's not to say I won't write more, but there will be at least three a week.

I'm at an interesting point in my life where my future can go just about anywhere I want it to go if I choose to make it happen. I think it's high time I made something happen.