Looking Foward To Fall

We're back from vacation and while it was a good trip, I'm glad to be home. I'm not going to lie. I really like sleeping in my own bed and being in my own home. Family togetherness is great and all that, but there's nothing quite like home.

As I mentioned in the last post the writing is getting back on track. In fact, Devan and I are having our first meeting tomorrow about The Hunter and I'm looking forward to really discussing the vision of the novel and the series. I think it will go a long way toward speeding work along, particularly since it'll be the first time we've been able to speak in person about the project since he came up with the idea while he was in Iraq.

My current read is The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. It's fun, but it's almost an homage to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I think that all the epic fantasy written in the 70s and early 80s has a strong influence of Tolkien, be it in the story itself or the style of the writing. Next up on the To-Read List is probably going to be Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. It has a pretty interesting premise and I'm excited to see what he does with it. It will also give me a feel for his writing before I plunge into the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time finale, which Sanderson co-wrote after Jordan's death.

I don't know how the weather is where you are, but here in western Virginia fall is starting to creep in. The nights are getting cool and the morning temperatures are barely in the 50s. I've been told that the leaves are starting to turn in Bath County, which is north of where I live and a lot higher in elevation. I went with Bethany and her mom to chorale practice last night in Lewisburg and I could already see some fall colors in that particular westerly direction.

Looking at the calendar I see that September is half over. I love October. Bethany's filled this one with weddings, but even still I'm looking forward to it. Cooler weather, better football, great food and awesome books. Fall is also publishing season and a lot of great reads are published this time of year. Of particular interest to me is The Towers of Midnight by Jordan and Sanderson on November 2.

I'm also counting down to the time when I make my annual attempt at jambalaya. I've made it twice, both times on a cool autumn Saturday when I could smell it cooking in the Crock Pot all day. Last year was a fiasco wherein I learned that there is a difference between instant rice and regular rice. The year before was better, though it came out mushy. This year will be my third attempt at making it and I have hopes of getting it right this time.

Fall puts me in mind of soups and stews and other warm foods. We have a great recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup, which will no doubt be made one weekend, and Bethany loves experimenting with the soups. The cooling weather just seems to demand that more attention be paid to cooking and eating fine foods and I, for one, plan to answer that demand.

Back On The Wagon

I have to plead distraction over the past week and a half as my excuse for not getting any real writing done. Remodeling the bathroom has taken up so much of my time that it was all I could do to get a decent night's sleep before getting up and going at the day again. We finished that up last Friday and Friday melted into a weekend filled with family and friends.

Since it was a holiday weekend I didn't really accomplish anything written. Monday was an off day and so today, Tuesday, has become my Monday. And still, I'm not getting much of anything accomplished.

Part of the reason for it today is Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Xbox 360. That game is insanely good. It's Batman as he was meant to be: dark, brooding and squaring off against the Joker with the lives of countless innocents hanging in the balance. It doesn't really get any better than that.

I also finished reading The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins over the weekend. Without really spoiling anything, it was a great young adult series that I found to be very entertaining. Devan was the first to recommend it, and then Dick, and when I have a recommendation from two literary opinions that I highly respect I have no choice but to dive into it. I was hooked quick and never wiggled free until I finished the series. I hope that Collins writes more. It will be interesting to see if her success will continue.

I'd like to say that I'll be making great literary strides myself this week, but that's just not going to happen. We're leaving Thursday morning for Tennessee to spend a few days in Pigeon Forge on a family vacation. I'll be doing some cooking and a lot of reading if my plans hold up. There's also a pool table and a Pac-Man game at this cabin we're staying at. I'm amazing at both, so I feel like they'll occupy my attention a good bit.

For a moment here I've questioned my dedication to writing. I went a few solid weeks of writing every day until the bathroom renovation broke my cycle. Even still, I've been making notes in my head and on paper as I've worked. I'm always writing in my head (I know it sounds like a cheat) and go through a few drafts before it makes it to paper. I don't think my dedication's wavered, but I think that it was slammed by a project that just consumed my every day for a week.

I got back on the wagon this morning in the weight room with Bryan. It's time for me to get back on the wagon with the writing too.

Why, Georgia, Why?

We finished up the bathroom Friday night at about 8:30. I still have about fifteen minutes worth of finishing touches to lay down, but for now, it's finished. I know I promised pictures and I'll provide 'em, but at this point that almost seems like work so I think I'll let it be.

The bathroom took a toll on us both. We both were up 'till 2 a.m. every night since Monday trying to finish it off. All the dust we stirred up, combined with the lack of rest and decent food along with the first stirrings of fall have been enough to kick me in the butt and tweak my allergies. Thankfully, after a lazy day of Sunday rest, I'm feeling better than I have in almost four days.

So I've picked up my guitar for the first time in a few weeks. I set it aside a while back to focus on my writing and had some favorable results. Now that Devan is back from Iraq things should start moving in a better direction there at a quicker pace. In the meantime, music has been tugging at me and I'm back to practicing my guitar.

This is part of the reason why I so rarely master a talent: I can't focus on just one thing that I'm interested in long enough to become amazing at it. There's just so much out there that's fun and I really do want to be able to play just about anything on the guitar.

I stumbled on a lesson for John Mayer's Why, Georgia? off of his first album, Room for Squares. I love that song. It has an amazing intro that goes from intermediate to expert in the face of a few measures. It's been difficult since I haven't kept up my practicing, but I'll get there.

Saturday was a great day filled with good food and good friends. Patrick and Amber came up, as did Chris and Sarah and Bethany's sister, Heather, was in and we all spent the day playing games, cooking and swapping stories. It was the kind of good times that we need to have more often and I'm going to try to make a point to experience more frequently. In the past two year's of life it's been too easy to get caught up in the big events that I've almost forgotten that it's the little things that make life worth living. It may be too late for a New Year's resolution, but I'm making it nonetheless.

The Stuff Of Legends

When last I left you breathlessly awaiting updates in blog land I was about to tear in to the bathroom. The tearing started Monday morning and it ended up being much more involved than I thought it was going to be.

But that's OK. My Plan A usually leaves a little something to be desired. My Plan B is usually the stuff of legends.

Bethany and I have been hard at it for the past three days. Monday was the stripping and prep work. Tuesday saw the painting of the paneling, the removal of the old sink and the discovery that the vinyl floor would have to be replaced and that the paneling didn't quite cover on one side of the wall since the new sink was shorter. The new vanity, naturally, doesn't quite jive with the old plumbing. With Bryan's assistance (and without it there'd be no new sink installed) the required piece will be in hand and installed tomorrow. The light installed nicely, which was about the only thing that went right yesterday.

Which brings me to today. The painting is done inside the bathroom. There's still a little bit of the trim work left to be dipped in white, but 98% of the painting is finished. I took a quick trip to Lexington today and picked up the new floor and the new panel, which doesn't quite match but it's the best I can do and it's going to work. Tomorrow I plan to unhook the vanity, lay the new floor, slide the vanity back into place, have Bryan secure the plumbing, and then reassemble the bathroom, all in plenty of time for Saturday's epic gathering.

So if everything goes according to my plan, and there's absolutely no reason it should because nothing has so far, by this time tomorrow night I'll be soaking in my tub in my newly finished bathroom. I promise to post pictures when I'm finished.

But it's 11:40 p.m. and time for a late dinner.