If you are a Scrivener user and your dog accidentally (one hopes) deletes the climactic chapter of your much-slaved-over novel while you’re revising by hitting her big old nose on the delete button, all is not lost. It’s in the Trash folder. Along with everything else you’ve ever deleted. Do not empty the trash.
Ever.
Every year I do this meme, and every year I forget entirely how boring my first sentences of each month turn out to be. (Via Maureen, this year, whose blog is awesome no matter what she says.) To mix things up, I’m also going to add the last sentence of the last entry for each month (except this one, natch).
January:
(first) Y’all light up my life and I hope 2007 has only the best in store for you (and me).
(last) Raise hell. Now that’s a legacy.
…
While we were in Jamaica, I thought of the Banana Boat Song not at all, which is odd since it’s classic and Jamaican and we indulged in more than a drink of rum. (We were also doing quite a bit of the work all day — Holly has tallied the group result at two novels, plotting and outlining for two more, a short story written, and several other short stories started — plus, a proposal thing was finished in addition to all that, I believe.)
But, beginning at the airport, I now can think of no other song. I hum it, and sing a few bars, and I’m pretty sure it’s holed up deep in my ear canal, like seawater in some other people‘s. I guess the only thing to be done is add Beetlejuice to the Netflix queue.
*With apologies to Maureen; I just couldn’t help myself.
With all the catch-up that entails — mountains of e-mail and laundry, the last packet of the semester to finish, etcetera etcetera, all to be dealt with in the next week.
Still, mostly I’m dreaming of: the Pelican Bar, frogs, the ocean, copious writing time, amazing meals that show up regularly through no effort of one’s own, rum, lengthy readings of the Worst Book Ever Published, games that reveal secret world domination tendencies, the ocean first thing in the morning, the smell of fresh beach towels, noodles, Christopher with a Red Stripe, the Jake’s specials board, revamped TV ideas involving Scott Bakula (sort of), rum, fresh mangoes, crabs covering and uncovering themselves in sand, biscuits, an ant army, crocodiles, the view(s), a bunch of great friends having wonderful conversations, and the hammock. The Green Flash will have to wait until next time (except for the three people who saw it).
But, hey, these are good dreams to have.
And I finished the first full draft of le novel, which was my one and only goal for this week (besides swimming a lot and having fun; plus, Karen was there to applaud, making it even sweeter). Now we’re sitting out next to Jake’s enjoying the late afternoon sun and tonight we’re having a bonfire on the beach. Then home home home to our very sad (and rightfully so) dogs and slightly less sad cat, in hopes of cheering them up. If you get the chance to visit Treasure Beach, Jamaica, I highly recommend it.
The capacity for forgetting what the dark seasons of the year actually feel like is remarkable, isn’t it? I know what to expect–the time change comes, the world changes, and suddenly it’s dark at six o’clock. Can you believe it’s six?, you or I say, and, No, can you? No, I can’t.
It’s not this that’s the weird part, of course. The weird part is how the day actually shrinks. How dinner gets earlier, how you feel like it’s evening when a month ago it was late afternoon. I can understand the wicked air that comes with a sudden drop in barometric pressure, but not this seasonal dysphoria.
Why is it that I get more done with these short days? Maybe I should move to Alaska, but only for the winters.
I’d never go outside and instead write 800,000 word novels that could crush Grady Tripp without trying. That’s what I’d do in Alaska. (Shhh, Colleen, I know.)
Why, yes, I did just finish packeting for this month. I’m going to go sleep now, or possibly hibernate. It’s well after dark, after all.
Hibernation as a Sane Option Read More »
So I’m taking a semi-Web hiatus. I’ll still be posting here some, but I won’t be reading other online things (besides newspapers) for a few weeks, ideally until December. Which means when I do post here, it probably won’t be about online things.
I will be reading e-mail, however, and possibly even keeping up with it–maybe even sending out chatty exploratory messages like I used to before everyone was on the cyber all the time and knew what was up with everybody else’s business. If you need me, or if something major happens in your livelihood, please do write with the skinny. The e-dress is up and to the right if you need it.
As you were.
Strange Experiments Read More »
A long (but good) week and I am now so very tired and wondering if this is a little bit of a cold that’s setting up. Time to start the echinacea with goldenseal. And get some decent sleeping in.
Have a good weekend everybody, and dress up in costumes, and I’ll maybe drop in with a post or catch up on some e-mail over the weekend. Maybe, but it’s just as likely not to happen.
Back soon though, when s-pid book is finished.
