Promontory, Utah

I feel like I have control of the two railroads about to meet in Utah to join West and East. Well, not quite, talk about arrogant! But I worked into the night and I'm within inches, not pages but lines of having the story back into one piece.
The rest of the day I'm going to try to talk the scanner into scanning 125 pages of text back onto the word processor. If it is it's usual stubborn self, then I'm retyping it in over the next week.
Hee hee..and hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go!
Sincerely,
Your Friend, Dopey the Dwarf

The blazing coffee maker

I just counted. I have 187 pages of the story complete. The two sides are not as yet connected, but there is not such a big gap between them. There is alot more story to what would be the recovered pieces. I'm actually past what I lost in page count, but the story is not together though much more extensive that the first go round. Like this is the second revision before the first.
Still haven't found the computer that will do the job for us...but I did find a most important writing tool. A new coffee maker. The old one was taking 45 minutes to make three cups, this one makes 11 cups in less than 5 minutes. Maybe that is why I got so much written this past weekend and blazed through the pages this AM.The old lady who writes is grinning.

The Knuckles are Dragging.

My knuckles and fingers are kind of sore, I've typed so much today and I still have not got the two parts of the story connected. I've typed so much today, I'm wondering why I'm typing now. A cool down from exercise period, maybe?
What I did to the Callaghan character today!! Whoo whee..is he in big trouble. Sometime over the weekend, I'm going to somehow rescue his wonderful body, though I'm not sure Rocky will let me wriggle him out of this.
I tried to buy a computer today. Admittedly I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but I can't figure out that Dell website. I know what I want and I just can't seem to find it. Do I dare call and ask to speak to a human being.? I think I really need to just go get a 'puter in a box that is all put together and pay and go. I can just order a Dell key board separately, I think, maybe sort of. DS2 is ready to start his own design business on the side until it gets big enough he can do it full time. And I'm tired to death of battling this wonderful old faithful for every word, every log on every day. I lose one more page of writing and I will probably sit down and cry.

Don't shut down the brain.

Getting there, today I finally am at the point that connects the old part of the book that I'm recovering and the new part of the book that I'm winging on. This transitional part should be about three pages long and is something that I actually saw. It should not take any time at all to write. This part ties in and locks down the part that I've already written about it in the 20 pages of new stuff. Confused?? I know what you mean! To make my brain even wilder and unable to focus on the task, I came up with this intriguing idea for the next book. I've been trying to write a historical novel for three books now, some day I will get the damn thing out of my head. In the meantime, was working through scenes on the Rocky's story and this idea pops into my head. Is it a historical, somewhat romantic novel? Not even. The thing looks like it is going to be another adventure story with a very current political angle. Though the main character is a historical figure that the modern day character may channel or something I haven't worked out yet.. The book will be what Brian calls Superman vs Godzilla. Maybe I can write the historical romantic novel on the blog, and get rid of it. Brian wants to write Superman vs Godzilla one day. I've got enough problems without taking on Godzilla, whom I love.
Have a wonderful weekend. Write ON!

That is so much better.

The recovery writing is going as good as I can reconstruct. Even as I write that, I feel that writing a book backwards,sideways,front, back and middle wise may not be the way that "real" writers do this job. Makes me kind of crazy in a put down sort of way. I make this jigsaw puzzle and then work it together. I felt this way until yesterday evening, when I visited Diana Gabaldon's webpage, to see how soon her next book is expected. Well, I was working my way thru her fax, and found that she works in pieces and bits and then blends them into her wonderous, huge, yummy, adventure historical novels. I feel so much better. I would feel infinately so much better, if I could physically write a 900 page anything,but that is why there are the Gabaldons to keep me reading. I love historical novels, since the first one I read in elementary school. "The Silver Chalice" by Thomas B. Costain. My mother thought it was a religous tract, so I was allowed to enjoy in peace. Speaking of what I read. When I was a Sophmore in high school, I tried to read "Peyton Place", by Grace Metalious, somehow my Mother knew what that one was about and I didn't even get to read the "good" parts. I was forced to give it back to my buddy Adrienne. I digressed, what I'm supposed to be writing is a historical novel, but this Rocky person keeps butting in and I keep writing this adventure thing. I have only written two pages this morning on the adventure thing. I need to make a meat loaf for dinner and make words. Write on!!

Rollin,Rollin, Rolling...

Twenty pages..ten of new story, ten of reconstructed old story. Two files being switched back and forth between old and new. It is harder to reconstruct the old, than writing the new.
I was laughing at myself this morning, by writing the ending while I'm writing the middle,maybe I will finish before the middle is complete. That makes no sense at all, must be one of those thing that think perfectly nice at four AM, and are totally fruit loops at a quarter to eight.
I had to calm myself down I was so upset at the loss of the book, so I've been working really hard getting a wool hat knit for Craig for Christmas. It is the swatch hat, two hats in one, which will be nice since it is in wool. He will use it this January up in the mountains. I will try to refrain from reminding him not to loan it out, give it away, sell it or send it sailing down the Klamath River on the way to the Pacific Ocean. It is a medium forest green and on one cap of the reversible I have just put a couple of rows of garter stitch on the plain knit. One the other hat side I put a varigated green,brown,blue,cream three rows of "lice" and then two rows of purl garter stitch. The cap even got an unsolicited good comment from the other son. I'm back centered emotionally and writing away.
This week the data goes to the agent on the mystery story that I finished before the Got Rocks series.
Rollin,rollin,rolling...theme from "Rawhide"...you aren't old enough to remember that TV series.
Back in the saddle again.
Write on.

.

Screwed, Blued and Tattoo'd

I really did it this time. Last night I deleted the whole book. Yuppers, all 180 pages, every living, breathing 43000+- words. I don't even know how I did it. I was writing along and I had reached for the shift key with my right hand. I missed and I think I mashed the keys to the right of the space bar. Whatever...the screen kinda did a burp, and I just happened to look at the toolbar, and I had about 420 kb's logged and then there was .9kb on the toolbar. It went from 1.5 spacing to single spacing. I type each day with a different color and after the burp I was in black instead of Saturday's teal blue. I'm sick, sick, sick.
I had 125 hard copy pages printed, so I only have to recover around 55 pages. That is a lot of words, even if I already know what happens.
55 x 240 words per page = 13,200 words to redo.
Excuse me while I go throw up.

I've Got It, By Gad.

I was so stiff and sore after my walk yesterday, and sunburned, after dinner I was just dragging. I hauled myself into a full tub of hot water and a new bar of Green Apple Soap, and I soaked. I soaked and woke myself up with someone snoring with the sound reverberating off the tiled walls of the bathroom. DS2 says I'm going to drown one day falling asleep in the tub, be that as it may, this old babe has never taken a sleeping pill in her life. Anyway, it and a long sleep in a bed fixed the sore muscles. As I was just at the spot between awake and asleep, you know the one, I got the ending for the book. I have written what, three books and a screenplay now, and each of them has been plotted out on paper well ahead of time, with characters all tidy in a row. Not this sequel to Mrs. Got Rocks, the ideas just seem to be coming into place when I need them, I hadn't even begun to worry yet about how to close the thing. I have nearly 150 good pages out of what I want to be 350. This whole ending scenario is going to be long and involved and I can see it being around 75 to 100 pages. I'm going to have to plot it out on paper, otherwise I know I will forget something. Today is going to be get a dentist appointment day and plot out the ending day. And somehow over the weekend every surface in the apartment got covered with stuff. That will have to go somewhere, or I will be having a snit by the end of the day.
Tomorrow, I want to make a batch of Honey Butter Soap, I need to get some made for DS2 to take with him to India, they are proposing leaving in December. I don't know how long they will be gone, so I'm doing the 18 bar mold for him. I doubt that he will need to take that many, so the rest will be for us.
I also need to make some peppermint soap or some Creamy HoneyedMint Soap. I searched through the whole soap stash last night and there is not one bar of minty soap. I think tomorrow and Friday are going to be writing and soaping days. I can't ask for anything more. Well I suppose I could, but why be greedy.
Have a wonderful day.

I'm easing into it.

Good Monday morning, I'm easing into things. I wrote ten pages yesterday and last night. I wanted to get a bit ahead because this morning I have to take a hike into the wilds of the streets of Las Vegas to go to the Post Office to mail a package. First given: I don't drive. Second given: the Post Office has the least customer friendly hours of almost any company in the world. I love the new automatic scale do it yourself powered by credit card machine. I hate how Americans love to dismantle them to see what makes them go. Loves them so much that the post office has to lock them up after 6pm at night. Just the time those machines would be the most useful is when they are not available. Yeah, I'm not dumb enough to think "they who destroy" just want to learn how they work.
My little printer who works his little butt off for me, failed the postal office test for printing the "quality" of label for the at home do-it-yourself. I did not have the heart to tell that to little Epson. So hi ho hi ho it is off to hike I go. Have I ever mentioned trying to take a bus to the Post Office, oh my dear! This Post Office is about 2.5 straight miles away. To take the bus I have to change buses twice, and the buses run once an hour, so last time, I had a three hour one way, I walked home. The bus does not run down the straight shot street from the strip to the post office, like twenty miles you can see straight shot street..swoop. No, not, don't even think. The bus runs in the other direction, so it is half mile walk to the first stop, then change bus, another two mile ride, change bus then another two mile ride.hen another half mile walk to the post office. So I'm walking, even these old legs will make it faster than that.
So I'm easing into it, and will try to get back here before it is scorching hot out.
The result of course, is all Epsons fault for not making a printer even a cheapee, that will print the Post Office spec. postage. So I'm easing into it. Have a great day..write lots.

Jeez, it is Friday again.

Remember yesterday ,about selling my antique bed. The lady backed out, she was supposed to pick it up today. Better she back out then give me a bum check. I'm still going to have money to go to the dentist, my sister is sending me some of my inheritance money. For now I still resemble the Beverly Hill Billies, and I'm glad I did not go to the dentist first...but the money should be here maybe Monday or Tuesday..and then I will call the dentist. The bed still needs to be sold. So, the antique dealer will probably look at it over the weekend or early next week. The monster bed will cost between six and seven hundred dollars to ship between where it is in Cali and here in Vegas. It is worth in the area of 1500 or more bux. The closest I can date it is between 1870 and 1900. Any bidders?
Yesterday, was a fun writing day, I wrote five pages just like they were flowing through my fingers. Good funny stuff, I laughed out loud. Kind of a section where the character says, "There take that!!" So by the time I wrote myself out I had about 10 pages finished. The story is around 150-175 pages now. Overall I think it is good, a little more humor in it than the first one with the Rocky persona.
I could not get the damn pictures to load on the blog. All was not lost, I finally got the photos to email feature to work. I spent many too many hours yesterday trying to do the impossible dream with Mr. Clunker Computer.
Happy Friday, write lots, and just try smiling with your mouth closed.

This and That/Soaping and Antiques

I promised when I started blogging there would not be pictures on my Blog. The big reason is that my Digital Camera did not appear after the move to Las Vegas. The small reason is that the blog is about writing an adventure story. What shall I photograph today, my hands typing or me looking for inspiration on the ceiling?
Today, I am going to attempt to post some pictures of my soapmaking. Good thing I'm a better soapstress than a blog photo tech. I'm willing to try anyway.
I need to make a batch of peppermint soap, I am down to almost no peppermint soap. I make two peppermint soaps, the one I want to make is the Creamy Honey Mint. A mixture of three mint essential oils,honey and yogurt. If I have whipping cream in the freezer I'll use that instead of yogurt. Lovely soap,refreshing with the mints,smells so good and clean. The moisturizing of the honey and cream does not leave the skin gooey like slathering on the moisturizer or body lotion after the bath.

I sold my antique bed. My older than the prairie, been in the family for a lots of years bed. Cast iron, weighed a ton,the conciever of children,comforter of mothers,well earned rest stop for husbands,refuge for reading under the covers kind of kids old bed. Why did I sell that bed? I broke my @#$%^ eyetooth off at almost the gum line, and the bed will pay for the dentist. Am I angry? #$%^& do bears sleep in the forest? Wouldn't it have been nice to sell my old bed and take a cruise or better yet buy the new computer I really need.Did I mention that I was angry?

I have procrastinated long enough, the coffee is almost ready and I can not think of another excuse to wiggle out of posting pictures. Please do not hold your breath.I will not take responsibility for any holding breath deaths.
Have a wonderful day. Write lots.

I'm from Grizzly Country

The weather is turning nice again, and I decided that I had no excuse for not getting back into the walking routine. I hitched a ride over to the neaest big casino, early, and planned to play video poker for awhile, have coffee and walk back.
I have a favorite machine to play, actually I have several, but I like this machine the best, though the love for the most part is not returned. When this machine pays, it pays. But getting it to that point is a pain in the butt and expensive pain. Like a colonoscopy. So I settle in with my coffee and drop in my limit. You have all ready finished the sentence. Yes, she just wanted to play nice yesterday morning. Every three of a kind, she seems to follow with a full house, and then ditto, ditto. Every time the score was racked up, the machine would let out this little growl,snarl,hum noise.Finally, after being growled at for about fifteen minutes, and also not being intimadated by most machines, I let it know that I felt it was being quite rude. This machines are supposed to flash lights, make music, jangle bells when they payoff, not this growly thingee ma doosy. Next time it did that, on three of a kind, I bent down and whispered into the area that was grumpily humming. I whispered, "I'm from Grizzly country, missy, you don't scare me. The next hand I got four kings,paid 150.00 and the machine did not growl at me.
I walked home with 200.00 bucks, breakfast,two coffees, and a diet Pepsi. The machine was still growling when I left. I was not pressing my luck.
So this morning I am back to writing. I have not written since last Friday morning, I have pooped around with some maintenance and editing but nothing new on the board.

Pulled Up Them Socks

That is what I did yesterday, I pulled up my socks, rearranged my flip flops and told self, that any more Drek outta my fingers was not getting the bacon earned. I mean I chewed a new path through ego, work ethic,talent and any other thing I could chew on. The result almost 5000 decent storytelling, plot advancing,edited,spellchecked and revised words. I know that is not a lot of word production. Hah, that was three quarters of what I had produced the five days before. To speak nothing of the words being usable. I guess I'm back in the writing flip-flops and as soon as I finish my salad snack I'm back working on this new technique that I learned. I was reading a famous mystery novelist latest book for the second time, I really like the way she writes, when out of the blue I saw the composition of her book, how she wove that character around. Wow, I went to Faye Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman and Tom Clancy and somewhere in each of those books they used that same technique. I had never noticed it before.I tried it and shoot, that works really good.
Technically the manscript is one third written to the first draft stage, but I'm probably going to throw out at least ten pages and/or rewrite them .So let's just say that by the end of business today, I will be one third through the sequel to Mrs. Got Rocks.

It is Friday

It is Friday and I'm glad, and I do not know why. This morning's production includes one load of laundry, not even put away, one man's shirt ironed, and 1330 new words written. The laundry is cleaned, but still not trained to fold and put itself away. The shirt is all ready out the door covering the youngest son, and each and every one of the words is drek,crap,junk and I'm going to puke boring.
Then while producing that junk it occurred to me that I cannot spell the easiest darn words. I can spell some extremely darn words that no one uses in every day life, but not something as easy as the word "difficult". Paradigm, I can spell. Have you ever, ever heard anyone in normal everyday conversation say paradigm. Me either, I rest my case. Thank God, it is Friday.

Coffee is dripping.

Yesterday the Yarn Harlot gave her blog the news that her lap top had failed over the weekend. Her manuscript with a deadline two weeks away was on the laptop. The new bookette was not lost because Stephanie Pearl McPhee had run a backup the week before she went on tour. Well, I'm here to tell you that there was smoke coming out of my feet as I raced into the supply desk for a ream of paper and did a print out of my new manuscript.
One might ask, why I didn't just do a backup disc or all those other wonderful ways to save data. 'Cause little old Hewlitt Packard is pushing ten and he don't do backup discs no more..well, he does but they are unreadable, when he is finished. He writes backup discs in a language from another galaxy. So I printed out my seventy-seven pages of new stuff and breathed a sigh of relief.
The sun is almost up and the coffeemaker has stopped singing "Pufferbellies", so I can go to work.

Write Lots of Ideas on Bits of Paper

The air conditioning is repaired, life is returning to as normal as it ever gets here. I have a half page of closely hand written adventures to put into the Rocky II story. I was watching a DVD with a horrendous navel battle and suddenly I got this whole scene for Rocky to do just reeling through my head like another private DVD. I did not wait, ran for paper and pencil and got the idea down. By the time the naval battle DVD was done, I had ideas for six chapters on the paper and ready for filling out or writing today and tomorrow.
That is so much more classy way to get ideas than my usual answer, when someone asks me "how do you know what to write?" or "where do you get your ideas?" My answer is usually a sheepish, "they just fall out of my fingers." Now I can hold up my head and say, "Watch Tora,Tora,Tora and you will get the idea for a baking biscuits chapter" LOL
Have to get the fam- dam-ily up and on to job, and then to my job of getting this stuff onto the word processor before I forget the details.
Have a wonderful week, write lots.

The Air Conditioning is Broken.

No air conditioning, we are suffering for 1.5 days now. Repair is scheduled for today between noon and 4 this afternoon. Got no writing done, got nothing done more than going to the big neighborhood casino for breakfast and hang out for awhile in the a/c, then sat surrounded by fans for hours. Read,battled migrane,and thought up some cool stuff for the main character to do.
DS2 finished the first edit of Mrs. Got Rocks last night. Now there is stick to activity. Editing your mothers book in the 85F heat inside and with lots of humidity. Overall he liked the story, made some really good suggestions regarding Callaghan that are going to go into the next book. He found no major rewrite sections. He liked the all ready re-written ending. He liked Deputy Tony Dixon,Rocky and Margie. He is not totally as gaga about Devlin as I am. He thought Callaghan was a supreme jerk, who Rocky should have shot while she had a chance when he was claim jumping. He is now likeing Callaghan better when I explained the long range plan for him, he likes him better as a character, but as a person he doesn't like Callaghan. I haven't told him what is going to happen to poor Deputy Tony Dixon, other than he has been renamed in the re-write.
We sat in my room, (which for some reason is the coolest in the apartment) and talked for a long time about weaving the characters more intricately together.
He also guessed that Callaghan stole Mom's chairs.
I now have all the hard copy of Mrs. Got Rocks and that means it is my turn to sit down and read her again as a "book" and then start the rewrite. I am not doing that until the gosh damn air conditioning is working and the apartment is anywhere in the temp range of 75 or cooler.

If This is Wednesday, I Must Be in Las Vegas

Book word count 22000, actual count 12579. I'm crowning myself the Queen of Excuses. I hardly wrote anything yesterday. What I wrote yesterday was really cool. Excuse one: Two emails from Family=Migrane, that I finally have almost on the edge of control. Wish it were that easy to control the family emails. Excuse two=spent time tracing down oldest son, who is in "will of the whisp" phase and I'm always one stop behind where he was day before yesterday. Caught him yesterday. We had a good talk and he is doing okay. If you know me fairly well, you may remember that the eldest son was supposed to be going to India for the gem mining company, this was about 3 years ago. The Indian company pulled out of the deal at the last minute, after the company Craig worked with built this gem mining dredge that was big as a very large houseboat. Anyway, they said that they lost their financing and they ended up stiffing the company for fifteen grand that they still owed on the dredge and stiffed Craig personally out of about 4 grand in wages. Well, last week their check for 15 grand cleared the bank and the India project is back in the works. Craig hasn't seen his 4 grand yet, but the head honcho will be there for a meeting on Thursday or Friday. Craig will be back on the payroll to finish the last minute stuff on the dredge and see that the big beastie gets on the ship to India from Portland, Oregon around the end of Oct. Anyway, I hope that they come through with his back pay, and I hope that he does get a chance to go to India. He will be teaching the Indian mining people, underwater dredgeing. The mining claim or business in on some river in Southern India (Madras River?) that I can't think of right now, anyway some of the best gem mining in the world is there. Especially nice colored diamonds. Craig not only will get paid(?) he gets a cut of anything(gems and the by product of gold) that the miners get. If he wants to, he can putz around on his on down there and get his own gems.
So anyway, after talking for a long time about that, and the house he is trying to buy, I still had the migrane, but happy to talk to him.
Then DS2 Brian got a promotion, he is going to be a straight out designer, not a CAD person. Much less tension and stress, use a lot of more of his talent, and bigger bucks. So I'm extremely proud of him. He has come a long way in the past two years, Vegas has been very good for him.
But all this good and bad stuff didn't get the writing done.
DS2 is reading the Mrs Got Rocks in parts..he finished the amputated finger part last night..I think that I actually impressed him. He did have a suggestion for one line and I will work that into the second re-write. He is so much better at dialogue than I am.
Since I had about 3 hours sleep last night, I might be able to nap this morning, if the headache monster stays further back in my head. I will not write anything today that will be worth a hoot. But if I can sit still that long, I will write something. I'm thinking a rain storm might be a good thing, since Rocky just got the new roof on the cabin. Yes, she did, a bright blue roof. She didn't hurt herself, fall off the roof, step on a nail, or bash her finger or drop a shingle on someones head. Need a good rainstorm to roll some gold down into Rocky's claim.
I'm hungry, ohh, that is a good sign, going to toast a waffle. Have a great day.

Uncle,Uncle!

In the race between myself and, well, myself...one of me is not doing well. My competative person says that I should have 15400 completed words in the manuscript. The person, doing the thinking and typing has racked up an paltry 11326. One of us is just going to have to concede and cry Uncle,Uncle.
Today or tomorrow I will begin the second and hopefully final draft of Mrs. Got Rocks. I have already rewritten the icky ending so I'm in good shape there. What happens is that I read the entire story in print version and start making it better if I can. I walk around hollering "Icky Poo."as I read. This can take months or not. The Blackberry Project took several weeks and that story was much more complex than Mrs. Got Rocks.
So if it takes doubling the time for the Rocky sequel, I guess I can live with that.
Put on the coffee, I'm off to write a couple thousand words then, and start re-reading.

Did I Do the Math Correctly?

I wrote my brains out yesterday, plus I edited over 200 pages of Rocky I. I think I'm still behind. Did I screw up the math? As of right now I should have a word count of 8800 words. The actual count is 8442. Hummmm,that means the score is still Jackie minus 358. Shoot, I was only minus 400 yesterday. That math is too depressing.
Perhaps I should have added a quality bonus round. Extra points for having a person reading it as you write it and they laugh or snort in the right places.
Having cut myself a big piece of pie to complete today, I better get to it. This is housecleaning day, so I am going to have to put the pedal to the metal to be able to do both.