Life in progress

Monthly Archives: May 2014


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Leading With the Right

The good news is, I’m getting some editing done. I’m allowing my imagination to wander and I’m picking up on my character’s vibes; getting their words from their mouths to the page, as well as their actions and their thoughts. Spending some serious concentration on my novel is something I’ve been trying to do for a while, though it’s not likely to last into the weekend. Unfortunately, my ex crapped out on me yet again, so I have the kids. Again.

The bad news is, it seems that all I’ve been able to do for the last couple of days is be creative. So while my right brain takes the lead I haven’t been able to come up with anything to write about on my blog. I’m all kinds of imagination and no real life. It’s a good way to be – I think so anyway.

Still, in a way it’s frustrating. When I’m “in” my novel, I walk around the block on my paper route and I see nothing around me. The absence of photos these past few days (is it weeks already?) is proof. I go into this trance-like state, sometimes even walking right past the houses I’ve been delivering to for two and a half years now, and having to back-track. My family has to say things to me three times before I understand the words. Which is interesting to me, because according to the research I just did, the left brain (that I’m not using very much of these days) is responsible for words, among other things.

I suppose I should be pleased about this. In my experience it’s hard to get to the point I’m at right now, able to use my creative side.  When I’m pulled out of it usually, by having someone interrupt me when I’m trying to write, I get so annoyed that it takes me hours to go back, if I can at all.

It must, however, be extremely inconvenient for anyone who tries to interact with me when I’m like this.  Wouldn’t you hate living with a writer? I would.

I must check to see if I start off with my left foot to go up and down stairs when I’m right-brained…


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One-Liner Wednesday – Guess Who I’m Gonna See

I’ve never heard Adam Lambert, but I’m thinking he must be good to fill such impressive shoes.

 

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Why I Love Best Buy’s Warranties and Other Updates

After posting about yesterday’s disaster of a day, I thought I’d write a quick update on how my today is going so far.

To start with, I slept in an hour past the time I ignored my first alarm, so I didn’t drag myself out of bed until 6:30 – which is like noon for me. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little. But I’m not beyond saying truthfully that I was exhausted. That meant Alex didn’t get on the bus this morning, because he was still feeding when it came by. The good news is, he was feeling much better. For him it was like yesterday never happened, which makes me want to scream in frustration and cry with joy, simultaneously.

With him off to school, I gathered up my laptop for a trip back to Best Buy, to complain that they didn’t fix my problem. I was told first off, that they didn’t change the battery after all.

Me: But… you told me you did! (This was to the same Geek Squad guy I talked to yesterday.)

Geek Squad Guy: (Looking through a pamphlet.) They didn’t change it because it wasn’t under warranty.

Me: But… I was told when I brought it in that it was.

Geek Squad Guy: Hmmm… (wanders away)

For a full two minutes (2 minutes!) I stood and stewed. Then he came back.

Geek Squad Guy: Your warranty didn’t cover the battery, but I just talked to my manager and I’ll order you another one and replace it for free. Sorry about the confusion.

Me: (Jumping up and down with glee and reaching over the counter to kiss him…) (Okay, not really. I might have smiled a little.) Thanks.

Their extended warranties are a bit pricey, yes. But they’re so worth it. My first laptop proved to be a lemon. They replaced it with a brand new one, two and a half years after I bought it, after three major repairs. Can’t really beat that. The one that replaced it had a problem with the power cord connection (in the machine) so I sent it back with a week left to go on the three year warranty. It came back with that fixed, plus they discovered it needed a new motherboard; it hadn’t broken yet, but was on its last legs. And now that they have a free loaner program, even if I end up with a lemon, I’m never without a computer. I actually HOPE I buy a lemon.

Fixes are still nil – but I haven’t given up.


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…And Then Nothing Gets Fixed

I was walking out of Best Buy at 12:45 today when I got a call from Alex’s school. He was in the office, feeling unwell; would I come and get him. That’s not really a question. Ever. It’s a command. So I threw gently placed my newly repaired laptop in the car and drove over to get him. Best Buy had had my laptop for a week. It was shutting down without warning on battery power when the charge reached 66%. I figured it was a defective battery – they changed both it AND gave it a new hard drive.

Anyhow, I got to the school and was informed that my darling little son was feeling tired and wanted to go home. Yeah, not much of a reason. BUT, one I have no choice but to take seriously. First was the arrhythmia from the weekend, coupled with cold sweats a couple of days ago and then I was informed by the teacher that his lips had gone blue three times last week (thanks for letting me know sooner) and this all adds up in my mind to congestive heart failure. Regardless of the fact that he just went for an echocardiogram last week that showed no new problems, and ignoring the impish look of “I’m faking this” on his dear little face, I decided to take him to the emergency.

Six (count ’em) 6 hours later, we arrived back home. The EKG they did today showed there were no issues with his heart – neither did the x-ray. However, I must give honourable mention to the people who kept me entertained in the waiting room. The first was a heavily tattooed lady who lost her $1.50 in a vending machine and proceeded to inform a security guard at the top of her lungs, “IT WASN’T JUST A PENNY!” The second, and most impressive by far, was an elderly lady who clearly had no idea where she was, demanded in a tone fit for a Shakespearean Queen to be let out of her cage. Seriously, if that woman wasn’t still an opera singer – and her annunciation! It was out of this world!

Where was I? Oh yes, back at home. I ate my dinner while Alex was hooked up to his feeding pump and then I got my laptop out. New hard drive meant all the crap that comes with a factory-installed OS was present and accounted for, as was the particularly loathed Internet Explorer. So I’m sitting on my couch, miserably getting rid of everything I don’t want and … poof! 66% the laptop shuts down.

I’ll be taking the computer back to Best Buy tomorrow. Hopefully I won’t be taking the kid back to emerg. Still, don’t really know what’s wrong with either of them.


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Will We Become Like An Old Married Couple, WordPress?

In attempting to come up with something new to write here today, I realized there doesn’t seem to be much left of my present life that I haven’t already written about. In short, I’m running out of things to say.

I have this vision in my head of me and you sitting in a restaurant, eating a meal and looking around at the other couples – the young ones holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes, *gag* and the middle aged ones with kids, arguing over whether Bobby should get a new computer for his fourth birthday – and having nothing to say to one another. We’ve already talked about the weather and how bad the traffic was to get here.

Your teeth hitting the spoon every time you sip your soup is getting on my nerves.

Your memories of how sexy I was when we first met are fading even as the colour in your favourite cardigan does every time I wash it – it’s a horrible burnt orange and I’ve been secretly putting a drop of bleach in the water for about six months. I figure if it finally goes yellow you’ll stop wearing it.

Is that how things are going to end up with us, WordPress? Is it?

Come on, my dear. Let’s spice that plate of bits and bytes up, shall we? Before I have to face your dentures in a pot beside the sink in the bathroom every night.

 


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Change – Stream of Consciousness Saturday

So Alex and I were rolling pennies this morning and I was starting to realize I keep too much. Not only change, which sits on tables, in jars, and in the case of what we were rolling, a four litre juice container (it was heavy), but all the ‘stuff’ I’ve accumulated over the years.

I’m also trying to sell my mother’s condo, which is full of ‘stuff.’ Three bedrooms worth and not really enough room to sort it, so there are boxes on their way, courtesy of my dear friend John and his pick up truck, that will go into my basement to be emptied and sorted. Then I’ll have a garage sale to get rid of said stuff…

…which will probably land me a bunch more change to roll. Does it ever end?

 

Prompt: Change

This post is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-314/ 

Please click on the link to get the details, and write a post of your own!


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Quantifying Stress

Stress is something everyone feels, if not on occasion, then constantly. Though we’re all different, and there are certain things or combinations of things in our lives which cause it, it has approximately the same effect on us all.

It raises our blood pressure, causes in us either adrenaline or exhaustion, usually one on the heels of the other. It does wondrous things to our bodies – gives us headaches, makes our skin break out in rashes and can give us pain where we didn’t think it was possible to have it.

But. There’s always a but. Stress is invisible. It can’t be counted; it can only be felt. It can only be seen by the ripping out of one’s hair and the stomping about of one’s feet, or the squealing of one’s wheels on dry pavement. Explaining it is near impossible to someone who doesn’t understand how much we’re under.

There are scales for pain: you can see them hanging on hospital walls. But what if there was such a thing as a stress scale? How would it look?

On a scale from one to ten, for myself, one would show a picture of me banging my shin against the foot of my spare bed, that has been out to get me since I inherited said bed with the house I’m living in.

Three would be the bed plus dropping everything I touch in the space of fifteen minutes. I have days like that.

Five might be getting in the car and turning the key to a click instead of the firing of pistons when I have an appointment to get to.

Seven to eight is being interrupted ten minutes after I sit down to write, and I just have my head in whatever I’m trying to concentrate on… eight being the fifth time in as many minutes.

But ten? Ten is having my son tell me he’s tired and putting my ear to his chest to find that his heart is in arrhythmia, going 90 beats per minute for a few beats, and then down to 30 for a few and back again. Adds up to a decent 60bpm, but there’s still the question, do I take him to the hospital or not? I’m alone with two kids, neither of whom can be left alone. This is where my stress level was two nights ago.

And so I thought, maybe I should make up a scale for my family so they know when not to push my buttons. Because no one wants to get in the line of fire when I’m reaching five, let alone ten.

What do you think – not for me, but for yourself? Might a stress scale lessen the number of stress-induced conflicts in your home? Something to consider, I think.


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for SoCS May 3/14

It’s the first Friday in May. Imagine that! Depending where you are in the world, either spring is blooming or autumn is falling upon you. Regardless, it’s the fifth month of the year, so in celebration of that, I thought Friday’s Prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday may as well reflect this changeable time of year.

This week your Prompt will be ‘change’ in any form or definition of the word. Play with it, and have fun!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at the prompt page in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post.

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people will come and read your post! The way to ping back, is to just copy and paste the URL of my post somewhere on your post. Then your URL will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. For example, in your post you can copy and paste the following: “This post is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-314/  ” The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. Have fun!


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What I Learned During the A – Z Challenge

survivor-atoz [2014] - SMALL

Well, I did it, on not one, but two blogs. When I started I didn’t think I’d be able to keep the fiction side of it up. I started the story of Xavier and Jupiter with the intention to make it a single short story – using just the letter A. That leads me to the first and possibly the most important thing I learned.

Someone once asked me what I wanted to do with my writing. She asked, “Do you want to be a writer of fiction? A journalist? A blogger? What do you want?” as though I had to choose just one. So I did. I said the first thing that came to my mind – I want to be a novelist. Until April 2nd I didn’t know why; I’ve only fully realized in the last 24 hours, that it’s simply what I do. Once I get a character in my head, I can’t let go. It’s why I have such a hard time with short stories – because there is always so much further I can take these people who live in my imagination than I can possibly write in, say 1,000 words. I think it’s also why, when I do write short fiction, it’s usually under 500 words. I just can’t get into it without writing a novel. And I would so much rather be writing a novel!

I probably had more fun writing what ended up being a fair sized novella completely off the top of my head every day until I hit about the letter “T” than I’ve had since NaNoWriMo. I love the challenge not knowing what will happen next until I write it.

Which brings me to the next thing I learned doing A-Z – that I find it infinitely easier to write every day when I have a prompt, even if that prompt is simply a letter of the alphabet and a theme. I shouldn’t be writing this post until May 5th when there is, by the way, a link party over at the A-Z Challenge site. But I had nothing else to write today.

The third thing the Challenge gave me, which wasn’t as much of a learning experience as it is simply a fringe benefit, is all the wonderful new blogs I found, and intend to keep following. *waves to the other A-Z’ers* I must also use this post to thank so many of my friends for coming on this journey with me. It was great, wasn’t it? I’m looking forward to all your follow-up posts!

The question, I guess, is what do I do with the things I’ve learned? I may compile my A-Z novella, polish it, and publish it. It might be a good way to get my name out there before I publish Dagmaru. I’d be happy to have any thoughts on this from those who have read it. I also know now that I need to concentrate on my novels.

As for not knowing what to write on my blog, I may seek out more prompts. If anyone has any good suggestions I’d love to hear them.

A-Z was a wonderful experience. It’s helped me to grow as a blogger and a writer. I can’t wait to do it again next year!