Dinner “Conversation”

Me: What’s this?

Her: Your dinner.

Me: Since when did donkey phallus make it to the menu?

Her: It’s Polish sausage, thank you very much. And you’re welcome for my heating it up.

Me: How come I get such a small donkey schlong?

(10 year-old son giggles hysterically here.)

Daughter (6 y/o): No, Daddy, you mean Donkey Kong.

(Son explodes in laughter.)

Me: So how come you get a bigger schlong than me?

Her: Because I’m better looking?

Me: What?

(Son’s on the floor, turning red.)

Daughter: Kong, Daddy! (giggles at Daddy’s silliness)

Me: Oh, I see what you did there. Yeah, you’ve always been one for the big schlong, haven’t you?

Her: No, not really. After all, I marr—

Me: Smart woman doesn’t finish that sentence. Think it over.

I Duditz!

Yes, I finally finished it! I’ve finished the WIP at long, long last!

It took me almost seven months to do it. There were a lot of setbacks along the way. My back pain, things on fire at work, things here which got in the way…but my loving spouse and I stuck with it, and my First Reader LOVED the ending. She actually says it’s perfect. I’m very proud of being able to report that. She’s an avid reader and this isn’t her kind of book. She read – and enjoyed – every word.

Now, the painful process of re-writing what’s broken to fix it begins. I have to address the wonderful edits my readers suggested in the first five chapters, and of course I’ll have to redo chapter six entirely methinks. A bit of relaxation for a week or two and then the process of re-reading it from start to finish begins. Finally, a call to beta readers. That’s a few weeks away yet, I think.

So, that’s what I did over the weekend, and even got to start the plotting and planning for a couple of more books. I hope to have them finished faster than this, but that’s going to mean more careful outlining too. And I’m achin’ to try my new method out too, so we’ll see how that goes.

How was your weekend?

-JDT-

Whensday

Title and idea blatantly stolen from my loving spouse. All credit for them are hers.

The bustle of moving day is exciting and sort of cool when you’re a kid. The new house, the new arrangement of furniture, the people and boxes and disarray, and constantly being told to move aside, go play, do something to keep yourself busy, all meant I could sit back and watch the grown-ups work, grunt, sweat and swear without ever getting my hands dirty myself.

As a child, I didn’t fully appreciate that. My four year-old brother and I wanted to help, to be important, to be part of the conversations, the effort, the commotion. Like always we sought to be relevant somehow, but we contented ourselves with putting away our boxes of toys. My father’s family all dwelt in the deep south — Georgia and Tennessee with one stray in Oklahoma — so he didn’t have anyone from his side helping us. My mother’s family consisted then of two brothers and several sisters and brothers-in-law, so the bulk of our help came from them.

Gettin’ There!

Well, I did some writing over the weekend! WOO!

Okay, so I didn’t exactly break the word count bank, but I still broke inertia, and that’s just as valuable. To me. (Most of you probably couldn’t care less about this.)

So, I went and got close to the finish. I know, I know – I’ve been close to the finish forever. But still, it’s really close now. I’m so close, I just left a cliffhanger and even my wife thought it was cruel. The action has ramped up, the tension is mounted as high as I can get it, and it’s time to bring it on home. Then it’s off to the editing phase, I reckon. Or maybe I’ll take a few weeks off and do some outlining for other stories. I haven’t decided yet.

One thing I can tell you for sure is, I probably won’t start just one story anymore. I think part of the problem is I stopped having fun, and rather than sit in doldrums on something, I’ll have a couple of others going. I can switch when I get bored or stuck and work on something else. And the stories I have in mind are all so different, I can’t possibly get bored. At least, I don’t think so.

We also went out and got a grill and a patio set. I grilled some steaks on Saturday night and sat there with the familial unit while they cooked. Good times…good times.

Other than that, nothing special going on here. How’s it by you? Have a good weekend?

-JDT-

Finally Friday

Even though I’ve had a short week — on account of Migraine Monday — it still took a long, long time to get to Finally Friday. But here it is.

I’ve got a big project on my plate which feels a LOT like it has to be done by Monday. I hope I can get it off the ground okay. A bit of code, but this particular set of code and I have met before. Done battle. I’ve emerged but can’t always say it was victorious. Today will tell the tale, I suppose.

So here I am, fingers at the ready. I intend to write this weekend because I’ve not done that at all this week. At all. No excuses, I’m just tired and dragged out, so I’ve spent a lot of time holding the couch down. But that’s over. I have to get some work done. I might try multitasking this weekend and hold the couch down WHILE I’m writing. Ho-ho, tricky me. Look out world.

For those of Irish bent, Happy St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. Have yourself a green beer, or green eggs and ham, or something lame like that. I’d settle for brisket and cabbage, hold the cabbage, but I reckon we’ll just hang some decorations. My wife, awesome as she is about honoring holidays, hasn’t celebrated SPD in a while to my recall, but maybe she’s planned something this time around.

How about you? How’s it going? What’s going on? Plans for the weekend?

-JDT-