A game of keep-up: on words

I’m not posting enough here lately, I think. I’m only up to around 5k words for the month, and it’s already over a week in. At this rate I’ll only make it to around … 20k words? Heck, that should be fine, right? I don’t need to be too much faster than this to make 20k. Of course, Iain may actually be stepping up on the pace this month and may make it to 25k or more. What then? Second place, even with my surprize posts? That wouldn’t be satisfactory.

I know that it’s just after 3 now and that if I begin to post this, it will be 4 or later when I finally even approach the bed, but … I don’t want to fall behind on my word count. Lord knows I haven’t been getting any good writing done apart from the blog. Lots of coding and constructing website pages and all that rot, but no fiction. A little transcription of old fiction, but nothing new. Which reminds me, I plan to make the first Man With The Coat story available for free, to try to entice people to read the other ones. Soon. In fact, as soon as I have the last one, “A Bun In The Oven” or “What Time Is It?” transcribed and online, I’ll get the full text of the first one in the body of the post and available for free, and re-dated so that it floats to the top, perhaps with a list of links to the individual stories.

I don’t know why people don’t buy them. Modern Evil has been getting 1000 to 1500 unique visits every day this month, but none of them have bought any of the BitPass content. Is it because they don’t have BitPass accounts? They’re easy to sign up for. Is it because the mental transaction cost is too high? Because they don’t know what they’re getting for their money? I don’t understand. I don’t know how to fix it, either. If it was just the mental transaction cost, why not buy the novel, Lost and Not Found, or better yet, the novel plus the online content? Perhaps the sort of people who like reading the website don’t think they’re the sort of people who would like my fiction.

Except that I’m the same writer on both projects, so if they like one, they probably also like the other.

I don’t know.

Anyway, I’m trying to write quickly here. It is cooling off, and I don’t want to get too cold before I go to bed. No need for a fire tonight, it’s been pretty warm, but it certainly does cool off before the dawn. They say the temperatures are supposed to drop way off after tomorrow night. We’ll see. Usually they don’t know what they’re talking about.

I’ve been doing a lot of tree-pruning yesterday and today. And will certainly do more tomorrow. This is an activity that, as I mentioned yesterday, I find quite taxing. It is quite stressful for me to be above the ground without sure support, moreso on the ladder than in the tree’s branches, and there is only so much of it I can take. But it must be done. With the temperatures this warm, the trees are bound to ‘wake up’ soon, and then it will be too late. Once the sap starts running, I guess, you have to stop pruning. So we’re (most of) one tree down, one tree about half-done, and one just started. The other three apple trees we removed over the winter, so do not need pruning, but it is still quite a job, and takes priority over others.

That is, it takes priority over disassembling the mobile, over constructing the ramp, path, and boardwalk for the little stores, over furniture construction, all of it. Though we will take some “time off” pruning tomorrow afternoon to go haul around some firewood, as far as I know, that’s what tomorrow will be; pruning.

And I don’t know about Thursday, but Friday we’re going down to Phoenix. Heath will be staying, going on a weekend retreat with the church he went to down there, and then remaining for a couple of days. Father and I will be returning to Pine that night. Friday is Angela’s birthday, you see, so instead of just Heath and I going to the valley, so I have a chance to do anything on my own, father must come with us to celebrate with Angela. But then he must return. And I’m welcome to drive back down to Phoenix after he comes back to Pine if I like, but … gosh. Maybe another day. How about next Wednesday, when Heath is supposed to be coming home? No, that won’t do, dad has some things he needs to pick up/do in the valley, so he’s going down on Wednesday to pick Heath up. Huh. Well, I guess that’s not going to happen. Maybe another time. I’ve got to get some things back to Zoe before too long, I’ve got some shopping to do, little stuff mostly, and I’d like to try to say hi to Iain at some point. I’ll see what works for different people and just plan to go down at some point that’s convenient for everyone else, for my friends and my father and then if it works for then, see if it works for me too.

Sigh.

Am I whinging? Sorry.

I suppose I’m whinging that plans that other people had made for me have been … changed because of the whims of … other people … I have very little control. Perhaps that’s the rub.

Later, Teel. Later. Your lamps are in the store, your next lamp will be done soon enough, and the table not too, too long after that. (Assuming dad doesn’t hold up doing the top for too long.) Once the money starts coming in, that will be a good thing. If the money comes in in excess of what you need to pay your pre-existing bills, that’s a very good thing, and it is at that point that you can even begin to consider trying to make your own plans. See, if you have the money to pay your bills AND for gas to go to the valley, or somewhere else, and for whatever other expenses you incur (food, lodging), then you can do whatever you want. Of course, you have to remember to balance spending like that with savings for the other things you want to do, like go to conventions and promote your novel(s). If your work does sell well, and if you properly manage your income and your expenses and your savings, then yes, you can go to the valley when you like, or take off to other strange places on a whim, but not before then. Be patient. Be mature. Do what you need to do, and things will work out fine.

See, a little talking to myself, and my head gets on a little straighter. Nothing to worry about. So I don’t get to spend any personal time in Phoenix, so what? So I can’t afford to just ‘take off’ on a whim and visit some distant locale. What’s so odd about that? What’s to get upset about? I’ll have those opportunities in the future. I just need to stay present and aware of the bigger picture, and everything will be fine in the end.

Right?

In the end?

I’m slowing down. My typing is slowing down. I’m getting cold, I’m getting tired, I’ve got to get up in the morning. In the morning. That is, before noon. Preferably, much before noon. I don’t care if I don’t get enough sleep, if I’ll be tired all day. I’m not doing anything critical tomorrow, no detail work. Perhaps a bit of sanding, if I find the time and will. Perhaps re-drilling a hole that got filled with glue-foam, if I have time and feel up to it. But I don’t need much sleep. Tomorrow (today) is what? 131.1? First day of a new week? I absolutely must do my exercizes tomorrow. Chest, lats, shoulders, calves, abs, back. Shoulders balance calves, right? They’re on opposite ends of the body, anyway. Whatever. I’ll get my workout info online soon enough. I’ve almost visualized the format (and the back-end) that I want to use for that.

Did I mention I’ve been using excel lately, to make up an exercize calendar? It’s a beautiful thing. Little boxes for alternating and cyclical exercizes, boxes for reps and resistance on each set, boxes to track hours slept and hours spent working on furniture, and when I’ve showered. Laid out on my calendar, but with your calendar’s dates right there, too. All very nice looking. I wish it had more data in it; I’ve been pretty lazy lately. I need to step it up.

What else, tomorrow?

Wake up,
do exercize,
eat breakfast,
start my laundry,
trim trees,
check the mail,
take Don Quixote back to the library, unread,
re-drill my holes,
eat lunch,
dry first laundry,
start more laundry,
trim trees more,
maybe work on the mobile some,
(if available) play video game/watch movies,
dry second laundry,
eat supper,
program exercize webpage,
make another long post,
fold & put away all laundry,
research bible study topics,

I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head. Wait, no. Go to the library. (Adding it.) I just can’t seem to get my head properly into whatever space it needs to be in to read Don Quixote. Perhaps late in life will be better. Heck, perhaps next month would be better. Something just wasn’t working. I almost forgot my laundry, too, but remembered it before I got to the end. Heck, I’ve been forgetting my laundry for nearly a week.

I better write that list down somewhere I can see it, or it won’t come close to getting done. … Okay, it’s in one of the little books I carry around with me all day.

Which reminds me, I made a whole list of things to look up online while I was at bible study tonight. Some easy, some hard. I’ll start on that tomorrow, too, I suppose, if I have time. (Adds it to both lists.) And that’s all I’m going to add to the list for right now. I’m going to bed. I spent the hour I expected here, but I’m not prepared to spend another. Sleep. Then wake. As early as possible.

I’m thinking of trying to train my body on four hours’ sleep. Anyone want to help? Here’s how: Call me at 8AM and have an engaging conversation with me for at least 2-3 minutes. It doesn’t take much out of your day, but it gets my brain turned on and could add hours to my day. If you want my number and don’t have it, email me. If you want my email address and don’t have it, put my name in front of the domain of this site. If you can’t work that out… uhh.. you might not be able to engage my mind in the morning anyway. Sigh. Now, on to bed.

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Teel

Author, artist, romantic, insomniac, exorcist, creative visionary, lover, and all-around-crazy-person.