Refusing Normal

It’s startlingly easy for me to fall back into the pattern of going to bed at 3am. And therefore struggling through my work week, when I really ought to be able to easily make it into the office by 10am. But then I get another brainwave and keep poking at my stories, and before I know it I’ve written way past my bedtime. The good news is, even though I’ve been exhausted, I’ve continued to add to my word count, and have gotten past the climactic midpoint of The Builders.

I’ve also gotten my first beta reader feedback: she likes the story. But she’s as perplexed as I am about how to classify it. Technically, it’s scifi, since it’s a first-contact story. And there is an alien. However, it just veered into explicit and it’s in the world we know now, so I’m not sure how scifi fans will take it. With only the one explicit scene, I don’t think it qualifies as erotica either. So, once again, I’m cobbling together my own mish-mash of genres and hoping for the best. I’m just glad the words continue to flow. Even if I’ve fallen off the pace I’d established last month.

Because, again, life.

The walking has also slowed, slightly. I didn’t take as many steps as last week, so my total for the month-long challenge at work is a smidge over 130K steps–as opposed to the goal of 141K steps. It’s something I’m going to have to continue to keep an eye on for the future, given how easy it is to vegetate in front of a computer.

Another thing keeping me in front of the computer: Gayla has started writing something completely different. Well. Still Paranormal. But more like drama than the romance and funny and mystery that is Cordi. Based on how well it worked to start the editing process early and often with the most recent Cordi installment, I’ve been spending a lot of time in this new world this week. It’s fun to have a new fictional distraction, since hubs and I finished with this season of Agents of Shield this week, for our stay-at-home date night of cuddles.

Hubs also sent me a link to 10 survival skills our grandparents had that make me suspect I would end up a vegetarian should the sh*t ever truly hit the fan. I can garden, I know how to take care of basic carpentry, and know quite a few herbal remedies. In a pinch, I could probably dust off the ancient rust from canning skills learned in childhood, but proper butchering, let alone killing an animal I had raised or hunting for meat…? Nope, nope, nope, nope. I’ll never forget having caught my first fish from the lake at my grandparents’ house and being horrified at how the hook had pierced the mouth. The fish was still alive, but obviously in pain. I couldn’t kill it, but still doubt it survived our catch and release.

On the other end of the survival scale, hubs also sent an interesting interview with the Finnish Pirate Party candidate and Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde. As regular visitors might have noticed, I have a plug-in from the Internet Defense League on my blog that alerts visitors to threats to net neutrality and related issues. From what Sunde said in his interview, we may be way beyond the need for that because the fight is already lost… but I’m going to keep the banner flying anyway, and encourage you to, too, just so society at least keeps the ideal of the open Internet somewhere on its radar.

This week should allow me to up the pace on word production, but in the meantime, I suggest visiting the other ROW80 participants.