Arguing

Dad and I went on another walk tonight, but on the way to the B&A trail we got in an argument. He insisted that we had walked north yesterday while I had spent most of my lunch hour looking at maps of the trail and knew for a fact that we had gone south. The trail runs from Annapolis to Baltimore and we walked south from the Marley Station Mall to Jumpers Hole road. However, the simple, hand drawn map I had printed showed the mall south of Jumpers Hole road and Dad kept insisting I had to be wrong. I finally blew up at him after explaining less and less patiently that the map was wrong... that I had looked at three official maps for an hour that proved I was right... that logically it was impossible for us to have gone North... etc, etc, etc. I was really rude finally, and I am sorry about that, but I think I know why I overreacted.

Everyone who knows me, knows that I will NOT argue about facts unless I am 100% sure I am right. I have had too many unpleasant experiences with siblings who love to make me feel stupid if I'm wrong, to ever take a chance arguing about stuff I can't prove. But my own father doesn't know that about me? That bothered me. I don't care about the map or the facts, I knew I was right all along, but that's not the point. If he knew me half as well as my most casual acquaintance at work he would know to trust me if I state an absolute fact. He could have trusted me over the crappy map, but he didn't.

Sometimes I don't think we have a good relationship at all. I love him and I know he loves me, but we don't seem to connect like Mom and I do. I wish we did, he means a lot to me. It's not just because he's a guy that we don't connect. Most of my best friends are men and I never have a problem connecting with them. While I was growing up my dad was a fabulous listener. Whenever I would be really upset my dad would be the one to listen to my problems and offer advice or comfort or both. But now he just tunes me out. Can you love someone and still not care about them? I wonder.

Broken Arm

I finally finished my project at 1 minute until 2:00 today. My boss told us we could go home at 2:00, so my timing was perfect. I called my mom on my way home and told her I "might" get off early. I like to surprise her so I don't always tell her I'm on my way. She told me that she might not be home when I got there because she BROKE HER ARM! She fell on the front step, probably tripping over Harley's leash, and broke a bone just above her right wrist. Did she then do what any normal person would do, and go to the doctor/hospital? Oh no, she went grocery shopping! That woman is nuts. Anyway, she's at the emergency room now. What terrible timing, with the Fourth tomorrow. We were going to go swimming, and now she can't. She'll probably insist we go over there anyway and she'll just watch while we swim. What a bummer.

Happy Monday!

I have to start blogging more often because I have too much to say for just one entry a week.

First, the good news, my big project launched successfully today. Yay! This is the one that has kept me at work for 12-13 hours at a time. The one that I thought would never get done. There is still a lot to do, but those things can be done post-launch. I'm so happy.

This weekend was nice and quiet. My parents were busy on Saturday with my dad's brother, so I took the day and used it for all of the errands I have been putting off, combining them with shopping, of course.

Back in December I bought four pairs of glasses at Penneys so I could use up my whatchamacallit money that had been deducted from my paycheck for medical expenses. I should have used that money for the dentist or doctor, but I put it off too long and I really did need new glasses. Unfortunately, out of four pairs of glasses, four of them were defective. So, I took them back to be fixed and she was able to fix two pairs on the spot and will send the other two in for repairs. While I was in Penneys I went in and got my hair cut, something I've been putting off for 6-7 months. It's nothing special, she just cut off a couple of inches of split ends.

I was way overdue for an oil change on the TinkTerra, so I stopped at a Jiffy Lube near the mall. While they changed my oil I walked over to a bookstore nearby. It wasn't really my kind of bookstore, it had all of this weird new agey stuff, but I found a ring and bracelet I liked. I can shop just about anywhere.

Mom had given me a message that the game I had ordered at the game store had come in, so I drove over to my favorite mall, Savage Mill, and told them that I didn't know what I had ordered, but whatever it was, I wanted it! They checked their records, but I hadn't ordered anything since the Shut the Box game I bought for Dave (coworker) for Christmas. Turned out later that it was the Game Stop store calling about a Nintendo DS game, not the Savage Mill game store. It worked out ok, though, because I finally managed to be there on game night and I played a game with some total strangers. The game, whose name I can't spell, was a lot of fun, but the people were annoying. Still, I had enough fun that I might go back.

While I was at Savage Mill I ran into the woman who owns the dance studio where I've signed up for a yoga class. She gave me and a couple of other women a tour of the studio. It's beautiful, I can't wait for class to start on Thursday.

Sunday was quiet in comparison to Saturday. Mom, Harley and I went swimming at a friend's pool in the afteroon. Well, I swam, Harley doesn't like it and Mom didn't feel like it. In the evening we played a new game I bought at the game store on Saturday. It's a card game and it's called Showbiz Shuffle. The object of the game is to produce movies while giving each other production problems like tempermental stars and drinking problems. I liked it, but it's going to take time before I am completely comfortable playing it. There are a lot of rules to remember. Dad was having trouble reading the fine print, but seemed to enjoy it, ok. I think we'll try it again. I should have bought the game I played at the store, but I had already gotten the card game and didn't want to spend any more money.

Just so you know, Harley did great at obedience class. He sat, he walked on his leash without pulling and he actually played with one of the other dogs. I told Mom that we ought to think about getting him a little sister, but she wasn't excited by the idea. We did agree that if we did get him a sister, she would have to be called Scooter. I'll wait a year and then we'll see. I don't really want another puppy until Harley is fully trained and I'm sure I'll have time to spend with a fourth dog. I offered to give Indiana to a good home, but she didn't think much of that idea, either. You never know, maybe I can get Scooter for my birthday next year.

Finally, for now, my diet is going really well and I've posted a hefty loss for the first week. Double yay!

Quiet Saturday

Today was the first Saturday since the first weekend in May when I didn't have anything planned. I woke up at 8:30 this morning and thought "8:30 is good, but 9:30 would be better." Five minutes later, my arms were asleep and I had trouble seeing my watch. It was 9:30! It felt more like I passed out than like I went back go sleep. Usually when I sleep late I have vivid dreams, but not this time. I needed the extra sleep and I'm just glad I was finally able to get it.

I kind of goofed off until about 11:30 and then I started cleaning my room. The bed was covered with all of the clothes that fit while my closet was full of clothes that are too small. I hauled out and boxed up the smaller clothes so I could put away the ones I have to wear because I can't seem to get back on the South Beach wagon. I didn't toss out the smaller clothes, they're in a box in the basement just in case, but I'm losing hope that I'll ever need them again.

One of the plans for today was to take out the old air conditioner and put it in my dad's office and put the newer, better one in my bedroom. I'm super sensitive to heat and I can't sleep at temperatures over 75 degrees. Unfortunately, when I opened the window, I lost my grip on the a/c unit and it fell in to the bushes below my second story window. Oops, sorry Dad! We won't tell him, maybe he'll never notice. He's been in bed all day because of his cataract surgery yesterday. I don't blame him, if I had an excuse to sleep all day, I'd take it, too. We got the new a/c unit in my window and I put my room back together about 6:00. Mom and I watched Freedom Writers, and it was ok. Kind of depressing for most of it, but it had a happy ending so it's not all bad. Movies like that are like broccoli... you know they're good for you and they're full of all kinds of good things, but you would rather be eating ice cream. I am a junk food movie addict. I like things like Pirates of the Caribbean or Pirates of Penzance or pretty much any movie with pirates in the title, actually. I want to laugh and/or be scared and end up in smiles at the end. I don't want to have to think too much. I felt sorry for the husband. I can relate, that woman would make a saint feel selfish and unworthy.

I'm heading to bed in a few minutes. I have to work on my book tomorrow and I need to catch up on more sleep before work starts again on Monday. Seriously, I need a vacation.

Long Week and Even Longer Weekend

I have a big project going on at work this week and I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. I had actually hoped to finish it and I'm only about halfway done, so that's not good. I can't think about it now, though, because it's the weekend and I have homework for my writing class to get done, I have to finish reading my novel and rewrite a scene from the book. I also committed to 20,000 new words, don't forget and I'm not sure if rewriting counts, so I have to get some new stuff written. Then there is Father's Day on Sunday and I've done now shopping for my dad, yet. I'm a terrible daughter. We are going shopping in the morning, I just hope I find something.

I have three web sites to start and/or finish this weekend and I'm restarting the HTML class I'm teaching on Wednesday so I need to prepare for that. My workspace and bedroom are in truly awful shape, but I won't get time to clean this weekend. I would like to get out my new art supplies and play with them, but that's not happening either. I also have a ton of new scrapbooking supplies which won't be coming out for a while.

My friend, Alice, has a weaver's and spinner's guild meeting at her house on Sunday and I've been dying to go see all of her stuff, but I don't know if I'll be done with everything in time for that.

With all I have to do, I'm still taking time to blog. Aren't you proud of me?

No Rest for the Wicked

Let's see, on May 5th I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. The following weekend was my three day camping trip to Virginia. The weekend of the 19th my mom and I went shopping and saw Spidey 3 and Dad and I went to our writer's group meeting. Last weekend was four days of Balticon 41. That's a lot of busyness for an entire month of weekends. You would think I had earned a rest, right? Not hardly.

Today we went into DC for Learning and Product Expo: Art! DC 2007. They had a juried show with one of my mom's pictures in it. They didn't have the good taste to give her an award for it, but it was an honor just to have a picture in the show. It's not my favorite of her pictures, but you can judge it for yourself here.

I bought a lot of art and scrapbooking supplies and we took a watercolor class together. I was actually enjoying the class until the end. The teacher asked me to take my picture to the front of the class so he could demo something on it. I was so flattered until he took out a spray bottle and splattered all but a tiny spot with blue paint and then splotched a couple of ugly purple flowerlike objects on that one spot. It was horrible. My mom knew immediately that I was very angry and leaned over to reassure me that she would help me fix it, but it was too late. The entire picture is ruined. It wasn't good before he destroyed, but now it's hopeless. I would think I was just being picky, but one of the other students and I talked afterwards and she gave me her sympathies because she was appalled at what he had done. It was the very end of the class and I think he got in a hurry and just didn't care what he did. He's probably so used to slopping these things together that he forgets how much work this is for students. Idiot.

Tonight I got out my new colored pencils and pad of paper and tried to do the first of the exercises in one of my books. It turned out pretty badly. I guess I should have saved my time and money and done a little computer art instead. At least with computer stuff you can always hit CTRL-Z and undo the mistakes.

I'm ready for a break, but I won't get it anytime soon. Next weekend I'm meeting with my accounting client to talk about his website and his bookkeeping and one of the guys from work wants me to redo his website. In the meantime I'm working on a complete solution for the 30 Stories in 30 Days website and I still need to rewrite my novel and figure out whether or not it's salvageable.

Anyone want to guess why I haven't been blogging lately? LOL

Camping - May-12-2007 PM

Is it really camping if you take your laptop, iPod, PDA and Blackberry? At least I left the portable DVD player at home. I didn't do much with the iPod except listen to it while driving around, and I left the PDA on the charger the entire trip. But I chatted with my best buddy, Chris, online and sent multiple emails and talked on the phone to my mom a few times. In fact, when the car charger for my Blackberry broke I took a 12 mile trip into town to find a Radio Shack and buy a replacement. While I was there I bought a new digital camera to replace the one that I brought with me. It has been acting up for a while, but I thought it was a battery problem. It is a power issue, but the problem is with the camera, not the batteries. I got a really good deal on a 6 megapixel Samsung so I will have pictures to post almost as soon as I get home instead of having to wait for them to get developed. I have a bad habit of letting film sit around for years undeveloped, so I don't like to count on film cameras if I can help it.

The weather stayed beautiful all day today. It clouded up a little this morning but that just kept it from getting too warm. Just to be on the safe side, since I couldn't go swimming during the warm part of the day, Harley and I took the aforementioned trip to town. The guy at Radio Shack was great about letting Harley wander around the shop with me. I found the plug right away and then I tried to find a little something for my mom. The problem is that she already has every conceivable gadget. The poor guy would suggest something, like an iPod or digital camera, and I would tell him that she already has multiples of them. We just couldn't come up with anything she didn't have. It wasn't a total loss, as I found the camera I mentioned above and got a plug for my Blackberry. Oh, and I also got a new toy for Harley. A dragonfly that actually flies! He's going to love it. Actually, he does love it, because the Radio Shack guy gave him a demo and Harley went nuts.

We stopped at a little craft/gift store on the way back to camp and I got a couple of little handmade gifts for my mom. Most of the stuff was pretty awful, but I got her a tote bag and eyeglass case made out of matching kitty cat fabric and a set of wind chimes. She'll probably hate them, but that's what she gets for having too much stuff already.

On the way back I saw an enormous sign advertising a Berry Farm. I turned around and went down this side road for about three miles to find this farm. It was worth the trip. This place was so neat. They had a little shop with every possible kind of preserves and honey. I bought all of the sugar free kind except for the fig preserves, yuck. I also got sugar free blueberry syrup and sugar free maple praline syrup. I'll let you know if they're any good. I found some goat's milk lotion for my mom, too. I don't know what goats had to do with berries, but they had a bunch of them for the kids to pet. I didn't get to go back there because Harley was being a butthead, but I did see the one on the feeding platform 20 or so feet in the air. Pictures will be forthcoming soon. I will look up the name of the place and let you know. It's on the jars of preserves, I'm sure, I'm just too lazy to look it up right now.

I had lunch at the farm. They had a little snack shack with hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecue sandwiches. They also had strawberry shortcake, of course. I had the strawberry shortcake with ice cream. The cake was still warm and fresh and the strawberries were delicious. I bought a quart to bring back to camp but now I'm wishing I had gotten an entire flat of them. I can't remember the last time I had strawberries that actually tasted good. These were amazing, ripe and freshly picked and sweet. I wonder if I'll have time to stop on the way home. I would have to leave a little early, but it's something I can take home that I KNOW my mom will actually love.

We got back to camp about 2 and have been lazing around ever since. I read for a few hours before starting the fire at five. Harley has decided he loves camping if for no other reason than the food. He has this trick he does to get food. He finds something he knows you want and he brings it to you and then he waits for his treat. While I was roasting the first hot dog, I saw him looking around and I knew he had something on his mind. Suddenly he saw the stick I had been poking the fire with for the last two days and he picked it up and brought it to me. It amazes me, not that he found the one stick out of many that I had been using – it would have my scent all over it, but that he made the connection that this was something I cared about. This dog is too smart to be as obnoxious as he is. Because, no matter how fun and funny he is, he was really obnoxious to strangers on this trip. One really adorable little girl of about four years old tried to pet him and he tried to nip at her fingers. He also nipped at one of the campground worker's feet when the guy was talking to me. I will find an obedience class for him asap. I can't have him behaving this way. He is just too smart to act this stupid.

After dinner I took Harley out to the big open field in front of the campground and we played with bubbles until he was worn out. Now I'm sitting here, typing and listening to the kids across the way play with their boats. From what I can tell they have a paddle boat and a canoe and they're having a great time. I took a couple of pictures of them, too. I don't know how noisy it got around here during the day, but this kind of noise I don't mind. The sun has gone down now and it'll be dark soon. It's almost 8 and I'm already getting tired. Harley is tuckered out. He's flat on his side on the blanket on the ground next to me, not even noticing the kids across the pond.

Mom said that she mentioned to my dad today that things are much quieter and easier without Harley around but my dad said, "But I miss him!" Notice, neither of them said they missed me! More in the morning.

Dog Day

Today was a dog day, especially for Harley. We went outside this morning and played with all three dogs. Maverick chased his flying squirrel frisbee while Dad and I played with the new parachute toy I bought at Franklin's yesterday. (Franklin's is a restaurant/store near work that has some of the most interesting stuff for sale. The chocolate cake is pretty darn special, too.) Mom got out the "weasel on a stick" toy and fished for Harley from the deck. We played until Mom got cold and Dad wandered off to change a lightbulb or something.

I played with my Nintendogs a while and took care of my Showdogs while I finished watching Return of the Jedi and a movie about the making of Star Wars. I still say the people at work who claim Star Wars was a regional thing are crazy, especially after watching the special, but that's beside the point. I cleaned my room and Mom, Harley and I made the bed. It's a queen size waterbed, so it takes at least two of us. Harley's help was completely dispensable.

My writer's group meets here tomorrow, so we ran to Sam's Club to get some cookies, blackberries and grapes to serve them. I know, weird combination, right? I took my buddy Chris with me via my Blackberry. (Same name, different fruit... no, not Chris, the Blackberry. Chris is not at all fruity!) Then we all... Mom, Chris and I... went to the dollar store and looked at My Little Pony notebooks and stickers for Chris.

When we got home I took the dogs outside with the giant bubble wand I bought at Walmart and introduced Harley to bubbles. He loved them. Btw, if you have been wondering what Indiana was doing while all of this was happening... he rolled on his back once and stared vacantly off into space the rest of the time. That's the height of excitement for that poor dog.

Harley helped me nap by chewing on my toes and fingers and, after dinner, I took him outside for a run around in the dark with the laser pointer. After all of that excitement we put on the Harley show for Mom and Dad and now he's collapsed on their bed while I blog.

(Notice... no writing. I'm still stuck on that darn island!)

Harley is freakishly smart

I have had smart dogs before. Penny, my beloved Shetland Sheepdog, was so smart that I used to swear she could read my mind. She knew a number of off the wall commands like, "Penny, I'm cold" which just meant that she needed to get up and cuddle closer on cold winter nights. Maverick is smart but in a lovely, gentle, regular-dog kind of way. He's obedient and fun and remembers to do what he's told more often than not, but he's not going to win any science fairs if you know what I mean. Clark, Indiana's son, was so smart he would jump in my window and get my pillows so that he could take them back out through the window and sleep on them. (Indiana is so stupid his doggy IQ is in the negative numbers, but that's a whole other story.)

Harley is a freak. Harley is so smart it literally weirds me out. It took him a little over a week to learn to roll over on command, but it took less than a week for him to learn to shake hands, speak, sit up and beg, walk on his hind legs and dance on his hind legs. Each weeknight for one week he learned a new command. It got to the point that we were running out of tricks to teach him.

Earlier today Mom asked me how I would teach him how to play dead. I rolled Harley over on his back, told him "Play Dead" and gave him some praise. I told Mom, "that's how."

Tonight, we were running through his list of tricks while I fed him itty bitty pieces of cat food. Mom said, "Tell him to play dead." So, I did... and he did!

I had never shown him other than the two second demonstration I gave her earlier, but he remembered and did it, not just once, but over and over. Ok, that is an-alien-who-only-looks-like-a-dog-mated-with-your-doggy's-mama kind of smart! I once read a book with that subject (great book) and one of the signs that the dog was half alien was that it would wind its rope around a tree and then unwind it. Harley does that, too. I'm telling you, it's not a coincidence.

He isn't even a year old yet and he's already smarter than most men. If this keeps up he's going to bypass even some of the women I know. In another year or two he could even get as smart as I am... nah, no male could ever do that.

Harley Stories

I have two Harley stories tonight. First, I took Harley outside with me when I went to get my iPod out of my car. Harley is a fun dog and we love him to bits, but he has one really bad flaw. When he sees something moving, he chases it, whether it's a rabbit, a bird, a butterfly, or a car. Since we have no fence, that gets dangerous. Usually he is leashed outside, either tethered just outside of the door or on a leash when he is walking with me. Unfortunately, that means he doesn't get very much exercise except when Dad takes the dogs out to play fetch. Tonight, I wanted him with me, but I didn't want to put him on leash, so I tried something different.

I took the laser pointer outside with me, which he loves, and distracted him with it. He ignored everything but that laser dot, and because it was dark, he could see it better than ever. He was having so much fun that I started swinging the pointer in bigger and bigger arcs, and before I knew it, he was racing from one end of our yard to the other. So, I took him down to Mom's art studio and the students stood at the back door and watched him chase that thing as far as I could make it go and back. He probably ran half a mile or more, just running back and forth after the laser. By the time I was tired, he was panting, but still wanting more. I decided to stop while he was still enjoying himself. I think we have found a new way to get his exercise.

Mom and Dad bought me Nintendogs for Christmas, but they weren't able to find the Nintendo DS Lite anywhere. We have been looking for it ever since, and today Mom found one. I played with a little Sheltie puppy I named Penny (after my Sheltie that died last March) and it was loads of fun.

Harley, however, hates it. It has a voice recognition feature and you teach the dog its name and some commands. It freaked Harley out when I talked to the virtual puppy. He got very jealous and climbed up on my chest, putting himself between my face and the game. I have never seen him like that. I finally put the game away and played with him. What else could I do?

More Plotting More Writing

I thought last Saturday that I had worked out all of the plotting I would need to finish the book. But in the last couple of days I realized that my pacing was off. When I finished last night's section with them stopping to take a nap only a sections from the climax, I knew that I had a problem. Mom and I went out to Olive Garden and talked about the problems. She claims she is not a writer, but my mom is clever and creative and we managed to rethink the ending sequence. I am excited because I think this ending is going to work well.

I have had trouble getting my butt in the chair and my hands on the keyboard, but I finally started writing about 6 tonight. I got 3,845 words written, bringing the total for this month to 14,152. I am only 3,705 words behind schedule. If I manage to get more than 4,000 words done tomorrow, I will be less than a full day's writing behind. It would take 5,491 to get my completely caught up. I know, too many numbers. Did I mention that I used to be an accountant?

The story is getting pretty exciting. I wish I could share it with you, I would love your feedback, but you may have to wait until it goes on sale to read it. At the rate I work, that could be a decade or so. You won't mind waiting, will you?

I put a little content on the 30Stories30Days.com website, but I am just testing out some applications. I may move it to this server, I have to talk to my friend and see if he has room for another of my websites. I am pretty sure I will be doing that challenge in April. Any of you thinking about joining me? It is less of a volume commitment than NaNoWriMo, but it will take more creativity as you will have to come up with 30 plots, 30 sets of characters, 30 settings, etc. You might want to start jotting down ideas but remember, you shouldn't start writing until the day the challenge starts. There are no prizes if you finish, but I would be happy to give you a certificate showing that you did it. :)

I should be getting to bed, I have a lot of writing to do tomorrow, but I am waiting for my dad to get home. He's been in Cuba all week and should be home in about ten minutes. Mom and I have missed him, but maybe not as much as the dogs have. They love their grandpa.

Friday!

Last night's blog didn't make much sense, and I should change it, but I'm just as tired tonight so I'm going to leave it alone. I managed to write 1,821 words tonight. I quit in the middle of a scene because I am just too tired to care. I am sure Mom will holler at me in a minute when she gets to that point, but she'll just have to wait until tomorrow. I am not very happy with what I wrote tonight and I may have to redo part of it in the morning. That's ok, maybe in the morning I will love it. You really never know.

I registered a new domain name today. It's 30stories30days.com. Want to guess what it is for? I can't remember, have I mentioned the idea I had that I want to try after I finish this book? I want to write 30 stories (of 1,000+ words each) in 30 days. I thought that maybe I could convince some other crazy writers to join me and, if so, that website could be our home. Don't bother checking out the site tonight, it has nothing on it so far. I will let you know when it has content on it, and if you want to give the 30 stories idea a try, just say the word. Crazy folk should stick together... just look at most families.

*There is Mom hollering now!

Maverick

I had a bit of deja vu tonight. Mom called at 4:00 to tell me that Maverick had disappeared. I flashed back to Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve... you know, Adam came before Eve) when I went to bring the dogs in and found Maverick in the neighbor's yard. I scolded him, he spooked and took off. He ran through the woods behind our house and I spent over an hour trying to catch him on the freeway. Eventually we had three police cars stopping traffic and trying to catch him. He eluded all of us and took off, back into the woods. I put over 100 miles on my car that night, looking for him, but he was gone.

We put up signs all over the neighborhood and looked for him late into the night, but without any luck. First thing on Christmas Eve we went looking again, putting up more signs everywhere we could. We came home to make up more signs and just before we could go back out again at 11:45, my cell phone rang. A man's voice said, "I have your dog."

Maverick had traveled about five miles down a busy street, crossing the freeway once more, to a feed store where this man found him. The guy said that he saw him at 7:30 in the morning, but Maverick was so spooked that he would not let him approach him until almost noon. Maverick's lip was bleeding, he was limping and scratched from falling on the freeway when the cops were trying to catch him and he smelled horrible.

We were ecstatic and took him with us to take down all of the signs. Everyone at every store in which we posted a sign was so thrilled that we had found our dog. But none of them were more thrilled than we were.

Anyway, when Mom called with the news that he had chewed through his rope and was gone again, all I could think was that we had used up all of our good luck the last time and maybe this time we would find him on the side of the freeway, dead, or maybe not find him at all.

Before I even hung up the phone, I had turned off my computer, grabbed my backpack and laptop and was on my way home. I didn't even stop to tell my boss I was going. I work in a really dog-friendly office, so I knew he would understand. I could not stand to lose another dog so soon after Penny. It's been less than a year since she died of old age in March. Then Tucker almost died of pneumonia and heart failure (ironically enough, that's the same combination that almost killed me five years ago).

All of the horrors of a lost dog flooded my mind and I rushed home. Before I could get all the way home, though, she called back and said she had found him. He was sitting on a neighbor's porch, probably confused about where he lives. I am beginning to think that he has a bit of senility. He is almost 13 years old and, at 65 pounds, he is not a young dog anymore. He seems happy to be home, though, and we will replace his rope with a length of chain or tie-out wire.

I don't know how much more drama I can take. I keep telling my mom that my next dog will be a ficus!

Baby Maverick




Adult Maverick

Plotting the Ending

Writing has been moving really slowly on this book since the end of November. When I first sat down at the beginning of November and started this book, I spent almost a week plotting it out, section by section, chapter by chapter. The only problem is, I left the final third or so of the book unplotted. It just so happens that when November ended, I had gotten right to the end of the plotted portion of the book. Ever since I have been writing less and less effectively. I am not good at the jump off the cliff and see what happens kind of writing. I need to know what the major (and minor) plot developments will be, what everyone is supposed to be doing and where they are all going. Without that safety net, I don't write much at all. That's fine with short stories maybe, but with something as long as a novel, it's not happening.

This morning I sat down to write and nothing was happening. So, I went in and found my mom and we talked about the ending of the book. (Mom just called me into her room to yell at me. I had given her the four pages I wrote this weekend and she wasn't happy because I left it at a cliffhanger. Oops!) Now the book is planned all the way through the end and all I have to do is write it. Writing takes time and can be tough, but I find it infinitely easier than plotting. Characters, dialogue, setting, all of these things are fairly simple stuff. It's figuring out why they are doing what they are doing and how it all works together that I struggle with.

In other news... Harley and I went on a bike ride tonight. That dog only weighs 14 pounds or so but he can easily run faster than I can pedal. He just flies down the road, ears flapping in the breeze. I thought I would have to buy him a trailer for the bike, but now I'm thinking I'll just harness him to the bike and let him pull me.