For some reason I seem to be finding myself busier than I was when I went to a part-time job every day. Not making any money, just busier. Well, okay. I guess I sold some books, so that’s income. With any luck I can turn that around in the coming year. The pieces of the teacher brain and teacher paralysis are fading away, finally. I could even go back to teaching next year in the proper situation and be able to bring a renewed energy to it (so maybe all I really did need was a sabbatical…uh, no, given what’s happening in special ed this year). So probably not.
But the contractor stuff for Phase II seems to be happening at last, and I have short stories to write before I can commit novel again. And figuring out promotional stuff, ai yi yi.
I started a perfectly lovely story today with a gender neutral alien and I started using a more systematic version (Spivak–ey, em, eir, etc) than the mix of he and she I used for “Live Free or Die”. Oh, it was a lovely three paragraphs, and a quite excellent piece of work, if I do say so. But then the tablet ate it, and those pixels dispersed into where ever it is that lost files disappear to (yes, I’ve searched out my file structure but the program is Polaris Office and occasionally it does this. It was my bad for swapping screens without saving first, even though I’ve done this times before with no problem. Then I sometimes do have problems…). So I will begin again, but oh, yes, it was a very interesting way to write an alien POV. Won’t work for this particular market, anyway (this is a targeted story), but I will keep this in mind for future reference. Or I may write it this way, anyway, to begin with. We shall see. Or I’ll write two stories.
This weekend is one of the serious house working weekends (unless things are totally borked at the place). Insulation into the attic and the delivery of flooring tile. I looked at highly expensive residential tile before I went to the commercial side and picked up a heavier vinyl tile that will stay cleaner…and cost less (we’re paying someone to do it anyway, so might as well take advantage of their skill to put in a more durable flooring). I can’t stand the look of the peel and stick stuff, and the one color I did like was so lightweight that it would be worn out in a few years. We’ll be picking up the insulation at a town twenty minutes away, and making three trips in the truck. It’s our first long distance drive in the pickup, and there’s going to be some weather going over, so it’s a good thing we’ve got tile to haul to give us a bit of weight. Though the pickup is nicely balanced, so it should be okay. But the seats suck. We’ll probably have to replace the driver’s seat because the previous owner apparently was a lot heavier than either of us, and broke it down. Oh well.
So while hubby will be doing insulation, I’ll be scrubbing walls in the basement, or else begging off to write.
Busy times ahead.
