#365 - A Year Already?

I don’t recommend going to bed at 7 AM after a twelve-hour writing spree.

My head hit the pillow by seven, and I was proud to have completed another nine-thousand-word story. Every attempt to write is a win. In the end I started to really enjoy the characters and the plot of the story as well as the world I had created.

This is the second time I have used my town as the backdrop for the story to take place in. I thought were I lived at was too boring, but the more I used it, the more opportunities present themselves for storytelling.

Feeling good about things, at least for the moment, I tried to get some sleep.

My phone went off at exactly eight AM. A friend sent me a text at that hour for some reason. I still haven’t read what it was. It was probably just a meme anyway. Swearing outloud, I tried to get another hour of rest, but then the Police called about the hit and run that happened to our car on Sunday.

The officer asked if right now a good time was to talk and I told him it was. But what he really meant was, could you meet me at the Burlington Police station to talk. The accident happened in Burlington, so he can’t come to the neighboring city where I live even though it’s just a block away.

I changed my answer, because less than one hour of sleep was not enough and I had to work in less than an hour. As I understood it, he or some other officer would call me after six Pm and see if we could meet then. I have to say the guy who called was extremely polite and professional.

I dozed up until nine fifteen when the Teams app on my phone started binging incessantly and the automatic blinds began to roll up.

Dragging my ass out of bed was easier than I expected. But that usually means I’ll crash hard later. I did a bit of work before my eleven o’clock meeting and made tea before it started. A little caffeine couldn’t hurt. My stomach was feeling a bit queasy, so ate a banana while the tea brewed. My stomach didn’t feel like it could handle a coffee, Dr. Pepper or an energy drink.

I struggled to make it to noon, probably because my lunch plan was to go lie down for an hour. I played online chess in bed and then napped for a little while. But the whole time I was trying to rest I could feel that my body was craving something.

Often, when I spend long hours using my brain I start to crave salt. And once I had the idea I had to act on it. I ordered a Quarter Pounder with cheese and some fries from Macdonald’s and had Uber Eats deliver it.

I napped for fifteen minutes and woke when the doorbell camera alerted me and there was movement at the front door. I ate my burger and fries out on the front porch and enjoyed the beautiful day. I spilled way too much ketchup on my shirt because my motor skills diminish when I don’t get any sleep. So, it was back upstairs to change and get another quick fifteen-minute nap in before the one o’clock meeting started.

With food in my belly and a little bit of rest I was feeling much better. The meeting with the Team went longer than usual and by the end I was feeling the drain.

I wanted to go take another nap, but instead I started working on approvals. We have short work week as we get Wednesday off, and that means every minute is going to count. I knew I wouldn’t get as much work done as normal after the big writing session, but I still needed to keep things moving at a good pace.

I took a twenty-minute nap at two-thirty and that gave me the fuel to finish the day all the way to five-thirty.

I headed straight for the bedroom and watched an Alec Steele video and then watched two episodes of Sugar on Apple TV. It was either going to be Sugar or the movie Pressure starring Brendon Fraser on Prime.

Robyn left to do her extra work, and the movie was over two hours, while the two shows I could squeeze in while she was away. Turned out it needn’t have mattered because when she got home, she went back to doing her school assignments.

During the day, the last of the ‘Magnetic Push to Open’ cabinet latches arrived. I’ve ordered three different versions to fix an issue with our new LG microwave. It has a slide out extraction fan that no longer stays in the retracted position. For some reason, LG made the clip out of a tiny piece of plastic that is prone to breaking. I didn’t want the hood to be out all the time, because it looks cleaner when it’s retracted.

I came up with the idea of using the more robust cabinet latches, one on each side to replace the cheap part LG used. The OEM part is buried in the hood, and I would have to take it apart to fix it. But along the side of the hood there is room for the cabinet latches and a place to attach the metal plates that the magnets engage with.

Buying different types of latches worked well in my favour. I used the latch mechanism from one set and the metal plate from another and the 3M sticky pads from the third set.

I installed one to start with on the right side and it only worked if you pushed the hood from that side. The original system works from the center. I added a second catch on the left and voila, it worked like a charm. Everything was attached with adhesive 3M strips and if it’s going to fail it will likely be there. I left the hood extended out to give the 3M time to stick well to the metal of the microwave.

But so far, it seems to have fixed the microwave, and it looks good as well. If I didn’t tell you it was there, you probably wouldn’t even notice it.

With the lack of sleep last night, I didn’t get out to take a walk in the afternoon, so I need to make sure I take a walk tomorrow, possibly a second one in the evening as well.

As usual, time is at a premium with the end of the month word quota looming. I have three days left util the end of the month and I need to write about 6500 hundred words a night, including this evening.

My only saving grace is the holiday Wednesday when I can, in theory anyway, write all day if necessary. I’m going to keep plugging away tonight to get as much done as possible, but I can’t see me staying up too late this evening. At some point the only option will be going to sleep.

I’ve been dabbling with free writing program called Neo a bit today. One of the features I discovered today is something called ‘Typewriter Scrolling.’ This is an issue I have in Word, but I never knew what is was called until today. My problem with Word is that it doesn’t have typewriter scrolling.

What is typewriter scrolling you ask?

It simply keeps your cursor in the middle of the page. In Word each line you type moves you further down the screen until you hit the lowest part and then it just stays there. Is it a small thing? Sure. But it sure does kill your flow state when you are writing.

With Neo I can turn that feature on or off and with it one it works great!

I also love how easy it is to create a scene break or to start a new chapter. Enter twice for a scene break and three times for a chapter. The program handles all the formatting that is a nightmare to keep doing in Word. I can see myself using this in the future as my main creative writing tool.

My only gripe, and it’s a very small one, is that I would like the choice of a few more fonts. I write in Times New Roman almost exclusively. But I guess I would get used to the other options in time.

Otherwise, it has all the things I need or want and none of the bells and whistles that aren’t part of the writing experience.

I just missed a call from the Burlington Police. Their message said they were too busy today to get around to seeing me at six thirty and wanted me to call and rebook another appointment. It sure is tough arranging time with these guys. They must be really busy this time of year.

I love the warm days and the cooler nights we have been getting lately. Having the window open at night makes sleeping so much better. We both prefer being cozy under the blankets in a cool room. I think most humans sleep better when it’s cooler out.

In the story I wrote, there was a dog breed I used that I had never heard of before, called the Cane Corso. It has a very large head and a regal bearing. Apparently, you must be a real dog lover to own one as they are incredibly loyal, but also with rule the roost if they think they are the alpha in your family pack. The are a type of mastiff apparently.

Their big heads, large size and muscular build make them look very fierce. You would certainly thing twice about crossing one’s path if you didn’t know it. Yet, they are apparently quite affectionate dogs.

If I was going to own a dog and base the choice purely on looks, I think I would choose this breed. They are what you might call magnificent creatures, but I wouldn’t want to know what it costs to feed the things. Robyn keeps saying she wants a dog. I wonder what she would say about one of these charmers.

I managed to get approval for a week off. Robyn and I are thinking of using the cottage in Parry Sound for a week. Robyn is off from school then and will work from the cottage while I take it easy. I had a lot more vacation time that she did this year as I had carryover from the year before.

I thought it would be a good week to focus on writing and publishing as well as doing some reading. I certainly have enough of that to catch up on as it is. Plus, if we are lucky, all the trees will have turned into their fall colors making for some lovely walks.

And if the weather isn’t too bad, I can take a kayak out for a spin in the mornings or afternoons. And it will be cool enough to enjoy a campfire without any pesky mosquitoes flitting about.

My writing teacher had a post about increasing the number of readers as a benchmark or goal for a writer. She was talking about getting even one or more new readers after doing a Kickstarter and how that is a great achievement.

If writers with a large body of work and a good following tell me one new reader is important, I am going to listen to that. It also gives something to think about when I start planning my year of writing for 2027 which is fast approaching.

I’ve given though to joining another challenge with my teachers, but this time to write some novels. There is an option to write a novel and publish it every three weeks which I don’t think I am ready for and another one two publish a novel and publish it every two months. Which seems like something I might be able to handle.

We watched an episode of John Oliver and then called it a night. Both of us had long days and were exhausted.

The next few days are going to be a bit wild, as I need to write seventeen thousand words in the next two days. I have too much work to get done at my job with the time available. I still have to deal with my car being hit and all I want to do is relax.

My only saving grace is that I have Wednesday off to write all day.

On another note, according to my number system I have written a blog consistently for 365 days as of this evening. I’m going to celebrate the achievement by making myself a cup of tea.

Until tomorrow.