Thus week I’ve been glomming Mhairi MacFarlane, a good change of pace after last week’s Dick Francis. More kissing, less bleeding.

What did you read this week?

This week, I worked on taxes and trying to find my floors. (Note to self: stop throwing things on them.)

What did you work on?

And I’m back. Got a new power cord and everything, except it now appears that the problem was not in the power cord, it was in port in the laptop. Which means the Apple Store and the Genius Bar, which is probably not even open. So if I suddenly disappear this week, it’s not you, it’s my laptop.

Doing HWSWA with Bob has put me firmly back into How-Does-This-Work-Anyway mode, which made me think about the opening of Lily, which is still not a book. But it is a great Petri dish for experimenting with writing theory, so I went back and looked at what I had for an opening now that I have an antagonist (crucial, that).

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. . . which is supposed to arrive today. I’d say something about computer recharging cords are like umbilical cords to the world, but I won’t because it’s (a) pretentious, (b) labored, (c) inaccurate. Hey, metaphors are hard.

What connected you to happiness this weekend?

I’m having a problem with my recharger for my laptop. I’ve ordered a new one (it’ll be here Sunday, thank you Amazon) but it’s entirely possible that I will be computer-less until then. So . . .

Happy Fourth of July, Americans. In honor of the holiday, I’m seriously thinking about getting DisneyPlus so I can see Hamilton and believe in my country again.

The new HWSWA post will be up tomorrow/Saturfay, by which time I’ll definitely be out of power unless I can fix this recharacter cord/find another one/switch computers. The site link is https://hewroteshewroteagain.wordpress.com. I think it’s on character. (Yes, I’ve been having a small problem connecting with reality this week.)

I had intended to put up new posts–talk about rewriting Liz, put up the revised first chapter of Lily, discuss Dick Francis novels, the usual–but it’s 90 here and the dogs and I are spending a lot of time stretched out in front of the fan, not thinking, so probably not.

My last deep(ish) thought was, Maybe the bad recharging cord is a sign I need to recharge my life. Also known as the Philosophy of It’s Not My Fault & It’s Probably a Good Thing Anyway even though it’s obviously my fault for not taking care of the damn cord and not having a computer is never a good thing. Rationalizations R Us..

I’ll go schedule the happiness post now. Have a marvelous weekend! Don’t set off fireworks! Wear your mask!

I’ve been reading a mix of new books and old books and they’re both failing me at this point. I’m thinking about just stretching out in the side yard and reading the tree tops and blue sky for awhile. Summer should not be wasted.

On the other hand, neither should books. It’s a conundrum.

What did you read this week?

My non-working brain appears to have forgotten it’s Working Wednesday.

What did you do this week?

At this point, I’m happy I managed to get this happiness post up in time.

What made you happy this week?

The last post in the Heart of the Story unit is up on He Wrote She Wrote Again. It’s called “Outlining,” but it’s kind of a catchall for Stuff To Do During Discovery That Isn’t Writing. There’s a second post that has examples of collage (me) and a spreadsheet (Bob) so you can see what we were talking about.

Go here for “Outlining.”

And here for the collage/spreadsheet examples.

And here for an analysis of the beginning of the movie Venom based on the One Sentence Idea, the Central Conflict, and an outline analysis of why the first thirty-plus minutes are all wrong.

So this arrived:

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