Working Wednesday, July 17, 2019

~ Jenny
  • I am re-blocking Nita and having a marvelous time.  Any task that involves graph paper and colored markers is My Kind Of Job.  Also, appalled though I am to see school supplies in the stores already, I am delighted to report that there are school supplies in the stores already.  I don’t need any. office supplies, but come on, it’s for work.   

So what did you do this week?

95 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, July 17, 2019”

  1. I’m feeling reasonably productive this week. I got tiles grouted last weekend, I’ve been teaching my ten year old son to make fried rice, and the characters in a fanfic I’m working on have finally decided to start talking to me again.

      1. Bacon. I’m not allowed to make fried rice without bacon, apparently. Although I do like to add prawns sometimes, but Master Ten is a fried rice purist.

  2. I’ve been plugging away at several projects – quilt documentation ( to assist in cleaning my work/dining room space), catching up with my “technique of the month” project for this year (I did June’s task, and am working on July’s), working away at the Trio blanket. I did a first attempt to put borders on last year’s “TOM”, but they came up a little short. The old measure twice cut once . . . has the addition of curse a lot, and put it aside to come at it with fresh eyes in another week.

    I also joined a knit along, with the desired end result being a cardigan that I could wear about the office. I’ve already learned a little about casting on and following a knitting chart, so that’s good. I’ve gotten through the hem border and now it is just a fast knit to the next target. I started a week behind, so I’ve been trying to catch up. The next part of the pattern drops on Monday. But I’m liking it so far.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B0A-7pehAVs/

    Other than that, I’ve been hiding in the house, out of the broiling heat and humidity, and keeping up with the Tour de France. It’s been a wild and wooly race so far. I’m always amazed at what they do, and the countryside they ride through is just gorgeous.

  3. I’m all about the new release promotion this week, but also writing book 3, and trying to keep up with editing gigs. Honestly, I’m exhausted in every way possible, but we’re at the lake and I can go down to the dock and look at the water when all I want to do is cry. So…there’s that. And on Friday, I get to meet my bestie for a library writing day and that is the light at the end of my tunnel this week. Don’t get me wrong–I’m thrilled about the release of the new book and I hope all the promo effort I’ve put in pays off for both me and my publisher, but man…between being so adrift (we haven’t found a house yet) and working so much, I’m almost too tired to appreciate it. Okay, done whining. Thanks for listening…

    1. Not having a permanent home is really draining, no matter how much you try and persuade yourself it’s fine. Good luck!

    2. Sounds like you’re going through a quite stressful time right now. Sending you all the hugs and good vibes! Hopefully things will look a bit brighter soon.

    3. I’m glad you are at a lake. There’s a quote from Isak Dinesen about water being a cure-all. I personally think water and time are big helps for just about anything. And friends.

      Just looked it up: The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.

      I think a dispensation for a pretty lake of freshwater should be involved. I’ll look for your books on Amazon!

      1. That is a gorgeous quote which I hadn’t heard before. Thanks Diane. And good luck with the launch, Nan. It didn’t sound like whining to me – just overwhelmedness.

    4. I looked up your new release, and it looks right up my alley! I tried to pre-order it but I have a gift card balance on my account and it won’t let me use that GC for a pre-order, yet I can’t figure out how to turn off the balance. So I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to buy it. Good luck with the launch!

    6. Bodies of water emit negative ions, which are serenity-inducers.

      So fortunate I live next to beach and bay. They prevent episodes of my going homicidal maniac on the world.

  4. I bought two beautiful notebooks. One is ruled with a variety of different shapes and styles. Lovely paper. *sighs happily*

  5. I cleaned all possible and impossible filters of the tumble-dryer last Friday. Saturday I started on the washing machine. Well, at least I cleaned out the washing-powder-compartment. It’s a start.

    I also made bami goreng (fried noodles) with pork and lots of veggies and mushrooms. It turned out quite good. Will make it with chicken next time.

    Also made home-made mashed potatoes a couple of days ago. Everytime I make it and get it that kind of perfectly fluffy and creamy and delicious like happy creamy clouds I wonder why I don’t make it more often. Then I eat it and remember why: Fluffy clouds transform into massive concrete in your belly and that’s a fact. Ugh. But it’s so gooooood.

    On the food note: My dad used to work as general computer geek at a company that sometimes had courses or trainings or meetings or whatever (I actually don’t really know what) in the U.S. So he went across the sea a couple of times and there he once or maybe twice bought a sort of spice-mix that was called “Great on Everything”-spice, possibly with a man’s name in the title as well, like Tony or something. “Tony somethingsomething’s Great on Everything Spice”. I think it was some kind of herb-salt or other spice-mix perhaps not based on but clearly containing salt, for it was salty and spicy (there was probably chili in it too) and yes, it was great on everything I tried it on or in – fried eggs, boiled eggs, avocado, chicken, couscous, you name it.
    Sooo my question is, does anyone here know what that might have been and where I can get some? I finished my last pot in 2012 or something and I have tried to google it, but with no luck thus far. I’ve wanted to ask you ladies for ages, but I kept forgetting. Hope someone knows what it might’ve been. Thanks in advance!

    1. Tony Chachere? Joe’s Stuff?
      I Googled “best all purpose seasoning brands” and found a reddit on this topic with lots of suggestions.
      Because looking for spices is WAY more fun than writing about vehicle transmissions.

        2. Some (15?) years back, my boss returned from a vacation cruise with stories about his new favorite Spice Store, Peppers of Key West. https://www.peppersofkeywest.com/ They had the web site even then, and a Sauce of the month club. I joined for a year.
          There were some great sauces and rubs, ranging from Wow-that’s-some-speecy-spicy to OMG-call-the-coroner. These days, I settle for sprinkling a little habanero powder into whatever I’m making if I’m in the mood for spice. I used to bake a cheese bread and add the habanero powder and some finely chopped green pepper (for visual effect and texture). It was fabulous with chili.

      1. Yes. Johnny’s Seasoning Salt. That’s the one we used. I think my mom put it on eggs, fried foods, vegetables, sometimes in salad dressing. It was the go-to seasoning when she wasn’t sure what seasonings she wanted. My husband used to operate on the theory that almost any protein or carb could be improved by a dash of soy sauce. My dad was a firm believe in a dash of A.1.Steak Sauce. It is now sold as A.1. Sauce and the recipe may have changed.

    3. Thanks guys! <3 You're the very best. I'll check the links and if I can't figure it out, I'll show dad and keep fingers crossed he'll recognize a logo or picture. Spices, here I coooome!

  6. I’m full-on with the day job again: I’d already got two sets of proofs to read, plus an editing job due to land fairly soon, when I was offered a rush job – Jane Austen’s ‘Lady Susan’, ‘The Watsons’ and ‘Sanditon’ – which of course I couldn’t resist. Haven’t read them for forty years.

    In my breaks I’m still researching wall shrubs and climbers, and loving every minute of the design process. I’ve also realized I need to take two or three years at least to get both the garden and the allotment established – otherwise I’m going to go crazy trying to prepare all the ground for planting by November, when mail-order bare-root plants are likely to arrive. Since the garden and allotment are already delighting me in their current scrappy state, developing them slowly should be fun, I think.

    I’ve posted a couple of details to show how the garden’s beginning to flower – in patches. https://www.instagram.com/p/B0BTyWmHN1a/

      1. Thanks, Lian. I picked up the last of my plants from Mum’s meighbours today, and discovered I have three quite large cannas that should fill some gaps – so it’s going to look rather tropical shortly.

        1. (2nd go for this comment) PS. It took three goes to post the above reply to Lian; in the past couple of days this has happened two or three times. Is the site wobbly for some reason?

          2. I had issue posting the other day. Posted and nothing showed for hours. Figured glitch, but then surprised to see my comment there the next day so thought just stuck in mod for some reason but guess it could be wobbly site issue but if so it ironed itself.

          3. I think yours was the one I found in the spam folder. I usually scan the names before I permanently delete, and saw “katyl” in there are thought, “Katy’s selling viagra?” and got you out. No idea how you ended up in there.

  7. Last week when my granddaughters dropped by I noted that I had been in Target and had seen bins being filled with school supplies. Startled and wide eyed was the expression on their faces, because it’s was only the beginning of July. Bad Nana, bad, bad, bad. Payback being what it is I also walked into Jo-Ann’s Fabric & Craft Store and saw pumpkin crafts lined up and ready for sale. I had been in Jo-Ann’s to get fabric dye for an almost new shirt I had gotten bleach on while cleaning the bathroom. Sure shake up a container with bleach and what do you think is going to happen. Took two tries and it’s wearable again.

    1. Hobby Lobby craft store has had CHRISTMAS out for several weeks. I used to really like Christmas but anymore I am tired of it by the time it gets here 😣.

      1. If you are sick of it, just imagine how the poor sales clerks feel! It was bad enough when I worked at B. Dalton 42 years ago, but it is much worse now.

      2. Atop my refrigerator are two 3′ Christmas trees, three 10″ trees, and a wreath. The green tree is plugged in – it has white LED lights – because it makes a lovely night-light. Dickens had Scrooge say “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”

        Anyone reading my LiveJournal or Facebook over the years will point out that I have always been in the “Bah! Humbug!” camp for Christmas, Valentines Day, and any other day for which greed is the main feature. But I like to give little gifts and love to light up all five trees… the day after Thanksgiving.

  8. I finished writing my deep dive into Killjoys’ glorious murder couple, and am posting them (8 main parts, a couple of supplement posts) in a countdown to the S5 premiere on Friday. Continually editing them until the queue posts them, and those supplementary posts have been happening as more thoughts about the show branch from the deep dive.

    This show is so good for rewatching, which has been a little rare, lately.

    Debating on if I’ll attend any of the Apollo 11 50th anniversary events this weekend.

  9. We had a hail storm on July 5, with hail that ranged from cherry tomato size to golf ball size.

    Ugh.

    Our roof and gutter system are totaled, according to our roofing company AND our insurance adjuster. Minor damage elsewhere to window screens and one window frame.

    So, I’m buckling in for a lot of dealing with insurance company reps and roofers. And trying to figure out if we should wait until Fall to replace the roof, to reduce the risk of damage from yet another hail storm, or if we roof sooner, to reduce the risk of leaks.

    Should I spring for the extra grade of shingles, that are called “hail resistant”? Or does that designation simply mean nothing, just a marketing scam to get more money out of homeowners? I read it both ways on Google. The fact that our insurance may give a discount on our premium if we use “hail resistant” shingles may mean something. Or may not.

    And, my husband is getting involved as much as possible, but since I’m the one who works from home, I’m the one who ends up dealing with the bulk of arranging and supervising home repairs.

    Grr. Argh. Doh. Aieeee!

    1. Bummer. I was in a car once in July in the mountains and it started to hail with walnut size pieces of hail and there was nothing I could do to get out of it and the car was only 6 months old. I still remember how scary it was and worrying about the windows breaking (they didn’t). My insurance agent was a trooper and it was taken care of. The body shop guy said mine was nothing. The damage from ice storms dropping ice chunks on cars was worse.

      Still I would not have wanted to be in a house with that kind of hail coming down. Did you have to stay away from windows. A braking window in that situation could be lethal.

  10. The job. I work at a boiler plant that provides heat and air conditioning to two prisons. Every year, the boilers must be inspected by state certified inspectors, to renew their licenses (the boiler licenses, not the inspectors’ licenses.) The boilers are dual-fired, meaning they normally burn natural gas but can be switched to diesel fuel. Diesel fuel does not burn as cleanly as gas, leaving sooty deposits in the boilers, which must be cleaned out before inspection.

    At least we are smart enough to confine burning fuel oil to one or two of the five boilers, because it is inspection time (last week, actually), and that soot is now all over the place. I will be scrubbing and mopping again tonight to earn my princely salary.

    On the other side of life, I have successfully applied for Social Security, which will be back-dated to December 2018. There will be a large lump sum for the back pay and a sudden increase in my taxable income. The problem will be to not spend it all, like some sort of lottery winner. I won’t be quitting my day job right away, not for a year at least. At that point, I’m taking it day to day.

    That’s what I’m working on. 🙂

      1. While I agree, I made the mistake of reading one of those articles about the fate of lottery winners and how they tend to end up bankrupt – even the ones with modest winnings. I need to avoid becoming one of them.

  11. I have a storytelling class tonight and I have to come up with a five minute story idea to workshop with a climax and a moral, that comes from real life, and I am BRAIN DEAD. BRAIN DEAD, I TELL YOU.

    I seriously can’t think of any SHORT ideas that fit this mold right now.

    1. What about Jane’s buying a house and it falling through, and offering for another one, and it falling through. Or Diane’s roof being taken out by a hail storm in mid-summer. Of Jenny trying to find a garbage can that is bear proof and allowed by her garbage handlers. You can change the names to protect the innocen

  12. Well, my fridge died in the midst of what’s just-short-of-officially a heat wave (with no end in sight, and I am SOOOOOOOOOO not a hot weather person), so I emptied it and dealt with all the ruined food and condiment jars that had to be rinsed and put into recycling. (Not too much waste, since I have a tiny, just above dorm-sized, fridge, less than 4 cubic feet, I think, and a separate chest freezer that is producing ice for the cooler I’m using until I get a new fridge, probably next week.)

    Other than that, I’m just plugging along with the book I need to finish in the next three weeks. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it’s just so weird to be working simultaneously on 1) a book that won’t be released until the fall of 2020, 2) promotion for a book being released in early August, 3) a proposal for a book that won’t be released until at least 2021, and 4) some promotion for books that were written as much as five years ago! And that’s not even counting the book that will be released in March or April of 2020.

  13. This post makes me miss working in the office supply world. High end jewelry is lovely, but compared to LOTS OF PENS!!!!! sigh

    Just normal working for me, with extra gratitude for working air conditioning both home and office. Pity the poor Ann Arbor Art Fair vendors/attendees later this (90’s with possible storms) week. Again, I will be with my air conditioning……..

  14. Any chance we’ll eventually get to see this colorful blocking? I love the way your artistic mind translates words into images and vice versa. 😍

    I’ve been at a teacher conference the past three days (and am perhaps the only person using the hashtag they gave us on Twitter: #etcw2019 , if you’re curious enough to go looking). I’ve been in a writing workshop (wrote a poem for them and 1400 words for my WIP and actually updated my poor, poor blog, link my name if you’re curious). It’s been great but I sure am peopled out!

    Good thing I’ve got an hour-long drive ahead of me before I go relieve my husband from three days of solo parenting.

  15. I wanted to post on one of your happiness themes, and then I realized a big part of my happiness IS working. Like you with your markers.

    Working: finishing up Hope Sze #7, Graveyard Shift. Frees up a lot of psychic energy. Successfully completed a night shift and a day shift in real life. And I did the Fringe Festival for the first time and won Best of Fest. Now I’m newly interested in theatre, acting, and voice training, which means a whole new world of creativity!

    Family: it’s summer! My daughter’s having her best friend over as an extended sleepover. My son has started his Bronze Medallion, although he missed his lesson today because he said he vomited, but he seems okay. My husband’s fine (grumpily working). Our dog, Roxy, has Lyme disease and was less acftive for the past three days, but today, she and I had a good, long stroll.

    Work: I booked off the ER so I could drive my son to swimming five days a week. This is what happens when you live in the country and have few extracurricular options, and no public transportation. Freedom!

  16. Technically, I’m on my summer holidays, but it doesn’t feel like it – a lot of email correspondence still and a Big Project to complete over the next few days, of extreme tedium, but no early mornings, there is a change coming at work and I have cleaned up my study and de-scuzzed it of boy detritus.

    Crossing fingers that tomorrow we finally complete on the white elephant money pit we bought six years ago. Hoping that DH’s plan to reinvent himself and set himself up as freelance tutor will work.

  17. I’m creating ads to find a new roommate for September. Sigh. Then doing paperwork, then working on the book.

  18. Hi, So I am completely out of place here as I am not a writer but your web site said to message you on your blog so I thought I would just try it. This week some people you knew as kids sat down to plan for our 30th(mine but most its 28 or 29) drama club reunion party. If by any chance you are around the Creek and interested in what some of your actors are up, we are getting together on 7/27.

    1. I’m in New Jersey now, so nowhere near Beavercreek, but give everybody my love. You guys were so much fun, even if you did drive me insane. (Remember the time the light booth caught on fire and nobody told me until it was out? Good times.)

  19. I’m still waiting to hear back from my publisher about the chicken book, and finding it impossible to work on anything substantial in the meantime. So I’m playing with an idea for a new picture book, planning the launch of the first picture book, and mapping out a couple of school workshops.

    Plus I’m off the crutches and slowly getting more mobile, which is a relief. Asking people for help is the hardest thing.

    1. After I hurt my knee really badly 3 years ago, I couldn’t drive for 6 months. I hated having to ask people to take me back and forth to work and the store. Finally being able to do things for yourself again is bliss.

      1. People are always willing to help, aren’t they. But the actual asking is ridiculously hard. I agree about being able to do things for yourself.

        1. Have you had a knee replacement?

          I have to have one and I’m dreading it. I don’t even want to imagine not being able to drive, let alone having to depend on my husband to do everything.

          I’ve been getting cortisone injections but they are becoming less effective and working for shorter periods of time.

          1. No knee replacement. Not even any surgery. I mangled all the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, and probably temporarily dislocated the knee cap, but didn’t tear anything, so surgery wasn’t an option. Just lots of PT, exercises I will probably do forever, and a knee that will ever be the same.

            So look on the bright side–knee replacement will actually FIX it, and lots of people I know have had fast recoveries and great results.

          2. You should only be off driving for a few weeks. You will feel so much better when it’s done. My mom has had both hers replaced and my husband had his left done and seeing them live without that pain has been amazing. Pro tip – start doing your physio exercises before surgery so the muscles are used to them and stronger. Don’t put off the surgery because you are dreading needing help for a little while, it’s not worth it.

          3. I had a few rounds of PT on my gimpy knee that didn’t help enough and was counting down the years until a knee replacement. Then I talked to my doctor about my fears that in trying to keep my weight off my bad knee I was warping my back and hips. So she sent me back for some more generalized PT-mostly core work. It was life changing!!!!!!!!!! I got off the cane for the first time in 6 years, was able to walk enough to lose a lot of weight and improve my acid reflux enough to stop the daily cough. And the weight loss has added years to the countdown until knee replacement. After the first cortisone shot, they didn’t provide any relief and too many shots will shred your soft tissue. But changing the focus of the PT made all the difference. Not only was it more effective, but it also got my insurance company off my back. When it was focused only on my knee, the insurance company always cut me off before I was fully mobile. But once my doctor broadened the script, they paid long enough for me to get off the cane.

          4. I had both knees replaced 20 years ago. When I went in for my two year check up this spring, the orthopedic guy said that they show no signs of failure and are probably good for 25 years, and he is starting to see 30 year old knees. The technology has improved and doing your physical therapy reduces the stress on the prothesis because the muscles and ligaments stay strong and flexible.

        2. I had to keep reminding myself that people don’t offer to help if they don’t mean it (especially those who offer multiple times), and that it was okay to take them up on it.

          And that I happily do things for others all the time and get real satisfaction out of it, so maybe it was a good thing to let others do the same.

          1. Thanks to all for the advice on knee replacements.

            And, yes, I’d always rather be the one doing things for others than the one being helped.

  20. I was appointed to my county’s board of elections to finnish out a term ending in January (so much trouble keeping that filled, what am I in for?). Anyway, that necessitated getting sworn in by a magistrate and then getting the signed paper to the correct office in the court house. I got it done.
    Also special treats for my sister’s and my dogs.
    And cleaning for my other sister’s visit next week.
    One more meeting tonight and the rest is just housework.

  21. Lots of little projects have helped me ignore the mountain I must conquer: writing a big website using strict SEO principles. A challenge, but I’m learning a lot. And I’m 80 percent done. Onward!

  22. I could swear I left a comment for working wednesday but it is not here. Soooo.

    I posted a picture of Jane, and the Powis Castle cat and me on WWpix. You would not be able to identify either one of in real life from this picture: Jane is in red and I am the blue lump with frizzy white hair.

    I am trying to post other garden pictures but for some reason, difficulties abound. I will preserve.

  23. I spent the last five days guinea pig sitting. Wally was very cute, and happy to eat the lettuce from my garden that the heat had turned too bitter for me to eat, but it was good to turn him back over to his owner. Amazingly, the cats completely ignored the fact that he was in the mudroom (right off the kitchen).

    Miraculously came up with a new idea for another Witchcraft book. (I’ve already written 12, plus the tarot deck and the oracle deck, so sooner or later, I’m going to run out of things to write about. Probably sooner. And since I have not had a fiction contract in about 3 years…well, that will be bad.) Worked on it madly for a few days and sent the proposal off to my Llewellyn editor, who I work with directly, and my agent Elaine, who wants to send it out to some mainstream publishers as well. Apparently Witchcraft, and spirituality in general, is big now. Go figure. So that is off my desk and I am on to the next project.

    Starting to work on a cozy mystery, which is WAY outside my comfort zone. It remains to be seen if I can actually write a mystery. Right now I’m still at the plotting stage. I may have to borrow some of Jenny’s graph paper and colored pens. Or I could just sit on the couch and hyperventilate, thinking about it. Yeah, maybe that one.

    Also, I got my 2nd shingles shot this morning. OW. But still way better than ever getting shingles again. I keep reminding myself that it hurts some now, but way less than shingles.

    1. Shingles shots are more effective now, although, sadly, not completely. Still worth the OW.

      1. Much more effective. 80-90%, probably, and they think will last a lifetime, and not the five years the last one ended up doing. (Mind you, they thought that one was better when they came up with it.) Still worth it.

  24. I sold my dead car and paid off my propane bill. So now I’ll be able to have heat and cook come winter.

    I also mopped my kitchen floor. (Am I sick? must take temperature!)

    Then I got paid to read a short cozy mystery. I will be writing the rest of the series so I need to know how it started, the characters etc… The owner of the book (I’m not sure who wrote it) did not want any edits or suggestions, just for me to read it. I had SUCH a hard time leaving the typos, and an even worse time not changing the wording or correcting grammar. Ugh. And spelling. I am a horrid speller, but there were several things that I knew, even without Grammarly. I’m afraid the rest of the series will be a tad different in style. I CANNOT copy the previous writer’s grammar and spelling choices.

    I have a job interview tomorrow. I don’t want the job but must take it if they offer it to me with decent money. (Exploded car). If there was public transportation out here in the boonies I wouldn’t bother with it. But alas, one must be able to buy groceries and pick one’s children up from college. (One’s children do not have driver’s licenses. Go figure.)

    1. Maybe it is time for one’s children to get their licenses. Or find some other way home from college. Just sayin’.

      I may have to pick your brain about writing mysteries 🙂

  25. I finally made some progress on getting my mail nondelivery fixed. The Post Office now has a department that deals with broken locks and boxes. Nobody answered when I called, but at least I was able to leave a message. And, as a coincidence, I actually had mail in the box when I came home. It probably just meant that one of my neighbors buzzed the mail carrier in, but hey, I’ll take it.

    I also researched alternative phone services so that I can once again have a home phone. The one I am looking at also includes Europe in the basic monthly fee so if I go with that provider, I can call my brother for the first time in years. He is not amused by how inaccessible I am on my cell phone.

    I also made some progress in dealing with the smart ass new therapist who says that he teaches a technique that always works and doesn’t do therapy. When he asked me what he could teach me how to use his pet parlor trick on, I unloaded the whole sad story of how I got no phone reception, couldn’t open the front gate and got only intermittent mail delivery. And that my landlord’s office “wasn’t authorized” to update my phone records after 4 months and more than 4 requests. His advice was to keep in the receptionist’s face . What does he think “I’ve been trying for 4 months” means? I’ll give him another 4 weeks to prove that he’s not just a True Believer and if he doesn’t become any more specific, I’m kicking him to the curb.

      2. Word. This is money or one insurance session payment that you can spend on getting real help.

        1. I am getting real help. We decided to try adding this different therapy because I am having a bit of a relapse and can’t see staying this way for another 30 years. But the good therapist recently changed jobs and doesn’t know a lot about the other practitioners at the new place. And I burned a few bridges at the first place where she worked so I can’t go back there without committing to 2 weeks of a half day program that only focuses on how you express yourself and never addresses what it is you want to say. The guy who made that decree ran the last treatment I tried at that hospital and said that the reason it didn’t work was because I didn’t maintain a positive attitude. Funny, I thought that particular inability was why I had signed up for treatment in the first place.

  26. This week I have nudged an agent, sent a hi-how-you-doing-wanna-hire-me-now email to a firm that offered me a job a year ago, applied for a writing job I won’t be interviewed for, and applied for a patent-related job that I might be interviewed for. If I get the interview and if I get an offer I will take the job even though it’s a shitty commute and a noncompetitive rate of pay. Any salary is better than zero.

    On the less discouraging side of life, I’ve done a ton of cleanup (again) on the backlist and will be loading the freshly-revised content over the next few days. Have also done some new writing: bits of now-complete first draft of Novel #10, bits of Novel #11, and bits of Novel #12. Updated the who’s-in-what chart with notes for my designer about still-awaited cover art. Got some stuff off of Google Docs and into Word where it belongs.

    Also did some fairly bitchin’ yoga this morning.

  28. I am working on writing grants. I had a overfull work load for July and August and then two funders called me to ask me to apply for three grants, all due August 1, which will double the money I have for a project and also let me regrant money to maybe 10 state groups on a project that could make a big difference to money for kids for the next decade (fill your census form out in 2020 and make sure you count all kids even babies folks!)

    So I’m writing grants. And maybe not sleeping.

    It should be good news but I’m tired just thinking about it. At least our heat wave means I can ignore the garden this weekend with a clean conscience.

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