I am working on a book, which has led me to face the fact that I cannot plot. Onward and upward.
What did you work on this week?
44 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, May 18, 2022”
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Argh Ink
More than you ever wanted to hear from Jenny Crusie
Are plot and story structure the same? Is plot mostly driven by goals? Are twists necessary? How do you define plot?
Sending brownies to Jenny. Excited for Lavender and the zombies…;)
I started to answer this and it turned into a Questionable. So you’re getting an entire blog post on Thursday, just for you, Lakshmi.
Until then, here’s a quick and dirty answer:
Structure is the framework of the story, not the content. Plot is the content.
It’s kind of like basic kitchen chemistry (story structure) and recipes (plot). That is, kitchen structure is start with the vegetables that cook the slowest and the seasonings that will take some time, add quicker cooking vegetables as you go, sauté the protein and add, fold in seasonings, serve. The recipe plot is start with the onions and bok choy with soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, add the braised beef, fold in some spinach right before you take it off the stove, add parm and chopped cashews.
You can use the same structure again and again, but the plots change (or they don’t and people make fun of you and getting tired of eating your books).
Thank you 🙂
It took me a moment to figure out why you were posting this on a Monday… Headed back to the day job today and doomed to be confused about what day it is for the rest of the week…
I knew today was Wednesday. Trouble is, I was off yesterday, so I thought yesterday was Wednesday, too.
Me too! I kept checking the site for Working Wednesday and it wasn’t until midday or so that I figured it out!
Oh, thank god. For a moment I thought it really was Monday.
Ha! I knew what day it is. I have been working all week to revise my decor and gardening spaces and clean and clean (I needed extra cleaning, sad to admit) and reorganize and prettify (beautify is beyond my grasp) and identify the redundant or non-vital for donation… All According To Plan. The plan is up to Revision M.
Take the gardens alone. Five Smart Garden 3s perched atop the bookcase I use for my pantry, Ranch One through Ranch Five. I interfere with them the least, and they are delivering much. I’ve eaten a dozen tomatoes and counted a dozen more, fruiting from blossoms. Many peppers, not yet ripe. Phredd and Ethel are a credit to hydroponics. The bucket is quite attractive hiding amongst my plastic forest. Harvey is now given over to Red Fire Peppers and Purple Super Hots, none of which has germinated yet – early days. Harvey Too is still All Romaine All The Time, and I will be harvesting a head later today for tea. There is a third AeroGarden Harvest coming (used) to join her brothers. I need a name for her. Something that means harvest but is feminine and possibly middle eastern. She’ll be wearing a burka, after all. Long story. On my blog.
I installed hooks so I could hang all the spatulas and spoons that made my kitchen drawer a sacrifice unto Anoia. Then I asked myself, “If these have been hiding in a drawer unused all this time, wouldn’t they do better in a new home via Goodwill?” Self chastised me for revising the plan yet again, hence Revision M.
That little voice asked me again, “You have thirty t-shirts…” I stuffed a sock in his mouth. I knew where that was going, and now there are t-shirts in a new Goodwill box. Revision N and any other clothes or clothing-related donation is part of that revision. There will be other clothes.
I broke my desk lamp. Trash, not donation. No revision number applies, it’s just part of cleaning. And now I need to post this and go to Firestone. I have an appointment for an oil change and maybe a state inspection. TTFN
I labor under the common delusion that one day I will get all the stuff done.
I’m working on adding some safety items to prevent falls, and some automatic solar lights for the front porch. Also getting set up with a couple of recitals in late August.
Also exercising and getting strong again after COVID inactivity.
Oh, and the editing job I’m starting this week.
So, lists are imperative, for the beautiful moment when you check something off.
I have been known to add things to my to-do list that I just did, only for the pleasure of checking them off. 🙂
Ditto. I want credit, dammit.
Me too!
This past week I’ve been given the gift of time. DH contracted Covid from his brother, who got it from one of the kids he teaches. And then spread to his other brother and his mother – so that entire family have it. In DH it manifested as congestion and lethargy. On the bright side, everyone appears to be getting better. And, knock on wood, so far I haven’t come down with it.
But, I felt that I could be a contagion vector, so I stayed home on Sunday, and have cancelled my evening activities this week. Since I work from home, that hasn’t been affected at all – so far. I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with my hobbies – I worked on putting a quilt together Saturday, and then on Sunday, while DH was taking up my quilt design space (the bed), I started quilting a different quilt. I got quite revved up by how that was turning out, so I’ve spent more time on that around my working hours. I also dug out a couple more UFOs to put into consideration for my “complete the UFOs” challenge.
I’m also seeing the end in sight for the crochet blanket. I think it’s less than 15 rows to go. Hurray!!
And I finished pruning my azaleas, without disturbing any bird nests. They must be sitting in the camellias instead.
Decluttering.
Now that my triumphant work with my kitchen drawer is done (thinking of erecting a marble monument to commemorate it!) I am now inspired to do more decluttering, and watched a very useful video that summarizes a whole bunch of categories of things that are just aching to be sent elsewhere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0dkNZmPMLE
Can’t manage it on a Wednesday, since it’s a workday and I have meetings and other crummy stuff to do. Looking forward to the weekend. 🙂
I subscribed to “But First, Coffee” because of your link. Now I’m thinking that the Plan, Rev N, is inadequate, and I’ve only just begun. I’m not sure I want to thank you. 🙂
I guess you won’t have to worry about how to fill your time during retirement………..
WHAT time? If I follow her list, I won’t have much.
I got halfway through the video and still hadn’t heard anything I haven’t already done. I think this qualifies as a time waster. Of course, that means that I might miss a suggestion that is is revolutionary at minute 21, but I think it is better as a starting point than for someone like you who has been dealing with space constraints ever since he moved into his present abode. As for me, I know what I have to do and watching this video just gave me another excuse to postpone it. Perhaps if I pile everything in the middle of the path to the toilet, I will be unable to continue putting off dealing with it.
Aunt Snack, you aren’t wrong. Firestone cancelled my appointment, so I went elsewhere to get my oil changed. I bought a replacement desk lamp – strictly LED so less wattage than the dead curly fluorescent it replaces. The oil change was at a Walmart near a Goodwill, so I dropped off a box and two bags of stuff. Stuff included lots of t-shirts, sweatpants, and four folding boards for shirts. I kept the best one. I even did a video using all of them to explain why I kept the one I wanted. In the box were all my extra meat thermometers. I already installed the analog thermometers in three of the gardens – they show up in videos.
Next trip will include dozens of pens and markers. Chewed-up pencils will just be tossed. After I copy all my music to thumb drives, the DVDs/CDs can be donated. I need my Best of the Moody Blues and Queen. There are audiobooks in the mix, too. She wondered why a house with only two coffee drinkers needed six coffee mugs. I don’t use coffee mugs. I use glasses with handles. My seven coffee mugs are all mementos occupying a shelf in plain sight. Eight glasses with handles may be a bit excessive, though. 🙂
Good video! I watched it and then another and read the comments and… Oh look, an hour later I’m back on the Argh blog. LOL I will never get this next book written if I keep procrastinating. *sigh*
I pieced a bunch of quiltlets (aka “cat doilies”), so now I’m just one short of my goal for the year (20). You can see the most recent ones here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdqfZQILTKy/ I’ll need to do the basting/quilting/binding later on, which will occupy much of my fall quiltmaking time, so they’ll be ready for whenever Romancing the Vote happens in 2023, but my quilting room isn’t air conditioned, and I don’t like to push my sewing machine too hard (intense, high-speed quilting for extendind periods) in the hot weather for fear of burning out the motor of my beloved Juki.
I’ve been gardening, but a tad discouraged that the tatsoi (Asian green) that I planted extra-early this year so it wouldn’t bolt has managed to bolt while only about an inch high, due to the extra-cold temps the end of last month that kept it from growing much, followed by sustained extra-hot temps of last week that convinced it summer had arrived. (Usually, it won’t bolt until mid-to-late June). I planted some new lettuces and am debating whether to start over with the tatsoi or just let it go to seed to save and plant in the fall.
“Cat doilies” (snigger). So gonna steal this.
Also, how does a plant bolt? I had visions of it hiking up its roots and scampering over the picket fence….
It’s rapid growth that takes it beyond the growth stage you want it to be at. When the lettuce plant bolts, it grows very suddenly, so the leaves are thin and tall, and the plant moves toward flowering — stages of growth where you can’t enjoy the leaves in a salad. As Gin says above, it often happens when cold weather is followed by hot, or dry weather by sudden heavy rainfall.
Yep, Jinx explained it better than I could. The tatsoi is practically microscopically small, with maybe three true leaves, and it’s sending up a 2″ stalk with teeny little flower buds on it. So I’m torn between 1) just pulling them all up and eating them sort of like sprouts, and 2) leaving them to flower and then collecting the seed. Or half and half. Or neither, because the seed pods will be so tiny it won’t be worth dealing with. The “neither” option is probably best. Just plow them back into the ground (so to speak — they’re in a planter, so no literal plowing) and throw some more seed on top to sprout anew and hope the weather is more settled.
I vote for eating them. Serves them right.
It’s been a busy week so far, over the weekend my husband and middle son replaced a rotted second floor window with a new one. I don’t know what I was thinking but I had visions of ladders and construction equipment but they worked from inside the bedroom. He may have to tweak a bit all for a quarter of an inch. But it is in.
Monday was a strange day with the weather warming up and all the windows were open. You know I live in a 200+ year old house and we are well used to the creaks and groans also the fact that people were born, lived and died here. The only one not aware is our grand dog. A storm was in the works, according to the forecast, when all of a sudden a gust of wind caused a door to slam upstairs. Well the dog freaked, her ears went back, tail between her legs she kept pacing around downstairs in between my husband who was sleeping in the recliner and myself where I was reading. I think I was like her Comfort Human and kept telling her everything was alright. And after awhile, because she kept staring up the stairs, I brought her up with me to get a look around. That’s so her favorite place to go. Anyway when our son came home he took her for a long walk on the beach. She was ok but spent the night by my side.
Today we got an early start on taking up the winter carpets in the dining room. I wanted that done before we got too tired and would have put it off for another day.
Yesterday I put away the winter coats and brought down some summer clothes. I’m definitely going to have to start thinning out all that stuff and I’ll get to it when I’m in a ruthless zone.
The Ruthless Zone! That’s where I want to be while decluttering. “Out, damn Tupper!”
I made myself start cleaning the exterior of the house. So far, part of the front is done; The rest needs a ladder to reach so that’s going to be part 2, when we get another nice day. Afterwards, I mowed the lawn, which really needed it after all the rain we’ve had recently. I also got some supplies so I could plant my tomatoes (all 2 of them) in containers and am now giving the cats a little outside time while I recline in my hammock swing for a bit.
I did a spring clean. Mainly the closet. I only moved here two years ago, and I guess just shoved all the clothes inside. There were pantsuits and jackets from back in the day of writer’s conferences.
Someone will enjoy them, because I took four large bags to the Salvation Army donation center.
The closet gets a glance and a happy sigh every time I walk past.
That’s the payoff for cleaning. I cleaned off the top of a dresser, mostly by moving stuff to other spots. I haven’t moved anything back to its original spots, and I appreciate looking at that clean space every time I walk by.
I’m not doing much of anything other than my day job this week.
Also, people in Evita are coming down with Covid, so I’m pretty sure that’s all over now. Tested negative yesterday when they asked that everyone test, haven’t tried doing any today yet (still feel fine). They called an emergency Zoom meeting about it RIGHT at the time I was supposed to be doing something else tonight, so my current “work” is listening to hold music and trying to get that switched. Though given the “could come down with it at any moment”-ness that is my life now, maybe I should just not be bothering and waste the money.
Whee.
More hand stitched journals
I moved in with my parents a few years ago when my father took ill. He passed away and I remained with my mother in our family home as her macula degeneration has worsened and she can no longer drive.
She has finally given the green light to rip up all the carpet (except her bedroom and the den) so I’m trying to decide if I have the ability to do this on my own or if I want to pay someone younger and stronger to do it for me.
We have spent most of the pandemic updating the house… new roof, windows, patio cover, painting rooms, removing popcorn ceilings…. it’s been a labor of love. Having a job that allows me to work from home has been a blessing for us!
Ooof. I vote pay someone (as long as its a reasonable quote). That stuff can get nasty. And exhausting.
While ripping up all the carpet in our home, I fell and landed palm flat on a strip of carpet tacks. A quick trip to Kaiser to get my hand cleaned and bandaged, plus a tetanus shot, and then I was back at it. Apart from that mishap, I found it satisfying work and we saved money. It’s so rare that destroying something makes everything better. 😊
OUCH.
I had a long list of little chores to get done & I did. All but one which is ongoing. I am meeting an insurance man at the library tomorrow to start working towards Medicare since I’ll be eligible in July.
Made the decision to leave a weight loss program that was not working for me and was depressing me.
I’m boring this week. Sorry!
I got my June *and* July titles prepped for pre-order, planted eight new things in the backyard, and did a beta read on a short film script for a new internet acquaintance from Vancouver. Sent back five pages of notes, he’s probably sorry he asked, but he was nice about it. 🙂
Right now I have to go do my treadmill walk and then come back to do some pre-marketing for the June title.
Trying to catch up on the yard and garden work. *insert hysterical laughter here*
Put in soybean, carrot, and radish seeds today (the last ones should have been in a month ago). Went to a garden center to buy more plants. Sigh.
Played with the “dictate” function in MS Word and PowerPoint. (Somehow I’d never noticed the big microphone icon on the toolbar.) It’s surprisingly good.
Still recovering from the cold, though it’s much better. Can’t claim to have accomplished anything much the last two weeks!
I’ve just been working. 49.5 hours last week, one day off, then back on for another seven days. At least I remembered to go vote early, because there’s no way I’d get there on Election Day. This job is for the birds.
I’ve been so crazy busy that I am now reading this on Thursday, then had to check that it wasn’t Monday because the earlier thread truly convinced me for a *gasp* heart-stopping moment. My three dearly wonderful sons rarely ever participate in events (they prefer to brood) but have all decided to do things at the same time, which means I must somehow become a magician and be in all the places at one time. My business is going through a very busy season, which is fantastic. So, I go from gloriously busy all day straight into insanely busy every evening. I need drinks and a vacation.
Finally catching up. I saved this for last because it’s enjoyable. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday doing election stuff. I’ll be back at it Monday at 9 AM pretty much every day until we certify the results. We’ll probably have to do a recount on the Republican Senate race. Yes, I live in PA. Lots of news people in and out all day Wednesday.
Got an email from the county that I have been exposed to Covid. Spent part of today wondering is it allegies or Covid? The test was negative so it’s the oak pollen. Good thing because I really have to help with this election stuff. The fun never ends.