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Working Wednesday: Analyzing is a Good Thing

I wrote a fairly long post about analyzing the first and second act of the story we’re working on and accidentally erased it. Not feeling the need to type it again. But the book is progressing so all is good.

What did you work on this week?

67 Responses

  1. I spent a lot of time playing with the kitten. He is endearing, very purry and very playful. I’ve described him to friends as “tigger” – bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun! Needless to say, he distracts me.

    While he was napping, i did some work on my mystery quilt, making a bunch of 9 patches (a quilt block consisting of 9 squares, like the side of a cube).

    I also constucted another tiny block for the Nearly Insane quilt.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/DL4glemABGF/?igsh=Z2kzZGFsaDR0MGpv

    3. Your patchwork is, as always beautiful. And since kittens grow up VERY fast, I think you are wise to enjoy the fun while you can. I also think that you are lucky your older cats are just “supervising” instead of getting territorial.

    4. Your quilting is as always, beautiful. But as I’m sure you know from your older cats, kittens grow up very quickly and you might as well take advantage of thr fun while you have it.

    5. There’s so much unbridled joy in a bouncy bouncy fun fun fun. I bet you’re both having the best of time. <3

  2. jenny I really enjoy coming here to read about your progress on the books. I hope to someday be able to get all of the new series to read! I don’t use Amazon any longer and they are no longer available in my Canadian book seller site (Kobo and Chapters both say it’s not available). I managed to get the Lavender’s Blue series and the first of the Rocky Start book. So fingers crossed they become available again!

    I’m working on sorting through my MIL’s belongings. She passed away on June 28 after a very short illness. Since DH is working full time and I’m not, I’ve taken on the task of sorting her belongings and finding new homes for her treasures. Lots of pix and memories of a full life of 89 years. I’m glad I got to know her better in the past 4 years she lived in our small town. It’s amazing how many people she touched during her time living in a new place – so many have reached out with such nice things to say about her.

    Other than that, I’m trying to get inspired to paint, and we are looking into booking a trip to Japan to visit our daughter. She is living with her Japanese boyfriend (who doesn’t speak English) so I’m going to try to learn some Japanese before we go. It will be the first meeting of the parents and grandparents on both sides so it should be fun!

    1. I’m so sorry for your loss, and also happy to hear you got to know your MIL better before it wasn’t possible anymore. A life well and fully lived sounds incredible.
      A trip to Japan, wow! Tell us all how it was when you come back, please. 🙂

  3. I have been analyzing as well. I got a little lost there for a while and now I am trying to structure the last half of the year for my small business. I have sold two wool coats recently, so now I feel behind on getting fall and winter things up on Etsy. I didn’t even get through what I had planned for summer. Oh well.

    My little book nook has been doing well. It’s been profitable during the slowest retail months of the year, which makes me happy. This is largely due to one yard sale where I bought four boxes of New Adult romance for $1, which I sell for $6 to $8. I wish I had bought more now, but at the time I didn’t know if they were going to move or if I would be stuck with a lot of Lauren Blakely, Lauren Landish, Abbi Glines and such. Not the current authors in fashion. I did get a copy of Bowen’s Shameless Hour, which I will probably keep. Anyway, I want to expand my stock into things that I like and are more current, so I am thinking about hitting the retail sites to see if I can get cheap copies of favorites. I would have to charge more for those.

    I am also back to painting jean jackets (well, I did one for the first time in forever and I want to do more) but I feel rather out of touch with current trends and even my own taste. What do I paint? Yesterday was ferns and mushrooms and my favorite Isadora Duncan quote but it feels too gentle for the current atmosphere of the world?

    I need to get to experimenting with making paper clay so that I can get started on making composite turkeys and pumpkins… The year is moving so fast. Argh.

    1. Lupe, I bought a tee shirt I didn’t really need, but it says “Resist!” in the center of a big heart. I got it from Penzey’s. Maybe something like that, which is somewhat generic, but makes a statement, would appeal?

      1. Jan, that is exactly the vibe I am trying for. I am not an angry, combative person by nature and I would want my pieces to be wearable past one season. Unfortunately, I fear that resistance is going to be timely for a while…

    2. Pictures please!

      Perhaps you will be setting a trend, instead of following one.

    3. Butterflies are pretty much always on trend – perhaps you could focus on ones that are endangered like Monarchs. It’s a statement without being too political.

      1. I have done monarchs before. They are always popular. Maybe I can tie that in to protest imagery because they are sometimes used to symbolize migrant workers.

  4. I’m taking my mother to Costco this morning, which is her idea of a good time. Not mine, but I will definitely take advantage and buy some bulk things.

    1. Free samples? We go to Sam’s club about twice a year on my dad’s membership to get cat litter and toilet paper.

    2. Tammy, I’m going there more often, because they have a frozen Organic 4 Berry Blend that goes well with yogurt, and is healthful. I read the sale brochure, and take a list, because it’s not my idea of a good time, either. It’s very kind of you to take her there.

    3. I walked out with a full cart so I guess I don’t deserve to complain too much.

  5. Well, although I would definitely buy some textile product painted by Lupe, and I enjoyed the posts above from Lisa and Nancy H, mostly I feel bad about the disappearance of Jenny’s lost post for this blog.

    I’ve had the same experience when detailed office work I’d finally accomplished suddenly is gone for some bizarre reason. It’s awful!

    But she is Our Jenny, and we love her and her books and comments and, well, basically everything she shares with us.

    So I send virtual aggravation, irritation and “so very sorry!!” feelings to her. On her behalf, and also on all of our behalf(s), since we can’t read the lost words.

    Better luck next time, Jenny!!

  8. I’m writing my book again, because I decided to change the name of one of the characters to fit the theme better, so I’m doing that. I am enjoying rereading it.

    The weather guy described Thursday and Friday on the broadcast yesterday as “Oppressive”, which they will be, with high heat and humidity. Sigh. It will be indoor work those days.

  9. Oh Jenny I know what it’s like to lose hard work on a computer. I once lost hours of work and since then I am saving obsessive and changing file names for every moment of revision. It’s so frustrating. I have gotten pretty good at file retrieval although it doesn’t always work for me.

    I’m working on getting back into more wellness tai chi classes. If given my preference I would not do so, but I feel much better when I do. So…

  10. I’m researching carpet cleaners. I spent time yesterday looking up parts for my current machine. Found out it was thirty years old give or take and they don’t make parts for it anymore. Also, the toll-free number is no longer in service. And here I was grumbling about it no longer working. It also traveled from house to house to whoever needed help. It has paid its dues.

  11. Working on and making progress (yay!!) on plotting the story that had been rejected a few years ago because the editor didn’t want “elderly” people in the story. My heroine is friendly with her late grandfather’s Viet Nam poker buddies. The two wily vets are playing matchmaker between her and the next door neighbor.

    So sorry that Jenny’s post got erased.

        1. Sometimes you just need to wait until the market is ready. Fingers crossed your story’s time will come!

  12. I did a polish pass on the Advent calendar novelette (next up for submission), then did an embiggening pass on a short story included in JMS Books’ ACLU benefit anthology but which they’ve offered to release as a single title. It’s a good length now, still some tweaks to do.

    Loads of moving prep.

    2 hours of yardkeeping, cleaned up the worst section of the backyard, such that when landlady / BFF brings potential new tenant later this month, nobody will be horrified.

    Did some unintended research over the weekend (while out at luxury bath & kitchen outfitters with my friend) for a book I want to write next year, but since then have been thinking about a *different* scenario which I expect will actually be the next project. One thing I’ve learned: if an idea remains top of mind, that is the one I’d better get cracking on. The other ideas will simmer away till I’m ready for them. 🙂

    1. It took me a couple of minutes to decipher ‘polish’ pass, not Polish pass.

  13. I thought I had my lines mostly down, but kept blanking out and having to call for line in rehearsal. I haaaaaaaaate having to do that! Grrr, argh. I’m pretty bored of going over lines, too. I need to step it up.

    I am working on the shawl for the show, I’m about halfway done with it (started Sunday) and it looks LOVELY. 🙂

    And I got into another show! Some kind of wedding murder mystery for Labor Day weekend. So the next thing up will be memorizing lines for THAT.

    1. Pictures of shawl please, when you finish it. And congratulations on the new show!

    2. I see two happy progress-things in your post and that makes me smile. Congrats on great work and on getting another role!

  14. I finished the secret-project novel, and my beta reader had minimal, but thoughtful feedback (yay), so between now and next Working Wednesday I need to finish the synopsis (two actually) and send everything to my agent. Synopses = analysis and appeal to my legally trained brain, so they’re not as daunting for me as they are for most authors. Still, I’m up against some other deadlines, and it’s a bit crazymaking to be writing a synopsis for one story alternately with writing the draft of a different story.

    I also got and approved the cover art for the Helen Binney novella coming out on August 12th, so it’s all uploaded to Amazon (KU) if anyone’s interested: https://www.amazon.com/Delusion-Death-Helen-Binney-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0FBDSTB28/

      1. Hunh. That’s weird. You should be able to. AMZ KDP told me last night it was available. Perhaps some glitch from Prime Day stuff. Or the servers hate hot/humid weather as much as I do and are refusing to work today, just like me. Thanks for trying though!

      2. If anyone else has this issue, it seems to be a website v. app issue. It’s available on the website, but not by way of the app. I’m guessing there’s a delay before it shows up on the app. At least, I’m hoping that’s all it is. Will wait a coupla’ days before I panic.

  15. My coworker is on vacation, so I got to be the “jewelry designing in progress” sounding board, which is fun, and which I haven’t gotten to do in a long time, so that was enjoyable.

    I found the minutes from the April board meeting which I had oddly not emailed to the president when I did them. At least I *had* done them, just not sent them – so all happy there too.

  16. I was disconcerted and disappointed and other dis- words to discover by hitting a paywall that BBC News is trying to monetize its US readers (beyond advertising, which it already carries here). For the previous 90 years or so (first on short wave and other international broadcasting and later on the internet), they received government funding on the grounds that even though the BBC was not closely linked to government policy, their version of the news was an exercise of UK soft power. Now for some reason the government has decided that this does not apply to their US news audience, and the BBC should soak us for all they can. I would probably pay for a VPN subscription before gratifying this urge or theirs, and Reuters offers a more reasonable subscription rate if I were to pay anyone. But I’m still experimenting with other sources for international news.

    1. Sorry, Patrick! The politicians keep undermining the BBC – they’re never keen on an independent news provider.

  17. Jenny,

    I’m sorry to lose your analysis post, but I have experienced the same disinclination to rewrite at full length a post that I have accidentally erased (and in earlier days of computers, I have lost far more than a post, not even by my fault but by computer malfunction).

    1. As a matter of fact, after posting the above, I accidentally wiped out a comment on another site today and could not find motivation to rewrite it. Possibly this is related to the way that many fiction writers can’t do a scene if they have “talked it out” to others in too much detail, or for some writers, even imagined it too clearly when away from a keyboard.

  18. We’re leaving for Budapest today so I’ve been working on packing. My usual travel style is pretty casual with one nice outfit for dinners. Since we’ll be on a boat cruise for 8 days, I need more than 1 outfit for dinners. I have probably packed too much but suitcase is zipped up so no more fussing.

    I had my annual mammogram this week. I have dense breast tissue (hence the yearly exam) and it’s usually a painful experience. However, the technician was great and minimal discomfort.

    I wrote out a double-sided list of instructions for DS on watering my indoor and outdoor plants while I’m away. I’m mostly concerned about the veggie garden if there’s not much rain and it gets hot. DS told me to expect some casualties. I realized that I’ve murdered half my indoor plants over the last few weeks, so I can’t fault him if something(s) don’t survive. Crossing my fingers for the garden.

  19. In general, I’m making slow progress .  I’m trying to up my exercise level a bit, still in the form of active chores and of parking at the far end of parking lots, more than of exercise for health’s sake alone.  I still needed recovery days after a grocery trip (accompanied, as always by lugging bags upstairs in multiple trips).  The heat has not been helping, although we are back down to normal summer heat rather than a heat wave.  Yesterday I made a library run, but definitely felt it, but that may have been largely heat and dehydration. (I hadn’t realized I was dehydrated, but I quickly finished off the thermos of water I had brought along in the car and I polished off a lot more once home.). The library was air-conditioned, but only down to 80 degrees or so.

    I had been reading my book-club book in softcopy, but someone had put a hold on it so I couldn’t renew.  As a precaution I has requested a library print copy, and I picked that up.  The novella is fairly popular, but I can’t easily imagine why, since I’m barely getting through it.  More on that after the club meeting.

    So my agenda the remainder of today is to read more of that, see if I’ve finished anything reportable for GBTh (possibly not, since I’ve been on a trashy-novel kick), run the dishwasher, plan meals, and if possible do more of the chore list.

    I may hit discount stores tomorrow, energy level permitting.  Or Friday if not.

  20. It’s Wednesday, so I need to work on finishing up the grocery order that’ll be deliverd tomorrow. Bleh. Yes I am aware that it is very very much a first world problem, but I still hate it.
    Blue cat is ALMOST done! I’ve seamed all the pieces and sib were my eyes two days ago to make sure things like pupils were pointing in the right direction, and today I attached all the parts to the body with stitch-markers in preparation to sew. It’s not my favourite part of the process, I have to admit, but it has to be done.
    Sib and I also had a good talk about huggable things after me mentioning to them I’m thinking of putting together an inquiry form for research purposes about things like size, weight, how one likes a plushie to feel etc. My progress on this pet-project of mine moves very slowly, but it is on my mind every day and even though the steps are small, they are still steps.
    I cast on for mittens a couple of days ago, but haven’t got any further than that (read: have frogged thrice already and was too tired to pick it up again). I’ll get back to it eventually. Also making slow progress on the shawl I started that will either look insane or great, it’s too early to know.
    Sven had asked me if I could make pulled chicken, so I did yesterday and it turned out pretty decent. We ate it in baguettes with cream cheese (and a bit of jalapenos and sriracha happened too) and a big salad on the side. I’m thinking breast fillets mightn’t be the best part to use for pulled chicken, so I’ll try thighs next time and see if that will turn out better.

    1. Oh! I forgot! A while ago I accidentally signed up for a year (instead of a month…) subscription to a fitness-app specially designed for and tailored to blind and visually impared people. It’s sessions and exercises are taking no vision into account, so all movements and stances and things are described from the perspective that you can not see the instructor and no-one’s there to hands-on show you how to do things. So, a couple of day sago, I finally kicked my own butt and tried a session – or actually two, since warming up and the actual cardio-session were separate. The great news is that the app is excellent at what it’s supposed to do. The less great, but very much expected news, was that my stamina is utter trash at this point. Hard to believe right now that 15 years ago I did 6-9 hours of karate per week + horsebackriding and long walks. Oh well. I think it’ll do me good to try and do these a bit more often.

  23. *sigh*

    *sigh again*

    I am working on keeping the Owner’s Suite dry. The in-suite sump pump is dead. I’ve jury-rigged a solution. The immediate problem is this:

    Flood Advisory
    From Wed 8:16 pm until 11:15 pm EDT

    1 of 2
    Action Recommended
    Avoid the subject event as per the instructions
    Issued By
    Wakefield – VA, US, National Weather Service
    Affected Area
    Portions of central and south central Virginia, including the following counties and independent cities, in central Virginia, Chesterfield and City of Colonial Heights. In south central Virginia, City of Hopewell, City of Petersburg, Dinwiddie and Prince George
    Description
    …FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 1115 PM EDT THIS EVENING…

    WHAT…Urban and small stream flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected.

    WHERE…Portions of central and south central Virginia, including the following counties and independent cities, in central Virginia, Chesterfield and City of Colonial Heights. In south central Virginia, City of Hopewell, City of Petersburg, Dinwiddie and Prince George.

    WHEN…Until 1115 PM EDT.

    IMPACTS…Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas. Ponding of water in urban or other areas is occurring or is imminent.

    ADDITIONAL DETAILS… – At 816 PM EDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to thunderstorms. This will cause urban and small stream flooding. Up to 0.5 inches of rain have fallen. – Additional rainfall amounts of 0.5 to 1 inch are expected over the area. This additional rain will result in minor flooding. – Some locations that will experience flooding include… Petersburg, Hopewell, Colonial Heights, Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia State University, Chester, Prince George, Ettrick, Matoaca, Petersburg National Battlefield, Richard Bland College, New Bohemia, Birchett Estate and Jordan Point Country Club. – http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

    PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

    Turn around, don’t drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles.

    Seriously – “Turn around, don’t drown…” in my basement.

  25. Tragedy! I would have loved to see an analysis. I’ve mainly been relaxing when I’m not at work, so it’s hard to say I’ve made much progress on anything… but I’ve made it back to the gym at least, and this Sunday I’ll be facing my fears and driving on the interstate to prepare for bringing my cat to his chemo appointment next Thursday!

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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