Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 283

Blackout, and an Ode to Dick Francis

The moment I said I wanted to take a nap yesterday, they decided to start doing work on the road running beside my house, tearing up the pavement. They weren't even using a jackhammer, which can turn into a sort of background hum. They seemed to be breaking up pavement by pounding it repeatedly with the business end of a steam shovel, so it was like "Wham. (pause, pause) WHAM! (pause, pause)" and so forth. It looks like they've done that sporadically up and down the whole street. I can't quit...

Happy Cheap Chocolate Day!

I'm experiencing a bigger-than-normal post-con crash, probably mostly due to the massive allergy attack that hit me Saturday evening -- I was fine one minute, and the next I was suddenly sneezing my head off. I seem to be fine today after taking antihistamines Saturday night and then again Sunday after I got home, but I seem to have a lingering tiredness that makes my usual post-social introvert crash even worse, compounded by the antihistamine hangover. And maybe the fact that I stayed up re...

Snowmageddon

We eventually got 12.5 inches of snow within 24 hours -- the biggest single-day snowfall on record for this area. It started snowing around 3 in the morning and went non-stop until about 3 the next morning.

Here's how thick the snow on my front hedges looked at about 11 last night:



Mind you, the forecast was for two inches. The science geek weatherman had an explanation for that, something to do with a slight temperature change at a critical time that made all the difference. It was rather ente...

Snow!

I couldn't resist taking a quick walk in the snow, which is still falling steadily. I think the last time I was in snow like this, I was in New York and had a chance to take a quick walk in Central Park between meetings. I've heard that we're getting more snow in Dallas than they are in Vancouver, where the Winter Olympics start tomorrow. Hey, maybe we could put in a hosting bid. According to the first X-Files movie, we have mountains nearby. Ski Dallas!

Thanks to Mom and Dad for the boots th...

Surreal Snow Day

I had a very disorienting day yesterday. For some strange reason, I went through the whole day thinking it was Thursday, in spite of multiple reminders that it was Wednesday. It was like I felt I was right and it was the rest of the universe out of whack. For instance, during the mid-day news, they focus the weather report entirely on the rest of the day, that night, and then the next day. I was annoyed that they didn't mention Friday's weather (which I thought was the next day) and were only...

Fire Alarm and Con Scheduling

I had an interesting start to ballet class last night, since as I arrived at the ballet school (a little early because I ran an errand on the way and allocated too much extra time for it), they were in the process of evacuating the building. A police officer was trying to herd a gaggle of teenaged ballerinas across the street, just as the fire engines came screaming up. Apparently, there was a smell like an electrical fire, so they called the fire department to check it out. But because the p...

Revisiting a Classic

The latest fun with Google alerts item: Someone is selling copies of my books on eBay at about three dollars over the cover price, plus postage. I don't get that. You can order copies from the online booksellers for less than the cover price, or you can buy them in just about any bookstore (though you may have to special order or request them) at the cover price. So why would anyone pay more than the cover price on eBay? It doesn't even look like they're autographed copies.

And the latest "my ...

Musings on a Rainy Monday

I've now reached the point where the Spike 8 a.m. reruns of CSI NY are episodes I've already seen, so I need to find another impetus to get me out of bed. Unfortunately, unless Sci Fi is having a marathon of something I like and don't have on DVD, there's not much. I think one of the other networks shows the Miami version at that time, but while it can be screamingly hilarious (unintentionally) I don't think I could face it first thing in the morning. This morning, though, I'm not sure anythi...

Irritating Silence

Wow, there's this strange, glowing yellow thing in the sky, which has patches of a funny blue color. What's going on? Is it the end of the world?

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a wee bit, but we haven't had a sunny day in a while. Unfortunately, I'm not really in the mood for sun. The lingering allergies/cold/whatever are on an upswing today, and when I'm not feeling well, I don't like it being sunny. It just seems wrong, somehow. I'm not really outright sick. If I had a real job, I'd probably b...

Control Issues

I'm continuing the weird two steps forward, one step back pattern on the book I'm working on. As I work out what should be happening in a new scene, I realize that there's something off about a previous scene that has to be fixed. It's a little frustrating, but I'm hoping that by fixing these things up front, it means the last half of the book will go more smoothly, and I won't have to take the whole thing apart and put it back together again when I'm doing revisions on it.

I also really enjoy...