C.E. Grundler's Blog, page 15

A quick note to all…

To everyone who knows me in any manner, from on-line to the boatyard, my neighborhood, or wherever else: I am currently deep in the process of wrapping up No Wake Zone so I can slap a bow on the top and send it off to my editor as an early Winter Solstice present. If you've emailed me, posted me in FB, passed me as I raced through the grocery store or noticed a Dodge-shaped blur on the street, please understand if I haven't responded. It's nothing against anyone, really, it's just that I'm mentally immersed in my imaginary world, and have little brain-cells left for anything beyond that. I promise, ten more days of this and then I will acknowledge the real world and its inhabitants, at least briefly, before I hit the inevitable revisions I know lie ahead.

And now, back to the mayhem for me!

I know…

I've been making myself pretty scarce lately… online at least. I'm still around and going like mad, so long as you know where to look for me. Best bets for finding me are 1.) locked in my little office typing away as fast as my little fingers can go, or 2.) down at the boatyard, hunched over a space-heater, Mix-N-Measure pot in hand as I stir metered pumps of West Epoxy to slather onto strips of biaxial fiberglass cloth, or 3.) in transit to, at, or from any of the surrounding hardware stores for lumber, drill bits, fasteners, sandpaper, masking tape or whatever else I suddenly need. This schedule will continue for another few weeks at least as I work to wrap up No Wake Zone to ship it off to my editor and the weather becomes too cold for epoxy and polyester resin to set. At that point I do plan to once again start posting here a bit more regularly, but until then, I have at least been fulfilling my posting schedule at Write On The Water, where I post each Thursday.  Today: Sorting Boats.

Last week: Thanksgiving already?

And the week before:Who? Me?

I think that's where I left off.  Once the manuscript is finished and the fiberglass dust settles, I'll post some more pics of the (hopefully) finished overhead.

On this day in history…

… on a blustery and fateful day in 2007, we threw in the towel on sanity and bought Annabel Lee.  Enough said.

On another note, it's Thursday!

With minimal explanation I bring you…

…some of what we've been up to lately. These 2x4s will serve as guides to set the ceiling core to the correct height as we work from below.

They're bolted to the ceiling up forward, and the layer of plywood duplicates the thickness of the fiberglass that will ultimately cover the core, set to match the original glass.

 

And here's the core, down at ground level, measured and ready to be cut to proper size.

Once trimmed, we had the yard lift the core on it's template frame up to supports in the cockpit, set to the proper height, so the entire core can be eased forward into place and dry-fitted, then epoxied and glassed into place.

And there we are, all lined up but out of weekend.

A bit of humor…

It's been a crazy year, both in my personal existence, (writing deadlines, boat projects, life in general,) and in New Jersey, (earthquakes, hurricanes, rain, rain, rain, floods, more rain, Halloween snowstorm/massive power outages, all of which have disrupted my personal existence to one degree or another.) Needless to say, posting here is on a all time low, though it is yet again THURSDAY.

Meanwhile, I bring you:

 

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Looking good…

This was me over the weekend…

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And this is my kid as Hatsune Miku Red Riding Hood and her friend Kat as Steampunk Miku (at 0:41 and again at 1:59) at New York Comicon.

I definitely like her costume better!

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So here's my schedule…

Monday: I write.

Tuesday: I write.

Wednesday: I still write.

Thursday: I post at Write on the Water, then spend the rest of the day writing.

Friday: I write even more.

Saturday: I attack the boat with power tools.

Sunday: I continue to attack the boat with power tools.

Rinse and repeat.

Holes…

I often refer to Annabel Lee as a collection of leaks in the shape of a boat, and a boat, by definition, is a hole in the water into which you throw money. So cutting large holes into that already leaky hole might be viewed as a questionable action, but that's what we've gone and done.

We now have a well-ventilated salon to match our well-ventilated engine room.

This should make passing sodas up to the bridge easier.

I have emails to return, mountains of writing ahead, and a cabin full of itchiness.  This is just the start, but as which so much else in my life at the moment, there's no turning back now.

Right now, I'm turning in. Much to do tomorrow. Too tired to think tonight.

 

My brain…

It has melted. Not sayin' that's entirely a bad thing. In fact I'm quite please with where things are headed at the moment. But right now it kinda feels like this…

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up for the moment.  And the more your stare at it, the worse it gets. I want clothes printed with this pattern!

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Another week…

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I know. I haven't been posting here much lately. I'm nearing the end of one round of deadlines, and I've spent so much time editing that I've reached the point where words just look wrong, like I've misspelled them, and the longer I look the more wrong they appear. Stare at enough letters long enough, and they start to morph into weird hieroglyphics.  I suppose it's my brain telling me I could use a bit less time at the keyboard and a little more time with my head on a pillow. But here's the score. Last Exit, which started at 122,000+ words, now is skimming just under the 107,000 mark.

Oh, yeah.  Work on the boat is about to move into another phase, so I'll have to the post about.

And yes, it's Thursday.