C.E. Grundler's Blog, page 16

The Last Exit 'Director's Cut' Giveaway…

Busy, busy, busy. That's my life these days.  Anyone following this blog should know that. My calendar is filled with deadlines, my days with non-stop writing and editing, and it's going to stay that way well into the foreseeable future. Not that I'm complaining – in fact I'm having a blast. I promise as some of the dust settles I'll start posting here a bit more regularly, but until then, I'll just say it's Thursday again.

This week, it's all about the edits, and I'm clearing out some space in my office, giving away a limited number of signed copies of Last Exit In New Jersey.

Taking a momentary breather…

…to mention that it's Friday, which means yesterday was Thursday, and yesterday's Write On The Water post pretty much says it all. And with that, I'm back to work!

Author C.E. Grundler signs a two-book deal with Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint

Yes, kind readers, it's true. Last Exit In New Jersey and No Wake Zone will be published in Spring 2012 under the Thomas & Mercer imprint. I would like to thank everyone out there who has helped me reach this point, from those of you who have to deal with me first hand as I walk around plotting murders to the growing number of readers who have enjoyed my story. I do wish to apologize; you'll all have to wait just a bit longer for No Wake Zone. I originally planned to have it out by late fall of 2011, but my publisher (wow, did I just say that?!) will be putting the professional polish on both books for a Spring 2012 launch.

Being that it's Thursday, you can find a bit more on this subject over at Write on the Water.

Where Should We Put This Body…

I couldn't resist… what a great heading! I can't take credit for it, though; it's the caption from a wonderful review J.P. Hansen posted on his blog for Last Exit In New Jersey

He followed up with a few interview questions with me.

Be sure to check out his site and his other reviews as well!

And sometimes, everything goes smoothly…

Such as pulling the transmission last weekend.  We hooked up the straps to support it, removed some bolts, and winched it up to deck level.

That's not to say anxiety levels weren't set to 'high', though happily none of the worst case scenarios running through my head manifested. The tranny rose from the bilge, we slid the temporary engine hatch beneath and eased it onto a dolly. From there we rolled it out to the cockpit…

And from there, moved it down to the truck, where it was secured and hauled home.

What's next? Well, the tranny will get a proper service, replacing the old seals and anything else that might be worn. We can replace the worn damper plate, replace the motor mounts and a multitude of other odds and ends around the engine. With the transmission and exhaust removed the already roomy engine room is downright spacious. But now that temperatures are dropping we're coming into optimal 'glassing' range, so the time has come to cut away the delaminated section of the salon ceiling/bridge deck and replace it with the laminated mahogany plywood we built earlier this year, then glass that in place.

I foresee much itching ahead.

Oh, hey – It's Thursday…

Today, tugboats, Darwin Award candidates and the perils of navigating the internet.

And with that, I return to my non-internet distracted writing.

What I did over my (last weekend of) Summer Vacation…

Beach?

Nope.

Barbeque?

A little bit.

Crawl around the engine room and attach our custom-designed temporary motor mounts to the engine and prep to pull the transmission?

Yup.

These temporary motor mounts, will support the rear of the engine once the tranny, resting on the rear motor mounts, comes out.

We would have gotten further, but upon closer inspection of the winch arrangement I decided I'd be more comfortable if it was thru-bolted to the 4×4, rather than lag bolts.

However, due to yesterday being a holiday, local hardware stores were closed, and by time we completed the two hour round trip to the mega-stores that were open it would have been too late to start the next phase of madness.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention…

The boat's battened down, the car and truck topped off, the shelves are stocked, the barbeque safely stowed and we're all set to hunker down. But between the earthquake and the impending hurricane, I nearly let today pass without mentioning that it's once again Thursday.

Today's topic: Natural disasters!!!

An 'exhausting' day!

So here's the logic. If you're going to replace the motor mounts, it's easier to do with the transmission removed, especially when the rear seal appears to be leaking. And it's easier to remove the transmission with the exhaust removed, when the exhaust runs directly above the transmission. Therefore, today we removed the exhaust.

The more parts we remove, the roomier the engine room becomes!

My other office smells like an engine room…

In prep for the weekend I headed down to the boat bright and early this morning, all set to attack another section of the engine room. We're going to replace the motor mounts, which will be somewhat simpler without this little thing called a transmission in the way. And considering the rear seal on the tranny has a slight but irritating leak… you know the drill. Anyhow, I wanted to get some things cleaned up and in place for this next exciting(?) phase, and I needed to drop the dogs off for their late summer shearing, (Rex was getting pretty shaggy again,) which is on the way, so I decided I might as well just hang out at the boat until the dogs were done. The simple truth is my muses like it down there; they respond well to a bit of manual labor and without internet it's easier to stay focused. So I packed the laptop, some cola, pita chips and an apple.  What more could a writer ask for? (Other than perhaps the dinette table and a proper seat!)

It doesn't look so bad from this angle!

So yes, I've had a very productive day so far, both in the bilge and at the keyboard. And the day's far from over. It's back to work… as soon as I wash up. It seems that diesel engine fragrance has followed me home.