Each gentle sunny spring when they came back again

Yesterday was kind of a wash, I admit. I didn't sleep well, due to a combination of a cranky little old lady cat wailing through the night - and my husband's early rising to go try out for jury duty, as mandated by Official Summons. I'm kind of a hot-house orchid when it comes to sleep. If I don't get 6-7 hours bare minimum, I'm worthless all damn day.

Which is just a long way of saying that no, I didn't get any writing done.

That said, I did manage to keep a hair appointment and get myself some lunch; and then, because I lacked the brain power for anything too "thinky," I took the edge trimmer and went around the yard whacking weeds. It was satisfying and productive, if not exactly something upon which any deadline depended. And now my shoulders hurt.

In other yard news, there is no other yard news. Not right now. But when I finish up with this post, I'm going to make a phone call or two - and see about getting some quotes re: some retaining wall repairs and a patio...which might actually be the most boring and grown-up sentence I've ever typed.

But such is life.



And despite yesterday's failure on a fiction front, I rallied this afternoon - and there's wordcount to report.

So here's today's progress on my witchy art-deco horror novel about Lizzie Borden thirty years after her parents' deaths - now featuring ghosts and non-ghosts alike, anti-Catholic conspiracy nuts, supernatural political shenanigans, the mafia, and a Bonus! space-worshiping murder cult hiding behind the KKK:
Project: Chapelwood
Deadline: October 1, 2014
New words written: 2065 (not terrible)
Present total word count: 57,210



Things accomplished in fiction: Nasty little buttons that say nasty little things; chess pieces reveal sinister plays, and the game looks lost before it's begun; but our heroes aren't quite alone, not yet.

Next up: A little more courtroom drama; then perhaps a little murder or two.

Things accomplished in real life: Neighborhood jaunt with dog; went to the grocery store; ate a burrito. (Not in that order.)

Other: I sat down last night with my handy-dandy legal pad, and made myself a loose timeline for the second half of the book. It's not an outline per se (I hate outlines)...but I need to remind myself of the beats I need to hit, and when I need to hit them. I don't always stick to these timelines with any great precision, but I find them useful for when I get stuck.

More other: The husband successfully deferred jury duty until September. In case you were wondering, for some reason.

Number of fiction words so far this year: 90,603