Calling to join them the wretched and joyful

Arms. Like. Noodles. But that's what the edger/trimmer does to me, man. If I took it for a spin more often, I'd have the upper body strength of a superhero. OOF.

So yes, there's been a little more yardwork - not as much as I would've liked, but I got a late start today. On the upshot, the husband joined in for some of the dirty work, so we got quite a bit done. Not everything, mind you. We'll never truly finish; we'll only surrender.

Quoth a lovely friend via twitter: Sisyphus was a gardener.

But I finished edging/trimming the front yard, pulled some weeds, and got the old roses pruned and de-vined - which was frankly an epic undertaking, resulting in many ridiculous scratches. The vines around here are INSANE, I tell you. We've got a whole cocktail of them, always doing their best to take over the yard: English, Persian, Virginia creeper, birdsfoot, morning glories...never mind the ubiquitous Kudzu World Order.

Jesus H., man. It's a mess out there.

It's been a hell of a nice day, though. Breezy and cooler, with a hint of fall. I suppose that's one reason to look forward to winter: the end of yardwork season. The place will look like hell for awhile, but at least there won't be anything I can or should do about it.

* * *
Here, have a picture of Greyson and Watson. It's always a delight when this marvelous cat joins us on our walks in the morning. He runs up to Greyson to greet him, then demands petting from me, and then we stroll for a block or so until the kitty loses interest and goes back home.




But his company is super cute while it lasts.
* * *

So here's recent progress on my modern gothic ghost story about a salvage crew trapped in a doomed southern mansion - now with a crunchy murder ballad center and Bonus! clandestine cemetery where the stones don't match the bodies (and were never meant to). As inspired by a (semi)true local legend:
Project: The Family Plot
Deadline: January 15, 2015
New words written: 2045
Present total word count: 9462



Things accomplished in fiction: Started checking out the digs and taking inventory.

Things accomplished in real life: Neighborhood jaunt with dog; inbox: zero; de-vined the roses; de-vined some other shrubby-type thing, the name of which I do not know; finished edging/trimming the yard; pulled weeds, etc.

Other Project: Progress! I pushed through (another 1000+ words) and actually finished a draft of the first chapter. (I need two, one from each POV character, to serve as the requested sample). Tomorrow I'll start the other one.

Other in General: I am proud of this-here productive day.

Number of fiction words so far this year: 160,546
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And now it's time for Maplecroft Mayhem, you guys. I am grateful and thrilled by all the kind folks who've taken the time to talk about the book - believe me! - especially in these early weeks of its release. Publishers determine all kinds of things from preorders and initial sales, so your support is MASSIVELY important, and I can't thank you enough.

Maplecroft at Amazon
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Maplecroft at Goodreads