Tweaked & Chaptered

I got away earlier with my writing yesterday and was amazed how busy The Attic was when I got there around, oh, 10:45 maybe.  I was lucky to get a table to spread out on and very lucky I didn't need an outlet for my laptop.  I skimmed the first part of the manuscript to find a place to tuck that little scene piece I found last Friday into and managed to incorporate a tiny near-crisis into the scene.  See, I'm too nice to my characters, I want their lives to be all sweetness and light but that makes for a boring story so I'm going back and putting in a few flat tires and looming Mack trucks just to rocky up the road to bliss a bit.  Once I had that done to my semi-satisfaction, I tackled the next chapter in the rewrite.  That one was pretty easy to do, just a few tense changes and a pulling back from the brink of shoving Rose and Iggy into the sack, and a retyping.  It would be so much easier to just cut and paste and only rewrite/rekey the pieces that need changing but I've noticed that words are missing and some things need to be reworded so, as much as I hate to admit it, Judy's right about the whole "rekeying" thing.  So that means my goal of "fixing the tweak and rewriting 2 chapters by Nov. 1" is nearly accomplished.  In fact, I think I'll just rewrite that goal and resolve to do another chapter next Friday  *nods confidently*

It's cold this morning.  No, that's not right.  It's damn cold this morning.  So cold that I don't really want to look at the thermometer.  I went out to take a picture of the dawn sky and nearly froze my hoo-hoos off, and the birdbath water was frozen solid.  None of the plants look frost killed--yet--but that can't be too far away.  I guess I'll go down to get a long-sleeved shirt and dig out a real wool sweater to wear to the Knit-away today.  Or maybe I'll wear a cotton sweater with a wool shawl.  But I'm for sure wearing a jacket, that's not an option.

Speaking of the Knit-away, with Durwood's help (he's a champion slicer and chopper of veggies) I made a nice big bowl of slaw with mustard dressing.  I think it's yummy, I hope the knitters do too.  Also I hope there's enough for me to take some to work for lunches next week--with a sandwich too, of course.  I grabbed some clear plastic ornaments at Michaels last night and have some neon yarns I got at Goodwill to knit into ornament sweaters.  Yes, I've got some red and green too but our tree isn't a traditional red and green Christmas tree so I thought some neon ornaments might be an interesting addition.  I've also left the Sudoku yarns, etc. in my knitting basket in case I get bored or frustrated with ornamenting so I won't waste the day.  I finished Sudoku Berry #3 last night but didn't crochet the next block together but that's in my knitting basket too so maybe that's what I'll do if I get tired of knitting sweaters for balls.

I got a wild hair last week and searched eBay for a set of Childcraft books like I had when I was a kid.  I found some in pretty good condition and for a price I thought wasn't robbery so I ordered them, and they came yesterday.  I had a lovely stroll down memory lane paging through a couple of the volumes.  I hope LC will like the stories and pictures as much as I did when I was a kid.  She's a little young for them right now but one of these days she'll be ready for paper book pages and I'll be ready with the stories that Great-grandma Maralee read to Meemaw when she was a little girl.

October 17--Andrew Child, Airliner Takeoff.  Takeoff was Amy's favorite part of flying.  Oh, she enjoyed deciding what to pack and checking in at the desk.  She didn't even mind all of the screenings and security checkpoints.  She couldn't seem to remember to wear slip-on shoes but retying her shoes wasn't a big annoyance.  She tried to get settled at her flight's gate early enough to get that prime seat close enough to the agent's counter so she could hear everything that was said but also afforded her optimum people-watching.  She wasn't one of those people that ignored the orderly boarding directions nor did she shove her carry-on in the first available overhead instead of the one over her seat.  She believed in playing fair.  Once she was in her seat with her seatbelt securely fastened her heart beat faster in anticipation of takeoff.  Soon the plane lurched away from the gate to taxi to the end of the runway.  She knew the moment was imminent when the plane stopped at the end of the runway and the pilot revved the engines while standing on the brakes.  When the jet whine reached an unbearable pitch the plane began to roll and gravity pressed her back in her seat.  She loved it.  She watched the ground race by and soon gravity loosed its hold on the big silver bird.  The pilot pointed the nose skyward and they were off to adventure in lands unknown.  Or to the main office in Cleveland.

Now I've got to go get myself dolled up or at least clean and go play with yarn and knitters all day.  Stay warm.
--Barbara