I just realised that I don't believe in myself

(Obligatory opener:) How long has it even been since I last posted? A whole term in Oregon. That's terrible. We've done loads of cool stuff here and I've not posted about any of it. And now we're heading home in a week.

I've really enjoyed my time in the Pacific Northwest. So many trees; lovely springtime weather. Our apartment faces a forest - two big living-room windows looking out onto huge evergreens, and relatively smaller-looking leafed trees. Some days I just stand in the middle of the room and look out the windows and pretend I live in a modern architectural wonder of a house that's built into and around the forest. I'll miss that. I'll miss the way the sun falls through the gaps in the canopy, and the way the patches of light that make it to the ground sway with the breeze. Yep. I'll definitely miss that. Ireland doesn't have nearly enough trees. If I had the power of a god, I'd make ancient forests appear on every field in Ireland. Still. I am looking forward to going home.

I don't know what else to say. I suppose my thoughts have turned from American housewifey type things to homeless job seeker in Dublin. Not so much looking forward to that. And I bought a budgeting program today and, boy, is grown-up stuff frightening. Mostly because I have no idea how much money comes in every month, but my budget has over 2,500 outgoing every month (and that's not including saving for rainy days), and since I've never made money even closely resembling that, it scares me. It just seems like way too much for two people and a dog every single month. So it's a bit stressful. But I suppose I should find out how much comes in every month before I really start to freak out.

What else on the changing of the tide? I suppose I'm just procrastinating now. I do actually have a lot of organising to do - to get ready for the movers coming next week. Right at the moment I'm sorting out what to keep, what to throw out and what to donate.

Oh. I've been off sugar for a six weeks now. I do think its helping with mood swings and energy levels. I could be deluding myself, but I do feel like things have been more stable. But I also haven't been worrying about writing in those six weeks, so I don't know if the stress of being too hard on myself for not being more like Brandon Sanderson (who writes about 3 books a year) was at play as well. Seriously, if there's a line up of absolutely terrible role models for me to pick, I will pick the worst one, and be the hardest ever on myself when I'm not living up to those standards. I actually don't think I'm cut out to be a writer because nothing is ever good enough for me, but I also have the problem that I'd rather play games than spend the long hours to get it good enough. And, I was given 4 years of free time and I didn't manage to get one book finished. I've endlessly tinkered with 1, written 1, got half way through another and actually completely finished a short story (I had motivation on that one - it was for a competition and I had a deadline). So I'm just going to stop and get an office job and bemoan my lack of writerdom. And that will be fine. And all the people who didn't believe in me (which is probably just myself) can laugh and say, "I knew you'd never do it."

Wow. This post has taken a turn for the bitter. But I have learned something. I have no faith in myself that I can actually write, or be a writer. I think it's the second part of that that's important, because I do actually believe that my stories are good (I absolutely love the story in Artificer), but I don't think I actually write them well. And therein lies my problem. So perhaps I should focus on learning the craft of writing rather than tweaking a story that already works. I need a workbook. Actually, I think I need a writers' group. One that actually meets to critique writing and that expects members to have new things every week.

Now so now. Thank you theraputic journal. I should remember to visit you more often.

NaNoWriMo update (brought to you by Friday*)

I'm at 33,000 words and after 7 years and 4 attempts, I think NaNo has finally helped me figure out a pace that works for me. That's what this year is all about. It isn't about getting to 50,000 by writing any old thing that comes into my head. It's about writing well (enough for a fist draft anyway) and getting a story straight - not just ploughing ahead because: oh my god! word count. It's about using the motivation to come up with a steady routine that I can follow all year round. And I've figured it out. And this figuring out brings me to the understanding that I won't be finishing NaNo with 50,000 words this year, but a very respectable 40,000. And that's what I'll be aiming for every month for three months until I have draft one of this novel finished.**

And if anyone's curious, the routine is 2,250 words Monday to Thursday, 1,000 on Friday and the weekend off. The 1,000 on Friday and the weekend off is the most important part. No matter what I do to try to motivate myself to work more than a half day on Friday, I can't do it. My brain goes, "Lunchtime Friday. Playtime. Woooooo!" It's probably because there's a lifetime of programming in there telling me this (from arts and crafts after lunch on Friday in primary school, to Liam getting of work early on Friday afternoons) and I'm okay with that. As long as I'm aware of it, I can work with it and do that 250 words more on the main weekdays.

Right so. It's lashing here. Our roof is leaking. And I'm going playing in a closed beta all weekend (so excited :) ).


*which, coincidentally, is today.
** I do kind of wish NaNo wasn't in November, because keeping the momentum going through December, when my brain says I should be on holidays, is even harder than writing on a Friday afternoon (keep reading, it'll make sense in a minute).

Nanowrimo 2013

I'm doing nano a little differently this year. I find that the non-stop pace of the month burns me out and while I get loads done in November, I don't do anything else until March, and I'm well sick of writing by the end of the month. So this year, instead of writing close to 1,700 words every day I'm going to write 2,400 words every weekday. It's not that much more to write and having weekends off will (the theory goes) keep me fresh and interested.

So, what am I writing this year? Well, as I get older I'm realising that the nano rules aren't for me. I can't start something new in November because I come up with ideas by writing. I have to just start whatever is forming in my head and let the idea grow with the writing. And the breakneck pace of nano doesn't leave much time for idea percolation. In the past I've found that I get to the end of the month and I might as well have spent it doodling ideas in a journal, because that's about how useful the manuscript is to me. Anyway. This year I started back in August and got 15,000 words in by the time November came around. Shush. I was away for five of those weeks or something. And sick for two more. Yes, I'm making excuses. Well - I got nicely off the point of this paragraph. The story is about a country girl whose sister falls ill and she sneaks away to the dreaded city to get medicine. But on the way, she gets struck by lightning which awakens her magical powers. The only problem is, the city executes casters and she doesn't know how to hide her powers. (Now, if only I could write an intro to Artificer as easily as that.)

And that's mostly this year's nanowrimo. As of today I am 45 words behind. Not bad at all. Ooh, and I made out a mad spreadsheet with maths and everything that lets me mess around with words per day and days left and other fun things.

In other news: those five weeks off were spent at PAX and on a visit home (via Germany). PAX was brilliant, as usual. Of all the events I've ever been to, only Glastonbury and PAX feel like home to me. Like I belong there. Like it fills a gap in my soul. The trip home was great too. There's nothing quite like getting to see everyone and hang out.

So yea. In very small news, I'm playing Morrowind (via Oblivion), Privateer 2 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, watching Agents of Shield, Korra and Once upon a Time, and we're off to Thor 2 this afternoon, having watched Thor 1 and the Avengers last night. And my hair is pink.

I was motivated yesterday

I got so much done yesterday. I was quite proud of myself. I was up at 7 and drove Liam to work, then I came home and fixed the car backseat thing that River sits on. The straps holding the attaching clips had frayed. They had become really brittle in the sun, and I had to cut out the frayed bits and attach the remains back together. It was quite fun figuring out how to best attach them. I ended up sewing them together and reinforcing the join with duck tape.

Next up was the hammock - our old one's ropes had also become sun-frayed and we replaced it. So I got to mess around with more bits of rope. But we have a hammock again. Yeay.

I went bra shopping - unsuccessfully - but even that didn't kill my motivation.

Then I got 1,500 words written. I'm doing an online writing course and am working on an entirely new story. I'm really enjoying it. I'm trying "discovery" writing, so I have absolutely no idea where the story is going beyond the next few scenes. But the characters are fun. The side-kick is a bit psycho-homicidal and those type of characters are always fun to write.

And after all that I fixed the brakes on Liam's bike. This bike is my newest project. It's been a mess since we moved here - flat tires, chain covered in sand, brakes that were so tight the bike didn't move. I haven't looked at the gears yet, but I imagine they are in an equally sorry state. I've always wanted to learn how to maintain / fix a bike and I'm using this as my learning bike. It's funny how not mysterious a bike is when you actually start learning about how all the pieces work. I used think the brake and gear wires were set with some kind of techno-magic-precision-engineering, but it's nothing more complicated than a nut / bolt you can tighten and loosen. And the wire tension you just fiddle around with until it's right. Crazy.

So I cooked dinner then, and after that we went to the shop and bought random things (I got a Nalgene bottle), and then I played Skyrim until bedtime. Ahh Skyrim - I am, once again, entirely addiced. I even got a funny buzz in my solar plexus region the other day I wanted to play so badly. Oh my god. How do Bethesda do it? How do they makes games that do this to me?

Anyway. I must go get some writing done. I'm on scene 6 and I'm supposed to be on 9.

I love it when things work out

I was supposed to start an online writing course (writeaboutdragons.com) yesterday, but the organiser sent an email saying it was postponed until July. I'm so happy about this. Now I have the time to finish the dress I started in September (and put off because the pattern was miles too big and I became disillusioned at having to undo and repeat all the work I'd done so far).

So now I have time to make the dress. I'm going to unstitch it today and iron the pieces, then cut out the pattern pieces in the smaller size. But before I go near the mock-up I'm going to try measuring things. I have this idea to cut strips of the pieces at the waist and bust level to see about sizing without having the hassle of sewing the entire thing up. It will at least give me an idea if the size is way off like it was before. But I'll see if that works out.

So...
today: rip, iron, cut pattern, test size by making strips from the pattern pieces
tomorrow: (possibly finish cutting pattern) cut material
thursday: sew
friday: finish sewing, fit
monday: cut actual material
tuesday: sew
wednesday: finishing touches

I'll update with my progress later in the week. I think this schedule doesn't give me enough time, but we'll see how it goes.

Short Story Submission

I just dithered for about half an hour over sending an email. Now, I'm pretty good at dithering over emails in general (Have I spelled everything right? Does it make sense? Do I sound like a fool?) but this email was special.

It's the first time I've submitted my writing in the hopes of getting accepted and paid for it. Imagine it - me, published. My heart does a little dance and I can't help smiling when I think of it. And then my brain steps in and reminds me that there will be hundreds of other writers submitting, and that my story doesn't stand much of a chance of being accepted. But still. It's exciting. And now I need to forget about it until August, when they announce the line-up.

Until then, it's back to Zachery and all his troubles. Though, I really enjoyed* writing this short story and am considering writing more. But I need to give Zachery some attention first. He gets very angsty when I leave him alone for too long.


*It's so easy to say I enjoyed it when it's finished. You should have seen me agonise over it when things weren't working out. I even gave up at one point, but my subconscious wouldn't let me off that easily. It continued to work though the snarly knot I'd made of things and drove me back to the story so it could see if its solution worked.

January round-up

Not much happened in January. I think the highlight was skiing in the middle of the month. We headed to Sunrise, me with the hopes of taking up skiing and actually managing to make it down a slope that wasn't the beginners area. I've never managed it with snowboarding (all of twice I've tried it) because stopping on a snowboard is hard and I don't like it when I can't stop (also the reason I've never gotten good at rollerblades).
So my hope came true. By the end of Sunday I could wend my way down the hill with only a few stops to get past the most steep bits or to get myself in a good position to go across them. And now I'm conflicted. Because I got on well with skiing I want to try snowboarding again - because the slope in sunrise is very learner-friendly. But at the same time I feel I should stick with skiing until I can do parallel turns. We're thinking of going this weekend again, but I get the impression I'm the only one who really really wants to go.

What else happened? I made 2 t-shirts. I had a bunch of them from PAX which were too big for me so I cut them up and made them into t-shirts with raglan sleeves. I'm pretty proud of them. So of free t-shirts from PAX, one is a bodice and two are still t-shirts, but different.

I've come to a grinding halt with Altaran (aka book 2). I have no idea how to make act 3 work out the way I want. I don't really even know what the way I want is. So I'm going through what I've written and sorting out what happens (yes, I am pretty fuzzy because, while I had a plan, I made a lot of the story up as I went along) to see if I can draw a good (dramatic, tense, satisfying) ending from it all.

I think that was pretty much January. We're thinking of going to D&D encounters again. A new story is starting on Wednesday. I've been playing Neverwinter Nights and my head is filled with D&D. For the first time ever, I actually get how a bunch of rules I never understood before work (like identify and the difference between spot and search). Of course, it is 3rd ed rules, but oh well. I should just play Pathfinder instead.

Right. I think that's mostly that.

2013

I'm only 11 days late: happy new year, livejournal! 2013 isn't off to the best start for me ever, but it's getting better as I get over this cough / cold / 5-day headache / general affliction in which nothing much is actually wrong with me, but I don't feel quite right. Anyway, today I've been feeling mostly better.

I'm playing spec ops: the line at the moment and it's making me want to visit Dubai. I want to go on an architectural holiday. Because if the buildings in the game are anything to go by this city is the most amazing looking thing ever. I just took a moment to look up the actual buildings in Dubai and I think the game took liberties with reality.
So, apart from the architecture, the game is very pretty with dust-filled skies making everything pink and orange and red. It's also impossible. I keep dying (playing on normal), but at least it saves checkpoints often so you never get set back too far. Which makes me think they set out to make it so that you die lots. Twice now it's asked me (very politely, I might add) if I want to go down to an easier difficulty. But mostly it's fine, just when we get pinned down I die a lot. And once again, I've found that I am most successful with a humble pistol. And I don't run out of ammo with it either.

So apart from games and not feeling well, I'm back writing after the christmas break. I'm only managing a page a day, but it's better than nothing. I'm going super-hard on poor Zachary this time around. It's all good.

Right, I must eat.

More nano stuff.

I'm almost at 50,000. I'm exactly half way through my book half way through the month and it feels great to be on schedule. I had a really bad weekend last and fell behind by about 4,000 words (or a day and a bit). But I've been doing between 4- and 5,000 word days and have finally caught up. The nanowrimo stats page tells me that at this rate I'll "finish" tomorrow. I'm so happy right now. I really feel like I'm achieving something.

writing like a madwoman

Happy November!

NaNoWriMo started today. I want to get cracking on book 2, so this is my motivation to get the rough draft (draft 0) out of the way. I'm going for 90,000 words over the month - 3,000 words per day. I got just over that today, but I feel a bit like a runner who's full of energy right now and is going well in the first part of the marathon. We'll see how things go as the month progresses. Anyway. I'm definitely going to have to rewrite the first 4 pages (because it's abysmal exposition and z being whiney) and I'll see how the rest of the story shapes up before making decisions on the rest of it.

Halloween was good fun. I got my costume finished - very rushed by the end, but it turned out well. Bookclub and the Saturday out were both good. The quality of costumes over here seems way better than in Ireland (or maybe I just wasn't paying as much attention to what people were wearing).

Have I mentioned we're going to see Deftones? I can't wait. I've been listening to them a lot recently.

I don't have a whole lot of other news. :scratch head: I guess I'll go.

NaNoWriMo

I suppose I should mention that I'm doing nanowrimo this year. I'm thinking of doing something very stupid and trying to get all 100,000 words of draft one of book two done over November (or there-abouts). I figure if I have 33 chapters and each chapter has 3,000 words that'll get me to 99,000 which is close enough to 100,000 to me. That means I have to write a chapter a day (that's where the "there-abouts" comes in, because that puts me three days over). And that's why this idea is stupid. On my best days in previous nanos I could write 4,000 words in a day, but that happened only a handful of days and I was exhausted by the time I'd written that much. I'm not sure I can sustain that energy for a whole month. Even to have a chance I'd need an immaculate outline, which I don't have at this stage. But there's still time before November.

First, I have to get my Halloween costume finished. I'm almost done with it. I have a bunch of fur to sew and the bodice to make and I have to put velcro on all the pieces to make them stay on me. Then it's just finishing touches and a bit of painting (and a paper mache shoulder guard - which I'm working on tomorrow) and I'll be done.

Our trip to Flagstaff was really good. We went to the Grand Canyon on Tuesday, the lava cave and meteorite crater on Wednesday, and Sedona on Thursday. Sedona is amazing. I want to live there. I drove there from Flagstaff, and we decided to go the scenic route (which is also the shortest distance). Oh wow. The drive was something else. We went over the mountains and coming down the other side was nothing but breathtaking vista after breathtaking vista. It was so beautiful. And the weather was perfect. Warm, but not too hot. The town itself is nice, if touristy. I wanted to see a vortex (how could I not want to visit a vortex - it's Sedona, you practically have to visit one) but either there was no parking or we had to hike (which lordkilljoy wasn't up for). So I'm going to go back some day and visit a vortex by myself. We just went home on Friday because it was raining. I can hear a voice in my head going: "Call yourself Irish? A little drizzle puts you off?" Yes, well. I hate rain. And living in Arizona has made me hate it even more.

Short Update

In the last week I've:
made berry frozen yoghurt (tastes amazing, needs about 15 minutes to melt a bit when it comes out of the freezer for good texture)
washed my hair with baking soda (going well so far, no greasy or dry hair)
fainted (whacked my knee on the table, pretty certain the dog had free reign to lick my face)
made griddle bread (just like Mammy used to make when we were younger - at least that's what my flawed memory tells me)
gotten loads of writing done (am 2/3 the way through the final, final edits - at least before a publisher gets at it)

Now. I get a star for productivity.

Randomy Random Post

We got to see fireworks last night. They were cool. And we had a perfect view - about as close as you could get, without even realising it when we chose our spot. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I felt kinda bad as we headed out to the fireworks - even though I'd been for a 5 mile walk with River, but I guess I just felt we should have met up with some people. It didn't help that the day was muggy and overcast.

My crackers got finished off today. I'm going to make more, along with some digestive biscuits. I've set myself a challenge to make digestives exactly like McVities, so I started by getting the packet ingredients list and a random recipe for digestives and merging them. My only one bafflement is wholemeal. Is this wheat? Oat? Some other kind of grain? I'm afraid that oats will bake the biscuits turn out more like HobNobs. And while HobNobs are good, they are no McVities digestive. My caramel squares are almost gone too. The last few are in the freezer.

I renewed my driver's licence today. Kind of spur of the moment thing when lordkilljoy reminded me. So, if you get to the office just after it opens, the wait is only a little over an hour, rather than 3 at every other time. So I shouldn't have to do that again because this time it's valid until a year after my visa runs out.

Remember ages ago, I wrote a post proclaiming how I was totally finished Artificer? I totally lied. I've been working on it somewhat constantly since then and am now almost done with it. I'm 3/4 of the way through the final read through and have some 200 notes on changes and corrections that need to be made (a lot of which are simple typos, but one or two are whole scene rewrites).

I restarted the front panel of my crochet robot. I wasn't happy with it and figured it would only take a little while to do again. It will be cool when it's stuffed and sewed up.

I don't think I have much other news. This post was mainly procrastination for not doing the dishes.

The End

So. I'm officially done with Artificer :)

penelope_stone is reading it and I might make some final changes based on her feedback, but right at this moment I'm moving on to book 2 and not looking back. I've been tossing ideas about book 2 around in my head for the last few weeks, and I think I'm coming to the realisation that I've lost a lot of what made book 1 good in book 2. I need to bring it back to Zachery - it's still his story. Not Zan and Kej's (or whatever Zan will be called once I settle on a new name for her). So I'm thinking of rewriting most of what I've done from Zachery's point of view. I'm also thinking I don't have nearly enough plot to fill this book out, and that frightens me. Because there's nothing worse than filler. Anyway. That's a worry for tomorrow morning. I'm actually thinking of reworking the outline - doing it in long-version to get a really good idea for just how much content I have. But I don't know if that's just a form of procrastination.

Anyway. It's weird. I thought I'd feel more at putting Artificer away, but I guess I've been done with so many drafts at this stage, it's just another link in the chain. And I guess in the back of my mind, I know that it will be there if I want to make more changes. I guess at this stage, the hard part will be staying away from it. (Nah - not really.)

I don't have a lot of other news. Did I mention I'm playing Planescape Torment again? I have come to the realisation that this is my all time favourite game ever. Yes - it even beats the Elder Scrolls games. The story, the characters, the setting - I love everything about this game. And I love the fact that it's so thoughtful at the same time. There are bits of philosophy in this game that you can't help get caught up in, and get thinking about.

Right then. I'm off.

Cooking Update

(And writing update - let's do that first. It's more exciting.) I went over all of Artificer in five days. Once I got through the first few chapters, I was mostly reading, though. I can't seem to help myself - I get so caught up in the story. I guess this is a good thing, but now I'm wondering is the end good enough. The whole book is so exciting, with huge things going on and then the end just seems to come around so fast. Not sure if I just read it too fast, though. And it is just the end of the first book - kind of leading in to the second book. Or maybe I need something to slow the pace right before the end, and then pick it back up again. Not sure.

Right - cooking.
I've still been mad making delicious things, I've just kind of lost the will to photograph / write about them. Highlights this week were rolledy tubes of pasta with a cheese filling inside (way to make food sound unappetising :self-depreciatory face: ). They were absolutely delicious - like a yummy rolled up lasagne. And they were lovely, despite me not having two and a half of the ingredients.
The other high point was the meat sung type thing I made last night. It was "type thing" because it didn't actually have any meat. I used quorn instead, but you wouldn't even know. It was so delicious. And I got to puff rice noodles. I used up all my oil doing it, though. But it turned out so lovely. I made a huge dish - like 15"x10" or something - and we ate almost the whole thing. Savagery, but it was so yummy. And to be fair, most of it was air in the puffedy thingys. Anyway. Pics:


Well, one pic. Nom nom nom.

Today is a good day

I love when I make a list of things to do and I get everything done. I had a wonderfully productive day today - got some writing done, some wedding stuff, hung out with River, tidied, got dinner ready. I'm all go. I wish every day could be like this.

We're off to Raw (wrestling) tonight. Hence the productivity. It should be really good - I'm looking forward to it anyway, and I've only been half-watching wrestling for the last few weeks.

I have a new morning routine. It's mostly the same as the old one, but after I get in from walking River and have breakfast, before I do anything else, I write for an hour. Just one hour - not that long at all, and I'm getting loads done. Okay - I am still rewriting (so it's possible to get loads done in an hour) but it still feels good getting though a whole chapter in that little time. I'm back picking at the start of Artificer again and I really think I have it this time. This is absolute final draft for the start of the book. After this I have to make Azrynn more of a person, and that's it. Those are my last two problems with the book. Then it's off to query. Oh, em. No. Wait. It's not. Then it's on to book 2 until I get a work permit - then query book one.

I don't have much else to say.

Scriptfrenzy

So, I finished my script with 98 pages. That's good enough for me. It's a kind of fun story, and it ended well. I suppose I could go back and try to pad out some scenes, but honestly, I think I did enough of that while I was writing it.

I think I just don't have it in me to write a 100 page script. I got to 99 pages the last time I tried - I added in blank lines until I got to 100 pages.

Yea, I don't have much else to say.

We're off to watch roller derby next weekend. That should be really fun. It's lordkilljoy's birthday tomorrow. We don't have any plans.

I think that's it, really.

Bread, again. And other things.

I just made the most delicious bread ever. I'm really biased, but it really is delicious. I put in less flour than called for (3 cups instead of 4), and it came out just perfect. It's light, fluffy, with the most delicate crust - crumbly and perfect, like the texture of digestive biscuits. Mmmmmmm. I just had a slice and I want more. I made it so I could have french toast, but it's far too good to use on french toast right now. Maybe tomorrow.

The weather warmed up again. it's 24 outside and 26 in here. I have all the windows open and the ceiling fan on - there's the most delightful breeze blowing around the place.

What other news...I played a bit of Portal 2 on Tuesday evening. It's brilliant. I must get back to it. Actually, if I get to page 73 in my script today I will go play this afternoon. I only have to write one more page (Mmmm, how did I get this bread to be so good?) but it's kind of hard because it's sort of the climax and I think its going to be a short scene. I want it to be more than a page, but at the same time, I don't want it to feel drawn out.
In other game news, I'm still playing World of Warcraft. I joined a new guild recently, and think it will be fun. I'm now spreading my time over 5 characters, all of whom I love to play - they are all completely different to each other too, which is quite amazing.
D&D encounters last night was fun, too. We were a different table, with a good GM and a good mix of classes (fighters and healers - what more do you need; well, okay, a rogue to open locks, but we got on well enough bashing it open).

Right - I really need to get back to my script.


Ingredients

3 cups wheat flour
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened (I used spreadable butter - didn't have enough real butter, and no margarine)
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and butter. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes.
(I went the full 50 minutes, because my oven is underpowered - I think this is why the crust came out so nice.)

Wind

I couldn't go outside today because of the wind. It was gusting gale force 8, and a pretty constant force 6.
... Wind Advisory remains in effect until 8 PM MDT this evening...

A Wind Advisory remains in effect until 8 PM MDT this evening.

* Location... the Santa Fe and Albuquerque Metro areas as well as
new mexicos northeast plains and the Chaves County plains
including Roswell.

* Winds... west winds will shift out of the northwest today with
sustained speeds from 25 to 35 mph and gusts from 45 to 50 mph.

* Timing... wind speeds will continue to strengthen through mid day
then remain strong through the afternoon. Speeds will weaken
below hazardous thresholds around sunset.

* Visibility... blowing dust will drop visibility well below 1 mile
at times in dust prone locations.

* Local impacts... strong Crosswinds will develop on north to south
and northeast to southwest oriented roads... including I-25.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

Take action to secure trash cans... lawn furniture... and other
loose or light weight outdoor objects.


It's kind of rotten, not being able to go outside because of the wind... well, more because of the dust and sand the wind carries.

We went to see Cage the Elephant on Tuesday night. They were good - very lively, and they played the three of their songs I know. Yeay.

My scriptfrenzy is going well enough. I'm still behind (by slightly less than one day), but catching up. If I can manage to get the pages done this weekend, I should be good. Here's hoping my idea lasts another 50 pages. I have a battle to go, then a whole new area, then the climax and the end. And leading up to this was the start, travel, this area and a battle. Hmmm. I may have to get creative with adding in CUT TO: to try to pad it out a bit. Cheating, I know, but my script is a bit action heavy as it is. It needs a bit of breathing space.

I don't have much other news. I want to make muffins, but I have no eggs, and can't go to the shop because of the wind. Ah well.

Writing Troubles

This week has been slower than most. Usually by Wednesday I've picked up my pace after the weekend, and things start to get written. Not this week. I'm only a thousand and a bit words into this chapter (and my 5,000 per week). I have a lot to get done tomorrow and Friday, and I'm just not inspired by this scene at all. It's fine, but it seems so forced. It's a way to get from A to B. I've changed things around a bit and it's better than my original idea, but still.

I like Lj's spring banner. It's bright and cute. And it suits the rest of the site.

It got down to -11 last night. There is ice on the inside of the window again. I went out for a bit today (about 5 minutes) and my nose and fingers were freezing. It was -9 at that stage. It's -10 now. Brrrr. But it's sunny and the snow is melting. Wait... the snow is melting at -10? How does that work? The forecast is giving -20 for tonight. -20. Seriously.
I put an extra blanket on the bed last night - it was doubled over so that was two extra layers, and I was toasty, but not roasting. So if it's going to be double what it was from 0 last night tonight (writing how you speak doesn't really work at all - just focus on the next few words), I'm going to have to put on 4 blankets or something.
Earlier this week the forecast was giving 17 for later in the month. That's gone now. 11 is the highest. No, wait. It's 14.

Can you tell I'm just wasting time now?

What other news? We went walking on volcanoes on Saturday. It was good. The climate here is amazing. It's like being on another planet. The grass is yellow and the sky is the deepest shade of blue.

Right, so. I'll go now.