I know, we just get you used to having a Monday blog from Angel, only to show up today and find me here. But I got an emergency call from Angel asking me to do today’s blog because she’s having keyboard issues.
Well, by "issues" I mean she dumped half a glass of iced tea on her keyboard and fried it. For those of you outside of the former Confederacy, yes, we do drink iced tea year round. And most times, that tea is sweet. So not only did she combine liquid and technology, she added sugar to the mix to really gum up the works.
I get to tease her endlessly about this… and since she can download and read email, but not respond to anything, there’s also the added benefit of getting to say provocative things on the Playfriends email loop and she won’t be able to respond. HeHeHe.
This'll be fun until she gets a new keyboard. Then I'm in trouble...
So we'll just move on to my blog post.
Spring seems to be springing in Alabama. It’s warm enough most days for me to actually venture outside, and I’ve been forcefully reminded of how much I’ve let the yard work slide during my winter hibernation. My neighbors are already putting us to shame by cleaning up their yards, so I may be forced to do something about ours soon.
Just in case you haven’t figured this out yet, I’m not exactly what you’d call an outdoor kind of girl. I don’t like to sweat, I don’t like bugs, and I burn when left in the sun for longer than 15 minutes. I don’t do outdoor sports. If I must be outside, I prefer to be in a hammock with a book and a glass of lemonade while Darling Geek fans me gently with a large palm frond. (Unfortunately, Darling Geek won’t do that very often.)
I hate outdoor labor of any variety, but I resent it a lot when I’m forced to leave the computer and my current WIP behind to do something as horrible as yard work. While I’ve heard of other writers who can plot their books while mindlessly weeding, I have to keep an eye on Amazing Child if I don’t want my lilies pulled up with the weeds. No plotting time for me.
(Hey, if anyone finds yard work to be fun, relaxing, or rewarding, let me know. I’d be happy to turn my yard over to your knowing, talented green thumbs.)
But since I’ve been avoiding my WIP lately, maybe the arrival of spring is a good thing. No matter how frustrated I get with the huge plot hole, no matter how much I decide my heroine is too stupid to live and my alpha hero has turned into an overbearing jerk, dealing with the problems in my WIP still beats yard work any day. Now I can avoid the weeds by working on this book. So that’s a good thing.
It’s all about perspective, isn’t it?
What can you avoid today? Better yet, what can you put off until tomorrow so you can spend that time on your WIP?
Problem Child
11 comments:
"I don’t like to sweat, I don’t like bugs, and I burn when left in the sun for longer than 15 minutes."
Hmm...you could have been describing me...LOL. I hate gnats and other bugs that tend to hover around my face or head and I turn tomato red if out in the sun too long (no matter what I try I can't seem to tan)...LOL.
Psst...I had a glass of iced tea earlier...but I didn't spill it on my keyboard.
Guess I won't tell you that I pulled weeds this afternoon. I didn't enjoy it but it had to be done. I also helped the DH plant two climbing rose bushes. I know I'll enjoy their blazing red blooms once they become established. I like being outdoors, but I'm not really into outdoorsy things. Make sense? I love to sit on my back porch, tall glass of iced tea in hand and lose myself in a book. I've heard that the temps next weekend are going to be close to 80!
Sorry to hear about Angel's keyboard. I did that last year (or was it year before last?). There's no solution but buying a new keyboard. Fortunately, they're cheap.
I have the opposite problem. I'd do just about anything to avoid editing, so I spent the weekend working on flower weeds and going to flea markets.
The weather was great this weekend, huh? It's been close to 80 down here the last week. Hope it holds. Softball practice starts this week and there's nothing worse than freezing your rear off during softball lol. ;)
Procrastination? You do realize you're talking to the queen right? I'll even do actual work to avoide my WIP when it isn't flowing right. Although I do find that when I hit that point it's usually because I need some down time to figure out where I've gone wrong.
I hope it stays nice for the next couple weeks. We're heading to the beach in a couple weeks and I'd really like it to have warmed up enough for my girls to dip their feet in at least. This is the first year Sweet Pea is looking forward to it - in the past she's been afraid of the sand and refuses to walk on it without shoes and/or get her feet and hands dirty. And Baby Girl is old enough this year to really romp around and enjoy it. Although if the Gulf isn't warm enough there's always the heated pool or hot tub. But I have other plans for it ;-)
Hope your keyboard woes end soon Angel!
Instigator
I was going to say you were describing me! Bugs, sweat, sunburns...ugh. I tell people that I am an indoor cat. If you leave the door open and its nice out, I might saunter out onto the patio, roll around a little bit, act like I'm the Queen of the Patio, then at the slightest hint of ickiness, its back up onto the windowsill. Well, I actually sit in a patio chair, my cat does the rolling, but you get the metaphor. DB is an indoor dog. He likes to romp around outside and bark at squirrels on occasion, but when its too hot or too cold, he's on the couch.
I have a brown thumb, but I won't give up. I actually did some gardening work this weekend pruning rosebushes and trimming away the dead perrenials I've been ignoring all winter. My yard still looks like crap, but alas, anything to avoid what I NEED to be doing instead. Yeah, that's my WIP I'm avoiding. What's new?
SP
I love to be outdoors. Spent about all weekend outside with the little partners in crime.
Heard about the keyboard (even though my 1 yr old and 4 yr old have managed not to spill anything on ours) hope all is well.
Our yard is a wreck as well. Since I dont write, you could call it my WIP.
Well, ehough of the mindless chit-chat.........time to get back to the hot tub talk
Sorry about your keyboard, Angel.
I love to do yard work, play with the soil, plant flowers, watch them grow but I've been remiss in my duties of late. The pansies have started blooming but the perenials need to be deadheaded. The silhouettes claw mid-air as if to blaspheme my existence while new shoots of life sprout underneath with wide-eyed excitement!
The garden is a paradox of my WIP. New ideas breathe fresh life into my work while old ones hold on for dear life threatening to choke back any progress. If I...if we, don't take the time to weed out the chaff, our writing will resemble a dreary, winter garden clawing it's way into the light.
Step outside and enjoy the sunshine. Don't worry about bugs. Remember that worms lighten the soil, bees polinate the flowers, until just like sprouts rising up from an earthern tomb, the beauty of color, texture, and natural perfume reveal God's design. So too is a well written piece that comes from an imaginative mind.
Feeling philosophical today, ladies. Sorry.
Kathy
That's very zen-master of you, Kathy. Still doesn't change the fact that I fry in minutes and mosquitos love me. :)
SP
LOL SP!!! I know what you mean!! I fry and am a mosquito magnet too!
I appreciate the zen nod, SP. Be one with the mosquitoes. LOL.
Thankfully, they go after my husband first. He's my force field and good garden karma.
Kathy
Kathy--feel free to come find some Zen in my yard any time you want.
I'll be inside :-)
PC
Word verification is "zlnbwpzr"--why do I get the hard ones to type?
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