Author: Allegra

Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.

What I did today

I did no writing.  I practiced my mandolin a bit – I’m working on two songs at once, always inconvenient as my head ends up buzzing with everything I can hear and can’t sing all at once.  I delivered a children’s story and a homily at church.  Katie did me the honour of joining us.

It was well received.  I had no fewer than three current or former ministers in the congregation, so you can imagine how hard I had to brush up my toes.

I went for a 2.5 k walk in Oakalla (Deer Lake Park) with Paul.  And now I’m contemplating supper and the long awaited finale of True Detective. Paul and I drank tea on the back deck afterwards, and laughed like drains about one thing and another, and I got to look at his Australia pictures, some of which were quite entertaining and interesting.

Ralph Greer, one of the best and kindest and wisest men I ever knew, passed away Friday.  His funeral is next weekend.

I will take my ease for the rest of my Sunday – tomorrow will bring its own interesting events.

Wonderful interview

I had a fabulous interview yesterday.  The owner and the office manager interviewed me, seriatim, and I want to work there and I hope they want to hire me.  It’s a small growing company.

500 words yesterday.  I am not settling.  If, as I suspect, they hire me to start on Monday (!?) I have a couple of days to finish the novel (just joking, but I should make like Winsocki and buckle down).

Jeff kindly loaned me his car for the interview, thank you!

I give a homily at church this weekend.  I need to get the children’s story finished.

This is a remarkable photoset.

 

So it won an award

Disney’s Frozen is visually stunning and the book and libretto sucks. Sorry, but there it is.  A lot of talent has been thrown at a big budget, but honestly, you might want to think about watching it with the sound off.

The weather is well above freezing but damp and icky.

No writing yesterday.  I was hung up on various thinks and feels.

Now I’m going into that nasty weather for a walk.  I can’t keep sitting here and not writing; nothing gets the juices flowing like a long drive with no destination or a nice long walk.  Maybe I’ll pick up some lunch.

 

 

Under my breath

Yesterday was redeemed by painkillers, friendship and wordcount.  1100 words yesterday, got Katie moved into an apartment in New Westminster.

I’d like to thank Randy and Rob W for helping with the move in the absence of Paul and Keith. The family heirloom furniture has been safely moved.

Glad I went to bed at 8:30 last night, Margot woke me up looking for breakfast just now.

 

 

Longitude

I highly recommend it.  8 out of 10, would watch again.

350 words yesterday.

Today is going to be a bit of a write off, what with having volunteered to tidy coffee after church and helping Katie move.  I haven’t even figured out how I’m going to be dealing with driving a one ton truck in the mass of snow we’re supposed to be getting today.

Keith called yesterday.  Sounds like if he doesn’t land one of the ‘work on a farm’ gigs in Australia he’ll be back within a few weeks.  He actually sounded miffed that he wasn’t able to assist Katie movie, which you have to admit is sweet of him.  Then he is sweet, biased as I am.

Life etc.

1200 words yesterday

I have another month and a half at least of brutally hard work and then the real work begins.  Heavy sigh.

Yesterday there was an interesting church meeting at Audrey’s and we talked about our church’s mission.  I tried to contribute without mockery.  It was hard but I managed.

I have to help Katie move tomorrow.  Fortunately I have managed to locate some help.  Hopefully Katie has too.

 

2700 words

Yesterday was awesome, and who knows what today will bring.  I am officially at the halfway point; there remains 60000 words to write in the first draft, and then:

assembly – I’m not writing it in order so there will be a little hammer to fit and paint to cover in there

editing – there are certain words and constructions that characters never use, so I have to go through and remove them, as well as ensuring that verbs all tense up together in the appropriate places and I don’t do my normal firehose style application of adverbs and adjectives to every hapless noun.

beta readers

paid editor

final work and then I either self publish or see if someone will take it on.

I have a real job interview for a real job next Wednesday afternoon!  Not an agency. I am pleased, and I am still looking for work every day.

 

One foot in front of the other

I have interesting news, which I am waiting to share on the go-ahead of the other folks involved.   In the meantime, lip is zipped.

620 words yesterday.

Katie is moving out of her dad’s place on the 2nd.  I have rented a truck.  It’s going to be interesting, but it shouldn’t be that hard of a move, provided we get at least one other person lined up.

 

 

Sunny day

The sun on the snow yesterday – and the warmth, as it was quite warm – was a blessing after three straight days of snow.  I’m not used to shovelling  that much!

Jeff’s car is slowly going past that bourne from which no vehicle returns.  It’s certainly not safe for me to drive any more, so I have retreated from that endeavour.

Five hundred words yesterday.

The interview was interesting.  At the end of it I felt useless, stupid, dowdy, old and prehistoric.  But my test scores were great!  I wanted to slap some sense into the young thing I was talking to, but that doesn’t work even in the movies.  Then I locked myself in a stairwell.  So no, not exactly a good day.

Honest to Christ, I’m almost inclined to put my lumosity scores on my resume just to prove that I’m cognitively brighter than just about anybody.  The only real issue is speed – I’m not as fast as young people.  But in every other way, I blow doors off people younger than me. I won’t, it’s just another kind of bragging.

Found in the Toronto subway, safe for work. It’s a poster about alcoholism which somebody has marked up to mock Ford.

Today I will write, drink tea, eat leftovers, and ONCE MORE revise my goddamned resume to see if she’s right about it.  She made sure I knew that her time is much more important than mine, and that my resume is too much of a challenge for her.  And she is like all the rest, so she must be right, and I must need to stop feeling sorry for myself and just fix it.

 

My day so far

Cooking supper for breakfast – pork chops, oven baked potatoes and fresh steamed green beans.

Calling Sue and begging for a lift for church as there was a foot of snow on the ground.

Going to church.  It was about Israel being mean to the Palestinians.

Hanging around after church until my ride was ready and talking to people I love.

Buying fair trade organic chocolate, because, that’s part of what we do at Beacon.

Rob W gave me a ride home, but we DIVAGATED.  First we went to Renaissance Books, where I bought a cd and some books about First Nations, including a book by an activist I follow on twitter who really kicks ass, and a Buddy Wasisname album with Peggy Gordon on it.  Then Rob threatened to take me to lunch but we played quick draw mcdebit card and I won.  I had Putin, whoops, Poutine and Montreal Smoked Meat, and Vic from the SOAP hall dropped by and we had a lovely long chat, and he told me about this.   Which is about a crazy local woodturner.  Also I saw Kat, Katie’s old roommate and tattooist.

Now I’m trying to make word count.  It’s not going well!  I did work on my Homilies book instead thanks to mOm.

 

Just shy of the half way point

It will be so full of ideas, fun characters, crazy action and snappy dialog that no one will notice it has no plot.  (Of course it has a plot, I just don’t care about that part).   And if I follow the Dunnett Plan, a plot is just a way to get me from one awesome set piece to the next; those parts of the story that you go back and re-read because they are so funny, or mysterious, or moving, or scary or just plain action-packed.

1000 words yesterday. I can’t see the floor to my room, and I don’t care. Write every day while the world burns?  Same as it ever was.  I’ve gotten through every bad day before.

This is a completely different kind of February.  I’m used to feeling blah, and I don’t.

I wonder if I can get Jeff to take me shopping when he wakes up, there’s not anything I want to eat in the house right now.

 

sleeeeep

Margot just nosed her way into my room; which reminds me, I have to get on my hands and knees and wipe all her eye goop off the doors and walls in those places she normally stands.  She has a rip roaring case of ephoria, brown watery eyes.

Her breathing has been a little more stertorous of late.  She’ll be better when she is coming and going through her little cat door again.

Today, writing, practicing, seeing the floor of my room.