For Want of a Nail

We’ve probably all heard this little tale in one variation or another. Wikipedia attributes this particular version to DC Comics. I like this version because it includes a Knight in the logistics chain, but I don’t like the last line so I put in the one I prefer. Overall, I...

Not Everybody Loves Parfaits

Despite what Donkey and my husband say, not everybody loves parfaits. Layers, on the other hand, layers are good. That’s my excuse for running behind on my self-imposed schedule. Today, I’m supposed to be embarking on the actual writing portion of my work-in-progress and what am I doing? Layering. Plotting....

Top-Down

Some writers are “seat-of-your-pants” scribes, others are “top-down” organizers, and many fall anywhere in between.  I’m squarely in the top-down category whereas my brother’s a self-described puker, which is something somewhat more extreme than seat-of-your-pants writing. What follows is by no means solely (or even largely; or even much at...

Coincidence?

Early last week I considered the Tao of the Hiccup. I’ve since decided the hiccup-inspired character is going to be a dragon. Since then, {hic} several times when I’ve been at my desk actually working on the novel  (as opposed {hic} to surfing the internet or doing homework or staycationing as I had planned) I’ve...

Future Dreams

10 now down to 1. Today = my last day of day-job work for about 16-18 months. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeha! Noooo, I’m not going to prison. I’ve been voluntarily included in a workforce reduction which nets me enough severance and other payouts in the bank to take a hiatus from the...

Tao of the Hiccup?

“Grr says ‘hiccups’,” my husband calls out while walking up the stairs. This is not the first time he’s thrown that statement my way. “Noooooo” I reply, rolling my eyes and laughing. And yet. Hiccups. Hmmm. No, no, it would be uncontrollable, I mean, do you know anybody who...

Pre-Procrastination

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been pre-procrastinating. With my last day of day-job work looming I’ve spent weekends and evenings doing some of the things that I know would otherwise cause me to procrastinate once I’m officially writing full-time. Revamp this website. Done. Start blogging. Done. Add...

The Muddler

My Grandpa Pilkerson, or Grand P as we call him, loves to tell tales about this family member or that. Tall tales. Unbelievable tales. All of us grandchildren loved them, and never believed them. Yet, we’d always hold out hope that just maybe, someday, it would be one of...

10-to-1

10. 10 days. 10 business days, that is. 10 business days and I’ll no longer be employed by “the man” and will be a full-time writer and real estate broker. Yeeeeha. 27 business days it would have been, had they stuck to their original reduction-in-force (R.I.F.) schedule of Dec...

Dispirit

I’m dreaming, and in my dream someone pulls me away from someone else while saying: “don’t talk to him, he’s a Dispirit”. Dispirit? I awake to the dogs circling the bed doing their breakfast-time dance. Even though the clock says it’s only 5:12 a.m. their internal clocks say 6:12...