Hot, Hot, Hot!

             I was pretty happy moving to Los Angeles many years ago. I came from an area where winters were really winters, with cold and snow and all. Here in L.A. winter was always somewhat temperate, even though we got rain—which we needed.

But these days nearly everyone has issues with the weather wherever we live. Our temperature this week is hotter than it’s been in March for ages, maybe ever. I know it’s a whole lot better than snowstorms and tornadoes, and I’m even feeling a bit ashamed that I’m even mentioning the heat here when so many people are suffering from really bad conditions. And I still think I live in a good place for weather—although I do wish we’d get a lot more rain than the large amount we had a few weeks ago that stopped quickly. I’ve always been more of a fan of cool weather, though not necessarily freezing, instead of heat. Needless to say, I’m not exactly thrilled about our current weather. But I’m not really complaining –much. Those of you who’re reading this could have it a lot worse.

            So what do I do in the heat? I stay at my computer in the AC and, yes, write and edit. And I’m also glad we have AC for our furry pups. 

Yay Crochet!

 

 It's national crochet month, so I finally have gotten back to it.  My former craft room became Jakey's  pad and all my yarn. hooks, etc got moved around.  I knew where everything was and now I don't which was an obstacle to starting to work on something.

I finally decided to start with small pieces from a book I got that has pattern for fun little items.  Then I had to locate the yarn that I had gotten to make such items.  I had put the package of small amounts of different colored yarn in a plastic box which I had to hunt down since someone else moved it.

At last I had everything together and started to started to make some small items.  It felt good to be using a hook again.  

I want to work on a knitting project, but I'll have to start by finding my knitting needles.  

The confusion is worth it as Jakey loves his pad.  He's at the age where his space is his world.  When he is here, he only comes out when he's hungry and even that he often takes care of himself.

For now, my craft spot is the living room and I'm confident that I will figure out where all my stuff is.  I am glad that I can adapt. 

   

Movie As Research

           What do you do when you hear about a movie that sounds as if it may have some similar aspects to a book you’re interested in writing? You go see the movie! Which I did, though I’m not going to tell you which one. But it was enjoyable, maybe gave me some more ideas, but if I write what I’m considering it will still be quite different. So, I consider it research.

            Meanwhile, yes, I’ve been working on the manuscript revision I’ve mentioned before. Some progress, at least. And my sweet pups are definitely keeping me company as I work, as always, but I’m sure they still sense my somewhat stress.

           But hey, I always want my books that get published to be their best--so here we go!

Breaking Habits

 The rewrite of  the next Yarn Retreat book continues.  I'm thinking of calling it Danger Looms.  I won't go into detail, but it seems I forgot what day it was in the manuscript and the time was all screwed up.  Like things were happening out of order. Trying to fix what  I have written is not nearly as satisfying as writing.  So, I ditched a lot of what I'd written and wrote it again.  Surprises happened.  Characters started doing things on their own and interacting with each other.

I found another secret to staying in the flow.  I leave my phone in another room.   It was too easy to let it distract me.  I can't blame the phone.  I was the one who picked it up and started scrolling though whatever.  It only took doing it once to break the habit.   

I started prying myself away from my phone at other times.  It  is amazing how easy it was to do that.  The hard part is that it is not black or white.  I used to drink Diet Coke all the time and literally had a bottle of it next to my bed.  I decided that I didn't want to have anything with artificial sweeteners  anymore.  And that was it.  I stopped drinking Diet Coke completely.  I think even I was surprised that I didn't miss it or consider having it occasionally   I did the same with cigarettes. It has been over thirty-five years and I never once missed smoking.  I totally surprised myself with that.  I guess I did it with becoming a vegetarian over forty years ago.  

The trick is  to have my phone available, but not use it as a distraction.  I see how easy it is to blindly keep scrolling through Facebook posts as through there is an end.  Or even to be tempted by clickbait  half written headlines.  I will have to learn to tell my curiosity to stand down.

 In the meantime, I'm using crossword and mystery logic puzzles when I need a distraction.  At least those have the benefit of exercising my brain. and giving me the feeling of satisfaction of completing something  I thought I couldn't do..