Better Knot Stop

I feel like a broken record. For the last few weeks all I seem to have been saying was that I was down to the wire with my manuscript. I really and truly am, this time. I got another week which is up on Tuesday and they will definitely have it by then. As I’m still finishing, my editor has already been having cover meetings and today I got all the cover copy

. They also decided on a title. What I’ve been calling Book 5 is now Better Knot Dye.

In the midst of my frantic rewriting I got an email from my Chicago downstairs neighbor, saying her bathroon ceiling was pealing and would I take care of the leak. To make a long story short, two days later I was on a plane. It might sound extreme to go 1740 miles to let the plumber in, but there was talk of hacking up floors, so I thought I ought to be there (here since that’s where I am).

Thanks heavens for laptops. I just took my work on the road. I have no problem with that.

My father was a writer and wrote a number of non fiction books. But he had a thing about needing a place to write. I have my laser printer on the wooden desk my mother set up for him in one of the bedrooms when we moved here. At last he was going to have the place to work he always said he needed. He never seemed to use it. I’m not sure what fault the spot had, but for whatever reason it didn’t work for him and he used it as a reason not to write anymore.

Maybe as a reaction to forever hearing about him needing a special place to write, I decided I would be able to write anywhere and everywhere. Before I even left for Chicago, I took my work on the road. My husband and son had a meeting in Santa Barbara and I went along for the ride. I set up my computer in an outer office while they did their meeting.

I have to admit it is easier to work here in Chicago than at home. No cat is jumping over the back of my chair and then digging his claws in my shoulders so he doesn’t fall. There is also no one coming up behind me telling me I need to do something. No laundry buzzer going off, meaning I have to hang the stuff outside. No one is saying what’s for dinner or can you fix this. My dog isn’t barking at me telling me its time for her walk.

The plumber came yesterday and spent three hours here hacking the floor and replacing the broken pipe. I worked through it all. And when I stopped with the manuscript, I worked on the crochet patterns I’m including.

This morning it was fall out of bed and go back to the computer until I took a break to take a walk. It gets dark so early here; it’s twilight at 4:30. When I got back I ate something quickly and went back to work.

Come to think of it. This surprise trip has turned into a retreat like Terri’s, but without the other people and the javelinas. Okay better get back to writing or Better Knot Dye won’t get done.