The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

I hope H_P is doing okay. I'm sure his dragon is missing him ...

I've got a fresh pot of coffee going and the teapot is hot. There are donuts and raspberry scones on the counter.

After a visit to the national cemetery yesterday, I did some writing. I don't know if it will stay in the story when I'm done, but I'll have to consider cutting it. I do tend to end my stories on a downer and I'd like to break that habit. I'll be over in the corner working on another scene which will lead to some happy red-hot sex ...
 
I usually end my stories on a downer too... but in the final edit something screams "You can't do that to him/her/them!" and I end up adding a few paragraphs that turns the ending around. Why is it so easy to write sad pieces? My current story (and my longest one) Alan Scarlett Best Two out of Three is a complete and total bummer all the way through... but it will be followed by Alan Scarlett Why Robot which is going to be the best year of his life. It's hard to communicate that when your story is 39 pages long on lit and you severely pared it down before publishing.
 
Another day, another harried and hurried writer, just putting it out there for readers, asking them to love me! But do I get any love? Sometimes. I haven't published anything for two weeks (like anywhere). I'm stuck in my second draft of a novella, and still I'm getting love (and money) from readers. Who could ask for more? Me, that's who! I want a cup of coffee, who do I have to blow for a cup of Jo? Oh, that sort answers itself. Morning Literites!
 
Well...another day has dawned....and here I am chugging away on Chapter 2 of my newest work....Work is going well I think...I wrote about 2.5k words yesterday...not sure how much I'll get done today though, as I will be writing while sitting at a friends house while they and my wife do their weekly podcast (yes, another one...lol) and then I have a crap ton of shopping...and tomorrow I will have a limited amount of time...
 
"I see you came to bed at 4:00am."

Sigh. We keep a log of when we let the dog out, and C saw the entry for 3:58. Why the log? Male Dalmatians are well-known for urinary tract issues. We have to track his comings and goings to detect breaks in the pattern, watching for problems. This one hasn't had issues up to this point, but two Dals ago the poor fellow (the happy avatar to the left) required surgery to remove the stones.

I was up working on a Sports story, and it was really flowing, so it was easy to lose track of time. I woke up (at 10:30) having doubts about the last 500 words or so and its lead-in. Event window starts in a few days, so time to get'r'done!
 
I have a severe ear infection. BECAUSE! A friend, I use the term loosely, visited us last night, and she had the audacity to play us some German crap rock! The same group once featured on Elementary, which Holmes compared to running sandpaper over the brain. I have the same opinion. She's a teen and asked if we knew how to have AI translate the words into English. She's curious about what they are singing about. We didn't, and she went on her merry way to ask someone else.

One more cup-a-brew and back to writing.
 
Well.....damn....I'm at a crossroads here....I've written a good amount today.. (about 2k words) things have been flowing well....

but....I've reached a point in my story where I feel a natural end to the chapter....so my instinct is to end here, and start a new chapter...but.....It's waaaay shorter than I would prefer it to be....Chapter one was 4 pages on Lit (10.4k words.) this chapter, is currently sitting at 4.5k words...and like I said...I've reached a natural stopping point....I've got a sex scene in there...so I'm good for the "erotic stuff" And story is good....but....4.5k is kinda short....no? I don't know....im not sure what to do....Maybe I'll write chapter 3, and combine the two Chapters...I've seen that...just post it as Chapter 2&3....
 
Well.....damn....I'm at a crossroads here....I've written a good amount today.. (about 2k words) things have been flowing well....

but....I've reached a point in my story where I feel a natural end to the chapter....so my instinct is to end here, and start a new chapter...but.....It's waaaay shorter than I would prefer it to be....Chapter one was 4 pages on Lit (10.4k words.) this chapter, is currently sitting at 4.5k words...and like I said...I've reached a natural stopping point....I've got a sex scene in there...so I'm good for the "erotic stuff" And story is good....but....4.5k is kinda short....no? I don't know....im not sure what to do....Maybe I'll write chapter 3, and combine the two Chapters...I've seen that...just post it as Chapter 2&3....
You can keep writing and make that decision later.
 
Yeah...that's what I am doing for now...I have like 30-45 minutes left before my writing time is over for the day...so Im just going to keep writing, and see what happens..
 
My great experiment continues - to rewrite an entire series. I find it's quicker to add new chapters than to wait for Laurel to... I'm not quite sure what she's doing with the re-written chapters... she's clearly not checking for spelling. Any guesses?
 
My great experiment continues - to rewrite an entire series. I find it's quicker to add new chapters than to wait for Laurel to... I'm not quite sure what she's doing with the re-written chapters... she's clearly not checking for spelling. Any guesses?
I think she's re-reading the story I edited in April--over and over--because it's so good. ;)
 
I think she's re-reading the story I edited in April--over and over--because it's so good. ;)
It helps when we convince ourselves of that...

One more new chapter to go before diving back into the old stuff...
 
I added a little under 1K to my WIP. Not bad for me, but now I'm back to listening to Slipknot because I feel like I'm losing touch with Zelda. She seems to have a conflict: appearing suicidal while planning for a future.
 
I watched the sunrise and sat most of the day looking out the back window. My butt is sore from sitting in a 'six-hour' chair. I did get some exercise using the rollator to get the mail. I guess I shouldn't still be in it now at 1:02 a.m., should I?

Crazy pair of cardinals keeps dashing into the windows every so often. Bang, flutter back out and then back in head first. Crazy critters.

No writing here. Just wasted time reading the politics forum and getting irked. Bad, bad man. When will you ever learn!
 
I watched the sunrise and sat most of the day looking out the back window. My butt is sore from sitting in a 'six-hour' chair. I did get some exercise using the rollator to get the mail. I guess I shouldn't still be in it now at 1:02 a.m., should I?

Crazy pair of cardinals keeps dashing into the windows every so often. Bang, flutter back out and then back in head first. Crazy critters.

No writing here. Just wasted time reading the politics forum and getting irked. Bad, bad man. When will you ever learn!
We had a cardinal returning EVERY DAY for MONTHS, doing that to the same window! It would land on the railing near the windows, then launch itself at the window, pecking at it's reflection a few times before landing again. It usually started around 6:30 am and went on for fifteen minutes, over and over, picking at its reflection.

One thing which finally worked was hanging a strip of shiny, silver mylar wrapping ribbon on the outside of the window, which seemed to scare it away ... for about six months. Then it returned, ignoring the tape and pecking at its reflection again ... EVERY DAY starting at six-thirty in the morning!

BTW, that damages the coating on the outside of treated windows.

We read online that cardinals will do that, picking the same window, and it can go on for years. And they don't migrate for a winter break!
 
Cardinals are crazy. It's a wonder they haven't gone extinct.

I've got a fresh pot of coffee going and I'm going to have to procure more beans shortly. If anyone has a request for anything other than medium roast Arabica beans, let me know and I'll lay some in for later use. The teapot is hot and ready for use. I've got some muffins (the apple pie ones are to die for) and waffles for anyone who wants to nosh.

I'll be over in the corner working on my story. It is such a pleasure to be able to put electronic words to electronic paper and not despair that you can't get them out of your head.
 
Mornin' folks.

The NYT hard Sudoku took 22 minutes this morning. I spent an hour and a half last night on a puzzle I generated. It beat me. My logical faculties fade late in the day.

I need to finish the current scene in my WIP then go back to the start of the scene, increase Zelda's need, and harden her edge. It's hard to hit that balance.
 
I remember seeing cardinals as a small child and being so entranced at their beauty. Sadly, we don't have them where I live now. Thanks for the memories!
 
Cardinals... we have three nesting pair around our house. One male is almost tame. He will land in front of the patio door to solicit attention if the feeder is empty, and will chirp at C when she steps out to refill it. It's fun to watch the males feed their mates.

No window craziness with any of them. The few window hits we get are sparrows or starlings.
 
We didn't have any cardinals in North Dakota or Colorado, they're not a Prairie Bird, but down here in "Florgia" they're a part of the amazing display of birds. One of my favorites is a kite. I can watch kites soar all day long.

This is a swallow tail kite. They can float on the gentle breezes all day long and never bat their wings

swallow-tailed-kite-andy-morffew-flight-cc.jpg
 
The sun made a momentary appearance but it clouded up again. We may have some sun today and I'm going to pot up the rest of my herbs today. The knee is doing much better and I can actually walk around quite a bit without pain. However, the knee stiffens up if I sit too long and it takes several hobbling steps before it starts working properly again. I guess I'll never walk freely again for the rest f my life and I start feeling sorry for myself. Then I think of you guys and figuratively slap myself for being so silly ...

Anyway, there's a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the teapot is hot. There are donuts and danish on the counter, and I'm going to try to make some brownies later today.

I'll be over in the corner working on my new story. It's going to be a series of vignettes all following a central theme with a twist at the end. Further affiant sayeth naught ...
 
The NYT hard Sudoku took me 33 minutes this morning.

Back at the WIP, Alex learned that his budding relationship with Grace isn't as purely affectionate as he imagined, but maybe he was being naive.

The I/T crowd is so going to loath this story.
 
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