The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[TheLobster]

And yet if you're in Southern California and it sprinkles, everyone drives like it's the apocalypse.

Northern California, too. Bay Area's stretch of 101 is already terrible on the best of days, but it turns into Mad Max wasteland upon the slightest drizzle.

 

[ishtat]

Jur a little chilly here today. Forget drinking coffee. I'm going to fill the bath with it and climb in and immerse myself LOL. This is the sort of weather where you just turn the sauna on, and sleep there!!!! Not just the central heating on - I fired up the old wood-burner this morning too, just for the winter atmosphere it adds.....just made some fresh chocolate chip banana bread to go with the coffee......

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If you fancy an oral orgasm on a cold morning; get a packet of Tim Tams. Bite both ends off the chocolate covered Tim Tam, then suck your hot coffee (or tea) through the double 'circumcised' TimTam - like a straw. It's messy but amazing - and then have another one.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Baby it's cold outside. The snow will be starting in a few hours but for now it's just frigid. There's a possibility of some frozen precipitation tomorrow, but at least it won't be on the bottom with the snow on top. I'm prepared to hunker down for the next four days and hopefully my chocolate inventory is enough to get me through.

There's fresh hot coffee brewing and the teapot is boiling. There are snacks available on the counter and the fireplace has a nice fire going so you can enjoy your hot cocoa. Just try to shoo the plot bunnies away from the flames so they don't go up in a puff of smoke.

I'll be over in the corner working on my story. Hopefully, I'll make some progress as I obsess over the Weather Channel and the winter storm Fern ...

 

[TheLobster]

If you fancy an oral orgasm on a cold morning; get a packet of Tim Tams. Bite both ends off the chocolate covered Tim Tam, then suck your hot coffee (or tea) through the double 'circumcised' TimTam - like a straw. It's messy but amazing - and then have another one.

 

[_Lynn_]

It's a heat wave! The forecast says we'll make it all the way up to 8 degrees.

 

[MrPixel]

Crap. We have an inch already, and it wasn't supposed to start snowing until 1:00. 8° here, too, at the moment. Both AWDs are under cover, but the true 4x4 is in the barn a mile away. I'm going to regret that decision, I think.

Thank goodness we're already dug-in.

 

[NuclearFairy]

My cat is curled up in his spot by the window going, "Common sun, do your thing, warm me up already!"

 

[NotWise]

The storm they predicted for us passed south of us. They still expect the temperatures to drop, but they've delayed it by a day. That probably means it won't happen, or at least not as predicted. It's just cool and gray. They have fog, mist and drizzle at the airport, but none of that here.

 

[Duleigh]

I think it's going to miss us? Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 80, the low is supposed to be 20. Both are too hot and too cold for this area.

 

[TheLobster]

the high is supposed to be 80, the low is supposed to be 20

What a coincidence! That's the same range of temperatures I see on my electric kettle whenever I make green tea!

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's a heat wave! The forecast says we'll make it all the way up to 8 degrees.

Genuine heatwave in most parts of Oz, over 40°C where I live. Second official heatwave this summer.

 

[HyunnaPark]

This has been an outstanding and interesting week for me as a writer. I'm writing using a very different process and the output is very different. I'm using 3 outlines (one for plot, one for story, and one for information reveal) as opposed to my usual zero, so maybe I'm swinging too far in the other direction but it's working and working well.

One thing I picked up here in the coffee shop was that a lot of you are thinking about "chapters" as the most fundamental unit of writing work, as opposed to word count. I did not realize how much damage I was doing by looking at the wrong thing at the end of each day/session. Even if I outline every story for the rest of my writing career, this small perspective shift is probably the more impactful of the two changes.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Earlier this month, we set/tied a high temperature record from 1939 ... 69 degrees

This weekend, we broke a 'cold high' temperature record from 1940 ... 24 degrees old, 18 degrees new

We're forecast to hit 0 Monday night which would be a span of 69 degrees for the month.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

The snow showed up several hours late and it is now coming down pretty good. At least it's the light fluffy stuff that I can move with a broom and clear the patio off and get to the bird feeders.

I've got a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the teapot is hot. There are snacks on the counter so help yourself. I'm going to make a cornbread today so there'll be some of that later.

I'll be over in the corner working on my story. Feel free to stop by and chat. I promise I won't growl at you.

 

[TheLobster]

I'm using 3 outlines (one for plot, one for story, and one for information reveal) as opposed to my usual zero, so maybe I'm swinging too far in the other direction but it's working and working well.

One thing I picked up here in the coffee shop was that a lot of you are thinking about "chapters" as the most fundamental unit of writing work, as opposed to word count. I did not realize how much damage I was doing by looking at the wrong thing at the end of each day/session. Even if I outline every story for the rest of my writing career, this small perspective shift is probably the more impactful of the two changes.

I'm not sure I understand that. A fundamental unit of writing work is probably something as small as a sentence; word count, on the other hand, is just a simple numerical metric. If you're looking for a measure of progress at the end of each day, then I can't see how chapters can be one unless you write at the blazing speed of @KittyOfSteele and do it full-time. And if you do, then congratulations, we're all very happy for you and totally not jealous

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Infrastructure crippling Snowmagedden turned out to be about 4".

 

[HyunnaPark]

I'm not sure I understand that. A fundamental unit of writing work is probably something as small as a sentence; word count, on the other hand, is just a simple numerical metric. If you're looking for a measure of progress at the end of each day

I'm not saying "word count is bad", it's super important, but I have a perpetual case of what I call "NaNoWriMo Syndrome" where word count became The Goal and not just a tool to use to track progress towards The Goal. The problem was not word count, the problem was what word count was inadvertently doing when mixed with my brain's preferences.

I said "chapter" in my post because that's what I see Candy_Kane talking about, but what I actually use are beats, so just one more division after breaking the story down into Acts and Chapters. My first chapter was about Hana and Kevin meeting for the first time, but it had several beats (opening hook -> intro Hana -> intro Kevin -> Kevin's approach -> Hana's acceptance -> First Supernatural Disturbance).

When I combined that with a good outline that I maintain like a project plan, then progress through THAT became the measuring stick. This all just fits how my brain naturally wants to work (it wants to go through the draft from start to finish in order and create the reader experience).

 

[TheLobster]

I'm not saying "word count is bad", it's super important, but I have a perpetual case of what I call "NaNoWriMo Syndrome" where word count became The Goal and not just a tool to use to track progress towards The Goal. The problem was not word count, the problem was what word count was inadvertently doing when mixed with my brain's preferences.

Oh, that makes sense. I see how it may be quite easy to become too obsessed with a simple counter like this. It feels good when the number goes up, even if it doesn't necessarily mean you are making Real Progress™.

As a wise man once said: when the metric becomes the goal, it ceases to be a good metric.

 

[BeechLeaf]

If you fancy an oral orgasm on a cold morning; get a packet of Tim Tams. Bite both ends off the chocolate covered Tim Tam, then suck your hot coffee (or tea) through the double 'circumcised' TimTam - like a straw. It's messy but amazing - and then have another one.

Not a cold morning here, but I have just looked at the Politics board for the first time, and am feeling unclean and in need of comfort. Now I have a cup of tea and the two* packets of Tim Tams I just bought. Here goes...

* you said another one so I did

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Nasty relapse here, but on the other hand there's a blue sky and it's about 10 degrees, ie coatless weather! As opposed to yesterday which was about 0 and grim, grey and damp. Dreich, to use the Scottish word.

Meanwhile my family in the Midwest are enjoying -18 and power cuts. That's 0F, I think. At least they're prepared for it.

 

[stickygirl]

Nasty relapse here, but on the other hand there's a blue sky and it's about 10 degrees, ie coatless weather! As opposed to yesterday which was about 0 and grim, grey and damp. Dreich, to use the Scottish word.

Meanwhile my family in the Midwest are enjoying -18 and power cuts. That's 0F, I think. At least they're prepared for it.

At least their power-cuts weren't caused by Russian missiles.

 

[MrPixel]

Snow's done, our 7-14" was thankfully at the low end. Gawd. Since when am I thankful for 7" of snow?

Lights are on, internet is working, furnace is keeping up, larder is stocked. We're good.

11°F. Big windrow at the end of the driveway, as projected. Not at thing I can do about it 'cept rev 'er up and smash through if we have to go anywhere.

 

[forgotmyantidepressants]

Just wrapped up a long sex scene and feel like I need a nap. Hope everybody is safe and warm out there.

 

[old_prof]

Just wrapped up a long sex scene and feel like I need a nap. Hope everybody is safe and warm out there.

No cigarette first?

 

[HyunnaPark]

No cigarette first?

Smoke before sex? That's either insane confidence or something other than tobacco.