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So, I’m trying to write a sequel.  It started off great, and now I’m stuck.  I’ve been going to a weekly writers group and a few of them say I give too much back story away too soon, but then I have other people say I don’t give enough back story away soon enough… and I’ve had people say: Hey, I think you’ve found the perfect balance.

I am trying to stop myself from revising every time I read back through the work to figure out where I am.  Too much revision keeps you from finishing anything, or makes a 6-month project turn into a six-year project.  It took me four years to write the first one, I do NOT want to take that long for the sequel.  I gave myself a 3 month goal.  I think I can do it, if I could just get over this sticky patch.

I’m actually outlining to see if that can help me out.  We’ll see.

Okay, now it’s rant time.  The security alarm in my apartment still doesn’t work and guess what it decided to do ALL day and ALL night last night?  Chirp! Chirp-chirp-chripity-chirp chirp!  Chirp! Chirp! CHIRP! Chirp! Chirp.

Did I sleep?  No.

Did I have to get to work early this morning?  Yes.

I called the complex and they gave me a code that is supposed to make it stop.

If it doesn’t work ye all shall see me on the news.

 

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Literally.  Okay, so my new apartment is starting to look like someone lives here.  There are clear walkways, and I have a desk and chair.  I built them this evening.  (Yes, I have a tool box with real tools in them.  Okay, so the tool kit is pink and so are the tools, but hey, they’re awesome! And for your information I paid 10 extra dollars for those tools to be pink 😛 ) Anyway, as I built my complicated Office Max desk, I noticed that the screws and holes they were meant to go into weren’t quite the same size.  Meaning my hand drill vibrated and grunted while the screws said: Haha, sucker, I’m not going any deeper into this hole.  May your desk wobble!  And to top off the screws not all fitting in the holes, there were several screws missing.  I used substitiute screws… and there’s still one mysterious hole with no screw to go in it and no extra joint.  Hmm.   (The finished product looks good, though, and is still standing, even with my computer on it.  Now… it may fall down in the night, but I’m about to knock on wood).  

Tomorrow, I’m building my home entertainment center to put my itty-bitty TV on.  Everyone laughs at my 19 inch TV, but I think he’s cute.  Hmph. 

I’m starting to like it here in Florida.  I think I really just needed the weather to lighten up.  It had rained every day since I moved in on Saturday.  I went on a little walk to the store across the street, careful not to walk in the grass.  I’m still afraid of the Florida critters, and it might be a while before I’m brave enough to walk on the trails. 

Also, the people at my apartment complex might actually come in and fix my foyer light and give me new dishwasher racks (after coming in twice and doing nothing).  I also discovered that a cheap Bissel vaccuum cleaner that I bought for 20 bucks, works better than a Dirt Devil I bought for 49. Grr!

Er… and as for writing… hey, I thought about doing some today :D.  I have been brainstorming like crazy, and I think after my apartment is all put together, and I’m totally moved out of my apartment in Texas (I fly back this weekend to get the rest of my stuff), I’ll start cranking out chapters again.  I was on a writing roll right before I moved. 

 

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Yes!  I have cable, phone and… INTERNET!  I will never take having internet in my home for granted again.  I don’t know how other people do it.  I felt so disconnected.  Getting online at work is just not the same :(. 

My apartment feels a little home-like now.  Maybe I’ll be more comfortable once the rest of my stuff gets here, I build the furniture I bought for the office, get something for the living room, and maintenance comes to wash the smell of urine from my carpets.  I was so embarrassed when the technician from Comcast had to sit in the living room with that pee-pee smell trying to get my internet to work correctly.  I had to tell him that the previous tenant must have had an animal that peed everywhere and didn’t report it to the apartment, so he wouldn’t think that I was nasty and I had peed on the rug.  And I was glad I did, because once I did, his expression changed.  Oh, man… lol.

So… just wanted to give that update.  Today is my day off from work, but I have lots of errands, and maybe even handiwork to do.  By the end of the month, I’m hoping I will settled in and less homesick.  I never thought I’d say this when I finally got out of the Lonestar State, but… I miss Texas with its cleanliness regulations, normal streetlight configuratons, HEB’s, and Krogers….  I miss real suburbs where police officers don’t get into shoot-outs with their neighbors and gated communities meant rich people didn’t want you on their grass.  Here, it means the neighborhood is bad and manned gate is to keep the thugs from getting in… or getting out, without being seen. 

Oh well, I’m sure in a month, I’ll be singing about loving the Sunshine State… though there sure hasn’t been much sunshine since I’ve been here.  Oh, and the horror stories.  Florida has CREATURES.  Hurricane Andrew blew down a serpent zoo and released boa constrictors that eat alligators in the swamps.  There are iguanas the size of dogs that live in trees.  Hares, not rabbits, that attack, and raccooons that play in your swimming pools.  There are lizards that look like little alligators with curly tails and child-sized opossums.  Oh, and we can’t forget if you go out in the Sticks, they’ve got people who keep lions and tigers and ostriches as pets and let them roam the land, checked only by fences that they can easily leap. 

We’ll talk about yellow water next time :).

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So… my new apartment is nice.  I love my new bed and awesome memory foam mattresses.  I love my view of the swamp…er…lake and those freakishly large ducks.  And I love the raccoon that lurks in the bushes by the stairs that I have to go up.  (Please sense my sarcasm on this one).

I also love that now that I’ve turned the air conditioner up to 78, the apartment complex had it set on 72, the carpet has developed a very seasoned aroma… of urine.  I also noticed crayon on the white plastic blinds.  So… did the previous tenant have a naughty, un-potty trained child… or a naughty child and a nasty dog?

I now get to fill out work orders about nasty carpets… oh, and a few other things.  I’m sure maintenance loves me :).

Oh well, other than that things are great.  Love the job.  I am going to be busy-busy, but my boss is cool, my co-workers are nice, and once the rest of my stuff gets here from Texas, I can start decorating my office.  Best news ever: I get internet and cable and modernity in my apartment on FRIDAY 😀 😀

Okay, and some writing news (since this is a writers blog): I have been okayed to teach teen writing workshops and to host adult and teen writing critique groups every Saturday at the library I work at :).

Overall Mood: Good Time!  (Now I just need pee-free carpets)