Real Life trumps part time writing

Heya's.

For those keeping track, I've not written for nearly a month, due to an avalanche of real life issues, all unrelated, hopefully once in a lifetime type crisis that I think (I hope) are winding down. Sometimes, real life overwhelms you, and I'd have been stressed even if I weren't trying to burn that candle at both ends. So, part time writing job was sidelined for four weeks. I've revised my deadline appropriately.

I hope to get back into the writing mode tonight, perhaps. We'll see how I deal with a "normal" paced day at work. I'd been short on sleep the last couple of weeks, but I think I'm caught up. Hah.

Outside of chaos, however, I'm coming up with a new distraction: 60+ degree spring weather. Who wants to sit in the office, typing when you can be outside. Ah, but then, there's the yearly ritual of getting the sprinkler system ready for the season, hauling fallen sticks and branches out of the back yard and down to the tree limb recycling center in town, and all the other springtime yard chores.

Breathe.... Balance...

I was recently reminded of a series of books I'd read way back in the early days, at my grandfathers house. Outdoor humor books by Ed Zern, probably the original curmudgeon. His titles included "How to tell a fish from a fisherman", "To hell with Hunting", and "To hell with fishing". I ran across one of his short essays a couple of days back, and remembered how much I"d laughed over his cartoons and imagery way back when. Perhaps I'll become a curmudgeonly writer....

Oh, too late, some say I already am.

Clear skies,
Jim

A postponement?

Well, I've been off line for nearly 2 weeks, and though I got some good word count in the early part of that, circumstances out of my control put me in a forced non-writing mode for the better part of a week now. Irma and I had to make an emergency trip to Salt Lake City to be with her brother, Omar, whose wife, Rosie, had surgery on a (now known to be) benign, fist sized tumor on her brain. The surgery was successful, however the 48 hours following the surgery things did not go well. Swelling and bleeding put her in critical condition, they induced a coma, and... When we arrived, she was non-responsive and it didn't look good. Prayer, family support (as others of Irma's and Rosie's family arrived from la and mexico) and patience followed, when we left 4 days later, she was showing signs of improvement, albeit slowly. She's still in a coma, but the doctors are hopeful...

So. I've decided to tack on some extra time to my deadline. I'll let you know more about it later, and if I hear any boo's out there, they'll likely be drowned out by my own, but I think it's realistic to do that. I'll update my countdown and such later.

What I did get written prior to our last minute travel seemed to be going well. At least parts of it. A crux scene mostly came together well, but the action seems weak to me (but, 1st draft, so leave it alone for now), but amazingly, some dialogues seemed to really pop for a change. Not sure what I did right, but I'm hoping I'm getting better. Or maybe the scene's dialogue just fit the story better.....

Anyway, it's back to the grind shortly, but tomorrow, Cruella DaVille, aka personal trainer, is going to kick our butts. See, we ate out in SLC, and didn't make good choices all the time. The old comfort food/stress eating thingie... If I survive, I'll give a report.

Clear skies,
Jim