Productive!

Okay, I'm pleased with myself for a change.  I've had a very productive weekend.  Perhaps it's because, aside from bits of Back to the Future and Kiki's Delivery Service, I've hardly watched any video this weekend.  John has some anime going in the next room, and for once I don't care.

This is going to be another "fast and dirty" entry, because I have other things I'm working on tonight.  I may not even put in a photo, or I may do the random thing again.  (Yes, I did the random photo thing, but I'm also going to add a new picture or two below.)  I'm even writing it directly in the Add Entry window, something I normally never do.  But I do want to tell you about a couple of things.

1.  I typed nearly 2000 words last night of the very last chapter of Mages of Mâvarin.  The word count I got was 1973, but that might not be completely accurate.  I was surprised that there was so much of the last chapter that existed only in one of my notebooks of handwritten scenes.  I thought I just needed part of the last scene with Archmage Sunestri in it, but it turned out I also needed parts of two scenes before that, nearly all of the Sunestri scene, and all of two scenes after that.  I got the first three done last night, and I'm working on #4 now--or was, until I stopped to write this entry.  The "mag35" doc has gone from something like 24 pages to 32 and counting.  I may break it up so there's a Chapter 36.  Will people be upset if the three volumes of Mages are each exactly 13 chapters long?  Anyway, it feels good to finally get significant work done on the second novel, three years after getting sidetracked by school.  Since then I've done a lot of proofreading and minor editing, but this is real writing, even if it is based on a handwritten draft.

2.  I was sick today.  In my attempt to start "Atkinsing" yesterday, I foolishly made myself bacon (well-drained) and eggs (over easy) around midnight.  Today I had abdominal cramps and, well, let's not get graphic, here.  I took a badly-needed nap this afternoon, which got me past the worst of the pain.  I don't usually get to feeling this bad anymore, since having my gall bladder out years ago.

3.  Tonight I went to the office, but only for two and a half hours or so.  I found a way to do one of my monthly tasks, much more efficiently, though, so I'm pleased with what I accomplished.  I'll probably need to either work late or get some evenings in this week, so if my entries get a bit short for a while, that will be why.  We'll just have to see how it goes, won't we?  Meanwhile, I've got the church stuff to update tonight, including the scanning and editing of another sermon.

4. Apropos of last week's humor discussion, I had some encounters this weekend with a couple of amusing men in my life.  I often say, quoting Jessica Rabbit, that I love John because "He makes me laugh," but I'm not talking about him in this case.

See, yesterday, I called my dad, which is always interesting.  He told me he'd had a flu shot that day.  "I was a troublemaker," he said.  "I told the woman next to me, 'You know, you can't have whiskey for a week after getting this vaccine.'  I didn't think she'd believe me!"  But apparently she did, and he had to tell her he was joking.  He also had fun with the fact that the clinic handed out a blue lollypop after each shot.  "Does this mean I was a good boy?" he asked the nurse.  Then he told other patients that "If your tongue turns blue, that means the serum isn't going to work."  Yeah, he was a troublemaker yesterday--but an amusing one.

Then today, Father Smith did a whole riff before Mass about Hymm 393, or whatever the first one was, "climbing the charts in the supernatural hit parade."  Well, I thought it was funny.  I guess you had to be there.

5.  My friend Sara has started posting a short story or scene every night on her AIM Journal and her LJ.  Here's the AIM link:

The 30th Year

Check it out, especially if you like fantasy and sf.  Not everything she's writing is genre stuff, but it's always intriguing and/or amusing.  And don't forget her wild and silly interactive serial on her LJ.  You can read it from the beginning via her homepage:

A Long and Winding Tale

Come on, how often are you called upon to learn the difference between a potato fairy and a potato witch?

Karen

P.S. I finished typing the end of Mages--another 1100-something words.  And I didn't need a Chapter 36 after all. There are still a couple of missing or incomplete scenes scattered though the last volume or two of my marathon novel, but I'm calling it a draft!