July 28

Sarah came and I spent a day with her shopping. She got some clothes and I found a "more natural" shampoo and conditioner from Nature's Gate that I'm very pleased. Once I added soap, deodorant and thank you cards, my money was just about used up. Thus is the price of cleanliness.

Yesterday I went to Eddy's house and helped Sarah pick the pears and give Ginger a bath. I've been working on reading through "Swing." A few days ago I prepared a whole line of emails to be sent out to set up a book tour - I have not sent them as they have my cell number on - and for some reason we've tried three times to get the company to turn back on the service. It should have done it automatically but it dropped it. Now they've told me twice it will be working within an hour - and this is the fourth day I've been without it.

I've decided to add a chapter to "Across the Distance" where two characters are reunited. As excited as I am to write it - it usually only comes perfectly into my head when I can't write it down. When I go to do it, it and all my other stories run away and taunt me from afar.

Sort of like the way my kindle is taunting me. It arrived in Seguin yesterday and now still waits to be delivered. I'm hoping when I get it, it'll help me figure out the formatting issues I need to resolve before I can release "The Secret of Sentarra." As soon as "Swing" and "Across the Distance" are ready, I'll be releasing them as well. Then I'll work in earnest on "The Captive" and probably start writing "The King" or a stand alone novel.

This week I've been trying to stay away from multitasking - with various amount of luck. I made a schedule to section off my days and when I'll work on what. But I'm thinking that cripples me more than helps (I say as I'm writing a blog update because Pop hasn't woken so I can't get the groceries and I'm putting off starting on stories). I tend to get caught up in perfection and spend more time creating agendas than actually fulfilling them. Plus I'm not sure it's good to work at the computer in large blocks of time. Yesterday I tried alternating 15-20 minutes on Swing and then housework. I quit before one got old and move to another and it helped my back and eyes from staring at a screen all day. My back especially is protesting the life of a writer.

This will be the last weekend for Joseph shows. Wizard of Oz auditions are coming up but with my new teaching job going from 6-8 on Monday nights, I'm not sure what that would do to my chances of landing a role. It's hard to cast an actor who's going to miss 2 hours of rehearsal every week - especially as Dorothy which is who I'm aiming for. She's in nearly every scene so it would be hard to work around that.

We'll see what happens though. If I don't get in, I don't and I'll have more time to talk to my neglected friends who seem to have opposite schedules from me lately. My back is telling me that it's time to leave the computer.

Tata for now.