Spring, in theory

It's gotten chilly again--40s and 50s during the day, lo 40s at night. At least the daffodils are blooming, and the forsythia. A few tulips are getting ready to open.

This is the one time I miss living in the South--can't beat it for flowering shrubs. Color, color everywhere. Though come to think, Seattle in April was pretty flowery as well. I first visited the place in 2000 when I attended Norwescon, and I was struck by the gorgeous trees and shrubs.

I just want some color, and warmth.

Monday, I took the day off from work and...worked. We hired a junk hauler to clean out the garage, and I stayed home so that I could tell him what to take and what to leave. I wound up boxing and bagging a lot of stuff, and at the end of the day, a garage that had been filled from wall to wall with only a very narrow box-lined path in place to get from one end to the other was about 2/3 empty. Saturday we will once more visit the hardware store for hooks/hangers/whatever it takes to hang up the lawn tools. I also need to assemble some shelving that Dad left. It's supposed to rain that day--it'll be kind of nice to just putter in the garage...and see if I can find the exact place in the roof where an apparent leak has developed.

Home ownership. Yea.

No news on the job search front. I still have three apps outstanding. One job has been reposted though, so they must not have received a resume that really nailed them. Oh well, at least they haven't out and out rejected me yet.

Currently reading THE BLACK BOOK by Ian Rankin. On the TBR pile is Anne Bishop's first, DAUGHTER OF THE BLOOD, of which I've heard many good things. Also Richard Morgan's ALTERED CARBON. I'm leery of across the board raves, but I read the first chapter on B&N and it grabbed me enough to buy the book. I like Chandler and other noir detective writers--I'll see if this book hits me in the same way.

No news on the writing front. Last weekend was spent on the house and yard, but such a dent has been made in the cleaning up that I feel more relaxed than I did last week at this time. Office is much cleaner as well. Hopefully, being surrounded by all this order and neatness will convince brain that it's ok to concentrate on matters of a bookly nature. Nothing would make me feel better than to kick out 5 pages or so of an evening. I don't want to give myself the same sort of goal I do when I'm hitting on all cylinders though, because all I'll do is disappoint myself. Then something inside will turn its face to the wall again and I won't try to write for another few weeks. Lately I've been looking at my books, even reading sections of one or two, and reminding myself that I did actually write the damned things.

Spring, in theory

It's gotten chilly again--40s and 50s during the day, lo 40s at night. At least the daffodils are blooming, and the forsythia. A few tulips are getting ready to open.

This is the one time I miss living in the South--can't beat it for flowering shrubs. Color, color everywhere. Though come to think, Seattle in April was pretty flowery as well. I first visited the place in 2000 when I attended Norwescon, and I was struck by the gorgeous trees and shrubs.

I just want some color, and warmth.

Monday, I took the day off from work and...worked. We hired a junk hauler to clean out the garage, and I stayed home so that I could tell him what to take and what to leave. I wound up boxing and bagging a lot of stuff, and at the end of the day, a garage that had been filled from wall to wall with only a very narrow box-lined path in place to get from one end to the other was about 2/3 empty. Saturday we will once more visit the hardware store for hooks/hangers/whatever it takes to hang up the lawn tools. I also need to assemble some shelving that Dad left. It's supposed to rain that day--it'll be kind of nice to just putter in the garage...and see if I can find the exact place in the roof where an apparent leak has developed.

Home ownership. Yea.

No news on the job search front. I still have three apps outstanding. One job has been reposted though, so they must not have received a resume that really nailed them. Oh well, at least they haven't out and out rejected me yet.

Currently reading THE BLACK BOOK by Ian Rankin. On the TBR pile is Anne Bishop's first, DAUGHTER OF THE BLOOD, of which I've heard many good things. Also Richard Morgan's ALTERED CARBON. I'm leery of across the board raves, but I read the first chapter on B&N and it grabbed me enough to buy the book. I like Chandler and other noir detective writers--I'll see if this book hits me in the same way.

No news on the writing front. Last weekend was spent on the house and yard, but such a dent has been made in the cleaning up that I feel more relaxed than I did last week at this time. Office is much cleaner as well. Hopefully, being surrounded by all this order and neatness will convince brain that it's ok to concentrate on matters of a bookly nature. Nothing would make me feel better than to kick out 5 pages or so of an evening. I don't want to give myself the same sort of goal I do when I'm hitting on all cylinders though, because all I'll do is disappoint myself. Then something inside will turn its face to the wall again and I won't try to write for another few weeks. Lately I've been looking at my books, even reading sections of one or two, and reminding myself that I did actually write the damned things.