Blog Archives
Muse vs. editor
Posted by doggonedmysteries
“No, no, no you need to continue writing to the end. Stop editing as you go,” my muse told me.
I longed to bang my head on the keyboard to shake things loose in my brain. “I can’t think straight enough to write at the moment so I thought doing some editing would be a good idea.”
“Do it! Do it!” My little editor jumped up and down suddenly beside himself with excitement.
“Pull yourself together,” I told him as I grabbed the, now two, editors from my shoulder and placed them on my desk. “One of you hanging around here is enough.”
An evil grin spread over my muse’s face. “I can take care of them.” She stood and made as if to catch them.
I didn’t like the look in her eyes. “Um, that’s okay. I think he can handle it.” I leaned close to the two dancing editors and whispered, “You’d better hide. I think she means it.”
Their faces turned red, then there were two small pops, and the editors were gone.
“Rats, it would’ve given me great pleasure to smash them back into one.” My muse flopped back into Gavin’s chair and flung her legs over the arm.
“Too much pleasure I think. Let’s get back to the book.”
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Copy editing, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Editing, Editing and Proofreading, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing, Writing & Editing
Best laid plans?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
G and I went to the farmers market, and at the most mouth-watering stand, I bought two lovely chicken potpies. All the way home, I thought about how wonderful they were going to taste. Arriving home a little before three, I told DH what we were having for dinner. I almost had to hand him a napkin to wipe the drool from his chin. I put the potpies in the refrigerator planning to reheat them around five o’clock.
That’s when the power went off. EEEKS! “Okay, okay I can handle this. The power will be back on in time to fix dinner.” Yeah, in my DREAMS!
I looked outside and most of the neighbors were out there discussing our little power outage. I hastened to join them. Yes, only our block had no power. DH called the power company. After jumping through their many hoops, he finally managed to speak to a human.
The human at the power company told DH, “Your power should be back on by five.”
He came outside with the news and we all felt happy to have a set time for the return of our power.
It didn’t happen.
Nope, one power company truck showed up at five, one man worked on the lines, and yet we still had no power. “I called it in and told them they need to upgrade the transformer.”
“Okay, but when we have the power back?”
“I don’t know,” He replied. “Maybe another two hours, but don’t quote me on that.”
“Great. I guess dinner will have to wait.” I kept thinking about those potpies as I lit four kerosene lamps to keep the darkness at bay.
Seven o’clock came and went with no power on the horizon. Dinner became cold cuts.
“What’s that I hear? Is it a truck? Do I see yellow lights? Yes!” A few minutes before nine, the neighborhood celebrated having power again.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Kerosene lamp, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
Too much rain
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Saturated ground, leaky roof, and a drenched basement, it’s time to load the Ark and set sail for dry land. The yard is swampy, the pond overfloweth, and the squirrels are wearing raincoats, hats, and boots to raid the bird feeders. The birds broke out the water wings. The pups are begging for scuba gear. Yes, there’s too much rain.
Posted in Weather related
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
Endings
Posted by doggonedmysteries
She’d become so thin and frail that she was hardly recognizable. She smiled at him when he last saw her. They buried her alongside her husband at two o’clock on Wednesday afternoon. Above her shrouded in gray the sky shed tears over her. Her son wept.
Posted in In memory of...
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
Is this my house?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
DH got plenty of rest last night and was almost cheerful. The pups behaved themselves. It worried me.
Over the last two or three years, this was not normal for our house. I’m used to DH being cranky because he’s stressed out and overtired. I am used to the dogs pulling stunts that only a pair of Bull Terriers is capable of doing. I am no longer used to a tranquil household.
I wondered if perhaps, I had awakened in a parallel universe.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
March is National Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month
Posted by doggonedmysteries
My husband was a police officer forced into an early retirement because he has Multiple Sclerosis. He was a police tactical firearms instructor and is a great and willing resource for me. He always encourages me to keep writing. We will celebrate our thirty-eighth anniversary in July of this year. His MS has gone from relapsing remitting to secondary progressive. Although walking is difficult for him, he still tries to do some of the yard work, thank heavens for riding mowers.
He had Relapsing-Remitting MS (RRMS) for a long time. His diagnosis changed several years ago to Secondary-Progressive MS (SPMS).
This is Bayer Health’s description of Secondary-Progressive MS (SPMS). In SPMS, symptoms worsen more steadily over time, with or without the occurrence of relapses and remissions. Before disease-modifying therapies became available, historical studies indicated that about 50% of people with RRMS progressed to SPMS approximately 10 years after their first diagnosis. Long-term data are not yet available to determine if treatment significantly delays this transition
(The picture of him at the top of this post is a few years old.)
Posted in MS related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
At first it was a quiet afternoon
Posted by doggonedmysteries
DH and I spent yesterday recharging our batteries. We were both tired. He had a good nap in the afternoon while I curled up in my chair with my Kindle and read a couple Wizard of Oz books. I have 15 of them on the Kindle.
Patty snoozed on the couch and Gavin snored in his chair. All was quiet and blissful until around four when Gavin’s belly alarm began to go off. He got up, wanted out, and then Patty did the same thing. I wasn’t allowed to settle back into the chair. Gavin stood in the kitchen, stared at the counter, and barked.
“It’s not time yet!” I picked up my Kindle.
Gavin barked again.
I put my Kindle down. “Quiet or you’ll wake your Daddy.” I chased him out of the kitchen and put the gate across the doorway.
Patty decided it was time to bug Gavin. She grabbed his collar and began to drag him across the room. He freed himself and jumped on her. She escaped his clutches and leaped to the couch where she proceeded to do a bully run from one end to the other. The house rattled.
I heard movement upstairs. “Alright you two now you’ve done it. Daddy’s up.”
Posted in Dog related
Tags: Amazon Kindle, Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, List of Oz books, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Rescue Dogs, Wizard of Oz The, Writer, Writing
It was not a good day yesterday
Posted by doggonedmysteries
DH and I went over to the nursing home for their “care conference” and, once again, they had the “conference” in her multi-patient room. At least this time they were ready for us because I made a rather loud remark at the check-in desk about how they screwed up last time. As we walked to the elevator, we heard the receptionist page them to the phone. It was amazing to find three staff members hovering over Mom when we came into the room as if they’d been waiting for us. I might have believed it if we weren’t early and if two of them weren’t a bit winded.
They hate it when I come in with DH. I pull out my notebook, “Before we start I want your names.” Then I make a point of checking my watch and putting the date and time in my notebook before they speak. All the while they are talking I take notes. It drives them crazy and keeps me happy and sane to do this to them.
It’s rough on DH and brings me to tears. Mom is not there mentally and these past few weeks she’s gone rapidly down hill physically. They finally have the DNR on her chart. We feel that as far-gone as she is, it isn’t fair to her to have them prolong her agony. (I swear I am going to have ‘DNR’ tattooed on my chest!)
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Healthcare, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Nursing home, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
Make it quick for me
Posted by doggonedmysteries
This afternoon we are going to what we angrily call a ‘no care conference’ at the nursing home. They had us come to one of their “care conferences” last month and it was pure BS with a topping of crap. (Yes, those are air quotes, people.)
It seems to me that if they want to present a professional front that they’d actually hold these “care conferences” in an office. Oh, hell no. Last time, even after confirming the appointment with us TWICE, they “forgot” we were coming in. Then they had us stand in the middle of a four patient room and gave us a trough of horse crap about nothing to do with the MIL’s care. (OMG and this place has a US Government ranking of three and a half stars higher than the one my Mother was in!)
If the day comes, that I am mindless and dying a slow death, I hope that one of my friends will have the kindness to push me in front of a speeding bus or put a bullet through my brain. I want a quick death not a lingering one.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Elder, Family, Fiction, Healthcare, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Nursing home, Old age, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
Things not to say when…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
If you are trying to sell, give away, or junk a huge chest freezer, you don’t tell people it will easily hold six bodies.
A cop pulls you over, you don’t ask him A. Where is the nearest bar? B. How fast was I going? C. What’s your favorite drink?
Yes, that’s all I can think of this early in the morning. I haven’t gone to bed yet and I am beat from another Wednesday of clearing the crap out of the MIL’s house. The brain isn’t functioning at 100%. Maybe if I have another cup of coffee…no, too wired as it is.
Y’all have a good day. I’m going to bed.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
EEKS I went and did it.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
For those of you that don’t already know, I finally took the plunge and joined Facebook. I have been very reluctant to do so for many reasons. However, with the possibility of books going to publishers in the future, I’m told that it was a wise thing to do.
Those of you who are wise in the ways of FB will have to excuse me for a while as I learn the ins and outs of it. (Shut up, Dave.) I spent most of the night last night exploring and testing things out. I’m sure I’ll make many mistakes, but what better way is there to learn?
I will now post simultaneously on WordPress and FB. If you are reading this on FB, come over to my WordPress site and look around. There you will find a few samples from my works in progress. I have pictures of our dogs and gardens in there too.
Today I am going over to the MIL’s house and work again. Wish me luck on dealing with the house of horrors. I truly dread going back into the garage (AJ and I were in there on Sunday); there are far too many spider webs in there.
Posted in Misc, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
Signs of spring
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We begin a new month. We’re closer to spring now, oh joy!
When I took the dogs out today, I saw crocus and daffodils poking out of the ground in the gardens and they were over an inch high. The day lilies, iris, and many other flowers are awakening too.
For the last week, huge flocks of geese have flown over our house every day. Some of them are so high you can barely spot the Vs but you can still hear them honking.
The robins haven’t appeared yet but they can’t be far behind. Birds are beginning to hang around the feeders in larger groups and the crows in the cemetery are practicing their aerobatics. They swoop low over the tombstones and grass racing each other to the tallest spires.
I’ve had to chase suet raiding squirrels out of the yard several times a day. Yes, spring is arriving.
Posted in my garden, Weather related
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
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