My story is writing itself!

By which I mean it just took an unexpected turn. I sent my character to look at something and I was so surprised to see what was actually there.

That might sound a bit odd to non-writers, but I think it happens all the time. I get into a scene and I am acting it out in my head and suddenly a new element appears. Sometimes I have to go back and take it out because it sent the character off on a tangent that ultimately didn't do anything for the story.

And that's where I am now. A couple of unplanned things just fell into place and I have to decide if it makes sense. What does it add to the story beyond this event. I know that I introduced a character way back in chapter 10 and we haven't seen much of her since. So should I let her dangle or remove her? Is she important to the rest of the story? I thought so when I introduced her, but she hasn't had an appearance since then.

Here I am cruising into chapter 49 with new people and events occurring. Too late in the game perhaps? Not sure. I am feeling that this should be a series. And as I am probably most of the way through the book, I can see the themes for subsequent books slowly coalescing. So these new elements might be exactly what I need to set up the next book.

It's still bare bones in some chapters. I read through the more polished chapters comfortably then I hit a bare-bones one and skid to a halt. It's hard to read the rough bits without wanting to fix them immediately, but I want to lay out the plot before I start cleaning up the language.

Which is my cue to get back to writing.

Hooray for Spring!

It may not feel like it every day, but it's coming.

The crocuses are up! And the baby daffs, mini-irises and primroses.

I
.

It's time to start digging in the dirt, planting seeds and bulbs. Time to start some summer veggie seeds.

This is actually an old picture. I have changed the garden several times since it was taken. Now I have raised beds and I love them. They are so much easier to take care of. There is still weeding and patrolling for pests, but somehow it's a little easier this way. And of course they are above the high water line. I have to work on drainage this year. With all the rain last year the garden was flooded a number of times.

The apricot is booming and the plum isn't far behind. The strawberries are putting out new growth. A few carrots that I missed last year have come up. I might let them bloom this year. The flower is pretty like a big Queen Anne's Lace. I like to have flowers in the vegetable garden. Some are there to confuse the bugs, but mostly because they're pretty.

Time to go play in the dirt!

I'm really busy, I think...

Another new computer. Argh!

Don't get me wrong, I love having a new computer. The price tag wasn't too painful, and I got a touchscreen -- very cool.

But I now have a spreadsheet that is a page and a half long of passwords. Sheesh. Why does everything have to have a password?

I am still finding my way around the silly thing. This Windows 8 with it's "charms" is a little odd. I find myself jumping back and forth too much. It seemed a lot easier to have it all on the same toolbar. But maybe it'll get easier.

The strangest thing so far is that I seem to type a lot faster on the new keyboard. So I guess that's a really good thing.

But feeling unsure of what's where and how to get there has left me off kilter. I transferred the files, but there's a problem with my version of Word and not all of the files will open. Very odd. So I spent a day re-saving to other formats, tossing them into Dropbox from the old computer and downloading them to the new one. Even then I had to tell it how to open them.

Everything seems so time consumingly tedious. Ugh. Aren't computers supposed to make our lives easier?

At least this time I got things done before a catastrophe. I am able to work on both computers at the same time, shifting and sorting things out.

Like why did an obsolete  pdf program come up as my default printer? Very odd.

It's just a lot of tweaking and searching and poking about. The problem is, I only have a little bit of knowledge which is very dangerous (like the time I deleted a program I needed to open certain files...sigh. Why do they have to give them such weird names?)

On the plus side, I am feeling really good about where the WIP is going. And I have been writing pretty consistently lately. Which makes me feel good and want to write more. It's a good kind of domino effect. I am thinking about publishing around June. But since I haven't finished writing it yet, I feel like I'm counting those proverbial chicks.

And I think it's time to get back to work on the WIP!