Things are back up and running. Corrected some syntax so there isn’t a bunch of code on the page. Updated the weather plug in so it shows the true sunset and sunrise icons.

I also put the comment sections back on my posts. No, that doesn’t mean I’ve enabled comments on all entries, but I’d like to offer visitors a chance to comment upon occasion. The only issue is that you’ll be required to register with a valid email address. I hope to keep things from being too spammy this way.

If and when you do, take the time to fill in the profile. Otherwise there will be no name listed in the comment section and it could get confusing!

And on that note, I’m allowing comments to this post. Sign in! Smart off while you have the chance! LOL!

The site had a hiccup. I’m trying to upgrade WordPress and screwed up somewhere along the line. Then I deleted the entire package and uploaded anew. It seems to have taken, except that there are some programming goofs. It’ll take the rest of the evening for me to troubleshoot things.

All links should work . . . user knocks on wood – her forehead

Lainey is now taking her mandatory 24 hour break here, as is Scotch. She’s spent the last few hours being punchy from lack of sleep, trying not to get knocked off the sled again, and playing leap frog with another rookie in order to combat boredom. I’ve had some time to spend on personal insights for her, as well. She’s focusing on her motivations for this race (other than because her editors said she had to do it.)

1307 words today. I’m still about 2k in the hole for the month. Since I leave for work an hour later than usual today, I may (or may not) do a quick character sketch for Orphan Maker. I’ve still got some chores to do, however.

Getting started this morning wasn’t easy. Lots of thoughts getting between me and the story. Fortunately, it worked out in the end and I’m 1120 words closer.

Homesteading is filling my brain at the moment, a result of my Orphan Maker research. It’s taking on a more personal meaning for me, as well. Originally, the wife and I planned on doing the full time RV thing. While it would be fun, I’m still a major home body. For various reasons, I think we’d fall into the snowbird trap after awhile – parking somewhere warm for six months of winter, and doing the same for the summer months.

Why not spend the money we’re saving for land instead? A lot of the same principles apply – water conservation, solar electricity – plus we’d have the added benefit of growing our own food. It’d be cheaper than RVing, in that we wouldn’t have to pay for parking fees and such. With the proper forethought and planning, we could have enough energy to run a computer for writing. My internet connection would be intermittent, but I’d probably get a hel of a lot more writing done in the long run.

It’s something to think on, that’s for sure.

That was Lainey’s sled. Asleep at the stick and what happens? Bang! Into the woods she goes.

Dogs are mostly okay, though one is showing signs of bruising. Now she has to get them off the line, use her axe to cut the sled from the stand of trees, and put the mess back together again. She’s got another twenty miles or so to the next checkpoint.

And Scotch has left her behind in search of the elusive championship. It’s time for Lainey to get her act together and toughen up. She’s on her own now.

Chapter 33 finished. Got a cute little interlude at the end between Scotch and Lainey. (Maybe too cute . . . Why, oh why does my mind work so easily with fluffy bits of romance??)

Finding new and exciting things to write about is still difficult. Scotch will now be pulling ahead, leaving Lainey to fend for herself for the rest of the race. I’m sure I can locate some sort of trouble for her to get into.

Right?

. . . slow but sure. 1084 words down.

I’m running into a boredom issue. Not good. It’s time to heat things up (figuratively) for Lainey. It’s going too smooth. There’s only so many chapters I can write of ‘snow, trail, incline, descent, switchback, dangerous conditions, overflow, ice bridges.’

She’s not even halfway through the race yet!

Checked my overall word count. I’m officially four thousand words in the hole for February. What with multiple graveyard shifts this month, the new Tungsten T5 in my greedy little clutches, and the lure of Orphan Maker research, it’s been difficult to put my nose to the grindstone.

Yesterday, I slept until 1pm (graveyard recuperation.) Then I pigged out on homesteading research. I’ve got the Loomis homestead mapped out, and settled on a specific focus for their operation – Icelandic sheep. They can now have readily available meat, a few slaughtering lambs to trade to other homesteads, and plenty of wool for further bartering. My next step will be to redesign the cabin itself. I’ve got an original homesteading family of seven (with a bit of expansion for married adult children,) which has been converted after the plague for eleven kids ranging in age from nineteen to newborn.

Today’s Iditarod goal is 2k – minimum. One entire chapter – minimum. Then we’ll see.

Now I have my Tungsten T-5. I think I’ve done a marvelous job of ignoring the new toy sitting here while I get my 1k in for the day . . .

Chapter thirty-two is finished, but Lainey’s nowhere near the next checkpoint. Hel, she’s not even at the halfway point. She’s in a convoy (safety in numbers) of six mushers as they tackle the crappy trail between Rohn and Nikolai, a total of 93 miles. This will include the Farewell Burn, an area around Farewell Lake that got toasted by a huge fire years ago. It’s still a pain to traverse – rocks, debris, stumps of trees, burned husks . . . She’s taking a break with her dogs before they head into the Buffalo Chutes, so named for the herd of buffalo in the area. (Considering my connection with tatanka I think I’ll have her see the herd on the way.)

Now, off to play with my new toy!

1074 words in less than two hours! WOOT! Lainey and Scotch are sleeping in the checkpoint cabin at Rohn. When they leave there, they’ll be heading into the infamous Farewell Burn. Should take them 24 hours or so to get to Nikolai, which means one night in the wilderness between checkpoints.

Another success – the wife received her keyboard yesterday after I had left for work. When she got her Zire, there were some major issues with it that we finally realized had been caused by the wrong keyboard driver. As frustrating as yesterday was (on many other levels than the one I mentioned in the blog) I was concerned she’d go through more crap. We even toyed with the idea that maybe she should leave it to me to do this morning instead.

Still, impatient as she was, she put the driver on herself, and everything worked dandy. She went to school with the new gear today. I hope it worked for her. (Me? I would have brought the old gear, too, just to be on the safe side. She’s . . . less than technologically inclined. . . )

Tomorrow is a graveyard shift. Maybe 2k will be written, maybe not. We’ll see.

No writing. That’s what I get for slacking off yesterday . . . mini crisis regarding the new Palm in our home. For some obscure reason, Documents to Go disappeared off the handheld, and my wife’s computer would NOT reinstall. The hot sync kept cutting out. I’ve spent an hour finding programs on her hard drive, deleting them, dumping the trash, reinstalling programs, only to have the same thing happen when we tried to hot sync.

Out of desperation, I hooked it up to MY computer. Worked like a dream. Huh? What. The. Fuck?

The only thing we can come up with is that her USB connection on her keyboard is at fault. For some obscure reason, when we got her system together, all the USB connections were taken so we popped it into one of the keyboard slots. Bad connection.

Of course, now I have HER user information on MY computer. It’s like kissing . . . if you can’t swap user data (spit) with your partner . . .

Late and busy night yesterday, so I slept in. Then I barely had enough time to wake up, let alone write, before getting ready to go to work. Today was my day off, but I did my manager a favor by coming in to attend a weekly scheduling meeting.

I get to work to discover the banquet captain in charge of my department for the evening (to cover my shift) was none other than our department’s previous supervisor. Duh. It’s not like he has no clue what questions to ask for my department.

So I didn’t attend the meeting. No reason I should. Promptly skipped out the door, singing “Tra la laaaaa!”

My day has been messed up, however, and I want a nap. Can’t have one or it’ll mess up my tenuous sleep cycle. No writing done today.

Instead, I’m taking a page out of Holly Lisle’s book and playing around with Geeklog. I think I’ll swap over to this instead if I can learn how to tweak it. Then I’ll delete the mailing lists, because I’ll have a literal community on my site. People can register, sign in, leave comments, and visit a forum. I can post my first drafts there under login lock and key rather than on the mailing lists.

We’ll see how it goes.

. . . and counting.

Got Lainey and Scotch through Rainy Pass and to the Rohn Roadhouse checkpoint. Some crappy trail, wild rides, and dangerous potential for spills, but they weathered it well. Lainey is getting over her constant fear as they rampage at top speeds over rough ground and ice bridges, through steep gorges and narrow ravines. She’s beginning to enjoy herself, which is a major step in keeping her on the trail to the end. Soon Scotch, a contender for winning, will have to leave Lainey behind. Without the added encouragement from a lover, Lainey needs to be able to decide to push through the exhaustion and depression on her own.

Don’t start work until late tonight. I’m riding the scooter in because the dance in house is supposed to go until midnight. But, come on! It’s MONDAY! Will they really insist on hanging out until midnight? I’m hoping not. We have to hang out until they’re finished so we can turn the room for the morning sessions.

Signed a contract this morning for Telltale Kisses, the charity anthology I spoke of a couple of weeks ago. When I get solid information about its sale, I’ll post a link here.

Just got this tonight in my email and thought I’d answer it here since others might be interested in my response.

“I was curious what your plans for Iditarod are. Are you hoping to go straight to publish? Or will you eventually post it online?”

I have no plans to post the Iditarod novel online. This one’s going straight into submission once it’s been through rewrites and edits. I have my sights set on a particular publishing house; wish me luck.

Which is not to say that my more avid readers won’t have a shot at reading it. As I did with the Sanguire books, I’ll post the first draft to my mailing list. I ask that the members of that list don’t copy or distribute the first draft. (If I ever discover chapters are being emailed to the world at large, I’ll stop posting to the mailing list at all.)

Thanks for the question, Gail!

1037 words, back on the trail. Going through Dalzell Gorge, heading for the Rohn checkpoint. Switchbacks, boulders, twenty foot high mini gorges of snow, and ice bridges over running water. Lainey’s beginning to have her doubts . . . she hasn’t even reached Farewell Burn yet!

Tax refund has come in! YAY! Bought the wife a Palm Tungsten T5 with a hard case and keyboard. I’ll give it a couple of days to clear, and then buy myself one. I haven’t been able to use my Palm M515 for writing in months. I upgraded Documents to Go only to discover my Palm OS wasn’t sufficient enough to run the thing . . . and there’s no upgrading the OS for that model. grumble

Ah, well. I missed my HP Jornada with all its added bells and whistles. The T5 is similar, almost a pocket PC rather than a PDA. It’ll be good to have the large memory back. (And flash memory! I won’t lose much of anything if the thing hiccups and forces a reset.)