2149 words. Didn’t get back into the race. Some character development between Lainey and Ben Strauss, her friend / AA sponsor / boss.

Thought I wasn’t going to make it . . . got bogged down by the movie Kate and Leopold. I’d heard it sucked, but it was actually quite entertaining. (I suppose it helps that I think Meg Ryan’s a cutie, doesn’t it?)

At least not the writing part. Went to Union Station to pick up my wife’s early birthday present – round trip tickets to see one of her sisters during spring break. Then wandered to an apartment complex in the Pearl District to inquire about their ‘rent to own’ sign. Alas, the rent is way too rich for our blood at this point, but perhaps someday . . . Then went to the store for some much needed supplies. Now I’m back.

After slipping into my sweat pants and making my second cup of joe, I’m off to Alaska to write chapter thirty, preferably in its entirety today. Wish me luck.

Didn’t get home before 1am, so am far too tired to concentrate on the story line. Easier night tonight and I have tomorrow off. My goal is to get at least two k tomorrow – starting and finishing the next Iditarod chapter.

In the meantime, I’ve hammered out the character outlines for Weasel (the leader of the street gang that swallows his pride and leads his straggling krew to the promised land) and Cara Chapman (the MC’s younger cousin and matriarch of the Loomis household.) Both for Orphan Maker, of course.

Discovered some underlying emotional currents with the second MC - Gwen. Apparently she’s more like Torrin Chizu from my novel Warlord Metal than I originally gave her credit for. Should make things interesting.

Is it possible to sue a doctor for false advertising? For illegally raising the hopes of his patients? For pain and suffering due to inflicting reality after blowing smoke up my ass for two months?? I ask you!

Two weeks ago, the doc said no more cast! YAY! We’ll put you in this splint and see you in two weeks. You’re healing great! We’ll get you out of the splint then.

Yesterday, the doc said whoops. Guess you’re not healing as well as you should. You’re only 70 percent along. You’ll have to wear that splint for another month.

A MONTH

grumble

Anyhow, didn’t get any writing done yesterday because I was irritated after the bad news (not to mention the inordinately long wait. Took me longer to see the doctor this time than it ever has before. I thought they forgot I was in the exam room at one point.)

Today I finished chapter twenty-nine and the last of the Happy Valley canyon . . . It’s appropriately named if you consider the musher is happy to get out of the damned place. No further troubles for Lainey, but she and Scotch stop a driverless dog team from heading into the Rainy Pass checkpoint. They’ll have to send snow machines back to locate the musher and make sure he or she isn’t injured.

Don’t know that I’m going to start on chapter thirty now. I’m now beginning to feel the pressure of being behind by two thousand words. I think I’ll skip over to Orphan Maker and flesh out my characters for the rest of today. I’ll begin the next Iditarod chapter tomorrow.

Made it to 860. But I have a mandatory training session at work today, so I have to leave earlier than usual.

Lainey’s made it through the Happy Valley and is on the home stretch for Rainy Pass checkpoint. She’s only traveled thirty miles, but it’s been a hellacious distance. She’s just received a reward from Scotch for making it through (and get your minds out of the gutter! It’s not that kind of reward!) I’ll finish out the chapter sometime tomorrow.

Overall, I’m about 1100 words short for the month. I’ve another graveyard next week, so that cuts into my day off writing time. It’s been a crappy two weeks as far as writing goes, but I’ll keep slogging through. Maybe on my graveyard recuperation day I’ll do world building for Orphan Maker. Easy words. I can make a thousand – maybe even two thousand – fairly quickly with character sketches and the like.

Tired. After two months of not doing much because of the slow season and a broken thumb, I’m finding the physical labor is already taking its toll. Ah, well. Such is life.

Well, not really. Lainey has just traversed the notorious Happy River canyon. She’s made it to the bottom, dogs and gear intact, though she’s learned a lesson about centering the weight in her sled. She almost tipped on the right switchback, as the team careened down the steep descent. Now it’s time to snack the dogs, and collapse in a dead faint.

1018 words in less than an hour and a half.

Man, I wish all my novels went this fast.

2049 words, chapter 28 complete. It’s time for my ladies to hit Rainy Pass.

And the real Iditarod starts in 26 days, 17 hours, and 34 minutes!

1418 words. Chapter 27 complete. Lainey’s just finished having to break a snowed in trail and is learning that even though there’s healthy competition on the Iditarod, that doesn’t mean her competitors are dicks.

I’ve now effectively written myself three days off! Wow! One will be Friday, and maybe one on Saturday (because I’ll be exhausted from the graveyard shift the night before.) Which means I’ll still have one in the bank! Weeeeeeeee!

Yesterday I whipped out over two grand in less than three hours. I was so surprised when I realized it was only two in the afternoon when I was finished for the day. This story is now writing itself.

Today, my goal was 1k, but I got an additional five hundred before my allotted time was up. (Don’t mind the chick at the keyboard, she’s just chanelling.) This means that I’ve written myself two days off now. Good thing since next Friday will be impossible, schedule wise.

I’m wearing a yellow rubber band on my wrist. It seems to be all the rage where I work. My manager has one, as well. I found one after a conference came through – it said ‘Get It Together.’ I thought that seemed appropriate and put it on. Of course, it could be argued that I already have it together at work, so it wasn’t exactly earth shattering for me to wear.

Then I found another one that was much better – ‘Snap Out Of It.’ So I gave the first one away to one of my crew and donned this one. It has special meaning for me.

You see, I used to be a stodgy stick in the mud, back in the day. My automatic response to anything new was, ‘No!’ (Sometimes ‘HEL, NO!’) After attending some corporate class or other that the company paid for to teach me interpersonal skills (and gods, did I need them.) I put on a rubber band. Wore it for six months or so. The objective was to remind myself to try something new every single day. If I didn’t, I had to snap myself.

Have I mentioned that I’m allergic to pain? LOL!

Whatever the case, it worked. I’m a lot less stodgy now (though I’m sure my wife will say something different.) Now when I say ‘No!’ I actually think about the suggestion before saying it . . . LOL! Sometimes I’ve been known to gasp change my mind!

So ‘Snap Out Of It’ is very appropriate for me!