Old Man Winter Brings a Hodgepodge of Thoughts

The weather yesterday was beautiful!  62 degrees.  Not bad at all for late January.  And then evening came and so did the cold front, sending 60 mph winds through the area.  Today's high?  24, and I'd bet that lasted the few minutes it took for the weather guys to chart it, then dropped again.

It's been a weird winter for everyone, what with polar vortexes and snow in places that rarely see snow.  Last year, we were hit with a snowstorm that dumped 20 inches in our area.  A record, for sure.  I've seen a foot or a little more a few times, but 20 inches?  That's crazy!

With two more months of winter--we have our biggest snows in March--I shudder to think what else we'll get to deal with.  Then I shudder with the cold from what we have in the present.

I spent most of the weekend writing, trying to catch up on days I wasn't able to write during the weeks before.  My total for our first BIAW this month was 82 pages.  I chart that, and even my mouth dropped open when I saw my word total for so far this month.  Last January my total word count amounted to zero.  With a goal of 200,000 words for the year in 2013, I wondered if my expectations might have been too high.  But things have a way of pushing us, and I finished with more than my goal.  Some of that was need, some of that was determination, and the rest is just plain being stubborn.

Today brought line edits for the next to last Desperation book.  With a February 24th deadline, I don't get to lay around and watch TV.  In fact, what little TV I usually watch has dwindled to very little.  I like to watch TV.  I used to do a lot of it.  I was once a soap opera junkie.  General Hospital was my drug of choice.  I'd watched it for so long, I could remember the original characters from the early days.  Not necessarily by choice.  My mother was a soap opera junkie, too.  But one day I realized what a waste of time it was and I quit.  Cold turkey.  I set a date.  Felicia and Frisco's wedding.  I'd watch that, then no more.  Amazing, even to me, I stuck to it.  I haven't gotten hooked yet.  Strange, but I've never missed it.

We all have our passions.  Reading has always been mine.  Sad to say, but time for reading has shrunk to very little over the past couple of years.  I pat myself on the back for reading Stephen King's 11/22/63 last fall.  With over 800 pages, it took a while, and most of it I read in bits and pieces.  Considering the length, should I count that as at least two books?  I think so!  I'm currently reading, although it's slow going.  I work until midnight, sometimes later, then read a little before turning out the light.  When I realize I've just read the same sentence or paragraph more times than I can remember, I put it away.  I'm currently reading a book I'd wanted for some time, found it discounted on Amazon last week, and grabbed it.  It's slow going.  Not because it's not a good book, but because of the lack of time to read.  No doubt I'll finish.  I have to know if the main character's son is the murderer.

But tonight is Castle, so I'll enjoy an hour of it, then go back to the keyboard and see if my characters will behave or at least talk to me.  Yes, those voices in my head are real. ;)  At least I'm never alone.

Winter is nature's way of saying, 'Up yours.' ~ Robert Byrne