It’s All In Your Head

A headache, I get the kind of headache God would smote you with in the Old Testament.
― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

“I don't want to die now!" he yelled. "I've still got a headache! I don't want to go to heaven with a headache, I'd be all cross and wouldn't enjoy it!”
― Douglas Adams

The word for the week is headache. It’s been so hot that we’ve had to have the air conditioner on upstairs at night and it’s loud enough that I’m not getting a good night’s sleep. I wake up super tired and headachy. Also, we’re coming into allergy season, and not only do I get sinus headaches, the pressure from my sinuses gives me earaches. *sigh*

Still . . . I feel like I’m moving closer to being able to use my old format here; you know, the one that included actual word counts and progress reports.

One of the reasons for this is that I moved my desk. Not a lot, but instead of it being angled with my back to a corner, I have it perpendicular to the window so my back is to the wall. Surprisingly, I have a lot more room with the desk this way. And the big thing is, it’s brighter. The way it was angled before, it didn’t matter how bright it was outside, the low hutch that contains the roll top threw a shadow on the desk top. I had to have a light on top of the bookcase beside me because the overhead light is kind of dim.

And one of the interesting things I discovered, originally I had the desk parallel to the window with my back to the wall so I was looking out the window. I couldn’t have had it that way for long because I don’t even remember that, but I have the pictures to prove it.

In any case, I like the desk perpendicular to the window. I can still access the bookcase right under the window, and the one against the opposite wall, as well as the filing cabinet the printer sits on. And I feel like I have more room – I don’t have to shimmy to get behind my desk. LOL

The other reason I got more writing done last week is because the Solitaire Garden website still isn’t working. *sigh* The other games just aren’t as much fun, not even the hidden object games. I am valiantly resisting the urge to look for new games.

After more endless back and forthing – filling my shopping cart, deleting my shopping cart – I finally settled on a Lenovo ThinkPad Gen 15. I’m trying not to dwell on why I didn’t just go for a different IdeaPad with its superior battery life. I’m sure I had my reasons – it was probably some bad reviews that scared me off. Anyway, the ThinkPad is on its way.

I finished my mandala poem. The amount of information I’d gathered about mandalas was so overwhelming I decided to put it to good use and do a black out poem. Friday being the first Friday of September, I figure I’ll post it then.

I finished The Bookseller’s Secret by Michelle Gable – I really enjoyed the way it went back and forth between the past and present. It was really two stories in one, and I can’t decide which one I enjoyed more. But unfortunately after that I started sliding back into the Nora Roberts black reading hole again. Blame the hot, yet overcast weather for that. But at least I’m down to her early stuff, which is much shorter. :-)

The Week Ahead . . .

I almost started a brand new series on Wednesday, but it was so late Tuesday night when I started it, I didn’t get very far. But be on the look-out for The Spice of Life, starting this Wednesday. As you may surmise, it’s about spices and their uses. I’m not going to put them in alphabetical order (boring!) and it’ll run until I get tired of it. LOL

Work is proceeding on the edits for Blood Ties. The beginning is totally changing and there will be at least a couple of parts of the rest of it that’ll have to change too. But I’m confident it’ll be a better book for it.

I picked out the novel I’m taking to the retreat in October. And the winner is . . . The Perfect Match, formerly known as The Eros Portal (NaNo 2016). It’s a science fiction romance about a scientist who creates a machine that’s meant to find a person’s perfect romantic match, but things go a little awry when the wrong DNA is used. Not only do I really like this story, it’s really close to being done. I only have one scene (I think) to add to complete it.

I think I’d like start working with some prompts again, just something quick and easy to start my writing day. Maybe even start doing a weekly flash story to post on Fridays . . .

So . . . what’s your week looking like?