Just got a phone call from Jeff. He says next week, we will not be on third shift, as we were supposed to be. Nor will we be on first shift... or second...

Next week, we will be getting up about now. For 5am - 1pm shift.

What the comma?

I like being awake at 4am, but I like still being awake, not waking up then.

Okay. At least there is still a shift to go to.

If I am a zombie next week and you never see me, this is why.

ETA: Now they have changed their minds. We'll be on third shift next week, like usual.

Fun.

1. Trailer with giant bales of hay is still out there. Was cute the first day. Was cute the second day. Pushing it by the third day. Six days is not funny anymore.

Mister hay trailer person, please fix your tire and go away.

2. Obama is speaking at JMU (in Harrisonburg, by where I live). I had to go by JMU to get to the grocery store today.

Traffic. Is. Nuts.

It's not as bad as it could be, but seriously, there are cops everywhere. Not even just by JMU.

3. I ordered an external hard drive for Bambi the iMac to use for Time Machine. It came FexEx today. Hurrah! Right?

I opened the rather large box to find the smaller box with my hard drive in there, an invoice, a tiny catalogue...and that was it. Notice something missing? Like, say, padding for my expensive hard drive???

Worried it became damaged during transport, I opted not to open the hard drive and test it yet, but to call the company and ask if they could assure me they'd replace it (with no fees on my part! I didn't do this!) if it didn't work. I looked at the invoice...no phone number. ARGH. There was a help site. I went to that, filled out the form, and they flashed a message that said a confirmation email would appear in five minutes. Fast forward five minutes, no confirmation email. Twenty minutes. Still no confirmation.

I tried again, using a different email address. Several hours later, no response to either message. I'd worry less, except their website says you only have 14 days to return things, and that's from the day they shipped it, not when you received it. Since they sent it FedEx ground...well, I'm in a bit of a hurry.

If I don't have an email tomorrow, I'm calling Amazon (I ordered it through Amazon, but a dealer got my money - I'm not sure how it works), and I'm asking them to fix it. I assume they'll want to, since they trusted this company. And since I'm in such a cross mood...I hope someone tells me I can try my hard drive without worrying I'm going to risk having to buy another one because of their stupid error.

I hope I'm not feeling this cross tomorrow, but comma help them if I am. You don't mess with what's supposed to be my backup drive. Writers iz nutz, and backups...they're important.

4. Several very odd things in the slush today. Very odd behavior from people. I will have full reports of the oddness on Saturday.

5. In good news (or at least less grumpy news), I got quite a bit of work on DELUGE done, and I'm feeling really good about the book. It's UF(ish), therefore commercial, but it's still got stuff I love about secondworld fantasy. It was hard to write, really hard, and even reading through it, I don't recognize some of the elements as being from my story. I remember writing them, so I must have done it.

(I also remember desperately trying to avoid writing some of them, and dragging the hard scenes out of my head word. by. painful. word. The people who read the book said they're the strongest scenes in the book, though, so and I hope they're right. I don't want to have to rip those scenes up and try again. Very emotionally taxing. I'll fix what I need to, but whitepaper those bits. *shudder*. *SHUDDER.*)

I had to go shoe shopping today.

For many of my friends, this would be an occasion to celebrate. Yay shoes, yes? No. I'd prefer to go in my handknit-socked feet, no icky shoes, but grass and pavement and so on wants to hurt my socks, so I wear the shoes. Plus, no one lets you shop places if you aren't wearing shoes. It seems mean to me, but whatever.

Anyway, I'm the kind of person who is occasionally pressured (by my sister!) into buying silly little shoes I will never wear. Like sandals or dress shoes. Well, I guess the dress shoes would be good if I were ever to dress up. I can't think of a good reason to wear sandals, really. They aren't sturdy, and you can't wear socks with them (so my sister insists), so grass tickles your feet, and that's assuming you can get the sandals to stay on...

Ahem. So my trusty pair of shoes. Good for all occasions. Jeans. Other trousers... (Well, mostly I wear jeans, but I have worn them with other pants, and my sister never complained (more than she usually does), so I assume they go okay.) They are black and almost boot looking, but not really boots. They have laces. That's about all there is to them. After a few years of wearing, there were also a couple little holes in the sides next to the toes, but eh, I don't care. It gives them character.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed the one of the soles kind of wiggled. As in, someday to wiggle off. Uh-oh.

Then I noticed there was a crack along the sole. Oh noes. There are some things even I can't ignore.

So today (yes, I waited that long!), I went to find new shoes. Dear apostrophes, does nobody make plain, boring black shoes with laces anymore? That aren't clunky giant heels or weird seams everywhere? Boring. Black. Shoes. All purpose.

There was one, but of course they didn't have my size. We tried three different places, and by the end of it I was kind of wandering through the aisles and aisle of shoes. There were so many of them! And in every style you could imagine! Except plain black shoes. Nice and boring and unassuming. With laces. (There were plenty without laces, but I am a big girl and I can tie my shoes now. I've been practicing.)

*weeping*

I ended up with a pair of shoes that's sort of slip on and they're black...and for some reason the back doesn't come all the way up my heel -- only an inch, maybe -- but they are boring enough, and cheap, so I will put up with them until a better (boringer!) pair of shoes comes into my life.

They show a lot of foot. One is probably not meant to wear socks with them, but my feet get cold, so I don't care. (My sister would be so upset if she knew. Good thing she's 1500 miles away.)

I have to wear the new shoes tomorrow. I think I will wear these socks with them.



Because I can.

I try to stay away from topics that cause people to get their panties in a twist, like politics and religion, but Christianity is part of my life, so I try to remember to do things like praying for family and friends and people who ask for prayers/candles/crossed fingers and all that. I refuse to force my beliefs on anyone else, but do my best to behave like a little Christ and be a good example. (I don't think I succeed, but I'll keep trying.)

This post...isn't really about being a Christian, but that does factor into it. This post is more about being a part of a group. I'm using Christianity as an example because I can, but please insert group of your choice, whether it be another religion (or not religion), culture, minority, or political group.

See, there's this thing. Groups are made of people. There are different kinds of people in every group. Some are okay, and some are wackos.

There's this other thing that's become obnoxiously popular. I tend to notice it about Christians, being one myself and all (O.o), but again, insert group of your choice, and I bet it happens to them, also.

It's when someone chooses to represent the entire group by holding up the nuts as an example.

Can I just say how much I hate that?

It isn't fair. (Life isn't fair, princess.) It isn't right. Not every Christian tries to cuddle snakes because the bible says serpents can't hurt us; we don't all harass people on the street about how they're going to Hell if they don't repent now; and certainly not all of us refuse to have a thing to do with non-Christians because they might taint us. Unclean!

And yet, there are enough wackos getting attention in the media that people think of them when they think of Christians.

This might be news, but those people aren't necessarily representative of the entire group.

Lots of people out there are trying to be as good and well-behaved as they can.

This world is much too small to behave this way, and it gets smaller every day. No, slamming entire groups based on a couple people isn't really hurting anyone (at least physically), but it's petty. If we can't show compassion on such a small level, how are we going to solve the bigger problems?

Here's the thing about writing: you have to do it.

It can be a tricky thing, I know, especially when you're a planner, so you plan and outline and research... But that's not writing. It counts as work toward writing, but it isn't making words on paper. You can't fix a draft that isn't there.

Here's the other thing: you don't have an infinite amount of time.

People who have jobs and families know what I mean. They ration their time, and write like mad things whenever they have a chance. But what about other people, who don't have job, and have undemanding families? It seems like we should have all the time in the world to write, but a lot of times, we're less productive because of it.

This post is for those people.

I know I'm far more likely to slack off if I think I have a whole day ahead of me, and a goal of say...one thousand words. But I know people with jobs and families who can get their thousand words in an hour or less. I know I can do it in an hour if I sit down and do it. I just have to focus.

And that's the problem sometimes. Working (whether it be paying work or not) from home is hazardous. I mean, it's handy because you wake up and you're at work, and you don't even have to shower first. But also, you're at work in your home where all your stuff is. I have yarn, pets, and a nice warm bed. Sometimes those things are way more tempting than getting my wordcount goal.

So I make rules for myself. They're totally arbitrary, but they work.

1. I must have so much progress before I can check LJ. I may read and comment on LJ when I've finished a scene or chapter, and then I must go right back to work.

2. I must have so much progress before I do anything that isn't writing. (Cleaning house, dishes, laundry, sleep...)

3. No games on the computer. When I'm on my computer, I'm at work. Work is not for games.

4. Accountability: Timed writing with friends really helps. We set the timer for an hour, write the entire hour, and report progress when it's done. Being accountable to someone, even if they're your BFF or mom or whoever, makes me want to work harder. (Part of the reason I like to track my progress on LJ. I don't care if no one looks at that. Reporting it daily makes me accountable.

5. I can't go just lie down for a minute, or it'll be an hour. I can take a break from whatever I'm doing to play with the ferrets at the appointed ferret time. (They're the only ones in this house with a schedule.) (That's another problem, not having a set schedule to do things. My rules help with that, too.) I can get up to get a snack, but I must bring it back to work with me, and work while I eat or drink.

Not having anything else to do makes it really easy to work instead of...doing other stuff. Knowing this about myself, I don't *want* distractions, because then I will be distracted. And I want to get work done.

Working from home, it's so easy to get distracted, or to procrastinate. There's always some excuse. But really, if you're serious, there shouldn't be excuses. If you're serious about being a writer (or whatever you do from home), you have to do it. Otherwise, you aren't whatever you say you are. You have to do the things you say you will. If you have a deadline, or you make a promise to someone, do it.

And now I have to get some work finished, because I've spent the morning taking pictures and making icons and writing a post about how people without lives and schedules can still be productive. Gee, won't my face be red when my day is done and I haven't got anything done...

"I won't read anything with X in the story."

The reason, I suspect, is because I look at these people (or look at their pixels) and wonder if they ever find anything to read. No goblins, no Chosen Ones, no dragons, no vampires, no magic...

Well that's most of the F side of SFF right there, isn't it? And some of SF!

Do these people (and I know some of you are these people, so fess up) find anything to read? I mean, what happens? You pick up a book, nothing dangerous like a pixie on the cover, and begin to read...and suddenly there's a pixie! Does the book hit the wall then? And you never buy anything with a castle on the cover again? (Because while this pixie book had no pixie on the cover, it did have a castle.)

Honestly. It boggles me. I mean, I have things I'd rather not read about. I'll admit I'm not a werewolf fan. Not really a vampire fan either. But kick me if I've ever said I refuse to read anything with either of those types of characters.

Most of the people I've seen say this stuff are also writers. So, do these writers/readers not write about these things, either?

I just keep thinking it's got to be really limiting, cutting yourself off from all these potential worldbuilding or characters possibilities because dragons are so overdone, or vampires are on their way out, or Chosen Ones must die because who isn't a Chosen One these days?

I don't see the point in dismissing half the genre. What do these people write about? What do they read? SpecFic is supposed to be about stretching the imagination, making anything possible. As much as it pains some people, I think unicorns and magic and talking spaceships are always going to be part of that.

This is an opportunity. If these things are so loathsome, why not write the anti-X story? You hate goblins? Write a story with a twist on goblins. What would you do to make them interesting again? Tired of magic? Write a story where magic is more harmful than helpful, and people who practice are killed or something.

What I'm saying is, use your imagination. Use the things you don't like, and make them something you'd read about. I find the whole idea of limiting imagination and story possibilities because of not liking a particular type of character...I find that confounding.

And I know not everyone who doesn't want to read about vampires (or whatever) is going to avoid them like the plague. Preferring not to read about a certain thing, and refusing to read it and deciding that anything with that thing is unworthy--they are two different things. The former is fine. Definitely read what you enjoy, what inspires you. But saying, "I will not pick up a book if it has a dragon on the cover because McCaffrey already wrote about dragons," is really... kind of sad. And not really giving much credit to anyone else's imagination and ability to write dragons differently and interestingly.

So my question, which is rather lost in all this mess, is why would anyone decide not to read about something Ever. Again? I understand getting hurt, or reading about something too many times. What I don't understand is flat out refusal and completely dismissing half the books out there.

Why?