The Daily Journal, Saturday, August 24

In today’s Journal

* Wow. It’s monsoon season…
* Daily Diary
* Of Interest
* The numbers

Wow. It’s monsoon season out here in Arizona. For days and days, we’ve been surrounded by storms on all directions, but not a drop for us.

Then yesterday, at about 4 p.m., the rain started. Actually, it was the second-worst storm I’ve ever experienced (excepting typhoons in Okinawa). In two hours, we got just under three inches of rain, and at least three different sessions of hail. It was (ahem) interesting.

And interesting how I reacted. The rest of this is kind of a topic. How might your characters react to stressful situations, and why?

The worst storm I’ve ever experienced hit while Dan and I were camping up along the Gila. That one built quickly and hit pretty much out of blue. The rain/hail mix was relentless, and the wind shook, rocked and even lifted the pickup so strongly, more than once we thought we might go over the side of the cliff and down to the Gila 500 feet below.

And we loved it. It was great fun, and an exhilarating experience. We hope to be there on another such weekend.

But when the storm came yesterday, I watched it approach for an hour before it arrived. And when it hit, I got grumpy. Water started coming under the back door and leaking through the roof. My chihuahua was certain the world was ending, and my cats hid under the bed. And my mood grew increasingly darker.

Why?

The only reason I can think of is home and security.

During the storm along the Gila, I was in the storm’s domain. It was an adventure and I was the intruder, though I can’t imagine that I threatened it in any way.

But during the storm here, it was the intruder. It disrupted my routine (there’s the biggie) and threatened my security in the form of the threat of water damage, loss of electricity, etc.

Aren’t humans silly?

I’ve long said one of these days some moronic terrorist is going to kick the plug out of the wall and humans will go nuts.

I guess I’ll be one of them.
*

Anyway, thanks to a tripped circuit breaker on the Hovel, my writing ‘puter survived. However, my hardwire internet connection from the house to the Hovel wasn’t so fortunate.

I suspect my ethernet switch is fried. So until I can get another one, it’s back to transferring the Journal to a thumb drive, carrying it up to the house, and sending the Journal from there. Sigh.

Update: I tried plugging the ethernet cable directly into my ‘puter, but that didn’t work either. Which means either the cable itself is fried or the ethernet card in my computer is fried.

So I went to the house, brought my other ‘puter to the Hovel, and plugged the e-net directly into it. Still nothing. So it’s the ethernet cable. Well, all right.

Breathe, Harvey. Remember all you must have is food, water and shelter. Everything else is luxury. (grin)
***

Rolled out at 4. I did a little writing yesterday. I’m a little rattled from all the problems so I probably won’t do any writing today.

We’ll spend much of the day today in Sierra Vista where I’ll pick up a “real” spare tire for my pickup (vs. the donut) and then do some shopping.

Talk with you again tomorrow.

Of Interest

See “Stars in Your Eyes vs. Reality” at http://prowriterswriting.com/stars-in-your-eyes-vs-reality/.

Incredibly, nothing else of interest today. You might check https://thepassivevoice.com and browse a few articles just in case something there might grab your attention.

Fiction Words: 1253 (yesterday)
Nonfiction Words: 610 (Journal)
Total words for the day: 1863

Writing of Blackwell Ops 7: Glynn Marco (novel)

Day 1…… 3222 words. Total words to date…… 3222
Day 2…… 1170 words. Total words to date…… 4392
Day 3…… 3191 words. Total words to date…… 7583
Day 4…… 1374 words. Total words to date…… 8957
Day 5…… 1952 words. Total words to date…… 10909
Day 6…… 1021 words. Total words to date…… 11930
Day 7…… 2733 words. Total words to date…… 14663
Day 8…… 1253 words. Total words to date…… 15916

Total fiction words for the month……… 15916
Total fiction words for the year………… 374653
Total nonfiction words for the month… 23780
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 241860
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 616513

Calendar Year 2019 Novels to Date…………………… 7
Calendar Year 2019 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2019 Short Stories to Date… 2
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 43
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 195
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31