Hey Folks,
Do you use telephones? I don’t like them.
Rarely, if we’ve worked out the details ahead of time via email, I’ll talk with a very good friend via phone, but that’s about it.
And two times out of three in the past year when that happened, the friends (Marines from a few decades ago) were dismayed, and said so, that I sounded so “old.” Isn’t that uplifting? (grin)
Well, several months ago, an acquaintance I literally haven’t seen for 30-some years asked whether I would judge a writing contest for her writers organization. I said yes.
Yesterday, she emailed asking for a bio and a phone number. I sent her the bio.
She emailed back, insisting on a phone number for “emergencies.”
Sigh. What, in judging a writing contest, might constitute an “emergency”?
But I imagine myself a “good guy,” so I sent her my number at the end of the following note:
Please use email. I will always respond as soon as I see the message. Frankly, I can’t imagine how anything having to do with judging a writing contest could constitute an “emergency.” A flood of entrants perhaps? A tsunami of bad writing? An F-5 tornado of bad puns and misplaced modifiers? A major tremor of (gasp!) adverbs?
I do have a phone (literally for actual emergencies) but I don’t care for phones. They always ring at the least opportune time, and they continue ringing until the bearer either answers or finds a hammer to silence the thing. My hammers, small ball-peen to heavy sledge, are all in the Hovel, an adobe storage shed some 200 feet from my house, so I pretty much have to answer the blasted phone.
I find telephones (cell phones, etc.) intrusive and annoying, so I very seldom even carry mine. In fact, I have been known to go camping in remote, rugged country for a weekend, forsaking my bride and my kitten, specifically so I won’t have to listen to my or any other cell phones ringing.
Mostly, when my phone and I are in the same general vicinity, I use mine to mark the end of the charging cord so I can find it when I need it for my Kindle. Even so, I really ought to keep a sledge hammer mounted on two nails in my office wall.
But if a phone number is required by your organization for me to judge a contest on their behalf, I don’t want to make your job as contest coordinator more difficult. So it’s [phone number].
Sent with a grin,
Harvey
I’m pleased to report she took my note with the good humor I intended.
***
I had a delightful day off from life yesterday. I sat on the reclining love seat in the living room, avoided computers (mostly), and watched baseball and old reruns. I think I just needed to recharge. Today I will write.
***
Ha! The subconscious mind works in miraculous ways. I started a short story, prompted by a photo I downloaded a few days ago and the title it evoked.
I wrote an opening (300 words) that just didn’t work. (Those words are included in the daily total below.) But a situation that came up in the opening spurred another thought, and that thought led me to begin the next Nick Spalding novel, tentatively titled Nick 3. Weird, but wonderful. Off and writing again.
Back and forth with laundry and the novel, not quite 4000 words on the day. If I add more tonight, I’ll let you know tomorrow. (grin)
Of Interest
See “Time Management and Free Lecture” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/time-management-and-free-lecture/. (I bought this lecture back in the day and it was well worth it. Highly recommended, especially now that it’s free.)
See “READER FRIDAY: How Are You Supported as a Writer?” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/09/reader-friday-how-does-your-family-support-you-as-a-writer.html and of course, my inevitable comment.
Talk with you again soon.
Fiction Words: 3722
Nonfiction Words: 630 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 4352
Writing of Nick 3
Day 1…… 3422 words. Total words to date…… 3422
Total fiction words for the month……… 3722
Total fiction words for the year………… 318453
Total nonfiction words for the month… 4460
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 122276
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 440479
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 7
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 33
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 6
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………………… 193