The Journal, Thursday, April 12

Hey Folks,

Wow. I woke up right at 2:30, which has become my recent norm. But for various reasons I went back to sleep and didn’t wake up again until 4.

Problem is, that throws off the whole day.

The ladies asked me to stay close so they could go out in the pre-dawn yard. So I didn’t get to the Hovel, which means I didn’t get to the novel.

One drawback to having a dedicated writing space and a dedicated writing computer is that when I don’t get there, I don’t write.

Then I spent a couple of hours, literally, getting up every 5 – 10 minutes to go out and shoo the noisy, aggravating, multiply cursed woodpeckers away from the hummingbird feeders.

By the way, if any of you know a way to get rid of woodpeckers per-ma-nent-ly, I’m all ears. I have no qualms (at all) about using lethal force on the things, but I can’t use a gun because of the proximity to houses.

As it stands, one day I’m going to die outside my kitchen door, veins popping in my neck as I yell at the woodpeckers to “git.” Then, of course, he’ll come back and dine on my eyes, all the while screeching like a really pi–ed off banshee whose husband has done something dreadful, like, say, breating in and out.

So seriously, any advice would be appreciated. I don’t want to hurt them. I just want to kill them so they won’t bother me anymore.

At present, I’m on the verge of taking down the humer feeders until the evening, when I’m sitting outside and the WPs won’t come around. But I really don’t want to punish the hummers and the other birds who have the good sense to dine quietly.

Okay, so I’ve done nothing this morning but check online stuff and write this. I’m going to edit now (it’s slightly after 7 a.m.) and at around 8:30 I hope to head out to the Hovel to write for awhile. Then I’ll switch back and forth, probably in about 2-hour intervals, for the rest of the day. At least that’s the plan.

Of course, I haven’t run my plan across the woodpeckers’ desk yet.

***

Only had a half-day today and other things to do. Still, I added to the novel.

Back soon.

Of Interest

See “Cozies vs. Cutesies” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/04/cozies-vs-cutesies.html.

By the way, if you’re into reading really GOOD cozy mysteries, I strongly recommend Nora Barker. As just one example, you can see “Green Eyed Death” at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J2I0OBQ/.

See “Recalcitrant Muses and Sometimes Writing Misbehaves” at https://lindamayeadams.com/2018/04/12/recalcitrant-muses-and-sometimes-writing-misbehaves/.

See “Tech Tools for Authors #5: Social Media” at https://the-digital-reader.com/2018/04/11/tech-tools-for-authors-5-social-media/.

Fiction Words: 2217
Nonfiction Words: 460 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 2677

Writing of Versailles (novel, tentative title)

Day 1…… 3081 words. Total words to date…… 3081
Day 2…… 2217 words. Total words to date…… 5298

Total fiction words for the month……… 19254
Total fiction words for the year………… 132795
Total nonfiction words for the month… 5370
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 39130
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 213706

Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 3
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 30
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 5
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 182