Writing and other stuff

A few days ago, my mentor, Fred, emailed me his comments on my WIP (that's Sisters in Crime lingo for work in progress). He thought it was progressing nicely, pacing was better, I was getting more comfortable with the characters--but one episode bothered him and needed clarification. So night before last I did that, which was fun and I did much more than he originally suggested, quite a bit of rewriting and expanding. But then last night I was back to where I'd gotten stymied--what was going to happen next? I could see events on down the road, but I didn't know how to get to them. So I did what I know to do--I forged ahead and wrote. The general theory--and Fred and I talked about it today--is to write something, anything, with the knowledge you'll rewrite. But that moment of writing will get you off dead center. And already I can see episodes and incidents that need to come before what I wrote last night, so maybe I'm off and running again, if I can keep life from interfering with my writing, which it has a way of doing.
I had lunch with Fred today, and we talked about the ultimate end of my book--I can see two villains, and no one will, I hope, which one puts the main character in danger--and who's guilty of what. Fred thought it was a great idea but tricky to pull off, and that may be what's stopping me. Then we talked about an idea he's working on for either a series of articles or a book--I of course encouraged him to make it a book. Sounds intriguing. He's done two books with TCU Press since he retired, and I'd like to see another one.
So tonight, I'm going to write those missing episodes that are now in my brain. It's really true that once you start writing, it flows, and your characters tell you what's going to happen. Alas, not so for Fred who writes nonfiction and has to do lots of research.
Meantime life has still been getting in my way. Yesterday was Jordan's real birthrday and she looked forward to lunch at Cafe Aspen, our favorite. But in the morning she woke with a painful, scratched eyeball--I've had that in the past, once, and it may well be the most painful episode in my medical history. She thought sure she could go to the doctor, he'd fix it, and she could go on to lunch--so sure, that she took a bag of make-up with her to his office. But he told her to go home and lie down in a dark room. So no lunch. And so far we can't find a time to reschedule.
Yesterday afternoon the AT&T installation person came--maybe the eighth one I've had here. But he fixed the ugly kitchen installation to the best of his ability, and it does look much better--no more looping cord going up the wall. It's much less intrusive. I wonder what Jamie will think of it. The AT&T guy also said not to put the flat screen TV in the bathroom--Jamie gave it to me for Christmas for that purpose--he said the moisture from showers would cause it to crash. I think I'll look for one of those radios that my dad had that plays the audio portion of TV programs. I fervently hope I'm through with AT&T problems!
Today I ran a pharmacy errand on the way to work, spent the morning keying in dull corrections, and had a most enjoyable lunch with Fred. Then raced to pick up Jordan so we could go to the bank and transact some business. Then home for a little work, nap, and exercise--and dinner with Betty. We went to a bistro where one of my former interns is a chef--decided we'd split wasabe scallops. Heather herself brought the plates out, but I took one look at those crab cakes and said no, we'd ordered scallops. In a minute, both the waitress and Heather were back asking what we'd really ordered--I said scallops but it was no problem. We'd eat the crab cakes. Turns out they were scallops, just the biggest I'd ever seen, each the size of a good-sized crab cake, and the brown crust was the wasabe crust. Embarrassed, I said you just can't take unsophisticated diners anywhere, and Heather laughed. But it was a really good dinner, with a goat juice topped broiled tomato and haricot verts. And the scallops were sweet and tender--and not overcooked so they were rubbery. The wasabe touch was just right, though I got one bite that really cleared my sinuses.
Thursday and Friday promise to be a bit hectic too--I tease Charles about being fanatical about getting to bed at 7:30 (he does stay up later for some events) but I find I am getting every bit as fanatical about my nap. Still, so far this week I've worked in a nap and exercise every day. Hope that continues.