Saturday, April 09, 2005

Sometimes you Win

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it's better to just pack up your toys and go home.

Welcome to the weekend.

I got up WAAAAAY early this morning determined (determined I say) to write. Walked out the door and found -- A FLAT TIRE. Now this is not normally a big deal. Really. I HAVE changed more than one tire in my life. BUT I just GOT the blasted thing fixed yesterday morning. AND I've not been feeling all that hot, certainly not up to changing tires in the dark at 5:00 in the morning. Particularly not tires that SHOULD NOT FREAKING BE FLAT DAG NABBIT. (Every time I say Dag Nabbit I feel like Elmer Fudd with hair). So I cheated. I bought "Fix a Flat" and got it inflated enough to put air in it and then drove it back to the tire place. They don't open until about 8:00, so I decided, FINE, I'll go write at the office.

I walked the block from the tire place to the office and sat down to the computer and realized... I DON'T HAVE MY GLASSES. Now I can see distance without them just fine. But reading... uh... not so much. So I've set the computer to a larger view and am making do.

I am telling myself that this is God's way of telling me to SLOW DOWN. So I am taking a deep breath, and remembering the Zen Washing Machine.

I may have already told this story (Pardon me if I have), but the Zen washer came with a previous residence. It was old (VERY), but it ran well enough, and it was placed directly under the furnace venting system for the house. So when it ran, the sound came through every vent in every room. The cool part was the TYPE of sound.

"OOOHHHMMMMMMM. OOOHHHHHMMMMMM. Woogita woogita woogita. THUNK! OOOOHHHHMMMMM."

Which is why my dear son (who was very small at the time) named it "The Zen Washer."

I kid you not, it was SOOTHING hearing that washer doing it's thing. Which was why when it broke down my son and I agreed to at least TRY to get it fixed. Alas, it was old enough that parts were no longer available.

So I sit in my office, waiting to call the mechanic, remembering the Zen washer instead of working on my book. I'll get to the writing. But writing when I'm stressed doesn't produce a good product. So I'll remember and try to calm down.

Repeat after me:

"OOOHHHMMMMMMM. OOOHHHHHMMMMMM. Woogita woogita woogita. THUNK! OOOOHHHHMMMMM."

My life is good. I have so many things to be thankful for.

"OOOHHHMMMMMMM. OOOHHHHHMMMMMM. Woogita woogita woogita. THUNK! OOOOHHHHMMMMM."

OO! That reminds me!!! I DO have some good news. (See, it works!)

Midwest Book Reviews reviewed Secrets: Fact or Fiction (mystery anthology Cathy and I are in and I told you about a while back). There are 9 short stories in the book. Some are true. Some aren't. There's a contest to guess which are which. ANYWAY, we got reviewed. Midwest Book Reviews is prestigious too. And THEY LIKED MY STORY. :)

"The collection gains momentum with “The Apple Doesn’t Fall ...” deliciously written by C.T. Adams. This was one of my favorites for its flow, conversation, characters, and how the plot unraveled. It truly made for excellence in storytelling."

They said this about Cathy's entry:

“'A Matter of Taste' was charmingly written by Cathy Clamp, and between the sensible character bantering, and a few hidden goodies, this is a delight to savor. For more reasons than one."

WHOO HOOO to Cathy and I! We both like writing in more than one genre and it's cool that the mystery stuff is working out too. (Yes, it's on a small scale right now, but from small seeds....)

Okay, I'm in a better mood now. Should be able to write without it being total dreck.

Thanks for popping by guys!


Cie

2 comments:

Yolanda Sfetsos said...

Sorry to hear about your morning BUT very glad to hear about the GREAT review for both you and Cathy!

I'm curious... is this anthology out already? Wouldn't mind checking it out, that's for sure!

Did you get your tyre fixed in the end? I hope so!

Well, I hope you have a TERRIFIC, WONDERFUL weekend and thanks for sharing the 'Zen' story with us. ;)

Anonymous said...

What a pain about the tire (I hate when that happens). Two words to keep in mind....Triple A! Tell James you want a Triple A card for Mother's Day! The glasses thing, oy-a-vey, yep can't read without them, oy! Hope everyone's weekend is a blast. I went to an art show yesterday for like 5 hours, it was a blast, saw some great stuff.
Jim