Pet Peeves

I have many pet peeves, but then, don't we all? My husband's pet peeve is with people at the grocery store that have more items than the lane allows. He'll have one item, and the person in front will have a full cart. He'll voice his opinion about it, too. Loudly. While he's standing in the line.

I'm not that brave (I fear retaliation), but I do have pet peeves. One of them I can't really voice my opinion at the moment it happens. That's because that pet peeve has to do with drivers.

Why is it when there are three lanes on the freeway, the slowest drivers seem to drive in the MIDDLE lane? And that most of those slow vehicles are TRUCKS? When did the right lane stop being the slow lane?

The worst part is when one truck wants to pass another truck. Now the two fastest lanes have trucks side by side, right when we start traveling uphill. Both trucks slow down. Traffic backs up.

And I'm usually the one stuck wanting to get over to the right lane, but now I'm trapped because no one will pass.

Arrrghhh!!!

Does this bother anyone else?

Please share your pet peeve.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Normally, the last days on the job aren't too different than getting ready for vacation. Only thing is, you're not going back!

The last time I left a job, my last few days were kind of quiet. I had passed on my responsibilities to others and sat around for questions. I can't do that this time. That's because we're short-handed.

One of my co-workers had to take time off due to a family emergency (we don't know when she'll return), then the other co-worker had training for two days, leaving me alone with the phones. Phones I hate to answer.

What timing, huh?

If they're trying to get me to run screaming from the job, they're doing a pretty darn good job of it. I'm really feeling good about going back into accounting now.

Anyway, if my blogging is sporadic (or, in other words, like it used to be), please forgive me! Eventually, I'll get back into the swing of things, when my brain doesn't feel fried.

Now, it's off to do some more editing.

Beginnings

On Monday, a lot of the blogs I follow were involved in the Origins Blogfest. I don't join blogfests. I just don't have the time (or would that be energy?). But reading stories of how other people got started made me think about when I started writing.

I tell people I've only been writing for three years, but that's when I started writing my first novel. Actually, I think I fell in love with writing back in the 9th grade. I just never pursued it. Probably because all my other writing assignments were research papers – and I really hate research papers!

My 9th grade English class had an assignment to write a short story. Mine was titled "It Was One of Those Weeks", about a boy who has bad luck all week long.

Even at the age of 14 (oh my God – 40 years ago!!), I wrote from the male POV (apparently, I found it easier to write those then, too). It was a fun, humorous story. The teacher loved it. Some of the kids thought the dialogue was stiff, but if I had had someone read it ahead of time, I'm sure I would have fixed that before turning it in.

I loved writing that story – heck, I loved the story. I'm pretty sure I still have it somewhere, too (the fact I couldn't throw it out should have been a clue – but I never claimed to be THAT smart). Of course, if I went searching, I would end up spending (wasting) hours reminiscing over all my crap. And then, if I read it, I might be disappointed.

Maybe some things are best left to my memory.

A Road Block No More

Hurray!

No, I'm not cheering because it's Monday. Far from it. I'm cheering because I FINALLY figured out how to begin Sarah's Turn (Book #2). I'd been going back and forth, fixing, revising, and still, it didn't seem right.

So I had to think about how the book ended and wha-la! It came to me. I got rid of my prologue and just started with Chapter 1, wrote some completely new stuff, and…it worked!

I'm up to page 33 now (so glad to get past 14, where I was stuck, for like, forever) and the editing is going smoother, once I got past that roadblock called Chapter 1.

It's been a successful weekend.

It's also been an exciting weekend. Don't tell anyone, but I'm one of the six finalists* in THE WRiTE CLUB. Voting for the next phase starts Tuesday. Hope you can make it over there!

 

*That's about all I'll tell you. It's up to you to figure out which pseudonym I am!

Give Me My Coffee!!

My morning routines are pretty dull. But put a kink into one of them and it kind of throws me for the rest of the day.

My routine includes making coffee. I come downstairs, get the paper, then start the brew before heading to the computer to check on my e-mail & blogs. Well, yesterday I did all that, but when I came back to the coffee pot, it was empty.

What the???

The light was on as if it had brewed. And I could have sworn I heard the beep when it finished (probably phantom hearing). But the plate was cold. Not a good sign.

I tried unplugging it, thinking it needed a "reboot" (funny how we think in computer terms nowadays, isn't it?). After a minute, I plugged it back in and pressed start.

Nothing.

Well, drat!

I hate the coffee at work (it's free, too, so that should say something), but I was willing to drink it when I remembered I had my container of instant coffee in my drawer. Whew!

Last night I tried to clean the pot, thinking that was the culprit, but it wouldn't clean, either. So now it looks like I'm going to have to go out and buy a new coffee pot. Man, and this one wasn't even three years old.

Bummer!

I sure hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Kind of makes me nervous!