Gretchen Jones

This has been a week of getting things done. Yes I have indulged in a bit of self congratulatory behavior this week. I think I may have even strained my shoulder from patting myself on the back. Not really, but if I had it wouldn’t have been a surprise.

First I turned 29, well add twenty to that and you’re closer. Whether that’s an accomplishment I’m not sure, but it does say something about my endurance. I’m not 50 yet, but I can definitely hit it with a rock from here.

For my next feat of derring do, I completed the first draft of my manuscript. Lone Survivor. This is the second manuscript I’ve written. The first one went to live with the dust bunnies under my bed after I struggled with it for three years. Now to do cleanup and polishing and plot repair required to get it ready to sell and give it a shot. Every bit of work I do I learn from so if this one doesn’t sell, it just gives me more lessons to apply to my next one.

I started Lone Survivor in January 2009 after thinking about it all December and finished the draft November 25th. Just 11 months. Yea me!

My usual book gobbling habit is still working.  First reading Holiday in Death (Nora’s J.D. Robb Series) on my kindle. Eve Dallas and Roarke were fabulous as usual.

And I also read a terrific Shannon K. Butcher book today.

Burning Alive. It’s the first in a series - Paranormal Romance and I was hooked from the first page. Next one out is Finding the Lost by the way.

I had put off reading Burning Alive because I’m a snob about books I get for free and I got it at a book signing at Nationals in DC.

Stupid I know but I have so many free books around here, some even left over from the 2008 RWA Nationals. It’s hard for me to pick them up and get started. I suppose it doesn’t help that I’ve probably also got fifteen books on my Kindle lined up to read. {Sigh} Being a reader is such a burden.

Anyway Burning Alive really delivers on action, romance, and paranormal world building. The hero is a hunk the heroine courageous when it counts, the sex is hot, the supporting characters (mostly hot guys, one hot chick for a future installment no doubt, a couple martyrs, a crotchety yet loveable grandma schoolmarm, and a couple of magical women whose true natures shall be revealed in good time) and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I’ll be buying more in the series for sure. Doesn’t hurt that there’s a shiny hunky guy on the cover with a big sword.  He’s definitely do-able, but alas taken by a woman who would frighten me if met alone in a dark alley.

And finally I got to get my hands dirty today. If you follow the blog you probably know I have a camper.

A few weeks ago when we took it out for the last camping weekend of the season I had all kinds of problems with the water system. The filler hose for the tank was cracked in several places and it took a trip to the hardware store, several buy it by the foot lengths of tubing, hose clamps and a not insubstantial amount of packing tape to get the antifreeze into the tank so I could winterize it.

Here in Kansas City the winters can be very cold and water lines freeze and split if you don’t put propylene glycol in there. It’s the pink stuff and non-toxic not like what you put in your car. Today I swapped out the filler hose (obtained during a second trip to the hardware store and a visit down the buy it by the foot aisle), the filler cap assembly and fashioned a cushion out of tubing scrap to protect the hose from the sharp edges of the bracket that protects the hose from road grit (Fleetwoood’s marginal design). All in all a very satisfying repair. I also broke out the multi-meter and verified that my battery is charging from the 18 watt solar panel I have hooked up. I’ll connect it periodically over the winter to make certain it stays charged. I had to replace the battery at Winfield this year and I’d like to make this one last.

So this is the hand of a writer, a reader, an RV enthusiast and a woman. Dirt, grime and all…hmmm needs a manicure bad. Oh well, hear me roar.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at 11:51 pm and is filed under Foolishness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.