blog « Robin Writes

Do you go or stay? Prepare or slack off? Watch the market obsessively or check now and again? What does that mean, anyway?

I’m no expert on the stock market, although once when it fell to me to choose a few mutual funds for investment, they did really well. Probably dumb luck, even though I did some research beforehand.

But I’ve listened to experts, and an up-and-down market usually means one that’s going down . . . way down. At some point. No one, really, can agree on that point.

Plus, there are other things in play, like the Fed and interest rates, the international markets, China, and more. So, well, your guess is as good as mine. People were saying “September,” and now some are saying “No, October is the month!” Others say “some time in the next year.”

Okey dokey then.

As per my opening sentence, I don’t recommend watching the market obsessively, but it doesn’t hurt a bit to pay attention.

And you definitely shouldn’t slack off on prepping—prepping isn’t only good for an economic collapse, but also for natural disasters, or man-made disasters. You never know . . .

Go or stay? Again, when the balloon goes up: when the store shelves are less than fully stocked; when large groups of angry people gather nearby—and “nearby” is relative. When a nuke goes off, anywhere in the world.

As always, it’s your choice. Hey, if you leave and it turns out to be nothing, you can always come back, right? It’s not a lifelong sentence of being on the run or out in the woods.

So relax. Be attentive, but relax. Keep your focus on the end goal, but enjoy what you have right now.

Remember, though, don’t expect or wait for mainstream media to give you directions. I always think about how there are often events here in STL that I never seem to hear about in time to make plans to go or to purchase tickets—usually the story follows the event, ya know?

Keep that in mind.

But like with many things in life, there is no point in obsessing over this. You don’t know, you can’t know, and you might not know until it’s imminent. Like your health. Or the future.

Anything can happen.

Relax. Know that you’re prepared to deal with whatever comes.

Okay, okay, I’ll talk about the elephant in the room—REPEAT!

Yes, it’s coming, this winter . . . I promise! In the next few weeks, I’ll narrow it down a bit more. The problem is that I’ve been a little distracted . . .

First, as you know, we’ve been remodeling and re-everything-ing our new farm in preparation for moving in the spring. What a project!

Second, I do have a business to run, and lots of time is spent on the Guild, plus the Creve Coeur Days board is gearing up again for next June . . . and the kid is a senior in high school! Holy cow . . .

Third, I’ve been working on a new WIP: Turtle Stampede.

And all I’m going to say about that is it’s a doozy! [insert maniacal laugh] Think Sharknado . . .

All that said, most of you know I’m a panster, not a planner, but I also don’t believe that a “real” writer has to write every day. Although I usually do.

I’m certainly not one for setting the alarm clock for 4:00 a.m. just so I can write—good grief, it would look like this:

HHJC jkljcm ajdhfja L:l;jfalj

So, no.

I have to feel it, be in the moment, be inspired. And yes, sometimes that occurs at the most awkward time. 😉

At any rate, just so you know, REPEAT is coming!

And here’s the opener:

The dark clouds came from the west, boiling and black. The wind whipped across the land, shoving aside everything in its path, everything that wasn’t secure. The man behind that wind, responsible for the coming storm, figuratively if not literally, was safely ensconced behind his walls as he watched the clouds move east.

Unbreachable walls, impenetrable, and this time he would succeed. He laughed wryly at his own wit, comparing himself to every supervillain ever conceived, fictional or otherwise, because he knew without a doubt that he was the best. Indeed, he was the only one of the original plotters still alive, thanks to his planning and foresight and, of course, his intelligence. And VADER. Credit where credit is due, he supposed.

He shrugged. Too bad, really, that so many had died. Yes. Terrible. But it had made his plans so much easier to execute. And now, when they all least expected it, there was one more move to make.

Just one.

Repeat.