st louis « Robin Writes

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:

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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.

With the start of the school year, we’ve changed to only working at the farm on weekends; that means approximately 48 days, weather depending, to get everything ready for the spring move.

Last weekend, we spent the entire time—except for a little gardening and a little shopping—inside the house.

The gardening resulted in fewer weeds, cucumber and yellow squash harvesting, a little burning, and one less damn copperhead.

The shopping nearly filled our supply unit and added some drywall to our collection.

And then we worked our butts off.

The living room/kitchen dividing wall frame has been drywalled and painted! Actually, we finished the second coat on the ceiling in that half of the house and almost all the painting.

We still need to get paint for the doors on that side, which is the same for the bedroom/office/bath-side walls, and we need to hang the door to the lean-to. And of course, the kitchen remodel/rearrange/additions.

But this coming weekend, we’ll be moving the bedroom/office into the living room and finishing drywall, ceiling repair, and more painting.

After, of course, the skim coating. Ick. So tired of that, but the alternative is worse . . .

And yes, we’ve started moving. To a point.

Originally, I wanted to wait to move just about everything so we wouldn’t have to do it twice, once to the barn and then again to the house. In light of certain economic issues—the world, not ours—we’ve started the process a little early.

Pretty much anything that we won’t need or use between now and spring is headed out the door.

Extreme? Perhaps. But it needs to be done sooner or later and I hate to drive a few hours down there with an empty truck. And we have to LIAH, there would be items that I couldn’t take but would miss.