Defenestrating Arachnophobes and other stories

Novel update: After two weeks of hard wrestling with replacements for three long scenes I basically scrapped, I think I've finally come up with a solution that doesn't shake the whole book at its foundation. There's no way to know for sure until it's fully written, but I'm optimistic.

Unfortunately, over those two weeks, I let myself slip into the habit of drifting onto the internet when I got stuck for ideas. To counteract that, I plan to try a new tactic this week and spend an hour writing every day before even pulling up a web browser. No email, no Google Reader, no nothing. Just me and MS Word and my characters. Once I've gotten my mind into the book, I'm a lot more likely to give it full attention later in the day.

We'll see how this goes. I had fun with it this morning.

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After a nearly five-year break from the days when I led worship and belonged to worship team bands, babysat in the nursery and took youth groups whitewater rafting and rock climbing, I've... gotten involved in church work again. And I'd forgotten how much I love it.

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I'm also very pleased at having archived over 800 messages in my gmail, leaving only the messages that require some response in my inbox. My to-do list is more manageable now.

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Stargazing report: Next on the to-find list is the constellation Pegasus, and then Aquarius. I've found Epsilon Pegasi, Enif ("nose"); it makes a nice triangle with Deneb and Altair. But Pegasus is huge and some of the stars are pretty faint for a town-dweller to pick out. Time to draw up a little chart, methinks. And maybe get someplace dark for once. We've got huckleberry picking coming up...

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Pet peeve of the week: Hearing that Bella Swan has no personality. Hey. I identified pretty strongly with her. Just what are people saying? :P

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Writerly link of the week: Dealing with the Top Idea in Your Head. That gave me a lot to think about, as it were. Thanks to @jana_kaye for passing it on.

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Funny line of the week goes to commenter Helen at The Hog's Head, for defining arachnofenestranaut as "people who jump out of windows when they see spiders." I'm still laughing at that.

But I'm not done with the funny yet. George sent me this (okay, the book/movie Fight Club has one of the more disturbing premises I've come across. This is a little disgusting as a result, but it still made me laugh):



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Time to go re-pot my new butternut squash start (also thanks to Jana), spray the aphids off my thyme, vacuum the oregano flowers from the living room carpet and otherwise put my house to rights. Happy weekend, everyone.