@TheCrowandPheonix has been blogging like crazy and I…have not.
So. Something must be done about that.
When last we left our heroine, she was embarking on an intrepid (potential) career, the likes of which she had never attempted before.
Yeah. Like that worked out!
I’m not going to go into the details. Too painful. Too annoying. Too…I don’t know…is redundant the right word?
Let’s fast forward to where I’m working at my favorite Chinese restaurant and only have ten calendar days left before I’ve been there a month.
I have a love-hate relationship with my job, but my mom tells me that’s normal. (I figure as long as the “love level” is 50% or better, I’m in business. It’s when it drops down to forty-nine that I’m in trouble.)
I’ll be the first to admit that my boss isn’t easy to work for. In fact, I’d wager that if I hadn’t been eating at the restaurant for about twenty-three years¹ before starting, loved the food, the atmosphere and everything else, I wouldn’t have the “armor” it takes to work for Ms. H. Somehow, even when she’s being strict(ish) or disagreeable, I always seem to know just when to shut up and stop trying to get her on my side. And I know it’s not just me–S quit yesterday, because he felt like Ms. H was nitpicking him to death and even C asked me last weekend if I was okay² after Ms. H was disagreeable about something. (I gather I had [to use something my mother said once], “clouded up” and looked like I was “about to rain”.) But so far, the only tears I’ve shed have been at home, over the stress of the job in general. (I think the bulk of the stress comes from the fact that–in addition to two weekdays–I work Friday through Sunday and even though the weekend slows down day by day, it still tends to wear to me to a frazzle.)
I have a partner, D, for weekends; but D tends to put her leisure activities (especially her boyfriend) over showing up for work, so I’m often alone. (Which doubtlessly contributes to my stress levels.) Ms. H doesn’t seem to care…in fact, last night, she seemed envious of the kind of man D had landed!
And somehow…somehow, in the melee of all the jobs I’ve ever been in, I managed to attract the attention of not one, but two guys! G is easy on the eyes, but quickly goes over the top with flirting–always calling me mamacita, making kissy faces and saying that he loves me. (It’s amazing that some of the other guys in the kitchen haven’t tattled on him/us, to be honest.) About the time he began to crank it extremely high, I noticed F. I’m not sure if F had paid much attention to me before, but I kind of wiggled my way into his good graces. Last night, after I walked out, he actually came out from the kitchen entrance, walked around the building and came to say goodbye to me! I thought he might hug me or even kiss me, but he settled for shaking my hand (safe move!) and asked me for my number. I gave him my cell and landline and told him he could text when he asked, but so far, nothing. (I feel like a lovesick little schoolgirl waiting for him to text. And I’m not even crazy for him!)
I am so good at putting writing projects on hold, it’s not funny.
Last November, I put Breathless on hold for a prequel to The Blessing Way, called Broken Road.
I got tired of Broken Road earlier this year (and was getting frustrated), so I went back to Breathless.
That only lasted a few weeks before I wrote a fan fiction piece called League of Lost Souls.
No sooner had I finished that, then I started the push to finish what I needed for my poetry anthology, entitled Barefoot on the Couch.
Until the other day, I was plugging away on the anthology. I had placed all the accompanying photos, decided which ones warranted notes/explanations, had written the first few notes pages…and then I decided to take a giant leap and release Meet Ophelia to the general public. (I think it was inspired by a dream I had the other night…which kind of gave me fuel for a sequel…but I am so far from that, it’s not even funny!)
About the time I re-uploaded Meet Ophelia and was ready to re-release it, I decided to release Broken Road the way I’d written it, only with some minor corrections and in paperback.
So that’s where I am now…formatting Broken Road for paperback (and later, Kindle) while I wait for my brain to churn out the last few paragraphs needed for the epilogue (or to decide that I can leave it where I was when I left off a few months ago).
That done, I’ll go back and finish Barefoot on the Couch and format that for hardcover and Kindle and publish both of those editions.
Then (and this is only a maybe), I will finally be able to finish my massive revision of Breathless and try to get it to a traditional publisher!
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¹ A customer tried to tell me today that I was too young to have been eating at my workplace for twenty-three years. I said, “I’m twenty-six. My parents started taking me here when I was three or four.” (She admitted that I looked about twenty!) When I mentioned that to another customer, she said, “So basically, you’ve been here your whole life.” I’d never thought of it that way, but yes. Yes, I have.
² Not too long ago, after Ms. H said something to me, C had a moment and asked, “What did she say to you?” My (honestly) bewildered reply: “When? Ms. H tells me so many things in one day, I can’t remember them all!”
