Month: August 2015

The Lemonade Chronicles, Chapter 1

I was recently in Las Vegas for Day Job business. My flight was scheduled to depart at 2:00pm. I had just enough time to hit the restroom and grab a fast food burger before catching my flight (the taxi situation was silly). Boarding started a bit late (the flight crew was late), but no biggie. The temperature was around 108F. We were told there was some paperwork that needed to be approved because of the temperature, the altitude, the wind, and the weight of the plane. Hey, I believed the pilot (and still do). Because of the factors I listed, we needed to take off in a non-standard flight pattern. We taxied out to the runway and prepared to take off.

Except the tower said no. They couldn’t disrupt all the other flights taking off. We sat on the runway for 2.5 hours. Yes, they brought us water. The pilot suggested we try to rebook our connecting flights if possible. Not possible for me: I don’t have a smart phone. Others did.

I said to one of my seatmates: “Oh well, they’re concerned about our safety. Can’t fault them for that.” He gave me a dirty look. I then said something about an adventure. More dirty looks.

Eventually, we were taken back to the gate and told there would be agents standing by to help us. Except there wasn’t. After fifteen minutes, a very cranky agent came over to assist. But she was being verbally abused by some nasty customers, and that ate a lot of her time when she could have been helping more people. Why take it out on her? It wasn’t her fault the tower wouldn’t let us take off. My third seat mate was able to change flights to continue on to his anniversary date with his wife in Montreal.

Behind me on line were two British couples. Mean, rude, nasty people. One was eating a sandwich, and the filling kept falling on me. Eww. I texted one of my Canadian friends and asked if it would damage international relations if I turned around and bitch-slapped one of them. My friend replied, “Not if you yell ‘1776’ first.”

I laughed.

I was the only one smiling. I figured getting upset wouldn’t solve anything.

I had almost made it to the overworked agent when they announced we would be re-boarding the plane. I made a decision: follow my luggage.

(to be continued)

 

Making Time to Write vs Finding Time to Write

I believe I have a pretty solid work ethic. When I need to write, I do. I haven’t missed a deadline yet. I’m usually successful in my chapter’s monthly Book-In-A-Week Challenge.

I thought August was going to be an amazing writing month for me. I had a long writers’ weekend scheduled. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Life, however, had other ideas. Between car issues, family issues, DayJob issues, and uncooperative “Smart Quotes”, I haven’t accomplished what I wanted. Now I’m at the Need to Accomplish stage. I can no longer “find” time to write; I must make time to write.

That deadline looms.

Making Lemonade

I have been traveling for three weeks. I had three suitcases in my home office in various stages of packing/unpacking. All of my trips were fabulous — until it came time to come home from the final one. My journey home from Las Vegas this week surpassed my 1989 trip-from-hell (okay, it was from Wichita to Syracuse via St. Louis, not hell), the day I spent a week in the St. Louis airport.

But I’ve learned a lot since 1989. Like about lemonade and toads. I will be sharing my experiences over the next couple of weeks.

 

 

Weird Stuff in My Laptop Bag

I’ve been on the road quite a bit since the end of July. As I was getting ready to pack my laptop case for yet another excursion, I realized I have some odd things in there.

  • Various sizes/colors of index cards containing such writerly advice as:
    • Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat beats
    • word count to page count conversion table
    • Christopher Vogler’s Writer’s Journey steps
    • Linda Howard’s “Twelve Steps of Intimacy”
    • Vorhaus’s The Comic Toolbox” story structure list
  • Pocket pack of tissue
  • blank index cards
  • lip balm
  • pens/highlighter
  • screen cleaning cloth
  • screen cleaning wipes
  • small notepad.

I keep meaning to buy an 3-prong-to-2-prong adapter to keep there.

It seems as if every time I pack up to go off and write, I think of something else I need to keep handy.

What do you keep in your laptop case?

 

 

Camping

I have never understood the appeal of camping. I like indoor plumbing. I don’t like bugs and/or insects.

A few weeks ago, three of us sat around a fire pit at the side of a lake and reminisced about our childhoods. My two friends both grew up “in the city.” To them, camping was playing with their cousins, catching lightning bugs, fishing, watching the stars at night. It was a fun time.

I grew up next door to some of my cousins, so we did things together on a regular basis. We lived in the country, where life included catching lightning bugs, playing hide-and-go-seek, and watching the stars at night. Those activities weren’t special; they simply were. At least, back then.

I never considered it camping.

That said, many of my cousins now go camping. There is even a Crazy Compton Cousin Camping Weekend in September. Really.

As much as I would love to join them, I have lightning bugs in my own backyard–and indoor plumbing.