A Combined Total of 102,389 Words

The One Good Thing From the 70's

Sue's Pandora station for 70's music doesn't seem to include The Ramones in her mix. I just was innocently washing my face and indeed, the BeeGees were singing something about a summer breeze. I fear Leo Sayer may be next. Really, "I Love You More Than I Can Say"?

But in all fairness, she has to put up with me not only dancing around the house to BNL, but also singing. Singing!

Earth, Wind and You're Fired

Admit it...you've wondered, even if very quietly and only once or twice...if Lynne and I could really be roommates and if not, what would be the deal breaker.

I've wondered too. When I forgot to water her window boxes while she was gone this summer and it wasn't until she returned that I even noticed the dried up remains, I thought that might be a deal breaker, but Lynne was cool about it.

What about me parading around in my house dress (which makes her sooo jealous) and rollers (when it's not Halloween)? Maybe. It's sure scary.

I think the real potential deal breaker may be music. It appears that the soundtrack that gets my energy and my silly going enough to crank out my novel this month is a combination of bad 70s music. Right now it's Boogie Wonder Land by Earth Wind and Fire. A couple minutes ago it was Copacabana by Barry Manilow. For whatever reason, this music takes me back to my fun lovin' silly seventies mode and I can write a lot better and faster (which is the real key since I need 16.000+ words in the next week).

All well and good, except that Lynne is a bit younger, and bit (more than a bit) more musically cool than I am, so this is really pushing her to the limit. The other night she was soaking in the tub (doors closed) and she called out "Sue, is that Lionel Richie?" There was a bit of a screech to her voice that made the dogs in the kennel start to howl.

The good news----only another week to go and I have headphones.

Gotta go...The BeeGees are on and I need to write at least 3.000 words today.

Ode to a Bag Man

In this world, not to sound too cynical, there are very few things we can rely on to be steady, reliable and consistent. To be the same day in, day out. Even here in rural Ohio where change comes a bit more slowly than it does in the rest of the world, change still happens. Yesterday, one of the mainstays of life here in Ada retired.

For the last 40 years, Fred Evans has cheerfully bagged groceries and helped people to their cars at Ada's Community Market. Before there were scanners, before there was "paper or plastic", there was Fred. When I returned to Ada after a fifteen year hiatus, many things had changed, but I was heartened to see Fred still bagging groceries, still pleasant and cheerful.

Yesterday Fred retired. A steady crowd of Ada-ites made their way to the produce department to eat punch and cake, sign a guestbook, and wish Fred well.

P.S. I know I could have taken this in a whole different direction, but I'm feeling a bit melancholy this morning. Maybe it's hormones. Maybe I'm coming down from my punch and cake buzz.

P.P.S. Please feel free to send in caption suggestions for the photo.

What We're Doing While Not Writing Toward 50,000 Words

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The short answer is - eating. But what?

As usual, we've been surfing our favorite crockpot lady's blog. Yesterday's archived recipe was granola! We couldn't make it right away as the crockpot was busy with Black Eyed Pea Soup (it was so-so).

But today - granola!

And there it is! Sure, it got a little toasty (that's not why it's blurry), but it was yummy!

While washing dishes (see above regarding our eating), I began to think of variations on the granola theme - Autumn Mix, Christmas Jubilee - with appropriate seasonal mix-ins.

Then, I realized that I'm obsessed. Stay tuned.

Words, Words, and More Words

But, I'll be putting up pictures to tell the stories about all the words we've been using lately.

First, there's this: Why, yes, that is a picture of Lynne and me with a trophy from the Boggle for Breast Cancer tournament. Third place. Not bad considering the fact that Lynne was looking for words while plotting to kill the dulcimer player. (See her post below). And I was writing words with puppy chow powdered sugar on my hands. Imagine how we might have done in optimal conditions.

So, that was the first very wordy event that we had. Some might say that most of our days are very wordy since we talk a lot but so far I've not found any place that will give a trophy for that.

And now we are both spending November participating in National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 unedited words of a novel between November 1 and November 30. It's really hard for me not to go back and edit, but I'm having fun just writing about whatever random thoughts come to my head for things for my characters to do. Lynne seems to be extra fired up about this because every morning when I go stumbling downstairs to make tea, she's already clacking away at her keyboard.

So, if we neglect The Bitter Train over the next couple of weeks, don't take it personally. And remember, you may end up in one (or both) of our novels. Do you want to end up as a snively minor character, or would you prefer to be a witty main character? Just something to remember, especially if you are baking cookies and wondering what to do with them.