Saturday, April 22, 2006

Clean Up Day

Today was another county-wide clean up day. Earlier in the week we tore down part of an old wooden fence around our back yard and loaded it in the pickup. Today I drove over to the place that was the collection point for all the junk and dumped that load, then went back for the rest of the fence and another load of assorted junk. Because of the extended drought we've had, the county has been under a burn ban for a long, long time, so a lot of people have had a lot of stuff accumulate that they would have burned otherwise. That meant the lines were long to get in and unload. I'd like to say that I plotted three books while I was waiting in line, but . . . I didn't. I thought about a couple of upcoming projects, but as for actually worthwhile mental work, there wasn't any on my part today. Since I'm between books at the moment, I need to force myself to sit down and write a couple of outlines. I know from experience that if I start working on the next book without an outline, I'll write myself into a corner before it's over. Of course, I've always been able to write myself out of those corners, but that takes more time and effort and it's just better for me to figure out these things beforehand.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi James ... Steven Law here. Pete Brandvold told me about your blog so I thought I'd check it out. I like your postings, and especially enjoyed the one on Kinky's book and the Austin traffic. I met him at the 2002 Texas Book Festival, and he was really entertaining. Like you, I hate the traffic in Austin. Now when I go I fly there and hail a cab. Do you ever go to WWA conferences? I'll be at Cody this summer, and am chairing the one in Springfield next year. Hope you can join us. If so, come let me shake your hand and buy you a beer. BBQ in Springfield isn't bad either. (I'm sure all the Texan's are holding their nose).

James Reasoner said...

Steve,

Thanks for your kind words about the blog. I've been to quite a few WWA conventions, but none in recent years. I won't be going to the one this summer, but I'm thinking about Springfield next year. It'll depend on how much I have to write during that time.