The lack of laptop after my last post posed a challenge for my editing schedule. I felt like a homeless person, begging for a minute or two on my boyfriend’s laptop or sneaking downstairs to the children’s computer when no one was on it. To update those of you who don’t know, Dell sent back my laptop without the cable that connects my hard drive to my motherboard. I called tech support, carefully explained the situation to the tech support gentleman, for whom English was a second language and who, after 40 minutes said he’d send me a cable and a hard drive screw. I didn’t really need a hard drive screw, but I figured, like cups of coffee, you can never have too many, so I said thank you and hung up. The next day my daughter let me know that Fed Ex had dropped off a massively oversized envelope containing one teeny tiny hard drive screw. After an angry email, I got my hard drive cable.  While this was a crazy-making situation, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise…i.e. research. In my novel, the characters have to learn how to deal with a sudden lack of technology and being without my laptop for almost two weeks gave me a taste of what that would be like. It was frustrating not to be able to perform those simple tasks we tend to take for granted—like checking our emails, bank accounts, and the hold status of our books at the library.

Once I had my laptop functionally intact, I finished my initial edit—a check for typos, passive voice, and general lameness. I also ran through my main character’s dialogue and the dialogue of two supporting characters. I have a couple more characters’ dialogue to run through (the three-year old will be the most challenging) and then I’ll research the science behind my story to make sure it’s not ridiculous.

Okay, it’ s not ridiculous I got to do a little research  this weekend, and it made me more excited to work on my novel. I was able to add a couple thousand words of detail in the third section of my story, which was running a little sparse.

I’m currently halfway through The Cattle Raid of Cooley. My favorite part so far is CĂșchulain’s rĂ­astrad, or warp spasm, where he changes into a hideous beast. And just started on Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, thanks to a thoughtful gift from one of my blog readers and. I thrive off of book recommendations and a box of them in the mail is like Christmas.

I’ve been watching The Big Bang Theory and have thoroughly enjoyed the lame physics humor intermingled with the random hot chick. While Sheldon and Leonard may seem a little overdone as characters, I really truly know people just like them (You know who you are.) Thanks to Dr. Thomas for the recommendation and the DVD loan!

Blog off!