Thirteen Really Random Things and Then Back to Writing

1. I am supposed to be writing. So this is going to be a quick, random, and scattered Thirteen.

2. The Cox cable guy just left. He had been here since I woke up. In fact, he woke me up by ringing the doorbell. Our digital channels appear to actually work now. Though at one point he drove off somewhere in his truck, leaving his coat on the back of one of our dining room chairs and leaving me slightly confused. Luckily, he came back.

3. I always feel slightly awkward when people are in my house to fix things. Do I offer them coffee? Do I have to talk to them, or should I go about my business? Because really, I wanted to be writing.

4. Which reminds me of one of my co-workers' Cox cable guy story. This summer the Cox cable guy exposed himself to her! She ended up having to move and everything! And her dad is an attorney in Metairie and is sueing them. It really isn't funny at all. But the way she told the story... I admit it makes me crack up a bit to think about it. So here I am drinking coffee with a sweater pulled on over my PJ's, hoping I am unattractive enough in the morning not to entice the Cox cable guy to expose himself.


5. Speaking of which, this is me! Doing what I do all day when I am not at the restaurant! That is, being on my laptop either writing or internetting, unshowered and wearing my favorite very old J. Crew sweater and glasses. With coffee, naturally.

6. This is my "Russian peasant girl" look. I always say this, and people laugh. But I swear it is true. When I wake up in the morning, before my eyes are open all the way and without makeup, I resemble a Slavic peasant girl. I do not know where this came from. Well, yes I do. My dad's entire side of the family is Eastern European of some variety or another, but mainly Hungarian by way of what is now geographically Croatia. But the point is, I seem to have gotten all those genes, which results in me looking vaguely ethnic, more so than most of my immediate family. For instance, I have very light blue eyes and brown hair, my features are somewhat round, and I have darker coloring around my eyes such that I rarely put on eyeshadow. I have actually been asked in bars where I am from.

7. Which is a bit ridiculous because I am pretty obviously American.

8. I also get asked, at least 3 times a week, whether my eyes are real. Which they are. I wear contacts, but not colored ones. I have had very blue eyes all my life, so I ought to be used to it by now. Besides, it is usually people I am waiting on, so it is best not to roll one's eyes and just say thank you.

9. Today I need to get kitty litter for Da Kittiest. Can't forget that.

10. And I work the night shift.

11. I want to be at 20,000 words in NaNoWriMo before I leave for work. I will still be egregiously behind, but I don't really care. I "won" last year, so this year it is more about the motivation. I was in the middle of a couple other projects, so this novel was sort of a last minute idea. By that I mean I had been thinking about the characters for a while, because they featured in a short story I was writing, but I hadn't given great thought to a larger plot. I don't think I'll hit 50K in a month. I'm too far behind, and I have a lot more going on. But even if I don't win, I want to have kicked myself in the butt and made myself write. That is what it is about for me. If I got 35K done, I'd be happy. Then I can finish next month.

12. I am enjoying writing in a humorous voice, though. I think it's the voice that comes most naturally to me, and I've only used it in a very few stories.

13. I want to keep going with this project, though, because I think it has a bit more marketability than my other novel. In terms of first novels, anyway. I also think it will stand alone in a stronger way.

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