Friday, August 28, 2009

Like Jell-O

We just got internet back in my dorm.  Last night, it was thunderstorming hardcore, and Champaign flooded.  Like really, seriously flooded.  Sixth street was a freaking river, and by river, I mean people were swimming in it.  I waded out in it too.  Oh come on, you know if you were in college and your street flooded, you would decide to run out and take pictures, even if the lightning was within striking distance and sewage was pouring out of the...sewer.  What? Needless to say, I smelled pretty fantastic when I got out of that.  My dorm flooded.  The office/lobby area was ankle deep in water.  My half of the dorm still had power, but we didn't have internet.  Didn't really go to bed for a while.  Had an extensive, unproductive nap today.

So, it started to go downhill when I got up to go to class irritably today, thinking, "Psh, I don't need an umbrella."  It started pouring in between two classes.  I ran all the way down the quad to my second class.  I walked in, completely soaked, dripping water like a partially-drowned cat, and sat down in the front row because it was the only seat left.  Did I mention I was five minutes late?  The British kid was sitting behind me, and he had a distinctly British look of you stupid Americans on his face.  I tried!  I could have just ran back to my dorm and skipped out (because it was closer), but I kept going for the purposes of education.  I feel like I deserve congratulations for braving the elements, even if it was my own fault.  So I congratulate myself.

On the plus side, yesterday, I did a lot of research.  Suddenly, everything pulled together, clicked and solidified like Jell-O.  Bam.  The rest of the book.  I think it might be longer than 80,000, but I can solve that problem later in revisions.  I even wrote 500 words.  That does not sound like a lot, but for me, it was a miracle considering my word count of the past two weeks: 0 words.

I'm going to get some rich, delicious Italian food to celebrate, and then write some more before dinner.  Yeah, our dorm is not cooking because the kitchen half does not have power.  Which means I also ran this morning on zero coffee.  The rain did a good job of keeping me awake, though.

Also, fascinating interview with new author, Lisa Brackmann.  Don't you love reading interviews about new authors?  Really, though, you should probably get back to work writing, so you can one day become of part of those interviews you secretly love to creep on.

I hope your Fridays were better.  And sorry if I haven't been consistently commenting lately.  I still read all of them; sometimes, I'm in a rush to leave.

5 comments:

  1. 500? WOOT!! That's awesome. I was so psyched just to get a few sentences down when I finally got time to write. It feels wonderful doesn't it? Haha.

    Also, YAY for endings coming together!!

    It's starting to creep me out how similar our situations are right now. But seriously congrats on the progress during such a busy and stressful time. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gotta love jello and sewage. Maybe not together though.

    Congrats on figuring everything out!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The flooding story sounds like so much fun! Except for the whole flooding the dorm bit, though. Making memories like that is what college is all about, IMO.

    And I'm so happy everything clicked for you! Writing's always so much more fun when it all runs so smoothly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. LiLa is exactly right. LOL.

    Can't wait to see what happens when your project comes together -- I want to read it!

    Have a great weekend and let us know how things go.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like a rough day. Hope your weekend was a huge improvement!

    ReplyDelete