The Brother-In-Law Effect (or Affect?)

No matter how difficult some days can be writing this book, or cups of coffee it takes to overcome the early morning writers block; at least no one has caught me in an outfit like our dog Baxter has been forced to wear (I think he secretly likes it).

Thirty thousand words. That is the number I passed this morning. It feels pretty good especially since I cut out over six thousand words of the original draft last week. I had written a chapter last year that no longer fits since I went back and added additional scenes. I might be able to use some of it when I reach that section of the novel but it will need some heavy rewrites. What I have is much better.

Last Friday was the only day I didn't write. My brother-in-law was in town from the other side of the state. I had every intention of writing; I sat down with my cup of coffee, put in my earphones, blasted my "Collection of 80s hits and them some" music list from Amazon Cloud Player and began to type. My brother-in-law, who my wife calls her G.I. Joe, has been in the military since the Eisenhower Administration. Okay, maybe it was the Reagan or Carter Administration but some of you weren't even born when Gene graduated boot camp. Anyway, he sat down next to me, "What are you writing?" he asked. He's been told about the book I'm writing, but, well, I think amnesia runs in the family (not you honey). I told him. He grunted. I wrote about 12 words and off he went. No... not away, I mean he began to talk... and talk... and talk... and... well, you get the idea! I stopped and listened to the tragic story of an over 50 victim of fate. I stole that last line from Jimmy Buffet; just have to give credit where credit is due. Plus, I think that was the last song I listened to during my 'wordfest' last Friday. Gene is the female version of my wife which is, well, I'm not sure you can even imagine what that's like. It makes for a ton of laughs when I get the two of them together. I give him a really hard time whenever I get the chance and he just usually threatens my life (while he laughs and uses those certain 'military' words). I closed my computer for the day and Gene, Malia and I had a great time. We watched a bit of the United States Open golf tournament followed by obsessing on Tiger Woods Masters Golf game on PS3 (That's Playstation 3 for those of you over forty; I just recently learned it could be abbreviated). We ate really bad pizza that I believe is just one molecule away from cardboard while Malia kept our foul language in check. We were golfing, what did you expect? It ended up being a great day and I really enjoyed hanging with Gene... only... don't tell him.

It was great to realize that since I was keeping up with my writing that having life change my plans for one day was not a big deal. My attitude could've really went south had I chosen to take days off before last Friday to watch Batman or Le Mis for the 200th time.

Until next time.. God Bless!