It's 12:25 and I look out the window and it's grey. What happened to yesterday? I hope the greyness hasn't made the temperature drop too much. Yesterday was a perfect day. Made me change my mind (for now) about moving to Arizona --- I wouldn't be able to appreciate the first warm day of spring if they were all hot days. I know, I grew up in the tropics.

So, yesterday. I took Jumper 1 for a bath, as I'd mentioned... which took care of most of the winter grime accumulation on it. The windows turned out kinda streaky but I'll take care of that later, maybe. What it needs now is to be vacuumed. Leaves and dirt and stuff collecting along the floor, and the dashboard needs a wipedown.

Hello, I'm James, and I'm a Procrastinator.

Oh crap, speaking of which, I need to change my alarm clock over. Now the car clock is actually almost on time (only 10 minutes fast).

Yesterday. Boy I'm ADD today already. Got to Between Books at around 2:30ish so they had already started. I don't know what all we missed, but we got to hear all four authors talk about their work so we got what we came for. jpsorrow, pbray, scbutler and Barbara Campbell (who really needs an LJ now so she's not the only one not linking anywhere -- I promise at some point I'll get her website address on here) are really funny. I'd never gone to such an event before (they simply didn't really exist in Puerto Rico), even though I'd spoken with authors and various conventions (Hi, alanajoli!).

Unfortunately my limit for purchases was around $20, so I could only pick up three, but Kris picked up the one I didn't, so I'll borrow from her and if I like I'll get parts 2 and three. Still they must've been on sale because three books came to just under $20 and that's never happened to me. Even without the tax. What's the sales tax in Delaware?

Anyway, I feel encouraged after hearing them talk about their craft and the business. And I know that I don't have a novel in print because of my own actions: I haven't finished one to my satisfaction (which I probably need help on because otherwise I'd keep revising and revising and revising until the day I die), and of course I've had real life to contend with. This is okay. I know it took me ten years of working with Legacy of Olympus for me to even get a clue about what I'm doing.

I've been thinking a lot about the very beginnings, back when wickedkiwi and I were pre-teens sitting at her grandma's table, taking turns at the old laptop which wouldn't even stand up on its own and had to be propped up against something heavy. We'd cheat by making the font real big and at the end of the week be all 'Look! I wrote 100 pages!' in font size 18. We didn't know about word counts back then.

We grew up, our styles changed, she continued to write stories set in the real world while I ventured into the realm of worldbuilding. I think she's probably a better writer than I. But at this point, a direct comparison would probably be difficult. She was better when we were around her grandma's table, that's a fact. When I wasn't imitating other authors I was imitating her.

To cut a rambly entry short, I think when I finish this draft of Gypsy Fiddle, I should find some sort of workshop or critique group. Anyone done any of those and have a suggestion?