I got caught unawares by Easter. Thursday, I was at work, fully intending on coming in the next day, and it wasn't until just before I was leaving that I got rushed out of the building and told they were locking up early for the long weekend.
Long weekend? Isn't that in April?
I'm not complaining, though. It is a much needed break. I've been so stressed out getting the book done that while stretching today, I felt my back muscles suddenly release like a bungee cord holding an improperly secured canoe.
The book went to the printers on Tuesday night. Thursday evening, Layne and I went out for dinner to celebrate. We tried out a steakhouse that has their own meat smoker out back, and though the food was excellent, it gave me an upset stomach. Thankfully, Layne dragged me out for sushi (I was all for going home and lying down), and the combination of green tea and tasty tasty fishies made it feel better.
It felt like I did no work on the comic on Friday, because I puttered around the house relaxing for half the day and ONLY spent five hours or so writing scripts. I mean, jeez. I didn't even do any drawing.
Well, I was planning to... (I need to catch up on my buffer, after all) But thankfully, Shani called and invited us out dancing. I haven't been out dancing since I moved here, so it was great to go out and just dance. Man, that felt goooood... It reminded me that I need to dance more often. I get into this groove (no pun intended) when I dance, where time stops and I'm not really thinking about anything, just letting the music move me... It's wonderfully relaxing, even when I'm stomping and head-banging to some heavy industrial.
Caught up on a lot of sleep on Saturday, and was pleased to find out that my legs weren't sore (though my shoulders were. I dance with my shoulders a lot). I did some more writing for the comic, drew a little, got some groceries with Layne, and just generally relished not living under a deadline.
We did a big turkey dinner this evening for Easter/Belated Spring Equinox/Really, Really Belated Valentine's Dinner/Just 'Cause. It was delicious, but I'm not too surprised, because Layne is a master of making stuffing. I cooked some swiss chard to go with it, which isn't technically a spring green, but is tasty, dammit!
I may or may not have to go into work tomorrow. They weren't quite clear on that point while pushing me out of the door on Thursday, so I'm going to call in the morning and see if anyone's in the office. I seem to recall someone complaining about having to work the stat, but I'm not sure if that applies to everyone or not... We'll see. If I do get the day off, then yay, more chance to relax and slowly catch myself up on the comic, and if not, then at least I had a wonderful few days off.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Post 32 - In which a hedgehog is bathed and Alina goes slightly nutty
I took a little time off from working on the book tonight to wash my hedgehog, who was absolutely filthy from running on her wheel last night (and for the last several nights, for that matter...). She is now trying to convince me that she's the most miserable creature that's ever existed, even though I let her dry off in the nice warm bathroom, wrapped her den in cozy blankets and gave her several treats for enduring the tortures of bath time.
Every time I checked on her to make sure she wasn't damp, she hunkered down and pulled her forehead quills down over her eyes in her patented SquintyFace, sniffled, and then tried to dig deeper into her towel.
Hedgehogs - made of pure cute, even when they're grumpy.
As for myself, I am utterly exhausted. I spent last weekend scrambling to get the book finished, and not coming even remotely close, took Monday and Tuesday off work as well.
Now, that may sound nice. Four day weekend, right? Yeah, well, not when you spent every minute of those four days working, and evenings the previous week as well. It was actually relaxing to go to work today, because I could let myself forget about the book for a bit.
I'm trying not to stress over it too much, but we're getting down to white-knuckle, last-minute, "oh my god, will it ship in time for the Con?" time now, and there's still so much to be done...
It's certainly a do-able amount of work. I have a few revisions to make on the cover, some writing to do for the interior, and most importantly, I need to finish the Introduction. It's my bane right now - I had a direction in mind when I started it, and in the week since then, I've completely lost that goal and veered off on a wild tangent. The problem is, the tangent is still a damn fine tale, and I don't have the heart to cut it all, since it fits very well into my point. But damned if I can make the two fit together well right now. I know that it's just because I've been staring at it too long, and that if I give it a little time, I'll come up with something. But there's a very nervous, very twitchy small animal living in the back of my head, and it has a big pocketwatch and a calendar. Every time even I think of taking a break it goes into pure panic-stricken terror mode and starts warbling things like "deadlines!" and "shipping time!" and that's usually enough to make my logic duck and cover.
I -will- finished this damned thing. I will finish it before Layne gets back from his trip. But maybe I will get some sleep first. I remember sleep. It was that thing I did back before I had a full time job and a book to finish.
Every time I checked on her to make sure she wasn't damp, she hunkered down and pulled her forehead quills down over her eyes in her patented SquintyFace, sniffled, and then tried to dig deeper into her towel.
Hedgehogs - made of pure cute, even when they're grumpy.
As for myself, I am utterly exhausted. I spent last weekend scrambling to get the book finished, and not coming even remotely close, took Monday and Tuesday off work as well.
Now, that may sound nice. Four day weekend, right? Yeah, well, not when you spent every minute of those four days working, and evenings the previous week as well. It was actually relaxing to go to work today, because I could let myself forget about the book for a bit.
I'm trying not to stress over it too much, but we're getting down to white-knuckle, last-minute, "oh my god, will it ship in time for the Con?" time now, and there's still so much to be done...
It's certainly a do-able amount of work. I have a few revisions to make on the cover, some writing to do for the interior, and most importantly, I need to finish the Introduction. It's my bane right now - I had a direction in mind when I started it, and in the week since then, I've completely lost that goal and veered off on a wild tangent. The problem is, the tangent is still a damn fine tale, and I don't have the heart to cut it all, since it fits very well into my point. But damned if I can make the two fit together well right now. I know that it's just because I've been staring at it too long, and that if I give it a little time, I'll come up with something. But there's a very nervous, very twitchy small animal living in the back of my head, and it has a big pocketwatch and a calendar. Every time even I think of taking a break it goes into pure panic-stricken terror mode and starts warbling things like "deadlines!" and "shipping time!" and that's usually enough to make my logic duck and cover.
I -will- finished this damned thing. I will finish it before Layne gets back from his trip. But maybe I will get some sleep first. I remember sleep. It was that thing I did back before I had a full time job and a book to finish.
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