My Weekly Tally...

So now I have no excuses. I made it out of jury duty by the skin of my teeth. There are no more plans to jet off to some distant land for rest and relaxation. From here on out it's all about finishing the novel. So, with exactly 26 days left before school, here is where I stand:

• Chapters 1-6: 10,176 Words; 53 Pages
• Chapters 7-12: 11,825 Words; 62 Pages
• Chapters 13-18: 10,302 Words; 58 Pages
• Chapters 19-24: 10,616 Words; 59 Pages
• Chapters 25-30: 5,897 Words; 34 Pages (in progress)

GRAND TOTAL: 48, 816 Words; 266 Pages

So it looks pretty likely that I'll reach my goal of 60,000 words by August 22nd. Now if I can only end my story there. Seriously, I think it will be close. I can see the end in sight. Yippee!!

LA LA LA...

YIPPEE!!

I love people. People are good. If people weren't good I wouldn't have been excused from jury service on Monday at 4:00 in the afternoon and allowed to write my little heart out. I love good people. They make me love. And I love that. I also love to do things I want to do. Good people are cool. They make me feel really loving.

Okay, so I'm fickle.

GRRRRR...

#%$&#%!!

I hate people. People are bad. If people weren't bad I wouldn't be forced to report for jury service this Monday at 8:30 in the morning when I should be writing my little heart out. I hate bad people. They make me hate. And I hate that. I also hate to do things I don't want to do. Bad people suck. They make me feel really hateful.

Home Sweet Home...

Wow, does it feel great to be back! Today was 107 degrees of ouchy mama. But I'll tell ya what, it ain't nothing compared to the sticky heat of Texas and Louisiana. Then throw in a healthy batch of ravenous mosquitoes whose sole mission in their pitiful little lives is to suck your blood and replace it with a friendly dose of the West Nile virus. I swear I must've killed several hundred of those devilish bastards. I'm sure somewhere in New Orleans they're still buzzing about Grant, the Genocidal Maniac.

So my first day back I went to bed early and when I rose I hurriedly packed my laptop and dashed to the Fresno State library like the good little nerd that I am. I couldn't wait to catch up on my novel. But I quickly realized just how difficult it is to get back into the story. Twelve days is way too long to go without writing. So I spent much of the day rereading chapters and getting reacquainted with the story people. I managed to squeak out 600 words by 5pm.

Today was a different story, though. I was in the game! As soon as I got to my favorite spot on the fourth floor and turned on my laptop, my characters sprang into my head and started gabbing away: Let's do this, Grant. Yeah, man, I've got plenty to say today. Just you wait, we're gonna fly through this chapter. And boy did we. By 5pm I had 2,300 words and I was feeling as high as a satellite (kite was just too cliché).

So now I'm feeling pretty good about my goal of 60,000 words by August 22nd. I'll be crossing the last bump in the road on Friday when I call the Fresno County courthouse to see if I have to report for jury duty. So please all you decent people out there, send me some positive chi, some electrified karma, your prayers or whatever constructive device you use to get your way. All I'm asking for is one month of hassle free writing.

Alas, New Orleans...

First let me start by saying, Holy Mother of God it is freakin' hot and humid here! Wow! But talk about the city that never sleeps! This is definitely a happening place. There's really a lot to do here and the two days we stayed just wasn't enough. But it was an excellent preview. However next time I'll be sure to wear some anti-mosquito lotion--those little bastards are vicious.

I started off by taking the Super City Tour, which included a bus ride through the Garden District and an above ground cemetary. I did get to see Anne Rice's house, but the tour guide failed to point out the home of Hel Bell's grandmother which really chafed my hide!

Yesterday I hopped on a plane in Dallas and now I'm back in LA where the weather is a cool and comfortable 75 degrees. There are no mosquitos! But I still have about 5 swollen bites on the tops of my feet. Petra has ten on her arms. And these are humongous! She looks like someone walloped her something good.

The pictures: One is of either Bourbon or Royal street. Another is the church of St. Louis and the statue in the front is of Andrew Jackson (Both hooves in the air means he accomplished great things, such as becoming the seventh president.) The steam boat is called the Natchez. And the two final pictures are me and Petra with a couple of the locals. They were pretty friendly, only one of them had some pretty rancid breath.

On Monday I will return to good ole Fresburgh where I plan to jump right back into my book. I just hope my characters are still speaking to me.

Because Dallas is Cool...

I have to put some pictures up of Southfork Ranch from the TV show DALLAS.

Some more photos...

Ok. I'm not sure what order these pictures are going to be in but here's my best at a description of each.
1) One is the Grand Canyon. Duh!
2) That's me standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. If that doesn't sound familiar then you should listen to an Eagles Greatest Hits CD and Take it Easy for a change.
3) There's Petra at the Grand Canyon. I wonder if you can tell that she's got a brown turtle's head fighting to come out of her butt. (The bathroom was nowhere to be found.)
4) The girl on the bull is a true Texan: Petra's friend, Tanya. Thankfully the bulls were kind enough to hold very still for the photo.

On the Road Again...Day 4

Yes! We are here in Dallas! The picture to the right is of me standing on a red X. This is the spot where President Kennedy was shot. I don't know why I picked such a morbid picture for this first blog but the other ones were mostly scenic pictures and those can be boring when no one's in them.

We left Fresno at around 9am (Petra was late, of course) and arrived at the Grand Canyon about twenty minutes before the sun went down so I snapped several photos and then we kicked it until it got really dark and the mountain lions frightened us back in the car.

It was pitch black in the Arizona desert. You can't imagine how many stars are visible in that condition. Petra pulled over and tried to get me to stargaze with her outside but the scorpions kept me and my exposed feet in the car.

We spent the night in Flagstaff, Arizona (the people lovingly refer to their city as "Flags). The next morning we got an early start and drove all the way to Dallas, arriving at around midnight. I was so exhausted. But we spent that next day checking out the downtown area and, of course, the site of 0f the Kennedy assassination. It was amazing to peer through the actual window through which Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president (that's the other photo).

Today we'll visit Southfork Ranch. Tomorrow we'll head off to Austin, Texas and then on to New Orleans. We're hoping that Hurricane Dennis tones down a bit because there have been rumors that the city may be evacuated which would really suck. Although at least I wouldn't have to worry about people ruining my photos with their ugly mugs!

Grant's Itinerary...

Tomorrow be the day!

• Thursday the 7th: Drive for ten hours; stop at Grand Canyon; drive four more hours; stop for the night somewhere in New Mexico (maybe the same place the Runaway Bride from Georgia hung out!)
• Friday the 8th: Drive for ten hours; arrive in Dallas; sleep my ass off
• Saturday the 9th: Hang out with Petra and her friends (Southfork Ranch, JFK, grassy knoll)
• Sunday the 10th: Hang out with Petra and her friends (some of that stuff above)
• Monday the 11th: Drive eight hours to New Orleans (Okay, according to The Weather Channel that puts us directly in the path of a phat hurricane. Finally something cool to see!
• Tuesday the 12th: New Orleans
• Wednesday the 13: New Orleans
• Thursday the 14th: Drive eight hours to Dallas; sleep my ass off
• Friday the 15th: Fly outta Texas: YEEHAW!!
• Saturday the 16th: L.A. baby with Makoto & Sydney
• Sunday the 17th: L.A.: hang out with my good buddy Wil Wheaton
• Monday the 18th: Amtrak to Fresno...the only way to make an entrance into the valley!

YAY!! BACK TO WRITING!! (That is if I survive Dennis)

Another Weekly Tally...

Here we go again.

I surprised myself by writing a lot more than I'd planned. But I've noticed that the further I go along in my book the easier it comes.

This Thursday I leave for my trip to New Orleans and I won't be back in Fresno until July 18th--two weeks from today in fact. Inside I'm crying. I am both excited for a new adventure and sickened because I'm going to be away from my special spot in the library where the words come to me as though a phantom was pouring them from the rafters.

I truly love to write, and I hope to find some opportunities to steal away during this vacation to add a few thousand more words. Stephen King claims that when he's involved in a novel he writes every day, including Christmas if it happens to fall somewhere in the process.

Well today is our country's birthday and I wrote 1700 words. I suppose I should've continued on another 76 but my corniness stretches only so far.

• Chapters 1-6: 10,176; 53 pages
• Chapters 7-12: 11,825; 62 pages
• Chapters 13-18: 10,204; 57 pages
• Chapters 19-24: 1,015; 7 pages

Grand Total: 33,220; 179 pages