I've been checking the wasp window and there's been no new grass there, but yesterday I grew suspicious. That queen gave up pretty damn quickly. Too quickly. I decided to do some more checking. I opened the window next to the original one. Clear. Then I opened the first window next to my china hutch. Pay dirt.
I grabbed my weapon--wasp spray--and saturated her grass. Then I moved on to the other window next to my china hutch. I found a little bit of grass up there. I sprayed that one too. When my mom came over and looked at it later, her first comment was I'd messed up my windows. My response was I don't care as long as the wasp goes away.
Since I had the air running--it's been hot here, though not as bad as it can be--I closed the windows up again. I also checked every other window in the house except for the ones over my kitchen sink. Damn it, I can't reach the latches to unlock them and open them. I need to be like 2 feet taller. :-( Anyway, I found one of my bedroom windows had a little grass in it too. I opened that one wide and let the breeze blow it away.
I kept getting up to check the china hutch windows and one of the times I opened it, the queen was there. Of course, I was unarmed. I'd have thought that saturating the grass would be enough. And I ran out of wasp spray!
I'm rearming myself and war will recommence. I take no wasp prisoners!
In other, non-stinging insect news, I was sorting through my computer room books, the ones I'd just jammed on the shelf without rhyme or reason, and sorting them. I have them broken up by subject and I started putting them back on the shelves. I also started going through my writing books yesterday, deciding which ones I'd long outgrown or which ones hadn't been at all helpful. So far, I've got a small box to get rid of and I'm not done yet.
As I was sorting down my books, I found my copy of The Writer's Brainstorming Kit or something like that. It comes with a deck of cards, and since I need a story for Maia, I decided to try this. I drew five cards like the book said, but the one in the 3 or 4 position just didn't work for Maia or Creed, so I reached in the deck for another card. That dislodged another card that said "loneliness" and I had an epiphany. Maia was overwhelmed by loneliness!
I knew Ryne had felt that way, it permeated her story (the one I turned in at the end of June), but I didn't realize Maia shared that sense of aloneness and that was stupid. She's every bit as alone as Ryne was, maybe even more so since Maia ceded her powers and is closed off from her people in a way that Ryne isn't. They also grew up with the same parents and Maia didn't have anyone there for her the way she took care of Ryne.
I couldn't believe I didn't realize this. Talk about totally being blind, but I get it now. Of course, this still doesn't give me a story, but it does give me some insight into my heroine-to-be. I've already had some important glimpses into Creed while I wrote Ryne and Deke's story, so I think I'm good on the characters.
