I Got Nothing

 

Once upon a time, I used to blog every day. Sometimes I even posted more than once a day. How did I come up with so much to talk about?

I'm sitting here, trying to figure out what to write and I have nothing.

Part of it is because I used to blog about my stories and ideas and I don't do that anymore. Mostly because so many of my plans and the ideas I wanted to write, well, I just don't have time to write them. I think it maybe disappointed people, especially when I talked about ideas for more books in my Jarved Nine series.

Another part might have to do with being more tired now. I work ridiculous hours at the day job because of how bad the traffic is, and I'm done when I get home.

It's funny how I get ideas on topics to blog about while I can't write them down. I tell myself: Remember this for later! Only I never do.

I took a few minutes to look back at old pictures from posts. There was the one with the fountain pen--I don't use fountain pens anymore, although I like writing with them. I found the picture from when I discovered my latest favorite pen brand (EnerGel) and it's still my favorite. There's a picture from when I tried to make my mom's plum pirogis and failed. And the stray cat I fed on my patio until it disappeared.

And there are so many pictures of notebooks and planners--which I still talk about.

Too Many Ringy Dingys

My house still has a home phone. I needed it for my dad because his cell phone was 1) always turned off and 2) he wasn't adept at using it. And because of his hearing loss, he had a phone with transcription technology so he could read what people said.

It was also his way to keep in touch with his friends and it was my peace of mind, knowing he could call out if he needed help.

Now that he's gone, the only time my phone rings is when someone wants to buy my house.

It's getting old.

So old, that I unplugged the cordless phones and turned off the ringer on the other phone. There was literally one day where that phone rang at least ten times. It's ridiculous.

I don't plan to keep the home phone indefinitely. I only use my cell phone. But I need to make sure all my contact information is transferred to the cell phone. I'm pretty sure at this point that all my dad's friends know he's passed away, although there is one woman who called to wish him a Happy Easter.

But the home phone is on short time. And the nice thing about my cell phone is I can block callers.

The Tote Bag Saga Continues

If you've been following this blog, you know I've been on The Great Tote Bag search for a while now. Too long.

The problem is that I found the tote bag that fits me exactly right. It has everything I need and want. And LL Bean hasn't sold it since I bought it. I check regularly. My tweet at them went unanswered.

I thought about sewing my own tote bag--I even bought a pattern and some fabric to make it--but I'm still a beginner and this project seems daunting.

And so I continue to hunt for the best replacement bag.

There is a brand I've seen advertised on Instagram that looked intriguing. I order the bag that fit the size I wanted, but it was arranged so it was narrow, not wide, and the opening was so tight, it made it difficult to use.

Maika had another tote bag, though. The Carryall bag.

I didn't order it originally because I knew from the dimensions it was too big. Around Christmas/New Year time, though, they did a mystery bag sale and the price was marked way, way down. The only catch was that I wouldn't know which fabric I was getting. That's why they called it a mystery bag. My guess is these are bags they had too many of and they'd just grab one of the overstocks and send it out.

Spoiler alert: I got the Carryall in the fabric I wanted. Not all the fabrics were available. I believe there were around half a dozen there was a chance to receive. I lucked out here.

I was right--the bag is too big. But even though it's not right for a work tote, I still use it all the time.

It's roomy, with a large opening which makes it easy to get things in and out.

 

It has three interior pockets and a key leash, exactly what I wanted.

And I still don't have a new work tote because this is just so big! The company just came out with a new tote bag and it intrigues me because it might be close to the right size. I'm not ready, though, to test it out when the bags are more than I want to spend when they're full price. (Although have you seen the price of tote bags now?)

I'm kind of hoping they put the new bag on mystery sale this upcoming Christmas. That would be my ideal way to try it out. In the meantime, I'll keep using my old tote bag.

Oooh, OneNote!

I have an extensive series bible for my Paladin League series. It consists of an Excel workbook and a massive OneNote notebook. I've blogged about some issues I had with two versions of OneNote on my laptop, but today I am excited.

I finally asked the question: I wonder if I can link my settings list in Excel to the matching page in OneNote? I have a list of every setting I've used, but I don't describe them very well because I have images. Lots and lots of images. So one quick online search and I discovered yes, I can link a cell to a particular page!

Since I already knew how to link a cell in Excel (for the day job), all I needed to do was figure out how to get the OneNote page information. That turned out to be easy.

I'm excited, but also there's one thing I don't like. It opens OneNote on the web, not the app on my computer. It's also a little slow making that page open, but overall, I am thrilled!

Mostly.

Now I have hundreds of cells in Excel that are not linking and I'm not sure it's worth my time to add them. At this point, I know exactly where to click in OneNote to find the place I'm looking for.

After the HEA

When I go to bed, I think about my stories. Usually, not the one I'm actually writing because then I don't sleep. :-) I start worrying that I'm going to forget the dialogue or idea or whatever and so I work super hard to commit it to memory.

Wicked Suspicion has been an exception, but not the story. Well, not exactly the story. At least the main part of the story.

What I've been getting is an epilogue sort of thing. You see, Nyx's brother is protective of her, and while Case might be his best friend, Dylan is going to watch out for his little sister. Also, hey, dude, the bro code! You don't go after your best friend's little sis.

I'm seeing a confrontation between Dylan and Case. Like what are your intentions toward my sister kind of confrontation.

Dylan also shared some information about Case with me that I knew, but didn't put much weight on. After listening to Nyx's brother, I realize now that this is an important piece of who Case is and I better start putting some attention to it.

This is one of those scenes that I would get and not write since it isn't going in the book, but I think I am going to write this one and release it as a bonus for newsletter subscribers. At least that's the plan at the moment. If I run out of time before my release date, that might have to come later.

If you'd like to subscribe to my newsletter, the form is the Coming Next page of my website. Just scroll down to find it.