– I’ve been busy editing my book as per my amazing editor’s suggestions. This doesn’t just mean I’m putting commas in the right place. I’m taking my book apart and putting it back together again to make a better book. I really enjoy editing (because I am strange), but it requires me to keep an entire set of “rules” for this story in my head. Move a scene, and you have to remember to adjust the impact it will have throughout the book. For example, you can’t have a character drive away in their car if they didn’t drive to that destination in the first place. I’m finding that I’m very happy dealing with all things book related right now, but super distracted when I try to deal with anything else. This too shall pass, and it’s not like it matters if my socks don’t match each other, right? Thankfully, J is just fine eating soup, salads, and sandwiches for dinner for the next few weeks, because I’d most likely burn the house down if I tried to cook anything right now.
– We’re considering putting up a fence in the backyard. I’d rather move, but that’s not going to happen instantly, and in my current state of work, the last thing I need is to start a project of that magnitude. I can, however, manage to interview a few contractors and see a fence is an affordable option. I hope it is, because I am totally dreaming of a summer of sitting on the patio and writing while the dogs play, without the neighbor kid yelling, “Hi Argo’s mom! Hi Argo’s mom!” over and over and over again before he rides his scooter through my strawberry patch. If we get a fence, I want one of the stockade fences with no gaps between the boards so the neighbor kid can’t even see me when I’m outside. And I think it might be easier to sell our house eventually if the backyard doesn’t have a view of The Crap Garden.
– It’s so windy today that our garbage can blew from the side of our house to halfway down our driveway. When I first moved up here, I was amused by the “high wind warning” signs in the groceries stories, reminding people to corral their shopping carts. But I can assure you, high winds are no laughing matter. If I never post again, it’s because our house blew away with me in it.
That dog, who’s named after an Irish alcohol, is fantastically well behaved.
You’d be well behaved if your punishment was an electrical shock.
Regarding the fence, if you’re planning on leaving Stella and Argo outside behind it it’s better for them to be able to see. Closed fences like that cause dogs huge anxiety so I’ve read.
Gardening…soon! Soon! I can’t wait!
Ugh. You know, I was afraid it was electric shock. I kept telling myself it was just some fancy clicker.
I would never leave the dogs outside by themselves, fenced yard or no. German Shepherds are way too smart and way too co-dependent to be left outside like that. I just want to be able to keep them in the yard (and the less than dog-savvy neighbor kids out of my yard) while I’m outside with them. And then I can take them out with me while I garden or write or read in the yard without worrying about them running off when I’m not giving them my full attention.
I want one of those stockade fences, too! Remember Frost’s Poem, Mending Wall? “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?” That’s so true. I could keep out the strange little rat terrier named Blue that stands in the street or at the edge of our yard and barks at us when we’re playing or working in OUR yard. I could keep out the druggies behind us. The scary pit bull that masquerades as Houdini. I could keep out the…well, the world if I so choose.
It’s MY world on MY property and I want to keep it to MYself. Selfish am I? Maybe, when it comes to my family.
Jennifer @ Random Ramblings
Nice blog so far. I have enjoyed the last 20 minutes reading it.
Funny — I just stumbled upon the following quote while working on a Screenwriting course — I’m sure you’ve heard it before :)
“A good writer is not someone who knows how to write – but how to rewrite.” ~ William Goldman
Happy editing!
What if your editor was named after an Irish alcohol? Would you get an electric shock every time your character drove a car that didn’t exist?
I know i have said this before but it is just so weird that you don’t all have fences. IN the UK all gardens are enclosed (well, front ones aren’t always) and it is rare to be able to see into someone else’s garden without standing at the wall/fence/hedge and peeping over.
I would not be able to relax if I knew the neighbours could see me and I would be on permanent high alert if they were prowling in and out of my garden, or if their children were. OH dear me, I would be stressed!
Def get a fence.
The summer before my son was born, we put a six foot wood privacy fence in our yard. We did it ourselves – and it was still expensive. You might consider doing the work yourselves. It was so worthwhile, though. We also had the neighbor boy who had to yell hello to us repeatedly while outside (my son is that age now, and he does not do that).
It was very hard work, but totally worth it. Has your property been surveyed?
We a chain link fence put in when we moved here. It was only down two sides of the yard and it cost 1200 bucks! If you do the work yourselves you will save a bunch, but won’t a stockade fence cast a big shadow? How do you garden with two dogs?
Can you get a fence that’s electrified and has a motion detector from the other side? That way only the strawberry patch neighbor kids gets the shock and the motion detector lets you know when they are nearby so you can run inside before they see you. I think it’s the perfect solution.
The shock collars are horrible. I know a dog trainer and every time one of her clients suggests a shock collar she makes them try one one and get a shock (on the lowest level) themselves. None of them ever purchase the collar.
Fences make the best neighbors, you know. Especially 10-foot-high ones with barbed wire on top, like they have around prison courtyards.
Editing your book sounds complicated yet rewarding. I’m glad you’re so into it!
How would a shock collar be better than a leash? More convincing, perhaps? So lazy.
Maybe you should introduce Crazy Lab Lady and Amazing Lab Lady?
I think a fence is a grand idea.
I’m impressed you’re enjoying editing. I always hate that process so much, of course until I find that the finished product is better than what I started with.