Looking Ahead

I think I may let myself try writing the opening scene of the new project today. I'm at the point where any additional prep work might count as overthinking and would make it lose any freshness or spontaneity. It may need some rewriting, but "meeting" the characters is the only way to see how they really come to life to help me develop the rest of the story. I still haven't developed a "soundtrack" for this book. It's challenging me a bit because the normal pop type music isn't working for it. I'm stuck with Broadway, classical and soundtracks, and a lot of my soundtracks are on cassette.

We're still having a nasty heat wave. I saw a forecast that shows the possibility of a "cold" front coming through on Sunday, so temperatures would be in the mid-90s -- and that looked so cool, practically a "bring out the blankets" change. Last week, I tried to cope by listing things I can enjoy about August, but now I think I need to give myself something to anticipate. I won't go so far as to anticipate real fall, but here are some things to look forward to about September and early October, when our weather is like summer is in a lot of other places. It's warm enough to be outside in shorts and a t-shirt, but not so hot that you're at risk for heat exhaustion from walking to the mailbox.

1) Going outside -- doctors have actually identified that there's a kind of reverse seasonal affective disorder in this part of the world because when it's too hot, people have to stay indoors and never see the sun. I'd like to be able to go on long walks again, to walk to the bank, post office and library, maybe even the movie theater and some restaurants. I bought a house in this neighborhood because it's walkable, and I hate driving to the bank that's a couple of blocks away because it's too hot to walk during business hours.

2) Butterflies -- the monarch migration generally comes through here in September, and they just built a butterfly park behind my house, full of plants that attract butterflies. I can't wait to go out there and watch the butterflies, or even just look out the window and watch them fly by.

3) Picnics -- more on the going outside thing. I like having breakfast on my patio, and it would be fun to take my lunch to the park. Or there's having tea or a snack on the patio cafe at the library. My friends and I have been talking about going hiking in the fall, and it would be fun to pack a picnic lunch when we do that.

4) Fall TV -- summer TV these days is really good, but it will be nice to see the resolution of all those cliffhangers.

5) FenCon -- my "home" convention, held in September. It's always a good time and a chance to hang out with friends while talking about my favorite stuff and consider it "work."

6) Sometimes being able to turn off my air conditioner at night -- my AC is really loud and it tends to wake me up when it cuts on during the night, even though I sleep with earplugs. During the heat wave, the low temperature is higher than I keep my thermostat set, and I set my thermostat pretty high. But in September, we start going back into the comfortable range around bedtime, and that means I can sometimes open a window, turn on the ceiling fan and turn off the AC for a peaceful night's sleep.

7) More weather variety -- I really love weather, especially as it changes. Although occasionally I would like to have actual seasons, sometimes I enjoy having bits of seasons all mixed up. During the summer, it's pretty much hot and dry, with the occasional day of rain. But come September, we start getting cool days and storms mixed in with hot days and rainy days. There's a point to watching the weather forecast because it won't all be the same.

There, that's some stuff to look forward to in just a few weeks.