Writer's Block of the Worst Kind...

I haven't felt like writing very much the past couple of days. The weather has been miserable, work has been busy, and I'm in a funk because one of my parents made a few upsetting comments when I went to visit them recently. All of these factors have put me into quite a funk and are preventing me from writing.

I like to think my family and I have a decent relationship. We certainly have a much better relationship now than the one we had when I was a teenager. However, we still have our spats from time to time, or may not see eye to eye on things, or may make comments that offend one another. No one is perfect. Thankfully these spats are far and few between, and they never really last long, but when they happen, man do they suck.

Maybe it's the weather that's making us crankier than normal though. It's been horrible lately, absolutely horrible. It's been in the 90s, which isn't too bad, but the humidity is high and that is what everyone everywhere is complaining about. In fact, it is so humid that whenever you move you are instantly dripping in sweat. It makes me want to run away to the desert. Sure it's hotter out there, but at least it's a dry heat, and that really does make all the difference in the world.

As for work? Well, it's the end/beginning of the month, so we're scrambling to get updates to the company website out, launch new products, update sales numbers, etc etc etc, and of course there have been the usual round of defects popping up that weren't there when we were testing these changes, so we're trying to get those fixed as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, I was able to finish up chapter eight of The Undying Ones before this recent round of writer's block hit. And I wrote about 1500 words on chapter nine of Collaborating Chaos before I had to turn it over to Kella (this is why I wasn't able to respond to everyone's comments last week, or comment on as many blogs as I normally do, because I was trying to get that chapter banged out). She finished it up for me after I realized that there was no way I was going to get it done in time. I was away from my computer for most of the weekend so even if I wanted to write, I couldn't. You can check out the newest Collaborating Chaos update and read the rest of the story over here. 

Even though I wasn't writing, I did manage to put more items up in my Etsy store. I now have two styles of peasant bodices that I am offering, along with entaris that can be worn with the belly dancing bodices I have available. Both bodices are very cute, and everyone who sees them likes them, but I think the entari is probably my favorite item. It's so comfortable to wear, and the gauze breathes so it's perfect to wear during hot weather like what we're experiencing now. I should have chemises, partlets, skirts and some men's clothing up next week. 

I've also started knitting again. It occured to me that my husband and I are planning a trip to Washington with our friends at the end of December, and it gets cold up in Washington, and I don't have a whole lot of cold weather appropriate accessories. I have my technicolor dream scarf and a cowl, but the scarf isn't that long, and the cowl doesn't really cover my head and my neck at the same time, and wearing both look very silly. So, I'm trying to get my ravenclaw scarf done as quickly as possible - I think I'm about halfway there. 

And now, for what you've all been waiting for - the Wippet Snippet. Here's 68 words from chapter eight of The Undying Ones. 9 times 4 is 36, times 2 is 72. 1 plus 3 is 4, 4 minus 72 is 68. 

He stripped to his waist, and washed off the soot from the fire as best as he could using the water from the rain barrel. It was icy cold, and made his teeth chatter and his skin break out in prickly gooseflesh, but pulling the tub from the pantry would take too long - especially when all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed and sleep.

You can read more WIPpet Wednesday posts here, and more ROW 80 posts over here.