I'm at the library now, and only half the people have masks on. Our statewide mask mandate just ended, but you're still supposed to wear masks in public places, at the discretion of the location. I wore my mask and sat down, hardly noticing it, really, but when I saw people walking around without them, I pulled mine down . . .
And it was such a difference, as far as breathing goes. Reminds me of how you'll wake up in the non-winter months, sometimes in the middle of the night, and you're hot and sweaty because you put on a shirt that now feels stifling, so you take it off and go back to sleep? Maybe that's just me, but most of the people I hang out with hate the heat way more than I ever could, so I'm sure they relate.
Anyway, I keep feeling like I need to put the mask back over my mouth and nose, like I'm doing something I could get in trouble for, like when I used to drive around at night listening to Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" with my pants around my ankles.
I really ought to be writing, though, instead of sharing all this.
Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In April: 1211
This may amuse you, if you're a schadenfreude kind of guy.
You know how I sell toys on eBay, from time to time? Well, also from time to time, people will tell me, "Wow, selling on eBay must be a lot of fun, huh?" usually followed by, "Hey, stop looking at my daughter, will you?"
And yeah, it can be fun, especially when people get in bidding wars and you watch the total go up and up (or when you discover that something you forgot you owned has now skyrocketed in value). But here's a cautionary tale for you:
I tend to put things up on Sunday nights. Statistics say that, just like watching television used to be, the time the most eyes are on eBay are Sunday evenings, and experts have suggested (at least a decade ago they did) that if you list something for auction on a Sunday night, it will get more bids than if you list it on a Monday through Friday (or during the morning or late at night). So, nearly every Sunday night is when I sit down and list items for sale.
Last week, I was really ambitious. I had a box of figures in the basement I hadn't touched in a couple of years (most were from 2015 and 2017), so I got them out, sorted them, took pictures of them, put the pictures on the computer, cropped them, labeled them, and listed them for auction, one at a time, until I'd gotten thirty-three done. It took about three hours, maybe a bit more,* but that's the way it is.
So, imagine my chagrin** when the week went by and none of the items were getting bids. And soon, it was Sunday night again, I hadn't done my run yet, but there was stuff to list, if I wanted to make my money. So, I started putting up dinosaurs and Star Wars figures, and at the end of the night, I checked my thirty-something items . . .
. . . and not a single one had gotten any bids.
Kind of puts life in perspective, you know?
Push-ups Today: 158
Push-ups In April: 1292
I'm finally writing the scene in my Lara and the Witch story where Lara speaks to the boy from the very first story that she cast a love spell on. I've spoken about it a bunch of times over the past two or three years, but I've never found a place to put it in my stories. But now that I'm writing, like, the fifth or sixth Lara Demming story, I finally found a moment for it.***
I always wanted the scene to be a bit of a wake-up call for Lara, that her actions have consequences, or at least that it's really sad, but
***I couldn't remember her sister's name, so I wasted about ten minutes' of writing time trying to find it in my old manuscripts, but I'm here in the library, and the ones I have on my laptop only call her ___ or Lara's sister. Then I tried opening audio files of "You're In Good Hands" to see if I could find the chapter where Lara levitates (that might be the segment I selected for my sample, come to think of it--although it's more likely I used the bit with the fairy from the prologue), but this is the Quiet Floor, and my headphones don't seem to work anymore, for some reason. Finally, I searched on my blog for "Lara's sister," and found a reference to the scene I'm writing right now on the April 14th post from last year. It's great that I finally get to write the scene . . . but sadly, I'm blogging instead.
By the way, her sister's name is Emma. Emma Demming. What was I thinking?
Words Today: 1185
Words In April: 7870
*Maybe a bit less too, the thing is, the vast majority of the time is creating the first listing, and then you can just copy and paste or hit Sell Similar and change one or two details (as well as the picture), and list it.
**I keep using that word. I do not think it means what I think it means.
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