Wednesday, May 12, 2021

I've been productive (finally)!

I've finished the first draft of Liquid Diet Chronicles: Having a Pint, and finished the first edit; it's currently in the hands of three beta readers.  I finished the first edit of a short story, the first second draft of another one,* and am nearly finished with the first draft of a third.  I've got two more started, but I'm not sure yet where they're going.  I'm not too worried.  I figure I'll finish the first draft I'm working on, then do an edit of the second story while the other two percolate.  After that, I've got a finished novel that needs to be edited before I send it off to beta readers (my word do I!  It's The Schrodinger Paradox, and the first two parts have already seen some heavy handed editing and expanding--not to the point of different entirely, but they've shifted some).  

We've been productive in taking care of the house, too.  And that makes me happy. 

The roof is replaced; the ceiling's repaired.  I have thoughts on how to rearrange the entry hall for better utility (and for replacing the coat tree, which tips when it's heavily loaded).  It'll take some materials bought, though, but shouldn't be hard.   

That's it on the major upgrades.  We have some semi-major repairs/upgrades to do, and a few minor ones that we can do at least part of.

One semi-major project that needs to be done is repairing the carport.  It wasn't built right to start with.  

Another project that's going to require outside assistance is repairs to the garage doors: the tracks on one are broken, and the other works, but only sort of, and if I open it, half the time I can't get it closed because if it goes too far up on its tracks, I can't jump high enough to reach it to pull it shut.   So the one can't open, and the other stays locked.  I'm not sure the garage is usable as a garage--I'm not sure Odysseus's truck would fit with the door shut on either side--and needs some rearranging before it's truly usable as a workshop. 

As for the minor upgrades...both will require a plumber, at least for part of the work.  We need to fix the hall bathroom so that the bathtub has a shower fixture--I'm a little tired of having to send the kids to the master bathroom for their showers.  We can re-do the walls above the tiles around the tub (vinyl sheeting would do a lot), but we might need to get a plumber in to do the rest, and the faucet needs replaced, anyway.  I want a new faucet on my kitchen sink, with a sprayer nozzle that works.  I have the faucet--it just needs to be put on properly.   I don't think I can do that, and I'm pretty sure Odysseus can't fit under the sink to do that--not with as tall as he is, and as cramped as it is between the back of the sink and the wall.  

All of those are in the future, however.  I want a break to enjoy what we have done.  And so I can get the house back in some semblance of order before we tackle another messy project.  

*I wrote the first draft first person, re-read it, then rewrote it from third person.  First draft was just a little over 2K words...the rewrite almost tripled the word count, and I'm much happier.  It still needs work, and may well get longer still. 

2 comments:

  1. Overhead Door is the company to do the garage doors. They might be a little more expensive, but they stand behind their work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of their offices is five minutes from my house. I was planning on going with them.

      Delete

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