Next weekend, I'm STILL going to be working.

But at least I'm going to be guiding. We're doing a four day rock climbing trip. The bonus part is that we'll be staying in a hotel for a change. No bivy bags!

Passed the psyche. Just not my panel interview.

The last big govt job I got back in Aus involved an interesting interview. With one question remaining out of ten a HUGE hailstorm came roaring out of the sky and we were sitting right next to big plate glass windows. Well, two of the panel got up and stood at the window to watch... then the rest of us followed. Heh! We all stood there for about ten minutes laughing and joking about the storm and how some of them forgot to put up their car windows, left the cat out, didn't bring in the washing etc... It became very casual all of a sudden... and I reckon that helped me get the job.

Either that or they just thought I was awesome anyway!

Nice... hotels and climbing work great together... we did that for the second half of our Vegas trip last year. Five star room... dirty climbing... back to five star room... repeat... mmmmmm

Yeah, I have issues with being dirty. Weird considering I landscape and mountain guide.

I have the hardest time crawling into a sleeping bag after doing nasty dusty dirty climbing.

Nice... hotels and climbing work great together... we did that for the second half of our Vegas trip last year. Five star room... dirty climbing... back to five star room... repeat... mmmmmm

+1 I take showers at night because I hate sleeping in filth.

what's the difference between a blue-collar worker and a white-collar worker (other than the color, of course)? It's when they shower. Think about it.

I've been on both sides of the showering spectrum. Working in the trees I always stepped in the door when I got home, de-robed completely and then walked straight to the shower. I would need to vacuum up the pile of sawdust and dirt from in front of the door each night.

Yeah I got a very low score on my interview.

Wooo!

Nice... hotels and climbing work great together... we did that for the second half of our Vegas trip last year. Five star room... dirty climbing... back to five star room... repeat... mmmmmm

alright, which one of you numbnuts have done epinephrine and what the hell do I need to know besides "it's long."

Sorry never have, never will, not really interested.
We have a drug screen program at work. I'm sure you could figure out why. And getting canned for drugs doesn't look good on the resume. And I have a wife a 3 young kids at home I have to feed, dress and provide with a nice home. So I will have to pass. I know writers sometimes get into that type of stuff. I myself prefer a clear head, although the occasional buzz at night from some wine, when the kids are asleep, the wife is relaxed, is good too.

HA.

HA.

HA.

got a good summerical outline (yes, that's a summary to the outline) done today. then I wrote the first draft of my query letter and sent that off for review.

next stop, either the next chapter or the outline itself. I'm hoping to get feedback from a friend on chapters two and three soon so that I can send the first three chapters and the query letter to an agent. it'd be nice to work on those two chapters while I futz around trying to figure out the transition from chapter four to chapter five. I know what chapter five is, but it'd be awkward at this point if I just jumped to that scene.

Good job on transitioning from "work" to writing. Sounds like you're keeping the pressure on and not just relaxing, goofing, doing whatever. I'm afraid I'd be really inclined to do the later.

I've done my fair share of the latter, but in my business it's called writer's block.

I get that too... but in my mind it's called... hmmmmm.... what.... errrrrrr.... doesn't matter, can't remember.

heh.

I've had to resort to writing exercises the past few days, just to get an hour or two of writing in. most of the time, thankfully, those exercises work well and get me jump-started, particularly when those exercises are directly related to my book (such as a summary, character profile, short story based on one of the character's previous experiences, etc.).

Having an extensive story behind each character really must be a daunting task to create. I'm sure it's also fun, but to think about and develop a "lifestory" in order to create the character must be challenging.

I'm reading Stephen King's "The Dome" right now... almost done... but he has a butt-ton of characters in it... all with their own lives, history and manerisms. Plus they all weave themselves among each others parts of the plot... phewww it must be tricky!