The Rat in the Dark

While we were off in the wilds of Valley Mills, Texas, (and if you know where Valley Mills is, you’re doing good) (It’s out toward Cranfills Gap…) we had a bit of an adventure in the night. We were out in the middle of nowhere, after all, with varmints and all kinds of critters in the fields surrounding us. And, being women of a certain age, we tended to have to get up in the middle of the night to visit the facilities. (There was indoor plumbing.)

Well, one of those nights, one of our number rose in the darkness and ventured to the facilities, using her cell phone as a flashlight to light her way so she wouldn’t trip over something and kill herself, and when she got into the restroom, she saw something black and scary on the floor. She didn’t have her glasses on (as mentioned, we are of a certain age, and all near-sighted), the phone light was mostly dim, and she couldn’t reach the light switch to turn on the real light and see what in blazes it was. Especially since she was pretty sure it was a rat. She crept forward, holding the phone out toward the rat, while reaching with the other hand for the light–which was on the other side of the room near the other door–until finally the other one of us (who wasn’t me, because I was asleep) informed her that it was my sock.

I thought I had retrieved all of my clothes when I got into my nightgown, but apparently, one of my socks got away and stayed behind to play Halloween games. My friend picked it up and tossed it out of the bathroom. I think she was trying to put it with my stuff, but the next morning, it was next to one of the support posts. Maybe it crawled over there. I picked it up and put it in my suitcase…and an hour or so later, I saw it on the floor again. That sock was determined to escape! It didn’t stay put until I stuffed it down in a pocket and zipped it closed. I hope I got home with it. But we had a good laugh about how scared D was about that wayward sock.

I am making progress in my self-publishing venture. Yes, I will put up Heart’s Magic when I get the rights to it–unless Tor actually decides to publish it. I am also doing a contemporary romance with no fantasy whatsoever in it–Knight in Black Leather–and a contemporary-set fantasy romance with a hero who comes from an alternate world–Heart of Stone. After that, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. It all depends on what I have, what I write, what I want to write… We will see.

I am on DAY 7 of my challenge. Got 4 pages written, and the fella came home to pack an ice chest for his trip to Austin, and wanted to converse, of all things. So I stopped sprinting.

The guys moved my bookcase out of the closet in my office while I was away, and moved a gun safe in. The fella doesn’t like my bookcase where they put it. All my books are now in boxes, stacked in the floor in here. I am not happy. I’m not mad, or even upset about it. I knew they were going to do it. But neither am I exactly happy about it. I’d really like to have the books more accessible, and my office less stacked up.

Also, I’m trying to clean my desk off, along with all the other stuff I’m trying to do, and found two pieces of plastic that I have no idea what they are, nor what they are for. Just strangely shaped pieces of plastic.

In the steps toward publishing, I have fixed my Paypal account, I think. I have my e-mails straightened out. I have about 6 e-mail accounts just now–and I upgraded my web hosting plan today. It will take a day or two to get the upgrade through, and another while for me to figure out how to make it do what I want it to do, but hopefully by next week, I’ll have my website updated and I’ll be ready to move on to the next step.