Day 117

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Wrote for an hour this morning, then went to the Farmer's Market down the street and bought ingredients for a soup I made for Alice and picked up some nice flowers for her for Mother's Day.  The soup was really good...I had two bowls of it.  

We hung out in the neighborhood and played cribbage at Peet's, then drove to Alice's in the Sunset District, where it was so foggy it felt like another country from the warm, clear skies of Oakland. 

We had noodles and turkey for dinner, then watched an old classic that Alice had never seen and I hadn't seen in several years, The Apartment.  It's still magnificent.  So well done and wonderfully acted.  Alice loved it.  It was a wonderful way to end and wonderful day.

Day 116

Friday, May 10, 2013

Up at 4:45, writing at 5:45, ready to finish chapter 19 and send 18 and 19 to Chris this morning.

Wrote until 4:30 then did Insanity abs, ate dinner, watched 40 minutes of Wallander, organized, then wrote some more.  Sent off 18 and 19 to Chris.  Two tough chapters.  Chapter 20 is much easier.  I have an added appreciation for spy novelists.  

I have a pile of books I'm ignoring.  I did read the first 30 pages of Gone, Girl.  Like it. 

Day 115

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Woke up at 4:50, went to gym for 40 minutes of Insanity interval training, and returned back home at 6:30 for a full day of writing.  Spent the entire day on chapter 19.  I was hoping to finish before I left for Alice's at 4:30, but still have about two hours left.  I'll finish tomorrow. 

A new twist with the ending that I came up with while driving to Alice's.  Interesting.

Alice and I finished watching Three Stars, a documentary about eight chefs of Three Star Michelin restaurants.

Day 114

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Woke up at 6:50.  I was planning to go into the gym at 5 but didn't feel good, so I slept an extra two hours.  Feel fine now.

On to chapters 17-20.  I'll give a violin lesson to Sophie at 4.  Other than that, it's a full day of writing.  Nice!

Noon - Emailed chapter 17 to Chris.  On to 18 and 19...Over 60k words written since March.

9:50 - Finished chapter 18.  Almost done with 19.  If I can complete chapter 20 by tomorrow, that would be fantastic!  Then I can get a good start on Section 5.

Finally put Dropbox on my desktop today.  Now all my zombie files are on it.  I can see all my manuscripts moving to Dropbox soon.  Why not?  It's a pretty slick program.

I actually practiced for an hour today after Sophie's lesson.

Day 113

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Woke up at 4:30.  Planned out the day.  Wrapping up chapters 16 and 17 for Chris tonight.  Another long day of writing that will go by quickly.  Lots to do on my to do list.  Finished last night's list this morning.

Wrote until 7.  I sent chapter 16 to Chris and will wrap up chapter 17 tomorrow.  Dead tired but happy with some surprises that occurred in 16.  Looking forward to writing 18 and 19 tomorrow.

Watched the first episode of Wallander with  Kenneth Branagh.  It's Prime Suspect with a male lead.  I like it. 

Day 112

Monday, May 6, 2013

Woke up at 5:30 and worked on section 4, chapters 16-20.  My new video card came today, so my HP desktop is back among the living.  I unpacked, did two loads of laundry, and got back to work.

 

Day 111

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Kane Waselenchuk defended his title in the Stockton Pro-Am today.  He beat Rocky Carson in three games and didn't lose a single game all weekend.  He was simply unbeatable.  It's rare to find an athlete in any sport who's an entire level better than anyone else on the planet, but Kane is that much better than everyone else.  No one can beat him.  Rocky Carson is one of the greatest racquetball players who ever lived, and he can't score more than 6 points in a game against Kane.  I've never seen anything like it.  He's so consistent and quick.  It's an amazing thing watching him play.

I left Stockton around 2, got home by 4, then headed to Alice's at 6.  I relaxed the rest of the night in preparation for a week of nonstop writing.

Day 110

Saturday, May 4, 2013

I woke up at 6:30 and wrote about 1,000 words for 90 minutes.  I arrived at the In-Shape club around 10:45 for our E-Force Player Meeting with Chris Crowther.  The new E-Force Invasion X racquets are coming out this summer.  They look similar to this year's Invasion racquets, only with thicker side boosters. 

Day 109

Friday, May 3, 2013

I woke up at 7.  No writing today.

My first racquetball match was against Steve Hale out of Sacramento.  I don't know how I won this match.  He was very good for a 23 seed player.  He hadn't played tournaments in a while.  He had great serves and made smart shows.  I was down 1-7 in the first game, then somehow managed to get things going and stole the game 15-12.  My drive serve was working and my arm felt good, so I continued drive serving.  I lost the second game 14-15, and won the tie-breaker 11-4.

I played my doubles match with Carlos Mansilla right afterward and we lost in 3, 9-11 in the tie-breaker.  That was a tough one.  My arm was starting to bother me after that match.

For the rest of the day I watched the pros play.

Rocky Carson played against local pro Bobby Horn in a tight second game before Rocky eventually rolled past him on his way to the quarter-finals.

Rocky continued to play well against Markie Rojas, who actually took one game from Rocky before succumbing to some incredible drive and z-serves.

#1 Kane Waselenchuck dominated #5 Jose Rojas in three quick games.  Kane's serves were so explosive that whenever Jose retrieved them, Kane killed the ball, ending the rally.

I went to bed around 11 or so.

Day 108

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Only about 45 minutes worth of writing today.  I ordered a new graphics card for my computer.  The fan only works when I have one monitor plugged in.

Packed for the Stockton Pro-Am.  I can't believe it's already here.

I'm staying at the Extended Stay America on March Lane.  It's clean, quiet and very comfortable.  My first match is tomorrow at 11:15 a.m.

In the afternoon, I watched the local open players qualify for IRT spots against the pros tomorrow. I also attended a sponsor doubles event in the evening and was paired up with Javier Moreno, the #6 player in the world.  He's a really nice guy.  We played against Ben Croft and Vic, Jason Manino and Craig, Rocky Carson and Jeff, Alvero Beltran and his partner.

I went to bed around 11 or so.

Day 107

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

I outlined the rest of Zombie Cookies.  I have 5 sections to create this month.  That means a lot of late nights after the Pro-Am this weekend. 

I'm at Alice's today while Heather shoots a few scenes in the living room and garage.  I met Kathy Garver "Cissy" from A Family Affair today.  Very nice woman.

Looking forward to the Stockton Pro-Am tomorrow.

Day 106

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Wrote all day.  Sent chapters 11-13 to Chris at 5.

Had computer problems that took about an hour to troubleshoot.  Turns out my video card fan is done.  While my desktop is down, I'm writing on my handy hp mini, which is a tough little machine when it's working properly.  Anyway, I have a lot left to do if I want to finish this book by the first week in June.  The sooner I get it done, the better.

Day 105

Monday, April 29, 2013

Woke up at 4:10, played racquetball from 5-6:30, then wrote the rest of the day.  Worked on chapters 11-13.  Finished around 8 p.m. or so.

 

Day 104

Sunday, April 28, 2013

No writing today.  Spent the day with Alice, walking through the Botanical Gardens.

We then went to the de Young museum and saw the famous Vermeer painting the Girl with the Pearl Earring. 

After that we relaxed for the rest of the day.

 

Day 103

Saturday, April 28, 2013

Worked on chapters 11-13 today for about four hours.  Dealing for Richard's poker party fundraiser tonight.  Always a good time.

Poker dealing was great fun.  I stayed up until 1.  We played a cash game for an hour or so after the game and I won $50.  Ray was the big winner!

Day 102

Friday, April 27, 2013

I wrote all day.  Up to 50,000 words in Zombie.  Writing Chapter 11.

Day 101

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Woke up at 7:15, wrote.  Had lunch with Kristi W. at Lin Jia.  Continued writing in the afternoon on into the evening.

Almost at 50k words in Zombie Cookies.  Only 10k to go for 60k.  I may write another 10k as a cushion, then it's revise, revise, revise.

I have the Stockton Pro-Am coming up next Thursday-Sunday, so I want to get as much done in the next seven days as possible.  I really need to get this book written before summer begins.

I'm doing everything I can to even out my moods, but some days are harder than others.  Today was an especially difficult day and I'm not sure why.  

Day 100

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

First 100 Days in 1,000 days of writing:

New novel:  Don't Eat Zombie Cookies - I completed 10 chapters that I emailed Chris and wrote 45,000 words total.  I started March 1 and hope to finish the first week in June.

I've made good progress but have so much farther to go.  I have several sleepless nights in front of me if I want to finish this book by my deadline.

Moving on....

Day 99

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Woke up at 7:30.  Working on chapter 10 today.

Wrote until mid-afternoon.  Sent chapters 9 and 10 to Chris.  We'll talk about them tomorrow.  The book is coming along.  Some interesting ideas.  

Day 98

Monday, April 22, 2013

Woke up at 4, played racquetball from 5-6, then went home and wrote all day, until about 7 or so.  I overdid it.  My head was throbbing in the evening.

I got chapter 9 in readable shape and will write chapter 10 tomorrow.  I plan to send the chapters off to Chris in the afternoon.

I want to reach 45k words by tomorrow night. 

Day 97

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Woke up at 7:15.  Will write and complete chores until 4:30 or so.  It's nice to have an extra day to finish what didn't get done last week.

4:00 - Done for the day.  Time to go to Alice's.  I'm writing chapters 9 and 10 now, will send to Chris on Tuesday, and continue from there.  50k words by the end of the week if not sooner, then organizing the whole book and put it all together.

Fun!

Day 96

Saturday, April 20, 2013

No writing today.

Visited Leo, Louanne and Kim in Fairfield today for their annual open house.  Alice stayed in San Francisco attending a college fair for Austin.

Day 95

Friday, April 19, 2013

So far, I've written 4,007 words and hope to write another 1,000 for 10k words in two days.  I'll revise the first couple thousand for Chris on Tuesday.  I'm determined to get a decent draft of this book finished by our cruise in June.

I also need to plot out my money situation for the rest of the year.  Now that I'm writing full time, I'm getting things done but can't live indefinitely on my savings.  Time to go out and sell, sell, sell once Zombie Cookies is finished.

Day 94

Thursday, April 18, 2013

I wrote 5,012 zombie words today, chapters 9-11 or so.  I just pounded them out throughout the day.  It felt good to be back on my own schedule. 

Had a meeting with Rod G. about the new E-Force season.  Our team will include around 30 individuals or so.  Good size. 

Later in the evening, I played poker at Mark G.'s house from 8:15-midnight.  Lost $4 and missed one opportunity to steal a pot, though I was in first position with two players behind me.  No guts, no glory.

Day 93

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

No writing today.

Flew back to Oakland in the morning and arrive at 1.  Settled back in and ready to hit the writing hard tomorrow. 

Day 92

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

I spent most of the day preparing and packaging  three boxes to be shipped to my apartment in Oakland.  Two boxes contain my K-12 and college papers.  I managed to squeeze them inside two 17x13x13 boxes.  I through out old magazine and some knickknacks that happened to survive several previous purges. 

The other box was a collection of Time Life books my Mom and Dad used to get in the mail back in the 70s.  I've always wanted them.  They should arrive next week, along with my college chemistry book and Beethoven's 6th and 7th Symphonies.

Mom and I had a great afternoon and evening together.  I'm sad that she and Craig can no longer afford to live in their wonderful Bellingham house.  I love that house so much. 

We watched an episode of The Amerikans before going to bed at 10.

Day 91

Monday, April 15, 2013

Tax Day.  I spent the morning with Chris.  Nicole left around 10:30 or so.  Mom took Craig to a doctor's appointment.  Chris and I picked up shipping boxes at Home Depot (I needed three to send my things to Oakland).  We stopped off at a fencing store, then had lunch downtown.  He gave me some good pointers on my zombie story.  After lunch, I picked up some banana bread and wine and headed off to Steve and Judy's in Sudden Valley. 

I stayed from 2-9.  The visit was extremely enjoyable.  Both Steve and Judy have had some really tough health issues these past few months.  Steve had several lymph nodes removed from the prostate cancer that had returned, and Judy had been taking radiation treatments for her leukemia.  They were both doing much better now.

Steve and I talked went through Grandma Hagan's photo albums.  She has about 15 of them from 1929-1975.  Combined, they create an amazing array of pictures from her life.  It's amazing to see pictures of her at 12.  It's another example of the relentless passage of time and how quickly things come to an end.  Steve talked about his days in Nelson in the large house.  Ruby had mentioned how similar my Mom and Dad are and why they could never find a proper balance when together.  I can see that, though I think Dad was ultimately much more problematic than Mom.

We had a wonderful chicken and rice dish for dinner that included more stories.  There is a different dynamic at play that exists in Judy and Steve's family but mine.  They and the triplets seem more balanced and less inclined to fly off the handle.  When I think of myself, Gwen and Jill, I can't help but think how extreme we are in our behavior and how we constantly need to monitor ourselves and bring down our emotions. 

Everyone in my family is getting older. 

It was a wonderful day with Judy and Steve. 
 

Day 90

Sunday, April 14, 2013

No Writing today.

Spent the afternoon with Mom, Craig, Chris and Nicole.  Had a wonderful day at mom's.  She and Craig are getting ready to sell their beautiful house.  After 15 years, they're planning to sell and move to Arizona.  No one's happy about it because they love Mom's house so much. 

I'm getting ready to pack the remaining boxes I have in Mom's storage room downstairs.  That will take most of the day. 

Mom and Craig are tired of living in Bellingham and tired of the horrible weather.  I can't say I blame them; however, the bad weather in Bellingham doesn't bother me anymore.

Day 89

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Woke up at 7:15.  I'll see Dad today in the afternoon and call Uncle Steve to see when we can get together. 

Day 88

Friday, April 12, 2013

Flying out to Bellingham this morning.  Wrote from 5:30-7.

Arrived in Bham at noon.  Mom was there to pick me up.  We headed home and had lunch.  During the day, we watched an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the film Hitchcock, and the first and second episode of Mad Men season six.

I have five boxes of stuff that I need to pack and mail to myself.  My K-12 papers and these:

I remember Dad getting these each month back in the 70s.  I had little desire to read them then, but now I'm ready to plow in.

I went to bed at 11:45.

Day 87

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Woke up at 5 at Alice's, showered at Club One, wrote from 6:45-8:45, dropped off demo racquets at Steve's, saw Louie at 10 for a haircut, then wrote from 10:30-5.  Still working on chapters 7 and 8.  Came up with some good ideas for future chapters and a third kid who's not eating the cookies.

 

Day 86

Wednesday, April 10 2013

Steve Basham and I played in the Club One finals last night.  We were both injured.  A muscle under my right shoulder was inflamed and Steve's wrist hurt.  I didn't like my chances at all, but managed to take the first game 15-10 and build a 5-0 lead in the second game.  Then I shut down and Steve picked up momentum.  He beat me 15-6 and 11-3 in the tie-breaker.  The next day, I was sore all over with a shoulder that is not happy with me.  My feet are all blistered.  I'm a wreck.  I'll be back to full-strength in a few weeks.  I'm taking time off.  It was a good season.  The final match was my only loss for the season.  There's always next year, though the new crop of players (Ed, Mike C., Alex, Roger) are ready to knock me, Steve and Tyrone down.  Tom may sign up next season as well, making the league one of the toughest around. 

Day 85

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

I woke up at 5:15 and practiced for an hour to test out my sore shoulder.  I play in the finals tonight and I can barely hold my racquet.  If it looks as though I don't stand a chance, I'll concede right away.  I hope I don't worsen my injury.  I'm fully capable of it. 

I came back around 7:30, had breakfast and wrote the rest of the day.  I'm writing chapters 7 and 8.  They're coming along.  I'm not a fan of first drafts.  I have over 30k words written, about 1/3 of which is readable.

Day 84

Monday, April 8, 2013

I wrote all day.  At 6:30, I went to Richard & Lisa's and joined them for a jazz concert at Yoshi's where Miles was performing with his Edna Brewer jazz ensemble.  It was very good. 

Day 83

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Alice had a vision.  After we visited the Legion of Honor last weekend and walked through all the galleries, she wanted to buy a display that housed all her trinkets and treasures from all the trips she'd taken.  So we set out early to buy a glass display case at Ikea.  I like Ikea.  There's so much creativity inside that big blue and yellow box.  We went to Berkeley Bowl first for breakfast.  We shared a waffle and omelet.  At 10, we entered the big blue box and looked around at all the cute display rooms.  When we reached Aisle 5 Bin 64 we discovered the glass display weighed 90 pounds and was so long it might not fit inside Alice's Rav 4.  We took a disposable tape measure and sure enough, the thing fit.  We hauled the package to the shipping lot and headed back to Sunset. 

We set it up downstairs and two hours later Alice's collectables were nicely displayed inside the case.  It's actually very nice. 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing.  I nursed my sore, sore shoulder from way too much racquetball.  My finals match is Tuesday and I'm not sure I'll be healed by then.  It's such a drag.  I play Steve and when I'm not 100% he has a tendency to destroy me. 

Day 82

Saturday, April 6, 2013

This morning, I'm playing racquetball at San Ramon.  They have a little in-house tournament that's lots of fun.  I really would rather rest today.  My body is sore from so much playing.  Everything happened this week.  The Club finals is Tuesday.  I'll be ready for it.

I'm thinking of chapters 7-13 in Zombies.  I'm speed writing those chapters. 

Day 81

Friday, April 5, 2013

I'm writing the initial draft to chapters 7-12 and outlining the missions for Jimmy and Kendra.  If I can create a simple lightness to the prose and make everything seemless, that would be ideal.  Nothing too complicated.  I'm constantly battling doubts of my ability and choices, but recognize that is part of who I am and don't really have time to second-guess myself.  If I can keep busy and stay on course, that's the imporant thing.

I have my semi-final league match today at 4.  Steve barely won his against Ed.  I'm not as well rested as I'd like to be, but I hope to give Mike a strong game.  He's fast and smart with some of his shots, though he does get frustrated with himself every  now and then.  We'll see what happens.

8:00 - Won my semi-final match against Mike Cota 15-12, 15-14.  I was down 2-11 in the second game and managed to come back.  I'm not sure how.  I was down 0-8.  I skipped four shots in the beginning.  It was ugly.  

Day 80

Thursday, April 4, 2013

This morning I cleaned the apartment and organized my thoughts for Zombie Cookies.  I have six chapters written.  It looks as though the book will be roughly 40+ chapters long, so I have a ways to go before this story is finished.

I spent a few minutes outlining the major storyline.  It involves Jimmy, Kendra and Switchblade (Herman).  As long as I make it fun, light, lively and entertaining I should be good.

This afternoon I'm heading to Stockton to play with the 209 for a few hours.  Mike Lippitt set it up.  It's always a treat to play with the world's best racquetball players.  They're amazing!

I'm trying not to stress out about how much I have to do, but I sure have some ambitious goals for the next few months.  As long as I get Zombie Cookies written, everything else will fall in place...I hope.

Drove to Stockton to play in a special sharks/minnows racquetball mixer with the pros at the 209.

These young pros will be the best players in the world one day.  Now they're anywhere from #3 in the world to #30.  All of them are amazingly fast and quick with incredible fundamentals.  Super nice guys, too.

There were about 25 players total in the afternoon.  I played with Steve Turner, Bobby Horn, Jose Rojas, and Brock.  Afterward we had a taco feast at Jose Diaz's house.  Really great time. 

Day 79

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

No writing today. 

Instead, I conducted three demos for E-Force and gave a violin lesson to Sophie.  My first demo was from 5-7, then noon-2, then 6-8 with little time for much else.  I played a lot of racquetball players I hadn't seen before so that was fun. 

I went to bed exhausted. 

Day 78

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

I worked like mad to get chapters 4-6 to Chris.  I sent them to him at 2 or so, then strung one of my racquets before my first Club One demo tonight. 

Demo went well.  Steve Young and Dale Millhollin were there. The crowd was a little light, but I got in some good games.  Steve and I got to play Dale and Robbie.  They smoked us, but we kind of held our own.  It's great to play with such terrific players. 

Day 77

Monday, April 1, 2013

Worked on chapters 4-6.  Trying to get them ready for Chris to read tomorrow.  They're coming along, but the process is slow slow slow.

Day 76

Sunday, March 31, 2013

We went to Kaiser at 7 for an MRI Alice had on her back.  We then went to patisserie on California Street for breakfast, a delicious pastry cafe.  We ordered four morning treats, all of them fantastic.

We then went home and I banged out a grant application from SCBWI.

Then we went to the Legion of Honor museum to see the exhibit of museum treasures from the Louvre.

It was a very enjoyable exhibit.

From there, we went home, relaxed and watched an old Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire film.

Day 75

Saturday, March 30, 2013

No writing today. 

Came over to Alice's before 9.  Heather and Chris came over to scout a scene they're shooting for their film.  It will take place in Alice's dining room.  Should be neat!

Went to the library for two hours while Alice and Austin attended an information meeting.  Read a book on the Hubble Telescope.  Wow!  What amazing images.

Day 74

Friday, March 29, 2013

Spent the day writing a synopsis for Martin Martinez.  I do not like writing them, but understand their value.  That took all day, so I wasn't able to work on Zombie.

In the evening, I played with Carlos at Mariner Square.  We're playing in the elite division for the Pro/Am.  We should hold our own in that division.

Went to bed exhausted around 11.

Day 73

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Wrote until 2:30, then got together with Jackie, a former co-worker at Wendel, from 2:30-5.  It was wonderful seeing her and catching up. 

Still working on chapters 4-6.  They're taking a little longer than I had planned. 

Day 72

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

I had my first ever 825 Erie St. tenant meeting with all the tenants to discuss safety issues after last week's burglary in front of our building.  We talked for two hours.  It was a productive meeting.  We put together a couple of safety items to discuss with Valorie.  More importantly, we created a sense of camaraderie within the building.  It was all very good.

Wrote earlier this morning, but wasn't too productive. 

Day 71

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Woke up at 4:45, hit the gym by 5:30, practiced for an hour before playing two games with Ruby.  Left the gym at 8 and started writing at 8:30.

I've been writing every since, with an hour for lunch.  I'm composing chapters 4-6, and though they're written they're very rough and lack polish.  I was hoping to send them to Chris tonight, but I'll wait another few days before sending them.

Tomorrow I'm meeting with tenants in my building to go over last week's robbery in front of our garage.  It's so maddening to have such a horrible thing happen in my neighborhood.

To be honest, I have no idea how people write books.

Day 70

Monday, March 25, 2013

Got up at 4:04, drove home, changed, went to the gym, came back at 7:30, ate breakfast, then wrote.  I wrote until 5, then off and on until 10.  I feel I didn't get much done, but the next three chapters are coming along.  I worked some on Kendra's character.  I don't have her down yet.

Day 69

Saturday, March 23, 2013

At Alice's today.  I may write for a few hours, but the focus will be on spending the day with my adorable sweetheart, walking through Golden Gate Park, playing a game of cribbage, enjoying each other's company and relaxing.

Day 68

Friday, March 22, 2013

I played my final league match against Steve this morning and managed to take him 15-10, 3-15, 11-3.  I feel lucky capturing the win.  He's been playing so well lately and has been schooling me on the court throughout the past month.  Today, however, he was a little off and made seveal unforced errors.  I made a few myself, but was serving well and putting the ball away, especially in the beginning of the match and in the tie-breaker.  I was down 1-3, then went on a roll and scored the next ten points.  I went undefeated for the season and have two matches in the playoffs.  I'll work hard to get that perfect record.

A robbery took place at our building last night.  Bonnie Tam parked her car in the garage and was met by a man with a gun who demanded her purse.  It's very disturbing.  We're all getting together for a meeting on Wednesday at my place to discuss our safety concerns.

As a result, my morning was shot.  I did no writing this morning.

Had lunch with Richard, which was fantastic as always.

I'll have to hit next week hard if I want to get this book finished in April.