StarCrawler: Blog

After consulting with my advisors, I have decided that Rob and Elaina deserve another book. Honestly, I have too many ideas and too much that could happen to fit in one book, unless I just wrote a massive book. And I won't do that.

That means that Book 1 is complete. It will be forty-eight chapters long at the finish, and it should take eighteen days to post.

Forgive me. It's a cliffhanger.

But not to worry, I've started on Book 2 and it's going to be called (fanfare, please) "Redeeming Halloween." It will take up right where AHR ends. Only seconds will have passed, so there will be nothing to catch up on. At least, that's the way I have it planned. That may change.

I might have to take a day or three off from posting when AHR is all posted. By then, I should have a buffer built up for a rainy day and can start posting RH.

Thank you so much for reading. Your comments have all been appreciated.

Shout out to Uncle Draggi and Lubrican for their support.

I had a reader question the spelling of "sweeting." So, here it is, from every dictionary I could lay my hands on:

Sweeting: archaic
meaning: darling; sweetheart
First known use was in the 13th century.

And there you have it. I think I read it in a Jane Austin novel, but it's been a while and I really don't feel like checking.

Thank you for reading.

It's been over a week since my Adventures in the Basement. The heating system works so much better, now that it's up to pressure. I can't even hear it when the heat kicks on. The only noises now are the initial whooosh of the burner igniting and the roar of the flame, and even that is more subdued. I changed the nozzle and oil filter while I had everything down. Best its run in years.

I had given my sturdy little truck new shoes for the winter, and she was much happier. I no longer had the rumble of the tires on pavement like before. Getting tires that had rubber between the road and the steel belts must have helped.

I had been noticing that she seemed a bit sluggish lately. Yesterday the check engine light came on. Stopping at a local Auto Zone, I had the engine code read out and found she had coughed up an ignition coil. Poor baby. A hundred dollars later I had a shiny black brick with four round towers on top and a big square hole on the side. Ten minutes with a torx driver, and nearly stripping one screw, she was purring for me once again.

What this means for all of you is that now my Saturday is free. With both my home and my truck purring happily, and my cat trying to sit on the keyboard, also purring, I will be spending the day editing the coming chapters and writing new ones. And anticipating the coming snow storm. Two feet on the ground and more coming. <sigh>

Thank you all for reading and your kind comments. Your encouragement, written and unwritten, inspire me to continue writing.

I had thought I knew what a muse was, but mine has been instructing me lately. I had believed that a certain young woman I know was my muse. She convinced me to start writing again when I'd given up, and encouraged me when I slumped.

But that's not what she really is. She is my inspiration. My muse is something else.

I found I need inspiration in order to hear my muse. Once I can hear her, it's a whole 'nother ball game.

I've been a member of SOL for seven years now, and I'm just getting brave enough to post. And it's been a hoot! But I find now that my muse isn't just helping me write, sometimes she makes me write.

There have been three scenes (so far) that I wrote out in advance of the rest of the story. I know they will be a part of the story, I just don't know where. Well, that's not true. One of them has found a home in an unposted chapter, but the others are waiting for me to make a place for them. And my muse made me write them, making me stop in the middle of a chapter to get them down.

She drives me, sometimes letting me think I'm at the wheel, but sometimes...

The whole writing process is fascinating. I wrote down an idea, then I outlined out where that idea would lead, and then I fleshed out the journey. And it has an end, but for some reason, that end keeps hiding over the horizon. Just when I get a glimpse, one of my characters pops up and does something to keep it going.

My reward is that you read it. And then come back for more.

Thank you.

After answering a blog comment, it occurred to me that my experiences might save someone else some grief, so here is the answer I gave:

DIY has saved a lot of money, but I feel my ignorance is causing some of my pain. Thank God for the friendly neighborhood plumbing supplier. I now know so much more about how the heating system works. Some of my assumptions were so far off base, it's amazing I didn't wreck the boiler.

I thought the circulating pump provided the pressure. Wrong, the pressure reduction valve does that. The pump simply makes the water move around, not up. It's the pressure in the boiler that fills the system.

Pressure in the boiler can safely go to 20 psi, with the relief valve letting go at 30 psi. Mine let go at 8. :/

It takes less than five minutes to fill the system with the valve wide open, not two days. :O

You bleed baseboard radiators by purging them with a garden hose. Do NOT try it without the hose. Hot water sprays out like a fire hose, and when the air pocket hits, the water mists. Trust me on this.

And the iron barrel in the floor joists above the boiler is supposed to have some water in it. :}

Thanks for reading.