I Wish Life Were More Exciting

It's been about a month since I last launched into whatever I thought was interesting and newsworthy at the moment. When I decided I should probably add something to this blog I found that I lead a pretty boring life 99% of the time. However, maybe that's true and I'm happy with that. I have a steady, decent paying job, a few people I call good friends, a nice older home (almost as old as I am), and a wonderful partner I am proud to also call my best friend. So there you have my life in a nutshell and it just progresses on one day at a time in a predictable way with very few surprises. I really can't ask for more than that. Of course there are times when we all wish we could do something different and unique to set our lives away from the masses who are just like us, but those are mostly pipe dreams.

I can look forward to retirement in four or five years and look toward that with a great deal of ambivalence. I'm not sure what I would do with myself if I never had to get up every morning and only had a day filled with cooking and cleaning awaiting me. I hate housework and am tired of cooking. There is always my writing, but I can't do that twelve hours a day without developing carpal tunnel syndrome or something else related to the continuous use of the computer. Financially speaking, the loss of two-thirds of my monthly income is a little scary since, like many baby boomers, I've never heard of somethings called a savings plan. Last week I discovered that I am more dead than alive if I never quit working and drop dead at my desk. If I croak quietly at home, however, I am worth only the cost of my own burial. That seems like pitifully little after a lifetime of working. So I am making the prediction that I will simply be found sprawled across my desk on the job one day, leaving my partner and our children rolling in the dough. I wish them well and a long and prosperous life, but I also feel confidant they will fail to save as well.

Well, that seems a tad morbid, but it is ridiculous to ignore the eventual outcome of all our lives. In the meantime I will just continue to write and basically entertain myself until the bitter end.

And speaking of writing, I have been working rather off and on on the edits for my next manuscript. I almost never argue with my editors and figure I am just a storyteller and they make what I have to say read a little better. Sometimes the edits are embarrassing and at other times they are funny. I should have seen the errors I made, but was just too wrapped up in finishing the damn thing.

When I first began being published I had already written three complete manuscripts and simply had to submit them one at a time. Then bing, bang, boom they were all out and I had to come up with new stuff. I never have a shortage of ideas for stories, but sometimes it's a little hard to get them to a satisfying ending. Fortunately I managed to do that this year and have two new stories coming out in 2009. I have nearly twenty other manuscripts started and am only having a problem with one of them. It's a sequel to a previously written novel, but for some reason I simply cannot pull it together. Maybe I'm afraid it won't be a good as the first one. I'm not sure. I know the characters extremely well. After all, I lived with them rummaging around in m brain for a couple of years. So why can't I move them forward into another story? I'm sure I will eventually figure it all out and need to get started soon before the readers forget who the heck they are.

I think Random Ramblings is an excellent title for this blog because my thoughts are all over the place tonight. My partner is working this weekend and I should have two days of peace and quiet to finish my editing chores so I can move on. Sounds like a viable plan to me and I only hope I can pull it off. I have to rewrite another chapter and then I should be about done. I hope readers will enjoy this story. It's a romance, something I don't personally care for very much, but I had a hell of a good time writing this one and it's my first "official" romance. It's all part of my overall plan to eventually write something decent in every genre. So far I have managed two mysteries, a general drama, and a romance. At least I have a long-term goal and might actually live long enough to complete it. The only loftier aspiration I could have would be to win an award in each genre, but that seems to fall into the "yeah right" category of wishful thinking.

Since we older folks need our rest, I think I'll bring this to an end for now, I always promise to write more often, but seriously doubt anyone is reading this other than myself. It's actually a pretty okay way to empty ones mind of random thoughts. So I'm going to toddle off to sleep for a while and hope everyone out there is enjoying as wonderful a life as I am.