Grasshoppers and Master Characters

Is it really Friday?  I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I went most of today thinking it's Thursday. Not sure how that happened. The day got off to a weird start anyway. I sat down at my desk with my first cup of coffee, and when I looked up over my computer monitor, there was a moving shadow behind the curtain. A buggy shadow. I thought for sure it was a wasp.  

I'm terrified of wasps, so I slowly left my office for the can of wasp spray I keep on top of the fridge for paranoid emergencies such as this. I came back into the office, used the end of a pencil to pull back the edge of the curtain and the wasp leaped to top of the curtain, and began rubbing it's back legs together. Yeah. Okay. That's when I realized it was a grasshopper, not a wasp. 

I had no qualms about letting a grasshopper hang out with me, so I put the wasp spray back on top of the fridge and sat down with my coffee. Two seconds later, the grasshopper dive-bombed me. I assure you, harmless insect or not, this was not funny. I honestly think he was aiming for my coffee cup. It's a miracle I didn't end up wearing my coffee instead of drinking it.

Even so, I hoped the grasshopper might be a good omen, so I did a quick search to see if that might be the case. As it turns out, he is!  I'm certainly not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. ;o)

I kicked off the actual writing of the erotic horror story today, and worked on that til lunch time. Right as I was making lunch my godfather arrived. He'd come over to visit, and since we had nothing better to do, I took him out to see the fig tree. He's all about that kind of stuff. He picked a bunch of figs to take home, and we chatted for a while. Mini came outside and ended up chasing Petunia and Oldest Kippy cat around.

Not long after godfather left, my dad called. We chatted for a long time on the phone. Just fun stuff. A good conversation all around. I'm gonna drive over there and pay a visit this to the parentals tomorrow. I planned to do that anyway, but now it's kind of a must, since Sassie Lassie chewed a hole in my favorite maple leaf quilt. I discovered the hole this morning while making the bed and nearly had a conniption fit. I'm going to see if my dear ol' mommy can patch the quilt for me. I can spare several layers of dog hide and fur if need be.

Once everything settled down after godfather, then dad, and eventually lunch, I sat down to do a bit of research online and realized the internet was down. Le sigh. I gave up trying to work, and took a few writer craft books to the couch to read instead.

I read several sections from 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, and found the section on secondary characters very interesting. I can't wait to try some of the techniques in that section alone. I've been focusing a lot of characterization and emotion in fiction lately, rather than plot. Basically, I'm starting over with the learning process, just from a different level. I guess it's true what the experts say: we never stop learning.

Now that I'm back online, I better get my researching done since I never know when the internet fairy is gonna start messing with my net connection again. Usually she waits until the last possible moment, but I think she's been kinda bored lately. I better not press my luck.That said, I hope you have a relaxing weekend.