![\"E-septic-tank-hole-refill2-174\"](\"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/E-septic-tank-hole-refill2-174.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nand this:<\/p>\n
There are still bits of good writing news I can’t talk about yet, and thus am required to look carefully blank about when asked.\u00a0 But I can say that besides dealing with many other things yesterday, a Paksworld story sold to an anthology showed up with Editor’s marks and comments and would I please get it back to Editor by the 28th.\u00a0 It went back last night.\u00a0\u00a0 Editor did a good job of pointing out some things to fix, one of which I really wish hadn’t been necessary to fix, but…Editor had a point.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
That said, the story was mostly OK and I still like it a lot on re-reading it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It’s better with the changes Editor asked for (and two others I made on my own.)\u00a0 The new character created for this one intrigues me, and is already in two other stories that I haven’t finished yet.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, yesterday.\u00a0 Yesterday almost deserves a whole post on its own.\u00a0 It started with a power outage shortly before dawn and the slow recovery of enough stable power to make\u00a0 the computers, UPS, and DSL modem happy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The power outage began with the frantic beeping of the UPS to my husband’s computer,\u00a0 soon followed by sirens heading north out of town. \u00a0\u00a0 My interpretation–a wreck involving a power pole or (since construction guys arrive at the road construction site before dawn)\u00a0 someone stuck a backhoe into a buried cable.<\/p>\n
The whole town was blacked out.\u00a0 In about half an hour, the power started coming back on, feebly: lights were dim and the refrigerator’s compressor was very, very quiet.\u00a0 But it was OK to open the door and get the milk for cereal.\u00a0 When it got light enough in the house to knit next to a window (and the DSL modem was still down) I knit for awhile.\u00a0\u00a0 Then the lights brightened, the refrigerator hum picked up to normal,\u00a0 and I turned on the computer.\u00a0\u00a0 Husband took off for his weekly trip to the city to pick up our son,\u00a0 take him to a movie, and then bring him here for two nights and a day.<\/p>\n
I found the email from the editor about the story.\u00a0 OK.\u00a0 Pulled up the file, read through the Track Changes stuff, started working.\u00a0\u00a0 Doorbell rang…it was the septic tank service.\u00a0\u00a0 Luckily for all concerned,\u00a0 Mr. Flores had the BIG truck, with the 200 feet of hose, and the hose reached all the way from the street around to the back of the house where the septic tank is.\u00a0 He was delighted to see that my husband had cleared all around the tank, giving the pumping crew as easy access as possible.<\/p>\n
There will be another post about the plumbing, because there’s more archaeology and more useful bits for both period writers and readers, but the point is that for several hours my time was divided between being invited out to look at progress, answer questions, and ask advice related to the goings on, and trying to work on the story edits.\u00a0\u00a0 Then Mr. Flores regaled me with his family history, which is extraordinary (and part\u00a0 of it I knew from reading Texas history…but the history books don’t get it all right.)\u00a0 That will come out in the other post, later.\u00a0\u00a0 Interactions with people like that are invaluable research, not only because of what they say,\u00a0 but how they say it.\u00a0 Listening is one of the essential skills for writers.<\/p>\n
When the septic tank truck rolled away bearing unmentionables in its innards, I settled down to work, taking what was supposed to be a brief break to knit on some socks for a friend. \u00a0 (No, wait, the first thing I did was take pictures of the work done…THEN I called the cat in from her hiding place in the hay barn–she had fled from Mr. Flores and his helper–and then I started knitting.) \u00a0 My first “outside” pair of socks, and having to work without that handy gauge on the end of my leg, the actual foot going into the sock.\u00a0 J-‘s feet are much smaller than mine.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This was interrupted by the cat, who had hidden in the hay barn while strange people were in the yard, and had come back inside cautiously,\u00a0 deciding to go wild in the living room.\u00a0 I stopped knitting and removed the cat, closing various doors.<\/p>\n
And checked email.\u00a0 And found some that were business related and had to be answered.\u00a0\u00a0 Since I was there,\u00a0 I did all the small bits on the story but was still unsure how to tackle the big things.\u00a0\u00a0 Knit some more.\u00a0 Husband came home and we went out to look at the plumbing situation, now much better,\u00a0 of course.\u00a0 What struck both of us (had already struck us) was how big the piles of dirt were, and what the weather forecast was, and how much work we were going to have to do to get the dirt into the holes (dirt that had taken, in all, about 10 days of work to remove from the holes, not counting days with no digging in them).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That led to this:<\/p>\n