So, today, I sat down to work on my new information from the latest research trip, and/or to get a little work done on Emmett’s book, and never got around to it. I tried, people. Several times.

I’m not talking about procrastination being the problem; for a change, it was, truly, life getting in the way. The stars were absolutely not in alignment for any kind of writing.

Every single time I sat down to go over the notes, or do something related to the manuscript, I had to drop it and intervene in a kid disagreement.

Or, fix something that ‘broke’ unexpectedly.

Or, stop an overflowing toilet. Twice.

Or, …insert any minor crisis here. It happened today, all day.

Come 7 pm, all the kids are fed and in pajamas, and winding down. The house is quiet. A perfect time to carve out a little time in the Writing Cave.

And then…. my neighbor who is out of town calls me on my cell phone, and at the same time, I see this happening across the street:

Seven fire engines from four jurisdictions. All for a smoking humidifier. The kid in the hat in the center is my youngest, in his PJs and toy fire helmet.

Thankfully, it was a minor problem: A smoking humidifier. The alarm company called it in to the fire department as a house fire. I’m the first on my neighbor’s emergency call list, so we let the firefighters in — yada, yada — it was all over with in about 20 minutes. Seven fire engines came to the scene, unfurling hoses, connecting to fireplugs… trucks from four jurisdictions, including one from the Naval Hospital (kinda cool to see a firetruck with “U.S. Navy” on the side). No damage. But with all those trucks just for that small event — well, that’s going to be expensive.

I hope to carve out a few minutes tomorrow to continue the update on the Pensacola-Chipley-Marianna trip, and to fill you in on the writing progress.

My kids have been advised that they will be more cooperative and less destructive tomorrow.

Let’s hope the stars are cooperative for writing, too.

Categories: Interesting & Odd

jsmith532

Professor,
Communication, Arts, and the Humanities
The University of Maryland Global Campus