author: Nicole J. LeBoeuf

The lack of manuscript stats associated with this entry doesn't mean a lack of writing. It means everything's in first stages of first drafts, so that it feels a little premature to enter them into the manuscript database. But though I haven't yet managed to make the 2 hour BIC routine a constant, I have...

• Woken up, grabbed my laptop, and wrote a short Western/ghost story to share with my writing class (no title as yet)
• Revised said story on the bus to said writing class--chose to take the bus, in fact, for the sake of being able to write while in transit
• Sat at Page Two in Gunbarrel after picking up the tax returns (I am too much of a coward to do them myself) and wrote a Lovecraft-ish short-short (working title: "Ties That Bind") concerning why that man on the 208 might have that tic which requires him to list every member of his very Scottish extended family
• Upon being unable to sleep thanks to a badly timed Waste-O-Scotch Hot Toddy (2 oz. Glenmorangie, sherry finish; 6 oz. steaming hot water, 1 tbl honey), grabbed the laptop and wrote for a solid hour in bed on the other trunk novel, the one I haven't touched since 2001
• Upon waking up this morning, returning to the trunk novel for another 3 hours straight, ceasing only when I'd run out of plot

Clearly the writing life benefits from A) public transportation, and B) lying around in bed. Hurrah for laptops! They go everywhere!

Even when the results aren't publishable yet or in fact ever, there's something magical about actually acting like a writer, dammit, y'know, by writing. It makes me a lot less of a grouch. All that pent up dissatisfaction just goes away, or doesn't have the chance to accumulate itself in the Pending queue in the first place. That's my theory, anyway: When I'm being a total grouch, it's really me I'm mad at. When I write, I'm a lot less mad at me.

This, of course, does not address the portion of my grouchiness due to being unable to sleep. And then when I finally got to sleep, being woken up by various household environment factors. That grouchiness has nothing to do with not writing and is entirely justified.

In other news, one of my best friends has been attempting to detach herself from the tentacular crappiness that is the Cricket wireless company. Apparently they have a tendency to keep billing you after you tell them to cancel your account. Then they bill you for reinstating your account long enough to cancel it for real. And then they bill you for the bill.

If you or anyone you know is stuck in this particular hell, here is the number you want: 858-882-9999

It's long distance, but unlike the toll-free customer service line, it gets you on the phone with a real person. This is obviously something Cricket doesn't want you to do, and I thoroughly expect them to change this number as soon as they realize that actually customers know it and are using it. "Argh! The customers are penetrating the bureaucracy!" Yes.