Seriously Obsessed

I hate to admit it, but I am seriously obsessed with keeping tabs on the Station Fire in LA. Partly because my husband is there at the moment, but he's smart and in charge of his Strike Team, so I wouldn't say this particular fire worries me. I think I just like to watch fire, or disasters, or both. Fire is primal, in our genes maybe. I hope I don't get someone knocking on my door for saying that. I don't mean I would ever start one. But if you show me pictures or I happen to be near a bonfire on the beach, I'm gonna look.

I've had the last two days off from work and my son is back in school (hooray!), so you'd think that would be prime writing time. Nope. Wrote a little bit but got time sucked by Twitter and live feeds from ABC, CBS and any other thing I could find. I need to work on my writing discipline. Should I write a certain number of words per day? Should I write for a certain amount of time? I haven't worked that out yet. I'm pretty sure that discipline would help though.

Staring at me this moment is a stack of English assignments to be completed in the next three weeks. I want to finish my degree, but I also want time to work on Margaret's Story. Wah. Big baby. I'll just make time. Stop watching the fire and write. It seems so simple! I'll just watch for the rest of the evening and then tomorrow, I'll write. I even try to go to bed and then get up to watch "just a little more."

Writing does that to me sometimes. I get up in the middle of the night with a great idea. Fire and writing. Good thing I'm married to a fireman.

Update 9/5/09

He has returned home safe and sound. Whew!

Peace,

Jo Taylor

A Few Crazy Days

A few crazy days have flown by, and none of them involved writing. Yikes! Back at it in the morning if I can keep from opening the news and Twitter for a few hours.

Twitter? Moi? Well, yes, moi.

Let me explain.

I've thought the idea of Twitter was interesting, but I couldn't imagine what it might be used for, usefully. I live in Central California and my husband is a firefighter. A Battalion Chief. He goes to wild land fires in the summer. Currently, he is at the Station Fire, a great big monster in the LA area.

We've been doing the "he goes to fires and I stay home and worry" thing for years. We've been doing it for so long that I remember times when he was gone for two weeks and I never heard from him. There were no cell phones! Can you imagine?

It seems like another life when I think back on those days. Now, not only do we have cell phones, but we can text and I can follow the larger scale of things via the Internet and especially - Twitter!

Yes, there is a bunch of blah, blah, blah and repetition, but after you get used to how it goes, you just start to filter out the bull and get to the good stuff. I don't think I'll be one of those people who use it a lot (unless I get published and someone actually cares what I'm doing), but I now have a firm grasp on its value. I get it. I'm rather pleased with myself.

On a serious and sad note, my condolences to the families and brothers/sisters of the two firefighters killed today in the Line of Duty on the Station Fire. Resquiescat in Pace.

Peace,

Jo Taylor