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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Writing Wibbles

Well, not really writing wibbles this week, because there hasn’t been much writing so far. But with Water and Chaos now launched, maybe I can get back to it soon. Since mid-January, we (that is, the co-op) have released:
  • Accidental Sorcerers
  • The Crossover
  • Oddities: an Anthology
  • Pickups and Pestilence
  • Water and Chaos
Five books in six months is a hefty production schedule, no matter how you look at it. If you’ve missed any, hit the My eBooks page to see where they’re available.

So… since there’s no writing to discuss otherwise, and I haven’t shared much “weirder than fiction” that happens around FAR Manor lately, I’ll do something about the latter. I started sorting through a huge pile of photos from vacation last night, and deleted 80 (out of around 500). That’s a job nowhere near complete, so there’s no slideshow just yet. But it’s coming.

We returned home Saturday evening, in good order. I was driving the Miata I bought from Solar (my brother), and everyone else was in the van. (I was expecting to have to remind myself to not get too far ahead of them, but instead I was often wailing up the highway to keep up. Miatas aren’t geared for all-day freeway driving, kind of like my little motorcycle.) Of course, I got home, and The Boy had stuffed his Acura in the garage space I’d spent an entire weekend making ready for my car. To make matters worse, he was standing outside with his cousin Kobold, who was smoking in my Civic. I was more than a little peeved, and let them know, and told him to get his car out of there.

“Fine, let me take Kobold home first.” They jumped in the Civic, took off, and that was the last I saw of them until morning. Which did nothing to improve my mood, of course. (He’s using my Civic since his car has serious issues, which I will get to shortly.)

He showed up in time for breakfast, and I stayed on him about getting his car out. “We’ll have to push it,” he said, and repeated the litany of problems he’d told me about over the phone on vacation: burning oil, missing a lot, needed major work, etc. Of course, we’ll have to push it meant that he sat in the car and steered, while EJ and I pushed. We got it about 2/3 of the way, before a slight incline defeated us, and The Boy decided to fire it up for the last 30 feet. Indeed, smoke billowed out the tailpipe, and I heard it miss a couple times as he backed it into a pull-off spot.

With the car out of the way, I put the Miata in the garage then joined The Boy and EJ. The Boy already had the hood up on the Acura and was talking about all he had to do: tear the engine down, do a ring job, probably replace the entire ignition system…

“What’s that for?” I asked, pointing to a loose, thick cable coming through the firewall. “Your stereo system?”

“Yeah,” he said. “The fuseholder melted, so I just took it off.”

“Um… you might want to take the other end off the battery.” I lifted the other end, big around as my index finger, attached to the positive terminal.

“Why?”

I swear I didn’t plan this, but I let the cable go, and it bounced down and contacted the engine block, making a hefty pop sound. “Because it’s bouncing around while you’re driving, and it’s shorting out the battery, and that’s why your car is missing sometimes.” I laughed. “You really need to get that off of there.”

“Well, it’s still burning oil,” he grumbled, and went to get a wrench. The way he tossed the wrench on the garage floor afterwards, suggested he was more than a little peeved about this weapons-grade brainfart.

That’s the kind of stuff we deal with at FAR Manor.

7 comments:

  1. Wow, have you guys been busy! Congrats!

    And as for the car trouble, at least that one was an easy fix, right?

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  2. The book releases is amazing - well done - puts me to shame. :(

    The rest, well it sounds like you should have stayed on vacation ^_^

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  3. That sounds so very frustrating, especially since I spent too much of yesterday trying and failing to fix a car.

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  4. Bev, I have to admit, I'm almost a little burned out at this point. Vacation was very relaxing. On The Boy's car, the ignition isn't a problem, but the car has decided to imitate him and smokes a lot. He's talking about a ring job, and he might as well replace all the seals since the motor will be apart…

    Helen, most of the releases this year were written last year (or before). Things aligned to get them all out this year. And yes, I'd have preferred to stay on vacation. ;-)

    John, is that the friend's car that didn't start after he got you home? (I might have misremembered what you said on Twitter about it.) Good luck with it, and always check the easy stuff first.

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  5. Congratulations on all the publications! The numbers are really starting to add up nicely.

    I tend to be a strict utilitarian about cars, but a Miata... Miatas are very nice. You and The Boy sound like my brother talking one of his friends through a repair. (My brother maintained commercial jets, so yeah, he does his own car maintenance.)

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  6. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! ...wait, the fuseholder melted? Ha ha ha ha ha ha....

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  7. Katherine, I feel the same way about cars. With the same exception. :-) It is SO nice to have a car with working A/C again, too!

    Tim, The Boy tends to play his music rather loud. Or did, before he melted the fuse!

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