So, I just finished writing this massive post about how I totally thought I’d deleted a huge chunk of my novel (No, I haven’t forgotten I’m supposed to be writing a novel. I mean, I’ve TRIED to forget, but it WILL keep popping into my head when I least expect it), and had therefore freaked out ever so slightly before starting again from scratch, and how, really, that was the best thing that could’ve possibly happened, because at least I meant I didn’t have to feel obligated to keep writing that crappy novel any more, and could start a whole new, better one…

… and then I found the missing document containing The Novel.

I had re-named it “Hi”, and saved it in my “Accounts” folder.  You know, as you do.

GOD, I really miss Florida.

And now I have to get back to the, er, two sepparate versions of the exact same story I’m currently working on.  Gah.

1. Worked on my novel. Remember my novel? Huh. Me neither, apparently.

Wordcount when I started working on my novel this week: 13,175 words

Wordcount as of rightthisveryminute: 11,752. (Although some of those don’t actually count because they say things like “Chapter One” and “Chapter 2″ and stuff. )

So. Obviously something went way the hell wrong there. I mean, I realise I’m no expert, but, you know, pretty sure the wordcount isn’t supposed to go down with each new writing session. The problem is… well, it’s me. I’m very… edit-y. And I know! I know editing-as-you-go is EXACTLY the thing They tell you not to do. I know that! I’ve read the same “How to Write a Novel” books They have.  But I just can’t help myself. If I’m not happy with something at the start of the book, I can’t write any more until I’ve gone back and fixed it (trust me, I’ve tried. Can’t.). So that’s what I did, which is why I ended up a couple of thousand words down. I thought up some more words while I was in the shower this morning, though, so I will add them in soon and I will have even MORE words. Some of which I may even like!

2. Worried a lot about my upcoming flight to Florida

Yes. Two weeks today, people. And I thought I was OK with it this time. I mean, OK, I’d woken up in a cold sweat a couple of times thinking, “OMG, I’m not going to Florida AT ALL, am I? I’m going to my fiery, or perhaps watery, death!” but I was mostly OK with it. “Planes are very safe,” I told myself. “They hardly ever crash!” And then this happened. And since then, it’s been pretty much all I can think about: we’re talking nightmares, freak-outs, the lot. I know it’s irrational, so no one needs to give me the whole “It’s the safest form of travel!” thing (Seriously, I don’t think I know ANY scaredy fliers who are actually ever comforted by that statistic anyway. Especially not right after a major air disaster.)  but knowing it’s an irrational fear doesn’t make it any easier to stop myself worrying about it, so, yeah, fun times! Especially for Terry and my parents.

(Also: there is almost always an air disaster right before I’m due to fly. Almost always. I’m starting to think I’m some kind of Harbinger of Doom to the air travel industry…)

3. Tried to do yoga

You know what’s really boring? Yoga. Seriously.

4. Cleaned the house.

My house was really clean while the internet was down. Now? Not so much.

5. Hit the “refresh” button on my browser repeatedly while muttering “Is it back yet? How about now? NOW? I wonder if it’s back yet?” It wasn’t much fun, but hey, it passed the time.

6.  Half-heartedly weeded the garden.

Like, really half-heartedly. In the sense of “I was wearing a skirt and nice shoes at the time, and I didn’t want to get them dirty”.  Note to self: buy house with no garden. Or with live-in-gardener. Stupid garden.

7. Went to St. Andrews.

It looked like this:

Rubin also got a haircut that day. He looks like this now:

Then, in the evening, the internet would come back up, and I’d have to try to cram a full days work into a few short hours.  Which was just as much fun as it sounds, really.

And that was my week of No Internet.  Luckily for us, it seems be working again, and thank God for that, I say: I don’t think my novel would have survived another couple of days!