Time Out

You may have noticed that I've been a bit laggardly about this blog posting in recent days. It isn't because I wouldn't like to be here.

It's just . . . there's this book I need to write.

It's coming along. Slow but sure. At least so far. And I'm hoping it will speed up a bit, but keep on with the "sure" part.

The dialogue chapter helped. It focused my mind on where they were going in the scene and prevented me from overloading it with narrative backstory. And now it has all the requisite parts and isn't just talking heads anymore (So stop worrying, Michelle).

And the next chapter is finished, and I'm considering a prologue, but I'll see if I really need one. It might work in better as a flashback. Or not. We shall see.

In the rare moments when I am not writing the book or ripping up what I've just written and writing something else, I have watched two television shows.

For me, this is astonishing. For years - literally from before I was married until after our youngest son grew up and went away to Wyoming -- we did not have a television in the house. When the kids were all gone, we figured, what the heck, why not? And so we have one.

But both of us tend to forget to watch it. Well, I watch the Packers, and I watch the World Cup, and occasionally I get engrossed enough in baseball to watch, though I am a Dodgers fan and there hasn't been much to watch as far as they go in recent years.

My husband occasionally gets waylaid by The History Channel. And when I was visiting my son and family I got entranced by Dirty Jobs and The Deadliest Catch. But regular series TV, no, not really.

But this year, I've found two shows I like. First is Pushing Daisies. I probably would have given it a miss because I'd have thought it was weird, but I just finished watching Wonderfalls on DVD, and I loved that.

And when I found out Daisies is by Bryan Fuller and, even better, that Lee Pace stars in it, I knew I had to give it a shot.

It's every bit as quirky as Wonderfalls. Quirkier, really. And the writing is delightful -- the characters are 'characters.' And it's a brilliant change of pace from regular TV fare.

Besides, I like watching Lee Pace. I'm waiting for him to grow up enough to envision him as a paperback hero (he's definitely on the radar. Has been since Wonderfalls. And some of his other stuff is brilliant as well).

It's the fact that he's two months younger than my youngest son that is giving me pause for thought. Still I expect I'll hang in there. Time is on his side.

The other show I'm watching is Life. That one I started to watch because of Damian Lewis, who is also on the radar and has been for several years. Missed him in Band of Brothers, though I may yet catch it on DVD.

But I loved him in Much Ado About Nothing in the BBC's Shakespeare Retold. And I thought he was brilliant in Friends and Crocodiles. I am trying to bring myself to watch Keane, which I'm sure is equally brilliant -- if depressing. It's the depressing part that I'm having trouble convincing myself about.

It's a little weird trying to think of him as an LAPD officer, but he does the accent well, and I love the character he plays. Charlie Crews is marching to his own drummer. I like that.

So my Wednesday nights are pretty much sewn up by Pushing Daisies and Life, with a dog walk in between. It's a good thing I got a lot of work done yesterday. But it does focus the mind, knowing I want my Wednesday evenings free.

Speaking of heroes and such . . . be sure to come back tomorrow.