No le gusta caminar; no puede montar a caballo

[rolanni]

And today ends the 19-day write-a-thon.

Of those 19 days, I took three days “off,” by which I mean I didn’t write down any words for Ghost Ship.  On July 27, I had 45,380 words in manuscript, today at the end of my brain I have 73,441, for a net gain of 28,061.  Only 21,342 were Brand New Words; the other 6,719 were words previously written, excised, and retrofitted into the new manuscript.  So, that averages 1,334 words, or a little over five pages, a day.

I’d feel a little better if those were finished words/pages, but this one’s going to need a lot of editing.

All that said, I have, I think, five more scenes to write; I know what they are and their basic shape, and! the day-job is still on the two-day-a-week schedule until August 30, so I still have nine more full days available to me before the perfessers realize that Admin actually is going to make them teach in the fall and all hell breaks loose.

It’s gonna be tight, but I think I can meet the extended deadline.

It’s also gonna be a little rough on the perfessers because Secretary Brain is a far different beast than Writer Brain, and I can’t afford to turn Writer Brain off right now.  Hopefully, all faculty will be enjoying their last weeks of freedom at the pool, or in the archives, or wherever it is that they’re happiest, and won’t be on the hall.

In other news — Does Starbucks really insist that you speak Starbucks Speak  in their cafes or risk not getting served and having the police called on you?  I don’t do Starbucks much, but I’m thinking it’s time to start calling a Small a Small.

And! A group of guy perfessers discover that leaving your devices behind and just living in the moment may be good for your brain.

I hope everyone has a pleasant evening.

Progress on Ghost Ship

73,441 words/100,000 OR 73.44% completed

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

starbucks

[(Anonymous)]

If she came into my store often I'd probably 86 her at the least. She sounds like an officious pedantic twit... I order large at SB with no problem at all. She is one of those! people. Guarantee it.

Other thoughts, yay for Ghost Ship, don't let those professors (especially any like her) trip you up. Much good will coming your way.

Nanette

[gentlescholar.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

[conuly]

In other news — Does Starbucks really insist that you speak Starbucks Speak in their cafes or risk not getting served and having the police called on you? I don’t do Starbucks much, but I’m thinking it’s time to start calling a Small a Small.

That's not what happened. It sounds more like she ordered a bagel, and when they asked if she wanted anything on it she refused to say "no thanks" like a normal person and instead insisted on throwing a tantrum like a toddler. And eventually they did kick her out, because she was being a nuisance, neither ordering her food nor leaving.

[elbales]

Yeah, pretty much. Seriously, is it that hard to specify "no butter or cheese," or even "dry" if you're that bloody bent on being difficult? Dude, whole grain bagel lady, if you're not going to be polite about it, shut up and get out of line, because I want my caffeine... would be my attitude. I'm cranky when I'm hungry.


(ETA: I should add that I, too, sometimes forget Starbucks' rather silly size labels and just say "small" or "medium," and I've never had a problem.)


Anyway, I'm glad to hear that writing on Ghost Ship continues apace. Tally ho!

[shana.livejournal.com]

I have no problem ordering a small, medium or large drink at Starbucks. In fact, I make a point of doing so when there's an obvious newbie making the drinks.

[kay-gmd.livejournal.com]

To use her example when you go to Burger King ans they ask "Do you want fries with that?" you say "yes" or "no", not "I want a burger". I can get my language peeves on with the rest of them, but I don't think that's the problem.

I;m thrilled that ghost ship is moving along. Let me know if you need help throwing perfessers into the pool.

[conuly]

Yes, that exactly!

And for the record, if you go to Burger King and you want a burger without, say, mayo - you tell them! Yes, when you go to Burger King you have to say "I want a burger without this or that" if that's your desire. Otherwise they don't know.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Yup, if I ordered a bagel or (English) muffin[1] I'd expect that the default would be with at least butter, and offering options like cheese is perfectly reasonable. When I order a pizza I generally order "the small one", sometimes "normal" (contrasted with "large", "extra large", "bloody ridiculous", etc.), they are normally inteligent enough to work out what I mean (and if they give the sizes in inches I'll say that).

Yes, if you go into a shop and order it is reasonable to be expected to use their terminology. Ikea (a Swedish chain of hardware stores popular in Britain) is (in)famous for having strange names for their items, you either point and say "one of those" or use their names, and although you may snigger privately you don't make a fuss in the store. If I went into Borgia King and ordered a "Quarter Pounder with Cheese" and made a fuss about using that name they'd have every right to get annoyed. (And if I were working there and someone insisted on "just a burger" they'd get it with no bread roll and probably raw.)

[1] I don't do linguistic quibbles about having to say "English muffin" in shops in England, either, I just accept that the default for 'muffin' has become the American cake thing, even though I think that it's a mule (http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/muffin/muffin.htm)...

[sleary.livejournal.com]

Sympathy on the profs, and much love for "In These Shoes?"

[elbales]

Myee hee! I love your icon.

[mardott.livejournal.com]

My stars, where does the time go? And that was your vacation.

All good luck to you in the next couple of weeks, with both perfessers and books. If the perfessers have any questions, have 'em call me. I will make it quite clear that the rest of the world needs their Ghost Ship.

Ay Dios Mio!

[claire774.livejournal.com]

Whee! I haven't laughed like that since yesterday when watching The Daily Show. Professor is the Aunt Kareen of New York City, my home town. Sent the article around my friends. I was 86'ed (as they say. A military term I believe but used a lot by big drinkers to refer to the time they were tossed out of a bar as in: "I've been 86'ed out of better places than this!!")Yes, I was 86'ed out of a local restaurant for asking if there was any cheese in the Italian salad dressing. I don't have linguistic fits. I have allergic fits. The boss' idiot son,the cook, objected strenuously to my question.

Don't let them professers give you a hard time. Greetings to Writer Brain. Keep it up. Illegitimi Non Carborundum.

[isabellag.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the educating morons... and how lovely that you're getting some inspiration from the extremely talented, late, lamented, Kirsty MacColl.

[saruby.livejournal.com]

I go to my local Starbucks nearly every day and can't imagine any of the workers having a problem with someone just ordering a small medium or large. They may ask if someone wants whipped cream or not or if you want room for cream/milk in your coffee. And they might ask if you want butter or cheese on a bagel, but they wouldn't insist if you said you just wanted a bagel. However, the story is a bit confusing on the point of whether she repeated that she just wanted the bagel to the worker or if she yelled that she wanted her bagel right away. I might get upset at someone yelling at me if I was trying to help them. She seemed a bit over the top and the situation seemed a bit contrived.