State of Things- surgery and dog days of summer

Well, I thought I'd check in. It's been kind of  a crazy summer and things haven't played out the way I planned exactly. Isn't that just how life works though? Some days I think about Murphy's Law and life's little twists and feel, well, about like this:

Piss on Murphy's Law. That's a French red cross dog taking a leak on a German helmet. Okay, it's crass, but it does encapsulate the feeling. It also ties in the post to my latest release. See how I did that? Hey, it's early.

I do like the postcard. I'm thinking of picking up the one that keeps circulating on ebay and pasting it to my computer for days like this, for weeks like this.

Anyway. My summer was supposed to go something like this: Finish Forgotten (Kingdoms Gone book Three) write Seen, (sequel to Shrouded) write a novella (just for fun) edit Forgotten, research Dogs book two (Demon Dogs, coming soon) and maybe write another novella if I can squeeze it in before school starts.

Ha.

My summer actually looked like this: Finish Forgotten (because I do work sometimes) Start Seen (37 thousand words and counting) get unbelievably crazy and volunteer to help the scouts at the fair, go through three months of a kid with a mysterious illness that nobody can figure out (turns out, acid reflux.) during many doctor's visits with lil grub, discover a big lump in my throat (again) more doctor's visits, tests, ultra sounds, biopsies and discover we probably need surgery. Surgery (next week) NO DAMN WRITING TIME.

It's a good sign, (in my mind) that I calculate my time screw-ups in units of lost writing time. We should make up a theorem for it. LW (lost words) = PW(potential words) minus the square root of chaos and unexpected stress. I'm not sure what the graphic would look like, but I'd wear the T-shirt.

However, this summer's calculations add up to one thing. I am behind on my words. :( And that makes for one stressed, twitchy author. It makes for last minute recalculations and new plans too. I can still get four novels done this year. I just have to scramble, and school is starting soon.

I probably won't get to the novellas, though. Not unless I give up sleep.

Maybe just one novella.
:)
Write on, Macduff!
~Frances