What? Over Already? (6, 81, 88 Done)

One week's vacation really goes by too quickly. I didn't get quite everything done I wanted to. In fact, once we got home, I pretty much lazed around and did, well, nothing but writing and reading. But I've still got a LOT to talk about, so strap yourselves in, this one's going to be a long one!

Last Sunday, we piled into my mom's car and headed down to Linville Caverns. We didn't quite know what it was going to be like, but it was an adventure. Both Hubby and Mom have been in caves much bigger and more impressive, but this was my first. When we got there, the line outside was remarkably similar to those at Disney World, long, curvy, and slow. There were a few people with children and others with small dogs. After who knows how long waiting, we finally got to join up with a tour guide and head inside. Holy claustrophobia Batman! Tight corners, small spaces, my mom and Hubby kept having to stop me as I was standing up from getting pictures before I hit my head on a stalactite. But did I ever get pictures. We walked under the fault line, watched blind cave fish, and turned off the lights. I got some awesome shots and great research for a cave I want to put in my trilogy (and finished goal #6).

When we were all done, we came out just missing a big rain storm, or so we thought. We decided to try and go to the Linville Falls (and me hoping to get the Hike in the woods goal), but it started to rain as we got there. That rain turned into a downpour, so we just headed home. We'll go see the falls next time. The area seems really cute and we'd definitely like to see more of it.

Monday we shopped a little and went down to Charlotte to visit his family. That was a nice, quiet visit. We didn't do much traveling other than taking two whole boxes full of books to that bookstore selling to raise money for the library. We had a ton of books we were going to sell at a garage sale, but they got donated instead, finishing up both #81 and #88. I left a note in a book for aspiring young writers basically saying live your dreams and don't let time get in the way. May be for the child in the future, may be for the parent now. As long as it does something, I'll be happy.

Let's see, I've also added all the books I bought for my Kindle to my "read" list, including A Dance with Dragons. When's the next one coming? I also read Pyramids when visiting my in-laws, which SHOULD mean I've read every Discworld novel. Only a few more months until Snuff. As of now, thought, I'm at 34 out of 50 books read. I can't believe I'm so close to done with this one. 16 more books and I'm all done!

What else? Ah, right! My mom-in-law had an article published about her in the local paper (yay P!!) After I read that article, I scanned the others and noticed one about a doctor and his son who donated their hair to charity. However, as opposed to the common Locks of Love, they donated to one run by Pantene. This one only requires 8 inches of hair versus LoL's 10 inches. I'm currently at 9 inches and dying for a cut. Thank you, P. This weekend, my hair's getting the chop (hopefully)!

Writing is... well, going. It's not amazing right now, I realized yesterday that I've invented this whole new world for this series, but I haven't developed it at all. I need to know how the economy works, how large the land masses in the area are, local politics, religions... and I'm stuck on it. I also desperately need a subplot, and I've got one nibbling at me, but I can't pinpoint anything until I know ALL of the above. I'm already a few days behind simply from starting late, but I'm worried about falling more behind trying to figure all this out. I just know that this book's going to need a huge rewrite when I'm done because of my lack of planning. Ah well. I'll take it as a lesson learned and try to keep going as I plot and plan. Even if that means I'm going to end up deleting a ton of filler later. Wish me luck for the rest of the way there.