Robots in the Garden

The car accident was possibly the crappiest way to return to work after a break. I feel sorry for the wife because she loved her Fiat Doblo; for all of its lack of aesthetics, it is a great holiday car and so practical.

It was on a 54 plate, which means that we'll be lucky to get much for it, which will mean that we'll be very lucky indeed to get a replacement car of the same standard. You see, I'd stake a month's salary that it'll be written off. There is a certain unfairness about insurance. We've had that car for 6 years; it has been serviced regularly and has sailed through its MOTs. Yes, it could be like driving a horse drawn cart at times, but it looked set for a good 5 more years and that was the plan. Plans, as we all know, have to change...

The wife is okay - thanks to all who asked. She's pissed off with the man who drove the car and his idiocy (his name and address are available to anyone who wants to exact revenge for me) and sad for the loss of her car. I'm just happy she wasn't injured badly, other than a touch of whiplash.

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Is it me or has the 'mayor' of New Delhi got the most unfortunate name in them world? Sheila Dikshit is the lady responsible for liaising with the Commonwealth's leading sports leaders and dignitaries. I'm going to be wondering how news readers tackle this one. Diks-hit, perhaps?

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A couple of months ago, I mentioned I was toying with a new story and the hero would be a builder. With October and November around the corner - oddly my most productive creative writing months - I'm still working on it; but maybe not as intensively as I have. It's hard work and my brother-in-law would be proud; he reckons writing isn't easy and things don't write themselves, not unless their rubbish. I passed the 15,000 word mark last night; another milestone of sorts and while I'm not completely happy with it; it's building and developing in ways that previous efforts haven't.

I'm writing it differently; instead of ploughing through it and growing disillusioned when it comes to the rereading and editing; I'm doing am lot of editing as I go along. I'm sort of sketching the skeleton and then adding the flesh afterwards. Going back to it, changing sentences, chopping paragraphs, making sure it has continuity and working from a framework plan - something I never do. I have chart which shows how I see the story panning out from start to conclusion - with all the branches of subplots sprouting from it. It's under constant revision, but that's good. I think the story is now a better one than when it started.

I actually think talking about projects is normally the kiss of death for them. Most of the stories I've finished have been done in almost complete secrecy. But, I'm not going to tell you what it's about; so that should be okay.

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That's all I got, for now...