I was exhausted Thursday morning after working pretty hard Wednesday. My conference session began at 7 and went to 8:30. It was really interesting and kind of fun. We applied the famous Pixar pitch to projects we’re working on, shared them in small breakout groups, and then had a large group discussion.
Around 10:00 I knew I needed a break, so I took a couple of hours before getting back to work. I’m working on a couple of stories and made decent progress on one.
One of my coworkers is leaving the foundation after 22 years. She’s one of the defining personalities of the company, so losing her is major. We had a Thursday sendoff via Zoom, and it was lovely and several people cried. I was sad, but what really made me want to cry was that twenty people were in the office, most of them attending via Zoom from their desks, but I shuddered to think of all those people in that space. Come on, people. We shouldn’t be less cautious than we were in March; we should be at least as cautious. The numbers aren’t going down and people keep dying.
I met with the NaNo Skype group and banged out 2021 words, pleased about getting myself back on track and pleased with a few places my story took me. I’m writing a cozy mystery set in a Honolulu public high school. The main character is a forty-something woman math teacher, and it’s been fun writing about teacher stuff within the framework of this mystery. I realized Thursday evening that I hadn’t done much to develop the supporting characters, and any lover of cozies knows the supporting characters are the reasons to come back for a second book. You absolutely need likeable supporting characters. Even some hard-boiled mystery series, like Sue Grafton’s, rely on supporting characters for series continuity and reader loyalty.
Breakfast was a couple of hot dogs with sauerkraut, ketchup, and mustard. This time on Chicago-style hot dog buns, coated with poppy seeds. Yeah, Safeway’s hot dog bun game is pretty strong. For a late lunch, I cooked a ribeye a few days past its sell-by date.
Thursday was Suzanne’s birthday, and I always associate her day with tacos. When we worked together, she brought in a bunch of Taco Bell tacos for the office on her birthday. So I wished her a happy day and told her I was having tacos to honor her. Hit the drive-through before my NaNo session. I didn’t really enjoy that meal either. I usually love Taco Bell but once in a while I get a little disgusted with myself midway through.
I pressed on, though. For Suzanne.
Ali and I traded a few texts about our coworker leaving. I sent her a few photos I took of the Zoom party. Crush Girl and I talked about what we did during the holiday. That was about it.
Hit me up in comments if you want someone to connect with. Pandemic’s not nearly done and nobody should go through this alone. Dang it.