I’m currently sitting in the midst of overflowing suitcases, bags of books, stacks of books that won’t fit into bags, and a few pairs of shoes with no home. Ugh.

The last day of summer school is today, and my original plan was to drive to my parents’ house near San Francisco early Thursday morning.  Trouble is, I started getting antsy Tuesday afternoon, eager pack up my truck, hit the road, and feel the wind in my hair.  Once I get that notion into my brain, well, there’s really no way to hold myself back.

So here I am, doing a terrible rush job at packing.  I really only have one rule at the moment: grab everything, put it in some form of container (suitcase, paperbag, etc.), and rope it into the back of the truck with bungie cord.  I only have 3 bungie cords, so I’ll have to get creative — it’ll be like one of those terrible logic tests.  We’ll see how this goes down.

Needless to say, this will be a short update.  I had all sorts of interesting archival tidbits to share (including mugshots I found of lady pickpockets who preyed upon wealthy men in San Francisco during the 1880s!), but I’ll save those for Sunday.

-oOo-

Blogging: Looks like Mondays around here will be dedicated to a post on world-building and inspirations.  I’m focusing on the elements of the world I’m creating for Path to the Peacock Throne, my fantasy WIP.  My post on costuming went up the other day, and I’m proud of it for all the pretty pictures.  Architecture, I think, will be next Monday’s topic, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Writing: I finally gave 750words a try, and wow.  The researcher in me was seduced by all the stats that were automatically generated: not only a graph showing my word count, but colorful pie charts that demonstrate the overall mood of the scene (mine: DEATH) and countless other things.  I kinda want to steal whatever algorithm thingie that they use to figure out all of this stuff, because it would make the data analysis for my thesis (a textual analysis of 1920s etiquette books) so much easier.

I’ve been working on tell me no lies since Sunday night, and wow!  I went from zero words to roughly 4900 words since then, so I’ve definitely exceeded my nightly writing goals.  I’ve got some loud characters on my hands, and a steampunk world that is coming together.  It takes place in the late 19th century, where San Francisco’s harbors are now home to airships.  Robots are utilized by the police in their investigations, and two female-owned, Moulin Rouge-esque saloons dominate the nightlife on the Barbary Coat (the Belladonna and the Palace Grande).  There are loose women and wealthy bohemian playboys, opium and booze, and a cynical chanteuse torn between a strait-laced detective and a rakish air pirate.  I actually just found out about this love triangle last night — always nice discovering something new about your plot, isn’t it?

Thesis: Met with my advisor on Sunday and she had nothing but complimentary things to say about the first chapter of my analysis section.  There are weak points, of course, but overall she tells me that I’m on the right track.  The best thing that she had to say: “I am just having so much fun reading this!”  Squeeee.

I’ve only got one more substantive chapter to write, and I actually think I’ll be done with the first draft by the end of summer break.  As this coincides with the end of Round 3, I will make this a goal.

-oOo-

Unless I fail at getting the rest of my things together, I’ll be on the road by 5 pm and back at my parents’ by 10 pm.  I downloaded Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander audiobook to keep me entertained, and with a little caffeine to get me going, I should be grand.  Comments will be sparse from me till the weekend, when I’ve recovered from the travel lag, but know that I am offering warm fuzzies and happy thoughts to all!