Late Musings & Thoughts for Sunday, July 9, 2023, or: My Sunday Was Not Necessarily ‘Funday’ (But it Wasn’t Necessarily a Bad Day, Either)

My Sunday Wasn’t Exactly a “Fun Day”

Sunday Afternoon, July 9, 2023. Lithia, Florida

It’s now late afternoon on this hellishly torrid summer day. Outside, it is mostly sunny – a line of rain showers did make their way to the Tampa Bay area, but I don’t think they had much of an impact with the high temperatures and stickiness. Even now, just after 5:30 PM, it’s still 91°F/33°C under sunny conditions, and the heat index (or, as I often think of it, the misery index) is 101°F/38°C.

Although I’m a native Floridian – I was born on the Atlantic coast of the state and lived there for most of my life – and used to the Sunshine State’s climate, I’ve never loved hot weather. I tolerate it better than I do cold weather, which is one of the reasons (other than financial ones) why I’ve never thought about moving up North. (Now that Florida has become a deep red state, politically speaking, I regret not being able to migrate to New York despite my aversion to colder climates. If by chance any of my books ever become bestsellers, I would at least give moving out of Florida some serious consideration.)

Days when the heat index is 101°F/38°C keep me cloistered indoors. I can go out if I want. it’s not like there’s an edict that says I can’t go out; I just dread going out there when the heat is so intense you can feel it seeping into your shoes through the soles when you walk on the hot sidewalk that’s been baking all day under the brutal Florida sun. I’ve never tested the whole “it’s so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk” thing (I’d hate to waste an egg that way), but that’s how high the temperature feels out there.

Also, I have bad memories of the last summer – eight years ago – that I spent in Miami before, during, and especially after my mother died after a series of health crises that included a bout of skin cancer, “watermelon stomach,” and the double-whammy of an operation to repair her spine and the onset of dementia that followed.

During the spring and summer of 2015, we either had issues with Florida Power & Light (several outages, including one that lasted almost an entire day) or the balky air conditioner in our townhouse. While Mom was still alive (she died on July 19), this was especially difficult because she had lost her mobility two years before and was confined to a hospital-style bed in what had once been our guest room. On those occasions when the AC had hiccups – it was later discovered that the people who installed it had botched the job – or FP&L had ‘main powerline” problems, keeping Mom cool and comfortable was…difficult.

I hate the word “triggered,” but that’s what happens when it’s so hot that even if I’m safe, sound, and comfortable in this house (and I have zero complaints about that), I can’t venture out to get some exercise and fresh air. I not only berate myself for not being as heat tolerant as I used to be, but I also experience vivid flashbacks to those days when we had to open all the windows on the first floor and turn on the large oscillating fan we’d put in Mom’s sickroom to keep her comfortable.

On Writing & Storytelling

On the “good news” side of things, I did some revisions to Reunion: Coda. Earlier today. I went over some notes from my Beta Reader – a far more experienced writer-poet than me and a friend that I’ve known for years cos we both wrote for the now defunct Epinions website – in a Google Drive document I created for the “edit and revise” phase.  

She didn’t have too many issues with the stuff I posted recently on Drive – I only copy-paste stuff on that document every so often, and in manageable chunks rather than the entire manuscript. As I’ve explained in previous posts about the need for a second (and impartial) set of eyes when I’m writing fiction meant to be published, my friend helps me find potentially problematic sections of the story (whether it’s sloppy/lazy writing, plot holes, or run of the mill typos and grammar issues that spell checkers and Grammarly miss.

Sometimes, my Beta Reader will leave quite a few comments that range from simple questions about characters, places, or situations, to helpful suggestions on how to possibly fix one or more issues with the manuscript. Constructive Criticism, Dear Reader, is the best way to describe what my friend provides. That, and badly needed moral support.

Today, my friend didn’t find too many “problem areas” that needed a lot of work to fix. On the contrary, at the end of the section I posted on Drive, she left this comment:

After this first read-through, I don’t have a whole lot to say, It’s lovely and sweet. I was just reading it for pleasure. I generally don’t read romance novels. This is romantic, but it’s not the stereotypical “romance.”

My friend did make one editorial suggestion to add a specific detail to make a certain scene work better. (I won’t spoil it by revealing which scene I am referring to; suffice it to say that I took the suggestion to heart and made the addition without hesitation.)

Summing it All Up

Although part of me wishes I could have taken the day off from writing – I am tired and should get some rest – I’m glad that (a) Reunion: A Story is about as “fixed” as I can make it, and (b) that today, as difficult as it is to work on Reunion: Coda on a weekend, I was able to write, and write well. I’m happy and relieved that what I produced today seems to work well and doesn’t need any “tinkering.”

I don’t have anything else to add, Dear Reader, so I’ll say goodbye here. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.