A New Way to Waste Time

Jane Yolen has been talking in her on-line journal about a game called
Bookworm, which she has been finding a little addicting. I was hoping for something a little more sophisticated, something that would be about books and not spelling. But spelling did keep my attention for an hour or so today. And here's a hint--you actually do have to link the letters. They have to be touching. You can't just go all over the board hitting letters in order and figure you've made a word. Come on! Don't try to tell me that no one else thought that was how you played the game.

A New Way to Make Good Use of Time

The day after Thanksgiving I thought I was going to have some time to do some reading and do some outlining/planning. Instead I ended up spending two hours putting plastic up on a relative's windows. I couldn't believe it.

The next day I went to the Laundromat with a book and a notebook and slam! bam! I sat down and ideas immediately started coming. We've been having water problems here for the last month so I've been at the Laundromat a lot. Looking back, I realize I've done a lot of good work there. One day I brought a rough draft, made all kinds of changes and wrote a new piece to go with it.

Needless to say, I love the Laundromat.

Someone is coming out next Monday to fix our water system. What will I do then? I'm thinking of just going down to the Laundromat and hanging a few times a week. They have a soda machine, and there's a Chinese takeout right next door. I could go down, do lunch, and get some work done.