I thought I'd be writing today about how I finally have some (well deserved, if I do say so myself, which apparently I am the only one saying so because they took away my time off again. Jerks.) time off because I really was supposed to, but according to Management, I am too indispensable (even with all the attitude) and they can't afford to not have me around this year. True story. (Sadly. But funny how they never seem to remember saying these things at review time.)
I knew I made a mistake not becoming independently wealthy.
Anyway, despite the fact that I've had only one day off since Thanksgiving—and haven't even left on time since...well, since October, probably—the holiday customers coming into The Store have been pretty good, almost pleasant, even. The one exception (you knew there had to be one) was the customer who apparently was too damn lazy to walk to the public restroom a few stores down so decided to just use the fitting room instead.
Thanks, buddy. I truly hope there's a big lump of something in your stocking this Christmas.
So I don't really have any good customer stories for you. But here is my favorite exchange from the weekend:
Co-worker: You write books? Are you famous?
Me: Yeah. I'm incredibly famous. That's why I work here.
So the extended and continued scheduling means that my attempt to get back on track with...well, life outside of The Store has been once again curbed, and this blog has taken the biggest hit of late. I missed December's IWSG post and a pair of Blog Blitzs, not to mention every post all of you have put out there, but this is the first time I've even turned on the computer since before Thanksgiving. And I'm sorry for that. Please just know that it wasn't anything personal. I'll do better in January.
Probably.
Anyway, not that you asked or anything, but here's what else (non-store related) has been going on with me (and some of this stuff has already been on Facebook and/or Twitter, so I apologize if it isn't news to you):
—I won NaNoWriMo. And I did it with three days to spare. I'm still not entirely sure how that happened, but it did, so I am now the proud owner of this following badge:
I ended up with 50,399 words, which means that Second Nature's word count is currently sitting at 195,725 words. And it still isn't finished. This makes me panic a little—but only a little. I wrote a scene that made me cry while writing it, and became concerned that my characters were going to kill me in my sleep because this story has taken a seriously dark turn—and this is coming from me who doesn't exactly write happy stories to begin with, you know? And the mysterious nameless Mercenary Guy took a very interesting and unexpected turn. I'm going to have to devote an entire post to him a little later on (It was scheduled for Wednesday, but The Store ruined that. Maybe next week?) because it was so interesting. At least I think so. It's possible you won't agree. But anyway, I won NaNoWriMo.
—And I just realized that I don't really have anything else to write here. Between my day job and my NaNo-ing, I wasn't doing much else. (My poor family.) How pathetic is that? Anyway, thank you for stopping by today. I always appreciate you taking the time, and I'll try to do better the next time (which, not that you asked this either, will probably be Friday, unless they take that day off away too.).
Happy writing, all.