A Spec in Time Series

This whole month has felt like a knife stabbing into my side. I have had a lot of downs and very few ups. I feel like a lot went bad or as I call it: sideways. I feel as if I have done nothing in the pages of this book. I also know that to be a false statement.

Like many things in my life this month, writing has been excruciatingly slow. A little accomplishment on one thing or another. Followed by days of disappearing down the rabbit holes of dread, anger, despair, and probably a few others just for fun. Finding the upside is nearly impossible in that stage of mental self-flagellation.

Slowly Buttercup, slowly. I keep trying to remember that. Things have been working themselves through the last few days. It is summer now. It is time for the weather inside and outside to start acting like it.

I have been working on what I call: The Refining of all things good; and The Trashing of all things bad. Starting at the top, and working my way, all the way, through. Kill me now. Making sure that the overall flow is correct and that my spastic brain didn’t put section 125 after section 852. That would be bad. It is a mistake I have made. I have been fleshing out ‘this’ paragraph and ‘that’ section. Finding that one perfect word that makes a sentence convey the meaning I know is behind it so that you will know its meaning as well.

I know that this process will happen again, and again. This is just the first of many tops to bottoms from this point on. I have now worked through a little more than a hundred manuscript pages. Only a coupo’tree more to go (if you understood that – Hi to you from WI or MN). The next few run-throughs will go quicker. This is the long and painful one.

As usual, I have been waging battles with my constant foe: the homophone. I will need to find better armament to use against it. I will succeed in my quest. I will beat the homophone into the ground so far that it will never come back to haunt me.

This month’s most annoying one:  Dyeing vs. Dying vs. Dieing. Yes, I wanted dieing to be the death one. WHY? We die. However, that was only partly the reason. The geek in me must admit it was also because I know that Dy (Dysprosium) is a rare earth metal #66 on the periodic table—the useless info in my head. Yes, I did have to look up the full name of Dy and check to make sure I remember its number correctly while writing this, so I am not that good. Anyways: obviously my brain said 66Dy = dying must be the one that is used in reference to cutting metal with tools… (Metal vs. Mettle vs. Medal vs. Meddle We will not even discuss these four bastards.)

Now for the big unveiling of my new armament! For those of you who are also homophonally-challenged (not a real word I guess, until now. I claim it!) allow me to introduce you to: https://www.homophone.com/  Yes, a website just for us. Die you homophone! I want to watch you while you are dying! Then I will dye my hair.

It is interesting how our brains work. The rabbit hole that I went down whilst looking for information on nuclear reaction for example. Those rods they use in reactors? Guess what’s the main isotope matter that comprises them… yep, Dy.

Rabbit holes are bad, and they are good. They can kill you, and they can set you free. We don’t always know which rabbit hole we are jumping into, or, for that matter, are being pushed into. However, it is inevitable that at some point in life, you will find yourself face-to-face with the Mad Hatter. But there is tea.

SB: ‘For that matter’ is an idiom. Matter is substance. If you are mad, you could get madder, but it is poor usage, even the hatter didn’t get madder, try furious instead. Madder is an herb: Rubia tinctorum speciosum; known for creating a red-purple dye from its root.