Today, my son had a hike-a-thon dealie for soccer. Even though it occurred to me to conveniently forget, in fact, I got up at 6:15 am on a Sunday in order to get him down to Muir Woods to hike for soccer. So, I was not a slug this morning. Now, the problem is that I am navigationally challenged and worse, the Hike-a-thon flyer said Meet at the Safeway next to Bank of The West. But the directions, which I didn't really look at until this morning in the car, were for getting to Muir Woods. I duly followed the directions and we ended up at Muir Woods at 8:00 am. No Safeway sighted. Since we were there, my son and I decided to hike on our own. If you ever come to California, go to Muir Woods. It's old growth redwoods, the coastal rainforest that has been decimated in this State and others. And indeed, it was "raining" on us, condensation from the heavy fog off the bay. We hiked for 4.5 hours (and many of the trails are not for sissies). It was gorgeous. We saw a banana slug. Ew. Except not really. We saw a deer, too.

The directions did not include return directions, so I got lost on the way back, which should surprise no one who knows me. We drove around Mill Valley until I found the signs for the freeway. Mill Valley has only two main streets, I think, so this turned out to be a fruitful strategy after not too long. Luckily, the situation was not new for my son, so when I told him to please be quiet until such time as we were not hopelessly lost he did that. Something he was often unable to do on the hike. Not that we were lost hiking. Honest. Just when I was getting nervous about actually finding the freeway, despite the sign back there, I recognized a street. Yes! I had been lost there before! I got on the freeway, my son fell asleep and I had some blessed silence.

After we got home, I was tired and decided to read for a bit only I fell asleep, rather sluggishly. Then I had to make dinner. I didn't make cookies or cupcakes, both of which I was supposed to do, never mind why. My son and I ate both the containers of strawberries I got at the store. They were delicious. But now there's none for tomorrow. Then I went to read some more. Ultimately, it was not a keeper book, even though it was a page turner. I did not like the hero at all. He was a black ops guy, well done, detailed, but somehow, the book left me emotionally flat. At times, I actively disliked the hero. The writing was not tight enough for my tastes. I am of the opinion that "Pretend dialogue here," he ran off at the mouth. is simply wrong. It drives me insane when writers do that. It's telling, not showing, and to me it's an indication of sloppy thinking. Yeah, yeah, lots of writers do that, but I think it's cheap.

Anyway, you've noticed by now, there's no mention of writing. True. I did none today. But as I was "fixing" a chapter yesterday, I ran into trouble. The chapter is, at the very least, in the wrong place. It's probably in the wrong POV, too. I found myself writing around it, that is, trying to shore it up so it would work with the least elimination of stuff I like. Past (and very bitter) experience, has convinced me that this leads to boring crap. So, last night I stopped working on the chapter to give myself some time to think about the problems with the chapter. At random times today, my brain would switch over to analyzing the issue, and I've decided to do what that little voice was whispering for me to do when the chapter began to go awry. Set the chapter aside and start over. Which I will do. Tomorrow. I'm tired and going to bed. Sluggishly.