Its Friday!  Yea, the weekend is upon us.  I am not sure why I am so excited about the weekend.  It must years of conditioning from working a Monday through Friday job, since now I can work whenever the mood strikes me, and yet there is something about the anticipation that starts when you wake up on Friday morning knowing that its the last day of the work week and at the end of the day you have two days of unfettered time.  Everyone around you seems more relaxed, more easy going than earlier in the week.  There is a bit more socializing, maybe a bit more lingering over lunch before heading back to your desk.  I am talking mainly about the office environment since that was the environment I worked in before I decided to work out of my home office.

I often get asked if I miss my previous job and I have to admit, on occasion I do.  Like today, as my husband headed out the door, I felt a bit of a tinge that I was not going with him, that I was in fact going to spend my day in my basement office, alone, typing away on the keyboard with only our dog for company, following whatever whim strikes my fancy.  Hmmm, now that I think about it I am pretty happy with this arrangement.  Three cheers for working at home, in the peace and quiet with only my own agenda to follow.  I might just go shopping this afternoon, after I meet my writing goals for the day that is. ;)

Just because its Friday and I have found it fun to write stories with exactly 100 words, called a drabble, I am including one in this post.

*

     "What's that?"
     "Humph?"
     "That noise. Don't you hear it?"
     Silence filled the bedroom as they lay still in the dark, ears straining, and eyes closed, listening for the smallest unfamiliar sound.  They heard a soft swoosh, swoosh, seeming to come from the hallway outside their closed door.  For a moment longer he listened before easing back the covers and silently standing up.  He picked up a book from the nightstand, raising it, preparing to use it, and moved across the room.  With a sudden jerk, he opened the door and there, tail sweeping across the floor, sat the family dog.

*

Have a happy Friday and a great weekend!

Success!  I added a short story as a post, figured out how to add the label gadget so my story posts can be found under a label tab on the home page.  Yeah!

Right now my big puppy is resting his head on my arm and looking soulfully up at me.  I think its time to take him outside.

In The Woods

There is a war going on in the woods… a war of survival… a war of dominance… a war to control limited resources.

There is only so much ground space to go around, only so much open air to allow the needed sunlight to reach the receptors.  Everyone stretches out exploratory units, competing for the best position.

“Sergeant.  How is production?  Are we getting enough UV?”

“The numbers are looking good overall, sir.  Nitrogen is registering slightly below normal.”

“Hmmm…  Send word to base command that we are seeing a drop in nitrogen and ask them to verify.”

“Yes, sir.”

Everyone turns back to their monitors while the commander continues making his way through the production control room gathering reports from various stations.  One of many control rooms located in this section, it is the one furthest from the roots and more susceptible to delivery fluctuations.

Outside the control room are scouts returning from the very ends of the new growth.  One of them, a young, newly formed recruit enters the room and snaps to attention in front of the commander.

“Reporting from sector 12AC.”

The Commander studies the young recruit standing there for a moment before responding.

“Sector 12AC, you say?”  The Commander asks as he checks the map on the wall.

“Yes, sir.”

“What is the situation out there?”

“We have stabilized our position along one of the opposing forces upper limbs and new growth is unfurling in the sunlight.  We expect to be providing UV and CO2 anytime now.”

“Any sign of resistance?”

“Not at this time, sir.”

“Very good.  Get yourself some nourishment before heading back to your unit.”

“Yes, sir.”  The young recruit says, saluting the commander before turning to leave.  The recruit’s unit has been struggling for days to extend their reach, to gain ground in the battle for survival and a short break from the action is welcomed.

Wild grape vines have reached the top of the invading plant and unfurling broad leaves they drape over the upper branches covering the thorny shrub in an effort to win the competition for sunlight, to soak up the energy needed to produce purple clusters of fruit and to restrict the growth of their mortal enemy, Buckthorn.

This should prove to be interesting.  I am not overly comfortable with the electronic world, but if I am going to pursue a career in writing then it makes sense in this day and age to get on-line and put my stuff out there.  After all isn't that the point, to have people read what I write?  What better way to do that then create a blog?  Where anyone with a computer can see it!  Yep, this should definitely be interesting.

You see, I am also not an extrovert.  I spent most of my adult life working in engineering with, well, other introverts.  I was comfortable there, IT support was available for those like me that understood mechanical devices with an innate sense, but easily got lost when it came to the workings of untouchable electrons and computer programs.  But that was before the downturn in the economy and my decision to return to something I enjoyed at a younger age, making up stories.  Now, I am branching out, navigating through various social networking sites, figuring out how to self publish an ebook, and now creating a blog.

There is a certain satisfaction in accomplishing each goal, both in developing computer skills and in honing my writing skills, I have set for myself.  I have found that my work days are full and interesting and not nearly as stressful as they used to be.  Although that might change as my husband has started making noises about, cough, cough, generating an income.  What?  The artistic value alone isn't enough?  I do have to admit he is my number one fan and very supportive, so I will make the effort to step outside my comfort zone and share my work with a wider reading audience than the couple of dozen friends and family members I currently share my writing with.