A short break from the road

[aadler]

 
[ Written 04 April, posted today — I’ll backdate later ]

Yesterday morning, my driving trainer and I returned to our terminal following a day-long run to a corner of Iowa and back. (He was in his sleeper bunk, I was driving; I’m now officially capable enough that we can operate as a team.) I fueled the reefer, dropped it in the designated lot, did an “end-of-day” (work day) vehicle inspection, then sacked out myself in the truck’s upper bunk at 6 AM.

When I woke at 2:00 in the afternoon, it was to the news that we had no load for today, so my trainer had kicked off our 34-hour restart. See, truckers are legally restricted regarding the number of hours they can drive 1) per day, and 2) accumulated over the course of an eight-day period. With 34 hours of continuous off-duty/sleep time, however, we can start our tally over at zero. We were both close, and he’d planned to do it after one more run, but since we had no run it made sense to get started a day early.

So: a full day to myself.

I changed to t-shirt and running shorts and jogged around the parking lot, followed by push-ups and sit-ups. (My Reserve unit is having an APFT toward the end of this month, and I don’t want to be totally unprepared.) I got caught up on some online reading. (Smartphone only; still no available wireless connection for my laptop.) I tucked my dirty clothes into a backpack and carried them down the road to a laundromat for cleaning: I travel with three changes of clothes, plus extra socks and underwear, altogether good for about a week, but we were toward the end of that. I did some shopping for small supplies at the Walmart around the corner.

Oh: and I finished my Hunger Games fic, starting at the laundromat and finishing in the terminal break room. I’d told sroni I could complete it in an uninterrupted hour; it actually took me almost two, and then I keyed it into my laptop. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post it … but, since I likewise can’t post this entry until an opportune wireless hook-up, if any LJ person is reading this it means the story will likewise be up for inspection.

(And so it is, right HERE.)

Yes, I know, the Hunger Games is SO last-year’s-fanfic-news. I’ve always written to suit myself, though, and I didn’t get this idea till recently. So I wrote it when the time came, and now it’s done.

On New Year’s Day, I set myself to accomplish the previous year’s failed resolution: a dozen stories written in 2013, averaging out to one per month. Clearly, I’m lagging in that regard, but things have been a bit hectic recently. Maybe now I can begin — begin, since I still have weeks of training to go yet — to get back into a productive routine.

sroni is trying to complete her two remaining segments of “Reversible Error”, and there’s a new segment (substitute, actually) that I need to do since it was my idea. Once done, that will make two stories, Remix Redux (and possibly Remix Madness, if I have the time to spare) will get me close to caught up on schedule, and I’ve been increasingly looking forward to getting started on “Zulu Time”. My real goal — not on competition with the one-fic-per-month average, but I’ll put it ahead if they come into conflict — is to FINALLY write and post “Smoke and Mirrors”. Which I’ve been planning, in one form or another for somewhere between six and ten years, so it’s about damn time.

Yeah, that’s me. My military retirement is approaching, I’ve started a new career, both my kids are supposed to get married next year (to foreign nationals), and what am I focusing on? Fanfic writing.

We’re a unique breed, no question.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear from you! Sounds like the new career is on track. And any writing is good writing, so I am pleased to hear you're doing some, even if it's in a fandom I don't know.


Gabrielle

[aadler]

I really am overflowing with ideas, it’s just a matter of finding the time to get some of them on paper. I’m hoping that I’ll have a bit more time to spare — or can manufacture it — when I’m out on my own truck. Meanwhile, I’ve been passing a few ideas over to sroni, the ones I’m not sure would suit me anyhow.