Thursdays are my Kryptonite! (Plus a mystery!)

Two Thursdays in a row and my output drops to almost nothing. I got a late start because I was up past my bedtime the night before. I finished off the chapter I’d started Wednesday evening, but then got no further. We had some ambiguity about the timing for today’s recordings at Draco Vista Studio—there was a chance we would actually not record at all. As a result I didn’t launch into any new writing.

Because of weird time demands (and having to leave for the studio early) I spent my time doing errands, paying bills, and other clerical stuff. I have actually started to put some of my bills on automatic pay, which cuts down check-writing time. It also means bills will get paid on time rather than when I decide to pay them. I think the banks will appreciate that. 🙂

I also got my stuff prepared for going to Tuscon over the weekend.

What is the mystery, you ask? Not a story, alas, but a real life situation.

When I returned from the studio, I found an unused HP printer waiting for me on my walkway. The box had been opened and then resealed with masking tape. It had also been stored somewhere for a while allowing the tape and the box to get dusty. The only label on it showed it was transshipped from California to an Apple Store in Minnesota. I don’t know who left it, as there were no calls, texts, emails or IMs to let me know who dropped it off. Very odd.

Now, the printer could be a great start for a mystery. Many printers have onboard memory: they’re something of a thumb-drive. It would have to be modified to keep the memory energized, I think, and then someone would have to print out the message. That might be a bit much for a casual thing. Probably better is the idea that it has a chip reader component to it and someone has slipped a chip in there with a clue, just waiting for someone to find it.

There was another real-life mystery seed that I ran into several months back. I got a note from a local investment house. Looked like an invitation card with the firm name on it. Inside it had a business card and a hand-written note reading, “It was so nice meeting you. I look forward to seeing you again and helping you with your retirement plans.” The woman who had included her card had signed the note.

Now, I’d never met the woman. I don’t know how she got my address. And it was easy to toss it, but imagine I wasn’t single, and I had a very jealous spouse. Imagine that spouse (or a jealous suitor) finding the note with the card in the trash, asking, getting told “I dunno…” and imagining there is some evasion there. The woman gets whacked and the cops don’t have a strong link or motive to work with. Or the spouse turns the card over to a detective, and he finds something unsavory going on with the spouse that doesn’t involve the person sending the card. It would be anything, and a great place to start.

Okay, more work tomorrow, then driving down south.

November Word Count: Hard: 43497 Soft: 9986