Wednesday's Writings

Inside my head is a lot of useless knowledge. Maybe, a tenth of it comes in handy when writing my books, but probably not. The main character in my current work in progress is a farmer in 1866. I'm wondering if it would have been possible that his neighbors and he got together and put money in to a reaper or threshing machine. He and his neighbors could have shared it, especially if there was a lot of grain. So, because I had a few minutes while eating my breakfast of buttered toast and coffee, I went a-googling.

There were articles on eHow with directions on how to thresh and winnow some home grown wheat, which I thought was interesting. Maybe, someday that can be a science project? Hmm. Anyway, I happened upon a blog that I thought I'd share, in case your mind is strange and works like mine. Here's the link
http://doyle-scienceteach.blogspot.com/2009/03/separating-wheat-from-chaff.html
It's interesting from both the literal definition of separating wheat from chaff and from the biblical point of view. I guess that since my family doesn't usually plant and harvest wheat, I just didn't know how hard it was, or what it meant. Now I do. :)

I know that in my writing I don't need to know all about a threshing machine, but I wanted to know what my character's new wife might think of it. What might she see if she paused at the kitchen window to wipe the sweat from her brow? What might she hear? What particular job might her husband have in the whole process? Neither Google, eHow nor YouTube gave me those answers, of course. lol Guess I'll have to fake it until I find the answers.

Coming up with conversation the women in the kitchen might have, now that's easy. They will talk about their husbands. :D It will be hot in the kitchen, and it will smell heavenly. I'd like to be there, in fact. Let's step in for a minute, and see what's going on.

Ok, we're flies on the wall, and we hope those ladies don't see us, because this could get interesting. There are two ladies standing over there by the cookstove, and man is it hopping with heat and boiling pots. Smells like coffee, potatoes, gravy, and are those green beans from this summer's garden? MMM! Oh, my, what is that white-haired lady rolling out on the table over there? Looks like pie crust to me. Oh! Oh, and are those apple slices in that bowl? Apple pie, yes that's it! And, there are two other women cutting corn from the cob. Will they can it today, do you think? All around us is conversation and laughter. Every now and then, a mother scolds a child for putting his or her fingers in a forbidden bowl, and there's one of the mother's from over at the stove, comforting a tot with a burned finger. Wait! Someone is opening the oven. They are pulling out a pan with...fresh bread! Oh, see how golden brown and yummy it looks? Ah, I hope we get to eat some of that. Yeah, I know we're flies, but we can sample it so fast, those women won't have time to swat us away.

On the other side of this big room is the living space with a couple of rocking chairs, a cot, a fireplace, a sewing basket filled to the brim, and an old, rag rug on the floor. There are a couple of girls who look as if they are about fifteen. They are minding the babies, each holding one. One baby is fussy, and nothing seems to be able to calm him, while the other sleeps, blissfully unaware of the bustle around her.

Oops! Buzzy, I think we've been spotted. FLY! No, no, not that way! That's not a door! yes, this way, the mosquito netting is broken around this door frame. Watch out! Fshew! That was a close call! Let's go back down to the barn, where it's quieter.

Hahaha! Can't y'all tell I've had some caffeine today?

Since it's the last day of November, the last day for National Novel Writing Month, I just want to say, that the WIP I was working on, the one that has 21k words and holding, is sitting there, waiting for inspiration. In the last two days, I have written 3k words on another WIP. Won't tell you anymore than i already have, but it's one I can't seem to get out of my head. I'm glad I didn't sign up for NaNoWriMo, but I do wish I could have written more on the sequel to "To Tame A Heart". The ideas just aren't there, though. So, I'm writing on the one that wakes me up in the middle of the night, the one that makes me think of my mamaw who past away back in February. She would have loved this type of story, a Prairie Romance complete with a mail order bride and all. :)

Well, time to get off here and print some stuff out for school. Happy Wednesday to everybody and thanks for stopping by. I'll be blogging again on Friday if not before, so y'all come back, now, ye hear? lol