I sent my editor the first chapters of the new draft on Thursday. It felt almost like delivering a full draft, but a full draft it is definitely not. Not yet. This was more of a psychological milestone than anything else. I allowed myself a day’s rest, went to the museum, and got back to work the next day.
My house stress. Has not all been due to timelines or tile selections. I’ve also lost sleep over security. Literally: I’ve gotten middle-of-the-night calls from my security company about motion sensors that’d been set off. They all turned out to be false alarms, triggered by who knows what: wind, leaky boards, stray cats that got in through a basement window … maybe spiders?
Then a couple weeks ago there was a legitimate attempt by someone to break in through the back door of the (empty) house. From the welts on the edge of the steel door, it looked like they tried to pry open the latch with a screwdriver but gave up. The same thing happened days before to the garage door of a friend a few blocks up. This is the kind of theft I’ve encountered here in Detroit – attempts to steal tools out of garages and houses under construction. I haven’t heard of any attempts to break in when there’s actually a person inside. It’s another reason I’m eager to move in sooner rather than later.
This weekend I’ve been working to further secure the house. Putting in new strike plates with longer screws, trying to decide what kind of flood lights to install once the wiring’s in place, and talking to the security company about other things I can do to stay protected. I don’t enjoy any of this. It feels like I’m being driven by fear and paranoia. But in some cases, I guess, action is justified.
That’s all from me tonight. Be safe, take care of yourself, and please vote this Tuesday.