Automated interruptions

So much for a productive evening of writing/rewriting. Around midnight a warning popped up saying my computer had installed updates and would automatically reboot in 4 minutes and some odd seconds, giving me the option to reboot now or reboot later. (I'm not sure if my auto update preferences were set to midnight or if the date change triggered the install...I knew the update was waiting, but had forgotten to install it between tasks.) Wanting to get it out of the way, I saved my work and rebooted with the expectation of getting straight back to work.

And I did until the next interruption. My son warned me to keep an eye on an elderly neighbor's house because a suspicious vehicle had stopped and someone knocked on their door. So, now I'm jumping up to look out the window every time I hear a car or the dogs bark.

Despite those interruptions, I attempted to continue. Then the cat interrupted me. Among other things, she insists on sitting on my lap while I'm working. She walks across the keyboard, rubs her head against the monitor, sprawls across the desk, and sends cat hair flying when she scratches.

Slash and burn

I'm more than a month behind with my revision goals. Aside from my outside editing work, I accomplished little in June. Progress hasn't been much better this month. In slash in burn mode, I've cut more than 4,000 words in the last week. I expect to slash another 5,000 or so with ease, perhaps more. It's difficult to measure progress as I've been adding and deleting text in the same pass--hardly the most efficient method, but it's progress of sorts. (Word count is a poor measure of progress; it's just the easiest to gauge.)

It'll be at least another week before I shift to rebuilding/remodeling mode....