nightbloomers

[dragonlady7]

Last night I FINALLY freaking got to see the night-bloomers bloom. Every night I've just missed them, so last night I went outside at 8:30 (sunset) and sat down on the pavement and waited and watched.

And yes, it was very cool. The little buds pop along one side starting about 10 minues after the sun goes down. Over the next 15 minutes, not 1 but 9 of them bloomed. One of them, I watched and watched and nothing happened, so I looked away and when I looked back it was open. Another one was caught betewen two other flowers; when I moved it, it bloomed all at once while the stem was still in my hand, and it was just so cool-- it just unfurled and opened all at once.
And I saw a few of them doing that-- they just open so fast you can see them doing it. It's so neat.

I also determined that nightbloomers have a symbiotic relationship with mosquitoes.
They bloom at prime mosquito-feeding time-- just after sundown.
They, of course, being flowers, are rooted in one spot, so if you move around to keep the mosquitos at bay you can't watch them.
And they bloom so fast that if you run inside to find your Off, you will have missed the whole show before you get back outside.

In other news... (on writing, mostly, and a little bit on reviewing, especially Altariel's Hands of the King, which I hadn't intended on getting involved with, since it initially struck me as being one of those massive endless WIPs similar to Isabeau of Greenlea's Captain My Captain, but now I find myself inextricably drawn in because it's nothing like it... Nothing against CMC, just don't have the attention span to devote to something that massively sprawling.)

Writing's not going so well. I sat and stared aimlessly at the novel for about two days, and got almost nowhere. I've rewritten the beginning, and yes, it's different, to be sure. It's a bit edgier. But I"m bogged down and don't know where to take it next, and the characters aren't telling me, unlike last time. It's very disheartening.

So. I keep drifting. Sorry. Possibly because it's only 7:15 and I've already been up almost 2 hours (stupid cat. Stupid dog.) and it's terribly muggy and the sky's gonna bust and cry down rain for a day or two, starting anytime now... So I should go put on some deodorant and attempt to deal with life, but I'm having trouble facing it. I also am considering giving in to temptation and resuming work on my own fanfiction, because I do have an audience for that and the novel is too uncooperative to wrestle with in my current state. (Honestly, feedback is the only thing that can keep me writing when I'm like this. In my glory days I could write 10,000 good words a day; this last month I've been doing something like 2,000 indifferent words on the days I write, and have not been writing many days.)
I can't novel on my own. I have to write something someone else cares about. So, I think I'll be getting back to Eomer and Lothiriel now, because I've left that whole arc in a shamelessly tattered and unfinished state, and I just need to finish something one of these days...