Running Away

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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I almost got eaten by an alligator this weekend.

Maybe it was an alligator gar.

Or a catfish.

Something.

But it tried to eat me, I’m pretty sure. Killer catfish are dangerous too, you know.

Maybe I should start at the beginning.

I ran away from my life on Thursday. Packed up my car, grabbed my toothbrush, the whole nine yards. Because I’m a responsible person, I requested time off from my job and told people where I was going and when I would be back too, but it still counts as running away. I mean, I planned it in all of two days, and that’s definitely what you do when you’re running away.

You also get up ridiculously early and leave in the dark before it gets light, and I did that too.

Then I drove to Missouri. To see my editor.

It was glorious.

First off, there was the drive. I was gone for four days, and two of those were nothing but me and the open road, all the snacks I could eat, and as many audiobooks as I could possibly listen to in 24 hours of straight drive-time.

In case you were wondering, I plowed through four and a half books.

Three and a half of them were scary.

The last one was sad.

I am still questioning my choices.

The other two days were spent soaking in the  Missouri sun, canoeing down a gorgeous river straight out of Jurassic Park, almost getting eaten by a killer catfish, horseback riding through the woods, and slapping at bugs.

The catfish didn’t actually bite me.

But it flopped like it was going to bite me.

I screamed in self-defense and it was a totally normal reaction, so you can stop laughing now.

Anyway, I’m home again and running on no sleep and adrenaline, so wish me luck for the next week. I’ll sleep when I can’t run away from my problems anymore.

What were you up to this weekend? Anything special? Tell me about it in the comments! 

Lost in the Mountains

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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I got lost this weekend.

My boyfriend and I went up into the mountains on Saturday. We were heading for Chessman reservoir, up in the mountains. The plan was a picnic . . . roast chicken, sparkling cider, picnic blankets. I was planning on taking pictures.

I didn’t take any pictures.

We used Google maps, see. And Google maps doesn’t always take you where you think it’s going to take you.

It took us somewhere we weren’t expecting.

We ended up on a dirt road winding up through the mountains. Lots of boulders, dead trees, and gorgeous views. I loved it. Except the part about being lost on a road that was so narrow it was a little awkward to turn around.

That’s when my boyfriend’s phone ran out of service and the map glitched out, leaving us with a blank map and miles of nowhere stretching out in every direction.

We turned around three times.

We ended up at a gate on private property and decided that this was probably the wrong way. So we drove all the way back to where the road was paved again and followed the map old-school style to the reservoir.

This method worked.

Sort of.

The map brought us to another, even narrower dirt road with a ridiculous amount of traffic on it. Cliff on one side, hills on the other. We pulled over a lot. To let the cars by. When we finally made it to the lake, I was ready to get out of the car.

Except there was no parking. Because everyone and their brother and their sister and their Aunt Matilda had decided to visit Chessman reservoir that day. So we circled the parking lot, turned around one more time, and found a place next to a stream to have our picnic. Cliffs, gorgeous trees, sparkling cider, a hidden nook to have our picnic, and places to wade and cool off.

So it turned out pretty amazing.

Despite all the twists and turns.

What did you do on Memorial Day weekend? Any big plans? Tell me about it in the comments!

Mountains, Mother’s Day, and . . .

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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23 pounds of fresh lasagna!

Man, this was a crazy weekend. Anyone else feel like that? You’d think with social distancing and all that, the weekends would be more restful. You know, binge-watching, lying around on the couch, eating Cheetos and wondering when they’re going to let us out again.

Okay, I’ve done my share of that. If you replace Cheetos with marshmallows.

But this weekend didn’t turn out that way.

First of all, I dragged myself out of bed way too early on Saturday morning, and my boyfriend and I drove up to the Dillion reservoir. Because dating is hard when everything is closed. Thankfully they haven’t closed the mountains or the lakes, and Colorado has plenty of room to social distance even on our beaches.

(Don’t worry, we spread out our picnic blanket far more than six feet away from all the people.)

After driving all the way up there, around the lake, and back home, we’d logged about six hours of drive time all together. We saw bison on our way up, skipped rocks on the lake, got stomach aches from crazy gummy bears, and had a hard time not falling asleep on the way home. Long day.

But we had a blast anyway.

And where, you might be wondering, does the 23 pounds of fresh lasagna come into the mix?

I’m getting to that. See, I bought a pasta roller. Like, one of those machines that rolls your dough out good and thin so your pasta isn’t chewy. And since it was Mother’s Day on Sunday, I made lasagna for my mum. Fresh noodles, zucchini, ricotta cheese. The whole nine yards.

My sister helped.

It took about three hours, all told.

Since my family never does anything by halves, we ended up with a 23-pound pan of lasagna, way too much garlic bread, and so, so much fun working together. I started making fresh pasta a few months ago, and let me tell you, it’s been a hit. Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies, and doing it in a group, with my sister helping and a whole mix of younger siblings standing around watching and assisting as needed, is always a treat.

Plus, fresh lasagna is always welcome. No matter how long it takes to make it.

How was your weekend? Are you finding things to occupy you, even with all the social distancing going on?

Wait… HOLLYWOOD??

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

Well, sort of.

This has been the craziest month for me, and the last week has reached new heights of surreality. I’m running on low sleep and lower caffeine, so bear with me while I try to make sense of everything that’s happened, okay?

Great. Thanks.

So . . . a week ago, I drove into work with a suitcase and got on a plane with my manager, my boss, and a coworker, and flew to California.

I have never been to California.

It is apparently very hot in California.

Who knew?

So, while it snowed in Colorado, I relaxed in a hotel room in California and took in the sights.

Ha!

That was a good joke.

Actually, I spent four consecutive days going to ten-hour-long seminars on story structure, plot, character design, and scriptwriting. By the time it was over, I had been screaming on mute for three days, had almost fifty pages of notes, and could see sounds. I was also molded into the shape of my chair.

But! I learned so, so much, and I’m excited to get back to Colorado (hopefully) today and begin to apply what I learned. If I make it through the snow and actually get home, which we are definitely rooting for!

Besides going to the seminar, which was a whirlwind and definitely adventure enough for little homebody me, I also had the chance to attend a session at the recording studio in Burbank and watch an episode of the radio drama I write for be recorded. I met some of the actors involved, watched another of the writers direct, and had the chance to start up a discussion with one of the original creators of the show.

So, yeah, I learned a lot. And it was very exciting.

After six days of nonstop rushing, however, I am ready to be home. I’m typing this in an airport in Las Vegas, NV, and my flight should (again, hopefully) be taking off in the next half an hour or so.

So wish me luck! Send up a prayer if you think of it! I’m excited to get home and hoping to beat a snowstorm back to my cozy cabin in the woods, where I will immediately curl up with some hot chocolate, my kitty (who I have missed excruciatingly), and my sister (who I have also missed excruciatingly). Colorado, here I come!

I have been so out of commission this week! What did I miss? Tell me about what’s been happening to you lately?

Finding Normal

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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My new morning commute is forty-five minutes.

One way.

Does that sound a little crazy to anyone? That means every week I am driving about 7.5 hours back and forth to work . . . not including the time spent on the road if I happen to need a trip to town on a weekend.

I’m scaring myself just by adding up the numbers.

But do you want to know a secret?

I love it.

When I was first offered the job, one of my friends asked me if I was going to move into town to be closer to my new building.

I said no.

She understood.

First of all, I live in the middle of absolutely nowhere and have a tiny writer’s cabin tucked away in the middle of a pine forest surrounded by farmland and country roads. When I wake up in the morning, I hear magpies and bluejays and woodpeckers outside my house . . . not traffic and people and all the other city noises you can think of. I have deer and turkeys in my yard. I can go for walks at midnight down our dirt road if I feel like it. (I don’t usually feel like it.)

But besides loving where I am, I just . . . don’t hate my commute. In fact, as an author running a blog, writing books, and working full-time, my commute is some of the only time I have to really remember how much I love books myself.

Thank goodness for libraries that let me borrow 24 audiobooks at a time.

Really, my commute has been the saving grace for my reading habits. Thus far this year, I have read 66 books. Most of those have been audiobooks. With 7.5 hours of driving to do every week, I figure I can plow through at least a book a week. Maybe more, since I have lunch breaks too.

Finding out my library loaned out copies of audiobooks was a revolution for me. I have been devouring them while I paint for my mum, while I drive, while I work sudoku puzzles on my phone to keep my brain sharp . . . really just any time I have a few minutes of silence. I’ve been rediscovering some old favorites—right now I am listening to A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle—as well as discovering new treasures—Michael Hyatt’s Living Forward and as many of Agatha Christie’s books as I can find. As an author who still believes the best way to learn to write is to read, I am very grateful to have an unlimited library on my phone.

And plenty of time on my way to and from work to take advantage of it.

What are you reading these days? Any suggestions for me? I’d love to hear them!

Headed For Home

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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I’m going to be honest with y’all.

I’m writing this while we drive.

I think we’re in Alabama right now. Somewhere near Birmingham, I think, although I am directionally challenged and it’s very possible that I’m wrong.

Guys. Alabama is hot. Like, ridiculously hot. Like, if it wasn’t so beautiful I would never come here again kind of hot.

But the trees have flowers and leaves instead of needles and the grass is lush and green, and everything is beautiful. Also, the dirt is red. And today is cloudy and misty. So I’m trying to ignore the heat.

We’re headed for Texas right now. Then, tomorrow, our wheels will be pointed toward Colorado and home.

I’m excited.

I miss my cat. And my family. And my house.

I can’t swear that anyone misses me, but I have a little—possibly vain—hope that my cat missed me. A tiny bit. A very tiny bit. Like, she went to sleep at night in my big empty bed all alone with no one to cuddle with and thought, “I wonder what happened to that one person who used to feed me and would whine back when I whined at her.”

I’ll admit, that’s a little bit of a stretch. But I can hope.

As much as I am excited to get back home, this has been a trip and a half. We’ve been through twelve states so far and have four more to go, and I have loved seeing the country change along the highway. We’ve crashed in hotel rooms, been hosted by wonderful friends, eaten way too much fast food, baked on beaches, swam in the ocean, in hotel pools, lakes, and backyard ponds. My brother made friends with a lizard, I found baby clams and ate my first Po’Boy sandwich, my dad drove us through the town where he grew up and showed us where his dad’s mechanic shop had been and the house he’d lived in. We saw flooded rivers, Florida swamps, the sea, and a telephone pole shaped like Mickey Mouse.

It was wild.

And now we’re headed for home. Tomorrow night, I will sleep in my own bed, and one week from today, I will start my first full-time office job and get paid to be a writer.

Life is crazy, y’all.

Anyone have any crazy road trip memories to share? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

Road Trip

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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Guys.

I’m probably lost.

Like, lost lost. Somewhere in-between Virginia and Florida. I think the GPS knows where we are, but I lost track way back in Missouri. This has been a TRIP. And it’s not even halfway over yet.

As far as I can recall (because I blacked out a few times and slept like a log), we have driven through Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia.

I’m sure we’ve been to more places by now. We’re driving just now, you see. Things are in progress. I shall let you know by the end of the trip where all we’ve been and what we’ve done.

Most of the time, we’ve just been driving. Seeing the world pass by. Cruising.

While we were in Missouri, I stayed with my editor and her family. We had a blast. I caught a frog. His name was Reginald. I did not kiss him, but I did almost accidentally squish him, which was mildly horrifying because he was so tiny. (No frogs were harmed in the making of this post, I swear.)

We also swam in a pond, played with paddle boards, and fished. My sister dropped her hook in the water and pulled one out immediately—like, within seconds. My little brother caught four.

Guys. I love fishing. I do. But guess who is the worst fisherman among the three of us?

You got that right.

Me.

I did catch one though. After waiting. And waiting. And losing my worm. And waiting some more. And giving up.

But I did catch one. Finally. I was so excited.

You know what else I saw in Missouri?

Fireflies.

I love fireflies so much. They’re like tiny fairies. We don’t have fireflies in Colorado, because it’s cold and dry and a desert. But Missouri has fireflies, and they made me very, very happy. I wanted to bring a thousand home with me, but I felt like they might die in the car, and it would have been weird to come home with a jar of dead bugs.

So I left Reginald and the tiny fairies/fireflies to enjoy Missouri and we kept driving.

We went hiking in North Carolina (on their cute tiny pretend mountains), kayaked in the bay in Virginia (and toasted on the beaches), and had way too much fun with my sisters who live there.

And now, we are on our way again. More updates to come!

Anyone else been traveling this year? Tell me about it in the comments!