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And after only a single evening, no less. Impressive. But there’s just something so fascinating about clicking that little stumble button.
It was a great word choice. Stumble, according to Merriam, can be to fall into sin or waywardness, to trip, to walk unsteadily, or to come upon something unexpectedly (paraphrasing – the full def is here, don’t yell at me). All things I associate with web surfing: I click the wrong link and end up with a thousand pop-ups about Sandi the lonely housewife, her best friend Vanessa the underwear model, and Joe the Delivery Guy, whose lives all somehow collide in a tent in the outback; I read a blog and discover Sylvester Stallone sang badly and once had an album (yes, really); I wander into a forum and spend a few months figuring out how to be part of an online community; I end up in any of these places, when I should be writing, when I want to be writing, when in fact the scene is going very well but for some reason google is calling my name.
Stumble is the culmination of this effect, so far as I can see – instead of coming up with search terms or reading through forums, instead of skimming news feeds and blogs, you clicks the button. The hell with it, let’s see where we end up. And you know what?
I can make all these things just from the random crap in my kitchen. And I thought I had to go grocery shopping today. How cool is that?
I now know that onion dip lasts longer than hummus in the fridge.
I now have a touch-tone rescue from writer’s block.
And so forth. I got up this morning to write. I fully intended to. Instead I’ve checked my email, read the latest Girl Genius installment, skimmed a forum, and calculated how many drinks I’ve had in my lifetime, plus how many bathtubs that would fill and how many sports cars I could have bought instead.
Stumble is a good word. I am a cyber hiker with a lame mouse hand inadvertently gate-crashing weddings, outdoorsy girl on girl action (whoops, sorry, wrong door!), archaeological digs, and cooking parties. I have a treasure of random animal photographs, free online books, lolcats, and extremely off-kilter youtube videos.
I do not, however, have a first draft of my second novel yet.