Free Lawn Mower

It was another good week on the writing front. I beat my 10k word goal and came in around 12k words. I also passed the 25% plot point. I'm a little concerned with pacing, but I won't know how it's going to read until later. I can speed it up or slow it down by editing things out or editing them in. Or it may not be a problem at all. I've read all kinds of books with all kinds of different pacing. Nevertheless, it's something I have my eye on. I believe, as I go along, the rhythm will fall into place naturally.

In general I'm using a 3-act structure, so I have major plot points at 25%, 50% and 75%. I also need minor plot points at 12.5%, 37%, 62% and 90%. On the other hand I could instead do a try/fail cycle and not obsess about the 3-act formula, which is after all a formula. I'm up to the 30% mark. The 37% minor plot point is coming up in about 5k more words, and I have a lot of space to fill with exciting things. The character is still reacting to the 25% plot point, but that can only last so long. I spent what I thought was a lot of time working on the plot before touching the keyboard. It's still not enough. My original 25% plot point had to be pushed back to the 37% plot point, assuming I don't use it before that.

As mentioned last week, the stuff between the 25% mark and the 75% mark is something a lot of writers have trouble with. I'm still worried about that and am focusing on it. This would be the perfect time to put on a smoking jacket, grab a pipe and go into the library and have a sit down for a think about how I'm going to make the gaps between the plot points rich and full. Alas, I don't have a pipe or a smoking jacket or a library. I don't even smoke. I'll have to sit down in a chair with a notepad.

I haven't been forthcoming with specifics about this project. I want to try to get an agent for it and sell it if I can. I plan to have more info later.

Free Lawn Mower

Monday, I left Walmart empty handed again after looking at battery-powered lawn mowers. They had them on sale for Memorial Day. The 20-in self-propelled one was $338 on sale. The normal ones were in the mid $200s. That's a lot for a lawn mower. My old one was $114 on Amazon. I've been looking for a long while, hoping for a good sale perhaps for Father's Day or end of summer. It just never happens, and now we have pandemic shortages and that stuck cargo ship complicating things. Store shelves are still partially empty here by the way. And that gas shortage that was is in the news the other day? Still going on this week.

On the way home from Walmart, I saw a lawn mower on the side of the road with a sign on it: "Free to a needy lawn! *Needs a new Battery." Battery-powered, you say? That's what I was looking for in Walmart. I couldn't stop then, but I was able to go back within the hour and look at it. It seemed to be in good shape.

It was a 21-in Craftsman V60. I've priced a lot of lawn mowers and guessed the battery would run between $130 and $150. Way cheaper than a new lawn mower. I took it home and charged the battery, which was almost full to begin with. I turned it on, and nothing happened. Uh, oh. First rule of computer network problems: Check connections. I re-seated the battery and tried again. It worked! And even better, it was self-propelled! It was close to dark. I ran it about five minutes. It worked great, but I knew 5 minutes likely wasn't long enough to see a battery problem.

I looked up the battery that came with it, a High Energy 7.5AH lithium ion. I've seen 5AH ones before, not 7.5. I became worried about the price. Then I couldn't find one anywhere. Suddenly, I could see why it had been on the side of the road. Supply chain disruptions? Perhaps so. I found a 2.5AH version for $149. Ouch. 2.5AH? Maybe for a weed trimmer. I found a 5AH version for $200, which is close to the price of a new lawn mower. It was starting to look like I had an 85.5 pound piece of recyclable metal.

The next evening I got the lawn mower out and starting mowing some heavy grass to see how long the battery would last. Almost 50 minutes later it was still running although getting tired. Over the two days, it ran 50 something minutes. The battery is rated for about 60 minutes. Conclusion: the battery is fine.

Somebody threw away and replaced a lawn mower with an MSRP of $499 that retailed for $374 at Lowes and about $300 on Amazon. The date on the battery is 2nd half of 2019. Thus, the lawn mower was probably purchased in late 2019 or some time in 2020.

This is a miracle that fulfilled a need.

Have a great weekend.